indeed to thee but comfortable and happy to us thou didst not only make an Oblation and Satisfaction for the sins of the whole World if they would believe and repent but also purchase for 'em an Eternal Kingdom I do therefore desire in this Holy Sacrament to make a publick Confession of my Faith in thee I am not asham'd of the Gospel of Christ for 't is the power of my God unto Salvation I am not asham'd of thee my Crucified Saviour for I know there is no other name given unto Man by which he may be sav'd but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ I do therefore most earnestly desire to be made partaker of the benefits of thy Death and to have the assurance of my Redemption by thy Blood seal'd to me for I have O Lord a weight of sin that hangs upon my Soul from which unless thy Death deliver me it will sink me down into the lowest Hell therefore with impatience doth my Soul desire to approach this comfortable Sacrament where I may give thee the sincere assurances of my Faith Repentance and Love and may receive from the assurances and pledges of my Redemption wrought by thy Cross and Passion But Lord I know that they only can draw near with comfort to this Sacrament who with hearty Repentance and true Faith turn to thee I do therefore desire to place my self first as in the presence of God and under the awe of his all-seeing Eye to examine and try my Life and my Heart and to enter into the most sincere purposes of reforming what is amiss in me and help thou me O my God that I may do this as I ought to do give me that just sense of the weight and importance of this work that I may do it with care and vigour convince me so of the indispensible necessity of sincerity that I may neither hide nor disguise any sin in my Examination nor make any the least reserve for any in my Resolution of amendment And O my God if through the necessities of my Imployment or through the straitness of my time or through the ignorance or prejudice of my Education any thing shall escape me O impute it not to me but have compassion upon the Frailties of my Nature and the Infelicities of my State and upon whatever weaknesses unknown to me are grown upon me Secondly The Exercise of Repentance O Almighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Maker of all things and Judge of all Men thou Holy All-seeing and Impartial Judge I present my self before thee in the Humility of my Soul in the grief and bitterness of my Heart to confess and bewail my sins and actually and sincerely to renounce ' em Here consider first the course of your past Life in general Thus how you have behav'd your selves towards your Parents when under their Government I mean not the particulars of your actions which 't is impossible to recollect but such generals as these Whether you have been notoriously disobedient whether you have notoriously neglected the means and opportunities of your Education or by any other way procur'd the grief affliction or shame of your Parents Then consider your course of Life since you came into Service as whether you have lived carelesly and coldly towards God in an habitual neglect or it may be contempt of Religion whether you have been a Faithful and good Servant or on the contrary whether you have liv'd in the custom and habit of Disobedience or Unfaithfulness to your Master And lastly as to your selves consider whether you have lived in a habit of Drunkenness Gluttony Uncleanness Pride and Wilfulness now if upon Examination you find your selves to have been guilty of any of these things in your past lives it will be necessary to confess and bewail your error altho' you have now long ago renounc'd it broken off your sin and liv'd a new Life and it will not be amiss to consider what aggravations are to be found in these your sins for example what convictions you have resisted and stifled what restraints you have broke through what inconveniences you have suffer'd by your sins what extraordinary Mercies and Deliverances you have had what extraordinary Chastisements God has inflicted upon you what Opportunities of Grace you have slighted these and such like considerations serve to render the Soul more Humble and Contrite and to quicken the sense of Gods Goodness and Loving-Kindness towards you When you have thus examin'd what the State of your Life past has been you are secondly to examine what the present State of your Soul is and here you are to consider First Whether you are now under the dominion and power of any sin and this your Conscience if it be not sear'd will soon inform you for it cannot but tell you that it has accus'd you for the Commission of this or that sin But lest you should deceive your selves you may examine your selves in the former manner upon those several Heads of your Duty treated of in this Book as you stand related to God to your Parents to your Master and Mistress to their Children to your Fellow-Servants to your Neighbours in general and