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CHARLES GLASS <fc

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 VICTORY OVER SIN.

HERE is a plant called Sam

phire, which grows only
on
cliffs near the sea. But
thousrhO it grows near the
O
salt waves, yet it is never
found on any part of a cliff
which is not above the reach of the
tide. On one occasion, a party of ship
wrecked sailors, flung ashore, were
struggling up the face of precipitous
rocks, afraid of the advancing tide over
taking them, when one of their number
lighted upon a plant of samphire, grow
ing luxuriantly. Instantly he raised a
shout of joy, assuring his companions
by this token that they were now in
2 VICTORY OVER SIX.

safety. The sea might come near this

spot, and perhaps cast up its spray, but
would never be found reaching it. Such
isthe position of a soul in Christ; justi
fiedand united to Him, the person may
be in full sight still of the world s
threatening and angry waves;
but he is
safe, and cannot be over
perfectly
whelmed. Paul says of all Christians :

(
Ye are risen with Christ (Col. iii.
1.)

We are not only at peace with God ;

but besides, He hath raised us up to

gether with Christ,
and made us sit to
gether in heavenly places
in Christ.
Jems (Eph. ii.
6.)

Any one who understands this

union to Christ will see at once what

a blessed plan it is, formed by the God
of holiness, for giving a sinner victory
over sin. If Lazarus be raised out of
his tomb, he shall certainly be found no

longer lying amid worms and rotten-

 VICTORY OVER SIN. &

ness, and the cold damps of the sepul

chre, but walking in Bethany, in con
verse with living men. And so, says
Paul in Col. iii. 1-4: If ye then
risen with
l>e
Christ, seek those

things which are above, where

Christ sitteth at the right hand
of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. For
ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God. When Christ, who is
our life, shall appear, then shall ye also

appear with Him, in glory. MORTIFY

THEREFORE YOUR MEMBERS WHICH ARE
UPON THE EARTH; fornication, unclean-
ness, inordinate affection, evil concupi
scence, and covetousness, which is idol

atry! What resolutions cannot do,

what vows and prayers have failed to
accomplish, what self-denial and morti
fication and crosses have never suc
ceeded in giving you, this plan of God
-i VICTORY OVER SIN.

at once attains, this union to Christ.

The sinner is led by the Holy Spirit to
know and believe in the Lord Jesus,
and, in the very moment of believing on
Him, becomes one with Him. Forth
with begins a heavenly partnership :

Christ and the soul share

together;
Christ giving to the soul out of his ful
ness all manner of grace, as occasion

requires.
But, fellow-sinner, you must not
suppose that the mere assenting to this
truth as a doctrine will give you the
results. You must have real experience
in regard to believing in Jesus. Come
and try the personal application of it
to your soul. Lean on Christ for your
self, and thus be you yourself united
to Him. Doctrine must be turned into
experience. Have you read of the pro
cessby which iron is turned into steel?
You will see a great crucible, with its
 VICTORY OVKR SIN. 5

onormous mass of iron, subjected to in

tense heat, seems a mass of glow
till it

ing fire. But all that might cool down,

and would be only iron after all, if there
were not poured into it a small quantity
of a liquid which alters every particle of
its chemical constitution, arid then it

becomes steel. Has such a change

taken place in your case the turning :

the iron into steel ? doctrine into ex

?
perience
We speak much of Christianity and
Christians ;
but union to Christ by
faith is the root of all ;
and faith is as
much Christ s hold of us, as ours of
Him. It implies our hold of the truth;
but it also implies that the Spirit oftruth
from Christ has taken hold of us. Bap
tism speaks, in a figure, of souls being
saved in this way of union to the Lord:
for the baptized one is represented as
baptized into Him/ The Lord s
6 VICTORY OVER SIN.

Supper proclaims in another form

this great truth of union to the Lord.
And thus we are brought to ask all
who profess to be Christ s such ques
tions as the following:

J. To what does union to Christ call you ?

It calls you to make heavenly things

your business. If ye be risen with
Christ, seek the things which are above,
where Christ sitteth at the right hand
of God (Col. iii. 1.) Seek such things,
pursue after them, make a business of
them. The word is one that im
plies the soul s fixed aim and
employment, even as, Matt. vi. 33,
Seek the kingdom of God. The mo
ment Christ rose, says Bengel, He was
thinking of going upward (John xx
17) ;
and so it should be with us who
have risen with Him. The risen be
liever now carries on traffic with Him,
 VICTOKY OVER SIX. 7

seeking spiritual gains. He trades for

an absent Lord as eagerly as ever he
once traded for worldly gain. He is

grieved at spiritual losses as deeply as

he once was at losses in his business,
when a ship was lost at sea, or a bank
failed, or some speculation proved ruin
ous. On
the other hand, he rejoices in

spiritual gains when, for example, the

:

mist is cleared away from a truth, or

when the excellency of some Scripture
doctrine shines into his soul, or when
he gets some fresh view of Christ, and
some increase of faith, love, and hope.
More specially still, he fixes his atten
tion habitually upon Christ sitting at
the right hand ; for His being there
tells so much about acceptance. His
.sitting declares that He has finished
allHis undertaking, and has no more
toil toundergo. His sitting at the

right hand declares the Father s high

b VICTORY OVER 8TN.

approval, and delight, arid honour. And

so to this point he ever turns his eye,
to this mountain of myrrh. And in
truth he finds yet more there he finds :

that by virtue of union to Christhe is him

self, in a sense, there also, sitting in

heavenly places/ his toil done, his trials

over, his victory won, himself altogether
well-pleasing to the Father, and loved
by the Father. The realization of this

privilege has mighty power upon his

soul giving him wondrous liberty,
;

helping his near communion, sending

him forth to ever new and grateful
service for One who so loves him.
It calls on you to disentangle your
affection from earth. Set your affec
tion on things above, not on things on
the earth (Col. iii. 2.) Make the
things above your care they are to be
;

the things which you mind, in oppo

sition to such men as those spoken of(Puil.
 VICTORY OVER SIN. 9

iii.19,) who mind earthly things. You

will not be content with making these

things your business ; you will have a

taste and relish for them, a real delight

in them. Many men pursue business
with little liking for the thing itself,
and are glad when it is over. Many
an industrious and eager trader longs
for rest and retirement. But the be
liever risen with Christ loves his busi

ness, his whole heart is in it. He

minds, cares for, has affection for
not things on earth, such as to be rich,
great, noble, enjoy pleasure, nor even
domestic comfort and personal ease.
His chiefend is not earthly prosperity,nor
is his highest bliss a few more acres than

other men but it is things above which

;

he relishes so heartily and unieignedly.

