Death then Reason commands Sense all obey to this Apprehension of Frailty Pleasures by little and little abandon us the Sweets of Life seem Sowr and we can find no other quiet but in the Hope Before Death and the Funeral no Man is Happy of that glorious Life to come 'T was the Saying of a great Man Before Death and the funeral no Man is happy But that I may Die in Peace 't is requisite that I Die daily Philip of Macedon gave a Boy a Pension ev'ry Morning to say to him Philip remember thou art a Man My Purse won't allow of a Daily Monitor but I hope this Essay on my Why God wou'd have me ignorant of my last Hour funeral will serve me as well to bear Death in Mind as if Philp's-Deaths-Dead were set before me But God wou'd have me ignorant of my last Hour that suspecting it always I might always be ready and where can I get ready if not in a Cell where are few Temptations to Sin and Vanity And therefore I 'll never leave it but like the silly-Grashopper Live and Die and perhaps be Buried in the same Ground But however my Body is dispos'd of I shall still be Your Friend INCOGNITO The Ladys Answer to my Eight Letter Sir I Can easily believe you are the First that ever Writ an Essay upon their own Funeral for our Dissolution is no inviting Subject it has but a Melancholy Aspect even when 't is look'd upon as the only Remedy of the Afflicted But How bitter are the Thoughts of Death to those that Live at Ease Which if you Consider you may well conclude had Valeria's Kindness been such as you would have had it you had ne'er enjoyed the Blessing you do now of Contemplating the Miseries of this Life till in Ransacking your Memory for all that could possibly any more afflict or torment you you light upon Death as the last and most dreadful of all terrible Things which being once fix'd in your Mind sets you out of the reach of all Temptations In this she makes it appear she loves you as well at least if not better than her own Soul that she affords you a Happiness she denies her self and chuses to leave you to the full Enjoyment of it without robbing you of the least Share But if you are Serious in the Thoughts of Death 't will do you more good than all her Smiles however you may prize ' em The Gentleman that thought he was as good as Dead when his Money was gone might have some cause to think himself really Dead tho he walk'd about perceiving the Fear every ones Countenance discover'd at the sight of him the Case of most Persons in his Circumstance therefore never be surpriz'd at his having more Brains than he could be quiet with for were your Case his in one respect it might be so perhaps in the other every one is not able to hear the Contempt of the World Tho' if well consider'd when we answer the Designs of Providence it should be all one to us whether we stand for a Penny or a Crown for in God's Account we are equally as useful and acceptable And I am perswaded there has been many great Saints very little seen or known in the World and whose only Share in it has been but Obscurity and Contempt and truly speaking what are we the better for so large a share of earthly Enjoyments that shall both disorder our Minds and Bodies that we can't discern our true Interest but place our Happiness in catching at departing shadows while we forget we are all born subjects of Death and begin to die from the first moment of our Life And 't is no matter how soon one is discharg'd of a Debt one must certainly pay And were our Life never so long to think in time we should have enough of living is a great mistake for at Fourscore Years and we shall think our lives short and our past Enjoyments extremely imperfect and any one that dies at Twenty can do no more That in general Death is saluted with the same shy Air whenever he claims the debt they are not willing to pay as well those he has long forborn as those he deals with more severely Yet methinks aged Person 's Experience and some sort of good Nature and Compassion might prevail with 'em willingly to make room for others that by their Deaths young Persons to whom they leave their Places may have the opportunity of making the same Experiment they have done of the Emptiness of all humane Ioys which is best known and believed by dear bought Experience and never till then can they be freed from the Tyranny of Vain-hopes and wild Ambition the Disease of Youth I confess I can't but wonder at the vain curiosity of the Philosophers who set themselves so much to know exactly in the last Minute of their Life what Being Death has which is none at all The most that can be seen of Death is by its Operation on our Bodies in this Life our total Dissolution is but the last stroke not much differing from the rest nor perhaps the most painful we know enough of it to make us hate the thoughts of it as of a Molancholy Subject and if ever we are brought to love it 't is certain it must be by looking beyond it For 't is to the consideration of that happy change of Life to which Death brings us that we are obliged for all our Ease and Comfort in this Life and from the hopes that in Death the Soul shall be set at Liberty and be triumphant over that Enemy which had so long insulted and with the sight and feeling of his Tyranny kept it in bondage and slavish fear There 's nothing in this World that is not under his Dominion his Character is stampt on every thing which makes 'em change corrupt and die that we are tir'd with such perpetual Alterations tho'it shou'd sometimes supply the place of a comfort to one that has no better for if a meer change will mend their Condition they are sure of that Relief since nothing remains in the same state all tends to a Dissolution the Heavens wax old as doth a Garment and shall be changed nay Death it self must shortly yield to Destruction and till then the worst it can do is but to change us for the better 'T is much to be admir'd there should be any Pretenders to the making a Divorce between Death and Sin that the same Persons that abhor the Sight oâ— Thoughts of Death shou'd take Sin into their Embraces for what 's so sure to let in Death as Sin For 't is not only the Wages of Sin but it's natural Issue and one may say 't is the only good thing Sin ever brought forth for we have many Advantages by Death since every degree of Death in the Body adds to the Life and Vigour of any Soul that is not already dead in Sin and in the
