Impressed upon my Soul I have not the Comfort of any Child by so blessed and sweet a Yoke-fellow to be a living Evidence of our Mutual Endearments then God and Man I hope will pardon me if I endeavour to have the Idea of thy Perfections always before me and that I have drawn this faint Shadow of 'em with my rude Pen as a more useful and valuable Portraiture of thee than any that could be drawn by the Pencil of the most Famous Artist that is but the Outside but this is the Inside and what I was taught by the Divine Records That the King's Daughters are Glorious within I found it to be true by Experience in thee you convinc'd me what Charms there are in a Vertuous Spouse What a Mine of Pleasure What sprightly Life and Vigour did my Dear give to all my Thoughts Looks and Actions How many new Satisfactions in every thing you did How did I even live in your dying Words Oh the kind and tender Farewells you gave me with your last Breath such as Poor Rogue thou art the kindest Husband that ever lived Ill love thee as long as I live Thou art a dear Child to me I love thee dearly I pray God bless my dear Yoke-fellow and give him Grace I pray thee give him Grace to live so here as he may live with thee hereafter which you repeated over and over very earnestly further begging that God would make me his for there was Grace enough in store To the last Minute of your Life you spake nothing so sensibly as when you spake of Heavenly things and all this you utter'd at the time when you were actually dying It would be a pleasant and delectable Subject for me further to expatiate upon thy Graces and Moral Vertues but I shall conclude with the Wise Mans Character of a Vertuous Woman that Many Daughters have done Vertuously * Prov. 31.29 but thou excellest them all and therefore tho it should be my Lot to engage in a Second Marriage yet it will be impossible for any other Wife to deface the Impression which thou hast made upon me and seeing I can no more enjoy thy sweet Fellowship here on Earth I will contemplate upon thy Perfections and view this Picture which my Affection hath copied from the Original that thy Vertues had impressed upon my own Soul And thus my dearest I must with unexpressible Grief bid thee a long Adieu but that which still comforts me is that we shall meet in Heaven where there shall never be any more perplexing Separation And it shou'd be a great Satisfaction to me to consider That the Providence of God order'd thy Death when I could be present and perform the last Offices of my Love That it did not happen at such a time when I was in Holland and at a great Distance from thee So you had the Comfort of my Love to the last moments of your Life And doubtless it pleased and comforted you much and allay'd your Affliction to see that you enjoy'd in your distress the constant Attendance of so dear a Friend And if this softned your Affliction it may justly lessen my Sorrow for what you endur'd I may be satisfied too in this That I sought and procur'd for you the best Means and Helps to recover you that Art Nature could afford and sure I am could any Physitian or Friend have sav'd your Life it had been Dr. T Mr. C and Cousin J n whose unwearied Endeavours to preserve thy Life shall be * As you desired on your Death-Bed thankfully acknowledged to my Dying Day but it being evidently God's Will to take you from me no Care or Tenderness could retain you amongst us but my Comfort is that as you was Virtuous and Pious you was in the same measure willing to Die and able to receive your Death with an undanted Courage and Resolution Virtue * See Mr. Dorington's Consolations to a Friend is an Essay a kind of Preludium of Dying As it mortifies our Affections to this vain World and fixes them on better Objects the Gifts and Felicities of Heaven Eliza was practising Death by Degrees while she liv'd and mortified first one Affection then another To make the Burden of Dying more easier to bear you took it up by Parcels and so having delivered your self from them you did not bear it all at once Thus it came to pass that Eliza was no sooner sensible she must die than willing to do so She was ready to resign up her good Soul into the Hands of a Faithful Creator Eliza whose Death I am tempted inordinately to Lament did not at all Lament for her self Your willing Submission and Resignation to the Divine Disposal should teach me the same thing You went away perhaps not only contented but joyful that you was to go Tho your Love to me and your Wisdom might make you Conceal that you was willing to leavâ— me yet you was glad I may believe to find that you had finish'd your Course for you had such Foretastes of the Heavenly Bliss as even ravish'd your Soul away Then 't is very incongruous that I shou'd attend your Triumph and Ioy with my immoderate Sorrow and Tears the Remembrance of your Happiness in the unseen World should give Comfort to me under the great Loss I have by your Death Have I not