to your selves Weighing your present behaviour and affection towards each in this as you did your past in the former part of this Examination If upon this view of your selves it appears to you that you live in any sin you must not only bewail it and resolve against it but you must also make Restitution if you have wrong'd your Master your Fellow-Servant or any other if you have wrong'd 'em in their goods you must restore it if you can if you cannot you must confess the wrong and beg their pardon If you have wrong'd 'em by Lying you must discover the truth and take the shame to your selves If you have griev'd disturb'd and troubled 'em by rudeness contumelious Language or any such way you must make 'em what amends you can by confessing your error promising Reformation and begging Forgiveness If you have been injurious to the Souls of any you must be as industrious to reclaim 'em when you have done all this I would not have you make too much hast to the Sacrament But first make some trial of the Truth and Sincerity of your Repentance but in giving this Rule I would be understood to speak either of sins of habitual Omission or else of those notorious transgressions of Gods Laws which the Scripture calls the works of the Flesh the wickedness in which the Gentile World lay the filthiness of Flesh and Spirit for as to defects and frailties tho' we must strive against 'em we shall never be free from 'em As to Lukewarmness Stupidity or Lifelesness in Religion if you mean by it a form of Godliness without the power that is that you profess to believe and live civilly but the Duties that you perform are done heedlesly and perfunctorily without any seriousness or any relish and the whole
the nearer any Relation is the stricter is its obligation to those Virtues Two things do evidently aggravate the guilt of a Servants Injustice or Uncharitableness First Trust repos'd in Servants makes it much more easie for them to do wrong and much more difficult for their Masters to guard themselves against it Secondly The Obligation Servants lie under to Gratitude for the Benefits they enjoy and to Fidelity enjoyn'd 'em by the Law of God and Nature must needs render any wrong they do their Masters or Mistresses a more abominable Crime in the sight of God and Man as being not only a sin of Injustice and Uncharitableness which is of it self a sin big enough to damn any man but also of the foulest Ingratitude and basest Treachery and Perfidiousness This I would have well consider'd because if it were it would make Servants dread the commission of some Crimes which they seem not to have that sense of which they ought Such are for instance raising Dissention and Feuds in the Family by lying and whispering Secondly Blasting the Credit and Reputation of their Masters and Mistresses whether by false or true Reports the guilt of these practices will be evident to him who considers The spreading Report though true to another's disadvantage is uncharitableness in any man but in a Servant 't is not only a breach of Charity but of Faith and Secrecy too and the blackest Ingratitude to boot and if it be a sin to spread an Uncharitable Truth how much a greater to forge a Malicious Lye For one Neighbour or one Stranger to belie or slander another by a false Charge is an effect property not only of a mean but devilish spirit what name then can this sin find when a Master or a Mistress is thus treated by a Servant who lies under not only the general Obligations of Charity Truth and Justice but also more particular and if it can be more sacred ones of Secrecy Faith and Gratitude The same thing may be said of kindling strife for if it be a hainous wickedness in any one to stir up Contention by Lying and Whispering how much more in a Servant who is so strictly obliged to preserve the Peace of the Family he lives in The very same is the case of a Servant in all other Injuries committed against his Master they are not only Violations of his Christian Profession as every act of Injustice or Uncharitableness in all other men is but also of the particular Obligations of his Calling and therefore such sins as they have greater aggravations so shall they receive greater punishment than other men's This is extremely necessary to be remembred that as you have easier opportunities of doing wrong so you may also have greater dread and horrour of it as looking upon every Injury that were but a single act of Injustice or Defect of Charity in others as a Complication of sins and villanies in you being a transgression not only of your Duty as Christians but as Servants too Having laid this before you as a strong Engagement to a most strict and conscientious discharge of your Duty I come now in the Second place to consider the particulars of this Duty I might sum up all as our Saviour doth under one Virtue of Faithfulness for he makes a Good and Faithful Servant to be terms equivalent Matth. 