honest Lawyer will truly examine his Clients cause and a skilful and carefull Surgeon will throughly search his patients wound wherefore then should not we exactly curiously search and examine our selues that we rush not without reason vpon these holy mysteries Hee that comes without this examination may pertake of the type but not of the truth he may meet with the shadow but he misseth the substance Christ will not be eaten of those that come with foule hands and filthy hearts He wil not giue him selfe to them that giue themselues from him to serue sin Sathan and their sinful lusts To conclude this first poynt The wicked proceed from one degree of wickednes to another Cain Gen. 45. 8. 9 was offended that God accepted not his offering then he grewe in dislike with his brother after that he shewe him after that he tolde God a lye in saying that he knew not where his brother was thence he fell to saucy language with the Lord Am I my brothers keeper And after all this to dispaire My sinne is greater then can be forgiuen So likewise Herod Act. 12. killed Iames and clapt Peter vp in close prison after this approued the wicked and atheisticall acclamation and applause of the people to Gods great dishonour Now if it be the marke of the wicked thus to adde sinne vnto sinne ought not Gods chosen to adde grace vnto grace one good motion one good worke vnto another To desire to come to the Lords Table is good in it selfe and wil be also good in and vnto thee if this thy good motion intent thou second with another worke as good by examining thy selfe searching thy state and so preparing thy selfe vnto it In a word as no wise man will vndertake any businesse vnlesse he perceiue himselfe fit to goe through with it so let no man heer assembled be so bolde as to meddle in these matters vnles he finde and feele himselfe in some good sorte prepared which no man can be without serious search examination of himselfe For as Marchants cannot without searching of their bookes knowe nor make a iust account of their debts and loanes of their receipts expences of what they haue solde and bought so is it impossible for vs without search and examination of our selues to know our estates Our memory is weake our eye-sight bad our debts are many our receipts are many our accounts are great We haue to answer for many cogitations many coūsels for many works for many moe words But when we come to this Tryall we shall finde it like Salomons 1. King 3 24. 27. sworde which found out the true mother of the childe It may be God layes claime to thee it may be Sathan also dooth the same perhaps the Church challengeth thee for hers it may be the world doth so too Thou canst not be both theirs they are not both thy father at one time nor both thy mother But search thine heart and thou shalt perceiue by the spirit and grace of God whose thou art and to whome thou dost belong By tryall men finde out the nature of mettals so by trying thy selfe thou maiest know the mettal whereof thou art made the founder that hath moulten thee the mould wherein thou wast cast The husband-man by searching his ground may come to knowe what is in it and for what it is fit so wee by proouing searching the ground gardē of our soules may knowe their quality what growes in them most whether the sweet pleasant flowers of Gods graces or the stinking weedes of sinne Frō these similitudes these two points are illustrated first that without examinatiō of our selues we cannot know our estates now where this knowledge fayleth there can be no due preparation for the comming to the Lords Table and where due preparation is wanting it were better to stay then there to be Secondly hence appeareth that by this examination we may come to know our selues which is an excellent benefit and a preparatiue to much good A Captaine cannot be said to haue prepared him-selfe to encounter with a stout and puissant Prince vnles besides other dueties he haue first tryed his owne strength so no man can be sayd to haue fitted him-selfe for this holy busines till he haue first examined himselfe And as euery sicke person that is discreet perceiuing the daunger of Ad medicam dubius confugit aeger opem Ouid his disease will seeke abroad for a remedie so euery man of vnderstanding perceiuing by his examination the corruption and crazines of his condition will stirre vp himselfe to seek a cure that his state may be bettered and himselfe amended Pharoah no sooner perceiued a Exod. 8. 8 28. 9 28 10 17 plague but he was by and by vpon Moses that he would be a suter vnto God for the remoouing of it When Elymas was smitten blinde that he could not see the Sun he went about seeking some to leade him by the hand Act. 13. 11. and no doubt but desired his eye-sight with all his hearts and shall not we when by this examination of our selues we finde the wretchednes of our states as that spirits of vncleannes like those Frogs of Aegipt Ex. 8. 3. 9. haue crept into the chambers of our hearts and that we are pestered with whole swarmes of sinnes as the Aegiptians were with swarmes of Flies Grashoppers that our soules are polluted with the botches blisters of iniquitie as their bodies were with scabs Ex. 9. 