4. They should try and see, if their negligence and carelessness in
watching, and in the discharge of duties, do not occasion their
disappointments and shortcoming. God sometimes thinks fit to suffer a
lion of corruption to set on them, that they may look about them, and
stand more vigilantly upon their watch-tower, knowing that they have to
do with a vigilant adversary, the devil, who, as a roaring lion, goeth
about seeking whom he may devour, I Pet. v. 8. and that "they fight not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world; against spiritual
wickedness in high places," Eph. vi. 12. It is not for nought that we
are so often commanded to watch, Matt. xxiv. 42, and xxv. 13, and xxvi.
41, and xiv. 38. Luke xxi. 36. Mark xiii. 33-37. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 1 Thes.
v. 6. 1 Pet. iv. 7. Col. iv. 2. Through the want of this, we know what
befel David and Peter.

5. They should try and see, whether there be not too much
self-confidence, which occasioned Peter's foul fall. God may, in justice
and mercy, suffer corruption to break loose upon such, at a time, and
tread them under foot, to learn them afterward to carry more soberly;
and to "work their salvation with fear and trembling," Phil. ii. 12,
remembering what a jealous, holy God he is, with whom they have to do;
what an adversary they have against them; and how weak their own
strength is.

6. This should be remembered, that one may be growing in grace, and
advancing in holiness, when, to his apprehension, he is not going
forward from strength to strength, but rather going backward. It is one
thing to have grace, and another thing to see that we have grace; so it
is one thing to be growing in grace, and another thing to see that we
are growing in grace. Many may question their growth in grace, when