25. Well done good and faithful Servant But that you may more fully and distinctly comprehend the whole of your Duty I will speak of it under these three Heads 1. Obedience 2. Faithfulness 3. Love First therefore of Obedience 1 Obedience This is that which constitutes the very nature of Service Right to command makes a Master and obligation to obey a Servant that Subjection which the Centurion describes Luke 7.8 I say unto one go and he goes and to another come and he cometh and to my Servant do this and he does it is an indispensible Duty of every one that professes himself a Servant This Reason teaches us His Servants ye are Rom 6.6 to whom ye obey And the very nature of the Covenant between the Master and his Servant implies this Obedience on the one hand and maintenance on the the other God doth strictly exact this Duty of Servants and that upon pain of damnation to the transgressor and promise of an Eternal Reward to the observer of it Thus Col. 3.22 c. Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh not with eye-service as men-pleasers but in singleness of heart fearing God And whatsoever ye do do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the Reward of the Inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ But he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done and there is no respect of persons To the same purpose is Eph. 6.5 1 Pet. 2.18 and innumerable other Texts of Scripture by all this put together you may easily discern how grievous a sin the Disobedience of Servants is 't is a downright contempt of God's revealed Will 't is a violation of the Law of Nature disturbing that just and wise Government which the Providence of God has introduced into the World by that difference he has put between the several Ranks of Mankind 't is a manifest breach of the Servant's Covenant which he entred into with his Master and by consequence the Disobedient Servant has no right to the Bread he eats or to the Wages he receives and he can expect nothing from God who is the Supreme Lord of all and by whose Appointment the Distinction and Order which now is in the World was establisht but some severe Judgment as upon an unrighteous person and a Covenant-breaker and 't is no wonder that God should so strictly exact this Duty or so severely punish the Violation of it for this sin of Disobedience proceeds from Pride or Frowardness or Idleness and ends in Wrath and Contention and Confusion Nor is the Spirit of God in Scripture content only to enjoyn Servants Obedience The properties of this Obedience but it takes care to acquaint 'em what kind of Obedience this must be First It must be in all things that is all things that are not repugnant to the Will of God who is our supreme Master or the Laws of the Land which are stampt with an Authority superior to that of their Master in all things else Servants are not to dispute nor interpret but obey the Commands of their Master for they are not to answer for the discretion or reasonableness of his Commands Their Obedience Secondly must be in singleness of heart not with eye-service as men-pleasers He is a very ill Servant who obeys only when his disobedience cannot be concealed or excus'd for at this rate the Master would be the greatest Drudge in his Family and the Care and Toil of overseeing others in their work would be more intolerable than the work it self Thirdly
there may be some little struglings of good nature and interest in opposition to your Duty in this point the first thing then you are to do is to reprove your guilty Fellow-Servant to lay before him as well as you can the hainousness of his sin together with the danger of it both with respect to his Temporal and Eternal Interest acquaint him with the Beauty and Pleasure the security and advantage of Vertue and the Fear of God advise and exhort him earnestly to expiate his sin by Repentance towards God and restitution towards man mix this Reproof ever and anon with Professions of tenderness and affections for him with expressions of your good meaning and sincere intention which he may discern by your accusing him only to himself and lastly with assurances that if he follow your advice he shall not suffer the least prejudice either in his credit or interest by your knowledge of his fault nay that it shall not diminish in the least your respect or Affection towards him For you are not insensible of the wiles of the Devil and the infirmity of man it being commonly incident to humane frailty to fall into sin and 't is the work of a true Faith to repent of it and therefore as your compassion is kindled in you upon the former account so should you necessarily be ingaged to honour and love him upon the latter now if you prove successful in this you gain a Soul to God a good Servant to your Master and an inseparable Friend to your self and what is more than all you gain peace and satisfaction to your Conscience together with the blessing of God the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the