Jesus was one we are to know better vol 2

JESUS WAS ONE WE ARE TO KNOW BETTER VOL 2
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Peter 3:18 New InternationalVersion(NIV)
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
and SaviorJesus Christ. To him be glory both now
and forever!Amen.
Lectures to Young People
William B. Sprague, 1830
GROWTHIN GRACE
"Grow in grace." 2 Peter3:18.
It is an error common with young Christians, that when the first joys of a
renovated state have passedaway, the current of their affections sets back
strongly towards the world. Judging from their appearance, in many
instances, we would saythat they gave little promise of being faithful soldiers
of the cross;that instead of guarding more closelyagainsttheir spiritual
enemies, and girding themselves more thoroughly for conflict, they were
casting from them the armor with which they were actually furnished, and
dismissing the sentinels already stationed at the door of their hearts. They
would seem to be acting upon the conviction that the course of exercises
through which they had passed, constitutedcertain evidence of regeneration;
and that regenerationnot only begins—but completes, their preparation for
heaven.

Our text is adapted, my young friends, to guard you againstthis mistaken
view of the pious life. It clearly implies that regenerationis but the beginning
of true religion in the heart, and of course, leaves the subjectof it but partially
sanctified; that the Christian life is a life of constantimprovement; and that
this improvement is intimately connectedwith our own exertions. It is the
design of this discourse to illustrate the nature, the means, the importance of
GROWTHIN GRACE.
I. The NATURE of growth in grace. Whatis it to grow in grace?
The word grace is used in the New Testamentwith various shades ofmeaning;
but in the text it evidently denotes practicalpiety, or the true religion of the
heart and life. To grow in grace, therefore, is, in general, to make progress in
true religion. More particularly,
1. It is implied in this duty, that you grow, not merely in the means of true
religion—but in true religion itself.
The use of means always supposes that there is an end to be attained; and this
holds true in respectto true religion, as well as anything else. But it would
seemthat this connectionbetweenthe means and the end, is, by many
professedChristians, in a greatmeasure, overlooked;and that, for the actual
attainment of grace, they substitute the means by which it is to be attained. In
the regularity of their attendance on religious services, theyseempractically
to forget the purpose for which these services were designed;so that, instead
of ministering to the growth of true religion, they serve only to cherisha spirit
of self-righteousness. Think not that I would discourage the most diligent use
of means. I would only put you on your guard againstdefeating the purpose
for which they are designed, by an improper use of them. Let them be used,
and used daily; but let it be with reference to the attainment of an end—the
promotion of true religion in the heart and life; and so long as this purpose is
not answered, rememberthat they have not exertedtheir proper influence.
When the effectof them is to increase your love to God and man, to quicken
your faith, to deepen your humility, and to cause you to abound more and
more in every Christian virtue—then and only then, is their legitimate
purpose accomplished.
Growth in grace, then, you perceive, involves not only a diligent use of the
means of grace—butalso the attainment of the end for which these means
were designed. While the end is not, at leastin the ordinary course of
providence, to be attained without the means, the means are of no importance,

exceptfrom their connectionwith the end. He who grows in grace, in the use
of the one, attains the other.
2. The duty which we are contemplating, implies that you grow, not in some
particular parts of true religion only—but in every part.
The Christian character, though made up of a variety of graces andvirtues, is
a well-proportioned and beautiful whole. But as there is a strong disposition to
separate the means and the end in the pious life, there is a similar propensity
often manifested to deform the Christian character, by neglecting to cultivate
some of the traits of which it is composed. Hence we often see professed
Christians, who, in some respects, seemto be closelyconformedto the gospel
standard, who, yet, in others, exhibit so little of the spirit of Christ, as to
occasiondistressing doubts whether they are really his disciples. Now, if you
would comply with the duty enjoined in the text, you must guard againstthis
evil. You need not indeed fear that you shall superabound in any of the virtues
of the gospel;but take heed that there be none in which you are deficient. Let
your standard of piety be as elevatedas it may—but let your Christian
characterrise in just and beautiful proportions.
3. The duty enjoined in the text, moreover, implies that you should grow in
true religion, not at particular times only—but at all times.
There is, I fear, an impression too common among young Christians, that the
pious characteris to be formed chiefly from the influence of greatoccasions.
When, for instance, they are visited by severe affliction, they feel that it is a
time for diligently cultivating true religion; but let the rod of God be
withdrawn, and they too commonly relapse into a state of comparative
indolence. Or let there be a revival of true religion in their immediate
neighborhood—and you will see them coming forth to the work in a spirit of
humility and self-denial: but let carelessnessresume its dominion over the
surrounding multitude, and they too, in many instances, will be seensettled
down to a point of freezing indifference. They doubt not that it is the duty of
Christians to make progress in true religion; but they seemto imagine that, by
extraordinary diligence at one time, they may atone for some degree of
negligence atanother.
Now we do not deny that there are occasions in the Christian's life, and among
them those to which we have referred, which are peculiarly favorable to his
improvement, and for which he ought diligently to watch; but the notion
againstwhich we protestis, that there is any period, in which he may fold his
hands in indolence. While you are to improve, with specialcare, those seasons
which furnish peculiar advantages for the cultivation of piety, remember that

true religion is to be the work of every day; that in seasons ofprosperity as
well as of adversity, in seasons ofcoldness as wellas of revival, in every
condition in which you may be placed, you are bound to grow in grace. If such
be the nature, we will now inquire, secondly,
II. What are the MEANS of growthin grace. Theseare very numerous: we
will specifysome of the more prominent.
1. We notice, first, the PRIVATE duties of true piety, comprehending
meditation, prayer, and reading the scriptures.
I would say, in general, in respectto all these duties, that, before you
approachthem, you should throw down the burden of worldly care and
vexation. The bird which possesses the fleetestwing will never fly, if she is
oppressedwith an insupportable load; neither will the soul ever mount up to
heaven in its contemplations, until it has broken awayfrom earthly
incumbrances. You should address yourself to these duties with great
seriousness;for they bring you into the immediate presence ofGod, on an
errand which deeply involves your immortal interests;and the absence ofa
serious spirit converts the external actinto the most impious mockery.
Moreover, they should all be performed, as I have elsewhere hadoccasionto
remark in respectto one, at statedseasons;and especiallyin the morning and
evening of eachday. But the performance of these duties, at statedseasons,
should not supersede the occasionalperformance of them. As the
circumstances in which you are placed, may furnish opportunity, or suggest
occasion, forprivate pious exercises,you should consider it at once your duty
and your privilege to engage in them.
We will dwell, for a moment, a little more particularly, on these severalduties.
Of pious MEDITATION, consideredas a means of growth in grace, it may be
remarkedthat it is not merely a speculative—butpracticalexercise:the object
of it is, not merely to discovertruth—but when discovered, to turn it to some
practicaladvantage. If, for instance, the mind dwells on the infinite greatness
and majesty of God—the heart kindles with a sentiment of holy admiration. If
the mind contemplates the unparalleled love and mercy of God—the heart
glows with a spirit of devout gratitude. If the mind contemplates the depravity
and ruin of man, and particularly if it turns its eye inward on personalguilt—
the bosomheaves with emotions of godly sorrow. And so in respectto every
other subject to which the thoughts may be directed—the mind contemplates
them not as subjects of abstractspeculation—but of personalinterest.

The subjects proper to exercise the mind in meditation, are almostinfinitely
various. Whatever God has revealedto us—whetherthrough the medium of
his works, his ways, or his word—may form a profitable theme of
contemplation for the Christian. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and
the firmament shows his handy-work." The system of providence also,
exhibits a constantdivine agency, and in the minutest, as wellas in the
greatest, events, presents animpressive view of the characterofGod. And
while the dispensations of providence in generalfurnish suitable subjects of
reflection, this is especiallytrue of those events which more immediately
respectourselves;whether they assume the form of mercies or afflictions.
But the Bible is an inexhaustible treasury of truth: it contains things into
which even angels desire to look; and which will no doubt awakenthe interest,
and employ the curiosity, of angels, forever. Our owncharacterand condition
also, constitute, though not one of the most pleasant, yet to us one of the most
important, subjects of meditation. From these various sources, then, you may
derive materials for pious contemplation; and who will not saythat here is
enough to employ the mind in all the circumstances andperiods of its
existence?
One of the most important forms of the duty of which I am speaking, is self-
examination; or meditating upon ourselves with a view to ascertainour own
characterand condition. You are to examine yourself in respectto your sins—
the sins of your whole life; the sins of particular periods, especiallyof each
passing day; the sins which most easilybesetyou; and all the circumstances of
aggravationby which your sins have been attended. You are to examine
yourself in respectto your spiritual needs; to inquire in which of the Christian
graces youare especiallydeficient; through what avenue the world assails you
most successfully, and, of course, at what point you need to be most strongly
fortified. You are to examine yourself in respectto your evidences ofChristian
character—to inquire whether you have really the spirit of Christian
obedience, and whether that spirit is daily gaining strength.
This inquiry is to be conducted with greatvigilance; otherwise, the heart is so
deceitful, that you will deceive yourself in the very attempt to avoid being
deceived. It must be prosecutedwith unyielding determination; for the work
is in itself so difficult, and withal, the discoveries whichmust result from it so
painful, that, without this spirit, it will inevitably be abandoned. You must
refer your characterto the scriptural standard—to the law, if you would
ascertainthe extent of your departure from duty; to the gospel, if you would
test your claim to the Christian character. And finally, in the spirit of humble
dependence, let all your efforts be accompaniedand crownedby the prayer—

