laid down his Life for us to satisfie for our Sins and free us from Vengeance and offereth us a full Pardon on Condition that we will believe in him and be baptized so signifying our Consent to the new Covenant which God is pleased to make with us in him 4. The meaning of which Covenant is this That though we cannot now be innocent and so can never hope for Life by obeying and fulfilling the Law of Innocence given to Adam yet if we will first truly repent and secondly believe the Gospel of CHRIST and thirdly sincerely obey his Commands God will yet be our God and take us for his People and for his beloved Son Iesus Christ's sake pardon our Sins and sanctifie us by his holy Spirit and finally glorisie us with himself in Heaven II. Next we must examine how we have kept this Covenant And here seeing we were baptized in our Infancy and what was promised on our parts was promised by others in our Name we are to examine 1. Whether we have since we came to Understanding at any time own'd and confirmed this Engagement and taken upon our selves the Performance of it Our Church hath well provided that no Person shall be admitted to the LORD's Supper till he be Confirmed or have declared his willingness to be confirmed that is till he have satisfied the Church that he understands the Covenant of Baptism and declareth his Resolution to keep it 2. If we have thus own'd our Baptismal Engagement we must diligently examine how we have hitherto performed it in all the Parts of it viz. Repentance Faith and sincer◠Obedience And this we are to do by posing our selves in the several Articles of our Christian Faith and in the Commandments of God If we find that we have not been faithful to God in this Covenant we must not come to this Sacrament till we have unfeignedly repented of our unfaithfulness and seriously renewed our Engagement to keep it henceforward Therefore III. We must examine how we resolve to keep it for the time to come And here we are to see to these things 1. That it be a serious deliberate and well grounded Resolution not taken up dissemblingly nor rashly nor for weak Reasons But being clearly convinced and become sensible of God's absolute Right in and to us and all our Services his sovereign Authority to govern us and command us and his wonderful Goodness and Love to us more especially declared in his Son Iesus Christ this Sense and Conviction of God's being our Maker our Governour and our Benefactor should be the reason and ground of our Resolution to be wholly his to be ruled by him and love and honour him above all 2. That it be a full and compleat Resolution that we use no Ifs or And 's or rest in some faint Purposings but we must be throughly determined and fixed upon it That whatever we may lose or suffer by it in this World we will by God's help go through with it without any Exception or Limitation whatsoever doing the whole Will of God from the Heart 3. That it be a humble and pious Resolution without any proud Trust or Confidence in our own natural Strength to make it good but yet with all Trust and Confidence in the Goodness of God that if we conscientiously use the means of Grace and Strength which he hath ordained as he hath wrought in us to will so he will strengthen us to do his good Will and finally reward us according to his infinite Mercy When we have thus considered our Covenant of Baptism and are thus resolved by God's help to keep it we should earnestly pray unto God for his Assistance and if we are not already Confirmed it is fit that we humbly offer our selves to Confirmation so soon as we can The very sense of Shame to break a Covenant after this solemn Engagement in the Face of the Church to keep it and the Fear of drawing a greater guilt upon our Souls by breaking a Covenant so renewed must needs be some Restraint upon us to keep us from breaking it And besides this we have good Cause to hope that the Prayers of the Church and the Blessing of God's Minister the Bishop who by his Office blesseth in God's Name shall very much conduce to our greater Strength and growth in Christianity CHAP. IV. An help for the Examination of our Faith WE promised in Baptism to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith These Articles are briefly laid together in the Creed To examine our selves how we keep this part of our Covenant let us in the presence of God the Searcher of Hearts ask our selves these Questions Have the Word and Works of God convinced me that there is an eternal invisible living Spirit every where present throughout the World infinite in all Perfections of Power Wisdom and Goodness called GOD Do I believe that there is but one only true and living God even the FATHER the SON and the HOLY GHOST which being three are yet all three but one GOD blessed for ever Do I believe That the Books of the Old and New Testament do contain the very Word of God and that therein God hath revealed unto us all things that are needful to our eternal Happiness and that he is a God of Truth and cannot lie and that all his Words are true Do I believe That God is the Maker Preserver and Governor of all things that I and all things are his and at his Disposal that our Life Motion and Being are from him and all our Happiness depends upon his Love and Blessing Do I believe That Man was made in the Image of God very good with an immortal Soul with Knowledge and Power enough to understand and do God's Will Do I believe God made many Spirits called Angels and that some of these by Sin fell from their first State and these are the Devil and his Angels for whom Hell was prepared and that the Devil tempting Man to sin in disobeying God all Evil came thereby into the World that we are all naturally Sinners and the Children of Wrath and cannot be happy without being pardoned and cleansed but must be tormented for ever in Hell Do I believe That God of his own free Grace and Goodness hath made us a new way to Happiness through his only begotten SON IESVS CHRIST our Lord and that there is Salvation in none other Do I believe That the SON being the true God and eternal Life became also the Man CHRIST IESVS being conceived by the power of the HOLY GHOST and born of a pure Virgin and being thus God manifested in the Flesh 〈◊〉 an holy Life on Earth in perfect Obedience to his FATHER's Will Do I believe That this is the promised
