Life and Death, Title page 1 – Dedication
Life and Death.
FOVRE SERMONS. THE FIRST TWO, OF Our Preparation To DEATH; and Expectation OF DEATH.
THE LAST TWO, OF PEACE, and the Iudgement AFTER DEATH.
Alſo points of inſtruction for the ignorant, with an Examination before our comming to the Lords Table, and a ſhort direction for ſpending of time well.
By ROBERT HORNE.
Auſpice Christo.
AT LONDON Printed by Iohn Pindley and Iohn Beale, for Francis Burton, and are to be ſold at his ſhop in Pauls Churchyard, at the ſigne of the greene Dragon. 1613.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL GEORGE WILD Eſquire of the Inner Temple: and one of his Highneſſe counſell in the Marches of Wales: My good Vncle: Grace and peace be multiplyed.
SIR. Theſe firſt fruits of my publike labours in print, I preſume to offer to the Church by You, (to whom aboue others) I owe them, and the whole crop of that that God hath dealt vntounto me. A very poor increaſe (I confeſſe) compared with that ſeede of reliefe, which it pleaſed you with ſo full a hand to caſt vponupon me, for ſome yeares togither at Oxford, as the alone Chriſtian Founder or Mecaenas of my yonger ſtudies there. And yet becauſe I would not hauehave all loſt, or accounted ſo, I hauehave (like a barren field, of which men doe not receiue their ſeede againe) ſent forth theſe few blades of publike acknowledgement: in which my meaning is to confeſſe publikely vnderunder mine owne hand, that bond and debt of thankefulneſſe which I will euer confeſſe to bee due to your perſon and houſe, for the beginning and ſucceſſe of thoſe meanes, which in this calling in the Miniſterie I hauehave receiued to edifie with. And this I hauehave done in foure Sermons, which containe matter for our turning to GOD, and walking in the Spirit. A matter (if any and at any time) needfull in this age of ſo great vngodlineſſe and vnrighteouſneſſe among men. For was there euer (I ſpeake of ſuch as know God) greater turning from him by impietie, and walking in the fleſh by diuers ſtrange luſts, then at this day? The thing is manifeſt, and the Sodome of theſe times doth (too plainely) ſhew it. Eſay 3.9. For, as it was in the dayes of Noah and of Lot: ſo is it in theſe dayes of the Sonne of Man. They eate, they drinke, they marry, and giuegive in marriage. That is, they who doe theſe things, are exceſſiuely and aboue meaſure, giuen ouer vntounto them: or, they doe them ſecurely, ſinfully, and for worldly reſpects, not once remembring God. Luk. 17.26. 27. For what no care to marrie in the Lord? And what exceſſiue care to marrie for liuing, or parentage? Religion is no queſtion, nor want of religion or ſetledneſſe in a falſe religion, any ſtay or impediment in ſuch matters. Men cry peace (ſaith the Apoſtle) and deſtruction commeth as the trauell vponupon a woman with Child. 1. Theſ. 5.3. She thinketh not of her paine till it come, and they forget the floud that is comming. Further, men buy and ſell, as if their were no other end of their life: they build & plant, as if their houſes ſhould continue euer. Luk. 17.28. and there is no remembrance of death in all their waies. This is the ſecuritie that Chriſt ſpake of, and theſe are the dayes of which Chriſt ſaid: but when the Sonne of Man commeth, ſhall hee finde faith on earth? Luk. 18.8. The Apoſtle Saint Paul hath told vsus, that in the laſt daies ſhall come hard times. 2. Tim. 3.1. We know not when the laſt houre will come, or laſt quarter of that houre. But, if hard times bee the laſt times of the world; then we are already in them: For, where iniquitie aboundeth in ſo great an ouermeaſure of ſinne as wee ſee at this day: where there is ſo great and corrupt worldlineſſe, not onelyonly in wicked perſons, but in the profeſſors of the truth: where appeareth ſo generall and great a dropſie of getting, by right or wrong: ſuch oppreſſion and crueltie in all eſtates: ſuch extortion, & ſuch ſpoile without merciemercy of the poore and needie, how can ſuch times bee called other then Hard