Chapter 3 (continued, part 5)
some in such and such services, and comfort to others in such and such duties. Therefore, as you would have assurance, O doubting souls, seek the Lord in every way and service, wherein he is pleased to make known his glory and goodness. In hearing, Christ opens his box of ointments to some, and in praying and breaking of bread, he lets his sweet myrrh fall upon the hearts of others. Some have seen the glory of the Lord in the sanctuary, who have been clouded in their closets; others have heard a sweet still voice in their closets, who have sat long trembling in the sanctuary. Remember, doubting souls, Moab and Ammon were banished to the sanctuary to the tenth generation, for a mere omission, because they met not God's Israel in the wilderness with bread and water, Deut 23:3-4. And I truly believe, that God does banish, as I may say, many from his favorable presence, as Absalom did David, for their sinful omissions, for their non-attendance upon him in all his ways. Here the proverb is most false which says, 'a little hurts not.' Ah! this or that little omission, as you call it, may expose men to a great deal of wrath, Matt 25:41-46. They did not rob the saints—but omitted the relieving of them, which was their ruin.
Therefore, if ever you would have assurance, seek the Lord, not only while he may be found—but also in every gracious dispensation where he may be found. "Then shall the joy of the Lord be your strength," and his "glory shall rest upon you." "The days of your mourning shall be ended," and "you shall lie down in peace, and none shall make you afraid." [Neh 8:9; Isa 60:20; Lev 26:6]
I would earnestly desire you, O doubting souls, seriously to consider, that all the ways of Christ are ways of pleasantness; as Solomon speaks, Prov 3:17, not only this way or that way—but every way of Christ is a way of pleasantness; every way is strewed with roses, every way is paved with gold, every way is attended with comfort and refreshing. So the psalmist, "Your paths drop fatness," Psalm 65:11-12; not only this or that path—but all the paths of God drops fatness. Oh then, walk in every way, tread in every path of God, as you would have your souls filled with marrow and fatness, Psalm 63:5; and never forget that choice saying of the prophet Isaiah, "You meet him who rejoices, and works righteousness, who remembers you in your ways," Isa 64:5. God ran and meet the soul, as the
father of the prodigal ran and met him afar off with affections of love and pity. Those who would have God to meet with them in a way of peace and reconciliation, in a way of grace and favor, must remember God in all his ways; not only in this or that particular way—but in every way wherein he is pleased to cause his glory to shine. Therefore, doubting souls, cease complaining, and be more conscientious and ingenuous in waiting upon God in all his appointments, and it will not long be night with you.
IX The ninth impediment that keeps Christians from assurance is an immoderate love of the world. Many are miserable by loving hurtful things—but are more miserable by having them. Their thoughts and hearts are so busied about getting the world and keeping the world, that they neither seek assurance as they should, nor prize assurance as they should, nor lament the lack of assurance as they should, nor study the worth and excellency of assurance as they should; and therefore it is no wonder, that such are without assurance. As it is very hard for a rich man to enter into heaven, Matt 19:23-24, so it is very hard for a worldly Christian to get assurance of heaven. The "thick clay," Hab 2:6, of this world does so affect him, and capture him, so satisfy him, and sink him— that he is not able to pursue after assurance, with that life and love, with that fervency and frequency, as those must do, who will obtain it. It is said, Gen 13:2, "That Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold;" according to the Hebrew, Abraham was very heavy in cattle, in silver, and in gold; to show, says one, that riches are a heavy burden— and a hindrance many times to a Christian's comfort and confidence, to his happiness and assurance.
Rich men's wealth proves a hindrance to their happiness. Solomon got more hurt by his wealth, than he got good by his wisdom. Such a fire rose out of his worldly enjoyments, as did even consume and burn up his choicest graces and his noblest virtues; under all his royal robes, he had but a threadbare soul. Sicily, says one, is so full of sweet flowers, that dogs cannot hunt there, the scent of the sweet flowers diverts their smell. And ah! what do all the sweet delights and pleasures of this world do—but make men lose the scent of heaven—but divert men from hunting after assurance, and from running after Christ, in the sweetness of his ointments.
The creature is all shadow—and vanity of vanities. Vanity is the very quintessence of the creature, and all that can possibly be extracted out of it. It is like Jonah's gourd. A man may sit under its shadow for a while— but it soon decays and dies. "Why should you set your heart upon that which is not?" Prov 23:5. Were ever riches true to those who trusted them? As the bird hops from twig to twig, so do riches hop from man to man, etc. Worldly Christians, cease complaining of the lack of assurance, and sincerely humble and abase your souls before the Lord; for that you have so eagerly pursued after lying vanities; for that you have in so great a measure forsaken the fountain of living waters; for with Martha you have been busied about many things; when Christ and assurance, the two things necessary, have been so much neglected and disregarded by you.
Get this world, this moon, under your feet; take no rest until you have broken through this silken net, until you have got off these golden fetters. A heart which is full of the world, is a heart full of lacks. Ah! the joy, the peace, the comfort, the confidence, the assurance—which such hearts lack. The stars which have least circuit, are nearest the pole; and men whose hearts are least entangled with the world, are always nearest to God, and to the assurance of his favor. Worldly Christians, remember this —you and the world must part, or else assurance and your souls will never meet. When a worldly Christian is saved, he is saved as by fire; and before ever he shall be assured of his salvation, he must cry out, "all human consolations are but desolations!" God will not give the sweets of heaven, to those who are gorged and surfeited with the delicacies of the earth. The hen upon the ash-heap prefers a barley-corn above the choicest pearl; such ash-heap Christians prefer a little barley-corn above this pearl of price, assurance.
Those who, with Esau, prefer a morsel of meat before this blessing of blessings; who prefer Paris above Paradise; who prefer God's coin above his countenance—may at last with Esau seek, and seek with tears, this heavenly jewel, assurance; and yet, as he, be rejected and repulsed, Heb 12:16-17. "The world is a carcass, and those who hunt after it are dogs." This proverb makes a great many of our glistening professors to be but dogs.
X. The tenth impediment that keeps Christians from assurance, is, The
secret cherishing and running out of their hearts, to some bosom, darling sin. It is dark night with the soul, when the soul will cast a desiring eye upon this or that bosom sin, and secretly say, "Is it not a little one?" Gen 19:20, though God and conscience have formerly checked and whipped the soul for so doing. Ah! how many are there who dally and play with sin—even after they have put up many prayers and complaints against sin—and after they have lamented and bitterly mourned over their sins. Many there are who complain of their deadness, barrenness, frowardness, conceitedness, censoriousness, and other sins; and yet are ready at every turn to gratify, if not to justify, those very sins that they complain against! No wonder that such lack assurance!