Heisathome among things above. Heis
like the patriarchs, who left all they
had in their native land, seeking a
10 VJL TORY OVER .SIX.

better, that is, a heavenly country.

Suchmenmind God s favour, God s glory,
God s love. And hence, their children s
salvation is more to them than their

aggrandisement in the world, and the

conversion of souls than the news of
mines of gold discovered and secured.
Do you bear the name of Christian?
Is this, then, a fair account of you ?
Speak not of difficulties ;
for of course
there are such in pursuits; and here
all

all alleged hindrances are swept out of

the way by that word If ye be risen

:

with Christ. This word cuts the string,

and the balloon ascends.

11. What does twion to Sbrist ensure to jjocr?

It ensures many things ;

but here
are some. It ensures your getting life
from Christ. For ye are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ in God
 VICTORY OVER SIX. 1J

(Col. iii.
3.) You who are Christ s died
with Him, and in that hour your former
life
passed away. You had lived it

out; it was for ever over, and you were

loosed from all former things. You
died. if you had been carried
It was as
to the New
Earth at once, to live ever
more there amidst its holy scenes as ;

if to you that day had come in which

Christ says, Behold I make all things
new. You became a new creature,
part of a new creation, one with Christ,
so that you lost your former separate-
ness. And you found that, while you had
lost your old life, there was new life

laid up Life was hid for you

for you.
with Christ in God. You got the be
ginnings of a far better life than even
unfallen Adam
had, for you got life from
Christ. Christ s very life is yours; the

very sap of the vine-tree for you the

branch ; the same resurrection-life
12 VICTORY OVKR SIX.

which the Spirit poured into the man

Christ Jesus, was now yours also.
That holy power to love God and
man, which was in Christ, you began
to receive. That holy joy and full
energy of delight in God s favour, which
on earth was Christ s endowment,andever
is, became your portion. And you go on
T
claiming every da} a share in his stores
of grace, a share in his holiness, a share
in the Spirit s manifold blessings.
Light, life,likeness, all are yours, by
gift-
The moment you believed, you were
united to Christ; and that moment the
.stone was rolled off the mouth of the

well;you began to get the new life, and

had it more or less ever since. But
you
you have as yet only the beginnings of
it. As when a father leaves for his

son, while yet a minor, only a portion

<jf the property, which is
given out by
 VICTORY OVER SIN. 13

some trustee ;
so you at present receive
only in measure. The life, in all its
fulness, is hid ivlth Christ; that is,
Christ has it, and Christ who has it is

hid, or concealed like a hid treasure ;

but hid in God, in the bosom of the
Father, so that all is safe and sure. It
ishid, like the manna in the golden
pot, within the holy of holies. It is
there for safety, lay up jewels as men
in a place where the short arms of chil
dren cannot reach them/ says Samuel
Rutherford for if it was in our keep-
;

ino-, it
O"
would soon be lost. But all is

kept for us, as 1 Pet. i. 4 declares. It

is our life (Col.iii.4) life which we have
a claim to, stored up for us, intended
for us. Yes, Christ is our Life ;
Christ is, so to speak, keeping himself for

us,and keeping for us the life abundant

ly which He purchased for us.
But again,
O this union to Christ en
14 VICTORY OVEK SIN.

sures your appearing with Christ in

glory. When
Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we also appear
with Him in glory (Col. iii. 4.) At
present the believer, though one with
Christ, lives outwardly as other men do :

eating, drinking, sleeping, trading: he

sows, he sails, he travels on railways, he
goes to buy and sell, he reads news,
he talks with his friends and children,
all as other men. But all the while
he has an interior life; he has a strong
taste for spiritual things; he has desires
toward God which other men know not
of; he yearns after God in Christ amid
earth s fairest scenes; he loves God in
Christ beyond wife, or children, or par
ents, or possessions. Noneofwsliveth
to himself (Rom. xiv. 7.) And this life
is preparing to bud forth fully into flower

and fruit, whenever the present winter

 VICTOKY OVER SIX. 15

of earth has passed, and the Sun of

rio-hteousness arisen.
On the day when God s time arrives
for giving the larger fulness of the
life to all who are members of Christ s
body on that day Christ our life,
shall appear The golden pot of manna,
hidden long, shall be brought out of the
Holy Place. He shall be fully in us,
and we fully in Him. He shall appear
who is our Life He on whom
we nourish our souls who has life for
us who is himself the substance of that
life; for (as one said) Christ is a Christian s
life. He
shall appear, bringing this life
to us; and this life which He brings
shall, at the same time, be the
secret cause of glory to
us;
or, perhaps we should rather say,
this life shall manifest its presence
n us by our being forthwith invested
ith glory. As when a fountain gushes
16 VICTORY OVER SIN.

over, its waters make all round the

margin green and flourishing; so, when
our Life gushes into us our very bodies
shall beam with glory. It was thus on

theTranstiguration-hill with Christ him

self. The life in Him that evening the
secret well of life suddenly overflowed,
rising to the brim; and see! what a
up
body yea,
! what garments even! And .rho
could tell the joy of his soul in that
hour, though He knew that sorrow was
to return again to its channel, and fill

up all its banks? Now, thus it shall

be with us, ay, thus it shall be with
us without any after return to sorrow,
without any risk of the waters abating.
Some weary day draws to its evening ;
we have wiped the sweat from our
brow, and sighed over earth ;
we havf
groaned within ourselves, Oh, who
shall deliver me from the body of thi>
 VICTORY OVER SIX.

death ! when lo ! the sudden flash ! It

is the coming of the Son of man.
You may at times have envied Moses
and Elias on either
their blessed position,
side of Jesus,
appearing in glory
(Luke ix. 31.) But you yourself shall
be as they Then shall ye also appear
:

with Him in glory. Yes, as truly with

Him as they were as bright as they ;

in glory; seeing Christ, talking with

Christ, hearing the voice that proclaims,
This is my beloved Son! O Master,
O King of glory, our Life, appear !

Come forth from that light inaccessible,

to be ever with us No need of three !

tabernacles ;
for thy tabernacle shall be

there, and all shallever say, as the ages

roll, It is good to be here. That will
be the day which accomplishes what
many in the church of God have often
sung :

One look of Jesus as He is,

Shall strike all sin for ever dead.
 18 VICTORY OVER SIN".

