good I can to any of you And truly neighbour Simon I was sorry you went away the other day in such a discontented manner for I should have beene glad if you had tarried longer that wee might have had further conference together Sim. Sir I thanke you it may be we may have further conference together about those things before we part but first of all I pray you hearken to our neighbour Alexander for he hath somewhat to say unto you Min. Come neer neighbour Alexander and tell me what you have to say unto me Alex. Sir I do acknowledge that as my neighbour Simon hath said I am a very ignorant man and am now and then subject to drinke more then I should doe and to sweare now and then an Oath when I am vexed but I am sory for it afterwards Now Sir I doe desire to know the reason why I for all this may not be admitted unto the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Min. Because you being an ignorant and sinfull man must needs be an unbeleeving man and the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was not instituted and ordained for any unbeleever Alex. But Sir though I be as I have confessed an ignorant and sinfull man yet I hope I am a beleeving man for all that Min. No no that cannot be Alex. Why Sir I pray you is every ignorant and sinfull man an unbeleever Min. No not so neither for there is a twofold Ignorance and a twofold sinfulnesse that is to say there is an ignorance and sinfulnesse in part and an ignorance and sinfulnesse in whole now a man may be ignorant in part and yet have true faith in Christ for the Apostle saith concerning himselfe and other true beleevers We know but in part 1 Cor. 13. 9. yea and a man may be also sinfull in part and yet be a true beleever witnesse the same Apostle when hee saith Rom. 7. 23. I finde a law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde and bringing mee into captivity to the law of sinne But if a man bee wholly ignorant of Jesus Christ and of himselfe and of the Sacrament as for ought I yet perceive you are and wholly sinfull as by your own confession it appears you are then it is impossible hee should have true faith in Christ Alex. But Sir I hope I am not wholly ignorant of Jesus Christ nor of my selfe nor of the Sacrament Min. Well because you say so I pray you give me leave to aske you two or three questions and first of all I pray you tell mee what is Jesus Christ Alex. Why he is Gods onely Sonne who was conceived by the holy Ghost and borne of the Virgin Mary Min. But the Scripture saith That GOD hath more sonnes then one as it is written Galat. 3. 26. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus why doe you then say That Christ is Gods onely Sonne Alex. Why I say so because it is so set downe in the Apostles Creed which I am sure I say many a time and often and if it be not true me thinks the Apostles of Christ should not have so set it downe Min. And what is the holy Ghost which you say Christ was conceived by Alex. Why truly Sir the Holy Ghost I think is that good Spirit whereby we are guided and ruled when we live and walke according to Gods will and Commandments Min. And why was Christ conceived by the Holy Ghost Alex. Beleeve me Sir that is too hard a question for me to answer and it would trouble a man that hath much more knowledge then I to answer aright Min. And why do you say that Christ was borne of the Virgin Mary Alex. Why I say so because it is so said in my Creed Min. But why was it meet that he should bee borne of a Virgin rather then of another woman Alex. Truly Sir I know no other reason then that I am perswaded it was the will of God it should be so Min. Well you confesse you are a sinner therefore I pray you tell me how you came to be a sinner Alex. Why by yeelding to the Devils tentations and mine own wicked and corrupt heart as other sinners do I thinke Min. But was you born a sinner Alex. Yea I was shapen in iniquity and in sinne did my mother conceive me Min. And was you a sinner when you were first created in Adam Alex. Yea surely or else how could I be borne a sinner Min. And what doe you beleeve that Christ hath done for you Alex. Why I do verily beleeve that he died for me Min. But what warrant have you to beleeve that Christ died for you Alex. Why Christ died for sinners and I am a sinner and therefore I doe beleeve that he died for me Min. And do you think that Christ died for all men Alex. Yea indeed if he died for sinners I thinke he must needs die for all men for wee are all sinners Mi. Do you then beleeve that all men shall be saved Alex. No indeed I am not so simple to think that all men shall be saved for as I doe beleeve there is a Heaven for some so do I beleeve there is a Hell for others Min. Why do you then thinke that Christ died in vaine for them that are not saved Alex. No surely I dare not think so Min. But if he died to save them and they bee not saved must it not needs follow that he died for them in vaine Alex. Truly Sir I cannot tell how to answer that it is too hard a question and therefore I pray you aske mee no more such Min. Well then I pray