After the Israelites ate manna in the wilderness, and drank "water out of the rock," after God had been to them a "cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night," after he had led them by the hand, and kept them as the apple of his eye, after he had made them spectators of his wonders—they hankered after the fleshpots of Egypt! So when, after God has given a man a new name and a white stone, after he has made a report of his love to the soul, after he has taken a man up into paradise, after he has set a man upon his knee, and carried him in his bosom, after he has spoken peace and pardon to the soul, Psalm 85:8—for the soul to return to folly, oh! this cannot but prove a woeful hindrance to assurance, this will provoke God to change his countenance, and to behave not as a friend— but as an enemy!
When God's love is abused, his justice takes up the iron rod. God will strike hard and heavy, when men kick against his love and mercy. God has made an everlasting separation between sin and peace, between sin and joy, and between sin and assurance. God will be out with that man— who is in with his sin. If sin and the soul are one, God and the soul must needs be two. He who is resolved to dally with any sin—he must resolve to live in many fears. Never forget this—he who savors any one sin, though he foregoes many others, does but as Benadab, recover from one disease, and die of another. Yes, he takes pains to plunge himself into two hells—a hell here, and a hell hereafter. Therefore, as ever you would have assurance, offer up your Isaac, part with your Benjamin, pull out your
right eye, cut off your right hand; otherwise assurance and joy will not be your portion.
Now that I may remove this impediment, which is of such dangerous consequence to Christians' souls, and keep Christians forever from smiling upon any bosom sin, I shall first lay down a few considerations to provoke them to dally and play no more with sin—but to put off that sin which does so easily beset them, which sticks so close unto them, Heb 12:1; and then in the second place, I shall propound some means which may contribute to the bringing of bosom sins under control, that so it may be no longer night with the soul.
1. The first motive to provoke you to put out all your strength and might against bosom sins—which you are so apt to play with, is seriously to consider, that this will be a strong and choice demonstration and evidence of the sincerity and uprightness of your hearts: Psalm 18:23, "I was also upright with him, and I kept myself from my iniquity." I kept a strict and diligent watch upon that particular sin which I found myself most inclined unto. And this, says David, is a clear evidence to me of the uprightness of my heart with God. The truth is, there is no hypocrite in the world, but does dandle and dally with some bosom sin or other; and though at times, and for carnal reasons, they seem to be very zealous against this and that sin; yet at the very same time their hearts stand strongly and affectionately engaged to some bosom sin, as might be showed in Saul, Judas, and Herod. "Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him. He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up. He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him." Job 20:12-16.
Therefore, as ever you would have a sure argument of your uprightness, trample upon your Delilahs! This very evidence of your uprightness and sincerity may yield you more comfort and refreshing in a day of trouble and darkness, than for the present you do apprehend, or have faith to believe. Some there are, who can tell you, that neither the joy of the bridegroom, nor the joy of the harvest, is to be compared to that joy
which arises in the soul from the sense and evidence of a man's own uprightness, 2 Cor 1:12. Sincerity is the very queen of virtues; she holds the throne, and will be sure to keep it. Yes, the very sight of it in the soul makes a man sit cheerful and thankful, Noah-like, in the midst of all tempests and storms. Look! as the playing with a bosom sin speaks out hypocrisy, so the mortifying of a bosom sin speaks out sincerity of soul!
2. The second motive to provoke doubting souls to trample upon their bosom sins, is solemnly to consider, that the conquest of their darling sins will render the conquests of other sins easy.
When Goliath was slain, the rest of the Philistines fled, 1 Sam 17:51-52. When a general in an army is cut off, the common soldiers are easily routed and destroyed. Ah! complaining, doubting souls—did you but take the courage and resolution to fall with all your might and spiritual strength upon those particular sins which stick so close unto you, and which so easily captivate you; you would find, that the great mountains which are before you would soon be made a plain, Zech 4:7. Other sins will not be long-lived, when justice is done upon your bosom sins. Thrust but a dart through the heart of Absalom, and a complete conquest will follow, 2 Sam 18:14.
3. The third motive to provoke you to crucify your bosom sins, be they what they will, is, seriously to consider the very great damage that your souls have already sustained by your bosom sins.
Saul, by casting an amorous eye upon Agag, lost his crown and kingdom. Samson, by dallying with his Delilah, lost his strength, sight, light, liberty, and life. But what are these losses to your loss of spiritual strength, to your loss of communion with God, to your loss of the Spirit of light, life, liberty, and glory; to your loss of joy unspeakable, and peace which passes all understanding; and to your loss of those fresh and sparkling hopes of glory, which were once sparkling in your bosom? Some there are, who had rather lose their souls than their sins: these shall be chronicled in hell for fools and madmen!
Mark Antony was so far bewitched with his Cleopatra, that in the heat of
the battle of Actium, when the empire of the world, his life, and all lay at stake, that he fled to pursue her, to the ruin and loss of all. There are many, who are so bewitched to some Cleopatra, to some darling sin or other—that they pursue the enjoyment of them to the loss of God, Christ, heaven, and their souls forever!
Ah! Christians, that the sense of what you have formerly lost, and of what you daily lose by your playing with sin, might provoke you to set upon some effectual course for the mortifying of them!
It was a blasphemous speech of Henry the Second, who said, when Mentz, his city, was taken, "That he would never love God any more, who allowed a city so dear to him to be taken from him." But it will be a blessed and happy thing for you, in uprightness to say, "Oh, we will never more love, we will never more favor, we will never more dally with our bosom sins; for they have damnified us in our spiritual enjoyments, and in our spiritual returns from heaven. Shall the sense of outward losses by this and that instrument, work us out of love with them? And shall not the sense of our spiritual losses by bosom sins—work us much more out with them. Ah, Lord! of what iron mettle is that heart, which can look upon those sad losses which have attended playing with bosom sins—and yet still dally with those Delilahs?
4. The fourth motive to provoke you to the mortifying of your darling sins, is, solemnly to consider, that the conquest and effectual mortifying of one bosom sin, will yield a Christian more glorious joy, comfort, and peace—than ever he has found in the gratifying and committing of all other sins. The pleasure and sweetness which follows victory over sin, is a thousand times beyond that seeming sweetness which is in the gratifying of sin. The joy which attends the subduing of sin—is a noble joy, a pure joy, a special joy, an increasing joy, and a lasting joy. But that joy which attends the committing of sin—is an ignoble joy, a corrupt joy, a decreasing joy, a dying joy. The truth is-- if there were the least real joy in sin, there could be no helltorments, where men shall most totally sin, and be most totally tormented with their sin.
The heathens, as many Christian professors now, had not the right art of
mortifying sin. All their attempts are to hide a lust, not to quench it; therefore their joy was like the crackling of thorns under a pot.
