An Elegy Upon the Death of James Renwick 2
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AN ELEGIE, UPON The Death, of that Famous and Faithful Minister and Martyr, Mr. JAMES RENWICK.
Composed immediately after his Execution at Edinburgh, 17. Feb. 1688.
Rev. 2.19. I know thy Works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's Seat is: And thou holdest fast my Name and hast not denied my Faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My Faithful Martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
[illustration] [printer's device (possibly of R. Sanders of Glasgow; not present in McKerrow), of a winged cherub on a dolphin, bearing a laurel branch and a rod]
Printed in the Year, 1688.
AN ELEGIE, UPON The Death, of that Famous and Faithful Minister and Martyr, Mr. JAMES RENWICK.
HEre's work, alas! for Mourners, to deplore
This fatal stroke, sadly presaging more!
In such a day, let's hang our harps on willows:
Its not a time of laying heads on pillows:
In such a day of wrath, and Consternation,
In such a day of Dread, and Desolation;
A day of trial, and of treading down,
A day wherein our head hath lost its Crown,
A day of Blasphemy, Rebuke and Trouble,
A day of Darkness, and of Sorrows double,
A day of great Vexations, and Confusions,
A day of great temptations, and Delusions,
A day of Jumbling, manifold Distractions,
A day of Stumbling, manifest Defections,
A day of Famine of the word of Life,
A day of Sinning, Suffering, and Strife:
When
Babels
Brats the world so much encumber,
When
Zion's
Sons daily decrease in number,
When now the Godly cease, the Faithful fail,
When few are left, their Funerals to bewail,
When naught but Thorns, where Corn grew, we can find,
When Gold is gone, and dross but left behind,
When our
Elijah's, Israel's's Chariot's
gone.
When yet, alas! these Mantles left with none,
When many Hypocrites Christ's Fan discovers,
When few are left, that are his loyal Lovers,
When for his laws, these few are sore oppressed,
When for his cause, they are pillag'd and distressed,
When those are hunted, and always afflicted,
When of all help, and harbor interdicted,
When chas'd through Country, and pursued in City,
When banished, butcher'd, yet, instead of pity,
(When counted slaughter sheep, and daily killed,
By such as sit at ease) they much are filled
With insolent contempt, and sad reproaches,
Which of all falsehood, still the father broaches:
When
Popish
Tyrants, vile
Beelzebubs
drudges,
On thrones of tyrrannie, are owned for judges,
When now, like stupid asses, Men are mute,
When such Usurpers challenge absolute
And arbitrary power, to sacrifice
Religion, Laws, and Lives, and Liberties;
When faithful gospel preachers are so few,
In sharing times, to give a warning due;
When now foul murdering wolves, Christ's flock devour.
When watchmen wanting are on Zion's Tower,
When few that's called so deserve the name,
But many are the ages bane and shame;
When now instead of valor for the truth,
And crying loud with trumpets at their mouth,
Upon such loudly clamant, clear occasions;
(When
Babels
bastards boldly make invasions,
By blinding bribes, corrupting flatteries,
By cunning craft, and cheating shams, and lies
Upon our
Covenanted Reformation,
And all our Liberties of Church and Nation
Betrayed, by
this Popish Toleration.
Whereby this absolute power is recognosc'd,
And all its proud encroachings are ingross'd,
Over Laws Divine, Human, all made void,
Religions legal bulwarks all destroyed,
All Blasphemy, Idolatry, and sin,
Now suffered, yea invited to come in;
The church of all her privileges robbed,
And with a Kiss, under the fifth rib stobb'd;
In Liew of all her laws, securities,
All Oaths, and Vows, and solemn promises,
Having no more assurance, then a blind
Promise, of one, whom no such bond can bind:
Her doctrine, worship, and church government,
According to
our Solemn Covenant,
All hereby undermin'd and overturned,
For which her sons should all have rather mourned)
Our Ministers for sin have made
Addresses,
Charmed with
Babels
flattering Carcasses,
Bewitch'd with this intoxicating drink,
Which Hell did brew, and Rome with art did blink:
Cast to a deep Zeal-quenching Lethergie,
•
urchasing hereby ease, and liberty,
On terms of selling truth, and shifting duty;
Whereby Christ's bride's deprived of all her beauty.
