Prior to examining the Westmin­ster Confession of Faith, chapter 18, paragraph 2, it is important to briefly summarize Puritan thought on assur­ance by the 1640s. At least twenty-five members of the assembly had written treatises pertinent to the doc­trines of faith and assurance prior to the assembly's convening.¹By the 1640s English Puritan thought, not­withstanding various emphases, was nearly unanimous on several distincti with respect to assurance.²

First, the Puritans taught that sav­ing faith and developed assurance must be distinguished. Though saving faith inherently contains trust and assur­ance by definition (as there is no doubt in faith and its exercises), full assurance of personal salvation must be regarded as a fruit of faith rather than of faith's essence. ³

Since the Puritans did not deny that there was some assurance in every exercise of faith, they could speak at times of all believers possess­ing assurance. ⁴ More commonly, however, by "assurance" they in­tended mature, self-conscious faith that is full-grown. In this sense, as­surance is not of the essence of faith, but of the "cream of faith."

This dual use of the term assurance helps explain why the Puritans can state simultaneously that "assurance is not of the essence of a Christian" and yet is organically of the essence of faith. R. M. Hawkes rightly notes, "While the Puritans distinguish full assurance from the initial trust of faith, they will not allow a division between the two, for full assurance grows out of an as­surance implicit in the first act of faith."⁵

Hence they can speak of assurance growing out of faith as well as of faith growing into assurance. Typical is Thomas Brooks' assertion, "Faith, in time, will of its own accord raise and advance itself to assurance."⁶

This distinction between faith and assurance had profound doctrinal and pastoral implications for the Puri­tans. To make justification dependent upon assurance would compel the be­liever to rely upon his own subjective condition rather than on the sufficiency of a triune God in the order of redemp­tion. Such reliance is not only unsound doctrine, but also bears adverse pastoral effects. God does not require full and perfect faith, but sincere and "unfeigned" faith. Fulfilment of God's promises de­pends on the matter received, Christ's righteousness, and not upon the de­gree of assurance exercised in the re­ceiving.⁷ If salvation depended on the full assurance of faith, John Downame observes, many would despair for then "the palsied hand of faith should not receive Christ."⁸

Happily, salvation's sureness does not rest on the believer's sureness of his salvation, for "believers do not have the same assurance of grace and favor of God, nor do the same ones have it at all times."⁹Pas­torally, it is critical to maintain that justifying faith and the experience of doubt often coexist.

Second, the Puritans teach that though personal assurance must never be divorced from a Trinitarian frame­work, its realization within the believer may be ascribed especially to the eco­nomical work of the Holy Spirit: (1) through an application of God's prom­ises in Christ which the believer ap­propriates by faith, (2) through a reflex act of faith inseparable from the so-called syllogisms discussed below, and (3) through the Spirit's direct witness by the Word to the believer's con­science that Christ is his Savior and has forgiven his sins.¹⁰Thus, the Spirit en­ables the believer to reach assurance in varying degrees through a variety of means.¹¹Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no authentic assurance.

Third, Puritans assert that this as­suring, sealing work of the Spirit is based upon the sure covenant of grace and the saving work of Christ, which in turn is grounded in God's sover­eign good pleasure and love in eternal election.¹² Assurance flows out of the objective certainty that God cannot and will not disinherit His adopted children. His covenant cannot be broken or annulled, for it is "fixed" in His eternal decree and promises.

Consequently, the believer may plead for the fulfilment of the covenant on the ground that God is obliged to act in accord with His covenant prom­ises. Many Puritans gave the same basic advice for obtaining forgiveness of sins, sanctification, deliverance in af­flictions, and virtually every spiritual need: "Plead the covenant hard with God ... Goe to God now, and tell him it is a part of his Covenant to deliver thee, and ... take no denyall, though the Lord may deferre long, yet he will doe it, he cannot chuse; for it is part of his Covenant ... and he cannot be a Covenant-breaker."¹³ On occasion, they even spoke of "suing God for grace." "The more we urge him with his covenant," Robert Harris wrote, "and hold him to it, the better he likes it and the sooner he inclines to us."'¹⁴

Perry Miller emphasizes this di­mension of Puritan thinking:

The end of the Covenant of Grace is to give security to the transactions between God and men, for by binding God to the terms, it binds Him to save those who make good the terms.¹⁵

Miller, however, tends to exaggerate the covenant in Puritan thought as if it weakened or even usurped divine predestination. In fact, election and covenant ride in tandem, reinforcing each other as William Stoever notes:

Puritan covenant theology offered troubled saints a double source of assurance. It allowed them to plead the covenant with God, importuning him to fulfill his part of the bargain by performing what he had promised; and it encouraged them to seek com­fort in the sufficiency of prevenient grace and in the immutability of God's will in election, which under­lay the covenant itself and their own participation in it. ¹⁶

God's absolute promises in election and covenant are solid pillars for in­creasing weak faith. They help to convince the believer that even if the exercise or acts of faith are lacking at a given moment, the principle or "habit" of faith "cannot be utterly lost,'' for faith's roots lie in the electing, covenantal God.¹⁷Consequently, not even sin can break the covenant from God's side.¹⁸

From the believer's side, however, there is in Puritan thought also a conditional dimension of the covenant which plays a critical role in assurance. "The absolute promises are laid before us as the foundation of our sal­vation ... and the conditionall as the foundation of our assurance."¹⁹The conditional promises are inseparable from the believer's daily renewal of the covenant by means of prayer, meditation, and worship. Particularly the sac­raments serve as important seasons for covenant-renewal.²⁰ "To gather up assurance from the conditions of the covenant," wrote Thomas Blake, "is the highest pitch of Christianity."²¹

Fourth, though assurance is not perfect in this life in degree, being subject to doubt and trial, it must never be regarded lightly, but ought to be diligently sought after through the means of grace.²² Assurance so gleaned may be considered well-grounded, however, only when it is regarded as a sovereign gift of God and when it evidences the fruits of a new heart and life. These fruits include humiliation, self-denial, "reuerent feare" for God's will, eagerness to serve and please the Lord, a "sincere" love for God and the saints, an intense cleaving to Christ, peace and joy in receiving the Spirit's benefits, and good works.²³

For the Puritans, the principle or "habit" of faith is never the whole of faith. A consistently inactive faith is false faith, as John Preston affirms:

A woman many times thinkes she is with childe, but if she finde no mo­tion or stirring, it is an argument she was deceived: So, when a man thinkes he hath faith in his heart, but yet he finds no life, no motion, no stirring, there is no work proceeding from his faith, it is an argument he was mistaken, he was deceived in it: for if it be a right faith, it will worke, there will be life and motion in it.²⁴

Though the Puritans deny works-righteousness on the one hand against the "legalist," they also reject the notion of assurance which rests on formal, life­less doctrine against the cold "professor" of Christianity. Works can never merit salvation but are necessary as fruits of salvation out of grateful obedience and in dependence upon God.