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<DATE>2013-12-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Corinne Vieracker</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<P>AN ESSAY, PROVING, <HI>We &s;hall Know</HI> OUR Friends in Heaven.</P>
<P>Writ by a <HI>Di&s;con&s;olate Widower,</HI> on the Death of his Wife, and <HI>Dedicated</HI> to her Dear Memory.</P>
<P>Being a Subject never handled before in a di&s;tinct Treati&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Sent in a Letter to a Reverend Divine.</HI></P>
<Q>Then &s;hall I know, even as al&s;o I am known, <BIBL><HI>1 Cor. 13.12.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed, and are to be Sold by <HI>E. Whitlock,</HI> near <HI>Stationers Hall,</HI> 1698.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>THE <HI>Dedication,</HI> To the Memory of Dear Eliza.</HEAD>
<P>THe&s;e Mournful Lines <HI>(my dear Eliza)</HI> were Writ o'er thy Grave (while&s;t I was a <HI>Widower</HI>) and are now <HI>Dedi|cated</HI> to thy Pious <HI>Name,</HI> as a <HI>Memorial</HI> of our Con&s;tant Love. As for the&mdash;<HI>E&s;&s;ay</HI>&mdash; Annex'd, 'twas Writ pre&s;ently after thy Death, to mitigate my <HI>Sorrow</HI> for it, which is in &s;ome part <HI>Ju&s;tified</HI> by the greatne&s;s of my Lo&s;s, in being &s;eparated, after &s;o long Con|ver&s;ation, from &s;o kind a Wife. 'Tis no wonder that <HI>Phil.</HI> who Lov'd thee &s;o much on Earth, &s;hou'd attempt to Prove,
<Q REND="margQuotes">He &s;hall know thee again in Heaven.</Q></P>
<P>We are taught by the Holy Scriptures, <HI>That Love is &s;trong as Death;</HI> and that the Love of Chri&s;t to his Church, who gave Him&s;elf to the Death for her, is propo&s;ed to <HI>Chri&s;tian Husbands</HI> as a Pattern of Love to their Wives.
<PB N="4" REF="3"> He lov'd his Church with an Everla&s;ting love, and &s;o mu&s;t I thy <HI>Memory,</HI> my Deare&s;t, while I continue to <HI>be, and think.</HI> It is no more po&s;&s;ible to <HI>rob my Soul of thine Idea, than to deprive it of its Immortality;</HI> Death, which hath made a Separation betwixt our Bodies, is not able to Separate our Souls; thou wa&s;t lovely and plea&s;ant to me in thy <HI>Life,</HI> and therefore can'&s;t not be divided from me by thy <HI>Death;</HI> though the un&s;peakable Joys where|of thou art now made Partaker, make thee ig|norant of me, becau&s;e thou art wholly taken up with <HI>Tran&s;ports of Heavenly Love.</HI> If it were otherwi&s;e, I am &s;ure thy Happine&s;s could not be compleat 'till <HI>thy other half were al&s;o Tran&s;ported into Heaven.</HI> I don't envy thee, though I groan al&s;o to be delivered from this Earthly Tabernacle, which hinders me from partaking of Heavenly Society with thee, which if I may make bold to &s;ay &s;o, <HI>makes Heaven it &s;elf the more de&s;irable to me.</HI></P>
<P>But for that, I mu&s;t &s;tay 'till the Decree of the Eternal take effect, and therefore &s;eeing <HI>thy place here on Earth knows thee no more,</HI> that I can no more enjoy &s;weet Communion with thee, <HI>'till we meet in Heaven.</HI> I have no other Relief at pre&s;ent, but to <HI>refre&s;h and torment</HI> my &s;elf at the &s;ame time with the <HI>remem|brance of thy Virtues.</HI> Did Religion allow any Sacrifice to thy Shrine, or Adoration at thy Tomb, my head-&s;trong Affection would pu&s;h me on to it; but that is<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">We are &s;ure there is neither Com|mand, Exam|ple, or Promi&s;e in all the <HI>Scri|pture</HI> to encou|rage us to make our Application to the <HI>Saints departed.</HI> Mr. <HI>Rogers</HI>'s <HI>Di&s;|cour&s;es of Sick|ne&s;s and Re|covery,</HI> p. <HI>79.</HI></NOTE> re&s;erv'd for Him alone who is the Author of our Being, and ble&s;&s;ed me with &s;uch a
<PB N="5" REF="3"> <HI>Meet-help,</HI> as I found thee always to be, till the arrival of that fatal Moment which made the <HI>cruel Separation.</HI> I call it &s;o, as 'twas my frequent Wi&s;h, we might expire in each others Arms, that we might imitate herein the Mayor of <HI>Litomentias</HI>'s Daughter; who leaping into the River where her Husband was drown'd, &s;he cla&s;ped him about the Middle, and <HI>expires with him in her Arms;</HI> and what is very re|markable, they were found the next day <HI>em|bracing one another.</HI> The &s;ame In&s;tance we have in the <HI>Captain</HI> and his <HI>Wife,</HI> who were la&s;t Week ca&s;t away in the <HI>Tilt-boat;</HI> for they were taken up &s;o clo&s;ely <HI>Lock'd in each others Arms,</HI> that 'twas hard to part them. Thus had Heaven &s;een it meet, that as we were <HI>Vnited</HI> in our Life, we &s;hou'd not have been <HI>Divided</HI> in our Death; it would have per|fum'd the Arrow of Mortality to me, and made that <HI>King of Terrors a King of Plea&s;ures.</HI> But thou wa&s;t Riper for Everla&s;ting Joy, and therefore &s;ooner tran&s;ported thither, and <HI>I mu&s;t not repine.</HI> For tho&s;e whom <HI>God hath joyn'd together, no Man mu&s;t put a&s;under;</HI> yet when he that made the Union makes the Separation, there's no &s;aying <HI>What doe&s;t Thou?</HI></P>
<P>Yet the Holy Spirit which hath taught us, that the <HI>Righteous &s;hall be had in Everla&s;ting Remembrance,</HI> will not be offended if I perpe|tuate thy Memory to my &s;elf, and carry the
<PB N="6" REF="4"> <HI>Idea of thy Vertues</HI> con&s;tantly in my Mind, that I may do nothing unworthy of my <HI>better half,</HI> which is in Glory, as I have read was the Practi&s;e of a certain Great Per&s;on, who con&s;tantly carried his <HI>Father's Picture</HI> about him, that he might not do any thing unworthy of &s;uch a Progenitor. I &s;hall imitate this Example, by always carrying this <HI>E&s;&s;ay in my Pocket,</HI> to Re-mind me daily of that Pattern you &s;et me, and as a <HI>Memento</HI> I &s;hall &s;ee thee again, which I can't but pa&s;&s;ionately de|&s;ire, as <HI>I enjoy'd both Worlds in Dear Eliza;</HI> and were I to wed again (and this I &s;peak after Ten Years Tryal) I'd preferr thy &s;elf to the Riche&s;t Nymph <HI>(God &s;aw thee mo&s;t</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">This was the Po&s;ie of our Wedding Ring.</NOTE> <HI>fit for me)</HI> and I cou'd not find &s;uch another, had I a thou&s;and Advi&s;ers, and as ma|ny Worlds to range in, to plea&s;e my Eye and Fancy. Thus you find <HI>(if you Saints above know what's done below)</HI> how con&s;tant my Love is, and <HI>that even in Death it &s;elf you can die but half, whil&s;t I am pre&s;erved.</HI> And tho you're gone to Heaven before me, yet I hope I &s;hall &s;peedily follow after
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>Thither, <HI>Eliza,</HI> will my Soul pur&s;ue,</L>
<L>When I like you have bid the World adieu:</L>
<L>There, if my <HI>Innocence</HI> I &s;till retain,</L>
<L>My <HI>Dear Eliza,</HI> I &s;hall <HI>Cla&s;p</HI> again.</L>
<L>And there, when Death &s;hall &s;top her <HI>Pious Race,</HI></L>
<L>With a more Charming and Angelick Face,</L>
<L>I &s;hall behold the<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot">Witne&s;s Her <HI>Ingenious An&s;wers</HI> to the <HI>Letters</HI> I &s;ent Her about the <HI>Mi&s;eries of Humane Life.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Matchle&s;s Daphnes</HI> Face:</L>
<PB N="7" REF="4">
<L>(And when, dear Friend, &s;o near to <HI>Bli&s;s</HI> you be,</L>
<L>Remember <HI>Cloris,</HI> and remember me.)</L>
<L>But cou'd the <HI>Fair Eliza</HI> &s;ee me mourn,</L>
<L>From that <HI>Ble&s;s'd Place</HI> &s;he wou'd perhaps return.</L>
<L>But vain, alas! are my Complaints, thou'rt gone,</L>
<L>And left me in this <HI>De&s;ert World <HI>Alone:</HI></HI></L>
<L>For ah! deprived my deare&s;t Life of <HI>Thee;</HI></L>
<L><HI>The World is all a Hermitage to me.</HI></L>
<L>Let ev'ry thing a &s;adder Look put on;</L>
<L><HI>Eliza</HI>'s <HI>Dead, the lov'd <HI>Eliza</HI>'s gone.</HI></L>
<BIBL>Philomelas <HI>Poems.</HI> p. <HI>53.</HI></BIBL></Q></P>
<P>What a melancholly thing does the World now appear? However, <HI>Eliza,</HI> I can retire to God and my own Heart, whence no Malice, Time, or Death, can bani&s;h thee. <HI>The Variety of Beauty and Faces I have &s;een &s;ince thy Death, tho they are quick. &V;nder-miners of Con&s;tancy in others, to me are but Pillars to &s;upport it,</HI> &s;ince they then plea&s;e me mo&s;t when I mo&s;t think of you. I've grav'd thy Virtue &s;o deep in my Brea&s;t, (as is &s;een in the <HI>following E&s;&s;ay,</HI> &s;ent to our Friend <HI>Ignotus</HI>) that 'twill near out, <HI>till I find the Original in the other World.</HI> Don't think, <HI>My Dear, <HI>that Con|jugal Affection can be di&s;&s;olved by Death.</HI></HI> The Arms of Love are long enough to reach from Earth to Heaven; <HI>Fruition and Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion</HI> principally appertain to the Imagination; If we enjoy nothing but what we touch, we may &s;ay farewell to the Money in our Clo&s;ets, and to our Friends when they go to <HI>Agford. Part us, and you kill us;</HI> nay, if we wou'd we cannot part; Death, 'tis true, may divide
<PB N="8" REF="5"> our Bodies, but nothing el&s;e, and &s;carce that: For (to u&s;e your Words, whil&s;t alive) <HI>We may on Earth lawfully plea&s;e our &s;elves with Hopes of meeting hereafter, and in lying in the &s;ame Grave, where we &s;hall be happy together, if a &s;encele&s;s Happine&s;s can be call'd &s;o.</HI> But &s;up|po&s;e Death &s;hou'd part our Bodies, yet we have Souls to be &s;ure; and whil&s;t they can meet and carre&s;s one another, we may enjoy each other, were we the length of the Map a&s;under.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>Thus we may double Bli&s;s, &s;toln Love enjoy,</L>
<L>And all the &s;pight of Place and Friends defie:</L>
<L>For ever thus we might each other ble&s;s,</L>
<L>For none cou'd trace out this new Happine&s;s;</L>
<L>No <HI>Argus</HI> here to &s;poil, or make it le&s;s.</L></Q>
<P>'Tis not (properly) Ab&s;ence, when we can &s;ee one another, as to be &s;ure we &s;hall, tho in a State of Separation.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>'For &s;ight of Spirits is unpre&s;crib'd by Space,</L>
<L>'What &s;ee they not who &s;ee the Eternal Face?</L>
<BIBL><HI>Vid.</HI> P. <HI>54.</HI> in the <HI>E&s;&s;ay.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P>The Eyes of the Saints &s;hall out-&s;ee the Sun, and behold without Per&s;pective the extreame&s;t di&s;tances; for if there &s;hall be in our <HI>Glorified Eyes</HI> the Faculty of Sight and Re|ception of Objects <HI>(as I prove to</HI> Ignotus <HI>there &s;hall)</HI> I cou'd think the vi&s;ible Species there to be in as unlimitable a way as now the Intellectual. St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> tells us, <HI>The Saints of God, even with the Eyes of their Bodies clo&s;ed up, (as now Yours are) &s;hall &s;ee all things not only pre|&s;ent,
<PB N="9" REF="5"> but al&s;o that from which they are Corporally ab&s;ent; for then &s;hall be the Perfection, whereof the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, we Prophe&s;ie but in part, then the Imperfect &s;hall be taken away.</HI> Whither this be &s;o I cannot &s;ay <HI>(tho you know who have &s;hot the Gulf)</HI> yet &s;ure I am that nothing can de|prive me of the <HI>Enjoyment of thy Vertues,</HI> while I enjoy my &s;elf: Nay, I have &s;ometimes made good u&s;e of my <HI>Separation</HI> from thee, we bet|ter fill'd, and farther extended the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of our Lives, in being parted, <HI>you lived, re|joyced, and &s;aw for me, and I for you, as plainly, as if you had your &s;elf been there.</HI></P>
<P>The World may perhaps cen&s;ure this as a piece of Flattery, or at lea&s;t as the Fruit of unwarrantable Pa&s;&s;ion; but had they known thy Worth as I did, they would not pre|&s;ume &s;o much as to blame me. The Letter you &s;ent me<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Printed in Mr. <HI>Turner</HI>'s Hi&s;tory of <HI>Remarmable Providences,</HI> p. <HI>146.</HI></NOTE> in your <HI>last Sickne&s;s</HI> &s;hews thou'rt above Prai&s;e, I'll in&s;ert it here as a Proof of this, and as a <HI>Pattern for other Wives.</HI> Thy Letter's this. <HI>Viz.</HI></P>
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<P>I received <HI>(my Deare&s;t)</HI> thy obliging Letter, and thankfully own, that tho God has exerci&s;ed me with a <HI>long and langui&s;hing Sickne&s;s, and my Grave lies in view,</HI> yet he hath dealt tenderly with me; &s;o that I find by Experience no Compa&s;&s;ions are like tho&s;e of a God. 'Tis true, I have &s;carce Strength to an&s;wer your Letter; but &s;ee|ing you de&s;ire a few Lines, to keep as a <HI>Memorial of our Con&s;tant Love,</HI> I'll attempt
<PB N="10" REF="6"> &s;omething, tho (by rea&s;on of my pre&s;ent Weakne&s;s) I can write nothing worth your Reading.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t then,</HI> As to your <HI>Character</HI> of me, <HI>(Love blinds you;)</HI> for I don't de&s;erve it, but am plea&s;ed to find you enjoy (by the <HI>help of a &s;trong Fancy</HI>) that Happine&s;s, which I can't (tho I wou'd) be&s;tow. But <HI>Opinion is the rate of things;</HI> and if you think your &s;elf happy, you are &s;o. <HI>As to my &s;elf,</HI> I have met with more and greater Comforts in a <HI>Marry'd State,</HI> than ever I did expect. But how cou'd it be other|wi&s;e, when <HI>Inclination, Intere&s;t, and all that can be de&s;ired,</HI> concur to make up the Har|mony? From our Marriage till now, thy Life has been <HI>one continued Act of Court&s;hip,</HI> and &s;ufficiently upbraids that <HI>Indifference</HI> which is found among Married People. Thy Concern for my pre&s;ent Sickne&s;s (tho of long Continuance) has been &s;o Remarkably tender, that were it but known to the World, 'twould (once more) bring into Fa&s;hion <HI>Mens loving their Wives.</HI> Thy <HI>WILL</HI> alone is a Noble Pattern for o|thers <HI>to Love by;</HI> and is &s;uch an <HI>Original Piece</HI> as will ne'er be equall'd. I next come to con&s;ider the Imprudence of &mdash; where I mu&s;t &s;ay, I am &s;o far from blam|ing your Conduct, that I admire the Greatne&s;s of your <HI>Conjugal Love,</HI> (in that very Particular) which &s;hewed it &s;elf to be like the <HI>Apple of the Eye, which is di&s;turbed with the lea&s;t Du&s;t.</HI> But, my Dear, be concern'd at nothing; for I am plea&s;ed
<PB N="11" REF="6"> with <HI>all you &s;ay or do,</HI> and have &s;uch a Kindne&s;s for you, that I dread the Thoughts of &s;urviving thee, <HI>more than I do tho&s;e of Death.</HI> Cou'd you think I'd <HI>marry again,</HI> when it has been one great Comfort under all my Langui&s;hments, <HI>to think I &s;hould die fir&s;t,</HI> and that I &s;hall live in him, who, ever &s;ince the <HI>happy &V;nion of our Souls&punc;</HI> has been more dear to me than Life it &s;elf? &mdash;</P>
<P>I &s;hall only add my hearty Prayer, That God wou'd ble&s;s you both in <HI>Soul and Body;</HI> and that when you die, you may be convey'd by the Angels into <HI>Abraham</HI>'s <HI>Bo&s;om;</HI> where I hope you'll find</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><HI>Your Con&s;tant</HI> E&mdash;</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</LETTER>
<P>This Letter &s;hews what a Wife thou wert, and ju&s;tifies this Addre&s;s, but to &s;hew thy <HI>Piety</HI> was the &s;ame in Health as on a Sick-bed, I'll <HI>trace thy Life from the Cradle to the Grave.</HI> And here, when I remember you Unmarried in your <HI>Father's Family,</HI> in your <HI>Blooming Years,</HI> and <HI>Flaming Piety.</HI> How does it pierce my Soul with fre&s;h pangs of my fir&s;t Love, and &s;ometimes tran&s;ports me &s;o far with the Thoughts of my <HI>Beloved Object,</HI> that <HI>I am ready to forget I have lo&s;t her,</HI> and willing to indulge my &s;elf, as Men do in a Dream, that they actually are in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of that which they admire; but when I come to my &s;elf again, and con&s;ider that I have lo&s;t thee, the Thoughts of thy Excellency renders me incon&s;olable.</P>
<PB N="12" REF="7">
<P>Again, when I reflect on the <HI>Love of our E&s;pou&s;als,</HI> our Mutual Affection and En|dearments, <HI>[which many Waters could</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">When I went beyond Sea I gave <HI>Eliza</HI> a Ring with this In&s;cription, <HI>Cant. 8.7.</HI></NOTE> <HI>not quench]</HI> nor di&s;tance of Place di|mini&s;h; I fancy my &s;elf in the mid&s;t of Greater Plea&s;ures than the Poets ever fancied in their <HI>Eli&s;ian Fields,</HI> My old Joys begin to revive, and their Fruit is <HI>&s;weet to my Ta&s;te;</HI> but when I con&s;ider that God hath poured out &s;uch a bitter Cup to me, as the depriving me of <HI>one half of my Soul,</HI> I am not able to contain my &s;elf, nor to expre&s;s my Grief.</P>
<P>In the next place, when I think on the <HI>Sweets I enjoyed by thy Excellent Society,</HI> who did&s;t prefer before all things <HI>the plea&s;ing of God and thy Husband.</HI> I am unwilling to be diverted from &s;uch a delightful Subject of Contemplation, but <HI>like the Men in a Dream,</HI> who is plea&s;ed for a while with his fancied Enjoyment of things delicious to his Palate: <HI>Na<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ure will not be &s;o put off, tho the Imagination may;</HI> but pre&s;ently convinces him that his Enjoyment is but a Dream, and that his Body mu&s;t needs have a more &s;ub&s;tantial Support; &s;o my <HI>real Want of that Happine&s;s,</HI> which I formerly enjoy'd, quickly renews my Grief, and redoubles my De&s;ires <HI>to be where thou art.</HI></P>
<P>Should it be my Fate to be engaged again in <HI>another Marriage,</HI> which my Inclinations are at pre&s;ent who<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ly aver&s;e from, becau&s;e I think it utterly impo&s;&s;ible for me ever to
<PB N="13" REF="7"> find &s;uch another as thy &s;elf, who wert a <HI>Meet-help for me of Gods own providing;</HI> but &s;hould it, I &s;ay, be my Fate to draw again in a Matrimonial Yoke, and meet with one of a Temper oppo&s;ite to thine, I &s;hould look upon it as one of the <HI>Greate&s;t Plagues</HI> that ever befel a Man, Yet this one Comfort, it &s;hould, in &s;pite of ill Nature, afford me; that is to &s;ay, <HI>It would be a Foil to &s;et off thy Vertue with &s;o much the Greater Iu&s;tre;</HI> and as it is impo&s;&s;ible for me ever to Race thy <HI>Idea</HI> out of my Soul, tho God knows whether a <HI>Se|cond Marriage,</HI> may not be made nece&s;&s;ary for me by his <HI>Providence,</HI> as it is lawful for me by his <HI>Word;</HI> but if it &s;hould be &s;o, it mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be a piercing Grief to me, and that al&s;o more &s;en&s;ible than to another Man, if I &s;hould meet with one of a <HI>Cro&s;s Nature after one of thy Mild Temper;</HI> and tho the Sence of my Duty will never &s;uffer me to be unju&s;t, yet Heav'n will pardon me if I cannot expre&s;s <HI>&s;o much Kindne&s;s to her as I did to thee;</HI> for when a <HI>Man's Hou&s;e</HI> all on a &s;udden is turn'd from a <HI>Family of Love</HI> to a <HI>meer Billing&s;|gate,</HI> it may be allow'd to <HI>alter</HI> his Natural Temper (for a kind <HI>Wife</HI> makes a kind <HI>Hus|band</HI>) neither can &s;uch <HI>Alteration</HI> detract from his Kindne&s;s to his <HI>fir&s;t Wife,</HI> or to a Third; &s;hou'd he marry &s;o often, which will &s;carce be my Fate, my De&s;ign being to imitate the <HI>Primitive Widows,</HI> who wou'd not hear of a <HI>Second Husband.</HI> If we look back into anci|ent Times we find there was hardly a <HI>Wi|dow among the Primitive Chri&s;tians that com|plain'd of Solitarine&s;s, or &s;ought Comfort in a
<PB N="14" REF="8"> Second Marriage. Second Marriage then was counted little better than Adultery.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr,</HI> Horneck's <HI>Lives of the</HI> Pri|mitive Chri&s;ti|ans.</NOTE> I think they carry'd this Point too high, tho I mu&s;t &s;ay, <HI>Second Marriages</HI> (for the mo&s;t part) <HI>are a &s;ort of Who bids mo&s;t;</HI> for my own Share I am &s;uch an Ene|my to 'em, that I que&s;tion whether I &s;hall ever be brought to draw again in the <HI>Con|jugal Yoke.</HI> 'Tis &s;aid by one of the <HI>Rabbins</HI> concerning <HI>Methu&s;alah</HI>'s Wife, that &s;he had Nine Husbands in one for <HI>Age and Years,</HI> &s;o I may &s;ay of thee that I had <HI>Nine Wives</HI> in thee alone, for <HI>Matrimonial Sweetne&s;s and Love,</HI> and have no need to marry a Tenth.&mdash; 'Tis true, <HI>the World is a De&s;ert without the <HI>So|ciety of Women,</HI></HI> and my &s;elf no Enemy to 'em (as <HI>Argus</HI> thinks) but for all that they are <HI>[ay that they are]</HI> dan|gerous things to meddle with, e&s;pecially <HI>[for better for wor&s;e]</HI> what&s;oever Gold one be&s;tows upon Fetters, and how Glorious &s;o|ever Servitude may be, yet I per&s;wade my &s;elf, for all the Glittering Shew, that Shackles and Slavery are but a couple of bad Ma&s;ters, and therefore will dance no more to the Mu&s;ick of Fetters (except <HI>Phoenix</HI> like) from thy A&s;hes a <HI>New Eliza</HI> could ari&s;e, and then I can't &s;ay what I might do; for <HI>I love to look on thy Image,</HI> tho but in a Friend or Picture, and &s;hall ever receive thy Kindred with honourable Mention of thy Name.&mdash; Then no wonder (now you are dead) if I
<PB N="15" REF="8"> live and pine like the con&s;tant<NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">As is men|tion'd in the following <HI>E&s;&s;ay.</HI></NOTE> Turtle &mdash; <HI>Thy Love de&s;erves a great deal more.</HI> King <HI>Charles</HI> the I. told his Queen that he had never &s;trayed from her, either in <HI>Thought, Word,</HI> or <HI>Deed,</HI> and I am apt to believe him, for I am &s;uch a <HI>Platonick</HI> my &s;elf, as never to touch the Lip or Hand of a <HI>Lewd VVoman,</HI> and as much a|ver&s;e to a <HI>Second Marriage;</HI> Now <HI>Eli|za</HI>'s <HI>Dead I &s;hall fly the Sex in general;</HI> there's Pitch and Birdlime in their Lips and Fingers an Itch of Amourou&s;ne&s;s of Skin all over; <HI>Democrates</HI> put his Eyes out, to avoid the Sight of 'em:&mdash;The&s;e Patterns I de&s;ign to imitate, for thy Love was that <HI>Non&s;uch Love</HI> we were pre&s;t to in our <HI>Wedding Ser|mon;</HI> and I mu&s;t add, (as the unknown <HI>A|riadne</HI> told <HI>Leander</HI>)
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>&mdash; Thou art much above</L>
<L>The Vulgar World in Sence as well as Love.</L></Q></P>
<P>This was thy true <HI>Character,</HI> and I knew it too, which are two Ble&s;&s;ings that &s;eldom go together; but <HI>Miracles are cea&s;ed,</HI> and I mu&s;t not expect &s;uch another. We find the Fir&s;t Man <HI>Adam,</HI> the Righteous <HI>Lot,</HI> the Meek <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> the Philo&s;opher <HI>Crates,</HI> and the Ora|tor <HI>Cicero,</HI> were all either over-reach'd or afflicted with Women; and I am not &s;o &s;tu|pid to think I &s;hould meet with a better Fate, or find a <HI>Second Wife</HI> that can match the <HI>Fir&s;t.</HI></P>
<PB N="16" REF="9">
<P>But &s;hou'd I marry again, and meet with a Shrew&mdash; <HI>The General Pity</HI>&mdash; I &s;hou'd have from tho&s;e that knew how well thee and I lived, wou'd not be Vindication enough, I'd therefore (in my own Defence) write&mdash;<HI>A Parallel 'tween a good and a bad Wife, and prove (by a Narrative of her Carriage ev'ry day) that as a Ver|tuous Woman is a Crown to her Husband,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Prov.</HI> 12.4.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o &s;he that makes a&s;hamed is as Rot|tenne&s;s in his Bones</HI>&mdash; But God forbid I &s;hou'd meet with one, who&s;e Folly &s;hou'd urge me to this <HI>(for 'tis nothing but what's un&s;ufferable &s;hall ever do it)</HI> but if I &s;hou'd I'd lay the Saddle on the right Hor&s;e, and clear my <HI>Innocence</HI> in the <HI>Face of the Sun.</HI> If this works her <HI>Conver&s;ion, <HI>That's the Thing</HI></HI> I drive at.</P>
<P><HI>Oh! with what Joy wou'd I receive the Re|turning Prodigal!</HI></P>
<P>But this Happine&s;s I can't expect, for <HI>I</HI> am pretty &s;ure (from an In&s;tance in our Street) that the mo&s;t Soft, Con&s;tant, and exact Hu|mourings, wont cure a <HI>Grumbling Wife,</HI> or a <HI>Scraping Mi&s;er;</HI> &s;uch (having no other Cau&s;e for their Di&s;content) will quar|rel with their good Fortune, and &s;uffer even Happine&s;s it &s;elf to di&s;appoint them; I am told, <HI>Eliza,</HI> that the kinder I am to &s;uch a Wife (if 'tis my Fate to have her) the deeper &s;he'll <HI>bite;</HI> and if I oppo&s;e her &s;he'll <HI>rave,</HI> that &s;he'll make my very Love the Cau&s;e of her Hatred, or the occa&s;ion of &s;ome
<PB N="17" REF="9"> <HI>Mean-reflection,&mdash; A Prudent Wife</HI> (a) <HI>is from the Lord,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 19.14.</NOTE> but &s;uch a Spirit is from the Devil; &s;hould &s;uch a one be my fate <HI>(I mean a Devil in Petty-coats)</HI> what mu&s;t I do (for I am but <HI>Fle&s;h and Blood,</HI> and tho I can bear long, can't bear<NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="foot"><HI>The Prote&s;tant Mercury (Feb.</HI> 23. 1897) tells us, that an Ale-draper near <HI>Barnet,</HI> having the continual plague of a <HI>Scolding Wife,</HI> cut his own Throat la&s;t <HI>Sunday,</HI> chu|&s;ing rather to de&s;troy him&s;elf, than to live with &s;uch a <HI>Contentious Woman.</HI></NOTE> always?) I hope you'd &s;end &s;ome &s;tout Angel to tame her; I know you will if you can, but if not permitted, the Lord give me Patience, <HI>and when overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I</HI> (P&s;al. 61.2.) But methinks I hear thee reply, why <HI>(Phil.)</HI> are you aver&s;e to a &s;econd Marriage? for &s;uppo&s;e you &s;hou'd meet with a <HI>Brawling Zantip|pe</HI> (where you expected a kind Wife) yet you know <HI>Di&s;appointments are good &s;ometimes; <HI>be&s;ides 'tis your own fault, If which</HI></HI> Socrates, <HI>You don't learn more by a <HI>Scolding Wife,</HI> than by all the precepts of Philo&s;ophy. Con&s;ider,</HI> Phil. <HI>no man had all he de&s;ired in this Life, then if you marry again (as I de&s;ired you wou'd on my Death-bed) whether Spou&s;e be <HI>good</HI> or <HI>bad,</HI></HI>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>In that &s;tate be happy and rejoyce,</L>
<L>Which either is thy fate, or was thy choice.</L></Q> If your Wife be good, you'll be ready to fol|low this advice, but if bad, con&s;ider,</P>
<P N="1"><Q REND="margQuotes">(1.) That God hath a &s;pecial hand in this Affliction, <HI>he made the Match in Heaven before it was made on Earth,</HI> and therefore is to be eyed in all the con&s;equences that at|tend </Q></P>
<P N="2"><PB N="18" REF="10">
<Q REND="margQuotes">(2.) Con&s;ider tho this be a <HI>&s;harp Trial,</HI> yet it is for good where it is &s;anctified; a <HI>Furious Wife</HI> perhaps may drive you nearer to God, wean you from the World, keep you humble, and learn you to be piti|ful to others.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes"><HI>Again con&s;ider,</HI> That tho this Cro&s;s be heavy, yet <HI>Patience and contentedne&s;s</HI> will make it lighter; the more the Bea&s;t &s;trives the more the Yoke pinches him, the more quiet he is <HI>the le&s;s it hurts him.</HI> If this don't quiet your mind, then con&s;ider in the <HI>next place,</HI> that <HI>Death</HI> will &s;oon put an end to this Cro&s;s, <HI>it won't be long before you mu&s;t come to your</HI> Dear Eliza, <HI>the thoughts of which (I'm very &s;ure) will make death wel|come to</HI> Phil. <HI>and &s;upport him under all vexa|tions.</HI></Q> But if it does not, con&s;ider in the la&s;t place, you may ea&s;e your mind with thinking, <HI>all is righteou&s;ly ordered by God,</HI> and therefore all mu&s;t be content|edly undergone by you. Read Dr. <HI>Jacmob</HI>'s<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">In the &s;upplement to the Morning Exerci&s;e.</NOTE> Sermon, ('tas given your <HI>Eliza</HI> great Relief) and there you'l find <HI>how Chri&s;tians may learn in every &s;tate to be content.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> This is kind advice <HI>(My Dear) <HI>(and all of a piece with thy former love;)</HI></HI> but &s;hou'd I marry a <HI>Vixen</HI> after &s;uch a Wife as thou wert, <HI>I &s;hould &s;carce go further to &s;eek a Grave.</HI> 'Tis true, I have heard of tho&s;e that have <HI>weathered &s;uch a Point as this,</HI> that cou'd laugh fa&s;ter than their Wives &s;colded, and that under all their <HI>GRINS,</HI> cou'd fit <HI>like
<PB N="19" REF="10"> Patience, &s;miling at Grief;</HI> and by this (con|que&s;t of them&s;elves) got the Victory, but I am no Stoick! and much fear (tho the Heart is a tough thing) that I &s;hou'd <HI>&s;ink un|der &s;uch a Plague,</HI> not but I have more to &s;up|port me under &s;uch a Vexation than <HI>&s;ome I know;</HI> for it could not but be a very great &s;atisfaction to me, that I attempted (as to be &s;ure I &s;hould) to make <HI>a good Wife of a bad one;</HI> for this is to do <HI>my duty, which is its own reward,</HI> and the be&s;t pre&s;ervative again&s;t <HI>mur|muring, repining and di&s;pair</HI> and perhaps a pre&s;age that God would cut down the <HI>Crab|tree, or change its Qualities;</HI> and as it was in <HI>Job</HI>'s ca&s;e, <HI>make the latter end of my life more happy than the former.</HI> And who knows (my Dear) but <HI>the Sun that &s;ets may ri&s;e again,</HI> and there may be one opportunity more of making happy your mournful Spou&s;e, who lives (if he lives now you are dead?) on nought but <HI>Hopes.</HI></P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>And none can be unhappy, who,</L>
<L>'Mong&s;t all his Il<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">s, a Time does know,</L>
<L>Tho' nere &s;o ill, when he &s;hall not be &s;o.</L></Q>
<P>But I am weary of this Subject as much as I &s;hou'd be of <HI>a continual dropping in a very rainy day,</HI> to which <HI>Solomon</HI> compares a con|tentious Woman; for I am &s;atisfied, that it <HI>is better to dwelt on a Hou&s;e top alone, than in the fine&s;t Palace with &s;uch a Companion</HI> (Prov. 21.9.) But my Dear <HI>Eliza</HI> fully An&s;wers <HI>Solomon</HI>'s Character in the 30th of <HI>Proverbs,</HI> and has had no <HI>Equal &s;ince the World
<PB N="20" REF="11"> began.</HI> If any come near thee, 'tis the <HI>witty Cloris <HI>(mentioned in this E&s;&s;ay)</HI></HI> but &s;hees an <HI>Angel</HI> grown, and won't be tied to a <HI>Clod of Earth,</HI> or if &s;he wou'd, I'&s;e too much a Platonick to tell her <HI>Twice</HI> I am fle&s;h and blood; no my Dear, (tho the Re|verend Plenipotentiary that appeared once is generous enough to appear twice) yet now you are gone, I can ea&s;ily part with every thing; <HI>my leave now is &s;oon taken of all but my &s;elf</HI> &mdash; never did any man bid adieu to the World more ab&s;olutely and purely, and &s;hake hands with all Women in it, than I can do now thou art dead.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>I love Eliza, 'cau&s;e &s;he plea&s;es me,</L>
<L>And therefore only plea&s;es, 'cau&s;e 'tis &s;he.</L></Q>
<P>But I need not bring Arguments to prove I love you, &s;eeing your charity for me (whil&s;t on Earth) made you &s;ay, <Q REND="margQuotes">I out-lov'd every thing, <HI>and your &s;elf to <HI>Exce&s;s,</HI></HI> (as you expre&s;t it) if &s;uch a thing could be 'tween Man and Wife, But &s;o much for Love and Wedlock fir&s;t and &s;econd Marriages.</Q> I now return to the further contemplation of thy Vertues.</P>
<P>Thy Early Piety was nothing abated by thy <HI>Married Life:</HI> and to convince the World thou really wert that <HI>extraordinary Wife</HI> here|after de&s;cribed, I'le in&s;ert here what I find in one of thy <HI>Diaries,</HI> it being the <HI>Rules <HI>you Writ whil&s;t a Virgin,</HI></HI> and which you pun|ctually ob&s;erved for the <HI>whole time</HI> I was married to you. Your words were the&s;e, <HI>viz.</HI></P>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<PB N="21" REF="11">
<HEAD>What I intend to do, if it plea&s;e God to bring me into a Married State.</HEAD>
<P>FOr the Choice of a Husband, his <HI>Per&s;on</HI> &s;hall be &s;uch as I can <HI>entirely love and de|light in.</HI> His <HI>Humour,</HI> as near as I can judge, &s;uitable to mine; &s;o that we may delight in each others Company. I would not have him <HI>Ha&s;ty, nor Pa&s;&s;ionate, no not to others.</HI> A <HI>Com|petency of E&s;tate,</HI> &s;o that we may live, and not be beholding to Friends, is all I de&s;ire: <HI>For I do not, nor never did reckon, that the Comforts of ones Life, will, or doth con&s;i&s;t in having abun|dance of the World.</HI> I would chiefly, and above all, have one that doth truly fear God; not only <HI>a Profe&s;&s;or, but one that is &s;eriou&s;ly Godly,</HI> and who&s;e chief Delight is, as near as I can judge, and learn by others, in the things of God. <HI>I will, if I can po&s;&s;ibly, have my Judgment go before my Affection, in the Choice of a Hus|band.</HI> If it plea&s;e God my Parents live to &s;ee me married, I will not entertain any Di&s;|cour&s;e with any that I intend to marry, with|out their con&s;ent and liking. If I am able to keep <HI>Servants,</HI> they &s;hall be, as near as I can di&s;cover, and by enquiring, know of others, tho&s;e that truly fear God; at lea&s;t they &s;hall be Civilized. As for <HI>Men-&s;ervants,</HI> if I &s;hould marry a Citizen, I &s;hall think it
<PB N="22" REF="12"> <HI>my Duty, to let my Husband alone with them;</HI> but if he doth neglect his Duty to them, by not calling them to an Account, for the <HI>Sermons they hear, Reading,</HI> &amp;c. If I can't per|&s;wade him to it, I &s;hall then think I may, and mu&s;t take &s;ome care of their Souls. As for <HI>Maids,</HI> I'll, before ever I hire them, tell them, they mu&s;t go with me to hear at the &s;ame place I do; but if they are joyn'd with any others, then I'll let them go &s;ometimes there, and &s;ometimes with me. They &s;hall give an Account of what they hear, until the Affairs of my Family are &s;uch that I can't do it; <HI>They &s;hall read to me, at lea&s;t, once a day;</HI> or el&s;e I'll ask them about their Reading: for I &s;hall think it to <HI>be my Duty, when I take any into my Family, to take &s;ome care of their Souls,</HI> as well as for their Bodies, and to do all I can for their Souls good, by admoni&s;h|ing them, and giving them all the good Coun|cil I can, and giving all Encouragement I can in what is good. If they grow wicked and carele&s;s, and will not bear Reproof, I &s;hall look upon it my Duty to change them, and not to <HI>mind what People &s;ay of my fre|quent changing of Maids.</HI> David <HI>would not abide a Lyar in his &s;ight:</HI> and I am &s;ure that is mo&s;t plea&s;ing to God, to have, as near as I can, all in my Family that fear him, and delight in his ways. As for <HI>Children,</HI> if it plea&s;e God to ble&s;s me with them, I &s;hall look upon it to be my <HI>Duty, if I am able, to Nur&s;e them my &s;elf&punc;</HI> and to take all the care of them I can in their Infancy, and betimes to check the <HI>Buddings of Original Sin,</HI> by not
<PB N="23" REF="12"> encouraging of Revenge or Pride in them; and as &s;oon as they are able to learn, to teach them their <HI>Catechi&s;m,</HI> and what is good; but &s;o as not to tire them, but make it as plea|&s;ant to them as I can, by giving them all the Encouragement and Prai&s;e when they do well, and timely Correcting them when they do what is &s;inful.</P>
<P>As for my <HI>Carriage to my Husband,</HI> I &s;hall reckon it both Prudence and my Duty, to <HI>&s;tudy his Humour when we fir&s;t come toge|ther,</HI> and then to do all I can without &s;inning to plea&s;e and oblige him, to <HI>obey him in all things that are not contrary to the Commands of God.</HI> &mdash; If I &s;hould light on one that is <HI>wicked,</HI> I'll endeavour what I can by my Car|riage to <HI>engage his Affections throughly to me, and then to make u&s;e of that tye to engage him to God, and by my Christian Carriage to try what can be done to win him over to Chri&s;t by re|proving of him with all Meekne&s;s, and acknow|ledging my great Love to him, and that 'tis Love that makes me do it, and my de&s;ire of his being happy for ever.</HI> I &s;hall reckon it my Duty, if I have a good Man, to be <HI>willing to learn of him,</HI> and to do what we can to engage each other more entirely to God, to make u&s;e of our Love to one another, to inflame our Souls with Love to Chri&s;t. &mdash; Being convinced from <HI>Scripture and Rea&s;on</HI> that 'tis my Duty to give to the Poor, I now re&s;olve when I <HI>marry</HI> to give according to my ability. Tho' I cannot Re&s;olve upon any Sum, yet I'll give according to my Ability. &mdash; When I make any Provi&s;ions that I'de have kept, I'll give &s;ome to all in the Family,
<PB N="24" REF="13"> that &s;o I may not put 'em upon the <HI>Temptati|on of Stealing.</HI> And as for other Victuals they &s;hall have &s;ufficient, but none to wa&s;te if I can help it. This is a thing that I hate for People to repeat my words after me: I will not therefore allow any under my care to do it; and if ever it plea&s;e God that <HI>I keep Servants,</HI> I now re&s;olve to endeavour to do my Duty towards them, though they &s;hould not do theirs towards me, and to en|deavour con&s;cientio&s;ly to di&s;charge my Duty <HI>towards all Relations;</HI> begging of God that he would now help me to do it: O that I could now do all with an Eye to God, and be wil|ling always to be at his <HI>di&s;po&s;e in every thing.</HI></P>
<P>My Dear, by the&s;e your <HI>Rules</HI> for <HI>rendring Marriage happy</HI> may not only be &s;een what a &s;uitable Wife thou wert (for you fully pra|cti&s;ed 'em,) but al&s;o the happy Effects of a <HI>regular cour&s;e of <HI>Piety,</HI></HI> for certainly never was there &s;een <HI>(on a Sick bed)</HI> a greater <HI>In|&s;tance</HI> of a willing Re&s;ignation to the Will of God as to either <HI>Life or Death.</HI> &mdash; You would often &s;ay to Philaret, <HI>Oh my Dear, tis a &s;olemn thing to dye, but I can freely leave all the World but you,</HI> (and at &s;aying &s;o you would &s;till bur&s;t out into Tears,) you would &s;ay at other times &mdash; <HI>Sickne&s;s is no time to prepare for Death, were my work now to do, I were undone for ever.</HI> &mdash; Neither Marriage, nor the troubles of it could make thee le&s;s &s;erious than thou wert in thy Ver|gin-&s;tate. Thou mad'&s;t Con&s;cience of taking care, that the Incumbrances of this World &s;hould not make thee neglect the weighty
<PB N="25" REF="13"> Duties relating to the other. Thy Kindne&s;s to other Relations was not dimini&s;hed by a fond Affection to me at fir&s;t, as is u&s;ual with other <HI>Young Brides,</HI> becau&s;e thou did&s;t look upon due kindne&s;s to thy Relations as an act of Duty to thy Maker, and their <HI>Gene|rous Favours</HI> to me did mightily heighten your e&s;teem for them.</P>
<P>Thy <HI>Clo&s;et</HI> was the Withdrawing-room wherein thou did&s;t mo&s;t delight, becau&s;e there thou did&s;t entertain Communion with Heaven; and many times when thou <HI>retired&s;t thither in &s;adne&s;s,</HI> thou came&s;t out again re|fre&s;hed.</P>
<P>Oh how it pierces my Soul to think I have lo&s;t &s;uch an Heavenly Companion, <HI>an Help|meet indeed,</HI> not only as to the things of this World, but as to tho&s;e of another? How Fervent were thy Prayers for my Self, and all thy other Relations, for the Church of God, and mankind in general?</P>
<P><HI>How &s;ea&s;onable have I found thy directions to my &s;elf when under affliction?</HI> And how pow|erful have I found thy Joint-prayers to our Common God and Saviour.</P>
<P><HI>Thy Devotion</HI> had more of Seriou&s;ne&s;s than Pomp, and the Sea&s;ons of it many times &s;toln to avoid <HI>O&s;tentation,</HI> not like tho&s;e <HI>fluttering Women,</HI> who will be &s;ure to fre|quent Publick-Prayers <HI>Morning and Evening,</HI> and hug their Prayer Books in their Hands as they walk the Streets, and <HI>tuffle</HI> them over in their Clo&s;ets, <HI>without any thing el&s;e that looks like Religion in the whole Cour&s;e of their Lives.</HI> Thy Clo&s;et was furni&s;hed with
<PB N="26" REF="14"> the <HI>Holy</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Wherein thou ha&s;t marked a milion of re|markable Texts.</NOTE> <HI>Bible</HI> and Practical Books, in&s;tead of Dead, Lifele&s;s Formu|laries, Play-Books and Romances.</P>