In such a day to lose a faithful witness,
And champion, accomplished with fitness
To strive for Christ's prerogatives, and laws,
Must be bemoan'd by all that love his cause.
Come therefore all ye
Doves,
that dwell i'the rock,
〈◊〉
and deplore this wrath presaging stroke;
Come chased
birds
hotly purfu'd to mountain;
Come hunted
harts,
which pant and bray for fountains!
Come
wandering sheep,
without a shepherd straying;
Come
bidden ones,
afraid of false bewraying;
Come all ye
faithful followers
of the Lamb,
Whose hearts in Zeal do for his glory flame,
Whose hearts in fervent love to Christ are burning,
Whose hearts do melt out at the eyes in mourning;
Come, with a flood of tears the valleys fill,
And make your voice resound from hill to hill;
Cause all the mountains circling round from
Carrick,
With roaring noise, rebound as far as
Berwick;
From
Carn-table
skirts, and
Ahingilloch,
To
Marocks
towering hights, and heads of
Killoch;
From
Tintoch-tops,
and all the hills of
Clidsdale,
To all the hills of
Galloway,
and
Nithsdale;
From these about
Black-gannoch,
and the
Lothers,
To
Craufoord-muire,
and
Tweddal
hills, and others;
Wherein ye hunted were, through all the glens,
Wherein ye hiding places sought in dens,
Wherein ye often forced were to flights,
Wherein ye often filled were with frights,
Wherein your hands were strengthened, heads supported,
Your minds confirmed, and your hearts comforted,
While your Renowned
Renwick,
now a
Martyr,
Was passing through, preaching in every quarter,
His Masters glorious and gracious banner
Displaying faithfully, in lovely manner:
Like to a voice in wildernesses crying,
Making a noise most sweet, as swans when dying,
Declaring all God's counsel, and revealed
Truths, which alive blasserted, dying sealed
But now in those waste desolate recesses,
No voice is heard, but mourning for distresses:
No voice is heard, but that of grievous groaning,
The glory gone, deplorably bemoaning,
Come therefore and put on your
sable,
Saints,
Fill all the hills and vales with sad complaints,
Whereof the
Echo
may be heard in Heaven,
In lamentation for the blow that's given,
Unto the wounded weeping remnant left,
Which of their
Renwick
is of late bereft,
By murdering violence of beasts of prey,
Rome's
bloody whelps, torn from his house of clay,
How may his little flock, alas, complain
How may they now, so great a loss sustain▪
Scotland
hath lost, the world hath lost a
man,
Whose room supply, there few surviving can▪
The church hath lost a
son
more pure and dearer
Than
Ophirs
gold the truth a
Standard-bearer;
Zion hath lost, by this complex disaster,
A
Witness, Wrestler, Mourner,
and a
Pastor;
The scattered sheep, a most laborious
Leader;
Poor hungry souls, have lost a painful
Feeder;
The sufferers, have lost a
Sympothiser;
The doubtful halting souls, a good
Adviser;
The weak, a wise encouraging
Supporter;
The wanderers and mourners, a
Comforter;
The tempted souls, a
Counselor
in terrors;
The Ignorant, a
Guide
to keep from errors
The Zealous, from extremes a holding
Bridle;
The lazy sort, a
Spurre
from being idle;
The temporizing sort of faint complyers,
Duty's deserters, and Christ's truth's deniers,
May boldly now proceed in their backsliding,
Since that they are delivered from his chiding,
Who never ceased to be a free
Reprover,
Nor sins and snares in season to
discover.
How insupportable is such a cross!
How irreparable is such a loss!
Oh, let us now make search that we may know
What may the meaning be of such a blow!
