Mozley: A Treatise on the Augustinian Doctrine of

42
Examination of the CHAP. n.
cannot violate, that of being the particular person which
he is, he is certain of salvation. It is not to the person
simply as such, but to the person as good and holy, that
eternal life is ordained. Does a man do his duty to God
and his neighbour ? Is he honest, just, charitable, pure ?
If he is, and if he is conscious of the power to continue so,
so far as he can depend on this consciousness, so far he may
reasonably believe himself to be predestined to future hap
piness. But to suppose that a man may think himself
predestined, not as being good, but as being, whether good
or bad, himself, is a delusion of the devil, and the gross
fallacy of corrupt sects, that have lost sight, first of duty,
and next of reason, and have forgotten that the government
of the world is moral. The doctrine of is
predestination
thus, in effect, a profitable or a mischievous doctrine,
according to the moral condition of those who receive and
it relaxes and
use it. It binds and cements some minds,
corrupts others. It gives an energy to some, a new force
of will, bringing out and strengthening high aims; it
furnishes an excuse to others, already disinclined to moral
efforts, to abandon them, and follow their own worldly will
and pleasure.
The above remarks will supply a ground for judging of
assurance being nothing else but
the doctrine of assurance ;
the sense of predestination here spoken of. It is evident,
in the first place, that assurance ought not to be demanded
as a state of mind necessary for a Christian ; for it can
only arise legitimately upon a knowledge of our own moral
and there is nothing to compel a
resources and strength ;
Christian to have this knowledge. He may innocently be
without it. He may do his duty without reflecting upon
himself as an agent at all and if he ; does think of himself,
he may innocently make an erroneous estimate of his own
strength. It sometimes happens that at the time of trial
a man finds that he has more strength than he counted
upon, and is surprised at his own easy victory. Nor should
it be forgotten that the principle of humility in man is one
which tends to an under-estimate of his own power and
resources ; and though to carry it to this extent is not per-