Nicholas Byfield

I will now by God’s assistance, for the helping of the weakest Christians…endeavor to express myself in this doctrine of the trial of a true Christian’s estate in a more plain and easy course of examination. [I will] leave…this new catalog to the blessing of God and the free choice of the godly reader to use, which he finds most agreeable to his own taste, being both such as are warranted and founded on the infallible evidence of God’s unchangeable truth…

There are three sorts of places in Scripture (as I conceive) that point out the grounds of infallible assurance in those that can attain to them. As first, such places as expressly affirm that such and such things are signs. For example, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (1Jo 3:14). Here the Holy Spirit shows us expressly that the love of the brethren is a sign by which a Christian may know that he is translated from death to life. And so the Apostle Paul gives signs to know whether their sorrow was “after a godly sort” or not (2Co 7:11). So does the Prophet David (Psa 15) give diverse signs by which the man that shall dwell in God’s holy hill may be known. So the Apostle James tells us how he may know the wisdom from above: by reckoning the fruits and effects of it (Jam 3:17). So does the Apostle Paul tell us how we may know whether we have the Spirit of Christ in us or not (Rom 8:9, 15; Gal 5:22, 4:6-7).

Second, I find out signs by marking what graces in man the promises of God are made to. For in this way I reason: Whatsoever gifts of God in man bring him within the compass of God’s promises of eternal mercy, that gift must be an infallible sign of salvation…Therefore, the man that can find those gifts in himself shall be certainly saved. For example, the Kingdom of heaven is promised to such as are “poor in spirit” (Mat 5:3). From there, I gather that poverty of spirit is an infallible sign. The like I may say of the love of the Word, of uprightness of heart, of the love of God, and the love of the appearing of Christ.

Third, I find out other signs by observing what godly men in Scripture have said for themselves when they have pleaded their own evidence for their interest in God’s love or their hope of a better life. Look how godly men in Scripture have proved that they were not hypocrites. Even so may any Christian prove that he is not a hypocrite either. For example, Job, being charged to be a hypocrite and lying under the heavy hand of God, pleads his cause and proves that he was not a hypocrite by his constancy in God’s ways and by his constant estimation of God’s Word: “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:10-12).

Now, whereas some signs are general and thou mightest doubt the exposition,⁴ namely, how that sign is infallible in such and such senses…you may observe that I expound the sign as it is expounded in several other Scriptures. For example, the love of the brethren is a general sign. Now how shall I know that I have the right love of the brethren? This I explain by flying to diverse other Scriptures in which the particular explications⁵ of this sign are pleaded.

The first way, then, by which a Christian may try himself is to examine himself about his humiliation for sin, whether it is right or not. For under this head is comprehended the explication of the doctrine of poverty of spirit and godly sorrow—and so in general of repentance of sins.

Now the true Christian in this matter of humiliation shows himself to have attained that which no reprobate could ever attain, and that in diverse particulars, such as, first, he has a true sight and sense of his sins. He discerns his sinfulness of life both past and present and is affected and pained under the burden of his daily wants⁶ and corruptions. [He] sees his misery in respect of his sins (Mat 11:29; 5:4).

Second, he trembles at God’s Word and fears His displeasure, while it yet hangs in the threatenings (Isa 66:1-2).

Third, he renounceth his own merits and disclaims all opinion of true happiness in himself or in anything under the sun. [He is] fully persuaded that he cannot be saved by any works of his own or be happy in enjoying any worldly things.⁷ Therefore, [he] is fully resolved to seek for the chief good in God’s favor in Jesus Christ only.

Fourth, he mourns heartily and secretly for his sins; and so he [mourns] 1. for all sorts of sins, for secret sins as well as known sins; for lesser sins as well as greater; for the present evils of his nature and life, as well as the sins he has loved or [that] have been gainful and pleasing to him. Yes, he grieves for the evil that cleaves to his best works as well as for evil works (Isa 6:5, 1:16; Rom 7:24; Mat 5:6). 2. For sin as it is sin and not as it does or might bring him shame or punishments in this life or in hell. 3. He is as much troubled for his sins as he was accustomed, or now should be, for crosses in his estate.⁸ He mourns as heartily for the sorrows that fell on God’s Son for his sin, as if he had lost his one and only son (Zec 12:10-11); or at least he strives for this and judges himself if worldly afflictions trouble him more than his sins (Psa 38:5).

Fifth, he is truly grieved and vexed in soul for the abominations that are done by others to the dishonor of God, [to the] slander of true religion, or [to] the ruin of the souls of men—thus, Lot (2Pe 2:6), David (Psa 119:136), and the mourners marked for God’s own people (Eze 9:4).

Sixth, he is heartily affected, troubled, and grieved for spiritual judgments that reach to the souls of men, as well as wicked men are wont⁹ to be troubled for temporal crosses. So he is grieved and perplexed for hardness of heart (when he cannot mourn as he would), for the famine of the Word, for the absence of God, for the blasphemies of the wicked, or the like (Psa 44:2-3, 137; Neh 1:3-4; Isa 63:17).

Seventh, he is most stirred up to abase¹⁰ himself and mourn for his sins when he feels God to be most merciful. The goodness of God makes him fear God and hate his sins rather than [God’s] justice (Hos 3:5).

Eighth, his griefs are such as can be assuaged¹¹ only by spiritual means. It is not sport or merry company that eases him. His comfort is only from the Lord in some of His ordinances. As it was the Lord that wounded him with the sight of his sins, so to the Lord only he goes to be healed of his wounds (Hos 6:1-2; Psa 119:24, 50).

Ninth, in his grief, he is inquisitive:¹² he will ask the way and desires to know how he may be saved. He cannot smother and put off his doubts in so great a business. He does not dare now any longer to be ignorant of the way to heaven. He is not careless, as he was accustomed to be, but is seriously bent to get directions from the Word of God about his reconciliation, sanctification,¹³ and salvation (Jer 50:4-5; Act 2:37).

Tenth, he is fearful of being deceived and therefore is not slightly satisfied. He will not rest on a common hope, nor is he carried with probabilities. Nor does it content him that other men have a good opinion of him. Nor is he pleased that he has mended some faults or begun to repent; but, repenting, he repents still, that is, he takes a sound course to be sure his repentance is effectually performed (Jer 31:19).

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4. thou…exposition – you might doubt the author’s interpretation.
5. explications – explanations.
6. wants – inadequacies.
7. The author is referring to sinful, worldly pursuits, not the enjoyment of God’s creation
8. crosses in his estate – afflictions in one’s moral, bodily, or mental condition.
9. wont – accustomed.
10. abase – humble.
11. assuaged – relieved.
12. inquisitive – given to questioning; eager for knowledge.
13. See FGB 215, Sanctification, available from CHAPEL LIBRARY

From The Signs of a Wicked Man and the Signs of a Godly Man, Puritan Publications

Nicholas Byfield (1579-1622): Anglican Puritan preacher and author; born in Warwickshire, England.

Courtesy of Chapel Library