which he bought for them that were dispos'd to Hang themselves b Plutarch Fabius the Consul was so little for being known that in 70 Years which he lived departed not once from his Village of Regio to go to Messana which was but two Miles off by Water and Apollonius Travel'd o'er three parts of the World to conser with ingenions Men and being returned he gave his Riches to his poor Kindred and lived ever after a Solitary Life Democritus plucked out his Eyes because the pleasures of this World shou'd not draw him from Contemplation St. Bernard got all his knowledge in the Woods and Fields Ierom forsook all the World to live Incognito Croesus after the Death of his Son did the same and so did Hiero a Tyrant of Syracuse Among Even the Mahometans there are many Vetaries they call Dâ—rveeses who relinquish the World and spend all their Days following in solitude and retiredness expecting a Recompence as they say and are very well content to suffer and wait for it in that better Life Those very sharp and very strict Penances which many of this People for the present voluntarily undergo far exceed all those the Romanists boast of for instance there are some who live alone upon the tops of Hills which are clothed or covered with Trees and stand remote from any Company and there spend the whole time of their following lives in Contemplation stirring not at all from the places they first six on but ad requisita naturae crying out continually in these or the like Expressions Alla Achabar c. that is God Almighty look upon me I love thee I love not the World but I love thee and I do all this for thy sake look upon me God Almighty These after they thus retire never suffer the Razor or Scissars to come again upon their Heads and they let their Nails grow like unto Birds Claws as it was written of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4. When he was driven out from the society of men This People after their retirement will chuse rather to famish than to stir from their Cells and therefore they are relieved by the Charity of others who take care to send them some very mean Covering for their Bodies for it must be such otherwise they will not accept of it when they stand in need thereof and something for their bodily sustenance which must be of their courser Food otherwise they will not take it and no more of that at one time than what is sufficient for the present support of nature Neither is the Incognito Life of the famous Nostedamus less remarkable than the affected solitude of the Derveeses of which take the following account Some Leagues from Aix says the Author of the Historical Voyages stands a Burrough call'd Sallon where Nostredamus so Famous for his Predictions was Born and interr'd in the Church of the Francisâ—an Grey-Fryers his Tomb being half withithe Church and half without The Monk that shewed it us says this Author told us that Nostredamus himself had ordered it to be Erected after that manner for that finding the World to be so corrupt as it is he was desirous to leave it in singular manner For that having rais'd his Tomb to Mans height he caused himself to be enclos'd therein while he was living after he had made Provision of Oil for his Lamp Pens Ink and Paper and pronounced a Curse upon him that shou'd open it before such a time which by the Calculation of the Fryar was to expire at the beginning of the Eighteenth Age. I cannot tell says this Voyager whether Nostredamus repented or no but I am sure he was in an Ill condition if he let his Lamp goe out before he had finished what he had to write We also read that Hyginus after he was made Bishop took such a Fancy to Live Incognito that he retir'd to a Cave where he hid himself 't was here he writ an Epistle touching God and the Inearation of the Son of God But the Men are not Singular in their Love to a Private life for we find some Ladies too as well as the Men have delighted to live Incognito Elizabeth commonly called Ioan-Cromwel the Wife of Oliver Cromwel chose rather to be a great Person Incognito if you 'l believe the Author of her Life then to live in that State and Degree which her Husbands Grandeur allow'd of 'T is true says this Author she kept one Coach but to avoid Pomp her Coachman served her for Caterer Butler Cup Bearer and Gentleman Usher Her Daughter and She often went alone into the Country and there See a further Account of her private Life in the Book called Elizabeth the Wife of the late Usurper wou'd spend whole Days in riding in a Sequestred Caroach so that she seem'd to affect the Seythian Fashion who dwelt in Carts and Wagons and have no other Habitations She was also the same Recluse in her Habit rather Harnessing her self in the Defence of her Cloaths than allowing her self the loose and open Bravery thereof and her Hood till her Face was seen in her Highnesses Glass was â—apt on like a Head Piece without the Arr of â—nsconcing and entrenching it double and single in Redoubts and Horn works In sine she was Cap-a-pe like a Baggage Lady and was out of her Element in her Vieinity to the Court and City She never caâ—'d to be seen and was never easy but when she liv'd Inoogni'o And even of Animals Some live a Solilitary Life as the Hare the Pelican and the Swan the last of which is Merry at her Death So 〈◊〉 the wisest both of Men and Bruits have still preferr'd a Private Life to a Publick and the reason c See my Irish Conversation P. 365. why a Private Life is preferable to all others is because the first Minister of State hath not so much Business in Publick as a Wise Man hath in Private the one hath but part of the affairs of one Nation the other all the Works of God and Nature under his consideration And therefore 't was Scipio was never less alone than when he had no Company Tully when he was thought to be Idle Studied most And Mison the Philosopher that he might Study himself lived altogether a Solitary Life when one by chance met him laughing to himself and demanding the cause why he laughed having no Company Answer'd Even therefore do I laugh because I have no Company with me I might heap up Instances of this Nature but here 's enough to shew I ben't singular in desiring to live unknown certainly Madam the pleasantest and most profitable condiition of Life is to live Incognito This we find further verified in Charles V. Emperor of Germany for after conquering Four Kingdoms he resign'd up all his Pomp to other Hands and betook himself to his Retirement leaving this Testimony behind him concerning the Life he spent in the little time of his retreat from the World That the