JT.T. What does union to thirst ensure to you

even now?
It enables us to overcome the world,
and to renounce all sin ;
for the Spirit
dwells in every believer. MORTIFY
THEREFORE your members which are
upon the earth (Col. iii. 5.) We do
not yet and now overcome self, and the
world, and Satan, in the manner
we shall do when Christ appears,
when (as old Sibbes triumph
antly exclaims) we shall tram
ple down foes- in glorious confusion !

But we, nevertheless, do overcome; for

that strain is a true one :

Neither passion nor pride thy cross can abide,

But melt in the fountain that flows from thy side.

MORTIFY therefore, that is, make

<lead,
reduce to a state of death as re
gards your practice of them, and care
for them, members which are on the
earth; your hands, eyes, feet, are not
 VICTORY" OVER SIX. 19

to meddle with fornication, unclean-

ness, inordinate affection, evil concupi
scence, and covetousness. Whatever is

yours belongs now to Christ, and is in

stinct with Christ s Spirit not merely ;

ought to be, but really is so.

Therefore,
as men who are possessed of the power
so to do as men who have the life
within you, ready to be used control

your members though they be still on the

earth and in the presence of its objects.
The fire is around you ;
but you have
the supply of water beside you make it :

play upon these flames, that they may

not even singe a hair of your head.
With your eye on things above, with
your heart realizing your union to
Christ, trample down the world and
sin. In the power of your union to
Christ, reckoning yourselves as one with
Him, go forth and conquer. It is He
that conquers. You go forth appealing
"20 VICTORY OVKR SIN.

to Him :
Lord, I am one with Thee :
canst Thou be overcome ? In so doing,
believers find lust sinks away, and pas
sions grow cool, and covetousness re
laxes its grasp ;
all
tempting sin gives
up its
struggle for victory.
We might bring forward thousands
of witnesses. Let us give the experience
of one as a sample, the experience of
one man who had yielded himself to sin
and lust freely, and for long years. This
man was led to listen to the gospel plan,
under the preaching of Joseph Milner,
the writer of the ChurchHistory. The text
explained was 2 Cor. v. 2 2 1 reconcilia ,

tion to God over Him who was made sin

for us, that we might be made the right
eousness of God in Him. John How
ard heard it was overcome; all tiie

happiness he ever enjoyed before was felt

by him to be no more like it than mid
night darkness to the noonday sun.
 VICTORY OVER SIN. 21

From that moment all his strong passions

died away. The man who used to be

shunned by all who cared for chastity
and purity, felt himself suddenly de
livered from the power of his lusts, so

remarkably indeed that from that

hour, he wasnomore overcome nay, from ;

that hour all was soberness and calmness

of spirit. He used to say, that his en
joyment of God dried up the streams
of sinful concupiscence, as it did long

ago in the case of Augustine. And this

Is God s way of holiness. Legalists, and
moralists, and philosophers, all fail hi

reaching the seat of the evil the will

and the desire; they lop the branches,
but, do not reach the root; they imprison
the felon, but do not change his nature.
To overcome evil within, St. Benedict
rolled himself on thorns ;
St. Martin
burnt his flesh with hot irons St. ;

Francis tumbled in snow St. Bernard ;

22 VICTOKV OVKK SIS.

plunged himself in pools of freezing

water. Even the great Pascal wore an
iron girdle, full of sharp points, next his
skin. All these overlooked, or under
stood not, the apostle s inspired words,
Mortify THEREFORE; that is, conscious
of your union to Christ, set about the

mortifying of your members in the

strength of this union, and in no other
way. Think of union to Christ, and
how it involves partnership with Him
in his grace. Believing thus in Him.
is our victory doing, resolving, suffer
:

ing, give us no victory

at all. The
fear of hell and wrath will scarcely keep
a man from one sin, and will never
touch the heart.
Who of you then have, in time past,
failed to triumph over your corruptions,
and evil propensities? Who of you has
never been able to master covetousness?
or the world in any shape ?
 VICTORY OVER SIN. 23

Take the way of believing in Christ,

and being thus in partnership with
Him. Understand the blessed mystery
of rising with Christ, and being seated
with Him above be graft into the vine,
;

and get its sap. You have tried other

means of health and strength but now;

use this inspired direction, which has

never failed. As Daniel and his fellows
asked to be proved whether the water
and the pulse they were nourished on
would not turn out far more strength ening
than all the king s finest food and rarest
wines, so we say to you, Prove it now
for yourselves. And do not say, I
will wait for the Spirit for by that
;

you mean, I will wait on till Ifeel the

at work. This is a device
Spirit
of Satan to get you to go on in sin, and
die in sin ; for no man ever felt the

Spirit at work directly. The Spirit

works in silence. The soul learns
24: VICTORY OVER SIN.

the gospel way, and ponders muses it;

on Christ, whodied, and
rose, and who
calls on sinners, every one, to come and

use his death and resurrection. And

it is while the sinner is thus engaged
before the cross, that the Holy Spirit
works effectually, uniting him to
Christ in the same moment that He
leads him to Christ. And so the be

lieving man becomes at once a con

queror!
CAVIN UtttARY
KNOX COLLfGI
TORONTO
 CHARLES GLASS & CO. S i
SABBATH SCHOOL PUBLICATIONS.

By the Kev, Andre? A. Boaar, Glasgow,

Anchor of M Cheyne s Memoir.
Price lid. Ketch, Ticcloe for I/,
Post Free 1/2.

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or, the Prince

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Price Id. Each, Six sent Post Free.

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COMING TO CHRIST A Book for
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6. YIOTOin OVER SIX. A Book for
Believers.

fiii tli<>
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KM J IJ A GEDDIE
a Child of the Covenant. ;

An example alike to Old and Young.

1 "

the Editor of ths Sabbath School Messenger."

THE \VIM, AXI) Till-; WAY A Book
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 WHAT GiVES

ASSUBAHBBi lf
CV THE

JJ.
"U DR W j. TjQYl&Yl,
3u<ei el "iV.imoir of cb. f. i. Att btar.t."

GLASGOW:
OHAKLE3 GLASS & Co., 14 iTAXWELL ST.
V5"
What Gives Assurance,

ir of^cfc. |t. .
P

-> ..r.A- ,<-

.
LL STREET.

CAVEH UMtAKT
"KMOX COLiWt
 v ii r. F .A c i:.

Tins little book (apart i rom the IS otes) was

originally a Sermon preached
at Ferry den,

during the awakening in the end of 1850.

