HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 433
faithful. Now he is very fearful of offending God, and very careful of pleasing God, and very circumspect and watchful in his walking with God, as if he were a man fully resolved instantly to start from holiness to happiness ; but now, if you please to look on this man at another time, when he is either deserted of God, or tempted by Satan, or worsted by the world, or enthralled by his lusts, and ah, how unlike himself will you find him ! for now he is flat, and dull, and dry, though not quite dead ; now he is much straitened and shut up ; now he can neither joy in God, nor delight in Christ, nor find sweetness in ordinances, nor any taste or relish in any of his mercies. Now his apprehensions are dark, his thoughts are dismal, his medita- tions are confused, his words are unadvised, and his ways are crooked. Now he saith, ' The Lord is my portion,' and anon he saith, * Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will he be favourable no more ?' Now he believes, anon he doubts ; this hour he hopes, the next he fears ; to-day he is upon the mount, joying and triumphing, to-morrow you shall have him in the valleys, mourning and sighing ; many clouds, many eclipses, many varieties, and many changes, passes upon God's holy ones in this life. A child, a tree, a plant, shoots up sometimes more in a month than they do in many months ; and so doth many a child of God: many a tree of righteousness, and many a plant of renown, shoot up more in holiness in a month sometimes than they do in many months at another time ; they thrive and flourish in holi- ness more in a year sometimes than they ^do in many years at an- other time. Look, as many a man gets more money in one year than he doth afterwards get in seven ; so many a Christian gets more grace and holiness sometimes in one year than he gets afterwards in seven. No saints have at all times alike the same blessed gales of the Spirit. It is just with a holy soul as it is with a ship ; sometimes the ship hath a very fair and fresh gale of wind, and then she cuts her way through the proud waves of the sea, and the passengers sail very speedily and merrily towards their desired port ; but anon the wind is slack, and veers about to another point of the compass, and then the passengers are all amote,i and they sail but slowly and heavily towards their desired harbour. And so it is with a holy heart : sometimes the gales of the Spirit blow very fair and sweet, very strong and powerful, upon a gracious soul, and then a Christian sails most sweetly, most speedily, and most successfully on in a way of holiness, and towards ms port of happiness ; but anon the Spirit is either resisted, or grieved, or neglected, or quenched, or vexed, or disobeyed ; and then his gales, his influences, his breathings, are slacked, and then a poor Christian sails but very slow on in a way of holiness, then he doth but even creep towards the harbour of everlasting blessedness.
Again, no saints have at all times alike the same external helps, advantages, and opportunities of being holy, and of thriving in holi- ness. It may be they have not the word so clearly, so powerfully, so sweetly, so faithfully, nor so frequently preached to them as for- merly they have had ; or it may be they have not other ordinances so lively, so purely, so spiritually, so evangelically dispensed to them as formerly they have had. It may be they have had stones instead of ^ Rather ' amort, ' = dejected, frightened to death. — G.
434 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
bread, and bones instead of flesh, and chaff instead of wheat, and muddy water instead of choice wine, and then no wonder if they do not thrive in holiness as they did when God rained manna every day about their tents, and when they were fed with the best of the best that their heavenly Father's table, wine-cellar, and house did afford. When children have not as good food, and as good physic, and as good lodging, and as good looking to as they have formerly had, no wonder if they thrive not as at other times. And so it is here : look, as no men have always the same helps, the same advantages, the same opportunities to grow great, and rich, and high, and honourable in the world, that sometimes they have had ; so no Christian hath always the same helps, advantages, and opportunities to grow rich and high in holiness, as sometimes he hath had. It may be he hath not that communion and fellowship with the people of God that once he had, or if he hath, yet it may be their communion is not so pure, so holy, so lively, so heart-warming, so soul-enriching, as once it hath been ; or it may be he hath not as good counsel as formerly, nor as good examples as formerly, nor as good encouragement as he hath formerly had to be holy ; or it may be their calling, employment, and outward condition is so altered and changed from what once it was, that they have not that time for closet duties, and to wait on pubhc ordinances, that once they had ; or it may be bodily infirmities, weak- nesses, diseases, aches, and ailments are so increased and multiplied upon them, that they cannot make that improvement that once they did of those very advantages and opportunities, that yet, by a hand of grace, is continued among them. Now these cases being incident to the people of God, there is no reason to wonder, if at some times saints are more holy than they are at others ; and if at some seasons they shoot up more in holiness than they do at others. The serious weigh- ing of this position may serve to prevent many fears and scruples, many debates and disputes, that often rise in the hearts of Christians upon the often ebbings and flowings of holiness in their souls.