This, it must be acknowledged, is not immediately the privilege of many, who nevertheless know the things that belong to their peace. Nor is it, in numerous instances, vouchsafed, until, after a long series of various trials, by which the soul is greatly exercised, but acquires deep and genuine experience. Some valuable Christians, who know the gospel savingly, and adorn it greatly, are so bowed down with a discouraging view of themselves, that unbelief robs them of that comfort, which they are warranted to take from the promises, made to those, who come to Christ by faith; and it is a considerable time, often, before they arrive at any well-grounded evidence of their title to heaven; though the inheritance is secure to them, and their title to it as valid, as the purchase of Christ and the immutability of the covenant could make it. It is, however, their privilege to overcome their doubts, to have a clear view of their interest in the Son of God, to rejoice in hope of future glory, and to know that, “when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, they have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Cor. v. 1. These invaluable blessings are called by the Apostle, “the riches of the full assurance πληροφορια of understanding;” Col. ii. 2; and are the result of that establishment in the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, which “fathers in Christ” enjoy, when they become rooted and grounded in the truth as it is in Jesus. Let not the weak and self-diffident, then, be discouraged. He who maketh “the path of the just to resemble the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” Prov. iv. 8, will, in his own time, dispel the clouds that hang over their minds, and make the day-star arise in their hearts with assurance and consolation. “Then shall they know, if they follow on to know, the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto them as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Hos. vi. 3.