"Searchme, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and
see if there be any wickedwayin me, and leadme in the everlasting way."
The importance of self-examination, and of the more generalduty of
meditation, of which this is a part, as a means of growthin grace, itis not easy
adequately to estimate. Meditation is necessarynot only as a preparation for
prayer—but as entering essentiallyinto the nature of prayer; nay, it is
essentialto every actof faith. Meditation is the exercise by which the soul
digests all the spiritual food which it receives. Moreover, it is of great
importance, as tending to promote spiritual health. How many hours, and
days, and years, of the Christian's life, are lost, and worse than lost--from the
fact that his mind has not been disciplined to a habit of meditation. A
considerable part of your whole time is passedin solitude; many of these
hours, at least, might be redeemedby meditation, for purposes of pious
improvement. You may meditate not in the closetonly--but in the field or the
work-shop, in the lonely walk or the midnight hour. You may meditate in
circumstances in which you can do nothing else;and thus, by this sweetand
silent exercise ofthe soul, you may keepyourself constantly under a
sanctifying influence. "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your
mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do
everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua
1:8. "My eyes stay open through the watches ofthe night, that I may meditate
on your promises." Psalm119:148
In respectto the duty of private PRAYER, much of what might here naturally
be said, has been anticipatedin another discourse. Let me only add, that your
private addressesata throne of grace should be, in a high degree, particular;
and should contemplate even the most minute circumstances ofyour
condition. In socialand public prayer, our petitions are necessarily, in some
degree, ofa generalcharacter;as they embrace needs which eachindividual
has, in common with many others. But every Christian's experience has
something in it peculiar; and not only so—butit is subjectto constant
variation; and it is in the devotions of the closetalone, thatthis variety of
experience canbe distinctly recognized. Endeavor, then, by previous
meditation, to gain an accurate knowledgeofyour necessitiesandsins, on the
one hand; and a deep impression of the mercies which you have received, on
the other; and by thus communing with your own heart, you will be prepared
for close andparticular communion with God.
In reviewing a given period, do you find that you have been betrayed into
levity of conversationor deportment; or that you have remained silent, where
you ought to have dropped a word in behalf of the cause of Christ? Do you

find that your thoughts have been wandering on forbidden objects;or that
you have yielded to the influence of some evil passion—have indulged in
discontent, envy, pride, or revenge;or that, from the lack of vigilance, you
have been overcome by some sudden temptation? Let all this be a matter of
distinct and solemnconfessionin your closet.
Or have you receivedsome signal manifestationof God's kindness in
preserving you from temptation, or strengthening you for arduous duties, or
imparting new vigor to your pious affections, and thus brightening your hope
of heaven? Let these, and all other private blessings, be a subject of devout
thanksgiving in your closet.
Or do you find that you have easilybesetting sins; or that duties awaityou,
which must involve greatself-denial; or that temptations are about to throng
upon you, which mere human resolutioncan never successfullyoppose? In the
closetyou are to seek forgrace accommodatedto these and all other
exigencies ofyour spiritual condition. In short, here you are to unburden your
whole soul with the confidence of a child. You have sins, and sorrows, and
needs, which it might be neither desirable nor proper that you should bring
before the world. But there is not a sin of which you are guilty, which you are
not encouragedhere to confess:not a sorrow can agitate your bosom—but
you may venture here to tell it to a compassionate God:not a need can you
feel—but you may here ask with confidence to have it supplied.
Let the exercise ofprivate prayer be conducted in the manner which has now
been described, and it cannot fail to exert a powerful influence in making you
holy. But in proportion as it becomes general—overlooking the more minute
circumstances ofyour condition, it will degenerate into formality, and thus
defeatthe greatend which it is designed to accomplish.
Closelyconnectedwith private prayer, as a means of growth in grace, is
reading the SCRIPTURES."Sanctifythem through your truth," is part of the
memorable prayer which our Lord offeredin behalf of his disciples, a little
before he left the world; and the sentiment which it contains, has been verified
in the experience of every Christian from that hour down to the present. Not
only is the word of God the incorruptible seedof the renewednature—but it is
that from which the spiritual principle derives its nourishment; and
accordinglywe find that those who have attained the most commanding
stature in piety, are those who have drawn most largely from this storehouse
of spiritual bounty. But in order that you may realize the benefit which this
exercise is adapted to secure, you must read the word of God with devout and
earnestattention; for like the food which nourishes the body, it must be
digestedin order to its being a means of nourishment to the soul. You must

read it as the word of God; with the most reverent regard for its author; with
a firm persuasionthat it contains the words of eternal life; and with a
consciencelying open to the authority of Him who speaks in it.
You must read it as being addressedparticularly to yourself. You must apply
what you read for your personalinstruction or admonition, as truly as if it
had been spokenimmediately to you by a voice from Heaven. You must read
it with a spirit of dependence on God, as the author of all holy illumination;
often sending up the prayer—"Openmy eyes, that I may behold wondrous
things out of your law." Readthe Bible in this way, my young friends, and
while new glories will constantly be unfolding to your delighted vision, as the
stars thicken upon the eye at evening; the principle of spiritual life will be
continually growing more vigorous, and the evidence of your title to heaven
more unquestionable.
In connectionwith reading the scriptures, I may mention reading OTHER
BOOKS also, of a serious and practicalnature. There are books whichare
designedimmediately to illustrate the meaning, and to exhibit the harmony, of
the scriptures. There are other books whose more immediate objectis to
present a detailed view of the doctrines of the Bible; to show their connection
with eachother, and their practicalbearings both upon God and man. And
there are other books still, which are especiallyfitted to awakenand cherish a
spirit of devotion; to withdraw the soul from the influence of external objects,
and bring it to commune with spiritual and invisible realities. Booksofeither
of the kinds to which I have now referred, you may read with much
advantage;though you are always to recollectthat, as the productions of
uninspired men, they are to be tried by the law and the testimony. They are
the lesserlights in true religion, which borrow all their luster from the sun.
It deserves here to be remarked, that the different private exercises ofwhich I
have spoken, are intimately connected, and are fitted to exert a mutually
favorable influence on eachother. Meditation, while it composesthe mind to a
devotional frame, and brings before it subjects for prayer, applies the truths
of God's word as means of sanctification. Prayernot only leaves the soul in a
state most favorable to meditation—but spreads over the sacredpage an
illuminating and heavenly influence. Reading the scriptures at once furnishes
materials for meditation, and kindles the spirit, while it supplies the language,
of prayer. Let these severalduties, then, be joined together, so far as possible,
in your daily practice; and while eachwill contribute to render the others
more interesting and profitable, they will togetherexert a powerful influence
in your Christian improvement.

2. Another important means of growth in grace, is Christian FELLOWSHIP.
The utility of socialfellowshiphas been felt in every department of knowledge
and action. He who desires to make distinguished attainments in anything, can
scarcelyfail highly to estimate the societyof kindred minds engagedin a
similar pursuit; and accordingly we find that some of the most brilliant
discoveries in science, have resultedfrom the fellowship which greatminds
have had with eachother. And as it is with other things, so it is with true
religion—hardly anything canserve more effectuallyto invigorate our pious
affections, orto heighten the interest with which we regard the objects of
faith, than a close and fraternal fellowshipwith Christian friends; whereas,
the neglectofsuch fellowship is at once a cause, and a symptom, of spiritual
declension.
That your fellowship with Christian friends may be profitable, let it be
frequent. Every considerationwhich should induce you to cultivate this
fellowship at all, should induce you to engage in it frequently: and besides, if
true religion is made the topic of conversationonly at distant intervals, the
almost certainconsequence willbe that such conversationwill never awaken
much interest, or be prosecutedwith much advantage;whereas, by being
frequently introduced, it can hardly fail, through the influence of habit, on the
one hand, and an increaseddegree ofpious feeling, on the other—to become a
most pleasantand edifying exercise.
Let a few Christian friends appropriate an hour of eachweek to the
interchange of pious sentiments and feelings, to compare with eachother their
spiritual progress, and to strengthen eachother for their spiritual conflicts,
and let this exercise be continued regularly and perseveringly, and you may
expectthat its influence will be felt in a rapid and vigorous growth of piety.
The place of such a meeting will sooncome to be regardedas a bethel; and the
hour consecratedto it, will be hailed with devout joy and gratitude.
But these are by no means the only seasonsin which you should avail
yourselves of this privilege. In the common and daily walks of life, there are
occasions constantlyoccurring, on which you may take sweetcounselwith
your fellow-Christians. Why may not the friendly call, and the social
interview, instead of being perverted to purposes of idle or vain talk, be made
subservient to spiritual improvement? Is it not far more grateful to review an
hour passedwith a friend in conversing on topics connectedwith Christian
experience, or with the kingdom of Christ, than one which you have frittered
awayin mere trifling talk, without having uttered a word worthy of your
Christian characteror Christian hopes?

Moreover, this fellowshipshould be more or less unreserved, according to
circumstances. Iwould not, by any means, recommend an indiscriminate
disclosure of your pious exercises:this would not only appear to be—but there
is reasonto fear that it would actually be, the operationof spiritual pride;
than which, nothing can be more offensive either to God or man.
As a generaldirection, I would saythat, while you may profitably hold pious
fellowship with all Christians, that of a more close andconfidential kind
should ordinarily be confined to intimate friends—those who will at once
value and reciprocate your Christian confidence. You are, by no means, of
course, to decline pious conversationwith a Christian friend, because there
may be those present, who are not interestedin it; but you are so far to regard
their presence, as to endeavor to give the conversationthat direction which
shall be most likely to minister to their profit, as well as your own.
And finally, I would saythat all your pious fellowshipought, so far as
possible, to be accompaniedor followedby prayer. This will serve at once to
strengthen the tie that binds your hearts together, to give additional interestto
your fellowship, and to draw down upon it the blessing of God. Is it not the
melancholy fact that this most delightful duty is often neglected, in the
circumstances ofwhich I speak, because itis considereda matter of delicacy?
God forbid, my young friends, that you should ever, for a moment, yield to
such a sentiment! Surely that is not only false—butcriminal delicacy, which,
by forbidding you to kneeldown with a companionin the Christian life at the
throne of mercy, would intercept some of the richest blessings of God's grace!
3. I notice as another of the means of growthin grace, public worship. On this
subject, it must be acknowledgedthat there prevails, extensively, a lamentable
deficiency in Christian practice. It is no part of your errand here to engage in
worldly civilities; or hear worldly news; or count the number of strangers,
and prepare to comment upon their appearance. Your business here lies
betweenGod and your own souls;and it will never advance, while your
attention is absorbed by external objects. Guard then againstthe idle gaze,
and the wandering imagination; make the prayers and the praises which are
here offered, your own; let every truth which is here delivered, be applied for
your instruction, admonition, or consolation;and feel best satisfiedwhen, on
retiring from the sanctuary, your thoughts have been leastupon your fellow-
mortals, and most upon God. And let not the goodimpressions which you may
have received, be effacedby worldly conversationat the close ofthe service, or
on the way to your dwelling. Decline all conversationwhich will be likely to
exert such an influence, even though it should be solicited;for it is far saferto
offend man than God. And avail yourself of the first opportunity to enter your

