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 vs wee notwithstanding our reuerence vnto 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 haue vs leaue them we follow God and humbly thanke him for that reuelation wherein he will giue vs leaue to goe with them we cheerefully follow them blessing the same God who made them such faithfull guides Thus I feare I haue beene too long in striuing to root out the conceits of noueltie and vnnaturalnesse in those truths which our writings will present vnto you But hauing so good proofe of both your loues vnto 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 haue 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 haue I wholly aimed at Conscience and a Church the Church of God amongst vs. 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 vs Hebr. 13.18 for we are assured that we haue 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 vs. So shall hee with more cheare put vp your suits to God who alreadie is much and desires to be more bound vnto your Worships and shall rest Your faithfull Shepherd to vse in any thing within the compasse of his office ROBERT ABBOT TO THOSE CHRISTIAN Readers of whose reading I am well assured euen to my deare and louing Parishioners of Cranebrooke in Kent THE GOD of peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus Heb. 13.20 21. the great Shepherd of the sheepe through the bloud of the euerlasting Couenant make you all perfect in all good workes to doe his will working in you that which is pleasant in his sight through Iesus Christ our Lord. Though I cannot say with Paul to the Galathians I beare you record that if it had beene possible Gal. 4.15 yee would haue plucked out your owne eyes and haue giuen them me Yet out of a taste of the singular loue and respect which yee haue had vnto me for my workes sake 1 Thess 5.13 I can with good conscience greet you as the same Apostle doth the Philippians My brethren beloued and lonâ—ed for my ioy Phil 4.1 and my crowne and doe beseech you to continue in the Lord yee beloued Yee see that in publishing these Sermons I doe offer my selfe vnto publike censures In so good a cause I only desire to be found faithful 1 Cor. 4.2 3. and then I care little to be iudged by mans iudgement I know that some of the things which I write of are commonly knowne 2 Pet. 1.12 13 14 15. yet I will not be vnmindfull to put you in remembrance of what yee haue knowledge and of that truth wherein yee are alreadie established And though I cannot say that the time is at hand that I must lay downe this my Tabernacle yet I thinke it meet so long as am in it to stirre you vp yea and to endeuour that you may haue in remembrance the secret of the Gospell euen after my departure 1 Tim. 3.16 For I haue not followed deceiueable fables but the mysterie of godlinesse which may helpe you with or hold you out a right hand of fellowship to keepe out sinne and Antichrist I haue no dominion ouer your faith 2 Cor. 1.24 yet am I vnder God a helper of your ioy Gal. 3.7 In which respect yee haue runne well and yee doe well in that in my weake but by Gods fauour willing Ministery yee haue and doe take heed vnto the most sure word of the Prophets 2 Pet. 1.19 as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place Iames 1.21 and as to that good word of God which is able to saue your soules 2 Thess 1.11 12 And I desire to pray alwaies for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodnesse and the worke of faith with power That the name of our Lord Iesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God 1 Thess 2.19 20 For what is my hope or ioy or crowne of reioycing Are not euen ye in the presence of our Lord Iesus at his comming Yea yee are my glory and ioy And therefore because one desire of mine is to keepe out sinne I will pray againe for you Ephes 3.14 Vers 16. and bow my knees vnto the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory that yee may be strengthned by his Spirit in the inner man Vers 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Oh how vnwillingly should I say of you with the Apostle Gal. 4.11 1 Cor. 6.15.19 I am in feare of you lest I haue bestowed on you labour in vaine Know yee not that your bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost in you and the members of Christ Phil. 2.1 2. If therefore there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of loue if any fellowship of the Spirit if any compassion and mercie fulfill my ioy In thinking vpon and doing whatsoeuer things are true Philip. 4.8 whatsoeuer things are honest whatsoeuer things are iust whatsoeuer things are pure whatsoeuer things pertaine to loue whatsoeuer things are of good report or if there be any other vertue I know that in times past yee were foolish Titus 3.3 disobedient deceiued seruing the lusts and diuers pleasures liuing in maliciousnesse and enuy hatefull and hating one another But it is sufficient yea too too much for you 1 Pet. 4.3 that ye haue spent the time past of your liues after the lusts of the Gentiles walking in wantonnesse lusts drunkennesse in gluttony drinkings and in abominable securitie Now therefore dearely beloued 1
