tender Father of a dear Redeemer and that the good and holy Spirit should have been so grieved by thee Eph. 4.30 And let the end of all this be that thou now at last come to a hatred and abhorrence of it and that thou art now going to Jesus to take up new Resolutions of Reformation Such as this let thy Examination be look back thus upon thy past dayes look into the State of thy Soul search it narrowly and as strictly as thou canst and see if there be any one known wilful Sin lodging in it and beg of God to discover it to thee and then take this opportunity of throwing it off forever Or if after a long Custom and habit it be not to be thrown off all at once then at least begin thy faithful resolutions and war against it now never leaving till by the grace of God always ready for those that beg and faithfully use it thou hast obtained the Victory and subdued it and here at the Lord's Table thou wilt get greater strength against it new Arguments against it The remembrance of thy dying Saviour's bleeding Love will assist thee in the conquest of it Come then let us go to our Jesus and to the Entertainment which he will make for us and let this Examination bring us to a sense of our Sins that the sense of them may bring us to a Humiliation and that humiliation may bring us to sincere Contrition and that Contrition may bring us to Repentance Reformation and Holyness that so we may come at length to see the Pleasures and Advantages of a Religious and Holy Life and tast those Sweets and Delicacies which we yet little think there are in such a state of Life and that so our past impieties may all be covered with the Robes of our Lord's Righteousness But that you may never hereafter be at a loss in your Examination so as to neglect this Holy and Heavenly Duty because of endless doubts and fears whether you are qualified or no do but try your selves by these following questions As I was baptized into the Religion of the ever blessed Jesus so am I willing to stand to these engagements to the utmost of my power that were then made in my name Do I seriously believe the Gospel to be the Truth of God and will I labour uprightly to conform my heart and life to it Do I repent of all my Sins known and secret and my former disobedience Have I a lively and stedfast Faith in Christ my Saviour Am I sensible of my unworthyness to come to this Table and desirous to be made more worthy that is am I sensible of my Crimes and Iniquities and desirous of Pardon and of Grace to reform And do I resolve and purpose a sincere reformation of any thing that I can discover in my self at any time which is contrary to the Will of God Particularly do I resolve and purpose to set my self with watchfulness and diligence against that bosom Sin whatever it be to which I know my self most inclin'd Do I harbour in my heart no one known wilful Sin at this instant Do I desire and heartily endeavour to understand the Gospel of my Saviour and to direct my Life and Actions according to the Doctrines there delivered And wherein I shall at any time hereafter fall through frailty infirmity or unawares do I resolve speedily to rise again by Repentance and by a greater Care and diligence and watchfulness for the future Am I in Love and Charity with all men and willing and ready to do any good action for Friends and Enemies and do I wish and desire their good of Soul and Body Goods and good Name Am I desirous to renew this Covenant of mine with God and to come and thankfully commemorate my Dear Saviour's bleeding dying Love for me in the Sacrament To come there to receive fresh tokens of his Love to me and to beg and receive more of his Grace to help me to perform these things and to live a sincerely Holy and a Christian life If from a sincere and honest heart you can answer Yes to these particulars then lay aside your doubts away with your fears and scruples And in the name of God come and come with joy and comfort with a thankful lightsom and chearful heart to this most holy and heavenly and pleasant duty in the World And thus much of Examination Secondly the Second part of Preparation is That upon such Examination we then enter into a holy Course of life by resolutions of a future new obedience Let this be the end and intent of Examination of our selves that so having found what our frequent too frequent breaches of our Covenant of the Commands of our Saviour have been we may seasonably while our day lasts take up hearty and unfeigned purposes of discharging them uprightly for the remainder of our days Thus holy David Ps 119.59 I thought on or I examined my wayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Accuratum examen institui Synops and turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies Let our Examination of our ways have the same end the same fruit and effect that his had Here let us come then and renew and declare our Christian Resolutions when our Lord calls and invites us and is willing to have us do it More especially here do thou go to declare and renew them against that particular Iniquity to which upon thy Examination thou foundest thy self most frequently tempted bring with thee an enrire hatred of all but especially of that which hath oftenest foyl'd thee heretofore and got the Victory over thee and may be most like to return upon thee and do so again And as now thou art to come in an hatred of it so think and consider by what wayes and means Companies and Temptations it may be most like to steal in upon thee again Consider by what occasions in what business or imployment 't is that it may be like to entice thee again and bear thee down before it and that so often so long till it may be thou dye in it and thou lye down in the grave with it and the holy Jesus come and find it unmortified and altogether unreformed and thou be at his second coming Sentenced for it to enter into the Lot and portion of the damned Having in these thy holy resolutions considered the occasions of it or by what delights or profits and advantages it usually tempts thee and prevails over thee labour then how dear soever it cost thee to get out of the snare and the temptation resolve whatever mortifications self-denials or disadvantages in thy Worldly affairs it stand thee to get out of the way of it In the first place labour now then to foresee what the occasion of it may be by which wayes the temptation enters upon thee by what Companies I say business Imployments for the Love of what pleasures advantages and interests thou art led to it that so foreseeing them thou mayest
