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 Stationer's Hall, 1698.   

THE Dedication, To the Memory of Dear Eliza.  
THese Mournful Lines (my dear Eliza) were Writ o'er thy Grave (whilst I was a Widower) and are now Dedicated to thy Pious Name, as a Memorial of our Constant Love. As for the— Essay— Annexed, 'twas 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. 'Tis no wonder that Phil. who Loved thee so much on Earth, should 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 loved 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 canst 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 complete 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 itself 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 myself at the same time with the remembrance of thy Virtues. Did Religion allow any Sacrifice to thy Shrine, or Adoration at thy Tomb, my headstrong 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' Discourses of Sickness and Recovery, p. 79.  reserved 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 'twas my frequent Wish, we might expire in each others Arms, that we might imitate herein the Mayor of Litomentias' Daughter; who leaping into the River where her Husband was drowned, 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 Locked in each others Arms, that 'twas hard to part them. Thus had Heaven seen it meet, that as we were United in our Life, we should not have been Divided in our Death; it would have perfumed 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 joined together, no Man must put asunder; yet when he that made the Union makes the Separation, there's no saying What dost 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 myself, and carry the Idea of thy Virtues constantly in my Mind, that I may do nothing unworthy of my better half, which is in Glory, as I have read was the Practice 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 enjoyed both Worlds in Dear Eliza; and were I to wed again (and this I speak after Ten Years Trial) I'd prefer thyself to the Richest Nymph (God saw thee most 
(a) This was the Posy of our Wedding Ring.  fit for me) and I could 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 itself you can die but half, whilst I am preserved. And though 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 Angelic Face,  
I shall behold the 
(a) Witness Her Ingenious Answers to the Letters I sent Her about the Miseries of Humane Life.  Matchless Daphne's Face:  
(And when, dear Friend, so near to Bliss you be,  
Remember Cloris, and remember me.)  
But could the Fair Eliza see me mourn,  
From that Blessed Place she would 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 every thing a sadder Look put on;  
Eliza's Dead, the loved Eliza's gone.  Philomelas' Poems. p. 53.  
What a melancholy 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, though they are quick. Vnderminers 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 graved thy Virtue so deep in my Breast, (as is seen in the following Essay, sent to our Friend Ignotus) that 'twill 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 would we cannot part; Death, 'tis true, may divide our Bodies, but nothing else, and scarce that: For (to use your Words, whilst alive) We may on Earth lawfully please ourselves with Hopes of meeting hereafter, and in lying in the same Grave, where we shall be happy together, if a senseless Happiness can be called so. But suppose Death should part our Bodies, yet we have Souls to be sure; and whilst they can meet and caress one another, we may enjoy each other, were we the length of the Map asunder.  
Thus we may double Bliss, stolen Love enjoy,  
And all the spite of Place and Friends defy:  
For ever thus we might each other bless,  
For none could trace out this new Happiness;  
No Argus here to spoil, or make it less.  
'Tis not (properly) Absence, when we can see one another, as to be sure we shall, though in a State of Separation.  
‛ For sight of Spirits is unprescribed by Space,  
‛ What see they not who see the Eternal Face?  Vid. P. 54. in the Essay. 
The Eyes of the Saints shall outsee the Sun, and behold without Perspective the extremest 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 could 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 than shall be the Perfection, whereof the Apostle saith, we Prophesy but in part, than the Imperfect shall be taken away. Wither this be so I cannot say (though you know who have shot the Gulf) yet sure I am that nothing can deprive me of the Enjoyment of thy Virtues, while I enjoy myself: Nay, I have sometimes made good use of my Separation from thee, we better filled, and farther extended the Possession of our Lives, in being parted, you lived, rejoiced, and saw for me, and I for you, as plainly, as if you had yourself 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 shows 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 though 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. 'Tis 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, though (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 (though I would) bestow. But Opinion is the rate of things; and if you think yourself happy, you are so. As to myself, I have met with more and greater Comforts in a Married State, than ever I did expect. But how could 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 (though of long Continuance) has been so Remarkably tender, that were it but known to the World, 'twould (once more) bring into Fashion men's 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 equalled. 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 shown itself to be like the Apple of the Eye, which is disturbed with the least Dust. But, my Dear, be concerned 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. Could 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 Union of our Souls▪ has been more dear to me than Life itself?—  
I shall only add my hearty Prayer, That God would bless you both in Soul and Body; and that when you die, you may be conveyed by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom; where I hope you'll find  
Your Constant E—  
This Letter shows what a Wife thou wert, and justifies this Address, but to show thy Piety was the same in Health as on a Sickbed, 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 myself, as Men do in a Dream, that they actually are in Possession of that which they admire; but when I come to myself 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 myself in the midst of Greater Pleasures than the Poets ever fancied in their Elysian 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 myself, nor to express my Grief.  
In the next place, when I think on the Sweets I enjoyed by thy Excellent Society, who didst prefer before all things the pleasing of God and thy Husband. I am unwilling to be diverted from such a delightful Subject of Contemplation, but like the Men in a Dream, who is pleased for a while with his fancied Enjoyment of things delicious to his Palate: Nature will not be so put off, though the Imagination may; but presently convinces him that his Enjoyment is but a Dream, and that his Body must needs have a more substantial Support; so my real Want of that Happiness, which I formerly enjoyed, quickly renews my Grief, and redoubles my Desires to be where thou art.  
Should it be my Fate to be engaged again in another Marriage, which my Inclinations are at present wholly averse from, because I think it utterly impossible for me ever to find such another as thyself, who wert a Meet-help for me of Gods own providing; but should it, I say, be my Fate to draw again in a Matrimonial Yoke, and meet with one of a Temper opposite to thine, I should look upon it as one of the Greatest Plagues that ever befell a Man, Yet this one Comfort, it should, in spite of ill Nature, afford me; that is to say, It would be a Foil to set off thy Virtue with so much the Greater justre; and as it is impossible for me ever to Race thy Idea out of my Soul, though God knows whether a Second Marriage, may not be made necessary for me by his Providence, as it is lawful for me by his Word; but if it should be so, it must necessarily be a piercing Grief to me, and that also more sensible than to another Man, if I should meet with one of a Cross Nature after one of thy Mild Temper; and though the Sense of my Duty will never suffer me to be unjust, yet Heaven will pardon me if I cannot express so much Kindness to her as I did to thee; for when a Man's House all on a sudden is turned from a Family of Love to a mere Billingsgate, it may be allowed to alter his Natural Temper (for a kind Wife makes a kind Husband) neither can such Alteration detract from his Kindness to his first Wife, or to a Third; should he marry so often, which will scarce be my Fate, my Design being to imitate the Primitive Widows, who would not hear of a Second Husband. If we look back into ancient Times we find there was hardly a Widow among the Primitive Christians that complained of Solitariness, or sought Comfort in a Second Marriage. Second Marriage than was counted little better than Adultery. 
Dr, Hornecks Lives of the Primitive Christians.  I think they carried this Point too high, though I must say, Second Marriages (for the most part) are a sort of Who bids most; for my own Share I am such an Enemy to 'em, that I question whether I shall ever be brought to draw again in the Conjugal Yoke. 'Tis said by one of the Rabbins concerning Methusalah's Wife, that she had Nine Husbands in one for Age and Years, so I may say of thee that I had Nine Wives in thee alone, for Matrimonial Sweetness and Love, and have no need to marry a Tenth.— 'Tis true, the World is a Desert without the Society of Women, and myself no Enemy to 'em (as Argus thinks) but for all that they are [ay that they are] dangerous things to meddle with, especially [for better for worse] whatsoever Gold one bestows upon Fetters, and how Glorious soever Servitude may be, yet I persuade myself, for all the Glittering Show, that Shackles and Slavery are but a couple of bad Masters, and therefore will dance no more to the Music of Fetters (except Phoenix like) from thy Ashes a New Eliza could arise, and then I can't say what I might do; for I love to look on thy Image, though but in a Friend or Picture, and shall ever receive thy Kindred with honourable Mention of thy Name.— Then no wonder (now you are dead) if I live and pine like the constant 
† As is mentioned in the following Essay.  Turtle— Thy Love deserves a great deal more. King Charles the I. told his Queen that he had never strayed from her, either in Thought, Word, or Deed, and I am apt to believe him, for I am such a Platonic myself, as never to touch the Lip or Hand of a Lewd Woman, and as much averse to a Second Marriage; Now Eliza's Dead I shall fly the Sex in general; there's Pitch and Birdlime in their Lips and Fingers an Itch of Amourousness of Skin all over; Democrates put his Eyes out, to avoid the Sight of 'em:— These Patterns I design to imitate, for thy Love was that Nonsuch Love we were pressed to in our Wedding Sermon; and I must add, (as the unknown Ariadne told Leander) 
— Thou art much above  
The Vulgar World in Sense as well as Love.   
This was thy true Character, and I knew it too, which are two Blessings that seldom go together; but Miracles are ceased, and I must not expect such another. We find the First Man Adam, the Righteous Lot, the Meek Moses, the Philosopher Crates, and the Orator Cicero, were all either overreached or afflicted with Women; and I am not so stupid to think I should meet with a better Fate, or find a Second Wife that can match the First.  
But should I marry again, and meet with a Shrew— The General Pity— I should have from those that knew how well thee and I lived, would not be Vindication enough, I'd therefore (in my own Defence) write— A Parallel between a good and a bad Wife, and prove (by a Narrative of her Carriage every day) that as a Virtuous Woman is a Crown to her Husband, 
Prov. 12.4.  so she that makes ashamed is as Rottenness in his Bones— But God forbidden I should meet with one, whose Folly should urge me to this (for 'tis nothing but what's unsufferable shall ever do it) but if I should I'd lay the Saddle on the right Horse, and clear my Innocence in the Face of the Sun. If this works her Conversion, That's the Thing I drive at.  
Oh! with what Joy would I receive the Returning Prodigal!  
But this Happiness I can't expect, for I am pretty sure (from an Instance in our Street) that the most Soft, Constant, and exact Humouring, wont cure a Grumbling Wife, or a Scraping Miser; such (having no other Cause for their Discontent) will quarrel with their good Fortune, and suffer even Happiness itself to disappoint them; I am told, Eliza, that the kinder I am to such a Wife (if 'tis my Fate to have her) the deeper she'll by't; and if I oppose her she'll rave, that she'll make my very Love the Cause of her Hatred, or the occasion of some Mean-reflection,— A Prudent Wife (a) is from the Lord, 
Prov. 19.14.  but such a Spirit is from the Devil; should such a one be my fate (I mean a Devil in Petticoats) what must I do (for I am but Flesh and Blood, and though 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, choosing 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 should meet with a Brawling Xanthippe (where you expected a kind Wife) yet you know Disappointments are good sometimes; besides 'tis 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 would on my Deathbed) whether Spouse be good or bad, 
In that state be happy and rejoice,  
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 though 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 though 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, ('t'as given your Eliza great Relief) and there you'll 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 should I marry a Vixen after such a Wife as thou wert, I should scarce go further to seek a Grave. 'Tis true, I have heard of those that have weathered such a Point as this, that could laugh faster than their Wives scolded, and that under all their GRINS, could fit like Patience, smiling at Grief; and by this (conquest of themselves) got the Victory, but I am no Stoic! and much fear (though the Heart is a tough thing) that I should 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 despair and perhaps a presage that God would cut down the Crabtree, 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 Il●s, a Time does know,  
Tho' ne'er so ill, when he shall not be so.  
But I am weary of this Subject as much as I should 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 dwelled 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, 'tis the witty Cloris (mentioned in this Essay) but she's an Angel grown, and won't be tied to a Clod of Earth, or if she would, I'll too much a Platonic to tell her Twice I am flesh and blood; no my Dear, (though 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 myself— 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 'tis 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-loved every thing, and yourself to Excess, (as you expressed it) if such a thing could be between Man and Wife, But so much for Love and Wedlock first and second Marriages. I now return to the further contemplation of thy Virtues.  
Thy Early Piety was nothing abated by thy Married Life: and to convince the World thou really wert that extraordinary Wife hereafter described, I'll 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 intent 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 one's Life, will, or doth consist in having abundance of the World. I would chief, 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 Judgement 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 intent to marry, without their consent and liking. If I am able to keep Servants, they shall be, as near as I can discover, and by enquiring, know of others, those that truly fear God; at least they shall be Civilised. As for Man-servants, if I should marry a Citizen, I shall think it my Duty, to let my Husband alone with them; but if he doth neglect his Duty to them, by not calling them to an Account, for the Sermons they hear, Reading, etc. If I can't persuade him to it, I shall then think I may, and must take some care of their Souls. As for Maids, I'll, before ever I hire them, tell them, they must go with me to hear at the same place I do; but if they are joined with any others, then I'll let them go sometimes there, and sometimes with me. They shall give an Account of what they hear, until the Affairs of my Family are such that I can't do it; They shall read to me, at least, once a day; or else I'll ask them about their Reading: for I shall think it to be my Duty, when I take any into my Family, to take some care of their Souls, as well as for their Bodies, and to do all I can for their Souls good, by admonishing them, and giving them all the good Council I can, and giving all Encouragement I can in what is good. If they grow wicked and careless, and will not bear Reproof, I shall look upon it my Duty to change them, and not to mind what People say of my frequent changing of Maids. David would not abide a Liar in his sight: and I am sure that is most pleasing to God, to have, as near as I can, all in my Family that fear him, and delight in his ways. As for Children, if it please God to bless me with them, I shall look upon it to be my Duty, if I am able, to Nurse them myself▪ and to take all the care of them I can in their Infancy, and betimes to check the Buddings of Original Sin, by not encouraging of Revenge or Pride in them; and as soon as they are able to learn, to teach them their Catechism, and what is good; but so as not to tyre them, but make it as pleasant to them as I can, by giving them all the Encouragement and Praise when they do well, and timely Correcting them when they do what is sinful.  
As for my Carriage to my Husband, I shall reckon it both Prudence and my Duty, to study his Humour when we first come together, and then to do all I can without sinning to please and oblige him, to obey him in all things that are not contrary to the Commands of God.— If I should light on one that is wicked, I'll endeavour what I can by my Carriage to engage his Affections throughly to me, and then to make use of that tye to engage him to God, and by my Christian Carriage to try what can be done to win him over to Christ by reproving of him with all Meekness, and acknowledging my great Love to him, and that 'tis Love that makes me do it, and my desire of his being happy for ever. I shall reckon it my Duty, if I have a good Man, to be willing to learn of him, and to do what we can to engage each other more entirely to God, to make use of our Love to one another, to inflame our Souls with Love to Christ.— Being convinced from Scripture and Reason that 'tis my Duty to give to the Poor, I now resolve when I marry to give according to my ability. Tho' I cannot Resolve upon any Sum, yet I'll give according to my Ability.— When I make any Provisions that I'd have kept, I'll give some to all in the Family, that so I may not put 'em upon the Temptation of Stealing. And as for other Victuals they shall have sufficient, but none to waste if I can help it. This is a thing that I hate for People to repeat my words after me: I will not therefore allow any under my care to do it; and if ever it please God that I keep Servants, I now resolve to endeavour to do my Duty towards them, though they should not do theirs towards me, and to endeavour conscientiosly to discharge my Duty towards all Relations; begging of God that he would now help me to do it: O that I could now do all with an Eye to God, and be willing always to be at his dispose in every thing.  
My Dear, by these your Rules for rendering Marriage happy may not only be seen what a suitable Wife thou wert (for you fully practised 'em,) but also the happy Effects of a regular course of Piety, for certainly never was there seen (on a Sick bed) a greater Instance of a willing Resignation to the Will of God as to either Life or Death.— You would often say to Philaret, Oh my Dear, 'tis a solemn thing to die, but I can freely leave all the World but you, (and at saying so you would still burst out into Tears,) you would say at other times— Sickness is no time to prepare for Death, were my work now to do, I were undone for ever.— Neither Marriage, nor the troubles of it could make thee less serious than thou wert in thy Vergin-state. Thou mad'st Conscience of taking care, that the Encumbrances of this World should not make thee neglect the weighty Duties relating to the other. Thy Kindness to other Relations was not diminished by a fond Affection to me at first, as is usual with other Young Brides, because thou didst look upon due kindness to thy Relations as an act of Duty to thy Maker, and their Generous Favours to me did mightily heighten your esteem for them.  
Thy Closet was the Withdrawing-room wherein thou didst most delight, because there thou didst entertain Communion with Heaven; and many times when thou retiredst thither in sadness, thou camest out again refreshed.  
Oh how it pierces my Soul to think I have lost such an Heavenly Companion, an Helpmeet indeed, not only as to the things of this World, but as to those of another? How Fervent were thy Prayers for myself, and all thy other Relations, for the Church of God, and mankind in general?  
How seasonable have I found thy directions to myself when under affliction? And how powerful have I found thy Joint-prayers to our Common God and Saviour.  
Thy Devotion had more of Seriousness than Pomp, and the Seasons of it many times stolen to avoid Ostentation, not like those fluttering Women, who will be sure to frequent Publick-Prayers Morning and Evening, and hug their Prayer Books in their Hands as they walk the Streets, and tuffle them over in their Closets, without any thing else that looks like Religion in the whole Course of their Lives. Thy Closet was furnished with the Holy 
(a) Wherein thou hast marked a million of remarkable Texts.  Bible and Practical Books, instead of Dead, Lifeless Formularies, Playbooks and Romances.  
When thou camest from thy Retirements, it was perceptible to thy Family that thou hadst been with God; thy first Visit in the Morning was to Heaven, and the sweet smell of that was not to be worn off by any other Visits throughout the day: Thou wast like Martha, not slothful in business, and at the same time like Mary, fervent in Spirit serving the Lord.— Thou knewest that thy Soul was more excellent than thy Body, and therefore didst spend the chief of thy time about the affairs of Eternity, and waste more frequent at thy Prayers, than at the Toilet or Glass; the Review of which made thee say (in thy last sickness)— were my work now to do, I were undone for ever.  
