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
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
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
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
tho I can bear long can't bear (b) The Protestant Mercury Feb. 23. 1897 tells us that an Ale-draper near Barnet having the continual plague of a Scolding Wife cut his own Throat last Sunday chusing rather to destroy himself than to live with such a Contentious Woman always I hope you 'd send some stout Angel to tame her I know you will if you can but if not permitted the Lord give me Patience and when overwhelmed lead me to the Rock that is higher than I Psal 61.2 But methinks I hear thee reply why Phil. are you averse to a second Marriage for suppose you shou'd meet with a Brawling Zantippe where you expected a kind Wife yet you know Disappointments are good sometimes besides 't is your own fault If which Socrates You don't learn more by a Scolding Wife than by all the precepts of Philosophy Consider Phil. no man had all he desired in this Life then if you marry again as I desired you wou'd on my Death-bed whether Spouse be good or bad In that state be happy and rejoyce Which either is thy fate or was thy choice If your Wife be good you 'll be ready to follow this advice but if bad consider 1. That God hath a special hand in this Affliction he made the Match in Heaven before it was made on Earth and therefore is to be eyed in all the consequences that attend 2. Consider tho this be a sharp Trial yet it is for good where it is sanctified a Furious Wife perhaps may drive you nearer to God wean you from the World keep you humble and learn you to be pitiful to others Again consider That tho this Cross be heavy yet Patience and contentedness will make it lighter the more the Beast strives the more the Yoke pinches him the more quiet he is the less it hurts him If this don't quiet your mind then consider in the next place that Death will soon put an end to this Cross it won't be long before you must come to your Dear Eliza the thoughts of which I 'm very sure will make death welcome to Phil. and support him under all vexations But if it does not consider in the last place you may ease your mind with thinking all is righteously ordered by God and therefore all must be contentedly undergone by you Read Dr. Jacmob's (a) In the supplement to the Morning Exercise Sermon 'tas given your Eliza great Relief and there you 'l find how Christians may learn in every state to be content Answ This is kind advice My Dear and all of a piece with thy former love but shou'd I marry a Vixen after such a Wife as thou wert I should scarce go further to seek a Grave 'T is true I have heard of those that have weathered such a Point as this that cou'd laugh faster than their Wives scolded and that under all their GRINS cou'd fit like Patience smiling at Grief and by this conquest of themselves got the Victory but I am no Stoick and much fear tho the Heart is a tough thing that I shou'd sink under such a Plague not but I have more to support me under such a Vexation than some I know for it could not but be a very great satisfaction to me that I attempted as to be sure I should to make a good Wife of a bad one for this is to do my duty which is its own reward and the best preservative against murmuring repining and dispair and perhaps a presage that God would cut down the Crab-tree or change its Qualities and as it was in Job's case make the latter end of my life more happy than the former And who knows my Dear but the Sun that sets may rise again and there may be one opportunity more of making happy your mournful Spouse who lives if he lives now you are dead on nought but Hopes And none can be unhappy who ' Mongst all his Ilâ—s a Time does know Tho' nere so ill when he shall not be so But I am weary of this Subject as much as I shou'd be of a continual dropping in a very rainy day to which Solomon compares a contentious Woman for I am satisfied that it is better to dwelt on a House top alone than in the finest Palace with such a Companion Prov. 21.9 But my Dear Eliza fully Answers Solomon's Character in the 30th of Proverbs and has had no Equal since the World began If any come near thee 't is the witty Cloris mentioned in this Essay but shee s an Angel grown and won't be tied to a Clod of Earth or if she wou'd I 'se too much a Platonick to tell her Twice I am flesh and blood no my Dear tho the Reverend Plenipotentiary that appeared once is generous enough to appear twice yet now you are gone I can easily part with every thing my leave now is soon taken of all but my self never did any man bid adieu to the World more absolutely and purely and shake hands with all Women in it than I can do now thou art dead I love Eliza ' cause she pleases me And therefore only pleases ' cause 't is she But I need not bring Arguments to prove I love you seeing your charity