our Repentance be unfeigned and rest neither in confessing our Sins nor sorrowing for them nor begging Pardon nor in any thing else till it come up to a hatred of Sin and a full Resolution to forsake it When it is come to this we will be very angry at our own Folly that we have so long continued in it very thankful to God for any Chastisement thinking our selves mercifully dealt with whatever our Condition be so long as we are not in Hell use cheerfully all helps and means how hard or sharp soever to mortifie our Lusts thank any man that will reprove us and shew us our Faults watch diligently against all Temptations avoid carefully all occasions of Sin observe jealously our Thoughts Words and Actions pray devoutly for more Grace and Strength abridge our selves of many things lawful and punish our selves by crossing our own Wills not be ashamed to make publick satisfaction to the Church where it is required nor to open our Breasts freely to the Guide of our Souls for our own Satisfaction We will do any thing or suffer any thing to prevent sinning against God These helps to Self-examination might here have been omitted had I cause enough to believe that they for whose Ease and Benefit they are chiefly design'd had made as good use of my little Book called Christianity in short as I could wish they had made Those Summaries of Faith and Duty which there they have might have served them for this purpose And here I think fit to give my Readers notice that I suppose it would be very beneficial to their Souls once a Week or Fortnight or at least when they have examined themselves in order to this Sacrament with the greatest Seriousness and Devotion to use that form of Resigning themselves to God and renewing their Covenant with him which they have at the end of that small Book CHAP. VI. How to examine whether we be rightly disposed for the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper IF we be Christians we have a right to this Sacrament yet that we may profit the more by it we are more particularly to examine our selves both how we understand it and how suitable our Affections are unto it I. We are to try how we understand the Nature Ends and Benefits of this divine Ordinance To which end we are duely to consider the Institution of it as it is recorded in Scripture St. Matthew tells us that as they were eating Iesus took Bread and blessed it St. Luke saith he gave Thanks and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body St. Luke addeth Which is given for you this do in Remembrance of me and St. Paul saith which is broken for you c. And he took the Cup and gave Thanks and gave it to them saying Drink ye all of it for this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins St. Luke saith This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood which is shed for you And St. Paul saith This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me For as often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew or shew ye the Lord's Death till he come By these Words of the Evangelists and St. Paul we may understand what the meaning and use of this Sacrament is 1. It is a holy Christian Feast not much unlike the Feast of the Passover among the Iews at which this was instituted by Christ. When they were in Bondage in Egypt God in order to their Deliverance destroyed all the first-born in Egypt commanding them to kill in each Family a Lamb and to strike the Blood thereof upon the Door-posts of their Houses and so to feast upon it promising that when he saw the Blood he would pass over their Houses and not destroy their first-born In thankful Remembrance whereof they yearly kept the like Feast called therefore the Lord 's Passover Thus by the Sin of Adam we being all brought into Bondage and Slavery under Satan it pleased God to destroy the Power of the Devil and deliver us by the Death of JESUS CHRIST the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the World to redeem us by his precious Blood as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot so that Christ is our Passover sacrificed for us Therefore are we to keep the Feast eating our Passover the Body and Blood of Christ in a thankful Remembrance of this our Redemption and Deliverance by his once offering himself to God a Sacrifice for our Sins In like manner when according to the Law Men sacrificed Peace-offerings unto God they were allowed to feast before God on part of the same to signifie that God now admitted them to an intimate Communion and Friendship with himself feasting them at his own Table of that meat which by their Oblation was now in a special manner his So Christ whom all the Sacrifices of the Law did shadow forth and typifie being offered once for all a Sacrifice of Atonement for our Sins calleth us Christians to feast upon this Sacrifice though it was a Sin-offering and even upon the Blood of it as the Iews were not allowed to do in their Feasts in token of a more intimate Communion and Friendship with God through him who hath made our Peace This Sacrament then is a sacred Feast and that upon the sacrificed Body and Blood of Christ and as bodily we eat and drink the broken Bread and poured-out Wine the Symbols of his Body and Blood so spiritually we eat his crucified Body and drink his poured-out Blood 2. The great end of this Feast is to keep up in the Christian Church a fresh and joyful Remembrance of Iesus Christ and of all that he did and suffered in the Flesh for us This do saith he in remembrance of me It is his Pleasure that we more signally and solemnly commemorate thus the Sacrifice of his Death by a lively Representation of it at this Feast of Love and so shew his Death till he come 1. We shew it hereby to our own Hearts for the stirring them up to an holy rejoycing in Christ praising him believing in him loving him and obeying him and to bring them to true Repentance and a perfect hatred of Sin which crucified the Lord of Glory 2. We shew it to the World declaring to the Honour of our holy Iesus what great things he hath done for our Souls that we are not ashamed of a crucified Saviour that we glory before the World and rejoyce in him that he is the Food and Gladness of our Souls that we are resolved to be faithful unto him whilst we live and are ready to dye a bloody Death for him if he shall call us to it 3. We shew it unto God laying before him in our Prayers the Death of his only