Thy Carriage in thy Family was Mild and Gentle, not provoking but encouraging to Servants, both by Example and Precept. Thou show'dst thy Goodness by thy dutiful behaviour to myself, and remembredst that thou wast a Subject as well as a Companion and didst exactly resemble Sarah and Rachel, in thy loving and dutiful deportment towards me; thou didst bear with my Infirmities, coveredst them in love, didst not run to this Neighbour, and that with abusive or silly stories (a) but overcam'st me by gentle 

He that will but one ●●de hear,  
Tho he judge right, is no good Justicer. Herbert.   Exhortations and Entreaties, and in all thy Prayers my Soul was minded as thy own.  
Thy Words nor Carriage were never disrespectful to me. Tho thou wert ' kin to a Noble Family yet the Blood that filled thy Veins 
(a) See Mr. How's Sermon at Mrs. Hammond's Funeral.  did not swell thy Mind. Thou wast always ready to gratify me in all my lawful requests, and thoughtest nothing below thee that might tend to my satisfaction and advantage.  
When I was abroad thou longest to see me, and wheh I returned home, I was received with Smiles. If at any time I was perplexed in mind, thou wast not quiet till I was so too. Thy Sympathy with me in all the Distresses of my Life, (both at Sea and Land) will make thy Virtues shine with the greater Lustre, as Stars in the darkest Night, and assure the World you loved me, not my Fortunes.  
Fair course of Passions where two Lovers start,  
And run together Heart thus yoked in Heart.  
In my Health thou lovedst me as a Wife, and in my Sickness attended'st me as a Nurse.  
My Head no sooner ached, but thy Heart felt it; and had I fallen Sick (in your dying Hour) you'd even then have 
(a) Eliza spoke often to this Effect in her last Sickness.  crawled up Stairs to have seen me..  
Thou wast afflicted with all my Sorrows, and delighted with all my Joys. When Man and Wife love so little, that the one is unconcerned in the others Trials, there follows a Hell of Disquiet in the Mind, a greater Clog upon the Conscience than Man is able to bear, and ordinarily a Blast upon the Estate, besides Gild and Shame unspeakable; but thou (like a Wife, who studied duty, in order to practice) didst not expect God would bless thee in any thing, whilst you saw me uneasy, and did not attempt to remove it, or lessen it, by taking part of the Grief. And indeed all our Distresses of Body and Mind were so equally divided, that all yours were mine, and all mine were yours; we remembered we married for better for worse, for richer for poorer, and that we were one Flesh, and therefore were no more offended with the Words or Failings, and Wants of each other, than we would have been, had they been our own. And this made thee as careful to conceal my Losses, as thou wast forward to repair them.  
A Woman of Sense knows she must shine by her Husband's Honour, and must be darkened if he suffer an Eclipse; and therefore didst never keep this Jointure for the sake of thy Husband, that House for the sake of a Brother, and this Bag for the sake of some She-Cousin; no, if my Occasions required it, they were all forced into my Lap with— My dear, I rejoice I am able to serve thee, and as long as I have it, 'tis all thine. In this you imitate Madam C C—y, who sold her Estate (unasked) to oblige her Spouse, and indeed the Design of Jointures, is to defend against bad Husbands, and not to ruin those that are Sober, and would be Honest if their Wives would let them; and therefore didst often say, What does a Jointure signify to a Woman that loves her Husband? Thou wert not Sordidly 
(a) As is hinted in the following Pages.  Covetous (or as Cowely calls it) so Emphatically poor, as to talk of wanting in the midst of Plenty; under all my Distresses thy Motto was— God will provide.  

When I into thy Closet look,  
Wherein you greatest Pleasure took,  
I find i'th' Front of every Book,  
God will provide.   

Let an Anatomist with Art  
Dissect each Member, and each Part;  
He'll find this written on thy Heart,  
God will provide.   
God will provide— was ever in thy Mouth (as a Cordial to ease thy Cares and Mine)— This encouraged thee to a generous Charity— with this you cheered the Spirits of those that had lost their Friends and Estates— 'twas from this we both of us received a fresh and full Supply under all the Losses we ever met with; and in a word 'twas to this Motto, and your Prayers for me, that (in some measure) I own all the Blessings I now enjoy, or hope to receive hereafter.  
How oft would you cheer Philaret with saying; See how the Birds of the Air do all depend upon God and the Sparrow that hath dined, and knows not where to get his Supper, yet cheerfully waits on Divine Providence, and shall not we? God hath (my Dear) Provided for us hitherto, then why should we mistrust he will not provide for us for the future?— Our Unbelief indeed may make him hold his Hand, and hinder him from doing any mighty Work for us; but what can we fear, if in the Use of Lawful Means we throw ourselves upon him? How often have we been in Straits and Exigencies, and God hath found some way or other to deliver us? and shall we by our Unbelief hinder him from working such another Deliverance for us? Of how many Men have we read and heard that have trusted God in despite of all Improbabilities, and God hath succoured and assisted them beyond all Expectation? How oft would you say, Come Phil. we do not want for the present, why should we believe we shall want hereafter, when we know not whether we shall live a Day to an end? Come, come, though your Bag is empty to Day, 'twill be filled to Morrow. You never yet wanted Money when you had occasion to use it; those unexpected Friends I met with when you were in America should cure us of all Distrust of Providence; besides, what did we ever get by immodeate Carckings, but torment of Mind? Is it not much sweeter to rest upon God's Goodness, and enjoy Content? We are never the nearer a Supply when we have afflicted and vexed our Minds, and why should we put our Spirits into an Agony for nothing— Rest satisfied, (Phil.) God will provide— This was your 
* Which you learned from Dr. Hornecks great Law of Con●●derations, Pag. 320.  Advice to me in all my Straits; Then how much should this endear thy Memory to me? And as thou didst perform the Duty of a tender Wife, by thus easing me of my Worldly Cares, so this made me (for a kind Wife makes a kind Husband) ready to part with Garment 
(a) My voluntary and frequent Engagements for Eliza's Sister is a convincing Proof of this.  after Garment, strip myself to my Skin; yea, Mortgage my very Flesh to serve thee. You know, my dear, I did not pretend Affection, and carry on two Interests, and I'll say this for Eliza, that she waned false enough (her self) to mistrust me in any thing, but so Remarkably kind, that I must turn your own Words upon you, and say; That I have met with more and greater Comforts in a Married State than ever I did expect, and how (as you expressed it) could it be otherwise, when Inclination, Interest, and all that can be desired, concur to make up the Harmony: So that were thy Tenderness known to the World, 'twould once more bring into Fashion women's loves and trusting their Husbands. My Dear, 'twas thus throughly performing thy Duty as a Wife that gave thee Peace on thy Deathbed, and such Hopes of Heaven, as has scarce been heard of.  
In a word, thou wert such a Wife as fully answered the Description of a good Housewife given by Solomon.  
[My Heart did safely trust in thee, because I knew thou wouldst do me Good, and not Evil] thou wert true to my BED, didst discover P—ps, W— t, and all that attempted thy Chastity; and as true to my PURSE, didst not deceive and cousin 
(a) Whole Duty of Man, P. 301.  me, by employing my Goods to such Uses as I allowed not of. [You worked willingly with your Hands] witness your Curious Bed; to this I might add, you did that in my Warehouse in a Month's 
(a) Whilst I was at Tunbridge, in the Year 1696.  time, which I could scarce have done in a Year— [You risen while 'twas yet Night;] didst often ' wake me out of my Sleep by thy early Devotions. [You looked well to the way of my Household,] and eat not the Bread of Idleness; such you was— but where is such another? For Solomon himself, who had tried as many as most, says, after all, Who can find a virtuous Woman? And therefore, when I had thee, I made as much of thee as ever I could, for I thought I should never get such another.  
Being blessed with such a Wife as loved both God and me; I was easy when abroad, and delighted to be at home. Were there nothing betwixt us but Sea and Land; or if thou wert to be found in the remotest parts of the Earth, the Raging Seas, and howling Wilderness, should not keep us asunder. Nor should the most dangerous Rocks and Shelves, nor the fiercest of wild Beasts deter me from undertaking the Voyage or Journey; but our Separation is of another Kind, and not to be remedied till this Earthly Tabernacle be dissolved. But could I see thee again on Earth, (but why should I have such a vain Wish?) I should think myself still in Paradise, or had met with this Life but as an Earnest of the Happier to come. Again, When I consider the Calmness and Quietness of thy Temper [How thy Mouth was opened with Wisdom, and the Law of Kindness was in thy Tongue] I cannot but pity the Unhappiness of their Lot, who have Wives of a Boisterous Temper, that speak whatever their Passion and ill Nature suggests, to the disquieting of others, and fretting their own Bowels, you avoided this Brawling and Discontent, which makes the Wife (as the Duty 
* P. 301.  of Man tells us) the Burden and Plague of the Man, instead of a Help and Comfort. Thou knewest, my Dear, if 'twas a Fault to carry it rudely to Strangers, 'twas a much greater to carry it so to thy Husband, to whom a greater Affection is due. How many Men 
* Whole Duty of Man, p. 302.  to avoid the noise of a froward Wife fall to Company-keeping, Poverty, and a Multitude of Mischiefs. But thy winning Carriage kept me from these Evils; thou wert no Fool, Gossip, or Scold, didst never THUNDER away my Friends, or fright them with WRY FACES. A meek and a quiet Spirit is a vast Ornament to Religion, and of great Value in the Sight of God and Man.  
All we know, o'th' blessed above,  
Is that they sing, and that they love.  
Herbert.  
Then why should they that hope to live in one and the same Glory, 
(a) See Mr. Roger's Discourse called Fall not out by the Way.  now Revile, or reflect upon one another? All their differences will be composed when they arrive there; and why should they now differ? There Luther, and Calvin, and Dr. Owen, and Mr. Baxter, will be all of one Mind; there will be no misunderstanding of one another in Heaven, nor no giving of Ill Words; no thinking the Wife Distracted, or calling the Husband N— gate, but all will be as kind and friendly there, as Eliza was to her Philaret; and I think they can scarce be more, for you were Mistress in the Art of Obliging, in which you attained that Sovereign Perfection that you reigned over all Hearts, with whom you did converse. And this brings me, in the next Place, to consider thy Words.  
Thy Words were far from being idle or affected, but always useful to the Edification of others; nay, I may truly say it, that thou hadst neither a Thought, a Word, nor a Look, contrary to the strict Rules of Virtue. How far wert thou from receiving or delighting in Tale-bearers, who separate chief Friends— or in entertaining Visiters with censures upon the Failures of other Women, which is too much the Practice now adays. Talkativeness, the common Failure of the Sex, was no blemish of thine; thou wert far from Monopolising all Conversation to thyself, but wert readier to hear than to speak. And couldst bear of hearing thy Faults, (if thou hadst any) without thinking thyself affronted; neither could the Greatest Abuse make thee implacable, as knowing 'twas the Glory of Man and Woman to pass by Infirmities; for as we pray daily to God to pass by our own, so God expects the same from us one to another.  
Thy Visits were not tedious nor trivial, but designed for the Advantage of Conversation, and the Continuance of Friendship; and when thou wert visited thyself, thou entertainest thy Friends not with a starched Formality, or foolish impertinent Trifles, but with something that might be useful to their Minds, as well as to exercise their Tongues.  
How serious were thy Preparations for Public Worship, and how much concerned to have thy Family delivered from those Encumbrances which might hinder 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 adorned, contrary to the common Practice 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 performed their Duty to God as well as to th●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 Gild, 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 wondered 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 mightst be bountifully 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 furnished, 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. 'Twas you, my Dear, that crossed 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 excellent 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 lived in this; imitating Sir John Frederick, who made his own Hands his Executors, and his Eyes the Overseers.— 'Tis observed that Covetousness is the only Sin that grows young as Men grow old; But 'twas not so in you; you lived 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 'twas scarce a Virtue. 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 'tis 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. Could Aristippus throw his Gold into the Sea, and say, It's better I should, 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 Virtue in me which is Vice in another?  
A good Bishop (says a late Writer) could have preached an Hour together, in saying nothing but Beware of Covetousness; And so charitable was Dear Eliza, that her whole Life seemed to be one continued satire against Avarice. You durst not rake together what you could in your Life, to bequeath it to yourself at your Death. I say, to yourself; for who that has half a Soul, would 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 fixed immovably on the Trash he had scraped together.— And Cardinal Angelot was so wrapped 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 myself 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, though 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. 'Tis clear from hence, (that tho a little sufficeth Nature, and less Grace yet) that Covetousness is never satisfied, and is certainly cursed. 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 Just 
* See the Case of the Young Lady, P. 40  Title to 6000 l. (as may 
† that'S ONCE.  appear in Conjunction with my own Birthright) and so much clear from any Encumbrance, and have neither Child nor Chick to waste it, and myself 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 yourself undone, had we lost all but one another. Would the Miser 
* See Dr. Hornecks Great Law of Consideration.  study Eternity, he'd see 'tis 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 Deal with Men; you knew that none must dwell in the— HOLY 
* Psal. 15.1, 2.  HILL— but those that walk uprightly, and speak the Truth in their Heart, (at least to the best of their Knowledge) and therefore thy Promises (like the Laws of the Medes and Persians) were unalterable; neither could Passion, Interest, or the Greatest Affronts (either Pretended or Real) make thee break 'em; and I thought thy keeping thy Word none of the least of thy Excellencies— for Promises are Sacred Things, as appears by this. If I invite a 
*⁎* 
'Tis common for silly Women to undervalue their Husband's Estate; though superior to their own, or atleast not inferior to the account given, and to blast that Reputation that supports them, I say, Supports them, for Man and Wife are Inseparable in all they enjoy or suffer. These Instances are common in some Counties, as will appear by the following Passage in Mr. I— n's Letter to his Client, for it runs thus. I received yours, and am now to tell you I could not have an Answer from M— till last Monday, but now I have an Account of Mr. Carterson 's Estate according to his own Particulars; which is all at present from— your Servant— I— n  
— Can it ever be thought that any Parent that had received such an Ample Account from her own Creature, would privately have lessened her Kinsman's Estate. But thus was this Gentleman served, though his Lands in present Possession and Reversion may be worth Four Thousand Pound, notwithstanding his great Losses at Sea, by Suretiships, by lending Moneys to a distressed Friend, and paying some Hundred Pounds for Fines and a deceased Heir.   Lady to my House, and tell her if she marries my Son, I'll give him 4000 l. at my Death. If this Promise was to encourage the Match. If I fly from it when effected, I live in a known Sin, which (without Repentance) is certain Damnation, and the present blasting my Reputation, as I'm chargeable with all the Damages, attending the Breach of my Promise, which was so solemnly made, that I told the Lady I'd make it good under my own Hand, in case I married; and 'tis no Gift, but plain justice, if I do so; seeing this Lady's trusting to my Word, made her reject those would have made her Rich and Easie; from all which 'tis plain, that Promises made by Word 
† As I may prove hereafter from an Original Letter.  or Letter, though they are not binding at the Lawyer's Bar, yet are so in the Court of Conscience; neither can any small Pett, taken with or without Cause, Cancel the first Promise any more than the private Lies of a Wife or a hasty Word can untie the Marriage Knot. They that doubt this to be Scripture, let them read Nehemiah 5th. from the 11th to the 14th Verse, which is such Advice as I took myself; for (you know Eliza) being once blamed for not performing a Promise, made by my own Father, (which I rejected, as made against my Consent) but afterwards finding His Promise necessary, I fulfilled it to the Persons Content: How much more than is a Promise binding which is made by myself, confirmed by Letter, and repeated in the hearing of several, and more especially so, if made to influence such a Solemn Thing as a Marriage. How punctual would Eliza have been to such a Promise, (for she was so to all) and how uneasy till performed.  
But as the End Crowns the Work, and Perseverance deserves the Reward, thy Constancy in the Exercise of Grace and Good Humour completed thy Excellency, thou diedst as thou livedst, and no Change of Condition could make any Change upon thee; thou never insultedst over me in my Affliction, as is the Custom of too many ill natured Wives; but in all my Afflictions thou wast afflicted, and lov'dst me to the last breath.  
But tho' these are mighty Instances of a Pure Love, yet all inferior to thy Garden-Walks 
(a) Two hundred every Night for the space of a whole Year. , and something else I forbear to mention: Nothing can Love like the Dear Eliza, or be so Constant as Phil. who strove to become [not thine alone, but even the same with thee 
(b) This was the Motto in a Ring I gave Eliza, before Marriage. .] There was such a Union between us, from our first Interview to thy last Breath, that we seem d as two Souls in the same Body, or rather two Souls transformed into one. This made such an even Thread of Endearment run through all we Thought or Did, that as you ever commanded me in any equal Matter by your constant Obeying of me, so I as readily scrupled every thing that was not agreeable to your Will; but nothing happened that was not so; for like Spanbeimius' Wife, thou wert willing to be Governed by me in all things. If any Quarrel happened, 'twas who of the two should live the most Content: we proved a Chain of Hearts, and the first Link was Heaven.  
Let no Man then Censure me as Idolising thy Memory, when I draw up such a faint Resemblance of thy Character, seeing Infinite Wisdom itself hath given us this Character of a good Woman, that She is more Precious than Rubies; A Ship of jewels would not have been such a Blessing to me as thou wast. Thou didst not cool my Zeal for God with Vanity and Games, and needless Diversions, but quickenedst me to good. No Man could be rough and harsh to a Person so mild and submissive. No Man could be so much a Brute, or Rocky-hearted, as not to be softened by so Constant a Love— What reason have I to be thankful to Providence, that when a Good Woman is not to be found among a Thousand, Eccl. 7.28. that yet one of them should have fallen to my share; and seeing it was next to impossible to over-value such a Blessing, I have more reason to think that it was want of esteem enough for thee (though I loved thee beyond Life, Liberty and Estate) than Idolising of thee, that provoked God to deprive me of thee.  
Was it possible, my Dearest, to over-value a Child that never once disobeyed a Parent, or to over-value a Wife that would never give Ear to those that went about to divide, even in the least thing betwixt her and her Husband. Can I have too high an Esteem for a Wife that lived so near to God, and loved me out of a Principle of Conscience and Judgement, more than from a fond Affection, or from the ordinary Motives of an agreeable Person and Competent Estate, etc. I confess that my Interest in thee, and height of Affection towards thee, may make my Testimony concerning thee suspected, but if I should be silent, thy own works would Praise thee; thy Servants, Relations and Acquaintance, know I don't flatter thee; and certainly so many Indifferent Persons cannot have their Tongues and Affections bribed, to conspire so Unanimously to assert a Falsehood.  
