our spirit, our reason, our understanding. It all re- solves into this : Those who have these marks are children of God : but we have these marks, therefore we are children of God. But how does it appear that we have these marks ? This is a question which still remains. How does it appear that we do love God and our neighbor, and that we keep his command- ments ? Observe that the meaning of the question is, How does it appear to ourselves? not to others. I would ask him, then, that proposes this question, How does it appear to you that you are alive ? and that you arc now in ease, and not in pain ? Are you not im- mediately conscious of it ? By the same immediate consciousness you will know if your soul is alive to God ; if you are saved from the pain of proud wrath, and have the ease of a meek and quiet spirit. By the same means you cannot but perceive if you love, re- joice, and delight in God. By the same you must be directly assured if you love your neighbor -as yourself ; if you are kindly affectioned to all mankind, and full of gentleness and long-suffering. And with regard to the outward mark of the children of God, which is, ac- cording to John, the keeping his commandments, you undoubtedly know in your own breasts if, by the grace of God, it belongs to you. Now this is proper- ly the testimony of our own spirit, even the testimony of our own conscience, that God hath given us to be holy of heart, and holy in outward conversation. It is a consciousness that we are inwardly conformed, by the Spirit of God, to the image of his Son, and that we walk before him in justice, mercy, and truth, doing the things which are pleasing in his sight" (Wesley, Sermons, i, 8G, 87). See Spikit, Witness of."
The Council of Trent (sess. vi, ch. ix. Be Justijica- tione) decided that "it is on no account to be main- tained that those who are really justified ought to feel fully assured of the fact, without any doubt whatever; or that none are absolved and justified but those who believe themselves to be so ; or that by this faith only absolution and justification are procured ; as if he who does not believe this doubts the promises of God, and the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Christ. For, while no godly person ought to doubt the mercy of God, the merit of Christ, or the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, so, on the other hand, whoever considers his own infirmity and corruption may doubt and fear whether he is in a state of grace, since no one can certainly and infallibly know that he has obtained the grace of God."
For the Roman Catholic doctrine as contrasted with that of Calvin, see Mohler, Symbolism, § 20. See also the Methodist Quarterly, Oct. 1857, art. iv ; Watson, Theol. Inst, ii, 280; Smith's Hagenbach, Hist, of Doc- trines, ii, G5, 277; Neander, Hist, of Dogmas, ii, 586; Wesley, Works, v, 19 sq. ; Colo, Godly Assurance (1633, 4to) ; Petto, Treatise on A ssurance (1693) ; Hamilton, On Assurance of Faith (1830, 12mo).
Assyr'ia QAoavpici). We must here distinguish between the country of Assyria and the Assyrian empire. They are both designated in Hebrew by illEK, Asshur, the people being also described by the same term, only that in the latter sense it is mas- culine, in the former feminine. In the Septuagint it is commonly rendered by 'Aaaovp or 'Anavpwi, and in the Vulgate by Assur and Assi/rii, and seldom or never by 'Aaovoia, or Assyria. The Asshurim ('Ac- trovpuifi) of Gen. xxv, 3, were an Arab tribe: and at Ezek. xxvii, 6, the word ashurim (in our version "Ashurites") is only an abbreviated form of teashur, box-wood. Assyria derived its name from the pro- genitor of the aboriginal inhabitants — Asshur, the sec- ond son of Shem (Gen. x, 22; 1 Chron. i, 17), a differ- ent person from Ashchur, son of Hezron, and Caleb's grandson (1 Chron. ii, 24 ; iv, 5). In later times it is thought that Asshur was worshipped as their chief god by the Assyrians (Layard, An». and Bab. p. 537).
ASSYRIA
487
ASSYRIA
Supposed Figure of Asshur, the tutelary Deity of the ancient Assyrians. From the Monuments.
See Cuneiform Inscriptions. The extent of As- syria differed greatly at different periods. Probably in the earliest times it was confined to a small tract of low country between the Jebel Maklub, or Taurus range on the N., and the Lesser Zab (Zab Asfal) to- ward the S., lying chiefly on the immediate bank of the Tigris. Gradually its limits were extended, until it came to be regarded as comprising the whole region between the Armenian mountains (lat. 37° 30') upon the north, and upon the south the country about Bag- dad (lat. 33° 30'). Eastward its boundary was the high range of Zagros, or mountains of Kurdistan ; westward it naturally retained the Tigris as its boun- dary, although, according to the views of some, it was eventually bounded by the Mesopotamian desert, while, according to others, it reached the Euphrates. Taking the greatest of these dimensions, Assyria may be said to have extended in a direction from N.E. to S.W. a distance of nearly 500 miles, with a width varying from 350 to 100 miles. Its area would thus a little exceed 100,000 square miles, or about equal that of Italy. — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v.