96. Did Mr. Wesley teach that we may have the same evidence that we are sanctified that we have that we are justified?
To the question, "But how do you know that you are sanctified, saved from your inbred corruption? " Mr. Wesley replies: "I can know it no otherwise than I know that I am justified. 'Hereby know we that we are of God,' in either sense, 'by the Spirit that he hath given us." We know it by the witness and by the fruit of the Spirit." -- Plain Account, p. 118.
Bishop O. C. Baker says: "We have been accustomed to believe that our standard authors have presented the doctrine of Christian holiness is a very perspicuous light; and if they have never declared that it is the privilege of the sanctified believer to enjoy the direct witness of the Spirit, so far as their influence goes, it would check the panting soul from seeking after the direct evidence of internal purity. May God grant that we may know by happy experience that the doctrine is true, and that the pure in heart enjoy the comforting indwelling of the Holy Spirit, assuring us that sin in us is all destroyed." Letter in "Guide," 1844.
97. Ought any one to believe that he is sanctified wholly before he has the witness of the Spirit?
Mr. Wesley says: "None, therefore, ought to believe that the work is done till there is added the testimony of the Spirit witnessing his entire sanctification as clearly as his justification.." -- Plain Account, p. 79.
This position of Mr. Wesley is safe, and applicable as a general rule; and yet, perhaps, there may be some exceptions to it, as in those cases where God may be pleased to hold the soul for a season, after the work is done, to a naked faith in his word, before the Spirit's witness is given. If we do not mistake, this has been the experience of some of the clearest witnesses of perfect love. Perhaps the same may be true in some cases of justification.
98. What is the witness of the Spirit?
It is a sweet, inward persuasion of the Spirit, that God, for Christ's sake, has either pardoned my sins and regenerated my soul, or that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed it from all sin.
Mr. Wesley gives the following answer: "By the testimony of the Spirit I mean an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God immediately and directly witnesses to my spirit that I am a child of God: that Jesus Christ hath loved me and given himself for me; that all my sins are blotted out, and I even I, am reconciled to God." -- Sermons, vol. i. p. 94.
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