<P>When thou came&s;t from thy <HI>Retirements,</HI> it was perceptible to thy Family that thou had&s;t been with God; <HI>thy fir&s;t Vi&s;it in the Morning was to Heaven,</HI> and the &s;weet &s;mell of that was not to be worn off by <HI>any</HI> other Vi&s;its throughout the day: Thou wa&s;t like <HI>Martha,</HI> not &s;lothful in bu&s;ine&s;s, and at the &s;ame time like <HI>Mary, fervent in Spirit &s;er|ving the Lord.</HI> &mdash; Thou knewe&s;t that thy Soul was more excellent than thy Body, and therefore did&s;t &s;pend the chief of thy time about the affairs of Eternity, and wa&s;t more frequent at thy Prayers, than at the <HI>Toilet or Gla&s;s;</HI> the Review of which made thee &s;ay (in thy la&s;t &s;ickne&s;s) &mdash; <Q REND="margQuotes">were my work now to do, I were undone for ever.</Q></P>
<P><HI>Thy Carriage in thy Family was Mild and Gentle,</HI> not provoking but encouraging to Servants, both by <HI>Example and Precept.</HI> Thou &s;hewed&s;t thy Goodne&s;s by thy <HI>dutiful behaviour to my &s;elf,</HI> and remembred&s;t that thou wa&s;t a <HI>Subject</HI> as well as a Companion and did&s;t exactly re&s;emble <HI>Sarah</HI> and <HI>Rachel,</HI> in thy loving and dutiful deportment to|wards me; thou did&s;t bear with my Infirmi|ties, covered&s;t them in love, did&s;t not run to this Neighbour, and that with abu&s;ive or &s;illy &s;tories <HI>(a)</HI> but overcam'&s;t me by gentle <NOTE PLACE="foot"><Q REND="margQuotes"><L>He that will but one <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">de hear,</L>
<L>Tho he judge right, is no good Ju&s;ticer. <BIBL><HI>Herbert.</HI></BIBL></L></Q></NOTE>
<PB N="27" REF="14"> Exhor|tations and Intreaties, <HI>and in all thy Pray|ers my Soul was minded as thy own.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Thy Words nor Carriage</HI> were never di&s;re|&s;pectful to me. <HI>Tho thou wert 'kin to a <HI>No|ble Family</HI> yet the Blood that fill'd thy Veins</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>How</HI>'s Sermon at Mrs. <HI>Ham|mond</HI>'s Funeral.</NOTE> <HI>did not &s;well thy Mind.</HI> Thou wa&s;t always ready to gratifie me in all my law|ful reque&s;ts, and thoughte&s;t nothing below thee that might tend to my &s;atisfaction and advantage.</P>
<P>When I was abroad thou longe&s;t to &s;ee me, and wheh I returned home, <HI>I was received with Smiles.</HI> If at any time I was <HI>perplexed in mind, thou wa&s;t not quiet till I was &s;o too.</HI> Thy Sympathy with me in all the Di&s;tre&s;&s;es of my Life, <HI>(both at Sea and Land)</HI> will make thy Vertues &s;hine with the greater Lu&s;tre, as Stars in the darke&s;t Night, and a&s;|&s;ure the World you lov'd me, not my For|tunes.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>Fair cour&s;e of Pa&s;&s;ions where two Lovers &s;tart,</L>
<L>And run together Heart thus yok'd in Heart.</L></Q>
<P>In my Health thou loved&s;t me as a Wife, and in my Sickne&s;s attended'&s;t me as a Nur&s;e.</P>
<P><HI><HI>My Head no &s;ooner ak'd, but thy Heart felt it; and had I faln Sick (in your dying
<PB N="28" REF="15"> Hour) you'd e'en then have</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg"><HI>Eliza</HI> &s;pake often to this Effect in her la&s;t Sickne&s;s.</NOTE> <HI>crawl'd up Stairs to have &s;een me.</HI></HI></P>
<P>Thou wa&s;t afflicted with all my Sorrows, and delighted with all my Joys. When <HI>Man and Wife</HI> love &s;o little, that the one is uncon|cern'd in the others Tryals, there follows a <HI>Hell of Di&s;quiet in the Mind,</HI> a <HI>greater Clog up|on the Con&s;cience than Man is able to bear,</HI> and ordinarily a <HI>Bla&s;t upon the E&s;tate,</HI> be&s;ides Guilt and Shame un&s;peakable; but thou (like a Wife, who &s;tudied duty, in order to practice) did&s;t not expect God would ble&s;s thee in <HI>any thing,</HI> whil&s;t you &s;aw me unea|&s;ie, and did not attempt to remove it, <HI>or le&s;&s;en it, by taking part of the Grief. And indeed all our Di&s;tre&s;&s;es of Body and Mind were &s;o equally divided, that all yours were mine, and all mine were yours;</HI> we remembred we married <HI>for better for wor&s;e, for richer for poorer,</HI> and that we were <HI>one Fle&s;h,</HI> and therefore were no more offended with the <HI>Words</HI> or <HI>Failings,</HI> and <HI>Wants</HI> of each other, than we wou'd have been, had they been our own. And this made thee as careful to conceal my Lo&s;&s;es, as thou wa&s;t forward to repair them.</P>
<P><HI>A Woman of Sen&s;e knows &s;he mu&s;t &s;hine by her Husband's Honour, and mu&s;t be darkned if he &s;uffer an Eclip&s;e;</HI> and therefore did'&s;t ne|ver keep this Joynture for the &s;ake of thy
<PB N="29" REF="15"> <HI>Husband,</HI> that Hou&s;e for the &s;ake of a <HI>Brother,</HI> and this Bag for the &s;ake of &s;ome <HI>She-Cou&s;in; <HI>no,</HI></HI> if my Occa&s;ions requir'd it, they were all forc'd into my Lap with&mdash;<HI>My dear, I re|joyce I am able to &s;erve thee, and as long as I have it, 'tis all thine.</HI> In this you imitate Madam <HI>C&mdash;y,</HI> who &s;old her E&s;tate <HI>(unask'd)</HI> to oblige her Spou&s;e, and indeed the <HI>De&s;ign of Jointures,</HI> is to defend again&s;t bad Husbands, and not to ruin tho&s;e that are Sober, and wou'd be Hone&s;t if their Wives wou'd let them; and therefore did&s;t often &s;ay, <HI>What does a Jointure &s;ignifie to a Woman that loves her Husband?</HI> Thou wert not <HI>Sordidly</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">As is hin|ted in the fol|lowing Pages.</NOTE> Covetous (or as <HI>Cowely</HI> calls it) <HI>&s;o Empha|tically poor,</HI> as to talk of want|ing in the mid&s;t of Plenty; under all my Di&s;tre&s;&s;es thy <HI>Motto</HI> was&mdash; <HI>God will provide.</HI></P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><LG>
<L>When I into thy <HI>Clo&s;et</HI> look,</L>
<L>Wherein you greate&s;t Plea&s;ure took,</L>
<L>I find i'th' Front of every Book,</L>
<L><HI>God will provide.</HI></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Let an <HI>Anatomi&s;t</HI> with Art</L>
<L>Di&s;&s;ect each Member, and each Part;</L>
<L>He'll find this written on thy Heart,</L>
<L><HI>God will provide.</HI></L>
</LG></Q>
<P><HI>God will provide</HI>&mdash;was ever in thy Mouth (as a Cordial to ea&s;e thy <HI>Cares and Mine)</HI> &mdash;This encourag'd thee to a <HI>generous Charity</HI> &mdash; with this you cheer'd the Spirits
<PB N="30" REF="16"> of tho&s;e that had lo&s;t their <HI>Friends and E|&s;tates</HI>&mdash;'twas from this we both of us received a <HI>fre&s;h and full</HI> Supply under all the <HI>Lo&s;&s;es</HI> we ever met with; and in a word 'twas to this <HI>Motto,</HI> and your <HI>Prayers</HI> for me, that (in &s;ome mea&s;ure) I owe all the Ble&s;&s;ings I now en|joy, or hope to receive hereafter.</P>
<P>How oft would you chear <HI>Philaret</HI> with &s;aying; <Q REND="margQuotes">See how the <HI>Birds</HI> of the Air do all depend upon God! and the <HI>Sparrow</HI> that hath dined, and knows not where to get his Supper, yet chearfully waits on <HI>Divine Providence,</HI> and &s;hall not we? God hath <HI>(my Dear) <HI>Provided</HI></HI> for us hitherto, then why &s;hould we mi&s;tru&s;t he will not <HI>pro|vide</HI> for us for the future?&mdash;Our Unbe|lief indeed may make him hold his Hand, and hinder him from doing any mighty Work for us; but what can we fear, if in the U&s;e of <HI>Lawful Means</HI> we throw our &s;elves upon him? How often have we been in Straits and Exigencies, and God hath found &s;ome way or other to deliver us? and &s;hall we by our Unbelief hinder him from wor|king &s;uch another Deliverance for us? Of how many Men have we read and heard that have tru&s;ted God in de&s;pight of all Improbabilities, and God hath &s;uccour'd and a&s;&s;i&s;ted them beyond all Expectation? How oft would you &s;ay, Come <HI>Phil.</HI> we do not want for the pre&s;ent, why &s;hould we believe we &s;hall want hereafter, when we know not whether we &s;hall live a Day to an end? <HI>Come, come, tho your Bag is empty to Day, 'twill be fill'd to Morrow.</HI> You never yet wanted Money when you had occa&s;ion to u&s;e it; tho&s;e unexpected Friends
<PB N="31" REF="16"> I met with when you were in <HI>America</HI> &s;hould cure us of all Di&s;tru&s;t of Providence; be&s;ides, what did we ever get by immode|ate Carckings, but torment of Mind? Is it not much &s;weeter to re&s;t upon <HI>God's Good|ne&s;s,</HI> and enjoy Content? We are never the nearer a Supply when we have afflicted and vex'd our Minds, and why &s;hould we put our Spirits into an Agony for nothing&mdash; <HI>Re&s;t &s;atisfied,</HI> (Phil.) <HI>God will <HI>provide</HI></HI>&mdash;This was your<NOTE N="*" PLACE="foot">Which you learnt from Dr. <HI>Horneck</HI>'s great Law of Con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">derati|ons, <HI>Pag.</HI> 320.</NOTE> Advice to me in all my Straits;</Q> <HI>Then how much &s;hould this endear thy Memory to me?</HI> And as thou did&s;t perform the Duty of a tender <HI>Wife,</HI> by thus ea&s;ing me of my Worldly Cares, &s;o this made me <HI>(for a kind Wife makes a kind Husband)</HI> ready to part <HI>with Garment</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot">My voluntary and frequent Engagements for <HI>Eli|za</HI>'s Si&s;ter is a convincing Proof of this.</NOTE> <HI>after Garment, &s;trip my &s;elf to my Skin; yea, Mortgage my very Fle&s;h to &s;erve thee.</HI> You know, my dear, I did not pretend Af|fection, and carry on two Intere&s;ts, and I'll &s;ay this for <HI>Eliza,</HI> that &s;he wan't <HI>fal&s;e</HI> enough (her &s;elf) to mi&s;tru&s;t me in any thing, but &s;o <HI>Remarkably kind,</HI> that I mu&s;t turn your own Words upon you, and &s;ay; <Q REND="margQuotes">That I have met with more and greater Comforts in a Marry'd State than ever I did expect, and how <HI>(as you expre&s;s'd it)</HI> cou'd it be other|wi&s;e, when Inclination, Intere&s;t, and all that can be de&s;ired, concurr to make up the Harmony:</Q> So that were thy <HI>Tender|ne&s;s</HI> known to the World, 'twou'd <HI>once more bring into Fa&s;hion Womens loving and tru&s;ting their Husbands.</HI> My Dear,
<PB N="32" REF="17">
'twas thus throughly performing thy Duty as a <HI>Wife</HI> that gave thee Peace on thy Death|bed, and &s;uch <HI>Hopes of Heaven,</HI> as has &s;carce been heard of.</P>
<P>In a word, thou wert &s;uch a Wife as fully an&s;wer'd the De&s;cription of a good Hou&s;ewife given by <HI>Solomon.</HI></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes"><HI>[My Heart did &s;afely tru&s;t in thee, be|cau&s;e I knew thou would&s;t do me Good, and not Evil]</HI> thou wert true to my <HI>BED,</HI> did&s;t di&s;cover <HI>P &mdash; ps, W &mdash; t,</HI> and all that attempted thy Cha|&s;tity; and as true to my <HI>P&V;RSE,</HI> did&s;t not deceive and cozen<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Whole Duty of Man, <HI>P. 301.</HI></NOTE> me,</Q> by imploying my Goods to &s;uch U&s;es as <Q REND="margQuotes">I allowed not of. <HI>[You work'd willingly with your Hands]</HI> witne&s;s your <HI>Curious Bed;</HI> to this I might add,</Q> you did that in my Ware|hou&s;e in a <HI>Months</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Whil&s;t I was at <HI>Tunbridge,</HI> in the Year <HI>1696.</HI></NOTE> <HI>time,</HI> which I could &s;carce have done <Q REND="margQuotes">in a Year &mdash; <HI>[You ro&s;e while 'twas yet Night;]</HI> did&s;t often 'wake me out of my Sleep by thy early Devotions. <HI>[You look'd well to the way of my Hou&s;hold,]</HI> and eat not the Bread of Idlene&s;s; &s;uch you was&mdash;<HI>but where is &s;uch another?</HI> For <HI>Solomon</HI> him&s;elf, who had try'd as many as mo&s;t, &s;ays, after all, <HI>Who can find a vertuous Woman?</HI> And therefore, when I had thee, <HI>I made as much of thee as ever I could,</HI> for I thought I &s;hould never get &s;uch another.</Q></P>
<PB N="33" REF="17">
<P>Being ble&s;s'd with &s;uch a Wife as lov'd both <HI>God and me;</HI> <Q REND="margQuotes">I was ea&s;ie when abroad, and de|lighted to be at home. Were there nothing be|twixt us but Sea and Land; or if thou wert to be found in the remote&s;t parts of the Earth, the Raging Seas, and howling Wilderne&s;s, &s;hould not keep us a&s;under.</Q> <HI>Nor &s;hould the mo&s;t dange|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ous Rocks and Shelves, nor the fierce&s;t of wild Bea&s;ts deter me from undertaking the Voyage or Journey; but our Separation is of another Kind, and not to be remedied till this Earthly Tabernacle</HI> <Q REND="margQuotes"><HI>be di&s;&s;olv'd.</HI> But cou'd I &s;ee thee again on Earth, (but why &s;hould I have &s;uch a vain Wi&s;h?) <HI>I &s;hould think my &s;elf &s;till in Paradice, or had met with this Life but as an Earne&s;t of the Happier to come.</HI> Again, <HI>When I con&s;ider the Calm|ne&s;s and Quietne&s;s of thy Temper <HI>[How thy Mouth was opened with Wi&s;dom, and the Law of Kindne&s;s was in thy Tongue]</HI></HI> I cannot but pity the Unhappi|ne&s;s of their Lot, who have Wives of a <HI>Boi&s;terous Temper,</HI> that &s;peak whate|ver their Pa&s;&s;ion and ill Nature &s;ugge&s;ts, to the di&s;quieting of others, and fretting their own Bowels, you avoided this <HI>Brawling and Di&s;content,</HI> which makes the <HI>Wife (as the Duty</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 301.</NOTE> <HI>of Man tells us)</HI> the Burthen and Plague of the Man, in&s;tead of a Help and Comfort. Thou knewe&s;t, my Dear, if 'twas a Fault to carry it rudely to Stran|gers, 'twas a much greater to carry it &s;o to thy Husband, to whom a greater Affection is due. <HI>How many Men</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Whole Duty of Man, <HI>p. 302.</HI></NOTE> <HI>to avoid the noi&s;e of a froward Wife
<PB N="34" REF="18"> fall to Company-keeping, Poverty, and a Mul|titude of Mi&s;chiefs.</HI> But thy winning Carri|age kept me from the&s;e Evils; thou wert no <HI>Fool, Go&s;&s;ip, or Scold,</HI> did&s;t never <HI>TH&V;N|DER</HI> away my Friends, or fright them with <HI>WRY FACES. A meek and a quiet Spirit is a va&s;t Ornament to Religion, and of great Va|lue in the Sight of God and Man.</HI></Q></P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>All we know, o'th' ble&s;t above,</L>
<L>Is that they &s;ing, and that they love.</L>
<L><HI>Herbert.</HI></L></Q>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">Then why &s;hould they that hope to live in one and the &s;ame Glo|ry,<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg"><HI>See Mr.</HI> Ro|ger's <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e call'd</HI> Fall not out by the Way.</NOTE> now Revile, or reflect upon one another? All their differences will be compos'd when they arrive there; and why &s;hould they now differ? There <HI>Luther,</HI> and <HI>Calvin,</HI> and Dr. <HI>Owen,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> will be all of one Mind; there will be no mi&s;-under&s;tanding of one another in Heaven, nor no giving of <HI>Ill Words;</HI> no thinking the Wife Di&s;tracted, or calling the Husband <HI>N&mdash; gate,</HI> but all will be as kind and friendly there, as <HI>Eliza</HI> was to her <HI>Philaret;</HI> and I think they can &s;carce be more, for you were <HI>Mi&s;tre&s;s in the Art of Obliging,</HI> in which you at|tain'd that <HI>Soveraign Perfection</HI> that you reign'd over all Hearts, with whom you did <HI>conver&s;e.</HI> And this brings me, in the next Place, to con&s;ider thy Words.</Q></P>
<PB N="35" REF="18">
<P><HI>Thy Words were far from being idle or affe|cted,</HI> but always u&s;eful to the Edification of others; nay, I may truly &s;ay it, that thou had'&s;t neither a <HI>Thought, a Word, nor a Look,</HI> contrary to the &s;trict Rules of Vertue. How far wert thou from receiving or delighting in Tale-bearers, who &s;eparate chief Friends &mdash; or in entertaining Vi&s;iters with cen&s;ures upon the Failures of other Women, which is too much the Practice now adays. <HI>Talkativene&s;s, the common Failure of the Sex, was no ble|mi&s;h of thine;</HI> thou wert far from Monopo|lizing all Conver&s;ation to thy &s;elf, but wert readier to hear than to &s;peak. And could'&s;t bear of hearing thy Faults, <HI>(if thou had&s;t any)</HI> without thinking thy &s;elf affronted; neither cou'd the Greate&s;t Abu&s;e make thee <HI>impla|cable,</HI> as knowing 'twas the <HI>Glory of Man and Woman to pa&s;s by Infirmities;</HI> for as we pray daily to God to pa&s;s by our own, &s;o God expects the &s;ame from us one to another.</P>
<P>Thy Vi&s;its were not tedious nor trivial, but de&s;ign'd for the Advantage of <HI>Conver&s;a|tion,</HI> and the Continuance of Friend&s;hip; and when thou wert vi&s;ited thy &s;elf, thou en|tertain'&s;t thy Friends not with a &s;tarch'd Formality, or fooli&s;h impertinent Trifles, but with &s;omething that might be u&s;eful to their Minds, as well as to exerci&s;e their <HI>Tongues.</HI></P>
<P><HI>How &s;erious were thy Preparations for Pub|lick Wor&s;hip,</HI> and how much concern'd to have thy Family deliver'd from tho&s;e Incum|brances which might hinder them to attend the &s;ame; thy Care to have thy Soul in readi|ne&s;s, to hear what God had to &s;ay, was grea|ter
<PB N="36" REF="19"> than that of having thy Body adorn'd, con|trary to the common Practi&s;e of our Age. <HI>How attentive wa&s;t thou when at Sermons?</HI> and with what Greedine&s;s did&s;t thou &s;uck in the <HI>Sincere Milk of the Word,</HI> and how Con&s;cien|tious to &s;ee that thy Servants took heed to what they heard, and that they perform'd their Duty to God as well as to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">e. &mdash; Neither did&s;t thou think to <HI>compound with Heaven,</HI> by being thus <HI>zealous in Religious Duties,</HI> that thou may'&s;t <HI>Slander, Co|vet, Lie,</HI> and act other Sins with the greater Freedom here, (and in other Places) <HI>none</HI> but the <HI>Guilty</HI> are meant, and none but &s;uch will <HI>wince;</HI> but the&s;e <HI>(Eliza)</HI> will have more Wit than to publi&s;h their <HI>Guilt,</HI> by declaring their <HI>Innocence.</HI></P>
<P><HI>The Exten&s;ivene&s;s of thy Charity is another Character, which endears thy Memory, and makes it precious to me, as well as to many o|thers, who felt the Effects of it.</HI> How like to the <HI>Author of all Good</HI> did that excellent Grace make thee, and how did it Adorn thy Holy Profe&s;&s;ion. <HI>Diony&s;ius</HI> the Tyrant won|der'd at his Son, that with all the Gold and Silver he had in his Hou&s;e, he had made no Man his Friend; but thou wa&s;t innocently frugal, that thou might'&s;t be <HI>boun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ifully Cha|ritable.</HI> And the Truth is, the <HI>be&s;t and &s;ure&s;t way</HI> to have any <HI>outward Mercy,</HI> is to be con|tent to want it, or to make good U&s;e of what we have; when Men's De&s;ires are over eager after the World, thy mu&s;t have <HI>&s;o much a Year, and a Hou&s;e well furni&s;h'd,</HI> or el&s;e they will not be content; God u&s;ually, if not
<PB N="37" REF="19"> con&s;tantly breaks their Wills, by denying them, or el&s;e puts a Sting into them, that a Man had been as good he had been with|out them. If a Man have but a little Income, if he have a great Ble&s;&s;ing, (and like <HI>Eliza,</HI>) have a Heart to do Good with the little he has; that's enough to make it up; alas! we mu&s;t not account Mercies by the bulk, <HI>what if another have a Pound to my Ounce, if mine be Gold for his Silver, I will never change with him.</HI> 'Twas you, <HI>my Dear,</HI> that cro&s;s'd the Proverb, <HI>That Fortune &s;ees not where &s;he be&s;tows her Gifts;</HI> that mo&s;t commonly they fall to the Share of tho&s;e who have not Hearts to u&s;e them; for your <HI>Great Charity</HI> brought that exellent Character upon you, of being <HI>Kind and Generous</HI> beyond others&mdash;you'd often &s;ay, <HI>We</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 6.7.</NOTE> <HI>brought nothing into this World, and &s;hall carry nothing out;</HI> &s;o did all the Good you could whil&s;t you liv'd in this; imita|ting Sir <HI>John Frederick, who made his own Hands his Executors, and his Eyes the Over|&s;eers.&mdash;<HI>'Tis ob&s;erved that Covetou&s;|ne&s;s is the only Sin that grows young as Men grow old;</HI></HI> But 'twas not &s;o in you; you liv'd in the World &s;o much a|bove it, as was an Evidence of the Real <HI>Greatne&s;s</HI> of your Soul, and that you thought that a little thing wherein others place <HI>Great|ne&s;s,</HI> this made <HI>Charity &s;o natural to you, that 'twas &s;carce a Vertue.</HI> There was in your Nature an Aver&s;ion to a <HI>Covetous Per&s;on, as he is one which the Lord abhorts. <HI>P&s;al.</HI></HI> 10.3.</P>
<PB N="38" REF="20">
<P>When I read, <HI>That 'tis ea&s;ier</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Mat. 19.24.</NOTE> <HI>for a Camel to enter thro the Eye of a Needle, than for a rich Man, who &s;ets his Heart on his Riches, to enter into Heaven,</HI> I am almo&s;t frighted with the Expre&s;&s;ion. Cou'd <HI>Ari&s;tippus</HI> throw his Gold into the Sea, and &s;ay, <HI>It's better I &s;hou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">d, drown thee than that thou &s;hould&s;t undo me; and &s;hall I who have one Foot in the Grave, be a Slave to my Wealth. I com|plain of my</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Horneck.</NOTE> <HI>Neighbour for being hard hearted, and un|kind to People in Di&s;tre&s;s; and is that a Vertue in me which is Vice in another?</HI></P>
<P>A good Bi&s;hop (&s;ays a late Writer) cou'd have preached an <HI>Hour</HI> together, in &s;aying nothing but <HI>Beware of Covetou&s;ne&s;s;</HI> And &s;o charitable was <HI>Dear Eliza,</HI> that her <HI>whole Life <HI>&s;eem'd to be one continued Satyr again&s;t A|varice.</HI></HI> You dur&s;t not rake together what you cou'd in your Life, to bequeath it to <HI>your &s;elf</HI> at your Death. I &s;ay, to <HI>your &s;elf;</HI> for who that has <HI>half a Soul,</HI> wou'd creep to a Mi&s;er all his Life for Wealth he may lo&s;e with the next Breath, neither will he obtain it if the Wretch can carry it to the other World, as is &s;een by the following In&s;tan|ces. <HI>Hermocrates</HI> (a <HI>Grecian</HI> Philo&s;opher) dying, bequeathed all his E&s;tate to <HI>him&s;elf,</HI> his Mind being fix'd immoveably on the Tra&s;h he had &s;craped together.&mdash;And <HI>Cardinal Angelot</HI> was &s;o wrapt up in Covetou&s;ne&s;s, as by a Trap-Door to get into his Stable, and &s;o &s;teal the Corn his Groom had given his Hor&s;es. <HI>And I knew one my &s;elf &s;o wretched|ly covetous, as to &s;teal Candle-ends in the Church
<PB N="39" REF="20"> (after Evening Lesture was over) to &s;erve his Occa&s;ions at home; and this he did, tho worth &s;overal Thou&s;and Pound. <HI>Well, what &s;hall we &s;ay?</HI></HI></P>
<P>There is (&s;aith the <HI>Wi&s;e Man</HI>) a Man, <HI>to whom</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Eccl. 24.4.</NOTE> <HI>God hath gi|ven Riches, Wealth and Honour, &s;o that he wanteth nothing for his Soul of all he de&s;ireth, yet God giveth him not Power to eat thereof, but a Stranger eateth it, This is Vanity, and an evil Di&s;ea&s;e.</HI> 'Tis clear from hence, (that <HI>tho a little &s;ufficeth Nature, and le&s;s Grace</HI> yet) that <HI>Covetou&s;ne&s;s</HI> is ne|ver &s;atisfied, and is certainly cur&s;t. The con|tented Man is never poor let him have never &s;o little. The Di&s;contented Man is never rich, let him have never &s;o much. Tho I have a <HI>Iu&s;t</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See the Ca&s;e of the <HI>Young Lady,</HI> P. <HI>40</HI></NOTE> <HI>Title</HI> to 6000 <HI>l.</HI> (as may<NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">THAT'S ONCE.</NOTE> appear in Conjunction with my own <HI>Birth-right</HI>) and &s;o much clear from any Encumbrance, and have neither <HI>Child nor Chick</HI> to wa&s;te it, and my &s;elf as great an Enemy to <HI>Extravagance, as to what's Sneaking;</HI> yet if I an't contented with this E&s;tate, I am poorer than he that begs, if content with the Scraps he gets.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>Content is all we aim at with our Store,</L>
<L>And having that with little, what needs more?</L></Q>
<P>But the <HI>Covetous</HI> or <HI>Di&s;conted Man</HI> (for they are all one) always thinks him&s;elf mi&s;erable, and &s;o he can never be happy. But <HI>Eliza</HI>
<PB N="40" REF="21"> was none of the&s;e, had nothing in her <HI>mean or little;</HI> no, <HI>my Dear,</HI> had thy <HI>Pur&s;e</HI> been as large as thy <HI>Heart, you'd ne'er been rich whil&s;t any Man was poor;</HI> and I am &s;ure <HI>Eliza,</HI> you had more <HI>Piety</HI> than to think your &s;elf undone, had we lo&s;t all but <HI>one another.</HI> Would the Mi&s;er<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Dr. <HI>Hor|neck</HI>'s Great Law of Con&s;ideration.</NOTE> <HI>&s;tudy Eternity, he'd &s;ee 'tis little material to him whe|ther he is Poor or Rich:</HI> Your <HI>Generous Temper, Eli|za,</HI> might fully convince him of this. Nei|ther was thy <HI>Exten&s;ive Charity</HI> any Let to <HI>thy &s;trict Ju&s;tice,</HI> or to the <HI>Punctual Performance</HI> of <HI>all thy Promi&s;es</HI> in thy Dealings with Men; you knew that none mu&s;t dwell in the &mdash; <HI>HOLY</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>P&s;al.</HI> 15.1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>HILL&mdash;but tho&s;e that walk uprightly, and &s;peak the Truth in their Heart, <HI>(at lea&s;t to the be&s;t of their Knowledge)</HI></HI> and therefore thy Promi&s;es (<HI>like the Laws of the</HI> Medes <HI>and</HI> Per&s;ians) were unalterable; neither cou'd <HI>Pa&s;&s;ion, Intere&s;t,</HI> or the <HI>Greatest Affronts</HI> (either <HI>Pretended</HI> or Real) make thee break 'em; and I thought thy keep|ing thy Word none of the lea&s;t of thy Ex|cellencies &mdash; for <HI>Promi&s;es are Sacred Things,</HI> as appears by this. <Q REND="margQuotes">If I invite a<NOTE N="&dtristar;" PLACE="marg"><P>'Tis common for &s;il|ly Women to underva|lue their Husband's E|&s;tate; tho &s;uperi|or to their own, or atlea&s;t not inferiour to the ac|count given, and to bla&s;t that Reputation that &s;up|ports them, I &s;ay, <HI>Sup|ports them,</HI> for Man and Wife are <HI>In&s;eparable</HI> in all they enjoy or &s;uffer. The&s;e <HI>In&s;tances</HI> are common in &s;ome Coun|ties, as will appear by the following Pa&s;&s;age in Mr. <HI>J&mdash;n</HI>'s Letter to his Client, for it runs thus. <HI>I receiv'd yours, and am now to tell you I cou'd not have an An&s;wer from</HI> M&mdash; <HI>till la&s;t</HI> Monday, <HI>but now I have an Ac|count of Mr.</HI> Carter|&s;on<HI>'s E&s;tate according to his own Particu|lars; which is all at pre&s;ent from&mdash;your Servant</HI>&mdash;J&mdash;n</P>
<P>&mdash; Could it ever be thought that any Parent that had received &s;uch an <HI>Ample Account</HI> from <HI>her own Creature,</HI> would <HI>privately</HI> have le&s;&s;en'd her Kin&s;man's E&s;tate. But thus was this Gentleman &s;erv'd, tho his Lands in pre&s;ent <HI>Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion and Re|ver&s;ion</HI> may be worth <HI>Four Thou&s;and Pound,</HI> notwith&s;tanding his great Lo&s;&s;es at Sea, by Sureti|&s;hips, by lending Moneys to a di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Friend, and paying &s;ome Hundred Pounds for Fines and a decea&s;ed Heir.</P></NOTE> <HI>La|dy</HI> to my Hou&s;e, and tell her if &s;he marries my Son, I'll give him 4000 <HI>l.</HI> at my <HI>Death.</HI> If this Promi&s;e was to en|courage
<PB N="41" REF="21"> the Match. If I fly from it when effected, I live in a <HI>known Sin,</HI> which <HI>(without Repentance)</HI> is certain <HI>Damnati|on,</HI> and the pre&s;ent bla&s;ting my Reputa|tion, as I'm charge|able with all the <HI>Dammages,</HI> attend|ing the Breach of my Promi&s;e, which was &s;o &s;olemnly made, that I told the Lady I'd make it good <HI>under my own Hand,</HI> in ca&s;e I marry'd; and 'tis no Gift, but <HI>plain Iu&s;tice,</HI> if I do &s;o; &s;eeing this <HI>Ladys</HI> tru&s;t+ing to my Word, made her reject tho&s;e
<PB N="42" REF="22"> would have made her <HI>Rich and Ea&s;ie;</HI> from all which 'tis plain, that Promi&s;es made by <HI>Word</HI><NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">As I may prove here|after from an Origi|nal <HI>Letter.</HI></NOTE> <HI>or Let|ter,</HI> tho they are not binding at the <HI>Lawyers Bar,</HI> yet are &s;o in the <HI>Court of Con&s;cience;</HI> neither can any <HI>&s;mall Pett,</HI> taken with or without Cau&s;e, Cancel the fir&s;t Promi&s;e any more than the private Lyes of a Wife or a ha&s;ty Word can <HI>untie the Marriage Knot.</HI> They that doubt this to be <HI>Scripture,</HI> let them read <HI>Nehe|miah</HI> 5th. from the 11th to the 14th Ver&s;e, which is &s;uch Advice as I took my &s;elf; for (you know <HI>Eliza</HI>) being once blamed for not <HI>performing a Promi&s;e,</HI> made by my own Father, (which I rejected, as made again&s;t my Con|&s;ent) but afterwards finding His Promi&s;e nece&s;&s;ary, I fulfill'd it to the Per&s;ons Con|tent: How much more then is a <HI>Promi&s;e</HI> binding which is made by <HI>my &s;elf,</HI> confirm'd by <HI>Letter,</HI> and repeated in the hearing of &s;everal, and more <HI>e&s;pecially</HI> &s;o, if made to influence &s;uch a <HI>Solemn Thing as a Mar|riage.</HI></Q> <HI>How punctual wou'd</HI> Eliza <HI>have been to &s;uch a Promi&s;e,</HI> (for &s;he was &s;o to all) <HI>and how unea&s;ie till perform'd.</HI></P>
<P><HI>But as the End Crowns the Work,</HI> and Per&s;e|verance de&s;erves the Reward, thy Con&s;tancy in the Exerci&s;e of Grace and <HI>Good Humour</HI> compleated thy Excellency, thou <HI>died&s;t as thou lived&s;t,</HI> and no Change of Condition could make any Change upon thee; <HI>thou never in&s;ulted&s;t over me in my Affliction,</HI> as is the
<PB N="43" REF="22"> Cu&s;tom of too many ill natur'd Wives; but in all my Afflictions thou wa&s;t afflicted, and <HI>lov'd&s;t me to the la&s;t breath.</HI></P>
<P>But tho' the&s;e are mighty In&s;tances of a <HI>Pure Love,</HI> yet all inferiour to thy <HI>Garden-Walks</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Two hundred every Night for the &s;pace of a whole Year.</NOTE>, and &s;omething el&s;e I forbear to mention: Nothing can Love like the Dear <HI>Eliza,</HI> or be &s;o Con&s;tant as <HI>Phil.</HI> who &s;trove to become <HI>[not thine alone, but even the &s;ame with thee</HI><NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="marg">This was the Motto in a Ring I gave <HI>Eliza,</HI> before Mar|riage.</NOTE>.] There was &s;uch a <HI>Vnion</HI> between us, <HI>from our fir&s;t Interview to thy la&s;t Breath,</HI> that we &s;eem d as two Souls in the &s;ame Body, or rather <HI>two Souls transform'd into one.</HI> This made &s;uch an even Thread of Endearment run through all we Thought or Did, that as you ever commanded me in any <HI>equal Matter</HI> by your con&s;tant Obeying of me, &s;o I as readily &s;crupled every thing that was not agreeable to your Will; but nothing happen'd that was not &s;o; for like <HI>Spanbeimi|us</HI>'s Wife, thou wert willing to be Govern'd by me in all things. If any <HI>Quarrel</HI> hap|pen'd, 'twas who of the two &s;hou'd live the mo&s;t <HI>Content:</HI> we prov'd a <HI>Chain of Hearts, <HI>and the fir&s;t Link was Heaven.</HI></HI></P>
<P>Let no Man then Cen&s;ure me as <HI>Idolizing thy Memory,</HI> when I draw up &s;uch a <HI>faint Re&s;emblance of thy Character,</HI> &s;eeing Infinite Wi&s;dom it &s;elf hath given us this <HI>Character of a good Woman,</HI> that <HI>She is more Precious than
<PB N="44" REF="23"> Rubies; <HI>A Ship of Iewels would not have been &s;uch a Ble&s;&s;ing to me as thou wa&s;t.</HI></HI> Thou did&s;t not cool my Zeal for God with Vanity and Games, and needle&s;s Diver|&s;ions, but quickened&s;t me to good. No Man could be rough and har&s;h to a Per&s;on &s;o <HI>mild and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive.</HI> No Man could be &s;o much a Brute, or Rocky-hearted, as not to be &s;often|ed by &s;o <HI>Con&s;tant a Love</HI> &mdash; What rea&s;on have I to be thankful to Providence, that when a <HI>Good Woman is not to be found among a Thou|&s;and, Eccl.</HI> 7.28. that yet one of them &s;hould have fallen to my &s;hare; and &s;eeing it was next to impo&s;&s;ible to <HI>over-value</HI> &s;uch a Ble&s;|&s;ing, I have more rea&s;on to think that it was want of e&s;teem enough for thee <HI>(though I lov'd thee beyond <HI>Life, Liberty and E|&s;tate)</HI></HI> than Idolizing of thee, that provok'd God to deprive me of thee.</P>
<P>Was it po&s;&s;ible, <HI>my Deare&s;t,</HI> to over-value a <HI>Child</HI> that never once di&s;obeyed a Parent, or to over-value a <HI>Wife</HI> that would never <HI>give Ear to tho&s;e that went about to divide, even in the lea&s;t thing betwixt her and her Husband.</HI> Could I have too high an E&s;teem for a Wife that liv'd &s;o near to God, and lov'd me out of a Principle of Con&s;cience and Judgment, more than from a fond Affection, or from the ordinary Motives of an agreeable Per&s;on and Competent E&s;tate, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> I confe&s;s that my <HI>Intere&s;t</HI> in thee, and height of <HI>Affection</HI> to|wards thee, may make my Te&s;timony con|cerning thee &s;u&s;pected, but if I &s;hould be &s;i|lent, <HI>thy own works would Prai&s;e thee; thy Ser|vants, Relations and Acquaintance, know I don't flatter thee;</HI> and certainly &s;o many Indiffe|rent
<PB N="45" REF="23"> Per&s;ons cannot have their Tongues and Affections brib'd, to con&s;pire &s;o Unanimou&s;ly to a&s;&s;ert a Fal&s;ehood.</P>
<P>It hath not &s;eem'd meet to the Divine Pro|vidence that thou &s;hould&s;t leave any <HI>Pledge of our Conjugal Love</HI> and Society behind thee, but what is Indelibly Impre&s;&s;ed upon my Soul, I have not the <HI>Comfort of any Child by &s;o ble&s;&s;ed and &s;weet a Yoke-fellow, to be a li|ving Evidence of our Mutual Endearments,</HI> then God and Man I hope will pardon me, if I en|deavour to have the <HI>Idea of thy Perfections al|ways before me,</HI> and that I have drawn this <HI>faint Shadow</HI> of 'em with my rude Pen, as a more u&s;eful and valuable Portraiture of thee, than any that could be drawn by the Pencil of the mo&s;t <HI>Famous Arti&s;t;</HI> that is but the <HI>Out|&s;ide, but this is the In&s;ide</HI>&mdash; and what I was taught by the Divine Records, <HI>That the King's Daughters are Glorious within;</HI> I found it to be true by Experience in thee; you convinc'd me what Charms there are in a Vertuous Spou&s;e! What a Mine of Plea&s;ure! What &s;prightly Life and Vigour did my Dear give to all my <HI>Thoughts, Looks, and Actions?</HI> How many new Satisfactions in every thing you did? How did I even live in your dy|ing Words? Oh the <HI>kind and tender Farewells</HI> you gave me with your la&s;t Breath; &s;uch as, <HI>Poor Rogue, thou art the kinde&s;t Hus|band that ever lived&mdash;Ill love thee as long as I live&mdash;Thou art a dear Child to me&mdash;I love thee dearly &mdash;I pray God ble&s;s my dear Yoke-fel|low, and give him Grace&mdash;I pray thee give him Grace to live &s;o here, as he may live with
<PB N="46" REF="24"> thee hereafter; which you repeated over and over very earne&s;tly, further begging that God would make me his, for there was Grace enough in &s;tore. To the la&s;t Minute of your Life you &s;pake nothing &s;o &s;en&s;ibly as when you &s;pake of Heavenly things, and all this you utter'd at the time when you were actually dying.</HI></P>
<P>It would be a plea&s;ant and delectable Sub|ject for me further to expatiate upon thy <HI>Graces and Moral Vertues,</HI> but I &s;hall conclude with the Wi&s;e Mans Character of a Vertuous Woman, that <HI>Many Daughters have done Vertuou&s;ly,<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Prov.</HI> 31.29.</NOTE> but thou excelle&s;t them all;</HI> and therefore, tho it &s;hould be my Lot to engage in a <HI>Second Marriage,</HI> yet it will be impo&s;&s;ible for any other Wife to deface the <HI>Impre&s;&s;ion</HI> which thou ha&s;t made upon me; and &s;eeing I can no <HI>more enjoy thy &s;weet Fellow&s;hip here on Earth,</HI> I will contemplate upon thy Perfections, and view this <HI>Picture</HI> which my Affection hath copied from the <HI>Original,</HI> that thy Vertues had im|pre&s;&s;ed upon my own Soul &mdash; And thus (my deare&s;t) I mu&s;t with unexpre&s;&s;ible Grief bid thee a <HI>long Adieu;</HI> but that which &s;till comforts me is, that <HI>we &s;hall meet in Hea|ven,</HI> where there &s;hall never be any more perplexing Separation.</P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">And it &s;hou'd be a great Satisfaction to me to con&s;ider, That the Providence of God order'd thy <HI>Death</HI> when I could be pre|&s;ent, and perform the <HI>la&s;t Offices of my Love.</HI> That it did not happen at &s;uch a time when I was in <HI>Holland,</HI> and at a great Di&s;tance
<PB N="47" REF="24"> from thee: So you had the Comfort of my Love to the la&s;t moments of your Life. And doubtle&s;s it plea&s;ed and comforted you much, and allay'd your Affliction, to &s;ee that you enjoy'd in your di&s;tre&s;s the con|&s;tant Attendance of &s;o dear a Friend. And if this &s;oftned your Affliction, it may ju&s;t|ly le&s;&s;en my Sorrow for what you endur'd. I may be &s;atisfied too in this, That I &s;ought and procur'd for you the <HI>be&s;t Means and Helps to recover you, that Art &amp; Nature could afford,</HI> and &s;ure I am, could any Phy&s;itian or Friend, have &s;av'd your Life, it had been Dr. <HI>T</HI>&mdash;, Mr. <HI>C</HI>&mdash;, and Cou&s;in <HI>J&mdash;n,</HI> who&s;e <HI>un|wearied Endeavours</HI> to pre&s;erve thy Life &s;hall be<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">As you de&s;ired on your Death-Bed.</NOTE> (thankfully) acknowledged to my <HI>Dying Day;</HI> but it being evidently God's Will to take you from me, no <HI>Care or Ten|derne&s;s</HI> could retain you among&s;t us; but my Comfort is, that as you was Virtuous and Pious, you was in the &s;ame mea&s;ure willing to Die; and able to receive your Death with an undanted Courage and Re&s;olution. <HI>Vir|tue</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Doring|ton</HI>'s Con|&s;olations to a Friend.</NOTE> <HI>is an E&s;&s;ay, a kind of Pre|ludium of Dying:</HI> As it morti|fies our Affections to this vain World, and fixes them on bet|ter Objects, the Gifts and Felici|ties of Heaven. <HI>Eliza was pra|cti&s;ing Death by Degrees while &s;he liv'd&punc; and mor|tified fir&s;t one Affection, then another,</HI> To make the Burden of Dying more ea&s;ier to bear, you took it up by Parcels; and &s;o having deli|vered
<PB N="48" REF="25"> your &s;elf from them, you did not bear it all at once. Thus it came to pa&s;s, that <HI>Eliza</HI> was no &s;ooner &s;en&s;ible &s;he mu&s;t die, than willing to do &s;o. <HI>She was ready to re&s;ign up her good Soul into the Hands of a Faithful Creator. Eliza,</HI> who&s;e Death I am tempted inordinately to Lament, did not at all Lament for her &s;elf. Your willing Submi&s;&s;ion and Re&s;ignation to the Divine Di&s;po&s;al, &s;hould teach me the &s;ame thing. You went away perhaps, not only conten|ted, but joyful that you was to go. <HI>Tho your Love to me, and your Wi&s;dom, might make you Conceal that you was willing to leav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> me;</HI> yet you was glad, I may believe, to find that you had fini&s;h'd your Cour&s;e, for you had &s;uch Foreta&s;tes of the Heaven|ly Bli&s;s, as even ravi&s;h'd your Soul away! Then 'tis very incongruous that I &s;hou'd at|tend your <HI>Triumph and Ioy,</HI> with my immoderate Sorrow and Tears; the Remem|brance of your Happine&s;s in the un&s;een <HI>World,</HI> &s;hould give Comfort to me under the great Lo&s;s I have by your Death.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">Have I not taken Satisfaction heretofore, to reflect upon the obliging and charming Conver&s;ation of <HI>Eliza,</HI> when my Affairs have kept me ab&s;ent from her? And have not &s;uch Reflections &s;weetned and allay'd that Ab&s;ence? Why then &s;hould not &s;uch Reflections do me the &s;ame Kindne&s;s &s;till? If I let this Impertinent Thought afflict me that I mu&s;t no more enjoy the &s;ame De|light, it will deprive me too of all the U&s;e, and Comfort, and Plea&s;ure, of what I once
