off going to school, or was bound apprentice, or settled in any way of education. From thence till fixed in some employment; if a married person, till entered into that condition. And from thence to another remarkable period, or to the present time. It may better assist some persons' memory, to consider the several places of their abode, and compute according to them. In each portion of time, recollect what sins you were most addicted to; in what instances, with what frequency, and with what other various aggravations, you committed them; and what have been the effects and consequences of those sins to yourselves and others, in order to repentance and godly sorrow; which must not be judged of by tears, but grief, and inward hatred of sin. Remembering that no man is the better merely for being examined, if there follows nothing after it. It is in order to a judgment to be passed upon ourselves. It is to search out our own iniquity, our beloved sin, in order to the mortification of it. That Goliath must first be slain, if ever the other Philistines are conquered. In some, it is pride; in others, worldliness; in some uncleanness; in others, drunkenness, gluttony, &c. That you may discover it, observe what sin it is you are most unwilling to part with; which you could even wish were not forbidden. Which you have formerly been most apt to plead for, to extenuate, to excuse, and hide.

The thoughts whereof do most frequently occur, especially when alone; first in the morning, and last at night; and are most distracting in prayer and worship.

Which an awakened conscience hath most plainly

told you of, under a sermon, or at a sacrament, or under some heavy affliction, or on a sick-bed, &c. Which you can least bear to be reproved for. Which the temperature of your body doth most incline to.

Which your calling, employment, company, and converse, administer the greatest temptations for.

That especially which hath the throne of the heart, and sets all the faculties at work, to contrive fuel and opportunities for its gratification.

Observe likewise what passion was most predominant in each period of time, or is yet so; and what ill effects it hath produced. Consider farther what dangerous temptations you have met with, how you have fallen by, or been able to resist them. Consider withal the time and the means whereby God hath at any time formerly awakened, convinced, and humbled you; what purposes of amendment, and promises of reformation, you have ever made; and how far you have, or have not, performed them. Recollect, likewise, all the special mercies you have received from God, in every state and period of your life, in order to thankfulness: the last section of these papers may give you some assistance therein and consider what returns you have made to God, for all his kindness.

You may do well to consider yourself also in the relations you have stood to others, as inferior, equal, or superior; in family, church, or state; in your calling, profession, employment, &c. And examine in what more notorious instances you have been faulty in your relative duties. How you did ordinarily carry it in your place and station; for that is

you

the best, the truest picture of a man, which is like him in his ordinary, every day's habit. Particularly, reflect upon the sins have committed in company with others; by whose example you have been drawn to sin, who may probably have been tempted by yours, and bewail it, and, if the persons are living, admonish them to repent; and, if you have injured and wronged any, acknowledge your fault, and, to the utmost of your power, make speedy restitution. If any of your companions in sin are dead, and, you fear, died without repentance, humble yourself particularly before God, for having contributed to their damnation. I know of some who have made such a catalogue of their sins, with the most observable aggravations of them; which they constantly preserved, and frequently reviewed, to keep them humble, penitent, watchful, and thankful; and, on some occasions of secret humiliation, have spread them before the Lord, (as Hezekiah did the writing of his enemy,) covering themselves with shame and confusion of face, by considering what they have been, and thence admiring the riches of free grace, in the forgiveness of such crimes, through the blood of Christ.

"Examine me, O Lord, and prove me: try my reins and my heart; for thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I will walk in thy truth. Thou hast searched me, O Lord, and known me; thou knowest my thoughts afar off; all my secret sins are in the light of thy countenance; and thou art acquainted with all my ways. Set my sins in order before me, that I may repent, and forsake them. Show me mine infirmities and wickedness, that I may watch

against them.

And teach me to judge and con

demn myself, that I may not be judged of the Lord, or condemned with the world."

SECTION XXV.

How Christians ought to examine their decays of grace and piety. The greatness of their sin, and of their loss, under such a declension: God's displeasure, and departure from them, considered, to awaken endeavours of a recovery. In what manner the faith of adherence may be acted by one who hath no assurance.

IT cannot but be of use to believers also, at stated times, to examine themselves, concerning their languishings and decays in grace, falling from their first love to a spirit of indifferency and lukewarmness, disorderly walking or unfruitfulness; whether "grey hairs are not here and there upon them, and they know it not." For God may withdraw by degrees, so that his departure may not presently be perceived. And some kind of activity in duty may be continued upon false principles, and from common assistance, while a Christian, as to his spiritual state, may be under a dangerous consumption. It is not difficult for others to observe it sometimes, and would be visible enough to themselves, would they spare a few hours to examine the matter. The punishment of such backslidings, the loss of the quickening and

comforting presence of the Holy Spirit, deserves likewise to be inquired into, in order to a speedy remedy, and should enforce the counsel.

I mean not barely the ebbing of affections in the duties of religion, or the want of life and quickening from sensible consolations, which new converts (especially such as have been reclaimed from a course of notorious impiety) have more of at first than afterwards. This, doubting Christians should particularly take notice of, by the instance of the prodigal, who was extraordinarily feasted at his first return, but was doubtless contented afterwards with the ordinary provisions of his father's house. Neither doth God dispense the same measure to all alike, nor to any alike at all times; some, who are called to greater services and sufferings than others, or had greater conflicts before conversion, may have a greater share than the rest of their brethren. Neither will the same degree of grace, imparted to some persons, so discernibly move and comfort, as it will do some others of a different temper. It is not, therefore, so much to be the matter of our inquiry (if at all it need to be so) whether we have more or less of sensible joy, in the performance of our duty,

but

Whether we are not fallen and declined, as to the inward vital acts of grace, and in the outward fruits of holiness; whether we have such clear convincing apprehensions of divine and spiritual truths, and the mysteries of the gospel, as formerly; whether our minds are not become more vain and heedless; whether our knowledge of God, and of the revelations of his will, be as powerful and efficacious