Ah! doubting Christians, as ever you would have good days, as ever you would walk in the light, as ever you would, like the angels, have always harps in your hands, and hallelujahs in your mouths—be restless, until in the spirit and power of Jesus, you have brought under control, that sin which sticks so close unto you. Remember this, nothing below the conquest of bosom sins can make a jubilee in the heart. It is not a man's whining and complaining over sin—but his mortifying of sin, which will make his life a paradise of pleasure.
If, notwithstanding all that has been said, you are still resolved to dally with sin, then you must resolve to live as a stranger to God, and as a stranger to assurance and peace; you must expect sad trials without, and sore troubles within; you must expect to find Satan playing his part both as a lion and as a serpent, both as a devil and as an angel of light. You must expect either no news from heaven, or but bad news from heaven; and you must expect that conscience will play the part both of a scolding wife and of a lion that wants his prey; and this shall be your just wages for playing with sin. If you like the wages, then take your course, and dally with sin still; if otherwise, then sacrifice your Isaac!
The leper under the law was still to keep his hair shaved, Lev 14:5. So should we be still a-cutting and shaving, that though the roots of sin remain, yet they may not grow and sprout.
5. The fifth motive to work you to trample upon your bosom sins is, wisely to consider, that it is your duty and glory to do that every day—which you would willingly do upon a dying day. Ah! how would you live and love upon a dying day? How would you admire God, rest upon God, delight in God, long for God, and walk with God upon a dying day? How would you hate, loathe, and abhor your bosom sins upon a dying day? How would you complain of your bosom sins, and pray against your bosom sins, and mourn over your bosom sins, and watch against your bosom sins, and fly from all occasions which would tend to draw you to close with your bosom sins upon a dying day?
Ah! doubting souls, you would not for all the world gratify your bosom sins upon a dying day; and will you gratify them on other days, which, for anything you know to the contrary, may prove your dying day? Thrice happy is that soul who labors with all his might to do that at first, which he would gladly do at last; who does that on every day; which he would give a thousand worlds to do on a dying day. No way to assurance like this; no way to joy and comfort like this; no way to rest and peace like this; no way to the kingdom, to the crown, like this!
I earnestly beseech you, trembling souls, when you find your hearts running out to bosom sins, that you would lay your hands upon them, and thus expostulate the case: "O my soul—would you thus dally and play with sin upon a dying day? Would you thus stroke and hug sin upon a dying day? would you not rather, show all the dislike and hatred that is imaginable against it? Would you not tremble at sin more than at hell? and abhor the very occasions of sin more than the most venomous serpent in all the world? Would you not rather suffer the worst and greatest punishments, than to smile upon a darling sin upon a dying day? Yes! oh would you gladly do this upon a dying day? Why not then every day? Why not then every day, O my soul?"
6. The sixth motive to provoke you to fall with all your might upon bosom sins is, seriously to consider, that until this is done, fears and doubts will still haunt the soul; the soul will still be fearing that surely all is naught, and that that work which is wrought upon it is not a real but a counterfeit work; that it is not a spiritual and special work—but a common work, which a man may have and perish. Until this is done, the soul can never be able to see grace in his own native beauty and glory. One flaw in the diamond does not only take away the beauty, glory and price of it—but it puts men into questioning whether it is a real diamond.
The hugging of sin in a corner, will raise such a dust in the soul, that it will not be able to see these pearls of glory sparkling and shining. Until this is done, doubting souls, you will be but spiritual babes and dwarfs. The hankering of the soul after sin, is the casting of water upon the Spirit; it is the laming of grace, it is the clipping the wings of faith and prayer. Just so, that the soul can neither be confident, nor fervent, frequent nor constant in pious services. Just so, it will unavoidably follow
—that such souls will be like Pharaoh's lean cows, poor and starveling. Gideon had seventy sons, and but one bastard son; and yet that one bastard son destroyed all the rest! You may easily apply it. [Judg 8]
Look! as many men are kept low in their outward estates, by having a back door to some Herodias; so many doubting souls are kept low in spirituals, by their hankering after some particular sins.
Remember, Christians, sin is the soul's sickness, the soul's weakness. If the body is weak and diseased, it grows not. Sin is poison which turns all nourishment into corruption, and so hinders the growth of the soul in grace and holiness. Ah! Christians, as ever you would be rid of your fears and doubts, as ever you would see the beauty and glory of grace, as ever you would be eminent and excellent in grace and holiness—see that effectual justice be done upon that Achan, that Jonah, that darling sin, which has occasioned storms within and tempests without!
It was a grievous vexation to King Lysimachus, that his staying to drink one draught of water lost him his kingdom. Ah! Christians, it will grievously vex you, when you come to yourselves, and when you come to taste of the admirable pleasure which attends the conquest of sin—to consider that your hankering after this or that particular sin, has been the loss of that joy and comfort, that peace and assurance, which is infinitely more worth than all the kingdoms of the world! If there is but one crack in the honey-jar, there the wasp will be buzzing; and where there is but some one sin favored, there Satan will be tempting and upbraiding.
QUESTION. But you may say to me, Oh we would gladly have our bosomsins subdued, we desire above all, that they may be effectually mortified. These sons of Zeruiah we would choose to have slain! But what course must we take to bring under our darling sins, to get off our golden fetters, to get out of these silken snares? To this question I shall give these answers:
1. The first means. If ever you would have mastery over this or that bosom sin—then engage all your power and might against your bosom sin, draw up your spiritual forces, and engage them wholly against that sin which does so easily beset you. As the king of Syria said to his
captains, "Fight neither with small nor great, but only with the king of Israel," 2 Chron 18:30. Just so, say I, your wisdom and your work, O doubting souls, lies not in skirmishing with this or that lesser sin—but in coming up to a close sharp fight with the king sin—with that darling sin, which has a kingly interest in you, and a kingly power over you.
When there is no hope of curing, men must fall a-cutting. Believe it, souls, you must fall a-cutting your bosom sins in pieces by the sword of the Spirit, as Samuel cut Agag in pieces in Gilgal before the Lord, or else you will never obtain a perfect cure, 1 Sam 15:33. Slight skirmishes will not do it; you must pursue your bosom sins to the death—or they will be the death of your souls!
