God's remembrance, in which the actions of men were recorded, will be brought forth at the last dayd; and they who were written in it will be exalted to glory e, whilst " those who were not written in it will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death f."]
Our enrolment in that book is a fact which may be known —
[St. Paul knew it respecting many, both men and women, who had united with him in endeavours to advance the king- dom of Christ g. And the same may be known also by those who are there enrolled. We cannot indeed go up to heaven to examine that sacred record ; nor can we have it brought down to us on earth : yet may we assuredly know its contents as far as respects ourselves. There are two ways in which this may be done ; first, by the testimony of the Spirit ; and next, by the evidence of our lives. Respecting the witness of the Spirit, we do not say that the Spirit will bear any direct testi- mony to our souls, irrespective of any thing that he has wrought in us ; (this I conceive to be a very dangerous error ;) but he will shine upon his own work, and cause us to see it. When we are regenerate, he will, as " a Spirit of adoption, enable us to cry, Abba, Father ;" and will " witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, and heirs of his everlasting kingdom11." When we are regenerate, I say, he will do this, but not before ; for he never did, nor can, attest a falsehood, which he would do if he were to witness to any unregenerate man that he was a child of God. The evidence of our own lives also will enable us to ascertain this fact. There are certain " things which infallibly accompany salvation1," and which therefore warrant us to infer that we are in the number of God's electk, and to assure ourselves of a final and ever- lasting acceptance with him1. The former is the more delight- ful to our feelings ; the latter is the more convincing to our judgment : but from whichever source we draw our conclusions, if only our premises be right, our conclusions are infallible. Hence St. Paul was so assured of happiness in the eternal world m ; and hence every believer is authorized to adopt the words of the Church of old, " My beloved is mine, and I am his."]
Having shewn that the fact of our enrolment in heaven may be known, we observe,
d Rev. xx. 12. e Rev. xxi. 27. f Rev. xx. 15.
s Phil. iv. 3. " Rom. viii. 15—17. { Heb. vi. 9, 10.
k 1 Thess. i. 3, 4. ' 1 John iii. 14, 18—21.
>u 2 Cor. v. 1. 2 Tim. iv. 8.