Growth in Grace
How beautiful is the light of the morning! Behold it hovering over the distant edge of the horizon, and shedding its cheerful beams upon the hills. It is a morning mthout clouds. But how soon is the prospect overcast! The atmosphere is obscured by vapours, and the sun is darkened by a cloud. Again the mists are fled; the clouds have passed over; and the sun is still advancing in his course. Thus he rises; now, behind the cloud, now, in all the greatness of his strength, shining brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. Such is the path of the just. In the present world, good men are very imperfect The best of men have reason to complain bitterly of the body of sin and death; and the best of men too, have the most ardent desires that the body of sin and death may be crucified with Christ, The highest point of Christian experience is to press forward. It is a distinguishing trait in the character of every good man, that he grows in gract
There are various similitudes used by the inspired writers, that are significantly expressive of the advancement of Christians in knowledge and in piety. The young convert is likened unto one that is newly born. There is a point of time in which he bt(jins to live. At first, he is a babe; then a child, till he finally attains unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ The kingdom of heaven is also compared to seed which is cast into the ground. First, cometh up the tender blade; then, the thriving stalk; then, the ear; after that, the full corn in the ear, ripening for the harvest, and preparing for the garner of the husbandman. It is also compared to a ?iell of water, springing up into everlasting life. No imagery in nature can more fully illustrate the growth of grace in the heart. The righteous, saith Job, shall hold on his wax/, and he that hathclcan hands shall wax stronger and stronger. This is the prominent feature in the character of the good man: he shall hold on his way. The youth, saith the evangelical prophet, The youth shall faint and he weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; hut they that wait nipon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not he weary, and they shall walk and not faint. With inimitable beauty, is the good man described by the Psalmist. And he shall be like a tree planted by the livers of water, that bring” eth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doth shall prosper. Grace in the heart as certainly improves and advances, as a tree thrives in a kindly and well watered soil. “It flourishes in immortal youth, and blooms for ever in unfading beauty.”
The certainty of the believer’s progress, however, rests on a surer foundation, than either the degree or the nature of his religion. We are not sufficient, says the Apostle, to think any thing as of ourselves, hut our sufficiency is of God. That the people of God will grow in the divine life, till they reach the stature of perfect men, and are meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, h
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beyond all controversy. But the reafion, and the sole reason, of this is, that it is God that workcth in them to niil and to do of Ids good pleasure. Covenanted gince is the support of the believer throu£1;h every step of his pil or r image. There is nothing in the nature of holiness that is incapable of corruption. Adam fell; Anyels fell. And such is the awful depravity of the human heart, that left to himself, the holiest saint on earth would draw back unto perdition. Still he shall progress in holiness throughout interminable ages. It is the economy of divine grace, where God has begun a good rvork, to carry it on; where he has given one holy exercise of hearty, to give another and another, until the subject is ripened for glory.
The hypocrite, when once he imagines himself to be a Christian, views his work as done. He is satisfied. He is rich, and increased in floods. But it is otherwise with the true Christian. Conversion is but his first step. His work is all before him. His graces are increasingly constant and increasingly vigorous. The more he loves God, the more lie desires to love him. The more he knows of His character, does he contemplate the manifestations of his giory with rising de-
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light. As the hart panteth after the water-hrooks, so doth his soul pant after God, Having once tasted that the Lord is gracious, is not enough to satisfy him. He will ever remain unsatisfied till he reaches the fountain-head, and drinks to the full of the river of life, rvhich flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. The more he sees of the evil of sin, the more he desires to see. The more he hates it, the more he desires to hate it. The more he sees of himself, the more he abhons himself, and the more does he desire to abhor himself. The more he is emptied of himself, the more does he desire to be emptied of himself; the more he desires to become poor in spirit, to feel that he is cut off from every hope, and to rest on Christ alone. The more he is engaged in duty, the more delight he finds in performing it. The more severe his conflict with the enemy, the harder he presses it, and the more vigorous his resolution to maintain it to the last.
There are some things in which the increase of grace is more visible, both to the world and the subject, than others. Particularly have the people of God less and less confidence in themselves. They cherish an increasing sense of their dependence. They have been so often disappointed in
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their false confidences, that they have in some ;^ood measure become weaned from them. They know, by bhter experience, the folly of truslhig to themselves. They have learned that the way of man is not in himself; that it is not in man that nalketh to direct his steps. The independent, self-sufficient spirit of the carnal heart is broken down. They walk by faith, and not by sight. They daily taste the sweetness of that heavenly precept. In all thy ways acknowledge God, and he sJiall direct thy paths: Cast all your care on the Lord, for He carethfor yon.
They are moi-e and more patient in suffei’ ings. The more they are accustomed to the yoke, the less do they repine under the weight of it.
They are also more and n’lore charitable in their opinions of others. Young ChristianB are too often very uncharitable and censorious.. They are more apt to take notice of the infirmities of their brethren, than their graces, and. the infirmities of others, than their own. But the more they know of themselves, the more reason do they see to exercise charity toward others* They fear to judge, lest they themselves-
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should be also judged. They wal)i with all lowliness and metjmessy with longsnffering, forbearing one another in love,
they have also the more full government of thek passions. They are slow to wrath.
