and Philaret to find that siâ—cere Friendship which for 15 Years they had beâ—â— Contracting here below translated to the Mansions â—bove when I shall see and know her again wiâ— whom I had lived so well and slept so long in tâ— Dust I say in the Dust for I desire in my WILâ— to be buried with her that so as our Souls shâ— know each other when they leave the Bodies our Bodies also may rise together after the lâ— Night of Death and you find Eliza * As you nâ— find in the Iâ—dication to 〈…〉 Essay of this Opinion where she says Dear Phil whilst on Earth we may lawfully please our selves with Hopes of meeting hereafter and in lying in the same Grave where we shall be happy together if a sâ—less Happiness can be call'd so Further in answer to the Question whether I and Wife shall love one another above other Saiâ— Let us remember rightly that Instruction our Saviour Jesus Christ who teacheth us how the Fruits of Marriage ought to stretch and what Distinction we are to make between our Habitation and Being in this World and our Rest in Heaven between that Angelical Nature and this which is Corrupt and Humane for in Heaven the Fruits Reasons and Respects of Marriage do cease the only Divine and Angelical Nature bringeth forth her Effects in Spiritual Vertues and not in Humane Passions which having had their Course in this Crasie Life could never pass into Heaven The Husband and Wife shall die I mean the Bodies of Husband and Wife but not the Gift of God which shineth in the Faculty of the Soul and in such Vertues as are inseparable from her Over all which Death and the Grave hath no Power as it hath over the Body and Sensual Affections * See a Treatise call'd The Treasure of a Christian Soul The Corporal Conjunction between the Husband and the Wife shall cease but the Memory in the Soul shall remain not of Bodily Things and of contrary Nature unto that Heavenly Glory but of such things as are agreeable unto a Spiritual Being Likewise also Bodily Temporal and Sensual Love shall remain in the Grave but Charity which desireth to see her in Glory and Immortality shall fly into Heaven and there from Day to Day will inflame it self in such wife as that the Soul of the Departed Husband being in Heaven will there Love and Know her whom he loved in this World yet then not as being his but as being the Spouse of Christ not as having been one Flesh Corruptible and Mortal in times past but as being to be in time to come both of them together as also with all the Holy Ones Bones of the Bones of Christ and Flesh of his Flesh So that if Philaret gets to Heaven he 'll there not only Know but Love his Eliza with a Remembrance becoming a Spiritual Nature freed from Fear void of Care alienate from all Mortal Desire so thâ—t he who in the World remembred her whom then he possessed in Condition of a Wife and for a use both Carnal and Corruptible shall Remember her in Heaven in condition as being a Member of Christ for the Society of the same Glory and for a use Dedicated to God only to Celebrate Eternally his Praises and Immortal Glory Now that this Desire or Remembrance and Charity is in those Blessed Souls not of a quality imperfect or infirm as here in the World but sutable and becoming unto that their Estate of Perfection appeareth by that meeting and Conference of Moses and Elias with our Saviour Jesus Christ Luke 9.30 In the Mount whereon he was Transfigured upon the Subject of his Death and Passion As also by the desire of those Souls which rest in Heaven under the Golden Altar and that their desire and remembrance was of such things as had passed and were done in this World is apparent in this complaint Rev. 6.9 How long Lord Holy and True dost thou not Judge and Avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth But is it so may some say that we shall know and so particularly Love our Wives and Friends again in Heaven Then pray tell us will this Friendship be lasting or shall we be placed according to our Love to God in different Spheres and so get New-Friends My Answer is I believe we shall For God is an Infinite Object that which is Finite tho never so refined and advanced in its Nature cannot know God altogether nay can never know him all I think it therefore fair arguing that our knowledg of him there must be successive our Capacity still augmenting with our Knowledge as our Happiness with both Take another not improbable Argument for the same Head In Heaven we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the Angels Their Knowledge is gradual for they look into the Church to learn the Mysteries thereof even though in Heaven And why then may not ours be so too if e're we are so happy by Gods Grace to get thither But if it be so that the Sainâ—s in Heaven not only know their former Acquaintance but are further contracting of new Friendships then I wou'd know says another Inquirer Whether they have any knowledge of or ever concern themselves with the affairs of their Friends in this Life and what is to be thought of the Apparitions of the Dead To this I Answer as formerly that the Platonists have made many bold Assertions both concerning the State of the Soul before it came into the Body as also after but their Reasons are as strange as their Assertions What Priviledges some Souls may enjoy in their separate State above others is yet a Riddle but there are some Instances of this Nature unaccountable To mention one Caesar Baronius in his Annals mentions an entire Friendship betwixt one Michael Mercatus and Marsilius Ficinus and this Friendship was the stronger betwixt them by reason of a mutual Agreement in their Studies and an addictedness to the Doctrines of Plato It fell out that these two Discoursing together as they used of the State of Man after Death according to Plato's Opinions there is Extant a Learned Epistle of Marsilius to Michael Mercatus upon the same Subject but when their Disputation and Discourse was drawn out something long they shut it up with this firm Agreement that whichsoever of them two should first depart out of this Life if it might be should ascertain the Survivor of the State of the other Life and whether the Soul be Immortal or not this Agreement being made and mutualy sworn unto they departed In a short time it fell out that while Michael Mercatus was one Morning early at his Study upon the sudden he heard the noise of an Horse upon the Gallop then stopping at his Door withal he heard the Voice of Marsilius his Friend crying to him Oh Michael Oh Michael those things are true they are true Michael wondering to hear his Frienâ—s Voice rose up and opening the Casement
AN ESSAY PROVING We shall Know OUR Friends in Heaven Writ by a Disconsolate Widower on the Death of his Wife and Dedicated to her Dear Memory Being a Subject never handled before in a distinct Treatise Sent in a Letter to a Reverend Divine Then shall I know even as also I am known 1 Cor. 13.12 LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by E. Whitlock near Stationers Hall 1698. THE Dedication To the Memory of Dear Eliza. THese Mournful Lines my dear Eliza were Writ o'er thy Grave whilest I was a Widower and are now Dedicated to thy Pious Name as a Memorial of our Constant Love As for the Essay Annex'd 't was Writ presently after thy Death to mitigate my Sorrow for it which is in some part Justified by the greatness of my Loss in being separated after so long Conversation from so kind a Wife 'T is no wonder that Phil. who Lov'd thee so much on Earth shou'd attempt to Prove He shall know thee again in Heaven We are taught by the Holy Scriptures That Love is strong as Death and that the Love of Christ to his Church who gave Himself to the Death for her is proposed to Christian Husbands as a Pattern of Love to their Wives He lov'd his Church with an Everlasting love and so must I thy Memory my Dearest while I continue to be and think It is no more possible to rob my Soul of thine Idea than to deprive it of its Immortality Death which hath made a Separation betwixt our Bodies is not able to Separate our Souls thou wast