ON THE DEATH Of the REVEREND Dr. JOHN GOAD.
GOodness inspire me, while I write of One,
Who was all Goodness; but alas! He's gone.
How false a thing is Humane Life! The Best
Of Men, are soonest sever'd from the rest.
'Tis Fatal to be Eminently Good,
Such die, almost, as soon as Understood.
Tho' He, for whom we Mourn, liv'd longer, then
The Prophet Limits to the most of Men;
Yet did his Days seem, (to all those who knew
His many Vertues,) very short and few.
And, one may safely say, most of the Times
He saw were Evil, and Defam'd with Crimes.
Labour and Sorrow did His Age annoy,
Now chang'd to Bliss, and everlasting Joy.
Can We, His Friends, at such a Change complain?
True, 'twas Our Loss, but His much greater Gain.
Fruitlessâ–Ş if not unjust, is all Complaint,
Happy are We, that once we knew a SAINT!
A Christian truly Evangelical,
Of wondrous Charity and Love to all.
A right NATHANIEL in his Conversation.
Pious, beyond the Standard of the Nation.
His Thoughts above the World, which, in respect
To His own Conscience, He did quite neglect.
His Science Universal, Vast His Parts:
Ignorant, only, in Dishonest Arts.
Which did excel, may a nice Question be,
His Knowledge, or His Life in Piety.
Learned, yet Humble, Grave, yet Chearful too,
(A happy Temper given but to few)
Such was the Venerable GOAD. Let us
Then immitate His Vertuous Life; for thus
We Honour most His Memory; thus shew,
That We indeed, that Holy Man did know,
And (which of all advantages is best)
Thus, we shall meet Him in Eternal Rest.
J. W.