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Take all Mr. Fearing’s features together, and even Shakespeare himself has no such heart-touching and heart-comforting character. — Alexander Whyte, Bunyan Characters
Building on the memorable character from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress to whom many can relate, William Parker Patterson (1848-1901) published a volume titled A Heartening Word For Mr. Fearing; or, Cheer For Doubting Pilgrims (1897) which gives Scriptural reasons to support and encourage inquirers who are anxious to know whether they are on the right path to the celestial country. The extract that follows speaks to the question of making our calling and election sure.
Memory recalls an incident which occurred in the class-room of the beloved Dr. Charles Hodge in our seminary days at Princeton. The class, at the time, was engaged in the study of the subject of election, and, in the recitation, a member put this question to the professor, who was always ready, if he could, to meet and satisfy every difficulty: "Suppose, Doctor, I am the pastor of a church, and there comes to me an honest and anxious inquirer who, in our conversation, with evident sincerity, desires to know how he is to determine whether or not he is one of the elect, what answer, if any, can I truthfully give?" With that look of rare tenderness and solicitude which every pupil of Dr. Hodge can easily recall, and in tones which none can ever forget who have heard them, the reply came: "My young brother, there is only one answer that can meet such an inquiry, and it is given in the very words of the Master himself: 'He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.'" It is enough. Nothing more is possible.
Would we, indeed, know beyond all peradventure that our own names are written in the book of life? then let us determine, first of all, whether or not we have come to Christ; for he himself declares, for our guidance in this judgment, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Have we come to Christ? Are we conscious of having our affections and willpower changed to the Christlike and the heavenly? If we can truthfully and humbly affirm that we have come to Christ, and are endeavoring by grace to excel in whatever achievements are predicated of those who are divinely revealed as belonging to Christ, we surely need not doubt our calling and election. As the good bishop Leighton puts it, "He that loves may be sure that he was loved first, and he that chooses God for his delight and portion may conclude confidently that God hath chosen him to be one of those that shall enjoy him and be happy with him forever; for that our love and electing of him is but the return of the beams of his love shining upon us.”
Perhaps this word of encouragement from the past will speak to you, or to another, today. If so, to God be the glory, who alone can complete the good work which he alone begins in all of his children (Phil. 1:6).