increase of his Holy Spirit Whereas suppose you connive at and he proceed in his sin Ah! How fatal an obligation do you lay upon him You incourage him in his sin and if he never repent you damn his Soul Eternally if he do repent how must he needs condemn you in the bitterness and grief of his Reflections as one false to God and him and no less unfaithful to his Eternal than your Master 's Temporal Interest And what the guilt is that you load your own Conscience with I have shewed you before But if you would do any good this way you must take care that you do it betimes and that you do not let his fault take air before you have thus represented it to him for if you first publish and then reprove his guilt I cannot wonder if he do question either your sincerity or discretion and his doubting of either must needs forfeit in him all respect for your advice or reproof and tempt him rather to stand upon his defence than trust you with his Confession or Repentance If you can effect nothing this way towards the reclaiming your Fellow-Servant you must communicate his offence with some body else as well that you may your self avoid the Imputation of Connivance and Consent as also that you may deliver if possible his Soul from guilt without the ruin of his Credit and Fortune And in the choice of such a Person you are if it may be to find out some one that is considerable with him one whose Vertue and Authority he Reverences and whose Affection and Discretion he can confide in this will make him more apt to be free in his Confession and if he has any modesty any ingenuity left in him he cannot but be wrought by this method into Repentance This very method may be made use of in other cases as well as this as in those injuries you see your Master suffer either by the negligence or wast of your Fellow-Servants only where the matter is little and trifling you are not to communicate it with others for this will look like a formal and solemn impertinence but if he refuse to reform upon your single reproof you are to go directly to your Master or Mistress for a slight wrong repeated daily may grow a very outragious one in time However they are the most proper Judges of what is slight and trifling or otherwise for what may seem to you very inconsiderable may seem otherwise to them who best know their own minds and their own Fortunes The same thing lastly you must do in matters of greater moment when those ways I have prescrib'd you fail you must not provoke God wrong your Master and wound your own Conscience for fear of displeasing nay of ruining your unjust slothful or wastful Fellow-Servant but you must honestly and couragiously do your Duty leaving the issue to God and to the prudencâ— and goodness of your Master and thoâ—… it should end in his ruin or in thâ— forfeiture of your own place or the disturbance of your quiet and peacâ— in it which I can hardly believe if you will pursue this method yeâ— you shall have delivered your own Soul God shall bring forth your Righteousness as the Noon-day whatever calumnies the wit or the malice of your Fellow-Servants raise to obscure it and you shall thrive and prevail in despight of all confederacies against you A second Vice of Servants Of Negligence by which a Master suffers is negligence by which I mean either a total Omission or neglect of Duty or such a careless and lazy performance of it that it were as good left undone as be thus done Or else Lastly heedlesness or want of care Now tho' this be very common you cannot upon due examination of the nature of this fault but confess it a very great one for as to the Master if he be hereby endamag'd is it not the same thing for him to suffer by your negligence as fraud And I need not tell you where there is much trust or confidence on the Master's side and no Industry or Care on the Servant's that all must necessarily go to wrack and ruin Or if he suffer not in his interest he must suffer in the peace and contentment of his mind for there cannot be a greater plague and vexation to any man than a confident and careless Servant Nor is it a small matter that the Master is forced to bear the rudeness and contempt which a Servant's heedlesness and idleness is too plain an expression of 't is a troublesom thing to a man to be levelled with his own Servant yet so he is in this case for if there be no authority in the Master nor fear or care in the Servant if tho' the Master may command the slothful Servant will perform only what he pleases 't is hard to say wherein is the difference and distinction between ' em Is it possible for any Servant to think that this is to do his Duty Can any one think that this is to obey with fear and trembling Can any one think that this sluggishness is any thing better than Eye-Service so much condemned by God Can any one who carries himself thus heedlesly ever persuade himself that he doth service as if he made it to