lovely and pleasant to me in thy Life and therefore can'st not be divided from me by thy Death though the unspeakable Joys whereof thou art now made Partaker make thee ignorant of me because thou art wholly taken up with Transports of Heavenly Love If it were otherwise I am sure thy Happiness could not be compleat 'till thy other half were also Transported into Heaven I don't envy thee though I groan also to be delivered from this Earthly Tabernacle which hinders me from partaking of Heavenly Society with thee which if I may make bold to say so makes Heaven it self the more desirable to me But for that I must stay 'till the Decree of the Eternal take effect and therefore seeing thy place here on Earth knows thee no more that I can no more enjoy sweet Communion with thee 'till we meet in Heaven I have no other Relief at present but to refresh and torment my self at the same time with the remembrance of thy Virtues Did Religion allow any Sacrifice to thy Shrine or Adoration at thy Tomb my head-strong Affection would push me on to it but that is (a) We are sure there is neither Command Example or Promise in all the Scripture to encourage us to make our Application to the Saints departed Mr. Rogers's Discourses of Sickness and Recovery p. 79. reserv'd for Him alone who is the Author of our Being and blessed me with such a Meet-help as I found thee always to be till the arrival of that fatal Moment which made the cruel Separation I call it so as 't was my frequent Wish we might expire in each others Arms that we might imitate herein the Mayor of Litomentias's Daughter who leaping into the River where her Husband was drown'd she clasped him about the Middle and expires with him in her Arms and what is very remarkable they were found the next day embracing one another The same Instance we have in the Captain and his Wife who were last Week cast away in the Tilt-boat for they were taken up so closely Lock'd in each others Arms that 't was hard to part them Thus had Heaven seen it meet that as we were Vnited in our Life we shou'd not have been Divided in our Death it would have perfum'd the Arrow of Mortality to me and made that King of Terrors a King of Pleasures But thou wast Riper for Everlasting Joy and therefore sooner transported thither and I must not repine For those whom God hath joyn'd together no Man must put asunder yet when he that made the Union makes the Separation there 's no saying What doest Thou Yet the Holy Spirit which hath taught us that the Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance will not be offended if I perpetuate thy Memory to my self and carry the Idea of thy Vertues constantly in my Mind that I may do nothing unworthy of my better half which is in Glory as I have read was the Practise of a certain Great Person who constantly carried his Father's Picture about him that he might not do any thing unworthy of such a Progenitor I shall imitate this Example by always carrying this Essay in my Pocket to Re-mind me daily of that Pattern you set me and as a Memento I shall see thee again which I can't but passionately desire as I enjoy'd both Worlds in Dear Eliza and were I to wed again and this I speak after Ten Years Tryal I 'd preferr thy self to the Richest Nymph God saw thee most (a) This was the Posie of our Wedding Ring fit for me and I cou'd not find such another had I a thousand Advisers and as many Worlds to range in to please my Eye and Fancy Thus you find if you Saints above know what 's done below how constant my Love is and that even in Death it self you can die but half whilst I am preserved And tho you 're gone to Heaven before me yet I hope I shall speedily follow after Thither Eliza will my Soul pursue When I like you have bid the World adieu There if my Innocence I still retain My Dear Eliza I shall Clasp again And there when Death shall stop her Pious Race With a more Charming and Angelick Face I shall behold the (a) Witness Her Ingenious Answers to the Letters I sent Her about the Miseries of Humane Life Matchless Daphnes Face And when dear Friend so near to Bliss you be Remember Cloris and remember me But cou'd the Fair Eliza see me mourn From that Bless'd Place she wou'd perhaps return But vain alas are my Complaints thou' rt gone And left me in this Desert World Alone For ah deprived my dearest Life of Thee The World is all a Hermitage to me Let ev'ry thing a sadder Look put on Eliza's Dead the lov'd Eliza's gone Philomelas Poems p. 53. What a melancholly thing does the World now appear However Eliza I can retire to God and my own Heart whence no Malice Time or Death can banish thee The Variety of Beauty and Faces I have seen since thy Death tho they are quick Vnder-miners of Constancy in others to me are but Pillars to support it since they then please me most when I most think of you I 've grav'd thy Virtue so deep in my Breast as is seen in the following Essay sent to our Friend Ignotus that 't will near out till I find the Original in the other World Don't think My
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
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
them to attend the same thy Care to have thy Soul in readiness to hear what God had to say was greater than that of having thy Body adorn'd contrary to the common Practise of our Age. How attentive wast thou when at Sermons and with what Greediness didst thou suck in the Sincere Milk of the Word and how Conscientious to see that thy Servants took heed to what they heard and that they perform'd their Duty to God as well as to thâ—e Neither didst thou think to compound with Heaven by being thus zealous in Religious Duties that thou may'st Slander Covet Lie and act other Sins with the greater Freedom here and in other Places none but the Guilty are meant and none but such will wince but these Eliza will have more Wit than to publish their Guilt by declaring their Innocence The Extensiveness of thy Charity is another Character which endears thy Memory and makes it precious to me as well as to many others who felt the Effects of it How like to the Author of all Good did that excellent Grace make thee and how did it Adorn thy Holy Profession Dionysius the Tyrant wonder'd at his Son that with all the Gold and Silver he had in his House he had made no Man his Friend but thou wast innocently frugal that thou might'st be bounâ—ifully Charitable And the Truth is the best and surest way to have any outward Mercy is to be content to want it or to make good Use of what we have when Men's Desires are over eager after the World thy must have so much a Year and a House well furnish'd or else they will not be content God usually if not constantly breaks their Wills by denying them or else puts a Sting into them that a Man had been as good he had been without them If a Man have but a little Income if he have a great Blessing and like Eliza have a Heart to do Good with the little he has that 's enough to make it up alas we must not account Mercies by the bulk what if another have a Pound to my Ounce if mine be Gold for his Silver I will never change with him 'T was you my Dear that cross'd the Proverb That Fortune sees not where she bestows her Gifts that most commonly they fall to the Share of those who have not Hearts to use them for your Great Charity brought that exellent Character upon you of being Kind and Generous beyond others you 'd often say We * 1 Tim. 6.7 brought nothing into this World and shall carry nothing out so did all the Good you could whilst you liv'd in this imitating Sir John Frederick who made his own Hands his Executors and his Eyes the Overseers 'T is observed that Covetousness is the only Sin that grows young as Men grow old But 't was not so in you you liv'd in the World so much above it as was an Evidence of the Real Greatness of your Soul and that you thought that a little thing wherein others place Greatness this made Charity so natural to you that 't was scarce a Vertue There was in your Nature an Aversion to a Covetous Person as he is one which the Lord abhorts Psal 10.3 When I