The loadstone cannot draw the iron when the diamond is in pre- sence ; no more cannot the vanities of this world draw the soul after them, when assurance, that choice pearl of price, is in presence.
I have read of Lazarus, that after he was raised from the grave, he was never seen to smile. The assurance that he had of more glorious things, did deaden his heart to the things of this world ; he saw nothing in them worthy of a smile. Ah ! were there more assurance among Christians, there would not be such tugging for the world, and such greedy hunting and pursuing after it, as is in these days, to the dishonour of God, the reproach of Christ, and the shame of the gospel.
* Souls that want assurance are like liim in ./Esop, that blew hot and cold with the Bame breath. The wind is not more subject to change and shift from one quarter to Another, from one corner to another, than they are subject to change and shift in chang- ing times.
' Autisthenes. Gf. Plato, Phsedo, sec. 69, &nd Diog. Laert vi. 10. — Ot.
408 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
Get but more assurance, and less money will serve your turns ; get but more assurance, and less places of honour and profit will serve your turns ; get but assurance, and then you will neither transgress for a morsel of bread, nor yet violently pursue after the golden wedge, &c.^
[4.] The fourth advantage. Assurance will exceedingly heighten you in your communion with God, and it will exceedingly sweeten your communion with God. Assurance of a man's propriety in God raises him high in his fellowship with God, 1 John iii. 2. There are none that have such choice and sweet communion with God as those that have the clearest assurance of their interest in God, as may be seen throughout the whole book of Solomon's Song. ' My beloved is mine, and I am his,' saith the spouse, Cant. ii. 16. I am assured of my pro- priety in him, says she, and therefore he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts ; and upon this account it is that she holds king Jesus in the galleries, that she is sick of love, that she is raised and ravished with his kisses and embraces : ' His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me,' chaps, i. 13, vii. 5, ii. 6. None had more assurance of her interest in Christ than she, and none higher and closer in communion with Christ than she. The wife's assurance of her interest in her husband, sweetens and heightens her communion with her husband. The child's assurance of his interest in his father, sweetens his commerce and fellowship with his father. So the believer's assurance of his interest in God, will exceedingly heighten and sweeten his communion and fellowship with God. Assurance of a man's interest in God sweetens every thought of God, and every sight of God, and every taste of God, and every good word of God. God is as sweet to the assured soul when he hath a sword in his hand as when he hath a sceptre ; when he hath the rod of indignation as when he hath the cup of consolation ; when his garments are rolled and dyed in blood as when he appears in his wedding robes ; when he acts the part of a judge as when he acts the part of a father, &c.*
[5.] The fifth advantage. Assurance will he a choice preservative to keep you from backsliding from God and his xvays. Ah ! assur- ance will glue the soul to God and his ways, as Buth was glued to her mother Naomi. It will make a man ' stand fast in the faith, and quit himself like a good soldier of Christ,' Gal. v. 1, 2 Tim. ii. 3. 2 Peter i. 10, 11, 'Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure : for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall' Stumble ye may, and he that does but stumble gets ground by his stumbling. Assurance will keep a man from falling foully and from falling utterly. Verily, the reason why there is so many apostates in these days is, because there are so few that have a well-grounded assurance in these days.'
' So when God gave Galeacius, that Italian marquis, an assurance of everlasting happi- ness, he withstood many golden temptations, and cried out, Cursed be he that prefers all the glory of the world to one day's communion with Christ, &c. Justice would not be sold and bought, as it is in these days, were there more assurance in the world.
* llabet omnia qui habet habentem omnia, he hath all that hath the owner of all.
3 Luther, writing to his friend Melancthon, troubled with fears, saith, Si nos ruimut ruit et Christus, if we fall, saith he, Christ falls. Pulchrior in prcelio occisus miles quam fuga salvuf, better be slain in the bed of honour, than be safe by running away. [Cor- respondence during Diet of Augsburg.— G.]
KOM. VIII. 32-34.] HEAVEN ON EARTH. 40^
Pliny speaks of some fishes that swim backward.* Ah ! many pro- fessors in these days swim backward ; they swim from God, and Christ, and conscience; yea, they swim from the very principles of morality and common honesty. Beheve it, friends ! it is not high notions in the brain, but sound assurance in the heart, that will keep a man close to Christ when others backslide from Christ. An assured Christian will not exchange his gold for copper ; he knows that one old piece of gold is worth a thousand new counters ; one old truth of Christ is worth a thousand new errors, though clothed with glistering robes; and there- fore he will prize the truth, and own the truth, and keep close to the truth, when others that want a sound assurance make merchandise of Christ, precious truths, and of their own and others' immortal souls. Get assurance, and thou wilt stand when seeming cedars fall ; want assurance, and thou canst not but fall, to the breaking of thy bones, if not to the utter loss of thy precious soul, 2 Peter ii. 3.
[6.] The sixth advantage. Assurance will very much embolden the $oul with God. It will make a man divinely familiar with God ; it will make a man knock boldly at the door of free grace ; it will make a man come boldly before the mercy-seat ; it will make a man enter boldly within the holy of holies. Heb. x. 22, ' Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance^ of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.' Assurance makes the soul top and top-gallant ; it makes the soul con- verse with God as a favourite with his prince, as a bride with her bridegroom, as a Joseph with a Jacob.