you tell me what is a Sacrament Alex. Why a Sacrament is the Lords Supper Min. And why do you desire to come to the Lords Supper Alex. That I might there worship and serve the Lord. Min. Well neighbour Alexander I might aske you many other questions touching these points but your Answers to these I have already asked you are sufficient to prove that you are wholly ignorant of Christ of your selfe and of the Sacrament for though some of your answers be true yet as wee use to say As good never a whit as never the better Alex. But Sir for ought I see those that have most knowledge in Religion and can talke best of it are as bad in their lives as they that are most ignorant and therefore if I have but a good heart and a good minde as I doubt not but I have I hope I shall doe as well at the last as if I could talke and prate more Min. I but whatsoever you thinke of your selfe and whatever your hopes are the Lord tells you Prov. 19. 2. That without knowledge the heart or minde is not good and although it be possible that a man of great knowledge may have an evill heart of unbeleefe and so perish yet it is without all question that hee who hath no knowledge hath an evil
lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world not for faith and justification but from faith and justification then may he be assured that inherent righteousnesse wrought by the Spirit of Christ hath followed as a consequent and so consequently that he hath both the righteousnesse of justification and the righteousnesse of sanctification bearing witnesse either to other in their due place according to Gods owne order and as his owne distinct actions And now neighbour Simon I beseech you try your selfe by these things and know that if it hath been in any measure thus with you then you may be assured that you have truly beleeved on the name of Jesus Christ and are justified freely by his grace and sanctified by his Spirit and so are no formall or legall Professor but if it hath been in no measure thus with you but that you have laboured and endeavoured to live a godly and righteous course of life that so you might have a ground to build your faith upon that is upon your owne righteousnesse and performances if you have been ignorant of Gods righteousnesse as the Apostle Rom. 10. 3. saith the Jewes were and have gone about to stablish your owne righteousnesse as they did then you may be assured that you have not truly beleeved on the name of Jesus Christ neither are you justified nor sanctified but are in plaine tearmes a meere legall Professor Sim. Sir I must confesse that I have not heretofore been acquainted with these things and therefore I cannot truly say that I have done thus or that it hath been so with me but yet I cannot be perswaded that I have gone about to stablish mine owne righteousnesse for I know right well that when we have done all that we can we are but unprofitable servants and that a man is to be justified by the mercies of God and the merits of Christ and not by his owne workes and merits as the Papists hold Min. I but neighbour Simon I must tell you that it is one thing to say thus in words and to hold thus in judgement and another thing to doe it in effect and practice I meane in heart and conscience it is not enough for a man to thinke and be of opinion that he cannot be justified by his owne righteousnesse and performances for that is onely a worke of the judgement rightly informed and not a worke of the heart rightly reformed wherefore I doe admonish you to take heed that whilst you are a Protestant in opinion and profession you be not a Papist in effect and practice I meane in the inward disposition of your heart as I feare me too many both men and women in this City are for if I be not mistaken their very speeches and behaviour doe testifie that because they know and doe more then they do conceive others know and doe or because they are members of such a mans Congregation and so in a Church way as they call it therefore they trust in themselves that they are righteous as our Saviour said the Pharisees did Luke 18. 9. and yet if a man should say unto them as our Saviour did to the Pharisees Luke 16. 15. Ye are they which justifie your selves they would utterly deny it as you doe but to tell you plainly neighbour Simon your speeches and behaviour when you were with me the other day made me to feare that you were but a kind of a Pharisaicall Professor furely in your crowing over and undervaluing your honest neighbour Zacheus in comparison of your selfe you did too nearely resemble the proud Pharisee crowing over and undervaluing the humble Publican Luke 18. and in judging of him to be unfit and unworthy to come to the Lords Table you did too nearely resemble Simon the Pharisee mentioned Luke the 7. who when he saw that sinfull yet penitent and beleeving woman washing our Saviours feet with her teares and wiping them with the haires of her head he spake within himselfe saying This man if he were a Prophet would have knowne who and what manner of woman this is that hath touched him for she is a sinner and therefore I pray you consider of it Sim. But Sir this is somewhat strange that a man should put confidence in his owne righteousnesse and thinke he is thereby justified and yet not know it I would you could give me some signes of a mans doing so that so I may know whether I doe so or no. Min. Why truly I can give you no more evidenter a signe of it then that which I have already given you and that is in plaine termes a proud spirit for those men and women that doe truly beleeve that they are justified Rom. 3. 