Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

"whilft thou art wife; expect no further Time; "but embrace the Time prefent: For that which "is to come, is not yet Time, and perhaps when "it may come, it may not be thine."

A Letter from a young Lady to the Countess of HERTFORD, wrote not long before ber Death.

Madam,

T

HIS is the laft Letter you will ever receive from me; the laft Affurance I fhall give you, on Earth, of a fincere and stedfaft Friendship, but when we meet again, I hope, it will be in the Heights of immortal Love and Ecftafy. Mine, perhaps, may be the first glad Spirit to congratulate your fafe Arrival on the happy Shore. Heaven can witness, how fincere my Concern for your Happiness is; thither I have fent my ardent Wishes, that you may be fecur'd from the flattering Delufions of the World; and, after your pious Example has been long a Bleffing to Mankind, may you calmly refign your Breath, and enter the confines of unmolested Joy, where the overflowing Songs of Angels, in all the Pomp of heavenly Harmony, can't fully defcribe its Glories. In what Figures of celestial Eloquence, fhall I relate the Loves of immortal Spirits ? or tell you the Height, the Extent, the Fulness of their Blifs? All the foft Engagements on Earth, the tender Sympathies, and the most holy Union that Nature knows, are but faint Similitudes of the Sanctity and Grandeur of thefe divine Enjoyments. Hope and languishing Expectation are no more, and all Defire is loft in full and compleat Fruition.

Love reigns in eternal Triumph, here it governs every Heart, and dwells on every Tongue.

They tune their golden Harps to the great Name, Of Love, immortal Love, their darling Theme. Ten thousand echoes, thro' the lightfome Plains, Repeat the clear, the fweet, melodious Strains; The Fields rejoice, the fragrant Groves around, Bloffom afresh at their enchanting Sound:

The Heaven of Heavens, the dazling Heights above,

Returns the Name, and hails the Pow'r of Love.

But Oh! when the fair Face of Eternal Love unveils its original Glories, and appears in the Perfection of uncreated Beauty, how wondrous, how ineffable the Vifion! Fulness of Joy is in his Prefence, Rapture and inexpreffible Ecftafy! The faireft Seraphim ftops his Lute, and, with a graceful Paufe, confeffes the Subject too high for his moft exalted Strain. How impetuously do the Streams of immortal Joy rowl in, and enlarge the Faculty of every heavenly Mind!

I am now taking my Farewel of you here; but 'tis a fhort Adieu; for I die with full Perfuafion that we shall foon meet again; but Oh! in what Elevation of Happiness! in what Enlargement of Mind, and Perfection of every Faculty! what transporting Reflections fhall we make on the Advantages of which we fhall find ourselves eternally poffefs'd! To him that lov'd and wash'd us in his Blood, we fhall afcribe immortal Glory, Dominion and Praise for ever. This is all my Salvation, and all my Hope; that Name in whom the Gentiles truft, in whom all the Families on Earth are bleffed, is now my glorious, my unfailing Confidence; in his Merits alone I expect to ftand juftified before infinite Purity and Juftice. How poor were my Hopes, if I depended on those

Works

Works which my own Vanity, or the Partiality of Men, have called good, and which, if examined by Divine Purity, would prove, perhaps, but fpecious Sins; the best Actions of my Life would be found defective, if brought to the Teft of that unblemish'd Holiness, in whofe Sight the Heavens are not clean. Where were my Hopes, but for a Redeemer's Merits and Atonement? How defperate, how undone my Condition? With the utmoft Advantages I can boaft, I should start back and tremble at the Thoughts of appearing before the unblemished Majefty. O Jefus, what Harmony dwells in thy Name! celeftial Joy, and immortal Life is in the Sound; let Angels fet thee to their golden Harps, let the ranfomed Nations for ever magnify thee. What a Dream is mortal Life! What Shadows are the Objects of Senfe! All the Glories of Mortality, my dear Friend, will be nothing in your View, at the awful Hour of Death; when you must be separated from the whole Creation, and enter on the Borders of the immaterial World. Something perfuades me this will be my last Farewel in this World: Heaven forbid that it should be an everlafting Parting. May that Divine Protection whofe Care I implore, keep you fledfast in the Faith of Chriftianity, and guide your Steps in the strictest Paths of Virtue. Adieu, my moft dear Friend, 'till we meet in the Paradife of God.

