MISCELLANEOUS POEM S CONTAINING I. FUNERAL POEMS ON THE DEATH OF SOME EMINENT PERSONS. II. SCRIPTURE AUTHORITIES FOR SUBJECTING TO CIVIL MAGISTRATES. III. EPIGRAMS, AND MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS. PREFACE TO THE FOLLOWING ELE GY. THOUS HOUGH more than twenty years have elapfed fince the death of this excellent perfon, to whofe memory thefe lines are written: yet, I fuppofe, they will not be out of feafon, fince the remembrance of him, and his fingular endowments, remains fill fo fresh in all that were of his acquaintance, that. I cannot but obferve a certain pleasant fondnefs this very day, to make him the fubject of their converfation, who was once fo much the object of their esteem and affection. Ir it should be enquired, what concern I have, beyond others, to fet forth his character, which none have hitherto attempted? Sure he deferved this fervice from none more than myself; if it be confidered, that not only had I the privilege of living fome time under his most evangelical miniftry, and of enjoying his edifying converfation, as well as his chearing and charming company; but alio, he was the perfon that firit propofed ferioufly to me my entring upon trials for the miniftry; the person that firit urged and effectuated it in the prefbytery; the perfon that, being moderator, pronounced my licence to preach the gofpel, and thereafter first honoured me with his pulpit in that work; and the perfon that firft laid his hand upon me, when I was ordained to the miniftry, by the impofition of the hands of the prefbytery; on which occafion he preached a very great and glorious fermon, upon Eph. iv. 11, 12, 13. Befides many other things that I could mention, that lay me under great obligations to fhew a particular regard to his memory. PERHAPS it may not be judged out of the way to add, he was the perfon who (as he was killed in poefy, as well as in almost every other piece of learning) in feveral refpects excited me to, and encouraged me in fome poetical writings; and with whom I have had very familiar intercourfe by word and write, even in that train: and therefore, if I have any genius that way, his memory demands a fhare of it. L YET one reafon of my delay in doing this piece of service to his name, was the knowledge I had of that fprightliness of foul, deepness of judgment, vaitnefs of comprehenfion, readinefs of elocution, and fo many more than ordinary bright excellencies in him, which I thought my dull genius unfit for reprefenting in fuch lively colours as they ought to appear in; and therefore, fince I have now attempted that work, I hope none that know him will challenge any commendatory expreffions here as too hyperbolical, fince they will allow, that a poetical licence can hardly be more tolerable in commending any person that has lived in our day, than it can be in defcribing him in whom concurred fuch a multitude and variety of rare endowments and qualifications, natural, acquired, and gracious, as fcarce can be feen to concentre in one man: and therefore, if I could gather together all the flowers planted in the gardens of the finest poets, and adapted them to his character, I would have thought them well applied in adorning his memory. Yet all that were his intimate acquaintances, yet living, will readily, I think, atteft, that the truth relating to his character is not at all loft under any flowery metaphor, or poetical embellishment, I have here attempted to ufe. But fince the glory of God fhould be the chief and ultimate end of all writings, as well as other actions, I hope none shall be diverted from, but rather may be led earnettly to purfue this great end, by this effay upon the notable qualifications of a fellow-creature; for, as we ought to fee and admire the glory of God, as it shines in all his works, even the moft minute, much more may we fee it in these creatures of our own fpecies whom God has clothed with fuch extraordinary gifts and peculiar properties, as are truly inimitable by any whom the Author of nature, and the God of grace, has not in the fame manner adorned. In fuch bright and beautiful stars we are to fee and adore the infinitely greater beauty and fplendor of the Sun of Righteoutnefs, from whom their rays were but borrowed; and thus fhould be led by these pleasant chryítal ftreams, that fail and dry up, unto the glorious Fountain of living waters which never fails, but is unchangeably the fame, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. MOREOVER, it may contribute to the honour of God, that the fhewing forth this excellent perfon's virtues, may tend to expofe the God-difhonouring vices of our day; the reprefentation of his innocent chearfulnefs, may reprove the vicious and criminal madness of the age; his great wisdom and fenfe, may upbraid our folly and dulnefs; and his most evangelical fpirit, manifefted both in public preaching and private conver Uu3 fation, fation, together with his profound knowledge of, and great in fight into the deep myfteries of the gofpel: And his great and extraordinary ability and readiness to affert and defend the truths of God, and the caufe of Chrift, may not only ferve to condemn the quite oppofite fpirit that prevails fo much in our time, but also to excite and stir us up both to lament the lofs we fuftained by his death, through the righteous anger of Heaven against us, and to fupplicate the divine favour, to raise up inftruments for the work of his houfe, furnished with fuch qualifications and abilities as were fo confpicuous in this great man. RALPH ERSKINE AN ELEGIAC POE M, To the MEMORY of that deservedly esteemed Person, Who Died in OCTOBER, 1715. Dotibus illuftris nituit CUTHBERTUS opimis; LONG did my mufe expectant wish to fee Some hero paint the lofty ELEGY: Long did my weary mind impatient wait I'm loth the features here fo bright, fo fine, * So he fometimes designed the Author of this Poem. D. H. |