SANCTIFICATION A Sect. 8. I shall close the discourse on this subject with some considerations of that similitude, by which the scripture so frequently represents the gradual im- provement of grace and holiness. And this is the growth of trees and plants, Hos. xiv. 5, 6. " I will be " as the dew unto Israel, he shall grow as the lily, and " cast forth his roots as Lebanon; his branches shall " spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and "his smell as Lebanon." Isa. xliv. 3, 4. " I will pour " water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry " ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and "my blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall " spring up as among the grass, as the willows by the "water -courses." And so in other places very many. And we may know that this similitude is singularly in- structive, or it would not have been so frequently made use of to this purpose. Some few instances tend- ing to administer light in this matter, I shall briefly reflect upon. (1.) These trees and plants have the principle of their growth in themselves. They do not grow immediately from external adventitious aid and furtherance; they grow from their own seminal virtue and radical moisture. It is no otherwise in the progress of sanctification and holiness. It bath a root, a seed, a principle of growth and increase in the soul of him that is sanctified. All grace is immortal seed, and contains in ita livinggrow- ing principle. That which bath not in itself a life and power ofgrowth is not grace. And thereforewhat du- ties soever any men do perform, whereunto they are either guided by natural light, or which they are urged unto by convictions from the word, if they proceed not from a principle of spiritual life in the heart, they are no fruits of holiness, nor do belong thereunto. The water of grace, which is from Christ, is a well of water springing up untoeverlasting life in them on whom it it bestowed, John iv. 14. It is therefore of the na- ture of holiness to thrive and grow, as it is of a tree or plant that have their seminal virtue in themselves after their kind. (2.) A tree or plant must be watered from above, or it will notthrive or grow by virtue of its own seminal power. If a drought cometh, itwill wither or decay. Wherefore, where God mentioneth this growth, he a- scribes it unto his watering. I will be as the dew, and I will pour water, is the especial cause of it. It is so PROGRESSIVE WORK. in this carrying on of holiness. There is a nature re- ceived capable of increase and growth; but if it be left unto itself it will not thrive, it will decay and die. Wherefore God is unto it as the dew, and pours water on it by the actual supplies of the Spirit, as we have shewed before. (3.) The growth of trees and plants is secret and im- perceptible; our is it discerned but in the effects and consequencesof it. The most watchful eye candiscern little of its motion. Crescit Occulto velut arbor æco: It is no otherwise in the progress of holiness. It is not immediately discernible, either by themselves, in whom it is, or by others that make observation of it. It lies only under the eye of him by whom it is wrought: only by the fruits and effects of it is it made manifest. And some indeed, especially in some seasons, do plainly and evidently thrive and grow, springing up like the willows by the water-courses. Though their growth in itself is indiscernible, yet it is plain theyhave grown. Such we ought all to be. The growth of some, I say, is mani- fest on every trial, on every occasion; their profiting is visible to all. And, as some say, that the growth of plants is not by a constant insensible progress, but they increaseby sudden gusts and motions, which may some- times be discerned in the openings of buds and flowers; so the growth of believers consists principally in some intensevigorous wings of grace on great occasions; as of faith, love, humility, self-denial, bounty. And he who hath not some experience of such actings of grace in especial instances, can have little evidence of his growth. Again there are trees and plants that have the principle of lifeand growth in them, but yet are so withering and unthrifty, that you can only discern them to be alive. And so it is with too many believers: they are all trees planted in thegarden of God, some thrive, some decay for a season, but the growth of the best is secret. Sect. 9. From what bath been proved it is evident that the work of sanctification is a progressive work, that holiness is gradually carried on in us by it towards perfection. It is neither wroughtnor completed at once in us as is regeneration; nor doth it cease under any attainments, or in any conditionof life, but is thriving and carried on. A river, continually fed by a living fountain, may as soon end its streams, before it come to the ocean, as a stop be put to the course and progress 233
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