^ niT^DB'l, low of spirit, nvnn?, to quicken or make to live the spirit of humble ones, Isa. xli. 10.
• ' Looking over,' = superintending. — G.
■Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 627
recovery of thy lost assurance will cost. The gaining of assurance at first cost thee dear, but the regaining of it, if thou shouldst be so un- happy as to lose it, will put thee to more pains and charge. Of the two, it is easier to keep assurance now thou hast it, than to recover it when thou hast lost it. It is easier to keep the house in reparations, than when it is fallen to build it up.^
Ninthly, and lastly. Consider solemnly the sad and wofvl evils and inconveniences that will certainly follow upon the loss of your assur- ance!^ I will only touch upon a few.
(1.) None of the precious things of Christ will be so sweet to thee as formerly they have been.
(2.) You will neither be so fervent in duty, nor so frequent in duty, nor so abundant in duty, nor so spiritual in duty, nor so lively in duty, nor so cheerful in duty, as formerly you have been.
(3.) Afflictions will sooner sink you, temptations will sooner over- come you, oppositions will sooner discourage you.
(4.) Your mercies will be bitter, your life a burden, and death a terror to you ; you will be weary of living, and yet afraid of dying, &c.
Now, the second question is this : Suppose souls have not been so careful to keep and maintain their assurance as they should have been, but upon one account or another have left that blessed assurance that once they had ; how may such sad souls be supported and kept from faint- ing, sinking, and languishing under the loss of assurance ?
To this question I shall give these following answers :
First, Souls that have lost that sweet assurance that once they had, may be supported and kept from fainting and sinking, hy considering, that though they have lost their assurance, yet they have not lost their son^hip; for once sons and always sons. You are sons, though dejected sons ; you are sons, though comfortless sons ; you are sons, though mourning sons, Rom. viii. 15-17. Once children, and always children; once heirs, and always heirs ; once beloved, and always beloved ; once happy, and always happy •? 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, ' Although my house be not so with God ; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure : for this is all my salvation, and all my desires, although he make it not to grow.' Well, says David, though neither myself, nor my house, have been so exact and perfect in our walkings before God as we should, but we have broken our covenants with him, and dealt unworthily by him, and turned our backs upon him, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, he hath engaged himself to an everlasting covenant, that he will be my Father, and that I shall be his son. And this is my salvation and everlasting ground of consolation and supportation to my soul.
The second support is this. Consider, that though your comfort, joy, and peace, doth depend much upon your assurance, yet your eternal
' A man may easier make a seeing eye blind than a blind to see ; a man may soon put an instrument out of tune, but not soon put it in again ; a man is easily borne down the stream, but cannot swim so easily up the stream, &c.
* How can the bird fly without wings, and the wheels go without oil, and the workman work without hands, and the painter paint without eyes ? &c.
» Ps. Ixxxix. 30-32, 84 ; John xiii. 6 ; Jer. xxxi. 8.
528 BEAVEN ON EARTIL [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
happiness and blessedness doth not depend upon your assurance. If it did, you might be happy and miserable in a day, ay, in an hour. Your happiness lies in your union with God, in your communion with God, in your interest in God, and not in your seeing and knowing your interest; your joy and comfort lies in your seeing and knowing your interest in God, but your everlasting happiness lies in your being interested in God. The welfare and happiness of the child lies in the interest that he hath in his father, but the joy and comfort of the child lies in his seeing, in his knowing of his interest in his father. It is so between the Lord and believers : Ps. cxliv. 15, 'Happy be the people that be in such a case ; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.' Among the philosophers there were two hundred and eighty opinions concerning happiness, some affirming happiness to lie in one thing, some in another. Ah ! but by the Spirit and word we are taught that happiness lies in our oneness with God, in our nearness and dearness to God, and in our conformity to God, &c.' Mark, the Scripture pronounces him happy, whose hope is in God, though he want assurance : Ps. cxlvi. 5, ' Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.' Again, he is happy that trusteth in the Lord, though for the present he want assurance : Prov. xvi. 20, ' And whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.' Again, be is happy that feareth the Lord, that hath set up God as the object of his fear, though he want assurance of the love of God : Prov. xxviii, 14, ' Happy is the man that feareth always ;' that fears to offend, that fears to disobey, that fears to rebel, &c. Again, he is happy that believes in Christ, that rests and stays upon Christ, as the Scriptures everywhere testify, though he may want assurance.
Happiness lies not in any transient act of the Spirit, as assurance is, but in the more permanent and lasting acts of the Spirit. The philo- sopher could say, * That he was never a happy man that might after- wards become miserable.' If a man's eternal happiness did lie in the assurance of his happiness, then might a man be crowned with Xerxes's steersman in the morning, and beheaded with him in the evening of the same day.
But this is the believer's blessedness, that his condition is always good, though he doth not always see it to be good ; that his state is always safe, though it be not always comfortable.*
The third support to keep those precious souls frbm fainting and sinking that have lost that sweet assurance that once they had, is to consider that though their loss be the greatest and saddest loss that could befall them, yet it is a recoverable loss, it is a loss that may be recovered, as the scriptures in the margin do clearly evidenced And
^ Nemo aliorum aensu miser ett, ted suo. — Salvian, de Onb. Dei, lib. i. A godly man's happiness or misery is not to be judged by the world's sense or feeling, bxit his own.
* To make up happiness, these things must concur : first, it must be a convenient good, a suitable good to our natures ; secondly, it must be an excellent good, a good that hath worth and excellency in it ; thirdly, it must be a sufficient good ; a few scrapings of gold will not make a man rich, &c. ; fourthly, it must be a permanent good. It is per- manency that sets the greatest price, and hath the greatest influence, into our happiness and felicity.