It hath not seemed meet to the Divine Providence that thou shouldst leave any Pledge of our Conjugal Love and Society behind thee, but what is Indelibly Impressed upon my Soul, I have not the Comfort of any Child by so blessed and sweet a Yoke-fellow, to be a living Evidence of our Mutual Endearments, than God and Man I hope will pardon me, if I endeavour to have the Idea of thy Perfections always before me, and that I have drawn this faint Shadow of 'em with my rude Pen, as a more useful and valuable Portraiture of thee, than any that could be drawn by the Pencil of the most Famous Artist; that is but the Outside, but this is the Inside— and what I was taught by the Divine Records, That the King's Daughters are Glorious within; I found it to be true by Experience in thee; you convinced me what Charms there are in a Virtuous Spouse! What a Mine of Pleasure! What sprightly Life and Vigour did my Dear give to all my Thoughts, Looks, and Actions? How many new Satisfactions in every thing you did? How did I even live in your dying Words? Oh the kind and tender Farewells you gave me with your last Breath; such as, Poor Rogue, thou art the kindest Husband that ever lived— Ill love thee as long as I live— Thou art a dear Child to me— I love thee dearly— I pray God bless my dear Yoke-fellow, and give him Grace— I pray thee give him Grace to live so here, as he may live with thee hereafter; which you repeated over and over very earnestly, further begging that God would make me his, for there was Grace enough in store. To the last Minute of your Life you spoke nothing so sensibly as when you spoke of Heavenly things, and all this you uttered at the time when you were actually dying.  
It would be a pleasant and delectable Subject for me further to expatiate upon thy Graces and Moral Virtues, but I shall conclude with the Wise Man's Character of a Virtuous Woman, that Many Daughters have done Virtuously, 
* Prov. 31.29.  but thou excellest them all; and therefore, though it should be my Lot to engage in a Second Marriage, yet it will be impossible for any other Wife to deface the Impression which thou hast made upon me; and seeing I can no more enjoy thy sweet Fellowship here on Earth, I will contemplate upon thy Perfections, and view this Picture which my Affection hath copied from the Original, that thy Virtues had impressed upon my own Soul— And thus (my dearest) I must with unexpressible Grief bid thee a long Adieu; but that which still comforts me is, that we shall meet in Heaven, where there shall never be any more perplexing Separation.  
And it should be a great Satisfaction to me to consider, That the Providence of God ordered thy Death when I could be present, and perform the last Offices of my Love. That it did not happen at such a time when I was in Holland, and at a great Distance from thee: So you had the Comfort of my Love to the last moments of your Life. And doubtless it pleased and comforted you much, and allayed your Affliction, to see that you enjoyed in your distress the constant Attendance of so dear a Friend. And if this softened your Affliction, it may justly lessen my Sorrow for what you endured. I may be satisfied too in this, That I sought and procured for you the best Means and Helps to recover you, that Art & Nature could afford, and sure I am, could any Physician or Friend, have saved your Life, it had been Dr. T—, Mr. C—, and Cousin I— n, whose unwearied Endeavours to preserve thy Life shall be 
* As you desired on your Deathbed.  (thankfully) acknowledged to my Dying Day; but it being evidently God's Will to take you from me, no Care or Tenderness could retain you amongst us; but my Comfort is, that as you was Virtuous and Pious, you was in the same measure willing to Die; and able to receive your Death with an undaunted Courage and Resolution. Virtue 
* See Mr. Dorington's Consolations to a Friend.  is an Essay, a kind of Praeludium of Dying: As it mortifies our Affections to this vain World, and fixes them on better Objects, the Gifts and Felicities of Heaven. Eliza was practising Death by Degrees while she lived▪ and mortified first one Affection, than another, To make the Burden of Dying more easier to bear, you took it up by Parcels; and so having delivered yourself from them, you did not bear it all at once. Thus it came to pass, that Eliza was no sooner sensible she must die, than willing to do so. She was ready to resign up her good Soul into the Hands of a Faithful Creator. Eliza, whose Death I am tempted inordinately to Lament, did not at all Lament for herself. Your willing Submission and Resignation to the Divine Disposal, should teach me the same thing. You went away perhaps, not only contented, but joyful that you was to go. Tho your Love to me, and your Wisdom, might make you Conceal that you was willing to leav● me; yet you was glad, I may believe, to find that you had finished your Course, for you had such Foretastes of the Heavenly Bliss, as even ravished your Soul away! Then 'tis very incongruous that I should attend your Triumph and joy, with my immoderate Sorrow and Tears; the Remembrance of your Happiness in the unseen World, should give Comfort to me under the great Loss I have by your Death.  
Have I not taken Satisfaction heretofore, to reflect upon the obliging and charming Conversation of Eliza, when my Affairs have kept me absent from her? And have not such Reflections sweetened and allayed that Absence? Why then should not such Reflections do me the same Kindness still? If I let this Impertinent Thought afflict me that I must no more enjoy the same Delight, it will deprive me too of all the Use, and Comfort, and Pleasure, of what I once enjoyed in Eliza, which would make my Condition still much the worse.  
Then why should I grieve 
(a) See the Note at the end of the Dedication, with this Mark *  thus, seeing Eliza is only departed from me for a while; she is not lost, nor annihilated. Thy Body (Eliza) is laid in the Dust, to rest in the quiet Grave, and is there watched by the careful Eye of Divine Omnisience: And wheresoever any Parts of that may happen in Ages to come to be scattered, the Divine Power will certainly collect them all again, and thou shall be perfectly restored to Being and Happiness.  
But the mean while thy better Part, the noble Soul, is returned to God that gave it: And since so much of thee still lives, I may say, thou art gone to thy Celestial Kindred. Upon your Departure from the Body, I do believe you immediately found yourself, like the Soul of good Lazarus, attended by kind and glorious Angels: And they, I must needs think, were not silent at their meeting you. They congratulate your Delivery from this World, applaud your Patience in suffering the Evils of it; your Diligence in doing Good, your bold Conflicts against the 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 should see you there, in Transports of Joy, surrounded with a Glorious Ring of Rejoicing 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 overjoyed to think that it is over with you; and that you have finished 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 concerned to meet you again. And that I may do so▪ I will earnestly concern myself 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 myself 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, than 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 
† 'Tis 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's; such Carking Jealousy 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 C●ime, which were occasioned by the Provocations given: But I stop here for the Barbarous Treatments that 〈◊〉 and oth●●●; meet with (in this kind ● 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 rejoicing Choir; joining 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. Roger's Advice 
(a) See Mr. Roger's Character of a Good Woman▪ P. 163.  to his Friend; Make this Use 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 Deathbed) 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, etc. 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, etc.  
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. 'Tis 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 admired (and as you thought could have made me happy) but when I arrived— 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 Minute's Joy, nor expect it now till I meet Eliza, and she's gone to Heaven.  
Poor Miserable Phil! If Fate happen to gild o'er one Inch of thy Unhappy 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 farewell, 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 farewell, farewel, I cannot take  
A Final Leave until thy Ashes wake.   
Dr. Brown applauds those ingenious Tempers that desire to sleep in the Urns of their Fathers, and strive to go the nearest way to Corruption.  
'Twas 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 though he could not live with his Father as jong 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 Prophet's 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 Virtue of his Bones. So good it is to be buried with those that are accounted Pious. 'Twas for this reason I formerly desired to Lie in the Chancel of— with my Reverend Father, but Love to a Parent, though ne'er so tender, is lost in that to a Wife. And now, (as is mentioned in the following Essay) if I can mingle my Ashes with thine, I have nothing farther to ask those few Hours I do survive thee (but can I word it so when your Letter says, When dead and gone you sha●● still live in Phil. who is dearer to you than L●fe itself) thy Tomb shall be my Breast, till on six Shoulders I am brought to thee and— n, as the only Companions of my long Home— So that now leaving All Pleasures behind me, and my Dear fast asleep in her Grave, I'll drop a few Tears on thy Coffin, and so departed to my own House; which though once so pleasant to thee and me, will now (whilst thou art found in no room of it) appear a very melancholy thing.  

Tears To the Memory of DEAR ELIZA, who departed this Life in the Year 1697.  

SAcred Urn! with whom we trust  
This Dear Pile of Sacred Dust:  
Know thy Charge, and safely Guard,  
Till Death's Brazen Gates unbarred:  
Till the Angel bids it rise,  
And remove to Paradise.   

A Wife Obliging, Tender, Wise,  
A Friend to Comfort, and Advise.  
Virtue mild as Zephir's Breatb,  
Piety which smiled in Death.  
Such a Wife, and such a Friend,  
All Lament, and all Commend.   

Most with Eating Cares oppressed;  
He who knew and loved her best:  
Who her Loyal Heart did share;  
He who reigned Unrivalled there.  
And no Truce to Sighs will give,  
Till he die, with her to live.   

Or if more we would comprise,  
Here Interred ELIZA lies.    
Thus you see, my Dear, (if you can see from Heaven to Earth) how loath I am to give the beck'n of Farewell, the best of Wives, and my Truest Friend, is but part of your Character, and I can't leave such a Treasure in Post haste.  
I had kinder things to add, but my whole Family (Friend I— n, and honest N N—y,) call me down, so must reserve the rest 'til we meet in Heaven, 
* The Primitive Christians buried their Saints with Hymns and Psalms of Joy. Chrysostom on the Hebrews saith, We are to glorify God, and give thanks to him, that he hath crowned the Deceased, and freed them from their Labours, and chides those that mourned. And the Days of their Death were called the Birth-days of the Saints. And Hierome in his Epitaph on Holy Paula, saith, That at her Funeral no Shrieks were heard, but Multitudes of Psalms and Hymns were sung in divers Languages. See Mr. Henry's Life, p. 206.  but here's enough to let you see, that as in Life, so in Death I am wholly Yours, and shall so continue, as long as I am  
Philaret. From Eliza 's Grave, July 10th. 1697.    

AN ESSAY, PROVING, We shall know our Friends in Heaven, etc.  

In a Letter to a Reverend Divine.  
OUR Secret Correspondence (my Dear Ignotus) as it owes its Rise to the melodious Notes of the WESTERN NIGHTINGALE, so it has been continued ever since with a World of Harmony; Maugre the great Opposition it met with from Argus and his Aged Friend. In this long Correspondence I attempted to prove (as the First Step to our Friendship) That there may be a greater Love between Man and Man than between Man and Woman. I next proceeded to other Subjects, and from thence to treat of Conjugal Love; where I gave you the Character of my First Wife; told you how she designed to Love, if ever she married; proved the practised her own 
* They were Rules she writ (whilst a Virgin) for her own practice, if ever she entered into a married state.  Rules; and having told you what her Rules were, I next (from my own Experience) compared a single Life and a married together;— defended my Loving again in a month's time; and having ended with Honeymoon, 'tis proper next, to speak of that state of Life where they neither marry, nor are given in Marriage. And this leads me to inquire, Whether we shall Know our Wives, Parents, Children, and Friends, in Heaven, if ever we get thither?  
I told you in my Last, the Answering of this should be the Subject of this Letter, and that I'd send it by this Post. I have now kept my word, and hearty wish (you having so much desired it) the Mountain may not produce a M●use. However, I have done my best. But before I discourse of Knowing our Friends in Heaven, I must first tell you, That good Eliza (that dearest part of myself) went thither in May last. Her Death has made me so very melancholy, that I had pined away in a few days, had not the hopes of finding her again in Heaven, given me some Relief. Oh! the Sighs, the Wishes, the Languishments, with a long, etc. Chargeable on that Account; really, Sir, there are yet Tears in my Eyes left undried for the Dear Eliza (the best of Wives and best of Friends): I yet feel the Torments to which a Heart is exposed, that loses what it Loves, none love as I have l●ved; My sentiments have a delicacy, unknown to my others but myself, and my Heart Loved Eliza more in one Hour than others do in all their Lives, Witness the Tears shed on her Grave, to what excess I love her! I want to know w●at sullen ●●●r ●ul'd at my Birth, that Phil. should Live when Eliza i● Dead; or at least Dead to me; or if there be a Beam of Comfort, 'tis ned to shine till the Resurrection, or till I meet her in Heaven. Thus the kind Turtle, parted from his Mate, passes by a Thousand Objects, and only mourns at all he sees; but met, their Life and Love is through each others Bill conveyed. But Mum for that; for Valeria and I have now compounded with one another, and, Resolved, for better for worse, have been at, I Ned take thee Hannah; But on what Conditions, with the Terms of our Honey Moon, you shall know hereafter. 'Tis enough if I say at present, That she fully understands and practices all the Duties of a Tender Wife, so that she seems to be Eliza still, in a New Edition, more Correct and Enlarged, or rather, my First Wife in a New Frame; for I have only changed the Person, but not the Virtues.  
But I leave Valeria here (for the Dearest Friends must part) to answer this Curious Question, Whether we shall know our Friends in Heaven?  
I send you my Sentiments in this matter, in hopes you'll Rectify my Judgement where you find it Err, and supply my Defects with better thoughts of your own (that so between us this Curious Subject may be fully handled); which I the rather mention, for that te'nt my way to say much to the purpose on common Suhjects, much less can you expect it in such a Theme as this, where, had I an Angel's Tongue, I should be at a Loss. The way to Heaven is Long and Difficult; and therefore no wonder if now and then I mistake a Turning; but when I do, I hope (Ignotus) you'll set me again in the right path. If not, 
Some Courteous Ghost tell this great Secrecy,  
What 'tis 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 passed into the other World, to learn any News concerning the Knowledge they have of each other: And therefore 'twill 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 distempered 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 tried 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, though 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, conversed 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 Glorified 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 would lead me, and whither I could follow it. It was but last Night, I was complaining to a Water 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 beforehand, in treating of this Subject, I shall leap over all Subdivisions, and inferior Sects of Christians, and profess only to the World, that the Divine Mercy and Favour is not limited to a particular Canton or Party. I am not only a Lover of good Men of all Persuasions, but a mere Enemy to those Names which distinguish one Party from another in the Church. Good men often contend about words, when they hearty 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 rejoice to see one another, when they come there. In Heaven (says a late 
* Mr. Dorrington in his Discourse called. 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, could 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 spite of all those Narrow Souls, that dare trust God no further than they can see him, or think none can be saved, but those that are distinguished with their own Superscription. But (I should remember) I'm writing to one of an Extensive Charity, and need not enlarge 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 Contracted 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, than 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 Clothed 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 its outward Clothing, 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 herself and other beings, the makes use of a Body of Air shaped out into such Limbs and Senses, as she hath occasional Employment for; Whether or no the want of her old Companion is supplied 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 Judgement, than 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 stripped 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 that 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 a sufficient motive of our Love in Heaven, That we know them to be Saints; yet it seems to be no small addition to our happiness, to know that those Saints were once ours: And if it be a just Joy to a Parent here on Earth to see his Child gracious, how much more accession shall it be to his Joy above, to see the Fruits of his Loins Glorious, when both his Love is more pure, and their improvement absolute? Can we 
* Bishop Hall.  make any doubt that the Blessed Angels know each other? How Senseless were it to grant that no knowledge is hid from them, but of themselves? Or can we imagine that those Angelical Spirits do not take special notice of those Souls which they have guarded here, and conducted to their glory? If they do so, and if the knowledge of our beautified Souls shall be like to theirs, why should we abridge ourselves more than them, of the comfort of our interknowing? Surely our dissolution shall abate nothing of our Natural Faculties; Our glory shall advance them; so as what we once kne● we shall know better: And if our souls can then perfectly know themselves, why should they be denied the knowledge of others?  
Not but (I own) 'twill make me shrink to go from them I know to Persons I never saw, 
* Mr. Norris.  To wing away to an unknown somewhere, to be I know not what, and live I know not how; to leave Dear Ignotus, the Dearer Cloris, and yet Dearer Sappho, Friends with whom I have familiarly Conversed and Corresponded, to go into a World of Spirits, where I may not meet one I know; How strangely shall we look on one another? What little content do I take in any Company on Earth where I meet with shiness! but sure I am, there will be nothing of this in Heaven.  
That Excellent Society 
* Mr. Dorrington in his Discourse of separate Souls.  (says Mr. Dorrington) which the Saint shall enjoy in Heaven in his Fellow Creature shall add much to his Happiness. He shall not spend his long abode there in an uncomfortable Solitude; Even in this Paradise, it would not be good for Man to be alone; He shall therefore enjoy much, and that very Excellent Society— He then meets, and shall enjoy for ever, with all those Excellent Persons, those brave Examples of Piety and Virtue, whom he has seen, or heard, or read of in this World, with the Goodly Fellowship of the Prophets and Apostles, and the Noble Army of Martyrs, Souls joined below in Virtuous Love, and sad at parting here, shall meet again there, and Love again, and dwell together for ever— He shall dwell with the Souls of all Good Men, that have ever lived in this World; and the Company there is a 
* Rev. 9.7.  great multitude, which no man can Number, of all Nations, Kindred, People and Languages. So that you see 'tis this Author's Opinion, That the Saints above hold a Kind, Friendly and Familiar Correspondence; and I hope, I shall be able to prove that the Saints in Heaven, do not only see and know one another, but also what passeth in Hell amongst the damned, as the Patriarch Abraham, did see Dives in his Torments (Luk. 16.25.) But you'll say, all this is but supposition, and that I don't prove whether Ignotus and Phill. (who won't believe Death can part 'em) shall as distinctly know each other in Heaven (By Face, Stature— Voice the Relation they stood in to each other on Earth, and by the difference of Sex) as they did when they first met in London, to deceive the tedious hours with Discourses of Ph— lafoy, who by the by, I wish will be one we shall know in Heaven for a Thousand Reasons, and this among others, as she was- The blessed occasion of our first Acquaintance, neither can I be just to her Friendship should I wish myself in Heaven without her. 'Twas said, 
* See Herbert's Life, p. 25.  Mrs. Jane became so much a Platonic as to Fall in Love with Herbert unseen— The case was the same with me, for I loved Cloris before I saw her, neither did I for many Years expect that Happiness, till I came to Heaven, where I shall see her again, for in that Heavenly Court she'll be still— A SINGER— Of Praises and Hallelujahs to God Almighty, and to the Lamb that sits on the Throne for ever and ever; When I was first blest with a Glimpse of her, and 'twas but a Glimpse I had (Angels Visits are short and sweet) so chaste was my Errand to her, that I desired to die with Cloris in my Arms. And if ever Friendship shown a Miracle, my Heart shall bear her Picture to the other World, though I never see her again in this: But though I Love Cloris with a Flame as Pure as Light, as kind as Love, and as strong as Death, yet I'm now a pure Platonic again, neither will my Flesh (as Eliza 
* In a Letter she sent her whilst I was at Tunbridge.  told her) E'er creep in for a share, not but she might with a smile lead me like a Dog in a string, which way she pleased, and with a Word, make me leap over Steeples to serve her, yet you know (Ignotus,) that the least indifference cures Love-Melancholy in a few Minutes, I do assure you, Valeria's Great Alembic has refined all my Love, and 'tis now become as spiritual as Cloris. But this has cost me many a Sigh, many a Tear. But being at Tunbridge, I can tell my Grief to the Rocks and Groves; for they'll Listen, though she won't, and echo back her endearing Name as oft as I sigh it out.  
