Thomas Boston, Works, 2:31:
A Christian may be growing, and yet not be sensible of it. If one judge of his case by present feeling, he may be mistaken, Mark 4:27. If one fix his eyes on the sun or a tree, he cannot perceive the one moving or the other growing. But compare the tree with what it was some years ago, the place where the sun now is, with where it was in the morning; so shall ye know the remarkable difference. And the very same difference may be observed in the growth of a Christian.
Again, the growth is not to be measured only by the top, but by the root too. If a tree be taking with the ground, and spreading its roots there, it is surely growing. And though Christians may want the consolations and flashes of affections they sometimes had, yet, if they be growing in tenderness, humility, self denial, etc., it is true Christian growth.
A Christian may be growing, and yet not be sensible of it. If one judge of his case by present feeling, he may be mistaken, Mark 4:27. If one fix his eyes on the sun or a tree, he cannot perceive the one moving or the other growing. But compare the tree with what it was some years ago, the place where the sun now is, with where it was in the morning; so shall ye know the remarkable difference. And the very same difference may be observed in the growth of a Christian.
Again, the growth is not to be measured only by the top, but by the root too. If a tree be taking with the ground, and spreading its roots there, it is surely growing. And though Christians may want the consolations and flashes of affections they sometimes had, yet, if they be growing in tenderness, humility, self denial, etc., it is true Christian growth.