10. And that worse then Elymas his blindenes we are destitute of the eyes of our mindes vnable to behold the Sun of righteousnes and to looke vpon let in the light of Gods loue and finally that we are as blinde of minde ignorant as concerning true light and sauing knowledge as Aegipt was blacke when it was couered with darkenes which might be felt Exo. 10. 21. I say shall we not nay can we but seeke about for comfort for counsell for cure and for recouery Haue we not good cause to goe to Christ our Moses to flye to God by earnest suplication that he would remoue these plagues eiect those spirits disperse those Frogs dispell those swarmes salue those sores and restore our eye-sight As he permitted that strong man Sathan to work these works within vs so he is able to vnarme and binde him to cast him out and to cast downe his workes Thus we see the benefite of this examination and the reasons which should perswade vs to make it CHAP. 2. THe second point to bee considered is the thing by which wee must examine our selues For if the Mason build by a wrong line or the Carpenter cut by a wrong squire their labour is but lost and their time consumed so if we try our selues by a false Touch-stone and examine our estates by partial or vnfit iudges wee shall delude our selues deceiue our soules we shall wrong
our cause and shal not see our case Therefore especially take heede of these three that followe trye not your selues by them neither in their sentence nor example The first is within thee but not of thee neither ouer thee if thou be Christes and if Christ bee in thee and that is thy Flesh thy Concupisence thy Corruption This seekes for shelter in thy soule and for harbour in thine heart and therfore cannot indure that thou shouldest search thy selfe least finding of her out and perceiuing her noy somnes thou shouldest either turne her out as a saucie guest or seeke to kill her as a secret foe Secondly Paul saith Rom. 8. 1. that those which are in Christ Iesus as we al professe our selues to be doe not walke after the flesh but after the spirit like men that are absolued by the Iudge and haue discharged what the lawe requireth who do now no more walke in the prison but in the open ayre and are no longer ruled by the Iaylor but liue at liberty yet perhapps sauouring of the Dungeon and carrying the prints of their Bolts and fetters and not wholye stripped of their prison garments Now if we be in Christ as we say and if wee either doe or at least ought to walke after the spirit and not after the flesh or corruption of our hearts what reason haue wee to make her our Iudge in the tryall of our states Thirdly wee promised God in our Baptisme that wee would forsake and detest the flesh but if wee make her our Iudge wee shewe that we doe not forsake her but fauour her and that we doe not hate her but rather harbour and hearten her Fourthly the wisdome euen the best part of the flesh is death Ro. 8. 6. and therfore her sentence can in no wise be iust and good Who would meddle with that which is the cause of death and make it his Iudge and if the wisdome of the flesh be folly with the Lord as sure it is then is the flesh a verie foole and makes those foolish that are ruled by her therefore wicked men are tearmed fooles in the Scripture Now who would bee iudged or examined by a foole whose wisedome is folly yea and death working death and destruction to those that subscribe vnto it and will not renounce it Fiftly Saint Paul saith Rom. 8. 5 That they that are after the flesh doe sauour the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the thinges of the spirit But if wee will needes be tryed by the flesh and wil be content with her determination we plainely demonstrate that we sauour not the thinges of the spirit but that we are bewitched with the flesh and therefore that we are not guided by the holy Ghost but gouerned of the flesh Sixtly the very wisedome of the flesh is not onely an enemie but enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. wherefore doubtlesse if the flesh be our iudge her sentence will be against God not for him but most odious in his sight Furthermore it is no childe-like affection nor property of a gracious sonne to rest in her who is a flat fierce and irrâ—â—onciliable eenemie to his father But such is our flesh to God yea and he also that in will and worke doth with a full resolution subscribe vnto it cannot but bee an enemy vnto him Seauenthly the wisedome of the flesh is not subiect to the law of God neither indeede can it be Rom. 8. 