CHAPTER XXXII. Growth in Grace. "Haste thee on from grace to glory, ANON, Growth in Grace. Progress an universal law-Consecrated in the exercises of religion-The normal condition of the soul-Spiritual vicissitudes-Growth the result of the whole-Means of producing it-The godliness of the poor- Progress reviewed-Examples of growth in grace-A Jewish rabbi-Paul-Dr. Chalmers. To look abroad over the family of man, and witness its struggles for improvement and progress, brings home some deep and solemn lessons to the meditative mind. There has been no time, and there is no land in which these struggles have not been made, except where men have degenerated into a close affinity with the beasts which perish. The grossest or the most embruted of the heathen, and the most degraded of civilized men—like the drunkard and some others have ceased, indeed, to advance, except in degradation. But wherever mind is not overtasked or crushed by more than ordinary crime, the law of progression universally prevails. Man does not feel himself to be what he ought to be. He is restless, scheming, and ceaselessly pursuing something which he has not something which is projected into the distant future, and which always appears to flee as he pursues it. Empiricism has suggested its baseless theories-Utopianism has come forward with its gilded proposals for ameliorating the condition of humanitysenators in their wisdom-despots with their ukases— philosophers with their speculations-visionaries in their dreams have all attempted to raise man up to what he ought to be; but by their speculations and their efforts, they have often helped rather to sink man deeper and deeper into misery. Science, governments, philosophy, have combined their power-and all tend to prove, concerning our species as well as each individual, that we are not what we feel we might be. That progress is made upon the whole, is certain; but each new ascent only prepares us to see how much is yet to be done. The close of one struggle is but the commencement of another. That prepares the way for another, and another for in the bosom even of degraded man there lurks a latent presentiment that perfection should be his goal-that eternity is his duration, and infinity his home. He is grand, majestic, awful, as a moral being, even in his ruins. Now, the Word of God affords the noblest scope for this progressive tendency, or the operation of this universal law. It proves its heavenly origin by such sayings as these "Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect," "Be ye holy, for I am holy," "He that hath the believer's hope in him, purifies himself, as God is pure;" and then it sends us forth on our endeavours after ceaseless advancement, or ceaseless approximation to the standard which Heaven has set up. At the very moment when the earnest soul is bewailing its shortcomings, and fearing lest it fall away rather than advance, it is forced to admire the purity of the rule by which it should act-it sees that no standard but a perfect one could be sanctioned by a perfect God, and it therefore pants, and perseveres, and presses upward, never thinking that it has already attained, or is already perfect. As water seeks a level, does the soul of man seek to advance; for if it stagnates, it corrupts. True and vigorous religion thus finds its emblem in the light of heaven,-it must spread outward, and if we attempt to prevent it from spreading, we extinguish it. Or, religion finds its emblem in the pebble cast into a pool-the waves spread from the centre to the shore in ever-widening circles. Or, it THE BANYAN TREE. 371 finds an emblem in the beacon on the rock, throwing its light into the darkness to warn men away from danger or death. Or, finally, true, vigorous, spiritual religion in the soul finds an emblem in the banyan tree. That tree shoots forth its branches on every sidethese branches, in process of time, take root-from that root other branches spread to produce other trees in their turn, till a marvel in the vegetable world be seen. In like manner, new accessions of grace should evermore be made by the soul. It receives light from on high-it should reflect that light to others, and thus subserve the high purpose of glorifying God by doing good to man. And this is the healthy, or the normal condition of a soul on earth. As the Scriptures recognise "babes," and "young men," and "old men," in the church of Christ, every believer, while here below, is evermore straining after a more advanced position-he would rise nearer and nearer to the stature of a perfect man in Christ. He would go on unto perfection, and acts unconsciously on the saying of Paul:-"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." He would add to his faith virtue, and all the Christian graces, and, regarding every new attainment which he makes as only a higher vantageground from which to make another and another, the believer never thinks that his work is done, but onward and upward he presses, till in the end his reward is embodied in a privilege like that which Enoch enjoyed. He "walked with God;" and the believer endures or enjoys as seeing Him who is invisible. At one time he may be weeping, and at another rejoicing. Now he may be upon the mount, anon he may be in depths, like those in which Jonah lay. Now there may be a keen struggle demanded, and amid it the soul may be haunted by the fear that no progress is made. Again, the soul may be carried gently forward by the grace of God-ere ever the believer is aware, his soul may be filled with joy |