vsurie to the pit of hell as God shall cleerely manifest vnto vs what it is and as we alreadie doe so farre as we are come To the second question I answer that if we did permit vsurie yet it cannot stand in equall ballance with a stewes for to sinne against a mans goods is lesse than to sin against a mans person and continuance and chaste preseruation in this world That God that will establish the chaire of estate to superiours in the fifth commandement will giue superiours chiefly in charge the life of man in the sixt next to that that their life may not stinke to heauen will haue it preserued by honestie in the seuenth next to that because honest persons must be maintained by honest meanes will haue iustice in the eighth in the ninth commandement that honest meanes may bee settled vpon honest persons will haue truth vsurie therefore failing against the iustice of the eighth commandement though detestable in it selfe yet from Gods order seemes to me to be of a shorter size than the Stewes which fighteth against the person in the seuenth The last beautie of our religion which I shall speake of is this That our religion needs not policie to maintaine it It hath preuailed in all ages since Iesus Christ against all power against all policie The bloud of the Martyrs hath bin the dung of our Church And as Pharaohs policy when he would work most wisely could not preuaile against Israel so in the greatest Egyptian darknesse vnder the dominion of Antichrist our Church could not be so obscured but that she hath felt the strength of Romes policy the stroke of her power without her subuersion And at the time when it pleased God to make light to shine out of darknesse that our religion might by degrees climbe againe to its wonted glorie what could the power of the Emperour with the policie of the Pope preuaile against a poore weake man Luther who came with the spirit of power in the name of the Lord For the further propagating of our religion it neither hath neither doth it stand in need of policie If wee should hold a Councell wee need none of the trickes of the Councell of Trent We need not either propound our Canons in such ambiguous termes as will admit of diuers constructions Vpsalensis and Armachanus were created Arâ—h bishops as we reade in the Councell of Trent who yet were Nullatâ—ncases like the ancient Oracles of Apollo neither need wee to create either Archbishops or Bishops to fill vp the number that our voyce may be the more full who haue neither Church nor Diocesses Wee need no bloudie Inquisition to clap the title and punishment of an Heretike vpon euerie one who doth smell either by conuersation or conference of a religion opposite to vs wee need not that Idoll sacrifice of the Masse to fill our purses that poore and poeticall conceit of purgatory to warme our kitchins their Auricular confession to make vs terrible by being of the secretest counsell wee defie to purge either Fathers or any other Authors of their true meaning to make them our witnesses or to be so exact in the prohibition of Hereticall bookes Mar. Anto. de Dom. prosectionis consilium p. 8. 9. that carefull Students in Diuinitie yea Bishops may not reade bookes contrarie to our opinion without licence wee say with the Apostle Iudge yee what I say doe not sweare to the truth of our words except ye finde them so yea of the common people into whose hands many Popish bookes doe fall wee doe but desire this fauour that they would reade them with our answers and humbly desire God that they may finde out the truth remembring thaâ— sweet speech of our blessed Sauiour Iohn 7.17 If any man will doe Gods will hee shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether we speake of our selues Pia mendacia We abhorre godly lies as they terme them to worke deuotion blinde obedience equiuocating can finde no countenancing amongst vs yea our religion perswades to die and manfully to confesse the name of Iesus rather than thus to lye Neither these nor any other trickes of policie blessed be God doe we stand in need of but confidently expect the turning of Achitophels wisdome into folly and the ruine of the spirituall Egypt and Sodome of Rome in Gods due time notwithstanding all her politike factors and agents throughout the Christian world Thus haue we considered the first motiue to further our desiâ—es to be and to be still of the true Church amongst vs. The second is that in it we may inquire 2 Matter of direction in it and haue full and sound direction to bring vs to life eternall And that it is thus amongst vs may be seene in two things First in this that we haue the oracles of God to consult withall Rom. 3.2 as the Apostle calleth the Scriptures Euery meane Artizan with vs may winde vp his heart from all the distractions