It was thought to be useful in disentangling

the perplexities of some anxious souls ; and

till;?
gave rise to the request for its publication.
in such
It isvery interesting to notice how,
times of awakening, the spiritual instinct;,

the Holy
imparted to the new-born soul by
Ghost seek out the truth. One day, in a
fisherman s house, we found two females sit
s Shorter
ing together, with the Assembly
Catechism in their hands. They WCTU talking
over the questions on "Justification" and
"Adoption,"
and were comparing these with
IV. I llIiFACE.

some oi the benefits which accompany or How

Irom them," namely, "assurance f>f
God s love,

peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy

Ghost." They were themselves happy in the

calm assurance of the love of God ;

but a,

neighbour had somewhat perplexed them by

insisting that they had no right to assurance
until they could point to sane iificat ion shew

ing itself in their after lives. On the other

hand, those two souls could not see why they

should wait till then ;
for if they had been
and had a "right to all the priv
"justified,"

ileges of the sons of God," they might at onco

have "assurance of God s love." This inci
dent falls in with the strain of the following
discourse.

Ul. .SOW, Idth Fsbntarj, 1600

 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE.

ANY arc the persons who have

envied Isaiah, to whom person
ally the messenger from tin
throne .said, "Thine iniquity is
taken away, and thy sin is
(Isaiah vi. 7.) They
purged."
are ready to say, Oh, if we
heard the same." Many are the
persons who have envied Daniel, to
whom
the Lord said, Thou shalt rest, and stand
"

in thy lot at the end of the days." (Daniel

xii. 13.) Daniel was thus assured of the
future ; with him it was to be rest at death,
and a lot, or portion (Josh. xv. 1, xvi. 1), in
the inheritance of the saints on the morning
of the resurrection of the just. And so al-o
have smch persons wished that their case Ave re
that of the man to whom, directly and
Son, thy sins aro
"

personally, Jesus said,

forgiven thec," (Mark ii. 5) ; and that of
the woman in Simon s house, whose ear heard
(1 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE.
the blessed declaration, "Thy
sins are forgiven"

(Luke vii. 48) or even that of the thief,

;

To-day thou shalt be with me in paradise,"

"

(Luke xxiii. 43.) These sinners were all of

them personally certified of pardon and
acceptance, and we are ready to think that it
would be the height of happiness for ourselves
to have, like them, a declaration of our per
sonal forgiveness sounding in our car.
Kow, ere we have finished our subject, we
may be able (if the Lord, the Spirit, lead us
into the truth set forth in the Word) to see
that, after all, ice may be as sure and certain
of our pardon and acceptance as any or all of
these as sure as Isaiah, Daniel, the palsied
man, the woman-sinner, the dying thief, and,
letus add, as sure of it as Paul Avas of Clement
and other fellow-labourers having their names
in the Book of Life. (Phil. iv. 3.) Xay, we
may even discover that our certainty is in all
respects higher than theirs was, being founded
on something far better than one single
announcement, which, in the lapse, of time,
might lose very much of its distinctness, and
of its power.
Oh, how blessed to bo able to point heawn-
ward and say, It in mine
" "

to point to !
 WHAT GIYK* A.S>.i:KAN~U:. i

tin- throne and say, "lie is mine \\lio siltctii

t-ve
i ) to look back and find your name in
!"

the Book oi Everlasting Love to look !

forward to the opening of the Book of Lift 1

,

knowing that your name is in it !- to he able

to anticipate resurrection, and to sing

I know tliat safe with Tlini remains.

Protected by His power,
What I ve committed to His trust
Till the decisive hour.

Then will He own His servant * nnins

Before His Father s f.ics,

And in the New Jerusalem

Appoint my soul a place."

We begin by noticing that A*sui ii}?-; i* far

nftcner spoken of than tuwrilit for. Many may
be said, in a vague sense, to wish for it, who
after all do not seek after it. Not a few o\
cur communicants, men of knowledge and
good attainment, men of high Christian
to evade the
profession, are rather disposed
salvation
question, Are you sure of your
They are content to go on in uncertainty.
Some of these even spurn from them the idea
of any one having full Assurance, branding
the idea as ri- mnnyflon. They quite mistake
 WHAT UIVKS. A*:SL IIANVI-:.
ill- im iiiii!g ot I which
t- ^ claim -
iin^tioi), i.<

ing Avhat we have not been invited to. and an-

not warranted to lake. They do not see that
there can he no presumption in our taking
whatever our God 1ms invited us to accept ;

and that, on the other hand, if we decline

taking what our God presents to us, we are
assuming to ourselves a right to judge of
the fitness and wisdom oi His proceed
ings.
Such pci-snu.- are \\<A in right earnest abont
salvation and the favour of God. They take
things easy. They admit that they may die
Id-day or to-morrow, and that they do not
certainly know what is to become of them ;

and yet they are making no effort to ascertain.

They admit that the favour of God is the
soul s real portion, and that they, as yet,
cannot speak of that being their enjoyment;
and yet they coolly go on day after day with
out anxious inquiry regarding it.
There are others who, from a wrong reli
gious training, go on in a sort of doubt and
fear, cherishing the idea that these doubts
and fears are salutary cheeks to pride, and
that they are, on the whole, as safe with the
hope that all is right, ns they would be with
 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE.
the certainty. We
generally fun I that these
persons are misled by confounding things that
difter. They perhaps quote to you, "Happy
is the man that feareth always," (Proverbs

xxviii. 14,) not perceiving that the/ear there

is the "fear nf the Lord" in which there is
x-iv. 26.) Or,
"strong confidence." (Proverbs
perhaps, they quote the unhappy experience
oi some godly men who died without speaking
anything about assurance not knowing that
those godly men longed for certainty, and
reckoned it so desirable that their very esti
mate of its preciousness made them jealous
oi admitting that they themselves might be
partakers thereof.
But the truth is, in many cases, these persons
do not care for the close fellowship of God
into which Assurance leads the soul. They
do not wish to bask in the beams of divine
love. They wish merely to be safe at last. Bu t

if you would how

entirely different is the
see
eflect of a merely hoped tor impunity, from
that oi certainty in regard to divine favour,
read these two passages, Ueut. xxix. 19, and
1 John iii. 3. In the former case the sinner
says
"

I shall have peace, though I walk in

the im;> .
nation ot mine heart, to add drunken
10 WHAT GIVES ASSUBAMCK.
ness to thirst in tlic latter he says,
"
"

; Every
man that hath this hope in Him purifieth
himself, even as He is pure."
><f

Once more, then, on this point let us ask

attention to the fact that in the Keio Testa
ment we have no encouragement given to
doubts and uncertainties. The believers there
are spoken of continually as having the ioy
of knowing the Saviour as theirs. ~No doubt
there were in those days some believers who
were not fully assured ; but these were not
meant to be any rule to us, now that the Sun
of Righteousness lias risen so gloriously;
and, accordingly, no notice is taken oi their
case. On the other hand, we are ever meet
ing with such words as these, spoken in the
name of all disciples, We know that if our "

earthly houseof this tabernacle were dissolved,

we have a building of God." (2 Cor. v. i.)
We know that we have passed from death
"

unto life. TFe know that we are of God."