for me whilst on Earth made you say I out-lov'd every thing and your self to Excess as you exprest it if such a thing could be 'tween Man and Wife But so much for Love and Wedlock first and second Marriages I now return to the further contemplation of thy Vertues Thy Early Piety was nothing abated by thy Married Life and to convince the World thou really wert that extraordinary Wife hereafter described I 'le insert here what I find in one of thy Diaries it being the Rules you Writ whilst a Virgin and which you punctually observed for the whole time I was married to you Your words were these viz. What I intend to do if it please God to bring me into a Married State FOr the Choice of a Husband his Person shall be such as I can entirely love and delight in His Humour as near as I can judge suitable to mine so that we may delight in each others Company I would not have him Hasty nor Passionate no not to others A Competency of Estate so that we may live and not be beholding to Friends is all I desire For I do not nor never did reckon that the Comforts of ones Life will or doth consist in having abundance of the World I would chiefly and above all have one that doth truly fear God not only a Professor but one that is seriously Godly and whose chief Delight is as near as I can judge and learn by others in the things of God I will if I can possibly have my Judgment go before my Affection in the Choice of a Husband If it please God my Parents live to see me married I will not entertain any Discourse with any that I intend to marry without their consent and liking
should know him in the second Life For the first he hits upon the sweetest and most soveraign Comfort which could possibly be imagined You can by no means saith he think your self desolate who enjoy the Presence and Possession of Jesus Christ in the inmost Closet of your Heart by Faith About the other he answers Pâ—â—emptorily This thy Husband by whose decease thou art called a Widow shall be most known unto thee And tells her further that there shall be no stranger in Heaven c. And Bullinger on his Death-bed said to his Friends and Relations then standing by him I exceedingly rejoyce that I am leaving this miserable and corrupt Age to go to my Saviour Christ Socrates said he was glad when his Death approached because he thought he should go to Hesiod Homer and other Learned Men deceased and whom he expected to meet in the other World then how much more do I joy who am sure that I shall see my Saviour Christ the Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and all Holy Men which have lived from the beginning of the World These I say I am sure to see and to partake with them in Joys why then should I not be willing to dye to enjoy their perpetual Society in Glory and having said thus he patiently resigned up his Spirit into the hands of his Redeemer The knowing our Friends in Heaven has also been the support of the Christians of this Age. * See the Account of her Life Published by her Husband Mrs. Lucy Perrot on her Death-bed said thus to her Husband God hath been a long while weaning thee from me we must part but we shall after a while meet again She farther adds I am going home to my Fathers House where are my dear Children will they not follow after me to Heaven Being asked again whether she was not afraid to dye she replied I am not I do not look upon Death singly but at it brings me to Rest I must go through the dark Entry before I can get to my first Husband Bishop Atherton died saying to his Friends I dread not Death God send us an happy meeting in Heaven I am but going before you And in his Letter to his Wife he has these words My dear Wife tho we part in this World yet I hope we shall enjoy a more happy meeting in Heaven Mr. William Hewling said to his Sister before his Death When I went to Holland you knew not what snares sins and miserys I might fall into or whether ever we should meet again But now 't was spoke just before his Execution you know whither I am going and that we shall certainly have a most Joyful meeting And one taking leave of him he said Farewell till we meet in Heaven To another that was by him to the last he said Pray Remember my Dear Love to my Brother and Sister and tell them I desire they would comfort themselves that I am gone to Christ and we shall quickly meet in the Glorious Mount Sion above And Mr. Benjamin Hewling in his last Letter to his Mother has this Expression The Lord carry you through this vale of Tears with a resigning submissive Spirit and at last bring you to Himself in Glory where I question not but you will meet your dying Son Ben. Hewling Mr. William Jenkins in his Letter to his Mother has this Expression Honoured Mother I take leave of you also hoping that I shall again meet with you in that place of happiness where all Tears shall be wiped away from our Eyes and we shall Sorrow no more And in his Letter to his Sister Scot he