24 freely by Gods grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ they are the humblest people and the most free from spirituall pride of any people in the world and therefore the Apostle having fully proved free justification in respect of a mans selfe Rom. 3. 21 22 23 24 25 26. he breakes out in the next verse into this patheticall expression saying Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of workes nay but by the law of faith I tell you neighbour Simon if a true Beleevers heart doe begin to swell because of his excelling others in gifts and parts he doth ere long give it a vent by saying to it in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it But yet to the intent you may be the more fully convinced that you have put confidence in your owne righteousnesse I pray you answer me this question Did you ever finde it a hard matter to deny your owne righteousnesse to become truly poore in spirit to be broken off from confidence in your owne performances and to passe through them all to Jesus Christ I beseech you answer me truly from your heart Sim. Why truly Sir I must confesse I never thought my selfe guilty of any such thing Min. Why then beleeve it you are guilty of it for it is naturall for every man and woman when they leave off plodding towards Hell in the dirty path of sinne yet to goe on thitherward in the cleaner path of duty rested in when Satan cannot keepe a man from Christ by sinne then he labours to keep him from him by selfe if he cannot keep a man with his sinnes from flesh-pots in Aegypt then he labours to keep him from Canaan by losing himselfe and his soule in the wildernesse of his owne performances rested in assure your selfe that there is in all men naturally this frame of spirit never to come to Christ whilst they have any hopes that their owne performances will heale them therefore here they rest untill they see it bewaile it and pray against it and therefore if you never
truly have you ever gone to the Lord in prayer about your sins Mat. Yea indeed Sir I have of late divers times gone privately to prayer and have besought the Lord that he would be pleased for Jesus Christs sake to pardon my former sins and give me power to overcome my present corruptions but yet alas all in vaine for they doe still remaine with me Min. But doe you beleeve that your former sins are pardoned Mat. No surely Sir I cannot beleeve that so so long as my present corruptions doe still remaine unsubdued Min. Weepe not I pray you but consider that you have gone a wrong way to worke you would have your sinnes subdued before they be pardoned whereas the Lord doth first pardon sinne and then he gives power against sinne Mat. But Sir I have thought with my selfe that as when I was a childe and had by the committing of any fault displeased my Father he would at my intreating forgive me upon condition that I did so no more but if I committed the like fault againe then he would not forgive the former but reckon with me for them both even so I did conceive the Lord would deale with me Min. But did not you tell me that you did beseech the Lord to forgive you your sins for Christ Jesus sake Mat. Yea indeed Min. And why have you asked it for Christs sake Mat. Because he hath suffered death for my sinnes Min. And doe you noâ— beleeve that Christ by his death hath fully satisfied the Justice of God for all your sins Mat. Yea Sir I doe beleeve he hath Min. Why then doe you not beleeve that God for his satisfaction sake hath forgiven your sins Mat. Why Sir I doe beleeve it so long as I doe continue obedient unto God in doing his Will and not transgressing his Commandments Min. And can you not beleeve it any longer then you doe so Mat. No indeed Sir Min. Why then you doe not beleeve that God pardoneth your sins for Christs sake but for your owne sake not for Christs obedience sake but for your owne obedience sake Mat. Indeed Sir I cannot tell what to say to that Min. Well neighbour Mathias as you have besought the Lord to pardon and forgive you your sinnes for Christ Jesus sake doe so still but withall beleeve that he hath done so according to your Petition yea and that absolutely and not conditionally as you have done and answerably as you doe so you shall be sure to finde and feele your sinnes mortified and subdued doe but beleeve that you are washt by the Blood of Christ from the guilt of sinne and you shall be sure to finde that you are cleansed by the Blood of Christ from the filth of sinne let a man saith Doctor Preston but beleeve the On the new