X. Assurances of Salvation in Christ Jesus.

I have put my Treasure, my immortal Part, into thy Hands, Oh! my dear Redeemer and shall the Prey be taken from the Mighty? Shall a Soul consecrated to thee fall a Sacrifice to Hell?

Blessed God, am I not thine? and shall the Temple of thy Spirit be profan’d, and the Lips that have so often ascrib’d Dominion, and Glory, and Majesty to thee, be defil’d with infernal Blasphemy and the Execrations of the Damn’d? Shall thee Sparks of Divine Love be extinguish’d, and immortal Enmity succeed? And shall I, who was once bless’d with thy Favour, become the Object of thy Wrath and Indignation? Shall all the mighty things thou hast done for my Soul be forgotten? Shall all my Vows, and thy own sacred Engagements be cancell’d? ’Tis all impossible; for thou art not as Man, that thou shouldst lie; nor as the Son of Man, that thou shouldst repent.

Thou art engag’d by thy own tremendous Name for my Security: My God, and my Father’s God, from Generation to Generation thou hast been our Dwelling-place. I was [38] devoted to thee in Baptism by the solemn Vows of my religious Parents: My Infant Hands were early lifted up to thee, and I soon learned to know and acknowledge the God of my Fathers. I have actually subscrib’d with my Hand to the Lord, and am thine by the most voluntary and deliberate Obligations. The Portion of Jacob is my joyful Choice, nor need I fear. Losing it while thy Word is establish’d as the Heavens.

The Lord, who made Heaven, Earth and Sea,

And all that they contain,

Will never quit his stedfast Truth,

Nor make his Promise vain.

Were my Dependance on myself, I were undone: The first Temptation would shake my Resolutions; I should sell the inestimable Riches of thy Love for a Trifle, and fool away immortal Pleasures for the Joys of a Moment; a specious Delusion would seduce me from all my Hopes of a glorious Futurity. I shall fall a Victim to my own Folly, and must inevitably perish, if thou forsake me: But the Strength of Israel is my Hope, the Mighty One of Jacob my Defence.

Thou art the rock of Ages; the fix’d and immutable Divinity is my high Tower [39] and my Refuge, my Redeemer and Almighty Saviour. These were the bless’d, the glorious Titles by which thou didst at first assure my doubtful Soul: These were the transporting Names I knew and call’d thee by; and thou hast answered them through all the Changes of my Life.

I was thy early Care; thou didst support my helpless Infancy, and art the watchful Guide of my unsteady Youth. Which Way soever I turn, I meet thy Mercy, and trace thy Providence; and as long as I live I will record thy Benefits, and depend on thy Truth; those Benefits which have constantly pursued me, and that Truth which has never deceived me, and is engag’d never to abandon me. Transporting Assurance! What further Security can I ask? What Security can I wish beyond eternal Veracity? The Mountains shall depart, and the Hills be remov’d, but thy Kindness shall not depart, nor the Covenant of thy Peace be broken; that Covenant which has been seal’d by the Blood of the Son of God, and in that Holy Sacrament I have receiv’d the Pledges of thy Love. Thou didst graciously invite me into that Communion, and meet me there with the most unmerited Favour. [40]

Fear not, say’st thou, poor trembling Soul, for I am thy Redeemer and thy mighty Saviour, the Hope of Israel, and in my Name shall all the Nations of the Earth be bless’d: I am gracious and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in Goodness and Truth: These are the Titles by which I have reveal’d myself to Men; I came the expected Messiah, the Star of Jacob, and the Glory of the Gentiles. I came from the Fulness of ineffable Glory, in the Form of Man, to redeem the Race of Adam. I am willing and able to save, and whosoever comes to me, I will in no wise cast away. Fear not, I had kind Designs towards thee from Eternity; and by these visible Signs of my body and Blood, I seal my Love to thy Soul: Take here the Pledges of Heaven, the Assurances of everlasting Happiness.

’Tis enough, reply’d my transported Soul; divide the World as thou wilt, let others unenvy’d share its Glory; thy Love is all I crave. I am bless’d with that Assurance, I am surrounded with the Joys of Paradise; every Place is a Heaven, while my Beloved is mine, and I am his. [41]

If all the Monarchs, whose Command supreme

Divides the wide Dominion of this Ball,

Should offer each his boasted Diadem,

I would not quit thy Favour for then all:

These Trifles with contempt I would resign;

The World’s a Toy, while I can thee Mine.

Let God and Angels witness for me, that I renounce the World, and chuse thy Love as my Portion; witness that I sacrifice my darling Sins to thee, and from this Moment solemnly devote myself to thy Service.

Thus did I engage myself to be the Lord’s, and thus didst thou graciously condescend to seal the Privileges of the New Covenant to my Soul. And O let the solemn Transaction never be forgotten; let it be writ in the Volumes of Eternity; let it be engraven in the Books of unalterable Destiny: There let the sacred Articles stand recorded, and be had in everlasting Remembrance.

Text: Elizabeth Singer Rowe, Devout Exercises of the Heart in Meditation and Soliloquy, Prayer and Praise. By the late Pious and Ingenious Mrs. Rowe. Review’d and Published at her Request by I. Watts, D. D. (London: Printed for R. Hett, at the Bible and Crown in the Poultry. M.DCC.XXXVIII [1738]), pp. 37-41.