closet, to supplicate the blessing of Godto follow the service in which you have
been engaged, and to bring home the truths which you have heard more
impressively to your ownsoul. "Theywho wait upon the Lord" in this
manner, "shallrenew their strength;" and shall have just occasionto say, "A
day in your courts is better than a thousand."
In connectionwith this article, let me direct your attention for a moment, a
little more particularly, to your duty in relation to socialpious exercises
during the week. So chilling is the atmosphere of the world to pious feeling,
that the Christian greatlyneeds the aid which these weeklyservices are fitted
to impart, to keepalive the spirit of devotion. They who fearthe Lord will
desire not only to speak often one to another—but to unite their hearts in
prayer, and to open them to the reception of the truth. While, therefore, you
regard such exercisesas matter only of Christian prudence, you should
considerthem important helps in the pious life; and if, at any time, you grow
wearyof attending them, it will be well to inquire whether there is not a
proportional decline in respectto other Christian duties.
No doubt services ofthis kind may be multiplied to an improper extent, so as
to interfere with duties of paramount claims; and no doubt they may be
rendered unprofitable, and even injurious, by being improperly conducted. At
the same time, I am constrainedto believe that objections to these services
have arisenmore frequently from lack of true religion, than anything else;
and that the spirit which treats them with contempt, would, if it were armed
with power, bring every institution of God into the dust.
4. The last means of growth in grace whichI shall here notice, is attendance
on the Lord's supper. That you may receive the benefit which this ordinance
is fitted to impart, endeavorto gain a deep impression of its nature and
design. It is a commemorating ordinance; in which we are to remember "the
grace ofthe Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich—for our sakes
became poor." It is a confessing ordinance;by which we profess ourselves to
be the disciples of Christ, and openly renounce the world as our portion. It is a
communicating ordinance, in which the blessings ofGod's grace are
communicated for the renovation of our spiritual strength. It is a covenanting
ordinance; in which God declares himself our God, and we devote ourselves
anew to his service. The more you reflecton the nature and designof this
institution, the more you will discover in it of wisdom and grace;the more you
will derive from it of light, and strength, and comfort.
Endeavor, moreover, to be faithful in your immediate preparation for this
ordinance. This preparation consists generallyin all the private pious
exercises ofwhich I have spoken;but more especiallyin self-examination.

"Let a man examine himself," says the apostle;"and so let him eatof that
bread, and drink of that cup." The public service which has been instituted in
our churches as preparatory to this ordinance, you are also devoutly and
punctually to attend; and let me say that, if you are voluntarily and habitually
absent from that service, you not only wrong your ownsoul—but carry upon
you the mark of a backslider. Cases mayindeed occurin which the Lord's
table may be spread before you unexpectedly, and in which you have no
opportunity for immediate preparation; and then it is no doubt your duty to
partake, and you may hope for the blessing of God. But where preparation is
voluntarily neglected, you may expectthat the ordinance will be to you a mere
dead letter; and it will be well, if you do not eatand drink judgment to
yourself.
In your attendance on the ordinance, be carefulthat you cherish the feelings,
which the occasionis adapted and designedto awaken. You should yield
yourself to devout admiration of that grace, andwisdom, and glory, which
shine forth in the plan of redemption, and which seemconcentratedaround
the Redeemer's cross. Youare to behold with fervent gratitude the amazing
sacrifice whichconstituted the price of all your joys and hopes—the price of
your immortal crown. You are to look inward with deep humility upon your
own sins, as part of the guilty cause ofyour Redeemer's sufferings. You are to
look upward with holy joy to a reigning Savior, and to a bright inheritance.
You are to renew your resolutions of devotedness to Christ, and to determine
in the strength of his grace, ona course of more unyielding self-denial. You
are to cherish the spirit of brotherly love towards your fellow-Christians, and
a spirit of good will towards the whole family of man; and you are to let your
benevolent affections go out in fervent prayer for the revival of God's work.
Thus you are to wait upon the Lord at his table; but that you may not, after
all, defeatthe design of your attendance, carrythe spirit of the ordinance back
with you to your closet, and there let it be fanned into a still brighter flame.
Carry it with you into the world, into scenes ofcare and temptation, and let it
certify to all with whom you associate,that you have been with Jesus.
I proceedto the third and lastdivision of the discourse, in which I am briefly
to illustrate,
III. The IMPORTANCE ofgrowthin grace.
1. Growth in grace is important—as constituting the only satisfactory
EVIDENCE ofpiety.

I well know that there is a tendency in the backsliderand self-deceiverto be
perpetually looking to past experience. When they are rebuked, as they cannot
fail sometimes to be, by the consciousnessofbeing far from God and from
duty, they callto mind the days in which they were cheered, as they suppose,
by the manifestations of the Savior's love; and by connecting experience,
which is at best equivocalin its character, andlong since gone by—with a sad
perversion of the doctrine of the saints' perseverance—theyarrive at the
welcome conclusionthat, though fallen from their first love, they have yet the
love of God in their hearts. Beware, my young friends, of this delusion!
The Christian characteris, in its very nature, progressive. If then you make
no sensible progress in piety—much more if you are on the decline, and have
allowedyour affections to become weddedto the world, you have no right,
from your past experience, to take the comfort of believing that this is only the
occasionallapse ofa child of God, from which his grace is pledged to bring
you back. You have reasonrather to conclude that you have been resting
upon the hypocrite's hope, and that you are yet in your sins. But if, on the
other hand, the principle of true religion in your heart is constantly gaining
strength, then you have evidence on which you may confidently rely, that you
have been born of God.
The grain of mustard seed, when castinto the earth, is so small as almost to
elude observation;but when it shoots up into a tree, and gradually lifts its
boughs towards heaven, no one doubts the reality of its existence. In like
manner, the principle of true religion, when first implanted in the heart, is so
feeble, that even its existence may be a matter of question; but as it gathers
strength, and advances towards maturity, the evidence of its reality becomes
decisive.
2. Growth in grace is important, as constituting the only solid ground of
COMFORT.We have alreadyseenthat it constitutes the only satisfactory
evidence of piety. But without evidence of piety, you have no right to indulge
the hope of heaven: and without that hope, where in the universe will you look
for comfort? If you do not grow in grace, you must either be sunk in spiritual
lethargy, or else you must be occasionallyatleastharrowed with fearful
apprehensions in respectto the future; and who will saythat either situation
has anything in it that deserves the name of enjoyment. If, on the other hand,
you grow in grace, you have, with the evidence of piety which is thus gained, a
right to hope that you are an heir to the glories ofthe upper world. Is there
anything in this hope that is transporting? As you value its consolations, grow
in grace.

Moreover, the growing Christian finds comfort not only in the hope of
heaven—but in the daily exercise ofthe Christian graces;but if you do not
grow in grace, you have not more to expectfrom this latter source of comfort
than from the former. In the exercise oflove to God, and faith in the Savior,
and many other Christian graces—yes, evenin the successfulstruggles ofthe
soul with sin, there is sometimes a joy which mounts up to ecstacy. Butto all
this, the sluggishand backsliddenChristian (for such, at best, must he be who
is not growing in grace,)is, of course, a stranger. He cannothave the comfort
of the Christian graces, because he has not the exercise of them. Grow in
grace, then, as you would avoid the languor and apathy of spiritual
declension, on the one hand, and as you would rejoice in the inward
experience of God's love, on the other.
3. Growth in grace is important, as constituting the only pledge of pious
ACTION. I am wellaware that many actions externally good, and fitted to
exert a benign influence on the world, are performed by men whose hearts
have never been touched by a sanctifying influence: there are broad and deep
streams of public charity, flowing from fountains into which the salt of divine
grace has never been cast. Thanks to that Providence which has ordained that
it should be so; which causes badmen sometimes to do good—giving the
contribution their hands, even while they withhold their hearts. But who does
not perceive that in all cases ofthis kind, there is not—cannotbe, a pledge for
continued exertion in the cause of Christ? As there is no love to that cause,
whence shall come that constraining influence, which shall nerve the hands
for unrelaxed and persevering effort? Who canfeel any assurancethat the
person who serves Godtoday, by his property or his influence, from merely
selfishmotives, will not tomorrow, upon a change of circumstances,become a
persecutorof the faith which he now labors to promote?
Far otherwise is it with the person, who lives in the growing exercise ofgrace.
With him, to do goodis a matter of principle; and in every variety of
circumstances, itis the business of his life. Do you fear that he will grow weary
of well-doing? Never, so long as he continues to grow in grace—forit is only
the outward operationof the inward principle. Place him in circumstances the
most unfavorable to benevolent action; let him, for his master's sake, be shut
out from the light of heaven, and chained in dreary solitude, where he can
have no accessto a human being—and is his benevolent influence no longer
exerted? I tell you, No! That man is doing goodeven in his dungeon: he has in
his bosoma principle whose operations no tyrant can check, and no dungeon
confine! Though his communication with the visible world is cut off, he has
communion with the invisible God; and the influence of his prayers may not

