by the distinction of Male and Female And 't is supposed by some that we shall know one another by Voice which brings me in the last place to Treat of the Discourse and Language of the Saints in Heaven And First as to what the Discourse will be in Heaven I won't tell ye for indeed I can't but will give some imperfect Guesses at it Doubtless we shall then Discourse over the whole Business of our Redemption of the Wisdom Patience and Mercy of God in sending Christ to Save us We have some little Glimpse of this in Christ's Transfiguration when the Scripture tells us when the Saints were sent from Heaven to Discourse with Christ there talked with him Moses and Elias who appeared to Him in Glory then they spake of the Death of Christ what a Price He was to pay to Divine Justice for Man's Sins Luk. 9.30 31. As Christ's Transfiguration gives us some little Glimpse of our Transfiguration in Glory so their Discourse shews something what we shall have in Glory The Apostle Paul heard wordless Words Words in Heaven that cou'd not be spoke over again upon Earth In the Revelations we have mention of the Blessed Rev. 5.9 They sung a new Song saying Thou art worthy to take the Book c. We have frequent accounts of the Saints Glorifying God by their Speech Rev. 7.9 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 And 11th Rev. The Twenty Four Elders that sate before God fell on theit Faces and worshipped God 12th Rev. 10. I heard a great Voice in Heaven saying Now is come Salvation Strength and the power of God 'T is true variety of Tongues shall then cease 1 Cor. 13. The Apostle reckons that amongst the things that shall then cease because variety of Languages had their Original from Sin at Babel Now 't is a Question amongst some what Language shall be spoke in Heaven 'T is the general Opinion of Learned Men that Hebrew shall be the Language because there are some Hebrew Words the same in all Languages as Amen and Hallelujah tho others interpret that place 1 Cor. 13. that all Tongues shall then cease that had been used upon Earth The Apostle Paul heard Words that were peculiar to Heaven and Zephan 3.9 God promises I 'le turn to a people of a pure Language a singular kind of Language And the Apostle speaks of the Tongue * 1 Cor. 13.1 of Angels as if there were a Language spoke peculiarly there But whatever their Language is in Heaven sure I am we shall know our Friends that get thither But Methinks I hear some Disconsolate Widower saying I am now fully satisfied we shall know our Friends in Heaven but having lately lost an extraordinary Wife 't is my own Case I desire to know if I get to Heaven whether I shall have a greater Love to her than to the rest of the Glorified Saints notwithstanding all Carnal Love shall be quite banisht in that State you know Phil. quoth this Querist that the Relation 'tween Man and Wife is nearer than any other even so near that the Apostle Paul saith He that loveth his Wife loveth himself Eph. 5. v. 28 31. and that of two they are one Flesh So that I think this Question deserves a particular Answer than Philaret I hope you 'll prove for my present Support that as I shall know my Wife if I get to Heaven so I shall love her more than other Saints For if the Condition of Man be changed by Death into a better how can it be he being perfect that he should have less Love and Conjugal 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 Charity be also one of the notablest Vertues that be in Man's Soul the Soul being gone out of the Body and more perfect than it was while it abode here below shall it be thought to be alter'd in the Faculty of her Memory Or else shall we imagine her to be void of her Vertue of Charity which the Scriptures reporteth to be in this Respect greater than Faith and Hope 1 Cor. 13.13 Forasmuch as those two continue only for a time until we enjoy those things we hope for but this only abideth for ever and flourisheth in Heaven while we enjoy there that Immortal Glory And being united with God who is perfect Charity can we forget that Party whom we had loved in him yea according to his Commandment and most Holy Ordinances To this I answer There 's a Notion which seems to prove that if Man and Wife meet in Heaven that they shall have more Love to each other than to the rest of the Glorified Saints and the Notion is embraced by Persons of very good Sense and Learning and which I think but few deny namely That such good Works of good Men as survive 'em here for instance Books of Devotion and in a Sense good Examples c. When they have an effect on such as they leave behind shall thereby advance their actual Glory and Felicity in the other World And is' t not then highly probable that such as are advantaged by 'em nay directed to that happy place shou'd when they once arrive there both know and acknowledge their Benefactors And here may be room for Philaret to please himself with not impossible Hopes for if any of those pieces of Service he did Eliza while she lived were such as made her really more Religious here and more Happy above nay if he imitates her Piety and Vertue