read That 't is easier (a) Mat. 19.24 for a Camel to enter thro the Eye of a Needle than for a rich Man who sets his Heart on his Riches to enter into Heaven I am almost frighted with the Expression Cou'd Aristippus throw his Gold into the Sea and say It 's better I shouâ—d drown thee than that thou shouldst undo me and shall I who have one Foot in the Grave be a Slave to my Wealth I complain of my * Dr. Horneck Neighbour for being hard hearted and unkind to People in Distress and is that a Vertue in me which is Vice in another A good Bishop says a late Writer cou'd have preached an Hour together in saying nothing but Beware of Covetousness And so charitable was Dear Eliza that her whole Life seem'd to be one continued Satyr against Avarice You durst not rake together what you cou'd in your Life to bequeath it to your self at your Death I say to your self for who that has half a Soul wou'd creep to a Miser all his Life for Wealth he may lose with the next Breath neither will he obtain it if the Wretch can carry it to the other World as is seen by the following Instances Hermocrates a Grecian Philosopher dying bequeathed all his Estate to himself his Mind being fix'd immoveably on the Trash he had scraped together And Cardinal Angelot was so wrapt up in Covetousness as by a Trap-Door to get into his Stable and so steal the Corn his Groom had given his Horses And I knew one my self so wretchedly covetous as to steal Candle-ends in the Church after Evening Lesture was over to serve his Occasions at home and this he did tho worth soveral Thousand Pound Well what shall we say There is saith the Wise Man a Man to whom (a) Eccl. 24.4 God hath given Riches Wealth and Honour so that he wanteth nothing for his Soul of all he desireth yet God giveth him not Power to eat thereof but a Stranger eateth it This is Vanity and an evil Disease 'T is clear from hence that tho a little sufficeth Nature and less Grace yet that Covetousness is never satisfied and is certainly curst The contented Man is never poor let him have never so little The Discontented Man is never rich let him have never so much Tho I have a Iust * See the Case of the Young Lady P. 40 Title to 6000 l. as may †THAT' 's ONCE appear in Conjunction with my own Birth-right and so much clear from any Encumbrance and have neither Child nor Chick to waste it and my self as great an Enemy to Extravagance as to what 's Sneaking yet if I an 't contented with this Estate I am poorer than he that begs if content with the Scraps he gets Content is all we aim at with our Store And having that with little what needs more But the Covetous or Disconted Man for they are all one always thinks himself miserable and so he can never be happy But Eliza was none of these had nothing in her mean or little no my Dear had thy Purse been as large as thy Heart you 'd ne'er been rich whilst any Man was poor and I am sure Eliza you had more Piety than to think your self undone had we lost all but one another Would the Miser * See Dr. Horneck's Great Law of Consideration study Eternity he 'd see 't is little material to him whether he is Poor or Rich Your Generous Temper Eliza might fully convince him of this Neither was thy Extensive Charity any Let to thy strict Justice or to the Punctual Performance of all thy Promises in thy Dealings with Men you knew that none must dwell in the HOLY * Psal 15.1 2.
Assaults of many Temptations and your Perseverance to the end of your Life If I could look within the Veil and view the Celestial Temple I shou'd see you there in Transports of Joy surrounded with a Glorious Ring of Rejoycing Spirits Then how unsuitable is it that I should immoderately grieve for Eliza when she is gone to inhabit a Joy unspeakable and glorious Eliza 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 finish'd your last and worst Conflict with the Enemy of your Salvation How happy soever your Condition was on Earth it is much happier now The Place and Condition you are in is represented in the Divine Writings by all that is great pleasant and glorious in this World but we are also told there that all these Representations fall short of it I cannot know then how happy Eliza is till I go to see and that must be now the Care that engages me With all my Sorrow with all my vain Wishes I cannot bring you back again from thence and I should do you the greatest Diskindness if I could I must then if I am truly sorry to have parted with you be earnestly concern'd to meet you again And that I may do so I will earnestly concern my self to serve 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 Dear Eliza who is gone before excite my self to these things in Consideration that this Course will bring me to dwell with her again And if I make such Resolutions as these and perform them then I may promise my in a little time to meet you where the Spirits of Just Men are made perfect where we shall love again and that with an Affection more pure and more ardent than before Where both of us shall be more happy than ever we could be here We shall have no Griefs to communicate no Complaints to make to one another No Burdens or Cares to divide hetween us no †'T is the Saying of one that to distrust the word of an honest Man is not only to expose him to H C but to rank him in the number of V le ts such Carking Jealousie justifies the severest Resentment as Reputation is a tender thing and dearer to a good Man than his Life then what Conscience must that Person have that makes those Resentments a Câ—ime which were occasioned by the Provocations given But I stop here for the Barbarous Treatments that 〈◊〉 and othâ—â—â— meet with in this kind â— sufficiently proves at what Door such Quarrels lie Distrust to allay our Happiness or damp our Joy no Distance of (a) As I hinted before in P. 8. Place shall part us there or hinder our delightful Communion with one another We shall be of one Family in one Sacred Temple and in one rejoycing Quire joyning to pay Eternal Adorations and Thankful Praises to the Father Son and Holy Ghost We shall never be parted more Within a little while this happy Meeting may be It cannot be far off since it will come at the end of my Life Then seeing a Part of me is now in Heaven I shall take Mr. Rogers Advice (a) See Mr. Rogers Character of a Good Woman P. 163. to his Friend Make this Vse of my Loss more diligently to prepare to meet you in Heaven where our Conversation will be infinitely more pleasant and more durable than it ever was on Earth and there as you told me on your Death-Bed We shall meet and never part This is also the Opinion of our Friend H n for in his last Epistle He wishes he may so live this Year and the Remainder of his time That at last he may meet Eliza c. and the rest of the Saints There we shall have Joys eo the full And I think adds he this will be ONE HAPPINESS to have sweet Conversation with Pure and Spotless Creatures without Hindrance or Disturbance for ever c. Some Hope that they in Heaven their Learning share But sure Love and Friendship enter there I am impatient till I find it again in Eliza and till that happy Minute come as I told your Brother All my pleasant Days are over 'T is true I have been at Agford since your Death and you saw me there if you know what 's done on Earth to see that Dear unknown you so much admir'd and as you thought cou'd have made me happy but when I arriv'd My Heaven was still as distant as before all I got was Joy in Reversion and scarce that For ever since that Fatal Afternoon I first saw Cloris Madam Shute and Madam W ch I have not tasted a Minutes Joy nor expect it now till I meet Eliza and she 's gone to Heaven Poor Miserable Phil If Fate happen to guild o're one Inch of thy Vnhappy Span and lend a Glimpse of Heaven in a Wife how soon does the Beauteous Vision vanish out of Sight Ah Cloris must we part then first let me close thy Eyes bedew thy (a) The Chinese always before they bury their Dead if he was a Married Man bring him to his Wife that so she might first kiss him and bid him farewel Cheeks a little compose