But these melancholy Groves have kept me longer than I did expect; but you won't be angry, (Ignotus,) since they are grown so civil as to listen to an honest meaning, and do Reply (in their way of speaking) to every word I utter; but there be no Rocks in the New Burying place, So I expect no Echo thence; no, though 'twere to a dying Gasp, or a Letter writ with primitive Ink. But in the other World, when Argus and his Friend get to Heaven (for I hope to meet, and know 'em there) they'll Licence our Thoughts, our Words, our very Looks! and know us better than to stop, or blame our Correspondence, which was begun in time, and discontinued a while, that the Sadness of parting here, might be abundantly recompensed by the Joy of meeting hereafter. And this, among other things, was that with which Augustine comforted the Lady 
† Aug. Ep. 6.  Italica, after the Death of her dear Husband, telling her, That she should know him in the World to come, among the glorified Saints. The Story is thus 
† See Bolton's Four Last Things. : Italica craved very importunately both by word and writing, some Consolations from him, to support her under that incomparable Cross of her Husband's Loss, and Widowhood; and as it may seem, she desired to know whethet she should know him in the second Life. For the first, he hits upon the sweetest, and most sovereign Comfort which could possibly be imagined. You can by no means saith he) think yourself desolate, who enjoy the Presence and Possession of Jesus Christ, in the inmost Closet of your Heart by Faith. About the other, he answers Peremptorily, 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, etc.  
And Bullinger on his Deathbed said to his Friends and Relations then standing by him, I exceedingly rejoice 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, Patriarches, 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 die 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 Deathbed 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 Father's House, where are my dear Children, will they not follow after me to Heaven; Being asked again, whether she was not afraid to die, 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, though 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 miseries I might fall into, or whether ever we should meet again. But now, ('twas 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 Zion 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 separated more.  
Mr. Eliot of New-England died 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 stayed 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 rejoicing 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 Tidings 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 increasing, and that the Churches were still kept as big as they were, by the daily Additions of those that shall be saved, and thus died, The first Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in America in a firm belief that he should meet and know his Friend's, in Heaven.  
I shall next add th● words of Bp. 
* See Ar. Bp. Tillotson's Servant 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 Enemy's 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 rendering Conversation mutually pleasant to one another. M● dear Ignotus, I need not add a greater Authority than 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) 'Twas 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 Deathbed; for when her approaching end gave me a deeper Sorrow than before, she endeavoured to solace me, by saying, 'Tis true, my dear, Tho I desire to live for thy sake, and nothing else, though I have all the World in having thee, and had rather die than thou shouldst be sick, yet don't be so concerned about parting, for I hope we shall both meet, where we shall never part. That she died in this Belief, yet furthet appears by the Letter she writ about her Funeral, which concludes with saying, My Dear, as to what you mention about our Funerals, I like it well, and am yet further pleased with our Ground Bedfellows, I doubt not; but dear, O— thou and I shall make as wholesome a Morsel for the Worms as any; and as we sleep together in the same Grave, so I hope we shall be happy hereafter in the Enjoyment of the Beatific Vision, and in the Knowledge of one another; for (adds she) I agree with you that we shall know our Friends in Heaven. Wise and Learned Men of all Ages; and several Scriptures plainly show it, though I verily believe, was there none but God and one Saint in Heaven, that Saint would be perfectly happy, so as to desire no more, but whilst on Earth, we may lawfully please ourselves with Hopes of meeting hereafter, and lying in the same Grave, where we shall be happy hereafter, if a Senseless Happiness can be called so.  
You mention Writing your Thoughts of the Nature of the Soul, and that other World we are hastening too; but seeing you did not send them, I shall wait with Patience till those things are no longer the Object of our Faith, but Vision.  
I shall only add my hearty Prayer, that God would bless you both in Soul and Body; and that when you die, you may be conveyed by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom, where, I hope, you'll find your constant— Eliza.  
And as Eliza (that part of myself now in Heaven) believed she should know me ●●ere, so I also find my Reverend Father of this Opinion, as appears by the following Letter, 
(*) This Letter was sent me during my Apprenticeship in the City of London.  Viz.  
My Dear Child.  
If you endeavour to please God and your Master, I do not doubt but I shall meet thy Face in Heaven, hereafter, though thro' my Corporal Indisposition I fear I shall see thy Face no more on Earth, and in that New-Jerusalem (if thou diest in Christ) I shall see thee not disfigured with Pockholes, but dignified with Celestial Glory, and there thou wilt see thine own Mother's Face, who killed herself with Excess of Love to thee, and who died praying so earnestly for thy Everlasting Salvation.  
'Tis clear from hence that my Father thought he should know my Face in Heaven, and that I show d see my Mother there, so as to know her again.  
My dear Mother was also of this Opinion, as appears by the Letter to her Brother Jeremiah, it concluding thus: Pray Brother earnestly contend for the Faith, once delivered to the Saints, that you may follow the Lord fully in your Generation; and, that you and I, with all our Relations, may one day sit down in Heavenly Places together, with Jesus Christ.  
And Cloris too (for I can't speak of Heaven without her) is of this Opinion, where she says, (speaking of Mr.—) That Saints and Angels listen to his Song, and knew him so very well, that not an Angel Critic durst correct his Verse— Dear Charmer, shall we see thee too in Heaven!  Phil. 
Then Cloris know in Heaven I'll be  
Your Friend and Guardian-Angel too;  
And though with more refined Society,  
I'll leave Elysium to converse with you.  Cloris. 
But grant Sir Phil. you still are kind,  
You cannot long continue so;  
When I like you, become all Thought and Mind,  
By what Mark then shall we each other know.  Phil. 
With Care on your last Hour I widow l attend,  
And least like Souls should me deceive;  
I closely will embrace my newborn Friend,  
And never after my dear Pithia leave.  
You see (Ignotus) I am all Rapture when I talk of Cloris, but 'tis Excusable sure! if not,  Phillip 
Forgive, Bright Maid, this little Ecstasy;  
Ah! who can be composed that thinks of thee?  
Who can Pindaric Flights refuse,  
Whilst thou dost lash the Fiery-foaming Muse.  
I'll curb her in, and try if I can be  
As Grave, as Sober, and as Wise as thee.  
Nor think, dear Friend, I ramble now from you, for I never talk to the Purpose; but when I bring in Cloris— our Friendship (both here, and hereafter) would be imperfect without her.— It should sweeten the Thoughts of Heaven to us both, to think we shall one day see her there. Which, if we do, with what Ardours shall we then caress one another? With what Transports of Divine Affection (as one expresses it) shall we mutually embrace, and vent those Innocent Flames, which had so long lain smothering in the Grave? How Passionately, Rhetorical, and Elegant, will our Expressions be, when our Tender Sentiments, which (an aged Father and) Death had frozen up, when he congealed our Blood, shall now be thawed again in the warm Airs of Paradise— like Men that have escaped a common Shipwreck, and swim safe to the Shoar, shall we there Congratulate each other with Joy and Wonder?  
I need not tell you (says the Ingenious boil) Tha we shall be more justly Transported at this Meeting than was good old Jacob at that of his Son Joseph, whom having long mourned for dead and lost, he found not only Alive, but a great Favourite, ready to welcome him to an unknown Court For, whereas the Patriarch said to his Son, Now let me die, since I have seen thy Face; the seeing of our Friends in Heaven will assure us, that we shall for ever Live with them there.  
Dear Ignotus, wonder not at this Rapture, for if Eliza whilst on Earth, had Christian love enough to Embrace the whole World, in Heaven, she has not left her Nature, but only its imperfections, she has not changed her affections, but only heightened and improved them, and therefore judge how happy I shall be when I see her again, and how much more happy in her Excellent friendship; for my part I can imagine nothing but an Extacy when we shall Live in such great Hearts which are nothing else but LOVE and JOY; Nay, this seems to be the sum of what we can say of the happiness of that State, that it consists in a rapturous Love of God and one another. Where this is found, that Place is Heaven. 
* See Mr. Foes Car. of Dr. Annesly.  Can I Reheatses to your Conception what is Heaven above,— 'twould be Concisely thus, all Heaven is Love. Sure I am we shall behold no narrow Conclusive Soul in Heaven habitually preferring their private before a public good: and on this Score (had I no better Grounds) I should hope to meet Eliza in Heaven, as she preferred that, and the pleasing her Husband to all the Bags in the World. Then surely if I meet her again my first Address to Eliza will be all Dialect of Interjectons and short Periods, the most Pathetic Language of surprise and high wrought Joy, and all our after Converse (even to Eternity) will be Couched, in the highest Strains of Heavenly Oratory, methinks (at this vast Distance) I Fancy her running to me and saying, Ah! Philaret this place where I have now met thee (never to part more) shows how Loyal I was to thee, could I die, undutiful & meet thee here; and tho' thou wert too sincere thyself to distrust my Love, yet in a State of Mortality I might have deceived thee, but by meeting here, thou findest my Love was as true as thine; she's no sooner gone to Congratulate other Spirits, but methinks I see Argus (having repent the injuries he did me) Fido, H— n, Ignotus and a Troop of Friends, all coming to give me a particular welcome. Dear Ignotus, wonder not at this Conjecture, for the Souls of those that have left their bodies, are as much alive in the other World, as we are in this, 
See his Ser. before the Qu.  and do there, † as (Dr. Beveridge tells us) as Familiarly Converse together as we do here with one another.  
It much Sweeteneth the thoughts of Heaven to me, saith Mr. Baxter, To Remember that there are a multitude of my Friends gone thither; to think such a Friend that died at such a time, and such a one at another time (O! what a number of them could I name) and that all these I shall meet again.  
'Tis true, (adds he) it's a question with some whether we shall know each other in Heaven or no? but 'tis none with me; for surely there shall no knowledge cease which now we have, but only that which implieth our imperfection, and what imperfection can this imply? Nor is it only my old Friends, [such as Essex, Russel, Sidney, etc.] that I shall know in Heaven, but all the Saints of all ages, whose Faces in the Flesh I never saw. 
See Dr. Annesley's Servant of Commun. with God.  We also find Dr. Annesley of this Opinion, for in his Sermons of Communion with God, he there tells us, Those whom we have Loved and Prized, with whom we have wept and prayed, whose Company on Earth hath been refreshing; how welcome will a never parting meeting be in Heaven, ay, those whom we have admired though we never saw them, we shall then see and enjoy for ever. Mat. 8.11. they shall come from the East and West, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of Heaven; Those that know what 'tis to Converse with Saints on Earth may be able to give a Guests what it will be in Heaven. How sweet will it be to discourse with Moses, when your Face shall shine as well as his; to converse with Solomon, when your Wisdom shall exceed whatever is recorded of his, to join in the Consort of Praises with the sweet Singer of Israel, when you shall be Persons after God's own Heart, without a But in your Commendation.— We shall here converse with Saints of the highest Form, with Enoch, that walked with God, with Elijah, that was taken up in the Fiery Chariot, and with Paul, that was Christ's Principal Secretary on Earth (as to the Riches of Free Grace); we shall freely converse with all these, and with that beloved Disciple that could whisper to Christ what others durst not mention.  
Our Saviour tells the Jews, Luke 13.28. that they should see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God; and therefore we shall know them: And what is there in reason that should hinder it? why may nor Abraham and Isaac (once so nearly related) be again acquainted, and with Joy repeat the History of the intended Sacrifice? Why may not Moses and Aaron meet and discourse their Old Adventures? Why may not the blessed Apostles and holy Martyrs be known to one another, and entertain themselves with gladsome Relations of what they did, and what they suffered together.  
Thus the Saints in Heaven, as they receive Happiness from the sight of God, so they communicate the purest Pleasure to one another. An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure Society. Our Love is now kindled, either from a Relation in Nature, or a civil Account, or some visible Excellencies that render a Person worthy of our Choice and Friendship; but in Heaven the Reasons are greater, and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent. In that blessed Society (Says a 
* See Dr. Bates' Four Last Things.  Learned Author) there is a constant Receiving and Returning of Love and Joy. And that double Exercise of the Saints, in the perfect Circle of Love, is like the pleasant Labour of the Bees, who all the day are flying to the Gardens, and returning to their Hives, and all their Art is in extracting the purest Spirits from fragrant Flowers, and making sweet Honey. O how do they rejoice and triumph, in the Happiness of one another? With what an unimaginable Tenderness do they embrace? What Reciprocations of Endearments are between them? O their Ravishing Conversation, and sweet Intercourse! for their Presence together in Heaven is not a silent Show. In the Transfiguration. Moses and Elias talked with Christ: We may understand a little of it, by the sensible Complasence that is among sincere Friends here. In pure Amity there is a threefold Union: a Union of Resemblance that is the Principle of it; Likeness causes Love: a Union of Affection, that is its Essence; 'tis said of Jonathan, that incomparable Friend. His Soul was knit with the Soul of David, and he loved him as his own Soul: the Union of Conversation that is requisite to the Satisfaction of Love. What an Entertainment of Love and Joy is there in the Presence and Discourses of dear Friends! their mutual Aspects, like a Chain, composed of Spirits luminous and active, draw and fasten their Souls to one another: The Felicity of Love consists in their Conversation. Now in Heaven whatever is pleasant in Friendship, is in Perfection; and whatever is distasteful by men's Folly and Weakness, is abolished. With what excellent Discourses do they entertain one another?  
But these particular Friendships in Heaven (says an Ingenious Writer) they do 
[*] Dr. Patrick's Parable of the Pilgrim.  not at all spoil the Universal Kindness of the place, others will not be loved the worse for them, but rather loved better, because they will teach those united Hearts the greatest Love. They may be esteemed also one of the Beauteous Spectacles of the place, and be reckoned among the grateful Varieties, which will entertain us, when after the Pleasures of a more general and large Conversation, every one may retire to the Company of those he loveth most; and if a particular Friendship in Heaven will give such unspeakable Joys: What a Happiness will it be to see and embrace the Blissful Society of all the Saints and Angels at once about the Throne, to see all the Martyrs with their Glorious Scars of Honour; nay, Angels, Cherubims, Seraphims, and all that blessed Choir of Spirits, who have done us while we were in Dangers here, many an invisible Courtesy, which they could never thank them for, they being Ministering Spirits, sent forth to minister for them, who shall be Heirs of Salvation.— If a Diagoras, when he saw his three Sons crowned in one day at the Olympic 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 departed 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 crowned in one day with an Everlasting Diadem of Bliss, which never shall decay: there shall be no Hypocrite then for us to lose 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 join in one common Choir, 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 echo 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' Four Last Things.  Love and Praises? The Seraphims about the Throne cried 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 Music of Heaven. O could we hear but some Echo of those Songs, wherewith the Heaven of Heavens resounds, some remains of those Voices, wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises of God, etc.  
For Angels and Saints to make one Consort of Praise to God, what Music 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'er 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 seemed 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 disordered, one Sick, another disquieted, myself indisposed; then with what cheerful Resolution should I undertake my last Voyage, where I shall meet with my best Friends, and find them perfectly happy, and myself 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. Patrick's 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 increase, 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 loved, 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 conferred about the Mysteries and Promises of the Gospel, and many a time discoursed 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 Rejoicing in their Blessedness, more than I would have done for their Temporal Advancement in any kind on Earth. I'll 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'll think they are there, when I think of Christ in Heaven, I'll remember they are part of his Family Above. When I think with hope of entering into Heaven myself, I'll 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 persuasion 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 to preserve each other in the Way: And they who would wear the same Crown of rejoicing in the Presence of Christ, will assist each other here, that they perish not in the agony and conflict.  
The Egyptians Embalmed the Carcases of the Dead, to preserve them, if it were possible, through all the parts of Time; being guided by an opinion, that so long as the Body continued undissolved, the Soul would not forsake the Earth, but continue hover about the place where the Bodies lay: In like manner the Souls of men, which by many kinds of Association may be united into one mass and heap, and as it were become parts of one another, will continue the more vigilant and active for each others everlasting Welfare, so long as they are persuaded against an eternal divorce and dissolution, and do contrarily believe they shall be rewarded by a sense of each others happiness; and that that union which is among themselves (as of one member to another) shall not be dissolved, but perfected by that Union which shall unite them to Christ as to their Head, and through him unto God.  
Ignotus, I might stop here, for I hope by this time, I have made it plain, that the Saints know one another in Heaven; But this being a Curious Point, I shall yet bring more Authoritys to prove it, and the next I shall Name is the Pious 
* See His four last things.  Bolton, Who positively asserts, The knowing of our Friends in Heaven; his Words are these, All comfortable knowledge shall be so far from being abolished in Heaven, that it will be enlarged, increased, and perfected.  
But to know one another is a comforta●l● knowledge.  
Yherefore we shall know one another in Heaven.  