wherein he thinks she as far exceeded others as in her Generosity and Love then they may probably not only Know but Love each other better than others in a better World But then must have a Care to Regulate my Extravagant Passion for her Memory here or else I only flatter my self when I hope to get thither and must expect to exchange this long Separation for what will be Eternal But how can I talk of a Separation having told you in the Dedication that my Love has nothing of parting in 't 't will if possible follow her in the same Tract to Heaven where I hope to find and know her hereafter and to respect her above others for why may not Husband and Wife that helped forward each others Salvation whose Souls were mutually dear and who went to Heaven as it were Hand in Hand there meet In a more than ordinary eudearing Manner And return each other Thanks for those Christia◠Offices Holy David cheared up his Thought after the Death of his Beloved Child with th◠Meditation I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12.23 which had been littl◠Comfort if he had thought never to have know him there and loved him too more than other◠and certainly 't will be no small Augmentation 〈◊〉 Happiness to Eliza
Dear that Conjugal Affection can be dissolved by Death The Arms of Love are long enough to reach from Earth to Heaven Fruition and Possession principally appertain to the Imagination If we enjoy nothing but what we touch we may say farewell to the Money in our Closets and to our Friends when they go to Agford Part us and you kill us nay if we wou'd we cannot part Death 't is true may divide our Bodies but nothing else and scarce that For to use your Words whilst alive We may on Earth lawfully please our selves with Hopes of meeting hereafter and in lying in the same Grave where we shall be happy together if a senceless Happiness can be call'd so But suppose Death shou'd part our Bodies yet we have Souls to be sure and whilst they can meet and carress one another we may enjoy each other were we the length of the Map asunder Thus we may double Bliss stoln Love enjoy And all the spight of Place and Friends defie For ever thus we might each other bless For none cou'd trace out this new Happiness No Argus here to spoil or make it less 'T is not properly Absence when we can see one another as to be sure we shall tho in a State of Separation ' For sight of Spirits is unprescrib'd by Space ' What see they not who see the Eternal Face Vid. P. 54. in the Essay The Eyes of the Saints shall out-see the Sun and behold without Perspective the extreamest distances for if there shall be in our Glorified Eyes the Faculty of Sight and Reception of Objects as I prove to Ignotus there shall I cou'd think the visible Species there to be in as unlimitable a way as now the Intellectual St. Augustine tells us The Saints of God even with the Eyes of their Bodies closed up as now Yours are shall see all things not only present but also that from which they are Corporally absent for then shall be the Perfection whereof the Apostle saith we Prophesie but in part then the Imperfect shall be taken away Whither this be so I cannot say tho you know who have shot the Gulf yet sure I am that nothing can deprive me of the Enjoyment of thy Vertues while I enjoy my self Nay I have sometimes made good use of my Separation from thee we better fill'd and farther extended the Possession of our Lives in being parted you lived rejoyced and saw for me and I for you as plainly as if you had your self been there The World may perhaps censure this as a piece of Flattery or at least as the Fruit of unwarrantable Passion but had they known thy Worth as I did they would not presume so much as to blame me The Letter you sent me (a) Printed in Mr. Turner's History of Remarmable Providences p. 146. in your last Sickness shews thou' rt above Praise I 'll insert it here as a Proof of this and as a Pattern for other Wives Thy Letter 's this Viz. I received my Dearest thy obliging Letter and thankfully own that tho God has exercised me with a long and languishing Sickness and my Grave lies in view yet he hath dealt tenderly with me so that I find by Experience no Compassions are like those of a God 'T is true I have scarce Strength to answer your Letter but seeing you desire a few Lines to keep as a Memorial of our Constant Love I 'll attempt something tho by reason of my present Weakness I can write nothing worth your Reading First then As to your Character of me Love blinds you for I don't deserve it but am pleased to find you enjoy by the help of a strong Fancy that Happiness which I can't tho I wou'd bestow But Opinion is the rate of things and if you think your self happy you are so As to my self I have met with more and greater Comforts in a Marry'd State than ever I did expect But how cou'd it be otherwise when Inclination Interest and all that can be desired concur to make up the Harmony From our Marriage till now thy Life has been one continued Act of Courtship and sufficiently upbraids that Indifference which is found among Married People Thy Concern