taken Satisfaction heretofore to reflect upon the obliging and charming Conversation of Eliza when my Affairs have kept me absent from her And have not such Reflections sweetned and allay'd that Absence Why then should not such Reflections do me the same Kindness still If I let this Impertinent Thought afflict me that I must no more enjoy the same Delight it will deprive me too of all the Use and Comfort and Pleasure of what I once enjoyed in Eliza which would make my Condition still much the worse Then why shou'd I grieve (a) See the Note at the end of the Dedication with this Mark * thus seeing Eliza is only departed from me for a while she is not lost nor annihilated Thy Body Eliza is laid in the Dust to rest in the quiet Grave and is there watcht by the careful Eye of Divine Omnisience And wheresoever any Parts of that may happen in Ages to come to be scatter'd the Divine Power will certainly collect them all again and thou shall be perfectly restored to Being and Happiness But the mean while thy better Part the noble Soul is return'd to God that gave it And since so much of thee still lives I may say thou art gone to thy Celestial Kindred Upon your Departure from the Body I do believe you immediately found your self like the Soul of good Lazarus attended by kind and glorious Angels And they I must needs think were not silent at their meeting you They congratulate your Delivery from this World applaud your Patience in suffering the Evils of it your Diligence in doing Good your bold Conflicts against the
Inspired Men or at least that the Matter therein contained is true than that there was ever such a Man as Alexander or Caesar because one of these has all the Moral Demonstrations of Truth the other has namely universal or unanswerable Humane Testimony both of Friends and Enemies and yet more to wit Miracles which are the Testimony of Heaven Now this Scripture gives us undeniable Evidence of the Existence of Souls after Death and therefore whatever God may think fit to order or permit in extraordinary Cases as revealing Injustice Murder c. It appears both fruitless dangerous and irreligious to expect any such thing ordinarily to happen since the Course of Nature is not to be altered without the highest Necessity and Reason So that you see 't is fruitless dangerous and irreligious to expect our Friends that are gone to Heaven or Hell though they still know and love us never so well should come from that Happy or Miserable Place to tell us what passes there But if this be granted perhaps 't will be asked in the last place Then pray tell us what is Death seeing that though nothing else can do it will open the Door to the other World and give us the Knowledge of those Friends departed with whom we earnestly wish to be To this I Answer That Death is no more than a soft and easie Nothing Shou'd you ask me then what is Life I 'd Answer with Crates who being asked this Question said nothing but turn d him round and vanisht and 't was judged a proper Answer But whatever 't is to live sure I am if you Credit Seneca 't is no more to Die than to be Born we felt no Pain coming into the World nor shall we in the Act of leaving it Death is but a ceasing to be what we were before we were We are kindled and put out to cease to be and not to begin to be is the same thing But you 'l say perhaps what do I mean by the same thing and that you are still as much in the dark as ever Why truly so am I as I told Eliza in the last Letter I sent her 'T is true there have been Men that have tryed even in Death it self to relish and taste it and who have bent their utmost Faculties of Mind to discover what this Passage is but there are none of them come back to tell us the News No one was ever known to wake Who once in Death's cold Arms a Nap did take Lucul Lib. 3. Canius Julius being Condemned by that Beast Caligula as he was going to receive the stroke of the Executioner was asked by a Philosopher Well Canius said he where about is your Soul now what is she doing what are you thinking of I was thinking replied Canius to keep my self ready and the Faculties of my Mind settled and fix'd to try if in this short and quick Instant of Death I cou'd perceive the Motion of the Soul when she starts from the Body and whether she has any Resentment of the Separation that I may afterwards come again to acquaint my Friends with it So that I fancy there is a certain way by which some Men make Tryal what DEATH is but for my own part I cou'd never yet find it out but let Death be what it will 't is certain 't is less troublesome than Sleep for in Sleep I may have dsquieting Pains or Dreams and yet I fear not going to Bed If you wonder I 'm able to give no better Account what DEATH is my Answer is That it often falls out that the more common a thing is the more difficult it is to speak well of it as in many sensible Objects Nothing is more easie than to discriminate Life and Death and yet to explicate