Lecture XXII. Growth in Grace (3)

8. A growing cordiality in the acceptance of the whole will of God, is evidence of growth in his favor. Some rebel against his will as revealed in his word, and in his providence. Others, under trying circumstances will barely tolerate his will, as revealed in his word and in providence; but those who are growing in grace, find it more natural to them, to embrace his whole revealed will, with greater and greater cordiality.

9. Growing calmness and quietness under great afflictions, is an evidence of growth in the favor of God. This evinces a broader and more implicit faith. a fuller and more cordial acceptance of the will of God, as revealed in these afflictions, and shows that the soul is more steadily and firmly at anchor upon its rock, Christ.

10. A growing tranquility under sudden and crushing disasters and bereavements, is an evidence of growth in grace. The more tranquil the soul can remain, when sudden storms of providence come upon it, sweeping away its loved ones, and blighting its earthly hopes, the greater is its evidence of being under the particular favor of God. This tranquillity is both a result and an evidence of the favor of God.

11. Growing patience under much provocation, is an evidence of growth in the favor of God.

12. “Long suffering with joyfulness,” is an evidence of growing in favor with God. When you find that you cannot only tolerate, but accept the will of God, as revealed in calling you to suffer, and especially, when you can accept these sufferings, and endure them long and with joyfulness, you have evidence that you are growing in the favor of God.

13. A growing cordiality and joyfulness under crosses and disappointments, and severe pain, is evidence of growth in the favor of God.

14. An increasing deadness to all that the world has to offer, or to threaten, is an evidence of growth in the favor of God.

15. A growing repose in, and satisfaction with, all the allotments of providence, is an evidence of growth in grace.

16. Less temptation to murmur or repine at any allotment of providence, is evidence of growth in grace.

17. Lest temptation to fret, when we are crossed or disappointed in any respect, is an evidence of growth in grace.

18. Less and less temptation to resentment, and the spirit of retaliation, when we are in anywise insulted or abused, is evidence that the sensibility is becoming more and more thoroughly subdued, and consequently, that we are growing in favor with God.

19. Less temptation to dwell upon, and to magnify our trials and troubles, to think of them, and speak of them to others, is evidence that we think less and less of self, and accept our trials and troubles with more and more complacency in God. It is sad to hear some professedly good people, dwelling ever upon and magnifying their own troubles and trials. But, if they grow in grace, they will think less and 439less of these, be more inclined to think of them as “light afflictions.” The more we grow in grace, the less stress we lay upon the evils we meet with in the way. Said a good man to me once, who was really passing through what the world would call very severe trials and afflictions (he had lost a beloved wife, and his children had died one after another), “I have many mercies, and few afflictions.” When, under such circumstances, a man can say, “the lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage,” he has the most satisfactory evidence that he is growing in the favor of God. For this state of mind is both a result and an evidence of the favor of God.

20. A growing disposition to make light of our trials and to magnify our blessings, is an evidence that we are growing in the favor of God.

21. Less and less anxiety and carefulness about the events of providence, and especially about the things that nearly and deeply affect ourselves, is evidence of growth in grace. This is an evidence of a broader and more implicit faith, of a more submissive will, and of a diminishing tendency to self-seeking; and is, therefore, an evidence of growing favor with God.

22. Being less and less disturbed and troubled by the events of life, especially those that go counter to our own plans, and hopes, and expectations, and desires, and that thwart our most cherished aims, is an evidence of growth in grace.

23. A growing and realizing confidence in the wisdom, benevolence, and universality of the providence of God, a state of mind that sees God in everything, is evidence of growth in grace. Some minds become so spiritual that they hardly seem to reside in the body, and appear continually to perceive the presence of God in every event, almost as if they were disembodied, and beheld God, face to face. They seem to dwell, live, move, and have their being, rather in the spiritual, than in the natural world. They are continually under such a sense of the Divine presence, agency, and protection, as hardly to appear like inhabitants of earth. They are a living, walking mystery to those in the midst of whom they dwell. The springs of their activity are so divine, their life is so much hidden in God, they act under influences so far above the world, that they cannot be judged by the same standards as other men. Carnal minds cannot understand them. Their hidden life is so unknown, and so unknowable to those who are far below them in their spiritual life, that they are necessarily regarded as quite eccentric, as being mystics or monomaniacs, 440and as having very peculiar religious views, as being enthusiasts, and perhaps fanatics. These persons are in the world, but they live above the world. They have so far escaped from the pollutions that are in the world, that they can truly, and understandingly say with Paul, in Gal. vi.14, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Such persons are evidently growing in the grace of God.

24. Being less and less disposed to dwell upon the faults and foibles of others, is an evidence of growth in grace.

25. Being less and less disposed to speak sarcastically or severely, or to judge uncharitably of others. A growing delicacy, or tenderness in speaking of their real or supposed faults, behind their back, is an evidence of growth in grace.

26. An increasing reluctance to regard or treat anyone as an enemy, and an increasing ease and naturalness in treating them kindly, in praying for them heartily, and in efforts to do them good, is an evidence of growing in grace.