Our knowledge shall be perfected: For, We shall know as we are known, 1. Cor. 13.12. Which is set out by Comparison of the less: That our knowledge then, shall differ from that now, as the knowledge of a Child from that of a Perfect Man.  
In Heaven all the mists of Ignorance and Blindness being perfectly cleared up and taken away; we shall see one another, together with all the Saints, though we did not know them before. For, if Adam by virtue of the Divine Image stamped upon him, knew Eve, though taken out of his Body while he was asleep; Why should not we, being Transformed according to the same Image, from Glory to Glory, by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, know the Members of the same Body?  
Those full of the Spirit and Wisdom of God, may as easily be supposed to know one another, as Adam before the Fall, while he retained the Image of God, knew Eve who, and whence she came.  
And as Samuel knew Saul by the Inspiration of God, though he had not seen him before, Sam. 9.17. And John knew our Lord Christ in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin. So their Minds were Enlightened by the Rays of the Holy Spirit.  
Then Conceive if thou canst, Ignotus, how grateful that knowledge will be, by which we shall know all others as all others shall know us.  
The Knowledge which all men in this Life unprofitably desire, shall be such, to the Good, that they shall be ignorant of nothing they are willing to know. For the Good shall be filled with the perfect Wisdom of God, and shall see Him Face to Face, and in seeing of this, shall behold the Nature of all Creatures, which they shall see in God better than themselves. For then the Just shall know all things which God hath made knowable, as well those which are passed as those which are to come.  
When the Elect shall see the ancient Fathers in their Eternal Inheritance, they shall know them by Sight, whom they knew in their Work; for they shall see them all by a common Illumination: What is it they can there be ignorant of, when they know him who knows all things?  
The Vision of God is not only promised to the Saints in Heaven, but also of all things that God has made; as the Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Seas, Rivers, Living Creatures, Trees and Metals. But our Minds know nothing, i. e. No perfect Substance, nor Essential Differences, nor Properties, nor Virtues. Nor did ever any Man see his own Soul, but we grope like the Blind, and acquire the Knowledge we have by Discourse. What shall the Joy then be, when we shall see by the Light bestowed upon us, the nature of all things barefaced. And how wonderfully shall we be transported when we shall see innumerable Armies of Angels in the Differences of their Degrees and Order.  
And in Heaven, as we shall know the Saints not in Outward, Worldly Respects, but as we know them in Christ, by the Illumination of the Spirit, so also we shall know the Spiritual Substances, Offices, Orders, Excellencies of the Angels, and the Nature, Immutability, Operations, and Original of our own Souls, etc. and in a Word, all things knowable.  
Here 'tis the happy Residentiaries Understandings are wide opened to all the amazing Lights and Discoveries of Truth, to the Mysteries of Creation and Providence, of Redemption and Sanctification; to the now puzzling Difficulties of Nature and of Grace; of God's Prescience, and Man's Free Will. Here 'tis the Wills also of the Glorified are rendered conformable unto, are swallowed up in, and made one with God's Holy Will and Pleasure.  
‛ There (says the ingenious boil) we shall have clearly expounded to us those Riddles of Providence, which have, but too often, tempted even good Men, to question God's Conduct in the Government of the World, whilst the Calamities and Persecutions of Virtue and Innocence, seem approved by him, who accumulates Prosperities on their Criminal Opposers.  
And I must profess (adds he) (as Unfashionable as such a Profession ma● seem in a Gentleman, not yet Two and Twenty) that I find the Study of those excellent Themes, God's Word, and his Providence, so Diego ficult, and yet so Pleasing and Inviting, that could Heaven afford me no greater Blessing than a clear Account of the Abstruse Mysteries of Divinity and Providence, I should value the having my Understanding Gratified and Enriched with Truths of so Noble and Precious a Nature, enough to court Heaven at the rate of renouncing for it all those unmanly Sensualities and trifling Vanities; for which, Inconsiderate Mortals are wont to forfeit the Interest their Saviour so dearly bought them in it.  
But this is not all, for here we shall with wonderful Ravishment of Spirit, and Spiritual Joy, be admitted to the sight of those Sacred Secrets, and Glorious Mysteries. 1. Of the Holy Trinity, into which some Divines may audaciously dive, but shall never be able to explicate. 2. Of the Union of Christ's Humanity to the Divine Nature; and of the Faithful to Christ. 3. Of the causes of God's Eternal Counsel in Election and Reprobation. 4. Of the Angels Fall. 5. Of the manner of the Creation of the World, etc. Neither is this all, for we shall also be beatifically enlightened with a clear and glorious Sight of GOD Himself, about which Schoolmen fall upon differing Conceits.  
Some say God shall then be known by a Species, representing the Divine Essence; and by a Light of Glory, elevating the Understanding by a supernatural Strength.  
Others, That the Divine Essence shall be represented to the glorified Understanding, not by any Species, but immediately by itself; yet they also require Light of Glory to elevate and fortify the Understanding, by reason of its Weakness, and Infinite Disproportion and Distance from the Incomprehensible Deity.  
Others hold, That to the clear Vision of God there is not required a Species, representing the Divine Essence, as the first sort suppose; nor any Created Light elevating the Understanding, as the second sort think; but only a Change of the Natural Order of knowing. It is sufficient (say they) that the Divine Essence be immediately represented to a Created Understanding. Which, though it cannot be done according to the Order of Nature, as Experience tells us: (For, we so conceive things; first, having passed the Sense and Imagination.) Yet it may be done according to the Order of Divine Grace, etc.  
But it is sufficient for a sober Man to know, that in Heaven we shall see Him Face to Face.— And if we shall do this, and have our Understandings so enlarged, as has been mentioned; Why then should we doubt of Knowing one another; especially since our Saviour Christ setteth forth the State of the Blessed, by the knowledge one of another, Matth. 17.  
In Heaven (says Mr. Bolton 
† See his Four Last Things. ) we shall enjoy every good thing, and Comfortable Gift, which may any way increase and enlarge our Joy and Felicity.  
But meeting there, knowing then, and conversing for ever with our old dear Christian Friends, and all the Glorious Inhabitants of those Sacred Palaces, will mightily please and refresh us with sweetest Delight.  
Therefore we shall know one another.  
Society is not comfortable without familiar Acquaintance: Be assured then, it shall not be wanting in the Height and Perfection of all Glory, Bliss, and Joy. Nay, our Minds being abundantly and beatifically illuminated with all Wisdom and Knowledge, we shall be enabled to know, not only those of former Holy Acquaintance, but also Strangers, and such as we never knew before.  
In the Elect (saith a Learned Author) there is something admirable; because they do not only acknowledge those whom they knew in this World; but also, as men seen and known, they know the Good, whom they never saw.  
There (saith Anselm) All men shall be known of every several man, and every several man shall be known of all.  
Again, Conceive if thou canst, how comfortable that knowledge will be, by which, as thou of all others, so all others shall be known of thee in that Life.  
Yet let me tell you, (adds this Author) That this for the most part is the Curious Quaerie of carnal people; who feeding falsely their presumptuous Conceits with golden Dreams, and vain hopes of many future imaginary felicities in the World to come, whereas in the mean time they have no care at all, use no means, take no pains, to enter into the Holy Path, which leads unto that blessed Place. It is even, as if one should busy himself much, and boast what he will do in New-England when he comes thither; and yet (poor man) he hath neither Ship, nor Money, nor Means, nor Knowledge of the ●ay, nor Provision before hand for his comfortable Planting there. Thus far Mr. Bolton.  
I may further add, If there be Joy in Heaven, at the Conversion of a Sinner here; it cannot be thought but they'll know that Convert when he comes to Heaven.— And 'tis worth observing that the Martyrs frequently Cited their Adversaries, Witnesses, etc. to the Just Bar of Heaven, which supposes knowing them there: Besides there are several Texts (as I shall afterwards prove) very plain for it. Not one of the Primitive Fathers ever doubted it, and 'tis impossible it should be otherwise, seeing Heaven is to be a Place of Perfection, but to be limited in our Knowledge would argue imperfection.  
Thus you see 'tis not only mine, but the concurrent Voice, of my Reverend Father, my pious Mother, my dear Departed, and several Learned men, That we shall know one another in Heaven. But lest some should say these Opinions have no Foundation, but are the idle fancies of a Distempered Brain, I'll further prove the Point, with Arguments drawn From Reason, and the Authority of Divine Revelation.  
And this task I shall undertake (though with unequal Ability, ● yet) with equal Zeal, to what you have shown, in the Progress of our Friend ship; For, there is nothing in the World I would more willingly prove, nor any Proposition can be advanced, which I more desire should be true than this,— That the Saints in Heaven shall particularly know those again, they have known on Earth, and that Cloris, Ignotus, and Phil. etc. (Whose Love is a Kin to that pure Flame that burned in the Breasts of the first Christians) if they are so happy as to meet in Heaven, shall not only know, and Lovingly greet one another there, (as was said before) but Remember likewise, and sweetly reflect on all those Innocent, and en●●ring Words and Actions, (human Frailties only abated) that past between 'em in their Earthly State.— Indeed (as Flavel says) We shall not know our Friends in any Carnal Relation,— Death Dissolved that Bond,— But we shall know 'em to be such as once were our Dear Relations and Acquaintance in this World, and be able to single them out from among that great Multitude; and say,  
This was my Father,— Mother,— Husband,— Wife, or Child,— This Eliza—, Cloris—, J—son, C— t, H— n,— This was the Person for whom I wept, and made supplication, who was an Instrument of good to me, or to whose Salvation God then made me instrumental.  
It's a great Relief (says a late 
* See Mr. Showers Ser. Preached soon after his Wife's Funeral.  Writer) to a Christian Mourner, to consider that his deceased Friends are not lost, but Live, I know (continues this Author) That I shall shortly follow the desire of mine Fies; I hope I shall be silent, and adore, and not charge God foolishly. But methinks I know (with sensible supporting Influence from such a thought) that she is not dead, but sleepeth; she is not lost, but lives. And if I get to Heaven, shall meet her there in the Presence of the Lord our Redeemer, and then the Company of our Holy Relatives will be more sweet than ever it was on Earth.  
For though the Blessed Vision 
† This Eliza also mentions in her Funeral Letter.  of God be our chiefest Hope and Joy, yet the Presence of all the Blessed Spirits wil● make a Real, though Subordinate Part of our Happiness and Delight. I am so far from 
* Mr. Baxter, of the Knowledge of God, Part 3. Page 331.  doubting whether we shall Know and Love one another in the Heavenly State, that the Belief 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 rejoice at the Conversion of a Particular Sinner, and the Departed Saints too, do know more, even o● the State of this World, than we d●, 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 remained alive in a Corner of the Isles of the Gentiles.  
But as to our Mutual Knowledge in the Heavenly State; Shall those whom we Relieved 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 Rejoicing 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 rejoice 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 concur together to give us all desirable Satisfaction in so agreeable a Curiosity.— For though the Immortality of the Soul has been questioned by some Old and New Sceptics, and in direct Terms oppugned by some ancient Epicureans, and is still so by too many baptised Infidels, who are not ashamed to oppose their senseless Banters against it. Notwithstanding Christ by his Triumphant Resurrection, and Appearance from the Dead has abolished Death, cleared all Doubts concerning the supposed Dissolution of the Soul.— I say, though there have been many that have denied the— Souls Immortality,— yet none have granted it to be Immortal, but have believed 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 esteemed to be the Life of the Soul, without which, it not having any remaining Sense of its past Actions, would 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, should not this Faculty keep a Faithful Register of every remarkable things they do, all they had done would be insignificant and lost in the Air, and the Soul itself would be an idle useless thing in Nature, and less valuable than the meanest Particle of Matter, which is not without its Use in the Fabric of the World— (And such Dunces are we, that we have not yet attained a perfect Vnderst●●ding of the smallest Flower, and why the Grass should 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 could be no Principles of Knowledge fixed in the Mind; and much less any Conclusions could be drawn from them; or if drawn, could they be treasured up for use?— There could be no Knowledge, no Arts or Sciences, (not studying Philosophy with Cloris, or learning French with Daphne;) nor so much as any Mechanic Trades (though of greatest Necessity) exercised: No Observations, no Experiences could be made, and there could be no such thing in Nature, as Wisdom— Prudence— or indeed common Sense and Discretion to guide Men in their Actions. There could be no Societies, no Kingdoms erected, or maintained, and it would 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 Tigers, since both the Judges and the Judged would 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 observed to be in exercising their— Reminiscence.—  Memory is the Seat of Conscience— the Guide of unexperienced Reason the Mother of all Practical and Useful 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 ancient Egyptian, and Babylonian Sages, and Indian brahmin's held— that Soul's not only retained in their separate State; The Memory of all their past Actions, and knew again (distinctly) their former Friends and Enemies, but that they carried out of the World with them the very same Inclinations they had here; of this Judgement 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 could easily see by the very Light of Nature, that 'twould be very idle and impertinent, to assert the Soul Immortal— without affirming— Her Essential Faculties, and particularly Her Memory— to remain; and that as 'twould be nonsensical to summon before any Court of Justice on Earth a Man without Wits or Memory,— so it would be ridiculous to fancy a Judicature in the other World, to Condemn or Reward Men, for what they could have no Remembrance of— Seneca (though a Heathen) could 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 ●he●, 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 Wits 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 Virtue they did excel in whilst on Earth.— And indeed how can a Future-State be Imagined to be ●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; 'tis not my thinking, or understanding, or willing, that makes my Soul to be a particular, Individual Soul distinct from others, but 'tis Remembering, and Reflecting▪ that I that think now, am the same Soul that thought so and so an hour ago, and not another, 'tis that, that chief makes me an Individual.— 'Tis the Conscience or Memory we have planted in us of good and bad Actions, drawing along with it by main force, our own Judgements to censure or approve us that is the great Evidence of another Life.— 'Tis 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 ●●ppose that God would continue the Soul in B●ing, after ' its separation from the Body, and much less join it afterward to it again at the Resurrection, if Memory above all things were not to be preserved, for if God▪ should continue our Souls in another Life without preserving in them the— Remembrance— of the passages of this; it would be the same thing as if he Created new Souls, and not gave us the same again.— Nay they would not be the same, because their— Individuality being lost, they would not differ from New Being's, and then all the Actions of the past Life being totally forgot, that Life would be in vain, and as if it had never been; and the Grounds of Reward and Punishment in another State, would fall to the ground, and it would seem unjust to Condemn or Recompense men for things they could not be sensible they ever did or performed.  
Besides, it would 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 Recompense of what they have done in their bodies, and that their bodies 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 could this (with any Congruity to the Wisdom and Justice of God) be executed, if all Memory of Actions done in the Bod● were after Death to cease. The A●lwise Providence is not capable of doing any th●ng so vain, and so absurd as this.— No we are not placed 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 ●●●d here to serve him in a better Life hereafter; which Future State is to be regulated according to the Records taken of our Actions in this.— So that 'tis 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 ●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 chief in the Memory shall never die, 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. boil 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 'tis certain that our Souls will then preserve the faculties that are Natural to 'em viz.— To understand, to will, to remember. As 'tis represented to us in the fore mentioned Parable. 'Tis true (as I hinted before) We little know how the People of the disembodyed Societys' Act▪ and will, and understand; and therefore I even long to know it. What Conception can I have of a separated Soul (says a late Writer) but that 'tis all Thought.— And that at the Resurrection all men, whether good or bad, shall be restored with all their Senses and Faculties, 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 Blessed or Cursed estate shall be capable of,— For then all the Heavy matter that clogged the Faculties of their Souls, being taken away, and their very bodies exalted as near the Nature of Spirits as possible, all their Senses and Faculties 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 Judgement, our Memory will re-mind us of our smallest Actions and most rivilous Words, than it evidently follows that we shall no ●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 Gild, or Inhancement of their Virtue, 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— The Quality, Condition, or Circumstance of the Person very much adding to, or taking from the Goodness or Badness of the Action or Expression.  
Neither 
(a) See Mr. Shower's Mourner's Companion, P. 63.  can it well be Imagined, how the Process and Proceed of the Judgement Day, according to the Scripture-Account of it, can be manag d by the Man Christ Jesus (or the Lord Redeemer, clothed with human Nature) without our Knowledge of one another in the other World, who were Acquainted, and Conversed together in this. 'Tis true, the present Relations by Marriages and Blood, will then cease; but there is no reason to think, that the Remembrance of those Relations must also cease; yea, their Knowledge and Remembrance of us, and their Affection to us whom we knew, and loved in the Lord, is not like to be Abolished, but perfected by dying— A particular Remembrance of our Actions and Words in the other World must needs infer, as particular a Remembrance of the very individual Persons to whom they refer; and do not think (my Ignotus) that God will preserve so entire a Memory in the Wicked for their Torment, and will not preserve as perfect and exquisite a Remembrance in the Virtuous for the increase of their Joy. As God will exact an Account for every idle Word Men shall speak, so He will bring to the Remembrance of his Chosen, all the good Actions they have done, nor will He let them forget their dear Companions, and pious Conversation they have had one with another.— So much as a Cup of cold Water given to a Disciple, in the Name of a Disciple, Matth. 10.42. He will not let us forget, nor the Disciple neither to whom 'twas given— He will show us every one of those Persons when we come to Heaven, to whom we have done any Good on Earth— and pointing to them will say to us— Forasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren, ye have done it unto me, Matth. 25.40.  
