gives, not to loiterers, but to holy labourers. Though no man merits assurance by his obedience, yet God usually crowns obedience with assurance. John xiv. 21-23, ' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him. and manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world ? Jesus answered and said unto him, If any man love me, he will keep my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.' In these words you see, that doing Christians, working Christians, are the only Christians that shall have most of the love of the Father and the Son, and that shall have the choicest mani- festations of grace and favour, and that shall have most of their pre- sence and company. So in Ps. 1. 23, * Unto him that ordereth his con- versation aright, will I declare the salvation of God/^ That is, I will declare myself to be his Saviour, I will shew him salvation, and I will shew him his interest in salvation ; I will save him, and I will make him see that I have saved him. He shall see the worth of salvation, and test the sweetness of salvation. So Gal. vi. 16, ' And as many as walk according to this rule ' (that is, the rule of the new creature), 'peace be on them, and mercy upon the Israel of God.' The Greek word that is here rendered ' walk,' signifies not simply to walk, but to walk by rule, in order, and measure, without treading aside, but making straight steps to our feet.* Now those choice souls that thus walk according to the law of the new creature, shall have peace and mercy in them, and peace and mercy with them, and peace and mercy on them. ' As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be on them,' Assurance is a jewel of too high a price to be cast into any of their bosoms that walk contrary to the laws of the new creature. Such may talk of assurance, and make a stir'and a noise about assur- ance, but it is the close walking Christian that shall be crowned with assurance. Assurance is a choice part of a believer's happiness, and therefore God will never give it out of a way of holiness. ' The Lord hath set apart for himself the man that is godly,' Ps. iv. 3. None are favourites in God's court, nor none are admitted to be of his counsel, but those who are all glorious within, and whose raiment is of em- broidered gold. That is, such whose principles are full of spiritual glory, and whose practices are amiable and answerable in purity and sanctity. These are the persons that shall have the honour to have God's ear, and the happiness to know his heart.'
(3.) The third means. To gain assurance, is to be kind to the SpiHt, hear his voice, follow his counsel, live up to his laws. The Spirit is the great revealer of the Father's secrets, he lies in the bosom of the Father, he knows eVery name that is written in the book of life ; he is best acquainted with the inward workings of the heart of God towards poor sinners ; he is the great comforter, and the only sealer up of souls to the day of redemption.* If you set him a-mourning by your wilful
1 y)"] U\i^, that disposeth his way, as God hath prescribed. ** rroix^ravm. Vide Bezam and Pareus on the text.
' Vis nunquam esse tristis ? Bene vtve, wouldst thou never be sad ? Then live well, sajrs Bernard. * Rom. viii. 26 ; John xiv. 26: Eph. i. 13.
416 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34«.
sinnings, that alone can glad you, by whom will you be gladded? Verily, Christians, when you turn your back upon the Spirit, he will not turn his face upon your souls. Your vexing of the Spirit will be but the disquieting of yourselves, Isa. Ixiii. 10. Look, as all lights cannot make up the want of the light of the sun, so all creatures cannot make up the want of the testimony of the Spirit. Let me speak to you, as God once spake to his people in Exod. xxiii. 20-23, ' Behold, says God, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in thy way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice ; provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him,' &c.^ So say I, behold the Spirit of the Lord, that is your guide and guard, he also is only able to make a soul-satisfying report of the'love and favour to you ; therefore, as ever you would have assurance, beware of him and obey his voice, provoke him not; for if you do by wilful transgressions, he will neither comfort you nor counsel you; he will neither be a sealing nor a witnessing Spirit unto you ; nay, he will raise storms and tempests in your souls ; he will present to you the Father frov/ning, and your Saviour bleeding, and himself as grieving ; and these sights will certainly rack and torture your doubt- ing souls. The Spirit of the Lord is a delicate thing, a holy thing, a blessed guest, that makes every soul happy where he lodges. ' There- fore grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption,'^ Eph. iv. 30. You will not grieve your guests, your friends, but courteously and friendly entertain them ; why then do you make so little conscience of grieving that Holy Spirit that alone can stamp the image of the Father upon you, and seal you up to life and glory ?
Ah, Christians ! the way to assurance is not to sit down sighing and complaining of the want of assurance, but it lies in your eyeing of the Spirit, in your complying with the Spirit, in your cleaving to the Spirit, in your following of the Spirit, in your welcoming of the Spirit, and in your honouring and obeying of the Spirit. As he said of the sword of Goliah, ' None like to that,' 1 Sam. xxi. 9 ; so say I, no means like to this, to gain a well-grounded assurance of a man's happiness and blessedness. And as he said, ' If there be any way to heaven on horseback, it is by prayer ;' so say I, if there be any way in the world to assurance, it is by being fearful to offend, and careful to please the Spirit of the Lord, whose office it is to witness to poor souls the remission of their sins, and the salvation of their souls.
(4.) The fourth means. If you would obtain assurance, then he sin- cere, be diligent and constant in assuring ordinances. He that will meet the king, must wait on him in his walks, Isa. Ixiv. 5. Christ's ordinances are Christ's walks; and he that would see the beauty of Christ, and taste of the sweetness of Christ, and be ravished with the love of Christ, must wait at wisdom's door, they must attend Christ in his own appointments and institutions. Rev ii. 1 ; Prov. viii. 34, 35. That
^ This angel is the Lord Jesus, as expositors do generally agree. ^3S?D, Malachi, which Hebrew word is here rendered angel, is by transposition of letters Michael, au some of the Rabbins have observed.