and troubles of this world by a daily conferring with God out of the diuine acts of his owne heauenly wisdome The booke of God is or may be in euery mans house and hands And if the word of the great Cham of Tartarie standeth for a law because he is blasphemously called of his subiects the sonne of God and the shadow of God Filius Dei Vmbra Dei Anima Dei. Colos 3.16 and the soule of God then infinitely more worthily doe we account the word of our God to be a law vnto vs it being the shadow of his wisdome And therefore he commanding the Colossians no vnnecessarie obedience we hold it as necessarie for vs that the word of Christ dwell plentifully in vs. Yea we account it our happinesse that as in the Island Rhodes the Sunne is neuer so masked with a cloud but that once in a day it doth shine vpon it so our worldly imployments doe neuer so dampe and darken our spirituall life light and heat but that there is or may be at the least some little comfortable intercourse betweene vs and the word of God day by day if we be not our owne enemies We are sure that we are bound to follow Gods will and therefore we are not afraid to know it Yea we hold it our dutie as Gods children to looke into our Fathers Will and Testament that we may be the better furnished not to breake it And if at any time we neglect the reading and searching of the holy Scriptures we doe desire God that he would send his fatherly rod to whip vs vp to more diligence and to say vnto vs as Aristippus said vnto one who asked him what was become of the friendship betweene him and Aeschines It is asleepe but I will awake it Can we thinke it a fault deseruing burning to haue and to reade a Bible in our natiue tongue Or can we be so miserable as not to obey God in reading
be in Christ we are new creatures as I haue cleared what then must be our care but only to proue our selues to be new creatures that so we may assure our hearts that we are in him How we may proue our selues to be new creatures Yea but now you will say vnto mee How may I proue my selfe to be a new creature I answer Wee may doe it two waies First if we be cut off from the old stocke Secondly if we be grafted into the new 1 Wee must be cut off from the old stocke Ephes 2. The old stocke is Adam corrupted in whom we are by nature and in which condition wee are the children of wrath as much as the most cursed wretch in the world as he is borne and so dead in sinnes and trespasses Now from this stocke we must be cut off for as a sience must be cut off from one tree before it can be concorporated into another so we must be cut off from the wilde Oliue before wee can be planted into Christ If therefore wee can finde our selues to be cut off from the naturall root wherein we are by birth then we may secure our selues that wee are in a good way to be in Christ Perhaps you will say that heere is difficultie still for how shall I know that I am cut off from the old Adam I answer that through Gods blessing I shall giue you two manifest signes of it The first signe is taken from the cause of it 1 How we may know that wee are cut off from Adam Col 2.11 Dan. 2.45 which is God only As our circumcision is made without hands as Paul speaketh so must our cutting off be As our Sauiour Christ is that Stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands as Daniel speaketh so wee that are his members must be cut from the quarrie of Nature Of his owne will begat he vs by the word of truth saith Iames Iames 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 3.9 and we that are borne of God are borne not of blouds the highest prerogatiues that births can afford vnto vs cannot make vs more pretious with God nor of the will of the flesh all humane obseruation and outward righteousnesse attained vnto by the power and policie of man Phil. 3.6 7. can stead vs little with God nor the will of man heroicall gifts of wisdome valour noble spirits in which respect men of old haue beene called the sonnes of God which is translated The Sonnes of the Mightie cannot make vs any thing sooner deare to God but we are borne of God saith Iohn Psal 29.1 1 Cor. 1. Iohn 1.13 There are many men seeme to be cut off when they desist from the outragious sinnes of nature who yet are not in Christ because they are cut off with hands for the meanes to restraine them are some of these Sometimes their complexion pulleth them in cholericke Saul finding his opportunitie threw his jaueline at Dauid he would haue writ the malice of his heart in bloud but sanguine Dauid though hee had his opportunitie tooke but Sauls water-pot Speare and lap of his garment and that iustly with touch of Conscience also Though Dauid fell into murther in temptation thinking so to couer his sinne Sometimes Natures impotencie pulleth them in to some sinnes are required the courage of a Lion to some the craft of a Fox to some comelinesse to some strength to some the heat of youth to some the experience of age and the like In any of