AN Elegiack Tribute to the Sacred Dust of the Reverend and Worthy Mr. SEABORN COTTON Pastour of the Church of Christ at HAMPTON in New-England: who was discharged from his Work and Office, to be admitted into Heaven, April 20th 1686.
AMong the weeping wailing Mourners drove,
I come to shew my weakness, yet my love.
I shan't I can't refrain when Grief bids speak,
And Sorrow forces: I choose to seem weak
Rather than stupid; and not for to show
What he deserves and what my Fancies ow
Unto his Horse, which wants no Verse, to whom
A Diapason of each Muses Moan
Is a due Tribute. Yet Griefs passions spent
Are cas'd when broach't, cured when they have vent.
If tears & fears, or Moans & Groans were verse,
How would I, could I, should I grace the Herse
Of this vast soul; of which th' unworthy earth
Was ner'e so much as honour'd with the Birth.
The grandest birth are Amphurite had:
To rock his Cradle Angels they were glad.
By Winds & Waves, & prosp'rous [...]s before
Heav'n sent by Sea this heav'n-born soul to shore
Whose Worth who [...] Works, whost Life and well-spent Dayes
I need to imitate but not to prais [...]
I ever hated flatt'ring of the dead.
(Without all fraud) it may, must, shall be se'd
He was a Gemm, Joy, Jewel, Head and Hand,
Light, Life, Stay, Staff, & Oracle of our Land.
Hard things he eas'd, obscure he brought to Sight,
Feet to the lame he was: to Blind a Light.
Ears' to the deaf. Strength to the feeble Knee.
A Mouth to dumb. A Churches eye was hee.
Hands to the helpless ones. Stay to the Weak.
The [...]aint he cheer'd: to wicked swords he'd speak.
An heart to heartless. A Souls guid, to keep
And fright off wolves & wicked from Christ's sheep.
He dr [...]v & drove, woo'd, warn'd with all his might
Mens souls, by love, by fear, by force, by Fright.
Never had Body such a Soul within [...]
Vice-hater, and a Thunder-bolt to Sin?
Oh how he studi'd, prea [...]h [...], teacht, practis'd too!
His w [...]rds, works, [...]ight & life together grew.
A Mi [...]ur and a Master-peice of Art.
His h [...] was full of Light, of Grace his heart.
He did not seek the Churches Goods but Good:
'Twas them not theirs he sought. O what a brood
His sed'lous care, love, labour, bred, fed, rais'd!
What earth does hide, in heaven will be prais'd.
Modest, mild, meek was he. A gracious grave
Pattern and Patron. Souls to strive to save
He m [...]de his work his wages. Souls to gain
He n [...]e grutcht time, labour, life, strength or pai [...]
To make souls start, smart, feel to heal, he spar'd
No cost, no means: let Heav'n regard, reward.
One while he'd draw, then thunder, yet anon
He'd bring to calm souls an Anodynon.
[...]carce second to an Angel was his Tongue
[...] wonder how he tarried here so long,
When fitted for the Angels company;
(That high, that holy, heavenly Hierarchy)
That he wasn't hous'd before, but left to slay
Till ominous sins did fright this Saint away.
Well may the earth grow waste when heav'n grows full
The world may well grow bad when God does call
And choose & sift the good from bad. Lord bare
A while, and fetch not till we can such spare.
What ere thou take, don't take our spiritual bread,
F [...]om which our eyes have light, our souls are fed.
We've lost a Guild midst sinful sullen times,
Which are uneven, and won't stand in Rhymes;
[...]ho in home feuds kept an unblas't heart
[...]hich steady stood; nere faild, nere fell nor, [...]art.
[...]armless himself demean'd without Offence:
[...]hewing great Wis [...]om, yet great Innocence.
In his last Sermons Raptures, Ecstasies
Did him transport unto the azure Skies.
[...] heard good Authors say that then were near him,
That Angels might come down & croud to hear him.
That Worthies leave us to our Overthrow,
[...]hese are bad Symptomes of a future Blow.
[...]xorable Death and Heavens Frown
[...]uff out our Lights, Pillars, Posts, Propps cut down.
[...]ur happy Hap, Hope hopeful, Help, Joy, Crown
Death's fatal blow (in him) at once cut down.
What to the COTTONs Stock N-England owes
Earth cannot tell: in Heaven we shall know
When souls come there. The mean while I may say,
We may talk of our debts, tho' we can't pay.
Tho' earth has Cossin'd up most of the studs,
[...]est be the Heavens wee have yet some buds
[...] the same Stock. Heavens waters make them shoot
[...]d shew the world they came of COTTONs Root.
[...]d save our souls, Thy Frowns, our Fears remove,
[...]rn away Wrath and Rods, and give us Love.
Edward Tompson.
—Fretum vitae gaudente carina
tranavit—tutum tenet anchora portu [...]
Nunc hilaris Ventos ridet tumidas (que) [...]