To be in a state of true grace, is to be miserable no more ; it is to be happy for ever. A soul in this state is a soul near and dear to God. It is a soul much beloved, and very highly valued of God. It is a soul housed in God. It is a soul safe in everlasting arms. It is a soul fully and eminently interested in all the highest and noblest privileges.^ The being in a state of grace makes a man's condition happy, safe, and sure ; but the seeing, the knowing of himself to be in such a state, is that which renders his life sweet and comfortable. The being in a state of grace will yield a man a heaven hereafter, but the seeing of himself in this state will yield him both a heaven here and a heaven hereafter ; it will render him doubly blest, blest in heaven, and blest in his own conscience.^
Now assurance is a reflex act of a gracious soul, whereby he clearly and evidently sees himself in a gracious, blessed, and happy state ; it is a sensible feeling, and an experimental discerning of -a man's being in a state of grace, and of his having a right to a crown of glory ; and this rises from the seeing in himself the special, peculiar, and distinguishing graces of Christ, in the light of the Spirit of Christ,' or from the testi- mony and report of the Spirit of God, ' the Spirit bearing witness with his spirit, that he is a son, and an heir-apparent to glory', Rom. viii. 16, 17.
It is one thing for me to have grace, it is another thing for me to see my grace ; it is one thing for me to believe, and another thing for me to believe that I do believe ; it is one thing for me to have faith, and another thing for me to know that I have faith. Now assurance flows from a clear, certain, evident knowledge that I have grace, and that I do believe, &c.*
Now this assurance is the beauty and top' of a Christian's glory in
> Ps. cxliv. 15 ; Mal.iii. 17 ; Rom. viii. 16, 17 : Deut. xxxiii. 26, 27 ; 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23.
* A man may he God's, and yet not know it ; his estate may be good, and yet he not Bee it, Eph. i. 13 ; 1 -John v. 13 ; Gal. iv. 6.
' A man cannot see the sun, but by the light of the sun.
* It is one thing to be an heir, and another thing to know that one is an heir. The child in the womb or in the arms, may be an heir to a crown, and yet understands it not.
* See Glossary, sub voce, — G.
this life. It is usually attended with the strongest joy, with the sweetest comforts, and with the greatest peace. It is a pearl that most want, a crown that few wear. His state is safe and happy, whose soul is adorned with grace, though he sees it not, though he knows it not.
Assurance is not of the essence of a Christian. It is required to the bene esse, to the well-being, to the comfortable and joyful being of a Christian ; but it is not required to the esse, to the being of a Christian. A man may be a true believer, and yet would give all the world, were it in his power, to know that he is a believer. To have grace, and to be sure that we have grace, is glory upon the throne, it is heaven on this side heaven. But more of these things you will find in the follow- ing discourse, to which I refer you.
A SERIOUS DISOOPRSE, TOUCflmG A WELL- GROUNDED ASSURANCE.
Shewing that believers may in this life attain unto a well-grounded assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness.
First, The ground on which the apostle Paul builds his assurance, is not any special revelation, but such a foundation as is common to all believers, as clearly appears from
Rom. viii. 32-34, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifleth ; who is he that conderaneth ? It is Christ that died,' yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
It is clear from these words, that this blessed apostle had not that glorious assurance that he speaks of in the two last verses of this chapter by immediate revelation,* for he concludes it from such arguments as are general or common to all the godly; and therefore it roundly follows,
First, That believers may in this life attain unto a well-grounded assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness. So Heze- kiah's assurance did spring from a principle that is common to all be- lievers, 2 Kings XX. 3. Ergo, —
tSecondly, It is the vei^ scope and end of the Scripture to help be- lievers to a well-grounded assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessed/ness. ' These things,' saith John, ' have I written unto you . that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life,' 1 John v. 13. These precious souls did believe, and they had eternal life, in respect of the promise of eternal life, Titus i. 2, and in respect of Christ their head, who had taken up their rooms
' Immediate revelations are fleeting and inconstant ; and therefore men had need he careful how they huild upon them.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 319
aforehand in heaven, and who as a public person doth represent all his people, Eph. ii. 6 ; and they had eternal life in respect of the begin- nings of it ; for what is grace but glory begun ? and what is glory but grace perfected ? Grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace at the full. Now, though they had eternal life in aJl these respects, yet they did not know it ; though they did believe, yet they did not believe that they did believe ; therefore the apostle, in those precious epistles of his, doth make it his business, by variety and plenty of arguments, to help all, but especially such as are weak in the faith, to a well-grounded as- surance of their eternal welfare.'
It is the very drift and design of the whole Scripture, to bring souls first to an acquaintance with Christ, and then to an acceptance of Christ, and then to build them up in a sweet assurance of their actual interest in Chiist : which made Luther to say, ' That he would not live in para- dise, if he might, without the word, but with the word he could Hve in hell itself.'* No histories are comparable to the histories of the Scrip- ture for,
1, Antiquity; 2, rarity; 3, variety; 4, brevity; 5, perspicuity; 6, harmony ; 7, verity.