Part III: Letters to Widows
The first which I shall introduce is an extract of a letter from the Rev. John Howe, to Lady Rachel Russell, shortly after the execution of her husband. The whole letter is too long for insertion, but is well worthy of perusal, being one of the noblest and most pathetic pieces of epistolary composition in our language.
“MADAM,
* * * “It is, then, upon the whole, most manifest, that no temporary affliction whatsoever, upon one who stands in special relation to God, as a reconciled (and which is consequent an adopted) person, though attended with the most aggravating circumstances, can justify such a sorrow, so deep or so continued, as shall prevail against, and shut out a religious holy joy, or hinder it from being the vailing principle in such a one. What can make that sorrow allowable or innocent, what event of Providence, (that can, whatever it is, be no other than an accident to our Christian state,) that shall resist the most natural design and end of Christianity itself? that shall deprave and debase the truly Christian temper, and disobey and violate most express Christian precepts? subvert the constitution of Christ’s kingdom among men, and turn this earth (the place of God’s treaty with the inhabitants of it, in order to their reconciliation to himself, and to the reconciled, the portal and gate of heaven; yea, and where the state of the very worst and most miserable has some mixture of good in it, that makes the evil of it less than that of hell) into a mere hell to themselves, of sorrow without mixture, and wherein shall be nothing but weeping and wailing*
The cause of your sorrow, madam, is exceeding great. The causes of your joy are inexpressibly greater. You have infinitely more left than you have lost. Doth it need to be disputed whether God be better and greater than man? or more to be valued, loved, and delighted in? and whether an eternal relation be more considerable than a temporary one? Was it not your constant sense in your best outward state? l Whom have I in heaven but thee, 0 God; and whom can I desire on earth in comparison of thee!’ Herein the state of your ladyship’s r-ase is still the same, (if /ou cannot rather with greater clearness, and with less hesitation pronounce those latter words). The principal causes of your joy are immutable, such as no supervening thing can altar. You have lost a most pleasant, delectable earthly relative. Doth the blessed God hereby cease to be the best and most excellent good? Is his nature changed? his everlasting covenant reversed and annulled? which ’ is ordered in all things and sure,’ and is to be all your salvation and all your desire, ’ whether he make your house on earth to grow or not to grow.’ That sorrow which exceeds the proportion of its cause, compared with the remaining true and real causes of rejoicing, is, in that excess, causeless; that is, that excess of it wants a cause such as can justify or afford defence unto it. ******.******. *
“Such as he hath pardoned, accepted, and prepared for himself, are to serve and glorify him in an higher and more excellent capacity, than they ever could in this wretched world of ours, and wherein they have themselves the highest satisfaction. When the blessed God is pleased in having attained and accomplished the end and intendments of his own boundless love, too great to be satisfied with the conferring of only temporary favours in this imperfect state, and they are pleased in partaking the full effects of that love; who are we, that we should be displeased? or that we should oppose our satisfaction to that of the glorious God, and his glorified creature? Therefore, madam, whereas you cannot avoid to think much on this subject, and to have the removal of that imcomparable person, for a great theme of your thoughts, I do only propose most humbly to your honour, that you would not confine them to the sadder and darker part of that theme. It hath also a bright side; and it equally belongs to it, to consider whither he is gone, and to whom, as whence and from whom. Let, I beseech you, your mind be more exercised in contemplating the glories of that state your blessed consort is translated unto, which will mingle pleasure and sweetness with the bitterness of your afflicting loss, by giving you a daily intellectual participation, through the exercise of faith and hope, in his enjoyments. He cannot descend to share with you in your sorrows; you may thus every day ascend and partake with him in his joys. He is a pleasant subject to consider. A prepared spirit made meet for an inheritance with them that are sanctified, and with the saints in light, now entered into a state so con-natural, and wherein it finds every thing most agreeable to itself. How highly grateful is it to be united with the true centre, and to come home to the Father of spirits! To consider how pleasant a welcome, how joyful an entertainment he hath met with above! How delighted an associate he is with the general assembly, the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect! How joyful an homage he continually |:ays to the throne of the celestial King!
“”Will your ladyship think that an hard saying of our departing Lord to his mournful disciples, * If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, that I said I go to the Father; for my Father is greater than I?’ As if he had said, he sits enthroned in higher glory than you can frame any conception of, by beholding me in so mean a condition on earth. We are as remote, and as much short m our thoughts as to the conceiving the glory of the supreme King, as a peasant, who never saw any thing better than his own cottage, from conceiving the splendour of the most glorious prince’s court. But if that faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, be much accustomed to its proper work and business — the daily delightful visiting and viewing the glorious invisible regions; if it be often conversant in those vast and spacious tracts of pure and brightest light, and amongst the holy inhabitants that replenish them; if it frequently employs itself in contemplating their comely order, perfect harmony, sublime wisdom, unspotted purity, most fervent mutual love, delicious conversation with one another, and perpetual pleasant consent in their adoration and observance of their eternal King! who is there to whom it would not be a solace to think I have such and such friends and relatives, some, perhaps, as dear as my own life, perfectly well pleased, and happy among them! How can your love, madam — so generous a love towards so deserving an object! — how can it but more fervently sparkle in joy, for his sake, than dissolve in tears for your own?