2. The second means to bring under a bosom sin, is, to labor to be most eminent and excellent in that particular grace, which is most opposite to a man's bosom sin. (As when one bucket of a well goes up—the other goes down. Just so, when grace gets up—sin goes down; when grace flourishes—sin withers.) As it is a Christian's glory to be eminent in every grace, so it is a Christian's special duty to excel in that particular grace which is most contrary to his darling sins. Is it pride, is it the world, is it hypocrisy, etc., which is your bosom sin, which is the chief favorite in your soul? Oh then, labor above all to be clothed with humility, to abound in heavenly-mindedness, to transcend in sincerity, etc., I know no surer, no choicer, no sweeter way, effectually to crucify a bosom sin, than this. He who comes up to this counsel, will not be long held in sin's golden fetters; it will not be long before such a soul cries out, Victory, victory!
3. The third means to help us to trample upon bosom sins, is, to look upon bosom sins now, as they will appear to us at last; to look upon them in the time of health—as they will appear to us in times of sickness; to look upon them in the youth time of our life—as they will appear to us in the day of our death. Ah! souls, of all unpardoned sins, your bosom sins will be presented by God, conscience, and Satan at last—as the most filthy and ugly, as the most terrible and dreadful. Your bosom sins at last will appear to be those monsters, those fiends of hell— which have most provoked God against you, which have shut up Christ's affections of love and compassion from you, which have armed
conscience against you, which have barred the gates of glory against you, which have prepared the hottest place in hell for you, and which have given Satan the greatest advantage eternally to triumph over you! Many there are, who have found these things by woeful experience. Woe, woe, to that soul which shall put it to the trial.
Ah! souls, at last your bosom sins will more press and oppress you, more sadden and sink you, more terrify and amaze you—than all your other transgressions! Those sins which seem most sweet in life—will prove most bitter in death, Job 20:11-29. Those pleasant morsels will prove your greatest hell, when there is but a short step between your soul and eternity. Ah! Christians, never look upon bosom sins—but with that eye which within a few hours you must behold them; and this, you will find by experience, will be a singular means to bring under control your bosom sins.
4. The fourth means to subdue bosom sins is, to apply yourselves to extraordinary means, as fasting and prayer, etc. Ordinary medicines will not remove extraordinary distempers; nor will ordinary duties remove bosom sins, which, by long and familiar acquaintance with the soul, are exceedingly strengthened and advantaged. You read of some devils in the Gospel which could not be cast out but by prayer and fasting, Matt 17:14-22. So bosom sins are those white devils which will not, which cannot be cast out but by fervent and constant prayer, joined with fasting and humiliation. Souls who are serious and conscientious in observing of this rule will find such a divine power to attend their endeavors as will enable them to triumph over those white devils within, as Christ triumphed over principalities and powers upon the cross, Col 2:14-15.
5. The fifth means. As you would have victory over bosom sins, keep away from all those occasions which tend to lead you to the gratifying of them. He who shuns not the occasions of sin, tempts two at once—Satan and his own heart! He tempts Satan to tempt him to taste of forbidden fruit, and he tempts his own heart to feed upon forbidden fruit. "Abstain from all appearance of evil," 1 Thess 5:22; "hate the garment spotted by the flesh," Jude 23. Whatever carries with it a shadow of suspicion—that abstain from, that you may neither wound God nor the gospel, nor your own consciences. If there is any fuel to feed your bosom
sin in your house, remove it; or before your eye, remove it; or in your hand, remove it, put it far away! Your soul cannot be safe, it cannot be secure, so long as the occasions of sin are your companions.
Would you have a clear evidence of the truth of your grace—then shun the occasions of sin. Would you imitate the choicest saints—then shun the occasions of sin. Would you stand in shaking times—then keep far off from the occasions of sin. Would you keep always peace with God, and peace with conscience—then keep far off from the occasions of sin. Would you frustrate Satan's greatest designs, and countermine him in his deepest plots—then keep far off from the occasions of sin. Would you keep your bones from breaking, and your heart from bleeding—then keep far off from the occasions of sin. Would you keep down fears and doubts, and keep up faith and hope—then keep far off from the occasions of sin. Would you have assurance in life, and joy and peace in death—then keep far off from the occasions of sin. Do this, and you do all. If you do not do this, you do nothing at all. [Gen 39:10; Job 31:1; Psalm 26:4-6]
And thus I am done with the impediments which hinder souls from assurance; as also with the means to remove those impediments.
Containing several motives to provoke Christians to be restless until they have obtained a well-grounded assurance of their eternal happiness and blessedness.
(1.) The first motive. Now, the first motive that I shall lay down to provoke you to get a well-grounded assurance, is, solemnly to consider, That many are now dropped into hell who have formerly presumed of their going to heaven: as those who came bouncing at heaven-gate, crying out, "Lord, Lord, open to us, for we have prophesied in your name, and in your name have cast out devils, and in your name have done many wonderful works;" and yet that direful and dreadful sentence is passed upon them, "Depart from me, you workers of
iniquities," Matt 7:22,26-27.[1]
The foolish virgins were in a golden dream that they were as happy as the best, and yet, when they were awakened, they found the bridegroom entered into his glory, and the door of mercy shut against them, Matt 25:10-12. So were the Jews that cried out, "The temple of the Lord! the temple of the Lord!" Men are naturally prone to flatter themselves that their sins are not sins, when indeed they are; and that they are but small sins, when they are great and grievous, Isa 40:27; Deut 29:19; and they are apt to flatter themselves that they have grace when they have none; and that their grace is true, when it is but counterfeit; and that their condition is not so bad as others, when it is worse; and, with Agag, that the bitterness of death is past, when God has his sword in his hand ready to execute the vengeance written. [Prov 30:12; Rev 3:17-18; Mic 3:11] I judge as in this world, so in hell—the most self-flattering souls will be the most miserable souls.
I have read of a madman at Athens, who laid claim to every rich ship which came into the harbor, whereas he was poor, and had no part in any. Ah! this age is full of such mad souls, who lay claim to God and Christ, and the promises and gospel privileges, and all the glory of another world—when they are poor, and blind, and miserable, and wretched, and naked, when they are Christless and graceless, etc. Ah, souls! does it not therefore behoove you to labor much for a wellgrounded assurance, that so you may not miscarry to all eternity—but may at last be found worthy to receive a crown of glory and to enter into your Master's joy, which is a joy too great and too glorious to enter into you, and therefore you must enter into it, Matt 25:21,23.
(2.) The second motive to provoke Christians to get a well-grounded assurance is this, consider, That there are a great many soul flatterers, soul-deceivers, and soul-cheaters in the world. The devil has put his angelic robes upon many of his chief agents, that they may the more easily and the more effectually deceive and delude the souls of men. This age affords many sad testimonies of this. A hidden enemy is far worse than an open enemy.
