A49244:287
Grace: the truth and growth and different degrees thereof. The sum and substance of…Grace: the truth and growth and different degrees thereof. The summe and substance of…
Grace: the truth and growth and different degrees thereof. The sum and substance of XV. sermons. Preached by that faithful and painful servant of Jesus Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Lawrence Jury, London. They being his last sermons. To which is added a funeral sermon, being the very last sermon he ever preached.Grace: the truth and growth and different degrees thereof. The summe and substance of XV. sermons. Preached by that faithful and painful servant of Jesus Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Lawrence Jury, London. They being his last sermons. To which is added a funerall sermon, being the very last sermon he ever preached.
London: printed by E.G. for J. Rothwell, 1652
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Sermon 6: VI. Sermon At Lawrence Ju•y, London. March 30. 1651.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. If thou dost not grow strong in grace thou wilt be sure to decay,1 and to grow weaker: for not to go forward in grace, is to go backward. Grace may be lost in some degree, and to its exercise and comfort, though not to its being and therefore says the Apostle, If these things be in you and abound, 2they make you that ye shall neither be barren, nor unfruitful. Intimating, that you will be barren if you do not add grace to grace. Weak things, if they be not watched over, and strengthened, will be ready to die.
2. If thou dost not grow strong in grace thou wilt be sure to decay,1 and to grow weaker: for not to go forward in grace, is to go backward. Grace may be lost in some degree, and to its exercise and comfort, though not to its being and therefore sayes the Apostle, If these things be in you and abound, 2they make you that ye shall neither be barren, nor unfruitfull. Intimating, that you will be barren if you doe not adde grace to grace. Weake things, if they be not watched over, and strengthned, will be ready to die.
- 1Non pr• gredi, est regredi.
- 22 Pet. 1. 8. Re•. 3. 2.—
3. Though thou canst not lose the being of thy grace,1 yet thou wilt lose the comfort of it, and thou mayest be in as much trouble and perplexity as if thou hadst no grace at all. Its true, weak grace will bring thy soul to heaven, but its only strong grace which will bring heaven into thy soul. Little grace is like a little mote, which is not seen because it is little. Little grace is as it were no grace, as that man in the Gospel, he calls his faith unbelief;