O'er all the names of Christ our King Come, fovereign Lord, dear Saviour, come, Send thy bright wheels to fetch us home; Till we, from bands of clay releas'd, EPITAPHIUM Viri Venerabilis Dom. N. MATHER, Carmine Lapidario confcriptum. Reverendi admodum Viri NATHANAELIS MATHERI. QUOD mori potuit hic fubtus depofitum eft, Si quæris, hofpes, quantus et qualis fuit, Fidas enarrabit lapis. Nomen à familiâ duxit San&tioribus ftudiis & evangelio devotâ, Et per utramque Angliam celebri, Et hinc quoque in fancti minifterii fpem eductus Et hunc utraque novit Anglia Doctum & docentem. Corpore fuit procero, formâ placidè verendâ ; Supra hæc pietas, & (fi fas dicere) Cæteras enim dotes obumbravit. Toties hominem fedulus occuluit Voluit Voluit totus latere, nec potuit ; Heu quantum tamen fui nos latet! Gratiam Jefu Chrifti falutiferam Veritatis evangelicæ decus ingens, Concionatur gravis afpectu, geftu, voce; Flofculos rhetorices fupervacaneos fecit Rerum dicendarum Majeftas, & Deus præfens. Et hinc victoriæ Ab inferorum portis toties reportatæ. Et medelam adhibere magis falutarem. Divinis eloquiis affatim fcatebant labia, Spirabat ipfe undique coeleftes fuavitates, Gratumque dilectiffimi fui Jefu odorem Quaquaversùs & latè diffudit. Dolores Dolores tolerans fupra fidem, Quam ubi propinquam vidit Plerophoriâ fidei quafi curru alato vectus Natus eft in agro Lancaftrienfi 20° Martii, 1630. Paftorali munere diu Dublinji in Hibernia functus, Corpore folutus 26° Julii, 1697. Ætat. 67. Infandum fui defiderium: Dum pulvis Chrifto charus hic dulcè dormit To the Reverend Mr. JOHN SHOWER, on the Death of his Daughter Mrs. ANNE WARNER. Reverend and dear Sir, H your lofs, yet I OW great foever was my fenfe of fort: your own meditations can furnish you with many a de a delightful truth in the midft 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 impreft with the tidings of your daughter's death; and though I made many a reflection on the vanity of mankind in its best eftate, yet I must acknowledge that my temper leads me moft to the pleasant fcenes of heaven, and that future world of bleffedness. When I recollect the memory of my friends that are dead, I frequently rove into the world of spirits, and fearch them out there: Thus I endeavoured to trace Mrs. Warner; and these thoughts crouding faft upon me, I fet them down for my own entertainment. The verfe breaks off abruptly, because I had no defign to write a finished elegy; and befides, 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 loft hours, and the review will be more pleafing to, SIR, Your affectionate humble fervant, December 22, 1707. I. W. Ап |