the Nature of both is a severe task because the Vnion or Disunion of a most perfect form with ' its matter is inextricable however I shall offer those things that have given me the greatest satisfaction in my Enquities Death or a Cessation of doing or suffering is generally agreed to be the greatest Evil in Nature because 't is a destruction of Nature it self but why it should be represented so terrible is as great a Riddle to me as a certain knowledge of what Death really is This is the common Plea of Mortals Here we know and are known and all the Enterprizes we take in hand we have the satisfaction of reflection and a review when they are past but Dying deprives us of knowing what we are doing or what other State we are Commencing 'T is a leap in the Dark not knowing where we shall light as a late * Hobbs Naturalist to say no worse of him told his inquisitive Friend when he was going to die But this is a weakness which as it makes Men anticipate their Misery so it inlarges it too We look upon Nature with our Eyes not with our Reason or we should find a certain sweetness in Mortality for that can be no loss which can never be mist or desir'd again As Caligula passed by an Old Man requested him that he might be put to Death Why saith Caesar are you not dead already There is something in Death sometimes at least that is desireable by Wise Men who know 't is one of the Duties of Life to Dye and that Life would be a Slavery if the power of Death were taken away I had the Curiosity to visit two certain Persons one had been Hang'd and the other drown'd and both of 'em very miraculously brought to Life again I asked what Thoughts they had and what Pains they were sensible of The Person that was hang'd said He expected some sort of a strange Change but knew not what but the Pangs of Death were not so intollerable as some sharp Diseases nay he could not be positive whether he felt any other Pain than what his Fears created He added That he grew senseless by little and little and at the first his Eyes represented a brisk shining red sort of Fire which grew paler and paler till at length it turn'd into a black after which he thought no more but insensibly acted the part of one that falls asleep not knowing how or when The other gave me almost the same Account and both were dead apparently for a considerable time These Instances are very Satisfory in Cases of violent Death and for a natural Death I cannot but think it yet much easier Diseases make a Conquest of Life by little and little therefore the Strife must be less where the Inequality of Power is greater I have met with (a) Epicurus in Gassend Synt. one arguing thus Death which is accounted the most dreadful of all Evils is nothing to us saith he because while we are in Being Death is not yet present so 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 Moreover saith he The
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
Reverend Father but Love to a Parent tho ne'er so tender is lost in that to a Wife And now as is mentioned in the following Essay if I can mingle my Ashes wi h thine I have nothing farther to ask those few Hours I do survive thee but can I word it so when your Letter says When dead and gone you shaâ—â— still live in Phil. who is dearer to you than Lâ—fe it self thy Tomb shall be my Breast till on six Shoulders I am brought to thee and n as the only Companions of my long Home So that now leaving All Pleasures behind me and my Dear fast asleep in her Grave I 'll drop a few Tears on thy Coffin and so depart to my own House which tho once so pleasant to thee and me will now whilst thou art found in no room of it appear a very melancholy thing Tears To the Memory of DEAR ELIZA who departed this Life in the Year 1697. SAcred Urn with whom we trust This Dear Pile of Sacred Dust Know thy Charge and safely Guard 'Till Death's Brazen Gates unbarr'd 'Till the Angel bids it rise And remove to Paradise A Wife Obliging Tender Wise A Friend to Comfort and Advise Vertue mild as Zephir's Breatb Piety which smiled in Death Such a Wife and such a Friend All Lament and all Commend Most with Eating Cares opprest He who knew and loved her best Who her Loyal Heart did share He who reign'd Unrivall'd there And no Truce to Sighs will give 'Till he die with her to live Or if more we woud comprize Here Interr'd ELIZA lies Thus you see my Dear if you can see from Heaven to Earth how loth I am to give the beck'n of Farewell the best of Wives and my Truest Friend is but part of your Character and I can't leave such a Treasure in Post haste I had kinder things to add but my whole Family Friend J n and honest N y call me down so must reserve the rest ' til we meet in Heaven * The Primitive Christians buried their Saints with Hymns and Psalms of Joy Chrysostom on the Hebrews saith We are to glorifie God and give thanks to him that he hath crown'd the Deceased and freed them from their Labours and chides those that mourn'd