at the Lord's Table whither they are not admitted but only Professors of Christianity Though we are to withdraw from such wicked and disorderly Persons so far as not to countenance them but endeavour to make them ashamed o◠their Sins yet must we be careful to do this orderly and as becometh Christians And this you do not if you study not to be quiet and to do your own Business but delight to be busie-bodies in other mens matters If you suffer for that you have the just Reward of your busie-boldness Qu. But must wicked men be admitted to this Sacrament Ans. No not if they be notorious and have not declared their Repentance They ought to be admonished and if stubborn cast out of the Church by those to whom it belongs to do it Leave that to your Governours and do you the Duty of private Christians Remember Charity thinketh no evil but believeth all things it judgeth not rashly but hath as good an Opinion as may be had of all men Be sure then that you have sufficient ground for it when you judge any one wicked Take heed also of spiritual Pride in your self and that your unreasonable swelling with self-conceit cause not 〈◊〉 Brother to seem little and vile in your Eyes See that you count not any man a wicked man only because he is not of your Opinion or because he is not of your Party or dares not separate from the Church as you do or censure other men as boldly as you do or have as high an Opinion of his own Godliness as you have it is no good sign of that Purity which some pretend to that they scruple at a Form or Ceremony but not at being drunk or being unjust in not paying every man his due or reviling their Governours or uncharitably censuring the whole Church or that they dare not come to the Lord's Table with wicked men but dare go to the Ale-house with them See that you have discharged a good Conscience towards your Brethren before you abandon their Communion Have you friendly reproved and admonished them privately Talk not to others of their Wickedness till you have first told them of it If this have done no good upon them have 〈◊〉 admonished them again before two or three Witnesses If this prevail not have you told the Minister and desired his help to reform these Sinners If he cannot reclaim them have you endeavour'd to have them cast out of the Church by Excommunication If you have not done this where 's your Charity to your Brother where 's your Obedience to God Where 's your Zeal for the Church's Purity You have more cause to be afraid of your own Sins than of other mens nay you become by this neglect Partakers of other mens Sins which you pretend to be the very thing you are so greatly afraid of Obj. You say perhaps you have done all this and yet these Sinners are not excluded but admitted If it be so it is not well yet it is not your Fault that they are admitted but it is your Fault if you will not do your Duty because other men will not do theirs Obj. But I shall so profess Communion with the wicked Ans. By the course you have taken you have done what was your Duty to avoid their Communion You come not to communicate with the Wicked but with sincere Christians Obj. But by so doing I shall countenance them and seem to own them as good Christians Ans. By what you have done to amend them and by what you may still do in continuing to reprove them you prevent that danger There were very wicked Persons in the Church of Corinth such as the Apostle orders to be cast out and delivered to Sitan yea at the Sacrament there were Divisions and Factions and some were drunk These things St. Paul reproves them for but you no where hear him bid others abstain from the Sacrament because of such men but he bids them examine themselves and eat IV. But you say you dare not receive this Sacrament at the hand of a wicked Minister and you take yours to 〈◊〉 such It is not well if he be such indeed and if he be openly such and not removed some others are to blame as well as he Have you admonished him Have you again admonish'd him If that would not do have you complained of him and used all the means in your power to have him either reformed or turn'd out If this be not done you have not done your Duty either to him or your own Soul or the Church of God Complain not then of his Wickedness but your own Have you used all these means in vain to reform or remove him Then if you can conveniently you may remove to some place where you have a better If you cannot you are to be content and receive the Food of your Soul from a dirty hand rather than want it You would not refuse the King's Pardon though a Drunkard or a Swearer brought it you This Meat nourisheth not by vertue of the hand of him that ministreth it unto you but by the Blessing of God that giveth it Take it as from the hand of Christ himself and have Faith in him and when you have done what legally you can to get a good Minister you shall fare no worse for a bad one in the end Obj. But though I can find no great Fault otherwise with the Minister yet this I like not that he admits scandalous Sinners to the Communion He is indeed to charge all such to abstain from this Sacrament till they declare their Repentance He is not to admit such if he know them till they have declared their Repentance and made such Satisfaction as the Church requireth Do you certainly know then that he doth otherwise and have you acquainted him who they are and satisfied him that they are so indeed Usually such men keep most out of his way and he is least acquainted with them and hath at most but an uncertain Report of their Vices and they that bring him this Report refuse to prove the Truth of it and when he enquires of the Persons themselves they deny it and he dare not deny them the Priviledges of Christians till he have better grounds to go upon Or if you are sure the Minister was not ignorant of their wicked Life are you sure also that they have not before they were admitted given him all the Satisfaction he could in reason demand in such a case You ought to be sure of these things before you censure him so hardly And if you be sure he is guilty complain of him after due Admonition and I am confident this Fault will be amended But if unfit Persons be admitted by him ignorantly and you know of it and do not inform him better it is your selves on whom this Guilt will lye The good Lord grant that we may all more conscientiously do our Duties in our several Stations