Ah! what multitudes are there, that to some bleary eyes appear as angels
of light, and yet in their principles and practices are but servants to the prince of darkness, laboring with all their might to make proselytes for hell, Matt 23:15, and to draw men to those wild notions, opinions, and conceits which will leave them short of heaven, yes, bring them down to the hottest, darkest, and lowest place in hell, if God does not prevent it by a miracle of grace. Therefore you had need look about you, and see that you get a well-grounded assurance, and not allow Satan to put a cheat upon your immortal souls. Christ has foretold us, "That in the last days there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, that shall say, Lo, here is Christ, and lo, there is Christ," Matt 24:23-24. And truly this scripture is this day fulfilled in your ears. Ah, how many blasphemous wretches have there been in these days, who have asserted themselves to be the very Christ! And it is to me no little miracle, that the very earth has not opened her mouth and swallowed up such monsters, such firebrands of hell.
The apostle tells you of some that "lie in wait to deceive, by such sleights" as cheaters and false gamesters use at dice; he tells you of cunning crafty men that do diligently watch all advantages to work, draw, and win weak and unstable souls to those opinions, principles, and practices, which tend to drown them in everlasting perdition. Satan's disciples and agents have a method of deceiving, they are doctors in all the arts of cozenage, and they will leave no means unattempted whereby they may draw men to build upon hay and stubble, upon this opinion and that notion, etc., that so men and their works may burn forever together, 1 Cor 3:15.
It is reported of king Canutus, that he promised to make him the highest man in England, who should kill king Edmund Ironside, his co-rival; which, when one had performed, and expected his reward, he commanded him to be hung on the highest tower in London. So Satan and his emissaries, they promise poor souls that such and such opinions, and notions, etc., will thus and thus advantage them, and advance them; but in the end, poor souls shall find the promised crown turned into a noose, the promised comfort turned into a torment, the promised glory turned into ignominy, the promised exaltation turned into desolation, the promised heaven turned into a hell. This age is full of soul-flatterers, of soul-undoers, who, like evil physicians, skin over the wound—but kill the
patient. Flattery undid Ahab, and Herod, and Nero, and Alexander. Not bitter words—but flattering words, do all the mischief. This many have found true by woeful experience.
Those flatterers who told Dionysius, that his spittle was as sweet as honey, undid him; and those flatterers that told Caesar, that his freckles in his face were like the stars in the firmament, ruined him. And ah! how many young and old in these days have been lost and undone by those soul-flatterers, who lie in wait to ensnare and deceive the souls of men. Smooth talk often proves sweet poison. Many in these days have found it so. Oh that this very consideration might be set home by the hand of the Spirit, with that life and power upon your souls, as effectually to stir and provoke you to get a well-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness, that so you may stand fast, like the house built upon the rock, in the midst of all tempests and storms, that nothing may unsettle you, nor disquiet you, and that none may take away your crown, Matt 7:24-25; Rev 3:11.
(3.) The third motive to stir you up to get a well-grounded assurance is this, consider, That a well-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness will ease you, and free you of a threefold burden. It will free you,
1. From a burden of cares.
2. From a burden of fears.
3. From a burden of doubts.
1. Now the burden of cares, ah Christians! causes you to sit down sighing and groaning; ah! how do the cares of getting this and that, and the cares of keeping this and that worldly contentment, disturb and distract, vex and rack the souls of men who live under the power of carking cares, Matt 13:22. Oh—but now assurance of better things makes the soul sing care away, as that martyr said, "My soul is turned to her rest; I have taken a sweet nap in Christ's lap, and therefore I will now sing away care, and will be carefree." Assurance of an eternal kingdom and crown, is a fire which burns up all those cares which ordinarily fill the head and distract the
heart. There is no way to get off the burden of cares but by getting assurance.
2. Again, assurance will free you from the burden of fears, as well as from the burden of cares. Men are apt to make elephants of flies, and giants of pigmies. Until men reach assurance, they will still create fears, rather than extinguish them. Now, your hearts are filled with fears of possessing the creature, with fears of lacking the creature, with fears of losing the creature, etc. And these fears make men turn, like the chameleon, into all colors, forms, and fashions, yes, they make their lives a hell. Oh—but now assurance will scatter all these fears, as the sun does the clouds; it will extinguish these fears, as the sun does the fire. Assurance made David divinely fearless, and divinely careless: Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me," Psalm 23:3. Ah! how full of fears and perplexities was Hagar, until the Lord opened her eyes to see the well of water that was near her, Gen 21:16. So the soul will be full of fears and perplexities until it comes to see assurance, to enjoy assurance. Christians, when all is said that can be, this will be found at last a most certain truth, that there is no way to be effectually rid of your fears—but by obtaining a well-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness.
3. Again, assurance will rid you of your burden of doubts. Remember, Christians:
(1.) that doubts are bred and fed by ignorance and unbelief, and therefore are sinful;
(2.) that they rob the soul of all joy, comfort, and contentment;
(3.) they render men babes in Christianity;
(4.) they throw reproach upon God, Christ, and the promises;
(5.) they give Satan the greatest advantage against us.
Now you are still a-doubting. Sometimes you doubt whether that you are
a thorough Christian, and not an Agrippa, an almost Christian, a half Christian, as most professors are. Sometimes you doubt of your sonship, and that leads you to doubt of your heirship. Sometimes you doubt of your acquaintance with God, and that leads you to doubt of your access to God, and acceptance with God. Sometimes you doubt of your union with God, and those doubts lead you to doubt of the truth of your communion with God, etc. The truth is, your whole life is a life of doubting, and so it will be—until you reach to a well-grounded assurance.
Though the two disciples had Christ for their companion, yet their hearts were full of fears and doubts, while their eyes were blinded so that they should not know him, Luke 24:14-15, etc. Until a Christian's eyes be open to see his assurance, his heart will be full of doubts and perplexities. Though Mary Magdalene was very near to Christ, yet she stands sighing, mourning, and complaining that they had stolen away her Lord, because she did not see him, John 20:13-16. Christians! though you may be very near and dear to Christ, yet until you come to see your assurance, you will spend your days in doubting, mourning, and complaining.
The sum of all is this, as you would be rid of your burden of cares, your burden of fears, and your burden of doubts, get a well-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness; but if you are in love with your burdens, then neglect but the making of your calling and election sure, and you shall certainly make sure your burdens; they shall rise with you, and walk with you, and lie down with you, until they make your lives a hell.
(4.) The fourth motive to provoke you to labor after a well-grounded assurance is, To consider that Satan will labor with all his arts and deceits, with all his power and might, to keep you from attaining a well-grounded assurance of your happiness and blessedness. Such is Satan's envy and enmity against a Christian's joy and comfort, that he cannot but act to the utmost of his ability to keep poor souls in doubts and darkness. Satan's envy is such against the joy and comfort of the saints, that he cannot rest, nor cease from making use of all his wiles, whereby poor souls may be kept off from assurance, and their lives made a burden to them.