Mediator Jesus Thus 't is called the blood of the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mat. 26.28 or of the new Covenant Now this new Covenant between God and us made by our Saviour is as was before said that God will give pardon of our Sins sanctifying Grace and everlasting Glory upon our Conditions of Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience Our Lord in those Mysteries Seals this to us and assures us as he is the God of Truth and cannot lye or deceive us that he will perform his part We on the other hand seal back this to him that we will sincerely and heartily endeavour to perform our part We are then to remember that thus it was promised for us in our Baptism when we knew nothing of it but here we come in our own persons to take those advantageous Conditions on our selves to renew them by our own hand our own act and our own choice This is my Blood of the new Covenant says our Saviour to this our Lord invites us to shew first his death till he come and next to renew our Covenant with him to Seal it again and to declare our resolutions to labour more effectually and diligently for the remainder of our dayes to stand to our engagements and discharge our Conditions of it O my Lord say now upon this consideration who am I that thou shouldest leave thy Fathers bosom to be the compassionate Mediator of a new Covenant between God and me but oh who am I that after so many breaches of it thou shouldst call and invite me once more to come and renew it with thee again who am I that thou shouldst speak to me to come and enter again into a further confirmation of it what a tender mercy is this how blest a priviledge is this that thou art pleased to call me once more to come and receive my Pardon if but yet for the future I do in an honest sincerity perform my part of the Covenant What long-suffering is this that thou shouldst still bid me to approach and have my Pardon sealed too if my terms be but yet performed and how far have I been from deserving any thing of this at thy hands And O my Jesu shall I refuse to come and humbly accept of those mercies which thou art yet pleased to offer me and though I have broken my part of that Covenant which this Sacrament is a seal of shall I not thankfully come and accept of thy desires to make good thine if after all this I am not yet wanting to my self Shall I not rejoyce in an opportunity of confirming and ratifying in my own person that which was done for me without my knowledge in my Baptism shall I not come and declare my desires to be found now and ever within the Covenant of Grace Or shall I voluntarily withdraw my self from it and not come and put my hand and seal to it with others of my Christian Brethren shall I by my refusal to renew it declare for Sin for the World Flesh and Devil Far be it from me say O my dear Redeemer far be such thoughts as those No I come willingly and readily and chearfully with a Soul and Heart and Mouth full of Praises and Adorations to renew this gracious Covenant to own my self thy Disciple thy Servant thy follower I come to see thy dying bleeding Love and to imprint it afresh upon my memory I come to see thy earnest desires of accomplishing my Redemption represented to me I come to behold thy Agony and bloody sweat thy Cross and Passion thy Body broken thy Blood poured out for me I come freely and openly to own my unworthyness to come at all to own how undeservingly I have walked of those benefits I come to sue a Pardon for my breaches of my terms of the new Covenant I come to seal it again with thee and humbly and thankfully adore thee for this mercy that thou callest me once more to do so O that instead of ever entertaining a thought of absenting our selves we would imploy it in some such meditations as these Dr. Sherlock Relig. Assemb or with the words following of that excellent person before mentioned That frequent Communions are as necessary to our spiritual growth and increase in holyness to repair the decays of our Graces and to renew our strength and vigour in serving God and to procure the pardon of Sin after a relapse and to call back the holy Spirit when he is withdrawn from us as bread is to keep our bodies in constant repair and did men love their Souls as they do their bodies they would no more neglect the Supper of our Lord than their daily food And if we have been guilty of any breach of Covenant with God by venturing on the commission of any Sin when we have with tears bewailed our Sin and renewed our Repentance here we must renew our Covenant and by approaching the Table of our Lord declare that though we are Sinners yet we are not Apostates that is we are not fallen from the Faith or the Christian Religion but that we still own our Covenant and by the Grace of God which we now implore and hope to receive resolve to continue stedfast in it while we live CHAP. III. Of Examination of our Selves I Come next in the third place to shew briefly how we are to come prepared to this holy Sacrament The chief parts of preparation are these First Examination of our selves Secondly To enter then into a holy Course of Life by Repentance and Resolutions of a future sincere Obedience Thirdly To bring with us a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ Fourthly To bring with us Charity to our Brethren Fifthly To bring with us Devotion and a pious frame of Soul Of each of these briefly First of Examination of our selves to this St. Paul adviseth Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that Cup. 1 Cor. 11.28 And here we are to examine as far as our memory can inform us what our breaches have been of that Covenant which we entred into with God and our Saviour in Baptism We told you that our part of the Covenant is Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience But alas we have most miserably gon astray and have often knowingly wittingly and willingly broken all these parts of that holy Covenant As to our Faith first how dull lifeless and unactive has that been how little have we shewed it by our works by works of Mercy Piety Charity or Devotion How little have we shewed our Faith by our Conformity of heart and life to those Gospel duties to God to others and our selves by which we should have shewn it St. Ja. 4.18 Again as to Repentance how unsincere has that been how have we return'd soon after our beginnings of it to our old iniquities like the Dog to his vomit or the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet.