Cov. the promise of pardon in the Blood of Christ and the very beleeving the pardon will be able to cleanse his heart from dead workes for that faith which doth lay hold on Christ crucified saith another godly Divine doth Dyke on the Sacrâ—ment p. 292. fetch a Crucifying vertue from him whereby the body of corruption is enfeebled and weakned Mat. O but Sir I feare I shall not beleeve that my sins are pardoned so long as they remaine unsubdued Min. If you will not beleeve that your sins are pardoned till they are quite subdued then will you not beleeve it whilst you live for so long as you live here you shall finde and feele some remainders of sinfull corruptions unsubdued though you doe beleeve and if you doe not beleeve you shall not have them subdued at all by the sanctifying Spirit of Christ Indeed it is possible that after much striving against your corruptions in your owne strength you may see there is no strength in you to subdue them as you would and may thereupon goe unto Christ by Prayer for grace and power to leave sinne and doe better and so live upon Christ that you may live upon your selfe I say you may goe unto Christ for power to doe your worke that so you may earne your wages and it is possible you may hereupon grow in legall righteousnesse as the stony and thorny ground seed sprung up and increased much and came neare unto maturity and yet this not be the worke of the sanctifying Spirit of Jesus Christ wherefore I beseech you goe not this way to worke doe not seeke to have the righteousnesse of sanctification infused into you before you seeke to have the righteousnesse of Justification imputed unto you and so as much as in you lyeth to goe about to pervert the Lords owne order and method Doe you not remember how I told my neighbour Simon that the Lords order and method in justifying and sanctifying a sinner is First to justifie him by imputing the righteousnesse that is inherent in Christ unto him and enabling him to apprehend it by faith and then to sanctifie him by infusing of righteousnesse into him by his Spirit and this is the method which the Prophet Micah proclaimes by way of admiration saying Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Here is the righteousnesse Micah 7. 18. of Justification and then in the next Verse he proclaimes the righteousnesse of Sanctification saying He will turne againe he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities c. And this method the Prophet David was well acquainted with and therefore in the first Verse of the 51. Psalme he beseeches the Lord According to the multitude of his mercies to blot out his transgressions and then in the tenth ver he saith Create in me a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Wherefore I beseech you againe and againe to acquit your selfe with this way and endeavour to goe on in it Mat. O Sir that I could doe so for surely I should thinke my selfe a happy man if the Lord would both pardon mine iniquities and subdue them for truly Sir I have lately had in my heart such a deale of feare terrour of the direfull displeasure of God and of Death and Hell for want of being assured that my sinnes are pardoned and I doe so hate loath and abhor those corruptions which are still in me that I verily thinke I shall never be quiet in my minde whilst they and I live together Min. Weep not I pray you except it be for joy for surely this feare is a worke of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus for ordinarily after conviction he lets into the hearts of his Elect such feares as these for although t is true there may be in a meare naturall man certaine naturall feares arising from the accusation of his naturall conscience yet they never affect his heart so as to worke a separation betwixt his heart and his sinnes but your feares doe so affect
is soundnesse of minde in thee if thy knowledge be sound though weake let it not discourage thee and there may be soundnesse of minde as well in a little knowledge as in much Mat. I Sir it is like that there may be so in others but how shall I be sure there is so in me Min. It is very cleare and evident to me that your knowledge is sound though weake and that you have a sound minde in that you know your selfe your nature and your sinnes and are thereupon humbled for unsound knowledge puffeth up 1 Cor. 8. 