Now, to encourage us to examine ourselves concerning them, before we partake of the Lord’s supper, let us consider that Christ invites us to draw nigh to him therein; that he may take occasion to communicate the blessings of his redemption, which are signified thereby; that he may supply our wants, satisfy our desires, surmount our difficulties, and apply to us the great and precious promises of the covenant of grace, which are to be sought for at his hands, by faith and prayer, which supposes the performance of this duty of self-examination, with respect to the blessings that we stand in need of from him. 4. We are, before we partake of the Lord’s supper, to examine ourselves concerning the truth and measure of our knowledge in divine things; inasmuch as without the knowledge hereof, the heart cannot be good, nor any spiritual duty engaged in, in a right manner. As for a perfect comprehensive knowledge of divine truths, that is not to be expected, by reason of the weakness of our capacities, and the imperfection of this present state; wherein, as the apostle says, _we see_ but _through a glass darkly_, or, as it is said elsewhere, _We are but of yesterday, and know_, comparatively, _nothing_, Job viii. 9. However, there is a degree of knowledge, which is not only attainable, but necessary to our right engaging in this ordinance; and this does not consist barely in our knowing that there is a God, or that he is to be worshipped, or that there was such a person as our Saviour, who lived in the world, was crucified, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead: For a person may have a general notion of all these things, and yet be unacquainted with the end and design of Christ’s death, and the blessings and privileges of the covenant of grace, which he procured thereby, or with the claim that a person may lay by faith, to them; without which, there is not a sufficient knowledge, such as the apostle calls _a discerning the Lord’s body_, 1 Cor. xi. 29. which we ought to do in this ordinance. Now, that knowledge of divine truths, which ought not only to be pressed after, but, we are to examine ourselves, whether we have, in some measure attained to, respects, (1.) The person of Christ, as God-man, Mediator, and the offices which he executes as such; and more particularly, the manner and end of his executing his priestly office, in which he offered himself as a sacrifice for sin, which we are more especially to commemorate in this ordinance.