<PB N="49" REF="25"> enjoyed in <HI>Eliza,</HI> which would make my Condition &s;till much the wor&s;e.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">Then why &s;hou'd I grieve<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">See the Note at the end of the Dedication, with this Mark *</NOTE> thus, &s;eeing <HI>Eliza</HI> is only departed from me for a while; &s;he is not lo&s;t, nor annihilated. Thy Body <HI>(Eliza)</HI> is laid in the Du&s;t, to re&s;t in the quiet Grave, and is there watcht by the <HI>careful Eye of Divine Omni&s;ience:</HI> And where&s;oever any Parts of that may happen in Ages to come to be &s;catter'd, the Divine Power will certainly collect them all again, and thou &s;hall be perfectly re&s;tored to Be|ing and Happine&s;s.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">But the mean while thy <HI>better Part,</HI> the noble Soul, is return'd to God that gave it: And &s;ince &s;o much of thee &s;till lives, I may &s;ay, <HI>thou art gone to thy Cele&s;tial Kindred.</HI> Upon your Depar|ture from the Body, I do believe you imme|diately found your &s;elf, like the Soul of good <HI>Lazarus,</HI> attended by kind and glo|rious Angels: And they, I mu&s;t needs think, were not &s;ilent at their meeting you. They congratulate your Delivery from this World, applaud your Patience in &s;uffering the Evils of it; your Diligence in doing Good, your bold Conflicts again&s;t the A&s;|&s;aults of many Temptations, and your Per|&s;everance to the end of your Life.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">If I could look within the Veil, and view the <HI>Cele&s;tial Temple,</HI> I &s;hou'd &s;ee you there, in Tran&s;ports of Joy, &s;urrounded with a Glorious Ring of Rejoycing Spirits. Then how un&s;uitable is it that I &s;hould immode|rately grieve for <HI>Eliza;</HI> when &s;he is gone to inhabit a Joy un&s;peakable and glorious <HI>Eliza,</HI>
<PB N="50" REF="26"> while I am mourning for thy Death, thou art giving Thanks for it; you are overjoy'd to think that it is over with you; and that you have fini&s;h'd your la&s;t and wor&s;t Conflict with the Enemy of your Sal|vation. How happy &s;oever your Conditi|on was on Earth, it is much happier now. The Place and Condition you are in, is re|pre&s;ented in the Divine Writings, by all that is great, plea&s;ant, and glorious in this World; but we are al&s;o told there, that all the&s;e Repre&s;entations fall &s;hort of it. I cannot know then how happy <HI>Eliza</HI> is till I go to &s;ee; and that mu&s;t be now the Care that engages me. With all my Sorrow, with all my vain Wi&s;hes, I cannot bring you back again from thence, and I &s;hould do you the greate&s;t Diskindne&s;s if I could: I mu&s;t then, if I am truly &s;orry to have parted with you, be earne&s;tly concern'd to meet you again. And that I may do &s;o&punc; I will earne&s;tly concern my &s;elf to &s;erve and promote the Glory of God among Men, and to do all the good Offices to the World that I can: And I will, as often as I think of <HI>Dear Eliza,</HI> who is gone before, excite my &s;elf to the&s;e things, in Con&s;ideration that this Cour&s;e will bring me to dwell with her again.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">And if I make &s;uch Re&s;olutions as the&s;e, and perform them, then I may promi&s;e my in a little time, to meet you, <HI>where the Spirits of Ju&s;t Men are made per|fect,</HI> where we &s;hall love again, and that with an Affection more pure, and more ar|dent than before. Where both of us &s;hall be more happy than ever we could be
<PB N="51" REF="26"> here: We &s;hall have no Griefs to commu|nicate, no Complaints to make to one ano|ther: No <HI>Burdens or Cares to divide hetween us,</HI> no<NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="foot">'Tis the Saying of one that to di&s;tru&s;t the word of an hone&s;t Man is not only to expo&s;e him to <HI>H &mdash; C</HI> &mdash; but to rank him in the number of V&mdash;lets; &s;uch <HI>Carking Jealou&s;ie</HI> ju&s;tifies the &s;evere&s;t Re&s;entment, as <HI>Reputation is a tender thing, and dearer to a good Man than his Life;</HI> then what Con&s;cience mu&s;t that Per&s;on have that makes tho&s;e Re&s;entments a C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ime, which were occa&s;ioned by the Provocations given: But I &s;top here for the <HI>Barbarous Treat|ments</HI> that <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"></HI> and oth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">; meet with (in this kind <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;ufficiently proves at what Door &s;uch Quarrels lie.</NOTE> Di&s;tru&s;t to allay our Happine&s;s, or damp our Joy, <HI>no Di&s;tance of</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">As I hinted before in P. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Place &s;hall part us there,</HI> or hinder our delightful Communion with one ano|ther: <HI>We &s;hall be of one Fa|mily,</HI> in one Sacred Temple, and in one rejoycing Quire; joyning to pay Eternal Adorations, and Thankful Prai&s;es to the Father, Son, and Holy Gho&s;t. We &s;hall never be parted more.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">Within a little while this happy Meeting may be, It cannot be far off, &s;ince it will come at the end of my Life. Then &s;eeing a <HI>Part of me is now in Heaven,</HI> I &s;hall take Mr. <HI>Rogers</HI> Advice<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Rogers</HI> Cha+racter of a Good Wo|man&punc; P. <HI>163.</HI></NOTE> to his Friend; <HI>Make this &V;&s;e of my Lo&s;s more diligently to prepare to meet you in Heaven, where our
<PB N="52" REF="27"> Conver&s;ation will be infinitely more plea&s;ant, and more durable than it ever was on Earth</HI> and there (as you told me on your Death-Bed) <HI>We &s;hall meet, and never part.</HI></Q></P>
<P>This is al&s;o the Opinion of our Friend <HI>H&mdash;n;</HI> for in his <HI>la&s;t Epi&s;tle He wi&s;hes he may &s;o live this Year, and the Remainder of his time; That at la&s;t he may meet</HI> Eliza, &amp;c. <HI>and the re&s;t of the Saints&mdash;There we &s;hall have Joys eo the full! And I think</HI> (adds he) <HI>this will be ONE HAPPINESS to have &s;weet Conver&s;ation with Pure and Spotle&s;s Creatures, without Hindrance or Di&s;turbance for ever,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>Some Hope that they in Heaven their Learning &s;hare,</L>
<L>But &s;ure <HI>Love and Friend&s;hip</HI> enter there.</L></Q>
<P>I am impatient till I find it again in <HI>Eliza, and till that happy Minute come</HI> (as I told your Brother) <HI>All my plea&s;ant Days are over.</HI> 'Tis true, I have been at <HI>Agford</HI> &s;ince your Death, (and you &s;aw me there if you know what's done on Earth) to &s;ee that <HI>Dear un|known</HI> you &s;o much admir'd (and as you thought cou'd have made me happy) but when I arriv'd &mdash; <HI>My Heaven was &s;till as di|&s;tant as before;</HI> all I got was Joy in Rever&s;ion, and &s;carce that; For ever &s;ince that <HI>Fatal Afternoon</HI> I fir&s;t &s;aw <HI>Cloris,</HI> Madam <HI>Shute,</HI> and Madam <HI>W&mdash;ch,</HI> I have not ta&s;ted a Mi|nutes Joy, nor expect it now <HI>till I meet Eliza,</HI> and &s;he's gone to Heaven.</P>
<PB N="53" REF="27">
<P><HI><HI>Poor Mi&s;erable Phil!</HI> If Fate happen to guild o're one Inch of thy <HI>&V;nhappy Span,</HI> and lend <HI>a Glimp&s;e of Heaven in a Wife,</HI> how &s;oon does the <HI>Beauteous Vi&s;ion,</HI> vani&s;h out of Sight.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Ah</HI> Cloris! <HI>mu&s;t we part then, fir&s;t let me clo&s;e thy Eyes; bedew thy</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">The <HI>Chine&s;e</HI> al|ways before they bury their Dead, if he was a <HI>Married Man,</HI> bring him to his Wife, that &s;o &s;he might fir&s;t ki&s;s him, and bid him farewel.</NOTE> <HI>Cheeks a little, compo&s;e thy Body for the Grave, follow thee thither, &s;ee thee put into it, be one of the la&s;t that &s;hall come thence <HI>(as I de&s;ired of thee if I died fir&s;t)</HI> and then farewel, till we meet in the <HI>Silent Grave;</HI></HI> where,
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>I'll vi&s;it thee, and when I leave this Light,</L>
<L>Come &s;pend my time in the &s;ame Cell at Night:</L>
<L>Till then farewel, farewel, I cannot take</L>
<L>A Final Leave until thy A&s;hes wake.</L></Q></P>
<P><HI>Dr.</HI> Brown <HI>applauds tho&s;e ingenious Tempers that de&s;ire to &s;leep in the &V;rns of their Fathers, and &s;trive to go the neare&s;t way to Corruption.</HI></P>
<PB N="54" REF="28">
<P>'Twas the late Reque&s;t of a great Divine, to lie by his Wife in <HI>Shoreditch,</HI> and for that rea&s;on he was buried there; and Sir <HI>Nathani|el Barnardi&s;ton</HI> in his la&s;t Will de&s;ires his Exe|cutors that the Bones of his Father might be digged out of the Earth (where they were bu|ried) and laid by his own Body in a <HI>new Vault</HI> he ordered them to erect for the &s;ame purpo&s;e; that tho he could not live with his Father as Iong as he would have de&s;ired, yet he de&s;igned their Bodies &s;hould lie together till the Re&s;ur|rection. <HI>As it is good to enjoy the Company of the Godly while they are living, &s;o it is not ami&s;s, if it will &s;tand with Convenience, to be buried with them after Death.</HI> The <HI>old Prophets Bones</HI> e&s;ca|ped a burning, by being buried with the <HI>other Prophets;</HI> and the Man who was tumbled into the Grave of <HI>Eli&s;ha,</HI> was revived by the Ver|tue of his Bones. <HI>So good it is to be buried with tho&s;e that are accounted Pious.</HI> 'Twas for this rea&s;on I formerly de&s;ired to Lie in the Chancel of &mdash;with my <HI>Reverend Father,</HI> but <HI>Love to a Parent, tho ne'er &s;o tender, is lo&s;t in that to a Wife.</HI> And now, (as is mentioned in the <HI>fol|lowing E&s;&s;ay</HI>) if I can <HI>mingle my A&s;hes wi h thine,</HI> I have nothing farther to ask tho&s;e few Hours I do &s;urvive thee (but can I word it &s;o when your Letter &s;ays, <HI>When dead and gone you &s;ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters"> &s;till live in</HI> Phil. <HI>who is dearer to you than L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">fe it &s;elf) thy Tomb &s;hall be my Brea&s;t, till on &s;ix Shoulders I am brought to thee and</HI> &mdash; n, <HI>as the only Companions of my long Home</HI> &mdash; So that now leaving <HI>All Plea&s;ures</HI> behind me, and <HI>my Dear fa&s;t a&s;leep in her Grave,</HI> I'll drop a few Tears on thy <HI>Coffin,</HI> and &s;o de|part
<PB N="55" REF="28"> to my <HI>own Hou&s;e;</HI> which tho once <HI>&s;o plea|&s;ant to thee and me, will now (whil&s;t thou art found in no room of it) appear a very melancholy thing.</HI></P>
<LG>
<HEAD><HI>Tears</HI> To the Memory of <HI>DEAR ELIZA,</HI> who departed this Life in the Year 1697.</HEAD>
<LG>
<L><HI>SAcred Urn!</HI> with whom we tru&s;t</L>
<L>This <HI>Dear Pile</HI> of Sacred Du&s;t:</L>
<L>Know thy Charge, and &s;afely Guard,</L>
<L>'Till <HI>Death</HI>'s <HI>Brazen Gates</HI> unbarr'd:</L>
<L>'Till the Angel bids it ri&s;e,</L>
<L><HI>And remove to Paradi&s;e.</HI></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>A Wife Obliging, Tender, Wi&s;e,</L>
<L><HI>A Friend to Comfort, and Advi&s;e.</HI></L>
<L>Vertue mild as <HI>Zephir</HI>'s Breatb,</L>
<L>Piety which &s;miled in <HI>Death.</HI></L>
<L>Such a Wife, and &s;uch a Friend,</L>
<L><HI>All Lament, and all Commend.</HI></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Mo&s;t with <HI>Eating</HI> Cares oppre&s;t;</L>
<L>He who knew and loved her be&s;t:</L>
<PB N="56" REF="29">
<L>Who her Loyal Heart did &s;hare;</L>
<L>He who reign'd <HI>Unrivall'd</HI> there.</L>
<L>And no Truce to Sighs will give,</L>
<L><HI>'Till he die, with her to live.</HI></L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Or if more we woud comprize,</L>
<L>Here Interr'd <HI>ELIZA</HI> lies.</L>
</LG>
</LG>
<P>Thus you &s;ee, my Dear, <HI>(if you can &s;ee from Heaven to Earth)</HI> how loth I am to give the bec|k'n <HI>of Farewell, the be&s;t of Wives, and my Tru|est Friend,</HI> is but part of your Character, and I can't leave &s;uch a <HI>Trea&s;ure</HI> in Po&s;t ha&s;te.</P>
<P>I had kinder things to add, but my <HI>whole Fa|mily</HI> (Friend <HI>J&mdash;n,</HI> and hone&s;t <HI>N &mdash;y,</HI>) call me down, &s;o mu&s;t re&s;erve the <HI>re&s;t 'til we meet in Heaven,</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">The <HI>Primitive Chri&s;tians</HI> buried their Saints with Hymns and P&s;alms of Joy. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI> on the <HI>Hebrews</HI> &s;aith, <HI>We are to glorifie God, and give thanks to him, that he hath crown'd the Decea&s;ed, and freed them from their Labours, and chides tho&s;e that mourn'd.</HI> And the Days of their Death were called the <HI>Birth-days of the Saints.</HI> And <HI>Hierome</HI> in his Epitaph on Holy <HI>Paula,</HI> &s;aith, <HI>That at her Funeral no Shreeks were heard, but Multitudes of P&s;alms and Hymns were &s;ung in divers Lan|guages.</HI> See Mr. <HI>Henry's Life,</HI> p. 206.</NOTE> but here's enough to let you &s;ee, that as in <HI>Life,</HI> &s;o in <HI>Death</HI> I am <HI>wholly Yours,</HI> and &s;hall &s;o continue, as long as I am</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Philaret.</SIGNED>
<DATELINE><HI>From</HI> Eliza<HI>'s Grave,</HI> <DATE>July 10th. 1697.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="essay">
<PB N="1" REF="29">
<HEAD><HI>AN ESSAY, PROVING,</HI> We &s;hall know our Friends in Hea|ven, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>In a Letter to a Reverend Divine.</HEAD>
<P>OUR <HI>Secret Corre&s;pondence</HI> (my Dear <HI>Ig|notus</HI>) as it owes its Ri&s;e to the melodious Notes of the <HI>WESTERN NIGHT|INGALE,</HI> &s;o it has been continued ever &s;ince with a World of <HI>Harmony;</HI> Maugre the great Oppo&s;ition it met with from <HI>Argus</HI> and his Aged Friend. In this long Corre&s;pondence I attempted to prove <HI>(as the Fir&s;t Step to our Friend&s;hip)</HI> That there may be <HI>a greater Love 'tween Man and Man than 'tween Man and Wo|man.</HI> I next proceeded to other Subjects, and from thence to treat of <HI>Conjugal Love;</HI> where I gave you <HI>the Character of my Fir&s;t Wife;</HI> told you how &s;he de&s;igned to Love, if ever &s;he married;
<PB N="2" REF="30"> proved the practi&s;ed her own<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">They were <HI>Rules</HI> &s;he writ (whil&s;t a Virgin) for her own pra|ctice, if ever &s;he entred into a married &s;tate.</NOTE> <HI>Rules;</HI> and having told you what her Rules were, I next (from my own Experience) com|par'd <HI>a &s;ingle Life and a married together;</HI>&mdash; defended my Loving again in a months time; and ha|ving ended with <HI>Honey-Moon,</HI> 'tis proper next, to &s;peak of that &s;tate of Life where they <HI>neither marry, nor are gi|ven in Marriage.</HI> And this leads me to enquire,
<Q REND="margQuotes">Whether we &s;hall Know our Wives, Parents, Chil|dren, and Friends, in Heaven, if ever we get thither?</Q></P>
<P>I told you in my La&s;t, the An&s;wering of this &s;hou'd be <HI>the Subject of this Letter,</HI> and that I'de &s;end it by this Po&s;t. I have now kept my word, and heartily wi&s;h (you having &s;o much de&s;ir'd it) <HI>the Mountain may not produce a M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">u&s;e.</HI> However, I have done my be&s;t. But before I di&s;cour&s;e of <HI>Knowing our Friends in Heaven,</HI> I mu&s;t fir&s;t tell you, That good <HI>Eliza</HI> (that deare&s;t part of my &s;elf) went thither in <HI>May</HI> la&s;t. Her Death has made me &s;o very melancholy, that I had pin'd a|way in a few days, had not the hopes of find|ing her again in Heaven, given me <HI>&s;ome Relief. Oh! the Sighs, the Wi&s;hes, the Langui&s;hments, with a long,</HI> &amp;c. Chargeable on that Account; really, Sir, there are yet Tears in my Eyes left undried for the <HI>Dear</HI> Eliza <HI>(the be&s;t of Wives and be&s;t of Friends):</HI> I yet feel the <HI>Torments</HI> to which a Heart is expo&s;ed, that lo&s;es what it Loves, <HI>none love as I have l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ved;</HI> My &s;entiments have a delicacy, unknown to my others but my &s;elf, and my Heart Lov'd <HI>Eliza</HI> more in one Hour then others do in all their Lives, <HI>Witne&s;s the Tears &s;hed on her Grave, to what exce&s;s I love her!</HI> I want to know w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">at &s;ullen <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">r <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ul'd at my Birth, that <HI>Phil.</HI> &s;hould <HI>Live</HI> when <HI>Eliza</HI> i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Dead;</HI> or at lea&s;t Dead to me; or if there be a <HI>Beam of
<PB N="3" REF="30"> Com|fort,</HI> 'tis n't to &s;hine till the Re&s;urrection, or till I meet her in Heaven. <HI>Thus the kind Turtle, parted from his Mate, pa&s;&s;es by a Thou&s;and Objects, and only mourns at all he &s;ees; but met, their Life and Love is through each others Bill convey'd.</HI> But Mum for that; for <HI>Valeria</HI> and I have now compounded with one another, and, <HI>Re&s;olv'd, for better for wor&s;e,</HI> have been at, <HI>I</HI> Ned <HI>take thee</HI> Hannah; But on what Conditions, with the Terms of our <HI>Honey Moon,</HI> you &s;hall know hereafter. 'Tis enough if I &s;ay at pre&s;ent, <HI>That &s;he fully understands and pra|cti&s;es all the Duties of a Tender Wife, &s;o that &s;he &s;eems to be</HI> Eliza <HI>still, in a New Edition, more Correct and Enlarged, or rather, my Fir&s;t Wife in a New Frame; for I have only changed the Per&s;on, but not the Vertues.</HI></P>
<P>But I leave <HI>Valeria</HI> here <HI>(for the Deare&s;t Friends mu&s;t part)</HI> to an&s;wer this Curious Que&s;tion,
<Q REND="margQuotes">Whether we &s;hall know our Friends in Heaven?</Q></P>
<P>I &s;end you my Sentiments in this matter, in hopes you'll <HI>Rectifie my Judgment</HI> where you find it Err, and &s;upply my Defects with better thoughts of your own (that &s;o between us this <HI>Curious Sub|ject</HI> may be fully handled); which I the rather mention, for that te'nt my way to &s;ay much to the purpo&s;e on <HI>common Suhjects,</HI> much le&s;s can you expect it in &s;uch a Theam as this, where, had I an Angel's Tongue, I &s;hould be at a Lo&s;s. <HI>The way to Heaven is Long and Difficult;</HI> and therefore no wonder if now and then I mi&s;take a Turning; but when I do, I hope <HI>(Ignotus)</HI> you'll &s;et me again in the right path. If not,
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>Some Courteous Gho&s;t tell this great Secrecy,</L>
<L>What 'tis you are, and we mu&s;t be. <BIBL><HI>Norris.</HI></BIBL></L></Q></P>
<P>For I have &s;mall Acquaintance with the <HI>Future State,</HI> and never met with any one of tho&s;e Milli|ons of Souls that have pa&s;t into the other World,
<PB N="4" REF="31"> to learn any News <HI>concerning the Knowledge</HI> they have of each other: And therefore 'twill be ex|cu&s;able if now and then I advance what I cannot prove, and follow their Examples, who fill their Maps with Fancies of their own Brains. And I am the more willing to treat concerning the <HI>Na|ture, and Condition of &s;eparate Souls,</HI> becau&s;e it agrees with a <HI>Humour of Curio&s;ity</HI> I have a long time been di&s;temper'd with. I have often thought, what would I give for the lea&s;t glimp&s;e of that <HI>Invi&s;ible World,</HI> which the fir&s;t &s;tep I take out of this body, will pre&s;ent me with, and have tryed by an Eye of Faith <HI>to look within the Veil;</HI> but &s;till find my Intellect too light a Plummet, and the whole <HI>Thread of Life,</HI> tho &s;pun out in fine&s;t Speculations, &s;till proves too &s;hort to reach the endle&s;s bottom. But though I have never yet &s;een the <HI>Innumerable company of Angels, conver&s;t with</HI> Abraham, I&s;aac <HI>and</HI> Jacob, <HI>or the Spirits of Ju&s;t Men made perfect, which daily mini&s;ter about the Throne,</HI> that I might know the mutual Love and Entertainment of the ble&s;&s;ed, the Spirituality of their Glorify'd Bodies, how they communicate their Thoughts to each other, or the <HI>Knowledge they have of their Old Acquaintance;</HI> Yet have I here with my Pen drawn a Scheme of my thoughts of our <HI>Invi&s;ible Friends,</HI> on purpo&s;e to &s;ee whither it wou'd lead me, and whither I cou'd follow it. It was but la&s;t Night, I was complaining to a <HI>VVater Drinker</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Sh&mdash;ley.</HI></NOTE> (for I'm now at <HI>Tun|bridge</HI> &s;willing on Nature's boun|ty to Crazy Mortals) of my Great Curio&s;ity; e&s;pecially in things relating to the other World, and in my Conver&s;ation, by way of <HI>Prolep&s;is,</HI> I have frequently been making Remarks that way. But I tell you before-hand, in treating of this Subject, I &s;hall leap over all Subdivi&s;ions, and inferiour Sects of Chri&s;tians, and profe&s;s only to the World, that the <HI>Divine Mercy and Favour is not limitted to a particular Canton or Party.</HI> I am not only a Lover of good Men of all Per&s;wa&s;ions,
<PB N="5" REF="31"> but a meer Enemy to tho&s;e Names which di&s;tin|gui&s;h one Party from another in the Church. Good men often contend about words, when they hear|tily think the &s;ame thing, and therefore I as little doubt <HI>to find Dr.</HI> Sherlock <HI>in Heaven, as Mr.</HI> Ai&s;op; And do as little que&s;tion their being of one mind in Heaven (after all their Jangling) as that they'll pre&s;ent|ly know and rejoyce to &s;ee one another, when they come there. <HI>In Heaven (&s;ays a late</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Mr.</HI> Dorring|ton <HI>in his Di&s;|cour&s;e call'd.</HI> The &s;eparate State of Good Souls.</NOTE> <HI>Writer) &s;hall we meet many Dear Relations and Intimate Friends, and perhaps &s;ome Ene|mies who &s;hall then to our Great Joy and Satisfaction be perfectly reconciled to us, which was that we mo&s;t pa&s;&s;ionately de&s;ired before, but it may be, cou'd not find means to accompli&s;h it.</HI> However, be it as it will, I Live and Move by the <HI>Divine Pro|vidence,</HI> and am willing to a&s;&s;ert it in &s;pight of all tho&s;e <HI>Narrow Souls,</HI> that dare tru&s;t God no further then they can &s;ee him, or think none can be &s;aved, but tho&s;e that are di&s;tingui&s;h'd with their own Super&s;cription. But (I &s;hou'd remember) I'm writing to one of an <HI>Exten&s;ive Charity,</HI> and need not inlarge here; So I come now to prove, <HI>That if Infinite mercy bring us to Heaven, we &s;hall know one another there.</HI></P>
<P>There are two things that comfort us under the Death of Friends.</P>
<P>The one is, <HI>the hopes they are gone to Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>And the other is, <HI>That if Infinite Mercy bring us thither, we &s;hall one day &s;ee 'em again, and have tho&s;e very Friend&s;hips which they had Con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">racted here below, Tran&s;planted to the Man&s;ions above.</HI></P>
<P>But what the knowledge is of our Souls, &s;epa|rated and glorified, <HI>we &s;hall then know when ours come to be &s;uch:</HI> In the mean time, we can much le&s;s know their thoughts, then they can know ours: Sure we are, they do not know in &s;uch manner as they did, when they were in our Bo|&s;oms; by the help of <HI>Sen&s;es and Phanta&s;ms, by
<PB N="6" REF="32"> the di&s;cur&s;&s;ive inferences of Ratiocination.</HI></P>
<P>But though we cannot &s;ee what manner of <HI>Me|taphy&s;ical Matters our Souls</HI> are, yet we know they <HI>really exi&s;t;</HI> and act our Bodies, although they are not Subject to Sen&s;e, yet this doth not hinder but that a <HI>Spiritual &s;ubstance</HI> may be &s;eparated from our Body, and may be again Cloathed with a Body, or Vehicle that may be Airy, Fiery, or Cloudy, and be <HI>vi&s;ible to our Sen&s;es,</HI> although the exi&s;tence or e&s;&s;ence of the Spirit, we cannot &s;ee but it's outward Cloathing, and that &s;uch appearances have been in all Ages, the Learned as well as the unlearned affirm from real matters of Fact.</P>
<P>But now, whether the Soul, in a &s;tate of &s;epara|tion, acts independently of Matter, purely by the &s;trength of her own Powers, or whether in order to the better knowing her &s;elf and other beings, the makes u&s;e of a <HI>Body of Air &s;haped out into &s;uch Limbs and Sences, as &s;he hath occa&s;ional Employment for;</HI> Whether or no the want of her old Compa|nion is &s;upplyed this way, is uncertain. But whatever <HI>abatements of happine&s;s</HI> the pious Soul, may &s;uffer for want of a &s;uitable body between the time of Death and the General Judgment, then we are &s;ure this inconvenience will be re|moved, and it will be repo&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of its Ancient Seat, out of which Violence or Nature had forced it. But we cannot know the&s;e things, <HI>Till we are &s;trip'd into Naked Spirits, and &s;et a &s;hore on the other invi&s;ible World.</HI> Yet this we know at pre&s;ent, that when our Souls are elevated to a condition &s;uitable to the Ble&s;&s;ed Angels, &s;o they <HI>know like them;</HI> Though not by the means of a Natural Knowledge&punc; as they, yet by that <HI>Supernatural Light of Intimation,</HI> which they receive by their glorified E&s;tate: Whether by virtue of this Di|vine Illumination, <HI>They know the particular occur|rences which we meet with here below, he were bold thas would determine.</HI> (Or if they do I'm &s;ure <HI>Eliza</HI> but her Love will tell you the re&s;t) only this we may confidently affirm, that they do clearly know
<PB N="7" REF="32"> all tho&s;e things which do any way appertain to their E&s;tate of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s. Among&s;t which, <HI>Whe|ther the Knowledge of each other in that Region of Happine&s;s may ju&s;tly be ranked, is not unworthy of our di&s;qui&s;ition.</HI> Doubtle&s;s, as in God there is all perfection eminently, and tran&s;cendantly, &s;o in the &s;ight and fruition of God there cannot be but full and ab&s;olute felicity; yet this is &s;o far from excluding the know|ledge of tho&s;e things which <HI>Derive their Goodne&s;s and Excellency from him,</HI> as that it compri&s;eth, and &s;uppo&s;eth it. As then, we &s;hall perfectly love God, and his Saints in him; &s;o &s;hall we know both: And though it be a &s;ufficient motive of our Love in Heaven, <HI>That we know them to be Saints; yet it &s;eems to be no &s;mall addition to our happine&s;s, to know that tho&s;e Saints were once ours:</HI> And if it be a ju&s;t Joy to a Parent here on Earth to &s;ee his Child gracious, how much more acce&s;&s;ion &s;hall it be to his Joy above, to &s;ee the <HI>Fruits of his Loins Glorious, when both his Love is more pure, and their improvement ab&s;olute? Can we</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Bi&s;hop <HI>Hall.</HI></NOTE> <HI>make any doubt that the Ble&s;&s;ed Angels know each other? How Sen&s;ele&s;s were it to grant that no knowledge is hid from them, but of them&s;elves? Or can we imagine that tho&s;e An|gelical Spirits do not take</HI> &s;pecial notice of tho&s;e Souls which they have guarded here, and condu|cted to their glory? <HI>If they do &s;o, and if the know|ledge of our beatified Souls &s;hall be like to theirs, why &s;hould we abridge our &s;elves more then them, of the comfort of our interknowing? Surely our di&s;&s;olu|tion &s;hall abate nothing of our Natural Faculties;</HI> Our glory &s;hall advance them; &s;o as what we once kne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> we &s;hall know better: And if our &s;ouls can then perfectly know them&s;elves, why &s;hould they be denied the knowledge of others?</P>
<P>Not but (I own) 'twill make me &s;hrink to go from them I know to Per&s;ons I never &s;aw,<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Norris.</HI></NOTE> <HI>To wing away to an unknown &s;omewhere, to be I know not what, and live I know not how;</HI> to leave <HI>Dear</HI> Ignotus,
<PB N="8" REF="33"> <HI>the Dearer Cloris,</HI> and yet Dearer <HI>Sapho,</HI> Friends with whom I have familiarly Conver&s;ed and Cor|re&s;ponded, to go into a World of Spirits, where <HI>I may not meet one I know;</HI> How &s;trangely &s;hall we look on one another? What little content do I take in any Company on Earth where I meet with <HI>&s;hine&s;s!</HI> but &s;ure I am, there will be nothing of this in Heaven.</P>
<P><HI>That</HI> Excellent Society<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Dorring|ton</HI> in his Di&s;|cour&s;e of &s;epa|rate Souls.</NOTE> (<HI>&s;ays Mr.</HI> Dorrington) <HI>which the Saint &s;hall enjoy in Heaven in his Fel|low Creature &s;hall add much to his Happine&s;s. He &s;hall not &s;pend his long abode there in an uncom|fortable Solitude;</HI> Even in this Paradice, it wou'd not be good for Man to be alone; <HI>He &s;hall there|fore enjoy much, and that very Excellent Society &mdash; He then meets, and &s;hall enjoy for ever, with all tho&s;e Excellent Per&s;ons, tho&s;e brave Examples of Piety and Virtue, whom he has &s;een, or heard, or read of in this World, with the</HI> Goodly Fellow&s;hip of the Prophets and Apo&s;tles, and the Noble Army of <HI>Martyrs, Souls joyn'd below in Virtuous Love, and &s;ad at parting here, &s;hall meet again there, and Love again, and dwell together for ever&mdash;He &s;hall dwell with the Souls of all Good Men, that have e|ver lived in this World; and the</HI> Company <HI>there is</HI> a<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Rev.</HI> 9.7.</NOTE> great mul|titude, which no man can Num|ber, of all Nations, Kindred, People and Langua|ges. So that you &s;ee 'tis this Author's Opinion, That the Saints above hold <HI>a Kind, Friendly and Fa|miliar Corre&s;pondence;</HI> and I hope, I &s;hall be able to prove that the Saints in <HI>Heaven,</HI> do not only &s;ee and know one another, but al&s;o what pa&s;&s;eth in Hell among&s;t the damned, as the <HI>Patriarch Abra|ham,</HI> did &s;ee <HI>Dives</HI> in his Torments (<HI>Luk.</HI> 16.25.) <HI>But you'll &s;ay, all this is but &s;uppo&s;ition,</HI> and that I don't prove whether <HI>Ignotus</HI> and <HI>Phill.</HI> (who won't believe Death can part 'em) &s;hall as di|&s;tinctly know each other in Heaven <HI>(By Face, Sta|ture&mdash;Voice
<PB N="9" REF="33"> the Relation they &s;tood in to each other on Earth, and by the difference of Sex)</HI> as they did when they fir&s;t met in <HI>London,</HI> to deceive the tedi|ous hours with Di&s;cour&s;es of <HI>Ph&mdash;la,</HI> who by the by, I wi&s;h will be one we &s;hall know in Heaven for a Thou&s;and Rea&s;ons, and this among others, as &s;he was- <HI>The ble&s;t occa&s;ion of our fir&s;t Acquain|tance,</HI> neither can I be ju&s;t to her Friend&s;hip <HI>&s;hou'd I wi&s;h my &s;elf in Heaven without her.</HI> 'Twas &s;aid,<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See <HI>Herberts</HI> Life, <HI>p.</HI> 25.</NOTE> Mrs. <HI>Jane</HI> became &s;o much a Platonick as to <HI>Fall in Love with</HI> Herbert <HI>un&s;een</HI>&mdash;The ca&s;e was the &s;ame with me, for I loved <HI>Cloris</HI> before I &s;aw her, neither did <HI>I</HI> for many Years expect that Happine&s;s, till <HI>I</HI> came to Heaven, where <HI>I</HI> &s;hall &s;ee her again, for in that <HI>Heavenly Court</HI> &s;he'll be &s;till&mdash;<HI>A SINGER&mdash;Of Prai&s;es and Hallelujahs to God Almighty, and to the Lamb that &s;its on the Throne for ever and ever;</HI> When <HI>I</HI> was fir&s;t ble&s;t with a Glimp&s;e of her, and 'twas but a Glimp&s;e <HI>I</HI> had <HI>(Angels Vi&s;its are &s;hort and &s;weet)</HI> &s;o cha&s;t was my Errand to her, that <HI>I</HI> de&s;ired to dye with <HI>Cloris in my Arms.</HI> And if ever Friend|&s;hip &s;hewed a Miracle, my Heart &s;hall bear her Picture to the other World, tho <HI>I</HI> never &s;ee her again in this: But tho <HI>I</HI> Love <HI>Cloris</HI> with a <HI>Flame as Pure as Light, as kind as Love, and as &s;trong as Death,</HI> yet I'm now a pure <HI>Platonick</HI> again, nei|ther will my Fle&s;h (as <HI>Eliza</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">In a Letter &s;he &s;ent her whil&s;t I was at <HI>Tun|bridge.</HI></NOTE> told her) <HI>E'r creep in for a &s;hare,</HI> not but &s;he might with a &s;mile lead me like a Dog in a &s;tring, which way &s;he plea&s;ed, and with a Word, make me leap over Steeples to &s;erve her, yet you know <HI>(Ignotus,)</HI> that the lea&s;t indifference cures Love-Melancholy in a few Minutes, <HI>I</HI> do a&s;&s;ure you, <HI>Valeria</HI>'s <HI>Great A|lembic has refin'd all my Love, and 'tis now become as &s;piritual as</HI> Cloris. But this has co&s;t me ma|ny a Sigh, many a Tear. But being at <HI>Tun|bridge,</HI> I can tell my Grief to the Rocks and
<PB N="10" REF="34"> Groves; for they'll Li&s;ten, though &s;he won't, and <HI>eccho back</HI> her endearing Name as oft as I &s;igh it out.</P>
<P>But the&s;e <HI>melancholy</HI> Groves have kept me longer than I did expect; but you won't be angry, <HI>(Ig|notus,)</HI> &s;ince they are grown &s;o civil as to li&s;ten to an hone&s;t meaning, and do Reply <HI>(in their way of &s;peaking)</HI> to every word I utter; but there be no Rocks in the <HI>New Burying place,</HI> So I expect no <HI>Eccho thence; no, though 'twere to a dying Ga&s;p, or a Letter writ with primitive Ink.</HI> But in the o|ther World, when <HI>Argus</HI> and his Friend get to Heaven (for I hope to meet, and know 'em there) they'l Licen&s;e our Thoughts, our Words, <HI>our very Looks!</HI> and know us better than to &s;top, or blame our Corre&s;pondence, which was begun in time, and di&s;continued a while, that the <HI>Sadne&s;s of parting</HI> here, might be abundantly recompenced by the Joy of meeting hereafter. And this, among other things, was that with which <HI>Au|gustine</HI> comforted the Lady<NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">Aug. Ep. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ita|lica,</HI> after the Death of her dear Husband, telling her, <HI>That &s;he &s;hou'd know him in the World to come, among the glo|rified Saints.</HI> The Story is thus<NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">See <HI>Bolton</HI>'s Four La&s;t Things.</NOTE>: <HI>Italica</HI> craved very im|portunately both by word and writing, &s;ome Con&s;olations from him, to &s;upport her under that incomparable Cro&s;s of her Husband's Lo&s;s, and Widow-hood; and as it may &s;eem, &s;he de&s;ired to know whethet &s;he &s;hould know him in the &s;econd Life. For the fir&s;t, he hits upon the &s;weete&s;t, and mo&s;t &s;overaign Comfort which could po&s;&s;ibly be imagi|ned. <HI>You can by no means</HI> &s;aith he) <HI>think your &s;elf de&s;olate, who enjoy the Pre&s;ence and Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of Je|&s;us Christ, in the inmo&s;t Clo&s;et of your Heart by Faith.</HI> About the other, he an&s;wers P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">emptorily, <HI>This thy Husband, by who&s;e decea&s;e thou art called a Widow, &s;hall be mo&s;t known unto thee.</HI> And tells her further, <HI>that there &s;hall be no &s;tranger in Heaven,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<PB N="11" REF="34">
<P>And <HI>Bullinger</HI> on his Death-bed &s;aid to his Friends and Relations then &s;tanding by him, I <HI>exceedingly rejoyce that I am leaving this mi&s;erable and corrupt Age to go to my Saviour Chri&s;t.</HI> Socrates (&s;aid he) <HI>was glad when his Death approached, be|cau&s;e he thought he &s;hould go to</HI> He&s;iod, Homer <HI>and other Learned Men decea&s;ed, and whom he expected to meet in the other World; then how much more do I joy who am &s;ure that I &s;hall &s;ee my Saviour Chri&s;t, the Saints, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and all Holy Men which have lived from the beginning of the World; The&s;e I &s;ay, I am &s;ure to &s;ee and to partake with them in Joys; why then &s;hould I not be willing to dye to enjoy their perpetual Society in Glory, and hav|ing &s;aid thus, he patiently re&s;igned up his Spirit into the hands of his Redeemer. The knowing our Friends in Heaven</HI> has al&s;o been the &s;upport of the <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> of this Age.<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See the Ac|count of her Life Publi&s;hed by her Husband.</NOTE> Mrs. <HI>Lucy Perrot</HI> on her Death-bed &s;aid thus to her Husband, <HI>God hath been a long while weaning thee from me: we mu&s;t part, but we &s;hall after a while meet again.</HI> She farther adds, <HI>I am go|ing home to my Fathers Hou&s;e, where are my dear Children, will they not follow after me to Heaven;</HI> Being asked again, whether &s;he was not afraid to dye, &s;he replied, <HI>I am not, I do not look upon Death &s;ingly but at it brings me to Re&s;t, I mu&s;t go through the dark Entry before I can get to my fir&s;t Husband.</HI></P>
<P>Bi&s;hop <HI>Atherton</HI> died &s;aying to his Friends, <HI>I dread not Death, God &s;end us an happy meeting in Heaven, I am but going before you.</HI> And in his Letter to his Wife, he has the&s;e words, <HI>My dear Wife, tho we part in this World, yet I hope we &s;hall enjoy a more happy meeting in Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>Mr. <HI>William Hewling</HI> &s;aid to his Si&s;ter before his Death, <HI>When I went to</HI> Holland <HI>you knew not what &s;nares, &s;ins and mi&s;erys I might fall into, or whether ever we &s;hould meet again.</HI> But now, <HI>('twas &s;poke ju&s;t before his Execution) you know whither I am going and that we &s;hall certainly have a mo&s;t Joyful meeting;</HI>
<PB N="12" REF="35"> And one taking leave of him, he &s;aid, <HI>Farewell till we meet in Heaven.</HI> To another that was by him to the la&s;t, he &s;aid, <HI>Pray Remember my Dear Love to my Brother and Si&s;ter, and tell them, I de|&s;ire they would comfort them&s;elves that I am gone to Chri&s;t, and we &s;hall quickly meet in the Glorious Mount Sion above.</HI> And Mr. <HI>Benjamin Hewling</HI> in his la&s;t Letter to his Mother, has this Expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>The Lord carry you through this vale of Tears with a re&s;igning &s;ubmi&s;&s;ive Spirit, and at la&s;t bring you to Him&s;elf in Glory, where I que&s;tion not but you will meet your dying Son,</HI> Ben. Hewling.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>William Jenkins</HI> in his Letter to his Mother has this Expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>Honoured Mother, I take leave of you</HI> (al&s;o) <HI>hoping that I &s;hall again meet with you in that place of happine&s;s where all Tears &s;hall be wiped away from our Eyes, and we &s;hall Sorrow no more.</HI> And in his Letter to his Si&s;ter <HI>Scot,</HI> he &s;ays, <HI>Farewell till we &s;hall meet again in Glory, and never be &s;eperated more.</HI></P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Eliot</HI> of <HI>New-England</HI> dyed a&s;&s;erting he &s;hould know <HI>his Friends in Heaven,</HI> which made him often &s;ay, that the old Saints of his Acquain|tance e&s;pecially tho&s;e two deare&s;t Neighbours of his, <HI>Cotton</HI> of <HI>Bo&s;ton</HI> and <HI>Mather</HI> of <HI>Dorche&s;ter,</HI> who were got &s;afe to Heaven before him, would &s;u&s;pect him to be gone the wrong way becau&s;e he &s;taid to long behind them, but they are now together, <HI>(adds the Author of his Life)</HI> with the Ble&s;&s;ed Je&s;us, beholding of his Glory, and Celebrating the High Prai&s;es of him that has called them into His marvellous Light; <HI>whether Heaven was any more Heaven to him</HI> (continues this Author) becau&s;e of his finding there &s;o many Saints with whom he once had his Cele&s;tial Intimacies, yea and &s;o many Saints which had been the Seals of his own Mini&s;try in this lower World, I cannot &s;ay, but in that Heaven I now leave him, but not without <HI>Grynaeus</HI> Pathetical Exclamations, Ble&s;&s;ed will be the day, oh. Ble&s;&s;ed the day of our arrival to the Glorious A&s;&s;embly of Spirits, which this great Saint is now
<PB N="13" REF="35"> rejoycing with. &mdash; Some months before Mr. <HI>Eliot</HI> died, he would often tell us that he was <HI>&s;hortly go|ing to Heaven, and that he would carry a deal of good news thither with him: He &s;aid he would carry Tydings to the Old Founders of</HI> New-England, <HI>which were now in Glory, that Church-work was yet carried on among us; that the number of our Churches were continually encrea&s;ing, and that the Churches were &s;till kept as big as they were, by the daily Additions of tho&s;e that &s;hall be &s;aved,</HI> and thus dy'd, <HI>The fir&s;t Preacher of the Go&s;pel to the</HI> Indians <HI>in</HI> America in a firm belief that he &s;hould meet and know his Friend<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">, in Heaven.</P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">I &s;hall next add th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> words of Bp.<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Ar. Bp. <HI>Tillot&s;on</HI>'s Ser. on <HI>Phil. 3. v. 20.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Tillot&s;on,</HI> who tells us when we come to Hea|ven we &s;hall enter into the So|ciety of the Ble&s;&s;ed Angels and of the Spirits of Ju&s;t Men made Perfect, we &s;hall then meet with all tho&s;e Excellent Per&s;ons, tho&s;e brave Minds, tho&s;e Innocent and Charitable Souls, whom we have &s;een and heard and Read of in this World. There we &s;hall meet with many of our <HI>dear Relations and intimate Friends,</HI> and perhaps with many of our Enemys to whom we &s;hall then be perfectly reconciled, for Heaven is a State of perfect Love and Friend&s;hip, there will be nothing but kindne&s;s and good nature there, and all the <HI>prudent Arts of Endearment,</HI> and wi&s;e ways of rendring Con|ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ation mutually plea&s;ant to one another.</Q> <HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> dear Ignotus,</HI> I need not add a greater Authority then the A&s;&s;ertion of this Great and Learned <HI>Prelate,</HI> to prove we &s;hall know one another in Heaven.</P>
