A Hand of Fellowship to Help Keep Out Sin and Antichrist, Title page 1 – Dedication
A HAND OF FELLOWSHIP, TO HELPE KEEPE OVT SINNE AND ANTICHRIST. In certaine Sermons preached vponupon ſeuerall occaſions: By ROBERT ABBOT, Preacher of Gods Word at Cranebrooke in KENT.
LONDON, Printed by John Haviland for Nathaniel Butter. 1623.
DAVIDS DESIRES. THE ASSIZE AT HOME. ƲPON PSALME 27.4. By ROBERT ABBOT.
LONDON, Printed by John Haviland for Nathaniel Butter. 1623.
¶ The principall Contents of the Booke following, are,
1 DAVIDS Deſires, from PSALME 27.4. wherein we are perſwaded to deſire the ordinary means of ſaluation, and to be true members of the true Church, wherein we may vſe them.
2 The Aſſize at Home, from IAMES the 2.4. wherein all are perſwaded to hearken to the voice of Conſcience, that all things may go well both in the Church and Common-wealth.
3 The hid man of the heart, from the 2 COR. 4.17. wherein we are directed in the triall of our ſpirituall eſtates, that ſo we, finding our death to ſinne, and life in grace, may aſſure our hearts that we hauehave right in Chriſt.
4 A preuenter of Securitie from 1 PETER 4.7. wherein we are perſwaded to watch both againſt Popiſh doctrine and wicked liuing in theſe laſt and perillous times.
5 The new mans new life, from GAL. 2.20. wherein both our curſed death in ſinne is diſcouered, that we may be wounded for it, and our life in grace is opened, that we may reioyce in it, and ſeeke to nouriſh it.
6 The triall of True Religion, from IAMES 1.27. wherein we are perſwaded to be of a Religion, and are taught by eaſie triall to ſee the truth of our Religion, and the falſhood of the Romiſh Apoſtaſie.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL SIR THOMAS ROBERDS Knight and Baronet, and to the Lady FRANCES his faithfull yoke-fellow; Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and our Lord Ieſus Christ by the Holy Ghoſt.
RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL,
IF I may be bold to looke ſo high, I dare looke no higher than your ſelues in this my dedication. Were I able to bring forth a birth worthy of a higher countenance, to whom ſhould I offer it but vntounto my Lords Grace of Canterbury, from whom I hauehave receiued all my worldly maintenance, vnderunder whom I doe enioy all my beſt earthly countenance, and at whoſe lips I hauehave receiued ſuch moſt fatherly incouragements (both to take heed to reading, and to doctrine, and alſo to pray to God morning and euening, that God may be my God when I least dreame of him) as I hope I ſhall neuer be backward to acknowledge, alwaies ready to make vſe of, to the improuement of thoſe ſpirituall graces, wherewith through Gods gracious gift, I came into this Country. But I neuer yet could ſo ouerweene my owne abilities, as to thinke their fruit worthie of ſuch a patronage. If I ſeeme not too preſumptuous in what I doe, (I hope) I neuer ſhall in what I might doe. It is my ioy and my reioycing, that within mine owne circle God hath raiſed me vp ſuch friends, as will not eaſily take in ill part my louing rudeneſſe towards them. Some few yeeres experience makes this good of your worthy ſelues, who hauehave ſo faithfully ſhewed your ſelues friends, ſo cheerefully auditors, and ſo patiently giuen me leaue, both publikely and priuately to ſtirre vp your willing minds, that I cannot entertaine the leaſt doubt of your kinde embracings of this poore acknowledgment of my thankfulneſſe vntounto you. I remember what Socrates did reply to Aeſchines his ſcholler, when being poore he tooke it to heart that he was not able to gratifie him, his Maſter, as others did:Annon intelligis quàm magnum munus mihi dediſti? niſi fortè teipſum parvi aeſtimas. Doest thou not know (ſaith Socrates) how great a gift thou hast giuen me? belike thou accountest thy ſelfe little worth. Implying that he accounted his gift (though poore) more precious than theirs who were rich; becauſe they had giuen him of theirs, he had giuen him himſelfe. Right thus doe I iudge the caſe to be betweene your Worſhips and my ſelfe: It may trouble me that I hauehave no better to giuegive, but I know it contents you that I giuegive my