LBCF1689 18.4

True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as by negligence in preserving of it,¹ by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit;² by some sudden or vehement temptation,³ by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light,⁴ yet are they never destitute of the seed of God⁵ and life of faith,⁶ that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived,⁷ and by the which, in the meantime, they are preserved from utter despair.⁸