<P>But to come yet <HI>nearer</HI> home, I might have added to my one &s;elf, <HI>(For I instance in one that I Love as well)</HI> 'Twas the Opinion of this Friend (I mean of my dear departed) That &s;he &s;hould know me again in Heaven, the thoughts whereof gave her comfort on her Death-bed; for when her approaching end gave me a deeper Sorrow than before, &s;he
<PB N="14" REF="36"> endeavour'd to &s;olace me, by &s;aying, <HI>'Tis true, my dear, Tho I de&s;ire to live for thy &s;ake, and nothing el&s;e, tho I have all the World in having thee, and had ra|ther die than thou &s;hould'&s;t be &s;ick, yet don't be &s;o con|cerned about parting, for</HI> I <HI>hope we &s;hall both meet, where we &s;hall never part.</HI> That &s;he dy'd in this Belief, yet furthet appears by the Letter &s;he writ about her Funeral, which concludes with &s;aying, <HI>My Dear, as to what you mention about our Fu|nerals, I like it well, and am yet further plea&s;ed with our Ground Bedfellows,</HI> I <HI>doubt not; but dear, O &mdash; thee and I &s;hall make as whole&s;ome a Mor&s;el for the Worms as any; and as we &s;leep together in the &s;ame Grave, &s;o I hope we &s;hall be happy hereafter in the Enjoyment of the Beatifick Vi&s;ion, and in the Know|ledge of one another; for</HI> (adds &s;he) <HI>I agree with you that we &s;hall know our Friends in Heaven. Wi&s;e and Learned Men of all Ages; and &s;everal Scrip|tures plainly &s;hew it, tho I verily believe, was there none but God and one Saint in Heaven, that Saint wou'd be perfectly happy, &s;o as to de&s;ire no more, but whil&s;t on Earth, we may lawfully plea&s;e our &s;elves with Hopes of meeting hereafter, and ly|ing in the &s;ame Grave, where we &s;hall be happy here|after, if a Sen&s;ele&s;s Happine&s;s can be call'd &s;o.</HI></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">You mention Writing your Thoughts of the <HI>Nature of the Soul, and that other World we are ha&s;tening too;</HI> but &s;eeing you did not &s;end them, I &s;hall wait with Patience till tho&s;e things are no longer the Object of our <HI>Faith,</HI> but <HI>Vi&s;ion.</HI></Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">I &s;hall only add my hearty Prayer, that God wou'd ble&s;s you both in Soul and Body; and that when you die, you may be conveyed by the An|gels into <HI>Abraham</HI>'s Bo&s;om, where, I hope, you'll find your con&s;tant &mdash; <HI>Eliza.</HI></Q></P>
<P>And as <HI>Eliza (that part of my &s;elf now in Heaven)</HI> believ'd &s;he &s;hou'd know me <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ere, &s;o I al&s;o find my Reverend Father of this Opinion, as appears by the follow|ing Letter,<NOTE N="(*)" PLACE="marg">This Letter was &s;ent me du|ring my Appren|ti&s;hip in the Ci|ty of <HI>London.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Viz.</HI></P>
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<PB N="15" REF="36">
<OPENER><SALUTE>My Dear Child.</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>If you endeavour to plea&s;e God and your Ma&s;ter, I do not doubt but I &s;hall <HI>meet thy Face in Heaven,</HI> hereafter, tho thro my Corporal Indi&s;po&s;ition I fear I &s;hall <HI>&s;ee thy Face no more on Earth,</HI> and in that <HI>New-Jeru&s;alem</HI> (if thou die&s;t in Chri&s;t) I &s;hall &s;ee thee not disfigured with Pockholes, but dig|nified with Cele&s;tial Glory, and there thou wilt <HI>&s;ee thine own Mothers Face,</HI> who kill'd her &s;elf with Exce&s;s of Love to thee, and who died pray|ing &s;o earne&s;tly for thy Everla&s;ting Salvation.</P>
<P>'Tis clear from hence that my Father thought he &s;hou'd <HI>know my Face in Heaven,</HI> and that I &s;hou d &s;ee my Mother there, &s;o as to know her again.</P>
<P>My dear Mother was al&s;o of this Opinion, as appears by the Letter to her Brother <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> it concluding thus: <HI>Pray Brother earne&s;tly contend for the Faith, once delivered to the Saints, that you may follow the Lord fully in your Generation; and, that you and I, with all our Relations, may one day &s;it down in Heavenly Places together, with Je&s;us Christ.</HI></P>
<P>And <HI>Cloris</HI> too (for I can't &s;peak of Heaven without her) is of this Opinion, where &s;he &s;ays, (&s;peaking of Mr. &mdash;) <HI>That Saints and Angels li|&s;ten to his Song, and knew him &s;o very well,</HI> that not an <HI>Angel Critick</HI> dur&s;t correct his Ver&s;e&mdash; <HI>Dear Charmer, &s;hall we &s;ee thee too in Heaven!</HI></P>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<L><HI>Then</HI> Cloris <HI>know in Heaven I'll be</HI></L>
<L><HI>Your Friend and Guardian-Angel too;</HI></L>
<L><HI>And tho with more refined Society,</HI></L>
<L><HI>I'll leave Ely&s;ium to conver&s;e with you.</HI></L>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Cloris.</SPEAKER>
<L><HI>But grant</HI> Sir Phil. <HI>you &s;till are kind,</HI></L>
<L><HI>You cannot long continue &s;o;</HI></L>
<L><HI>When I like you, become all Thought and Mind,</HI></L>
<L><HI>By what Mark then &s;hall we each other know.</HI></L>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB REF="37">
<SPEAKER>Phil.</SPEAKER>
<L><HI>With Care on your la&s;t Hour</HI> I <HI>wi l attend,</HI></L>
<L><HI>And lea&s;t like Souls &s;hou'd me deceive;</HI></L>
<L>I <HI>clo&s;ely will imbrace my new-born Friend,</HI></L>
<L><HI>And never after my</HI> dear Pithia <HI>leave.</HI></L>
</SP>
<P><HI><HI>You &s;ee <HI>(Ignotus)</HI> I am <HI>all Rap|ture</HI> when I talk of <HI>Cloris,</HI> but 'tis <HI>Excu&s;able</HI> &s;ure! if not,</HI></HI></P>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Phil</SPEAKER>
<L>Forgive, <HI>Bright Maid,</HI> this little Exta&s;ie;</L>
<L>Ah! who can be compos'd that thinks of thee?</L>
<L>Who can <HI>Pindarick Flights</HI> refu&s;e,</L>
<L>Whil&s;t thou doest la&s;h the <HI>Fiery-foaming Mu&s;e.</HI></L>
<L>I'll curb her in, and try if <HI>I</HI> can be</L>
<L>As Grave, as Sober, and as Wi&s;e as thee.</L>
</SP>
<P>Nor think, dear Friend, I ramble now from you, for I never talk to the Purpo&s;e; but when I bring in <HI>Cloris</HI> &mdash;our Friend&s;hip <HI>(both here, and hereafter)</HI> wou'd be imperfect without her.&mdash; It &s;hou'd &s;weeten the Thoughts of Heaven to us both, to think we &s;hall one day &s;ee her there. Which, if we do, with what Ardours &s;hall we then care&s;s one another? <Q REND="margQuotes">With what Tran&s;ports of Divine Affection <HI>(as one expre&s;&s;es it)</HI> &s;hall we mutually embrace, and vent tho&s;e Innocent Flames, which had &s;o long lain &s;mothering in the Grave? How Pa&s;&s;ionately, Rhetorical, and Elegant, will our Expre&s;&s;ions be, when our Ten|der Sentiments, which (an aged Father and) Death had frozen up, when he congeal'd our Blood, &s;hall now be thaw'd again in the warm Airs of Paradice&mdash;like Men that have e&s;caped a com|mon Shipwreck, and &s;wim &s;afe to the Shoar, &s;hall we there Congratulate each other with Joy and Wonder?</Q></P>
<PB N="17" REF="37">
<P>I need not tell you (&s;ays the Ingenious <HI>Boyle) Tha we &s;hall be more ju&s;tly Tran&s;ported at this Meeting than was good old</HI> Jacob <HI>at that of his Son</HI> Jo&s;eph, <HI>whom having long mourn'd for dead and lo&s;t, he found not only Alive, but a great Favourite, ready to wel|come him to an unknown Court For, whereas the Patriarch &s;aid to his Son,</HI> Now let me dye, &s;ince I have &s;een thy Face; <HI>the &s;eeing of our Friends in Heaven will a&s;&s;ure us, that we &s;hall for ever Live with them there.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Dear Ignotus,</HI> wonder not at this <HI>Rapture,</HI> for if <HI>Eliza</HI> while&s;t on Earth, had <HI>Christian</HI> love enough to Embrace the whole World, in Heaven, &s;he has not left her Nature, but only its imper|fections, &s;he has not changed her affections, but only hightened and improved them, and therefore judge how happy I &s;hall be <HI>when I &s;ee her again,</HI> and how much more happy in her Excellent friend|&s;hip; for my part I can imagine nothing but an <HI>Extacy</HI> when we &s;hall Live in &s;uch great Hearts which are nothing el&s;e but <HI>LO&V;E</HI> and <HI>JOY;</HI> Nay, this &s;eems to be the &s;umm of what we can &s;ay of the happine&s;s of that State, that it con&s;i&s;ts in a rap|turous Love of God and one another. Where this is found, that <HI>Place is Heaven.</HI> <Q REND="margQuotes"><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Foes</HI> Car. of Dr. Anne&s;ly.</NOTE>Could I Reheat&s;e to your Conception what is Heaven above,&mdash;twould be Conci&s;ely thus, all Heauen is Love.</Q> Sure I am we &s;hall behold no narrow <HI>Conclu&s;ive Soul</HI> in Heaven habitually pre|fering their private before a publick good: and on this Score (had I no better Grounds) I &s;hould hope to meet <HI>Eliza in Heaven,</HI> as &s;he preferred that, and the plea&s;ing her Husband to all the Baggs in the World. Then &s;urely if I meet her again my fir&s;t Addre&s;s to <HI>Eliza</HI> will be <HI>'a Dialect of Inter|jectons and &s;hort Periods, the mo&s;t Pathetick Lan|guage of &s;urpri&s;e and high wrought Joy,</HI> and all our after Conver&s;e <HI>(even to Eternity)</HI> will be Couch'd, in the highe&s;t Strains of Heavenly Oratory, me|thinks (at this va&s;t Di&s;tance) I Fancy her running to me and &s;aying, Ah! <HI>Philaret</HI> this place where I have
<PB N="18" REF="38"> now met thee <HI>(never to part more)</HI> &s;hews how Loyal I was to thee, cou'd I dye, undutifull &amp; meet thee here; and tho' thou wert too &s;incere thy &s;elf to di&s;tru&s;t my Love, yet in a <HI>State of Mortality</HI> I might have deceived thee, but by meeting here, thou finde&s;t my Love was as true as thine; &s;he's no &s;ooner gone to Congratulate other Spirits, but me|thinks I &s;ee <HI>Argus (having repented the injuries he did me) Fido, H&mdash;n, Ignotus</HI> and a Troop of Friends, all coming to give me a particular welcome. Dear <HI>Ignotus,</HI> wonder not at this Conjecture, for the Souls of tho&s;e that have left their Bodys, are as much a|live in the other World, as we are in this,<NOTE PLACE="marg">See his Ser. before the Qu.</NOTE> and do there, &dagger; <HI>as (Dr.</HI> Beveridge <HI>tells us) as Familiarly Conver&s;e together as we do here with one another.</HI></P>
</LETTER>
<P>It much <HI>Sweetneth</HI> the thoughts of Heaven to me, &s;aith Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> To Remember that there are a multitude of my Friends gone thither; to think &s;uch a Friend that died at &s;uch a time, and &s;uch a one at another time <HI>(O! what a number of them could I name)</HI> and that all the&s;e I &s;hall meet again.</P>
<P>'Tis true, (adds he) <HI>it's a que&s;tion with &s;ome whether we &s;hall know each other in Heaven</HI> or no? but 'tis none with me; for &s;urely there &s;hall no know|ledge cea&s;e which now we have, but only that which implyeth our imperfection, and what im|perfection can this imply? Nor is it only my old Friends, [&s;uch as <HI>E&s;&s;ex, Ru&s;&s;el, Sydney,</HI> &amp;c.] that I &s;hall know in Heaven, but all the Saints of all ages, who&s;e Faces in the Fle&s;h I never &s;aw.<NOTE PLACE="marg">See Dr. <HI>Anne&s;ley's</HI> Ser. of Commun. with God.</NOTE> We al&s;o find Dr. <HI>Anne&s;ley</HI> of this Opinon, for in his Sermons of <HI>Communion with God,</HI> he there tells us, <HI>Tho&s;e whom we have Loved and Prized, with whom we have wept and prayed, who&s;e Company on Earth hath been refre&s;hing; how welcome will a never parting meet|ing be in Heaven, ay, tho&s;e whom we have admired tho we never &s;aw them, we &s;hall then &s;ee and enjoy for ever.</HI> Mat. 8.11. <HI>they &s;hall come from the
<PB N="19" REF="38"> Ea&s;t and We&s;t, and &s;it down with</HI> Abraham, I&s;aac, <HI>and</HI> Jacob, <HI>in the Kingd<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">m of Heaven; Tho&s;e that know what 'tis to Conver&s;e with Saints on Earth may be able to give a Gue&s;s what it will be in Heaven. How &s;weet will it be to di&s;cour&s;e with</HI> Mo&s;es, <HI>when your Face &s;hall &s;hine as well as his; to conver&s;e with</HI> Solomon, <HI>when your Wi&s;dom &s;hall exceed whatever is recorded of his, to joyn in the Con&s;ort of Prai&s;es with the &s;weet Singer of</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>when you &s;hall be Per&s;ons after God's own Heart, without a But in your Com|mendation.</HI>&mdash;We &s;hall here conver&s;e with Saints of the highe&s;t Form, with <HI>Enoch,</HI> that walked with God, with <HI>Elijah,</HI> that was taken up in the Fiery Chariot, and with <HI>Paul,</HI> that was Chri&s;ts Principal Secretary on Earth <HI>(as to the Riches of Free Grace);</HI> we &s;hall freely conver&s;e with all the&s;e, and with that <HI>beloved Di&s;ciple</HI> that could whi&s;per to Chri&s;t what others dur&s;t not mention.</P>
<P>Our Saviour tells the <HI>Jews, Luke</HI> 13.28. that they &s;hould &s;ee <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI> and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God; and there|fore we &s;hall know them: And what is there in rea&s;on that &s;hould hinder it? why may nor <HI>Abra|ham</HI> and <HI>I&s;aac (once &s;o nearly related)</HI> be again ac|quainted, and with Joy repeat the Hi&s;tory of the intended Sacrifice? Why may not <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron</HI> meet and di&s;cour&s;e their Old Adventures? Why may not the ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tles and holy Martyrs be <HI>known to one another,</HI> and entertain them&s;elves with glad&s;ome Relations of what they did, and what they &s;uffered together.</P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">Thus the Saints in Heaven, as they receive Hap|pine&s;s from the &s;ight of God, &s;o they communi|cate the pure&s;t Plea&s;ure to one another. An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure So|ciety. Our Love is now kindled, either from a Relation in Nature, or a civil Account, or &s;ome vi&s;ible Excellencies that render a Per&s;on worthy of our Choice and Friend&s;hip; but in Heaven the Rea&s;ons are greater, and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent. In that ble&s;&s;ed Socie|ty
<PB N="20" REF="39"> (Says a<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Dr. <HI>Bates</HI>'s Four La&s;t Things.</NOTE> Learned Author) there is a con&s;tant Receiving and Returning of Love and Joy. And that double Exer|ci&s;e of the Saints, in the perfect Circle of Love, is like the plea&s;ant Labour of the Bees, who all the day are flying to the Gardens, and returning to their Hives, and all their Art is in extracting the pure&s;t Spirits from fragrant Flowers, and making &s;weet Honey. O how do they rejoyce and tri|umph, in the Happine&s;s of one another? With what an unimaginable Tenderne&s;s do they em|brace? What Reciprocations of Endearments are be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ween them? O their Ravi&s;hing Conver&s;ation, and &s;weet Entercour&s;e! for their Pre&s;ence toge|ther in Heaven is not a &s;ilent Show. In the Transfiguration. <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> talk'd with Chri&s;t: We may under&s;tand a little of it, by the &s;en&s;ible Compla&s;ence that is among &s;incere Friends here. In pure Amity there is a threefold Union: a Union of Re&s;emblance that is the Principle of it; Likene&s;s cau&s;es Love: a Union of Affection, that is its E&s;&s;ence; 'tis &s;aid of <HI>Jonathan,</HI> that incom|parable Friend. <HI>His Soul was knit with the Soul of</HI> David, <HI>and he loved him as his own Soul:</HI> the Union of Conver&s;ation that is requi&s;ite to the Satisfaction of Love. What an Entertainment of Love and Joy is there in the Pre&s;ence and Di&s;|cour&s;es of dear Friends! their mutual A&s;pects, like a Chain, compo&s;ed of Spirits luminous and active, draw and fa&s;ten their Souls to one ano|ther: The Felicity of Love con&s;i&s;ts in their Con|ver&s;ation. Now in Heaven whatever is plea&s;ant in Friend&s;hip, is in Perfection; and whatever is di&s;ta&s;tful by Mens Folly and Weakne&s;s, is aboli&s;h|ed. With what excellent Di&s;cour&s;es do they entertain one another?</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">But the&s;e <HI>particular Friend&s;hips</HI> in Heaven (&s;ays an Ingenious Writer) they do<NOTE N="[*]" PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Patrick</HI>'s Parable of the Pilgrim.</NOTE> not at all &s;poil the Univer&s;al Kindne&s;s of the place, others will not be lov|ed the wor&s;e for them, but rather
<PB N="21" REF="39"> loved better, becau&s;e they will teach tho&s;e united Hearts the greate&s;t Love. They may be e&s;teem'd al&s;o one of the Beauteous Spectacles of the place, and be reckon'd among the grateful Varieties, which will entertain us, when after the Plea&s;ures of a more general and large Con|ver&s;ation, every one may retire to the Compa|ny of tho&s;e he loveth mo&s;t; and if a <HI>particular Friend&s;hip in Heaven</HI> will give &s;uch un&s;peakable Joys:</Q> What a Happine&s;s will it be to &s;ee and embrace the Bli&s;sful Society of all the Saints and Angels at once about the Throne, to &s;ee all the <HI>Martyrs with their Glorious Scars of Honour; nay, Angels, Che|rubims, Seraphims, and all that ble&s;&s;ed Quire of Spirits,</HI> who have done us while we were in Dangers here, many an invi&s;ible Courte&s;ie, which they could ne|ver thank them for, they being <HI>Mini&s;tring Spirits, &s;ent forth to mini&s;ter for them, who &s;hall be Heirs of Salvation.</HI> &mdash; If a <HI>Diagoras,</HI> when he &s;aw his three Sons crowned in one day at the Olympick Games, as Victors, died away while he was embracing them for Joy; and good old <HI>Simeon</HI> when he &s;aw Chri&s;t, but in a Body &s;ubject to the Infirmities of our Natures, and had him in his Arms, cried out, <HI>Now, Lord, lette&s;t thou thy Servant depart in Peace, for my Eyes have &s;een thy Salvation,</HI> Luk. 2.29. What un&s;peakable Joy will it be to &s;ee all our <HI>Chri&s;tian Friends,</HI> to whom we have been in&s;tru|mental in their new Birth and Regeneration, all crown'd in one day with an Everla&s;ting Diadem of Bli&s;s, which never &s;hall decay: there &s;hall be no Hypocrite then for us to loo&s;e our Love upon, which is now the great Cooler of our Friend&s;hip, and keeps our Affections in a greater Re&s;erve &mdash; When the Glorious Angels begin their Hallelu|jahs, the Saints &s;hall al&s;o joyn in one common Quire, <HI>They &s;hall be joyful in Glory, and &s;ing aloud upon their Everla&s;ting Beds of Re&s;t,</HI> P&s;al. 149.5. Oh how the Arches of Heaven will eccho when the High Prai&s;es of God &s;hall be in the Mouths of &s;uch a Congregation.</P>
<PB N="22" REF="40">
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">With what Life &amp; Alacrity will the Saints in their ble&s;&s;ed Communion celebrate the Object of their<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See D. <HI>Bates</HI>'s Four Last Things.</NOTE> Love and Prai&s;es? The <HI>Seraphims</HI> about the Throne <HI>cryed to one another,</HI> to ex|pre&s;s their Zeal and Joy, in ce|lebrating his Eternal Purity and Power, and the Glory of his Goodne&s;s. O the un&s;peakable Plea|&s;ure of this Concert! when every Soul is harmo|nious, and contributes his part <HI>to the full Mu&s;ick of Heaven.</HI> O could we hear but &s;ome Eccho of tho&s;e Songs, wherewith the Heaven of Hea|vens re&s;ounds, &s;ome remains of tho&s;e Voices, wherewith the Saints above <HI>triumph in the Prai&s;es of God,</HI> &amp;c.</Q></P>
<P>For Angels and Saints to make one Con&s;ort of Prai&s;e to God, what <HI>Mu&s;ick</HI> will that be? So that the thoughts of leaving my dear Priends and Acquaintance &s;hall never &s;adden me more, &s;ince they &s;hall all follow me e're long, and be ever with the Lord, to enjoy each other in the Lord in a more Triumphant way than now we can; and for <HI>the&s;e few Friends left behind</HI> for the pre&s;ent I &s;hall enjoy an innumerable Company of <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed Angels, and the Spirits of ju&s;t Men made perfect, and all &s;uch Godly Friends as died in the Lord,</HI> (particularly my <HI>dear Eliza</HI>) who&s;e Departure for the pre&s;ent &s;eem'd to rend a piece of my Soul with her. The&s;e I &s;hall all meet again, and never part more.</P>
<P>How oft have I mea&s;ured a long and foul Journey to &s;ee &s;ome Good Friend, and dige&s;ted the Tediou&s;|ne&s;s of the Way, with the Expectation of a kind Entertainment, and the thought of that Compla|cency, which I &s;hould take in &s;o dear Pre&s;ence? And yet perhaps when I have arrived, I have found the Hou&s;e di&s;order'd, one Sick, another di&s;quieted, my &s;elf indi&s;po&s;ed; then with what chearful Re&s;olution &s;hould I undertake my la&s;t Voyage, where
<PB N="23" REF="40"> I &s;hall meet with my be&s;t Friends, and find them perfectly happy, and my &s;elf with them.</P>
<P>And therefore <HI>Phil.</HI> will no longer think him|&s;elf a Stranger to all the Spirits of the Ju&s;t now in Heaven, &s;eeing <HI>Eliza</HI> and half my Kindred are now there, and many others that I've &s;ometimes formerly had &s;weet Fellow&s;hip with in the Ordi|nances of the Go&s;pel: <HI>If I &s;hall &s;it down with</HI> Abra|ham, I&s;aac, <HI>and</HI> Jacob <HI>in the Kingdom; &s;urely I &s;hall know them to be &s;uch.</HI></P>
<P>Be&s;ides, their Natures in Heaven are all perfectly Gracious and Holy, and <HI>I</HI> &s;hall be like them, and we &s;hall know each other to be &s;o; &mdash; <HI>And what &s;hine&s;s can there po&s;&s;ible be among &s;uch who are &s;atis|fied in each others &s;incere Love and Affection?</HI> &mdash; Thou maye&s;t <HI>(Ignotus)</HI> be acquainted with a thou&s;and <HI>Saints and Angels</HI> in an Hours time, as if thou had&s;t known 'em a Thou&s;and Years, we &s;hall &s;ee them without any thing of Fear or Dread, and be acquainted from them&s;elves with their Offi|ces on Earth.</P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">There is no<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Dr. <HI>Pa|tricks</HI> Parable of the Pilgrim.</NOTE> Strangene&s;s at all among them, or the Saints; you can meet with no Body there, but they will entertain you with as much Kindne&s;s and Sincerity, as if they had known you many Years. When many come together in one place, there is no danger of their Jarring, by rea&s;on of their different Sentiments; there they entwine in the deare&s;t Embraces, and &s;tudy to encrea&s;e, not to dimini&s;h their mutual Hap|pine&s;s. If this be &s;o, poor <HI>Phil,</HI> be not amazed at the great Change of Company at Death; for as Dr. <HI>Pre&s;ton</HI> &s;aid, <HI>We &s;hall change our Place, but not our Company.</HI></Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">It is a plea&s;ant<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Showers</HI> Di&s;cour&s;e of Mourn+ing for the Deed.</NOTE> Thought, (and proper to &s;upport under the Death of tho&s;e we have ho|noured, and lov'd, and profited by on Earth) to think that hereafter we &s;hall meet, and know &s;everal Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, who&s;e Preach|ing
<PB N="24" REF="41"> and Conver&s;e and Writings, have been u&s;eful to us: That we &s;hall then meet and know &s;everal of our Holy Relations and Acquaintance, with whom we were wont to walk together to the Hou&s;e of God, and meet often at the Table of the Lord;</Q> with whom we conferr'd about the My&s;teries and Pro|mi&s;es of the Go&s;pel, and many a time di&s;cours'd together of the Heavenly Inheritance; believingly to fore&s;ee, and con&s;ider, that though they are gone before, we &s;hall meet 'em again, at the la&s;t great Supper of the Lamb, in the Cele&s;tial Kingdom.</P>
<P>Shall we thus know our Friends in Heaven, then as Mr. <HI>Showers</HI> further advi&s;es I'll re&s;olve to have <HI>Communion</HI> with them, though they are Departed; by Contemplating what they are, and <HI>where</HI> they <HI>are,</HI> and what they <HI>do,</HI> and what they <HI>po&s;&s;e&s;s;</HI> and by Rejoyceing in their Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, more than I would have done for their Temporal Advancement in any kind on Earth. I'le de&s;ire and endeavour to be <HI>as like</HI> 'em as I can, by imitating their Temper and Work above, in the Love of God, and the delight|ful thankful Prai&s;es of the Redeemer. When I look up to <HI>Heaven,</HI> I'le think <HI>they</HI> are <HI>there,</HI> when I think of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> in <HI>Heaven,</HI> I'le remember they are part of <HI>his Family</HI> Above. When I think with hope of entring into <HI>Heaven</HI> my &s;elf, I'le think with Joy of meeting <HI>Eliza</HI> and the re&s;t of my Friends <HI>there.</HI> Oh welcome, welcome, happy meeting with Chri&s;t, and them; Never more to Part, never more to Mourn, never more to Sin. <HI>O happy Change! O Ble&s;&s;ed Society! Fit me Lord! for &s;uch a Day, and Come, Lord Je&s;us! Come quickly.</HI> Amen.</P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee this per&s;wa&s;ion of a Re&s;toration to a <HI>mutual knowledge</HI> of each other, containeth great Advantages and Motives to a Godly Life; for the fear of being Eternally divided from tho&s;e I &s;incerely Love on Earth, will draw me to an imi|tation of their Sanctity, if herein they be Exem|plary, or give me the Courage to lead them into the way; if their Cour&s;e be irregular and exorbitant
<PB N="25" REF="41"> For tho&s;e who unfeignedly de&s;ire to meet at the Journeys end, will &s;tudy to pre&s;erve each other in the Way: And they who would wear the &s;ame Crown of rejoycing in the Pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t, will a&s;&s;i&s;t each other here, that they peri&s;h not in the agony and conflict.</P>
<P>The <HI>Egyptians</HI> Embalmed the Carca&s;&s;es of the Dead, to pre&s;erve them, if it were po&s;&s;ible, through all the parts of Time; being guided by an opini|on, that &s;o long as the Body continued undi&s;&s;olved, the Soul would not for&s;ake the Earth, but conti|nue hovering about the place where the Bodies lay: In like manner the Souls of men, which by many kinds of A&s;&s;ociation may be united into one ma&s;s and heap, and as it were become parts of one another, will continue the more vigilant and active for each others everla&s;ting Welfare, &s;o long as they are per&s;waded again&s;t an <HI>eternal divorce and di&s;&s;olution,</HI> and do contrarily believe they &s;hall be rewarded by a &s;en&s;e of each others happine&s;s; and that that union which is among them&s;elves (as of one member to another) &s;hall not be di&s;&s;olved, but perfected by that Union which &s;hall unite them to Chri&s;t as to their Head, and through him unto God.</P>
<P><HI>Ignotus,</HI> I might &s;top here, for I hope by this time, I have made it plain, that <HI>the Saints know one another in Heaven;</HI> But this being a Curious Point, I &s;hall yet bring more Authoritys to prove it, and the next I &s;hall Name is the Pious<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See His four la&s;t things.</NOTE> <HI>Bolton,</HI> Who po&s;itively a&s;|&s;erts, <HI>The knowing of our Friends in Heaven;</HI> his Words are the&s;e, <HI>All comfortable knowledge &s;hall be &s;o far from being aboli&s;hed in Heaven, that it will be inlarged, increa&s;|ed, and perfected.</HI></P>
<P><HI>But to know one another is a comforta<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> know|ledge.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Yherefore we &s;hall know one another in Hea|ven.</HI></P>
<PB N="26" REF="42">
<P><HI>Our knowledge &s;hall be perfected: For,</HI> We &s;hall know as we are known, 1. <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.12. <HI>Which is &s;et out by Compari&s;on of the le&s;s: That our knowledge then, &s;hall differ from that now, as the knowledge of a</HI> Child <HI>from that of a</HI> Perfect Man.</P>
<P>In Heaven all the mi&s;ts of Ignorance and Blindne&s;s being perfectly cleared up and taken away; we &s;hall &s;ee one another, together with all the Saints, though we did not know them before. For, if <HI>Adam</HI> by vertue of the Divine Image &s;tampt upon him, knew <HI>Eve,</HI> though taken out of his Body while he was a&s;leep; Why &s;hould not we, being Transformed according to the &s;ame Image, from Glory to Glory, by the Father, Son and Holy Gho&s;t, know the Members of the &s;ame Body?</P>
<P>Tho&s;e full of the Spirit and Wi&s;dom of God, may as ea&s;ily be &s;uppos'd to know one another, as <HI>Adam</HI> before the Fall, while he retained the Image of God, knew <HI>Eve</HI> who, and whence &s;he came.</P>
<P>And as <HI>Samuel</HI> knew <HI>Saul</HI> by the In&s;piration of God, though he had not &s;een him before, <HI>Sam.</HI> 9.17. And <HI>John</HI> knew our Lord Chri&s;t in the Womb of the Ble&s;&s;ed Virgin. So their Minds were Enlightened by the Rayes of the Holy Spirit.</P>
<P>Then Conceive if thou can&s;t, <HI>Ignotus,</HI> how grate|ful that knowledg will be, by which we &s;hall know all others as all others &s;hall know us.</P>
<P>The Knowledge which all men in this Life unprofitably de&s;ire, &s;hall be &s;uch, to the Good, that they &s;hall be ignorant of nothing they are willing to know. For the Good &s;hall be filled with the perfect Wi&s;dom of God, and &s;hall <HI>&s;ee Him Face to Face,</HI> and in &s;eeing of this, &s;hall be|hold the Nature of all Creatures, which they &s;hall &s;ee in God better then them&s;elves. For then the Ju&s;t &s;hall know all things which God hath made knowable, as well tho&s;e which are pa&s;t as tho&s;e which are to come.</P>
<PB N="27" REF="42">
<P>When the Elect &s;hall &s;ee the antient Fathers in their Eternal Inheritance, they &s;hall know them by Sight, whom they knew in their Work; for they &s;hall &s;ee them all by <HI>a common Illumination:</HI> What is it they can there be ignorant of, when they know him who knows all things?</P>
<P>The Vi&s;ion of God is not only promi&s;ed to the Saints in Heaven, but al&s;o of all things that God has made; as the Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Seas, Rivers, Living Creatures, Trees and Mettals. But our Minds know nothing, <HI>i. e.</HI> No perfect Sub|&s;tance, nor E&s;&s;ential Differences, nor Properties, nor Virtues. Nor did ever any <HI>Man &s;ee his own Soul,</HI> but we grope like the Blind, and acquire the Knowledge we have by Di&s;cour&s;e. VVhat &s;hall the Joy then be, when we &s;hall &s;ee by the Light be&s;tow|ed upon us, <HI>the nature of all things barefaced.</HI> And how wonderfully &s;hall we be tran&s;ported when we &s;hall &s;ee innumerable Armies of Angels in the Differences of their Degrees and Order.</P>
<P>And in Heaven, as we &s;hall know the Saints not in Outward, Worldly Re&s;pects, but as we know them in <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> by the Illumination of the Spi|rit, &s;o al&s;o we &s;hall know the <HI>Spiritual Sub&s;tan|ces, Offices, Orders, Excellencies of the Angels,</HI> and the Nature, Immutability, Operations, and Original of our own Souls, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and in a Word, <HI>all things knowable.</HI></P>
<P>Here 'tis the happy Re&s;identiaries Under&s;tand|ings are wide open'd to all the amazing Lights and Di&s;coveries of Truth, to the My&s;teries of Creati|on and Providence, of Redemption and Sanctifica|tion; to the now puzzling Difficulties of Nature and of Grace; of God's Pre&s;cience, and Man's Free Will. Here 'tis the Wills al&s;o of the Glorified are render'd conformable unto, are &s;wallowed up in, and made one with God's Holy Will and Plea&s;ure.</P>
<P>'<HI>There</HI> (&s;ays the ingenious <HI>Boyle) we &s;hall have clearly expounded to us tho&s;e</HI> Riddles of Provi|dence, <HI>which have, but too often, tempted even good Men, to que&s;tion God's Conduct in the Government
<PB N="28" REF="43"> of the World, whil&s;t the Calamities and Per&s;ecutions of Virtue and Innocence, &s;eem approved by him, who accumulates Pro&s;perities on their Criminal Oppo&s;ers.</HI></P>
<P><HI>And I mu&s;t profe&s;s</HI> (adds he) <HI>(as &V;nfa&s;hionable as &s;uch a Profe&s;&s;ion ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;eem in a Gentleman, not yet Two and Twenty) that I find the Study of tho&s;e excellent Themes,</HI> Gods Word, <HI>and</HI> his Providence, <HI>&s;o Di ficult, and yet &s;o Plea&s;ing and Inviting, that could Heaven afford me no greater Ble&s;&s;ing than a clear Accompt of the Ab&s;tru&s;e My&s;teries of Divinity and Providence, I &s;hould value the having my &V;n|der&s;tanding Gratified and Enriched with Truths of &s;o Noble and Precious a Nature, enough to court Heaven at the rate of renouncing for it all tho&s;e un|manly Sen&s;ualities and trifling Vanities; for which, Incon&s;iderate Mortals are wont to forfeit the Intere&s;t their Saviour &s;o dearly bought them in it.</HI></P>
<P>But this is not all, for here we &s;hall with won|derful Ravi&s;hment of Spirit, and Spiritual Joy, be admitted to the &s;ight of tho&s;e Sacred Secrets, and Glorious My&s;teries. 1. Of the Holy Trinity, into which &s;ome Divines may audaciou&s;ly dive, but &s;hall never be able to explicate. 2. Of the Uni|on of Chri&s;t's Humanity to the Divine Nature; and of the Faithful to Chri&s;t. 3. Of the cau&s;es of God's Eternal Coun&s;el in Election and Reprobati|on. 4. Of the Angels Fall. 5. Of the manner of the Creation of the World, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Neither is this all, for we &s;hall al&s;o be beatifically enlightned with a clear and glorious Sight of GOD Him&s;elf, about which Schoolmen fall upon differing Conceits.</P>
<P>Some &s;ay God &s;hall then be known by a Species, repre&s;enting the Divine E&s;&s;ence; and by a Light of Glory, elevating the Under&s;tanding by a &s;u|per-natural Strength.</P>
<P>Others, That the Divine E&s;&s;ence &s;hall be re|pre&s;ented to the glorified Under&s;tanding, not by any Species, but immediately by it &s;elf; yet they al&s;o require Light of Glory to elevate and fortifie the Under&s;tanding, by rea&s;on of its Weakne&s;s, and
<PB N="29" REF="43"> Infinite Di&s;proportion and Di&s;tance from the In|comprehen&s;ible Deity.</P>
<P>Others hold, That to the clear Vi&s;ion of God there is not required a Species, repre&s;ent|ing the Divine E&s;&s;ence, as the fir&s;t &s;ort &s;uppo&s;e; nor any Created Light elevating the Under&s;tand|ing, as the &s;econd &s;ort think; <HI>but only a Change of the Natural Order of knowing.</HI> It is &s;ufficient (&s;ay they) that the Divine E&s;&s;ence be immediately re|pre&s;ented to a Created Under&s;tanding. Which, tho it cannot be done according to the Order of Nature, as Experience tells us: <HI>(For, we &s;o con|ceive things; first, having pa&s;&s;ed the Sen&s;e and Ima|gination.)</HI> Yet it may be done according to the Order of Divine Grace, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>But it is &s;ufficient for a &s;ober Man to know, that in Heaven we &s;hall &s;ee Him <HI>Face to Face.</HI> &mdash; And if we &s;hall do this, and have our Under&s;tandings &s;o enlarged, as has been mention'd; Why then &s;hould we doubt of Knowing one another; e&s;pe|cially &s;ince our Saviour Chri&s;t &s;etteth forth the State of the Ble&s;&s;ed, by the knowledge one of another, <HI>Matth.</HI> 17.</P>
<P><HI>In Heaven</HI> (&s;ays Mr. <HI>Bolton</HI><NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">See his Four La&s;t Things.</NOTE>) <HI>we &s;hall enjoy every good thing, and Com|fortable Gift, which may any way in|crea&s;e and inlarge our Joy and Felicity.</HI></P>
<P><HI>But meeting there, knowing then, and conver&s;ing for ever with our old</HI> dear Chri&s;tian Friends, <HI>and all the Glorious Inhabitants of tho&s;e Sacred Palaces, will mightily plea&s;e and refre&s;h us with &s;weetest Delight.</HI></P>
<P>Therefore we &s;hall know one another.</P>
<P><HI>Society is not comfortable without familiar Ac|quaintance: Be a&s;&s;ured then, it &s;hall not be wanting in the Height and Perfection of all Glory, Bli&s;s, and Joy. Nay, our Minds being abundantly and beati|fically illuminated with all Wi&s;dom and Knowledge, we &s;hall be enabled to know, not only tho&s;e of former Ho|ly Acquaintance, but al&s;o Strangers, and &s;uch as we never knew before.</HI></P>
<PB N="30" REF="44">
<P><HI>In the Elect</HI> (&s;aith a Learned Authour) <HI>there is &s;omthing admirable; becau&s;e they do not only ac|knowledge tho&s;e whom they</HI> knew in this World; <HI>but al&s;o, as men &s;een and known, they know the Good, whom they never &s;aw.</HI></P>
<P><HI>There</HI> (&s;aith <HI>An&s;elm) All men &s;hall be known of every &s;everal man, and every &s;everal man &s;hall be known of all.</HI></P>
<P>Again, <HI>Conceive if thou canst, how comfort|able that knowledg will be, by which, as thou of all others, &s;o all others &s;hall be known of thee in that Life.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Yet let me tell you,</HI> (adds this <HI>Author) That this for the mo&s;t part is</HI> the Curious <HI>Quaerie</HI> of carnal people; <HI>who feeding fal&s;ly their pre&s;umptious Conceipts with golden Dreams, and vain hopes of many future imaginary felicities in the World to come, whereas in the mean time they have no care at all, u&s;e no means, take no pains, to</HI> enter into the Holy Path, which leads unto that ble&s;&s;ed Place. <HI>It is even, as if one &s;hould bu&s;ie him&s;elf much, and boa&s;t what he will do in</HI> New-England <HI>when he comes thither; and yet (poor man) he hath neither Ship, nor Money, nor Means, nor Knowledge of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ay, nor Provi&s;ion before hand for his com|fortable Planting there.</HI> Thus far Mr. <HI>Bolton.</HI></P>
<P>I may further add, If there be Joy in Heaven, at the Conver&s;ion of a Sinner here; it cannot be thought but they'l know that Convert when he comes to Heaven.&mdash;And 'tis worth ob&s;erving that the <HI>Mar|tyrs</HI> frequently Cited their Adver&s;aries, Witne&s;&s;es, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to the Ju&s;t Barr of Heaven, which &s;uppo&s;es knowing them there: Be&s;ides there are &s;everal Texts (as I &s;hall afterwards prove) very plain for it. Not one of the Primitive Fathers ever doubt|ed it, and 'tis impo&s;&s;ible it &s;hould be otherwi&s;e, &s;eeing Heaven is to be a Place of Perfection, but to be limited in our Knowledge wou'd argue im|perfection.</P>
<P>Thus you &s;ee 'tis not only mine, but the con|current Voice, of my <HI>Reverend Father, my pious
<PB N="31" REF="44"> Mother, my dear Departed,</HI> and &s;everal Learned men, <HI>That we &s;hall know one another in Heaven.</HI> But le&s;t &s;ome &s;hould &s;ay the&s;e Opinions have no Foundation, but are the idle fancies of a Di&s;tem|per'd Brain, I'le further prove the Point, with Arguments drawn <HI>From Rea&s;on, and the Authority of Divine Revelation.</HI></P>
<P>And this task I &s;hall undertake (though <HI>with unequal Ability, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> yet) with equal Zeal,</HI> to what you have &s;hewn, in the Progre&s;s of our Friend &s;hip; For, there is nothing in the World I wou'd more willingly prove, nor any Propo&s;ition can be advanc'd, which I more de&s;ire &s;hould be true then this,&mdash; <HI>That the Saints in Heaven &s;hall particularly know tho&s;e again, they have known on Earth,</HI> and that <HI>Cloris, Ignotus,</HI> and <HI>Phil.</HI> &amp;c. (Who&s;e Love is a Kin to that pure Flame that burnt in the Brea&s;ts of the <HI>fir&s;t Chri&s;tians</HI>) if they are &s;o happy as to meet in Heaven, &s;hall not only know, and Lovingly greet one another there, (as was &s;aid before) but <HI>Remember likwi&s;e,</HI> and &s;weetly reflect on all tho&s;e <HI>Innocent, and en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ring Words and Actions,</HI> (human Frailties only abated) that pa&s;t between 'em in their <HI>Earthly State.</HI>&mdash; Indeed (as <HI>Flavel</HI> &s;ays) <HI>We &s;hall not know our Friends in any Carnal Relation, &mdash; Death Di&s;&s;olv'd that Bond, &mdash; But we &s;hall know 'em to be &s;uch as once were our Dear Relations and Acquaintance in this World,</HI> and be able to &s;ingle them out from among that great Multitude; and &s;ay,</P>
