THE

FULL ASSURANCE OF UNDERSTANDING.

COLOSSIANS, ii. 2.

To understand, to believe, and to enjoy, form the threefold attainment of the advanced Christian; and hence we meet in scripture with those remarkable expressions, "The full assurance of Understanding,” "The full assurance of Faith," and "the full assurance of Hope." The infidel may in some measure comprehend the gospel, without believing its divinity; as condemned spirits believe its divinity, without enjoying its blessings. But the beatitude of the disciple of Christ consists in the threefold union of a knowledge which unfolds the doctrines of the Cross, a faith which admits their truth, and a hope which whispers that their promised blessings shall be his own.

Christian piety being a reasonable service, and springing not from the vivacity of the imagination, but from the legitimate use of an understanding enlightened by the Holy Spirit to perceive what is right, and a will disposed by the same divine Agent to embrace it, must of necessity pre-suppose knowledge as a preparative for faith; for although, in various instances, faith is seen to consist with a considerable degree of ignorance, yet it never appears so exalted, so spiritual, and consequently so much resembling the full assurance of celestial intelligences, who drink immediately at the fountain-head of wisdom itself, as when it is grounded on an extensive view of the whole economy of redemption, in all its bearings and results. But while by the recognition of this truth we prevent that unnatural

alliance which superstition once thought fit to form between devotion and ignorance, we must guard infinitely more against that pride which would incite the enlightened but unimpressed professor of Christianity to value his speculative knowledge above the humble faith and ardent hope of the less intelligent disciple. A strong check to this pride is the reflection, that the knowledge of the one, however accurate or extensive, is but the ordinary result of the human understanding operating upon a system of speculative truths; whilst that of the other, though perhaps detached and circumscribed, evinces by the practical excellency of its effects, that it emanated from that divine Enlightener, "from whom all holy desires, all just counsels, and all good works do proceed."

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Since, however, this doctrine though consistent both with reason and scripture, is opposed, not only to the ordinary pride of the human heart, but in an especial manner to the skepticism of an age in which supernatural agency is exploded as a cunningly devised fable," it becomes necessary to view the subject more at large, and to show that the full assurance of understanding is a divine gift, and not a merely human attainment; a gift freely bestowed upon every ingenuous and humble inquirer, but withheld in equitable judgment from the presumptuous and insincere.

On this subject the Bible is our only guide; and to those who profess to believe its inspiration no other can appear necessary. What then is the testimony of revelation? Is it not laid down in terms too explicit for ignorance herself to misunderstand, or sophistry to evade, that "the world by wisdom knew not God;" that "the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God;" and that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

It is true, indeed, that the apostle in another place

asserts that the heathen had a sufficient idea of a Divinity to render them inexcusable in their wickedness; but even admitting that this knowledge might not be an immediate emanation from Him who never leaves himself without witness in the secret tribunal of conscience, or might not be a vestige of universal tradition, a reflected gleam of light on the mountains of error long after the luminary itself had set in darkness-still it was by no means that full assurance of understanding which would lead men to regard their Creator with earnest hope, unrivalled affection, and implicit confidence, and to aspire after that holy intercourse and communion with him for which man was originally created, and which religion teaches us to look for as the reward of glorified spirits in a future world.

Should it be objected that the above-cited passages relate merely to the original inability of man to have discovered the truths of revelation, but by no means imply, that those truths being once revealed and open to inquiry, any superadded assistance is now necessary in order to produce the full assurance of understanding, the objection may be obviated by other passages which not only imply the ignorance of man, but explicitly point out the agent of his illumination. "We have an unction from the Holy One," said the seraphic apostle St. John," and know all things." Isaiah confidently predicted, "all thy people shall be taught of God." Our Saviour, in strict conformity with this prediction, promised that after his ascension the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, should teach his disciples all things; and St. Paul, relying on these assurances, did not cease to pray for his Colossian charge, that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding."

It is edifying to observe how forcibly this doctrine. of the divine teaching is inculcated in the formularies of the Established Church. The Collect for Whitsunday is particularly striking: "God, who as at this

time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort." Such was the language of our forefathers. Among the various errors in the scanty creed of modernized theology, the exclusion of the divine interposition is one of the most glaring. It cannot, however, excite wonder that those, who are insensible to the want of the Holy Spirit as a Comforter, should fail to acknowledge him as an enlightener and guide. But the true Christian, feeling his own weakness, and the strength and subtlety of his spiritual foes, perceives the value of the divine assistance; while therefore he "rejoices in the holy comfort" of the Spirit, he prays to him also for "a right understanding in all things." He is conscious that we can neither understand nor obey, without "the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will." To separate the commands of God. from that proffered assistance which is necessary for their fulfilment, is to dislocate the whole system of Christianity. The injunction would be useless without the promised aid; but the aid is never denied where there is a sincere desire implanted to comply with the injunction. If we are exhorted "to work out our own salvation," it is immediately added, as a check to pride and an encouragement to exertion, that "it is God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Thus we are instructed equally to avoid self-sufficiency and spiritual sloth. We are not to sit contentedly in indolence, waiting for those influences which are promised to sincere exertion. The operation of the divine Spirit was never intended as a bar to the use of our natural faculties. Were a person to resolve, that, because he cannot attain the full assurance of understanding by his unassisted endeavours, he would never use any labour for that purpose, his infe

rence would be as hostile to scripture as it is to natural reason. The Holy Spirit is unreservedly promised to "all that seek him." The evident means, therefore, of obtaining spiritual understanding is diligent exertion, accompanied with earnest prayer. Either by itself is

not enough.

A principal cause, perhaps, why persons otherwise well disposed fail to perceive the reality of the Holy Spirit's work, is that they confound the agent with the means which he employs. A pious education, the intercourse of religious friends, the Christian ministry, the scriptures and devotional books, are not agents, but merely instruments, and "means of grace," and would be therefore wholly inefficient, but for the powerful interposition of Him who appointed them to accomplish his designs. How dim-sighted, then, alas, is man! from whom the thin veil of ordinances can conceal that celestial hand which directs them to their destined end!

From the preceding remarks it will appear that the acknowledged necessity of the influences of the Holy Spirit as the illuminator of the understanding, is by no means a doctrine justly chargeable as superstitious, or tending to check the exertion of our rational powers. God might indeed produce, in a moment, the full assurance of understanding in a heathen who had never heard of the gospel; but he has been pleased, in the general course of his providence, to operate in a manner less apparently miraculous, employing and consecrating the faculties of the mind and the affections of the heart to produce the intended effect. The Creator is ever willing to teach as many as he makes desirous to learn; so that a failure to search into the doctrines of the Bible is a settled contempt of his Holy Spirit. It is not necessary, under the present circumstances of Christianity, that open displays of power, such as attended the conversion of St. Paul, should be daily seen to take place. The influences of the bless