If we have but grace enough to keep us
groaning after God, it is not all the world that can destroy us.
4. Perhaps thou mayest be mistaken. The grace thou prayest for may
in a great measure be come unto thee.
Thou hast been desiring of God, thou sayest, more grace, but hast it
not.
But how, if while thou lookest for it to come to thee at one door,
it come to thee at another? And that we may a little inquire into
the truth of this, let us a little, consider what are the effects of
grace in its coming to the soul, and then see if it has not been
coming unto thee almost ever since thou hast set upon this fresh
desire after it.
(1.) Grace, in the general effect of it, is to mend the soul, and to
make it better disposed. Hence, when it comes, it brings convincing
light along with it, by which a man sees more of his baseness than
at other times. If, then, thou seest thyself more vile than
formerly, grace by its coming to thee has done this for thee.
(2.) Grace, when it comes, breaks and crumbles the heart in the
sense and sight of its own vileness. A man stands amazed and
confounded in himself; breaks and falls down on his face before God;
is ashamed to lift up so much as his face to God, at the sight and
apprehension of how wicked he is.
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