Page:Elegy upon the death of that famous and faithful minister and martyr Mr. James Renwick.pdf/7

(7) Or were in foul compliances involv’d,

Or those to doub and plaister were resolv’d

Or shamefully were silent at the times

Iniquities, when duties went for crimes:

With those to strive, zeal for his Master’s glory,

And indignation at their silly, sorry,

Foolish, and feeble, fainting cowardice,

(That few their all for truth durst sacrifice)

His generous soul did vigorously excite,

For which, by some, he was oppos’d with spight.

With malice, envy, and with cruel rage,

That nothing could unto his death asswage,

Yet, maugre all assaults, his bow abode

In strength, his hands confirm’d by Jacob’s God:

By frowns, from duty ne’er could he be daunted,

By flatteries, he ne’er could be inchanted:

No fear of danger could him ever scar,

From diligence: nor disadvantage mar:

Nor any want of good accomodations

Could stop his pastoral exercitations;

In painful preaching, visiting, baptizing;

In conferences, and in catechising;

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 oftimes he could have,

Than a dark den; no closet but a cave:

Yet under all this inconvenience,

He could possess his soul in patience;

His Master’s favour above all things loving,

Himself as his true minister approving,

By purity, by charity unfeigned,

By verity in iny maintained,

By wisdom, patience, by the spirit’s light,

By righteousness, on the left hand and right,

Caring for neither calumnies nor honour,

So that he might his conscience exoner:

As a deceiver, yet approven true;

As tho’ well known, yet known but to a few:

As dying daily, and yet living still,

As chastined, yet above their reach to kill;

As sorrowful, yet joying evermore,

As poor, yet making rich in store ;

In many wants, in manifold distresses,

In pinching, prison, and in wildernesses,