Letter SIR I AM very sorry so Unhappy a Necessity should come to take from you the Glory of Constancy for I am perswaded you would have perfected your Art of Living Incognito without Constraint and shew'd your self as constant to what you first chose for your Pleasure and the Improvement of your Thoughts as you do now to Marriage in your defence of it after all the Ill Treatment you have so lately received from it which as you well observe might have created an Aversion to the whole Sex in a Man of a Less Loving Temper but you still dream of finding out some way of making Valeria a Kind and Loving Wife Small hopes 't is true attends your mighty Care But of all Passions Love does last dispair And indeed I should be very defective in my Friendship were I resolv'd to blame your Loving Temper since 't is that alone enables you to bear your Misfortunes with any Tolerable Fase hoping still to Charm Valeria with your Love and at last rival the Bags I wish it may ever do you so much good I confess what I observe in those Loving Tempers can never bring me to Ambition such a happiness as they possess with all their Injoyments in a World so full of changes and uncertainties and in one of the frailest things in the World a Woman so Compos'd of Vanity and Inconstancy Yet notwithstanding I must own what will partly Iustifie your Extraordinary Opinion of Marriage That Friendship never is in that Perfection as between Man and Wife and that a Woman with a Wise Soul is the fittest Companion for a Man Nay if there be but one WISE SOUL between 'em so it be but known to 'em which it is that has it 't is well enough the very Union makes 'em happy and useful to each other CALO was much in the right to say It was more Honourable to be a Good Husband than a Great Senator For 't is always better to be Good than Great but was not so extreamly rig't in not allowwing A MONTHS TIME for single Liberty The Man that can obtain the Reputation of a good Husband in such an Age as this is worthy of double honour for he must have a strange Art of Conduct not only for the Governing his Wife but of what ever Governs her and 't is twenty to one he gets the Reputation of an ill Husband for his pains rather than a good one let him deal never so gently unless the vertue lie in some Measure on the Womans side of chearfully submiting to his Government therefore by Cato's good leave there 's no doing any thing well in haste the World is not so mightily stock'd with Women of that Vertue that a Man can't chuse but light on 'em in a Months time they were more scarce than so in Solomon's time much more in this Corrupt Age yet so far I yield as to allow it a great Argument of Love to your first Wife your Impatience to be yoak'd again but must beg your pardon if I deal plainly with you and tell you such a suddain Engagment after her Death look'd as if you had not the Exact Estimate of her Singulr Vertue you did not impute the Sole cause of your Felicity to a thing so rarely found in Women as Solomon affirms but thought it went in common with the fair Sex I also fear you imputed a little too much to your self and thought your Love and Tenderness most needs indear you to any Woman Some such Mistake made you so fearless in such a Hazzardous Attempt but tho I blam'd your hasty Marriage when I was a stranger to your many reasons for it yet am I far from thinking iâ— any slight to the Memory of your first Wife I really believe you esteem'd it the only means to comfort you for the loss of her and am very Glad whatever has happen'd since it proved at that time such a Cordial as sav'd your Life But in all this I see no cause to applaud your LOVING TEMPER that forces you to dedicate your self to something when there 's nothing Permanent under Heaven and must therefore leave you and carry away the very Substance of your Soul that can't be easie without it's peculiar delight which consists in caressing a Vertuous Wife that 's hardly to be found So that your Felicity is Compos'd of so many difficulties it must come samewhat near a Miracle that makes you happy and all owing to your being such a Loving Creature But be it as it will when SPEEDY MARRIAGE becomes a duty for then God calls us to that state of Life we have nothing to consider but how to make a vertue of Necessity and chuse as near as we can for Piety and Goodness rather then trouble our selves with the fears of Poverty A Man is not the less Generous for having little to give but shews his Generosity as much in envying no Body but being satisfied with his Portion in this Life For the greater the Mind is with the less it is content and whatever the World may think the Poor serve the Publick in Marrying as much as the Rich. Should none Marry but the Wealthy with what a Race of Pride and insolence would it fill the World All Arts and Ingenuity Spring from Necessity and Poverty may be truly said to be the source of all Vertue and those that make so ill use of it as to commit such Outrages as brings 'em often to untimely ends would have made no better use of Riches if they had had 'em and 't is only our corrupt Nature turns Soveraign Medicines into Poison And now I shall Freely own I am convinced of my Error in censuring your hasty Marriage tho I can't admit of all your Arguments for Marriage in general I am convinced some Persons Tempers and Inclinations are so perfectly opposite as plainly shews Providence never design'd ' â—m for it and for such to marry meerly to please the World and avoid Reproach would be the greatest Sin and Folly imaginable in despising the highest Gift and Priviledge Heaven could bestow on Mortalls while here on Earth which is enough to justifie those that neither seek nor desire Marriage yet ought they to think it their Duty to serve the Publick and not live only for themselves Nay they are oblig'd to do the more as having the Liberty of chusing so many several ways of doing it It had been happy for the World if so great a Patron and Votary to Marriage as you had not met with such a discouragement a little time will discover for whom to chastisement was designed I hope it will never come to that of Mother Wife and all your Friends forsaking yoo I can answer for one tho in the way you propose to your self you may perhaps find more comfort then in the greatest kindnesâ— any Friend can shew you and this is past a Doubt with me for I really believe it who am Your c. From my Cell January 28th 1699.