Satan knows that assurance is that pearl of great price, which will make the soul happy forever; he knows that assurance makes a Christian's wilderness to be a paradise; he knows that assurance begets in Christians the most noble and generous spirits; he knows that assurance is that which will make men strong to do exploits, to shake his tottering kingdom about his ears; and therefore he is very studious and industrious to keep souls off from assurance, as he was to cast Adam out of paradise.
It is no wonder that Satan, who envied the first seeds of grace which divine love sowed in your soul, that he should envy the increase of your grace, yes, your assurance, which is the top and royalty of grace. When you were a babe, Satan cast water upon your smoking flax, that it might not flame forth into assurance; and now you are grown up to some more maturity, he is raised in his enmity, so that he cannot but put out his power and policy to keep you from assurance of felicity and glory. Satan envies your candlelight, your torchlight, your starlight, how much more that the sun should shine upon you! Satan envies your eating of the crumbs of mercy under the table, how much more that, as a child, you should sit at Wisdom's table, and eat and drink abundantly of Wisdom's delicates! Satan envies your feeding on husks among the swine, how much more that you should eat of the fattened calf! Satan envies your sitting with Mordecai at the king's gate, how much more that you should wear the king's robes! Satan envies your tasting of the least drop of comfort, how much more your swimming in those pleasures that are at God's right hand for evermore! He envies your sitting upon God's knee, how much more, then, your lying in his bosom! He envies your being admitted into his service, how much more that you should be of his court and council!
Some say of the crystal, that it has such a virtue in it, that the very touching of it quickens other stones, and puts a luster and beauty upon them. Assurance is that heavenly crystal which quickens souls, and which casts a beauty and a glory upon souls; and this makes the devil mad.
Satan knows that assurance is manna in a wilderness, it is water out of a rock, it is a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He knows that assurance is a salve for all sores, and medicine for all diseases, and a remedy against every malady. He knows that assurance is a Christian's
anchor at sea, and his shield upon land; and that it is a staff to support him, and a sword to defend him, and a pavilion to hide him, and a cordial to cheer him; and therefore it is that he labors, both as a lion and as a serpent, to keep poor souls from a well-grounded assurance. This son of the morning has fallen from the top of glory to the bottom of misery, and therefore he strives to make all as miserable and unhappy as himself.
Ah! Christians, have not you need to seek assurance with all your might, who have to do with so mighty an adversary, who cares not what torments he heaps upon himself, so that he may prove your tormentor, by keeping your souls and assurance asunder? Oh that this very consideration might make you restless, until you have got this "white stone" in your bosoms!
(5.) The fifth motive to provoke you to get a well grounded assurance is this, consider that a well grounded assurance is a jewel of that incomparable value, it is such a pearl of great price as will abundantly recompense the soul for all the cost and effort it shall be at to enjoy it. Yes, the enjoyment of assurance in that hour of death, when the soul shall sit upon your trembling lips, ready to take her leave of you, and all the world, will richly recompense you for all those prayers, tears, sighs and groans which you have breathed out in one place or another, in one service or another.
Surely the gold in the mine will recompense the digger; the crown, in the end, will recompense the runner; the fruit in the vineyard will recompense the vine-dresser; the corn in the barn will recompense the reaper; and the increase of the livestock will recompense the shepherd. Just so, assurance at last will abundantly recompense the soul for all its knocking, weeping, and waiting at mercy's door. God will never allow "the seed of Jacob to seek his face in vain," Isa 45:19. There is a reward not only in keeping—but also for keeping of his commands, Psalm 19:11. Joseph, for his thirteen years' imprisonment, had the honor to reign eighty years like a king; David, for his seven years' banishment, had a glorious reign of forty years' continuance; Daniel, for his lying a few hours among the lions, is made chief president over a hundred and twenty princes; the three children, for taking a few turns in the fiery furnace, are advanced to great dignity and glory.
Ah! doubting souls, pray hard, pull hard, work hard for assurance; the pay will answer the pains. Christ will, sooner or later, say to you, as the king of Israel said to the king of Syria, "I am yours, and all that I have," 1 Kings 20:4. 'I am yours, O doubting souls,' says Christ, 'and assurance is yours, and joy is yours; my merit is yours, my Spirit is yours, and my glory is yours; all I am is yours, and all I have is yours. Oh, this is a hive full of divine comfort; oh this will recompense you for all your wrestling and sweating to obtain assurance, Matt 25:34-41; Rev 3:11-12.
Augustine, in his Confessions, has this notable expression, "How sweet was it to me, to be suddenly without those sweet earthly vanities. And those things which I was afraid to lose—with joy I let go; for you who are the true and only sweetness, did cast out those from me, and instead of them did enter in yourself—who is more delightful than all pleasure, and more clear than all light."
Ah! Christians, do but hold up and hold on, and assurance and joy will come, and you shall, after your working and waiting, sit down and sing it out with old Simeon, "My eyes have seen your salvation;" my heart has found the sweetness of assurance, and "now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace," Luke 2:30.
(6.) The sixth motive to provoke you to get assurance, is this, Consider what labor and pains worldlings take to obtain the vain things of this life. Ah! what riding, running, plotting, lying, swearing, stabbing, and poisoning, is used by men of this world—to obtain the poor things of this world, which are but shadows and dreams, and mere nothings! How do many with Samson lay heap upon heap, to make their crowns and kingdoms sure, to make the tottering glory of this world sure to themselves! what bloody butchers do they prove! they will have the crown, though they swim to it through the blood of innocent men. Men will venture life and limb to obtain those things which hop from man to man, as the bird hops from twig to twig.
Oh! how should this stir and provoke us to be up and doing, to labor as for life—to make sure of spiritual and eternal things! Is earth better than heaven? Is the glory of this world greater than the glory of the world to
come? Are these riches more durable than those which corrupt not, which "are laid up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal?" Matt 6:19-20. No! Oh then be ashamed, Christians, that worldlings are more studious and industrious to obtain pebbles, than you are to obtain pearls! They labor to obtain those things which at last will be their burden, their bane, their plague, their hell. You are to labor to obtain those things which will be your joy and crown in life, in death, and in the day of judgement.
The laborious, the active Christian, is tempted but by one devil; but the idle, slothful Christian, is tempted by all devils. It is very sad, when worldlings are a-reaping; that saints as to spirituals, should be slumbering and sleeping.
Pambus wept when he saw a harlot dressed with much care and cost, partly to see one take so much pains to go to hell, and partly because he had not been so careful to please God, as she had been to please her sluttish lovers. Ah, Christians! what great reason have you to sit down and weep bitterly—that worldlings take so much pains to make themselves miserable, and that you have taken no more pains to get assurance, to get a pardon in your bosoms, to get more of Christ into your hearts!
