Serm. CXXVIII. at the Da), of ,fudgment. 16g ting that the Punishment of Hypocrites will be very fevere, and as it were the Standard of the higheft Punifhment. And fo likewife, Luke 12. 47, 48. our Savi- öur tells us, that according to the Degree of Light and Knowledge whichMen fin againft, (hall be the Degree of their Torment. The Servant that knew his Lord's Will, and prepared not himfelf to do according to it, fhall be beaten with manyStriper ; But he that knew it not, and did commit Things worthy of Stripes, (hall be beatenwith few Stripes. And in general he tells us, that the Punishment of Sinners takes its Aggravation from the Advantages and Opportunities which Men have negle&ed. For unto whomfoever much is given, ofhim much 'hallbe required ; andto whomMen have committed much, ofhim they willaskthe more. So likewife the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us, that God will vindicate the Contempt of the Gofpel more feverely thanof the Lawof Mofes, Heb. 2. 2, 3, 4. If the Word fpokenby Angels wasfiedfafl, andevery Tranifgreon andDifabedience received a jufl Recompense of Reward ; how (hall we efcape, if we neglect fogreat Salvation ? And Ch. to. 28, 29. He that defpifed Mofes Law died without Mercy, under two or three Witness; of how much firer Punishment, thinl<ye, (hall he be thought worthy, who bath trodden under foot theSonof God? So that it feems very evident from Scripture, that the Degree ofRappinefs or Mifery which Men shall be fentenc'd to in the next World, shall be correfpondent to the Degree of Good or Evil, which they have done in thisWorld; and I can hardly imaginé any Thing more clear. But it feems theSchool -men, and other Divines who have been at Leifure to tie Knots; and to make Obje&ions against the plaineft Truths, have call'd this alfo into question.. And therefore I shall; in the 2d Place, Brieflyeiamine theGrounds of the contraryOpinion; which tho' they do but immediately ftrike at the Degrees of Glory and Happinefs, yet by a Parity of Reafon and Confequence, they likewife overthrow the Degrees of Punishment; and they are these two : I. They fay, That the Merits ofChrist, bywhich eternal Life and Happinefs is, purchafed for us, are equal to all thofe who haveany Íntereft in them, and are of Value fufficient to purchafe the highest Degree of Glory for them ; and the meri- torious Caufe being the fame, there is no Reafon to imagine any Difference of Degrees in the Eff'e . Anfrb. The Weaknefs of this Obje&ion, how fpecious foever it` may appear, will be evident to any one that confiders, That eternal Life and Happinefs doth not accrue to us by wayof necessaryand natural Refult from theMerit ofChrift's Obedience and Sufferings, but of voluntary Compa& and Agreement, and there- fore is only available fo far as it pleafed God the Father and Inn that it (hould be. Now the Scripture hath declared, that aryl is the Author ofeternal Salvation to them that believe and obey him: but it bath declared likewife, that according to the Degrees of our Holinefs arid Obedience; (hall be the Degrees of our Happi- nefs ; becaufe the Happinefs which Christ bath purchàfed for us, is notbellowed upon us but upon certain Terms and Conditions to be performed on our Part, upon the Performance whereof, and the Degree of that Performance, the Degrees of our Happinefs do depend. II. The other Obje&ion is from the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard; Matth. 2o. where it is faid, that they that came in at the lafl Hour received as snitch as thofe that came in at the firs(, and had born the Heat and Burden of the bay, every one bis Peny. For Anfwer to this,, It is a known Rule among Divines, that Theo- logia parabolica non eft argumentativa; by which they mean, that we cannot argue in Divinity from every Circumstance of a Parable, but only from the mainScope of it. Now this Parable feems plainly directed against the envious Yews, who murmured becaufe the Gentiles were to partake of the Bleffing of the Meas, and that they whowere called in the last Abe of theWorld, should (hare in this Bene fit, as well as the ancient People of God ; fo that by the Murmurers, the yews are defigned, who were offended that Salvation should come to theGeìniles. And then the Scope of the Parable is not, that all good Men (hall haveequal Degreesof Glo- ry ; but that theGentiles which were call'd long afterthe Jews; should be faved as well as they. I proceed to tilt second
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