7. Now such is the tree as are the fruites the vvisedome of the flesh is an vtter and most desperat rebel against the law therefore also the flesh it selfe For for what any thing is thus or thus that thing for which the thing is so is it selfe much more so Now if the flesh rebell against the law and cannot be ruled by it vve must needes confesse that it is an vncompetent Iudge for vs for it will not condemne it selfe nor speake wel for the law it vvill not discouer her ovvne vvorkes vvhich are bastard plants set by sathan in the seminary of our soules and fructifiing in our liues no nor let vs see the vvorkes of God vvithin vs if any be nor commend them to our loue Eightly they that are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. But he that makes his flesh his Iudge or the Touchstone to try himself withall and doth with full consent of heart subscribe vnto her iudgement and liue acording vnto her lust this man is in the flesh therefore he cannot please God Now what true pleasure can any man take when God the fountaine of all true pleasures is not nay can not be pleased what pleasure caÌ„ Man take to liue in that estate wherin God the Lord of life cannot be pleased what peace can please or what ioy can any man enioy while he hath no peace with God while the wel-spring of all constant ioyes is grieued displeased with him If thou wouldest not be in the ranke and roll of those that can not please God and doe not serue him then make not thy flesh thy Iudge subscribe not to her sentence and liue not as she lusteth Ninthly the flesh makes vs doe that we wold not leaue vndon that we neither wold nor should omit Paul calleth it a body of death and cryeth out O wretched man that I am I who shall deliuer mee Ro. 7 24 from the body of this death It is the bane of the soule and the poyson of the sinner It is like the worme that eates the wood wherein it was bred Pliny writeth that the Leontophone breedeth in no countrie but where there bee Lyons Plin. Naet Hist 8. 38. sin among all corporal creatures is ingeÌ„dered in none but in man And as that little creature is so venemous that the Lyon king of beastes dieth presently if he taste neuer so little of his venome so our flesh the corruption of our natures is so corrupt and deadly that as so one as man the chiefest of creatures is polluted with it hee becomes obnoxious vnto death both temporall and aeternall Therefore as the Lyon dooth abhorre that beaste and crusheth him with his pawes so soone as he doth espye him so ought wee to detest and hate this Sinne abhor this Flesh accurse this corruption and labour to crush and kilâ— it so farre we ought to be from electing her to bee our iudge This were not to hate the flesh but to honour it and not to fighâ— against it but to foster it Moreouer Paul accounted himself wretched because he was turmoyled with his flesh as with a yoake about his necke a chaine about his legge and a burthen vpon his backe wished to bee deliuered from it as the tyred Oxe dooth from his yoke the prisoner from his fetters and as men wearied doe from their burthens which they beare It is therefore against reason right all religion for any man to giue consent vnto his flesh or to trye his
are of yeares and discretion and that by reason of one peculiar end to wit the annuntiation of Christs dcath and of the different circumstance of the action And albeit our Sauiour saith that none shall haue life in them vnles they eat his flesh and drink his Iohn 6. 53 blood yet it doth not follow that the sacrament of his body and blood should be giuen vnto infants for he speaketh not of saâ—ramentall eating and drinking but of that which is meerly spirituall or by faith Neither doth he there meane infants at all seeing they are vtterly destitute of actuall faith which none haue none can haue but those that haue discretion knowledge and vnderstanding This shall suffice for the first Doctrine a second followeth CHAP 17. SEcondly forsomuch as the Apostle commaundeth a man to examine himself I conclude that a mans principall and chiefest care must be to prepare and proue himselfe in porticular The reasons of this conclâ—sion are many First the Scriptures both heere else where doe proue it by expresse precepts Dauid saith Examine your owne heart HAGGAI saith Psalm 4. 4 Hag. 1. 5. CoÌ„sider your own waies in your harts PAVL saith Let euery man proue his Galat. 6. 4 owne worke And againe Proue your selues examine your selues know yee 2 Cor. 13. 5 not your owne selues Now the holy scriptures aâ—e Gods own oracles giuen by inspiration of God For these 2 Ti. 3. 16 and all the other holy men of God 2. Pet 1. 21 our selues in special that by our Vse 1 selues The lord wil haue meÌ„ diligeÌ„t to know the state of their flocks and biddeth theÌ„ take heed to their herds Pre. 27 23 therefore good cause haue we to be diligeÌ„t to know the state of our harts to take heed to our selues Shall meÌ„ prooue their oxeÌ„ try their horses shal not we proue try our selues shall an honest painfull sheepherd obserue attend vpoÌ„ his sheep shal he proue and veiw them diligently that he might haue a sound and fruitfull flock shall not we obserue and attend vpon our selues that wee might haue sound soules shal not we ponder prooue our hearts throughly that we might be fit to receiue Christ that wee might approoue our selues vnto God and present our selues vnto him as we vse to do at the Sacrament in the way of thankfulnesse as an holy and liuely sacrifice acceptable vnto him by Iesus Christ Shal men fit their cattell for faires and markets and shall wee dresse vp our selues when we go to feasts and publike meetings And shall we not prepare and fit our selues and trim vp our soules when we come to this spirituall banquet and market in which we set our selues before the great God and graund Commander of all the world and wherein Christ Iesus and his inualuable