<P><HI>This was my Father,&mdash;Mother,&mdash;Husband,&mdash;Wife, or Child, &mdash; This</HI> Eliza&mdash;, Cloris &mdash;, J&mdash;&s;on, C&mdash;t, H&mdash;n, &mdash; <HI>This was the Per&s;on for whom I wept, and made &s;upplication, who was an In&s;trument of good to me, or to who&s;e Salvation God then made me in&s;trumental.</HI></P>
<P><HI>It's a great Relief</HI> (&s;ays a late<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Showers</HI> Ser. Preacht &s;oon after his Wifes Funeral.</NOTE> Writer) <HI>to a</HI> Chri&s;tian Mourner, <HI>to con&s;ider that his decea&s;ed Friends are not lo&s;t, but Live, I know</HI> (continues this Author) <HI>That I &s;hall &s;hortly follow the</HI> de&s;ire of
<PB N="32" REF="45"> mine Fyes; <HI>I hope I &s;hall be &s;ilent, and adore, and not charge God fooli&s;hly. But methinks I know (with &s;en&s;ible &s;upporting Influence from &s;uch a thought) that</HI> &s;he is not dead, but &s;leepeth; &s;he is not lo&s;t, but lives. <HI>And if I get to Heaven, &s;hall meet her there in the Pre&s;ence of the Lord our Redeemer, and then the Company of our Holy Relatives will be more &s;weet than ever it was on Earth.</HI></P>
<P><HI>For tho the</HI> Ble&s;&s;ed Vi&s;ion<NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">This <HI>Eliza</HI> al&s;o mentions in her Funeral Letter.</NOTE> of God <HI>be our chiefe&s;t Hope and Joy, yet the Pre&s;ence of all the Ble&s;&s;ed Spirits wil<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> make a Real, tho Subordinate Part of our Happine&s;s and Delight. I am &s;o far from</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> of the Knowledge of God, Part 3. Page 331.</NOTE> <HI>doubting whe|ther we &s;hall Know and Love one another in the Heavenly State, that the Belief and Expectation of it is, or &s;hould be, one great Mo|tive why we love 'em &s;o well now. If we thought we &s;hould not Know and Love them after Death, we ought to Love 'em but as Earthly Tran&s;itory Things, and not as</HI> Heirs of Hea|ven, <HI>with &s;uch a Love as &s;hall be perfected, and la&s;t for ever.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Doubtle&s;s the Angels who rejoyce at the Conver&s;ion of a Particular Sinner, and the Departed Saints too, do know more, even o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> the State of this World, than we d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">, who are acquainted with &s;o very little a part and &s;pot of it. Which, by the way, &s;hould check an inordinate fond De&s;ire, of living to &s;ee Glorious Times on Earth: For if we get to Heaven, we are like to know much more of tho&s;e Happy Times, than if we remain'd alive in a Corner of the I&s;les of the</HI> Gentiles.</P>
<P><HI>But as to our Mutual Knowledge in the Heavenly State; Shall tho&s;e whom we Reliev'd on Earth, wel|come us to Heaven? and are therefore &s;aid to</HI> receive us into Everla&s;ting Habitations, Luk. 16. <HI>And &s;hall not the departed Saints know one another in Glo|ry? Shall we then know,</HI> as we are known? <HI>And &s;hall the</HI> The&s;&s;alonians <HI>be the Joy, and Crown, and
<PB N="33" REF="45"> Glory, and Rejoycing of the Apostle</HI> Paul, <HI>in the day of Chri&s;t? And &s;hall he not know them, or they him, who profited by his Mini&s;try? Did the Rich Man in Hell know</HI> Abraham <HI>afar off in Heaven, and can we think a ble&s;&s;ed</HI> Lazarus <HI>&s;hall not? For though that be a Parable, there is &s;ome Truth as the Foundation of it. Shall it aggravate the Mi&s;ery of lo&s;t Souls, to meet their wicked Companions in the Place of Torment? as few deny, or doubt; And &s;hall it not rejoyce the Ble&s;&s;ed, to meet their Holy Friends, whom they knew in this World? Did</HI> Peter, James, <HI>and</HI> John, <HI>know</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>and</HI> Elias <HI>in the Transfiguration, whom they never &s;aw before? (and we read not that Chri&s;t told 'em who they were:) And &s;hall tho&s;e who were ac|quainted upon Earth, and helped one another to Hea|ven, utterly forget and lo&s;e the</HI> Remembrance <HI>of any &s;uch thing.</HI></P>
<P>Now we may allow in that State all that Know|ledge which is <HI>Cumulative and Perfective,</HI> what|&s;oever may enlarge and heighten our Felicity and Satisfaction, as this mu&s;t needs be allowed to do, as I &s;hall yet further prove from <HI>Rea&s;on, Scrip|ture, and the common Voice of the under&s;tanding part of Mankind;</HI> and in this Point they are all in perfect Harmony, and unitedly concurr together to give us all de&s;irable Satisfaction in &s;o <HI>agreeable a Curio&s;ity.</HI>&mdash;For tho the <HI>Immortality of the Soul</HI> has been que&s;tioned by &s;ome Old and New <HI>Scepticks,</HI> and in direct Terms oppugned by &s;ome antient <HI>Epicureans,</HI> and is &s;till &s;o by too many baptized Infidels, who are not a&s;hamed to oppo&s;e their <HI>&s;encele&s;s Banters again&s;t it.</HI> Not|with&s;tanding Chri&s;t by his Triumphant Re&s;urre|ction, and Appearance from the Dead has abo|li&s;hed Death, clear'd all Doubts concerning the &s;uppo&s;ed Di&s;&s;olution of the Soul.&mdash;I &s;ay, tho there have been many that have denied the&mdash;<HI>Souls Im|mortality,</HI>&mdash;yet none have granted it to be Immor|tal, but have believ'd withal that&mdash;<HI>Its Memory</HI>&mdash; &s;urvived with it as one of its chief Faculties, and &s;o e&s;&s;ential to it, that as the Soul is the Life of the
<PB N="34" REF="46"> Body, &s;o the <HI>Memory</HI> was ever ju&s;tly e&s;teem'd to be the Life of the Soul, without which, it not hav|ing any remaining Sen&s;e of its pa&s;t Actions, wou'd be no better than dead, whil&s;t alive, and be no more than the Soul of an <HI>In&s;en&s;itive Plant</HI> or <HI>Tree;</HI> even in this Life, if we look back to the Years of <HI>Childhood and Infancy,</HI> we find the Will and Un|&s;tanding, to act but little till the <HI>Memory</HI> be vigo|rous enough to a&s;&s;i&s;t them; and afterwards, &s;hou'd not this Faculty keep a <HI>Faithful Regi&s;ter</HI> of every remarkable thing<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> they do, all they had done would be in&s;ignificant and lo&s;t in the Air, and the Soul it &s;elf wou'd be an idle u&s;ele&s;s thing in Nature, and le&s;s valuable than the meane&s;t Parti|cle of Matter, which is not without its U&s;e in the Fabrick of the World&mdash;(<HI>And &s;uch Dunces are we, that we have not yet attained a perfect &V;nder|&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ding of the &s;mallest Flower, and why the Gra&s;s &s;hou'd rather be Green than Red. How many Curio&s;i|ties be framed by the least Creatures of Nature, un|to which the Wit of Man doth not attain, and what is all we know, compared with what we know not.</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">But more of this in my E&s;&s;ay on the Works of Creation.</NOTE>) Nay&mdash;without <HI>Memory</HI> &mdash; there cou'd be no Principles of Knowledge fixed in the Mind; and much le&s;s any Conclu&s;ions cou'd be drawn from them; or if drawn, cou'd they be trea&s;ured up for u&s;e?&mdash; There cou'd be no Knowledge, no Arts or Scien|ces, (<HI>no &s;tudying Philo&s;ophy with</HI> Cloris, <HI>or learning French with</HI> Daphne;) nor &s;o much as any Me|chanick Trades (tho of greate&s;t Nece&s;&s;ity) exer|ci&s;ed: No Ob&s;ervations, no Experiences cou'd be made, and there cou'd be no &s;uch thing in Na|ture, as <HI>Wi&s;dom&mdash;Prudence</HI>&mdash;or indeed common Sen&s;e and Di&s;cretion to guide Men in their Acti|ons. There cou'd be no Societies, no Kingdoms erected, or maintain'd, and it wou'd be to no more purpo&s;e to &s;et up <HI>Courts of Judicature</HI> over Men, than over &s;o many Flocks of Cattle, or ra|ther over &s;o many Herds of Wolves and Ty|gers, &s;ince both the <HI>Judges and the Judged</HI> wou'd
<PB N="35" REF="46"> be in a wor&s;e State than that of Bea&s;ts, who are not without &s;ome <HI>&s;hare of Memory,</HI> and are ac|counted by &s;o much the more perfect in their Kind, the more Ready and Quick they are ob|&s;erv'd to be in exerci&s;ing their&mdash;<HI>Remini&s;cence.</HI> &mdash;</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes">Memory is the Seat of Con&s;cience &mdash; the Guide of unexperienced Rea&s;on the Mother of all Practical and &V;&s;eful Knowledge, and the Grounds of all Judicatures, both in this World, and that to come.</Q>
<P>Since therefore &mdash;<HI>Memory</HI> &mdash; is &s;o nece&s;&s;ary in this Life, it mu&s;t needs be &s;o in another; and this all that have taught a future State, have always taught and believed &mdash;<HI>&s;o the old Druids of</HI> Gaul <HI>and</HI> Britain &mdash;<HI>&s;o the antient</HI> Egyptian, <HI>and</HI> Ba|bylonian <HI>Sages, and</HI> Indian <HI>Brachmans held</HI> &mdash; that Soul's not only retain'd in their &s;eparate State; The <HI>Memory</HI> of all their pa&s;t Actions, and knew again (di&s;tinctly) their former Friends and Enemies, but that they carry'd out of the World with them the <HI>very &s;ame Inclinations</HI> they had here; of this Judgment al&s;o were the <HI>Latin and Greek Poets,</HI> who were the Divines, and their Wri|tings the Scriptures of the Heathen, and who had their Doctrine from tho&s;e Ea&s;tern Nations, as you may &s;ee in <HI>a Summary of their Opinions in</HI> Virgil<HI>'s De&s;cription of Ely&s;ium.</HI> For tho&s;e very Heathens cou'd ea&s;ily &s;ee by the very Light of Nature, that <HI>'twould be very idle and impertinent,</HI> to a&s;&s;ert the <HI>Soul Immortal</HI>&mdash;without affirming &mdash; Her E&s;&s;en|tial Faculties, and particularly <HI>Her Memory</HI> &mdash; to remain; and that as 'twould be non&s;en&s;ical to &s;ummon before any Court of Ju&s;tice on Earth a Man without <HI>Wits or Memory,</HI>&mdash;&s;o it wou'd be ridiculous to fancy a Judicature in the other World, to Condemn or Reward Men, for what they cou'd have no Remem|brance of &mdash; <HI>Seneca</HI> (tho a Heathen) cou'd &s;ay&mdash; <HI>My</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Habui enim illos tanquam ami&s;&s;urus ami&s;i tanquam ha|beam, <HI>Senec. Ep.</HI> 63.</NOTE> <HI>Thoughts of the Dead are not as others are; I have fair <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> plea&s;ant Apprehen&s;ions of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">he<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">,
<PB N="36" REF="47"> for I enjoyed them as one that reckoned I must part with them and I part with them, as one that makes ac|count to have them.</HI>&mdash; Tho&s;e great Witts though following the Dim Lamp of Nature, yet were in the right &s;o far, that they thought as we <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> do, that this Life was but a <HI>State of Probation for another,</HI> and that the other Life was to be the State of Reward or Puni&s;hment, for the Actions of this, accordingly in all <HI>their Di&s;cour&s;es of a Future State,</HI> we find their Poets always de&s;cribing <HI>proper Cells</HI> allotted to every &s;ort of offenders, and peculi|ar Puni&s;hments awarded to every particular &s;ort of Crime&mdash; <HI>and on the other &s;ide, peculiar Man|&s;ions and Plea&s;ures</HI> allotted to every Rank of <HI>Heroes</HI> according to the Degrees and Species of Ver|tue they did excel in while&s;t on Earth.&mdash; <HI>And indeed how can a Future-State be Imagined to be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ounded on any thing el&s;e but a perfect Remem|brance of all pa&s;&s;ages in this Life?</HI> For, the very Individuality of our Soul Con&s;i&s;ts in Memory, and therefore if that peri&s;hes, the Soul peri&s;hes too of Con&s;equence, For; 'tis not my <HI>thinking, or un|der&s;tanding, or willing,</HI> that makes my Soul to be a particular, <HI>Individual Soul</HI> di&s;tinct from others, but 'tis <HI>Rem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">mbering, and Reflecting&punc;</HI> that I that think now, am the &s;ame Soul that thought <HI>&s;o and &s;o</HI> an hour ago, and not another, 'tis that, that chiefly makes me an Individual. &mdash; 'Tis the <HI>Con&s;cience or Memory</HI> we have planted in us of good and bad Actions, drawing along with it by main force, our own Judgments to cen&s;ure or approve us that is the great Evidence of another Life. &mdash; 'Tis this Con&s;cience, that tells us this Life is but the way to another. <HI>If Memory and Con&s;cience</HI> then be &s;o nece&s;&s;ary in this Life, now can we <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ppo&s;e that God wou'd continue the Soul in B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ing, after 'its &s;eperation from the Body, and much le&s;s joyn it afterward to it again at the Re&s;urrection, if <HI>Memory</HI> above all things were not to be pre&s;erved, for if God&punc; &s;hou'd continue our Souls in another Life without pre&s;erving in them the &mdash; <HI>Remem|brance</HI>&mdash;of
<PB N="37" REF="47"> the pa&s;&s;ages of this; it wou'd be the &s;ame thing as if he Created new Souls, and not gave us the &s;ame again.&mdash;Nay they wou'd not be the &s;ame, becau&s;e their&mdash; <HI>Individuality</HI> being lo&s;t, they wou'd not differ from <HI>New Beings,</HI> and then all the Actions of the pa&s;t Life being totally for|got, that Life wou'd be in vain, and as if it had never been; and the Grounds of Reward and Pun|i&s;hment in another State, wou'd fall to the ground, and it wou'd &s;eem unju&s;t to Condemn or Recom|pence men for things they cou'd not be &s;en&s;ible they ever did or performed.</P>
<P><HI>Be&s;ides,</HI> it wou'd be &s;till more ab&s;urd to &s;up|po&s;e &mdash; <HI>A Re&s;urrection</HI> from the Dead, for the main Rea&s;on of the Bodies being re&s;tored to their &s;everal Souls, being that the Souls may vi&s;ibly receive the Recompence of what they have done in their Bodys, and that their Bodys may &s;hare with them in the final Doom allotted to their Souls, as they have &s;hared with them in the Acti|ons upon which it is awarded. How cou'd this (with any Congruity to the Wi&s;dom and Ju&s;tice of God) be executed, <HI>if all Memory of Actions done in the Bod<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> were after Death to cea&s;e. The A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">lwi&s;e Pr vidence</HI> is not capable of doing any th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ng &s;o vain, and &s;o ab&s;urd as this. &mdash; No we are not plac'd in this World, but for &s;ome great end, and what other end is worthy of us or of our Creator, than that we may be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">d here to &s;erve him in a better Life hereafter; which Future State is to be regulated accordi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">g to the <HI>Records taken of our Actions</HI> in this.&mdash; So that 'tis certain (my Dear <HI>Ignotus</HI>) that nothing we do here &s;hall be forgotten, but be exactly Regi|&s;tered, both in our Con&s;ciences below, and in Heaven above; and that our <HI>Memory</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ill be &s;o far from being de&s;troy<HI>'d</HI> by our <HI>Bodily Death,</HI> that it will <HI>awake up a much more exact, quick, and lively Faculty than heretofore.</HI> &mdash; For, our Saviour tells the Wicked &mdash; That the <HI>Worm of Con&s;cience,</HI>
<PB N="38" REF="48"> (who&s;e &s;eat is chiefly in the <HI>Memory &s;hall never dye,</HI> Mark 9.44. but always torment them with the dreadful &mdash; <HI>Remembrance</HI> &mdash; of the parti|cular offences they have committed, and that it &s;hall be re&s;erved as <HI>Gods-Book,</HI> in which all their Wickedne&s;s &s;hall be <HI>&s;et in order before them,</HI> P&s;al. 51.3. and that &s;o exactly, that men &s;hall be obliged to an&s;wer not only for the &s;malle&s;t actions, but even for <HI>every idle Word,</HI> Mat. 12.36.&mdash; And when <HI>Abraham</HI> an&s;wers <HI>Dives,</HI> he appeals to his <HI>Memory&mdash; Son, remember &s;ays he, that thou in thy Life time received&s;t thy good things, and likewi&s;e</HI> Lazarus <HI>evil things,</HI> Luke 16.25. In this Parable of the mi&s;erable Epecure, and the happy Beggar, (as Mr. <HI>Boyle</HI> ob&s;erves) <HI>The Father of the Faithful is repre&s;ented as knowing not only the Per|&s;on, and pre&s;ent condition, but pa&s;t &s;tory of</HI> Laza|rus,&mdash; So that the ca&s;e is plain, that though we know not the nature of that abode into which the Soul pa&s;&s;es after Death; Yet that 'tis certain that our Souls will then pre&s;erve the facultys that are Natural to 'em <HI>viz.&mdash; To understand, to will, to remember.</HI> As 'tis repre&s;ented to us in the fore mention'd Parable. 'Tis true (as I hinted before) <HI>We little know how the People of the di&s;embodyed So|cietys Act&punc; and will, and under&s;tand;</HI> and there|fore I e'en long to know it. What Conception can I have of a &s;eparated Soul <HI>(&s;ays a late Writer)</HI> but that 'tis <HI>all Thought.</HI>&mdash; And that at the Re&s;ur|rection all men, whether <HI>good or bad,</HI> &s;hall be re&s;tored with all their Sences and Facultys, they &s;hall <HI>&s;ee, hear, feel,</HI> and above all&mdash; <HI>Remem|ber,</HI> &mdash; all things, and in &s;uch manner as may give them the mo&s;t Plea&s;ure, or Pain, they in their Ble&s;t or Cur&s;t e&s;tate &s;hall be capable of,&mdash; For then all the Heavy matter that clogg'd the Facultys of their Souls, being taken away, and their very Bodys exalted as near the Nature of Spirits as po&s;&s;ible, all their <HI>Sences and Facultys</HI> will be lively and quick in affecting them with the mo&s;t vigorous Impre&s;&s;ions of Torment or Delight,
<PB N="39" REF="48"> If then, in order to give &s;o exact and minute Ac|count as we mu&s;t do at the la&s;t Judgment, <HI>our Memory</HI> will re-mind us of our <HI>&s;malle&s;t Actions and mo&s;t rivilous Words,</HI> then it evidently follows that we &s;hall no <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;s exactly <HI>know and remember</HI> all tho&s;e particular Per&s;ons too, we ever Conver&s;ed with, either <HI>in good or evil</HI> &mdash; For when Men &s;hall be Examined about the <HI>Good or Evil,</HI> of &s;uch or &s;uch a particular Action or Expre&s;&s;ion, it will be a great Aggravation of their Guilt, or Inhancement of their Vertue, to be made to con&s;ider to, or with what particular Per&s;ons they did &s;uch a thing, or to whom they uttered <HI>&s;uch and &s;uch a Word</HI> &mdash; The Quality, Condition, or Circum&s;tance of the Per&s;on very much adding to, or taking from the Goodne&s;s or Badne&s;s of the Action or Expre&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P><HI>Neither</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Shower's</HI> Mourner's Companion, <HI>P. 63.</HI></NOTE> <HI>can it well be Ima|gined, how the Proce&s;s and Proceed|ings of the Judgment Day, according to the Scripture-Account of it, can be manag d by the Man Chri&s;t Je&s;us (or the Lord Redeemer, cloathed with hu|man Nature) without our Knowledge of one another in the other World, who were Acquainted, and Con|ver&s;ed together in this. 'Tis true, the pre&s;ent Re|lations by Marriages and Blood, will then cea&s;e; but there is no rea&s;on to think, that the</HI> Remem|brance <HI>of tho&s;e Relations mu&s;t al&s;o cea&s;e; yea, their Knowledge and Remembrance of us, and their Af|fection to us whom we knew, and lov'd in the Lord, is not like to be Aboli&s;h'd, but perfected by dying</HI>&mdash; A particular Remembrance of our Actions and Words in the other World mu&s;t needs infer, as particular a <HI>Remembrance</HI> of the very individual Per&s;ons to whom they refer; and do not think (my <HI>Ignotus</HI>) that God will pre&s;erve <HI>&s;o intire</HI> a Memory in the Wicked for their <HI>Torment,</HI> and will not pre&s;erve as perfect and exqui&s;ite a Remem|brance in the Vertuous for the <HI>increa&s;e of their Joy.</HI> As God will exact an Account for every idle Word Men &s;hall &s;peak, &s;o He will bring to the
<PB N="40" REF="49"> <HI>Remembrance of his Cho&s;en,</HI> all the good Actions they have done, nor will He let them forget their dear Companions, and pious Conver&s;ation they have had one with another. &mdash;So much as <HI>a Cup of cold Water given to a Di&s;ciple, in the Name of a Di&s;ciple,</HI> Matth. 10.42. He will not let us forget, nor the Di&s;ciple neither to whom 'twas given&mdash; He will &s;hew us every one of tho&s;e Per&s;ons when we come to Heaven, to whom we have done any Good on Earth&mdash;and pointing to them will &s;ay to us &mdash; <HI>Fora&s;much as ye have done it unto one of the lea&s;t of the&s;e my Brethren, ye have done it unto me,</HI> Matth. 25.40.</P>
<P>And as we &s;hall be made to <HI>know and remember,</HI> all the particular Per&s;ons we have done any Good to, and with whom we have been acquainted&mdash; So 'tis as plain they &s;hall be made <HI>to know and re|member</HI> us &mdash; as appears by the Parable of the unju&s;t Steward, &s;ince 'tis intimated there, that the Poor to whom the <HI>Richer Chri&s;tians</HI> had been li|beral, &s;hall plead with God, that their Bene|factors likewi&s;e may <HI>be received into the &s;ame ever|lasting Habitations</HI> with them&s;elves, which how they cou'd do, unle&s;s they were &s;ome way or other made to know tho&s;e particular Friends again that had relieved them, is hard to conceive.&mdash; But &s;ince Chri&s;t a&s;&s;ures us, That the very <HI>Angels</HI> (tho' they be &s;o far from being related to our Per&s;ons, that they are Foreigners to our very Nature, which by the way, is an addition to our Glory, that our Natures, not theirs, was taken into the Per&s;onal Union with God) <HI>receive acce&s;&s;ion of Joy for a re|lenting Sinner,</HI> Luke 15.7. <HI>that by Repentance be|gins to turn towards God.</HI> You will not think it ab&s;urd (&s;ays the Ingenious <HI>Boyl) That in a place where Charity &s;hall not only continue (as St.</HI> Paul <HI>&s;peaks,</HI> 1 Cor. 13.8.) <HI>but grow perfect, our dear Friends &s;hou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">d rejoyce to &s;ee us, not only begin to turn towards God, but come home to Him; nor is it unlikely (as I hinted before) that our Tran&s;ported Souls &s;hall mutu|ally Congratulate each other, their having now fully
<PB N="41" REF="49"> e&s;caped the numerous Rocks, and Shelves, and Quick Sands, and threatning Storms, and no le&s;s dangerous Calms, thro which they are at length arrived at that peaceful Haven, where is both</HI> Innocence and Delight <HI>(which are here &s;o &s;eldome match'd)&mdash;with</HI> tho&s;e Friends we here lamented, we &s;hall there re|joyce.&mdash;<HI>And 'twill be but needful that the Di&s;co|very of each others Vertues &s;hou'd bring us to a mu|tual Knowledge of our Per&s;ons; for otherwi&s;e, we &s;hall be &s;o changed, that we &s;hou'd never know our Friends; (and &s;hou'd &s;carce know our &s;elves, were not an Eminent Encrea&s;e of Knowledge a part of that happy Change) for tho&s;e departed Friends, whom at our la&s;t Separation we &s;aw disfigured by all the Gha&s;tly Horrors of Death, we &s;hall then &s;ee a&s;&s;i&s;t|ing about the Majestick Throne of Chri&s;t, with their once vile Bodies, transfigured into the likene&s;s of his Glorious Body, mingling their glad Acclamations with the Hallelujahs of Thrones, Principalities and Powers, and the most dignified Favourites of the Cele&s;tial Court.</HI></P>
<P><HI>In Heaven</HI> (continues this Author) <HI>we &s;hall not only &s;ee our</HI> elder Brother Chri&s;t, <HI>but probably al&s;o all our Kindred, Friends, and Relations, that li|ving here in his Fear, died in his Favour. For, &s;ince our Saviour tells us,</HI> that the Children of the Re&s;urrection &s;hall be <GAP DESC="foreign">, equal to, or like the Angels; <HI>Luk.</HI> 20.46. <HI>who, yet in the Vi|&s;ions of</HI> Daniel <HI>and St.</HI> John, <HI>appear to be acquain|ted with each other: When the</HI> having turned many to Righteou&s;ne&s;s, <HI>Dan.</HI> 2. <HI>&s;hall, as the Scrip|ture foretells, confer a Star-like and Immortal Bright|ne&s;s. Since (which is chiefly con&s;iderable) the knowledge</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">As was hinted before in P. 34.</NOTE> <HI>of particular Actions, and con&s;e|quently, Per&s;ons, &s;eems requi&s;ite to the Attainment of that great End of God, in the day of Judgment, the Manife&s;tation of his Punitive and Remunerative Ju&s;tice; con&s;idering this, 'tis very probable, that we &s;hall know each other in a place; where, &s;ince nothing requi&s;ite to Happine&s;s can
<PB N="42" REF="50"> be wanting, we may well &s;upp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">at lea&s;t, if we can imagine here, what we &s;hall think there) that we &s;hall not want &s;o great a &s;atisfaction, as that of being knowingly happy, in our other &s;elves, our Friends. Nor is this only probable,</HI> Lindamor, <HI>but 'tis not improbable, that tho&s;e Friends that knew us in Hea|ven &s;hall welcome us thither.</HI></P>
<P>It was no &s;mall Contentment and Satisfaction to St. <HI>Paul,</HI> that he &s;hould meet his beloved <HI>The&s;&s;alonians</HI> in the Pre&s;ence of Chri&s;t; for thus much &s;eemeth to be intimated by that his exu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">t|ing demand, <HI>what is our Hope, or Joy, or Crown of Rejoycing, are not ye even in the Pre&s;ence of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t at his coming?</HI> Which mu&s;t needs imply his di&s;tinct Knowledge of them in that day, which mu&s;t be many Hundred Years after Death hath &s;eparated them from each other.</P>
<P>And the &s;ame Apo&s;tle, when he would &s;et Bounds and Limits to a Chri&s;tian's &s;orrowing for the Dead, tells us, <HI>that we must not &s;orrow, as tho&s;e that have no Hope:</HI> Such Mens Sorrow finds no Ea&s;e, becau&s;e that Good who&s;e Ab&s;ence they bemoan, in their Opinion is irrecoverably lo&s;t; and to <HI>&s;hake Hands with a Dying Friend,</HI> is with them as much as to bid them everla&s;tingly fare|wel: But a Chri&s;tian's Tears (like Drops from a Cloud) may &s;ometimes fall; they mu&s;t not, like a River, be always running. He may &s;orrow becau&s;e he is parted from &s;ome Good (&s;uppo&s;e from a loving Friend) but this Sorrow mu&s;t be tempered with this Hope, that he &s;hall &s;ee his Friend again. And we find the late <HI>Athenians</HI> of this Opinion; <HI>for being asked by one of their Queri&s;ts then deeply in Love with a fine</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot">[Twas the Ingenious <HI>Daphne,</HI> who I have Rea&s;on to think is dead.]</NOTE> <HI>Woman, whether if &s;he died fir&s;t he &s;hou'd know her again in Heaven?</HI> their An&s;wer was, <HI>We mu&s;t first enquire whether we &s;hall &s;o much as</HI> know one another <HI>there; if not, we doubt Lovers Souls will be in the &s;ame
<PB N="43" REF="50"> Ca&s;e with others, unle&s;s they make u&s;e of Mr.</HI> Dry|den<HI>'s Expedient, and wear In&s;crip|tions to di&s;tingui&s;h 'em:</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Dry|den</HI>'s Tyran|nick Love.</NOTE> <HI>Tho we must confe&s;s our Judgment is for the Affirmative, as we think we have formerly declared it, and that &s;e|parate Souls</HI> &s;hall know each other, <HI>at lea&s;t glorified Saints, when perfect in Heaven; becau&s;e their Knowledge wou'd be imperfect if they &s;hou'd not, and that in relation to &s;uch Objects, as wou'd conduce to the Addition and Perfection of their Happi|ne&s;s, as well as the Glory of him who chiefly makes it; becau&s;e the Societ<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> of Saints in Glory, is by all grant|ed to be one of the Bli&s;&s;es of Heaven, but Society without knowledge can't be ea&s;ily conceiv'd. Becau&s;e we &s;hall be then like the Angels, who we are &s;ure know each other, and whom we believe indued with all Knowledge they are capable of, as they &s;eem to be of all but what is</HI> Infinite. <HI>Becau&s;e otherwi&s;e we &s;hou'd be le&s;s perfect than we are upon Earth. Be|cau&s;e if there be any thing of Humanity left, (and the E&s;&s;entials will &s;till remain) it &s;eems congruous to &s;uppo&s;e we &s;han't be without what we &s;hou'd think wou'd conduce &s;o much to our Happine&s;s, as to &s;ee our Friends partake thereof, Becau&s;e there are no valuable Objections again&s;t it, that of</HI> Abraham<HI>'s being ignorant of us, and St.</HI> Paul'<HI>s knowing no</HI> Man after the Fle&s;h, <HI>relating plainly to our State in this World. And lastly, becau&s;e it &s;eems agreeable to the</HI> Divine Equity, <HI>that the</HI> Obligations of Grati|tude <HI>&s;hou'd never cea&s;e, but la&s;t even to the other World; we mean &s;uch real Obligations, as the Effects of 'em are Eternal, &s;uch as make us more Virtuous and Holy, and &s;uch e&s;pecially as bring us to Heaven; and if they la&s;t &s;o long, how can they be acknowledged and repay'd, unle&s;s we know tho&s;e who conferr'd 'em: Not with&s;tanding which lower degree of Happine&s;s, the</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">nfinite Being <HI>may be &s;till</HI> All in All, <HI>and we may in a the re&s;t only Admire and Love the Expre&s;&s;ions, or Emanations of his Goodne&s;s.</HI> Thus far the <HI>Athe|nians,</HI>&mdash;to which I &s;hall add the Opinion of <HI>Martin Luther.</HI></P>
<PB N="44" REF="51">
<P>It being propounded as a doubt to <HI>Martin Luther,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Chemnit. Har|mon. Evang. cap. <HI>87.</HI></NOTE> a little be|fore his Death-bed, Whether <HI>Glorified Saints &s;hould have mu|tual Knowledge of each other?</HI> He thus re&s;olved his Friends, That as <HI>Adam</HI> knew his Wife in Paradi&s;e, when &s;he was fir&s;t pre&s;en|ted to him; for he asked not what &s;he was, or whence &s;he came, but &s;aith, &s;he <HI>was fle&s;h of his fle&s;h, and bone of his bone.</HI></P>
<P>Among tho&s;e tran&s;cendent de&s;ires which i&s;&s;ue from our Natures, this is one, that tho&s;e Acquain|tances which were vertuou&s;ly begun on Earth may be renewed and perfected in Heaven. This de&s;ire was once of &s;o great Authority, that former Ages had re&s;pect unto it; for when they found it ea&s;ier to overcome a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">l other terror<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> of Death, then that one of <HI>an everla&s;ting ab&s;ence from a Friend,</HI> they were careful to chear a departing Soul, by a&s;&s;uring it, that the happine&s;s of the other World, next to the Contemplation of the Divine Nature, con&s;i&s;t|ed in <HI>the gaining of new, and the indi&s;&s;oluble re|covery of old acquaintance.</HI></P>
<P>Our Creed moreover calls upon us to believe a <HI>Communion of Saints;</HI> which if it be a matter of our Faith here, it mu&s;t be an object of our Knowledge hereafter; if we mu&s;t believe that there are &s;ome who &s;incerely communicate with us in the Faith in this Life, then we &s;hall hereafter clearly know who were our Fellow-Members in that Communion; and as Faith it &s;elf &s;hall be done away by Evidence, &s;o &s;hall that Communi|on which is here by Faith, be hereafter perfected by that Communion which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">hall be by Vi&s;ion.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, I may add, If the Soul may carry with it a &s;ociable Inclination, then may it for the U&s;e and Exerci&s;e of this De&s;ire be admitted to the Knowledge of other Souls, and of tho&s;e e&s;pecially with whom it had &s;ojourned on Earth, that like Fellow-travellers, who have been equally afflicted with the Difficulties of the way, they may thence|forth
<PB N="45" REF="51"> interchangeably communicate their Joys, &s;pringing from their pre&s;ent Re&s;t and Peace.</P>
<P>But the <HI>nearest In&s;tance</HI> is his who be&s;t cou'd give it, having been there him&s;elf, <HI>Luke</HI> 13.28. di&s;tinctly ye &s;hall &s;ee <HI>Abraham,</HI> and <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI> and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you your &s;elves thru&s;t out. Now if the Damned can at &s;ight know the Ble&s;&s;ed, (as I afterwards prove) can it be &s;uppo&s;ed that <HI>Abraham, &amp;c.</HI> cannot di&s;tinctly know each other? yea, from the Highe&s;t to the lowe&s;t, from <HI>Abra|ham</HI> to <HI>Lazarus;</HI> and not only &s;o, but of what Country &s;oever, as from the Ea&s;t, from the We&s;t, from the North, and from the South, as the 29th. Ver&s;e<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">As was men|tioned before in Page <HI>18.</HI></NOTE> in|timates; and in <HI>Matth.</HI> 25.32. 'tis &s;aid, <HI>All Nations &s;hall be gathered as a Shepherd who knows his Sheep;</HI> and Ver&s;e 40. they knew one ano|ther, becau&s;e he &s;ays, <HI>In as much as ye have relieved the lea&s;t of the&s;e my Brethren, ye have done it unto me;</HI> and the Damned &s;hall be told they did not relieve any the lea&s;t of the&s;e as his Brethren, and &s;hall therefore be thru&s;t out.</P>
<P>Object. 1. <HI>But it may be &s;aid, that in our &V;nion unto God &s;hall be &s;upplied all imaginable Contents; and that the Souls of the Ble&s;&s;ed &s;hall be held in &s;o great Admiration, as that they cannot admit the mixture of any &s;econd or le&s;s Joy.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Re&s;p.</HI> Though this Opinion &s;eems &s;pecious, and agreeable to Rea&s;on, yet we mu&s;t con&s;ider, that as in the Divine Nature we admit no u&s;ele&s;s Attri|butes, &s;o likewi&s;e in the Humane, we mu&s;t either &s;ay it hath no aptne&s;s Eternally to de&s;ire or re|joyce in the good of another, (which a &s;ociable Nature inwardly abhorreth) or el&s;e we mu&s;t allow it an Object whereon to practice its endle&s;s Love and Joy. This Love we conceive &s;hall be the per|fection of that De&s;ire which was begun on Earth,
<PB N="46" REF="52"> but always mixt with Fear and Jealou&s;ie, and this Joy we believe &s;hall &s;ucceed in the place of that Condolency and Compa&s;&s;ion, which on Earth we &s;u&s;tained one for another. This Love therefore, and this Joy, mu&s;t have &s;uch an Object, as was once the &s;ubject of our Fear and Compa&s;&s;ion, which cannot be either God or Angels, but a Crea|ture only, of the &s;ame Nature and Condition with us.</P>
<P>Object. 2. <HI>But it may be feared that our Know|ledge of one another, and our mutual delight in each other, may beget &s;ome Interruptions in our &V;nion with God.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Sol.</HI> This fear, I think, will vani&s;h, &s;o &s;oon as we con&s;ider, that it is the &s;ame Beauty which we behold in God, and love in the Creature, though of a different &s;plendor; and as the Stars, the Air, and Water, by their borrowed Lights do rai&s;e us to behold the Sun, the Fountain of all that Light; &s;o where&s;oever the Rays of Glory are ca&s;t (whether on Angels or Men) we cannot but behold God &s;hining on each Nature, and confe&s;s Him to be All in All. Moreover, it is not a glance, but a fixing on the Creature (which in that &s;tate is not to be feared) can endanger our Happine&s;s, other|wi&s;e neither God nor Angels are truly Ble&s;&s;ed; for the Divinity of former Ages would per&s;uade us, That God as it were cometh daily out of Him&s;elf to <HI>behold his own Image in the Angels,</HI> and the An|gels look upon the &s;ame Re&s;emblance as ca&s;t from them, and reflected by the Soul; but neither God, nor Angels are &s;o ravi&s;hed with tho&s;e <HI>dimmer Beauties,</HI> as to dwell upon them, but do &s;uddenly return back to the Fountain, God to Him&s;elf, and the Angels unto God.</P>
<P>Thus have I An&s;wered two of the Objections, <HI>Again&s;t knowing our Friends in Heaven,</HI> and have proved we &s;hall know 'em if we get thither, &s;ince <HI>Heaven</HI> is a Place where &s;ince nothing requi&s;ite
<PB N="47" REF="52"> to happine&s;s can be wanting, we may well &s;uppo&s;e that we &s;hall not want &s;o great a &s;atisfaction as that of being <HI>knowingly happy in our other &s;elves, our Friends, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Object. 3. <HI>But how can it be, may &s;ome &s;ay, that the Saints can know their Earthly Acquaintance again, after &s;o great an alteration by the Re&s;ur|rection, and &s;o great an addition of Lu&s;ter and Beau|ty to what they had before, when many times we can hardly know a man again here, after &s;ome Years ab&s;ence; or after the disfigurement of a Wound, or &s;harp Di&s;ea&s;e: Neither do I know one Angel in He<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ven, or the Spirits of any Ju&s;t men that are gone thither, &s;o that when I come there I m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ike <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">o be a meer &s;tranger to that Ble&s;&s;ed</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">As was hinted at the beginning of this E&s;&s;ay.</NOTE> <HI>Company.</HI></P>
<P><HI>To this I An&s;wer, Fir&s;t, as to the Angels,</HI>&mdash; What if thou knowe&s;t not one Angel in all the Heavens? Is it not enough (&s;ays a late Writer) <HI>That many of 'em may know thee?</HI> &mdash;But how &s;hall I know that&mdash; <HI>How?</HI> &mdash; Thou ha&s;t been their &s;pecial Charge ever &s;ince thou wa&s;t born to Je&s;us Chri&s;t&mdash; Are they not all Mini&s;tring Spirits to all them that are Heirs of Glory?&mdash; How kindly did an <HI>Angel Comfort Mary Magdalen,</HI> and the other <HI>Mary,</HI> when they early came to vi&s;it the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord? How well did he know their Per&s;ons and their bu&s;ine&s;s, when he &s;aid,&mdash; <HI>Fear not, I know that ye &s;eek Je&s;us, which was Crucified; he is not here, for he is Ri&s;en, as he &s;aid, come &s;ee the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his Di&s;ciples that he is Ri&s;en from the Dead, and behold he goeth before you into Galilee, there &s;hall ye &s;ee him,</HI> Mat. 28.5. <HI>So as I have told you</HI>&mdash; what Di&s;cour&s;e could be more kind, friendly, and famliar.</P>
<P>So that the Mini&s;tration of Angels is certain, but the manner how, is the Knot to be untied. 'Twas gene|rally believ'd by the Antient Philo&s;ophers, That not
<PB N="48" REF="53"> only Kingdoms had their Tutelary Guardians, but that every Per&s;on had his particular Genius or Good Angel to Protect and Admoni&s;h him by Dreams, Vi&s;ions, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> We read that <HI>Origen, Hierome, Plato,</HI> and <HI>Empedocles</HI> in <HI>Plutarch,</HI> were al&s;o of this Opinion; and the <HI>Jews</HI> them&s;elves, as ap|pears by that In&s;tance of <HI>Peter</HI>'s Deliverance out of Pri&s;on; who retreating to his Friend's Hou&s;e, the unexpectedne&s;s of his E&s;cape made 'em be|lieve it could not be <HI>Peter, but his Angel.</HI> We are not without Examples of the Friendly Offices of Angels. Witne&s;s <HI>Grinaeus,</HI> his Admonition and E&s;cape from <HI>Spires:</HI> Vide <HI>Melancthon</HI>'s Commen|tary upon <HI>Daniel; Bodinus</HI> his Relation of his Friend's <HI>Cale&s;tial Monitor,</HI> with many more, which would be too tedious to recount parti|cularly.</P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">We po&s;&s;itively affirm, (&s;ay the <HI>Athenians</HI>) that every Infant has his particular Angel, <HI>Matth.</HI> 18.10. and that it is a good Angel is de|ducible from <HI>Matth.</HI> 19.14. nor can we believe that good Angels cea&s;e to pre&s;ide over Adult Per&s;ons, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> never &s;o Vicious, <HI>Luke</HI> 15.10.</Q></P>
<P>Now if God has commi&s;&s;ioned his Angels to mini&s;ter to his Saints, to defend and keep them; to guard and &s;hield them from Dangers and Mi&s;chiefs; and if the&s;e <HI>glorious Harbingers</HI> bear &s;o<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Steven</HI>'s Sermons on <HI>Dives</HI> and <HI>Lazarus.</HI></NOTE> great Love to Men, as has been plainly prov'd; doubtle&s;s they are very ready to receive and carry the Souls of good Men into Heaven; one of the Fathers calls the Angels <HI>(Evocatores Animarum)</HI> the Callers forth of Souls, and &s;uch as &s;hew them <HI>(Paraturam Diver&s;orii)</HI> the Pre|parations of tho&s;e Man&s;ions they are going to, which &s;uppo&s;es a very particular Knowledge of them.&mdash;<Q REND="margQuotes">Hence we ob&s;erve (&s;ays the &s;ame Author) when good Men die, they are often in &s;ilent Raptures, and expre&s;s a kind of Im|patience till they are di&s;&s;olv'd, and why?
