An elegy on the much lamented death of Mr. Samuel Loveday who departed this life on the 15th of Decemb. 1677. in the 59th year of his age.

An elegy on the much lamented death of Mr. Samuel Loveday who departed this life on the 15th of Decemb. 1677. in the 59th year of his age.

Table of contents

AN ELEGY On the much Lamented Death of Mr. Samuel Loveday Who Departed this Life on the 15th of Decemb. 1677. in the 59th Year of his Age.

AN EPITAPH.

§

[Page]

AN ELEGY On the much Lamented Death of Mr. Samuel Loveday Who Departed this Life on the 15th of Decemb. 1677. in the 59th Year of his Age.

O Heavy stroke! Oh bitter lamentation!

Scarce will my Tears give way to vent my Passion.

My Tears so overflow, I scarce can guide

My trembling Hand. O stop, you swelling Tide

Of brinish Tears! Alas! my Heart doth break▪

So strong's my Grief, although my Muse be weak.

Though to the Mournful Muses I make suit

For their assistance, and they all stand mute:

My Grief and Sorrow will my Muse supply,

And teach me to Indite an ELEGIE.

My Grief sufficient Matter will infuse

Into my Heart: True Sorrow needs no Muse.

Dear LOVEDAY's Dead, that for this many Years

Has fed the Flock of Christ: Let floods of Tears

Run from the Conduits of your moistened Eyes;

How shall the Flocks be fed when th' Shepherd dies?

When Shepherds die, and cruel Wolves remain,

The tender Lambs have reason to complain.

Dear Samuel's gone, he's gone that us'd to keep,

A faithful Watch, when we could take our sleep.

He's gone! he's gone! that Sacred Food provided:

Ah! he is gone, by whom the Flock was guided.

How careful was he always to provide

Good Food, and Food convenient beside,

For tender Babes, who in the Faith were young,

Provided Milk, and also for the Strong,

Or Men in Christ, provided stronger Meat;

Also provok [...]d an Appetite to Eat.

The Ignorant this Holy Man instructed

In paths of Righteousness, and then Conducted

Into the Fold of Christ, where he with care

Did feed them as Christ's Flock, and did not spare,

But spent his strength to find good Pasture out;

Strengthning the Weak, confirming ev'ry Doubt.

And that which will perpetuate his Name,

And mount him up upon the Wings of Fame;

And make him like the Stars of Heaven shine;

Yea, make him to the World appear Divine:

And make his ever Honour'd Name to live,

When Death has not another stroke to give.

Oh! 'twas his pious, rare, and vertuous Life,

The Loss of whom calls for a world of Grief.

Had I but skill to paint his Vertues forth,

Sutable to his Merits, and their worth;

So many were they, and so Excellent,

I should but leave the World a Monument

To be admir'd, rather than believ'd:

But ah! he's gone; for which my Soul is griev'd.

Grief in my Heart's impressions are so deep,

While Loveday with his Vertues falls asleep,

There's no Physician in the Earth can Cure;

And scarce obtain I patience to endure.

Were't only I that did this Loss sustain,

The Contemplation of dear Loveday's gain

Would much abate the Grief, that now surprises

My Love-sick Soul: But hence my Grief arises,

His Death's a publick Loss, and every Eye

Has cause to drop a Tear, as well as I.

His Life and Doctrine both were excellent,

His Doctrine sound, his Life a President.

Mists that obscur'd God's Universal Love

He did disperse, and wholly did remove.

And though the Lord has call'd dear Samu'l hence,

Yet has he left us such an Evidence

Of God's indeared Love to all Mankind,

That we who for a time are left behind,

Have cause to turn our Mourning to a Song,

And bless the Lord that lent us him so long.

And they which never yet beheld his Face,

Have cause to give God thanks that gave him space

To loose those Snarls, and all those Knots untie

That in the Ninth of th' Romans seem'd to lie.

But ah! He's gone, that never undertook

To preach from Scripture, God's most sacred Book,

But he so fully op'ned every part

It seldom mist to satisfie the Heart.

But here my Muse must stop, I must not dwell

Upon his Doctrine, lest my Poem swell

Into so large a Volumn, that my Theam

Will quit her single Sheer, and want a Ream.

Yet one word more to you whom God did lend

So sound a Preacher, and so sweet a Friend;

Lay up his Doctrine by you now in store

For Loveday's gone, will never Teach you more.