1. But your knowledge hath discovered to you your ignorance and so hath abased you in your owne eyes and cast you downe and therefore doubtlesse your minde is sound Mat. I but Sir I told you that I also feared that I was never yet truly humbled I pray you tell me what you say to that Min. And the reason why you feare it as you say is for that you have not renounced your owne righteousnesse Mat. Yea indeed Sir that is the reason of it Min. Why I pray you tell me truly have you any hopes to be justified or accepted in the sight of God for your owne performances Mat. Yea indeed Sir I told you that I have had hopes that if I sinned no more then the Lord would forgive my former sins and accept of me Min. But I doe not aske you what you have done formerly but what you doe now Mat. Why truly Sir you have this day made it so evident and cleare to me that it is onely the Righteousnesse of Jesus Christ received by faith that procures acceptance in the sight of God that I see it is my onely way to beleeve on his name and as I told you I doe desire so to doe Mat. Then beleeve it you are truly humbled which is a very good and sure foundation and therefore you are like to erect a good and sure building though it may be it may not goe on so fast nor make so glorious a shew as some others doe Mat. But alas Sir I am so ashamed and troubled in my minde when I consider how farre other men doe out-strip me both in knowledge and other graces that I know not what to doe Min. But surely you have no cause at all to be troubled at that for it is to be feared there are some Professors that grow up quickly and flourish abundantly in a legall way they are not troubled with inward heart corruptions as other poore soules are they are full of parts gifts abilities and duties which others want and are very glorious Christians in outward appearance and yet for lack of an humble foundation they are but flittering fleeting motions windy conceptions whereas you or rather the Spirit of Christ in you hath laid such an humble foundation that questionlesse there shall be built upon it a gracious building composed of many Evangelicall Graces and therefore I pray you be not dismayed though you come farre short of many vaine glorious high-spirited Professors it is like the Lord sees though it may be you doe not that if you had such parts gifts and abilities which some others have and had not some sinfull corruptions in you which it may be others have not that then you would he lifted up above that which is meet and be kept in your selfe from Christ therefore it is the Lords glorious wisdome and gracious goodnesse to you to let some of your sinfull corruptions remaine in you especially to open your eyes to see them and to affect your heart with them and to let you come behinde others in gifts and parts that so your soule may sink in holy despaire of any helpe in your selfe and rest in nothing till it come to Christ Crucified and the eternall sweet promise in him howbeit this you may be assured of that if you be carefull to use the good meanes to this end appointed you shall have such a measure of faith and all other graces of the Spirit of Christ as shall be most fit for you Mat. O blessed be the Lord if this be true but I pray you Sir what are the meanes which you would have me to use Min. Why I meane hearing and reading the Word of God meditation prayer and receiving the Sacrament Mat. Why Sir I pray you doe you thinke me sit to come to the Sacrament Min. Yea indeed do I. Mat. Surely Sir I am altogether unworthy Min. And why doe you thinke your selfe unworthy Mat. Why because of my ignorance and sinfulnesse Min. Then belike you thinke that knowledge and righteousnesse makes a man worthy to come to the Sacrament Mat. Yes indeed Sir I have had such thoughts and therefore when I heard you question whether my neighbour Simon were worthy to be admitted to the Sacrament I did much admire at it for that I know he is a man of great knowledge and godly life but I doe much more admire that you should thinke me to be worthy Min. Indeed if wee were to understand these words worthy and unworthy by way of meriting and deserving then he in regard he hath more knowledge then you and it may be is more free from some inward corruptions then you and doth more frequently performe religious actions then you were more worthy then you but as I told him not long since we are not to understand words worthy and unworthy by way of meriting and deserving but by way of fitnesse and sutablenesse of disposition to receive Christ and taking them in this sence I say that your ignorance and sinfulnesse have occasionally through the working of GODS Spirit wrought in you such a fit and sutable disposition for the receiving of Christ that I doe pronounce you worthy to be admitted to the Lords Table Mat. O blessed be God if this be true but Sir I pray you what is this fit and sutable disposition which you say the Spirit of God hath by occasion of my ignorance and sinfulnesse wrought in me or wherein doth it consist Min. This fit and sutable disposition which the Spirit of God hath wrought in you consists in that sight and sence of your owne ignorant sinfull miserable and helplesse condition as hath made you see your need of Jesus Christ to be made unto you of God wisdome 1 Cor. 1. 30 righteousnesse sanctification and redemption Mat. But Sir I pray you how can such a disposition be said to make me worthy to be admitted to the Lords Table Min. Why even as we when we see a miserable poore hungry man that is senceable of his owne miserable and helplesse condition crave an Almes with earnest desire and intreating we doe conceive he is in a fit and sutable disposition to receive it and account him worthy to have an Almes bestowed upon him Even so when the Lord sees a man so sensible of his owne miserable and helplesse condition that he sees and feeles his need of Jesus Christ and therefore doth earnestly desire him