God not Man Or can he ever have the impudence to expect a reward from God for this kind of Deportment What such a one has reason to expect he may learn from the Parable of the Lord and his Servants Matth. 25. where he is called a wicked and a slothful Servant and adjudged to outer Darkness who had not answered the trust committed to him who had only behaved himself idly and unprofitably tho' he had neither wrong'd his Master by fraud or theft or wast and riot Alas The unprofitable Servant must not flatter himself that he doth his Duty for care and industry are as essential and necessary parts of the Faithfulness of a Servant as truth and honesty and he that any time stands idle can never be excus'd unless he can plead what they in the Market-place did to that question Why stand ye here idle all the day long Because no man has hired us But you are hired you have no doubt work to do for no Master will purchase heedlesness and sloth at the rate of such a charge as a Servant puts him to Nor can I think that a Servant himself would judge this behaviour a good discharge of any man's Duty in any other Station Would he think that Master did his Duty who made no provision for his Family And yet care and industry is as indispensible a Duty of the Servant as provision or maintenance of the Master But I need say no more if nothing else will the effects of this ill demeanour may convince a Servant how great an evil this is for besides the loss and vexation which it creates the Master it begets perpetual quarrels and discontents in the Family for the Fellow-Servants of a sluggard are not only bereav'd of that assistance which they should receive from him but also oppressed by that burden of which he eases his Shoulders the Drone himself is forced upon many Lies and Shifts to excuse his omissions and errors and finally after some time spent in the displeasure of his Master the contempt and hatred of his Fellow-Servants He is at last reproachfully cast off and branded with such a character as makes all that know him shut their Doors against him as unwilling to receive such a trouble and incumbrance into their Families There is a Third vice Of Consumption and Wast which Servants are too often guilty of where the Fortune of the Family can allow it and that is Consumption Wast whether by wantonness and delicacy whether by riot and excess whether by junketting and drinking amongst themselves or also by drawing in others into the Club and Association it matters little 't is a downright injustice committed against the Master 't is every jot as bad as theft much worse than the common theft of poor people for the poor steal to relieve their necessities but these rob to feed their gluttony and wantonness nay 't is every jot as bad as theft in a Servant the guilt of which has been sufficiently display'd to you before for what difference is there either in respect of the guilt of the Crime or in respect of the effects of it towards a Master whether a Servant steal from him out of Covetousness or fear of future want or whether he rob and plunder him out of Luxury and Riot if so then you may be sure that if the wrong be the same in respect of the Master and the guilt the same in respect of the Servant the Temporal ill consequences of it in this Life and the punishment of it in another will be much the same for such Servants must finally without Repentance and Amendment be abandoned and forsaken by God and Man And accordingly 't is generally observ'd and I have mark't it my self that such as have been extreamly Prodigal Wanton and Wastful in their Master's Houses have been afterwards reduced to extream Poverty even to the want of a Morsel of Bread and that which adds to their misery in this state is commonly this that such as have been sharers with 'em in the wast of their Master's goods have been the most apt to reproach their former Pride and Wantonness and to despise their present Poverty and the only Persons from whom they could expect relief have been those very Masters and Mistresses whom they had before abus'd and wrong'd Besides this Duty of Justice in Deed there is another sort of Justice in Word which a Servant owes his Master which is Truth but because this is a common and avow'd Duty between Man and Man I think 't is not needful to dwell upon it here there is no body can be ignorant of the wickedness of this sin which makes one of the greatest Prerogatives of Mankind that is Speech an Instrument of the greatest Mischiefs which is 2dly An Argument of a mean base Spirit and destitute of the Faith and Fear of God which is 3dly The Product and Effect of some sin or other for Virtue never needs the Service or Protection of a Lye which Lastly Prevents Repentance for sin for as soon as men have obtain'd a great slight and dexterity in Lying they grow hard and confident in their faults because they find they can without any difficulty conceal or excuse 'em by a Lye And as no one can be ignorant of the evil of