* Let it be observed that in the New Testament the

grace
of hope does not imply doubt, but signifies the expectation
uj the things yet future. Hence, the hope in 1 John iii. 8,
was thus stated in versfe 2, We knoiv that when He shall
"

appear we shall be like Him. Old writers used to quote a

Latin saying, "Hope, as used of earthly things, is a word
for a good that is uncertain hope as used of :

tilings, is ft word for good that is most sure,"

 WHAT GIVES A.S-UIJAXCK. 11

(1 John iii. 14, and v. 19.)

"

i knotOVfhom I
liave believed."
(2 Tim. i. 12.)
But time to speak of ichat f/ives Assur
it is

ance. Of course, we understand that this

blessing, like the other blessings of salvation,
every one, is the free gift of a sovereign God.
It is the "God of hope" who gives it "through
the power of the Holy Ghost." (Romans xv.
13.) But our present point of enquiry is, In
what way does it please Him to give it to
souls ? All agree that Christ s person and
* TJic late Dr.
Sievewriglit, of Alarkincli, in a sermon
upon Kph. i. 13, has remarked: In thoso primitive times,
"

an apostle could take for granted of a \vMole church that

they all trusted. For, in writing to the Ephesiaus. does
Paul make a single alhmwn to t/ieir unbelief ! Or, does he
employ a single exhortation in the way of persuasion to
believe ? Or, from beginning to end of his Kpistle does ho
hint at such a thing as prevailing distrust? Xo; in those
days Christian men no more thought of refusing to trust in
the Saviour, than of denying tne Word of Truth But now,
is it not a frequent case that a man shall go by a Christian
name, and practice Christian duties, and receive Christian
privileges, for years together, while he is so far from trust
ing in Christ with the confidence of faith, that he shall not
only confess himself destitute of truth, but often express a.
fear lest full trust and confidence were an unwarranted and
dangerous presumption? llom strange this would have
aounded in the apostles time, when to trust in Christ, and
to trust fully and for all salvation, iw the very first exercise
to Which they called those who were awakened to seek in
earnest for eternal life, and received the record of God
concerning the way. The remarkable trust of the first
Christians gave a perfection to their character we now
teldoni perceive."
]- WHAT Cl\i;s ANitiiAMK.
work furnish the materials and yoiiud \vurk
of a acceptance, peace, assurance.
sinner s
"Peace" Isaiah xxxii. 17)
(says the "is

fabric reared by righteousness ; yea, the office

of righteousness is to give quietness and assur
ance for ever." 15ut there is a difference of
opinion and practice as to the way of using
these ample materials. AVe begin with
speaking of what we may call,

Fii-tt, THE INDIRECT, or LONG AVAY.

Those who try this way set themselves to
ascertain
"

Wliat am II"
They seek to make
sure that they have the marks and evidences
of being new creatures in Christ, or at least
the marks and evidences of having, beyond
doubt, believed in Him. Divines have been
wont to call this mode of Assurance
"

the
Assurance o/ sense,"
because in it the person
points to sensible proofs of his new nature,
and thinks he may some time or other be able to
shew such an experience of divine things, as
puts it beyond doubt that he has believed and
has found Christ. It is quite wrong, however,
to apply the scriptural term, "Assurance <>1

liope,"
to this experimental sort of certainty ;
for

.Scripture means the figured belief and expecta

tion of tilings yet future, by that expression.
 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE.
We may call it,
Assurance
fur clearness sake,
produced. Divines often
pot In see-ing effects
the reflex
describe it as Assurance derived from
ads of the soul
o;
(a) One form winch
tinspursuit
Assurance in the long, or indirect way, take.-?
it leads the person to put much
stress
is this,
In this case tho
on his oirn act of believing.
being much concerned about his stato
person
towards God, and fearful of mistaking tho
matter, says to himself,
"I know that all
assurance of salvation depends on my
believ

in and I think I believe- ; but

ing Christ,
what if I be deceiving myself as to my
Haunted by tins
supposed believing?"

thought, he sets himself to remedy the danger

that he has
by trying to convince himself
believed. And in order to make himself
to be
sure that he has faith, he resolves not
satisfied till he sees the full fruits
of faith.

He puts such stress on his own act of believ

ing, that he
will not be content until he sees,
not
by such effects as hypocrites could
imitate, that his was genuine
faith.

Now, we say to such You are not taking

have real fruit for you aro
the lest v:a\i to ;

M-rkino- fruit and effects from a selfish, motive;

14 \VM.YT GIVES ASSURANCE.

yoii arc not sH king holiness as an ond. ;md

ibr its own sake, but in order to use it as an
evidence in favour of your sincerity. This
kind of fruit is not likely to be the best, nor
the most satisfactory. We
say again Yn
are putting Assurance far off. It can only be
at some distant future day that you arrive at
any certainty by you r method for such fruits
;

as you seek cannot be visible very soon. But

AVC say again You ore Inj this method fa7iiy
off your eye from io a great dc /rfi
C1<rit,
.

For you try to believe, and then you look

into yourself to see if you have believed. You
look up to the Brazen Serpent, and then you
take oif your eye to examine your wound, and
to see if"the bites are really healing, that PO
you may be sure you have looked aright !

Would a bit- U Israelite have put such stress

-

on his own poor act of looking ? You arc

looking at Christ, and then looking away from
Him to yourself. You are like a gardener
who, after planting a tree or flower in rich soil,
might be foolish enough to uncover the soil
in order to see if the root had struck, and was
TO allyimbibing the moisture. Surely, better
far to let the root alone, having once ascer
tained the richness of the soil, and alloAv the
 WHAT GIVES ASSUUAXCE. 15
leaves to tlie warmth
plant to spread out its

of the sun. Keep looking on Christ, and the

effects can not fail to follow.

(I) Another form that this same

indirect
method takes is somewhat similar. Those
who adopt do not expect Assurance at the
it
and
outset, and say that it is presumption
in believers to speak of "being-
pride young
sure of their interest in Christ ; for where is
there time for them to have experience, or
exhibit fruits? Such persons think that ripe,
mature fruits of holiness alone entitle any one
to say, know that I am in Christ," If we
"I

the newly
might so speak, they do not allow
engrafted branch (though really engrafted by
the Heavenly Husbandman) to say, ana in "I

the vine," no, they say, wait till you have

fruit, and then when
borne the clusters appear
on your boughs, you may be entitled to say,
"

I am in the vine." B\it not till then.