indeed growth in grace is a maine end and fruit of that Ordinance God thereby giving to every faithfull Receiver the Body and Blood of his Sonne Christ that by the Bread of his Flesh and the Wine of his Blood he may cause them to grow Mat. Well Sir this day hath beene a day of good tidings to me and surely Sir if the LORD have beene so mercifull unto me as you have declared then have I cause to magnifie and praise the name of the Lord as long as I live for bringing me hither this day to you surely if the Lord doe count me worthy to come to his Table and to receive Jesus Christ with all his rich endowments then may I truly say as I remember Hannah Samuels mother 1 Sam. 2. 8 said in her song He raiseth up the poore out of the dust and lifteth up the begger from the dunghill to set him among Princes and to make him inherit the throne of glory I little thought when I came hither with my neighbour Simon that I should bee found to be more fit and more worthy to be admitted to the Lords Table then he surely Sir if you had not proved it so plainly I should not have beleeved it Min. Assure your selfe neighbour Mathias that this day the words of the Apostle James are fulfilled concerning you two where he saith that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble and so are the words of the Virgin Mary where she saith that God filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away Mat. Sir I will now take my leave of you and truly I cannot tell how to expresse my thankfulnesse to you for the great paines you have taken with me this day the Lord in mercy make it profitable to me and recompence your paines to you an hundred fold and I beseech you Sir pray for me Min. Now the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God that your whole spirit and soule and 1 Thes 5. 23 24. body be preserved blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfull is he he that calleth you who also will doe it Mat. The Lord be with you Sir Come neighbour Simon will not you goe along with me Sim. No I pray you be going before and I will come after you Mat. Well then I will also take my leave of you and I thanke you for suffering me to come along with you to this place where I have through the mercy of God received so much good Sim. Well but do not you now goe home and boast among our neighbours that Master M. hath found you fit to be admitted to the sacrament and me unfit Mat. No neighbour Simon I shall not do so for I know that if it be so it is the free mercy of the Lord towards mee and therefore I desire rather to speake to my owne soule and say unto it in the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 7. For who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou hast not received Now if thou hast received it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it And so the Lord be with you both Sim. Fare you well good neighbour Mathias Min. The Lord be with you good neighbour Sim. Well Sir I wish that I were fit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper for I see there is much good to be gotten by the right receiving of it Min. Surely neighbour Simon if men did but know what good is to be obtained at the hands of the Lord by the right partaking thereof and what hurt doth come to a man by not receiving it aright they would not onely desire to come thereunto as indeed many doe though it is to be feared hand over head as we use to say not knowing what they doe but they would also endeavour to fit and prepare themselves thereunto and therefore no marvell though you do desire that you were fit to receive it aright Sim. Sir I doe perceive that he who is not fit to partake thereof is a miserable man whether he do receive it or not Min. He is so indeed for if he doe receive it being not fit he doth thereby commit the greatest sinne that is unpardonable and doth expose himselfe to the greatest misery that can befall a man either here or hereafter as you know I told my neighbour Alexander and if he receive it not then hee misseth and comes short of all that good which you know I told our neighbour Mathias comes to a man by means of the right receiving thereof O then what great care and paines ought men to take to fit and prepare themselves to partake of that Ordinance and how often should they frequent it being duly fitted and prepared And yet alas for want of so doing how many men and women by their absence doe deprive themselves of these great benefits Some there are that are neither fit nor willing to come others there are that are willing to come and yet not fit to come and others there are that are fit to come and yet not willing as for instance How many are there who because they cannot receive the Sacrament kneeling as they have formerly done are not willing to come What said an old simple ignorant man in my hearing not long since Rather then I will receive it so unreverently as they doe now a dayes by sitting at Table as if they were