this sin so neither of the evil which will punish it Who knows not how many plagues are denounc'd against it by God What infamy attends it from Man What secret shame and disquiet it tortures the mind with and finally how it certainly involves the Lyar in Temporal and Eternal Ruine Let the Servant therefore as he would avoid all this alwaies keep up to strict Truth in his words if he have committed a fault let him not go about to excuse it by the commission of a greater that is by Lying let him rather chuse to try the goodness of his Master by an humble and honest confession than tempt him to suspicion by frivolous Excuses or barefaced Untruths however if he should think his Master stupid enough to be imposed on by any idle Tale yet let him remember that he has a Master in Heaven who may be conquer'd by Confession and Repentance but cannot be imposed upon or mockt by any slight or artifice of words I have now spoke sufficiently of the Duty of Faithfulness and will therefore pass on to the Third and last great Duty of Servants 3dly Of Love of Masters and Mistresses The Love of their Masters and Mistresses This is a Virtue which is extremely necessary in Servants it being a very difficult matter to do their Duty without it but if this be once implanted in their hearts if the Master be lookt upon as a Father one whose Affection and Esteem for 'em they value as their greatest worldly happiness there will need no other motive either to their Obedience or Faithfulness For what St. John observes concerning the Service of God Eph. 5. that to them who love him
and loving Spirits Now for the Conquest of all these Vices which ingender strife you must observe the same method which is wont to be prescrib'd for the Conquest of any other that is you must lay before you frequently and seriously the guilt and mischief of these sins you must endeavour to persuade your selves of the loveliness and advantage of the contrary Virtues you must carefully avoid all occasions of and temptation to these sins you must watch over the motions of your own Hearts you must resolve sincerely upon reformation and amendment you must call your selves to an account for these your resolutions you must not faint nor be weary tho' you do not presently conquer but you must repeat and reinforce all your vows and purposes and go on patiently till you have brought forth Righteousness unto Victory and with all this you must joyn fervent Prayers to Almighty God for his Assistance A Prayer on the Subject of this Chapter O Lord my God who art the Author of Peace and Lover of Concord enable me I beseech thee to live in that Brotherly Affection Unity and Concord with my Fellow-Servants that we may be a Mutual Comfort and Assistance to one antoher as well in our Spiritual as Temporal concern And to this end subdue in me O Lord all unnatural and unchristian Pride and Peevishness and give me the Wisdom which is from above which is not only pure but peaceable gentle and easy to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruit without partiality and without Hypocrisie O never suffer me to be guilty of Malice Guile Hypocrisie Envy or Evil-speaking but let my Heart be always tender and affectionate and let the words of Truth and Meekness and Charity proceed out of my Mouth that I may never minister any occasion of strife and contention but way ever preserve and make Peace And O Lord because offences will come make me I beseech thee slow to anger ready to forgive and that from the Heart that I imitating thy Divine Mercy and Compassion may be made partaker of it in the full pardon of my sins and the Salvation of my Soul through him who was also the great Example of Patience and Forgiveness even Jesus Christ our Lord. PART II. CHAP. V. Of the Servants Duty towards himself his Credit which way rais'd and preserv'd the Love of his Master c. how to be abtain'd His thrift c. 'T is certain that every man's Duty is his Interest and that in whatever station a man is there is nothing can render him more prosperous in it or more effectually recommend him to a better than a faithful and conscientious discharge of the Duties of his place Nor did Solomon when he ascribed to Wisdom these glorious effects or fruits length of days Riches and Honour understand by wisdom Subtlety Craft or worldly Policy but purely a sincere performance of our Duty towards God and Man having therefore fully discours'd of a Servant's Duty both towards God and his Master it might suffice here to tell him in general that a sincere performance of this is his only true wisdom his only true policy However that this may more evidently appear and that the Servant may be more sensible of the obligation he lies under to the Duties prescrib'd him I will descend to a particular consideration of his Interest a thing which Servants as well as others are allow'd nay obliged to persue and advance by all fair means It will easily be granted that the Interest of a