is as much to be deplored as not to be 4000 Years after it we know something what Death is by the Thought of that Time and Estate of our selves which was ' ere we were our Nephews haue the same Reason to â—ex 〈◊〉 yes that they 〈◊〉 not â—ung in our Dayes which we have 〈◊〉 that we shall not be old in theirs they who so re-went us did give place unto us and shall we grieve to give room to them who come after us And I 'm apt to think there 's nothing in Death it self that can afright us 't is only Fancy gives Death those hidious Shapes we think him in 't is the Saying of one I fear not to be dead yet am afraid to dye ' tho I don't see why we should be afraid of Death but as 't is the inlet to What Life is Eternity for Death is no more than a soft and easy Nothing Shouâ—d you ask me then what is Life I 'd answer with Crates who being asked this Question said nothing but turned him round and vanish'd and 't was judged a proper Answer Life's nothing but a dull repetition What Death is a vain fantastick Dream and there 's an end on 't But what ever 't is to live sure I am if you credit Seneca 't is no more to dye T is only Fancygives Death those hideous Shapes we think him in 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 I have met with 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 Epicurus in Gassend Synt. for while we are alive it hath not toucht us when we are dead we are not So that we look upon Death with our Eyes not with our Reason or we shou'd find a certain Sweetness in Mortality for that Essay on knowing our Friends in Heaven p. 87. can be no loss which can never be mist or desired again But let Death be what it will 't is certain 't is less troublesome than Sleep for in Sleep I may have disquieting Pains or Dreams and yet I fear not going to bed For Sleep gives us a sip of Joy but Death the full draught This is my Notion what DEATH is but I can't be sure I ' ent mistaken for my writing of my own Funeral shews I 'm yet alive or were I laid in my Grave I shou'd know as little what Death is as I do now for dying deprives us of knowing what we are doing or what other state we are commenceing T is a leap in the dark not knowing where we shall light as Mr. Hobbs told his inquisitive Friend when he was going to dye But ' tho I know so little what Death is there have been Men that have tried even in Death it self to relish and taste it but as I said before there are none of them come back to tell us the News Canius Julius endeavoured to make Trial what Death was that he might come again to acquaint his Friends with it No one was ever known to make Who once in Death's cold Arms a Nap did take Lucret. Lib. 3. Canius Iulius being condemn'd by that Beast Caligula as he was going to receive the stroke of the Executioner was ask'd by a Philosopher well Canius said he where about is your Soul now what is she doing what are you thinking of Iwas thinking 〈◊〉 and the faculties of my mind setled and fixt to try if in this short and quick instant of Death I cou'd perceive the motion of the Soul when she starts from the Body and what this passage is and whether she has any resentment of the separation that I may afterwards come again to acquaint my Frâ—ends with it But we don't read that Canius after he was put to death ever came to life again to acquaint his Friends what Death was But ' tho he did not there be those that have for my sâ—lf had once the Curiosity to visit two certain Persons one had been hang'd the other drown'd and both of them very miraculously brought to Life again I asked Of two men that came to Life again after they had bin hang'd and drown'd with an account of what they felt in their dying what Thoughts they had and what Pains they were sensible of The Person that was hang'd said He expected some sort of a strange change but knew not what but the pangs of Death were not so intolerable as some sharp Diseases nay he cou'd not be positive whether he felt any other pain than what his fears exacted He added that he grew senseless by little and little and at the first his Eyes represented a brisk shining red sort of Fire which grew paler and paler till at length it turn'd into a black after which he thought no more but insensibly acted the part of one that falls asleep not knowing how nor when The other gave me almost the same Account and both were dead apparently for a considerable Time These Instances are very satisfactory in cases of violent Death and for a natural Death I cannot but think it much easier diseases make a conquest of Life by Essay on knowing our Friends in Heaven p. 88. little and little therefore the strife must be less where the in equality of power is greater However by these instances we see there is a certain way by which some Men make tryal what Death is but I never expect to know it 'till I make the Experiment But I do believe if there be any evil in Death it wou'd appear to be for that Pain and Torment which we apprehend to arise on the breaking of those straight-bands which keep the Soul and Body together But that the Sâ—ght Hearing Smellâ—ng Taste leave us without Pain and unawares we know most certainly and why should we not The Sight Hearing Smâ—lling Taste leave us without Pain and why should we not believe the same of Feeling believe the same of Feeling But ' tho we can have no perfect Notion of Death yet this we are sure that Death is a profound sleep in which Nature lets it self fail insensibly when she is tyr'd with the disquiets of this Life It is a Cessation of all those Services which the Soul renders to the Flesh. This is Death as near as I can judge of it And if Death be no more then this I shan't shed one Tear at the Thoughts of my own Death tho' I have shed many at the Death of others I think the Thracians were much in the right to weep when a Child was born and to rejoyce when it dyed We also read that Lodowick Coâ—tusius a
