Ah my brethren, it would be better to turn our hopes from the past; for the past times offer only melancholy objects to most of us, and to confine our attention to future, or rather to the present moments, which afford us more agreeable objects of contemplation. O may the present proofs, the glorious proofs, which God gives us to day of his love, make everlasting impressions upon our hearts and minds! May the sacred table, of which we have this morning participated, be for ever before our eyes! May this object every where follow us, and may it every where protect us from all those temptations, to which a future conversation with the world may expose us! May our prayers, our resolutions, our oaths, never be effaced from our memories! May we renew our prayers, resolutions, vows and oaths this moment with our hearts! Let each of us close this solemnity by saying, Thou art my portion, O Lord! I have said that I would keep thy words! I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgements, Psa. cxix. 57. 106. I have sworn to be more exact in all thy service, more attentive to thy voice, more sensible to thy exhortations. And, to unite all my wishes in one, may that sincerity, and integrity, with which we take this oath, be accompanied with all the divine assistance, which is necessary to enable us never, never to violate it, Amen! and Amen!

VOL. III.

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SERMON

SERMON X.

ASSURANCE.

ROM. viii. 38, 39.

I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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T is a circumtance of sacred history well worthy of our reflections, my brethren, that Moses and Joshua, being yet, the one beyond Jordan, the other hardly on the frontiers of Palestine, disposed of that country as if they had already subdued it. They made laws concerning kings, subjects, priests and levites; they distributed towns and provinces; and they described the boundaries of every tribe. It should seem, their battles had been all fought and they had nothing remaining now but the pleasure of enjoying the fruit of their victories. Yet war is uncertain, and the success of one day does not always ensure the success of the next. Hence the ancient proverb, Let not him that girdeth on his harness, boast himself as he, that putteth it off, I Kings xx. 11.

Certainly, my brethren, these leaders of the people of God would have been chargeable with rashness, had they founded their hopes only on their own resolution and courage, had they attacked their enemies only with a sword, and with a spear: but they went in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, 1 Sam. xvii. 45. for he had said to them, Arise, and go, for I do give this land to the children of Israel, Josh. i. 2. Resting on these promises, and possessing that faith, which is the substance

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of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, Heb. xi. 1. they thought themselves in the land of promise; they tasted the milk and honey, and enjoyed all the privileges of it.

Christians, there is a greater distance between heaven and earth, than there was between the wilderness and the land of promise. There are more difficulties to surmount to arrive at salvation, than there were formerly to arrive at Canaan. Yet, my text is the language of a christian soldier, yet in arms, yet resisting flesh and blood, yet surrounded by innumerable enemies conspiring against his soul; behold him assured, triumphing, defying all the creatures of the universe to deprive him of salvation. But be not surprized at his firmness, the angel of the Lord fights for him, and says to him, Arise, and go, for I do give the land to thee, Josh. i. 3. and his triumphant song is full of wisdom, I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let us examine the stedfastness of St. Paul, and let the words of our text decide two disputed points. Some divines pretend, that believers ought always to remain in a state of doubt and uncertainty concerning their salvation. Our first dispute is with them. Our second is with some false christians, who, pretending that assurance of salvation is taught in the holy scripture, arrogate to themselves the consolations afforded by this doctrine, even while they live in practices inconsistent with a state of regeneration. With a view to both, we will divide this discourse into two general parts. In the first we will prove this proposition; a believer may arrive at such a degree of holiness as to be assured of his salvation. I am persuaded, says St. Paul; he does not say, think, I presume, I conjecture; but I am persuaded, I am assured, that neither death nor life shall be able to separate me from the love of God; which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, In the second place, we will prove, that no one has a right to assure himself of his salvation, any further than he hath a right to assure himself, that he shall persevere in faith and obedience. I am persuaded, of what? Is it that, live how I will, I shall be saved? No. But I am persuaded, that neither death nor life shall separate me from the love of God; that is to say, I am persuaded, I shall tri

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umph over all temptations. The first of these articles shall be directed to confirm our consciences, and to explain our divinity. The second to justify our morality, and to destroy that false system of confidence, which carnal security aims to establish.

I. A believer may carry his faith and holiness to a degree, which will assure him of his salvation. This is our first proposition, and there is as much necessity of explaining it clearly as of solidly proving the truth of it; for if there be an article, that is rendered obscure by disputes about words, and by the false consequences, which different authors impute to each other, it is certainly this. If we clearly state the question, and omit what is not essential to the subject, although it may have some distant relation to it, we shall preclude a great many difficulties, and the truth will establish itself.

First, then, when we affirm, there is such a blessing as assurance of salvation, we do not mean, that assurance is a duty imposed on all mankind, so that every one, in what state soever he may be, ought to be fully persuaded of his salvation, and by this persuasion to begin his christianity. We are well assured, that all those, who are out of the road of truth and virtue, can have no other assurance than what is false, rash, and injurious to religion. By this we get rid of all those calumnies, by which some attempt to blacken cur doctrine. It has been pretended, that we require false christians wicked and abandoned people, persisting in error and vice, to believe, that they are justified, and that they have nothing more to do in order to arrive at salvation than to persuade themselves that they shall be saved. Indeed, we allow, obligations to faith and holiness, by which we arrive at assurance, lie upon all men, even the most unbelieving and profane: but while they persist in unbelief and profaneness, we endeavour to destroy their pretences to assurance and salvation.

2. We do not affirm, that all christians, even they, who may be sincere christians, but of whose sincerity there may be some doubt, have a right to assurance. Assurance of our justification depends on assurance of our bearing the characters of justified persons. As a christian in his state of infancy and noviciate can have only mixed and doubtful evidences of his christianity, so he can have only mixed and doubtful evidences of his certainty of salvation. In this manner we

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