It is a favourite argument with such that
in 1 John iii.14, the Apostle John says,
"

We know that we have passed from death

unto life, because we love Hit bi-dhrcn." But
this does not prove that this is the only way
of knowing that we are passed from death
unto life. It only shews that an aged and ex-
 10 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE.
perienced saint, like John, thought itgoodsomo
times to bring forward his own and his fellow-
believers brotherly love as a marked and unmis -

takeable feature of their Christian character. It

is very much as if he had said, "We believers
know each other, as having passed from death
unto life, by the love that fills our hearts toward
each other. He is not
"

speaking to the quesMon ,

"Is this the first, or is it the

only trust
worthy way, by which you know yoiu iuterest
in Surely, so far from that, being tli^
Christ?"

case, John would atonce have .said bat he him- (

self found rest in

knowing thv ln:c. of Him
u-Jio Icfiat, before ho discerned in himjelfauv
love to those begotten of Him.
The truth is, this long and indirect
way is
properly the way by ich ich others ascertain your
stcntfliny in Ch /vW. But there is another way
for the person s self, of which wo arc yet, to
speak. Also ; this way is good even Jor the
person s self as confirmatory of the ahort and
direct way, of which AVC are yet to
speak.
But still we say, if it were the only way, then
farewell to gospel-joy,
except in the very
rarest cases. For, the more a soul grows in
grace, the more that the believing man rests
in Christ- and drinks into Hi?
Spirit, just thn
 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE. 17
more dissatisfied does he become with all

his fruits ;his holiness does not please him ;

liefinds defects in it ; he finds it mixed and
impure ; and tl*e longer he lives the life of
faith, he gets more and more keen-sighted in
* So that it is
detecting blemishes in his graces.
difficult indeed to say when a growing believer,
ever jealous of himself, will accumlate such a
heap of this gold, such an amount of really
holy living, as will put beyond doubt, to In-*
own mind, that he is a man between whom
and Christ there exists the bond of union.
If good works or holiness must be waited for
ere faith can be known to be genuine, when
are we to expect to attain to an amount or
quality sufficiently satisfying I
If this were the only way of Assurance, we
coxild not wonder that many should speak of
it as necessarily a very rare attainment, and
even as all but impossible. This, however, is
not the only way; and we now turn from this

* John
Newton, in his sermon "Of the Assurance of
remarks "If inherent sanctlficatiou, or a consider
Faith,"
able increase of it, be considered as the proper ground of
Assurance, those who are most humble, sincere, and desir
ous of being conformed to the will of God, will be the most
perplexed and discouraged in their search after it. For they,
of all others will be the least satisfied with themselves, and
have tho quickest sense of innumerable defilements."
18 \ViiAI 01VES ASSURANCE.
way to the otlier,
quoting as we turn to it.
the statement of the old Puritan -writer,
Brooks :
Many of God s
"

dear people are so

taken up with their own hearts, and duties,
and graces, that Christ is little regarded by
them, or minded and what is this but to be ;

more taken up with the streams than with the

fountain? with the bracelets, and ear-rings, and
gold-chains, than -with the husband? with the
nobles than with the king ? * And then he "

adds, "Dear it Clirist, or was

Christian, was
it your graces, gracious evidences, gracious
dispositions, gracious actings, that trod the
wine-press of the Father s wrath ?
"

And
once more These persons forget their
:
"

grand work, which is immediate closing with

Christ, immediate embracing of Christ, imme
diate relying, resting, staying upon Christ."
Let iis turn, then, to the Secondf THE
DIEECT Or SHORT WAY.
They who take this way, set themselves to
ascertain Wlw and icliat Christ
"

The is."

Holy Spirit, we believe, delights very specially

to use this way, because it turns the eye of
the sinner so completely away from self to the
Saviour.
* Protlit Cal/im
1

t, p. 50?
 WHAT GIVE::! ASSl UANCiv. 10

Whai we call the cZ/rec^ a??^ ^o/^ way, is

tliat in which we arc enabled by the Spirit at
once to look up to Christ, the Brazen Serpent,
and to be satisfied in looking on Him. This
direct Assurance is got by what we
simple,
discern in Christ himself ; not by what we
discover about ourselves. It is got by what
we believe about Christ; not by what wo
know about our own act of faith. may "NVe

* know
Poor Joseph nothing about
"

(like ")

our own soul s actings in believing, and yet

wo may so know Him on whom we believe
as to find ourselves altogether at rest. In a
word, this direct and immediate Assurance is
found discovering that Christ, Gocl-
by my
m-m, the very Saviour for my needs and
is

wants, my sins and corruptions ; while

all

iho time I may never be once troubled about

the question, Am
I sure that I believe, and
that my act of faith possesses the right quality?

* Some friends who came to see him wondered on hearing

Mm always dwell on this, anil this only, "Jw;/lt i* !/!:
ciiinf of sinners, but Jesuit came into the world to sur<.

They said, But what say you of your o-vn heart,

"

./Mien."

Joseph? Is there no token for good about it ? Have you

closed with Christ by acting faith upon lliin? His reply "

Joseph can act nothing. Joseph has nothing to say

"

w.s,
nbout hhmelf but that he is chief of sinners yet, since it is ;

a faithful saying that Jesus came into tiie world to savo

siuuers, why may not Joseph be saved
"

/
 WHAT GIVES A.SSUHAXCE.
1 iiiid itwhen tlio
Spirit is taking the
things of Christ, and shewing- them to my
Kuul ; and I do not need to wait till He next
shews me what is in me. Let us explain tho
matter more fully.
I have Assurance that God accepts me the
moment I sec f/tc ftdncss ami freencss of
Christ s wii-l:
My soul is enabled to see all
the claims of justice satisfied at the cross for
;
there is completed
obedience, there is the full
penalty paid. At the cross there is room for
any sinner, and the gospel invites me as a
.sinner
among the rest to hear what the cross
says. Does it not say to me, "God-man has
provided an infinitely perfect righteousness,
and made it honourable for the
holy God to
embrace the Prodigal Son.
Yonder, in the
work of God-man, is a rock for the sinner s
ieet to stand
upon and this not a mere narrow
point, hardly sufficient, but rather a wide
continent, stretching out on every side."
Surely there is room for me there 1 I feel it;
is Self is forgotten in presence of
enough !

