raise all Italy ''t kept both great favour and places under Henry the Eighth, a Papist, foot or with On^"^*^ *^® Sixth, a Protestant, and under Queen Mary, a Papist, and ' a Protestant, and being asked how he could do so, he answered
Cant. 11. 11, 12 ; Jer. -, billow and not the oak.
Heb. XII. 14] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 341
down in the blessed Scriptures; as that Job xvii. 9, 'The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger;' or as the Hebrew has it, [VQ>i ^ D"!,] 'he shall add strength,' that is, he shall go on from one degree of spiritual strength to another, he shall go on from a lesser degree to a greater degree, and from a lower degree to a higher degree, of spiritual strength. A holy- man shall not only have his spiritual strength maintained, but in- creased ; he shall not only retain that spiritual strength he has, but he shall be still a-adding of strength to strength, Ps. Ixxxiv, 7. They go from strength to strength, or from power to power, or as tlie word may be read, from company to company, or from troop to troop, in allusion to the custom of the Jews, when all the males went up thrice a year to Jerusalem ; now when they went up to Jerusalem, they went up with their flocks, and in troops. Now those that were lively, active, and strong, they overtook this company and that, and this troop and that, and so they went on, their power and strength increasing daily more and more, till they appeared before God in Zion ; i or look, as the bee goes from flower to flower to gather honey, so those that had a principle of grace and holiness in them, they went from one good company to another, from one troop of Christians to another, still gathering up heavenly honey as they went. 0 sirs, there is no such way to perfect holiness, as to be still a-going on from duty to duty, and from ordinance to ordinance ; from praying to hearing, and from hearing to praying ; from reading to meditating, and from meditating to reading ; from public duties to closet duties, and from closet duties to public duties, &c. : Ps. xcii. 12-14, ' The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing.' Ille non est homes, qui Twn vult esse melior. The pro- mise of flourishing is three times repeated in these verses — they shall flourish, they shall flourish, they shall flourish — to note the more than ordinary flourishing estate of the saints, even in their old age. I have read of an old Christian, who being asked whether he grew in good- ness or no, answered, I believe I do, because the Lord has promised that his people shall bring forth fruit in old age. Pliny, writing of the crocodile,''tells us that she grows to her dying day; so Christians that are rooted in Christ, and planted in the house of the Lord, they will be still growing up in grace and holiness even to their dying day. It is with real Christians as it is with wine, the older the better, or as it is with the sun, which shines most gloriously and amiably when it is near setting. Gracious souls are like the laurel, or the bay-tree, whose leaves are always green, not only in the summer of youth, but also in the winter of old age. The palm-tree is always green, it never loseth his leaves or fruit, and the more it is loaded the deeper it is rooted ; and so it shall be with throughout Christians. So in that Isa. xlvi. 3, 4, God has promised to carry us on to old age, ' Hearken unto me, 0 house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the liouse of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. And
^ '^^H-VK 'P^riQ, properly signifies vigour, courage, alacrity, power, success, and au army, wherein usually most power is required and manifested.
342 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
even to your old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you.' That God that begins a work of grace and holiness in his people's hearts, that God will perfect and carry on that work. Mothers and nurses express their tender care, love, and delight, by carrying 'their babes in their arms till they can go alone ; but God surpasses them in his love, care, tenderness, and divine fondness, for he will carry them even to hoary hairs. This word ' I,' that is six times repeated in verse the fourth, is doubtless of very great importance, and signifies not only God's eternal essence, and that he will be ever like himself, but also his unchangeableness in regard of us ; for whatever our thoughts may be concerning God, yet we shall always find him one and the same ; he will be as good to his people at last as he was at first, even to old age he will carry them. So in that Prov. iv. 18, ' But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the per- fect day.' A holy man proceeds from grace to grace, from virtue to virtue ; he goes from faith to faith, and from strength to strength, till at length he shines as the sun in his strength. So in that Hosea xiv. 5-7, ' I will be as the dew unto Israel : he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his root as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return, they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine : the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.' The growth, the fruitfulness, and the flourishing estate of the saints in grace and holiness, is set forth by a sevenfold metaphor in these words. The similes are all plain and easy, and you may easily dilate upon them in your own thoughts ; and therefore I shall pass them. I shall conclude with that precious promise, John iv. 14, ' But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst : but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.' The Spirit in its gracious opera- tions shall be a constant spring in believers' hearts, and it shall every day rise higher and higher, like the water in Ezekiel, till grace be swallowed up in glory, Ezek. xlvii. 1-7. And thus you see by these choice promises, that it is possible for you to attain to a greater mea- sure of holiness. But,