Comments

I haven't found all that much comfort in any Reformed works on assurance. Reformed authors always seem to feel the need to qualify the Gospel. This essentially results in a giving with the right and a taking with the left. So, the person seeking assurance is always in the end cast back upon himself to take a personal inventory on how his "walk with Christ" is progressing. Any non-deluded believer knows that though he may have a different perspective than when he didn't believe, when it comes right down to it, he ain't doing much better at all. As a young christian--ten years young--it is easy for me to whitewash my own sin in Christian lingo, wearing a suit to church, or not caring what I wear to church. Man, I could rant on this for years and equally condemn all men along with myself. Yet, that's enough for now. Thanks again, Kobra

Yep. I haven't seen any good modern Reformed work on the subject. Thomas Hooker, whether I would agree with him now or not, offered more help than others, however. Given where I was coming from, he offered a hard-headed Puddleglum approach. Let's look at the worst, but then see how much good we can find in it. (His version of monergism said that certain attributes, weak as they may be, COULD NOT be found among the lost.) As a Lutheran, I've found better counsel. But I wish to credit a puritan when he had the heart of a true pastor. This is the guy who would have taken any amount of time with someone, sympathetically, to help him exit the dark night of the soul.

Yeah, "dark night" pastors are hard to find. You can find a fair weather one on every street corner. Kobra