And the Days of their Death were called the Birth-days of the Saints And Hierome in his Epitaph on Holy Paula saith That at her Funeral no Shreeks were heard but Multitudes of Psalms and Hymns were sung in divers Languages See Mr. Henry's Life p. 206. but here 's enough to let you see that as in Life so in Death I am wholly Yours and shall so continue as long as I am Philaret From Eliza 's Grave July 10th 1697. AN ESSAY PROVING We shall know our Friends in Heaven c. In a Letter to a Reverend Divine OUR Secret Correspondence my Dear Ignotus as it owes its Rise to the melodious Notes of the WESTERN NIGHTINGALE so it has been continued ever since with a World of Harmony Maugre the great Opposition it met with from Argus and his Aged Friend In this long Correspondence I attempted to prove as the First Step to our Friendship That there may be a greater Love 'tween Man and Man than 'tween Man and Woman I next proceeded to other Subjects and from thence to treat of Conjugal Love where I gave you the Character of my First Wife told you how she designed to Love if ever she married proved the practised her own * They were Rules she writ whilst a Virgin for her own practice if ever she entred into a married state Rules and having told you what her Rules were I next from my own Experience compar'd a single Life and a married together defended my Loving again in a months time and having ended with Honey-Moon 't is proper next to speak of that state of Life where they neither marry nor are given in Marriage And this leads me to enquire Whether we shall Know our Wives Parents Children and Friends in Heaven if ever we get thither I told you in my Last the Answering of this shou'd be the Subject of this Letter and that I 'de send it by this Post I have now kept my word and heartily wish you having so much desir'd it the Mountain may not produce a Mâ—use However I have done my best But before I discourse of Knowing our Friends in Heaven I must first tell you That good Eliza that dearest part of my self went thither in May last Her Death has made me so very melancholy that I had pin'd away in a few days had not the hopes of finding her again in Heaven given me some Relief Oh! the Sighs the Wishes the Languishments with a long c. Chargeable on that Account really Sir there are yet Tears in my Eyes left undried for the Dear Eliza the best of Wives and best of Friends I yet feel the Torments to which a Heart is exposed that loses what it Loves none love as I have lâ—ved My sentiments have a delicacy unknown to my others but my self and my Heart Lov'd Eliza more in one Hour then others do in all their Lives Witness the Tears shed on her Grave to what excess I love her I want to know wâ—at sullen â—â—â—r â—ul'd at my Birth that Phil. should Live when Eliza iâ— Dead or at least Dead to me or if there be a Beam of Comfort 't is n't to shine till the Resurrection or till I meet her in Heaven Thus the kind Turtle parted from his Mate passes by a Thousand Objects and only mourns at all he sees but met their Life and Love is through each others Bill convey'd But Mum for that for Valeria and I have now compounded with one another and Resolv'd for better for worse have been at I Ned take thee Hannah But on what Conditions with the Terms of our Honey Moon you shall know hereafter 'T is enough if I say at present That she fully understands and practises all the Duties of a Tender Wife so that she seems to be Eliza still in a New Edition more Correct and Enlarged or rather my First Wife in a New Frame for I have only changed the Person but not the Vertues But I leave Valeria here for the Dearest Friends must part to answer this Curious Question Whether we shall know our Friends in Heaven I send you my Sentiments in this matter in hopes you 'll Rectifie my Judgment where you find it Err and supply my Defects with better thoughts of your own that so between us this Curious Subject may be fully handled which I the rather mention for that te'nt my way to say much to the purpose on common Suhjects much less can you expect it in such a Theam as this where had I an Angel's Tongue I should be at a Loss The way to Heaven is Long and Difficult and therefore no wonder if now and then I mistake a Turning but when I do I hope Ignotus you 'll set
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