for my present Sickness tho of long Continuance has been so Remarkably tender that were it but known to the World 't would once more bring into Fashion Mens loving their Wives Thy WILL alone is a Noble Pattern for others to Love by and is such an Original Piece as will ne'er be equall'd I next come to consider the Imprudence of where I must say I am so far from blaming your Conduct that I admire the Greatness of your Conjugal Love in that very Particular which shewed it self to be like the Apple of the Eye which is disturbed with the least Dust But my Dear be concern'd at nothing for I am pleased with all you say or do and have such a Kindness for you that I dread the Thoughts of surviving thee more than I do those of Death Cou'd you think I 'd marry again when it has been one great Comfort under all my Languishments to think I should die first and that I shall live in him who ever since the happy Vnion of our Souls has been more dear to me than Life it self I shall only add my hearty Prayer That God wou'd bless you both in Soul and Body and that when you die you may be convey'd by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom where I hope you 'll find Your Constant E This Letter shews what a Wife thou wert and justifies this Address but to shew thy Piety was the same in Health as on a Sick-bed I 'll trace thy Life from the Cradle to the Grave And here when I remember you Unmarried in your Father's Family in your Blooming Years and Flaming Piety How does it pierce my Soul with fresh pangs of my first Love and sometimes transports me so far with the Thoughts of my Beloved Object that I am ready to forget I have lost her and willing to indulge my self as Men do in a Dream that they actually are in Possession of that which they admire but when I come to my self again and consider that I have lost thee the Thoughts of thy Excellency renders me inconsolable Again when I reflect on the Love of our Espousals our Mutual Affection and Endearments which many Waters could (a) When I went beyond Sea I gave Eliza a Ring with this Inscription Cant. 8.7 not quench nor distance of Place diminish I fancy my self in the midst of Greater Pleasures than the Poets ever fancied in their Elisian Fields My old Joys begin to revive and their Fruit is sweet to my Taste but when I consider that God hath poured out such a bitter Cup to me as the depriving me of one half of my Soul I am not able to contain my self nor to express my Grief In the next place when I think on the Sweets I enjoyed by thy Excellent Society who
a sufficient motive of our Love in Heaven That we know them to be Saints yet it seems to be no small addition to our happiness to know that those Saints were once ours And if it be a just Joy to a Parent here on Earth to see his Child gracious how much more accession shall it be to his Joy above to see the Fruits of his Loins Glorious when both his Love is more pure and their improvement absolute Can we * Bishop Hall make any doubt that the Blessed Angels know each other How Senseless were it to grant that no knowledge is hid from them but of themselves Or can we imagine that those Angelical Spirits do not take special notice of those Souls which they have guarded here and conducted to their glory If they do so and if the knowledge of our beatified Souls shall be like to theirs why should we abridge our selves more then them of the comfort of our interknowing Surely our dissolution shall abate nothing of our Natural Faculties Our glory shall advance them so as what we once kne◠we shall know better And if our souls can then perfectly know themselves why should they be denied the knowledge of others Not but I own 't will make me shrink to go from them I know to Persons I never saw * Mr. Norris To wing away to an unknown somewhere to be I know not what and live I know not how to leave Dear Ignotus the Dearer Cloris and yet Dearer Sapho Friends with whom I have familiarly Conversed and Corresponded to go into a World of Spirits where I may not meet one I know How strangely shall we look on one another What little content do I take in any Company on Earth where I meet with shiness but sure I am there will be nothing of this in Heaven That Excellent Society * Mr. Dorrington in his Discourse of separate Souls says Mr. Dorrington which the Saint shall enjoy in Heaven in his Fellow Creature shall add much to his Happiness He shall not spend his long abode there in an uncomfortable Solitude Even in this Paradice it wou'd not be good for Man to be alone He shall therefore enjoy much and that very Excellent Society He then meets and shall enjoy for ever with all those Excellent Persons those brave Examples of Piety and Virtue whom he has seen or heard or read of in this World with the Goodly Fellowship of the Prophets and Apostles and the Noble Army of Martyrs Souls joyn'd below in Virtuous Love and sad at parting here shall meet again there and Love again and dwell together for ever He shall dwell with the Souls of all Good Men that have ever lived in this World and the Company there is a * Rev. 9.7 great multitude