What sins have this procured, let's meditat,
What further sorrows mayit prognosticat?
Our misimprovements let us now confess
Of such enjoyments, our unworthiness
Of
Renwicks
gracious message, little pris'd,
And of his precious Ministry despised,
Our barrenness, and base ingratitude,
Our weariness of that Angelic food,
Whereof the worth we know now by the want,
And must henceforth in tears the loss lament;
These have this Rod in righteousness extorted,
From a just God, and left us uncomforted;
A Rod which we may sadly now suppose,
A fatal forerunner of future woes,
Impendent on this base degenerate age;
The perishing of worthies must presage,
That they delivered are from that which we
Are called to fear, but cannot bear, nor flee:
But though our loss be great, his gain is glory,
His Life, his Death, shall be renowned in story;
Which death to us most costly and most painful,
Shall to the
Covenanted cause
be gainful;
In that, in place of a reproached Pastor.
A Martyr now renowned by this disaster.
Is left us, to their everlasting shame,
Who ceased not with lies to load his Name,
And with reproaches foully to bespatter,
Which malice did contrive, and madness scatter;
Which fraud invented, as its father feigned
Fury did vent, and folly entertain'd.
Now shall his Name in Monuments of praise,
(Which to his fame posterity shall raise)
Still stand recorded, that he was a Martyr,
Fruitful in life, faithful in his departure:
Contemn'd indeed by Apostates, and Scorners;
But eminent among all Zion's mourners:
For
love
undoubted, and undaunted
faith,
For
constancy
unto his final breath,
For
patience
abiding in all trial,
For
piety,
and humble
self-denial,
For
meekness
true, in
condescending
tender,
For
strickness
due (he'd not a hoof surrender)
For uniform true
Zeal
and
Moderation,
Of more then ordinary Elevation;
Which with an equal pace did still advance,
'Gainst all Defection and extravagance:
All Bastard Zeal opposing with all boldness,
As well as dead
Laodicean
coldness:
For Ministerial diligence much famed,
A Workman needing not to be ashamed;
In preaching all the Counsel God revealed,
His Ministry on many souls was sealed,
Which in his Masters strength he did commence,
And unto its fulfillment did advance,
Against the violentest opposition,
That ever any Youth in his condition
Had to conflict with, and at such a season,
When dangers seemed invincible to reason:
For like another
Athanasius
bold,
He all the world opposed and controlled,
And had all sorts of men upon his top,
All
Prelatists,
all Vassals of the
Pope,
Who did pursue him with all rage and rigor,
With might, and malice, violence, and vigor:
Those Brethren also, whom, though still be loved,
He could not join with, but their sins reproved,
Who
unto men their Ministry subjected.
Or had
submit to mischiefs they enacted,
Or by
Disorders had their charge perverted
Or had their
duty in its day deserted,
Or were in
soul Complyances involved.