Servant consists in these three things his Credit the Love of his Master c. the profit of his place 't is therefore a duty which concerns a Servant to consider what course he must take to promote these three The Servants Credit how advanc'd First then if we consider the grounds of a Servant's Credit or Reputation it depends upon an opinion of his Religion or Virtue and of his ability or sufficiency for the place he undertakes As to this latter 't is not my business to direct you in it only I must put you in mind that there are some greneral qualifications such as Truth Industry and Humility which are necessary recommendations to all sorts of lawful Imployments without which whatever skill or experience any man has he is unfit for any service The other Basis or Pillar of a Servant's Credit is Religion and Virtue he that has rais'd in others an opinion of his Virtue hath by consequence rendred himself more valuable and considerable to 'em for such is the Beauty and Majesty of Virtue that it commands from all some degree of affection and respect and such is the manifold use of it in the world that he who is possessed of it is presently accounted of as more worthy and more serviceable than other men which is a Character which commands esteem Now if you would possess men with the perswasion of your Virtue the most effectual way is really to be what you would fain appear to be for a Hypocrite cannot long be concealed and when he is discovered he looks more loathsom than an open sinner besides that a Hypocrite lies under this one great disadvantage that his Dissimulation once prov'd upon him his Credit can never be redeem'd by his following sincerity his very Repentance shall never find Credit with men there being no way left man to distinguish it from a strain of his known Art You must therefore be really virtuous if you would gain a Reputation for Virtue you must endeavour to be most eminent in these Virtues which are proper to your station sobriety industry faithfulness c for these are the Virtues men require and regard in you There is scarce any place wherein there is not an opportunity of practising these in some degree which practice is one way and the best too of raising your Reputation but besides this that you may both confirm and increase these Virtues in your selves and the opinion that you have of 'em in others you must First industriously avoid all vicious company For this if it do not destroy your Virtue which were next to a miracle it will certainly destroy your credit for no wise man will ever believe that you can be otherwise than vicious in vicious Company This is generally the ruine of most Servants 't is here they learn to despise Virtue and their Masters 't is here they learn to love Liberty and Idleness and Finally 't is here they learn those sins which they can neither maintain nor enjoy without the guilt of disobedience and unfaithfulness to their Masters therefore follow the advice of Solomon Prov. 4.14 15. Enter not into the Path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men Avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away where the wise man doth excellently insinuate that he that would be safe can never keep too great a distance from evil company Secondly you must resolutely arm your self against and carefully resist the
application of your mind runs upon the World this is a State to be repented of and you must enter upon resolutions of greater care and watchfulness and fervency and having done this you may proceed to the Sacrament without making so long a trial of your selves as in the former case because neither the Church nor your Neighbour can receive any scandal thereby Now beside this part of Examination consisting in an enquiry what sins you have been guilty of or now live in there is a second part of Examination consisting in this enquiry what good you have done what resemblance there is between your life and the life of Jesus your Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus for negative righteousness is not sufficient to make a man a good Christian and though it be true that we are not bound to the highest perfection under pain of damnation yet the love of God the love of Jesus and the hopes of eternal glory do all oblige us to aim at it and therefore we ought to bemoan our non-proficiency barreness and unprofitableness I mean not absolutely such but comparatively with respect to what we should attain to And that you may do this aright demand of your selves what requital have we made our Parents What assistance have we afforded them since God has blessed us What share of what God has prosper'd us with have we given to the poor the hungry and the naked What service have we done for the comfort and support of any that have been any ways distressed After this read with a sober devotion the Beatitudes Mat. 5. and examine the state of your Souls by 'em thus am I poor in Spirit contented in the lowest state