<PB N="49" REF="53"> becau&s;e they Spiritually &s;ee what they cannot utter, as did St. <HI>Paul,</HI> when he was wrapt up into the third Heaven. There is a kind of a draught pre&s;ented to them by their <HI>Guardian An|gels</HI> of tho&s;e Tran&s;cendent Joys they are al|mo&s;t ready to enter in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of; and there|fore long and pine till they are convey'd into that place of un&s;peakable Felicity; and the&s;e Heavenly Spirits (adds this Author) &s;uccour and &s;upport them under their <HI>Pain and Sick|ne&s;s;</HI> and when their Souls are &s;torm'd out of their Bodies, they encompa&s;s and embrace them, &s;oaring through the Regions of evil Angels, (as the Text &s;peaks concerning <HI>Lazarus</HI>) till <HI>they are carry'd into</HI> Abraham<HI>'s Bo&s;om.</HI></Q></P>
<P><HI>And as the Angels &s;hall know us,</HI> &s;o the Saints &s;hall &s;ee and know the innumerable Company of Angels, their <HI>Natures, each of their Per&s;ons in particular.</HI> As the Angels know every <HI>Elect Per|&s;on,</HI> becau&s;e it is their work to gather the Elect from all the Corners of the Earth, and to &s;epa|parate them from the wicked, <HI>Matth.</HI> 13.41. <HI>&s;o the Glorified Saints &s;hall know the Holy Angels,</HI> whom the Lord &s;ent forth to mini&s;ter for them, whom the Lord appointed for their Guard while they were upon Earth, who encamped round a|bout them while they were encompa&s;&s;ed with &s;o many Dangers. Some Divines are of Opinion, that the number of the Angels is &s;o great, that they exceed without compari&s;on all Corporal and Material Things in the Earth.</P>
<P>Again, If every one of the Angels (yea, tho it be the lea&s;t Angel among them all) <HI>be more beautiful and goodly to behold than al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> this vi&s;ible World;</HI> what a Glorious Sight &s;hall it then be to &s;ee and know &s;uch a number of beautiful Angels, to &s;ee the Perfections and Offices that every one hath in that high and glorious City? There do the Angels go as it were in <HI>Emba&s;&s;ages,</HI> are exerci&s;ed in their Mini&s;try, there the <HI>Principalities and Thrones</HI> Triumph, there do
<PB N="50" REF="54"> the Cherubims give Light, and the Seraphims burn with <HI>Fervent Love</HI> to God.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>Who all like Stars have Brightne&s;s from his Rays,</L>
<L>And they Reflect it back again in Prai&s;e.</L>
<BIBL><HI>Mr.</HI> Foe.</BIBL></Q>
<P>All the Angels and Saints of that <HI>Heavenly Court</HI> are perpetually Singing Prai&s;es and Hallelujahs to God Almighty, and to the Lamb that &s;its on the Throne, and are daily Embracing each other. For that there's &s;uch a thing as <HI>Friend&s;hip among Angels</HI> I do not que&s;tion, for Love each other undoub|tedly they mu&s;t, and Love more inten&s;ely they may, &s;uch as have the mo&s;t beautiful <HI>Characters of the Divine Power and Goodne&s;s upon them.</HI> And that there is al&s;o a Communication of <HI>Angels and Souls</HI> in Heaven, plainly appears from <HI>Rev.</HI> 7.9, 10, 11, 12. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.1. <HI>Dan.</HI> 8.13. But I con|ceive this Communication to be chiefly in an abi|lity of In&s;inuating their Thoughts to each other, by a <HI>meer Act of their Wills,</HI> ju&s;t as we now &s;peak to God, or our &s;elves, in our Hearts, when our Lips don't move, or the lea&s;t outward &s;ign ap|pear. Whether there's any other <HI>Conver&s;e</HI> I &s;hall enquire at the end of this <HI>E&s;&s;ay,</HI> but that there's &s;ufficient <HI>to know and be known, I am fully &s;atis|fied.</HI></P>
<P><HI>But tho this may &s;uffice as to our knowing the Angels.</HI>&mdash;</P>
<P>Yet Secondly, <HI>As to the Saints, I &s;hall never know them for certain; I did know 'em on Earth 'tis true, but &s;ince they are gone to Heaven, they are &s;o hugely altered, I &s;hall not know one of 'em, when I &s;ee 'em again.&mdash; Nay</HI> Phil.&mdash; <HI>(and I can't give an In&s;tance will affect you more) you'l &s;carce know</HI> Eliza <HI>there.&mdash; The</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="foot">See Dr. <HI>Sheldon,</HI> of Mans La&s;t End.</NOTE> <HI>Glory of her Soul will be &s;een through her Body in &s;uch a &s;ort that they'l both &s;hine as the Sun in the Kingdom of Heaven.&mdash; Neither can you tell me</HI> Philaret, <HI>what kind of Matter our Bodies &s;hall have in the other Life.</HI>&mdash; 'Tis in the
<PB N="51" REF="54"> power of <HI>Micro&s;copes</HI> to repre&s;ent a Hair glitter|ing and curious beyond Expre&s;&s;ion; much more can a real Infinite Power effectively make it &s;o: Matter is all one to the Maker. We have &s;ome light of our Re&s;urrection, by the fir&s;t Fruits of it, our Saviour, who with that very &s;ame <HI>Body</HI> he was Crucified, ro&s;e again, and a&s;cended into Hea|ven; but was changed before he got there, it be+ing not a receptacle for <HI>Common Fle&s;h and Blood</HI> I &s;ee no rea&s;on why Matter may not be changed to &s;omething el&s;e, and only called &s;o to our apprehen|&s;ion as well as form of Matter. We have In&s;tances of the different Forms our Saviour appear'd in after his Re&s;urrection, and once that with his Na|tural Body he appear'd to his Di&s;ciples <HI>when the doors were &s;hut.</HI> The Appearance our Bodies will have in Heaven will be &s;hining and bright, as may be gathered by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his Face <HI>&s;hininig</HI> when he had &s;een the <HI>Glory of God,</HI> as al&s;o the manner of <HI>Mo&s;es, Enoch</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> their Appearance to our <HI>Saviour</HI> in his <HI>Transfiguration;</HI> the De&s;cription that St. <HI>John</HI> gives of our Saviour in the <HI>Revelations,</HI> with many more places in Sacred Writ: But to be expre&s;s in my Definitions of <HI>this Matter,</HI> 'tis im|po&s;&s;ible, &s;ince all reveal'd, are only &s;uch Terms as are adapted, to expre&s;s what ever appears mo&s;t Glorious and Dazling here, not being yet capable to entertain greater manife&s;tations, and &s;uch as we &s;hall really be fitted for hereafter. The My&s;tery lies here, when our Bodies &s;hall be Immortalized at the la&s;t day, we know not what Sub&s;tance they will be of, but I am &s;atisfied the mo&s;t refined Matter as it is now, will be nothing like 'em. All that can be &s;aid of it is this, there will be new <HI>inexpre&s;&s;ible &s;omethings</HI> which will have the &s;ame proportion to one another, as our place and Matter now have. The Bodies of <HI>Chri&s;t, Enoch,</HI> and <HI>Elias,</HI> are certainly in Heaven, and the Sun, Moon and Stars, are certainly in the Firmament, but what tho&s;e bodies are, and the Heaven they are in, as al&s;o what tho&s;e Stars are, and the Firmament they
<PB N="52" REF="55"> are in, I know not; <HI>for it does not yet appear what we &s;hall be,</HI> that is, we can give no <HI>full</HI> or <HI>exact account</HI> of the <HI>Future Condition</HI> either of our <HI>Bodies</HI> or <HI>Souls;</HI> yet this in general we know, that as our Souls &s;hall be <HI>impeccable,</HI> &s;o our Bodies &s;hall be <HI>incorruptable</HI>&mdash; that they &s;hall be <HI>glorified,</HI> and therefore mu&s;t be <HI>Glorious</HI> and <HI>Luminous,</HI> like the <HI>Glorious Body</HI> of our <HI>Saviour</HI> at the <HI>Transfigurati|on.</HI> It's al&s;o probable that the Matter whereof they are compo&s;ed &s;hall be &s;o <HI>refined in quality, and perhaps &s;o dimini&s;hed in quantity,</HI> that we &s;hall, as I mentioned before, be in that Sen&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign"> that our Bodies &s;hall be no longer <HI>Clogs to our Souls,</HI> but obey their Commands, and indue the Nature of Spirits in their quick and imperceptible Motion from one Term to another. However this is certain,<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Le&s;&s;ius <HI>de &s;ummo bono,</HI> l. 3. c. 5.</NOTE> <HI>Our Bodies &s;hall be fully po&s;&s;e&s;t with Glory, and the Soul full of the Light of Glory &s;hall be diffu&s;ed through the whole Body and all the parts of it.</HI> &mdash; The Eyes, tho&s;e Windows in the <HI>&V;pper-Story,</HI> how light&s;ome &s;hall they be? They &s;hall then be re|newed and made more Bright and clear than the light of the Sun.&mdash; The very act of Seeing &s;hall be mo&s;t clear and perfect; the Eye &s;hall be able to bear the Brighte&s;t Splendor: &mdash; We may conceive, that tho&s;e that are in this place of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;s, at one &s;ingle a&s;pect may perfectly &s;ee <HI>from one end of the Heaven to the other,</HI> there being no defect in the Objects, Medium&punc; or Organ, or any thing to intercept the &s;ight. <HI>The Objects being &s;o Tra&s;parent and Glorious.</HI> &mdash; What a plea&s;ant &s;ight is the out &s;ide of Heaven, bedect with the <HI>Sun, Moon, and Stars?</HI> What then is the in&s;ide, where the Glory of a God is di&s;play'd? (Not through a Gla&s;s darkly) but with Eyes enabled perfectly to behold it. And as the &mdash; EYES &mdash; will be thus wonderfully altered from what they were, &mdash; &s;o the &mdash; EARS, &mdash; the No&s;trils, &mdash; the Mouth, &mdash; the Hands, &mdash; the Lungs, &mdash; the
<PB N="53" REF="55"> Marrow, &mdash; the Bowels, &mdash; and every par|ticular Member of the Body, will be ca&s;t into a new Mold. &mdash; But 'tis the Opi|nion of a Learned<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Col|liers</HI> Ser. concern|ing the difference between the pre|&s;ent and Future State of our Bodies.</NOTE> Writer, That though the Sences of <HI>Seeing, Hearing,</HI> and po&s;&s;ibly that of <HI>Smelling</HI> too, will accompaning the Bodies of the Saints to Heaven, but for the other two <HI>gro&s;&s;er Sences</HI> they are too cour&s;e and in&s;ignificant to have much Employment there. And therefore he Judges they'l be changed into <HI>Two-New-Ones,</HI> of a more Spiritualized and more Refined Nature: I may add to this, that the <HI>Age wherein we &s;hall Live again,</HI> will &s;o transform us that we can never be known in Heaven to our old Acquaintance; for that which refers to the <HI>Kingdom of God</HI> in this World, may in this ca&s;e be very properly applied to that in the other: There &s;hall hencefoth be no more an <HI>Old Man,</HI> neither an <HI>Infant</HI> of <HI>Days.</HI> It &s;eems not proper to &s;ay, we &s;hall be rai&s;ed at <HI>Any Age;</HI> I mean &s;uch a <HI>State</HI> as we were in at &s;uch an <HI>Age,</HI> &s;ince undoubtedly we &s;hall be endued with much more <HI>Perfection,</HI> though 'tis probable, (as I hinted before) not Cloathed with &s;o <HI>much matter</HI> as we now carry about with us. All Divines generally agree that Infants, and Deformed Per&s;ons &s;hall be perfect in Heaven, and ri&s;e about the Age of <HI>Thirty,</HI> or our <HI>Saviours</HI> Age at his <HI>Re&s;urrection,</HI> w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ch was <HI>Thirty-Three. Lazarus</HI> his Body &s;hall be then Beautiful, <HI>Sam&s;on</HI> &s;hall then have his Eyes which the <HI>Phili&s;tines</HI> pulled out, <HI>Mephibo&s;heth</HI> &s;hall not be Lame, in Heaven there &s;hall <HI>be no imper|fection in a Glorified Body.</HI> All which laid together, renders our knowledge of each other in Heaven very unlikely. (Then by the by) <HI>Who'd be affraid of Death, or quake tho his Grave were digging, &s;eeing 'tis but Gods Refining-Pot, wherein he &s;hews his Power and Wi&s;dom, in changing our Vile-Bodies, and fa&s;honing them like unto his Glorious-Body,</HI> Phil. 3.21. From
<PB N="54" REF="56"> which 'tis plain&punc; That as Iron, when it is heated in the Fire, it appears nothing el&s;e but firey &mdash; So in He<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ven we &s;hall not be able to &s;ee the Body for the Glory thereof. Then (pray <HI>Philaret,</HI> as was &s;aid before) <HI>How can we distingui&s;h this Saint from that, or be able to know one Friend from another?</HI></P>
<P><HI>To this I An&s;wer:</HI> That I can't deny, but there are &s;ome <HI>Latent Faculties</HI> in the Soul, that while we are under <HI>Confinement</HI> to Body, can't ope|rate, but will, when we are fteed from this Bo|dy, exert them&s;elves with full vigour; but the new and extraordinary Actings of the&s;e <HI>Latent Faculties</HI> will be no ob&s;tacle to our knowing our Friends again; for when we come to Heaven, all our Sen&s;es and Faculties &s;hall be inlarged, that we &s;hall &s;ee God Him&s;elf, not in dark &s;hadows, <HI>but as He is,</HI> 1 <HI>John</HI> 3.2.&mdash; and we &s;hall &s;ee all things in Him, no more by <HI>outward Appearances, but in their very Sub&s;tances;</HI> our Bodies (as was hinted in the Objection) &s;hall be <HI>Tran&s;parent and Glorious,</HI> and then, as we &s;hall be like Angels in (almo&s;t) all things el&s;e, &s;o like them too&mdash;we &s;hall &s;ee into one anothers very Souls.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>The Sight of Spirits is unpre&s;crib'd by &s;pace;</L>
<L>What &s;ee they not, who &s;ee the Eternal Face?</L>
<L><HI>See</HI> Mr. <HI>Foe</HI>'s Charact. of Dr. <HI>Anne&s;ley.</HI></L></Q>
<P>Whether this Knowledge &s;hall be by the <HI>glorified Eyes,</HI> di&s;cerning any Lineaments, or property of <HI>Individua|tion</HI> remaining upon the glorified Bodies of our Re|lations? Or whether it &s;hall be by Immediate Reve|lation, as <HI>Adam</HI> knew his Wife, or as <HI>Peter, James</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> knew <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Elias&punc;</HI> in the Mount. As it is difficult to determine, &s;o it is needle&s;s to puzzle our &s;elves about it. <HI>For</HI> (as a wor|thy<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Flavel.</HI></NOTE> Divine ob&s;erves) <HI>though the Saints &s;hou'd not be rais'd with the &s;ame Features of Body as before they had, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">et being r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">is'd with the &s;ame Per<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ections of Mind, (and the &s;ame Inclinations, though exalted to a much
<PB N="55" REF="56"> higher degree) that &s;o Charm'd us on Earth, we &s;hou'd &s;oon di&s;tingui&s;h one Saint from another, and with Infinite Plea&s;ure renew the Remembrance of our Old Acquaintance.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Add to this,</HI> that we &s;hall <HI>then</HI> enjoy the <HI>Spirit of God</HI> in &s;o great a Mea&s;ure, that it will let us be <HI>ignorant of nothing, forgetful of nothing,</HI> the Know|ledge or Remembrance of which may contribute any thing to heighten, or increa&s;e our Happine&s;s: He is not <HI>unequal in his Dealings;</HI> He will not re|mind the Wicked of their &s;malle&s;t ill Actions, mo&s;t trivial idle Words, <HI>and of their Companions in Sin,</HI> for the ju&s;t Augmentation of their Torment, and &s;uffer his Saints to lo&s;e the Plea&s;ure of <HI>know|ing again,</HI> and remembring their old Friends and Companions in Vertue, and in all the <HI>mutuul De|lights of an endearing Conver&s;ation, No&mdash; he will have our Joys augmented&mdash;by all things&mdash; Per|&s;ons&mdash; and Circum&s;tances</HI> &mdash; that can po&s;&s;ibly conduce thereto, and wou'd not command and encourage us &s;o much to Commence a Vertuous Love with our &mdash;<HI>Brother-Saints</HI>&mdash;on Earth, unle&s;s he de&s;igned it &s;hou'd be renewed, continu|ed, and rendred more compleat in Heaven&mdash; <HI>Therefore though all Saints</HI> &s;hall univer&s;ally and dearly Love one another, <HI>as common Friends to God, and one another,</HI> yet according to the more particular intimacies we have had with any Per&s;ons on Earth, <HI>founded on Piety, Vertue, and the Love of God him&s;elf</HI>&mdash; The Renewal of our Conver&s;e with them (as I have already, and &s;hall afterwards &s;hew) &s;hall have, without doubt, its particular grateful Reli&s;hes, <HI>above that which we &s;hall entertain with other Saints,</HI> to whom (as they enjoy the &s;ame Priviledges them&s;elves) the&s;e <HI>peculiar Friend&s;hips</HI> &s;hall give no manner of Jealou&s;ie or Di&s;ta&s;te &mdash;</P>
<P>Thus <HI>(Ignotus)</HI> have I An&s;wer'd the chief Ob|jections <HI>again&s;t knowing our Friends in Heaven,</HI> and al&s;o proved, That though we &s;hou'd not be rai&s;ed with the <HI>&s;ame Features</HI> we had on Earth, yet that
<PB N="56" REF="57"> there be many other ways by which 'tis certain that in <HI>a glorified State we &s;hall know one another,</HI> and that &mdash; <HI>Vertuous Charmer</HI> &mdash; who fir&s;t <HI>gave us to one another,</HI> I call it &s;o, &s;eeing there's <HI>a Mar|riage of Minds as well as Bodies,</HI> and thence it fol|lows, that <HI>our three Souls</HI> mu&s;t needs &s;eek the En|joyment of each other in Heaven, and Love one another here (as they'l do hereafter) by a <HI>Secret Sympathy</HI> &mdash;</P>
<P>But to leave none un&s;atisfied in this Comfort|able Doctrine <HI>of Knowing our Friends in Heaven,</HI> I &s;hall further add, That 'tis an undoubted Truth, that we &s;hall all be rai&s;ed with the <HI>very &s;ame Bo|dies again we lived in here</HI> (bating that Deformity and gro&s;sne&s;s of Matter which, as I have proved, &s;hall be taken away) and with all the &s;ame <HI>natu|ral Features</HI> that are nece&s;&s;ary to di&s;tingui&s;h them to be the &s;ame Bodies, for otherwi&s;e they cannot be the &s;ame in a proper Sen&s;e, and in &s;uch a Sen&s;e that the Scriptures intend they &s;hou'd be under|&s;tood the &s;ame, and therefore, <HI>Ignotus,</HI> I do not much trouble my &s;elf about the manner of my <HI>Burial,</HI> or to which of the Elements I &s;hall commit my Carka&s;s. I Envy not the <HI>Funeral-State</HI> of great Men, neither do I covet the Embalming of the <HI>Egyptians</HI>&mdash;I wonder at the Fancy of tho&s;e who de&s;ire to be Impri&s;oned in <HI>Leaden-Coffins</HI> 'till the <HI>Re&s;urrection,</HI> and to protract the Corruption of their Fle&s;h, out of which they &s;hall be Generated <HI>de novo,</HI> as if they dreamt of ri&s;ing whole as they lay down, and carrying <HI>Fle&s;h and Blood</HI> into the Kingdom of Heaven without a Change&mdash; The Natives of <HI>Ganges</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Ovington<HI>'s</HI> new Voyage to Surat, <HI>p. 381.</HI></NOTE> when weary of Life by <HI>Sickne&s;s or old Age,</HI> committed their Bodies to be de|voured by the <HI>Dog-fi&s;h,</HI> as the &s;a|fe&s;t Pa&s;&s;age to their <HI>Future Felici|ty.</HI> But I am not of their Opinion, but am con|tented to undergo <HI>the tedious Conver&s;ation of Worms and Serpents,</HI> tho&s;e greedy Tenants of the Grave, who will never be &s;atisfied 'till they
<PB N="57" REF="57"> have <HI>eat up the Ground-Landlord</HI> &mdash; I do not puz|zle my &s;elf with projecting how my &s;catter'd A&s;hes &s;hall be collected together (provided they are min|gled with <HI>Eliza</HI>'s, 'tis all I de&s;ire) neither do I for that Rea&s;on take Care for an <HI>&V;rn to enclo&s;e them.</HI>&mdash; I am &s;atisfied that at the la&s;t Trump I &s;hall ri&s;e with the &s;ame <HI>Individual Body,</HI> I now carry about me, tho there may not then be one of the &s;ame <HI>Individual Atomes</HI> to make it up, which are its pre&s;ent Ingredients. For neither are they the &s;ame now as they were 20 Years ago: Yet I may be properly &s;aid to have the &s;ame <HI>Individual Body</HI> at this Hour, which my Mother brought forth into the World, tho it is manife&s;t, that there is &s;o va&s;t an <HI>Acce&s;&s;ion of other Particles</HI> &s;ince that time, as are enough to make ten &s;uch Bodies as I had then &mdash;which implys &s;uch a perpetual Flux of the former, as 'twould be a <HI>Solaeci&s;m in Phi|lo&s;ophy</HI> to think I have one of my <HI>Infant Atomes</HI> now left about me, if after all this I may be &s;till &s;aid to have the &s;ame <HI>Individual Body</HI> as I had then, tho there be not one of the &s;ame <HI>Individu|al Atomes,</HI> left in its Compo&s;ition, why may we not a&s;&s;ert the &s;ame of the Bodies we &s;hall have after the <HI>Re&s;urrection?</HI>&mdash;Matter is one and the &s;ame in all Bodies, the <HI>Individuation</HI> of it, the <HI>Meum and Tuum,</HI> proceeds only from the Infinitely dif|ferent Forms which actuate it. &mdash;Thus when my <HI>Soul at the Re&s;urrection,</HI> by the Power of God, and A&s;&s;i&s;tance of Angels, &s;hall be <HI>Reinve&s;ted with a Body,</HI> it is proper to &s;ay it will be the &s;ame <HI>Indivi|dual Body</HI> I have now, tho made up of <HI>Atomes,</HI> which never before were Ingredients of my Compo&s;iti|on, <HI>&s;ince not the Matter, but the Form, gives a Ti|tle to Individuation.</HI></P>
<P>Moreover, That the <HI>&s;ame Bodies</HI> &s;hall ri&s;e that died, <HI>Job</HI> plainly a&s;&s;erts, <HI>Job</HI> 19.26, 27.&mdash;<HI>And tho after my Skin Worms de&s;troy this Body, yet in my Fle&s;h &s;hall I &s;ee God: whom I &s;hall &s;ee for my &s;elf, and mine Eyes &s;hall behold, and not ano|ther, tho my Reins be con&s;umed within me.</HI></P>
<PB N="58" REF="58">
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">The &s;ame Body (&s;ays a late Author) which was &s;o plea&s;ant a Spectacle to thee, &s;hall be re&s;tor'd again;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Flavel.</NOTE> yea, the &s;ame <HI>Numerically,</HI> as well as the &s;ame <HI>Spe|cifically;</HI> &s;o that it &s;hall not only be the&mdash; <HI>what</HI> &mdash; it was, but the &mdash; <HI>who</HI> &mdash; he was. &mdash; <HI>The&s;e Eyes &s;hall behold him, and not another,</HI> Job 19.27. &mdash;<HI>&amp;c.</HI> So that if I get to Heaven I &s;hall only want that poor Con|temptible Clod of Earth, that Body of Clay; which altho now Corruptible Mouldring in its <HI>Bed of Du&s;t,</HI> yet I do believe it &s;hall ri&s;e a Glorious Body: <HI>And tho after my Skin Worms de|&s;troy this Body, yet in my Fle&s;h &s;hall I &s;ee God;</HI> in this hope of &s;eeing God, and meeting my Friends, <HI>Ignotus, Cloris,</HI> and the &s;carce dearer <HI>Eliza;</HI> I willingly commit my Body to the Du&s;t.</Q></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">It is a great Comfort<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Mead</HI>'s Sermon preached upon the Death of Mr. <HI>Tim. Cru&s;o.</HI></NOTE> un|der the lo&s;s of the Faithful Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, and of Godly Relations and Friends; for they are not lo&s;t for ever; the Spirit of God hath the Care of them, and he'll quicken them again, and therefore we may &s;ay with <HI>Martha,</HI> when her Brother was dead, <HI>I</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg"><HI>Matth.</HI> 11.14.</NOTE> <HI>know that he &s;hall ri&s;e again at the Re&s;ur|rection; you &s;hall &s;ee them again, and enjoy them again, and that in a better manner than ever.</HI>&mdash; Now (as this Author adds) how wou'd the Belief of this Truth relieve and com|fort again&s;t &s;uch Thoughts as the&s;e, <HI>If I die,</HI><NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="marg"><HI>Rev.</HI> 14.13. 1 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 4.14.</NOTE> <HI>I die in the Lord. Death is but a Sleep, and I &s;leep in Je&s;us too; when my Body is laid in the Grave, it is laid into the Arms of the Spirit; if it doth rot in the Dust, it's &V;nion to the Spirit can't rot;</HI> and therefore, <HI>farewell my Fle&s;h,</HI> while I go into the immediate Bli&s;sful Pre&s;ence of God, go thou to
<PB N="59" REF="58"> Bed in the Du&s;t; I commit thee into the Arms of the Spirit, and do willingly leave thee in that Union till he &s;ees good to rai&s;e thee, and bring us together again. <HI>I beg of God therefore</HI> (with this Author)<NOTE N="(c)" PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 29.</NOTE> <HI>that whenever I die, I may die in this Faith, that my Soul &s;hall immediately enter into the full Fruition of God. And, that my</HI> Body <HI>&s;hall lie down in the Du&s;t in an Everla&s;ting &V;nion to the Spirit of God, who will at last quicken</HI><NOTE N="(d)" PLACE="marg">1 The&s;&s;. 4.18.</NOTE> <HI>it; becau&s;e he dwells in it; for if the Spirit of him, that rai&s;ed Je&s;us from the Dead dwell in us, he that rai&s;ed up Christ from the Dead, &s;hall al&s;o quicken our Mortal Bodies by his Spirits that dwelleth in us, wherefore comfort ye one another with the&s;e Words.</HI></Q> Such Thoughts as the&s;e will give (as this Author calls his Sermon) <HI>Comfort in Death</HI>) and render the Horrors of the Grave le&s;s Affrighting and Dreadful.</P>
<P>Then let us not look on our departed Friends as a lo&s;t Generation; think not that Death hath an|nihilated and utterly de&s;troy'd them. Oh! no <HI>they are not dead, but only a&s;leep.</HI> And if they &s;leep, they &s;hall awake again; we don't u&s;e to lament for our <HI>Wives</HI> and <HI>Children</HI> when we find them a&s;leep upon their Beds. <HI>Why Death</HI> (&s;ays a late Author) <HI>is but a longer &s;leep,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Flavel.</NOTE> <HI>out of which they &s;hall as &s;urely awake as ever they did in the Morning in this World.</HI> 'Tis a Saying of the witty <HI>Overbury, No Man goes to Bed till he dies, nor wakes till the Re&s;urrection; and therefore good Night to you here, and good mor|row hereafter.</HI> The very &s;ame Body you laid, or are now to lay in the Grave, &s;hall be re|&s;tored again; Thou &s;halt find thy own <HI>Husband, Wife,</HI> or <HI>Child, &amp;c.</HI> again: I &s;ay, the &s;elf &s;ame, and not another. And as you &s;hall &s;ee &mdash; <HI>the &s;ame Per&s;on</HI> &mdash; that was &s;o dear to you; &s;o you &s;hall know them to be &mdash; <HI>the &s;ame</HI> &mdash; that were once endeared to you on Earth in &s;o near a
<PB N="60" REF="59"> Tye of Relation. &mdash; For that they &s;hall ri&s;e with Features to be di&s;tingui&s;h'd, is evident (as is mention'd el&s;ewhere) by the Appearance of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> to the Apo&s;tles, &mdash; of <HI>Dives</HI>'s knowing <HI>Lazarus</HI> and <HI>Abraham,</HI> and they know|ing him again. By the Example of tho&s;e Saints that <HI>aro&s;e after Chri&s;t's Re&s;urrection, and went into the Hoy City,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Matth.</HI> 27.</NOTE> <HI>and ap|pear'd to many there,</HI> who mu&s;t needs know by their Shapes who they were, el&s;e could not they have pronounced them to be Saints, and &s;uch who were known to have &s;lept, and have been before Dead and Bury'd &mdash; And la&s;tly <HI>(to leave no room for doubting in this matter)</HI> 'tis evident to all that believe the Go&s;pel &mdash; that our Saviour <HI>the fir&s;t Fruits from the Dead</HI> (and after the Image of whom all the Bodies of the decea&s;ed Saints will be rai&s;ed) was rai&s;ed with the <HI>&s;elf-&s;ame Bo|dy,</HI> and with the &s;ame Features he was crucified with. And therefore, to que&s;tion that ours &s;hall be &s;o too, is but a dangerous Scrupulo&s;ity, &s;ince it deprives us of <HI>one of the Means,</HI> by which we may know our Friends again, which I e&s;teem one of the greate&s;t Comforts (next to tho&s;e immediate|ly re&s;ulting from the Vi&s;ion of God him&s;elf) we can meet with in Heaven, and which is mention'd by St. <HI>Paul,</HI> (as I hinted before) as one of the be&s;t Remedies again&s;t Im|moderate Sorrow for the Death of Friends.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 4.13, 14, 18.</NOTE> &mdash; <HI>I wou'd not have you</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are a&s;leep, that ye &s;orrow not even as others which have no hope; for if we believe that Je&s;us died, and ro&s;e again, even &s;o them al&s;o which &s;leep in Je&s;us will God bring with him, wherefore comfort ye one another with the&s;e Words.</HI></P>
<P>Now if our Friends were to ri&s;e in &s;uch a di&s;|gui&s;ed manner, as not to be known again by us, this kind of Con&s;olation wou'd be Impertinent and Vain; &mdash; Neither let the many Cavils <HI>(my dear
<PB N="61" REF="59"> Ignotus)</HI> which Athei&s;tical Scoffers oppo&s;e again&s;t the Re&s;urrection of the Dead with the <HI>&s;ame Bodies,</HI> &s;tartle us,&mdash; &s;ince be&s;ides the <HI>Divine and Ratio|nal Proofs</HI> I have urged for it, there are more Natural Arguments again&s;t, than for the&s;e Oppo|&s;ers, for (to omit other Allegations)&mdash; it mu&s;t needs be very Ab&s;urd in 'em &mdash; to grant that God fir&s;t took a <HI>Par&s;el of Matter,</HI> and moulded it into the Body of &s;uch and &s;uch a particular Man, fa&s;hioning it with <HI>&s;uch and &s;uch Features,</HI> as might di&s;tingui&s;h it from the Bodies of other Men, &mdash; and yet not be willing to own he can tell how to <HI>take up and collect together the &s;ame Individual Parts of Matter again,</HI> and make them up again into the <HI>&s;ame Fabrick, with the &s;ame Fea|tures,</HI> &s;ince Nature it &s;elf, a&s;&s;i&s;ted by a little Art, is daily found to effect &s;omething very approach|ing that <HI>Divine Operation,</HI> it being a very u&s;ual thing with expert Chymi&s;ts, by their Skill and Conduct, to make the <HI>di&s;per&s;ed Particles</HI> of a cal|cin'd Flower or Plant, to fly up, and a&s;&s;emble to|gether again in the perfect Shape, and with the lively Colour of the Flower or Plant, to which they belong'd &mdash; but &s;lighting the&s;e Men's <HI>trifling Objections</HI> &mdash; let us <HI>(Ignotus)</HI> keep fa&s;t to that <HI>Infali|ble Word,</HI> that promi&s;es Eternity to our new Friend|&s;hip, and that all the Innocent Joys it gives us here, &s;hall be <HI>remembred, and continued in Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>Thus have I largely prov'd, by Arguments, drawn from <HI>Scripture &mdash; Rea&s;on &mdash; and the best Writers,</HI> &mdash; that if we get to Heaven we &s;hall know one another there by <HI>Face, Stature, Voice, and the Relation we had to each other on Earth</HI> &mdash; And not only &s;o, but that we &s;hall know the ge|neral A&s;&s;embly and Church of the Fir&s;t Born, who&s;e Names are now written in Hea|ven; the<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Heb.</HI> 12.23.</NOTE> <HI>Patriarcks, Prophets, Apo|&s;tles, Martyrs, and People of God,</HI> that have lived in all Ages and Nations, from the beginning of the World, to the end of it.</P>
<PB N="62" REF="60">
<P>Object. <HI>But may &s;ome &s;ay, &mdash; if we &s;hall know me another in Heaven &mdash; I'de be further inform'd what wi l be the &s;ubject Matter of our Di&s;cour&s;e there &mdash; And in what Language &s;hall we then talk? Nay, good Sir, excu&s;e me here; for who has ever mounted to the highe&s;t Scale of Heavenly Bli&s;s? Ler him come down and tell as what is the</HI> Pious Confe|rence, and Language in Heaven? &mdash; <HI>Let him come down and tell us the My&s;teries wrapt up in Clouds, the Secrets hid within the Veil of Inacce&s;&s;ible Light! Let him de&s;cribe the Wonders of the</HI> Beatifick Vi&s;ion, <HI>and &s;ay how deep the Rivers of Plea&s;ure are, which run by Gods Right-Hand, for evermore; &mdash; for my part, I must confe&s;s I'm lo&s;t in that</HI> Aby&s;s of Wonders, <HI>and therefore &s;hou'd, mode&s;tly withdraw my Pen, to Subjects within my Reach. &mdash; However, &s;omething I'le gue&s;s at, (tho that's all) to An&s;wer the&s;e</HI> Curious Inquirers, &mdash; <HI>but hold, &s;ays another, before you go any further, I wou'd al&s;o know, (&s;trange! How far will &s;ome mens Curio&s;ity lead them) &mdash; That if we &s;hall know one another in Heaven &mdash; By Face, Stature, Voice, &amp;c. Whether we &s;han't al&s;e know one another,</HI></P>
<P>By difference of Sex?</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> Yes, doubtle&s;s we &s;hall, and becau&s;e this Que&s;tion hath &s;omething of <HI>Novelty</HI> in't, (for it oppo&s;es the general received Opinion, particular|ly Mr. <HI>Baxters,</HI> who &s;ays the <HI>Saints &s;hall know one another in Heaven,</HI> but adds he, &mdash; <HI>I think not by Sex,</HI>) &mdash; I'le prove this in the Fir&s;t Place &mdash; And then tell you (as far as I can) what will be the <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e</HI> and <HI>Language</HI> of that <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed Ac|quaintance</HI> that get to Heaven, and with that Con|clude this <HI>tedious Letter.</HI></P>
<P>And here &s;eeing <HI>Novelties</HI> make an impre&s;&s;ion on the Mind, before I Handle this Nice-Point, I'le Fir&s;t Premi&s;e, that 'tis charity to lend a Crutch to a lame
<PB N="63" REF="60"> Conceit. However, if I am askt for my Authorities, I An&s;wer, what appears rea&s;onable wants no other Recommendation than being &s;o; and as to what appears over &s;trange, <HI>let Ignotus con&s;ider,</HI> that <HI>Philo|&s;ophy</HI> had never been improved had it not been for <HI>New-Opinions,</HI> which afterwards were rectified by abler Pens, and &s;o the Fir&s;t Notions were lo&s;t and namele&s;s, under new Super&s;tructures, but &s;uch a Fate (to u&s;e the Words of a late Author) <HI>is too Agreeable for my Judgement to repine at, or my Vanity to hope for.</HI> But &mdash; that there's a &mdash; <HI>difference of Sex in Souls, and will be Male and Female in Heaven, (tho the Notion's new)</HI> yet I never doubted it, and hope to make it plain before we part,</P>
<P>Object. <HI>But you'l &s;ay, when the Holy Spirit &s;peaks of &s;eparated Souls that are gathered up into Heaven, he does not &s;peak &mdash; of</HI> Male or Female, <HI>but only of Souls without di&s;tingui&s;hing either kind, or Sex, &mdash; And further, that 'tis &s;aid</HI> there is no Marrying in Heaven, <HI>Mark.</HI> 12.25. And that in Je&s;us Chri&s;t there is neither Male nor Female, <HI>Gal.</HI> 3.28. <HI>VVhich it directly contrary to the</HI> di&s;tinction of Sex in Souls. &mdash; <HI>For if Sex be only for the &s;ake of Marriage, where there is no Marriage, there is no need of</HI> Di&s;tinct-Sex, Then why that in Heaven which there's no need of? <HI>All that's of the E&s;&s;ence of a Man will undoubtedly he there,</HI> and that's a Rational Soul united to an Organiz'd Body; <HI>but what Organs will be nece&s;&s;a|ry then, we can't tell, however the&s;e cannot. Be&s;ides, this difference is only Accidental,</HI> Man and Wo|man being in E&s;&s;ence the &s;ame. <HI>But in a State of Bl &s;s and Perfection, all that's Imperfect or Acciden|tal &s;hall be removed, and accordingly one wou'd think</HI> Sexes &s;hould. <HI>I won't add for another Rea&s;on what, as I remember, one of the Fathers has &s;aid&mdash; That</HI> were there any Woman in Heaven, the An|gels could not &s;tand long, <HI>but would certainly be &s;educed from their Innocency, and fall as</HI> Adam <HI>did. But one wou'd think that if Souls were to
<PB N="64" REF="61"> Marry it ought to be in Heaven, which is the</HI> Ele|ment of Spirits, <HI>after the Bodies had been united in Marriage upon Earth, the Seat of material things. Perhaps you'l al&s;o Object the</HI> Words of St. <HI>Austin,</HI> who &s;ays, &mdash; The Soul is not di&s;tingui&s;hed into Sexes. <HI>And that of St.</HI> Cyril, <HI>who liv'd before him, who al&s;o &s;ays,</HI> &mdash; The Souls of Men and Women are ab&s;olutely alike&punc; nor is there any parts of their Bodies, wherein there is any difference to be ob|&s;erved.</P>
