Thomas Aquinas supposed (Summ. pt. ii, 1, quest. 112, art. 5) a threefold way in which man could as- certain whether he was a subject of divine grace or not: 1. By direct revelation on the part of God ; 2. By himself (certitudinaliter) ; 3. By certain indica- tions (conjecturaliter per aliqua signa). But the last two were, in his opinion, uncertain ; as for the first, God very seldom makes use of it, and only in particu- lar cases (revelat Deus hoc aliquando aliquibus ex speciali privilegio), so that no one can have perfect certainty on the subject ; only there are signs, if prop- er attention be paid, such as that a man has his joy in God, that he despises the world, and is conscious of no gross sins. A presage ma)' thus be formed of his for- giveness (nullus certitudinaliter potest scire se ha- bere caritatem, sed potest e aliquibus signis probabili- bus conjicere. — In HI), i. Sentt. dist. 17, quest. 1, art. 4). Alexander of Hales contended that on this point there was a peculiar knowledge — since neither the cause nor the effect fell within the province of human knowledge, yet a certain feeling of knowledge might be possessed upon it; only it is not infallible, but ver- \ ifies itself by experience in the feelings when these three signs concur, light, peace, and joy. God does not will either to give to us complete certainty, or to leave us wholly in uncertainty. If man experienced nothing of the sweetness of the divine life, he would j not be attracted to the love of God ; if he had perfect assurance it would easily seduce him into pride. Lu- : thcr denounced the notion of the uncertainly of man I being in a state of grace (in his Comment, upon Gal. I iv, 6) as a dangerous and sophistical doctrine. The doctrine that personal assurance is involved in saving J faith is taught in the Augsburg Confession (art. iv), and also in the Apologia Confessionis. The doctrine 1 of the certitudo salutis (certainty of salvation) is taught r by Calvin (Institutes, Hi, c. 24, § 4).
Sir W. Hamilton, in a foot-note to his article on the English Universities (Discussions on Philosophy, etc.), while speaking on religious tests as a term of admis- sion, has the following passage : "Assurance, personal assurance (the feeling of certainty that God is propi- tious to me, that my sins are forgiven, fiducia, plero- phoria fidei), was long universally held in the Protest- ant communities to be the criterion and condition of a true or savinr/ faith. Luther declares that he who hath not assurance spews faith out ; and Melanethon makes assurance the discriminating line of Christianity from heathenism. It was maintained by Calvin, najr, even by Arminius, and is part and parcel of all the confes- sions of all the churches of the Reformation down to the Westminster Assembly. In that synod assurance was, in Protestantism, for the first time declared not to be of the essence of faith; and, accordingly, the Scottish General Assembly has subsequently, once and aganij condemned the holders of this, the doctrine of Luther,.
ASSURANCE
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of Calvin, and of the older Scottish Church itself. In the English, and more particularly in the Irish Estab- lishment, it still stands a necessary tenet of belief. The doctrine is now, however, disavowed, when appre- hended, by Anglican churchmen." These strong Statements are controverted in the Brit, and For. Evan* n< lical Review (Oct. 1856), by Cunningham (see the ar- ticle, enlarged, in Cunningham, Theology of the Refor- mation, Essay iii), who shows that Sir William Hamil- ton has greatly mistaken the reformed doctrine in representing assurance as, in the opinion of all the reformed churches, an essential part of saving faith. Dr. < unningham proves, on the contrary, from several of the confessions of the churches of the Reformation, and from the writings of some leading reformers, that, in their opinion, "this assurance was not the proper act of justifying and saving faith, and did not belong to its essence ; . . . that it was a result or consequence of faith, posterior to it in the order of nature, and frequently also of time." Regarded as an exposure of Sir William Hamilton's historical inaccu- racies, this essay is complete, but as an exhibition of the scriptural doctrine of assurance it is seriousl}- de- fective. It not only encumbers the doctrine by add- ing the assurance of final salvation to that of present forgiveness — a mistake full both of embarrassment to timid consciences, and of peril to the interests of prac- tical religion — but it almost puts out of sight that di- rect and blessed witness of the Spirit to the believer's acceptance which is so prominent a feature of the ex- perimental theology of the Bible, and without which the Christian life must be one of distressing uncertain- ty and doubt. But Sir William was quite right in saying that the Westminster Assembly was the first Protestant synod that formally declared assurance not to be of the essence of faith. Yet it declares that as- surance is practicable and obligatory in very strong language, and calls it "an infallible assurance" [see above, (1)].
Wesley, and the Methodist theologians generally, advocate the doctrine of assurance of present (not of eternal) salvation in the sense stated above (2), con- necting it with the "witness of the Spirit,'' as in the following practical passage : " Every man, applying the scriptural marks to himself, may know whether he is a child of God. Thus, if he know, first, ' As many as are led by the Spirit of God' into all holy tempers and actions, 'they are the sons of God' (for which he has the infallible assurance of Holy Writ); secondly, I am thus ' led by the Spirit of God,' he will easily conclude, therefore I am a son of God. Agreeably to this arc those plain declarations of John in his first epistle: 'Hereby we know that we do know him, if we keep his commandments' (ch. ii, 3). 'Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected : hereby know we that wc are in him ;' that we are indeed the children of God (ver. 5). 'If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him' (ver. 29). 1 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren' (ch. iii, 14). 'Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him' (ver. 19), namely, because we 'love one another, not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.' See also ch. iii, '24, and iv, 13. It is highly probable there never were any children of God, from the beginning of the world unto this da\ . who were further advanced in the grace of God, and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, than the apostle John at the time when he wrote these words, and the fathers in Christ to whom he wrote. Notwithstanding which, it is evident both the apostle himself, and ail those pillars in (iod's temple, were very far from despising these marks of their being the children of God; and that they applied them to their own souls for the confirmation of their faith. Yet all this is no other than rational evidence, the witness of