ſelfe, to wit, my preſence to your perſons, my prayers for your eſtates, and my vttermoſt abilities in the execution of my weake miniſterie for the eternall good of your, with all my deare peoples, ſoules. A taſte of this I offer vntounto you in theſe two Sermons, which were firſt made publike at two Aſſizes by the ioynt requeſt of you both: next are made publike in Print by mine owne offer, & deſire of the good of Gods Church. God giuegive them acceptance in the eies of his people. I doe not looke that they ſhould finde a like entertainment amongſt all. My aime is to warme the hearts of my deare Countrymen: whereto if the force of my poore ſparke will not extend, my neerer aim… is to doe good vntounto my flocke: which yet if I cannot reach, my neereſt aime is to ſhew my ſelfe thankfull vntounto you both; and aboue all to ſet forth the honour of God in awaking conſcience, and wooing and winning deſires to this his true Church. Buſie are the aduerſaries of our common mother (the Church of England) to gaine appetites and affections to Rome. Many words are thought too few, much eloquence too little, and the rowling of all ſtones not enough to this end. If therefore Croeſus his dumbe ſonne could ſpeake when he ſaw one offering violence to his father,Homo, ne interſicias Croeſum. ſaying, O man, kill not Croeſus: then no maruell if we, that are ſpeaking ſonnes of our deare Mother, doe plead her cauſe, and redeeme her credit from the ſlander of ſtrangers, yea of her vnnaturall children. It was a militarie law of old, that the ſouldiers who had not killed an enemie ſhould not be girded with a girdle but with an halter: and ſurely me thinks the law were good to be executed vponupon them who hauehave not maintained the Church their mother as they are able. To auoid this cenſure I hauehave done my beſt, as I could, in a word: and if I meet with a heauier cenſure for doing what I hauehave, than if I had done nothing; my comfort is that I hauehave vſed my talent with an honeſt heart; and therefore am not altogether out of hope, that I may be a little blaſt in Gods mouth, a little to conſume the Man of Sinne in them that cannot ſearch either more large or learned bookes. There is but one thing aboue the reſt which breedeth preiudice in mens minds, and keeps them from making vſe of our writings: and that is this, A politike perſwaſion by cunning leaders, that we preach a new doctrine, and walke not in the traces of our forefathers. But if either of theſe could be iuſtly faſtned vponupon vsus, we ſhould hate our ſelues, our doctrine, our courſe. As for our doctrine, we heartily confeſſe that it is impoſſible that ſauing truth ſhould be kept vp in a corner and not diſcloſed till latter dayes. It neither ſtands with Gods louelove, who willeth that all men ſhould be ſaued and come to the knowledge of the truth: nor with his truth, who hath promiſed to leade his Church, (ſo long as it is ſo) not by diuine vnction only, as others ſay, but by ordinarie meanes, into all ſupernaturall truths. Therefore as our bleſſed Sauiour put his doctrine vponupon this triall, From the beginning it was not ſo; euen ſo doe we. It is true, that truth muſt ſtand though it hauehave no outward thing to commend it, euen naked truth. When therefore we appeale to the times before,Veritati credimus, non quia cana, ſed quia ſana. we doe it not as if Antiquitie could make a truth, or as if we had no other cauſe to embrace it; for the Deuill was frō the beginning, though God was before him; (In which reſpect as Ariſtippus ſaid to one who bragged of his ſwimming, Art not thou aſhamed to boast of that which eueryevery ſprat can doe? ſo may we anſwer the great braggers of Antiquitie, that they may be aſhamed to boaſt of that which the Deuils may claime as well as they) but we doe it as outwardly commending that which is already truth vntounto vsus. Now becauſe our aduerſaries tell vsus that the truth we boaſt of hath not this badge, but is of yeſterday of Luthers and Caluins hatching; I humbly beſeech you but to inquire into three points: Firſt, whether that which is new be alwaies to be reiected?Vide Muſc. h. comm. We cannot affirme it, becauſe