The Good Degree.
I. In what consists the good degree? It consists in a higher state of spiritual life a stronger faith, a higher hope, a more entrancing and captivating love; in short, a larger possession of God, as if the Deity within flung His own grace and glory over the soul in which He dwells. That such a state is both possible and blessed, a state to be desired above all other things, will be readily admitted. For that person must be unfortunate, who has not in the circle of his acquaintance some such saint, whose whole soul is aflame with God, and who walks around the familiar objects of daily life, consecrating with his own beauty every act and deed, and reflecting in a face like the face of an angel, the shining of the light that fills the soul within.
II. But a good degree includes a further idea, and that is a higher state in glory, a place nearer God in the world to come, a more perfect knowledge of Him, and a more entrancing enjoyment of Him for ever and ever. This, we must bear in mind, springs from the other, and is but its completion. Grace is but the preparation for glory, the blossom of which glory is the ripened fruit. The hope of such a reward is a grand and elevating sentiment, far above those gross elements, which have led some to regard the hope of reward as an unworthy motive for a Christian. We need not attempt to be superior to our Master, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross. The bestowment of any reward at all is wonderful when the work is all of grace. But our gracious Master knows that we have need of the stimulus of it, and He has made it worthy of Himself,
E. Garbett, Experiences of the Inner Life,p. 95.
References: 1 Timothy 3:13. Church of England Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 73; vol. xxi., p. 285.