only change his dark abode into a habitation for the MostHigh—but may
carry the blessings ofGod's grace to many souls! Cultivate, then, this holy
principle, that yours may be a life not only of sincere—butof persevering
benevolence;and that it may hereafterbe saidof you, as of your Master—that
you went about doing good.
4. Growth in grace is important, as constituting the only adequate
PREPARATION FOR HEAVEN. You hope you have been renewedin the
temper of your mind: but even if you are not deceivedin this hope, you cannot
be insensible that there is much of corruption still lodged in your heart; and
that a mighty change is yet to take place in your character, before you are
prepared to inhabit the regions of perfect purity. You still sometimes feel the
risings of a spirit of rebellion; sometimes you are brought under the powerof
evil affections;and not unfrequently, when your soul would rise to heaven in
pious contemplation, it is weigheddown to the dust by the most oppressive
sluggishness.But this spirit of rebellion, and these evil affections, and this
oppressive sluggishness, youcan never carry with you to heaven: hence the
necessityofgrowing in grace, thatyou may be prepared for heaven. But do
you saythat eternal life is promised to all who have been renewed; and that,
die when they will, God will see to it that they are completely sanctified? Be it
so—but let it not be forgotten that, in the ordinary course of his providence,
He accomplishes this objectby bringing them to work out their own salvation
with fear and trembling. And besides, though there is a pledge that all the
regenerate shallbe receivedto heaven, yet the measure of their joy in that
happy world is to be proportioned to their present attainments. Would you
then, Christian, be ready for your entrance into rest; would you aspire to a
place in heaven near your Redeemer, where the beams of his glory shall
illuminate your soulwith brightest effulgence—then, grow in grace—press
forward to the mark of the prize of the high calling of Godin Christ Jesus.
Let me, in the conclusionof this discourse, my young friends, impress upon
you, in one word, the importance of aiming at high attainments in true
religion. Whether you are to be a sluggishor an active Christian; whether you
are to cheerthe regionaround you by the light of a holy example, or to be a
stumbling block in the path of sinners—depends much on the resolutions
which you now form, and the course which you now adopt. Oh resolve—and
supplicate God's grace to enable you to execute the resolution—that you will
exemplify the characterof a constantlygrowing Christian. Make all your
worldly employments subordinate, and, so far as possible, subservientto your
progress in piety. Think yourself more happy when you have gained the
victory over a besetting sin, than if you should see an empire at your feet. Let

nothing allure you—let nothing drive you—from the straight and narrow
path of duty. If the world should come and court you with its smiles, turn your
back upon it, or meet it only as a tempter. If it should castits chilling frown
upon you, and call your zeal wild enthusiasm, and your devotion hypocrisy,
remember that it is enoughfor the disciple that he be as his master. Be it your
grand object to become a spiritually mature person in Christ Jesus. Keepyour
eye steadilyfixed on heaven, as the eagle's eye fastens upon the sun—and let
your spirit constantly press upward, as the eagle's wing lifts itself towards the
orb of day!
GreatTexts of the Bible
Growth
But grow in the grace and knowledge ofour Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.—
2 Peter3:18.
1. Throughout the New TestamentChristian characteris regardedas a
growth. Sometimes the growthis architectural—the growthof the building;
sometimes it is physiological, Christbeing the head, and we growing up into
Him in all things; sometimes it is generic growth, as in the case ofthe vine
which brings forth more and more fruit under pruning and culture. The idea
of a developing life runs through the whole New Testament, and has every
variety of exemplification.
The capacityof growth is that which, more than anything else, distinguishes
one mind from another.1 [Note:John Ker, Thoughts for Heart and Life, 27.]
2. Here we are told to grow in the grace and knowledge ofour Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Now the text does not mean, grow into the grace, orinto
the knowledge.It means, being in grace—grow;being in knowledge ofour
Lord Jesus Christ—grow. Thatis clearwhen we read 2 Peter3:17 as well as 2
Peter3:18. “Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware
lest, being carriedawaywith the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own
stedfastness. Butgrow in the grace and knowledge ofour Lord and Saviour

Jesus Christ.” “Bewarelestye fall,” that is the negative command. The
positive command is, “Knowing these things … grow in the grace and
knowledge.”You are in the grace, in the knowledge!Grow!
The figure is that of infancy advancing to the full stature of manhood. The
gods of the ancients were born full-grown. Minerva is saidto have sprung all
armed and panoplied from the foreheadof Jove. But Christians begin as
babes in Christ and advance through certain conditions of normal growth to
the “measure ofthe stature of the fulness of Christ.”
You hold in your hand a “corn of wheat,” and you know there are in that seed
untold possibilities. It is planted, it germinates, rises from the tomb of
darkness to the light of day, and steadily advances to goldenfruitfulness.
There is first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. By culture
you draw out the mysterious forces ofthe seed, callto higher energy its
potencies of life, and so bring the seedto fuller manifestation of its latent and
dormant powers. So the soulis a seedof undeveloped possibilities. There are
in it high powers and faculties, mysterious and immeasurable energies oflife,
that may be developed, but may remain in the germ, may lie unawakened, or
may be irregularly or only imperfectly developed. In the soul there are
wonderful possibilities of aspiration and humility, of courage and faith, of
wisdom and prayerfulness, of holiness and service;and the education of the
soul means the calling forth by judicious culture of all these various powers
and qualities to their harmonious and effective operation and co-operation. In
this way the soul comes to itself, to blessedself-realization.
I
The Kind of Growth Commended
“Grow in the grace and knowledge ofour Lord and Saviour” These are the
qualities in which we are to grow. They are the starting-point and goalof the
Christian life. They are exhibited in their fulness in Jesus Christ, and if we are
vitally united to Him we shall grow into His likeness.

1. What is grace? The rootof the Greek word is a verb which means to
rejoice, or be glad. Grace is that which makes the heart glad with pure
gladness;the grace ofGod, the grace ofJesus, is the graciousness, the
gentleness, the harmony of life in God and in His Son. You speak to a graceful
person—youcannot define the grace that is in him; but it is something which
gives more than satisfaction, it gives pleasure;you recognize a spiritual thing
even when you see it in the human form, yet more when you see it in the
gracious acts ofone man or one woman towards another. There is harmony
betweenthe being of the one and the being of the other—the recognitionby
the one of the same nature and the same needs in the other; and the same
readiness to be met, to be pleased, or to be hurt; to be sorrowfulor glad; the
submission of the one nature to the demands of the other nature—that is
grace, that is graciousness.
We have, first, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the undeserved love and
favour which God in Jesus Christ bears to us sinful and inferior creatures;
and, next, we have the consequence ofthat love and favour in the manifold
spiritual endowments which in us become “graces,”beauties and excellences
of Christian character. So, then, one who is a Christian ought to be
continually realizing a deeper and more blessedconsciousnessofChrist’s love
and favour and manifesting it in his life.
Thus the word “grace”sums up the manifold Divine gifts, gifts of the grace of
God—the gift of holiness, the gift of love to God and love to man, the gift of
spiritual energy. All the blossoming aspirations, all the budding spiritual
hopes, all the ripening fruits of holy endeavour are due to the Divine life
within, are through the grace of God in Christ. As the sun shines forth in his
radiant strength, thaws the frozen earth, and causesthe seedto spring up, the
leaves and fruit to appear, so when the sun of God’s grace shines upon the
soul, then in the soul will increasinglyappear those graces thatare an image,
howeverfaint, of the Divine grace;and holiness and righteousness andlove
will “grow from more to more,” manifesting themselves in purer beauty,
richer fruitfulness, and nobler power.
By grace Jansensimply meant the birth of a religious sense. This may be
strong, or it may be weak;but even its humblest forms are enough to
distinguish him who has it from those who have it not—to draw all his actions
into a new perspective, and put a different colouring on all his thoughts. In

other words, it involves a radical change of character;and, as such a change is
beyond man’s power to effect, grace must descendupon him like a
whirlwind—as once it descendedon Jansen’s two spiritual heroes, St.
Augustine and St. Paul—and draw his will “irresistibly, unfailingly,
victoriously,” out of darkness into light.1 [Note:Viscount St. Cyres, Pascal,
84.]
The Rev. Adam Lind, minister of the United PresbyterianChurch, Elgin,
writes: “Forsome time after coming to Elgin, Brownlow North lived in great
retirement, deeply engrossedwith his Bible, and abounding in private prayer.
I saw him occasionally, and had ample opportunities of observing the
workings of his mind; and the mark of true grace which struck me first in his
case was the spirit of profound humility, penitence, and adoring gratitude. He
seemedlike one unable to get out of the regionof wonder and amazement at
the sovereignkindness ofthat benignant Being who had borne with him so
long in his sin, and such sin, and so much sin; and not only borne with him,
but shielded him, and held him back from self-ruin, at length arresting him in
his careeroffolly and wickedness, andbringing him to Himself, a pardoned
penitent, a returned prodigal.”1 [Note:K. Moody-Stuart, Brownlow North,
38.]
The grace ofGod in the heart of man very soonbetrays its presence. It is the
imparting to the soul of the mind of Christ, which desires the welfare of our
brother as well as the glory of our God. In its own nature it is expansive and
communicative. It is like light, whose property it is to shine; like salt, whose
nature it is to communicate to foreignsubstances its saltness;like seed, which
ever seeksto reproduce itself; like water, which, descending from above into
an earthly heart, becomes therein a well of waterspringing up to everlasting
life. These are not accidents;they are essentialproperties of grace wherever
found. The soul that was dead, when made alive is made a new centre, source,
and spring of life amid a world of death. Christians are this world’s light amid
its night, and this world’s saltamid its putrefaction, and this world’s springs
of living waterin its wastes ofbarrenness, and the seedwhich yet shall fill the
world’s face with its fruit. Life loves to work, and where there is no work
there is no life, or only weak and dying life.2 [Note:Ibid. 49.]

