ngs spoken of in these two verses),
that I have been foreknown by God, that I have been predestinated by
Him to be conformed to the image of His Son, that I have been called,
that I have been justified, and that, in the sight of God, I am
already as good as glorified, though I am not as yet in the actual
possession and enjoyment of the glory.

The reason why persons who renounce confidence in their own goodness
for salvation, and who only trust in the merits and sufferings of the
Lord Jesus, do not know that they are the children of God, that their
sins are forgiven, and that they shall be saved, generally arises
from one of these things: 1. They do not know the simplicity of the
Gospel; or, 2. They seek to settle it by their feeling; or, 3. They
wait for some powerful impulse, or a dream, or something like a voice
from Heaven to assure them of it, or for some passage being in a
powerful way applied to their mind to assure them of it; or, 4.
Because they are living in sin. Should the last be the case, then,
however correctly we may understand the Gospel; however much we may
desire by the Holy Scriptures alone to settle these questions; yea,
however much in former times we may have enjoyed the assurance of the
forgiveness of our sins, or of our being the children of God, or that
we shall be saved: in such a state of heart all peace would be gone,
and would not return as long as we live in sin. There may be found
much weakness and many infirmities even in the believer who has
assurance about these points; but the Holy Ghost does not comfort us,
and will not comfort us, if we habitually indulge in those things
which we know to be contrary to the mind of God. An upright, honest
heart, is of the utmost importance in all divine things; and
especially with reference to the assurance about our standing before
God.

April 15. From March 12th up to this day we had always a little money
in hand for the Orphans, so that there was comparatively no trial of
faith. Of the many donations which came in during this period I only
mention two, as rather deserving to be noticed, to show what various
ways the Lord uses to send us supplies. On March 16th I received from
the neighbourhood of London 5l., respecting which the brother who
sent it writes, that he was in the habit of giving this sum to his
wife, a sister, on her birth days, to lay it out in buying any little
thing she liked, and that she this time preferred giving it to the