says Farewell till we shall meet again in Glory and never be seperated more Mr. Eliot of New-England dyed asserting he should know his Friends in Heaven which made him often say that the old Saints of his Acquaintance especially those two dearest Neighbours of his Cotton of Boston and Mather of Dorchester who were got safe to Heaven before him would suspect him to be gone the wrong way because he staid to long behind them but they are now together adds the Author of his Life with the Blessed Jesus beholding of his Glory and Celebrating the High Praises of him that has called them into His marvellous Light whether Heaven was any more Heaven to him continues this Author because of his finding there so many Saints with whom he once had his Celestial Intimacies yea and so many Saints which had been the Seals of his own Ministry in this lower World I cannot say but in that Heaven I now leave him but not without Grynaeus Pathetical Exclamations Blessed will be the day oh Blessed the day of our arrival to the Glorious Assembly of Spirits which this great Saint is now rejoycing with Some months before Mr. Eliot died he would often tell us that he was shortly going to Heaven and that he would carry a deal of good news thither with him He said he would carry Tydings to the Old Founders of New-England which were now in Glory that Church-work was yet carried on among us that the number of our Churches were continually encreasing and that the Churches were still kept as big as they were by the daily Additions of those that shall be saved and thus dy'd The first Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in America in a firm belief that he should meet and know his Friendâ— in Heaven I shall next add thâ— words of Bp. * See Ar. Bp. Tillotson's Ser. on Phil. 3. v. 20. Tillotson who tells us when we come to Heaven we shall enter into the Society of the Blessed Angels and of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect we shall then meet with all those Excellent Persons those brave Minds those Innocent and Charitable Souls whom we have seen and heard and Read of in this World There we shall meet with many of our dear Relations and intimate Friends and perhaps with many of our Enemys to whom we shall then be perfectly reconciled for Heaven is a State of perfect Love and Friendship there will be nothing but kindness and good nature there and all the prudent Arts of Endearment and wise ways of rendring Conveâ—sation mutually pleasant to one another Mâ— dear Ignotus I need not add a greater Authority then the Assertion of this Great and Learned Prelate to prove we shall know one another in Heaven But to come yet nearer home I might have added to my one self For I instance in one that I Love as well 'T was the Opinion of this Friend I mean of my dear departed That she should know me again in Heaven the thoughts whereof gave her comfort on her Death-bed for when her approaching end gave me a deeper Sorrow than before she endeavour'd to solace me by saying 'T is true my dear Tho I desire to live for thy sake and nothing else tho I have all the World in having thee and had rather die than thou should'st be sick yet don't be so
minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation If a Diagoras when he saw his three Sons crowned in one day at the Olympick Games as Victors died away while he was embracing them for Joy and good old Simeon when he saw Christ but in a Body subject to the Infirmities of our Natures and had him in his Arms cried out Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace for my Eyes have seen thy Salvation Luk. 2.29 What unspeakable Joy will it be to see all our Christian Friends to whom we have been instrumental in their new Birth and Regeneration all crown'd in one day with an Everlasting Diadem of Bliss which never shall decay there shall be no Hypocrite then for us to loose our Love upon which is now the great Cooler of our Friendship and keeps our Affections in a greater Reserve When the Glorious Angels begin their Hallelujahs the Saints shall also joyn in one common Quire They shall be joyful in Glory and sing aloud upon their Everlasting Beds of Rest Psal 149.5 Oh how the Arches of Heaven will eccho when the High Praises of God shall be in the Mouths of such a Congregation With what Life Alacrity will the Saints in their blessed Communion celebrate the Object of their * See D. Bates's Four Last Things Love and Praises The Seraphims about the Throne cryed to one another to express their Zeal and Joy in celebrating his Eternal Purity and Power and the Glory of his Goodness O the unspeakable Pleasure of this Concert when every Soul is harmonious and contributes his part to the full Musick of Heaven O could we hear but some Eccho of those Songs wherewith the Heaven of Heavens resounds some remains of those Voices wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises of God c. For Angels and Saints to