“Nor should such thoughts excite over-hasty impatient desires of following presently into heaven, but to the endeavours of serving God more cheerfully on earth for our appointed time: which I earnestly desire your ladyship would apply yourself to, as you would not displease God, who is your only hope, nor be cruel to yourself, nor dishonour the religion of Christians, as if they had no other consolations than this earth can give, and earthly power take from them. Your ladyship (if any one) would be loth to do any thing unworthy of your family and parentage. Your highest alliance is to that Father and family above, whose dignity and honour are, I doubt not, of highest account with you.
“I multiply words, being loth to lose my design; and shall only add that consideration which cannot but be valuable with you upon his first proposal, who had all the advantages imaginable to give it its full weight; I mean that of those dear pledges left behind. My own heart even bleeds to think of the case of those sweet babes, should they be bereaved of their other parent too. And even your continued visible dejection would be their unspeakable disadvantage. You will always naturally create in them a reverence of you: and I cannot but apprehend how the constant mien, aspect, and deportment of such a parent will insensibly influence the temper of dutiful children; and, if that be sad and despondent, depress their spirits, blunt and take off the edge and quickness upon which their future usefulness and comfort will much depend. Were it possible their now glorious father should visit and inspect you, would you not be troubled to behold a frown in that bright serene face? You are to please a more penetrating eye, which you will best do by putting on a temper and deportment suitable to your weighty charge and duty; and to the great purposes for which God continues you in the world, by giving over unnecessary solitude and retirement, which, though it pleases, doth really prejudice you, and is more than you can bear. Nor can any rules of decency require more. Nothing that is necessary and truly Christain, ought to be reckoned unbecoming. David’s example is of too great authority to be counted a pattern of indecency. The God of heaven lift up the light of his countenance upon you, and thereby put gladness into your heart; and give you to apprehend him saying to you, “Arise and walk in the light of the Lord.’”
I shall next introduce two of the most extraordinary letters to be found in the page of history, both of which evince such a triumph of faith over the feelings of humanity, as to be admirably adapted to instruct and comfort all that mourn.
The Rev. Christopher Love, was a Presbyterian minister during the Commonwealth, a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and one of the London ministers who united in a protest against the death of Charles the First. He was afterwards engaged, with many others, in a scheme to forward the return of Charles the Second to England. AL correspondence with the exiled monarch, having been declared treason by the Act of Parliament, Mr. Love, upon the detection of the plot, was tried, convicted, and condemned as a traitor. In his conduct, whatever might be thought of it by others, he was influenced by conscientious motives, for all accounts concur, in bearing testimony to his character as an eminent Christian. Great intercessions were made to the Parliament for the preservation of his life. These all failed, and he was beheaded on Tower Hill. On the day before his death, his wife addressed to him the following letter: — *
“.’ My heavenly dear,
“I call thee so, because God hath put heaven into thee before he hath taken thee to heaven. Thou now beh oldest God, Christ, and glory, as in a glass; but to-morrow heaven’s gates will be opened, and thou shalt be in the full enjoyment of all those glories which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither can the heart of man understand. God hath now swallowed up thy heart in the thoughts of
* Lives of the Puritans, by Rev. B. Brook, vol. iii. p. 129 — heaven; but ere long thou shalt be swallowed up in the enjoyment of heaven! And no marvel there should be such quietness and calmness in thy spirit, whilst thou art sailing in this tempestuous sea, because thou perceivest by the eye of faith, a haven of rest, where thou shalt be richly laden with all the glories of heaven! 0, lift up thy heart with joy, when thou layest thy dear head on the block, in the thoughts of this, that thou art laying thy head to rest in thy Father’s bosom; which, when thou dost awake, shall be crowned, not with an earthly, fading crown, but with an heavenly, eternal crown of glory! Be not troubled when thou shalt see a guard of soldiers triumphing with their trumpets about thee; but lift up thy head, and thou shalt behold God with a guard of holy angels triumphing to receive thee to glory! Be not dismayed at the scoffs and reproaches thou mayest meet with in thy short way to heaven; for, be assured, God will not only glorify thy body and soul in heaven, but he will also make the memory of thee to be glorious on earth!