And as we shall be made to know and remember, all the particular Persons we have done any Good to, and with whom we have been acquainted— So 'tis as plain they shall be made to know and remember us— as appears by the Parable of the unjust Steward, since 'tis intimated there, that the Poor to whom the Richer Christians had been liberal, shall plead with God, that their Benefactors likewise may be received into the same everlasting Habitations with themselves, which how they could do, unless they were some way or other made to know those particular Friends again that had relieved them, is hard to conceive.— But since Christ assures us, That the very Angels (tho' they be so far from being related to our Persons, that they are Foreigners to our very Nature, which by the way, is an addition to our Glory, that our Natures, not theirs, was taken into the Personal Union with God) receive accession of Joy for a relenting Sinner, Luke 15.7. that by Repentance gins to turn towards God. You will not think it absurd (says the Ingenious Boyl) That in a place where Charity shall not only continue (as St. Paul speaks, 1 Cor. 13.8.) but grow perfect, our dear Friends should rejoice to see us, not only begin to turn towards God, but come home to Him; nor is it unlikely (as I hinted before) that our Transported Souls shall mutually Congratulate each other, their having now fully escaped the numerous Rocks, and Shelves, and Quick Sands, and threatening Storms, and no less dangerous Calms, thro' which they are at length arrived at that peaceful Haven, where is both Innocence and Delight (which are here so seldom matched)— with those Friends we here lamented, we shall there rejoice.— And 'twill be but needful that the Discovery of each others Virtues should bring us to a mutual Knowledge of our Persons; for otherwise, we shall be so changed, that we should never know our Friends; (and should scarce know ourselves, were not an Eminent Increase of Knowledge a part of that happy Change) for those departed Friends, whom at our last Separation we saw disfigured by all the Ghastly Horrors of Death, we shall then see assisting about the Majestic Throne of Christ, with their once vile Bodies, transfigured into the likeness of his Glorious Body, mingling their glad Acclamations with the Hallelujahs of Thrones, Principalities and Powers, and the most dignified Favourites of the Celestial Court.  
In Heaven (continues this Author) we shall not only see our elder Brother Christ, but probably also all our Kindred, Friends, and Relations, that living here in his Fear, died in his Favour. For, since our Saviour tells us, that the Children of the Resurrection shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, equal to, or like the Angels; Luk. 20.46. who, yet in the Visions of Daniel and St. John, appear to be acquainted with each other: When the having turned many to Righteousness, Dan. 2. shall, as the Scripture foretells, confer a Starlike and Immortal Brightness. Since (which is chief considerable) the knowledge 
* As was hinted before in P. 34.  of particular Actions, and consequently, Persons, seems requisite to the Attainment of that great End of God, in the day of Judgement, the Manifestation of his Punitive and Remunerative Justice; considering this, 'tis very probable, that we shall know each other in a place; where, since nothing requisite to Happiness can be wanting, we may well suppose ●at lest, if we can imagine here, what we shall think there) that we shall not want so great a satisfaction, as that of being knowingly happy, in our other selves, our Friends. Nor is this only probable, Lindamor, but 'tis not improbable, that those Friends that knew us in Heaven shall welcome us thither.  
It was no small Contentment and Satisfaction to St. Paul, that he should meet his beloved Thessalonians in the Presence of Christ; for thus much seemeth to be intimated by that his exulting demand, what is our Hope, or Joy, or Crown of Rejoicing, are not ye even in the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? Which must needs imply his distinct Knowledge of them in that day, which must be many Hundred Years after Death hath separated them from each other.  
And the same Apostle, when he would set Bounds and Limits to a Christian's sorrowing for the Dead, tells us, that we must not sorrow, as those that have no Hope: Such men's Sorrow finds no Ease, because that Good whose Absence they bemoan, in their Opinion is irrecoverably lost; and to shake Hands with a Dying Friend, is with them as much as to bid them everlastingly farewel: But a Christian's Tears (like Drops from a Cloud) may sometimes fall; they must not, like a River, be always running. He may sorrow because he is parted from some Good (suppose from a loving Friend) but this Sorrow must be tempered with this Hope, that he shall see his Friend again. And we find the late Athenians of this Opinion; for being asked by one of their Querists then deeply in Love with a fine 
(a) ['twas the Ingenious Daphne, who I have Reason to think is dead.]  Woman, whether if she died first he should know her again in Heaven? their Answer was, We must first inquire 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 Tyrannic Love.  Tho we must confess our Judgement 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 would be imperfect if they should not, and that in relation to such Objects, as would conduce to the Addition and Perfection of their Happiness, as well as the Glory of him who chief makes it; because the Society of Saints in Glory, is by all granted to be one of the Blisses of Heaven, but Society without knowledge can't be easily conceived. Because we shall be then like the Angels, who we are sure know each other, and whom we believe endued with all Knowledge they are capable of, as they seem to be of all but what is Infinite. Because otherwise we should 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 should think would 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 should 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 repaid, unless we know those who conferred 'em: Not withstanding which lower degree of Happiness, the ●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 Deathbed, 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 virtuously 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 a●l other terrors of Death, then that one of an everlasting absence from a Friend, they were careful to cheer 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, than we shall hereafter clearly know who were our Fellow-Members in that Communion; and as Faith itself shall be done away by Evidence, so shall that Communion which is here by Faith, be hereafter perfected by that Communion which ●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 could 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 yourselves 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. 'tis 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 Union 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 rejoice in the good of another, (which a sociable Nature inwardly abhorreth) or else we must allow it an Object whereon to practise its endless Love and Joy. This Love we conceive shall be the perfection of that Desire which was begun on Earth, but always mixed with Fear and Jealousy, 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 Union 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 of a different splendour; and as the Stars, the Air, and Water, by their borrowed Lights do raise us to behold the Sun, the Fountain of all that Light; so wheresoever the Rays of Glory are cast (whether on Angels or Men) we cannot but behold God shining on each Nature, and confess Him to be All in All. Moreover, it is not a glance, but a fixing on the Creature (which in that state is not to be feared) can endanger our Happiness, otherwise neither God nor Angels are truly Blessed; for the Divinity of former Ages would persuade us, That God as it were cometh daily out of Himself to behold his own Image in the Angels, and the Angels look upon the same Resemblance as cast from them, and reflected by the Soul; but neither God, nor Angels are so ravished with those dimmer Beauties, as to dwell upon them, but do suddenly return back to the Fountain, God to Himself, and the Angels unto God.  
Thus have I Answered two of the Objections, Against knowing our Friends in Heaven, and have proved we shall know 'em if we get thither, since Heaven is a Place where since nothing requisite to happiness can be wanting, we may well suppose that we shall not want so great a satisfaction as that of being knowingly happy in our other selves, our Friends, etc.  
Object. 3. But how can it be, may some say, that the Saints can know their Earthly Acquaintance again, after so great an alteration by the Resurrection, and so great an addition of Luster and Beauty to what they had before, when many times we can hardly know a man again here, after some Years absence; or after the disfigurement of a Wound, or sharp Disease: Neither do I know one Angel in Heaven, or the Spirits of any Just men that are gone thither, so that when I come there I mcpike ●o be a mere stranger to that Blessed 
* As was hinted at the beginning of this Essay.  Company.  
To this I Answer, First, as to the Angels,— What if thou knowest not one Angel in all the Heavens? Is it not enough (says a late Writer) That many of 'em may know thee?— But how shall I know that— How?— Thou hast been their special Charge ever since thou wast born to Jesus Christ— Are they not all Ministering Spirits to all them that are Heirs of Glory?— How kindly did an Angel Comfort Mary Magdalen, and the other Marry, when they early came to visit the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord? How well did he know their Persons and their business, when he said,— Fear not, I know that ye seek Jesus, which was Crucified; he is not here, for he is Risen, as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his Disciples that he is Risen from the Dead, and behold he goeth before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him, Mat. 28.5. So as I have told you— what Discourse could be more kind, friendly, and famliar.  
So that the Ministration of Angels is certain, but the manner how, is the Knot to be untied. 'Twas generally believed by the Ancient Philosophers, That not only Kingdoms had their Tutelary Guardians, but that every Person had his particular Genius or Good Angel to Protect and Admonish him by Dreams, Visions, etc. We read that Origen, Hierome, Plato, and Empedocles in Plutarch, were also of this Opinion; and the Jews themselves, as appears by that Instance of Peter's Deliverance out of Prison; who retreating to his Friend's House, the unexpectedness of his Escape made 'em believe it could not be Peter, but his Angel. We are not without Examples of the Friendly Offices of Angels. Witness Grinaeus, his Admonition and Escape from Spires: Vide Melancthon's Commentary upon Daniel; Bodinus his Relation of his Friend's Calestial Monitor, with many more, which would be too tedious to recount particularly.  
We positively affirm, (say the Athenians) that every Infant has his particular Angel, Matth. 18.10. and that it is a good Angel is deducible from Matth. 19.14. nor can we believe that good Angels cease to preside over Adult Persons, th● never so Vicious, Luke 15.10.  
Now if God has commissioned his Angels to minister to his Saints, to defend and keep them; to guard and shield them from Dangers and Mischiefs; and if these glorious Harbingers bear so 
* See Mr. Steven's Sermons on Dives and Lazarus.  great Love to Men, as has been plainly proved; doubtless they are very ready to receive and carry the Souls of good Men into Heaven; one of the Fathers calls the Angels (Evocatores Animarum) the Callers forth of Souls, and such as show them (Paraturam Diversorii) the Preparations of those Mansions they are going to, which supposes a very particular Knowledge of them.— Hence we observe (says the same Author) when good Men die, they are often in silent Raptures, and express a kind of Impatience till they are dissolved, and why? because they Spiritually see what they cannot utter, as did St. Paul, when he was wrapped up into the third Heaven. There is a kind of a draught presented to them by their Guardian Angels of those Transcendent Joys they are almost ready to enter in Possession of; and therefore long and pine till they are conveyed into that place of unspeakable Felicity; and these Heavenly Spirits (adds this Author) succour and support them under their Pain and Sickness; and when their Souls are stormed out of their Bodies, they encompass and embrace them, soaring through the Regions of evil Angels, (as the Text speaks concerning Lazarus) till they are carried into Abraham 's Bosom.  
And as the Angels shall know us, so the Saints shall see and know the innumerable Company of Angels, their Natures, each of their Persons in particular. As the Angels know every Elect Person, because it is their work to gather the Elect from all the Corners of the Earth, and to sepaparate them from the wicked, Matth. 13.41. so the Glorified Saints shall know the Holy Angels, whom the Lord sent forth to minister for them, whom the Lord appointed for their Guard while they were upon Earth, who encamped round about them while they were encompassed with so many Dangers. Some Divines are of Opinion, that the number of the Angels is so great, that they exceed without comparison all Corporal and Material Things in the Earth.  
Again, If every one of the Angels (yea, though it be the least Angel among them all) be more beautiful and goodly to behold than al● this visible World; what a Glorious Sight shall it then be to see and know such a number of beautiful Angels, to see the Perfections and Offices that every one hath in that high and glorious City? There do the Angels go as it were in Embassages, are exercised in their Ministry, there the Principalities and Thrones Triumph, there do the Cherubims give Light, and the Seraphims burn with Fervent Love to God.  
Who all like Stars have Brightness from his Rays,  
And they Reflect it back again in Praise.  Mr. Foe. 
All the Angels and Saints of that Heavenly Court are perpetually Singing Praises and Hallelujahs to God Almighty, and to the Lamb that sits on the Throne, and are daily Embracing each other. For that there's such a thing as Friendship among Angels I do not question, for Love each other undoubtedly they must, and Love more intensely they may, such as have the most beautiful Characters of the Divine Power and Goodness upon them. And that there is also a Communication of Angels and Souls in Heaven, plainly appears from Rev. 7.9, 10, 11, 12. 1 Cor. 13.1. Dan. 8.13. But I conceive this Communication to be chief in an ability of Insinuating their Thoughts to each other, by a mere Act of their Wills, just as we now speak to God, or ourselves, in our Hearts, when our Lips don't move, or the least outward sign appear. Whether there's any other Converse I shall inquire at the end of this Essay, but that there's sufficient to know and be known, I am fully satisfied.  
But though this may suffice as to our knowing the Angels.—  
Yet Secondly, As to the Saints, I shall never know them for certain; I did know 'em on Earth 'tis true, but since they are gone to Heaven, they are so hugely altered, I shall not know one of 'em, when I see 'em again.— Nay Phil.— (and I can't give an Instance will affect you more) you'll scarce know Eliza there.— The 
* See Dr. Sheldon, of Man's Last End.  Glory of her Soul will be seen through her Body in such a sort that they'll both shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of Heaven.— Neither can you tell me Philaret, what kind of Matter our Bodies shall have in the other Life.— 'Tis in the power of Microscopes to represent a Hair glittering and curious beyond Expression; much more can a real Infinite Power effectively make it so: Matter is all one to the Maker. We have some light of our Resurrection, by the first Fruits of it, our Saviour, who with that very same Body he was Crucified, risen again, and ascended into Heaven; but was changed before he got there, it being not a receptacle for Common Flesh and Blood I see no reason why Matter may not be changed to something else, and only called so to our apprehension as well as form of Matter. We have Instances of the different Forms our Saviour appeared in after his Resurrection, and once that with his Natural Body he appeared to his Disciples when the doors were shut. The Appearance our Bodies will have in Heaven will be shining and bright, as may be gathered by Moses his Face shininig when he had seen the Glory of God, as also the manner of Moses, Enoch and Elias their Appearance to our Saviour in his Transfiguration; the Description that St. John gives of our Saviour in the Revelations, with many more places in Sacred Writ: But to be express in my Definitions of this Matter, 'tis impossible, since all revealed, are only such Terms as are adapted, to express what ever appears most Glorious and Dazzling here, not being yet capable to entertain greater manifestations, and such as we shall really be fitted for hereafter. The Mystery lies here, when our Bodies shall be Immortalised at the last day, we know not what Substance they will be of, but I am satisfied the most refined Matter as it is now, will be nothing like 'em. All that can be said of it is this, there will be new inexpressible somethings which will have the same proportion to one another, as our place and Matter now have. The Bodies of Christ, Enoch, and Elias, are certainly in Heaven, and the Sun, Moon and Stars, are certainly in the Firmament, but what those bodies are, and the Heaven they are in, as also what those Stars are, and the Firmament they are in, I know not; for it does not yet appear what we shall be, that is, we can give no full or exact account of the Future Condition either of our Bodies or Souls; yet this in general we know, that as our Souls shall be impeccable, so our Bodies shall be incorruptable— that they shall be glorified, and therefore must be Glorious and Luminous, like the Glorious Body of our Saviour at the Transfiguration. It's also probable that the Matter whereof they are composed shall be so refined in quality, and perhaps so diminished in quantity, that we shall, as I mentioned before, be in that Sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that our Bodies shall be no longer Clogs to our Souls, but obey their Commands, and endue the Nature of Spirits in their quick and imperceptible Motion from one Term to another. However this is certain, 
* Lessius de summo bono, l. 3. c. 5.  Our Bodies shall be fully possessed with Glory, and the Soul full of the Light of Glory shall be diffused through the whole Body and all the parts of it.— The Eyes, those Windows in the Vpper-Story, how lightsome shall they be? They shall then be renewed and made more Bright and clear than the light of the Sun.— The very act of Seeing shall be most clear and perfect; the Eye shall be able to bear the Brightest Splendour:— We may conceive, that those that are in this place of Blessedness, at one single aspect may perfectly see from one end of the Heaven to the other, there being no defect in the Objects, Medium▪ or Organ, or any thing to intercept the sight. The Objects being so Transparent and Glorious.— What a pleasant sight is the out side of Heaven, bedecked with the Sun, Moon, and Stars? What then is the inside, where the Glory of a God is displayed? (Not through a Glass darkly) but with Eyes enabled perfectly to behold it. And as the— EYES— will be thus wonderfully altered from what they were,— so the— EARS,— the Nostrils,— the Mouth,— the Hands,— the Lungs,— the Marrow,— the Bowels,— and every particular Member of the Body, will be cast into a new Mould.— But 'tis the Opinion of a Learned 
* See Mr. Collier's Servant concerning the difference between the present and Future State of our Bodies.  Writer, That though the Senses of Seeing, Hearing, and possibly that of Smelling too, will accompanying the Bodies of the Saints to Heaven, but for the other two grosser Senses they are too course and insignificant to have much Employment there. And therefore he Judges they'll be changed into Two-New-Ones, of a more Spiritualised and more Refined Nature: I may add to this, that the Age wherein we shall Live again, will so transform us that we can never be known in Heaven to our old Acquaintance; for that which refers to the Kingdom of God in this World, may in this case be very properly applied to that in the other: There shall hencefoth be no more an Old Man, neither an Infant of Days. It seems not proper to say, we shall be raised at Any Age; I mean such a State as we were in at such an Age, since undoubtedly we shall be endued with much more Perfection, though 'tis probable, (as I hinted before) not Clothed 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 Saviour's Age at his Resurrection, w●●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 afraid of Death, or quake though his Grave were digging, seeing 'tis but God's Refining-Pot, wherein he shows his Power and Wisdom, in changing our Vile-Bodies, and fashoning them like unto his Glorious-Body, Phil. 3.21. From which 'tis plain▪ That as Iron, when it is heated in the Fire, it appears nothing else but fiery— So in Heaven 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 enlarged, 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 another's very Souls.  
The Sight of Spirits is unprescribed 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 ourselves about it. For (as a worthy 
(a) Mr. Flavel.  Divine observes) though the Saints should not be raised with the same Features of Body as before they had, ●et being raised with the same Per●ections of Mind, (and the same Inclinations, though exalted to a much higher degree) that so Charmed us on Earth, we should 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 Deal; 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 remembering their old Friends and Companions in Virtue, 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 would not command and encourage us so much to Commence a Virtuous Love with our— Brother-Saints— on Earth, unless he designed it should be renewed, continued, and rendered more complete 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, Virtue, and the Love of God himself— The Renewal of our Converse with them (as I have already, and shall afterwards show) shall have, without doubt, its particular grateful Relishes, above that which we shall entertain with other Saints, to whom (as they enjoy the same Privileges themselves) these peculiar Friendships shall give no manner of Jealousy or Distaste—  
Thus (Ignotus) have I Answered the chief Objections against knowing our Friends in Heaven, and also proved, That though we should not be raised with the same Features we had on Earth, yet that there be many other ways by which 'tis certain that in a glorified State we shall know one another, and that— Virtuous 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'll 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 'tis 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 intent they should be understood the same, and therefore, Ignotus, I do not much trouble myself about the manner of my Burial, or to which of the Elements I shall commit my Carcase. 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 Dogfish, 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 myself with projecting how my scattered Ashes shall be collected together (provided they are mingled with Eliza's, 'tis all I desire) neither do I for that Reason take Care for an Urn to enclose them.— I am satisfied that at the last Trump I shall rise with the same Individual Body, I now carry about me, though there may not then be one of the same Individual Atoms 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, though 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 'twould be a Solaecism in Philosophy to think I have one of my Infant Atoms now left about me, if after all this I may be still said to have the same Individual Body as I had then, though there be not one of the same Individual Atoms, 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, though made up of Atoms, 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 though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another, though my Reins be consumed within me.  