thy Body for the Grave follow thee thither see thee put into it be one of the last that shall come thence as I desired of thee if I died first and then farewel till we meet in the Silent Grave where I 'll visit thee and when I leave this Light Come spend my time in the same Cell at Night Till then farewel farewel I cannot take A Final Leave until thy Ashes wake Dr. Brown applauds those ingenious Tempers that desire to sleep in the Vrns of their Fathers and strive to go the nearest way to Corruption 'T was the late Request of a great Divine to lie by his Wife in Shoreditch and for that reason he was buried there and Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston in his last Will desires his Executors that the Bones of his Father might be digged out of the Earth where they were buried and laid by his own Body in a new Vault he ordered them to erect for the same purpose that tho he could not live with his Father as Iong as he would have desired yet he designed their Bodies should lie together till the Resurrection As it is good to enjoy the Company of the Godly while they are living so it is not amiss if it will stand with Convenience to be buried with them after Death The old Prophets Bones escaped a burning by being buried with the other Prophets and the Man who was tumbled into the Grave of Elisha was revived by the Vertue of his Bones So good it is to be buried with those that are accounted Pious 'T was for this reason I formerly desired to Lie in the Chancel of with my
me again in the right path If not Some Courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy What 't is you are and we must be Norris For I have small Acquaintance with the Future State and never met with any one of those Millions of Souls that have past into the other World to learn any News concerning the Knowledge they have of each other And therefore 't will be excusable 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 Nature and Condition of separate Souls because it agrees with a Humour of Curiosity I have a long time been distemper'd with I have often thought what would I give for the least glimpse of that Invisible World which the first step I take out of this body will present me with and have tryed by an Eye of Faith to look within the Veil but still find my Intellect too light a Plummet and the whole Thread of Life tho spun out in finest Speculations still proves too short to reach the endless bottom But though I have never yet seen the Innumerable company of Angels converst with Abraham Isaac and Jacob or the Spirits of Just Men made perfect which daily minister about the Throne that I might know the mutual Love and Entertainment of the blessed the Spirituality of their Glorify'd Bodies how they communicate their Thoughts to each other or the Knowledge they have of their Old Acquaintance Yet have I here with my Pen drawn a Scheme of my thoughts of our Invisible Friends on purpose to see whither it wou'd lead me and whither I cou'd follow it It was but last Night I was complaining to a VVater Drinker * Mr. Sh ley for I 'm now at Tunbridge swilling on Nature's bounty to Crazy Mortals of my Great Curiosity especially in things relating to the other World and in my Conversation by way of Prolepsis I have frequently been making Remarks that way But I tell you before-hand in treating of this Subject I shall leap over all Subdivisions and inferiour Sects of Christians and profess only to the World that the Divine Mercy and Favour is not limitted to a particular Canton or Party I am not only a Lover of good Men of all Perswasions but a meer Enemy to those Names which distinguish one Party from another in the Church Good men often contend about words when they heartily think the same thing and therefore I as little doubt to find Dr. Sherlock in Heaven as Mr. Aisop And do as little question their being of one mind in Heaven after all their Jangling as that they 'll presently know and rejoyce to see one another when they come there In Heaven says a late * Mr. Dorrington in his Discourse call'd The separate State of Good Souls Writer shall we meet many Dear Relations and Intimate Friends and perhaps some Enemies who shall then to our Great Joy and Satisfaction be perfectly reconciled to us which was that we most passionately desired before but it may be cou'd not find means to accomplish it However be it as it will I Live and Move by the Divine Providence and am willing to assert it in spight of all those Narrow Souls that dare trust God no further then they can see him or think none can be saved but those that are distinguish'd with their own Superscription But I shou'd remember I'm writing to one of an Extensive Charity and need not inlarge here So I come now to prove That if Infinite mercy bring us to Heaven we shall know one another there There are two things that comfort us under the Death of Friends The one is the hopes they are gone to Heaven And the other is That if Infinite Mercy bring us thither we shall one day see 'em again and have those very Friendships which they had Conâ—racted here below Transplanted to the Mansions above But what the knowledge is of our Souls separated and glorified we shall then know when ours come to be such In the mean time we can much less know their thoughts then they can know ours Sure we are they do not know in such manner as they did when they were in our Bosoms by the help of Senses and Phantasms by the discurssive inferences of Ratiocination But though we cannot see what manner of Metaphysical Matters our Souls are yet we know they really exist and act our Bodies although they are not Subject to Sense yet this doth not hinder but that a Spiritual substance may be separated from our Body and may be again Cloathed with a Body or Vehicle that may be Airy Fiery or Cloudy and be visible to our Senses although the existence or essence of the Spirit we cannot see but it's outward Cloathing and that such appearances have been in all Ages the Learned as well as the unlearned affirm from real matters of Fact But now whether the Soul in a state of separation acts independently of Matter purely by the strength of her own Powers or whether in order to the better knowing her self and other beings the makes use of a Body of Air shaped out into such Limbs and Sences as she hath occasional Employment for Whether or no the want of her old Companion is supplyed this way is uncertain But whatever abatements of happiness the pious Soul may suffer for want of a suitable body between the time of Death and the General Judgment then we are sure this inconvenience will be removed and it will be repossessed of its Ancient Seat out of which Violence or Nature had forced it But we cannot know these things Till we are strip'd into Naked Spirits and set a shore on the other invisible World Yet this we know at present that when our Souls are elevated to a condition suitable to the Blessed Angels so they know like them Though not by the means of a Natural Knowledge as they yet by that Supernatural Light of Intimation which they receive by their glorified Estate Whether by virtue of this Divine Illumination They know the particular occurrences which we meet with here below he were bold thas would determine Or if they do I 'm sure Eliza but her Love will tell you the rest only this we may confidently affirm that they do clearly know all those things which do any way appertain to their Estate of Blessedness Amongst which Whether the Knowledge of each other in that Region of Happiness may justly be ranked is not unworthy of our disquisition Doubtless as in God there is all perfection eminently and transcendantly so in the sight and fruition of God there cannot be but full and absolute felicity yet this is so far from excluding the knowledge of those things which Derive their Goodness and Excellency from him as that it compriseth and supposeth it As then we shall perfectly love God and his Saints in him so shall we know both And though it be