resign'd up to God both as to my undderstanding and my will filled with humble thoughts of my own endowments both natural and moral do I mourn under the sense of my past sins and my present defects and infirmities Do I weep in secrets for the sins of my people for the Desolations and Divisions of the Church of Christ for the infidelity of Jew and Gentile and in general for the dishonour God's name suffers in the World Am I of a meek and quiet Spirit peaceable and slow to anger full of humility and reverence towards all but especially my Governours and Masters studying to do my own business and to live quietly in my Station Do I hunger and thirst after righteousnes Is my Soul inflamed with a desire of saying knowledge Do I delight in the meditation of Heavenly truths Am I ravish't with the Loveliness and Beauty of works truly great and truly Christian Am I merciful do I delight to imitate my heavenly Father as far as I am able being bountiful to the needy compassionate to the distressed long suffering towards the offender gentle and easily intreated carefully studying and resolv'dly pursuing the good of all even of mine Enemies and such whose either Ingratitude to me or their aversion to their own good renders the work much more difficult Am I pure in heart Is the World crucified to me Do I account all things but dung and dross in comparison of the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord Do I love my God and love my Jesus even to a thirst after a dissolution that putting off the body I may enjoy 'em in Heaven Do I in the singleness and simplicity of my heart pursue the honour of God without regard to any by-interest or corrupt affection Am I a peace-maker content to purchase it for my self or promote it amongst others by any travail or pains and by very great disadvantages to my self Do I pursue peace in the Church of Christ in the State in the Neighbour hood in the Family in my narrow capacity withal imaginable zeal Lastly Am I willing if the will of God so be to part with all and follow Christ to undergo not only reproach and contempt but if need be the spoil of all I have nay Stripes Imprisonment and Death it self These are the heights you are to labour after and though you may fall very short of 'em this Examination will serve to encrease your humility to make you more importunate for the assistance of God and more desirous of being strengthen'd and refresh't by the Holy Sacrament nay it will excite and quicken your graces in you for there is a loveliness in Virtue and therefore the oftner you seriously behold it the more you 'l be enamour'd of it When you have discover'd by this Examination the state of your Souls then proceed to bewail 'em before God thus These and many more which I cannot recollect are my sins O thou Judge of the World and these have all been repeated from time to time so that they now are grown formidable to me for their very number yet besides this how provoking are the aggravations of them that I should sin thus in defiance of the brightest revelation of thy will in contempt of thy long suffering patience and goodness in contempt of thy astonishing love manifested in my redemption by the blood of Jesus in defiance of thy great and precious promises and of all the calls of thy Spirit and of thy Providence nay O my God I have trampled under foot all my most solemn engagements and returned to the commission of sin in contempt even of my repentance my vows and resolutions and canst thou have mercy upon such a wretch as I am I know I have most justly provok't thy wrath and indignation against me my sins are gone over my head as a thick cloud they are a sore burthen too heavy for me to to bear they are more in number than the hairs of my head and my heart has fail'd me but O Lord God I do earnestly repent and am heartily sorry for these my misdoings the remembrance of 'em is grievous to me the burden of 'em is intolerable I am ashamed yea even confounded under the sense of my folly and ingratitude I have consider'd thy terrour and fearfulness and trembling has taken hold upon me I have consider'd thy tender mercies and my Soul is wounded within me for having so falsly and unworthily forsaken and offended thee I have consider'd the humiliation and the sufferings of my blessed Saviour and my Soul suffers an Agony of love and shame with in me for what I have done against my dear Lord. I have consider'd the Beauty of Holiness and I loath my self for the deformity and pollutions of my sins O therefore thou who dost delight to shew mercy to repenting Sinners thou God of love and mercy have mercy upon me and O thou Lamb of God which didst shed thy blood for sinners have mercy upon me thou that takest away the sins of the World have mercy upon me and O my Heavenly Father deliver me not only from the guilt but from the power of my sin I tremble indeed at thy wrath and my soul faints within me when I think of being excluded forever from tny