They are more and more punctual in the performance of the relative duties. Young Christians are apt to neglect them. They suffer the duties they owe immediately to God, to swallow up those that belong to their neighbour. But as they advance in the divine life, they become more uniform in the exercise of grace, and more punctual in the discharge of all duty. They do not love God less, but they love their fellow men .more. As they grow more fervent and more constant in their devotional exercises, so they become more circumspect, and unexceptionable in their intercourse with the world.
Perhaps there is no one point in which growth in grace is more visible, than in that harmony and consistency of character, which are too often wanting in young Christians, but which shine with so much beauty in those who are advanced in the Cinistian course.
In evei’y ihmg that belongs to the excellence of real relision, the true believer is in a state of progression, lie seeks and strives, he wrestles and fights. He IS ever aiming at the prize. View him in the early part of the divine life; follow him through the various stages of his progress; and you will find, that notwithstanding all his doubts and declensions, he makes a gradual advance. He does not feel, he does not act as though he had alreadi, aUnined, either were already perfect; hut he follows after, if he may apprehend that for which also he is apprehended of Christ Jesus.
This one THING / do, says Paul, forgetting the things that arc behind, and reaching forth to those that are before y I press toward the mark of the prise of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, AYhere is the Christian, that does not make the spirit of the Apostle his own? Tell me, ye who have just begun the heavenly race, tell me, ye who are verging toward the goal; was there ever a Christian, that felt satislied with present attainments? Is not the unvarying voice, both of early and long-tried piety, lesponsive to the language of Paul? Yes, reader, it is both the highest point of Christian experience, and the clearest evidence of Chriblian Character, to
PRESS FORWARD. The disciple of Jesus desires to be perfect; to be more and more conformed to the image of Christ. He presses after this. It is his grand inquiry, how to be, and tow to live, more like a child of God.
Mark the waif of the upright. As you trace his steps through this dreary pilgrimage, sometimes he wanders from the path; sometimes he halts and tires. His progress is far from being uniformly rapid, and often far from being perceptible, either by himself or others. Sometimes his motion is retrograde. There are seasons when, instead of advancing, he is the subject of great defection. Still it is true, that on the whole, he advances. If you compare his present state and character with what they were a considerable length of time past, you will find that he has made gradual progress. I know there are seasons — dark and gloomy seasons, seasons of guilt and declension — when the real Christian will make this comparison at the expense of his hopes. Be it so. Seasons of guilt and declension, ought to be seasons of darkness. I know too that there are seasons, when he is liable to discouragement, because he does not always experience that light and joy which crowned the day of his espousals. This is a serious error. There is a glow of affection, a flush of joy, which is felt by the young convert, as he is just ushered into the world of grace, which perhaps may not be felt at any future period of his life. And you cannot from Ibis draw the inference that he has made no advance. All this may be true, while there is a power of feeling, a strength of affection, in the saint who has passed through the wilderness and knows the trials of the way, to which the young convert is a stranger. As he ascends the mount, his eye is fixed; his step is more vigorous; and his path brighter and brighter. He remembers his devious steps, and how he traced them back with tears. But the trials of the way are forgotten. He is rising to that brightness of purity, which” sheds the lustre of eternity’* on his character, and aiming at the crown of righteousness which fadeth not away.
Here then is another test of the genuineness of your religion. I am aware that it is a severe one. But it is one which bears the seal of truth; and we must not shrink from it. Professing Christians are apt to place too much confidence on their past experience, and think little of the present; to think much on what they imagine to have been their conversion, theh’ first work, and then give up the business of self-examination, and allow themselves to droop and decline. But the question is, what is your present character? “Grace is the evidence of grace.” I know it is true, that he who is once a Christianis always a Christian; but it is also true, that he who is not now a Christian never was a Christian, Examine yourself, therefore, and see whether you be in theJaitL The best evidence in the world that you are, is that you grow in grace.
Now apply the principle. Have you, on the whole -ince you first began to hope that you were united to the Lord Jesus Christ, been growing in grace? The question is plain and decisive.
Do you never hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do you never see the seasons when you are conscious of the most sensible desires after increasing conformity to God y
Do you never feel the burden of remaining corruption, and ardently desire to be delivered from its power? Do you never find your heart drawn out in fervent supplication for sanctifying grace, as well as pardoning mercy?
Do you now desire to press forward, to renounce every, thing, and to take God for all youi; portion? Do you strive to live nearer to Him, and are you resolved to persevere to the end, in a life of faith in f ] ini who lotted you and gave himself j or you?
If you can ingenuously answer these questions in the affirmative, you are not destitute of evidence, that you have passed from death unto life. But if you know nothing of all this, cast away your vain confidence. No man living in spiritual sloth, and making no new ad* vances, ought to flatter himself that he is inte rested in the blessings of the great salvation. The man who is satisfied, because he thinks he is safe; who feels that he has religion enough because he thinks he has enough to save him from hell; is as ignorant of the power, as he is a stranger to the consolation, of the gospel of Jesuf Christ.