times? What carking, and caring, and pining of the heart with cauſeleſſe feares? are not many ſo pinching and miſerable, without fear of God, or common honeſtie, that no liberalitie can bee ſeene in their hands, nor iuſtice in their liues? and a number ſo laden with worldly dealings, that God and religion (if they come at all) come ſeldome or late into their mindes? ſeldome and coldly doe they pray by the word, reade and meditate in it. Often and hotely do they purſue the world and worldly traſh, euen with a Horſe-leech tooth of greedineſſe: Pro. 30.15. Their heart is a graue for money: and they bury their neighbors liuing (ſometimes life) in their vnlawfull couetouſneſſe. Are not ſuch times Hard times? Our times are ſuch: and ſuch the men who liue in them. Theſe and ſuch like fore-runners of the laſt day, bid the wiſe to prepare for it. Indeede the day ſo much ſpoken off is not yet come: and, I feare, many beleeue it will not come at all, becauſe it ſtaieth ſo long. But, what God hath ſpoken, ſhall, and muſt ſtand, though it were delaied, beſides the yeeres paſt, ſixe thouſand yeeres to come. And there are certaine ſignes mentioned in the new Teſtament, by which wee may know, both that it will come, and that it will come ſhortly. All which ſignes (ſuch I meane as we appointed to goe before that great and notable day of the Lords comming) are (all of them ſaue one, viz: the calling of the Iewes) either paſt, or in being. The firſt is, the preaching of the Goſpell through the world. Math. 24.14. This hath beene done ſucceſſiuelie, and at ſeuerall times. The ſecond is the reuealing of Antichriſt. 2. Theſ. 2.3. who was, euer ſince the yeere 607. diſcouered more and more. For, ſince that time the Lord hath breathed vponupon him, and ſtriken him (of late time) in a maruailous conſumption. The third is a generall apoſtaſie from the Goſpell. 2. Theſ. 2.3. which came to paſſe vnderunder Arrius & Antichriſt for diuers hundred yeeres. The fourth is a generall corruption in the manners and liues of men. 2. Tim. 3.1.2. which ſigne hath beene in all ages, and is to be found in ours. The firſt ſtandeth in diuers great calamities and troubles that were to come vponupon the chriſtian world. Math. 24.4.16. which tooke effect and begunne in the tenne firſt perſecutions, as it were plagues of Egypt inflicted vponupon Chriſtians by Rome heathen, and hath further beene cruelly proſecuted and continued, by the Rome that now is. The ſixt is a generall contempt of the Goſpell, or deadneſſe of heart in the hearers of it. Luc. 17. And when more generally contemned, or careleſly heard then at this day by Schiſmatiques and Libertines? Former ages hauehave, and wee who liue in this, may ſee plainely the Signe of the comming of the Sonne of man, in the ſmall fruit that the Goſpell is able to bring forth, or beget in the liues of men. And now, that ſo many ſignes of this great day hauehave appeared to the world, and are manifeſt to vsus; why ſhould wee arraigne the Lord of any ſlackneſſe, or make queſtion of the day that is ſo farre ſpent alreadie, in the ſignes that wee hauehave ſpoken off? But theſe matters are further opened in the Sermons that follow, to which I humbly pray you, and the Chriſtian Reader in you, to hauehave duereſpect. Not for want of better treatiſes in this kind, for there are many, after ſome of which I hauehave gleaned with poore Ruth in this ſmall worke, as after the men whoſe hands were full: Ruth. 2.15. but becauſe they containe nothing, in perſwading to the power of godlineſſe, but what is written, and what the word (which is written) doth teach for inſtruction to a godly life. Accept therefore (I pray you) what is here offered by you vntounto many: and take in good part my endeuour therein. So with many vnfained praiers for your true and full welfare, which I (vnfainedlie) wiſh to you, your yoke-fellow, and all yours, in the world and in the Lord; I reſt.
Your worſhips poore Nephew, humbly at commandement for all chriſtian duties: ROBERT HORNE.