Resp. They have a right to it, and I do incline to believe that all have it in some degree before their last expiring; though their Comfort may be so strong, and their Vital Spirits so weak, that they cannot express what they feel. But I dare not positively affirm that all have Assurance in the first moment of their Sanctification: A Letter may be written when it is not Sealed; so Grace may be written in the heart, yet the Spirit may not set the Seal of Assurance to it. God is a free Agent, and may give or suspend Assurance pro libito as he please. Where there is the Sanctifying work of the Spirit, he may withhold the Sealing work, partly to keep the Soul Humble; partly to punish our careless walking: We neglect our Spiritual watch, grow remiss in duty, and then walk under a Cloud: We quench the Graces of the Spirit, and God withholds the Comforts, and partly to put a difference between Earth and Heaven. This I the rather speak, to bear up the Hearts of Gods People, who are dejected because they have not Assurance: You may have the Water of the Spirit poured on you in Sanctification, though not the Oil of Gladness in Assurance; there may be Faith of Adherence and not of Evidence; there may be Life in the Root, when there is no Fruit in the Branches to be seen; so Faith in the Heart, when no Fruit of Assurance.
Resp. They have a right to it, and I do incline to believe that all have it in some degree before their last expiring; though their Comfort may be so strong, and their Vital Spirits so weak, that they cannot express what they feel. But I dare not positively affirm that all have Assurance in the first moment of their Sanctification: A Letter may be written when it is not Sealed; so Grace may be written in the heart, yet the Spirit may not set the Seal of Assurance to it. God is a free Agent, and may give or suspend Assurance pro libito as he please. Where there is the Sanctifying work of the Spirit, he may withhold the Sealing work, partly to keep the Soul Humble; partly to punish our careless walking: We neglect our Spiritual watch, grow remiss in duty, and then walk under a Cloud: We quench the Graces of the Spirit, and God withholds the Comforts, and partly to put a difference between Earth and Heaven. This I the rather speak, to bear up the Hearts of Gods People, who are dejected because they have not Assurance: You may have the Water of the Spirit poured on you in Sanctification, though not the Oyl of Gladness in Assurance; there may be Faith of Adherence and not of Evidence; there may be Life in the Root, when there is no Fruit in the Branches to be seen; so Faith in the Heart, when no Fruit of Assurance.
