THE LIFE

OF

DR. HORNECK,

1641-1696.

CHAPTER I.

HIS EARLY LIFE; DISCHARGE OF PASTORAL DUTY.

His sphere, though humble, if that humble sphere
Shine with his fair example,-and though small
His influence, if that influence all be spent
In soothing sorrow, and in quenching strife,
In aiding helpless indigence, in works
From which, at least, a grateful few derive
Some taste of comfort in a world of woe,
Then let the supercilious great confess
He serves his country, recompenses well
The state, beneath the shadow of whose vine
He sits secure, and in the scale of life
Holds no ignoble, though a slighted, place.

COWPER'S Task.

AMIDST the multitude of valuable pastors who devote their time, their talents, and their industry, to the work of feeding the flock committed to their charge, few comparatively remembered after the generation in which they live, and vast numbers are almost unknown beyond the immediate sphere of their labours. The incidents connected with their history comprise little more than the common routine of ministerial exertion, the quiet and unobtrusive efforts, daily made, for the spiritual benefit of those whom they are solemnly bound to instruct and

counsel in the path of life. Their vows to give "faithful diligence" to the duties of their calling, to "use both public and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole within their cures," to be "diligent in prayers and in reading of the holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same," to "frame and fashion their own selves and their families according to the doctrine of Christ," so as to be "wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Christ,”—and to "set forward, as much as lieth in them, quietness, peace, and love, among all christian people, and especially among them that are committed to their charge" these, the holy and appropriate engagements entered into by every clergyman of the church of England, are discharged without the occurrence of any such achievements as are wont to attract the public gaze. After a few years, the hearts for whose welfare the minister has watched, cease to beat; and then probably no record of his labours remains, save only that heavenly memorial, unseen by mortal eye, which will hereafter be unfolded before the world, in the day when the lustre of earthly distinction shall fade, and they that have turned many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever.

It sometimes happens that a preacher of the gospel, who has been engaged in a more public field of labour, or connected with important measures for the good of the church, or endued with a more than ordinary brilliancy of virtues or talents, or who has left to posterity the precious legacy of writings of sterling value, sinks less rapidly into the gulf of general oblivion, than others whose way was in the retired walks of life. He secures a meed of contemporary fame, and after his decease some attempt is made to perpetuate his reputation by the publication of his history. But in a few fleeting years, the memorial thus written falls into neglect; the name that was laden with honours in one century is not even known to the next; and its place in public estimation, * See the Ordination Service.

too often in the estimation of the church, knows it no more. While a few characters, more remarkable than the rest, escape the general devastation of time, the greater number exemplify the truth of the wise man's similitude, which compares human life to a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, of which, when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves; or to a bird which flies through the air, when there is no token of her way to be found, neither any sign where she went through; or to an arrow shot at a mark, parting the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through.

It sometimes happens, however, that the dust is swept. away from a name upon which it has long been suffered to accumulate, and an example worthy of all imitation and of honour, is rescued for a time from unmerited neglect. Such, it is hoped, may be the result of the publication of the ensuing memoir; and it is intended that as far as this volume may be known, it shall convey a portrait of one little known to the present generation, whose personal holiness would have shone brightly even in the purest ages of christianity; whose diligence in every branch of ministerial labour was beyond all praise; and whose reputation as a preacher once stood so high as to make it a current saying, that his parish reached from Whitehall to Whitechapel*.

* Authorities.-1. The Life of the Reverend Anthony Horneck, D.D., Late Preacher at the Savoy. By Richard [Kidder,] Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells. Prefixed to his Sermons, and dated 1700.

2. A summary Account of the Life of the truly pious and Reverend Dr. Anthony Horneck, Minister of the Savoy. In a letter to a friend, dated 1697.

3. This account is also illustrated by several extracts from Dr. Horneck's Sermons on the 5th chapter of St. Matthew.-Delight and Judgment, or A Prospect of the Great Day of Judgment.—The Happy Ascetic, or the best Exercise; and other works.

4. Dr. BIRCH's Life of Archbishop Tillotson.

5. Harleian Miscellany, 1810. Vol. ix, pp. 9-45.

VOL. II.

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