Chrift, who gives unto every one their Measure of Grace, to ufe and improve, for the Manifeftation of his Glory. The Time of his coming to reckon with them, will be the Time of the Judgment: This being called a long Time; After a long time, &c. muft have a refpect from the Time of his Firft unto his Second Coming: Then it is that he faith unto both thefe, and all his Servants who had improv'd their Talents; Well done good and faithful Servant; thou baft been faithful over a few things, I will make thee Ruler over many: Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. This Word, I will make thee Ruler over many things, muft refpect the Rewards which fhall then by Chrift be given unto them. We may take notice of another thing, and that is the one Talent which the evil Servant had hid in the Ground, was to be given to him that had Ten Talents, with a Reafon why it fhould be given to him, in the Twenty Ninth Verfe: For unto every one that hath fhall be given (that is in the ufing and improving of what he bath) and he fall have abundance. This is very full to the Point. Again, Luke xii. 37. Blessed are thofe Servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, hall find watching. Verily, I fay unto you, that he shall gird bimfelf, and make them fit down to Meat; and will come forth and ferve them. What can all this mean, but that there fhall be fome particular Degree of Honour conferr'd upon them, by the Lord Fefus Chrift, in that great Day. This is very plain, that the Lord takes particular notice of all the good Works and Actions of his Children, as appears from thefe Words, Well done good and faithful Servant. And again, as here, Blessed is that Servant, when his Lord comes, who shall be found fo do

ing, (that is watching and praying, or waiting for his Coming;) verily be will come forth and Jerve them. And if fo, what can we understand by the Lord's caufing of them to fit down to Meat, and coming forth to ferve them, but the Rewards of Glory, which by Chrift fhall be conferred upon all that have moft faithfully ferved him. To this agree thofe Words in Rev. xiv. 13. and are a full Text to the Matter in hand: And I heard a Voice from Heaven, (this fhews the Certainty of what is here afferted) Jaying unto me, Write, Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth (they are bleffed both before, in, and after Death) yea, faith the Spirit, that they mayreft from their Labours, and their Works do follow them. That is the Word which I bring it for; And their Works do follow them. Now tho' the good Works of the Saints do not, muft nor cannot go before, for their Juftification and Acceptation; nothing but Chrift and his Righteoufnefs will do in this refpect: Yet the Works of the Saints are not loft, they are not left behind, or bu ried in Oblivion: No, but they do follow them. What to do? Doubtless that they may receive a Reward in the Day of Chrift: So that it fhall be faid, Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous, there is a God that judgeth in the Earth, Pf. lviii.11. Surely Mofes had this in his eye, when he forfook the Glory of Egypt, and endured a Life of Sufferings, Afflictions, and Reproaches, with the People of God It is faid, He had refpe&t unto the Recompence of the Reward. There are many other Places I might inftance, for the Proof of this. Now what Time fo fuitable for the Distribution of Reward unto the Saints, as the Kingdom of Christ, or

in the Time of the Judgment? Renaii. 217, 18. We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and waft, and art to come; because thou haft taken to thee thy great Power, and haft reigned. This has refpect unto the Time when Chrift fhall fit upon the Throne of Judgment, from what follows, And the Nations were angry, and thy Wrath is come, and the Time of the Dead, that they should be judged, and that thou fhouldeft give Rewards unto thy Servants the Prophets, and to thy Saints, and them that fear thy Name, Imall and great, and bouldeft destroy them which de Aroyed the Earth. Thus we fee, that when we come to appear before the Judgment Seat of Chrift, it will be a Time of receiving Rewards, according to what we have done in the Body, whether it be good or bad. In this Laft Word there lies fome Difficulty, and requires Explanation. If thefe Words are to be apply'd to the People of God, how they fhall receive what they have done in the Body, whether it be good or bad; it may be objected, Shall the Children of God receive any thing that is bad at this time? Verily no: They hall receive nothing but what is good, as immediately flowing from the Fountain of Eternal Goodness. Therefore I understand it thus, That the Good may be apply'd to the Righteous, which they fhall receive; and the Bad unto the Wicked. As to the manner of Diftribution in that great Day of Judgment, tho' the Time is not defined in this Text, we cannot from hence infer, that this Diftribution of Rewards of Good to the one, and of Bad to the other, will be at one and the fame time; because one will be in the Beginning, the other in the Evening of that Great Day. This appears plain in the 20th of Revelations, where

where it is faid, that the reft of the Dead lived not again (by which the Wicked are meant) until the Thousand Years were finished, ver. 5. But fo far as the Words are apply'd to the Godly, it may refpect the different Degrees of Glory that fhall be given, or in that Day fhall be beftowed upon the Saints, according as they have lived for God in the World, and improved that Talent of Grace which the Lord had given them, for the Manifeftation of his Glory and the Good of his People: Tho' the beft of the Works of the Saints do not avail, in point of Salvation; yet they fhall avail, and be fo taken notice of by the Lord Jefus, as to receive a glorious Reward in the Day of Chrift, when all their other Works, which are not good, fhall be burnt up and deftroyed; with a Lois to thofe who fhall have moft of them found to be of this fort. Therefore it doth appear to me, that upon the Coming of Cbrift, that State and Time will admit of fomeRebukes unto fome of the Saints, who, inftead of ufing and improving their Talents, have in a great meafure hid them, by their loofe, vain, and carnal Converfation; others by their earthly, worldly, and covetous Difpofition: Some again fo lifelefs, indifferent, and lukewarm, in the Things of God, as that there appeared very little difference be twixt them and others; tho' they may have the Root of the Matter in them, and fo confequently the Truth of Grace: Yet being clouded by thefe aforementioned things, their Light has fhone but little in the World. Now however it may be, with refpect unto any of them coming under rebuke at that time, fure I am that the Lord will put a difference betwixt them and those who have been moft

faithful

faithful to Chrift; which have been more useful in their Day, laying out themselves for the Glory of God, and encouraging the Cause and Intereft of the Lord Jefus, to the utmost of their power: I fay here will be a difference, in refpect of the Manifeftation of Glory which will be put upon them in the Kingdom-State, Revela. iii. 11. Behold I come quickly, hold that faft which thou haft, that no Man take thy Crown. This Crown I do not unfterftand to be the Crown of Eternal Life, because that cannot be taken away from those who once are interested in it: No; this Crown is kept for us, in a fafer Hand than ours: But the Crown which we are exhorted to look to, that no Man take it from us, is that Crown of Joy and Rejoicing, or that particular Glory and Honour that Chrift will confer upon those which have moft honoured him, when he fhall come to be glorify'd in the Saints, and admired in all them that believe. See again thofe Words of Chrift, Mat. xix. 28. And Fefus faith unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the Regeneration, when the Son of Man fhall fit upon the Throne of his Glory, ye alfo fhall fit upon the Twelve Thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Ifrael. What can be plainer than that thofe which have followed Chrift most faithfully, in their Generation, hall by Chrift be taken notice of, in fuch a particular Regard, as to fit with him upon a Throne; which does refpect a State of Honour, Dignity, and Glory. And what tho' here are but Twelve. Thrones exprefs'd in these Words, which are fpoke in allufion to the Twelve Tribes, yet it is certain that every one who overcomes fhall fit upon his Throne in this Kingdom, Rev. iii, 21. To him that overcometh