/ 2. A tree or plant must be watered from above, or it will not thrive and grow by virtue of its own seminal powder. If a drought Cometh, it will wither or decay. Wherefore, where God mentioneth this growth, he ascribes it unto his watering. " I Avill be as the dew," and " I will pour water," is the especial cause of it. It is so in this carrying on of holiness. There is a nature received capable of increase and growth ; but if it be left unto itself, it will not tlirive, it will decay and die. Wherefore God is unto it as the dew, and pours water on it by the actual supplies of the Sf)irit, as we have showed before.
^ 3. The growth of trees and plants is secret and imperceptihle, nor is discerned but in the effects and consequences of it. The most watchful eye can discern little ol its motion. " Crescit occulto velut arbor a3vo." It is no otherwise in the j^rogress of holiness. It is not immediately discernible, either by themselves in whom it is, or by others that make observation of it. It lies only under the eye of him hy whom it is wrought; only by the fruits and effects of it is it made manifest. And some, indeed, especially in some seasons, do plainly and evidently thrive and grow, springing up like the willows by the water-courses. Though their growth in itself is indiscernible,
CHAP. II.] SANCTIFICATION A PrvOGRESSIVE WORK. 897
yet it is plain they have grown. Sucli we ought all to be. The growth of some, I say, is manifest on every trial, on every occasion ; their profiting is visible to all. And as some say that the growth of plants is not by a constant insensible progress, but they increase by sudden gusts and motions, which may sometimes be discerned in the openings of buds and flowers, so the growth of believers consists principally in some intense vigorous actings of grace on great occa- sions, as of faith, love, humility, self-denial, bounty; and he who hath not some experience of such actings of grace in especial in- stances can have little evidence of his growth. Again, there are trees and plants that have the principle of life and growth in them^ but yet are so withering and unthrifty that you can only discern them to be alive. And so it is with too many believers. They are all "trees planted in tlie garden of God ; " some thrive, some decay for a season, but the growth of the best is secret.
From what hath been proved it is evident that the work of sancti- i fication is a progressive work, that holiness is gradually carried on ' in us by it towards perfection. It is neither wrought nor completed at once in us, as is regeneration, nor doth it cease under any attain- ments or in any condition of life, but is thriving and carried on. A river continually fed by a living fountain may as soon end its streams before it come to the ocean, as a stop be put to the course and pro- gress of grace before it issue in glory; for " the path of the just is as the shining hght, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," Prov. iv. 18. So is their path wherein they are led and conducted by the Holy Spirit, even as the morning light; Avhich after it once ap- pears, though it may be sometimes clouded, yet faileth not until it arrive unto its perfection. And as the wisdom, patience, faithful- ness, and power, which the Holy Spirit of God exerciseth herein are unutterable, so are they constantly admired by all that are interested in them: so are they by the psalmist, Ps. Ixvi. 8, 9, xxxi. 19. Who is there who hath made any dihgent observation of his own heart and ways, and what have been the workings of the grace of God in him and towards him, to bring him unto the stature and measure whereunto he is arrived, that doth not admire the watchful care and powerful workings of the Spirit of God therein? The prin- ciple of our holiness as in us is weak and infirm, because it is in us ; in some to so low a degree as is ofttimes unto themselves impercep- tible. This he preserves and cherisheth, that it shall not be over- powered by corruptions and temptations. Among all the glorious works of God, next unto that of redemption by Jesus Christ, my soul doth most admire this of the Spirit in preserving the seed and prin- cijale of holiness in us, as a spark of living fire in the midst of the ocean, against all corruptions and temptations wherewith it is im-
398 SANCTIFICATION A PEOGRESSIVE WORK. [bOOK IV.
pugned. Many breaches are made in and upon our course of obe- dience by the incursions of actual sins; these he cures and makes up, healing our backslidings and repairing our decays. And he acts the grace we have received by constant fresh supplies. He wants much of the comfort and joy of a spiritual life who doth not dihgently ob- serve the ways and means whereby it is preserved and promoted ; and it is no small part of our sin and folly when we are negligent herein.