David fasted and Prayed for his Sick Son that his Life might be prolonged But when he was dead this Consideration comforted him I shall goe to him but he shall not return to me 2 Sam. 12 13. And this likewise shou'd comfort me under the loss of Iris to think she is gone to Heaven and that if I die in Christ I shall goe to her but this she cou'd not do but by dying which makes me the easier forgive Death for the Treasure he has stole from me and my next comfort to her being in Heaven is to think in what a triumphant Iris Triumphant Death is like the putting out of a prefum'd Candle manner she went thither In a painful Sickness of near Forty Weeks she never once repin'd at it but wou'd still say God had dealt tenderly with her and that she was wholly resign'd to his Will Then certainly the Death of such a Good Wife is like the putting out of a Wax-perfum'd Candle she in some measure recompenses the loss of Life with the sweet Odour she leaves behind her All must to their cold Graves But the Religious Actions of the Just Smell sweet in Death and Blossom in the Dust. In a Word Iris both in her Life and Death was like a Rose in June which tho dead and dry preserves a pleasing Sweetness and for that Reason Her Life was a continued Act of Piety was strewed by the Antients upon their Kindred's Graves 'T was but reasonable to think that a Life which was one continu'd Act of Piety shou'd have a joyful and happy ending And as Iris dyed in this Triumphant manner and with uttering such Expressions as I have here mention'd So I desire I may expire with these Words ETernal and everliving God I 'm now drawing near the Gates of Death and which is infinitely more terrible the Bar of thy Judgment oh Lord when I consider this my My last Prayer Flesh trembleth for fear of thee and my Heart is wounded within me But one deep calleth upon another the depth of my misery upon the depth of thy mercy Lord save now or I perish eternally Lord one day is with thee as a Thousand Years oh let thy mighty Spirit work in me now in this my last Hour whatsoever thou seest wanting to fit me for thy Mercy and Acceptance and then tho' I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no Evil. There is but one step between me and Eternity then blessed Jesus have Mercy on me Pardon the Sins of my whole Life O let not my Sun go down upon thy Wrath but seal my Pardon before I go hence and be seen no more Dear Lord I neither desire nor expect of thee Life or Death may it be done unto me according to thy Will But since Death is my passage into thy Presence suffer not the Thoughts of it to be terrible unto me I can't without some Reluctance think of leaving my Friends and Relations and forever shutting my Eyes upon that World where I now live To go into a World where I never was but tho' the Light is pleasant and a joyful thing it is to behold the Sun yet let it abundantly content me oh Lord that whether waking or Sleeping dead or alive I shall be always thine tho' thou shouldst break all my Bones and from Day even till Night with pining Sickness and Aches make an end of me yet let me be dumb and not open my Mouth because it is thy doing suffer me not to whisper to my self what 's the reason the Lord will deal thus with me help me rather to consider what my Sins have deserved and what a poor Derivative thing I am What a meer dependant upon thee Lord I came into the World on thy Errand and I live only upon thy allowance Then let the consideration of thy Majesty and Glory swallow up all those petty Interests of my own which I create to my self and help me oh Lord in every Passage of my Life and Death to say thy will be done If it be thy will I shall dye now receive my Spirit and altho' I come In the Evening at the very last of all grant unto me that I may receive Eternal-Rest Blessed Lord as soon as ever the Chain of my mortality is broke let me take Wing and fly to thee Grant that sincerely reahing my Hands to thee from that Moment which is the upper Step of the Ladder of my Life next to Heaven thou mayest reach forth thy hand and receive me And when my Breath is gone grant oh Lord that I may see and know her again who dyed praying for my Everlasting-Happiness Into thy hand Lord I resign my Body and Soul Blessed Saviour receive my Spirit even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen I shall go to Iris but she shall not return to me I wou'd have these words be my last breath 'till my Lips fail and my Tongue cleaveth to the roof of my Mouth for as the Sun shines brightest at his setting so shou'd Man at his departing It is the evening crowns the day And now the Fatal Hour is come in which I must Resign to Dust This borrow'd Flesh whose Burden tires My Soul as it aspires Oh what a frail and undone Thing Is Man when his best Part is taking Wing But quake not Oh my Soul for Rest thou l't find This Pisgah Mount thy Canaan lies behind Look back and see the Worlds thin gaudy-Toys Look on and see the Crown of all thy Joys For such a Place is worthy to be sought Or were there none yet Heaven 's a pleasant Thought Nor for my bright Conductors will I stay But lead Heavens flaming Ministers the way In their known Passage to Eternal Day Where the blest CLIMES of Light will not seem fair Unless I meet my dear Redeemer there Unless I see my shining Saviours Face And grasp all Heaven in his sweet Embrace When the trembling Soul has Heav'n thus in sight Oh with what Joy and ravishing Delight She spreads her Wings and bids this World good Night Thus have I represented in what manner my Soul will leave that Body where it now dwells And have also considered in the Death of Iris with what tranquility and peace of conscience a Soul sequested from the World taketh her farewell of Earth Whilst thus I musing lay to my Bed side Attir'd in all his Mourning Pride The King of Terrors came Awful his Looks But not deform'd and grim He 's no such Goblin as we fancy him Scarce we our selves so civiliz'd and tame Unknown the Doom assign'd me in this change ' Tho justly I might fear Heavens worse Revenge Yet with my present Griefs redrest With curious Thoughts of unknown Worlds possest Enflam'd with Thirst of Liberty Long lovd but ne'er enjoy'd by me I su'd for leave the fatal Gulf to pass My vital Sand is almost run The Peace of Conscience with which a Soul sequestred from the-World