Or those to
doub and plaster were resolved
Or shamefully were silent at the times
Iniquities,
when duties went for crimes;
With those to strive, Zeal for his masters glory;
And indignation at their silly, sorry,
Foolish, and feeble, fainting, cowardice,
(That few their
all
for truth durst sacrifice)
His generous soul did vigourously excite,
For which by some he was opposed with spite,
With malice, envy, and with cruel rage,
That nothing could unto his death asswage,
Yet mangre all assaults, his bow abode
In strength, his hands confirmed by
Jacob's
God:
By frowns, from duty, never could he be daunted
By flatteries, he never could be enchanted;
No fear of danger could him ever fear,
From diligence; Nor disadvantage mar;
Nor any want of good accommodations,
Could stop his pastoral exercitations;
In painful preaching, visiting, baptising,
In conferences, and in catechizing;
Even when in wandering he had no repose,
But haggs, or hiding holes, in fear of foes:
Nothing to lay his weary head upon;
No couch but grass; No pillow but a stone;
No better chamber ofttimes he could have,
Then a dark den; No closet but a cave;
Yet under all this inconvenience,
He could possess his soul in patience;
His masters favor above all things loving,
Himself as his true Minister approving,
By purity, by chastity unfeigned,
By verity in sanctity maintained,
By wisdom, patience, by the spirits light,
By righteousness on the left hand and right,
Caring for neither calumnies nor honor,
So that he might his conscience exoner;
As a deceiver, yet approven true;
As though well known, yet known but to a few;
As daily dying, and yet living still,
As chastened, yet above their reach to kill;
As sorrowful, yet joying evermore;
As poor, yet making many rich in store;
In many wants, in manifold distresses,
In pinching, prison, and in wildernesses,
In painful labors, and in weary watching,
In cold, and hunger, still in fear of catching;
In many perils, both by sea and land,
〈◊〉
enemies, and from false brethren's hand
Holland
in part,
Britain,
and
Ireland
know,
What perils he was forced to undergo
In none of which, he any rest could find,
But everywhere, both foes & friends combined,
By tongue and hand, him still to persecute,
In a most keen and violent pursuit:
Hence such a prize was set upon his head,
As did entice to catch him, quick or dead,
Hells hottest Harpies; Villains, vilest Vermin,
Who by all means to take him did determine:
Therefore, in fury they the chase did follow,
By
Hue
and
Cry,
and many hideous hollow;
Through Cities, Country, Villages of Boors,
Through writtest Mosses, and through wildest Muirs,
Through highest Mountains, and remotest Glens,
Compelling him to Caves, and hidden Dens:
Where weary, cold, and hungry, he could find
No comfort, but what from the Heavens shined;
Yet after all their proud designs were done,
His work, to them proved
Sisyphus
his stone;
Still with renewed force, afresh returning,
The bush did burn, but did not wast in burning;
His despicable Followers, though few,
The more they were afflicted, more they grew:
All
Proclamations,
cruel
Prohibitions,
All
Circuit-Courts
of
Spanish Inquisitions,
(Imposing conscience cozning Oaths and Bonds,
Recusants, banishing to Forreign-Lands,
Or Murdering by bloody Butchers hands
Could never either yet their cumbers finish,
Nor so much as their Numbers yet diminish,
Nor crush, nor cool his unapall'd Zeal,
Nor of his Ministry cancel the Seal,
Engraven on the hearts of many hearers,
Who were
Jehovah's
followers and fearers:
Which now's impressed with a deeper stamp,
Since the expiring of this burning Lamp;
Whose latest sparklings hath so brightly blaz'd,
That many eyes were dazzled and amazed,
To see now visibly without a cloud,
(And legibly in Characters of blood)
The adversaries tyranny disclos'd,
Their calumnies confute, that him opposed;
That those despised truths have overcome,
For which contending, he got Martyrdom.
His testimony for his Masters Cause,
The Churches Liberties, and Nations Laws;
For which in Life, he mightily contended)
Now by his Death to many much commended;
Who searching what could be the cause, or crime,
Wherefore he lost his Life at such a time;
Did find that only he was too distinct
In speaking that, which many others think.
This was the only Crime, was on him charged,
Thô to the hight of heinousness enlarged;
Because these soul enriching
Randezvouse,
Of Christ's
Militia,
in the Fields, or House,
The Devils grand eye-sore, and great vexation,
Of all his friends, and foes of Reformation;
(Where hungry souls with heavenly food were nourished,
And where a Banner faithfully was flourish'd,
For the
Regalia
of the Churches Head,
And Liberties, wherewith he hath her freed)
He never suffer would to be suppressed,
Nor that the duty should not be confessed;
Now when it was declared Capital,
And when by Law discharged as Criminal;
And by its old Promoters now deserted,
Whom
Popish Tolerations
have perverted:
In such a case he vigourously contended,
That
Meetings
should be valiently defended,
By
Arms defensive,
which the Law of Nature,
And Law of God, allows to every creature:
When now they were in daily jeopardice,
Of having blood mixed with their Sacrifice.