make one Consort of Praise to God what Musick will that be So that the thoughts of leaving my dear Priends and Acquaintance shall never sadden me more since they shall all follow me e're long and be ever with the Lord to enjoy each other in the Lord in a more Triumphant way than now we can and for these few Friends left behind for the present I shall enjoy an innumerable Company of Blessed Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect and all such Godly Friends as died in the Lord particularly my dear Eliza whose Departure for the present seem'd to rend a piece of my Soul with her These I shall all meet again and never part more How oft have I measured a long and foul Journey to see some Good Friend and digested the Tediousness of the Way with the Expectation of a kind Entertainment and the thought of that Complacency which I should take in so dear Presence And yet perhaps when I have arrived I have found the House disorder'd one Sick another disquieted my self indisposed then with what chearful Resolution should I undertake my last Voyage where I shall meet with my best Friends and find them perfectly happy and my self with them And therefore Phil. will no longer think himself a Stranger to all the Spirits of the Just now in Heaven seeing Eliza and half my Kindred are now there and many others that I 've sometimes formerly had sweet Fellowship with in the Ordinances of the Gospel If I shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom surely I shall know them to be such Besides their Natures in Heaven are all perfectly Gracious and Holy and I shall be like them and we shall know each other to be so And what shiness can there possible be among such who are satisfied in each others sincere Love and Affection Thou mayest Ignotus be acquainted with a thousand Saints and Angels in an Hours time as if thou hadst known 'em a Thousand Years we shall see them without any thing of Fear or Dread and be acquainted from themselves with their Offices on Earth There is no * See Dr. Patricks Parable of the Pilgrim Strangeness at all among them or the Saints you can meet with no Body there but they will entertain you with as much Kindness and Sincerity as if they had known you many Years When many come together in one place there is no danger of their Jarring by reason of their different Sentiments there they entwine in the dearest Embraces and study to encrease not to diminish their mutual Happiness If this be so poor Phil be not amazed at the great Change of Company at Death for as Dr. Preston said We shall change our Place but not our Company It is a pleasant * See Mr. Showers Discourse of Mourning for the Deed. Thought and proper to support under the Death of those we have honoured and lov'd and profited by on Earth to think that hereafter we shall meet and know several Ministers of Christ whose Preaching and Converse and Writings have been useful to us That we shall then meet and know several of our Holy Relations and Acquaintance with whom we were wont to walk together to the House of God and meet often at the Table of the Lord with whom we conferr'd about the Mysteries and Promises of the Gospel and many a time discours'd together of the Heavenly Inheritance believingly to foresee and consider that though they are gone before we shall meet 'em again at the last great Supper of the Lamb in the Celestial Kingdom Shall we thus know our Friends in Heaven then as Mr. Showers further advises I 'll resolve to have Communion with them though they are Departed by Contemplating what they are and where they are and what they do and what they possess and by Rejoyceing in their Blessedness more than I would have done for their Temporal Advancement in any kind on Earth I 'le desire and endeavour to be as like 'em as I can by imitating their Temper and Work above in the Love of God and the delightful thankful Praises of the Redeemer When I look up to Heaven I 'le think they are there when I think of Christ in Heaven I 'le remember they are part of his Family Above When I think with hope of entring into Heaven my self I 'le think with Joy of meeting Eliza and the rest of my Friends there Oh welcome welcome happy meeting with Christ and them Never more to Part never more to Mourn never more to Sin O happy Change O Blessed Society Fit me Lord for such a Day and Come Lord Jesus Come quickly Amen Thus you see this perswasion of a Restoration to a mutual knowledge of each other containeth great Advantages and Motives to a Godly Life for the fear of being Eternally divided from those I sincerely Love on Earth will draw me to an imitation of their Sanctity if herein they be Exemplary or give me the Courage to lead them into the way if their Course be irregular and exorbitant For those who unfeignedly desire to meet at the Journeys end will study
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
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