AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH of the truly Reverend, Learned and Pious, Mr. STEPHEN CHARNOCK, July 27. 1680.  

HOW sad a stroke, how deep a wound is this,  
That yet we cannot tell how great it is!  
But only our just fears conclude so far,  
At best, 'twill not be Healed without a Scar.  
Who can compute that loss, which no man dare  
To say, that ever 'twill admit repair?  
For that the World must not expect such Men,  
No, nor the Church such Officers again.  
Had but a sense of this possessed the Age,  
A Book of Lamentations, not a Page  
Would register our fate, and so transmit  
At once the Memory both of him and it.  
Such Tribute, 'tis not a few drops that can  
Discharge, unless we weep an Ocean;  
If that our Heads were Waters, and our Eyes  
Fountains of tears, 'twould suit our Miseries;  
And sure that Grief can't burst into Excess,  
Whose cause is such as can have no redress.  
If but two such, as Poole and Charnock, be  
In one year snatched by fatal destiny,  
Three Nations, one would think, might well consent  
To testify their own astonishment;  
And if two Ages could to us restore  
Blessings as great as those we had before,  
The want of these we better might sustain,  
And be content with those which yet remain.  
But where's that Door of Hope, which should let in  
Such comfortable thoughts; when the same sin  
Which was the first Occasion of our Woe,  
Hath the like virtue to prolong it too!  
Blessed Soul! thou'rt not at leisure now to mind  
Our poor Estate, whom thou hast left behind  
Still gazing up to Heaven; though our Heart  
Be with thee too, and where thy Better Part  
Is lodged already, there we Hope at last  
To get ashore, when all these storms are past:  
Mean while we need our Pilot; for we hear  
The Winds are whispering, and the Clouds appear,  
The Floods are moving, and without control  
Proud waters ready to go o'er our Soul;  
With threatening voice Deep unto deep doth call;  
So great our Dangers are, Thine none at all.  
Could we but see the Heavens opened, where  
The joyful throng of Saints and Angels are,  
We should then see, (though all have perfect bliss)  
How many Sheaves do there bow down to his:  
How near to Christ's right hand he sits; his Crown  
Of Glory, how it weighs the others down;  
How few removes he's seated from the Throne  
Above his Brethren, would then be known;  
But when at last our Lord and Judge shall come  
In Majesty, to pass our final Doom,  
Then shall he sit upon the Bench, with those  
Wh ' as Christ's Assessors, shall condemn his Foes.  
Considering these Dark Clods of Earth, How bright  
Does this Star shine among the Saints in light!  
What sorry Glowworms at the most are we!  
Weak Babes compared to such strong men as he!  
While he was clothed with flesh (such withering grass)  
Among Ten thousand He the Chiefest was;  
Came not behind the best; but still, like Paul,  
He Laboured more abundantly than All,  
Yea, and to better purpose; in some sense,  
He justly might have the pre-eminence.  
The foolishness of Preaching would commend  
Religion and itself, if such a Friend  
As he to both could stand up in his stead,  
That we might think him risen from the Dead.  
Even Fools and blind, the force of truth would make  
Confess, no mere man ever better spoke;  
And if those works hereafter should come forth,  
Which are best able to express his worth,  
To every Discourse annex we can,  
Sure 'tis the Voice of God speaking by Man;  
Something Divine must guide that Tongue and Pen,  
Which soared thus high above all other men.  
There is no Truth, of which his Papers treat,  
But what they do adorn; and every sheet  
As tho' it had let down from Heaven been,  
Containeth nothing common or unclean.  
No Sentence there, but what was so well weighed,  
That it the speaker's rashness ne'er betrayed;  
So accurate each Word, that one might guests,  
'Twas to pass through the Pulpit to the Press.  
Reader, step back, and think, How clearly would  
His Lines the Book of Providence unfold: 
a His Sermons upon 2 Chron. 16.9.   
How would some others both support his fame,  
And put the sin of Unbelief to shame; 
b Upon John 16.9.   
To learn his Notions first, would soon invite  
To know both God and Christ with more delight: 
c Upon John 17.3.   
On what firm grounds did he God's Being lay,  
And leave the Atheist nothing more to say; 
d Upon Psal. 14.1.   
With which design nothing could better suit,  
Than next to open every Attribute;  
Which having partly done, with much expense  
Of Time and Pains, he closed with Patience; 
e Upon Nabum 1.3.   
Whereof he proved to this Unthankful Race  
From God an Instance but for five years' space;  
Thus was his Public Work begun too late,  
And He too soon, Gone to a sinless State.    

LONDON, Printed by J. A. for Thomas Cockeril at the Three Legs over against the Stock-market, 1680. 120.