total Dissolution of the Body the Soul is freed from any more sinning and all the sufferings of this Life a Condition much to be desir'd by all but those that are so blind to take their Misery for their Happiness and dore upon this present Life and such there are and ever was of whom St. Austin in amazement speaks when he says At what cost and labour do Men endeavour to prolong their Labours and by how many frights to fly Death to the end they may be able to fear it for the longer time 'T is true since Death was at first laid on Man as a penalty it must be allow'd to be that which Nature in it self abhors but God whose very Punishments are the effects of his Mercy and Goodness has ordain'd it to be the means to procure our Happiness both to wean our Affections from too much love of this Life and also to bring us to the possession of a better which if truly understood would more than overcome our natural aversion it wou'd make us long to be dissolv'd at least willing to die at our appointed time for those that believe and hope for a glorious Resurrection should they regret in Death the loss of their Bodies 't would look like the impertinent Folly of one that shou'd lament the loss of the Egg that was become a Chicken for sure it is for us to desire to be always what we are is to oppose the perfection of our Natures and speaks us degenerated to the lowest degree of Brutality Could we obtain a true Judgment of our selves we should like the Man you mention think it more Eligible to end than begin our Life again and 't is a great sign we have never labour'd for Heaven and Happiness when we are not weary enough to wish for Rest but like Children that pass their Day in trifling Follies are never weary but must be forced to Bed or else deluded to it by a false hope some such deceits are found for cheating Men as much as Children and often sends 'em to rest before they think on 't tho' were they not as insensible as Death it self can make 'em they cou'd scarce think of any thing else amongst the many Monitors the World affords us but yet I wonder how you can think it an easie matter to humble the preposterous Pride of Man 't is not the sight of a Funeral can do it nor yet your humbling Uerses he carefully secures his Pride from all Assaults while he lives and charges it to carry it to his Grave so dearly he loves it as his best Companion without which all worldly Enjoyments would be insipid and give him more pain than pleasure for Pride is the chief Ingredient in all our Pleasures to make 'em desirable and for that reason they do well to keep the thoughts of Death at an humble distance from their Pride for Death's the greatest Enemy it can encounter which first or last will get the Victory for how many Persons are in Mourning half their Life time for the Death of Pride Those who lament the loss of Youth the loss of Beauty or of Grandeur 't is all but Funeral sorrow for the loss of Pride the dear Companion of Beauty Youth and Grandeur which is gone before 'em but if that will satisfie 'em they shall soon follow This we must needs observe in the Death of our Friends and Relations who once enjoy'd this Life as much as we do yet cou'd not baffle Death but were forc'd to yield to his Summons which are so Arbitrary we have no Rule to take our Measures by to prevent surprize 't is therefore best to be always ready to entertain Death's Harbingers and make every thing our Monitor and almost all we see and converse with are naturally dispos'd to do us that courtesie wou'd we give leave for there is so much truth in what you call an Active Death that more of Death than Life appears in the imperfection of all humane Actions For Example Your ringing your Passing-Bell your laying your self out speaking your last Words describing your Looks and your Spouses Sentiments upon your Death and sight of you are very like the Dream of those that are under the Image and Similitude of Death and probably like Dreams may come to pass by contrarys For the Circumstances of your Death may differ so much from what you make account of that it may not permit you to Pray that Prayer you have prepared for obtaining the blessing to see and know again your Spouse in Heaven but let not this fright you for you may yet have this comfort If it is none of the Joys that belongs to Heaven you 'll be happy without it but if it is the common Blessing belongs to all beatified Spirits you 'll not want it Nor can I see the least reason to count our Death because 't is strange a dismal and mysterious Change for what shou'd we fear since there 's no being unhappy in God's Hands Had he never discover'd to us the Joys of another Life we have tasted so much of his Goodness in this as may well assure us there is nothing to expect but Happiness wherever he sends us for Death Sin and Misery was no portion of his providing 't was of our own procuring by Rebelion therefore 't is no matter what we are nor whether we go if we can leave Sin behind us How Beautiful were we made at first to enjoy an earthly Paradice till Rebellion and Sin changed all into misery and deformity But now how glorious shall we be made at the Resurrection to fit us for a heavenly Life where we are out of all possibility of any change for we are in no danger to forfeit that Life since all the Conditions we hold it by are already fulfilled for us You may well think what a bright and serene Morning the Resurrection will make and long for it at a great rate therefore to be provided for your happy Change is your chief care when you are once about to die you won't stay to be ask'd the least Question about your Funeral or disposing your Estate for you have not only made your Will but order'd every Circumstance of your funeral The Care and Fondness you shew for your Epitaph and the rich Monument you bequeath your self may very justly be imputed to your loving temper for had Iris been still alive you had never had such hot Thoughts and Concern for your cold Grave where you are laid in your Imagination with a Pleasure not inferiour to Kings and to assert your title to that Priviledge can prove your self as frail and mortal as the greatest Monarch alive But tho' you might think it necessary to make some Friendship and Acquaintance with Death before you fall into his Hands I can't see so much use of the Contemplation of your Funeral for to me 't is a care I shall never charge my Thoughts with but as I live and die Incognito so I wou'd
