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we have, and esteems us by that condition ho moans to bring us to ere long to perfection. So long as we take not part with our corruptions, but with the Spirit of God, and give way to him, and let him have his work in us ; so long be of good comfort in any measure of grace whatsoever.
Use. 5. Again, in that grace is of a growing nature, in all changes and alterations, whatsoever we decay in, let us not decay in r/race. Beg of God. Lord, whatsoever thou takest from me, take not thy Spirit from me ! take not thy"stanip from me ! Let mo grow in the inward man although I grow not in the world. Let us labour to grow ' from glory to glory,' though we lose other- wise. That is well lost and parted with in the world that is with the gain of any grace, because grace isglory. It is a good sickness that gets more patience, and more humility. It is a good loss that makes us grow loss worldly-minded and more humble by it. All other things are vanity in comparison. And that grace that we get by the loss of them is well gained. Grace is glory ; and the more we grow in grace, the more we grow in glory. Therefore I beseech you labour to thrive that way, to gi'ow up heavenward, daily more and more in our disposition. Beloved, the more grace we get the more glory ; and the more like we are to Christ and to God, the more we adorn our profession ; and the more we shame Satan and his instruments, and stop their mouths, the more duties come off naturally and sweetly from us without constraint. It is good for us to be grown Christians, that we need not be cumbered with corruptions. The more we grow, the more nimble and cheerful and voluntaiy we shall be in duty. We shall partake more of that anointing that makes us nimble in God's service. There is nothing in the world so glorious as a grown Christian. Therefore let us be in love with the state of Christianity, especially with grown Christians. Of all things, he is compared with the best. If he be a house, he is a temple ; if he be a plant, he is a cedar growing up ; if he be a flower, he is a lily rising and growing fresher ; if he be a stone, he is a pearl. He grows in estimation and use more and more. Beloved, if we had spiritual eyes to see the state of a Christian, of a grown Christian especially, we would labour above all things to thrive in this way. Have we not many works to do ? Have we not many enemies to resist ? Have we not many graces to per- fect ? Are we not to die and to appear before God ? *Are we not to enjoy the blessings of God purely ? and do not these things require a great deal of strength of grace ? Oh they do. Therefore labour above all things in the world to behold God's love in Christ, and to behold Christ, that by this sight w^e may grow from glory to glory.
And this will make us willing to die. What makes a man willing to die, but when he knows he shall go from glory to greater glory ? After death is the perfection of glory. Then we are glorious indeed, when we are in heaven. A weak sight here by faith change th us ; but a strong sight, when we shall see face to face, perfectly changeth us. Then we shall be hke him, when we shall see him face to face.
A wicked man cannot desire death, he cannot desire heaven itself. Why ? Because heaven is the perfection of grace. Glory [which] is but grace he loves not. Therefore it is al certain evidence of futui'e glory, for a man to love grace, and to grow. I say such a man is willing to die. A wicked man, that hates grace, that loves not Christ in his image, in his children, or in his truth, he hates glory that is the perfection of grace ; for peace, and joy, and com- fort, they are but those things that issue from grace, and spring from grace. Grace is the chief part of heaven, the perfection of the image of God, the perfection of all the powers to be like Christ. But for peace and comfort
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that springs from it, a wicked man loves peace and quiet, but to have his nature altered he loves not that ; and if he love not grace, how can ho love glory ? There is no man but a Christian that loves heaven. "We are ready to drop away daily. Now to be in a state unchanged, it is a fearful thing. Unless we be changed by the Spirit of God, we shall be afraid to die. We cannot dcsii'e to be in heaven. The very heaven of heavens is the perfec- tion of grace. To see God to be all in all, and by the sight of God to bo transformed into his likeness, it is the chief thing in heaven. Therefore I beseech you let us labour more and more to grow in grace ; set Christ before us. Let me add this one thing, make use of our patterns among us. Christ is now iu heaven, but there will be the Spirit of Christ in his chil- dren to the end of the world ; and grace is sweetly conveyed from those that we live amongst. We grow up in grace by growing in a holy com- munion one with another. Christ will kindle lights in every generation. Therefore let°us labour to have the spirit of those we live with given to us ; in conversing, to be like Christ in his members ; to love the image of Christ in his children, and to converse with them ; to be altered into their likeness. This will change us to the glorious likeness of Christ more and more.