which no man can Number of all Nations Kindred People and Languages So that you see 't is this Author's Opinion That the Saints above hold a Kind Friendly and Familiar Correspondence and I hope I shall be able to prove that the Saints in Heaven do not only see and know one another but also what passeth in Hell amongst the damned as the Patriarch Abraham did see Dives in his Torments Luk. 16.25 But you 'll say all this is but supposition and that I don't prove whether Ignotus and Phill. who won't believe Death can part 'em shall as distinctly know each other in Heaven By Face Stature Voice the Relation they stood in to each other on Earth and by the difference of Sex as they did when they first met in London to deceive the tedious hours with Discourses of Ph la who by the by I wish will be one we shall know in Heaven for a Thousand Reasons and this among others as she was The blest occasion of our first Acquaintance neither can I be just to her Friendship shou'd I wish my self in Heaven without her 'T was said * See Herberts Life p. 25. Mrs. Jane became so much a Platonick as to Fall in Love with Herbert unseen The case was the same with me for I loved Cloris before I saw her neither did I for many Years expect that Happiness till I came to Heaven where I shall see her again for in that Heavenly Court she 'll be still A SINGER Of Praises and Hallelujahs to God Almighty and to the Lamb that sits on the Throne for ever and ever When I was first blest with a Glimpse of her and 't was but a Glimpse I had Angels Visits are short and sweet so chast was my Errand to her that I desired to dye with Cloris in my Arms. And if ever Friendship shewed a Miracle my Heart shall bear her Picture to the other World tho I never see her again in this But tho I Love Cloris with a Flame as Pure as Light as kind as Love and as strong as Death yet I 'm now a pure Platonick again neither will my Flesh as Eliza * In a Letter she sent her whilst I was at Tunbridge told her E'r creep in for a share not but she might with a smile lead me like a Dog in a string which way she pleased and with a Word make me leap over Steeples to serve her yet you know Ignotus that the least indifference cures Love-Melancholy in a few Minutes I do assure you Valeria's Great Alembic has refin'd all my Love and 't is now become as spiritual as Cloris But this has cost me many a Sigh many a Tear But being at Tunbridge I can tell my Grief to the Rocks and Groves for they 'll Listen though she won't and eccho back her endearing Name as oft as I sigh it out But these melancholy Groves have kept me longer than I did expect but you won't be angry Ignotus since they are grown so civil as to listen to an honest meaning and do Reply in their way of speaking to every word I utter but there be no Rocks in the New Burying place So I expect no Eccho thence no though 't were to a dying Gasp or a Letter writ with primitive Ink. But in the other World when Argus and his Friend get to Heaven for I hope to meet and know 'em there they 'l License our Thoughts our Words our very Looks and know us better than to stop or blame our Correspondence which was begun in time and discontinued a while that the Sadness of parting here might be abundantly recompenced by the Joy of meeting hereafter And this among other things was that with which Augustine comforted the Lady †Aug. Ep. 6. Italica after the Death of her dear Husband telling her That she shou'd know him in the World to come among the glorified Saints The Story is thus †See Bolton's Four Last Things Italica craved very importunately both by word and writing some Consolations from him to support her under that incomparable Cross of her Husband's Loss and Widow-hood and as it may seem she desired to know whethet she
should know him in the second Life For the first he hits upon the sweetest and most soveraign Comfort which could possibly be imagined You can by no means saith he think your self desolate who enjoy the Presence and Possession of Jesus Christ in the inmost Closet of your Heart by Faith About the other he answers Pâ—â—emptorily This thy Husband by whose decease thou art called a Widow shall be most known unto thee And tells her further that there shall be no stranger in Heaven c. And Bullinger on his Death-bed said to his Friends and Relations then standing by him I exceedingly rejoyce that I am leaving this miserable and corrupt Age to go to my Saviour Christ Socrates said he was glad when his Death approached because he thought he should go to Hesiod Homer and other Learned Men deceased and whom he expected to meet in the other World then how much more do I joy who am sure that I shall see my Saviour Christ the Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and all Holy Men which have lived from the beginning of the World These I say I am sure to see and to partake with them in Joys why then should I not be willing to dye to enjoy their perpetual Society in Glory and having said thus he patiently resigned up his Spirit into the hands of his Redeemer The knowing our Friends in Heaven has also been the support