am every minute going Every Thought I have is a Sand running out of the Glass of Life Then surely he is dead already that does not look for Death How stupid are we to think so little of DYING when not only the DEATH of men but every thing else dies to shew us the Way Sweet Day so cool so calm so bright The â—ridal of the Earth and Skie The Dew shall weep thy fall to Night For thou must die Sweet Rose whose hue angry and brave Bids the rash Gazer wipe his Bye Thy Root is ever in its Grave And thou must die Sweet Spring full of sweet Days and Roses A Box where Sweets compacted lye My Musick shews ye have your Closes And all must die There may be News of my Funeral before I can finish my Essay upon it Only a sweet and Virtuous Soul Like season'd Timber never gives But tho the whole World turn to Coal Then chiefly lives Herbert Besides the warning I have of my own DEATH in the death of every thing I meet abroad that I might want no warning when I go to SLEEP which is a Death in Scripture is compared to Sleep kind of dying too What is my BED but as it were a Passing-bell to remember me every four and twenty Hours of my Mortality and that the Grave must speedily be my Bed a Clod my Pillow and the Mold and Worms my Covering When I put off my Shirt it puts me in mind of my Winding-sheet and last My Night-Prayer c may be resembl'd to making my Will Shroud that must cover me when I sleep under ground Death in Scripture is compared to Sleep Well then may my Night Prayer be resembled to making my Will I will be careful not to die intestate as also not to defer my Will-making 'till I am not compos mentis 'till the Lethargy of drowsiness seizes upon me but being in perfect Memory I bequeath my Soul to God the rather because I am sure the Devil will accuse me when sleeping Oh the advantage of Spirits above Bodies If our Clay Cottage be not cooled with Rest the Roof falls The Devil will accuse me when sleeping a Fire Satan hath no such need The Night is his fittest time Rev. 12. 10. Thus Mans Vacation is the Terms for the Beasts of the Forest they move most whilst he lies quiet in his Bed Lest therefore whilst sleeping I be Out-lawed for want of appearance to Satans Charge I commit my Cause to him who An Appearance to Satan's Charge Lying along is an improper Posture for Piety neither slumbers nor sleeps Answer for me oh my God I wou'd not by this Expression be so understood as if I might defer my Night Prayer 'till I'm in Bed This lying along is an improper posture for Piety Indeed there is no Contrivance of our Body but some good Man in Scripture hath hanfel'd it with Prayer The Publican standing Iob sitting Hezekiah lying on his Bed Elijah with his Face between his Legs but of all Postures give me St. Paul's For this cause I bow my Knees to the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ. Knees when they may they must be hended I have read a Copy of a grant of liberty from Queen Mary to Henry Ratcliff Earl of Sussex giving him leave to wear a Night Cap or Coif in her Majesties presence counted a great Favour because of his Infirmity Job 18. 1 Kings 28. 42. Eph. 3. 14. Weavers Fun. Mon. p. 63. I know in case of necessity God would graciously accept my Devotion bound down in a sick-dressing but now whilst I am in perfect Health it is inexcusable Christ commanded some to take up their Bed in token of their full Recovery my Laziness may suspect least thus my Bed taking me up prove a presage of my ensuing Sickness Then Blessed Lord pardon the former Idleness of my Night-Devotion and I will never more offend thee in the same kind In case of Necessity God will accept my Devotion bound down in a Sick-Dressing And thus my Bed my Sleep and every thing else proclaims Death is on his March towards me And seeing my Sand runs faster than my Ink your Ladyship may have News of my Funeral before I can finish this Essay upon it How soon doth Man decay When Clothes are taken from a Chest of Sweets To swadle Infants whose young Breath Scarce knows the way Those Clouts are little Winding-sheets Which do consign and send them unto Death When Boys go first to Bed They step into their voluntary Graves Sleep binds them fast only their Breath Makes them not dead Successive Nights like rolling Waves Convey them quickly who are bound for Death When Youth is frank and free And calls for Musick while his Veins do swell All Day exchanging Mirth and Breath In Company That Musick summons to the Knel Which shall befriend him at the House of Death When Man grows staid and wise Getting a House and Home where he may move Within the Circle of his Breath Schooling his Eyes That dumb Inclosure maketh Love Unto the COFFIN that attends his death When Age grows loâ— and weak Marking his Grave and thawing ev'ry Year 'Till all do melt and drown his Breath When he wou'd speak A Chair or Litter shews the Bier Which shall convey him to the House of Death Man e're he is aware Hath put together a Solemnity And drest his Herse while he hath Breath I 'm here ringing my own Passing-Bell That 'T is impossible for a man to write of his own Funeral whilst he 's living As yet to spare Yet Lord instruct us so to die That all these Dyings may be life in Death Herbert Or had I not these Warnings of Death in the several Stages of Life yet I have such a Crazy Body as daily puts me in mind of my Grave and I 'm now by writing an Essay upon my own Funeral as 't were ringing my own Passing-Bell But perhaps you 'll say How can you write of your own Funeral when you are yet alive And were you dead you 'd be less able to handle your Pen as much at you love scribling Why Madam I am dead but don't be frighted that I appear again in this White Sheet For tho I 'm dead 'T is thus dead I was born seemingly dead I was born seemingly dead t was thought I was lugg'd out of my natural CELL into my Grave and I could have been content had I had no more than the Register or Sexton to tell the World that I had ever been However I may venture to say that from the first laying of these Mudd-Walls in my conception they have moldred away and the whole course of Life is but an active Death nay every Meal we eat is as it were a Ransom from one Death and lays up for another and while we think The whole Course of Life is but an active Death a Thought we die for the Clock strikes and reckons