this marvellous scene. What could

satisfy the
conscience better What could
!
speakpeace like
this! This is faith
rising into Assurance while
.simply continuing to beholditsgloriousobjcct.,
 WHAT GIVES ASSl K.VXCI*. 21
And
now, any one try to disturb ino by
if
tho suggestion, How do you know that you
"

arc really believing \vhat you recognise as so

"

suited to your need 1 reply is simply my

this, How do I know that I see the sun
"

when I am in the act of gazing upon him in

the splendour of his setting?" That glowing
sky, and that globe of mild but ineffable gl<ny
cannot be mistaken, if anything is sure to th 3
human vision.
The own
"

believer s consciousness ;>:

(quick
ened of course by the Spirit) is sufficient, in
presence of the cross, to assure him that he
a sinner, is most certainly welcome to isiio
bosom of the Holy One, who, pointing to the
"

It is finished," cries,
"

Return to me, for I

have redeemed thee." Just look at it again.
Your soul hears that the Father
well pleased is

with the full atonement of tho Lord Jesus

Christ, His Son. lie condemns and rejects
all your works, all your efforts, and your
guilty person ;
but when His Son, our Sub-

* S Rutherford, in a sermon on Luke viii 2-2, says.

l;
When
1 believe in Christ, that instinct of the grace of God. stirred
up by the Spirit of God, makoth me know that I know God,
and that I believe, and so that I am in Christ, to my owu
certain apprehension." He then adds, that "

this does not

hinder other inferior evidences."
 WHAT CIVKS
then His obedience and Hi.-;
stilute. appears,

suffering unto death are found most glorifying

to the Holy One and His holy law. While
you arc pondering the Father s delighted rest
in Christ, who thus wrought all for us, your
soul is "like the chariots of Amminadib;" in
a moment, you feel your conscience has got
rest, as if a voice from that atoning work had
said, "Peace, be still." Your sins, placed in
God s balance, were outweighed by Christ s
infinite merit ; and if so, your sins in your
OAvn balance are no less surely outweighed by
the same weight of immense merit. What
satisfies God, satisfies you.
Thus faith, as it gazes on its object, passes
on to full Assurance. And if now, again,

any one seek to disturb your calm rest by ask

ing, "Are
you quite sure that you do really
believe what is giving you such rest what ?"

other reply could you give but this, "As well

ask me, when I am enjoying and revelling in
the glories of the setting sun. Are you sure
your eye really sees that sun which you so
admire ?"

I sit down and

meditate on such a passage
as John so loved the world, that
iii. 16, "God

he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso-

 \Yil.U GIVK^i ASSCUAN OE. ^3
ever believeth inhim should not perish, "but

should have everlasting The Spirit en

life."

ables ine to see iu these words, God testifying

that no more is needed for my acceptance
with God than what is found in Christ and :

all that Christ has done becomes mine upon

my believing in Him. Relying on God s

testimony, I ask no questions, I wait for
or
nothing in myself (such as love, sorrow,
other feeling), but I think on what is iu
Christ, as the ground of my peace. And when*
I so muse, the fire burns my soul is at rest.
And now, any one disturbs, or threatens to
if,

disturb,my calm enjoyment of my Father s

love by hinting, "You should first, ere ever
you venture to rest, be sure that you are really
believing the things that are making you so
my reply to such an unseasonable
glad;"

interruption might be somewhat in the style

of a writer who uses the following illustration.
Suppose a nobleman condemed for high
and the day has come when he must
treason,

* Halyburton (ilem. chap. 2. p. 3.) says: sweet and

"A

comfortable hope and persuasion of my own salvation was

2-i AV.II AT cnrs ASSITIAXCE.
die. But that morning, a document is pxit
into his hand it is a pardon from the king,
;

on no other terms than that he accept it. lie

reads ;
as he reads*, his countenance is flushed,
his eye glistens, and in a moment he is full
* >f

joy. What
think you of any one arresting
the current of his joy by the suggestion, "Are
you quite sure you are accepting the pardon]
Is acceptance complete and
your act of
thorough?" No; the man is engrossed with tho
certainties presented tolas thoughts, viz., what
the king freely gives to him ; and these cer
tainties convey their own impression to his
soul, to wit, the certainty of his pardon.
Such is the direct way of Assurance. We
called a short and an immediate way.
it Is
it not so 1 We
said, too, at the beginning,
that might turn out that, after all, we had
it

a way of knowing our pardon and acceptance,

superior in many respects to that by which
on one occasion it was conveyed to Isaiah, and
on another to Daniel, and on another to the
palsied man, and to the woman-sinner, and
to the thief. We still adhere to our state
ment. For our way of knowing our
acceptance, you see, is one that rests on
tmaltercMe fact*, tho significance of which
 \vn.\r oiviis ANM ;;ANV;:. J.)

(ami"!
a\vay or decay.
i>:ts.s
It ll dcca_\ iVoiu
our souls for a time, we can revive it again by
a renewed study of the facts that produced it
at the first. Whereas the one utterance that
assured Isaiah. Daniel, and those others men
tioned, might in process of time he found to
fade somewhat in its vividness ; and then the
individual might say to himself, "Ah, what
if I have over-estimated the meaning of the
utterance or what if I have forgot it in part I
!

or what if my subsequent umvorthincss have

cancelled the promise In a dull, self-re?"

proaching mood of mind, such a partial

obliteration from the mind or memory of a
single, solitary announcement is quite a possible
occurrence ; not to refer to other abatements,
such as that the person in a case like Isaiah s
might say to himself, "What if it referred
only to the past, but docs not include Avhat
lias happened since then l)ut, on the other ?"

hand, our way of ascertaining now our par

don and acceptance rests on unchanging and
unchangeable facts, facts for ever illustrious,
facts for ever rich in meaning, facts for ever
uttering the same loud, distinct, full testimony
to the sinner s soul Yes, wo have an altar,
and the voice from that alfar and its four
 2 J
( V. iUT CTVF.s A-sriUNVK.
hornsniaybe heard distinctly from .l;iy i<>

:iy _as at first. Our altav is Christ ;

and this
died, rose again, Avent hack to the
1
i-i.st 1 1

Father, is iutereeding us. These are the \ \-

lour horns of our altar 1 .et us take hold of :

any one of them, and lo we see an accepted !

sarrifico
before us, a sacrifice that
speaks
peace, that leads our conscience to rest, and
makes our hearts leap for joy; for God is
well pleased. We
have God s Avord reiterat
ing in manifold -\vays a testimony to bo
believed ; and so we find security
against
Satan s
whispered suspicions.
And
should any one object, "Surely there
have been many, very many, good men and
eminent men of God, who did not take this
vhort direct wny ; and
let us remind such
"

may stumble at thi.s fact (for it is a fact)