2.22 Can we not easily remember the time when we had wept over our Crimes and thought our Repentance had been deep and hearty that we instantly fell into them again upon the next temptation that look't fair and forgot our holy Resolutions Whereas a Reformation or change of life is the life of Repentance and without that at least in the Gospel measures that is in the most hearty sincerity though not entire perfection what we call Repentance is but the bowing down the head like a Bull-rush Then as to that other part of our Covenant Obedience how unsincere has this been too how partial have we been in it performing one duty and omitting two reforming one iniquity and then soon after entring upon another instead of it Thus can we not remember that we may have changed the Lusts of our Youth into the Covetousness of old age the intemperance and vanity of our younger days into revenge and malice in our growing years and so instead of a universal reformation often exchanging only one sin for another Then again how gross has our Ignorance been of our necessary and indispensable duties and yet of those that we have known how few have we faithfully discharged how has the World Flesh and Devil stept in between us and our former resolutions of Obedience So dismally have we broken our part of the Covenant But now does our God and Saviour call us to renew it once more and will he be reconciled to us yet if we heartily return and renounce iniquity and give up our selves to obey his commands and is he ready to give us an assurance of this and to confirm it in the holy Sacrament Come my Soul let us examine our selves and consider what our breaches have been of this gracious Covenant at least our greater and our more notorious heynous breaches that is what our omissions of our Duties have been what our known commissions have been that so we may come to a true and deep Humiliation of our selves before God and being sensible of our Crimes and heavy Laden we may come to Jesus to be eased of them and that so seeing them we may loath them that loathing them we may remember this when we come to the Table of the Lord and that we may remember it too when we are come off from that holy Table and are going abroad into the World again and throw them off forever That so we may ever remember how dear they cost us and if returned to again are like to cost us dearer how dear they cost our Jesus and yet how willing he is to be reconcil'd And when the Temptation returns again we may beat it off by divine aid with some of these considerations some of these remembrances and especially this That forgiveness belongs not to him who sins and repents repents and sins on still but to him who repents so as to forsake his Crimes and his Iniquities Plainly and in short the meaning of Examination is to consider these three things following First To examine whether you rightly understand that Vow and Covenant which you made with God in your Baptism and which you come to renew and Seal again with God in the Sacrament If you do not 't is I say it again briefly this Almighty God on his part graciously promises a free pardon of all your past-Sins Grace here and Salvation hereafter by Jesus Christ Upon Condition that we discharge our part that is seriously believe the truth of the Gospel of our Saviour Truly Repent of all our Sins and by sincere resolutions and constant endeavours of future Obedience give up our selves to follow him in Holyness and Righteousness all the dayes of our Lives Secondly To look into the Soul and as far as our memory will reach to enquire what our Iniquities especially our greater iniquities have been with reference to God Our selves Or our Neighbours that we can discover we have adventured upon either in Thought Word or Action Thirdly To enquire what Omissions of Duties especially what greater omissions either to God our selves or Neighbours we can charge upon our selves either of Thought Word or Action And when we have so done to bewail them heartily as well as our Secret-Sins with David Ps 19.12 to take new Resolutions against them to go and declare those our holy resolutions at the Holy Sacrament and when that is over to labour watchfully and sincerely to keep those pious Resolutions This is 〈◊〉 short the meaning of Examination as to the particular heads of Examination and helps to it Whole Duty of Man I refer you to the book mentioned in the Preface But then let us Examine not only what our iniquities have been but also how great they have been how they have been aggravated or increased in their guilt or made greater by several wayes and means For thus Examine have not some of them been against much light much knowledge have we not rusht into them foreseeing them plainly and done it wittingly and willingly Examine again has it not been a Sin or Sins not only of knowledge but of which we might easily consider before-hand the great guilt and dangers Nay possibly did weigh and consider it and yet after such consideration have resolved to choose it for some vain delight or trifling advanrage it brought with it Examine further was it not a Sin which when we adventured on our own Conscience flew in our face and stept in between us and it and yet we broke through all Resistances and oppositions of Conscience Examine again had not thy Sin this guilt to make it greater that it has frequently been committed so frequently that no vows no former purposes of amendment or obedience could restrain thee from it but didst wilfully break all these to come to thy crime Examine further it is not grown up to a greater height has it not this increase of its guilt that 't 'as been so frequently adventured upon as that it is grown into a custome a second Nature with thee strongly grafted and deeply rooted in thee Examine again is it not so deeply rooted in thee that thy Conscience is even hardened and seared against it that afflictions sent from God to reclaim thee have not wrought upon thee or it may be 't is of so Long continuance that the charitable and private admonitions of thy Friends and the Ambassadours of God have been in vain with thee so deeply rooted that notwithstanding these the long custom of the Sin has endeared thee to it so as to like it in thy self and others too Having inquired therefore what thy iniquities are examine whether they have not some of these aggravations that make them greater and more heynous If thou findest it so upon enquiry Oh let the consideration of it work thee into a deep sense of and humiliation for it and that humiliation for it lead thee to sincere Contrition to grief of heart that thou shouldest thus have requited the infinite mercies of a