(1.) The first haTidmaid. The first is love. Oh!, the assurance of divine favour doth mightily inflame a man's love to Christ. Mary Magdalene loved much ; Christ's love to her drew out her love very much to Christ, Luke vii. Assurance makes the soul sing it out with that sweet singer of Israel, ' I will dearly love thee, O Lord, my strength,' Ps. xviii 2.^ Lovers know not how to keep silence ; lovers of Christ are full of gracious expressions. Magnes amoris est amor; love is the attractive loadstone of love. It is impossible for a soul not to love Christ, that knows he is beloved of Christ. Christ's love constrains the soul to love, not by forcible but loving necessity. Praxiteles exquisitely drew love, taking the pattern from that passion which he felt in his own heart. A believer cannot find the heart of Christ to be beating towards him, but his heart will strongly beat towards Christ. Divine love is like a rod of myrtle, which, as Pliny reports, makes the traveller that carries it in his hand, that he shall never be faint, weary of walking, or loving.* Love alone overpowereth all power. Love is the diadem ; none but the queen must wear it. Love is the wedding garment ; none but the spouse can fit it. Love is a loadstone to draw, as well as a fire to warm. He that doth not love Christ, was never assured of the love of Christ.
* f|3Nn*1, Vaiithaiwaph in Pihil,^ to shew that the Lord waa greatly angry with Solomon. The root C|JX, signifies properly to snuff with anger. It notes such anger as appeareth ia the paleness of the face, and snuj£ng of the nose.
* This made Anselm say, That he had rather be thrust into hell without sin, than go into heaven with sin.
* OmiN, from Dm, to love intimately and dearly, as a tender mother loves the fruit of her womb.
* See Index under Myrtle, for former allusions.— G.
5J8 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.t
(2.) The second handmaid, or companion that attends a well- grounded assurance, is humility. David, under assurance, cries out, * I am a worm and no man,' ^ Ps. xxii. 6 ; Abraham, under assurance, cries out, that he is but ' dust and ashes ;' Jacob, under assurance, cries out, that he was * less than the least of all mercies ;' Job, under assur- ance, 'abhors himself in dust and ashes;' Moses had the honour and the happiness to speak with God ' face to face ;' he was very much in God's books, in God's favour ; and yet a more humble soul the earth did never bear. The great apostle Paul, under all the revelations and glorious manifestations of God to him, counts himself ' less than the least of all saints,' Eph. iiL 8. That is presumption, that is a delusion of the devil, and no sound assurance, that puffs and sw^ells the «ouls of men, that makes men prize themselves above the mafket, above the value that God hath put upon them.
(3.) The third handm/iid or companion that attends assurance, is. holy joy. Ah ! this assurance causes the strong waters of consolation to overflow the soul. Assurance raises the strongest joy in the soul : Luke i. 46, 47, and Mary said, ' My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.' When a man comes to be assured that God is his Saviour, presently his spirit rejoices in God. This truth is held forth by three parables in that of Luke xv., so in that of 1 Peter i. 8, 9, ' Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory : receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.'^ Oh the joy, the joy, the inexpressible joy that attends a well- grounded assurance ! Assurance raises a paradise of delight in the soul. In quihus operamur, in illis et gaudem^us, saith TertuUian : in what things or persons we act, in those things we rejoice.^ A Christian, under the power of assurance, works all his works in Christ ; in him, therefore, and in him alone, he rejoice th.
[8.] The eighth difference. Eighthly, and lastly, A well-grounded assurance sometimes springs from the testimony und witness of the Spirit of God. The Spirit sometimes witnesses to a believer's spirit that he is born of Ood, that he is beloved of God, that he hath union and communion with God, and that he shall reign for ever with God : Rom. viii. 26, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God.' The Spirit itself witnesseth not only the gifts and graces of the Spirit, but the S{Mrit itself witnesseth together with our own spirit, that we are the children of God.* Sometimes the saints have two witnesses joining their testimonies together to confirm and establish them in these blessed and glorious truths, that they are the sons of God and heirs of glory ; and this is their honour as well as their comfort, that the blessed Spirit should bear witness at the bar of their conscience that they are the sons of God : 1 Cor. ii. 12, ' Now we liave
' nV7"in. The Hebrew word tolagnah, that is Ivere rendered worm, signifiea a very little worm, which a man can haxdly see or perceive.
* ^Aya.xxMffh, to dance aiui leap for joy ; l«J«g«r/«i*>i, glorified already, they haye heaven's happiness beforehand.
» Apology : frequently, — G.
* nuri ri vnu/iu,, that same spirit. The Spirit's work is not ^agri/^uV, but rvfifta^n/^tT*, to witness together with our spirit, that is, to confixm and ratify wuat our spiriia iiav© asserted concerning our adoption, &o.
Rom. VIII. 32-34] heaven on eaeth. 519
received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God ;' that is, that we may know our election, vocation, justification, sanctification, and glorification. A man may receive many things that are freely given of God, and yet not know them till the Spirit comes and makes them known to the soul.
Quest. But you may say to me. How shall we know the whispering of the Holy Spirit from the hissing of the old serpent ? How shall we know the report, the witness, and testimony of the Spirit of Christ, from that report, witness, and testimony that the old serpent deludes and deceives many by, in these days wherein he mostly appears in his angelical robes ?
Ans. I answer, you may know the whispering of the-Spirit from the hissing of the old serpent, &c., by these following things, which I desire that you would seriously consider, as you tender the peace and settlement, the satisfaction, consolation, and salvation of your own souls.