And you whose itching Ear and wanton Eyes,

Could relish nothing under Novelties;

Your wandring wanton Eyes now sees the Day

Your loathed Manna's taken quite away.

Ah! that sweet Oracle no more will rouse

Sin-slumbring Souls out of their fleshly Drowse.

Oh! he whose Doctrine dropt like showers of Rain,

Who often strove, yea often strove in vain;

And with endeared Love and Souls-affection

Besought you often to make sure Election:

Who often told you that you must suppress

Your sinful Lusts, your Pride, your vain Excess:

And yet his Doctrine you did not receive,

For which this good Man's Soul did often grieve.

Ah! Death has call'd him hence, he's fled, he's gone,

You've now but half your Food to feed upon.

O may that half that's left you yet to use,

Be like the Widows Barrel, and her Cruse!

O may we never see that Cruse drawn dry,

Till God be pleas'd to send a fresh supply,

And unto some a double Portion give,

In whom our Friend that's Dead again may Live.

But he's not Dead, he's only fall'n asleep:

Let's cease our Mourning, and not always Weep.

If he has chang'd his Sorrow into Peace,

Why should not we with him from Sorrow cease?

Let's moderate our weeping for our Friend:

Excessive hope less weeping may offend.

He's fall'n asleep, who waking was so kind

To leave some Soul-refreshing Food behind.

Come, gather up some Fragments that remain,

And freely feed, so will he Live again.

The first choice Dainty that I here present,

Highly conducing to Soul-nourishment,

Is our dear Loveday's choice selected Gift,

His Sermon preacht from Matthew twenty fift,

Upon the foolish Virgins, and the wise;

Its real Worth thou canst not over-prize.

All you that this choice Dainty do possess,

Feed of it every Day, or more or less.

And when the sable Curtains of the Night

Are closly drawn, then feed by Candle-light.

And you who for its worth would fain enjoy it,

Let its rich worth invite you all to buy it.

Those Soul-refreshing Cordials likewise

Drawn from the Third of Isaiah's Prophecies,

By him prepar'd, though not by Humane Art:

O! that they were engraven in each Heart.

His Rules for guiding of the Tongue, endeavour

To keep it as an Antidote for ever:

Which will resist the Poyson of the Tongue,

Which is infectious both to Weak and Strong.

That Sermon preacht on th' Third of Revelation,

Drawn from our blessed Saviour's Invitation

To every Soul, to open when he knocks

Their closed Hearts, and to unboult these Locks,

And entertain him as a sacred Guest,

To Sup with them while he provides the Feast.

O that that Sermon might for ever live,

While there's a Soul true Comfort to recieve!

Here stop my lavish Muse, these strains recal,

Attend dear Loveday to his Funeral.

AN EPITAPH.

S Samu'l lies here Entombed in the Dust,

A A Man both Learned, Vertuous, Wise, & Just.

M May Lovday's pious Life our Pattern be

U Until we sleep in Dust as well as he.

E Earth is dissolv'd by Death, its brittle frame

L Lasts but a while, returns from whence it came.

L Let Death, yea, let the Grave triumph a while,

O Our Lovday shortly will them both beguile.

V Under Death's ashes long he'l not remain

D Death-conquering Lovday will arise again;

A And shall come forth like Gold that has been try'd

Y In the Refiners Fire, and Purifi'd.

§

§

London, Printed for Francis Smith, at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhil, near the Royal Exchange. 1677.

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Title statement

An elegy on the much lamented death of Mr. Samuel Loveday who departed this life on the 15th of Decemb. 1677. in the 59th year of his age.

Edition statement

1677

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Text Creation Partnership,

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Date

2009-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

B03236

ID [STC]

Wing E427

ID [STC]

Interim Tract Supplement Guide C.20.f.3[71]

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99885201

ID [PROQUEST]

ocm99885201

ID [VID]

182556

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Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 182556)

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— An elegy on the much lamented death of Mr. Samuel Loveday who departed this life on the 15th of Decemb. 1677. in the 59th year of his age.,

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1 sheet ([1] p.).

Printed for Francis Smith, at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhil, near the Royal Exchange.,. London, :: 1677.. (Verse: "O heavy stroke! Oh bitter lamentation! ...") (Reproduction of original in the British Library.)

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