'SECT. III.] THE HAPPINESS OF SEPARATE SPIRITS. 591 entirely conferred by grace, yet, as one observes here, " The Lord hath fixed a proportion between the work and the reward;" so that as one has different degrees of goodness, the other shall have different degrees of ex- cellency. Our Saviour assures us, that the torments of hell shall admit of various degrees and distinctions ; some will be more exquisite and terrible than others: It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judg- ment, who never sinned against hair so much light, than it shall be for Chorazin, Rethsaida, and Capernaum, where Christ himself had preached his gospel, and con- firmed it with most evident miracles ; Mat. xi. 21 -24. And the servants who did not the will of their Lord, shall be beaten with more or fewer stripes, according to their different degrees of knowledge and advantages of instruction ; Luke xii, 47, 48. Now may we not, by a parallel reasoning, suppose there will be various orders and degrees of reward in heaven, as well as punishment in hell; since there is scarce a greater variety among the degrees of wickedness among sinners on earth, than there is of holiness among the saints ? When the apostle is describing the glories of the body at the great resurrection, he seems to represent the dif- ferences of glory that shall he conferred on different saints, by the difference of the great luminaries of hea- ven, 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. There is one glory of the suit, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars : for one star differs from another, in glory : So- also is the resurt,ection of the dead. The prophet Tiániel led the way to this description, and the same Spirit taught the apostle the same language ; Dan. xii. 2, 3. And many of diem, that sleep in the dust of theearth, shall awake, sonic to everlasting life, andsome to shame and everlasting contempt; and they that be wise shall shine, with common glory as the brightness of thefirmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, shall have a peculiar lustre, as the stars, for ever and ever. And if there be a difference in the visible glories of the saints at the resurrection, if those who turn many to righteousness shall sparkle in that day, with brighter beams than those who are only wise for their own salva- tion, the same reason leads us to believe a difference of
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