1.A 30. LETTER XXX

LETTER XXX.

We are saved by grace Rewarded according to our works These two truths reconciled Salvation one thing, reward an other All saved by grace, the nest not excepted Yet rewarded according to our works Hence the different degrees of glory will be in proportion to our works Harmony of these two truths, salvation by grace, arid reward of works Every pious work will be rewarded What a motive this to diligence For every act of obedience shall be rewarded. MY DEAR M : Having attended to the resurrection of the dead in the former letter, it seems proper to inquire now respecting the re wards which the saints shall have bestowed on them by the Judge of heaven and earth.

There are two truths equally revealed in the Sacred Scriptures, and which, therefore, equally claim our attention and challenge our belief. The first is, that we arc saved by grace. That our salvation from first to last, including the en tire scheme of redemption by Jesus Christ, our conviction for sin, justification, sanctification, and our preservation in holiness, and our glorification at the right hand of God, is all of grace that it all originated, is carried on, and perfected by the free grace of God in Christ Jesus this is a truth unequivocally revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and is attested by every experimental Christian from the creation down to the JM time. Let this, therefore, remain an established axiom in our theological creed. The second is no less certain, namely, that we are rewarded according to our works. This is also unequivocally asserted in numerous pas sages of Holy Scripture, and so precious are the good works of the pious considered by our Saviour, that he said, " Whosoever giveth a cup of cold water to any, in the name of a disciple, he shall not lose his reward."

Now, our business is to reconcile these two truths, and to show not only that they are not contradictory one to the other, but that they subsist in perfect harmony, and consequently that they support and defend each other.

Salvation, then, is one thing, and reward an other. A man may be saved by an amazing act of Divine grace, and yet have no reward. Thus, the thief upon the cross was saved, but he had no reward, merely because he had done no good works. This is the case also with all those who die in infancy they are saved by an act of grace, merely because Jesus Christ made an unconditional atonement for them, and thus bought them off from the curse of the Adamic law. Though thus saved, they have no reward. So also, I suppose, thousands are saved upon a dying bed, who, in their last, moments, repent, believe in Christ, and ask for mercy, and are snatched from the burning pool, by an astonishing act of Divine grace while others are " saved so as by fire," that is, they do but just escape, in consequence of the imperfect manner in which they have prepared themselves for death and judgment, owing to the incorrect views they had respecting the plan of salvation. These all have escaped from their sins by an amazing act of Divine grace extended to them for the sake of what Jesus Christ did for them, and hence they will finally sing the song of deliverance to God’s unbounded love in redeeming them from their sins, and washing them in the blood of the Lamb, in such an undeserved way and time.

Indeed we are all, the best of us not excepted, saved by grace. Were it not so, we could not be saved at all, for " we have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God," and therefore need pardon and sanctification to fit us for the enjoyment of God in heaven. And even the most holy among us have, at times, been guilty of many aberrations from the strict rule of justice, and therefore have fallen under the curse of God’s holy laws, and should therefore be condemned, were it not for the grace of God in Christ Jesus, which saves us from the guilt thus incurred, washes nit th- st:iins i.f -in, and thereby prepares us to shout the praises of re deeming love forever. It is, moreover, by the grace of God that we are kept from falling, pre served from moment to moment in the path of purity, and " strengthened with might in the inner man," to do and suffer His righteous will. This is all of grace, from first to last. Hence all who are saved at all, are saved by grace, and must therefore shout in the great day, " Grace, grace unto it!"

Nevertheless, such is the goodness of God, that he is pleased to reward every act of obedience to his commands, whether it be by way of sacrifice of property, reputation, labour in his cause, or acts of mercy and charity to the souls and bodies of his needy followers and others. Hence it is said, that every man shall be " rewarded according to his works." This, as is well known, is declared in numerous places in the Holy Scriptures. Thus in that well known passage, Matt, 25:31-46, in which the distinction is marked between the righteous and the wicked at the last day, and the reasons assigned why the one shall be received into the kingdom of heaven, and the other " shall go away into everlasting punishment," into that "lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels." To the righteous the King is represented as saying,

"Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in : Naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me. . . . Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Now it is manifest from this, and other similar passages which occur in various parts of the Sacred Writings, that those who are found at the right hand of God at the last day, will all be rewarded according as their works have been in this world; and hence it appears reasonable to believe, that the several degrees of glory shall be in exact proportion to the measure and weight of their good works; for these will form the criterion by which they shall be tried when God "comes to make up his jewels." The apostle speaks of the different degrees of reward in 1 Corinthians 15:41-42, where he says, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." These words cortninlv indicate thnt thore shall be different degrees of glory among those who are raised from the dead, as much so as there are different degrees of brightness and splendour among the stars of the firmament; and this comparison had long before been authorized by the prophet Daniel, who had said, that " they that turn many to righteousness should shine as the stars, forever and ever," that is, they shall emit various degrees of splendour : and these shall be in proportion to their capacities, and the amount of their good works; or the number of their talents, and the manner in which they have improved them; for it is evident that each servant shall be rewarded or punished, not according to the number of talents merely with which he was favoured, but in proportion to the manner in which he improved or neglected to improve them, " Crown d with righteousness, arise Far above these nether skies."