which when Nature is defectiue there is a restraint Sometimes they are pulled in by knowledge when a man is not giuen vp to a reprobate minde hee seeth dutie and comelinesse and is restrained from thence As some know their masters will and doe it not so there are others that do it not because they are ignorant whereas if they had knowledge but according to that light which Nature can afford it would be a bridle Sometimes they are pulled in by prosperitie He that hath enough will not steale and if he sometimes doe steale by oppression bribery vsury or the like so much the greater is his sinne by how much more violently God pulled him baâ—ke by taking away the cause Sometimes they are restrained by aduersitie Hee that is poore cannot exercise the outward acts of pride he cannot ordinarily ambitiously climbe to honour hee cannot be actually couetous in keeping seeing he hath not what to keepe So that in these cases his pouertie is a bridle Sometimes they are held in by Education and imployment A Citizen will carry himselfe more grauely in habit complement and conuersation than a Courtier for his credit sake and who seeth not that imploiment doth hold backe from many sinnes Vellem si non of sem imperator Scipio could say when an Harlot was offâ—red vnto him I would haue her if I were not a Gouernour Sometimes they are restrained by the power of naturall conscience for though it bee much wounded and weakened in the offices of it yet euen naturall men cannot be rid of those blowes which it doth giue in secret In which respect they haue beene and are kept from many sinnes made knowne from the light of nature Sometimes againe they are restrained and pulled backe by policie because they might the better conceale and couer their aimes and intentions Thus was Iezabel restrained from the open murther of Naboth and of Haman it is said Hester 5.10 that though he was full of indignation yet he refrained himselfe All these bridles we may obserue to be in the hand of Nature to restraine Or thus These eight kniues are in Natures pocket to cut vs off from the old stocke But all this is but a seeming cutting off for it doth but cut off from the outward practise of sinne it weakneth not the root one iot The habits of sinne are no lesse powerfull the will no lesse willing the affections no lesse vehement and the desires no lesse violent Vnder all these Nature sinneth not either because Nature cannot or because Nature dare not and not because there is disabilitie either in the seeds and spâ—wne of sinne or in a willingnesse to sinne if it either could or durst Durst I say because naturall conscience may plie a man with club-law and awe him from that which with all his heart he would be doing But now on the contrarie when our cutting off is wrought without hands and is such as Nature with all her bridles and kniues cannot reach vnto then we doe not only desist from the practise of sinne but we doe weaken the power of sinne wee doe not only not commit sinne bâ—cause we cannot or dare not but because we will not And though sometimes through the power of the flesh fighting against the spirit in our mindes wills affections and desires we are against our wills ouer-taken with sinne yet because sinne doth defile vs who are the temples of God and doth
shoot in diuine spirits and infuse holinesse into his members But saith the beleeuer I haue beleeued in Christ yet I finde not my bloudy issue of sinne to be staied with this touch Listen therefore a while It is possible for vs to haue spirituall life and not to discerne it And if yet further thou doe inquire how this our communion with Christ may so be aduanced that we may finde life deriued into our soules from our spirituall touch of Christ I answer In the vse of three ordinarie meanes of saluation First in prayer Aske and I will giue If the spirit of supplication commeth once then as it bindeth Gods hands as when God said Now Moses let me alone so it openeth Gods hands as Elias did when he obtained showres yea and openeth all the passages betwixt Christ our head and vs his members whereby spirituall life is deriued into vs. Which of Gods children haue not felt sinne stabbed and dying in this dutie and Christ liuing to controll sinne and to comfort vs against all discouragements Secondly in the word of God preached Heare and your soules shall liue Where is he who hath heard of conscience and not of custome who hath not found Christ in this dutie lashing the seared conscience quickning the dead affections inclining the rebellious will and drawing out resolutions from the whole man to follow Christ Thirdly in the Sacrament the bread and cup is the spirituall communion of the bodie and bloud of Christ What faithfull man hath not felt Christ cast an inward shame vpon the soule for entertaining him into so foule an house Yea and how easie is it in that seale of Gods fauour to finde him pricking the soule for sinne past and strengthning the weake hands of faith