Assurance

The Penitent Mary Magdalene – Caravaggio, Public Domain Image

Almighty God,

I am loved with everlasting love,

clothed in eternal righteousness,

my peace flowing like a river,

my comforts many and large,

my joy and triumph unutterable,

my soul lively with a knowledge of salvation,

my sense of justification unclouded.

I have scarce anything to pray for;

Jesus smiles upon my soul as a ray of heaven

and my supplications are swallowed up in praise.

How sweet is the glorious doctrine of election

when based upon thy Word and wrought inwardly within the soul!

I bless thee that thou wilt keep the sinner

thou has loved,

and hast engaged that he will not forsake thee,

else I would never get to heaven.

I wrong the work of grace in my heart

if I deny my new nature and my eternal life.

If Jesus were not my righteousness and redemption

I would sink into nethermost hell

by my misdoings, shortcomings, unbelief, unlove;

If Jesus were not by the power of his Spirit

my sanctification,

there is no sin I should not commit.

O when shall I have his mind!

when shall I be conformed to his image?

All the good things of life are less than nothing

when compared with his love,

and with one glimpse of thy electing favour.

All the treasures of a million worlds could not

make me richer, happier, more contented,

for his unsearchable riches are mine.

One moment of communion with him, one view

of his grace,

is ineffable, inestimable.

But O God, I could not long after thy presence

if I did not know the sweetness of it; And such I could not know except by thy Spirit

in my heart, nor love thee at all unless thou didst

elect me,

call me,

adopt me,

save me.

I bless thee for the covenant of grace.

- Excerpt from The Valley of Vision