The more high and improved a man's graces be, the more that man will do for God ; and the more any man doth for God. the more at last shall he receive from God : 1 Cor. xv. 58, ' Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.* So Gal. vi. 7, seq., ' He that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly ; but he that sows liberally shall reap liberally.'^ The more any man hath im-
' Tlie Hebrew word ytiH, rashang, signifies properly ira»»ijof, a laborious sinner, a prac- titioner in sin. The verb rashang signifies to make a stir, to be exceeding busy, unquiet, or troublesome, &c.
* Witness Ahab, Haman, Jehu, Jeroboam, the fool in the Gospel, and those in Mat. xxiii. 14-16.
' Darius, before he came to the kingdom, received a garment for a gift of one Syloson, and when he became king, he rewarded him with the command of bis country, Samoa, &c. [As before. See Index, sub nomine. — U.]
EpH. Ill 8.] EICHES OF CHRIST. 14r7
proved his grace, the more that man will be able to bear and suffer for God ; and the more any man bears and suffers for God, the more glory shall that man have at last from God : Mat. v. 11, 12, ' Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake ; rejoice and be exceeding glad,' or * leap and dance for joy, leap and skip for joy,' &c. Why so ? 'For great is your reward in heaven.' God is a liberal paymaster, and no small things can fall from so great and so gracious a hand as his. The more excellent any man is in grace, the more he is the delight of God. Ps. xvi. 3, 4, ' My goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight." Now this is spoken in the person of Christ, for the apostle applies these words to Christ, Acts ii. 25. Now saith Christ, ' My goodness reaches not to thee>' O Father ! ' but to the saints, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.' And doubtless, they that are his greatest delight on earth, shall be possessed of the greatest glory in heaven. If fathers give the greatest portions to those children in whom they delight, why should not Christ ? *[s it equity in the one, and iniquity in the other ■? Surely no. Christ may do with his own as he pleases.^
Again, the more any man improves his grace, the clearer, sweeter, fuller, and richer is his enjoyments of God here. There is no man in all the world that hath such enjo}Tnents of God, as that man hath that most improves his graces. It is not he that knows most, nor him that hears most, nor yet he that talks most, but he that exercises grace most, that hath most communion with God, that hath the clearest visions of God, that hatli the sweetest discoveries and manifestations of God. Now certainly if they that improve their graces most, have most of God here, then without controversy, they shall have most of God hereafter. Doubtless a man may as well plead for equal degrees of grace in this world, as for equal degrees of glory in the other world.
Again, if those who are most graceless and wicked shall be most tor- mented, then certainly they that are most gracious shall be most exalted in the day of Christ. But the more wicked any man is, the more shall he be tormented in the day of vengeance : ' Woe to you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shall receive the greater damnation,' Mat. xxiii. 14, Luke xii. 47, 48. The darkest, the lowest, the hottest place in hell is provided for you ; therefore it roundly follows, that those that are most gi'acious shall at last be most glorious.
And thus much for the motives that tend to .provoke all the precious sons of Zion, to make a thorough improvement of the gifts and graces that the Lord hath bestowed upon them.
I shall now come to the resolution of a weighty question, and so con- clude this point, which I have been the longer upon, by reason of its very great usefulness in these day.s, wherein men strive to exercise any- thing, yea, everything, but grace and holiness, &c.
Now this question is this.
Quest. When Tiiay a soul he said to he excellent in grace, or to have highly inir>roved grace ?
Now to this question I shall give these following answers :
' The father delights in all his children, yet Bometimes he delights more in one than in another, &c.
148 THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
[1.] First, A soul that is high and excellent in grace, that hath improved his graces to a considerable height, will keep humble and unspotted under great outivard enjoyments. It is said of Daniel, that he had * an excellent spirit ;' and herein did his excellent spirit appear, in that he was holy and humble in heart, though high in place and worth, &c., Dan. vi. 3-7. Daniel keeps humble and holy when he is lifted high, yea, made the second man in the kingdom. Malice itself could not find anything against him, but ' in the matter of his God.'^ , It is much to be very gracious when a man is very great, and to be high in holiness when advanced to high places. Usually men's blood rises with their outward good. Certainly, they are worthy ones, and shall walk with Christ in white, whose garments are not defiled with greatness or riches, &c.. Rev. iii. 4.