They shall participate, each one according as he has fulfilled his holy trust, " done good in his day and generation," in all the glory peculiar to his allotment in the bright galaxy of the renovated firmament of the " new heavens," and in this " New world, his truth to prove, A world of righteousness and love."

I said that these two truths, salvation by grace, and the reward by works, not only harmonize together, but that they mutually support and de fend each other. Thus, salvation from sin by grace fits the soul to bring fortli good works. "Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good also." And as where there is good fruit on a tree, this fruit demonstrates that the tree is good; so where good works are found in the actions of a professed Christian, they unequivocally prove, that the heart which produces them must be good also; and where the heart is good, thence will proceed those good works which God will reward : and thus they reciprocally sustain and defend each other, and demonstrate the reality of the work of grace on the heart. Grace re fines the soul, and the soul thus refined is adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit, and the life is loaded with good works, and then these present an irrefutable argument in favour of the genuineness of the refining process of the Holy Spirit; and all these together proclaim the goodness of God in thus redeeming the soul from sin, and thereby fitting it to bring forth the fruits of righteousness. Thus our poet teaches us to sing:

" Meet it is, and jiut, and right, That we should bo wholly thin*; In thy only will delight, la thy blessed tervict join :

O that every WORK and word, Might proclaim how good thou art;

Holiness unto the Lord Still be written on our heart."

It is grace, therefore, that qualifies the holy believer to bring forth these good works, these works of piety, and many which demonstrate to the world that a new creation has been formed in the heart, and that all the actions of the life now proceed from a hallowed motive; for the fountain whence proceed these streams of mercy with which Emmanuel’s land is watered, and by which the souls and bodies of God’s people are refreshed and invigorated, has been purified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; and hence, such as is the fountain, such are the streams, and such are their effects.

Now what a motive does this present to diligence in the improvement of our time and talent! If every act of obedience performed with a pure motive is to be rewarded in heaven, should we not be extremely careful to fill up every niche of time in acts of piety to God and mercy to man? And if the several degrees of glory are to be in proportion to the amount of good works per formed, then it follows that the more we do and suffer in the cause of God, the brighter we shall shine in the kingdom of heaven. What floods of glory then shall burst forth upon the patriarchs and prophets, and all those holy apostles, saints, and martyrs, who laboured and suffered in the cause of Christ, from age to age, and whose works have followed them to the bar of God! I know not, indeed, but that all the con sequences of their works will be reckoned in the amount. If so, then their reward will be increased in the same proportion as their words and actions shall continue to influence mankind! How vast then will be the reward of those whose example is quoted from age to age, and whose good works stand recorded upon the page of history, as exemplifying the grace of God which sanctified their natures, and thereby rendered their works good and acceptable in the sight of God, and profitable to man! How earnestly, therefore, should we pray, in the language of the poet, " If o poor a worm as I May to thy great glory live, All my ACTIONS SANCTIFY, All my WORDS and thought! receive , Claim me Tor thy SERVICE, claim ALL I HAVE, AND ALL I AM."

Think not, my dear M., that because you love to be " little and unknown, Lov d and priz d by God alone," therefore that you will have little or no reward. Your labours of love, springing from a loving heart, your many acts of hospitality shown to the servants of God, your many unostentatious gifts to the poor in your neighbourhood, your acts of benevolence to the institutions of the Church, your words of counsel to the ignorant to the vicious, as well as the inquiring mind and the crosses you bear for Christ’s sake, as also the trials you endure from your relative position, shall be remembered by your heavenly Father, and will all meet with an ample reward at his hands in the last day, when " life is swallowed up of immortality." Let this then be your consolation, that "not a hair of your head shall fall to the ground without your heavenly Father’s notice," and that every "cup of cold water," that is, every act of benevolence, how ever small or great, shall not "lose its reward," and Christ will say unto you, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of my disciples, ye have done it unto me." Yes, my dear M., you shall with all " The saints in his presence receive Their great and eternal REWARD; In Jesus, in heaven, they live, They reign in the smile of their Lord. The flame of angelical love Is kindled at Jesus’s face; And all the enjoyment above Consists in the rapturous gaze." The thought expressed in these concluding words, suggests the nature of that happiness which the saints shall enjoy in heaven, which will be considered in the next letter, and there fore I shall conclude this by simply remarking, that all this reward of which I have spoken, originates not from the merits of the works per formed, but from the grace of God in Christ Jesus, which led him to make a promise of be stowing it upon the faithful, persevering believer, with a view to stimulate him to diligence in every good word and work. Hence he says in the words of the same poet I have so frequently quoted,

" Thou, Lord, on whom I still depend, Shalt keep me faithful to the end : I trust thy truth, and love, and power, Shall save me till my latest hour; And when I lay this body down, REWARD with an immortal crown."