There is an epistle addressed ‘To the Christian reader’ (ff. 3r–4v). This epistle is dated ‘April. 1. 1593’.
The full title of the sermon is ‘Comfort, for the afflicted. A sermon shewing the kindnesse of our Saviour, in receyving of sinners, that in distresse of hart so resort vnto him.’ The sermon opens as follows: ‘Wee can never sufficiently deplore the miserable calamitye and the wretched wo, whereinto our first parents, by theyr wanton disobedience, did throw themselves headlong, and theyr posterity with them, not indaungering onely, but subiecting indeede, the beautye of gods workemanship, the dearling of his creatures, fo[r] a life whiche is not blessed, to a deathe which is muche accursed.’
Lambeth Palace Library Catalogue; Hannah Yip.
Written in a neat secretary hand. Red ink is most often used for biblical passages, while brown ink is used for the remainder. In addition to biblical citations, Abbot cites Augustine, Chrysostom, Cyprian, Diogenes, Origen, Plutarch, and Socrates, amongst others. There are some minor marginal annotations, including some manicules, on ff. 48v–49v in a different hand.