and Expectation of it is or should be one great Motive why we love 'em so well now If we thought we should not Know and Love them after Death we ought to Love 'em but as Earthly Transitory Things and not as Heirs of Heaven with such a Love as shall be perfected and last for ever Doubtless the Angels who rejoyce at the Conversion of a Particular Sinner and the Departed Saints too do know more even oâ— the State of this World than we dâ— who are acquainted with so very little a part and spot of it Which by the way should check an inordinate fond Desire of living to see Glorious Times on Earth For if we get to Heaven we are like to know much more of those Happy Times than if we remain'd alive in a Corner of the Isles of the Gentiles But as to our Mutual Knowledge in the Heavenly State Shall those whom we Reliev'd on Earth welcome us to Heaven and are therefore said to receive us into Everlasting Habitations Luk. 16. And shall not the departed Saints know one another in Glory Shall we then know as we are known And shall the Thessalonians be the Joy and Crown and Glory and Rejoycing of the Apostle Paul in the day of Christ And shall he not know them or they him who profited by his Ministry Did the Rich Man in Hell know Abraham afar off in Heaven and can we think a blessed Lazarus shall not For though that be a Parable there is some Truth as the Foundation of it Shall it aggravate the Misery of lost Souls to meet their wicked Companions in the Place of Torment as few deny or doubt And shall it not rejoyce the Blessed to meet their Holy Friends whom they knew in this World Did Peter James and John know Moses and Elias in the Transfiguration whom they never saw before and we read not that Christ told 'em who they were And shall those who were acquainted upon Earth and helped one another to Heaven utterly forget and lose the Remembrance of any such thing Now we may allow in that State all that Knowledge which is Cumulative and Perfective whatsoever may enlarge and heighten our Felicity and Satisfaction as this must needs be allowed to do as I shall yet further prove from Reason Scripture and the common Voice of the understanding part of Mankind and in this Point they are all in perfect Harmony and unitedly concurr together to give us all desirable Satisfaction in so agreeable a Curiosity For tho the Immortality of the Soul has been questioned by some Old and New Scepticks and in direct Terms oppugned by some antient Epicureans and is still so by too many baptized Infidels who are not ashamed to oppose their senceless Banters against it Notwithstanding Christ by his Triumphant Resurrection and Appearance from the Dead has abolished Death clear'd all Doubts concerning the supposed Dissolution of the Soul I say tho there have been many that have denied the Souls Immortality yet none have granted it to be Immortal but have believ'd withal that Its Memory survived with it as one of its chief Faculties and so essential to it that as the Soul is the Life of the Body so the Memory was ever justly esteem'd to be the Life of the Soul without which it not having any remaining Sense of its past Actions wou'd be no better than dead whilst alive and be no more than the Soul of an Insensitive Plant or Tree even in this Life if we look back to the Years of Childhood and Infancy we find the Will and Unstanding to act but little till the Memory be vigorous enough to assist them and afterwards shou'd not this Faculty keep a Faithful Register of every remarkable thingâ— they do all they had done would be insignificant and lost in the Air and the Soul it self wou'd be an idle useless thing in Nature and less valuable than the meanest Particle of Matter which is not without its Use in the Fabrick of the World And such Dunces are we that we have not yet attained a perfect Vnderstâ—â—ding of the smallest Flower and why the Grass shou'd rather be Green than Red. How many Curiosities be framed by the least Creatures of Nature unto which the Wit of Man doth not attain and what is all we know compared with what we know not * But more of this in my Essay on the Works of Creation Nay without Memory there cou'd be no Principles of Knowledge fixed in the Mind and much less any Conclusions cou'd be drawn from them or if drawn cou'd they be treasured up for use There cou'd be no Knowledge no Arts or Sciences no studying Philosophy with Cloris or learning French with Daphne nor so much as any Mechanick Trades tho of greatest Necessity exercised No Observations no Experiences cou'd be made and there cou'd be no such thing in Nature as Wisdom Prudence or indeed common Sense and Discretion to guide Men in their Actions There cou'd be no Societies no Kingdoms erected or maintain'd and it wou'd be to no more purpose to set up Courts of Judicature over Men than over so many Flocks of Cattle or rather over so many Herds of Wolves and Tygers since both the Judges and the Judged wou'd be in a worse State than that of Beasts who are not without some share of Memory and are accounted by so much the more perfect in their Kind the more Ready and Quick they are observ'd to be in exercising their Reminiscence Memory is the Seat of Conscience the Guide of unexperienced Reason the Mother of all Practical and Vseful Knowledge and the Grounds of all Judicatures both in this World and that to come Since therefore Memory is so necessary in this Life it must needs be so in another and this all that have taught a future State have always taught and believed so the old Druids of Gaul and Britain so the antient Egyptian and Babylonian Sages and Indian Brachmans held that Soul 's not only retain'd in their separate State The Memory of all their past Actions and knew again distinctly their former Friends and Enemies but that they carry'd out of the World with them the very same Inclinations they had here of this Judgment also were the Latin and Greek Poets who were the Divines and their Writings the Scriptures of the Heathen and who had their Doctrine from those Eastern Nations as you may see in a Summary of their Opinions in Virgil 's Description of Elysium For those very Heathens cou'd easily see by the very Light of Nature that 't would be very idle and impertinent to assert the Soul Immortal without affirming Her Essential Faculties and particularly Her Memory to remain and that as 't would be nonsensical to summon before any Court of Justice on Earth a Man without Wits or Memory so 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 Remembrance of Seneca
tho a Heathen cou'd say My * Habui enim illos tanquam amissurus amisi tanquam habeam Senec. Ep. 63. Thoughts of the Dead are not as others are I have fair 〈◊〉 pleasant Apprehensions of â—heâ— for I enjoyed them as one that reckoned I must part with them and I part with them as one that makes account to have them Those great Witts though following the Dim Lamp of Nature yet were in the right so far that they thought as we Christians do that this Life was but a State of Probation for another and that the other Life was to be the State of Reward or Punishment for the Actions of this accordingly in all their Discourses of a Future State we find their Poets always describing proper Cells allotted to every sort of offenders and peculiar Punishments awarded to every particular sort of Crime and on the other side peculiar Mansions and Pleasures allotted to every Rank of Heroes according to the Degrees and Species of Vertue they did excel in whilest on Earth And indeed how can a Future-State be Imagined to be â—ounded on any thing else but a perfect Remembrance of all passages in this Life For the very Individuality of our Soul Consists in Memory and therefore if that perishes the Soul perishes too of Consequence For 't is not my thinking or understanding or willing that makes my Soul to be a particular Individual Soul distinct from others but 't is Remâ—mbering and Reflecting that I that think now am the same Soul that thought so and so an hour ago and not another 't is that that chiefly makes me an Individual 'T is the Conscience or Memory we have planted in us of good and bad Actions drawing along with it by