r he ,Saints Infirmities. 6 3 ofCreation inan inftant; but he dealeth with us now according to the courfe of generation ; as a plant is firft Towne, then rifeth by degrees : So we in the beginning ofgrace are exceeding finali; he Heales us as he did the blinde man, not alto- gether,but by little and by little. Firft,we fee more darkly and confufedly, and then more clearely; and he Heales our lameneffe, not altogether by letting us on our feete at the firft, but he gives us ftrégth by degrees: fir(t toga on crouches, as it were, or to creepe, or ftep for- ward,and afterwards to goe more ftrongly; and hence it is, that there are many weak; becaule grace is but weakly wrought in them. Now the reafon why thrift doth thus lead us on by de- grees,is firf} to humble us, and to let us fee that the worke is not of our felves, it is God that workesin us according to his good pleafure,for when we are brought on by degrees thus, it makes it evident untous,that we receive fromanother. Secondly, He doth it for his owne glory,that we might know the righreouf- neffe ofChrift : in the 8 of .9 cut .3. t 7. there is let downe thfe two ends , why the Lord led them through the wildernetle,and not the nearelf way. Firít,Gods end in it was to humble them. Secondly, to let them know;rhat he did it for his owne fake So he doth here to humble them, and for his owne glory ; God Bath nor perfeél grace at the firft,but by degrees,and likewife that they may know his power, that it is his firength in
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