Christian assurance
Some persons crave for Christian assurance under a mistaken apprehension of its nature. They seem to regard it as something over and above the ordinary processes of grace. The assurance of faith is simply an exalted and confirmed faith, and rests therefore on the promises which are the common foundation of all faith. There are persons, on the other hand, who shrink from the name of assurance, and repudiate the thing as if it were arrogant and presumptuous. If our salvation were our own work, or if it were half our own work and half God's work; if our own wisdom, strength, or righteousness had anything whatever to do with the meritorious grounds of our acceptance, the scruple would be a just one. But the work is altogether God's work. Hence to doubt the full completion of the work is to doubt God, not ourselves. I. THE DIGNITY, NOT ONLY OF THE STATE OF THE SAINT, BUT ALSO OF THE EVIDENCE BY WHICH HE IS ASSURED OF IT. This state consists in the abiding presence of God; and th...