against sin to come As thou wouldst haue comfort to thy soule markâ— how Christ deriueth holinesse in these meanes of saluation that thou maist finde it drop by experience that so thou perceiuing him to be such a fountaine opened to the house of Dauid for sinne and for vncleannesse maist runne vnto him for cleannesse and follow after for comfort and stabilitie in all thy courses Thus we haue considered our miserie to lament it and our deliuerance to worke in vs thankfull hearts As therefore the Iewes vowed If I forget thee ô Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning so with an humble resolution depending vpon the power of Christ for performance let vs determine to write Christ in red letters in the tables of our hearts and neuer forget him to be the well-spring of life and holinesse that all things may be losse and dung vnto vs in respect of that treasure which is in him to our endlesse ioy Soli Deo gloria THE TRIAL OF True Religion VPON IAMES 1.27 By ROBERT ABBOT LONDON Printed by John Haviland for Nathaniel Butter 1623. TO HIS MVCH RESPECTED FRIENDS Master PETER CVRTHOPE Gentleman and Mistresse IANE his most deare and beloued Wife Grace in this world and glory in the world to come through Christ our common SAVIOVR My right worthy friends HOW can I be vnmindfull of you who finde you still mindfull both of me and mine My studies are much refreshed by you both if then amid my studies I acknowledging others kindnesses should be forgetfull of yours my thankfulnesse would bee neere a wracke Receiue therefore this my poore Preseâ—t and if I cannot shew my selfe in what I would I hope you will accept of what I can Bookes were neuer more plentifull as knowledge they doe abound as waters of the Sea yet there was neuer more need of good ones as being one speciall meanes to pull downe sinne and Antichrist I cannot commend mine to be such yet as Gods gifts I can commend my desires to be forward as I am able to doe God seruice both by tongue and pen. I see the iustice of God giuing ouer some who had no loue to the truth to beleeue the lies of the Man of Sinne. And God hauing made me a poore Watchman in his Church I would willingly warne mine owne sheepe of the danger both by word and writing yet before it goeth to others it doth come vnto you both acknowledging your furtherances of it and crauing your fauours both to entertaine and vse it as your owne We poore Schollers doe wearie our bodies many waies by writing amongst the rest But a valiant man will not stand vpon the breach of his weapon so he may get the victorie nor we vpon the wearying and wearing of our bodies if we may gaine what we fight for to wit the acceptance of our labours by them to whom wee doe intend them together with the saluation of their soules How-euer the successe may be my hope shall lift vp my head amid all my faintings Neither doe I feare but that good people will giue approbation to what I haue rather laboured to doe than done My aime is but to striue for Religion and for that Religion which will giue vs comfort before God I haue considered many times the danger of Idolatrie as first that Idolaters are a sottish people who through Gods iust iudgement Esay 46.6 7 8. Esay 54.9 c. withhold the truth in vnrighteousnesse and will not walke in the light of reason Secondly that they are a cruell people Dan 3. like Nebuchadnezzar who garded his Idoll with a fiery fornace and heat it seuen times hotter for the true worshippers of God and like the ancient persecutors vnder the Romane Emperours who put Christians vpon crosses and stakes who did teare and scratch their sides with nailes and clawes who cast them vnto beasts and burnt and broyled them with fire and the like Thirdly that they are an alluring people who haue their vermilion Images like those that tempted Ierushalem and their great rewards like the Deuill Matth. 4. All this will I giue thee saith he to Christ if thou wilt fall downe and worship mee In which respects as Images or Idols are called Louers so Idolaters Whore-mongers who will spare for no cost or paine to satisfie their lusts like Nebuchadnezzar who made his Image of gold Dan. 3. and countenanced it with varietie of musicke to wooe the minds of the simple and to stirre vp superstitious affections And hauing laid vp these things with my selfe and seeing withall that Poperie cannot with all its subtill euasions wash it selfe from deepe staine in this kinde equalling if not exceeding euen Heathenisme it selfe in varietie of Idolatrous louers as we may see by comparing the multiplicitie of heathenish and Romish Idols When I haue considered I say Vide Wolfgang Muscul in Psal 16. Episc Der. in diat de Antichr cap. 7. l. b. 3. cum multis alijs that as the Heathens had protecting Idols for Nations as Belus for the Babylonians Isis and Osyris for the Aegygtians Neptune for the Africanes the Sunne for Rhodes Iuno for Samos Venus for Paphos Apollo for Delphos Quirinus for Rome Minerua for Athens and