2. What does the knowledge ofChrist mean? The knowledge ofChrist means
such a sympathetic entering into the springs and motive forces ofHis life as
shall, by its gradual increase, leadus into the perfectionof spiritual life.
To know more of Jesus is to know more of God and more of life in its relations
to Him. Many religions that have not Christ in them have given their
followers a caricature of God. The life of Jesus is a reflectionof God. And it is
by knowing more of Him that we learn what things God approves—what
spirit on our part, and what actions. We cannotmake right advancement
towards the ideal life, unless we gain more and more knowledge ofHim whose
characteris ideal, and whose gospelis constructive in the highest sense.
To know Christ is thus to know God truly; it is to recognize His hand in all the
dispensations of Providence, to know Him in His works, to read His
handwriting in the fabric of the earth and the heavens, to feelHis love in His
dealings with us, to imprint His love upon our hearts by translating it into love
for man also;and then in the spirit of this double love to examine ourselves,
and learn to understand the intricacies of our own heart; to discover, and
without weariness to combat, its selfishness and lurking pride; day by day,
and hour after hour, to labour without ceasing for the expulsion of its
envyings, jealousies,and sensuallusts; to get the mastery over the tongue, the
eyes, the ears; to subdue sloth, peevishness, andanger; in forgetfulness of self,
to serve our neighbour with realinterest and ardour; and finally to order all
our domestic concerns and cares with painstaking devotion to God’s holy will.
I stand with a greatartist before a famous picture. I make bold, in my
ignorance of art, to confess that I cansee nothing extraordinary in it at all.
“What,” exclaims my companion, somewhatindignantly but with great
enthusiasm, “don’t you observe the splendid manipulation,” and he launches
forth into a glowing analysis of the picture before us. While he is explaining I
can discernmore clearlythan I did before what made the picture famous in
the eyes of others, but yet at the close I have to exclaim, “Well, my friend, I
have no doubt I would speak as you have done if I had your eyes, but I confess
I don’t see what makes you so enthusiastic. I should much like, however, to
possessyour knowledge andenthusiasm, and shall be glad if you will only
show me how.” “There is only one way of possessing the knowledge,”replies
my companion; “you must begin to learn the first elements of drawing and
colouring, and as you make progress in the acquisition of the art of painting

you will know.” Without striving to grow in the graces ofthe painter’s pencil,
you will never understand the feelings of the painter himself.1 [Note: W.
Skinner.]
II
The Naturalness ofGrowth
1. Growth is dependent upon life and health. Grant these conditions, and it
follows naturally and without effort. If these be absent there can be no
growth.
(1) It is dependent on life.—We may sometimes use the word somewhat
carelesslyin relation to matters which are devoid of life, but, strictly speaking,
it always indicates the presence of life. Boys at their play in winter-time will
take a small snowball, and, rolling it in the snow, will watch it becoming
largerand larger, until one boy says, See how it grows!No, it is not growing.
That is not growth. That is enlargement by accretionfrom without. Growth is
enlargementby development from within. The principle of life is necessaryto
growth. When the Apostle charges us in his Epistle to “grow in grace” he
presupposes the presence oflife, and it is of the utmost importance that we
emphasize that fact. There can be no growthin Christian charactersave
where the Christ-life exists. The man who is born anew can grow in grace.
The man who has not receivedthe gift of life cannot grow. Growthin grace is
not the result of the imitation of Christ in the power of the human will. It is
the result of the propelling force of the Christ-life in the soul.
(2) If growthis dependent on life it is equally dependent upon health.—
Wherever there is arrestof development in the Christian life it is due to the
fact that the life principle of Jesus Christ is not active and dominant. Some
part of the life—the intellect, the emotion, the will, the chamber of the
imagination, the palace of the affection, or the seatof thought—is not wholly
handed over to the indwelling Christ, is not answering the call of His life, is
not responding to its claims. The tides of that life are excluded from some part
of the being, and the result is spiritual disease.The spiritual faculties become
atrophied. They cannot work. Then follows arrestof development. But
granted the full rushing tide of the Christ-life in all the departments of the

believer’s life, granted the presence and dominance of that life in all the
complex mystery of his being, then he is in health, and his growth is steady
and sure.
I saw an uncommon instance both of the justice and mercy of God. Abraham
Jones, a serious, thinking man, about fifty years of age, was one of the first
members of the societyin London, and an early witness of the power of God
to forgive sins. He then stoodas a pillar for severalyears, and was a blessing
to all that were round about him, till growing wise in his own eyes, he saw this
and the other personwrong, and was almostcontinually offended. He then
grew colder and colder, till, at length, in order to renew his friendship with
the world, he went (which he had refused to do for many years)to a parish
feast, and stayed there till midnight. Returning home perfectly sober, just by
his owndoor he fell down and broke his leg. When the surgeoncame he found
the bone so shatteredin pieces that it could not be set. Then it was, when he
perceivedhe could not live, that the terrors of the Lord againcame about him.
I found him in great darkness ofsoul, owning the just hand of God. We
prayed for him, in full confidence that God would return. And He did in part
revealHimself again; he had many gleams of hope and love, till, in two or
three days, his soul was required of him.
So awful a providence was immediately knownto all the society, and
contributed not a little to the awakening them that slept, and stirring up those
that were faint in their mind.1 [Note: The Journal of John Wesley(Standard
Edition), iii. 449.]
2. Growth is spontaneous;it does not come by anxiety or effort. A doctorhas
no prescription for growth. He can tell you how growth may be stunted or
impaired, but the process itselfis recognizedas beyond control—one of the
few, and therefore very significant, things which Nature keeps in her own
hands. No physician of souls, in like manner, has any prescription for spiritual
growth. It is the question he is most often askedand most often answers
wrongly. He may prescribe more earnestness, more prayer, more self-denial,
or more Christian work. These are prescriptions for something, but not for
growth. Not that they may not encourage growth;but the soul grows as the
lily grows, without trying, without fretting, without ever thinking.

I remember, ten years ago, when I first set my face to the other side of the sea,
my boy, six years of age, saidto me as he bade me good-bye, “How long shall
you be away?” I told him two months. He said, “I am going to try hard to
grow as big as you are before you come back.” I am not sure that he tried. I
suspecthe forgot, as children do so blessedlyforget their follies. But if he did
try, he did not succeed. No child grows by effort. No man “by being anxious
can add one cubit to his stature.” Growth in Christian stature is never the
result of effort. Granted life and holiness, then there will be growthand
development.2 [Note: G. Campbell Morgan, The Simple Things of the
Christian Life, 58.]
Much work is done on board a ship crossing the Atlantic. Yet none of it is
spent on making the ship go. The sailorbut harnesseshis vesselto the wind.
He puts his sail and rudder in position, and lo, the miracle is wrought. So
everywhere God creates, man utilizes. All the work of the world is merely a
taking advantage ofenergies alreadythere. God gives the wind, and the water,
and the heat; man but puts himself in the wayof the wind, fixes his water-
wheelin the way of the river, puts his piston in the way of the steam;and so
holding himself in position before God’s Spirit, all the energies of
Omnipotence course within his soul. He is like a tree planted by a river whose
leaf is greenand whose fruits fail not.1 [Note:H. Drummond, Natural Law in
the Spiritual World, 140.]
3. And yet this growth is commanded. The will is involved. And the factthat it
is a command teaches us that we are not to take this one metaphor as if it
exhausted the whole of the facts of the case in reference to Christian progress.
You would never think of telling a child to grow any more than you would
think of telling a plant to grow, but Peterdoes tell Christian men and women
to grow. Why? Because theyare not plants, but men with wills which can
resist, and caneither further or hinder their progress.
Lo! in the middle of the wood,
The folded leaf is wooedfrom out the bud,
and there

Grows greenand broad, and takes no care.
But that is not how we grow. The desire of the soul to be like Christ, the
constantlonging to imitate Him, the imagination ever picturing Him, the
emotions ever clinging to Him, the will ever gladly obedient to Him—all this if
cherishedmust naturally and inevitably lead to Christian growth. We can
resolve to wish and long for an objectuntil it becomes in us the supreme,
uncontrollable desire, a mighty and commanding passion, a passionwhich,
like Aaron’s rod, shall swallow up all competitors;and when Christ is that
object—a living, present Christ—then we easilyand gladly declare:“I do not
live, Christ lives in me”; “I count all things but loss that I may know Him and
be like Him.” Any man can form the wish and cherish the desire, for the Holy
Fire ever waits to kindle eachliving soul. And we caneither try to make the
spark burn, or we can put it out, or let it die.
Two children resolvedto share the night betweenthem in watching by a
mother’s sick-bed. The command to eachof them was most imperative:
whateverelse they did they were not to let the fire go out, and not to make the
room too heated; life depended on their watchful obedience;ample fuel was
close by for each. The first, a thoughtful, loving nature, watchedand fed that
fire with unsleeping vigilance. The secondmade the fire up once, and with
morning light slept, neglectedit, and let it go out, with a fatal issue. Your
heart is the hearth, prepared to receive the Holy Fire; the fuel is abundant;
the command is imperative that you feedlife’s spiritual flame and force.
Neglect, wantof interest, or unsuitable fuel are the secretof life’s spiritual
coldness, poverty, and death.1 [Note: R. H. Lovell, First Types of the
4. Growth is of course a gradual process. The greatchange from sin to
righteousness is not the work of a day, but the slow and patient process ofa
lifetime. There may seemto be no progress as measuredby the eye;but the
soul comes to its maturity as the babe becomes a man—fed and furthered by
the experience ofthe moment, and helped by the grace of Godto grow.
What does moral perfectionbegin in? It begins in the disposition, in the will,
in the heart. If you are urged to escape frompolar winter, with its ice, and

snow, and frost, and barrenness, to tropical summer, with its warmth, and
flowers, and geniality, and luxuriance, is it meant that you are to accomplish
the journey at one long stride, or that it is to be completed step by step, little
by little? When a child is required to become perfectas a musician, is it
intended that in one day his uncrafty fingers shall liberate the angel-strains
that are jailed in the musicalinstrument? Or is it meant that he shall master
the gamut, and grope his way through the scale, andgently touch the
unknown notes to ascertain, as if by a whisper, whether they are the strains of
which he is in quest, and proceedwith all diligence and zeal until the
instrument shall tell all its secrets, andshake with many-voiced delight at the
touch of his friendly hand? Were you to tell an acornto become perfect as an
oak, would you mean that all the growing was to be completed in a night, or
that the development was to proceedgradually, unfolding branch after
branch, bud after bud, leafafter leaf, till it became a greatcathedral-tree, in
which the featheredchoristers should pour out their songs in the hearing of
God? It is even so with our Saviour. When He tells us to be perfectas our
Father in heaven is perfect, He means that we are to grow in grace;we are to
“press towardthe mark”; we are to setour faces towardthe holy temple.1
[Note:J. Parker.]
While coarse growths are apt to be rapid, all fine growths are apt to be slow,
and come up through a long process ofministration and development. The
reed grows, as it were, in a day; but the sweetestthings in my gardenweary
me with the tardiness of their maturing. The warmth of many suns must wait
on them, and the moisture of many tranquil nights must coaxthem, before
they feel bold enoughto expose their inner life to the gaze of sun and stars, or
the touch of the gentle winds. So it is with soullife. No one day answers forits
growth. No single benefaction, coming with swift and sudden motion, matures
it. It growethafter the growthof one that hath all eternity to grow in. The
food on which it feeds comes to its mouth, not as by the hand of a specialgift,
but by the hand of a provision furnished by a benevolence which is general
and for ever attentive. My soultakes of God’s ministrations by grace, as my
body takes of His administrations by nature. I know that while the body lasts
nature will feed it. I know that while my soul endures God’s grace shallsupply
its every need. I ask no more for my garden than that the sun shall continue to
shine.2 [Note: W. H. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, 301.]
5. We cannot lay down any fixed and rigid rule for the order of this growth.
We may not say, for instance, that in every case the new life begins with

