II. What is the nature of that reward promifed in our text to all fuch good and faithful fervants?

And, as it is here defcribed, it implies, principally, the four following things:

1. The acceptance of their persons with God. This is implied in the character here given them, and reprefented in the parable, as given them by their Lord, when he calls them to give an account of their stewardship, good and faithful servants. And you will please farther to observe, they are not only acknowledged as good and faithful, but received with a "Well done, ye good and faithful fervants." This, indeed, chiefly imports an approbation of their conduct but it is no lefs expreffive of the acceptance of their perfons.

But to estimate this bleffing in a proper manner, it is neceflary to recollect, that as finners, we had forfeited all right to this acceptance with God, and juftly merited his fevere difpleasure. That we deserve nothing but indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguifh, from him, throughout an immortality of woe. Yea, that fuch is the nature of the forfeiture we have made of the Divine favor; and fuch the justice of the fentence that binds us down to fuffer his difpleasure, that it appears not to have been compatable with the honor of God, to reverse the sentence and reftore the finner to favor, without an adequate fatisfaction. And the price paid for this bleffing, the precious blood of the Son of God, greatly contributes to enhance its value. But how rich the mercy, for an heir of Hell to become, in this way, "an heir of God, and a joint heir with Chrift Jefus !"

2. It implies the approbation and acceptance of their services for God, and his caufe in the world. Every individual among them fhall be received with a "Well done,a thou good and faithful fervant, thou haft been faithful over a few things." Language cannot exprefs the approbation of the great Judge of quick and dead, in ftronger terms. But did our time admit of confidering the many

a The original word Ev, here rendered "well done," has a force that cannot be fully expreffed in our language.

imperfections that attend the very beft fervices performed by the holieft of our Lord's fervants, for him, how deeply ftained they are with guilt, it would ferve, not a little, to illuftrate the riches of that reward conferred upon them, in this acceptance of their fervices for him. And this farther fuggefts, what it is of importance to attend to, that this acceptance of our perfons and fervices, when we come to ftand before unblemished purity, is not of merit, but of grace, through the atonement and interceffion of the Divine Mediator. "It is to the praise of the glory of his grace, that he makes us accepted in the beloved."a But it is not the lefs certain, for its being of grace.

This acceptance of our perfons and fervices, is of itself a high reward, for all we have ever done, or can do, for God, while in this life, where there none other but this is not all-for,

3. This reward implies actual and superadded honors, conferred upon the faithful fervants of Chrift, in the great day of God. This is the import of "Thou haft been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." What the nature of thefe honors fhall be, we are not fo clearly taught. Two things, however, seem to be plain respecting them, in the facred oracles, namely, That they fhall bear fome proportion to our faithfulness and diligence in our Lord's fervice here-and that they fhall be great.

They fhall bear fome proportion to our diligence and faithfulness in our Lord's fervice in this life. We read, "There is one glory of the fun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the ftars: for one ftar differeth from another in glory-So alfo is the refurrection of the dead."b Thefe words plainly point us to a difference in the degrees of that glory which fhall be conferred on the feveral fervants of Chrift, in the day when he fhall finifh the mediatorial fyfiem, by raifing the dead, and judging the world in righteoufnefs. They thall differ as the fun differs from the moon, and the moon from the ftars, and the ftars one from another. But the ground of this differ.

VOL. I.

a Ephefians i. 6.

b 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42.

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ence will be, the zeal, the diligence, and the faithfulness with which his fervants have ferved him in this life. I may not say their fuccefs will have no influence on this difference of reward: for we read, "That they who turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the ftars, forever and ever."a But when we confider that it is an act of mere fovereignty in God, whether he will fucceed the faithful labors of his fervants, yea, or not, it is not fo confonant to our ideas of equity, to make it an equal ground of diftinguifhed honors, with thofe things that are voluntary in us, as our faithfulness and diligence, in a great measure are. Besides, this would be to weaken, if not to deftroy, the encouragement to diligence and faithfulness, arifing from thofe promises of reward to them, fo frequent in the oracles of truth; efpecially as the moft diligent and faithful fervants of Christ, are not always the most fuccefsful. And it farther deserves our notice that the reward conferred, in our text, on the good fervant, is founded, not on his success but on his faithfulness; "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things."