HILL but those that walk uprightly and speak the Truth in their Heart at least to the best of their Knowledge and therefore thy Promises like the Laws of the Medes and Persians were unalterable neither cou'd Passion Interest or the Greatest Affronts either Pretended or Real make thee break 'em and I thought thy keeping thy Word none of the least of thy Excellencies for Promises are Sacred Things as appears by this If I invite a *âŽ* 'T is common for silly Women to undervalue their Husband's Estate tho superior to their own or atleast not inferiour to the account given and to blast that Reputation that supports them I say Supports them for Man and Wife are Inseparable in all they enjoy or suffer These Instances are common in some Counties as will appear by the following Passage in Mr. J n's Letter to his Client for it runs thus I receiv'd yours and am now to tell you I cou'd not have an Answer from M till last Monday but now I have an Account of Mr. Carterson 's Estate according to his own Particulars which is all at present from your Servant J n Could it ever be thought that any Parent that had received such an Ample Account from her own Creature would privately have lessen'd her Kinsman's Estate But thus was this Gentleman serv'd tho his Lands in present Possession and Reversion may be worth Four Thousand Pound notwithstanding his great Losses at Sea by Suretiships by lending Moneys to a distressed Friend and paying some Hundred Pounds for Fines and a deceased Heir Lady to my House and tell her if she marries my Son I 'll give him 4000 l. at my Death If this Promise was to encourage the Match If I fly from it when effected I live in a known Sin which without Repentance is certain Damnation and the present blasting my Reputation as I 'm chargeable with all the Dammages attending the Breach of my Promise which was so solemnly made that I told the Lady I 'd make it good under my own Hand in case I marry'd and 't is no Gift but plain Iustice if I do so seeing this Ladys trusting to my Word made her reject those would have made her Rich and Easie from all which 't is plain that Promises made by Word †As I may prove hereafter from an Original Letter or Letter tho they are not binding at the Lawyers Bar yet are so in the Court of Conscience neither can any small Pett taken with or without Cause Cancel the first Promise any more than the private Lyes of a Wife or a hasty Word can untie the Marriage Knot They that doubt this to be Scripture let them read Nehemiah 5th from the 11th to the 14th Verse which is such Advice as I took my self for you know Eliza being once blamed for not performing a Promise made by my own Father which I rejected as made against my Consent but afterwards finding His Promise necessary I fulfill'd it to the Persons Content How much more then is a Promise binding which is made by my self confirm'd by Letter and repeated in the hearing of several and more especially so if made to influence such a Solemn Thing as a Marriage How punctual wou'd Eliza have been to such a Promise for she was so to all and how uneasie till perform'd But as the End Crowns the Work and Perseverance deserves the Reward thy Constancy in the Exercise of Grace and Good Humour compleated thy Excellency thou diedst as thou livedst and no Change of Condition could make any Change upon thee thou never insultedst over me in my Affliction as is the Custom of too many ill natur'd Wives but in all my Afflictions thou wast afflicted and lov'dst me to the last breath But tho' these are mighty Instances of a Pure Love yet all inferiour to thy Garden-Walks (a) Two hundred every Night for the space of a whole Year and something else I forbear to mention Nothing can Love like the Dear Eliza or be so Constant as Phil. who strove to become not thine alone but even the same with thee (b) This was the Motto in a Ring I gave Eliza before Marriage There was such a Vnion between us from our first Interview to thy last Breath that we seem d as two Souls in the same Body or rather two Souls transform'd into one This made such an even Thread of Endearment run through all we Thought or Did that as you ever commanded me in any equal Matter by your constant Obeying of me so I as readily scrupled every thing that was not agreeable to your Will but nothing happen'd that was not so for like Spanbeimius's Wife thou wert willing to be Govern'd by me in all things If any Quarrel happen'd 't was who of the two shou'd live the most Content we prov'd a Chain of Hearts and the first Link was Heaven Let no Man then Censure me as Idolizing thy Memory when I draw up such a faint Resemblance of thy Character seeing Infinite Wisdom it self hath given us this Character of a good Woman that She is more Precious than Rubies A Ship of Iewels would not have been such a Blessing to me as thou wast Thou didst not cool my Zeal for God with Vanity and Games and needless Diversions but quickenedst me to good No Man could be rough and harsh to a Person so mild and submissive No Man could be so much a Brute or Rocky-hearted as not to be softened by so Constant a Love What reason have I to be thankful to Providence that when a Good Woman is not to be found among a Thousand Eccl. 7.28 that yet one of them should have fallen to my share and seeing it was next to impossible to over-value such a Blessing I have more reason to think that it was want of esteem enough for thee though I lov'd thee beyond Life Liberty and Estate than Idolizing of thee that provok'd God to deprive me of thee Was it possible my Dearest to over-value a Child that never