equall with Jesus Christ I will never receive it while I live And are there not some others who meerly out of a superstitious conceit doe desire to come and yet by reason of their unfitnesse are justly upon examination kept backe by the Eldership And are there not some who it may be are fit to come and yet doe not come either because they are ashamed to come before so many men to bee examined as they are informed doe sit upon that occasion or else are fearfull least they should not be able to answer them to their content and so be turned backe to their disgrace And are there not also some others who it may be are fit to come and yet either because they scorne to be examined at these yeares or by such and such a man whom they doe conceive is inferiour to themselves they will not come And are there not others also who are fit to come and yet doe not come because such are admitted to the Sacrament whom they conceive are not fit to partake thereof Thus I say either thorow superstitious ignorance prophannesse or through foolish shame or feare or else through the sinne of pride many are kept from that great benefit which otherwise they might receive by the right partaking of that Ordinance Sim. It is true indeed Sir I see it clearly and therefore I beseech you tell me what course you would advise me to take to fit and prepare my selfe thereunto that so I may come before you
and the rest to be admitted Min. Why truly neighbor Simon the best counsell that I can give you is to labour to become truly poore in spirit that is to say labour to see in your selfe a want of all good as of your selfe that so you may see your need or Jesus Christ and to this end I pray you consider that Shepherds â—ound beleever p. 145. as a godly writer saith Not onely some sinne but some good that a man thinkes he hath and resteth in without Christ may as easily prove his ruine because a mans owne righteousnesse rested in doth not onely hide mens sinnes but strengthens them in some sinne by which men perish Trusting in a mans own righteousnes and committing iniquity being couples Ezek. 33. 13. and therfore though you have forsaken all other sinnes yet if you doe still with the Scribes and Pharisees and with zealous Paul before his conversion retaine this sin you undoe your selfe Cast away therefore from you all your transgressions and confidence in your owne righteousnesse amongst the rest and with Paul after his conversion reckon it all but losse for Christ yea and Phil. 3. 8 9 judge it to be dung that you may win Christ and be found in him not having your owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith for God as a Creator Sincere Convert p. 108. saith that godly writer in another place having made a Law will not forgive one sin without the Blood of Christ Nay saith hee further Christs Blood will not do it neither if thou dost joyne never so little that thou hast or dost unto Jesus Christ and makest thy selfe or any of thy duties co-partners in that great work of saving thee Cry out therefore as that blessed Martyr did None but Christ None but Christ yea and as Richel cryed out Give me children or Gen. 30. 1. else Idie even so do you cry out Give me Christ or else I die For as hee that hath the Sonne hath life so he that hath not the Sonne hath not life 1 Joh. 5. 12. But for as much as you of your selfe have no power to do this I beseech you be earnest with God in prayer to make you see and feele your owne sinfulnesse and helplesnesse and so your great need of Jesus Christ who is that mighty one upon whom the Lord hath laid Act. 4. 12. help Psal 89. 19. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under Heaven given among men whereby wee must be saved wherefore saith the holy Ghost He Heb. 9. 25. is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing hee ever liveth to make intercession for them so that you may assure your selfe there is no need of any of your own righteousnesse or performances in the case of Justification or Salvation and therefore I pray you come empty handed to Christ who doth not require you to bring any thing at all to him to enrich him but would have you come poore and then will he inrich you and so shall you be fit to be admitted to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and then if you come in to us when we meet together and make it appeare to us that your heart is so qualified we shall willingly set open the gate to you and let you in and so beseeching the LORD to worke this in you by the power of his owne Spirit I will for this time take my leave of you commiting you to God and to the word of his grace Sim. Sir I could willingly have tarried longer with you but it may be your occasions doe now call you away from mee and therefore I will at this time take my leave of you giving you many thanks for the great pains you have taken with me and I beseech you Sir pray for mee and before long God willing I will make bold to come to you againe for truly I am perswaded I shall never be well till I have further conference with you but no more at this time FINIS