main force our own Judgments to censure or approve us that is the great Evidence of another Life 'T is this Conscience that tells us this Life is but the way to another If Memory and Conscience then be so necessary in this Life now can we â—â—ppose that God wou'd continue the Soul in Bâ—ing after ' its seperation from the Body and much less joyn it afterward to it again at the Resurrection if Memory above all things were not to be preserved for if God shou'd continue our Souls in another Life without preserving in them the Remembrance of the passages of this it wou'd be the same thing as if he Created new Souls and not gave us the same again Nay they wou'd not be the same because their Individuality being lost they wou'd not differ from New Beings and then all the Actions of the past Life being totally forgot that Life wou'd be in vain and as if it had never been and the Grounds of Reward and Punishment in another State wou'd fall to the ground and it wou'd seem unjust to Condemn or Recompence men for things they cou'd not be sensible they ever did or performed Besides it wou'd be still more absurd to suppose A Resurrection from the Dead for the main Reason of the Bodies being restored to their several Souls being that the Souls may visibly receive the Recompence of what they have done in their Bodys and that their Bodys may share with them in the final Doom allotted to their Souls as they have shared with them in the Actions upon which it is awarded How cou'd this with any Congruity to the Wisdom and Justice of God be executed if all Memory of Actions done in the Bodâ— were after Death to cease The Aâ—lwise Pr vidence is not capable of doing any thâ—ng so vain and so absurd as this No we are not plac'd in this World but for some great end and what other end is worthy of us or of our Creator than that we may be â—â—â—d here to serve him in a better Life hereafter which Future State is to be regulated accordiâ—g to the Records taken of our Actions in this So that 't is certain my Dear Ignotus that nothing we do here shall be forgotten but be exactly Registered both in our Consciences below and in Heaven above and that our Memory â—ill be so far from being destroy ' d by our Bodily Death that it will awake up a much more exact quick and lively Faculty than heretofore For our Saviour tells the Wicked That the Worm of Conscience whose seat is chiefly in the Memory shall never dye Mark 9.44 but always torment them with the dreadful Remembrance of the particular offences they have committed and that it shall be reserved as Gods-Book in which all their Wickedness shall be set in order before them Psal 51.3 and that so exactly that men shall be obliged to answer not only for the smallest actions but even for every idle Word Mat. 12.36 And when Abraham answers Dives he appeals to his Memory Son remember says he that thou in thy Life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things Luke 16.25 In this Parable of the miserable Epecure and the happy Beggar as Mr. Boyle observes The Father of the Faithful is represented as knowing not only the Person and present condition but past story of Lazarus So that the case is plain that though we know not the nature of that abode into which the Soul passes after Death Yet that 't is certain that our Souls will then preserve the facultys that are Natural to 'em viz. To understand to will to remember As 't is represented to us in the fore mention'd Parable 'T is true as I hinted before We little know how the People of the disembodyed Societys Act and will and understand and therefore I e'en long to know it What Conception can I have of a separated Soul says a late Writer but that 't is all Thought And that at the Resurrection all men whether good or bad shall be restored with all their Sences and Facultys they shall see hear feel and above all Remember all things and in such manner as may give them the most Pleasure or Pain they in their Blest or Curst estate shall be capable of 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 possible all their Sences and Facultys will be lively and quick in affecting them with the most vigorous Impressions of Torment or Delight If then in order to give so exact and minute Account as we must do at the last Judgment our Memory will re-mind us of our smallest Actions and most rivilous Words then it evidently follows that we shall no â—ess exactly know and remember all those particular Persons too we ever Conversed with either in good or evil For when Men shall be Examined about the Good or Evil of such or such a particular Action or Expression it will be a great Aggravation of their Guilt or Inhancement of their Vertue to be made to consider to or with what particular Persons they did such a thing or to whom they uttered such and such a Word
Querists then deeply in Love with a fine (a) T was the Ingenious Daphne who I have Reason to think is dead Woman whether if she died first he shou'd know her again in Heaven their Answer was We must first enquire whether we shall so much as know one another there if not we doubt Lovers Souls will be in the same Case with others unless they make use of Mr. Dryden 's Expedient and wear Inscriptions to distinguish 'em * See Mr. Dryden's Tyrannick Love Tho we must confess our Judgment is for the Affirmative as we think we have formerly declared it and that separate Souls shall know each other at least glorified Saints when perfect in Heaven because their Knowledge wou'd be imperfect if they shou'd not and that in relation to such Objects as wou'd conduce to the Addition and Perfection of their Happiness as well as the Glory of him who chiefly makes it because the Societâ— of Saints in Glory is by all granted to be one of the Blisses of Heaven but Society without knowledge can't be easily conceiv'd Because we shall be then like the Angels who we are sure know each other and whom we believe indued with all Knowledge they are capable of as they seem to be of all but what is Infinite Because otherwise we shou'd be less perfect than we are upon Earth Because if there be any thing of Humanity left and the Essentials will still remain it seems congruous to suppose we shan't be without what we shou'd think wou'd conduce so much to our Happiness as to see our Friends partake thereof Because there are no valuable Objections against it that of Abraham 's being ignorant of us and St. Paul ' s knowing no Man after the Flesh relating plainly to our State in this World And lastly because it seems agreeable to the Divine Equity that the Obligations of Gratitude shou'd never cease but last even to the other World we mean such real Obligations as the Effects of 'em are Eternal such as make us more Virtuous and Holy and such especially as bring us to Heaven and if they last so long how can they be acknowledged and repay'd unless we know those who conferr'd 'em Not withstanding which lower degree of Happiness the â—nfinite Being may be still All in All and we may in a the rest only Admire and Love the Expressions or Emanations of his Goodness Thus far the Athenians to which I shall add the Opinion of Martin Luther It being propounded as a doubt to Martin Luther Chemnit Harmon Evang. cap. 87. a little before his Death-bed Whether Glorified Saints should have mutual Knowledge of each other He thus resolved his Friends That as Adam knew his Wife in Paradise when she was first presented to him for he asked not what she was or whence she came but saith she was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone Among those transcendent desires which issue from our Natures this is one that those Acquaintances which were vertuously begun on Earth may be renewed and perfected in Heaven This desire was once of so great Authority that former Ages had respect unto it for when they found it easier to overcome aâ—l other terrorâ— of Death then that one of an everlasting absence from a Friend they were careful to chear a departing Soul by assuring it that the happiness of the other World next to the Contemplation of the Divine Nature