and all-sufficient merits are set before our eies and offered to vs which we may buy without golde without monie without marchandize and which wee may touch wee may taste we may eate and drinke faith freely without surfetting without fulnesse and yet to the full We can neuer be so full of them but we may well desire to feele them more to feed and fil on them still They are so sweeâ—e in the mouth and so pleaâ—ant in the maw so good of taste and so easie of digestion Finally shal we dresse vp our houses shall wee in our own persons see al things set in order when we are to receiue and entertaine some great man as the King some noble person or our Land-lord And shall wee not our selues labour to decke and dresse vp our heartes and to order all things aright within vs when wee meane to receiue the Sacrament yea to welcome and entertaine the King of glory the Lord of life on whom wee doe depend and by whom wee haue and hold our liues naturall spirituall and aeternall and the true title vnto and the right vse of all our lands and goods who is also our King to gouerne vs our Intercessour to sue for vs our Shield to protect vs our frieud to counsell vs our food to releiue vs and our God to saue vs. Yea we desire to bee fitly dressed and prepared therefore let vs ransacke proue our selues And let vs doe it our selues For wee can best doe it and it will be best done when wee doe it our selues The heart is best acqâ—ainted with it selfe and either is or should bee most faithfull to it selfe and more studious of her owne good then another either is or can be Thus much for the first vse Secondly this Doctrine serues to correct the curiositie of many men who spend much paines in examining iudging of others but neuer call themselues to a reckoning There are some as quicke sighted aâ— Eaglâ—s to discerne and spie out the sinnes of other men but as blind as Beetles when they haue to do with themselues But if it would please them to looke vpon themselues to turne their eyes into their owne breasts to examine and weigh themselues they would not haue so much leasure to censure and search others If they would take due true notice of themselues they would haue worke enough within doores and might well spare their curious inquisition and vnnecessarie prying into o ther men Wee haue yrons ynough of our owne in the fire we need not curiously and ouer-busily meddle with other mens least our own should be burnt in the meane time I doe not taske those that are called to examine others do containe themselues within the lists and limits of their callings but those onely that are curiously without any calling occupied in this worke or which are wholly taken vp with examining and preparing of others neuer thinking seriously of themselues or sildome and not so often as they should He which examineth others or councels theÌ„ to examine themselues sheweth them how to doe it and in the meane while forgets or le ts passe himselfe is like the man that directeth an other and erreth himselfe hee may bee a meanes of good vnto others as those were that built the Arke and yet perish himselfe if he take not heed as they did Thus much for this second Doctrine A third followeth CHAP. 18. ANd so let him eat In that the Apostle hauing exhorted vs to examine our selues before we come to the Lords Supper doth immediatly adde a newe Commandement or exhortation saying And so let him eate c. I gather these three Doctrines First that it is not sufficient for Doct. 3 a man to examine himselfe and so to rest but that he ought also to allow of himselfe to approoue himselfe to God and to his owne conscience and to be perswaded in his heart that hee may come For whatsoeuer is not of fâ—ith is sinne but no man hath any sure warrant out of Gods word to come vnlesse hee doe approoue himselfe before Proâ—ation without Approbation will stand
Eiusdem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Lectores Quaeritis a Domino qualis conuiua probâ—tur En vobis qualem finxerit iste liber Lotus cas etlaetus edas gâ—atusque recedas Scilicet hos mores caelica mensa petit Ad Lectorem Christi Christi-colis conuluià lauta parantur Hic recte vt comedant pagina quaeque docet Georgius Taylerus Errata Page 7. line 21. read him Page 18. line 21 read destroy Page 19. line 1â— read by Page 24. line 3. read to a. line 7. read Fifh P. 91. l. 21. read fift p. 136. 5. read commended 1. Cor. 11. 28. Let a man therefore examine himselfe and so let him eat of this bread and drinke of this drinke CHAP. 1. THe holy Apostle Saint Paul hauing reprehended the Corinthians for sundry misdemeanors amongst them one whereof was their disorderly receiuing of the Lords Supper he doth in these words prescribe a remedy for the same For correction is not ynough without direction and reprehension is defectiue without instruction A kinde Chiruigian will not onely discouer the wouÌ„d but apply the salue A faithfull friend will not onely shew his friend his fault or errour but he will also giue his best aduise vnto him that he might see to correct and preuent it for the time to come The office of a true teacher is as well to teach the truth as to confute and refell falshoods as he must reprooue and