The word evidences truth, it evinces falsehood ; it fights against folly, it opens the bowels- of mercy, and it assures believing souls of eternal felicity. That is a precious word in Heb. vi. 18.^ God hath given us his word, his oath, his seal, that our consolation may be strong, and that our salvation may be sure. Now, what comfort can a believer have without assurance ? It is the assurance of my interest in the land of Canaan, in gospel- cordials, in precious promises, and in a precious Christ, that comforts and delights my soul. It is not enough to raise strong consolation in my soul, barely to know that there are mines of gold, mountains of pearl, heaps of treasures, a land flowing with milk and honey, but it is the knowledge of my interest in these that raises joy in my soul. To know that there are such things, and that I have no interest in them, is rather a vexation than a consolation to me ; to know that there is a feast of choicest delicates, but not a taste for me ; that there are pleasant fountains and streams, but I must perish for thirst in a wilderness ; to know that there are royal robes for such and such, but I must die in my rags ; to know that there is a pardon for such and such, but I must be turned off the ladder of hfe ; to know that there is preferment for such and such, but I must still lie with Lazarus at Dives' door ; such knowledge as this may well add to my vexation, but it will not add to my consolation.*
It was rather matter of sorrow than joy to the men of the old world, to know that there was an ark, when they were shut out; and to the Israelites, to know that there was a brazen serpent set up, whereby others were cured, when they died with the stinging of the fiery ser-
* Sorely glory is nothing else but a bright constellation of graces; happiness is no- thing but the quintesence of holiness.
* Gregory calls the Scripture, cor et animam Dei, the heart and soul of God. Adoro plenitudinem Scripturarum, I adore the fulness of the Scripture — Tertullian. [For Gre- gory of Nazianzum, see Oratio Secunda, Sec. cv. ; Tertullian, Apolog., et alibi. — G.l
^ 48surance produces such strong consolations, as swallows up all worldly grieu. As Moses' serpent did the sorcerers' serpents, or as the fire doth the fuel.
* Non in bonorum cognitione, ted fruitione.
320 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [RoM. VIII. 32-34.
pents.^ So how can it comfort me to know that there is peace in Christ, and pardon in Christ, and righteousness in Christ, and riches in Christ, and happiness in Christ, &c., for others, but none for me ! Ah, this knowledge will rather be a hell to torment me than a ground of joy and comfort to me. But now God hath in the Scripture discovered who they are that shall be eternally happy, and how they may reach to an assurance of their felicity and glory ; which made one [Luther] to say, ' That he would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible.'^ The Bible is a Christian's magna charta, his chief evidence for heaven. Men highly prize, and carefully keep their charters, privileges, convey- ances, and assurances of their lands ; and shall not the saints much more highly prize, and carefully keep in the closet of their hearts, the pre- cious word of God, which is to them instead of all assurances for their maintenance, deliverance, protection, confirmation, consolation, and eternal salvation.*
Thirdly, Other believers have in an ordinary way attained to a sweet assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness. ' We know,' saith the apostle, in the name of the saints, ' that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,' 2 Cor. v. 1, 2.* Their assurance sets them in triumph upon the throne. We have a house, a house above, a house in heaven, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We have a house, a heavenly house, a house made by the greatest wisdom and the highest love; a house, that for honour, pleasures, riches, safety, stability, glory, and perpetuity, transcends all the royal palaces in the world. It is a house ' not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens.'
So the church : Solomon's Song ii. 16, ' My beloved is mine, and I am his.' I know, says the spouse, that Jesus Christ is mine. I can with the greatest confidence and boldness affirm it : he is my head, my husband, my Lord, my Redeemer, my Justifier, my' Saviour ; * and I am his. I am as sure that I am his, as I am sure that I live. I am his by purchase, and I am his by conquest ; I am his by donation, and I am his by election ; I am his by covenant, and I am his by marriage. I am wholly his ; I am peculiarly his ; I am universally his ; I am eternally his. This I well know, and the knowledge thereof is my joy in life, and my strength and crown in death.' So the church : Isa. Ixiii. 16, ' Doubt- less thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, 0 Lord, art our Father, and our Redeemer,
' Spira cried out, Christ is to me a grief, a torment, becatise I despised him, I rejected him, and I have no part in him. [The 'Life' and 'fearful death' of Spira, is a chap- book to this day. Cf Sibbes's Works, toI. iii. p. 533, note qq. — G.]
* This, like most of Brooks's sayings of Luther, is a reminiscence from that favourite Puritan folio. Captain Bell's ' CoUoquia Mensalia,' 1652. This reference may serve once for all.— G.
» Ps. cxix. 11 and 72 compared.
* Nee Christus nee caelum paiitur hyperholem, neither Christ nor heaven can be hyper- bolised.
6 Eph. i. 22, 23; 1 Cor. i, 30, vi. 20; Ps. ex. 3; John x. 29, xv. 16; Ezek, xvi. 8; Hob. ii. 19, 20.
Rom. VIII. 32-34] heaven on earth. 321
thy name is from everlasting.'* David could say, 'The Lord is my portion for ever,' Ps. Ixxiii. 25, 26 ; and at another time he could sweetly sing it out, ' I am thine, save me •' Ps. cxix. 94. Job could look through the darkest cloud, and see that his Redeemer lives, Job xix. 25. Thomas cries out, * My Lord, and my God ! ' John xx. 28. And Paul trumpets it out, ' That nothing should separate him from the love of Christ,' Rom. viii. 38, 39 ; and that he had ' fought a good fight, and finished his course ; and that there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness,' 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8.
By what hath been said, it clearly appears that other believers have obtained assurance in an ordinary way, and therefore believers now may attain to a sweet assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessed- ness.^ Certainly, God is as loving, and his bowels of compassion are as strong towards believers now, as ever they were to believers of old ; and it makes as much for the honour of God, the lifting up of Christ, the stopping of the mouths of the wicked, and the rejoicing of the hearts of the righteous, for God to give assurance now, as it did for God to give it then.'