contrition, and then passes throughfaith and assurance offorgiveness to
perfect peace. No suchrigid and uniform rule as this is laid down in Scripture.
We may as well saybeforehand in what order the leaves in spring should
burst out upon the budding trees. In every true child of God all the phases of
spiritual life will surely display themselves, but not all in the same order. In
some the new life may begin in tears and agonies ofsorrow, and pass on into
smiles of joy and peace;in others it may begin in quiet and peacefultrust and
happy service, to be disturbed, it may be ere long, with deep contrition for sin,
begottennot of fear but of love. It is the height of presumption to attempt to
limit the manner of the Spirit’s working, or to judge of His presence by any
other test than the presence of the work of the Spirit, the conformity to the
image of Christ. Whereeverthere is a Christ-like soul, there is Christ and the
Spirit of Christ; wherever there is not this likeness, then, be the feeling or
emotion ever so strong, or everso strictly according to the prescribedrule,
there Christ is not.
Life claims freedom; true freedom is life true to itself and its source. Every
generationof men, like every year in nature, has its own independent
characteristics. Everygenerationlikes to hear its own accent;to hold up its
own “earthenvessel” forthe blessing which comes from above;to see the
truth with its own eyes, and tell the vision in its own way. But the great facts
containedin the message,and in those who receive it, are identical from year
to year—human sin that has to be repented of, and Divine grace that is to be
thankfully taken. There is nothing creative in the varying dialectics ofthe
generations. It is faith that, in its essence, cannotalterwhich brings the power
from God. Reasonmerely sifts and sorts:it has no originality, no creative
power. What served Dr. Kidd’s generationmust serve ours. Nature is
permanent in its principles and forces, thoughits aspects vary: so is Grace.1
[Note:J. Stark, Dr. Kidd of Aberdeen, 94.]
No harsh transitions Nature knows,
No dreary spaces intervene;
Her work in silence forward goes,
And rather felt than seen:

For where the watcher, who with eye
Turned eastward, yetcould eversay
When the faint glooming in the sky
First lightened into day?
And happy, happy shalt thou be,
If from this hour with just increase
All goodthings shall grow up in thee,
By such unmarked degrees;
For the full graces ofthy prime
Shall, in their weak beginnings, be
Lost in an unremembered time
Of holy infancy.2 [Note: Trench, Poems, 23.]
III
The Requisites of Growth
1. The first requisite of growthis vital force.—Aplant cannotgrow unless it is
rooted in its native element. Many plants getall their food from the air,

through leaf and branch, and yet if you cut the root the plant withers and dies,
not for the want of food, but for want of that living touch with the ground by
which it receives its powerto live. What that vital force is no one knows;we
know some of its conditions and limitations, but the thing itself is mysterious
as life. There is a force that makes life beautiful and death repulsive, a force
that leaves a man’s body when the beating of the heart stops, a force that we
cannot see, weigh, ordetect, and yet is realand mighty in our being. Forwant
of a more defining term we, in our ignorance, callit vital force. Now, in the
plant this vital force seems to find its store or reservoirin the root. The
moment the rootis disturbed the plant shows less ofvitality and beauty,
droops, fades, withers. The health of the root is the health of this force.
More than even feeding on Christ, more than appropriating His qualities, is
the soul’s living touch of the living Christ. We are deeply consciousofthe
force and stimulus of some people’s presence;we can speak better when they
are presentto listen; we do our bestand beyond it—we “excelourselves”—
when they praise us; we feelhelped to goodness andloweredto badness by
some personalassociations.But the true Christian man knows that far more
than any human presence his spirit is sensitive to Christ’s personality.
In all soils, earths, and rocks there are certain salts, which are as necessaryto
the life of the plant as iron is necessaryto our blood. To get these salts out of
the earth and to getthem into the plant is the work the root has to perform.
To do this it is furnished with a number of little fine wavy rootlets;these are
the subtle tongues of the root, by which it first tastes, and then separatesand
eats the diet on which its life, and the plant’s, depends. When these are eaten
the rootperforms another function; it does not always atonce send all the
nourishment up into the plant; it is eminently a wise and thrifty housekeeper;
it stores up the nourishment, as in the bulb of crocus or hyacinth, or as in the
radish, or carrot, or potato, and so the root becomes a storehouse orrefuge to
feed the little plant in its infancy, and to protectit in bad and barren times if
they should come. All this work of eating is done, not by the greatthick roots,
but by the little delicate wavy tips; they choose, they appropriate, they convey,
and their choice it is which gives the varied autumn tints to the separate
trees.1 [Note:R. H. Lovell, First Types of the Christian life, 260.]
There is a secretdownin my heart

That nobody’s eye can see;
In the world’s greatplan it has no part,
But it makes my world to me.
The stars regardless have onwardrolled,
But they owe my secrethalf their gold.
It lies so low, so low in my breast,
At the foot of all else ’tis found;
To all other things it is the rest,
And it makes their fruit abound;
By the breath of its native life it lives,
It shines alone by the light it gives.
It fills my heart and it fills my life
With a glory of source unseen,
It makes me calm in the midst of strife,
And in winter my heart is green.

For the birds of promise sing in my tree
When the storm is breaking on land and sea.
2. The secondrequisite of growthis suitable food.—The waste and wearof the
Christian life must be constantly repaired. Nor canit be repaired in public
assemblyor in seasons ofreligious fervour. Then and there you get the
stimulus for repair, advice for repair, but the growth-processesare in quiet, in
unseen meditation, and in more delicate and minute operations;they are
eminently personal. Faith sometimes loses its force and realness, love loses its
fire, our ideals become commonplace, our energy decreases, ourenthusiasm
wanes, our aspirationbecomes dulled, our spiritual taste loses its piquancy,
and our appetite becomes cloyed. Now the food necessary to remedy this is
simply Christ, and only Christ. He alone can re-inspire ideals, re-create taste,
nourish energy, fire love, make faith real, stimulate appetite. The personality
and love of the living Christ are the only food of the Spirit’s more sensitive
roots. In a word, we live in Him, and the measure in which He nourishes us is
at once the measure of our health, our strength, and our life.
This food never grows stale. The soul drives the spiral of its ascentupward
into eternity, not by reasonof strength derived from the gross foodof the
earth, but as that strange bird of which the mystics tell, whose foodwas grown
for it in the air, and on which it feastedas it flew, developing strength for
motion, and finding food ever more plentiful to its mouth as it soared. So the
soul finds on the crestof every moral altitude it reaches foodprepared for its
hunger, eats of it, and then moves upward to a loftier height—knowing that,
on that farther crest, there too it shall find provision waiting for it.1 [Note: W.
H. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, 303.]
Where do we find Christ? First and foremostin the Bible. Our staple
sustenance is therefore to be derived from the Word of God. No other means
of growth can take the place of this. We canno more develop Christian
characterby service without study of the Word and without prayer than we
can make the thundering locomotive run along the track unless we feed its
fires. We cannot live by work in the physical realm unless we have proper
food. And to feed our soul we must not only read the Word and study the
Word, hut yield our whole life to the claim of the Word.

3. But for the soul’s health there is also neededthe vigorous and active use of
all our powers.—Disuseand decayare as clearly connectedin the one as in the
other. The grace whichwe do not exercise, like the limb we never use, or the
faculty we never exert, withers and dies at last. The duties that are appointed
us are not arbitrarily chosen, they are eachof them designed to exercise and
strengthen some one or other spiritual faculty. And the neglectof any one of
these can never be compensatedby any additional activity in the performance
of any other; we cannever omit any one of these without injuring and
weakening some corresponding grace, withoutmaking our Christian
characterone-sidedand distorted, and therefore weak and sickly. Every
talent is to be accountedfor.
It was Jenny Lind’s intense convictionthat her art was a gift of God, to be
dedicatedto His service. This belief was continually on her lips. “I have
always put God first,” she said, during her last days. It was this which you
could feel in her pose, as she stood high-strung and prophetic, to deliver a
greattheme, such as “I know that my Redeemerliveth.” It was this which was
the keyto her superb generosityto the sick and the suffering; she was
fulfilling her consecratedoffice towards them. It was this which sent her voice
thrilling along the wards of the Brompton Hospital, where she loved to sing to
those for whom she had herselfbuilt a whole wing. It was this which kindled
all her enthusiasm for Mlle. Janotha, in whom she found a kindred mind—
Janotha who had said to her (she told me), “What is this ‘world’ of which
people speak? Ido not know what’ the world’ is. I play for Jesus Christ.”1
[Note:H. ScottHolland, PersonalStudies, 21.]
4. Finally, all growth has its periods of rest.—Treesand plants grow
downward first, then horizontally for awhile, and then laterally; then the
horizontal and lateral periods succeedeachotherregularly until the fulness is
reached. So Christian growth needs silence, obscurity, and regular periods of
rest, periods for broadening, for strengthening, for ripening, for shadowing
the growths that have already been made. All living things here need sleep,
and even our spirits have their periods of rest. This rest is the outcome of trust
in God. The active energetic followerofChrist is in danger of becoming
irritated and irritating. The remedy is trust.