I fhall only add, under this particular, that the parable of the ten pounds, entrusted by their Lord to the ten fervants, which you have in the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel by Luke, fufficiently demonftrates, that the rewards that fhall be conferred on the fervants of Chrift at laft, will not only differ in their degrees of honor, but that this honor fhall bear a proportion to their diligence and faithfulness for him in this life. They each one received one pound a piece, as you may perceive by reading the parable. Of thefe, one, by his diligence and faithfulness, had gained ten pounds and he is made ruler over ten cities. -Another by his diligence, had gained five pounds, and he is made ruler over five cities.

You will please to obferve, the fums entrusted to these fervants were the fame; but the improvement is reprefented as different, and that the difference in the reward is proportioned to the difference in the improvement.

a Daniel xii. 3.

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The loweft degree, however, of this reward fhall be very great to those who receive it. This appears, from the images ufed in Scripture, to illuftrate its nature. It is compared to, it is illuftrated by, all the glories of royalty. Hence we read of " a crown of righteoufnefs,"a and of" a crown of glory, that fadeth not away,"b that shall be conferred upon all the fincere difciples of Chrift. Of a throne, and their sitting upon that throne; To him that overcometh, will I grant to fit with me on my throne, even as I alfo overcame, and am fet down with my Father in his throne." We alfo read of a kingdom, and their entering on the poffeffion of that kingdom: Come ye bleffed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."d Agreeably to this, the good and faithful fervants of Christ are faid to be made kings and priests unto God.e But a throne, a crown, and a kingdom, are the fummit of earthly grandeur, the utmost reach of human achievement. And yet thefe, all thefe, fall infinitely fhort of the bleffednefs and honors in fure referve for those whofe character I have defcribed: for it is written, Eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."f

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4. The reward in our text includes the most consummate happiness, in the immediate presence and fruition of a God in Christ. This is imported in that phrafe, ter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Thefe are literally, "Joys unfpeakable, and full of glory." They include all that happiness that is derived to the fpirits of juft men made perfect, from the clearest knowledge of a God in Chrift; from the most perfect conformity to him, and the fulleft enjoyment of him. By the clearest knowledge of a God in Chrift, I do not mean a perfect knowledge of him; for "Who, by fearching, can find out God, or know the Almighty to perfection?"g But I mean the fulleft knowledge of him, that the then enlarged and daily enlarging capacity can poffibly receive; and which, when

a 2 Tim. iv. 8. bi Pet. v. 4. c Rev. iii. 21. d Mat. xxv. 34. e Rev. i. 6. f 1 Cor. ii. 9. g Job xi. 7.

compared with our prefent knowledge, will be in a sense perfect. The clearnefs, precision, extent, and fatisfactory nature of this knowledge, are expreffed, in Scripture, by "Teeing no more darkly through a glafs, but face to face; and knowing even as alfo we are known."a And by the fong expreffive phrafe of " feeing God's face."b

This knowledge of God, efpecially as fhining in the face of Chrift, is one principal fource of that confummate happiness, enjoyed by glorified fpirits. They know him as their God and portion, and as fuch their delightful experience recognizes and realizes him. That is an inftructive and emphatical phrafe, as it lies in the original, Rev. xxi. 3. laft claufe-which literally rendered, runs thus, " And God himself fhall be with them, their God;" that is, exhibiting and manifefling himfelf to them, as their God, in all the ways that their fouls, now arrived at the maturity of their exiftence both in a natural and moral view, can poffibly admit. Every power of the matured mind fhall be an avenue, through which bleffednefs fhall flow into it, from God, the fountain of bleffednefs, throughout an unwafting immortality.

I may not, I dare not undertake to defcribe the nature of this happiness. I fhall only obferve refpecting it, that our text files it "the joy of our Lord"-" Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord"--This, no doubt, means the joy of our Lord Chrift.

It is the joy of our Lord, because it has been purchased by him. This reflects a peculiar glory upon it, in the eftimation of the fpirits of juft men made perfect; it infufes a divine and exquifite relifh into it-to this accords their fong to him, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the feals thereof: for thou waft flain, and haft redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."c

Again-It is the joy of our Lord, because Christ, our Lord, has taken possession of it in the name of his people -Some of his laft words to his difciples were, "I go to prepare a place for you."d He rofe from the dead and

1 C. x.. 12. b Rev. xxii. 6. c Rev. v. 9. d John xiv. 2.