(7.) The seventh motive to provoke you to get assurance, is to consider, That assurance will enable you to bear a burden, without a burden, as in Hebrews 10:34, "You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions." Here you see that assurance of heavenly things makes these worthies patiently and joyfully bear a burden, without a burden. So the apostles, knowing that they had "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, went through honor and dishonor, evil report and good report," 2 Cor 5:8, and 2 Cor 6:8-11. They went through many weaknesses, sicknesses, wants, and deaths; they had nothing, and yet possessed all things; they had burden upon burden cast upon them by the churches, by false apostles, and by an uncharitable world, and yet they cheerfully bore all burdens without a burden, through the power of a well-grounded assurance.
Assurance makes heavy afflictions light, long afflictions short, bitter afflictions sweet, 2 Cor 4:16-18. Where a man lacks assurance, there the shadow of a burden frights him, and the weight of the least burden sinks him. Such a man is still a-crying out, "No man's burden to my burden; my burden is greater than others, my burden is heavier than others." The lack of assurance oftentimes makes men's very mercies a burden, their comforts a burden, their relations a burden, yes, their very lives a burden unto them. Ah! Christians, you will never bear burdens without a burden—until you come to attain an assurance of better things. This will enable you to leap under the weight of any cross, to rejoice under the weight of any mountain, Job 7:20.
Assurance fits a man's heart to his condition, and when a man's heart is fitted to his condition, nothing proves a burden to him. Assurance of better things to come takes away the sting, the poison which attends these lower things; and the sting and the poison being taken away, the very worst of these things are so far from being a burden to a man, that they become rather a pleasure and a delight unto him. When the sting is taken out of this or that venomous creature, a man may play with it and put it in his bosom. Ah! assurance pulls out the sting which is in every cross, loss, etc., and this makes the assured soul to sit down singing, when others who are under far less crosses and losses, sit down sighing, mourning, and complaining, "Our burdens are greater than we are able to bear!"
If there were but more assurance of better things among Christians, there would be less complaints among them of this burden, and that molehills then would be no longer mountains. Christians, it is not new notions, new opinions, new nothings, as I may say, in your heads—but the gaining of a well-grounded assurance in your hearts, which will enable you to bear all kinds of burdens without a burden.
(8.) The eighth motive to provoke you to get assurance, is drawn from those particular commands of God, whereby he engages Christians to get assurance, as that in 2 Pet 1:10, "Therefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things you shall never fall." So 2 Cor 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not
realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?" So Heb 6:11, "And we desire that everyone of you do show the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end." (The saints in heaven have a happy necessity of obeying God always; but we have an unhappy necessity of disobeying continually.)
Ah! you dull, doubting, drowsy Christians, you should take all these commands of God, and press them with all the power and authority you can upon your hearts, to awaken them and provoke them to get assurance of your eternal well-being. 'The precepts of God,' says Lactantius, 'do so change the whole man, and make him so new, that you can hardly know him to be the same person—a thing which philosophy has much labored in—but could never achieve. Christians! the pressing of those very commands last cited upon your hearts, may produce that comfort and peace, and make such a blessed change in your inward condition, as may bespeak much admiration.
Take one command, and charge that upon the heart; if the heart is stout and will not yield, then take another command, and press it upon your heart; if that will not do, then take another, and lay that home upon the heart; and never leave this work until your souls are effectually stirred up to labor for assurance with all your might. Christians! you should tell your souls that the commands of God bind directly and immediately, that they bind absolutely and universally. You must obey God upon the bare sight of his will, and in one thing as well as another. Christians! if I am not much mistaken, you should make as much conscience of those commands of God which require you to get assurance of your future happiness, as you do of those commands which requires you to pray, to hear, etc.
It is very sad to consider that many who complain much of the lack of assurance, should make so little care and conscience of those commands of God which require them to get assurance. Truly, Christians! while you make light of any of God's commands, God will make as light of your comforts. Did you make more conscience to act answerable to the forementioned commands, I am very apt to believe that the Sun of righteousness would certainly and speedily cause his love and glory to beam out upon you. Mind God's commands more than your own wants
and complaints, and light will break in upon you. By obeying Christ's commands, you will gain more than you can give; by kissing the Son, you will even command him, and make him and assurance yours.
(9.) The ninth motive to provoke you to get assurance is this, You cannot gratify Satan more, nor injure yourselves more, than by living without assurance. By living without assurance, you lay yourselves open to all Satan's snares and temptations; yes, you instigate and provoke Satan to tempt you to the worst of sins, to tempt you to the greatest neglects, to tempt you to the strangest shifts, and to reduce you to the saddest straits. Ah, Christians! in what, in what has Satan so gratified you—that you should thus gratify him? Has he not robbed you of your glory in innocency? Has he not kept your souls and your Savior long asunder? When with Joshua you have been standing before the Lord, Zech 3:1-2, has not he stood at your right hand as an adversary to resist you? Has he not often set the glory of the world before you, that he might bewitch you and ensnare you? Matt 4:8. Has he not often cast water upon those divine motions which have been kindled in you? Have you not often found him a lion and a serpent, a tempter and a deceiver, a liar and a murderer? 1 Thess 2:18. Yes! Oh, then, never gratify him any longer by living without assurance.
He who lives without assurance, lives without a comfortable fruition of God, and so gratifies Satan. He who lives without assurance, lives upon some creature enjoyment more than upon God, and so gratifies Satan. He who lives without assurance, lives not like the beloved of God, and so gratifies Satan. He who lives without assurance is very apt to gratify Satan, sometimes by complying with him, sometimes by following after him, and sometimes by acting his part for him, etc. Truly, Christians! there is no way effectually to prevent this sore evil—but by getting a wellgrounded assurance of your everlasting happiness and blessedness. Assurance will make a man stand upon terms of defiance with Satan, it will make the soul constant in resisting, and happy in overcoming, the evil one. An assured soul will fight it out to the death with Satan; an assured soul will not fly like a coward—but will stand and triumph like a David.
And as you gratify Satan by living without assurance, so you wrong your
own souls by living without assurance.
(1.) In the point of comfort and joy, you wrong your own souls.
(2.) In the point of peace and content, you wrong your own souls.
(3.) In the point of boldness and confidence, you wrong your own souls.
A man who lives without assurance, lays his precious soul open to many blows and knocks, to many frowns and wounds, from God, from the world, from carnal friends, from hypocrites, and from Satan; therefore as you would not, Christians, gratify Satan, and wrong your own souls, and exercise over yourselves spiritual cruelty and tyranny, which is the very worst of all cruelty and tyranny—give God no rest until he has made known to you the sweetness of his love, and the secrets of his bosom, until he has gathered you up into himself, until he has set you as "a seal upon his heart, as a seal upon his arm," Song 8:6.
