The Puritannical Blog

God sometimes marvelously raiseth the souls of his saints with some close and
near approaches unto them -- gives them a sense of His eternal love, a taste of
the embraces of His Son and the inhabitation of the Spirit, without the least
intervening disturbance; and then this is their assurance. But this life is not
a season to be always taking wages in; our work is not yet done; we are not
always to abide in this mount; we must down again into the battle -- fight
again, cry again, complain again. Shall the soul be thought now to have lost its
assurance? Not at all. It had before assurance with joy, triumph, and
exultation; it hath it now, or may have, with wrestling, cries, tears, and
supplications. And a man's assurance may be as good, as true, when he lies on
the earth with a sense of sin, as when he is carried up to the third heaven with a sense of love and foretaste of glory. [John Owen]