Then, then, perhaps, in bitter tears they’ll
cry,
With wringing hands, against their company,
Which did betray them to that dismal state!
Consider this before it is too late.
Likewise, sons and daughters, far and near,
Honour your loving friends, and parents dear;
Let not your disobedience grieve them so,
Nor cause their aged eyes with tears to flow.
What a heart-breaking sorrow it must be,
To dear indulgent parents, when they see
Their stubborn children wilfully run on
Against the wholesome laws of God and man!
Oh! let these things a deep impression make
Upon your hearts, with speed your sins forsake;
For, true it is, the Lord will never bless
Those children that do wilfully transgress.
Now, to conclude, both young and old I pray,
Reform your sinful lives this very day,
That God in mercy may his love extend,
And bring the nation’s troubles to an end.
Poem: Smoking spiritualized.
[The following old poem was long ascribed, on apparently
sufficient grounds, to the Rev. Ralph Erskine, or,
as he designated himself, ‘Ralph Erskine, V.D.M.’
The peasantry throughout the north of England always
call it ‘Erskine’s song,’ and not
only is his name given as the author in numerous chap-books,
but in his own volume of Gospel Sonnets, from an early
copy of which our version is transcribed. The
discovery however, by Mr. Collier, of the First Part
in a Ms. temp. Jac. I., with the initials
G. W. affixed to it, has disposed of Erskine’s
claim to the honour of the entire authorship.
G. W. is supposed to be George Withers; but this is
purely conjectural; and it is not at all improbable
that G. W. really stands for W. G., as it was a common
practice amongst anonymous writers to reverse their
initials. The history, then, of the poem, seems
to be this: that the First Part, as it is now
printed, originally constituted the whole production,
being complete in itself; that the Second Part was
afterwards added by the Rev. Ralph Erskine; and that
both parts came subsequently to be ascribed to him,
as his was the only name published in connexion with
the song. The Rev. Ralph Erskine was born at
Monilaws, Northumberland, on the 15th March, 1685.
He was one of the thirty-three children of Ralph
Erskine of Shieldfield, a family of repute descended
from the ancient house of Marr. He was educated
at the college in Edinburgh, obtained his licence
to preach in June, 1709, and was ordained, on an unanimous
invitation, over the church at Dunfermline in August,
1711. He was twice married: in 1714 to
Margaret Dewar, daughter of the Laird of Lassodie,
by whom he had five sons and five daughters, all of
whom died in the prime of life; and in 1732 to Margaret,
daughter of Mr. Simson of Edinburgh, by whom he had
four sons, one of whom, with his wife, survived him.
He died in November, 1752. Erskine was the author
of a great number of Sermons; a Paraphrase on the
Canticles; Scripture Songs; a Treatise on Mental Images;
and Gospel Sonnets.
