The strong consolation which assurance can give in the hour of death is a point of great importance. We may depend on it, we shall never think assurance so precious as when our turn comes to die. In that awful hour there are few believers who do not find out the value and privilege of an “assured hope,” whatever they may have thought about it during their lives. General “hopes” and “trusts” are all very well to live upon while the sun shines and the body is strong; but when we come to die, we shall want to be able to say, “I know” and “I feel”.
~ J.C. Ryle
Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “Assurance”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 135.
Yes! Amen!
I tell folks often(including myself!) that the great and thunderous reformer John Knox, after he had done all, laid in his deathbed being tempted by the devil to trust in all his good works. It was only by recollection and recitation of many Scriptures was he able to fend off the enemy’s assaults.
Assurance must come from a source outside ourselves or we have no hope!
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