1) Although temporary believers, and other unregenerate
men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal
presumptions of being in the favour of God and state of
salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish;a
yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in
sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before
him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the
state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of
God,b which hope shall never make them
ashamed.c
(a Job
8:13,14, Matthew
7:22,23; b 1 John
2:3, 1 John
3:14,18,19,21,24, 1 John
5:13; c Romans
5:2,5)
2) This certainty is not a bare conjectural and
probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an
infallible assurance of faithd founded on the
blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the
Gospel;e and also upon the inward evidence of
those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are
made,f and on the testimony of the Spirit of
adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of
God;g and, as a fruit thereof, keeping the
heart both humble and holy.h
(d Hebrews
6:11,19; e Hebrews
6:17,18; f 2 Peter
1:4,5,10,11; g Romans
8:15,16; h 1
John 3:1-3)
3) This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the
essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and
conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of
it;i yet being enabled by the Spirit to know
the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without
extraordinary revelation, in the right use of means, attain
thereunto:j and therefore it is the duty of
every one to give all diligence to make his calling and election
sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength
and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of
this assurance;k - so far is it from inclining
men to looseness.l
(i Isaiah
50:10, Psalms
88, Psalms
77:1-12; j 1 John
4:13, Hebrews
6:11,12; k Romans
5:1,2,5, Romans
14:17, Psalms
119:32; l Romans
6:1,2, Titus
2:11,12,14)
4) True believers may have the assurance of their
salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as by
negligence in preserving of it,m by falling
into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth
the Spirit;n by some sudden or vehement
temptation,o by God's withdrawing the light of
his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in
darkness and to have no light,p yet are they
never destitute of the seed of Godq and life of
faith,r that love of Christ and the brethren,
that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty out of which, by
the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be
revived,s and by the which, in the meantime,
they are preserved from utter despair.t
(m Song
5:2,3,6; n Psalms
51:8,12,14; o Psalms 116:11, Psalms 77:7,8, Psalms 31:22;
p Psalms 30:7;
q 1
John 3:9; r Luke
22:32; s Psalms 42:5,11;
t Lamentations 3:26-31)