Having before considered a believer as made partaker of those graces of the Holy Spirit that accompany salvation, whereby his state is rendered safe, and also that he shall not draw back unto perdition, but shall attain the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul; it is necessary for the establishing of his comfort and joy, that he should know himself to be interested in this privilege. It is a great blessing to be redeemed by Christ, and sanctified by the Spirit; but it is a superadded privilege to know that we are so, or be assured that we are in a state of grace, which is the subject insisted on in this answer: In which we are led,
I. To speak something concerning the nature of assurance, and how far persons may be said to be infallibly assured of their salvation.
II. We shall endeavour to prove that this blessing is attainable in this life.
III. We shall consider the character of those to whom it belongs. And,
IV. The means whereby it may be attained.
I. Concerning the nature of assurance, and how far persons may be said to be infallibly assured of their salvation. Assurance is opposed to doubting; which is inconsistent therewith; so that he who has attained this privilege, is carried above all those doubts and fears respecting the truth of grace, and his interest in the love of God, which others are exposed to, whereby their lives are rendered very uncomfortable: It may also be considered as containing in it something more than our being enabled to hope that we are in a state of grace; for though that affords relief against despair, yet it falls short of assurance, which is sometimes called a full assurance of hope, Heb. vi. 11. and it certainly contains a great deal more than a probability, or a conjectural persuasion relating to this matter; which is the only thing that some will allow to be attainable by believers, especially they who deny the doctrine of the saints’ perseverance, and lay the greatest stress of man’s salvation on his own free-will, rather than the efficacious grace of God. All that they will own as to this matter is, that persons may be in a hopeful way to salvation, and that it is probable they may attain it at last. But they cannot be fully assured that they shall, unless they were assured concerning their perseverance, which, they suppose, no one can be; because the carrying on of the work of grace depends on the free-will of man, as well as the first beginning of it; and according to their notion of liberty, as has been before observed under another answer[[104]], viz. that he who acts freely may act the contrary; and consequently, since every thing that is done in the carrying on of the work of grace, is done freely; no one can be assured that this work shall not miscarry; therefore none can attain assurance; this is what some assert, but we deny. And it is observed in this answer, that believers may not only attain assurance that they are in a state of grace, and shall persevere therein unto salvation, but that they may be infallibly assured hereof, which is the highest degree of assurance. How far this is attainable by believers, may be the subject of our farther inquiry.
It is a matter of dispute among some, whether assurance admits of any degrees, or whether a person can be said to be more or less assured of a thing? or whether that which does not amount to the highest degree of certainty, may be called assurance? This is denied, by some, for this reason; because assurance is the highest and strongest assent that can be given to the truth of any proposition; accordingly the least defect of evidence on which it is supposed to be founded, leaves the mind in a proportionable degree of doubt, as to the truth of it; in which case there may be a probability, but not an assurance. If this method of explaining the meaning of the word be true, then it is beyond dispute, that they who have attained assurance of their being in a state of grace, may be said to be infallibly assured thereof: Whether this be the sense of that expression in this answer, I will not pretend to determine; neither shall I enter any farther into this dispute, which amounts to little more than what concerns the propriety or impropriety of the sense of the word assurance. All that I shall add concerning it, is, that according to our common mode of speaking it is reckoned no absurdity for a person to say he is sure of a thing, though it be possible for him to have greater evidence of the truth thereof, and consequently a greater degree of assurance. Thus the assurance that arises from the possession of a thing cannot but be greater than that which attends the bare expectation of it: Therefore whatever be the sense of that infallible assurance, which is here spoken of; we cannot suppose that there is any degree of assurance attainable in this life, concerning the happiness of the saints in heaven, equal to that which they have who are actually possessed of that blessedness; to suppose this would be to confound earth and heaven together, or expectation with actual fruition.
As to what relates to our assurance thereof, there is another matter of dispute among some, which I am not desirous to enter into; namely, whether it is possible for a believer to be as sure that he shall be saved, as he is that he exists, or that he is a sinner, and so stands in need of salvation? or whether it is possible for a person to be as sure that he shall be saved, as he is sure of that truth which is matter of pure revelation, viz. that he, that believes shall be saved? or whether it is possible for a person to be as sure that he has the truth of grace, as he may be that he performs any actions, whether natural or religious; such as speaking, praying, reading, hearing, &c. or whether we may be as sure that we have a principle of grace, as we are that we put forth such actions, as seem to proceed from that principle, when engaged in the performance of some religious duties? If any are disposed to defend the possibility of our attaining assurance in so great a degree as this, as what they think to be the meaning of what some divines have asserted, agreeably to what is contained in this answer, that a believer may be infallibly assured of his salvation, I will not enter the list with them; though I very much question whether it will not be a matter of too great difficulty for them to support their argument, without the least appearance of exception to it.
Nevertheless, (that I may not extenuate or deny the privileges which some saints have been favoured with, who have been, as it were, in the suburbs of heaven, and not only had a prelibation, but a kind of sensation, of the enjoyments thereof, and expressed as full an assurance as though they had been actually in heaven); it cannot be denied that this, in various instances, has amounted, as near as possible, to an assurance of infallibility; and that such a degree of assurance has been attained, by some believers, both in former and later ages, will be proved under a following head, which, I am apt to think, is what is intended in this answer, by the possibility of a believer’s being infallibly assured of salvation. But let it be considered, that these are uncommon instances, in which the Spirit of God, by his immediate testimony, has favoured them with, as to this matter, which are not to be reckoned as a standard, whereby we may judge of that assurance which God’s children desire, and sometimes enjoy, which falls short of it: Therefore, when God is pleased to give a believer such a degree of assurance, as carries him above all his doubts and fears, with respect to his being in a state of grace, and fills him with those joys which arise from hence, that are unspeakable, and full of glory; this is that assurance which we are now to consider, which, in this answer is called an infallible assurance; whether it be more or less properly so called, we have nothing farther to add; but shall proceed,
II. To prove that this privilege is attainable in this present life; and that it may appear to be so, let it be considered,