A letter to S. S., 1861, touches artistic ways and means:“As I was going to bed
I thought of the straitness ofmy income, and the wants of the family, and the
possibilities of the future; and, for a time, felt faithless and unbelieving. But
my mind turned to God, and I thought of the unchangeable love which has led
me, and fed me, and delivered me from all evil, and forgiven me, and made me
happy; so that in spite of a fearful heart, and an uncertain tenure, and a host
of evils within and without, life is really a joyful thing. And what God has
done for me, who beganlife with nothing, not even godliness, He can do for
my children. And so I lay down quite light-hearted and free from all anxious
care;and with a breeze of thankfulness and praise blowing through the
avenues of my soul.”2 [Note:James Smetham, 122.]
IV
The Directionof Growth
1. The direction of Christian growth is upward. It is towards Jesus Christ.
“Unto eachone of us was the grace giventhat we may grow up in all things
into him, which is the head, even Christ.” Where life from God, through full
obedience, is receivedby a soul, that soul is day by day, hour by hour, yea,
moment by moment, growing into the likeness of the Son of God. When, by
God’s grace, we reachthe perfectionof consummation, when we have done
with the bud of promise and the blossomof hope, and have come to the
fruitage of realization, what will that final glory be? The psalmist had a fore-
glimpse of it when he said, “I shall be satisfied, when I awake,with thy
likeness.”The Apostle John saw it even more clearly, “Beloved, now are we
children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know
that if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even
as he is.” The consummationof Christian characteris perfectapproximation
to the characterofJesus Christ. We shall have reachedthe fruitage of
Christian life when we see Him, and when we are like Him. Growth into His
likeness, then, is the line of Christian development.
And so all growththat is not toward God
Is growing to decay. All increase gained

Is but an ugly, earthy, fungous growth.
’Tis aspirationas that wick aspires,
Towering above the light it overcomes,
But ever sinking with the dying flame.1 [Note:George MacDonald, Poetical
Works, i. 13.]
2. There is a growth downward, that is, growth in the knowledge ofour own
hearts. “Study thyself;” for if you would educate the soul, you cannot wisely
or efficiently do so unless you not only look but dwell within, and so come to
learn what you truly are, and what you may yet become. Says Coleridge:“It is
the advice of the wise man, dwell at home, or with yourself, though there are
very few that do this; yet it is surprising that the greatestpartof mankind
cannot be prevailed upon at leastto visit themselves sometimes.”
A man once bought a barometerunder a mistakenidea of its purpose, and
then complained that he could not see that it had made any improvement in
the weather. The spiritual barometer of self-examinationmay not directly
improve the weather, but may show what the spiritual weatheris. It helps one
to obey the old Delphic oracle, “Know thyself.”2 [Note:The Treasury, May
1902, p. 82.]
3. There is a growth outward. The man who does something for others does
something for himself. If he is freezing and obeys an impulse to keepanother
man from freezing, the warmth which he generates reacts upon himself.
Exercise is not only expenditure but accretion. As the pendulum swings out
only to travel back on the same arc, so the force which goes out in exercise
comes back in the form of strengthenedfibre. So is it also in the realm of
intellect and the domain of soul. Expenditure is followedby enrichment. One
gives out the treasures of his mind, only to find that clearerperceptionand
more facile diction are the result of his effort, and he can do better the second
time because he has been aided by his first attempt. The soul grows by virtue

of every effort to do good. And altruism means not only the blessing of
mankind but also the evolution of character.
For three months Mrs. Sellar, my husband’s mother, lay in her room, her
bodily powers gradually failing, but nothing clouding her mind nor weakening
her immense powerof loving.
Except Robert, the Australian, all her sons were in this country at this time.
They all came and went constantly to see her: the best-beloved, Johnnie, came
down twice a week from London to be with her. Though she could not eat
much, it was a pleasure to him to bring all kinds of little comforts to her. And
she who counted that day lost in which she had given nothing, was always
touched and surprised by gifts bestowedon herself. Once he brought her
down a beautiful soft grey dressing-gown, andthe first time she had it on I
happened to slip unseen into the room. He was sitting beside her, and she was
stroking his hand, saying, “My dear Johnnie, my bonnie boy”; and then, with
a funny little touch of humour she added, “Would it be profane to say, ‘Thou
hast warmed me, clothed and fed me’?”1 [Note:Mrs. Sellar, Recollections and
Impressions, 234.]
V
The Tests ofGrowth
1. One testof growth is a warmer and more unselfish love.—As our
knowledge ofChrist becomes more intimate we love Him for what He is in
Himself, and not so much for what He has done. The latter is not free from a
taint of selfishness. It is one thing for me to be intensely grateful to the man
who pulls me out of the fire, but it is another thing to love him as a man, apart
from his act. I must be often with him first, and learn what manner of spirit
he is of, before I canbe said to love him. Applying this test to Christ, do I love
Him most because He is the incarnation of virtue and goodness?Thenis my
love not altogetherunworthy of Him. It has, at any rate, lost the alloy of
impulse and selfishness,so apt to spoil the most precious ore of the heart.

I believe that if we were like Christ even the wild beasts ofour woods and
fields would flee to us for refuge and deliverance;and man must be in the
world as He was in the world, and then the world will blossomaround him
with all God’s meanings, and not merely with men’s sayings. We shall grow in
the graciousnessand in the knowledge ofthe Lord Christ until we ourselves
are blessedwith the same joy with which Christ was blessed, until we are glad
with the eternalgladness of the eternal God. And less than that Christ would
not have died for, less than that could be wrought at less expense.1 [Note:
George MacDonald.]
2. Another testof growthis what we outgrow.—Bring me the coatI wore as a
boy at school, and let me try it on; I shall soondiscoverwhether I have grown.
Bring me the essays I wrote at eighteen, and let me read them; I shall soonbe
able to tell you whether my mind has grown. So I like to go back over my
older views of God, my ideas and wants as to communion with Him, my
previous felt need of Him and joy in Him, and when I know how I think of
Him, need Him, talk to Him, walk with Him now, I can soonsee if the old
spiritual garments of twenty years ago would fit now, or are too small.
In some of our houses there are little faded marks on the walls or door-posts,
where the children when they were growing stoodto have their height
registered;but now that they have done growing the marks are neglected. Is
there in your life any experience like this? You used to be anxious about your
spiritual condition; are you now, or are these matters only a faded memory?
Have you of late grownspiritually? When will you reachthe measure of the
stature of a perfect man in Christ?2 [Note:R. H. Lovell, First Types of the
Away in the hills at Candy in Ceylon there is a greatartificial lake, round the
edge of which palm-trees of a certainkind are planted. Look at the trunk of
one of the trees. You see the bark is coveredwith rings, one above another,
from the roots to the very top of the tree. Every ring represents a year; and so
from the number of the rings I can tell the age of the tree. Now, it is not quite
so easyas that to mark your growthin grace. It is true, however, that very
often the face bears traces ofthe growing goodness within. But when a man
grows out of old, doubtful friendships, when he grows out of old habits that
were not lovely—habits of idleness, impatience, exaggeration, spitefulness,

deceit, pettishness—thenI know that man is growing in grace.1 [Note:A. A.
Cooper, God’s Forget-me-not, 44.]
When passing southward, I may cross the line
Betweenthe Arctic and Atlantic Oceans,
I may now know, by any testof mine,
By any startling signs or strange commotions
Across my track.
But if the days grow sweeter, one by one,
And e’en the icebergs melt their hardened faces,
And sailors linger, basking in the sun,
I know I must have made the change of places,
Some distance back.
When, answering timidly the Master’s call,
I passedthe bourne of life in coming to Him,
When in my love for Him I gave up all;
The very moment when I thought I knew Him,

I cannot tell.
But, as unceasinglyI feelHis love;
As this cold heart is melted to o’erflowing,
As now so clearthe light comes from above,
I wonder at the change, and pass on, knowing
That all is well.
3. Another testof growthis power to resisttemptation.—They say that the sea
has weldedtogetherby its continuous actionthe stones that form Plymouth
Breakwater. Whenfirst they were tipped into the ocean, and eachwas a
separate stone, the oceanmight have carried them away;but now the waters
have compactedthem into a solid mass that nothing canmove. Change the
figure: a newly planted young tree a boy may root up; no man canroot up the
oak that has grown for fifty years. Growth so roots us and grounds us that
storms which would once have causedus terror come only as music.
Principal Rainy’s son, the late Mr. Rolland Rainy, M.P., once said that he
never saw his father out of temper, never even momentarily perturbed during
the appalling troubles through which the Free Church was calledto pass
when the decisionof the House of Lords threatenedto ruin her. “How do you
manage to control yourself?” he askedthe Principal one day; “do you know, I
never remember seeing you bursting into a passion?” “Myson,” was the
reply, “I once lost my temper atrociouslyin public, and I made such a fool of
myself and did such damage to the cause whichI representedthat I resolved,
for my own soul’s sake and for Christ’s sake,neveragain to commit such folly
and sin; and I prayed the Lord to help me to keepmy vow. By His grace I
have been able to set a watchbefore the door of my lips.”1 [Note:British
Weekly.]

