The riches, honours, langiaages, and favours of this world cannot be obtained without much trouble and travel, without rising early and going to bed late, and do you think that assurance, which is more worth than heaven and earth, can be obtained by cold, lazy, heartless services?^ If you do, you do but deceive your own souls. There are five things that God will never sell at a cheap rate, — Christ, truth, his honour, heaven, and assurance. He that will have these must pay a good price for them, or go for ever without them,^
And as Peter exhorts you to * give all diligence to make your calling and election sure,' so Paul presseth you to look to the obtaining of full assurance, which does clearly evidence that there is a possibility of attaining unto a full assurance oi our happiness and blessedness in this life. And ' we desire,' saith the apostle, ' that every one of you do shew the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises,' Heb. vi. 11, 12.^ We must not only strive after assurance, but we must strive and shew all diligence to the attaining of that rich and full assurance which will scatter all fears and doubts, which will make a soul patient in w^aiting, courageous in doing, and cheerful in suffering, and which will make a heaven in a man's heart on this side heaven, and make him go singing into paradise, in despite of all calamities and miseries.* And certainly it can never stand with the holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, and goodness of God, to put his people upon making their calling and election sure, and upon obtaining full assurance, if there were not a possibility of obtaining a full and well-grounded assurance of their happiness and blessedness in this life ;* and therefore it doth undeniably follow that they may attain unto a blessed assurance of their felicity and glory whilst they are in this vale of misery. The contrary opinion will make a man's life a hell here,, though he should escape a hell hereafter.
Seventhl'i^, The Lord hath, in much Tnercy and love, propounded in his word the ways and means whereby believers may obtain a well- grounded assurance of their everlasting happiness and blessedness ; and therefore it may be obtained. Take three scriptures to evidence this.
The first is in 2 Peter i. 13. If you turn to the words, you shall find that the Lord does not only press tbem to ' give all diligence to make their calling and election sure ;' but he shews them plainly the way and means whereby this nmy be done, namely, by adding ' to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge,' &e.
* Ps. cxxvii. 1, 2; Luke v. 5; Prov xiv, 23.
* Qui fecit te sine te, non salvibit te sine te. — Augustine. [Confessions, I., et alibi, — G.] 3 Vide Calvin and Piscator on the text.
* PrcEcepta docent, exempla movent; precepts may instruct, but examples do persuade. See from verses 13 to 19 of this chapter. [Hebrews vi.]
* It was a good saying, Da quod jttbet et jube quod vis. [Augustine, Confessions, I., &c. &c.— G.]
326 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
The second scripture is that 1 Cor. xi. 28, ' But let a man examine himself ; and so let eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.' By ex- amination the soul comes to see what right it hath to Christ and all the precious things of his house ; and believingly to eat so of that bread of life, that heavenly manna, as that it may live for ever.
The third scripture is that 2 Cor. xiii. 5, ' Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith ; prove yourselves ; know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates V or unapproved, or rejected.* By a serious examination of a man's own estate, he may know whether he hath faith or not, whether he be Christ's spouse or the devil's strumpet, whether there be a work of grace upon his heart or not. And certainly it cannot stand with the glorious wisdom, unspotted right- eousness, and transcendent holiness of God, to put men upon the use of such and such means in order to the obtaining of such and such an end, if that end could not be obtained by the use of the means prescribed. Exodus XV. 11. Man, that hath but a spark of that wisdom, righteous- ness, and holiness that is in God, will not put any upon the use of such or such means for the obtaining of health, wealth, or the like, unless there be a proper tendency in the use of those means prescribed to reach such ends.^ And will God, who is wisdom, righteousness, and holiness in the abstract? Surely no. God is one infinite perfection in him- self,^ which is eminently and virtually all perfections of the creatures ; and therefore it is impossible that God should act below the creature,* which he should do if he should put the creature upon the use of those means that would not reach the ends for which the means were used.
Thus you see clearly by this seventh argument that believers may in this life attain to a well-grounded assurance of their everlasting happi- ness and blessedness.
Eighthly, It was the principal end of Christ's institution of the sacrament of the supper that he might assure them of his love, and that he might seal up to them the forgiveness of their sins, the accep- tation of their persons, and the salvation of their souls, Mat. xxvi. 27, 28. The nature of a seal is to make things sure and firm among men ; so the supper of the Lord is Christ's broad seal, it is Christ's privy- seal, whereby he seals and assures his people that they are happy here, that they shall be more happy hereafter, that they are everlastingly beloved of God, that his heart is set upon them, that their names are written in the book of life, that there is laid up for them a crown of righteousness, and that nothing shall be able to separate them from him who is their light, their life, their crown, their all in all.*
In this sacrament Christ comes forth and shews his love, his heart, his bowels, his blood, that his children may no longer say. Doth the Lord Jesus love us ? doth he delight in us ? &c. ; but that they may say with the spouse, ' I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me,' Cant. vii. 10.* Many precious Christians there are that have lain long
' ioxiftd^trt, as the goldsmith does the gold in the fire. iVoxifnu, i. e. unapproved or coun- terfeit ; not reprobates, as it is translated. — Vide Grotiua. [Cf. Plato, Legg. 742, a Q.]
* Job xxxviii. 5, 18, 21, 33 verses compared.
3 Abstracts do better express God than concretes and adjectives.
* Daniel vi. 8 ; Mat. xxvii. C6 ; 2 Tim. iv. 8; Col. iii. 11.
* inpltJTI His desirous affection is towards me, as the wife's is towards her dearest husband. iSo the Hebrew word signifies.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 327