;>.s

of an anecdote which * has

good old Brooks
ivi.:..>rdcd. A ministe; ,
who had great joy in
1

<

lirist, said on his de/Uii-bed regarding his

peace and quietness of soul. That he enjoyed "

these not from having u jrcc lcr measure of

I race than other Christians
had, nor from any
1

special immediate witness of tho Spirit, but

*
Caijir:c!, p. 113.
 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE. 2<

because he had more clear -understanding of the

covenant of grace." Spirit of truth, give
all Thy servants this clear understanding of
the covenant of grace !
Nor must we fail to notice that this im
mediate, direct, Avay is that -\vhich specially
honours God and His beloved Son, inasmuch
as magnifies free grace.
it Here is the Lord s
free love manifesting itself as so exceedingly
free, that he Avill not ask the price of one
moment s waiting or delay. Behold the
cross, and at once be at rest The excuses !

of the delaying sinner are swept away. Why

wait, since all is ready ? and where is there
room for the plea that God s time for favour,
and so great a favour as that of making you
sure of acceptance, may not have come \ God
in Christ waits for you,* presenting and prof

fering to you an immediate welcome, immediate

peace.

* It is a
very common mistake to allege that God some
times counsels us to wait Hut, if n-ait be used in the sense
of delay, or putting off immediate decision, we assert there
is no passage in the Bible to countenance such an idea.
Some quote Ps. xl. 1, "

I waited patiently for the Lord,"

which is (see the margin), "

In waiting, I waited," or "I

eagerly waited." Now, not to insist on the fact that hero

our *nrsfji. we must remember that
r
tilt s
1
-iMker is Christ
ti. M iv-st<ip.ifiit use of -tfaii," has not in it anything of
28 WHAT GIVES
What say you then, wnaswedsoul ? Arc
you content 1 Assurance may bo got in
still

beholding stedfastly the Lamb of God ; and

is there no sin in your refusing to behold

Him stedfastly ? Want of Assurance leaves

you in the awful position of being, on your
own shewing, possibly still a child of Satan !

And can you remain thus without alarm ?

And the world is passing away. You are
dying men. Christ is coming quickly, coming
as a thief in the night, coming in an hour that

the idea of procrastination, or delay, or contented IMS it ing in

our sense of the term. It always means eager looking, a-t
when a dog looks up to his master s table for the crumbs, or
ns when the people waited for the priest coming out of tho
Holy Place, or as in Job xxix. 23, the anxious, intensely
anxious, looking out for rain in sultry weather. This is the
meaning, Jlicah vii. 8, will wait for the God of my salva
"I

tion." This is the meaning. Ilab ii. 3, Though it tarry,

"

Wait for it that is, if you do not see these things come to
;"

pass at once, if you do not see at once the Lord appear in

His glory to overthrow His foes, yet look out for it anxiously!
r agerly hasten on to that day. This is the way in which
God s people spoken of in fs. exxx. C, Isa. xi. 31.
"wait,"

And so Lament, iii. 25, is the case of the desolate soul in

affliction, earnestly lookingup and looking out for deliver
ance, though calm and resigned. Scriptural waiting is not
in the least like that of the careless easy-minded soul, that
pretends it is unwilling to anticipate sovereign grace. And
when God himself, in Isa. xxx. 18, is said to "wait to be
the same idea of eager, earnest looking is implied.
pracious,"
It is the intensely anxious waiting of the Prodigal s Father
for the return of his son, for whose coming He is ever on
the out-look. Must certainly, there is nothing in Scripture
tiiut counU :m unbelieving waiting for faith.
!i:v:<v<
 AVI/AT riivr.s

you think not aiul you arc not ivady to

;

nioet Him at His coining. There arc not less

than 80,000 of our fellow-men dying every
day ; 80,000 have died to-day, 80,000 more
shall die to-morrow, and you may l)e one of
that number whom the scythe of death shall
cut down as grass and yet you are content
to have only a vague hope Content to be
!

without Assurance You arc like the un

!

happy philosopher who said, I have lived

"

uncertain, I die doubtful, I know not whither

I am going." Are things to continue thus
with you any longer ? Do the visions of an
eternal hell never rise up before you? Arc
you never struck with cold fear lest hell be
waiting for you ? Mirth is most unsuitable
for you ; laughter is out of season ; peace
cannot take up her abode under your roof, for
you arc all at sea about your eternal interests !

Yes, you may be almost past all the joy that

yoxi are ever to find
Will you not now
!

stand still, and once more examine Christ

crucified, Christ s finished work, to see
if

that cannot yield you the present and eternal

peace which alone can satisfy the soul 1 We
have sought to set all before you ; and now
we leave you, praying that the Holy Spirit
30 WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE.
may give efficacy to our words, knowing well
that otherwise all is vain.

"Let all the promises before liim sbuid,

And a Barnabas at His right hand,
set
These in themselves no comfort can afford ;

lis Christ, ami HOIK- but Chri-st, CMU the

.;i<.-uk
word."
 AVhen Thomas -Scott, tli^ eminent commen
tator,was on his death-bed, his mind Avas for a
time involved in gloom, through the influence
;
of physical disease. Oh,"
he said on one
occasion,
"

to enter eternity without one

doubt on the mind ! Kl<
rnitij eternity
People talk of assurance not
"

eternity!"

being attainable in this Avorld, nor perhaps

much to be desired. They and the devil
agree on this hath ears to
"

point."
IF. iliai

hear, let him hear."

KNOX COLLEGE
TO-RONTO
f^ REV. ANDREW A. BONAR, j
[-2 Author of M Choy. e s Mi m;r ^|

i;i ~j.d Lac ,. 1^ tent J o,;t rr:i. j

"I

COMING TO CHRIST.
J
J-T17ABLE FOU INOt IIlEUS.

ri.

VICTORY OV&R SIN.

A LITTLE OK.;; i ()R n::i.:i:\ i

MI.

C3:r/Ensi3N cr ci-rLDRE^. J
For Parents, Sahhath Scliiml i f:ic!iers, and all
interested in tlie Salvutiu.i n, t,n- Yuiiujr.

By tie saine. Author, Price id., Golden Cocei;

EMILIA GEB IE ;

A CHILD OF THE COVENANT. An example alike to"*

t Id ami Young.

GLASGOW :
"l

^ CHARLES GLASS i CO., 14 MAXWELL ST.