4. But there is no test of growth so easilyapplied as beauty of character.—Itis
a test which we ourselves may not be able to apply; its very existence is
dependent on our unconsciousness ofits existence. Butit is the test beyond
every other which others apply to us. And it is the most conclusive.
Some years ago, a member of one of my former congregations, a Christian
woman of refinement and of greatconsecration, wentto stay in the home of
her sisterin the country, where she had not stayedfor many years. Her sister
was a woman of the world, engrossedin worldly pleasures and interests.
When my friend was leaving the home, after a stay of two weeks, hersister,
taking her by the hand, and looking into her face, said, “I do not understand
your religion, but I will tell you one thing; it has made you far easierto live
with.”2 [Note: G. Campbell Morgan, The Simple Things of the Christian Life,
63.]
Liddon had that which we call “distinction.” You might agree with him, or not
agree;you might criticize and discuss his gifts; but, anyhow, he had the
quality of speciality. In any roomful of men, his presence was felt with a
distinct and rare impression. If he let himself speak, his voice, manner, style,
articulation, arrestedyou; you wanted to listen to him, whoeverelse was
speaking;his phrases, his expressions, caughtyour ear. Here was somebody
notable; so you knew. He stood out from his fellows;there was a flavour in his
company which was unique. And this impression is one which belongedto
character;it was not the result of any particular and separate gift, but it made
itself known through them all.3 [Note: H. ScottHolland, PersonalStudies,
140.]
Growth
The treasury is large and inexhaustible
(John MacDuff, "The Throne of Grace")

"Grow in grace." 2 Peter3:18
Growth in grace is chiefly manifested in common
things--in your ordinary duties--in your home circle,
in resisting and overcoming--habits of self-indulgence
--habits of harshness, fretfulness, irritability of temper,
or the like.
"Grace"may be brought into exercise too, in bearing
sickness, trial, unkindness, or reproach, with a patient
uncomplaining spirit--in helping and encouraging your
neighbor--in being more generous, more kind, more
sympathizing--in showing more "love, joy, peace,
patience, gentleness,goodness,faith, meekness,
temperance"--indelighting more in prayer and the
Word of God--in setting the Lord more and more
before you--in ever keeping Him in mind.
It is thus "grace"will truly grow and expand, so that
every fresh duty becomes more easy, and every fresh
trial less painful. Grace, brought into the details of
daily life--elevates and consecrateshuman affection,
and sweetensearthly love with the deepestand tenderest
sympathies, as it pervades duty, pleasure, and recreation.
But we must never forget, that our ability for all this
comes from above--that, as there is only one source
from which "grace" comesto us at first, so there is
only one source from which we can obtain renewed
supplies. "He gives more grace."Grace is no scanty

thing, doled out in pittances. The fountain is full and
overflowing--the treasury is large and inexhaustible;
myriads are hourly hanging on it, and drawing from it,
and yet there is no diminishing! Out of that fullness
all may receive grace for grace.
"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so
that in all things at all times, having all that you need,
you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8
Christian! Oh, repair to the throne of grace for a
fresh supply, and, be assured, that there is . . .
not a trial you canencounter,
not a sorrow you can experience,
not a difficulty you can meet with in your daily life,
for which Jesus, in the treasury of grace, has not a
corresponding solace.The throne of grace is the
only refuge for the sin-stricken, woe-wornspirit.
by J.C. Ryle
(1816—1900)
Growth in Grace
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge ofour Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" 2
Peter3:18

The subject of the text which heads this page is one that ought to be deeply
interesting to every true Christian. It naturally raises the questions: "Do we
grow in grace?" "Dowe advance in our religion?" "Do we make progress?"
To a mere formal Christian, I cannot expectthe inquiry to seemworth
attention. The man who has nothing more than a kind of Sunday religion —
whose Christianity is like his Sunday clothes, put on once a week, and then
laid aside — such a man cannot, of course, be expectedto care about growth
in grace. He knows nothing about such matters. They are foolishness to him (1
Corinthians 2:14). But to everyone who is in downright earnestabout his soul,
and hungers and thirsts after spiritual life — the question ought to come home
with searching power. Do we make progress in our religion? Do we grow?
The question is one that is always useful — but especiallyso at certain
seasons. A Saturday night, a communion Sunday, the return of a birthday, the
end of a year — all these are seasonsthat ought to setus thinking and make us
look within. Time is fast flying. Life is fast ebbing away. The hour is daily
drawing nearer when the reality of our Christianity will be tested, and it will
be seenwhether we have built on "the rock" or on "the sand." Surely it befits
us from time to time to examine ourselves and take accountof our souls? Do
we advance in spiritual things? Do we grow?
The question is one that is of specialimportance in the present day. Crude and
strange opinions are floating in men's minds on some points of doctrine, and
among others — on whether growth in grace is an essentialpart of true
holiness. By some it is totally denied. By others it is explained awayand pared
down to nothing. By thousands it is misunderstood, and consequently
neglected. In a day like this, it is useful to look fairly in the face the whole
subject of Christian growth.
As we considerthis subject, I want to make mention of . . .
the reality of growth in grace,
the marks or signs of growthin grace,
and the means of growth in grace.
I do not know you, into whose hands this text may have fallen. But I am not
ashamedto ask your best attention to its contents. Believe me, the subject is
no mere matter of idle speculationand controversy. It is an eminently
practicalsubject, if any is in religion. It is intimately and inseparably
connectedwith the whole question of sanctification. It is a leading mark of
true saints — that they grow. The spiritual health and prosperity, the spiritual

happiness and comfort of every true-hearted and holy Christian — are
intimately connectedwith the subjectof spiritual growth.
1. The REALITY of growth in grace.
That any professorshould deny the reality of Christian growth, is at first sight
a strange and melancholy thing. But it is fair to remember that man's
understanding is fallen, no less than his will. Disagreements aboutdoctrines
are often nothing more than disagreements aboutthe meaning of words. I try
to hope that it is so in the present case. I try to believe that when I speak of
growth in grace and maintain it, I mean one thing — while my brethren who
deny it, mean quite another. Let me therefore clear the way, by explaining
what I mean.
When I speak of growth in grace, I do not for a moment mean that a believer's
saving interestin Christ can grow. I do not mean that he can grow in safety,
acceptancewith God or security. I do not mean that he can ever be more
justified, more pardoned, more forgiven, more at peace with God — than he is
the first moment that he believes. I hold firmly that the justification of a
believer is a finished, perfectand complete work — and that the weakest
saint, though he may not know and feel it, is as completely justified as the
strongest.
I hold firmly that our election, calling and standing in Christ, admit of no
degrees, increaseordiminishing. If anyone dreams that by growthin grace, I
mean growth in justification — he is utterly wide of the mark and utterly
mistakenabout the whole point I am considering. I would go to the stake, God
helping me, for the glorious truth, that in the matter of justification before
God — every believer is complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). Nothing can be
added to his justification from the moment he believes — and nothing taken
away.
When I speak of growth in grace, I only mean increase in the degree, size,
strength, vigor and power — of the graces whichthe Holy Spirit plants in a
believer's heart. I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth,
progress and increase. I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal,
courage and the like — may be . . .
little or great,
strong or weak,
vigorous or feeble — and
may vary greatly in the same man at different periods of his life.

When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply that . . .
his sense ofsin is becoming deeper,
his faith is becoming stronger,
his hope is becoming brighter,
his love is becoming more extensive,
his spiritual-mindedness is becoming more marked,
he feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart — and he manifests
more of it in his life. He is going on from strength to strength, from faith to
faith and from grace to grace. I leave it to others to describe such a man's
condition by any words they please. Formyself I think the truest and best
accountof him is this — he is growing in grace.
One principal ground on which I build this doctrine of growth in grace, is the
plain language of Scripture. If words in the Bible mean anything, there is such
a thing as growth, and believers ought to be exhorted to grow. What does Paul
say? "Your faith grows exceedingly" (2 Thessalonians 1:3). "We beseechyou.
. . that you increase more and more" (1 Thessalonians 4:10). "Increasing in
the knowledge ofGod" (Colossians 1:10). "Having hope, when your faith is
increased" (2 Corinthians 10:15). "May the Lord make you to increase . . . in
love" (1 Thessalonians 3:12). "Thatyou may grow up into Him in all things"
(Ephesians 4:15). "I pray that your love may abound . . . more and more"
(Philippians 1:9). "We beseechyou, as you have receivedof us how you ought
to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more" (1
Thessalonians 4:1). What does Petersay? "Desire the sincere milk of the
Word, that you may grow thereby" (1 Peter2:2). "Grow in grace, andin the
knowledge ofour Lord and SaviorJesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). I know not
what others think of such texts. To me, they seemto establishthe doctrine for
which I contend and to be incapable of any other explanation. Growth in
grace is taught in the Bible. I might stop here and say no more.
The other ground, however, on which I build the doctrine of growth in grace,
is the ground of factand experience. I ask any honestreader of the New
Testament, whetherhe cannotsee degrees ofgrace in the New Testament
saints whose histories are recorded, as plainly as the sun at noonday. I ask
him whether he cannot see in the very same people, as greata difference
betweentheir faith and knowledge atone time and at another — as between
the same man's strength when he is an infant, and when he is a grown-up
man. I ask him whether the Scripture does not distinctly recognize this in the
language it uses, when it speaks of"weak"faith and "strong" faith, and of

Christians as "new-born babes," "little children," "young men," and
"fathers"? (1 Peter2:2; 1 John 2:12-14.)
I ask him, above all, whether his own observationof believers nowadays does
not bring him to the same conclusion? Whattrue Christian would not confess
that there is as much difference betweenthe degree of his own faith and
knowledge whenhe was first converted — and his present attainments; as
there is betweena sapling — and a full-grown tree? His gracesare the same in
principle — but they have grown. I know not how these facts strike others; to
my eyes they seemto prove, most unanswerably, that growth in grace is a real
thing.
I feel almostashamedto dwell so long upon this part of my subject. In fact, if
any man means to say that the faith and hope and knowledge and holiness of a
newly-convertedperson, are as strong as those of an old-establishedbeliever
and need no increase — it is a waste oftime to argue further. No doubt they
are . . .
as real — but not so strong;
as true — but not so vigorous;
as much seeds ofthe Spirit's planting — but not yet so fruitful.
And if anyone asks how they are to become stronger, I sayit must be by the
same process by which all things having life increase — they must grow. And
this is what I mean by growthin grace.
I want men to look at growth in grace as a thing of infinite importance to the
soul. In a more practicalsense, our best interests would be met with a serious
inquiry into the question of spiritual growth.
a. Growth in grace is the best evidence of spiritual health and prosperity. In a
child or a flower or a tree, we are all aware that when there is no growth —
there is something wrong. Healthy life in an animal or vegetable will always
show itself by progress andincrease. It is just the same with our souls. If they
are progressing anddoing well — they will grow.
b. Growth in grace is one way to be happy in our religion. God has wisely
linked together our comfort — and our increase in holiness. He has graciously
made it our interest to press on and aim high in our Christianity. There is a
vast difference betweenthe amount of sensible enjoyment which one believer
has in his religion — comparedto another. But you may be sure that
ordinarily, the man who feels the most "joy and peace in believing" and has
the clearestwitness ofthe Spirit in his heart is the man who grows.

Jesus was one we are to know better vol 2

Jesus was one we are to know better vol 2

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was one we are to know better vol 2

Similar to Jesus was one we are to know better vol 2 (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was one we are to know better vol 2