on our Portion of Eternity nay we even form our Words with the Breath of our Nostrils and we have the less time to live wan't we dead already Eor ev'ry word we speak I say it again wa n't we dead already for Anaxagoras undertook to prove what 〈◊〉 we call Life is actual Death and that what we call Death is Life And as I am dead as dead as I 've here described so if I take a view of my My Father Mother c. and most of my Friends are dead Generation and Friends about me tho I enjoy them a while I find at last they follow the necessity of their Generation and are finally removed some by Age some by Sickness and some by casualty what a Bubble what a nothing What a wink of Life is Man Most of my Friends are gone and all by Death My Father is gone in one Friend my Mother in another Dear Ben in another Daphne the MATCHLESS DAPHNE in another Harris in another Showden in another and S. Darker in another the Delight of mine Eyes the pleasure of my Ears the Fellow of my Bed The Servants of my House my old School-fellows are either all gone or much impair'd Time was their Race but newly was begun Whose Glass is run They on the Troubled Sea were heretofore ' Tho now on Shore And 't is not long before it will be said Of me as 't is of them Alas he 's dead Now when I consider the Diminution I daily suffer in this kind methinks I stand as Aaron once did in the Camp betwixt the Living and the Dead and while I reflect on my self I find I so participate of both that I am indeed but half alive and half dead for half my Body by reason of the Stone c is dead and hath already taken Seizin of the Grave for me And as I hinted before I 'm half alive and half dead Five Parts of my Relations are dead the Companion also and Fellows of my Apprentiship are gone before So that if I wou'd adhere to the greater number as Many so in Factions I must repair to the Dead if I en't with 'em already for my Habitation My own Body moulders apace and the very top and Cover my THATCH above turns Colour grows Gray and withers But tho' my Friends are dead and I 'm dying apace my self yet I am so much My Body moulders apace the same with my Reverend Father which I dare not say of the other Persons I have here mention'd that he cannot die whilst I am alive THE youthful Blood that beat the winding Maze Within your Veins gave length unto my Days The active Heat distil'd a crimson Dew Through those warm Limbecks and made Me of you That to such full proportion I am grown People do still Me for Your Figure own Then since I have deriv'd a part from Thee Thou canst not dye whilst Thou hast part in Me. Thus Sabina having given you some general thoughts on my Death and Funeral I shall next lay my self out for Dead for I 'm now supposing what will I 'm now laying my self out for Dead happen one time or other And now when my Breath is gone my Eyes closed the Bell toll'd and my Body coffin'd up for the Grave where wou'd I have my Soul whether in Heaven or in Hell Sure not in Hell least I shou'd want Lazarus to cool my Tongue but in Heaven where there be Rivers of Pleasures c. I thus descend to a particular Application of Death to my self for the common No fight so terâ—ible as to see a man breathing his last sounds of Death-post's through our Ears without any stop whereas the seeing a Dead Friend the Spectacle thereof by a self Application Inns even in our Hearts Much more then shou'd the Representation of our own Deaths affect us for there 's no sight more Terrible then to see a Man breathing his last but It must be done my Soul tho' 't is a strange A dismal and mysterious change When thou shalt leave this Tenement of Clay And to an unknown Some-where wing away When Time shall be Eternity and thou how Shalt be thou know'st not what and live thou know'st not When Life 's close Knot by Writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or Age untye When after some delays some dying strife The Soul stands shivering on the ridge of Life With what a dreadful curiosity Does she lanch out into the Sea of vast Eternity Norris My Soul and Body Two old Friends being now parting methinks I see how The parting of Soul and Body my Mind wou'd fain utter it self and cannot for Respiration or Breathing is thus perform'd The outward Air is drawn in by the vocal Artery and sent by the mediation of the Midriffe to the Lungs which dilating themselves as a pair of Bellows reciprocally fetch it in and send it out to the Heart to cool it and from thence now being hoâ— convey it again still taking in fresh but How the Body is encoldned to a Fashionable Clay these Organs being now quite disabled the Spirits shrink inward and retire to the vanquish't Heart as if like Sons prest from an Indulgent-Father they wou'd come for a sad Farewell while that in the mean time pants with afrighting pangs and the hands and feet being the most remote from it are by degrees encoldned to a Fashionable Clay as if Death crept in at the Nails and by an insensible surprize suffocated the invirond Heart Curiously didst thou make me saith David in the lowest parts of the Earth but now to see those Elements which compounded made the Body to see them thus divided and the Man dissolved is a rueful fight And now methinks I see all my Friends like conduits dropping Teares about me while I neither know my wants nor they my cure Nay now my very Doctor tho' the most able Physitian I know in London stands as one that gaâ—es at a Comet which he can reach with nothing but his Eye alone To see The Doctor knows not what to prescribe all this happen to one whose Conversation has endear'd him to us is very dreadfull Oh the Pangs I felt when Iris was breathing her last for even then she lay uttering such Expressions as these I 'll love thee as long as I live Thou art a dear Child to me I pray God bless my Dear Yok-fellow and give him Grace I pray thoe give him grace to live so here as he may live What 's meant by a Lightning before Death with thee hereafter And all this she utter'd at the Time when she was actualy dying Which we found to be a Lightning before Death t is observed of sick Persons that a little before they die their Pains leave them and their Understanding and Memory retuns to them as a Candle just before it goes out gives a great Blaze This is what is call'd a Lightning before Death Iris had a kind of