consisted in the gaining of new and the indissoluble recovery of old acquaintance Our Creed moreover calls upon us to believe a Communion of Saints which if it be a matter of our Faith here it must be an object of our Knowledge hereafter if we must believe that there are some who sincerely communicate with us in the Faith in this Life then we shall hereafter clearly know who were our Fellow-Members in that Communion and as Faith it self shall be done away by Evidence so shall that Communion which is here by Faith be hereafter perfected by that Communion which â—hall be by Vision Besides I may add If the Soul may carry with it a sociable Inclination then may it for the Use and Exercise of this Desire be admitted to the Knowledge of other Souls and of those especially with whom it had sojourned on Earth that like Fellow-travellers who have been equally afflicted with the Difficulties of the way they may thenceforth interchangeably communicate their Joys springing from their present Rest and Peace But the nearest Instance is his who best cou'd give it having been there himself Luke 13.28 distinctly ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out Now if the Damned can at sight know the Blessed as I afterwards prove can it be supposed that Abraham c. cannot distinctly know each other yea from the Highest to the lowest from Abraham to Lazarus and not only so but of what Country soever as from the East from the West from the North and from the South as the 29th Verse * As was mentioned before in Page 18. intimates and in Matth. 25.32 't is said All Nations shall be gathered as a Shepherd who knows his Sheep and Verse 40. they knew one another because he says In as much as ye have relieved the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me and the Damned shall be told they did not relieve any the least of these as his Brethren and shall therefore be thrust out Object 1. But it may be said that in our Vnion unto God shall be supplied all imaginable Contents and that the Souls of the Blessed shall be held in so great Admiration as that they cannot admit the mixture of any second or less Joy Resp Though this Opinion seems specious and agreeable to Reason yet we must consider that as in the Divine Nature we admit no useless Attributes so likewise in the Humane we must either say it hath no aptness Eternally to desire or rejoyce in the good of another which a sociable Nature inwardly abhorreth or else we must allow it an Object whereon to practice its endless Love and Joy This Love we conceive shall be the perfection of that Desire which was begun on Earth but always mixt with Fear and Jealousie and this Joy we believe shall succeed in the place of that Condolency and Compassion which on Earth we sustained one for another This Love therefore and this Joy must have such an Object as was once the subject of our Fear and Compassion which cannot be either God or Angels but a Creature only of the same Nature and Condition with us Object 2. But it may be feared that our Knowledge of one another and our mutual delight in each other may beget some Interruptions in our Vnion with God Sol. This fear I think will vanish so soon as we consider that it is the same Beauty which we behold in God and love in the Creature though
much more Perfection though 't is probable as I hinted before not Cloathed with so much matter as we now carry about with us All Divines generally agree that Infants and Deformed Persons shall be perfect in Heaven and rise about the Age of Thirty or our Saviours Age at his Resurrection wâ—â—ch was Thirty-Three Lazarus his Body shall be then Beautiful Samson shall then have his Eyes which the Philistines pulled out Mephibosheth shall not be Lame in Heaven there shall be no imperfection in a Glorified Body All which laid together renders our knowledge of each other in Heaven very unlikely Then by the by who 'd be affraid of Death or quake tho his Grave were digging seeing 't is but Gods Refining-Pot wherein he shews his Power and Wisdom in changing our Vile-Bodies and fashoning them like unto his Glorious-Body Phil. 3.21 From which 't is plain That as Iron when it is heated in the Fire it appears nothing else but firey So in Heâ—ven we shall not be able to see the Body for the Glory thereof Then pray Philaret as was said before How can we distinguish this Saint from that or be able to know one Friend from another To this I Answer That I can't deny but there are some Latent Faculties in the Soul that while we are under Confinement to Body can't operate but will when we are fteed from this Body exert themselves with full vigour but the new and extraordinary Actings of these Latent Faculties will be no obstacle to our knowing our Friends again for when we come to Heaven all our Senses and Faculties shall be inlarged that we shall see God Himself not in dark shadows but as He is 1 John 3.2 and we shall see all things in Him no more by outward Appearances but in their very Substances our Bodies as was hinted in the Objection shall be Transparent and Glorious and then as we shall be like Angels in almost all things else so like them too we shall see into one anothers very Souls The Sight of Spirits is unprescrib'd by space What see they not who see the Eternal Face See Mr. Foe 's Charact. of Dr. Annesley Whether this Knowledge shall be by the glorified Eyes discerning any Lineaments or property of Individuation remaining upon the glorified Bodies of our Relations Or whether it shall be by Immediate Revelation as Adam knew his Wife or as Peter James and John knew Moses and Elias in the Mount As it is difficult to determine so it is needless to puzzle our selves about it For as a worthy (a) Mr. Flavel Divine observes though the Saints shou'd not be rais'd with the same Features of Body as before they had â—et being râ—is'd with the same Perâ—ections of Mind and the same Inclinations though exalted to a much higher degree that so Charm'd us on Earth we shou'd soon distinguish one Saint from another and with Infinite Pleasure renew the Remembrance of our Old Acquaintance Add to this that we shall then enjoy the Spirit of God in so great a Measure that it will let us be ignorant of nothing forgetful of nothing the Knowledge or Remembrance of which may contribute any thing to heighten or increase our Happiness He is not unequal in his Dealings He will not remind the Wicked of their smallest ill Actions most trivial idle Words and of their Companions in Sin for the just Augmentation of their Torment and suffer his Saints to lose the Pleasure of knowing again and remembring their old Friends and Companions in Vertue and in all the mutuul Delights of an endearing Conversation No he will have our Joys augmented by all things Persons and Circumstances that can possibly conduce thereto and wou'd not command and encourage us so much to Commence a Vertuous Love with our Brother-Saints on Earth unless he designed it shou'd be renewed continued and rendred more compleat in Heaven Therefore though all Saints shall universally and dearly Love one another as common Friends to God and one another yet according to the more particular intimacies we have had with any Persons on Earth founded on Piety Vertue and the Love of God himself The Renewal of our Converse with them as I have already and shall afterwards shew shall have without doubt its particular grateful Relishes above that which we shall entertain with other Saints to whom as they enjoy the same Priviledges themselves these peculiar Friendships shall give no manner of Jealousie or Distaste Thus Ignotus have I Answer'd the chief Objections against knowing our Friends in Heaven and also proved That though we shou'd not be raised with the same Features we had on Earth yet that there be many other ways by which 't is certain that in a glorified State we shall know one another and that Vertuous Charmer who first gave us to one another I call it so seeing there 's a Marriage of Minds as well as Bodies and thence it follows that our three Souls must needs seek the Enjoyment of