once disobeyed a Parent or to over-value a Wife that would never give Ear to those that went about to divide even in the least thing betwixt her and her Husband Could I have too high an Esteem for a Wife that liv'd so near to God and lov'd me out of a Principle of Conscience and Judgment more than from a fond Affection or from the ordinary Motives of an agreeable Person and Competent Estate c. I confess that my Interest in thee and height of Affection towards thee may make my Testimony concerning thee suspected but if I should be silent thy own works would Praise thee thy Servants Relations and Acquaintance know I don't flatter thee and certainly so many Indifferent Persons cannot have their Tongues and Affections brib'd to conspire so Unanimously to assert a Falsehood It hath not seem'd meet to the Divine Providence that thou shouldst leave any Pledge of our Conjugal Love and Society behind thee but what is Indelibly
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
exquisite Knowledge of this that Death belongs not to us makes us enjoy this Mortal Life with Comfort Neither need they fear the Consequence of Death who have lived a Godly Life 't is true Conscience makes Cowards of us all Lewis II. King of France when he was sick forbid any Man to speak of DEATH in his Court but there 's nothing in Death it self that can affright us 't is only Fancy gives Death those hideous Shapes we think him in 'T is the Saying of one I fear not to be dead yet am afraid to die there is no Ponyards in Death it self like those in the way or Prologue to it and who wou'd not be content to be a kind of Nothing for a moment to be within one Instant of a Spirit and soaring thro Regions he never saw and yet is curious to behold Thus far we may venture to speak of the Language and State of the Blessed of our knowing 〈◊〉 Friends in Heaven and the Damned in Hell 〈◊〉 our Passage to the other World and of Death â—hat sets us ashoar But further I dare not wade â—or by venturing beyond our Depth we are lyable to all the Dangers that are out of Ken 'T is enough that I have scaled the Mountains scrabbled above the Clouds and opened a little the Curtains that hid and separated the Secrets of Heaven from common View and this I have done as thinking it proper to ascend Pisgah by Degrees when we get to the Top our Desire will be to take a Prospect of the whole Hemisphere to leave the Stars while we make Inquiry after all the Invisible Host in which Glorious Assembly I hope shortly to find my Dear Ignotus whose TRVE FRIENDSHIP has been so useful to me in my way thither and indeed all Friendship is no further valuable than as it is founded on Love to Vertue and some way or other promotes our Eternal Happiness If I have advanc'd any thing in this Essay that 's not agreeable to sound Doctrine 't is your Province Ignotus to find it out and tho your good Nature is as ready to forgive Faults as your Wit is able to find them yet pray Sir tell me my Errors Mistakes and Omissions not with the Tongue of a Courtier but with the Severity of a true Friend But I must think my Errors the more excusable as the Death of Eliza * To whose Memory this Essay is Dedicated has Distracted every Faculty and as the Subject was never handled before which heightens my Presumption to venture at it and in some part excuses it for all Ages as if Athens had been the Original have been curious in their Inquiries Curiosity it self being so much a part of Nature that there is no laying it aside till the whole Frame is dissolv'd We all are seiz'd with the Athenian Itch News and new Things do the World bewitch Dr. Wild. Then no wonder that Phil. is aiming at new Discoveries when he does it in Obedience to your Commands to divert himself in the Second Place and lastly to comfort those who have lost any near Relation tho by an ill Management I fear I have lost my End yet as ill as the Subject 's handled I judge he that has bury'd a Wife Child or Friend c. will be pleased to hear tho weakly prov d that he shall know them again in Heaven I own 't is a great Vanity to quote my self except I was one whose Life and Actions might serve for Examples yet 't is not amiss to say that the chief Assistance I had was from Answers I formerly published from Letters of my own writing sent to (a) Printed in Mr. Turner's History of Remarkable Providences Pag. 146. Eliza Cloris and your Dear Self c. which I here insert to shew I can ne'er forget the Ladies concern'd especially the Ingenious W ch to whose generous Favour in bringing Cloris to a Stand whether to take or refuse makes me her Eternal Debtor and shall ne'er be forgot whilst Virtue Wit and God Nature have any Esteem in the World I would serve this Lady thro all Difficulties and write her Particular Character but that to praise her is to lose her Friendship yet I often quote her in this Essay by a Name she can never know and as often put one Name for another as in P. Valeria is put for the