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we possessed in the other. Now that which we had lost was the love of God and our neighbour. Love is the fulfilling of the law: love, therefore, comprehends the whole of duty; consequently the want, or the opposite of love, comprehends the whole of depravity. No, if it be said, the understanding is darkened-True, but this is owing to the evil temper of the heart. (Eph. iv. 18.) There is no sin in being ignorant, as observed before, any further than that ignorance is voluntary, or owing to some evil bias. This we are sure is the case with wicked men, with respect to their not understanding the gospel. Why do ye not understand my speech? said our Lord to the jews: The answer is, Because ye cannot hear my word. His word did not suit the temper of their hearts; therefore they could not understand it. Prejudice blinded their eyes. Here then lies the malady; and if the remedy correspond with it, it must consist in being renewed in the spirit, or temper of our minds; and not merely in having the intellectual faculty enlightened.

It may be said, we cannot love that of which we have no idea; and therefore light in the understanding is necessary to the exercise of love in the heart. Be it so; it is no otherwise necessary than as it is necessary that I should be a man in order to be a good man. There is no virtue or holiness in knowledge, further than as it arises from some virtuous propensity of the heart, any more than there is in our being possessed of human nature. This, therefore, cannot be the grand object communicated by the holy Spirit in regeneration.

Should it be further objected, That those who plead for a new light in the understanding, mean by it more than mere speculative knowledge; that they mean spiritual or holy light, such as conforms the heart, and

life-To this I should answer: If so, the light or knowledge of which they speak is something more than knowledge, literally and properly understood: it must include the temper of the heart, and therefore is very improperly distinguished from it.

To represent men as only wanting light, is indeed acknowledging their weakness, but not their depravity. To say of a man who hates his fellow-man, 'He does not know him: If he knew him, he would love him'is to acknowledge that the enmity towards the injured persen is owing to mere mistake, and not to any contrariety of temper or conduct. The best of characters might thus be at variance, though it is a great pity they should, especially for any long continuance. If this be the case between God and man, the latter is not so depraved a creature as we have hitherto conceived of him. The carnal mind is not enmity against God, but merely against an evil Being, which in his ignorance he takes God to be. To this may be added: If sin originate in simple ignorance, (which is supposed, in that the removal of this ignorance is sufficient to render us holy,) then it is no more sin; nor is there any such thing as moral evil in the universe. So far as we can trace our actions to simple ignorance, or ignorance in which we are altogether involuntary; so far, as we have already seen, we may reckon ourselves innocent, even in those cases wherein, had we not been ignorant, we should have been guilty. These are se rious consequences; but such as at present appear to me to be just.

The above is submitted to the consideration of Tardus, and the reader, as the result of the maturest reflections of the writer.

GAIUS.

DEGREES IN GLORY,

PROPORTIONED TO WORKS OF FIETY,

Consistent with Salvation by Grace alone.
[In the Evangelical Magazine for May, 1794.]
Mr. Editor,

A

CONSTANT reader of the Evangelical Magazine for September last, p. 376, approves of several observations which were made on the parable of the Unjust Steward, but wishes me to show more particularly the consistency of spiritual and eternal blessings being bestowed as a reward of works of piety and charity, and consequently of different degrees of glory being hereafter conferred on different persons, according to their conduct in the present life, with the doctrine of salvation by grace alone.-I consider the above as an interesting inquiry, and submit the following as an answer.

In the first place: It seems proper a little more fully to establish the sentiments themselves. Whether we can perceive their consistency, or not, they manifestly appear to be taught in the holy scriptures. The same divine writers who teach the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, teach also that eternal life will be conferred, as a reward, on those who have served the Lord with fidelity, and suffered for his sake in the present world. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake; great is their reward in heaven, In the addresses to the seven Asiatic churches, eternal life, under various forms of expression, is promised as the reward of those who shall overcome the temptations and persecutions of the present state. Nor is it a mere promise of eternal life in general to those who shall overcome; but of a reward according to the deeds done in the body. This subject will appear with the fullest evidence, if we consider the nature of that enjoyment of which the heavenly state will consist.

First: Heavenly bliss will greatly consist in our being approved of God. There is a day approaching, when God will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall every man have praise of God. That which Enoch had on earth, all God's faithful servants shall have in heaven, a testimony that they have pleased God: and a heaven it will be of itself! But it is impossible that all good men should partake of this satisfaction in an equal degree, unless they had all acted in this world exactly alike.

Secondly: Heavenly bliss will consist in the exercise of love, supreme love to God: And if so, the more we have done for him, the more our hearts will be filled with joy on the remembrance of it. The same principle that makes us rejoice in his service here, will hereafter make us rejoice that we have served him; and as love here makes us glory even in tribulation, if God may but be honoured, so there it will make us rejoice that we were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name's sake. It is thus our present light afflice tions work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; and thus, by labouring and suffering in his cause, we lay up treasure in heaven. All this supposes that, unless we had equally laboured and suffered for God in this world, we cannot equally enjoy him in the next.

Thirdly: Heavenly bliss will consist in ascribing glory to God and the Lamb: But this can be performed only in proportion as we have glory to ascribe. He that has done much for God has obtained more crowns, if I may so speak, than others; and the more he has obtained, the more he will have to cast at the Redeemer's feet. When we hear a THORNTON, a HOWARD, or a PAUL, acknowledge, By the grace of God I am what I am, there is a thousand times more meaning in the expressions, and a thousand times more glory redounds to God, than in the uttering of the same words by some men, even though they be men of real piety. The apostle of the gentiles speaks of those to whom he had been made useful, as such who would be his joy and crown another day. But if there were not different degrees of glory in a future state, every one that enters the kingdom of heaven, yea, every infant caught thither from the womb or breast, must possess the same joyful recollection of its labours, and the same crown as the apostle Paul, The stating of such a supposition is sufficient to refute it.

Fourthly: Heavenly bliss will consist in exploring the wonders of the love of God. --Spiritual knowledge expands the soul, so as to render it capable of containing more than it would otherwise do. Every vessel will be filled, as some have expressed it; but every vessel will not be of equal dimensions. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are represented as conspicuous characters in the kingdom of heaven, with whom it will be a blessedness to sit down in communion. Peter, Paul, and other such eminent characters, are prepared for a greater degree of enjoyment, than christians in

common.

Some have objected against this doctrine, That we are all loved with the same love, purchased by the same blood, called by the same calling, and heirs of

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