“To grow in grace, is to be emptied of all dependence upon ourselves and practically to constitute the blessed Jesus our all and in all. He must increase, but we must decrease. We take him for our all when first we believe; but what that fully implies, we do not, when first we believe, yet understand. To grow in grace is the unfolding of that mystery. It is experimentally to know that Christ is of God made unto us sanctification. That in the Lord we have not only righteousness, but in him also we have strength. It is to experience that when we are weak, then we are strong, and when we grow downward in humility, patience and resignation, then we most effectually grow upwards in holiness. In this last particular, perhaps more than in any other, the saints are enabled to discern their growth in grace. They become in their own eyes, more vile, more empty and helpless, while the grace of Christ proves sufficient for them, and his strength is made perfect in their weakness.” — John H. Livington, Growth in Grace (1791)