of the Christians of this Age. * See the Account of her Life Published by her Husband Mrs. Lucy Perrot on her Death-bed said thus to her Husband God hath been a long while weaning thee from me we must part but we shall after a while meet again She farther adds I am going home to my Fathers House where are my dear Children will they not follow after me to Heaven Being asked again whether she was not afraid to dye she replied I am not I do not look upon Death singly but at it brings me to Rest I must go through the dark Entry before I can get to my first Husband Bishop Atherton died saying to his Friends I dread not Death God send us an happy meeting in Heaven I am but going before you And in his Letter to his Wife he has these words My dear Wife tho we part in this World yet I hope we shall enjoy a more happy meeting in Heaven Mr. William Hewling said to his Sister before his Death When I went to Holland you knew not what snares sins and miserys I might fall into or whether ever we should meet again But now 't was spoke just before his Execution you know whither I am going and that we shall certainly have a most Joyful meeting And one taking leave of him he said Farewell till we meet in Heaven To another that was by him to the last he said Pray Remember my Dear Love to my Brother and Sister and tell them I desire they would comfort themselves that I am gone to Christ and we shall quickly meet in the Glorious Mount Sion above And Mr. Benjamin Hewling in his last Letter to his Mother has this Expression The Lord carry you through this vale of Tears with a resigning submissive Spirit and at last bring you to Himself in Glory where I question not but you will meet your dying Son Ben. Hewling Mr. William Jenkins in his Letter to his Mother has this Expression Honoured Mother I take leave of you also hoping that I shall again meet with you in that place of happiness where all Tears shall be wiped away from our Eyes and we shall Sorrow no more And in his Letter to his Sister Scot he says Farewell till we shall meet again in Glory and never be seperated more Mr. Eliot of New-England dyed asserting he should know his Friends in Heaven which made him often say that the old Saints of his Acquaintance especially those two dearest Neighbours of his Cotton of Boston and Mather of Dorchester who were got safe to Heaven before him would suspect him to be gone the wrong way because he staid to long behind them but they are now together adds the Author of his Life with the Blessed Jesus beholding of his Glory and Celebrating the High Praises of him that has called them into His marvellous Light whether Heaven was any more Heaven to him continues this Author because of his finding there so many Saints with whom he once had his Celestial Intimacies yea and so many Saints which had been the Seals of his own Ministry in this lower World I cannot say but in that Heaven I now leave him but not without Grynaeus Pathetical Exclamations Blessed will be the day oh Blessed the day of our arrival to the Glorious Assembly of Spirits which this great Saint is now rejoycing with Some months before Mr. Eliot died he would often tell us that he was shortly going to Heaven and that he would carry a deal of good news thither with him He said he would carry Tydings to the Old Founders of New-England which were now in Glory that Church-work was yet carried on among us that the number of our Churches were continually encreasing and that the Churches were still kept as big as they were by the daily Additions of those that shall be saved and thus dy'd The first Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in America in a firm belief that he should meet and know his Friendâ— in Heaven I shall next add thâ— words of Bp. * See Ar. Bp. Tillotson's Ser. on Phil. 3. v. 20. Tillotson who tells us when we come to Heaven we shall enter into the Society of the Blessed Angels and of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect we shall then meet with all those Excellent Persons those brave Minds those Innocent and Charitable Souls whom we have seen and heard and Read of in this World There we shall meet with many of our dear Relations and intimate Friends and perhaps with many of our Enemys to whom we shall then be perfectly reconciled for Heaven is a State of perfect Love and Friendship there will be nothing but kindness and good nature there and all the prudent Arts of Endearment and wise ways of rendring Conveâ—sation mutually pleasant to one another Mâ— dear Ignotus I need not add a greater Authority then the Assertion of this Great and Learned Prelate to prove we shall know one another in Heaven But to come yet nearer home I might have added to my one self For I instance in one that I Love as well 'T was the Opinion of this Friend I mean of my dear departed That she should 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 she endeavour'd to solace me by saying 'T is true my dear Tho I desire to live for thy sake and nothing else tho I have all the World in having thee and had rather die than thou should'st be sick yet don't be so