N00707:26
The trial of assurance, set forth in a sermonThe tryal of assurance, set forth in a sermon
The trial of assurance, set forth in a sermon; preached at Boston upon a lecture day. July 7th. 1698. / By Solomon Stoddard, Pastor of the church in Northampton. ; [Two lines from 2 Peter]The tryal of assurance, set forth in a sermon; preached at Boston upon a lecture day. July 7th. 1698. / By Solomon Stoddard, Pastor of the church in Northampton. ; [Two lines from 2 Peter]
printed by B. Green, 1698
The TRIAL of Assurance. › Application 2: USE. II.The TRYAL of Assurance. › Application 2: USE. II.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
USE. II.
Others cannot be certain of a mans sincerity from his Conversation: if •thers see men carry well, they presently say, they are good men: but they don't know it from thence; there is indeed ground enough for Charity; but not for Assurance: for whatever mens Conversation be, if they don't see the actings of Grace, they cannot be assured that the man is a Godly man. It is not good to depend upon the judgment of others, for they do not know, whether a man be sincere or not. All the external acts of Charity, Piety, Justice and Sobriety, may be performed by a man that has no Grace; Prudence and Conscience may produce them all: and one that has no Grace may carry as well in the eye of the world, as he that has it▪ Peter does but suppose Silvanus to be faithful. 1 Pet. 5.12.
Consider 1. The inward actings of Grace are invisible to others. A man may look into his own heart, and see the actings and workings that are there; but he can't look into the hearts of others; men can't tell what actings there be ⟨p. 14⟩in their understandings and wills: men can't see when they act, nor what they act, nor what they act upon; nor how they act: men can't tell whether they choose or refuse.