condemne euill manners so should he also be carefull to shew what is good how the euill may be preuented amended We count him a bad Guide that onely tels the Trauellers of their wandring and not of their way and we iudge it the duty of a Maister-Mariner to shew his folowers in the Arte of Nauigation not onely syrts sands rocks and the danger of them but also the course to escape them so a good Minister ought not only to shewe his people their sinnes and the daunger of them but also the means to mend the way to performe their dueties as GOD requireth This Paul hath done The Doctrines followe THat it is our duetie to search and Doct 1 to prooue our selues before wee come to the Lords Table I wil here shew first the reasons why we should make this triall secondly by what we ought to make it thirdly wherof it must be made fourthly how it ought to be done The reasons that should mooue vs to make this triall are many First it is the expresse coÌ„mandment of God Let a man examine him-selfe Now the will of GOD must bee the rule of our workes What God biddeth that must we bend our selues to do And in his seruice wantes no solace For as Paul saith 1. Cor. 7. 19. Circumcision is nothing nor vncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of Gods commandements And the Scripture further saith Reuel 22. 14. Blessed are they that doe his commandments that their right may be in the tree of life may enter in through the gates into the Citie Now one of his Commandements is that we doe examine our selues before we come to the Lords Table Secondly another argument may be borowed from the verse next before going and next ensuing and may be thus framed If he that shall receiue this sacrament vnworthily be guiltie of the body and blood of Christ shall eate and drink his owne damnation then it behooueth euery man to search and examine how he stands and in what manner he commeth this will all men graunt But he that receiueth this sacrament vnworthily is guiltie of the body and blood of Christ a haynous sinne and eates drinkes his owne damnation a fearefull punishment Therefore it behoueth all men to trye their standing and to examine in what plight they come Thirdly a wise man will not come to the banquet of an earthly Prince without some competent preparation why then should any man presume to present himselfe in the presence of God and his Angels and to come to the banquet of the great Prince of all the worlde there to eate the flesh and drink the blood of his onely Sonne without due preparation and fitting of himselfe which cannot be without this search and examination Fourthly as preparatiues are necessarie before phisicke for the body so this examination prepares a way by Gods blessing for ouâ— right receiuing of those sacred elements as the phisicke of our souls For by it we shal knowe our estates discerne our harts by it we shall knowe how to discerne the Lords body and we shall perceiue the loue of God in Christ vnto vs who ordained this Sacrament for the confirmation of our faith the most entire affection of Christ vnto vs in that he gaue him-selfe to a shamefull and cursed death to redeeme vs being in bondage to sinne and Sathan as the Israelites were to the Egiptians and to Pharoah their King Fiftly this examination will occasion in vs both thankfulnes greater heede and watchfulnes Thankfulnes I say for after examination if a man perceiue his estate to be good that he commeth fitted and furnished in some competent measure he is stirred vp to magnifye the Lord who hath vouchsafed them this grace If on the contrarye he finde himselfe wretched or vnfit he hath occasion to praise the Lord that gaue him grace to search and see his condition and that hee hath winked as it were at his wickednes and vnpreparednes and hath not dealt with him as he hath deserued And will it not also be an occasion of greater heed and vigilancy for the time to come For euen as a man viewing and considering well by day how dangerous a Bridge ouer some very deep water he had safely passed in the darke wil be strucken with amazement and wil be made more carefull thence-forward of his way so when a man after examination of himselfe shall perceiue what infinite danger by reason of his sins he hath escaped through the mercie of the Lord he shal be prouoked to admire the goodnes of God and to become more circumspect in the time to come Sixtly we are bound to search and examine our selues at other times in truth we ought to doe it daily for we sinne daily and Sathan siftes and shakes vs daily and with the Sun we doe still either ascend or descend and with the salt waters continually either ebbe or flowe Now if we ought to proue our selues at other times how much more at this when we are to conuerse and deale not with mortall man but with God and that more neerely and in a moste speciall and weightie businesse Men should make the weightines of their affaires the rule of their care and labour Lastly a man will not build an house but he will examine and search his ground to see whether it be firme or false sound or sandy There is no good husband but will suruey his grounds search their nature a faithful Shepheard will duely obserue and search his sheep an