“0, let not one troubled thought for thy wife and babes rise within thee! thy God will be our God and our portion. He will be a husband to thy widow, and a father to thy children: the grace of thy God will be sufficient for us.
“Now, my dear, I desire willingly and cheerfully to resign my right in thee to thy Father and my Father, who hath the greatest interest in thee: and confidant I am, though men have separated us for a time, yet God will ere long bring us together again* where we shall eternally enjoy one another, never to part more!
“0, let me hear how God bears up thy heart, and let me taste of those comforts which support thee, that they may be as pillars of marble to bear up my sinking spirit! I can write no more. Farewell, farewell, my dear, till we meet where we shall never bid farewell more; till which time I leave thee in the bosom of a loving, tender-hearted Father; and so I rest,
“Till I shall for ever rest in heaven,
“MAST LOVE.”
“This excellent letter discovers the same triumph over the world in Mrs. Love, which her husband so happily experienced. She was not only surrounded by their three children, but with child of a fourth; yet she passed over this circumstance in silence; and though formerly weak in grace, yet she now enjoyed strong confidence and great comfort, and animated her husband by the most encouraging considerations. Thus, ‘by faith, out of weakness, she was made strong.’ The next morning, being the day on which he suffered, Mr. Love returned ler the following farewell epistle: —
“My most gracious beloved,
“I am now going from a prison to a palace. I have finished my work; I am now to receive my vrages. I am going to heaven, where there arc two. f my children; and leaving thee on earth, where l-.jre are three of my babes: those two above need not any care; but the three below need thine. It comforts me to think two of my children are in the bosom of Abraham, and three of them will be in the arms and care of so tender and godly a mother! I know thou art a woman of a sorrowful spirit, yet be -comforted. Though thy sorrows be great for thy husband’s going out of the world, yet thy pains shall be the less in bringing thy child into the world: thou shalt be a joyful mother, though thou art a sad widow! God hath many mercies in store for thee: the prayers of a dying husband will not be lost. To my shame I speak it, I never prayed so much for thee at liberty, as I have done in prison. I cannot write more; but I have a few practical counsels to leave with thee, viz. —
“1. Keep under a sound, orthodox, and soul-searching ministry. 0 there are many deceivers gone out into the world; but Christ’s sheep know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow. Attend on that ministry which teaches the way of God in truth, and follow Solomon’s advice: cease to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the way of knowledge.
“2. Bring up thy children in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord. The mother ought to be the teacher in the father’s absence. The words which his mother taught him. Timothy was instructed by his grand-mother Lois, and his mother Eunice.
“3. Pray in thy family daily, that thy dwelling may be in the number of the families that do call upon God.
“4. Labour for a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
“5. Pore not on the comforts thou wantest; but on the mercies thou hast.
“6. Look rather to God’s end in afflicting, than at the measure and degree of thy afflictions.
“7. Labour to clear up thy evidences for heaven, when God takes from thee the comforts of earth; that, as thy sufferings do abound, so thy consolations in Christ may much more abound.
“8. Though it is good to maintain a holy jealousy Oi°the deceitfulness of thy heart, yet it is evil for thee to cherish fears and doubts about the truth of thy graces. If ever I had confidence touching the graces of another, I have confidence of grace in thee. I can say of thee, as Peter did of Sylvanus, I am persuaded that this is the grace of God wherein thou standest. Oh, my dear soul, wherefore dost thou doubt, whose heart hath been upright, whose walkings have been holy! I could venture my soul in thy soul’s stead. Such confidence have I in thee!
“9. When thou findest thy heart secure, presumptuous, and proud, then pore upon corruption more than upon grace: but when thou findest thy heart doubting and unbelieving, then look on thy graces, not on thy infirmities.
“10. Study the covenant of grace and merits of
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Christ, and then be troubled if thou canst. Thou art interested in such a covenant that accepts the righteousness of another, viz. that of Jesus Christ, as if it were our own. Oh my love, rest, rest then in the love of God, in the bosom of Christ!
“11. Swallow up thy will in the will of God. It is a bitter cup we are to drink, but it is the cup our Father hath put into our hands. When Paul was to go to suffer at Jerusalem, the Christians could say, The will of the Lord be done. O say thou, when I go to Tower-hill, The will of the Lord be done.
“12. Rejoice in my joy. To mourn for me inordinately, argues that either thou enviest or suspectest my happiness. The joy of the Lord is my strength. O, let it be thine also! Dear wife, farewell! I will call thee wife no more: I shall see thy face no more; yet I am not much troubled; for now I am going to meet the bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I shall be eternally married!
“Thy dying,
” Yet most affectionate friend till death,
“CHRISTOPHER LOVE.”
“From the Tower of London,
“August 22, 1651,
“The day of my glorification.”
Widows, read this, and learn submission to the will of God, and heroic fortitude under his afflictive hand.