it is not euill in it ſelfe, and in it owne nature: for who deſires not a new houſe rather than an old, and a new garment rather than one conſumed with age? I know there is difference betweene earthly and heauenly things, but euen in theſe things newneſſe in it ſelfe is not to be diſallowed. For Chriſt compares his doctrine to new wine; Matth 9.and ſaith, A new commandement giuegive I vntounto you; Ioh. 13.and giueth a new teſtament, Luk. 22.whereof the cup in the Sacrament is a ſigne and ſeale. It remaineth then that we doe diſtinguiſh of newneſſe, and finde out two kindes of it: The firſt we may call curſed Noueltie, when, by intruſion of errour to thoſe that are in the right way, truth and goodneſſe are iuſtled out of the way:Deut. 32. as when the Iewes brought in new and ſtrange gods which their fathers knew not, the falſe Apoſtles another Goſpell,Gal. 1.6. and the like. The ſecond wee may call gracious newneſſe, when diuine truth is brought in to thoſe that are in ſinne and errour.1 Cor. 5. Thus thoſe that are in the old leauen of ſinne are prouoked to newneſſe;2 Cor. 5. Eph. 4. Col. 3. Mar. 1.27. Act. 17.19. and our fathers who were in the old way of errour had the new doctrine of the Goſpell preached vntounto them. Secondly, put caſe that that which is new is alwaies reproueable;Illud novum eſt quod antea nec fuit unquam, nec viſum eſt, nec auditum hactenus, ſed jam primùm coepit, & in lucem emerſit. is the truth in our Church new? No ſurely: that did not then begin to be, when the freſh preaching of it was renewed. For it is that which the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apoſtles, hauehave taught and beleeued; and from thence we fetch it. We carry it along in that little flocke of all times, who, according to the meaſure of meanes which God vouchſafed, hauehave kept their garments in the midſt of Popiſh tyrannie, and at the length after much corruption, contracted through the want of watchfulneſſe in a ſecure & proſperous eſtate, we preſent it vntounto the Church againe in that bleſſed manner wherein we now enioy it. As the Law of Moſes was not new when it was publiſhed vntounto Iſrael, but the renewed law of nature; and the Goſpell was not new, when it was preached by the Apoſtles, but the renewed doctrine of faith: ſo the truth of our Church was not new, when it was publiſhed by Luther, and Caluin, and the other Worthies of God; but the renewed truth which appeared more gloriouſly after the deſperate ſickneſſe of errour in the Church vnderunder the more preuailing power of Antichriſt. If you ſhall here ſay, that it did appeare new to the wiſe of that age; I yeeld it did ſo to the wiſe men after the fleſh: but (in the third place) through whoſe default was that? Surely through the default of our beguiled Fathers, who, being ouercome with glorious titles, with outward ſplendor, with the myſterie of the abhominations in the golden cup, and with the cuſtome of many yeeres which grew vponupon them by degrees like rottenneſſe at the coare of a beautifull apple, thought that our change brought in a noueltie. Hence it came that the ancient Apoſtolique truth was not acknowledged of her children. Euen as if a true mother ſhould be baniſhed from her houſe, and returning after a long ſeaſon ſhould not be knowne of her owne children: So truth, being baniſhed by that vnholy chaire, and falſhood admitted through the neglect of our improuident fathers, was ſcarce confeſſed of them that were her children at her returne. Theſe three points being thus conſidered, we ſay,Act. 24.14. that after the way which they call hereſie and noueltie, we worſhip the Lord God of our fathers; but that our truth and doctrine is noueltie, wee leaue it vntounto them that can to proue. Eſpecially conſidering that we take but his libertie, who, being vrged with what a Father thought,Sed pater patrum Apoſtolus aliter ſenſit. Mihi antiquitas Ieſus Chriſtus, cui non obedire manifeſtus eſt & irremiſſibilis interitus. ſaid, But the Apoſtle the father of Fathers hath thought otherwiſe; and reſolue with another, that Ieſus Christ is our antiquitie, whom not to obey is apparent and irremiſsible ruine.