This also was his Crime, or rather Crown,
That he would not a
Popish Monsier
own;
Sitting upon a Throne of Tyranny,
Usurp'd by rapin, blood, and treachery;
Nor pay alledgiance to his
Absolut power,
As pimp employed for the
Romish Where;
Nor say, a Robbers Sacriledgions Rod,
Was now the Sacred Ordinance of God;
When such in Sacred writ, is called rather
A
Fox,
or
Dog,
then a
Politick Father.
In fine, for this he also was indyted;
Because to bear the Cross he us invited,
Rather than pay an execrable
Cess,
Impos'd our Gospel meetings to suppress,
For raising Forces Tyranny to strengthen,
Our much enthraled misery to lengthen,
For ruin the weak Remnant left devoting,
The Church and State Supremacy promoting,
〈◊〉
Tests of lawless Loyalty enacted,
〈…〉
betraying Liberty exacted,
The full amount then of his Accusation,
Of all his troubles, the alone occasion,
Was,
that at wickedness he'd never wink;
But still spoke out, what others durst but think:
From which, unto the death he would not swerve,
But boldly spake his mind without reserve,
To
Prelatists,
and
Papists,
in their fury,
And to
Professors
sitting on his jury:
Invincibly he all their tricks withstood,
Inflexibly resisting unto blood:
And for his Life to
Supplicat
disdained,
Lost he should have his
Testimony
slain'd;
By which, though blood of l
•
mb he overcam
•
,
And loved
〈◊〉
too de
••
at the same
Which s
•••
fully h'affirm
••
during brea
••
,
And faithfully confirmed by his death;
In such a measure of Humility,
Of Patience, Meekness, Zeal, and Constancy;
That it to Enemies hath been confounding,
To Neutralists conviction much redounding,
To Hesitants and Halters Confirmation,
And to all Zione mourners Consolation.
Hence in a bloody Chariot he hath gone,
To see, and stand before,
Emmanuel's
Throne;
His hands with Palms, his head with pleasant Bayes,
His Clothes in white, do sparkle glistering Rayes
Of Glory; Glory singing, and salvation
To Him that brought him out of tribulation;
Unto the Throne and Temple of his God,
Where everlastingly he hath abode:
Where without intermission night or day,
Where without interruption or delay,
Without all cares, without all saints or fear,
W
•••
out all snares, wi
•••••
all plaints or t
•••
s,
He
••
ves, be sings, he sees the Lamb that's
•••
ing,
And unto Lovely Living Waters leading:
Where leave we him, full of
Jehovah's
Joy,
Whom no more sin, nor sorrow, can annoy;
And rest lamenting, while in the vale of tears,
Our growing grief, and fresh recurring fears.
An Anagram on his Name, MASTER JAMES RHENVICK I AM CHRISTs MEEK SERVANT.
Another. MASTER JAMES RENVICK MINE MARCK IS EVER THE SAME.
An Acrostick on the same.
M
eekness and Magnanimity most rare,
A
dvanc'd thy Actions, with advantage fair,
S
ubmissive Self-denial, suffering slights,
T
uisted with True Zeal, for
Emmanuel's
Rights,
E
xtoll'd the Early in Esteem and Fame,
R
enowned
Renwick,
EVERMORE THE SAME,
Jehovah,
〈◊〉
Jireh
was thy constant Joy,
A
long thy Always arduous employ:
M
ag
•••
'd Martyr! men the much admire
E
nemies
〈◊〉
Envy, and enraged ire,
S
haming them Selves, thy sufferings to bespatter
R
ep
〈7 letters〉
s Restless, with renown did scatter.
E
n
••••••
Enterprises in all dangers,
N
oble thy Name have notified to Strangers.
V
exations Various, suffered variety,
I
mbalm'd thy Innocence to memory.
C
omfort from Christ did stop all thy Complaints
K
ill'd thou for keeping, His Commandments.