<P><HI>To this I An&s;wer,</HI> &mdash; That Souls may be di&s;tin|gui&s;h't into <HI>Male and Female,</HI> (notwith&s;tanding the&s;e Objections) &s;ince 'tis a Common &s;aying &mdash; <HI>The Soul of a Man, and the Soul of a Woman.</HI> &mdash; And moreover, becau&s;e it is generally believed, and no le&s;s &s;en&s;ibly acknowledged, that they have each their particular Character, &mdash; the Soul <HI>(and con&s;equently the &V;nder&s;tanding)</HI> of the one is Re&s;o|lute and Con&s;tant, that of the other Light, Wa|vering and Changable, (<HI>Eliza, Cloris, Daphne, Sa|pho, Anonyma, Ariadne,</HI> your Dear <HI>Dorinda,</HI> and my <HI>SHE-Angel,</HI> are all the exceptions I know of from this Rule) &mdash; The Soul of one takes a pride in being Grave, and &s;peaking little; the other talks much, and cannot forbear <HI>twatling upon every thing</HI> &mdash; and which is yet more to the purpo&s;e, does not <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;ay, &mdash; That the <HI>Sons of God</HI> (whom &s;everal of the Fathers of the Church have Expounded to be Angels) <HI>Fell in Love with the Daughters of Men?</HI> And if there be a Sex mark'd out for Love in Angels, we need not &s;cruple to go a little farther, and &s;ay that <HI>there is al&s;o a Sex in Souls.</HI> To this we may likewi&s;e add certain Exper&s;&s;ions of tho&s;e great Men, who are frequently Cited by <HI>Tertullian</HI> in his Writings, &mdash; I mean <HI>Homer,</HI> who gives the <HI>Greeks</HI> the Appellation of&mdash; <HI>She Achaeans,</HI> and <HI>Virgil</HI> who calls the <HI>Trojans &mdash; She-Phrygians;</HI> &mdash; and <HI>Cicero,</HI> who Reports that <HI>Horten&s;ius</HI> was treated at <HI>Rome</HI> with the Title of <HI>Madam,</HI> &mdash; whence could proceed this Cu&s;tome
<PB N="65" REF="61"> of giving Men the Epithites of Women, but only becau&s;e, that 'tho they had the Bodies of Men they had the <HI>Souls &mdash; of &mdash; Women:</HI> &mdash; And I might mention the <HI>Apparitions of Men and Wo|men,</HI> in the &s;ame <HI>Shape and Sex,</HI> they formerly lived, is in no contemplible proof of this A&s;&s;ertion. <HI>But you'l &s;ay perhaps &mdash; Souls are not furni&s;ht with Organs that make this distinction between 'em, and that a Spirit cannot become Vi&s;ible.</HI></P>
<P>To this I An&s;wer, I own a Spirit cannot <HI>become Vi&s;ible;</HI> 'tis not an Object for a material Eye, be|ing it &s;elf not Matter, but what appears to us in the Shape and Sex of <HI>Male and Female,</HI> is &s;omthing that a Spirit, a&s;&s;umes as <HI>Condenced Air,</HI> or the like, neither does the <HI>Souls not being furni&s;ht with Organs,</HI> hin|der the <HI>Di&s;tinction of Sex;</HI> 'tis true I acknowledge, that <HI>Souls are &s;imple Beings,</HI> which admit of no compo&s;ition of parts, and &s;o they cannot have that Di&s;tinction, which appears in the Corporeal Sex; &mdash; But can there not be found <HI>a Spiri|tual Di&s;tinction,</HI> &s;eeing that we <HI>meet with a</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">As was hint|ed before in the Friend&s;hip between <HI>Ignotus</HI> and <HI>Phi|laret.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Marriage of Minds as well as Bodies? Whence it comes to pa&s;s, that two Minds &s;eek the Injoyment of one ano|ther, and Love each other by a Secret-Simpathy.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis Objected, that this Union never Produces other Souls: &mdash; But do all Bodies of different Sexes Produce other Bodies? There are In&s;ects that are Produced the &s;ame in likene&s;s every way, without the <HI>A&s;&s;i&s;tance of Sexs,</HI> &mdash; There are perfect Creatures which have different Sexes, which never Procr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ate, &s;uch are <HI>Mules, and Moyles,</HI>&mdash; This then can be no convincing Argument, that there is no difference of <HI>Sex in Souls,</HI> becau&s;e their Union does not Produce another Soul: Which is a thing that no Body neither can certainly determin; for in regard we know not the <HI>Nature of Spirits,</HI> neither can we have a perfect knowledge of their Faculties till <HI>we come to Heaven.</HI> &mdash; And <HI>Ter+tullia</HI>
<PB N="66" REF="62"> as was &s;aid before, does affirm, That they <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">e able to Pro-create their like, &s;eeing that <HI>the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ons of God became enamour'd of the Daughters of Men</HI>&mdash; and that tho&s;e Sons of God were An|gels&mdash; But that there is&mdash;<HI>a difference of Sex in Souls</HI>&mdash;is further evident, if you con&s;ider that the Soul is &s;o far from a&s;&s;uming the <HI>Di&s;po&s;ition of the Body,</HI> that 'tis the Body which conforms to the Di&s;po&s;ition of the Soul; for this Di&s;po&s;ition pro|ceeds only from the Sub&s;tantial Form; <HI>The Body cannot give it to it &s;elf;</HI> it is indifferent of it &s;elf; but the Form is the <HI>&V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> which deter|mines it to be &s;uch as it is&mdash; It &s;hould be then from the Soul that this di&s;tinction of Organs &s;hould proceed; It &s;hould be &s;he that &s;hould determine the Sex, and con&s;equently the <HI>Soul it &s;elf that &s;hould be Male and Female</HI>&mdash; For as no Body can give that which it has not, of nece&s;&s;ity <HI>the Soul mu&s;t be furni&s;h'd with Sex before it can bequeath it to the Body</HI>&mdash;</P>
<P>Thus having <HI>An&s;wered</HI> &s;ome of the Arguments denying <HI>There's a Sex in Souls</HI> &mdash; I &s;hall next con&s;ider the <HI>Scripture Pa&s;&s;ages</HI> brought again&s;t this Opinion, and &s;hall fir&s;t begin with that of Saint <HI>Paul</HI>'s &s;aying of Chri&s;t, that He is neither <HI>Male nor Female</HI>&mdash;I &s;hall next con&s;ider that other Text which &s;ays,&mdash; <HI>There is no Marrying in Heaven</HI>&mdash; The&s;e Texts being brought as the main Arguments to prove&mdash;<HI>There's no difference of Sex in Souls,</HI> and that we &s;han't be known in Heaven by that di&s;tinction.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, as to St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s &s;aying &mdash; That Chri&s;t is neither <HI>Male nor Female</HI> &mdash; To this I An&s;wer, he &s;peaks of <HI>the whole Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> or only of his Body, &mdash; or only of his Soul &mdash; He does not &s;peak of his Body, for certain it is &mdash; That as to his Body He was of the <HI>Ma&s;culine Sex</HI>&mdash; If he &s;peaks of his Soul, that makes for my Opinion: For in &s;aying that of the Soul of Chri&s;t, St. <HI>Paul</HI>
<PB N="67" REF="62"> intended to &s;ay &s;omething extraordinary of Him, which was not common to Him with the re&s;t of Men &mdash; and to the end that that &s;hou'd be, 'tis requi&s;ite that the Souls of all other Men &s;hou'd be &mdash;<HI>individually Male and Female</HI> &mdash; el&s;e it had been of no Importance to &s;ay what he &s;ays of Chri&s;t &mdash;The Apo&s;tle had told us <HI>nothing of No|velty</HI> in that particular &mdash;But to give you a better Interpretation of the thing, 'tis the Opinion of a Learned Man, that St. <HI>Paul</HI> meant the <HI>whole Je&s;us Chri&s;t</HI>&mdash;That is to &s;ay, that his Per&s;on Com|pos'd of two Natures&mdash;<HI>Divine and Humane</HI>&mdash; is Singular, and has nothing of Similitude with other Bodies, <HI>except &s;ome Organs that make the di|&s;tinction of Sex,</HI> &s;o as to be enclin'd to the Pro|duction of others of the &s;ame <HI>double Nature and Order</HI>&mdash; So that this makes nothing again&s;t my Opinion, but much for it.</P>
<P><HI>And as to that other Text,</HI> which &s;ays &mdash; <HI>That in Heaven there is neither Marrying, nor giving in Marriage</HI>&mdash; it directly proves my A&s;&s;ertion&mdash; For Virginity and Celibacy are &s;o far from deny|ing Sex, that they &s;uppo&s;e it&mdash; Thus Chri&s;t did not intend to &s;ay&mdash;That there wou'd be <HI>no Di|&s;tinction of Sexes in Heaven</HI>&mdash;And if he does not A&s;&s;ert this, we are left at liberty to believe there will, for the Rea&s;ons I have here given, which plainly prove, that glorified Bodies &s;hall be ad|mitted into Heaven, the Bodies of <HI>Male and Fe|male Saints,</HI> and (that) at pre&s;ent, there are no other than <HI>Male and Female Souls</HI> in that ble&s;&s;ed Place, except it be the Body of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. I might next con&s;ider the Words of St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> and <HI>Cyril,</HI> who &s;ay, all <HI>Souls are alike,</HI> but their Opi|nion being meer Conjecture, without any further Proof, I &s;hall pa&s;s it by in Silence.</P>
<P>Thus having largely proved, That there's <HI>a diffe|rence of Sex in Souls</HI>&mdash; and con&s;equently&mdash; <HI>That we &s;hall know one another in Heaven,</HI> by the di&s;tinction of Male and Female &mdash; And 'tis &s;up|po&s;ed by &s;ome that we &s;hall know one another by
<PB N="68" REF="63"> Voice; which brings me in the <HI>la&s;t place,</HI> to Treat of the <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e and Language of the Saints in Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>And Fir&s;t, as to what the Di&s;cour&s;e will be in Heaven, <HI>I won't tell ye, for indeed I can't,</HI> but will give &s;ome imperfect Gue&s;&s;es at it. Doubtle&s;s, we &s;hall then Di&s;cour&s;e over the <HI>whole Bu&s;ine&s;s of our Redemption,</HI> of the <HI>Wi&s;dom, Patience and Mercy</HI> of God, in &s;ending Chri&s;t to Save us&mdash; We have &s;ome <HI>little Glimp&s;e</HI> of this in <HI>Chri&s;t's Transfigura|tion,</HI> when the Scripture tells us when the Saints were &s;ent from Heaven to Di&s;cour&s;e with Chri&s;t, <HI>there talked with him Mo&s;es and Elias, who appeared to Him in Glory,</HI> then they &s;pake of the Death of Chri&s;t, what a Price He was to pay to Divine Ju&s;tice for Man's Sins, <HI>Luk.</HI> 9.30, 31. As Chri&s;t's Transfi|guration gives us &s;ome little Glimp&s;e of our <HI>Transfi|guration</HI> in Glory, &s;o their <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e</HI> &s;hews &s;omething what we &s;hall have in Glory &mdash; The Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> heard <HI>wordle&s;s Words,</HI> Words in Heaven that cou'd not be <HI>&s;poke over again</HI> upon Earth&mdash; In the <HI>Revela|tions</HI> we have mention of the Ble&s;&s;ed, <HI>Rev.</HI> 5.9. They &s;ung a new Song, &s;aying, <HI>Thou art worthy to take the Book,</HI> &amp;c.&mdash; We have frequent accounts of the Saints Glorifying God by their Speech, <HI>Rev.</HI> 7.9. <HI>I beheld a great Multitude, that no Man cou'd number, crying Salvation, Honour and Power unto God, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever.</HI> And 11th. <HI>Rev.</HI> The Twenty Four Elders that &s;ate be|fore God, fell on theit Faces and wor&s;hipped God. 12th. <HI>Rev.</HI> 10. <HI>I heard a great Voice in Heaven, &s;ay|ing, Now is come Salvation, Strength, and the pow|er of God</HI>&mdash; 'Tis true, variety of Tongues &s;hall then cea&s;e, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. The Apo&s;tle reckons that among&s;t the things that &s;hall then cea&s;e, becau&s;e variety of Languages had their Original from Sin at <HI>Babel&mdash;Now 'tis a Que&s;tion among&s;t &s;ome, what Language &s;hall be &s;poke in Heaven</HI>&mdash; 'Tis the ge|neral Opinion of Learned Men, that <HI>Hebrew</HI> &s;hall be the Language, becau&s;e there are &s;ome <HI>Hebrew</HI>
<PB N="69" REF="63"> Words the &s;ame in all Languages, as <HI>Amen</HI> and <HI>Hallelujah,</HI> tho others interpret that place, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. that all Tongues &s;hall then cea&s;e that had been u&s;ed upon Earth. &mdash; The Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> heard Words that were <HI>peculiar to Heaven;</HI> and <HI>Zephan.</HI> 3.9. &mdash; God promi&s;es, <HI>I'le turn to a peo|ple of a pure Language, a &s;ingular kind of Language.</HI> And the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks <HI>of the Tongue</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.1.</NOTE> <HI>of Angels,</HI> as if there were a Language &s;poke peculiarly there. But whatever their Language is in Heaven, &s;ure I am we &s;hall know our Friends that get thither.</P>
<P>But Methinks I hear &s;ome Di&s;con&s;olate Widower &s;aying, <HI>I am now fully &s;atisfied we &s;hall know our Friends in Heaven; but having lately lo&s;t an ex|traordinary Wife ('tis my own Ca&s;e) I de&s;ire to know if I get to Heaven, whether I &s;hall have a greater Love to her than to the re&s;t of the Glorified Saints, notwith&s;tanding all Carnal Love &s;hall be quite bani&s;ht in that State; you know</HI> Phil. (quoth this <HI>Queri&s;t) that the Relation 'tween Man and Wife is nearer than any other, even &s;o near, that the Apostle</HI> Paul &s;aith, He that loveth his Wife, loveth him&s;elf, Eph. 5. <HI>v.</HI> 28, 31. and that of two they are one Fle&s;h. <HI>So that I think this Que&s;tion de&s;erves a particular An&s;wer, than</HI> Philaret, <HI>I hope you'll prove (for my pre|&s;ent Support, that as I &s;hall know my Wife if I get to Heaven, &s;o I &s;hall love her more than other Saints.</HI></P>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes">For if the Condition of Man be changed by Death into a better, how can it be, he being per|fect, that he &s;hould have le&s;s Love, and Conju|gal Charity in him, than he had while he liv'd in the World? And if Memory be a Faculty of the Soul, (as has been prov'd) and <HI>Charity</HI> be al&s;o one of the notable&s;t Vertues that be in Man's Soul, the Soul being gone out of the Bo|dy, and more perfect than it was while it abode here below, &s;hall it be thought to be alter'd in the <HI>Faculty of her Memory?</HI> Or el&s;e &s;hall we imagine her to be void of her <HI>Vertue of Charity?</HI>
<PB N="70" REF="64"> which the Scriptures reporteth to be in this Re|&s;pect greater than <HI>Faith and Hope,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13.13. Fora&s;much as tho&s;e two continue only for a time, until we enjoy tho&s;e things we hope for; but this only abideth for ever, and flouri&s;heth in Heaven, while we enjoy there that Immortal Glory? And, being united with God, who is perfect <HI>Charity,</HI> can we forget that Party whom we had loved in him; yea, according to his Commandment and mo&s;t Holy Ordinances?</Q></P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer, There's a Notion, which &s;eems to prove, <HI>that if Man and Wife meet in Heaven, that they &s;hall have more Love to each other, than to the rest of the Glorified Saints,</HI> and the Notion is embraced by Per&s;ons of very good Sen&s;e and Learning, and which, I think, but few deny, namely, That &s;uch good Works of good Men as &s;urvive 'em here, for in&s;tance, Books of Devotion, and in a Sen&s;e good Examples, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> When they have an effect on &s;uch as they leave be|hind, &s;hall thereby advance their actual Glory and Felicity in the other World. And is't not then highly probable, that &s;uch as are advantaged by 'em, nay, directed to that happy place, &s;hou'd, when they once arrive there, both know and ac|knowledge their Benefactors? &mdash; And here may be room for <HI>Philaret</HI> to plea&s;e him&s;elf with not impo&s;&s;ible Hopes; for if any of tho&s;e pieces of Service he did. <HI>Eliza</HI> while &s;he lived, were &s;uch as made her really <HI>more Religious here, and more Hap|py above;</HI> nay, if he imitates her Piety and Vertue, wherein he thinks &s;he as far exceeded others, as in her Genero&s;ity and Love, then they may pro|bably not only <HI>Know, but Love each other better than others in a better World.</HI> But then mu&s;t have a Care to <HI>Regulate my Extravagant Pa&s;&s;ion</HI> for her <HI>Memory</HI> here, or el&s;e I only flatter my &s;elf when I hope to get thither, and mu&s;t expect to ex|change this <HI>long Separation</HI> for what will be <HI>Eternal.</HI></P>
<P>But how can I talk of a <HI>Separation</HI> (having told you in the <HI>Dedication</HI>) that my Love <HI>has nothing
<PB N="71" REF="64"> of parting in't,</HI> 'twill (if po&s;&s;ible) follow her in the &s;ame Tract to Heaven, where I hope to find and know her hereafter, and to re&s;pect her above others; for why may not Husband and Wife, that helped forward each others Salvation, who&s;e Souls were mutually dear, and who went to Heaven as it were Hand in Hand? there meet</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="part">
<HEAD>In a more than ordinary eudearing Manner?</HEAD>
<P>And return each other Thanks for tho&s;e Chri&s;tia<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Offices? Holy <HI>David</HI> cheared up his Thought after the Death of his Beloved Child, with th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Meditation, <HI>I &s;hall go to him, but he &s;hall not re+turn to me,</HI> 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 12.23. which had been littl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Comfort if he had thought never to have know him there, and loved him (too) more than other<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> and certainly 'twill be no &s;mall <HI>Augmentation</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> Happine&s;s to <HI>Eliza</HI> and <HI>Philaret</HI> to find that &s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">+cere Friend&s;hip, which (for 15 Years) they had be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters"> Contracting here below tran&s;lated to the Man&s;ions <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">+bove, when I &s;hall &s;ee and know her again, wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> whom I had lived &s;o well, and &s;lept &s;o long in t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Du&s;t&mdash;<HI>I &s;ay in the Du&s;t;</HI> for I de&s;ire in my WIL<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> to be buried with her, that &s;o as our Souls &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> know each other when they leave the Bodies, our Bodies al&s;o may ri&s;e together after the <HI>l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Night of Death,</HI> and you find <HI>Eliza</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">As you n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> find in the <HI>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">+dication</HI> to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>E&s;&s;ay.</HI></NOTE> of this Opinion, where &s;he &s;ays, <HI>Dear Phil, whil&s;t on Earth we may lawfully plea&s;e our &s;elves with Hopes of meeting hereafter, and in lying in the &s;ame Grave, where we &s;hall be happy together, if a &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">+le&s;s Happine&s;s can be call'd &s;o.</HI></P>
<P>Further (in an&s;wer to the Que&s;tion, <HI>whether I and Wife &s;hall love one another above other Sai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> Let us remember rightly that In&s;truction our Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who teacheth us, <HI>how
<PB N="72" REF="65"> the Fruits of Marriage ought to &s;tretch, and what Di&s;tinction we are to make between our Habitation and Being in this World, and our Rest in Heaven;</HI> between that Angelical Nature, and this which is Corrupt and Humane; for in Heaven, <HI>the Fruits, Rea&s;ons, and Re&s;pects of Marriage do cea&s;e;</HI> the only Divine and Angelical Nature bringeth forth her Effects in Spiritual Vertues, and not in Hu|mane Pa&s;&s;ions; which having had their Cour&s;e in this <HI>Cra&s;ie Life, could never pa&s;s into Heaven.</HI></P>
<P>The Husband and Wife &s;hall die: <HI>I</HI> mean the Bodies of Husband and Wife, <HI>but not the Gift of God, which &s;hineth in the Faculty of the Soul, and in &s;uch Vertues as are in&s;eparable from her.</HI> Over all which, Death and the Grave hath no Power, as it hath over the Body, and Sen|&s;ual Affections.<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>See a Treati&s;e, call'd,</HI> The Trea|&s;ure of a Chri|&s;tian Soul.</NOTE> <HI>The Corporal Conjunction between the Husband and the Wife &s;hall cea&s;e,</HI> but the Memory in the Soul &s;hall re|main, not of Bodily Things, and of contrary Nature unto that Heavenly Glory; but of &s;uch things as are agreeable unto a Spiritual Being. Likewi&s;e al&s;o Bodily, Temporal, and Sen&s;ual Love &s;hall remain in the Grave; but <HI>Cha|rity, which de&s;ireth to &s;ee her in Glory,</HI> and Immor|tality &s;hall fly into Heaven, and there from Day to Day will inflame it &s;elf in &s;uch wife, as that the <HI>Soul of the Departed Husband, being in Heaven, will there Love and Know her, whom he loved in this World,</HI> yet then, not as being his, but as being the Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t; not as having been one Fle&s;h Corruptible and Mortal in times pa&s;t, but as being to be in time to come, both of them together, as al&s;o with all the Holy Ones, <HI>Bones of the Bones of Chri&s;t, and Fle&s;h of his Fle&s;h.</HI> So that if <HI>Philaret</HI> gets to Heaven, he'll there not only Know, but Love his <HI>Eliza,</HI> with a Remembrance becoming a Spiritual Nature, freed from Fear, void of Care, alienate from all Mortal De&s;ire; &s;o th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t he, who in the World <HI>remembred her whom then he po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed in Con|dition
<PB N="73" REF="65"> of a Wife, and for a u&s;e both Carnal and Corruptible, &s;hall Remember her in Heaven, in condition as being a Member of Chri&s;t, for the So|ciety of the &s;ame Glory,</HI> and for a u&s;e Dedicated to God only, to Celebrate Eternally his Prai&s;es, and Immortal Glory. Now that this De&s;ire, or Re|membrance, and Charity, is in tho&s;e Ble&s;&s;ed Souls, not of a quality imperfect or infirm, as here in the World; but &s;utable, and becoming unto that their E&s;tate of Perfection, appeareth by that meeting and Conference, of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Elias,</HI> with our <HI>Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> Luke 9.30. In the Mount whereon he was Transfigured, <HI>upon the Subject of his Death and Pa&s;&s;ion.</HI> As al&s;o by the de&s;ire of tho&s;e Souls which re&s;t in Heaven, under the Golden Altar, and that their de&s;ire, and remembrance, was of &s;uch things as had pa&s;&s;ed and were done in this World, is apparent in this complaint, Rev. 6.9. <HI>How long Lord, Holy and True, do&s;t thou not Judge, and Avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth?</HI></P>
<P><HI>But is it &s;o, may &s;ome &s;ay, that we &s;hall know (and &s;o particularly) Love, our Wives, and Friends again in Heaven?</HI> Then pray tell us, <HI>will this Friend&s;hip be la&s;ting, or &s;hall we be placed according to our Love to God, in different Spheres, and &s;o get New-Friends.</HI>&mdash; My An&s;wer is, I believe we &s;hall. For, God is an Infinite Object,&mdash; that which is Finite, tho never &s;o refined and advanced in its Nature, cannot <HI>know God altogether,</HI> nay, can <HI>never know him all;</HI> I think it therefore fair arguing that our knowledg of him there mu&s;t be &s;ucce&s;&s;ive, our Capacity &s;till augmenting with our Knowledge, as our Happine&s;s with both. &mdash; Take another not improbable Argument for the &s;ame Head: &mdash; In Heaven we &s;hall be <GAP DESC="foreign">, &mdash; <HI>like the Angels:</HI> &mdash; Their Knowledge is gradual, for they look into the Church, to learn <HI>the My&s;teries thereof,</HI> even though in Heaven: And why then may not ours be &s;o too, if e're we are &s;o happy by Gods Grace to get thither?</P>
<PB N="74" REF="66">
<P><HI>But if it be &s;o, that the Sain<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s in Heaven not only know their former Acquaintance, but are further contracting of new Friend&s;hips; then I wou'd know,</HI> (&s;ays another Inquirer,) <HI>Whether they have any know|ledge of, or ever concern them&s;elves, with the affairs of their Friends in this Life, and what is to be thought of the Apparitions of the Dead.</HI></P>
<P>To this I An&s;wer, (as formerly,) that the <HI>Pla|tonists</HI> have made many bold A&s;&s;ertions, both con|cerning the State of the Soul before it came into the Body, as al&s;o after; but their Rea&s;ons are as &s;trange as their A&s;&s;ertions. What Priviledges &s;ome Souls may enjoy in their &s;eparate State above others, is yet a Riddle, but there are &s;ome In&s;tances of this Nature unaccountable. To mention one; <HI>Cae&s;ar Baronius</HI> in his Annals, mentions an entire Friend&s;hip betwixt one <HI>Michael Mercatus,</HI> and <HI>Mar&s;ilius Ficinus,</HI> and this Friend&s;hip was the &s;tronger betwixt them, by rea&s;on of a mutual Agreement in their Studies, and an addictedne&s;s to the Doctrines of <HI>Plato.</HI> It fell out that the&s;e two Di&s;cour&s;ing together <HI>(as they u&s;ed)</HI> of the <HI>State of Man after Death,</HI> according to <HI>Plato</HI>'s Opinions, (there is Extant a Learned Epi&s;tle of <HI>Mar&s;ilius,</HI> to <HI>Michael Mercatus</HI> upon the &s;ame Subject,) but when their Di&s;putation and Di&s;cour&s;e was drawn out &s;omething long, they &s;hut it up with this firm Agreement, that which&s;oever of them two &s;hould fir&s;t depart out of this Life, <HI>(if it might be)</HI> &s;hould a&s;certain the Survivor, <HI>of the State of the other Life, and whether the Soul be Immortal or not:</HI> this Agreement being made, and mutualy &s;worn unto, they departed. In a &s;hort time, it fell out, that while <HI>Michael Mercatus</HI> was one Morning early at his Study, upon the &s;udden he heard the noi&s;e of an Hor&s;e upon the Gallop, then &s;topping at his Door, withal he heard the Voice of <HI>Mar&s;ilius his Friend,</HI> crying to him, <HI>Oh Michael, Oh Michael, tho&s;e things are true, they are true; Michael</HI> wondering to hear his Frien<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s Voice, ro&s;e up, and opening the Ca&s;ement, he
<PB N="75" REF="66"> &s;aw the <HI>back-&s;ide</HI> of him whom he had heard, in <HI>White,</HI> and <HI>Galloping</HI> away upon a <HI>white Hor&s;e;</HI> he called after him, <HI>Mar&s;ilius, Mar&s;ilius,</HI> and fol|lowed him with his Eye, but he &s;oon vani&s;hed out of &s;ight. He amazed at this extraordinary Acci|dent, very &s;olicitou&s;ly enquired if any thing had happened to <HI>Mar&s;ilius,</HI> who then lived at <HI>Florence,</HI> where he had breath'd his la&s;t, and he found, upon &s;trict Enquiry, that he died at that very time wherein he was thus heard and &s;een by him.</P>
<P>And <HI>Sophronius,</HI> Bi&s;hop of<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Prat. Spir. c. <HI>195.</HI> Referente Baroni<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> ad An. <HI>411.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Je|ru&s;alem,</HI> delivereth this Pa&s;&s;age to Po&s;terity, as a mo&s;t certain thing, That <HI>Leontius Apamien|&s;is,</HI> a mo&s;t Faithful Religious Man, that had lived many Years at <HI>Cyrene,</HI> a&s;&s;ured them, that <HI>Syne&s;ius</HI> (who of a Philo&s;opher became a Bi&s;hop) found at <HI>Cyrene</HI> one <HI>Evagrius,</HI> a Philo&s;opher, who had been his old Acquaintance, Fellow-Student, and intimate Friend, but an ob&s;tinate Heathen; and <HI>Syne&s;ius</HI> was earne&s;t with him to become a Chri&s;tian, but all in vain; yet did he &s;till follow him with tho&s;e Arguments that might &s;atisfie him of the Chri&s;tian Verity; and at la&s;t the Philo&s;opher told him, That to him it &s;eemed but a meer Fable and Deceit, that the Chri&s;tian Religion teacheth Men, that this World &s;hall have an end, and that all Men &s;hall ri&s;e again in the&s;e Bodies, and their Fle&s;h be made <HI>Im|mortal and Incorruptible,</HI> and that they &s;hall &s;o Live for ever, and receive the Reward of all that they have done in the Body, and that he that hath <HI>pity on the Poor, lendeth to the Lord,</HI> and he that gives to the Poor and Needy, &s;hall have Trea&s;ures in Heaven, and &s;hall receive an hundred fold from Chri&s;t, together with Eternal Life; the&s;e things he derided. <HI>Syne&s;ius,</HI> by many Arguments, a&s;&s;ured him, that all the&s;e things were certainly true; and at la&s;t the Philo&s;opher and his Children were Bap|tized &mdash;A while after he comes to <HI>Syne&s;ius,</HI> and brings him three hundred Pound of Gold for the
<PB N="76" REF="67"> Poor, and bid him take it, but give him <HI>a Bill un|der his Hand, that Chri&s;t &s;hould re-pay it him in another World. Syne&s;ius</HI> took the Money for the Poor, and gave him, under his hand, &s;uch a Bill as he de&s;ired &mdash; Not long after the Philo&s;opher, being near to Death, commanded his Sons, that when they buried him, they &s;hould put <HI>Syne&s;ius Bill</HI> in his Hand in the Grave, which they did. And the third Day after, the Philo&s;opher &s;eemed to appear to <HI>Syne&s;ius</HI> in the Night, and &s;aid to him, <HI>Come to my Sepulchre where I lye, and take thy Bill, for I have Received the Debt, and am &s;atisfied, which for thy A&s;&s;urance I have Sub&s;cribed with my own Hand.</HI> The Bi&s;hop knew not that the Bill was buried with him, but &s;ent to his Sons, who told him all, and taking them, and the chief Men of the City, he went to the Grave, and found the Paper in the hands of the Corps thus Sub&s;cribed:</P>
<P><HI>[I</HI> Evagrius <HI>the Philo&s;opher, to thee mo&s;t Holy Sir, Bi&s;hop</HI> Syne&s;ius, <HI>greeting. I have received the Debt which in this Paper is written with thy hands, and I am &s;atisfied, and I have no Law (or Action) against thee, for the Gold which I gave to thee; and by thee to Christ our Lord and Saviour.]</HI></P>
<P>They that &s;aw the thing, admired, and glorified God that gave &s;uch wonderful Evidence of his Promi&s;es to his Servants &mdash; And, &s;aith <HI>Leontius,</HI> this Bill Sub&s;cribed thus by the Philo&s;opher, is kept at <HI>Cyrene</HI> mo&s;t carefully, in the Church to this Day, to be &s;een of &s;uch as do de&s;ire it.</P>
<P><HI>As to the&s;e Apparitions of the Dead</HI>&mdash;Although it cannot be denied, but in &s;ome grand and extra|ordinary Ca&s;es, as the Re&s;urrection of tho&s;e dead which appeared upon our Saviour's <HI>Crucifixion,</HI> and the Apparition of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Elias</HI> at the Transfi|guration: And in &s;ome other Ca&s;es, as many In|&s;tances might be reckon'd up: The Departed may Conver&s;e with us, or appear, but perhaps ordinari|ly, Apparitions are not the Souls of the Dead, but
<PB N="77" REF="67"> of other Spirits, and mo&s;tly of evil ones. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> was of this Opinion, and &s;aid, if 'twas a common thing, he was &s;ure his Mother <HI>Monica</HI> wou'd have appear'd to him, who&s;e Love was &s;o extraordinary great while&s;t living. Neither had <HI>Dear Eliza</HI> a le&s;&s;er Concern for my Souls wel|fare than <HI>Monica</HI> had for her Son <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and cou'd She come again, I'm &s;ure She wou'd, to tell me <HI>(what &s;he</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot">She'd often &s;ay in her Sickne&s;s, Well, 'twont be long now, e'r I &s;hall <HI>know what's the Future State.</HI></NOTE> <HI>learnt by dying)</HI> and to a&s;&s;i&s;t me in all my Di&s;tre&s;&s;es. The&s;e, with &s;ome other credi|ble In&s;tances, which have <HI>occur'd,</HI> argue, that ei|ther &s;ome departed Souls, have <HI>particular Com|mi&s;&s;ions</HI> in this Ca&s;e, or that all of them have a <HI>Cognizance of our Affairs,</HI> agreeable to the Parable of <HI>Dives</HI> and <HI>Lazarus,</HI> and that of the Angels in Heaven, rejoycing at the Conver&s;ion of a Sinner. And it mu&s;t be a Truth, if <HI>departed Souls</HI> and <HI>An|gels</HI> come under the &s;ame <HI>Predicament</HI> as to their <HI>E&s;&s;ence;</HI> and I don't yet know in what they dif|fer.</P>
<P><HI>But have the Saints in Heaven &s;uch a general Knowledge of their Friends that arrive there, and of tho&s;e they left behind them in the State of Morta|lity? then I'd further know, &s;ays another Queri&s;t, Whether they &s;ee and know the wicked in Hell, and whether the Damned particularly know tho&s;e that are in Heaven, who in this Life they &s;corned and abu&s;ed (and po&s;&s;ibly were In&s;truments by &s;ome vio|lent Means, of ha&s;tening them thither) and al&s;o whe|ther they know one another in Hell, or their Compa|nions in Sin, which they left on Earth?</HI></P>
<P>To this I An&s;wer, this pre&s;uppo&s;es another Que|&s;tion; <HI>viz. In what &s;tate or condition the Bodies of the Just and &V;nju&s;t &s;hall ari&s;e at the Day of Judg|ment?</HI> The Con&s;equence of which An&s;wer will Re&s;olve the Que&s;tion; In order to which I affirm,
<PB N="78" REF="68"> That they &s;hall both ari&s;e alike, equally Immortal, and equally qualified for an Eternity of Duration, <HI>diver&s;ified</HI> in nothing but their la&s;t Sentence. Nei|ther State &s;hall &s;o much as change a Thought, but think of all things together, which will be actually pre&s;ent to the Intellect of both: <HI>We &s;hall then &s;ee not by receiving the vi&s;ible Species into the narrow gla&s;s of an Organized Eye; we &s;hall then hear without the di&s;tinct and curious Contexture of the Ear. The Body &s;hall then be all Eye, all Ear, all Sen&s;e in the whole, and every Sen&s;e in every part. In a word, it &s;hall be all over a common</HI> Sen&s;orium, <HI>and being made of the purest Aether, without the mixture of any lower or gro&s;&s;er Element; the Soul &s;hall by one</HI> undivided Act, <HI>at once Perceive all that</HI> variety of Objects <HI>which now cannot without &s;everal distinct Organs, and &s;ucce&s;&s;ive Actions or Pa&s;&s;ions, reach our Sen&s;e.</HI> E|very Sen&s;e &s;hall be Perfect, the Ear &s;hall hear eve|ry thing at once throughout the &s;pacious Li|mits both of Heaven and Hell, with a Perfect Di&s;tinction, and without Confounding that Anthem with this Bla&s;phemy; the Eye &s;hall find no Matter or Sub&s;tance to fix it; and &s;o of the other Sen&s;es, the Rea&s;on of this is plain and convincing, for if both, (I mean the Bodies of the Ju&s;t and Unju&s;t,) were not thus qualified, they could not be proper Subjects for the Exerci&s;e of an Eterni|ty, but would con&s;ume and be liable to Di&s;&s;o|lution or new changes. Hence <HI>(I a&s;&s;ert as for|merly)</HI> that every <HI>Individual Per&s;on in Heaven and Hell,</HI> &s;hall hear and &s;ee all that pa&s;&s;es in either<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">As Was menti|oned in <HI>P. 8.</HI></NOTE> State, the&s;e to a more exqui&s;ite aggravation of their Tortures, by the lo&s;s of what the other enjoy, and tho&s;e to a greater increa&s;e of their Bli&s;s, in e&s;caping what the other &s;uffer. &mdash; For a further proof of this, <HI>See the Parable of</HI> Dives <HI>and</HI> Lazarus, for you there find, That as <HI>The Saints know o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e another in the Kingdom of Heaven, &s;o the wicked in Hell, know tho&s;e, and their vile Companions they left on Earth. &mdash; For if</HI> Abra|ham