Spouse I expected and in P. Sapho is put for Cloris and in P Cloris is put for Eliza c. The unknown Ariadne is also quoted whose ready Wit is always producing of new Charms Neither is Leander forgot for tho Beauty in a Man is a Jest yet Honour joyn'd to Love comprises all that a Maid can wish for And this Hint leads me to Lincoln to the Honourable c. who tho dead and gone I here kiss her Name as the nearest way to her Soul neither do I forget HONEY-MOON now the Musick of Fiddlers is over I might also mention the Learned Anonyma and that Mistress of TRVE SENSE the Ingenious * A near Relation of the Dear Eliza. KATE But I 'll stop here for shou'd I proceed to the other Ladies mention'd in this Essay you 'd think me a meer Rambler but if I am 't is excusable in me seeing when at any time I go out of my way 't is rather upon the Account of License than Oversight for I take a Pleasure in suffering the least sudden Thought or Extravagant Fancy to lead me Ten Twenty nay sometimes an Hundred Pages out of my way as you find in P. 8. Where at one Jump I leap from Heaven to Cloris and in P. 10. from Cloris to Heaven again I have seen two parts of the World and find there is something in Travelling that makes a Man's Thoughts reel and that leads his Pen to wander as much as his Person does I have here made an odd Composition especially where I prove There 's a Sex in Souls but let it go ramble if it will into the World as it rises for I have a mind to represent the Progress of my Humour that every one may see every piece as it came from the Forge I love a Poetical March by Leaps and Skips there are pieces in Plutarch as well as in Philaret where he forgets his Theme yet how beautiful are his Variations and Digressions and then most of all when they seem to be fortuitous and introduc'd for want of Heed 'T is the indiligent Reader that looses my Subject and not I there will always be found some Words or other in a Corner to make good my Title Page tho they lie very close Constancy is not so absolutely necessary in Authors as in Husbands and for my own part when I have my Pen in my Hand and Subject in my Head I look upon my self as mounted my Horse to ride a Journey where altho I design to reach such a Town by Night yet will I not deny my self the Satisfaction of going a Mile or Two out of the way to gratifie my Senses with some New and Diverting Prospect Now he that is of this Rambling Humour will certainly be pleased with my Frequent Digressions however in this I have the Honour to imitate the great Montaigne whose Umbrage is sufficient to protect me against any one Age of Criticks But if his Authority won't suffice I must cast the Fault in to the great heap of Humane Error for seeing we digress in all the ways of our Lives yea seeing the Life of Man is nothing else but Digression I may the better be excused But so much for quoting my Self and Friends and way of Writing c. A Word now of the Graver Authors and then farewel till I meet You and Cloris in Heaven or else at that BLESSED VILLAGE where Angels Sit and Listen to her Song All Musicks Nothing to this Nightingale Oh the (a) As I told Cloris in Answer to Numb 23. Joys I fell at this Harmonious Name The Dying Swan advanc'd with Silver Wings So in the Sedges of Meander Sings When she lays Her Hands to the Spinnet or Charms with Her Heavenly Tongue Phil. cou'd turn Camelion and live for ever on this Air. BLESSED AGFORD A Garden in a Paradice wou'd be But a too mean Periphrasis of thee I cou'd scarce die till I had seen this New Parnassus I call it so as 't is the present Residence of Madam LAVREAT 'T was to this Place and to this Lady that my Reverend Friend But Presto be gone for I 'm now in London again and in the Arms of the Dear Valeria But whether do I ramble from the Graver Authors As to these Learned Gentlemen tho I have great Assistance from them yet I have endeavour'd to digest the same into such a Method Stile and Form as was most pleasing to my Self adding thereunto my own Remarks tho after all the Knowing our Friends in Heaven is so Copious a Theme that I am very sensible Your Learned Pen will find out more and better Arguments than I here produce and pray let me have 'em with all speed for as soon as you give this Subject its Finishing Stroke we 'll fall to discourse on the Visible Frame of Things and of Matters more Domestick 'T is proper to consider this World a little through which we must pass to that Heavenly Country where we shall have the perfect Knowledge of one another and of that Virtuous Nymph yes Cloris I will meet thee there who was the first Occasion of our Correspondence This with a Thousand Loves to H len and a Boon Voyage to Madam (a) Whose Character you 'll find in my New Parnassus or Gentleman's Library which has taken up my Leisure Hours for several Years and will scarce be finish'd till Sh te returns from the East-Indies Sh te is all at present from Your Eternally Devoted Friend Philaret FINIS