27. Less and less temptation to remember an injury, and the abatement of all desire to retaliate when injured, is an evidence of growth in grace.

28. A growing readiness and cordiality in forgiving and burying an injury out of sight, and a kind of moral inability to do otherwise than seek the highest good of those who have injured us most deeply, is an evidence of growth in grace.

29. When we find in our own experience, and manifest to others, that it is more and more natural to regard all men as our brethren, especially to drop out of view all sectarian discriminations, all ideas and prejudices of caste, and of color, of poverty, and of riches, of blood relation, and of natural, rather than of spiritual ties, and to make common cause with God, in aiming to do good to all men, to enemies and friends alike, we have then ourselves, and give to others, the highest evidence of our growing in the favor of God.

30. Especially is it true, when we find ourselves very cordial and full-hearted, in making great sacrifices for those that hate us, and having a willingness to lay down our lives, to promote their eternal salvation, that we have evidence of growth in grace.

31. Still more especially, when we find ourselves less and less inclined to account anything a sacrifice that we can do for God, or the souls of men; when we can account our lives not dear unto us, if called to lay them down to save the souls of enemies, when, for the “joy of saving them,” “we can endure 441the cross, and despise the shame,” or any sacrifice that we are called to make, we have evidence that we are growing in favor with God.

32. Again, when we find ourselves more and more inclined to “count it all joy, when we fall into divers temptations,” and when we are disposed to look upon our trials, vexations, losses, and crosses, in such a light as to lay less and less stress upon them, we have evidence that we are growing in patience, and therefore, in favor with God.

33. When we find less and less reluctance to making fall confession to those whom we have injured, when with increasing readiness and cordiality we lay our hearts open to be searched, take home conviction of wrong-doing, and when in ouch cases, we cannot rest till we have made the fullest confession and reparation within our power, when to own up, and confess, and make the fullest satisfaction, is a luxury to us, rather than a trial and a cross, we have evidence that we are growing in the favor of God.

34. When we are more and more impressed and affected by the mercies of God, and by the kindnesses of our fellow-men and those around us, when we more deeply and thoroughly appreciate manifestations of kindness in God, or in any one else, when we are more and more humbled and affected by these kindnesses, and find it more and more natural to “walk humbly, love mercy, and do justly,” and live gratefully, we have evidence that we are growing in favor with God.

35. When we find ourselves drawn, with increasing earnestness to follow on to know more of the Lord, we have evidence of growth in grace.

36. When we find ourselves more and more readily impressed and affected, quickened and stimulated by religious truth, and when we find an increasing harmony in the action of all our powers, intellectual, voluntary, and sensitive, in accepting, and resting in, the whole will and providence of God, however afflictive they may at present be, we have evidence that we are growing in grace.

37. A growing jealously for the honor of God, for the purity and honor of his church, for the rights of God, and for the rights of all men, is evidence of growing in conformity to God, and, of course, of growing in his favor.

VII. How to grow in grace.

1. Fulfill the conditions noticed under the fourth head of this lecture. I need not repeat them.

2. Remember that every stop of progress must be made by faith, and not by works. The mistake that some good men 442have made upon this subject, is truly amazing. Dr. Chalmers affirms, that the way to be sanctified is to work for it. A few years since, Dr. Pond published a pamphlet, in which he took ground on this subject, with Dr. Chalmers, and affirmed that the idea of being sanctified by faith was an absurdity. Indeed, the custom has been almost universal, to represent growth in grace as consisting in the formation of habits of obedience to God. Now, it is quite surprising that so many good men have fallen into this mistake. The fact is, that every step of progress in the Christian life, is taken by a fresh and fuller appropriation of Christ by faith, a fuller baptism of the Holy Spirit. As our weaknesses, infirmities, besetting sins, and necessities, are revealed to us, by the circumstances of temptation through which we pass, our only efficient help is found in Christ, and we grow only as we step by step more fully appropriate him, in one relation or another, and more fully “put him on.” As we are more and more emptied of self-dependence, as we more and more renounce and discard all expectation of forming holy habits by any obedience of ours, and as by faith we secure deeper and deeper baptisms of the Holy Ghost, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, more and more thoroughly, and in more of his official relations, by just so much the faster do we grow in the favor of God. Nothing can be more erroneous and dangerous than the commonly received idea of growing in grace by the formation of holy habits. By acts of faith alone, we appropriate Christ, and we are as truly sanctified by faith as we are justified by faith. In my Systematic Theology, in pointing out the conditions of entire or permanent sanctification, I have noticed some sixty of the official relations of Christ, as I have before said, and have there insisted, as I here insist, that growth in holiness, and consequently, in the favor of God, is secured only by fresh, fuller, and more thorough appropriations of Christ, in all these official relations. If you would grow in grace you must do it through faith. You must pray in faith for the Holy Spirit. You must appropriate and put on Christ through the Holy Spirit. At every forward step in your progress, you must have a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit through faith.