3.  It would be remembered, that there may be some progress made in the way of holiness, when yet the believer may apprehend no such thing; not only because the measure of the growth may be so small and indiscernible, but also because even where the growth in itself is discernible, the Lord may think it good, for wise ends, to hide it from their eyes, that they may be kept humble and diligent; whereas, if they saw how matters stood indeed with them, they might (without a new degree of grace) swell and be puffed up, yea, even forget God, and misken themselves and others too.  Likewise this may proceed from such an earnest desire after more, that they forget any measure they have gotten, and so despise the day of small things.

4.  There may be a great progress in holiness, though not in that particular which the believer is most eyeing to his sense and apprehension:  for when he thinks he is not growing in love to and zeal for God, &c, he may be growing in humility, which is also a member of the new man of grace; and when he can perceive no growth in knowledge, there may be a growth in affection and tenderness.  And if the work be carried on in any joint or member, it decayeth in none, though it may be better apprehended in one than another.

5.  There may be much holiness, where the believer is complaining of the want of fruits, when under that dispensation of the Lord towards him, he is made to stoop before the Most High, to put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope, and pleasantly to submit to God’s wise ordering, without grudging or quarrelling with God for what he doth, and to accept sweetly the punishment of his iniquity, if he see guilt lying at the root of this dispensation.  Where there is a silent submission to the sovereign and only wise disposing hand of God, and the man is saying, if he will not have me to be a fruitful tree in his garden, nor to grow and flourish as the palm-tree, let me be a shrub, only let me be kept within the precincts of his garden, that his eye may be upon me for good; let me abide within his courts, that I may behold his countenance, there is grace, and no small measure of grace.  To be an hired servant is much, Luke xv. 19.

6.  But withal, it would be observed, that this gracious frame of soul, that is silent before God, under several disappointments, is accompanied with much singleness of heart, in panting after more holiness, and with seriousness and diligence in all commanded duties, waiting upon the Lord, who is their hope and their salvation in each of them, and with mourning for their own sinful accession to that shortcoming in their expectations.

7.  We would not think that there is no progress in Christianity, or growth in grace, because it cometh not our way, or by the instruments and means that we must expect it by.  Possibly we are too fond on some instruments and means that we prefer to others; and we think, if ever we get good, it must be that way, and by that means, be it private or public:  and God may give a proof of his sovereignty, and check us for our folly, by taking another way.  He would not be found of the bride, neither by her seeking of him secretly on her bed by night; nor more publicly, by going about the city, in the streets and broad ways; nor by the means of the watchmen, Cant. iii. 1, 2, 3.