Of a Pack of CARDS.

A Gentleman

Servant complained to his Mafter of his fellow-fervant, that he was a great Player of Cards, which the Mafter would not allow in his family; he called for the Servant complained of, and tax'd

C 2.

him

him with faid Charge, who firmly deny'd it, fay-
ing: He knew not what Cards meant. At which
the Mafter was angry with the Complainer, and
called him to hear what he could farther fay: Who
defired, he might be immediately fearched, for
he believed, he at that Time had a Pack in his
Pocket. And accordingly he was fearched and a
Pack found in his Pocket; which he would not
own to be Cards, but faid: That it was his Al-
manack. His Mafter afked him, How he made
it appear to be his Almanack? His Answer was,
There are in these Things you call Cards, as many
Sorts as there are Quarters in the Year; that is
four, Spades, Clubs, Hearts and Diamonds: There
are as many Court Cards as there are Months in the
Year, and as many Cards as there are weeks in the
Year; and there are as many Pops as there are
Days in the Year. At which his Master wondered;
afking him, Did he make no other Ufe of them?
He answered thus: When I fee the King, it puts
me in Mind of the Loyalty I owe to my Sovereign
Lord the King; when I fee the Queen, it
puts me
in mind of the fame; when I fee the Ten, it puts
me in mind of the Ten Commandments; the Nine,
of the Nine Mufes; the Eight, of the Eight Bea-
titudes; the Seven, of the Seven liberal Sciences;
the Six, of the Six Days we should labour in; thẹ
Five, of the Five Senfes; the Four, of the Four
Evangelifts; the Tray, of the Trinity; the Duce,
of the Two Sacraments; and the Ace, that we
ought to worship but one God. Says the Mafter,
this is an excellent Ufe you make of them; but
why did you not make mention of the Knave?
Sir, I thought I had no occafion to mention him,
because he is here prefent, clapping his Hand on
his fellow-Servant's Shoulder.

Q. Are the Stars living Creatures or not?

A. Some there are of Õpinion that they are not, though there are others that affirm the contrary of

the

2

the Sun, Moon, and fome Stars; which, fay they, are animate, and the Reason is, because they are commanded to run their Courfe, and in Jeremy the Moon is named the Queen of Heaven; and fome do aver, from the Teftimony of Job, where he faith, The Stars are not pure in his Sight: that therefore they are reasonable Creatures, and capable of Virtue and Vice.

Q. Of what Subftance are the Stars?

A. The Stars are of the fame Substance that the Heavens be wherein they are placed, differing only from them in Thicknefs, which Dimenfion makes them more apt to receive and retain the light of the Sun, which thereby become vifible to Sight, for the Heavens themselves being pure, thin, and tranfparent, are not vifible as the Stars which fhine as well in the Day as in the Night, although not perceived by reafon of the Sun's greater Light.

Q. What Motion have the Stars?

A. The felf fame Motion that the Heavens have wherein they are placed; which is, as fome, by the Primum Mobile, or firit Mover, turned by God himself, as every one of the reft, by his own proper Intelligence. And whereas the feven Planets, Or wandering Stars, do change their Places, now here, now there, that is not by their own proper Motion, but by the Motion of the Heavens wherein they are placed; for a Star being of a round Shape hath no Members to walk by, from one place to another, but only by the Motion of the Heaven wherein they are fixed.

Q. What makes the full Moon, and from whence proceeds the Eclipfe?

A. Her Oppofition to the Sun, makes her full, but her Eclipfe or Darking is caufed when the Sun is oppofite to her diametrically, and the Earth in the midit between them both, which being thick, and not tranfparent, cafting his Shadow to that Point which is oppofite to the Place of the Sun, will

C 3

not

« AnteriorContinua »