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faith.' Could yonder sun diffuse warmth through the air, if it had no warmth in itself? No more could faith produce confidence in the believer, if, in its own nature, it did not contain the same.'

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The full assurance of faith, wherein we are commanded to draw near to God, and whereby Abraham was fully persuaded that what the Almighty God had promised, he was also able to perform, is much better understood in the experience of the children of God, than it can be explained in any description. A man is fully assured of any report, when he is entirely satisfied in his mind that the report is candid and true; and therefore he does not doubt, waver, or hesitate about it. Any degree of uncertainty or suspicion diminishes from the fulness of assurance. Behold the case of a person, whom God hath convinced of sin by his holy and spiritual commandments; he is as fully assured that he hath sinned and rebelled against the Lord, as that two and two make four. View the condition of one who suffers the terrors of the Lord; he also is fully assured that he is a guilty criminal, and can no more find peace in his conscience, than the malefactor can persuade himself that he shall live long when he is led forth to execution. Consider the sentiments of a person whose mind is deeply affected with the view of the authority of God's law; he likewise is fully assured, that every precept written in that law is a divine commandment, which regulates his conduct, and demands his obedience. If we go further, and observe the exercise of a sinner who sees himself guilty and condemned, and in every

* Hervey's Theron and Aspasio, Dial. 16.

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wretched and miserable; yet, perceiving the glorious sufficiency and the universal suitableness of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth and given in the declarations of his word to mankind-sinners, he is fully assured, and firmly persuaded, that this Saviour is really his, and that all the unsearchable riches of Christ are his own portion; and therefore he depends wholly upon the Lord Jesus for eternal life, because he believes, and is sure that God hath given and revealed Christ for this express purpose. In this exercise, we have an example of the full assurance of the faith of the gospel. Fears, dangers, and difficulties, must vanish in such a strong, clear, and appropriating view of the grace of God, and the inexhaustible fulness of Christ. Now the person can survey the deformity of his nature, heart, and life; now he can contemplate the exceeding sinfulness of sin, in the light of the holy and spiritual commandment; now he can view his own concern in the most humbling truths, and in the most alarming declarations; now he can read all the lamentations, and mourning, and woe, written in the book of the law; now he can come boldly to the throne of grace, though viewing himself as the chief of sinners; now he can look forward to the solemn and decisive determinations of the last day; yea, what is impossible to him who thus believeth on the name of Christ? He considers Christ as all in all. In Christ he sees salvation from all his sins, security from all condemnation, a supply of all his need, safety in life, victory over death, a glorious resurrection, and the everlasting enjoyment of God: and he is fully assured, that the record concerning these and all other

privileges, which constitute eternal life, is given to him in the gospel, by God who cannot lie.

Such was the assurance of the patriarchs, "who saw the promises afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Of the same kind was the assurance of David, when he said, "Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away." Of this sort was the assurance of the Old Testament church, expressed in these words: "Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting." And the confidence of New Testament believers is expressed in the same language of triumph and assurance: "We believe," says an apostle," that, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they."

From the whole it appears, that the full assurance of faith lies in such a firm fixed persuasion, confidence, or trust in the faithfulness of God in Christ, pledged in his covenant or promise, as overcomes and tramples upon all difficulties and improbabilities, all doubts and fears, as to the actual performance of what is promised, in God's time and way; and all this with particular application to the person's self.

It is a most serious and interesting question, What foundation or warrant has any sinner for such a strong and full assurance of faith? To answer it is one

branch of my present business.

As much has been

said on this subject in a former chapter, I shall not enlarge upon this head, but refer the reader to what

has been there offered to his consideration: only I must observe, that the stable and firm foundation or support of his conscience lies in the word of God, which the sinner believes with much assurance. When we speak of this matter, it would seem to be very complex; but the foundation of this full assu rance stands in the most simple point of view before the mind of a believer. The word λngapogia, translated full assurance, in Col. ii. 2. Heb. vi. 11. and Heb. x. 22. is allowed by all our critics to be a metaphor taken from sailing; and it is applicable to a vessel that rides with all her sails expanded before a prosperous gale. So the soul that is fully assured of the mercy and truth, the wisdom and power of a promising God, rides triumphant amidst the billows of adversity and danger; while it sees the promises of God, administering every relief to its condition, and pouring their richest comforts with a liberal hand.

1. A clear and appropriating view of the grace, love, and mercy of a promising God, fills the mind with peace and joy in believing. When we are convinced that a man is our friend, that he has the tenderest sympathy and compassion on us under all our distresses, that he is inviolably attached to our interests, and that he only wants an opportunity to do us the greatest service he is able; would we not, in that case, employ his aid, and depend upon his friendship, without hesitation? In like manner, the sinner who perceives the love of God commended to him in the declarations of the gospel, who discerns the exceeding riches of the grace of God that bringeth salvation to him, and who sees the sufficiency and suitableness of the abundant mercies of the God and

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that sinner will cheerfully depend upon his merciful kindness. Hence we find David expressing himself in this manner: "How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light." Here we are taught, that whenever the children of men apprehend the excellency of God's loving-kindness, they cheerfully put their trust under the shadow of his wings, as chickens gather under the wings of a hen for safety and protection; and that the excellency of his loving kindness is the foundation of their confidence. The loadstone that draws the iron to itself, attaches it when drawn.

Every character of God, displaying the glorious perfections of his nature, and the richness of his mercy on a throne of grace, invites the confidence of sinners. Here he appears as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," as "the God of all grace," as "the God of peace," as "the God of salvation," as "God with us," as a "God in Christ reconciling the world to himself," as "the hearer of prayer," as "a promising God," and as "the Lord our God." Even the terrors of his vindictive justice, and of his righteous judgments, smile propitious from the throne of grace: for "justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne," or rather the establishment of it, according to the marginal reading. The grace they confide in "reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord," who is "the

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