<PB N="79" REF="68"> <HI>knew</HI> Dives <HI>in Torments,</HI> &s;aying, <HI>that he had received good things in this Life.</HI> 'Tis as certain that <HI>the Wicked kn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">w one another,</HI> as is plain by the <HI>Rich Man</HI> knowing his Brethren, tho ab&s;ent, why therefore &s;hou'd not tho&s;e which are pre&s;ent know one other, as tho&s;e which are ab&s;ent, pray one for another; for this is plainly &s;hown in that the Good know the Bad, and on the contrary the Bad the Good; for <HI>Dives</HI> is known by <HI>Abraham,</HI> and <HI>Abraham</HI> al&s;o known to him, &s;eeing he prays to him, &s;aying, <HI>Send Lazarus, that he may touch and refre&s;h my Tongue with cold Water.</HI> In which, the Returns of Gratitude are not only &s;een, but the Good have this further to rejoyce in, that they &s;hall &s;ee whom they love; but the Wicked &s;hall be tormented not only in their own, but in the Puni&s;hment of tho&s;e they love. As to that part of the Que&s;tion, <HI>Whether the Damned particu|larly know tho&s;e in Heaven, who in this Life they Scorned and Abu&s;ed, and perhaps Murder'd.</HI></P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer, That in the Day of Judgment, when every Man's Actions &s;hall be di&s;clos'd, the Damned &s;hall particularly See and Know tho&s;e whom they Oppre&s;&s;ed, or Revil'd, or Murder'd, and the Saints &s;hall be Witne&s;&s;es again&s;t them. Our-Saviour &s;peaks, in allu&s;ion to this, <HI>Mat.</HI> 12.41, 42. The Men of <HI>Nineveh</HI> &s;hall ri&s;e up in Judgment with this Generation, and condemn it; they &s;hall appear as &s;o many Witne&s;&s;es again&s;t the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> and the other Unbelieving <HI>Jews</HI> of this Age, and &s;hall be In&s;truments as to that Con|demnation, which God &s;hall at that day pronounce again&s;t them, becau&s;e they repented not at the Preaching of <HI>Jonah;</HI> but the&s;e wou'd not at the Preaching of Chri&s;t. Then &s;hall appear <HI>Shadrach, Me&s;hach,</HI> and <HI>Abednego,</HI> again&s;t a wicked <HI>Nebuchad|nezzar,</HI> who cau&s;ed them to be bound Hand and Foot, and ca&s;t into a Fiery Furnace for their Love and Loyalty to their God; the <HI>Martyrs against their Executioners,</HI> &amp; &s;hall be vi&s;ibly Condemned &amp; Haled into their Re&s;idences of Mi&s;ery, in the Pre|&s;ence
<PB N="80" REF="69"> of the Saints. <HI>But cou'd the Rays of Bli&s;s</HI><NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Steven</HI>'s Sermons on <HI>Dives</HI> and <HI>Lazarus.</HI></NOTE> <HI>glance thro &s;ome Cranny into that Dun|geon of Darkne&s;s; this wou'd admini&s;ter &s;ome Comfort;</HI> but this mu&s;t ne're be expected.</P>
<P>But further, <HI>Shall the Saints know one another in Heaven, as al&s;o tho&s;e Friends they left on Earth? And do they likewi&s;e &s;ee and know the Damned in Hell? and on the other Hand &s;hall the Damned &s;ee and know tho&s;e Saints in Heaven they Scorn'd, A|bu&s;ed, and Murder'd; and al&s;o know their vile Com|panions they left behind 'em? If all this be &s;o, as has been largely prov'd, 'tis then proper to ask in the next place, Whether it be lawful for Friends &s;olemnly to engage, if one dies fir&s;t, to appear to the other, and inform them of the Condition of the Soul in another World, whether it be in Heaven or Hell?</HI></P>
<P>To this I an&s;wer, The <HI>Earl of Roche&s;ter</HI> did make this Contract with one of his Friends, that he that died fir&s;t &s;hou'd come again to his Sur|viving Friend, to tell him what he knew of the other World. But my Lord <HI>Rochester</HI>'s Friend dying fir&s;t, and never appearing to him afterwards, he owns it hardned him in his Athei&s;m, and that he heartily repented of this fooli&s;h Contract; &s;o that the lea&s;t that can be &s;aid of &s;uch a Contract, is, that 'twould be,</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Fruitle&s;s,</HI> &s;ince Truth it &s;elf tells us &mdash; <HI>If they will not hear</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>and the Prophets, neither will they believe, tho one ro&s;e from the Dead:</HI> For if the common Methods of <HI>God's Providence</HI> will not convince an Athei&s;t, neither is he to expect any new way of Satisfaction; nor if he had his De|&s;ire, would he be without &s;ome Eva&s;ion or other &s;till to continue his <HI>Infidelity.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. 'Twould be <HI>dangerous</HI> &mdash; on more Accounts than one: If no &s;uch <HI>Appearance,</HI> which unle&s;s we were better acquainted with <HI>the Oeconomy of the World of Spirits,</HI> we have little <HI>Rea&s;on</HI> to ex|pect, this might incline a weak Man to doubt yet
<PB N="81" REF="69"> more of the <HI>Truth</HI> of tho&s;e things which we are clearly taught both by <HI>Natural</HI> and <HI>Revealed Re|ligion.</HI> If <HI>any Appearance,</HI> how &s;hou'd the Per&s;on to whom 'twas made, <HI>certainly know</HI> whether 'tis really the <HI>Spirit of his departed Friend,</HI> or &s;ome <HI>illu&s;ive Daemon,</HI> which may either tell him a <HI>Fal&s;|hood</HI> in&s;tead of a <HI>Truth,</HI> or mingle <HI>Truth</HI> and <HI>Fal&s;|hood</HI> together, the more cunningly to deceive him. <Q REND="margQuotes"><HI>But</HI> (&s;ays a Learned<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">See Mr. <HI>Ste|ven</HI>'s Sermons on <HI>Dives</HI> and <HI>Lazarus.</HI></NOTE> Author) <HI>&s;uppo&s;e God &s;hould conde&s;cend to gratifie a Wicked Man's vain Curio&s;ity, by cau&s;ing one to ri&s;e from the Dead, and to te&s;tifie unto him, that the Cour&s;e he takes, with|out &s;peedy Amendment, will be the Eternal Ruine of him, and that the Preparations in Hell are very terrible and in&s;upportable; yet he will invent Ar|guments, and propound Rea&s;ons, to fortifie him&s;elf, that he may not be affected with, and influenced by &s;uch an Apparition, and frightful Relation; as heretofore he did, to with&s;tand the prevalent Mo|tives of Religion.</HI> It is not to be di&s;puted, but that if a Spectrum or Gho&s;t &s;hould appear to a very wicked Man, &s;uppo&s;e it to be an <HI>Aerial Repre&s;entation of his Companion;</HI> who, with a hol|low Voice, dreadful Vi&s;age, and lamentable Ut|terance, tells him, That there is a God, both ju&s;t and powerful, and that there is an eternally Happy, and mi&s;erable State; and that it is his Misfortune to be doom'd to the latter, which, in his Life-time, he u&s;ed all the Means he could to bani&s;h from his Thoughts; and that if he does not &s;peedily amend his Life, and heartily repent of the many Wickedne&s;&s;es he has will|fully, and pre&s;umptuou&s;ly committed, as they were formerly Companions in Sin, &s;o they would be unhappy Fellow-&s;ufferers, in a lamentable E|ternity. &mdash; I &s;ay, I que&s;tion not, but if a Gho&s;t &s;hould appear to any of us after this manner, it would make &s;ome Impre&s;&s;ion upon us. But then, whether or no this Miracle wrought,
<PB N="82" REF="70"> would &s;o prevail with a Man who has habitu|ated him&s;elf to Wickedne&s;s, as to work a Re|formation in him? It is &s;uppo&s;ed, No: For after the Surprize is over, tho&s;e Heats allayed, which were at fir&s;t &s;tirred up in him, he will quickly invent Excu&s;es and Arguments, why he &s;hould not effect that Reformation he has &s;o much Aver&s;ion from.&mdash; For <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> Tho he was deeply touched at fir&s;t, and all his Pow|ers in &s;uch a Con&s;ternation, that he was &s;carce him&s;elf, yet being recover'd from the Fright, the Inclination he has to Sin will put him <HI>upon Doubt and Scrutiny, and to que&s;tion the Reality of the thing.</HI> He knows not but the Vi&s;ion was only the Effect of <HI>Melancholy, and a Drooping Mind,</HI> or the Imagination of a di&s;temper'd Brain. He knows, that when Per&s;ons lie un|der the Extremity of a Fever, their Fancies are very whim&s;ical, and &s;uppo&s;e they &s;ee frightful Shapes, and a Company of Fiends about their Beds, or that they <HI>&s;ee Hell open, and abundance of Souls tormenting there.</HI> That &s;ome who are naturally frightful, &s;uppo&s;e an Apparition in|&s;tead of their Shadow, and will &s;carce be beaten out of that &s;trong Illu&s;ion; and thus the World comes to be filled with <HI>Relations of Gho&s;ts and Apparitions.</HI> He knows that &s;ome, by &s;trength of Fancy, will imagine a <HI>clu&s;ter of Clouds to be an Army of Men, engaged in a pitcht Battle;</HI> and why may not the Vi&s;ion, which he &s;aw, be only an imaginative Shape, nothing real, but a thing framed in his di&s;order'd Mind? It is ea&s;ie for a Man, who is willing not to believe any thing of this Nature, to bring him&s;elf to &s;uch an Opinion, to evade and &s;hift off the Thoughts of it, that they might not di&s;turb and trouble him in his Wickedne&s;&s;es. But then he is much more encouraged, when he tells his idle and wanton Companions the Relation, who, up|on hearing it, will not forbear <HI>je&s;ting him out of the Conceit;</HI> nor will they want Arguments to
<PB N="83" REF="70"> convince him, that he was either in a Dream, or was pen&s;ively mu&s;ing, or was imploying his Thoughts about Stories, which tell of <HI>Gho&s;ts and Spirits,</HI> and &s;o giving way to them, fooli&s;hly conjectured that his melancholy Fancy metamorphos'd it &s;elf into <HI>Form and Shape.</HI> But he mu&s;t bani&s;h all &s;uch whim&s;ical Notions, and never credit any thing of that Kind, or other|wi&s;e he mu&s;t for&s;ake their Society, and not <HI>din their Ears with &s;uch Non&s;ence,</HI> but tho&s;e who are ea&s;ie, too credulous Per&s;ons, who &s;pend their time in carrying &s;uch ridiculous Relations up and down the World.&mdash; But <HI>Secondly,</HI> Sup|po&s;ing, that notwith&s;tanding all this, he can|not ea&s;ily baffle the Credit of his Sen&s;es; for tho he has hitherto u&s;ed all the Means he could, to bani&s;h the Belief of the Vi&s;ion, yet he can|not be fully per&s;waded, but that there was &s;omewhat in it. <HI>My Blood,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>would not &s;o &s;uddenly, without &s;ome extraordinary cau&s;e, fly in my Face, nor would my Powers ruffle together in &s;uch Confu&s;ion, if &s;omething preter-natural had not made towards me. I was neither a&s;leep, nor mu&s;ing, but perfectly in my Sen&s;es, when I &s;aw the Apparition; and therefore I cannot deny Matter of Fact.</HI> But &s;till the great Love he bears to Sin, will put him upon framing another Argu|ment. It is true, I was amazed at a Vi&s;ion, but how do I know that it was <HI>one ri&s;en from the Dead?</HI> It might, peradventure, be a Humane Body, dre&s;s'd up in grave Cloaths, imitating the Walk and Ge&s;ture of a Gho&s;t, who intend|ed, by this Religious Fraud, to &s;care me from my Sins; but it &s;o confounded him, that he could not di&s;tingui&s;h truly between the Im|po&s;ture, or the Reality. But &s;uppo&s;ing it is no Fraud, <HI>but indeed a Spirit,</HI> yet he knows not whether it be his Friend; if he was convinced of this, he would credit his Relation, and im|mediately change upon it. But, for ought he knows, it may be one of tho&s;e <HI>evil Spirits in the
<PB N="84" REF="71"> Air,</HI> who di&s;turb and flu&s;ter Men, and po&s;&s;e&s;s them with &s;trange whim&s;ies, fancies, and fright|ful Imaginations; and therefore, till further Conviction to the contrary, he will not be in|fluenced, and wrought upon by any Spirit of that Order, &s;ince I know, and have heard, that they are maliciou&s;ly bent again&s;t us, and would do us much more Mifchief than they do, if they were not limited and re&s;trained by a Superior Power.&mdash;But <HI>Thirdly,</HI> As it is not to be doubted, that &s;uch a Man as I am now &s;peaking of, will <HI>create and rai&s;e many Argu|ments, to with&s;tand the Force and Influence of &s;uch a Miracle wrought in order to his Conver&s;i|on,</HI> &s;o there is one more yet remaining, which he may probably urge, to fortifie him&s;elf a|gain&s;t Conviction and Conver&s;ion: And that is, the <HI>unu&s;ualne&s;s of &s;uch kind of Means, as a Spirit or Apparition, to bring Men to Repen|tance.</HI> It is true, he has been haunted; but why he above the re&s;t of Mankind? <HI>The &s;ingularity of the thing will increa&s;e his Doubt.</HI> It the Neigh|bourhood where he lives were thus di&s;turbed, or if any of his near Acquaintance &s;hould come and tell him, that at &s;uch a time they were <HI>&s;urprized by a Gho&s;t,</HI> who told them, That if they continued in that cour&s;e of Life they &s;o vigorou&s;ly pro&s;ecuted, they would be as mi&s;er|able as him&s;elf, who &s;uffers Eternal Torments, for committing the very &s;ame Sins they now live in; this Relation would indeed alarm him, and make him &s;u&s;pect his pre&s;ent Circum&s;tan|ces, and leave tho&s;e Vices he is di&s;waded from. But &s;ince none that he knows of are thus handled, he has no rea&s;on to credit the Relation of the Spirit. <HI>If &s;uch means of Con|viction were rational and powerful, doubtle&s;s o|thers would be afforded them as well as he; but &s;ince he hears nor knows of none, he &s;hall not take things upon tru&s;t, but continue unper&s;waded as he is.</HI> Thus we &s;ee how Men, who with&s;tand
<PB N="85" REF="71"> the Motives of Chri&s;tianity, refu&s;e to be reform'd by <HI>Mo&s;es and the Prophets, by Je&s;us Christ and his Apo&s;tles, will al&s;o find out &s;hifts and ways to e|vade the Force and Argument of a Spirit, &s;hould one be &s;ent on purpo&s;e to convert them. And that &s;uch Methods u&s;ed for our Conver&s;ion as an Appa|rition or Gho&s;t, will not per&s;wade us to Repen|tance.</HI> And thus is <HI>Abraham</HI>'s An&s;wer made good to the <HI>Rich Man,</HI> who importunately de|&s;ired him <HI>to &s;end</HI> Lazarus <HI>from the Dead, to te&s;ti|fie to his Brethren, for that they could not with|&s;tand the force of &s;uch a Miracle wrought for their Reformation.</HI> No, &s;ays <HI>Abraham, If they will not believe</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>and the Prophets, neither will they be per<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">waded, tho one came from the Dead.</HI></Q> But I have been too large in this <HI>Second Head,</HI> &s;o &s;hall be &s;horter in the <HI>Third;</HI> I therefore add, that be&s;ides the <HI>&V;ncertainty</HI> and the <HI>Danger</HI> there would be in &s;uch a Practice, which way &s;oever it terminates, I think 'twould be al&s;o &mdash;</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Irreligious;</HI> &s;ince it too plainly implies a <HI>di|&s;tru&s;t</HI> of the <HI>Truth of God;</HI> nay more, that tho&s;e who <HI>u&s;e</HI> it, would <HI>believe humane Testimony,</HI> and perhaps <HI>Diabolical,</HI> rather than <HI>Divine</HI> &mdash;No, &s;ay they, 'tis rather to <HI>confirm</HI> the <HI>Truth</HI> of &s;uch <HI>Te&s;ti|mony</HI> as is <HI>&s;aid</HI> to be <HI>Divine</HI> &mdash; But is there any want of all rea&s;onable <HI>Confirmation?</HI> Han't we &s;tronger <HI>Evidence</HI> that the <HI>Scriptures</HI> were <HI>written</HI> by <HI>In&s;pired Men,</HI> or at lea&s;t that the Matter there|in contained is <HI>true,</HI> than that there was ever &s;uch a Man as <HI>Alexander</HI> or <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> becau&s;e one of the&s;e has all the <HI>Moral Demonstrations</HI> of Truth the <HI>other has,</HI> namely, <HI>univer&s;al,</HI> or unan&s;werable <HI>Hu|mane Te&s;timony,</HI> both of <HI>Friends</HI> and <HI>Enemies,</HI> and yet more, to wit, <HI>Miracles,</HI> which are the <HI>Te&s;ti|mony</HI> of <HI>Heaven.</HI> Now this <HI>Scripture</HI> gives us un|deniable <HI>Evidence</HI> of the <HI>Exi&s;tence of Souls</HI> after <HI>Death,</HI> and therefore whatever <HI>God</HI> may think fit to <HI>order</HI> or <HI>permit</HI> in <HI>extraordinary</HI> Ca&s;es, as re|vealing <HI>Inju&s;tice, Murder,</HI> &amp;c. It appears both
<PB N="86" REF="72"> <HI>fruitle&s;s, dangerous</HI> and <HI>irreligious,</HI> to expect any &s;uch thing <HI>ordinarily</HI> to happen, &s;ince the <HI>Cour&s;e of Nature</HI> is not to be altered without the highe&s;t <HI>Nece&s;&s;ity</HI> and <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI> So that you &s;ee 'tis <HI>fruitle&s;s, dangerous</HI> and <HI>irreligious,</HI> to expect our Friends that are gone to <HI>Heaven</HI> or <HI>Hell, (though they &s;till know and love us never &s;o well)</HI> &s;hould come from that Happy or Mi&s;erable Place, to tell us what pa&s;&s;es there. <HI>But if this be granted, perhaps 'twill be asked in the la&s;t place, Then pray tell us what is</HI> Death, <HI>&s;eeing that, (though nothing el&s;e can do it) will open the Door to the other World, and give us the Knowledge of tho&s;e Friends departed, with whom we earne&s;tly wi&s;h to be?</HI></P>
<P>To this I An&s;wer, That <HI>Death</HI> is no more than a &s;oft and ea&s;ie Nothing. Shou'd you ask me then <HI>what is Life?</HI> I'd An&s;wer with <HI>Crates,</HI> who be|ing asked this Que&s;tion, &s;aid nothing, but turn d him round, and vani&s;ht; and 'twas judged a pro|per An&s;wer. But whatever <HI>'tis to live,</HI> &s;ure I am (if you Credit <HI>Seneca</HI>) 'tis no more to Die than to (be Born; we felt no Pain coming into the World, nor &s;hall we in the Act of leaving it. <HI>Death is but a cea&s;ing to be what we were before we were.</HI> We are kindled and put out, to cea&s;e to be, and not to begin to be, is the &s;ame thing. But you'l &s;ay, perhaps, what do I mean by the <HI>&s;ame thing,</HI> and that you are &s;till as much in the dark as ever. Why truly &s;o am I, (as I told <HI>Eliza,</HI> in the la&s;t Letter I &s;ent her) 'Tis true, there have been Men that have tryed, <HI>even in Death it &s;elf,</HI> to reli&s;h and ta&s;te it, and who have bent their utmo&s;t Faculties of Mind to di&s;cover what this Pa&s;&s;age is, but there are none of them come back to tell us the News.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>&mdash;No one was ever known to wake,</L>
<L>Who once in Death's cold Arms a Nap did take.</L>
<BIBL><HI>Lucul.</HI> Lib. <HI>3.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P><Q REND="margQuotes"><PB N="87" REF="72"><HI>Canius Julius</HI> being Condemned by that Bea&s;t <HI>Caligula,</HI> as he was going to receive the &s;troke of the Executioner, was asked by a Philo&s;opher, Well, <HI>Canius,</HI> (&s;aid he) where about is your Soul now, what is &s;he doing? what are you thinking of.</Q> <Q REND="margQuotes">I was thinking, replied <HI>Canius,</HI> to keep my &s;elf ready, and the Faculties of my Mind &s;ettled and fix'd, to try if in this <HI>&s;hort and quick In&s;tant of Death,</HI> I cou'd perceive the Motion of the Soul, when &s;he &s;tarts from the Body, and whe|ther &s;he has any Re&s;entment of the Separation, that I may afterwards come again to acquaint my Friends with it.</Q> So that I fancy there is a certain way by which &s;ome Men make Tryal what <HI>DEATH</HI> is; but for my own part I cou'd ne|ver yet find it out; but let Death be what it will, <HI>'tis certain 'tis le&s;s trouble&s;ome than Sleep; for in Sleep I may have d&s;quieting Pains or Dreams, and yet I fear not going to Bed.</HI> If you wonder I'm able to give no better Account what <HI>DEATH</HI> is, my An&s;wer is, That it often falls out, that the more common a thing is, the more difficult it is to &s;peak well of it, as in many &s;en&s;ible Objects.</P>
<P>Nothing is more ea&s;ie than to di&s;criminate Life and Death, and yet to explicate the Nature of both, is a &s;evere task, <HI>becau&s;e the &V;nion or Di&s;uni|on of a mo&s;t perfect form with 'its matter, is inex|tricable;</HI> however, I &s;hall offer tho&s;e things that have given me the greate&s;t &s;atisfaction in my En|quities.&mdash; <HI>Death (or a Ce&s;&s;ation of doing or &s;uf|fering)</HI> is generally agreed to be the greate&s;t Evil in Nature, becau&s;e 'tis a de&s;truction of Nature it &s;elf; but why it &s;hould be repre&s;ented &s;o terrible is as great a Riddle to me, as a certain knowledge of what <HI>Death really is.</HI> &mdash; This is the common Plea of Mortals, <HI>Here we know and are known,</HI> and all the Enterprizes we take in hand we have the &s;atisfaction of reflection and a review when they are pa&s;t, but Dying deprives us of know|ing what we are doing, or what other State we
<PB N="88" REF="73"> are Commencing. <HI>'Tis a leap in the Dark,</HI> not knowing where we &s;hall light, as a late<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Hobbs</NOTE> Naturali&s;t (to &s;ay no wor&s;e of him,) told his inqui&s;i|tive Friend when he was going to die. But this is a weakne&s;s, which as it makes Men anticipate their Mi&s;ery, &s;o it inlarges it too. We look upon Nature <HI>with our Eyes, not with our Rea&s;on,</HI> or we &s;hould find a certain <HI>&s;weetne&s;s in Mortality,</HI> for that can be no lo&s;s, which can never be mi&s;t or de&s;ir'd again.&mdash; As <HI>Caligula</HI> pa&s;&s;ed by an Old Man reque&s;ted him that he might be put to Death? Why, &s;aith <HI>Cae&s;ar, are you not dead already?</HI> &mdash; There is &s;omething in Death (&s;ometimes at lea&s;t) that is de&s;ireable by Wi&s;e Men, who know <HI>'tis one of the Duties of Life to Dye,</HI> and that Life would be a Slavery if the power of Death were taken away.&mdash; I had the Curio&s;ity to vi&s;it two certain Per&s;ons, one had been Hang'd, and the other drown'd, and both of 'em very miraculou&s;ly brought to Life again; &mdash; I asked what Thoughts they had, and what Pains they were &s;en&s;ible of? The Per&s;on that was hang'd &s;aid, <HI>He expected &s;ome &s;ort of a &s;trange Change, but knew not what, but the Pangs of Death were not &s;o intollerable as &s;ome &s;harp Di&s;ea&s;es; nay, he could not be po&s;itive whether he felt any other Pain than what his Fears created:</HI> He added, <HI>That he grew &s;en&s;ele&s;s by little and little, and at the fir&s;t his Eyes repre&s;ented a brisk, &s;hining, red &s;ort of Fire, which grew paler and paler, till at length it turn'd into a black; af|ter which he thought no more, but in&s;en&s;ibly acted the part of one that falls a&s;leep, not knowing how or when.</HI> The other gave me almo&s;t the &s;ame Ac|count, and both were dead (apparently) for a con&s;iderable time. The&s;e In&s;tances are very Sa|tisfory in Ca&s;es of <HI>violent Death,</HI> and for a <HI>natu|ral Death,</HI> I cannot but think it yet much ea&s;ier. Di&s;ea&s;es make a Conque&s;t of Life by little and lit|tle, therefore the Strife mu&s;t be le&s;s where the Ine|quality of Power is greater.</P>
<PB N="89" REF="73">
<P>I have met with<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Epicurus in Ga&s;&s;end. Synt.</NOTE> one, arguing thus. <Q REND="margQuotes">Death, which is accounted the mo&s;t dreadful of all Evils, is nothing to us, (&s;aith he) becau&s;e while we are in Being, Death is not yet pre&s;ent; &s;o that it neither concerns us, as Living nor Dead; for while we are alive it hath not touch'd us, when we are dead we are not &mdash; Moreover, (&s;aith he) <HI>The exqui&s;ite Know|ledge of this, that Death belongs not to us, makes us enjoy this Mortal Life with Comfort.</HI></Q> Neither need they fear the Con&s;equence of <HI>Death,</HI> who have lived a Godly Life; 'tis true, Con&s;cience makes Cowards of us all. <HI>Lewis</HI> II. King of <HI>France,</HI> when he was &s;ick, forbid any Man to &s;peak of <HI>DEATH</HI> in his Court; but there's no|thing in Death it &s;elf that can affright us, 'tis on|ly Fancy gives <HI>Death</HI> tho&s;e hideous Shapes we think him in. 'Tis the Saying of one, <HI>I fear not to be dead, yet am afraid to die;</HI> there is no Ponyards in <HI>Death</HI> it &s;elf, like tho&s;e in the way, or Pro|logue to it; and who wou'd not be content to be <HI>a kind of Nothing for a moment,</HI> to be within one In&s;tant of a Spirit, and &s;oaring thro Regions he never &s;aw, and yet is curious to behold.</P>
<P>Thus far we may venture to &s;peak of the <HI>Lan|guage and State of the Ble&s;&s;ed &mdash; of our knowing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> Friends in Heaven, and the Damned in Hell &mdash; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> our Pa&s;&s;age to the other World, and of Death <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">hat &s;ets us a&s;hoar.</HI> But further I dare not wade, <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">or by venturing beyond our</HI> Depth, <HI>we are lyable to all the Dangers that are out of Ken,</HI> 'Tis enough that I have &s;caled the Mountains, &s;crabbled above the Clouds, and opened <HI>a little</HI> the Curtains that hid and &s;eparated the <HI>Secrets of Heaven from common View,</HI> and this I have done, as thinking it proper to a&s;cend <HI>Pi&s;gah</HI> by Degrees, when we get to the <HI>Top,</HI> our De&s;ire will be to take <HI>a Pro&s;pect of the whole Hemi&s;phere,</HI> to leave the Stars, while we make <HI>Inquiry</HI> after all the Invi&s;ible Ho&s;t, in which <HI>Glorious A&s;&s;embly</HI> I hope (&s;hortly) to find
<PB N="90" REF="74"> my <HI>Dear Ignotus,</HI> who&s;e <HI>TR&V;E FRIENDSHIP</HI> has been &s;o u&s;eful to me in my way thither; and indeed all <HI>Friend&s;hip</HI> is no further valuable than as it is <HI>founded on Love to Vertue,</HI> and &s;ome way or other promotes our Eternal Happine&s;s.</P>
<P>If I have advanc'd any thing in this <HI>E&s;&s;ay</HI> that's not agreeable to &s;ound Doctrine, 'tis your Pro|vince <HI>(Ignotus)</HI> to find it out; <HI>and tho your good Nature is as ready to forgive Faults as your Wit is able to find them,</HI> yet pray, Sir, tell me my <HI>Errors, Mi&s;takes,</HI> and <HI>Omi&s;&s;ions,</HI> not with the Tongue of a Courtier, but with the Severity of a true Friend. But I mu&s;t think my Errors the more excu&s;able as the <HI>Death of Eliza</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">To who&s;e Me|mory this <HI>E&s;&s;ay</HI> is Dedicated.</NOTE> has Di&s;tracted every Fa|culty, and as the Subject was never handled before, which heightens my Pre&s;umption to venture at it, and in &s;ome part excu&s;es it; for all Ages (as if <HI>Athens) had been the Original, have been curious in their Inqui|ries, Curio&s;ity it &s;elf being &s;o much a part of Nature, that there is no laying it a&s;ide till the whole Frame is di&s;&s;olv'd.</HI></P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>We all are &s;eiz'd with the <HI>Athenian</HI> Itch,</L>
<L>News and new Things do the World bewitch.</L>
<BIBL>Dr. <HI>Wild.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P>Then no wonder that <HI>Phil.</HI> is aiming at new <HI>Di&s;|coveries, when he does it in Obedience to your Commands, to divert him&s;elf in the Second Place,</HI> and la&s;tly, <HI>to comfort tho&s;e who have lost any near Relation, tho by an ill Management I fear I have lost my End,</HI> yet as ill as the Subject's handled, I judge he that has bury'd a <HI>Wife, Child,</HI> or <HI>Friend,</HI> &amp;c. will be plea&s;ed to hear <HI>(tho weakly prov d)</HI> that <HI>he &s;hall know them again in Heaven.</HI> I own 'tis a great Vanity to <HI>quote my &s;elf,</HI> (except I was one, who&s;e <HI>Life and Actions</HI> might &s;erve for Examples) yet 'tis not ami&s;s to &s;ay that the chief A&s;&s;i&s;tance I had was from <HI>An&s;wers I formerly publi&s;hed from Let|ters
<PB N="91" REF="74"> of my own writing,</HI> &s;ent to<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">Printed in Mr. <HI>Turner's</HI> Hi&s;tory of <HI>Remarkable Providences,</HI> Pag. <HI>146.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Eliza, Cloris,</HI> and your <HI>Dear Self, &amp;c.</HI>) which I here in&s;ert, to &s;hew I can ne'er for|get the <HI>Ladies</HI> concern'd, e&s;pe|cially the Ingenious <HI>W&mdash;ch,</HI> to who&s;e <HI>generous Favour,</HI> in bring|ing <HI>Cloris</HI> to a Stand, <HI>[whether to take or refu&s;e]</HI> makes me her Eternal Debtor, and &s;hall ne'er be forgot whil&s;t <HI>Virtue, Wit, and God Nature,</HI> &mdash; have any E&s;teem in the World; I would &s;erve this Lady thro all Difficulties, and write her <HI>Particular Cha|racter,</HI> but that to prai&s;e her is to lo&s;e her <HI>Friend|&s;hip,</HI> yet I often quote her in this <HI>E&s;&s;ay,</HI> by a Name &s;he can never know, and as often <HI>put one Name for another,</HI> as in <HI>P.&mdash;Valeria</HI> is put for the Spou&s;e I expected; and in <HI>P.&mdash; Sapho</HI> is put for <HI>Cloris;</HI> and in <HI>P&mdash;Cloris</HI> is put for <HI>Eliza, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The unknown <HI>Ariadne</HI> is al&s;o quoted, who&s;e ready Wit is always producing of new Charms&mdash; Neither is <HI>Leander</HI> forgot for <HI>(tho Beauty in a Man is a Jest yet)</HI> Honour joyn'd to Love com|pri&s;es all that a Maid can wi&s;h for.</P>
<P>And this Hint leads me to <HI>Lincoln,</HI> to the <HI>Honourable, &amp;c.</HI> &mdash; who, tho dead and gone, I here ki&s;s her Name, as <HI>the neare&s;t way to her Soul</HI>&mdash;neither do I forget <HI>HONEY-MOON,</HI> now the Mu&s;ick of Fiddlers is over.</P>
<P>I might al&s;o mention the Learned <HI>Anonyma,</HI> and that Mi&s;tre&s;s of <HI>TR&V;E SENSE,</HI> the Ingenious<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">A near Re|lation of the Dear <HI>Eliza.</HI></NOTE> <HI>KATE:</HI> But I'll &s;top here; for &s;hou'd I proceed to the other <HI>Ladies,</HI> mention'd in this <HI>E&s;&s;ay)</HI> you'd think me a meer <HI>Rambler;</HI> but if I am, 'tis excu&s;able in me, &s;ee|ing when at any time <HI>I go out of my way,</HI> 'tis ra|ther upon the Account of Licen&s;e than Over|&s;ight; for I take a Plea&s;ure in &s;uffering the <HI>lea&s;t &s;udden Thought,</HI> or <HI>Extravagant Fancy,</HI> to
<PB N="92" REF="75"> lead me Ten, Twenty; nay, &s;ometimes an Hun|dred Pages out of my way, as you find in <HI>P.</HI> 8. <HI>Where at one Jump I leap from Heaven to</HI> Cloris; and in <HI>P.</HI> 10. <HI>from</HI> Cloris <HI>to Heaven again;</HI> I have &s;een <HI>two parts of the World,</HI> and find there is &s;omething in <HI>Travelling,</HI> that makes a Man's Thoughts reel, and that leads his Pen to wander as much as his Per&s;on does &mdash; I have here made an odd Compo&s;ition (e&s;pecially where I prove, <HI>There's a Sex in Souls</HI>) but let it go ramble if it will into the World, as it ri&s;es; for <HI>I have a mind to repre&s;ent the Progre&s;s of my Humour,</HI> that every one may &s;ee every piece as it came from the Forge, I love a <HI>Poetical March</HI> by Leaps and Skips; there are pieces in <HI>Plutarch,</HI> (as well as in <HI>Philaret</HI>) where he forgets his Theme, yet how beautiful are his Variations and Digre&s;&s;ions, and then mo&s;t of all when they &s;eem to be fortuitous, and in|troduc'd for want of Heed? 'Tis the <HI>indiligent Reader</HI> that loo&s;es my Subject, and not I; there will always be found &s;ome Words or other in a <HI>Corner,</HI> to make good my <HI>Title Page,</HI> tho they lie very clo&s;e; <HI>Con&s;tancy</HI> is not &s;o ab&s;olutely ne|ce&s;&s;ary in <HI>Authors as in Husbands;</HI> and for my own part, when I have my <HI>Pen in my Hand,</HI> and <HI>Subject in my Head,</HI> I look upon my &s;elf as <HI>mounted my Hor&s;e to ride a Journey,</HI> where altho I de&s;ign to reach &s;uch a Town by Night, yet will I not deny my &s;elf the Satisfaction of going a Mile or Two out of the way, to gratifie my Sen&s;es with &s;ome New and Diverting Pro&s;pect. Now he that is of this <HI>Rambling Humour</HI> will certainly be plea&s;ed with my <HI>Frequent Digre&s;&s;i|ons,</HI> however in this I have the Honour to imi|tate the great <HI>Montaigne,</HI> who&s;e Umbrage is &s;uf|ficient to protect me again&s;t any one Age of Cri|ticks. But if his Authority won't &s;uffice, <HI>I must cast the Fault in to the great heap of Humane Error; for &s;eeing we digre&s;s in all the ways of our Lives; yea, &s;eeing the Life of Man is nothing el&s;e but Digre&s;&s;ion,
<PB N="93" REF="75"> I may the better be excu&s;ed. But &s;o much for quoting</HI> my Self, <HI>and</HI> Friends, <HI>and way of Writing,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>A Word now of the <HI>Gra|ver Authors,</HI> and then farewel, till I meet <HI>You</HI> and <HI>Cloris</HI> in <HI>Heaven,</HI> or el&s;e at that <HI>BLES|SED VILLAGE,</HI> where <HI>Angels</HI> Sit, and Li&s;ten to her <HI>Song</HI> &mdash; All Mu&s;icks <HI>Nothing</HI> to this <HI>Nightin|gale&mdash; Oh the</HI><NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="marg">As I told <HI>Cloris</HI> in An&s;wer to <HI>Numb.</HI> 23.</NOTE> <HI>Joys I fell at this Harmo|nious Name!&mdash;</HI></HI></P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>The Dying Swan advanc'd with Silver Wings,</L>
<L>So in the Sedges of <HI>Meander</HI> Sings!</L></Q>
<P><HI>&mdash; When &s;he lays Her Hands to the <HI>Spinnet,</HI> or Charms with Her Heavenly <HI>Tongue, Phil.</HI> cou'd turn <HI>Ca|melion,</HI> and live for ever on this Air.</HI></P>
<PB N="94" REF="76">
<P><HI>BLESSED AGFORD!</HI></P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><L>A Garden in a Paradice wou'd be,</L>
<L>But a too mean Periphra&s;is of thee.</L></Q>
<P><HI>I cou'd &s;carce die till I had &s;een this <HI>New Parna&s;&s;us</HI> &mdash; I call it &s;o, as 'tis the pre&s;ent Re|&s;idence of Madam <HI>LA&V;|REAT</HI> &mdash; 'Twas to this <HI>Place,</HI> and to this Lady, that my <HI>Reverend Friend</HI> &mdash; But <HI>Pre&s;to</HI> be gone, for I'm now in <HI>London</HI> again, and in the Arms of the <HI>Dear Valeria,</HI> &mdash; But <HI>whether do I ramble from the Graver Authors?&mdash;</HI></HI></P>
<P>As to the&s;e Learned Gentlemen, tho I have great A&s;&s;i&s;tance from them, yet I have endea|vour'd to dige&s;t the &s;ame into &s;uch a <HI>Method, Stile,</HI> and <HI>Form,</HI> as was mo&s;t plea&s;ing to my Self, adding thereunto <HI>my own Remarks,</HI> tho after all, <HI>the Knowing our Friends in Heaven</HI> is &s;o <HI>Copious a Theme,</HI> that I am very &s;en&s;ible Your
<PB N="95" REF="76"> <HI>Learned Pen</HI> will find out <HI>more and better Ar|guments</HI> than I here produce; and pray let me have 'em with all &s;peed; for as &s;oon as you give this Subject its <HI>Fini&s;hing Stroke,</HI> we'll fall to di&s;|cour&s;e on <HI>the Vi&s;ible Frame of Things, and of Mat|ters more Dome&s;tick</HI>&mdash;'Tis proper to con&s;ider this World a little, through which we mu&s;t pa&s;s to that <HI>Heavenly Country,</HI> where we &s;hall have the <HI>perfect Knowledge of one another,</HI> and of that Virtuous Nymph, (<HI>yes,</HI> Cloris, <HI>I will meet thee there:</HI>) who was the fir&s;t Occa&s;ion of our Cor|re&s;pondence.&mdash;This, with a <HI>Thou&s;and Loves to H&mdash;len,</HI> and a <HI>Boon Voyage</HI> to Madam<NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot">Who&s;e Character you'll find in my <HI>New Parna&s;&s;us,</HI> or <HI>Gentleman's Library,</HI> which has taken up my Lei&s;ure Hours for &s;everal Years, and will &s;carce be fini&s;h'd till <HI>Sh&mdash;te</HI> returns from the <HI>Ea&s;t-Indies.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Sh&mdash;te,</HI> is all at pre&s;ent from</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Eternally Devoted Friend, Philaret.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