Now for the ſecond part of the charge, that we walke not in the traces of our forefathers; may it pleaſe your Worſhips to conſider thus much: Firſt, that we hearken to the voice of God in the Scriptures, which doe blame Gods owne people for ſticking too cloſe vntounto the examples of their fathers,I…r. 44.16, 17. Ezek. 20.18, 19, 30.where the word of God giues no warrant; and doe threaten them who follow their fathers who hauehave forſaken the Lord and walked after other gods;Ezek. 16.11, 12, 13. and doe charge them that they ſhould not be as their fathers, vntounto whom the Prophets ſaid,Zach. 1.4. Turne from your euill waies, but they would not heare. Secondly, we hauehave tender and child-like affections to our forefathers. And therefore wee cheerefully imitate their manifeſt vertues; we doe, in reuerence to their perſons, burie their errors in obliuion; of their doubtfull actions wee doe admit of the moſt fauourable conſtruction; the blemiſhes of their religion wee waſh from their vnderſtandings, wills, and affections, with remembring their miſerable times wherein the key of knowledge was kept from them, and the blindneſſe of their guides, who kept them in darkneſſe that they might the better make their owne games: and concerning their eternall eſtate with God, we hauehave thoughts of comfort, both becauſe their ignorance was ineuitable, as alſo becauſe they practiſed according to that Chriſtian knowledge which then was attainable, and ſinned not wilfully as we doe againſt that glorious light which God doth now offer in the miniſterie of his moſt holy word. Thirdly, conſidering that our fore-fathers acts are no ſufficient warrant for vsus, wee, notwithſtanding our reuerence vntounto them, dare not ſweare to their ſayings, and admit of a blinde imitation of their actions without triall; but, with a holy anger againſt that curſed apoſtaſie which miſled our deare predeceſſors, and brought them to ſome acts of ſuperſtition, we bring them to the touchſtone of Gods word, and wherein he will hauehave vsus leaue them we follow God, and humbly thanke him for that reuelation; wherein he will giuegive vsus leaue to goe with them, we cheerefully follow them; bleſſing the ſame God who made them ſuch faithfull guides.
Thus (I feare) I hauehave beene too long in ſtriuing to root out the conceits of noueltie and vnnaturalneſſe in thoſe truths, which our writings will preſent vntounto you. But hauing ſo good proofe of both your loues vntounto me, I doubt not but either of you, and both of you, will ſpare ſo much time as may afford diligent reading and obſeruation of what is written. As for the Writer, yee may hauehave a more complementall, not a more heartie well-willer. As for the ſubiect of my writing, as Terentius, a noble Captaine, in daies of old, when he ſaw his petition (which he put vp for the Chriſtians) to be torne in peeces by the Emperor, gathered vp the tottered ſhreds, and ſaid, I ſeeke neither houſes nor lands, gold nor gaine, but a Church: So hauehave I wholly aimed at Conſcience and a Church, the Church of God amongſt vsus. What ſhall I now ſay? To you (Sir) as Occham ſaid to the Emperour in another caſe and kinde, when he was vexed with the Popes ambition;Tu me defende gladio, ego te defendam verbo. Defend me with your ſword, and I will defend and ſecond you by the Word, the Spirits ſword. To you (Madame) as Paul to the Hebrewes, Pray for vsus: Hebr. 13.18.for we are aſſured that we hauehave a good conſcience in all things, willing to liue honestly. To you both, liue to your ſelues, liue to yours, liue to the Church of God amongſt vsus. So ſhall hee with more cheare put vp your ſuits to God, who alreadie is much, and deſires to be more bound vntounto your Worſhips, and ſhall reſt
Your faithfull Shepherd to vſe in any thing within the compaſſe of his office, ROBERT ABBOT.