7. Sweet foul! we leave thee to thy rest, Enjoy thy Jefus and thy God Till we from bands of clay releast Spring out and climb the shining road. 28 8. While the dear duft fhe leaves behind Sleeps in thy bofom facred tomb! 32 Reverendi admodum viri. NATHANELIS MATHERI Quod mori potuit hic fubtus depofitum eft, Nomen à familiâ duxit Sanctioribus ftudiis evangelio devotâ, Et hinc quoque in fani minifterii fpem eductus Non-fallacem : Et hunc utraque novit Anglia Doctum et docentem. Corpore fuit proceró, formâ placidè verendâ ; At fupra corpus et formam fublimè eminuerunt Indoles, ingenium, atque eruditio: 10 15 Supra hæc pietas, et (fi fas dicere) Præftantiora edidit, Toties hominem fedulus occuluit Et majorem laudis partem fepulchrale marmor Gratiam Jefu Christi falutiferam Veritatis evangelicæ decus ingens, Flofculos rhetorices fupervacaneos fecit Et hinc victoriæ Ab inferorum portis toties reportatæ. Solers ille ferreis impiorum animis infigere Altum et falutare vulnus: 20 25 30 35 40 Vulneratas idem tractare leniter folers, Divinis eloquiis affatim fcatebant labia, Gratumque dilectiffimi fui Jefu odorem 55 Dolores tolerans fupra fidem, Natus eft in agro Lancastrienfi 20° Martii 1630. Corpore folutus 26° Julii 1697. Ætat 67. Ecclefiis mærorem, theologis exemplar reliquit. Infandum fui defiderium: Dum pulvis Chrifto charus hic dulcè dormit 74 To the Reverend Mr. John Shower, on the death of his daughter Mrs. Anne Warner. Reverend and dear Sir, How great foever was my fenfe of your lofs, yet I did not think myfelf fit to offer any lines of comfort; your own meditations can furnish you with many a delightful truth in the midst of fo heavy a forrow, for the covenant of grace has brightness enough in it to gild the most gloomy providence, and to that fweet covenant your foul is no ftranger. My own thoughts were much impreffed with the tidings of your daughter's death; and though I made many a reflection on the vanity of mankind in its best estate, yet I must acknowledge that my temper leads me moft to the pleafant fcenes of heaven and that future world of bleffednefs. When I recollect the memory of my friends that are dead, I frequently rove into the world of ipirits and fearch them out there: thus I endeavoured. to trace Mrs. Warner, and thefe thoughts crowding faft upon me I set them down for my own entertainment. The verfe breaks off abruptly, because I had no defign to write a finished elegy; and besides, when I was fallen upon the dark fide of death I had no mind to tarry there. If the lines I have written be fo happy as to entertain you a little and divert your grief, the time spent in compofing them shall not be reckoned among my lost hours, and the review will be more pleafing to, Dec. 22. 1707. Sir, Your affectionate humble fervant, I. W. An elegiack thought on Mrs. Anne Warner, who died of the fmallpox December 18. 1707, at one of the clock in the morning, a few days after the birth and death of ber firft child. AWAKE my Mufe, range the wide world of fouls, The midnight watch of angels that patrole II |