The same Body (says a late Author) which was so pleasant a Spectacle to thee, shall be restored 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.— etc. So that if I get to Heaven I shall only want that poor Contemptible Clod of Earth, that Body of Clay; which although now Corruptible Mouldering in its Bed of Dust, yet I do believe it shall rise a Glorious Body: And though 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 would 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 Union 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 Union 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 destroyed 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. 'Tis 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, etc. 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 Tie of Relation.— For that they shall rise with Features to be distinguished, is evident (as is mentioned elsewhere) by the Appearance of Moses and Elias to the Apostles,— of Dives' 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 appeared 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 Buried— And lastly (to leave no room for doubting in this matter) 'tis 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 selfsame 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 mentioned by St. Paul, (as I hinted before) as one of the best Remedies against Immoderate Sorrow for the Death of Friends. 
1 Thess. 4.13, 14, 18. — I would not have you (says he) to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope; for if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him, wherefore comfort ye one another with these Words.  
Now if our Friends were to rise in such a disguised manner, as not to be known again by us, this kind of Consolation would be Impertinent and Vain;— Neither let the many Cavils (my dear Ignotus) which Atheistical Scoffers oppose against the Resurrection of the Dead with the same Bodies, startle us,— since besides the Divine and Rational Proofs I have urged for it, there are more Natural Arguments against, than for these Opposers, for (to omit other Allegations)— it must needs be very Absurd in 'em— to grant that God first took a Parsel of Matter, and moulded it into the Body of such and such a particular Man, fashioning it with such and such Features, as might distinguish it from the Bodies of other Men,— and yet not be willing to own he can tell how to take up and collect together the same Individual Parts of Matter again, and make them up again into the same Fabric, with the same Features, since Nature itself, assisted by a little Art, is daily found to effect something very approaching that Divine Operation, it being a very usual thing with expert Chemists, by their Skill and Conduct, to make the dispersed Particles of a calcined Flower or Plant, to fly up, and assemble together again in the perfect Shape, and with the lively Colour of the Flower or Plant, to which they belonged— but slighting these Men's trifling Objections— let us (Ignotus) keep fast to that infallible Word, that promises Eternity to our new Friendship, and that all the Innocent Joys it gives us here, shall be remembered, and continued in Heaven.  
Thus have I largely proved, by Arguments, drawn from Scripture— Reason— and the best Writers,— that if we get to Heaven we shall know one another there by Face, Stature, Voice, and the Relation we had to each other on Earth— And not only so, but that we shall know the general Assembly and Church of the First Born, whose Names are now written in Heaven; the 
* Heb. 12.23.  Patriarcks, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and People of God, that have lived in all Ages and Nations, from the beginning of the World, to the end of it.  
Object. But may some say,— if we shall know me another in Heaven— I'd be further informed what widow l be the subject Matter of our Discourse there— And in what Language shall we then talk? Nay, good Sir, excuse me here; for who has ever mounted to the highest Scale of Heavenly Bliss? Ler him come down and tell as what is the Pious Conference, and Language in Heaven?— Let him come down and tell us the Mysteries wrapped up in Clouds, the Secrets hid within the Veil of Inaccessible Light! Let him describe the Wonders of the Beatific Vision, and say how deep the Rivers of Pleasure are, which run by God's Right-Hand, for evermore;— for my part, I must confess I'm lost in that Abyss of Wonders, and therefore should, modestly withdraw my Pen, to Subjects within my Reach.— However, something I'll guests at, (tho that's all) to Answer these Curious Inquirers,— but hold, says another, before you go any further, I would also know, (strange! How far will some men's Curiosity lead them)— That if we shall know one another in Heaven— By Face, Stature, Voice, etc. Whether we shan't alse know one another,  
By difference of Sex?  
Answ. Yes, doubtless we shall, and because this Question hath something of Novelty in't, (for it opposes the general received Opinion, particularly Mr. Baxters, who says the Saints shall know one another in Heaven, but adds he,— I think not by Sex,)— I'll prove this in the First Place— And then tell you (as far as I can) what will be the Discourse and Language of that Blessed Acquaintance that get to Heaven, and with that Conclude this tedious Letter.  
And here seeing Novelties make an impression on the Mind, before I Handle this Nice-Point, I'll First Premise, that 'tis charity to lend a Crutch to a lame Conceit. However, if I am asked for my Authorities, I Answer, what appears reasonable wants no other Recommendation than being so; and as to what appears over strange, let Ignotus consider, that Philosophy had never been improved had it not been for New-Opinions, which afterwards were rectified by abler Pens, and so the First Notions were lost and nameless, under new Superstructures, but such a Fate (to use the Words of a late Author) is too Agreeable for my Judgement to repine at, or my Vanity to hope for. But— that there's a— difference of Sex in Souls, and will be Male and Female in Heaven, (though the Notion's new) yet I never doubted it, and hope to make it plain before we part,  
Object. But you'll say, when the Holy Spirit speaks of separated Souls that are gathered up into Heaven, he does not speak— of Male or Female, but only of Souls without distinguishing either kind, or Sex,— And further, that 'tis said there is no Marrying in Heaven, Mark. 12.25. And that in Jesus Christ there is neither Male nor Female, Gal. 3.28. Which it directly contrary to the distinction of Sex in Souls.— For if Sex be only for the sake of Marriage, where there is no Marriage, there is no need of Distinct-Sex, Then why that in Heaven which there's no need of? All that's of the Essence of a Man will undoubtedly he there, and that's a Rational Soul united to an Organised Body; but what Organs will be necessary then, we can't tell, however these cannot. Besides, this difference is only Accidental, Man and Woman being in Essence the same. But in a State of Bl ss and Perfection, all that's Imperfect or Accidental shall be removed, and accordingly one would think Sexes should. I won't add for another Reason what, as I remember, one of the Fathers has said— That were there any Woman in Heaven, the Angels could not stand long, but would certainly be seduced from their Innocency, and fall as Adam did. But one would think that if Souls were to Marry it ought to be in Heaven, which is the Element of Spirits, after the Bodies had been united in Marriage upon Earth, the Seat of material things. Perhaps you'll also Object the Words of St. Austin, who says,— The Soul is not distinguished into Sexes. And that of St. Cyril, who lived before him, who also says,— The Souls of Men and Women are absolutely alike▪ nor is there any parts of their Bodies, wherein there is any difference to be observed.  
To this I Answer,— That Souls may be distinguished into Male and Female, (notwithstanding these Objections) since 'tis a Common saying— The Soul of a Man, and the Soul of a Woman.— And moreover, because it is generally believed, and no less sensibly acknowledged, that they have each their particular Character,— the Soul (and consequently the Understanding) of the one is Resolute and Constant, that of the other Light, Wavering and Changeable, (Eliza, Cloris, Daphne, Sappho, Anonimas, Ariadne, your Dear Dorinda, and my SHE-Angel, are all the exceptions I know of from this Rule)— The Soul of one takes a pride in being Grave, and speaking little; the other talks much, and cannot forbear twattling upon every thing— and which is yet more to the purpose, does not Moses say,— That the Sons of God (whom several of the Fathers of the Church have Expounded to be Angels) Fell in Love with the Daughters of Men? And if there be a Sex marked out for Love in Angels, we need not scruple to go a little farther, and say that there is also a Sex in Souls. To this we may likewise add certain Experssions of those great Men, who are frequently Cited by Tertullian in his Writings,— I mean Homer, who gives the Greeks the Appellation of— She Achaeans, and Virgil who calls the Trojans— She-Phrygians;— and Cicero, who Reports that Hortensius was treated at Rome with the Title of Madam,— whence could proceed this Custom of giving Men the Epithets of Women, but only because, that ' tho they had the Bodies of Men they had the Souls— of— Women:— And I might mention the Apparitions of Men and Women, in the same Shape and Sex, they formerly lived, is in no contemplible proof of this Assertion. But you'll say perhaps— Souls are not furnished with Organs that make this distinction between 'em, and that a Spirit cannot become Visible.  
To this I Answer, I own a Spirit cannot become Visible; 'tis not an Object for a material Eye, being itself not Matter, but what appears to us in the Shape and Sex of Male and Female, is something that a Spirit, assumes as Condenced Air, or the like, neither does the Souls not being furnished with Organs, hinder the Distinction of Sex; 'tis true I acknowledge, that Souls are simple Being's, which admit of no composition of parts, and so they cannot have that Distinction, which appears in the Corporeal Sex;— But can there not be found a Spiritual Distinction, seeing that we meet with a 
* As was hinted before in the Friendship between Ignotus and Philaret.  Marriage of Minds as well as Bodies? Whence it comes to pass, that two Minds seek the Enjoyment of one another, and Love each other by a Secret-Simpathy.  
'Tis Objected, that this Union never Produces other Souls:— But do all Bodies of different Sexes Produce other Bodies? There are Infects that are Produced the same in likeness every way, without the Assistance of Sexes,— There are perfect Creatures which have different Sexes, which never Procreate, such are Mules, and Moils,— This then can be no convincing Argument, that there is no difference of Sex in Souls, because their Union does not Produce another Soul: Which is a thing that no Body neither can certainly determine; for in regard we know not the Nature of Spirits, neither can we have a perfect knowledge of their Faculties till we come to Heaven.— And Tertullia as was said before, does affirm, That they ●e able to Pro-create their like, seeing that the ●ons of God became enamoured of the Daughters of Men— and that those Sons of God were Angels— But that there is— a difference of Sex in Souls— is further evident, if you consider that the Soul is so far from assuming the Disposition of the Body, that 'tis the Body which conforms to the Disposition of the Soul; for this Disposition proceeds only from the Substantial Form; The Body cannot give it to itself; it is indifferent of itself; but the Form is the Understanding, which determines it to be such as it is— It should be then from the Soul that this distinction of Organs should proceed; It should be she that should determine the Sex, and consequently the Soul itself that should be Male and Female— For as no Body can give that which it has not, of necessity the Soul must be furnished with Sex before it can bequeath it to the Body—  
Thus having Answered some of the Arguments denying There's a Sex in Souls— I shall next consider the Scripture Passages brought against this Opinion, and shall first begin with that of Saint Paul's saying of Christ, that He is neither Male nor Female— I shall next consider that other Text which says,— There is no Marrying in Heaven— These Texts being brought as the main Arguments to prove— There's no difference of Sex in Souls, and that we shan't be known in Heaven by that distinction.  
First, as to St. Paul's saying— That Christ is neither Male nor Female— To this I Answer, he speaks of the whole Jesus Christ, or only of his Body,— or only of his Soul— He does not speak of his Body, for certain it is— That as to his Body He was of the Masculine Sex— If he speaks of his Soul, that makes for my Opinion: For in saying that of the Soul of Christ, St. Paul intended to say something extraordinary of Him, which was not common to Him with the rest of Men— and to the end that that should be, 'tis requisite that the Souls of all other Men should be— individually Male and Female— else it had been of no Importance to say what he says of Christ— The Apostle had told us nothing of Novelty in that particular— But to give you a better Interpretation of the thing, 'tis the Opinion of a Learned Man, that St. Paul meant the whole Jesus Christ— That is to say, that his Person Composed of two Natures— Divine and Humane— is Singular, and has nothing of Similitude with other Bodies, except some Organs that make the distinction of Sex, so as to be inclined to the Production of others of the same double Nature and Order— So that this makes nothing against my Opinion, but much for it.  
And as to that other Text, which says— That in Heaven there is neither Marrying, nor giving in Marriage— it directly proves my Assertion— For Virginity and Celibacy are so far from denying Sex, that they suppose it— Thus Christ did not intent to say— That there would be no Distinction of Sexes in Heaven— And if he does not Assert this, we are left at liberty to believe there will, for the Reasons I have here given, which plainly prove, that glorified Bodies shall be admitted into Heaven, the Bodies of Male and Female Saints, and (that) at present, there are no other than Male and Female Souls in that blessed Place, except it be the Body of Jesus Christ. I might next consider the Words of St. Austin and Cyril, who say, all Souls are alike, but their Opinion being mere Conjecture, without any further Proof, I shall pass it by in Silence.  
Thus having largely proved, That there's a difference of Sex in Souls— and consequently— That we shall know one another in Heaven, by the distinction of Male and Female— And 'tis 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, than they spoke 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 shows something what we shall have in Glory— The Apostle Paul heard wordless Words, Words in Heaven that could 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, etc.— We have frequent accounts of the Saints Glorifying God by their Speech, Rev. 7.9. I beheld a great Multitude, that no Man could number, crying Salvation, Honour and Power unto God, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever. And 11th. Rev. The Twenty Four Elders that sat before God, fell on their 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— 'Tis 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 'tis a Question amongst some, what Language shall be spoke in Heaven— 'Tis 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, though 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'll 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 ('tis 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 banished in that State; you know Phil. (quoth this Querist) that the Relation between 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 lived in the World? And if Memory be a Faculty of the Soul, (as has been proved) and Charity be also one of the notablest Virtues 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 altered in the Faculty of her Memory? Or else shall we imagine her to be void of her Virtue 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, etc. 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, should, 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 Virtue, wherein he thinks she as far exceeded others, as in her Generosity and Love, than 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 myself 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, 'twill (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 cheered 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 'twill be no small Augmentation 〈◊〉 Happiness to Eliza and Philaret to find that sincere Friendship, which (for 15 Years) they had be●● Contracting here below translated to the Mansions ●bove, when I shall see and know her again, wi● whom I had lived so well, and slept so long in t● Dust— I say in the Dust; for I desire in my WIL● to be buried with her, that so as our Soul's sh● know each other when they leave the Bodies, our Bodies also may rise together after the l● Night of Death, and you find Eliza 
* As you n● find in the Indication to 〈…〉 Essay.  of this Opinion, where she says, Dear Phil, whilst on Earth we may lawfully please ourselves with Hopes of meeting hereafter, and in lying in the same Grave, where we shall be happy together, if a s●less Happiness can be called so.  
Further (in answer to the Question, whether I and Wife shall love one another above other Sai● 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 Virtues, and not in Humane Passions; which having had their Course in this Crazy 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 Virtues 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, called, 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 itself 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 th●t he, who in the World remembered 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 suitable, 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, though 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 knowledge 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'er we are so happy by God's Grace to get thither?  
But if it be so, that the Sain●s in Heaven not only know their former Acquaintance, but are further contracting of new Friendships; then I would 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 Privileges 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 departed 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 Friend's Voice, risen up, and opening the Casement, he saw the backside of him whom he had heard, in White, and Galloping away upon a white Horse; he called after him, Marsilius, Marsilius, and followed him with his Eye, but he soon vanished out of sight. He amazed at this extraordinary Accident, very solicitously enquired if any thing had happened to Marsilius, who then lived at Florence, where he had breathed his last, and he found, upon strict Enquiry, that he died at that very time wherein he was thus heard and seen by him.  
And Sophronius, Bishop of 
(a) Prat. Spir. c. 195. Referente Baroni● ad An. 411.  Jerusalem, delivereth this Passage to Posterity, as a most certain thing, That Leontius Apamiensis, a most Faithful Religious Man, that had lived many Years at Cyrene, assured them, that Synesius (who of a Philosopher became a Bishop) found at Cyrene one Evagrius, a Philosopher, who had been his old Acquaintance, Fellow-Student, and intimate Friend, but an obstinate Heathen; and Synesius was earnest with him to become a Christian, but all in vain; yet did he still follow him with those Arguments that might satisfy him of the Christian Verity; and at last the Philosopher told him, That to him it seemed but a mere Fable and Deceit, that the Christian Religion teacheth Men, that this World shall have an end, and that all Men shall rise again in these Bodies, and their Flesh be made Immortal and Incorruptible, and that they shall so Live for ever, and receive the Reward of all that they have done in the Body, and that he that hath pity on the Poor, dareth to the Lord, and he that gives to the Poor and Needy, shall have Treasures in Heaven, and shall receive an hundred fold from Christ, together with Eternal Life; these things he derided. Synesius, by many Arguments, assured him, that all these things were certainly true; and at last the Philosopher and his Children were Baptised— A while after he comes to Synesius, and brings him three hundred Pound of Gold for the Poor, and bid him take it, but give him a Bill under his Hand, that Christ should re-pay it him in another World. Synesius took the Money for the Poor, and gave him, under his hand, such a Bill as he desired— Not long after the Philosopher, being near to Death, commanded his Sons, that when they buried him, they should put Synesius Bill in his Hand in the Grave, which they did. And the third Day after, the Philosopher seemed to appear to Synesius in the Night, and said to him, Come to my Sepulchre where I lie, and take thy Bill, for I have Received the Debt, and am satisfied, which for thy Assurance I have Subscribed with my own Hand. The Bishop knew not that the Bill was buried with him, but sent to his Sons, who told him all, and taking them, and the chief Men of the City, he went to the Grave, and found the Paper in the hands of the Corpse thus Subscribed:  
[I Evagrius the Philosopher, to thee most Holy Sir, Bishop Synesius, greeting. I have received the Debt which in this Paper is written with thy hands, and I am satisfied, and I have no Law (or Action) against thee, for the Gold which I gave to thee; and by thee to Christ our Lord and Saviour.]  
They that saw the thing, admired, and glorified God that gave such wonderful Evidence of his Promises to his Servants— And, saith Leontius, this Bill Subscribed thus by the Philosopher, is kept at Cyrene most carefully, in the Church to this Day, to be seen of such as do desire it.  
