diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end." A full assured expectation of enjoying all the good contained in the promise, in grace and glory, may be obtained; and Christians are divinely required to show a concern, and exercise diligence, that it may be their comfortable privilege. As the word of God enjoins it upon Christians to give diligence for the obtaining of this assurance, so it farther informs us, that this blessed enjoyment has been the happiness of many of the saints. It was the support of Job under his affliction; for he could say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."* I know Jesus as a Redeemer—a living Redeemer—and mine own particular interest in him as my Redeemer. This privilege filled David's soul with joy, in views of death, and made him say, "Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure; and this is all my salvation and all my desire." A comfortable persuasion of his personal interest in the everlasting, ordered, and sure covenant, which secured all salvation unto him, and which was earnestly desired by him, filled his soul with joy and solace when he was about to go the way of all the earth. From the scriptural account of the primitive Christians, it appears that this sensible assurance was generally enjoyed by them. "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God." Such were the measures of the Spirit's influence, which, in these early times of the Gospel, * Job 19: 25. 2 Sam. 23: 5. Acts 9: 31. 1 Thess. 1 : 4. were poured on their souls, that they walked in the fear of the Lord; were filled with the comforts of the Holy Ghost, and knew their election of God. Paul, no doubt, enjoyed this sensible assurance to a great degree, when he so strongly expresses his interest in his Savior's love and death, saying, "I obtained mercy."* From all these instances, it is evident, that this subjective assurance has been attained, and may, therefore, be yet reached unto by the saints of God. The very nature of grace, as an inward active principle in the soul, farther establishes this truth. All inward active principles discover, by their operations and effects, their existence in the mind of man. This is true of the principles of reason, of instinct, and of sin; and undoubtedly it must be true also of the principles of grace. This gracious principle, in the human soul, puts forth operations, and produces effects, which, if duly attended to, and religiously improved by the believer, will evidence its own existence in him; and will, by the blessing of God, grow up to a sensible assurance of the person's interest in the object of faith. This subjective assurance accompanies the exercise of faith. It is not of the nature or essence of faith, otherwise the believer could never be without it; but it accompanies the exercise of that grace, and flows from it as its effect. It follows the acting of faith. There cannot be any sensible assurance in the mind, without the grace of saving faith has been implanted there. All the persuasion which men may have of their interest in salvation, who are not possessed of saving faith, must be groundless presumption, which will utterly disappoint and deceive them. This assurance accom 1 Timothy 1: 13. panies saving faith, because it both springs from it, and is supported by it. All the evidences by which the mind is sensibly assured, are the acts and effects of faith. This assurance, we also said, sometimes accompanies the exercise of faith. It is not always the believer's comfortable attainment, when he is in the exercise of that grace. A person may be a true believer, and may not have, as yet, reached unto this privilege. It is a stage, in the Christian journey, which lies beyond the place from whence the believer sets out, when he begins his religious course. The command of the apostle, directed to Christians, requiring diligence to make their calling and election sure, plainly supposes that they may be both called and chosen of God, and yet not be sensibly assured of it. This assurance, also, accompanies the exercise of faith only at times, because the person who has been privileged with it, may be deprived of the happy enjoyment. This sometimes arises from Divine desertion. David appears to have lost his comfort in this manner, when he says, "Lord, by thy favor thou madest my mountain to stand strong; thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled."* The loss of this assurance is more frequently occasioned by the believer's transgressing the Divine law. With the loss of this comfortable enjoyment, the Lord frequently punishes his people for their iniquity. This made the same holy man complain: "There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin." While these words represent the fatherly anger of God, as the efficient cause of the Christian's trouble, they set before our view their sin, as that * Psalm 30: 7. + Psalm 38: 3. which procures it to them. As Christians may spend a part of their religious life before they enjoy sensible assurance, and even after they have obtained it, may lose it for a time, it must be evident that this blessing does only sometimes accompany the exercise of faith. We shall now conclude with some inferences. the soul. 1. Hence we may be informed of the difference betwixt faith and sense, or betwixt that assurance that is in the nature of faith, and that sensible assurance that sometimes accompanies it. The assurance of faith persuades the Christian of the truth of its object; but the assurance of sense convinces him of his actual interest in that object. The assurance of faith is built upon the infinite faithfulness of God in his word and promise; but the assurance of sense is supported by the consideration of the work of God in The assurance of faith respects the promise, as it exhibits the glorious inheritance which flows from the grace of God, through the merits of Christ, to them that believe; but this sensible assurance is taken up with the present and begun enjoyment of the good, which is contained in the promise. The assurance of faith is in the act of faith, and the assurance of sense respects the evidence of faith: by the former, the person really believes on God through Christ for eternal salvation; and by the latter he is persuaded that he has actually believed unto the saving of his soul. By the assurance of faith, the Christian is persuaded that Christ and all the blessings of salvation are his, in the offer and call of the Gospel, and that he is divinely warranted, as a lost sinner of Adam's family, to receive Christ and salvation by him; but by the assurance of sense he is convinced that Christ and salvation are his, in the real possession and enjoyment. By the assurance of faith, Christians heartily consent unto and approve the method of salvation through Christ, and clearly see it to be every way glorifying to God and suitable for them; but by the assurance of sense they feel the begun execution of this glorious scheme upon themselves, in their begun sanctification and spiritual comfort. The assurance of faith is necessary unto the spiritual being of a Christian; but the assurance of sense is needful unto his spiritual well-being, pros· perity, and consolation. The assurance of faith may be in the soul, without sensible assurance; but the assurance of sense cannot remain without the actings of saving faith. This assurance, which is in faith, secures the believer's safety in Christ; and the sensible assurance which sometimes accompanies the exercise of that grace, greatly promotes his joy. 2. That Christians should particularly apply the object of faith unto their own souls, is evident from what has been said. This particular application of faith is required by the authority of God; by it we obtain an interest in the object of faith; and without it we cannot be saved. This exercise, therefore, is warranted, useful and necessary. It is warranted. The Lord, by his gospel, brings near the righteousness of Christ to every hearer of the word, and calls them to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. The best robe of the Redeemer's righteousness is brought forth to us in the Gospel for this very end, that, in order to our justification, we may, by the appropriating exercise of faith, put it upon ourselves. The blood of Christ is presented to the faith of the church in the laver of the gospel, not that it may remain |