(10.) The tenth motive, to provoke you to get a well-grounded assurance is this, Consider the sweet profit and glorious advantage which will redound to you by gaining assurance; and if the gain which will certainly redound to you by assurance will not provoke you to get assurance, I know not what will.
[1.] The first advantage. It will bring down heaven into your bosoms; it will give you a possession of heaven, on this side heaven, Heb 11:1. An assured soul lives in paradise, and walks in paradise, and works in paradise, and rests in paradise; he has heaven within him, and heaven about him, and heaven over him; all his language is Heaven, heaven! Glory, glory!
[2.] The second advantage. Assurance will exceedingly sweeten all the changes of this life. This life is full of changes. Assurance will sweeten both sickness and health, both weakness and strength, both wants and abundance, both disgrace and honor, 2 Cor 4:16-18, etc. While a man lives in the sense of God's unchangeable love, no outward changes can make any considerable change in his spirit. Let times change, let men change, let powers change, let nations change, yet a man under the power
of assurance will not change his countenance, nor change his master, nor change his work, nor change his hopes. Though others under changes turn, like the chameleon, into all colors to save their little all, yet the assured soul under all changes is semper idem—always the same.
Souls which lack assurance are like him in Aesop, who blew hot and cold with the same breath. The wind is not more subject to change and shift from one quarter to another, from one corner to another, than they are subject to change and shift in changing times.
Antistines, a philosopher, to make his life happy, desired only that he might have the spirit of Socrates, who was always in a quiet temper of spirit, whatever wrongs, injuries, crosses, losses, etc., befell him. Let the trials be what they would, yet he continued one and the same. Ah, Christians! the lack of assurance has made many changelings in these days; but if ever you would be like Socrates, if ever you would be like the philosopher's good man, that is, Tetragonos—four square, that cast him where you will, like a dice, he falls always sure and square, then get assurance of everlasting happiness.
Assurance will make your souls like the laws of the Medes and Persians, which alters not. Assurance will sweeten the darkest day, and the longest night; under variety of changes, it will make a man sit down with Habakkuk, and rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation, Hab 3:17-19.
[3.] The third advantage. Assurance will keep the heart from an inordinate running out after the world, and the glory thereof. Moses having an assurance of the recompense of reward, and of God's love and favor, could not be drawn by all the honors, pleasures, and treasures of Egypt. He slights all, and tramples upon all the glory of the world, as men trample upon things of no worth, Heb 11:24-27. So after Paul had been in the third heaven, and had assurance that nothing should separate him from the love of God in Christ, he looks upon the world as a crucified thing: "The world is crucified to me," says he, 2 Cor 12:1-3, and Rom 8:38; "and I am crucified unto the world," Gal 6:14. The world is dead to me, and I am dead to it: the world and I am well agreed; the world cares not a pin for me, and I care not a pin for the world.
The loadstone cannot draw the iron when the diamond is in presence; no more cannot the vanities of this world draw the soul after them, when assurance, that choice pearl of price, is in presence.
I have read of Lazarus, than after he was raised from the grave, he was never seen to smile. The assurance that he had of more glorious things, did deaden his heart to the things of this world; he saw nothing in them worthy of a smile. Ah! were there more assurance among Christians, there would not be such tugging for the world, and such greedy hunting and pursuing after it, as is in these days, to the dishonor of God, the reproach of Christ, and the shame of the gospel.
Get but more assurance, and less money would satisfy you; get but more assurance, and less places of honor and profit would satisfy you; get but assurance, and then you will neither transgress for a morsel of bread, nor yet violently pursue after the golden wedge, etc.
So when God gave Galeacius, that Italian marquis, an assurance of everlasting happiness, he withstood many golden temptations, and cried out, 'Cursed be he who prefers all the glory of the world to one day's communion with Christ!' Justice would not be sold and bought, as it is in these days, were there more assurance in the world.
[4.] The fourth advantage. Assurance will exceedingly heighten you in your communion with God, and it will exceedingly sweeten your communion with God. Assurance of a man's property in God raises him high in his fellowship with God, 1 John 3:2. There are none who have such choice and sweet communion with God as those who have the clearest assurance of their interest in God, as may be seen throughout the whole book of Solomon's Song. "My beloved is mine, and I am his," says the spouse, Song 2:16. I am assured of my property in him, says she, and therefore he shall lie all night between my breasts; and upon this account it is that she holds king Jesus in the galleries, that she is sick with love, that she is raised and ravished with his kisses and embraces: "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand does embrace me," Song 1:13; Song 7:5; Song 2:6. None had more assurance of her interest in Christ than she, and none higher and closer in communion with Christ than she.
The wife's assurance of her interest in her husband, sweetens and heightens her communion with her husband. The child's assurance of his interest in his father, sweetens his commerce and fellowship with his father. So the believer's assurance of his interest in God, will exceedingly heighten and sweeten his communion and fellowship with God. Assurance of a man's interest in God sweetens every thought of God, and every sight of God, and every taste of God, and every good word of God. God is as sweet to the assured soul when he has a sword in his hand—as when he has a scepter; when he has the rod of indignation—as when he has the cup of consolation; when his garments are rolled and dyed in blood—as when he appears in his wedding robes; when he acts the part of a judge—as when he acts the part of a father, etc. He has all—who has the owner of all.
[5.] The fifth advantage. Assurance will be a choice preservative to keep you from backsliding from God and his ways. Ah! assurance will glue the soul to God and his ways, as Ruth was glued to her mother Naomi. It will make a man "stand fast in the faith, and be courageous like a good soldier of Christ," Gal 5:1; 2 Tim 2:3. 2 Pet 1:10-11, "Therefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall." Stumble you may, and he who does but stumble gets ground by his stumbling. Assurance will keep a man from falling foully and from falling utterly. Verily, the reason why there is so many apostates in these days is, because there are so few who have a well-grounded assurance in these days. Luther, writing to his fearful friend Melancthon, says, 'if we fall, Christ falls.'
Pliny speaks of some fish which swim backward. Ah! many professors in these days swim backward; they swim from God, and Christ, and conscience; yes, they swim from the very principles of morality and common honesty. Believe it, friends! it is not high notions in the brain—but sound assurance in the heart, which will keep a man close to Christ when others backslide from Christ. An assured Christian will not exchange his gold for copper; he knows that one old piece of gold is worth a thousand pennies; one old truth of Christ is worth a thousand new errors, though clothed with glistening robes; and therefore he will prize the truth, and own the truth, and keep close to the