As to these Apparitions of the Dead— Although it cannot be denied, but in some grand and extraordinary Cases, as the Resurrection of those dead which appeared upon our Saviour's Crucifixion, and the Apparition of Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration: And in some other Cases, as many Instances might be reckoned up: The Departed may Converse with us, or appear, but perhaps ordinarily, Apparitions are not the Souls of the Dead, but of other Spirits, and mostly of evil ones. Augustine was of this Opinion, and said, if 'twas a common thing, he was sure his Mother Monica would have appeared to him, whose Love was so extraordinary great whilst living. Neither had Dear Eliza a lesser Concern for my Soul's welfare than Monica had for her Son Augustine, and could She come again, I'm sure She would, to tell me (what she 
(a) She'd often say in her Sickness, Well, 'twont be long now, e'er I shall know what's the Future State.  learned by dying) and to assist me in all my Distresses. These, with some other credible Instances, which have occurred, argue, that either some departed Souls, have particular Commissions in this Case, or that all of them have a Cognizance of our Affairs, agreeable to the Parable of Dives and Lazarus, and that of the Angels in Heaven, rejoicing at the Conversion of a Sinner. And it must be a Truth, if departed Souls and Angels come under the same Predicament as to their Essence; and I done't yet know in what they differ.  
But have the Saints in Heaven such a general Knowledge of their Friends that arrive there, and of those they left behind them in the State of Mortality? then I'd further know, says another Querist, Whether they see and know the wicked in Hell, and whether the Damned particularly know those that are in Heaven, who in this Life they scorned and abused (and possibly were Instruments by some violent Means, of hastening them thither) and also whether they know one another in Hell, or their Companions in Sin, which they left on Earth?  
To this I Answer, this presupposes another Question; viz. In what state or condition the Bodies of the Just and  shall arise at the Day of Judgement? The Consequence of which Answer will Resolve the Question; In order to which I affirm, That they shall both arise alike, equally Immortal, and equally qualified for an Eternity of Duration, diversified in nothing but their last Sentence. Neither State shall so much as change a Thought, but think of all things together, which will be actually present to the Intellect of both: We shall then see not by receiving the visible Species into the narrow glass of an Organised Eye; we shall then hear without the distinct and curious Contexture of the Ear. The Body shall then be all Eye, all Ear, all Sense in the whole, and every Sense in every part. In a word, it shall be all over a common Sensorium, and being made of the purest Aether, without the mixture of any lower or grosser Element; the Soul shall by one undivided Act, at once Perceive all that variety of Objects which now cannot without several distinct Organs, and successive Actions or Passions, reach our Sense. Every Sense shall be Perfect, the Ear shall hear every thing at once throughout the spacious Limits both of Heaven and Hell, with a Perfect Distinction, and without Confounding that Anthem with this Blasphemy; the Eye shall find no Matter or Substance to fix it; and so of the other Senses, the Reason of this is plain and convincing, for if both, (I mean the Bodies of the Just and Unjust,) were not thus qualified, they could not be proper Subjects for the Exercise of an Eternity, but would consume and be liable to Dissolution or new changes. Hence (I assert as formerly) that every Individual Person in Heaven and Hell, shall hear and see all that passes in either 
* As Was mentioned in P. 8.  State, these to a more exquisite aggravation of their Tortures, by the loss of what the other enjoy, and those to a greater increase of their Bliss, in escaping what the other suffer.— For a further proof of this, See the Parable of Dives and Lazarus, for you there find, That as The Saints know o●e another in the Kingdom of Heaven, so the wicked in Hell, know those, and their vile Companions they left on Earth.— For if Abraham knew Dives in Torments, saying, that he had received good things in this Life. 'Tis as certain that the Wicked kn●w one another, as is plain by the Rich Man knowing his Brethren, though absent, why therefore should not those which are present know one other, as those which are absent, pray one for another; for this is plainly shown in that the Good know the Bad, and on the contrary the Bad the Good; for Dives is known by Abraham, and Abraham also known to him, seeing he prays to him, saying, Send Lazarus, that he may touch and refresh my Tongue with cold Water. In which, the Returns of Gratitude are not only seen, but the Good have this further to rejoice in, that they shall see whom they love; but the Wicked shall be tormented not only in their own, but in the Punishment of those they love. As to that part of the Question, Whether the Damned particularly know those in Heaven, who in this Life they Scorned and Abused, and perhaps Murdered.  
To this I answer, That in the Day of Judgement, when every Man's Actions shall be disclosed, the Damned shall particularly See and Know those whom they Oppressed, or Reviled, or Murdered, and the Saints shall be Witnesses against them. Oursaviour speaks, in allusion to this, Mat. 12.41, 42. The Men of Nineveh shall rise up in Judgement with this Generation, and condemn it; they shall appear as so many Witnesses against the Scribes and Pharisees, and the other Unbelieving Jews of this Age, and shall be Instruments as to that Condemnation, which God shall at that day pronounce against them, because they repent not at the Preaching of Jonah; but these would not at the Preaching of Christ. Then shall appear Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, against a wicked Nabuchadnezzar, who caused them to be bound Hand and Foot, and cast into a Fiery Furnace for their Love and Loyalty to their God; the Martyrs against their Executioners, & shall be visibly Condemned & Haled into their Residences of Misery, in the Presence of the Saints. But could the Rays of Bliss 
† See Mr. Steven's Sermons on Dives and Lazarus.  glance thro' some Cranny into that Dungeon of Darkness; this would administer some Comfort; but this must ne'er be expected.  
But further, Shall the Saints know one another in Heaven, as also those Friends they left on Earth? And do they likewise see and know the Damned in Hell? and on the other Hand shall the Damned see and know those Saints in Heaven they Scorned, Abused, and Murdered; and also know their vile Companions they left behind 'em? If all this be so, as has been largely proved, 'tis then proper to ask in the next place, Whether it be lawful for Friends solemnly to engage, if one dies first, to appear to the other, and inform them of the Condition of the Soul in another World, whether it be in Heaven or Hell?  
To this I answer, The Earl of Rochester did make this Contract with one of his Friends, that he that died first should come again to his Surviving Friend, to tell him what he knew of the other World. But my Lord Rochester's Friend dying first, and never appearing to him afterwards, he owns it hardened him in his Atheism, and that he hearty repent of this foolish Contract; so that the least that can be said of such a Contract, is, that 'twould be,  
1. Fruitless, since Truth itself tells us— If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe, though one risen from the Dead: For if the common Methods of God's Providence will not convince an Atheist, neither is he to expect any new way of Satisfaction; nor if he had his Desire, would he be without some Evasion or other still to continue his Infidelity.  
2. 'Twould be dangerous— on more Accounts than one: If no such Appearance, which unless we were better acquainted with the Oeconomy of the World of Spirits, we have little Reason to expect, this might incline a weak Man to doubt yet more of the Truth of those things which we are clearly taught both by Natural and Revealed Religion. If any Appearance, how should the Person to whom 'twas made, certainly know whether 'tis really the Spirit of his departed Friend, or some illusive Daemon, which may either tell him a Falsehood instead of a Truth, or mingle Truth and Falsehood together, the more cunningly to deceive him. But (says a Learned 
* See Mr. Steven's Sermons on Dives and Lazarus.  Author) suppose God should condescend to gratify a Wicked Man's vain Curiosity, by causing one to rise from the Dead, and to testify unto him, that the Course he takes, without speedy Amendment, will be the Eternal Ruin of him, and that the Preparations in Hell are very terrible and insupportable; yet he will invent Arguments, and propound Reasons, to fortify himself, that he may not be affected with, and influenced by such an Apparition, and frightful Relation; as heretofore he did, to withstand the prevalent Motives of Religion. It is not to be disputed, but that if a Spectrum or Ghost should appear to a very wicked Man, suppose it to be an Aerial Representation of his Companion; who, with a hollow Voice, dreadful Visage, and lamentable Utterance, tells him, That there is a God, both just and powerful, and that there is an eternally Happy, and miserable State; and that it is his Misfortune to be doomed to the latter, which, in his Life-time, he used all the Means he could to banish from his Thoughts; and that if he does not speedily amend his Life, and hearty repent of the many Wickednesses he has wilfully, and presumptuously committed, as they were formerly Companions in Sin, so they would be unhappy Fellow-sufferers, in a lamentable Eternity.— I say, I question not, but if a Ghost should appear to any of us after this manner, it would make some Impression upon us. But then, whether or no this Miracle wrought, would so prevail with a Man who has habituated himself to Wickedness, as to work a Reformation in him? It is supposed, No: For after the Surprise is over, those Heats allayed, which were at first stirred up in him, he will quickly invent Excuses and Arguments, why he should not effect that Reformation he has so much Aversion from.— For First, Tho he was deeply touched at first, and all his Powers in such a Consternation, that he was scarce himself, yet being recovered from the Fright, the Inclination he has to Sin will put him upon Doubt and Scrutiny, and to question the Reality of the thing. He knows not but the Vision was only the Effect of Melancholy, and a Drooping Mind, or the Imagination of a distempered Brain. He knows, that when Persons lie under the Extremity of a Fever, their Fancies are very whimsical, and suppose they see frightful Shapes, and a Company of Fiends about their Beds, or that they see Hell open, and abundance of Souls tormenting there. That some who are naturally frightful, suppose an Apparition instead of their Shadow, and will scarce be beaten out of that strong Illusion; and thus the World comes to be filled with Relations of Ghosts and Apparitions. He knows that some, by strength of Fancy, will imagine a cluster of Clouds to be an Army of Men, engaged in a pitched Battle; and why may not the Vision, which he saw, be only an imaginative Shape, nothing real, but a thing framed in his disordered Mind? It is easy for a Man, who is willing not to believe any thing of this Nature, to bring himself to such an Opinion, to evade and shift off the Thoughts of it, that they might not disturb and trouble him in his Wickednesses. But then he is much more encouraged, when he tells his idle and wanton Companions the Relation, who, upon hearing it, will not forbear jesting him out of the Conceit; nor will they want Arguments to convince him, that he was either in a Dream, or was pensively musing, or was employing his Thoughts about Stories, which tell of Ghosts and Spirits, and so giving way to them, foolishly conjectured that his melancholy Fancy metamorphosed itself into Form and Shape. But he must banish all such whimsical Notions, and never credit any thing of that Kind, or otherwise he must forsake their Society, and not din their Ears with such Nonsense, but those who are easy, too credulous Persons, who spend their time in carrying such ridiculous Relations up and down the World.— But Secondly, Supposing, that notwithstanding all this, he cannot easily baffle the Credit of his Senses; for though he has hitherto used all the Means he could, to banish the Belief of the Vision, yet he cannot be fully persuaded, but that there was somewhat in it. My Blood, says he, would not so suddenly, without some extraordinary cause, fly in my Face, nor would my Powers ruffle together in such Confusion, if something preternatural had not made towards me. I was neither asleep, nor musing, but perfectly in my Senses, when I saw the Apparition; and therefore I cannot deny Matter of Fact. But still the great Love he bears to Sin, will put him upon framing another Argument. It is true, I was amazed at a Vision, but how do I know that it was one risen from the Dead? It might, peradventure, be a Humane Body, dressed up in grave , imitating the Walk and Gesture of a Ghost, who intended, by this Religious Fraud, to scare me from my Sins; but it so confounded him, that he could not distinguish truly between the Imposture, or the Reality. But supposing it is no Fraud, but indeed a Spirit, yet he knows not whether it be his Friend; if he was convinced of this, he would credit his Relation, and immediately change upon it. But, for aught he knows, it may be one of those evil Spirits in the Air, who disturb and fluster Men, and possess them with strange whimsies, fancies, and frightful Imaginations; and therefore, till further Conviction to the contrary, he will not be influenced, and wrought upon by any Spirit of that Order, since I know, and have heard, that they are maliciously bend against us, and would do us much more Mifchief than they do, if they were not limited and restrained by a Superior Power.— But Thirdly, As it is not to be doubted, that such a Man as I am now speaking of, will create and raise many Arguments, to withstand the Force and Influence of such a Miracle wrought in order to his Conversion, so there is one more yet remaining, which he may probably urge, to fortify himself against Conviction and Conversion: And that is, the unusualness of such kind of Means, as a Spirit or Apparition, to bring Men to Repentance. It is true, he has been haunted; but why he above the rest of Mankind? The singularity of the thing will increase his Doubt. It the Neighbourhood where he lives were thus disturbed, or if any of his near Acquaintance should come and tell him, that at such a time they were surprised by a Ghost, who told them, That if they continued in that course of Life they so vigorously prosecuted, they would be as miserable as himself, who suffers Eternal Torments, for committing the very same Sins they now live in; this Relation would indeed alarm him, and make him suspect his present Circumstances, and leave those Vices he is dissuaded from. But since none that he knows of are thus handled, he has no reason to credit the Relation of the Spirit. If such means of Conviction were rational and powerful, doubtless others would be afforded them as well as he; but since he hears nor knows of none, he shall not take things upon trust, but continue unperswaded as he is. Thus we see how Men, who withstand the Motives of Christianity, refuse to be reformed by Moses and the Prophets, by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, will also find out shifts and ways to evade the Force and Argument of a Spirit, should one be sent on purpose to convert them. And that such Methods used for our Conversion as an Apparition or Ghost, will not persuade us to Repentance. And thus is Abraham's Answer made good to the Rich Man, who importunately desired him to send Lazarus from the Dead, to testify to his Brethren, for that they could not withstand the force of such a Miracle wrought for their Reformation. No, says Abraham, If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one came from the Dead. But I have been too large in this Second Head, so shall be shorter in the Third; I therefore add, that besides the Uncertainty and the Danger there would be in such a Practice, which way soever it terminates, I think 'twould be also—  
3. Irreligious; since it too plainly implies a distrust of the Truth of God; nay more, that those who use it, would believe humane Testimony, and perhaps Diabolical, rather than Divine— No, say they, 'tis rather to confirm the Truth of such Testimony as is said to be Divine— But is there any want of all reasonable Confirmation? Han't we stronger Evidence that the Scriptures were written by 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, etc. 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 'tis 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 'twill 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 easy Nothing. Should 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 vanished; and 'twas judged a proper Answer. But whatever 'tis to live, sure I am (if you Credit Seneca) 'tis 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'll 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) 'Tis true, there have been Men that have tried, even in Death itself, to relish and taste it, and who have bend 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 myself ready, and the Faculties of my Mind settled and fixed, to try if in this short and quick Instant of Death, I could 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 Trial what DEATH is; but for my own part I could never yet find it out; but let Death be what it will, 'tis certain 'tis 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 easy than to discriminate Life and Death, and yet to explicate the Nature of both, is a severe task, because the Union 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 'tis a destruction of Nature itself; 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 Erterprises we take in hand we have the satisfaction of reflection and a review when they are passed, but Dying deprives us of knowing what we are doing, or what other State we are Commencing. 'Tis 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 enlarges 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 missed or desired 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  by Wise Men, who know 'tis one of the Duties of Life to Die, 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 Hanged, and the other drowned, 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 hanged said, He expected some sort of a strange Change, but knew not what, but the Pangs of Death were not so intolerable 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 turned 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 touched us, when we are dead we are not— Moreover, (saith he) The 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; 'tis true, Conscience makes Cowards of us all. Lewis II. King of France, when he was sick, forbidden any Man to speak of DEATH in his Court; but there's nothing in Death itself that can affright us, 'tis only Fancy gives Death those hideous Shapes we think him in. 'Tis the Saying of one, I fear not to be dead, yet am afraid to die; there is no Poniards in Death itself, like those in the way, or Prologue to it; and who would 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 ●hat sets us ashore. But further I dare not wade, ●or by venturing beyond our Depth, we are liable to all the Dangers that are out of Ken, 'Tis enough that I have scaled the Mountains, scrabbled above the Clouds, and opened a little the Curtains that hide 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 TRUE 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 Virtue, and some way or other promotes our Eternal Happiness.  
If I have advanced any thing in this Essay that's not agreeable to sound Doctrine, 'tis your Province (Ignotus) to find it out; and though 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 itself being so much a part of Nature, that there is no laying it aside till the whole Frame is dissolved.  
We all are seized 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, though by an ill Management I fear I have lost my End, yet as ill as the Subject's handled, I judge he that has buried a Wife, Child, or Friend, etc. will be pleased to hear (though weakly prov d) that he shall know them again in Heaven. I own 'tis a great Vanity to quote myself, (except I was one, whose Life and Actions might serve for Examples) yet 'tis 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, etc.) which I here insert, to show I can ne'er forget the Ladies concerned, 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.— Sappho is put for Cloris; and in P— Cloris is put for Eliza, etc.  
The unknown Ariadne is also quoted, whose ready Wit is always producing of new Charms— Neither is Leander forgot for (though Beauty in a Man is a Jest yet) Honour joined to Love comprises all that a Maid can wish for.  
And this Hint leads me to Lincoln, to the Honourable, etc.— who, though dead and gone, I here kiss her Name, as the nearest way to her Soul— neither do I forget HONEYMOON, now the Music of Fiddlers is over.  
I might also mention the Learned Anonimas, and that Mistress of TRUE SENSE, the Ingenious 
* A near Relation of the Dear Eliza.  KATE: But I'll stop here; for should I proceed to the other Ladies, mentioned in this Essay) you'd think me a mere Rambler; but if I am, 'tis excusable in me, seeing when at any time I go out of my way, 'tis rather upon the Account of Licence 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 introduced for want of Heed? 'Tis the indiligent Reader that loses my Subject, and not I; there will always be found some Words or other in a Corner, to make good my Title Page, though 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 myself as mounted my Horse to ride a Journey, where although I design to reach such a Town by Night, yet will I not deny myself the Satisfaction of going a Mile or Two out of the way, to gratify 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 Critics. 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 myself, and Friends, and way of Writing, etc.  
A Word now of the Graver Authors, and then farewell, till I meet You and Cloris in Heaven, or else at that BLESSED VILLAGE, where Angels Sat, and Listen to her Song— All Musics 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 advanced 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. could turn Chameleon, and live for ever on this Air.  
BLESSED AGFORD!  
A Garden in a Paradise would be,  
But a too mean Periphrasis of thee.  
I could scarce die till I had seen this New Parnassus— I call it so, as 'tis the present Residence of Madam LAUREATE— 'Twas 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, though I have great Assistance from them, yet I have endeavoured to digest the same into such a Method, Style, and Form, as was most pleasing to myself, adding thereunto my own Remarks, though 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 Struck, we'll fall to discourse on the Visible Frame of Things, and of Matters more Domestic— 'Tis 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 finished till Sh—te returns from the East-Indies.  Sh—te, is all at present from  
Your Eternally Devoted Friend, Philaret.   
FINIS.