each other in Heaven and Love one another here as they 'l do hereafter by a Secret Sympathy But to leave none unsatisfied in this Comfortable Doctrine of Knowing our Friends in Heaven I shall further add That 't is an undoubted Truth that we shall all be raised with the very same Bodies again we lived in here bating that Deformity and grossness of Matter which as I have proved shall be taken away and with all the same natural Features that are necessary to distinguish them to be the same Bodies for otherwise they cannot be the same in a proper Sense and in such a Sense that the Scriptures intend they shou'd be understood the same and therefore Ignotus I do not much trouble my self about the manner of my Burial or to which of the Elements I shall commit my Carkass I Envy not the Funeral-State of great Men neither do I covet the Embalming of the Egyptians I wonder at the Fancy of those who desire to be Imprisoned in Leaden-Coffins 'till the Resurrection and to protract the Corruption of their Flesh out of which they shall be Generated de novo as if they dreamt of rising whole as they lay down and carrying Flesh and Blood into the Kingdom of Heaven without a Change The Natives of Ganges (a) Ovington 's new Voyage to Surat p. 381. when weary of Life by Sickness or old Age committed their Bodies to be devoured by the Dog-fish as the safest Passage to their Future Felicity But I am not of their Opinion but am contented to undergo the tedious Conversation of Worms and Serpents those greedy Tenants of the Grave who will never be satisfied 'till they have eat up the Ground-Landlord I do not puzzle my self with projecting how my scatter'd Ashes shall be collected together provided they are mingled with Eliza's 't is all I desire neither do I for that Reason take Care for an Vrn to enclose them I am satisfied that at the last Trump I shall rise with
the same Individual Body I now carry about me tho there may not then be one of the same Individual Atomes to make it up which are its present Ingredients For neither are they the same now as they were 20 Years ago Yet I may be properly said to have the same Individual Body at this Hour which my Mother brought forth into the World tho it is manifest that there is so vast an Accession of other Particles since that time as are enough to make ten such Bodies as I had then which implys such a perpetual Flux of the former as 't would be a Solaecism in Philosophy to think I have one of my Infant Atomes now left about me if after all this I may be still said to have the same Individual Body as I had then tho there be not one of the same Individual Atomes left in its Composition why may we not assert the same of the Bodies we shall have after the Resurrection Matter is one and the same in all Bodies the Individuation of it the Meum and Tuum proceeds only from the Infinitely different Forms which actuate it Thus when my Soul at the Resurrection by the Power of God and Assistance of Angels shall be Reinvested with a Body it is proper to say it will be the same Individual Body I have now tho made up of Atomes which never before were Ingredients of my Composition since not the Matter but the Form gives a Title to Individuation Moreover That the same Bodies shall rise that died Job plainly asserts Job 19.26 27. And tho after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another tho my Reins be consumed within me The same Body says a late Author which was so pleasant a Spectacle to thee shall be restor'd again Flavel yea the same Numerically as well as the same Specifically so that it shall not only be the what it was but the who he was These Eyes shall behold him and not another Job 19.27 c. So that if I get to Heaven I shall only want that poor Contemptible Clod of Earth that Body of Clay which altho now Corruptible Mouldring in its Bed of Dust yet I do believe it shall rise a Glorious Body And tho after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God in this hope of seeing God and meeting my Friends Ignotus Cloris and the scarce dearer Eliza I willingly commit my Body to the Dust It is a great Comfort * See Mr. Mead's Sermon preached upon the Death of Mr. Tim. Cruso under the loss of the Faithful Ministers of Christ and of Godly Relations and Friends for they are not lost for ever the Spirit of God hath the Care of them and he 'll quicken them again and therefore we may say with Martha when her Brother was dead I (a) Matth. 11.14 know that he shall rise again at the Resurrection you shall see them again and enjoy them again and that in a better manner than ever Now as this Author adds how wou'd the Belief of this Truth relieve and comfort against such Thoughts as these If I die (b) Rev. 14.13 1 Thes 4.14 I die in the Lord. Death is but a Sleep and I sleep in Jesus 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 Vnion to the Spirit can't rot and therefore farewell my Flesh while I go into the immediate Blissful Presence of God go thou to Bed in the Dust I commit thee into the Arms of the Spirit and do willingly leave thee in that Union till he sees good to raise thee and bring us together again I beg of God therefore with this Author (c) P. 29. that whenever I die I may die in this Faith that my Soul shall immediately enter into the full Fruition of God And that my Body shall lie down in the Dust in an Everlasting Vnion to the Spirit of God who will at last quicken (d) 1 Thess 4.18 it because he dwells in it for if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the Dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken our Mortal Bodies by his Spirits that dwelleth in us wherefore comfort ye one another with these Words Such Thoughts as these will give as this Author calls his Sermon Comfort in Death and render the Horrors of the Grave less Affrighting and Dreadful Then let us not look on our departed Friends as a lost Generation think not that Death hath annihilated and utterly destroy'd them Oh! no they are not dead but only asleep And if they sleep they shall awake again we don't use to lament for our Wives and Children when we find them asleep upon their Beds Why Death says a late Author is but a longer sleep Flavel out of which they shall as surely awake as ever they did in the Morning in this World 'T is a Saying of the witty Overbury No Man goes to Bed till he dies nor wakes till the Resurrection and therefore good Night to you here and good morrow hereafter The very same Body you laid or are now to lay in the Grave shall be restored again Thou shalt find thy own Husband Wife or Child c. again I say the self same and not another And as you shall see the same Person that was so dear to you so you shall know them to be the same that were once endeared to you on Earth in so near a Tye of Relation For that they shall rise with Features to be distinguish'd is evident as is mention'd elsewhere by the Appearance of Moses and Elias to the Apostles of Dives's knowing Lazarus and Abraham and they knowing him again By the Example of those Saints that arose after Christ's Resurrection and went into the Hoy City Matth. 27. and appear'd to many there who must needs know by their Shapes who they were else could not they have pronounced them to be Saints and such who were known to have slept and have been before Dead and Bury'd And lastly to leave no room for doubting in this matter 't is evident to all that believe the Gospel that our Saviour the first Fruits from the Dead and after the Image of whom all the Bodies of the deceased Saints will be raised was raised with the self-same Body and with the same Features he was crucified with And therefore to question that ours shall be so too is but a dangerous Scrupulosity since it deprives us of one of the Means by which we may know our Friends again which I esteem one of the greatest Comforts next to those immediately resulting from the Vision of God himself we can meet with in Heaven and which is mention'd by St. Paul as I hinted before as one of the best Remedies against
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