fleece; I remember thy loving and holy visits, when my poor members were the sick, and in prison, and the like. When they were strangers, and wanderers in the world, thou tookest them in. "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."'

(3.) Here also will be a reward for all that hardness, and Christian enduring of affliction, that thou hast met with for thy Lord, whilst thou wast in the world. Here now will Christ begin from the greatest suffering, even to the least, and bestow a reward on them all; from the blood of the suffering saint, to the loss of an hair; nothing shall go unrewarded: for these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, do work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Behold, by the scriptures, how God hath recorded the sufferings of his people, and also how he hath promised to reward them. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and shall speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and leap for joy, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”

(4.) There is also a reward at this day, for all the more secret, and more retired works of Christianity. 1. There is not now one act of faith in the soul, either upon Christ, or against the devil and Antichrist, but it shall in this day be found out, and praised, honored, glorified, in the face of heaven. 2. There is not one groan to God in secret, against thine own lusts, and for more grace, light, spirit, sanctification, and strength, to go through this world like a Christian, but it shall even at the coming of Christ be rewarded openly. 3. There hath not one tear dropped from thy tender eye

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against thy lusts, the love of this world, or for more communion with Jesus Christ, but as it is now in the bottle of God, so then it shall bring forth such plenty of reward, that it shall return upon thee with abundance of increase. "Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh." "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle; are they not in thy book?" "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."

Having thus in brief showed you something concerning the resurrection of the saints, and that they shall account with their Lord at his coming, both for the burning up what was not according to the truth, and rewarding them for all their good; it remains that I now, in few words, show you something also of that with which they shall be rewarded.

1. Then those that shall be found in the day of their resurrection, when they shall have all their good things brought upon the stage-they, I say, that then shall be found the people most laborious for God while here, shall at that day enjoy the greatest portion of God, or shall be possessed with most of the glory of the Godhead then: for that is the portion of the saints in general. And why shall he that doth most for God in this world, enjoy most of him in that which is to come, but because by doing and acting, the heart, and every faculty of the soul is enlarged, and more capacitated, whereby more room is made for glory? Every vessel of glory shall at that day be full of it; but every one will not be able to contain a like measure. And so if they should have it communicated to them, they would not be able to stand under it; for there is an eternal weight in the glory that saints shall there enjoy; and every vessel must be at that day filled, that is, have its heavenly load of it. All Christians have not the same enjoyment of God in

this life, neither indeed were they able to bear it, if they had it. But those Christians that are most laborious for God in this world, they have already most of him in their souls; and that not only because diligence in God's ways, is the means whereby God communicates himself, but also because thereby the senses are made more strong and able, by reason of use, to understand God, and to discern both good and evil. For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly. He that laid out his pound for his master, and gained ten therewith, he was made ruler over ten cities; but he that by his pound gained but five, he was made ruler over but five. Often he that is best bred in his youth, is best able to manage most when he is a man (touching things of this life); but always he that is best bred, and that is most in the bosom of God, and that so acts for him here, he is the man that will be best able to enjoy most of God in the kingdom of heaven. It is observable, that Paul saith, Our afflictions work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Our afflictions do it; not only because there is laid up a reward for the afflicted, according to the measure of affliction; but because affliction, and so every service of God doth make the heart more deep, more experimental, more knowing and profound, and so more able to hold, contain, and bear more: every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labor." And this is the very reason of such sayings as these: "Lay up for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life:" which eternal life is not the matter of our justification from sin in the sight of God; for that is done freely by grace through faith in Christ's blood; but as here the apostle speaks of giving alms, it is the same that in the other place he calls the "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And hence it is that he, in his stirring them up to be diligent in good works, doth tell them, that he doth not

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exhort them to it because he wanted, but because he would have, "fruit that might abound to their account." As he saith also in another place, "Beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Therefore, I say, the reward that the saints shall have at this day, for all the good they have done, is the enjoyment of God according to their works; though they shall be freely justified and glorified without works.

2. As the enjoyment of God at that day will be to the saints according to their works and doings (I speak not now of justification from sin); so will their praise and commendations at that day be according to the same; and both of them be their degrees of glory. For I say, as God by communicating of himself unto us at that day, will thereby glorify us; so also he will (for the adding all things that may furnish with glory every way) cause to be proclaimed in the face of heaven, and in the presence of all the holy angels, every thing that hath been done by us for God, his ways and people, while we have been here. "Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness, shall be heard in the light and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops." Again, "He that shall confess me," saith he, "before men, him will I confess before the angels of God."

Now as he of whom Christ is ashamed when he comes in his glory, and in the glory of the holy angels, will then lie under inconceivable disgrace, shame, dishonor, and contempt; so he whom Christ shall confess, own, commend, and praise at that day, must needs have very great dignity, honor, and renown; for then, shall every man have praise of God, namely, according to his works. Now will Christ proclaim before thee, and all others, what thou hast done, and what thou hast suffered, what thou hast owned, and 'This is he that

what thou hast withstood for his name.

forsook his goods, his relations, his country, and life for me! This is the man that overcame the flatteries and threats, allurements and enticings of a whole world for me! Behold him, he is an Israelite indeed—the top man in his generation-none like him in all the earth!'

same.

It is said, that when king Ahasuerus had understanding of how good service Mordecai the Jew had done to and for him, he commanded that the royal apparel and the crown, with the horse that the king did ride on, should be given to him, and that he should with that crown, apparel, and horse, be led through the city, in the presence of all his nobles, and that proclamation should be made before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor." Ahasuerus in this way was a type to hold forth to the children of God, how kindly he will take all their labor and service of love, and how he will honor and dignify the As Christ saith, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching: Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." The meaning is, that those souls that shall make it their business to honor the Lord Jesus Christ in the day of their temptation, he will make it his business to honor and glorify them in the day of his glorification: "Verily, I say unto you, that he will make them sit down to meat, and shall come forth and serve them." "If any man will serve me," saith he, "him will my Father honor." It hath been God's way this world, to proclaim the acts and doings of his saints in his word, before all in this world, and he will do it in that which is to come.

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3. Another thing that shall be yet added to the glory of