be. Now, the fcripture hath declared, that Chrift is the author of eternal falvation to them that believe and obey him: But it hath declared likewife, that, according to the degrees of our holiness and obedience, fhall be the degrees of our happiness, because the happiness which Chrift hath purchased for us, is not bestowed 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 happiness do depend.

II. The other objection is from the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, Matth. xx. where it is faid, that they that came in at the last hour, received as much as they that came in at the first, and had borne the heat and burden of the day, every one his penny. For answer to this, it is a known rule among divines, that Theologia parabolica non eft argumentativa; by which they mean, that we cannot argue in divinity from every circumstance of a parable, but only from the main scope of it. Now, this parable feems plainly directed against the envious Jews, who murmured because the Gentiles were to partake of the bleffing of the Meffias, and that they who were called in the laft age of the world, should share in this benefit, as well as the antient people of God; fo that, by the murmurers, the Jews are defigned, who were offended that falvation fhould come to the Gentiles. And then the fcope of the parable is not, that all good men shall have equal degrees of glory; but that the Gentiles, which were called long after the Jews, fhould be faved as well as they. I proceed to the

Second Thing I propofed to enquire into, viz. The grounds and reafons of this, Why the rewards, which shall be diftributed at the day of judgment, shall bear a proportion to the good or evil which men have done in this life? And,

I. That they fhall be correfpondent to the nature and quality of our actions, the juftice and equity of the Divine Providence doth plainly require. For juftice is to give to every one that which of due belongs to him: Now, of equity, it belongs to them that do well, that it fhould go well with them; and to the evil, that it fhould be ill with them; that every one fhould receive the fruit of his doings.

Not

Not that we can ftrictly merit any thing at the hand of God. It is goodness to reward an innocent creature, and it is goodness to reward the good actions of those who have been finners; but juftice requires that good and bad men fhould not fare alike. Thus Abraham reafons from the juftice of God, that the righteous fhould be as the wicked, that be far from thee; fhall not the Judge of all the world do right? And, confidering the promises which the goodnefs of God hath made freely to good men, for their encouragement in goodnefs, the performance of these mifes is founded in the righteousness and faithfulness of God.

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2. That the rewards of the next life fhould bear a proportion to the degree of the good or evil done by us in this life, is clearly founded in the equity and reasonableness of the thing; it being very much for the encouragement of bolinefs and goodness, to be affured that, whatever we do for God now, will be fully confidered and rewarded hereafter; that he will take notice of the leaft fervice that we do for him, and that every degree of grace and holiness fhall be crowned with an answerable degree of glory and. happiness. And so, on the other hand, it tends very much to difcountenance fin, and to keep men from running to the height of impiety, to confider that every fin will aggravate their mifery, and that every degree of wickedness will add to the weight of their torment; and that, though they be children of wrath already, yet, by adding iniquity to tranfgreffion, they may caufe the wrath of God and his jealousy to fmoke against them, and bring more curfes upon themfelves, and make themselves ten times more the children of wrath.

And, indeed, in the nature of the thing, it cannot be otherwise, but that the better and more holy any man is, the more capable he should be of happiness, and the more difpofed for the enjoyment of God; and the more wicked any man is, the more he should exasperate his own confcience, and awaken thofe furies which rage in his breast. He treafures up more wrath against the day of wrath, and piles up more fuel for everlafting burnings. The torments of hell are, in fcripture, compared to fire; now,

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the more fuel and greater ftore of combuftible matter is caft into it, the more fierce and raging it must be.

I have done with the explication, and shall now apply what hath been delivered.

I. If fentence fhall be paffed at the great day according to the good or bad actions of men, this fhews us what fhould be the great care of every man in this life; to attend to the nature and quality of our actions, and to obferve that difference between them in our practice now, which our judge will certainly make in the fentence which he will pafs upon them at the great day. And yet fo blind and miftaken is the greateft part of the world, that they make this the least part of their care and bufinefs. Men are generally very folicitous to be rich and great, and to be in a healthful and profperous condition, and do with all poffible care feek to avoid ficknefs, and poverty, and meannefs; but how few are concerned to be virtuous and good, and to avoid wickednefs and vice! and yet these moral differences of men, at the day of judgment, will only be taken into confideration; other things will not profit us in the day of wrath. God, in that day, will not proceed with. men according to their outward quality and condition in: this life; their eternal estate shall not then be decided according to their wealth or poverty, their height and meannefs in this world: It will not then be enquired, what office a man bore, what titles of honour, what manors or lordfhips he was owner of; but how he hath behaved himself in thofe circumftances, what ufe he hath made of his. wealth and power, what good or evil he hath done, whether he hath glorified God, and ferved the great ends of his creation; whether he hath obeyed or difobeyed the truth; whether he hath lived in ungodliness and worldly lufts, or feberly, ond righteously, and godly in this prefent world; in a word, whether we have been righteous or wicked. This will be the great enquiry at that day; and thefe qualities, according as they are found with us, will determine our condition for ever.

II. The confideration of this may comfort good men under the promiscuous difpenfations of God's providence in this world. Now, all things generally happen alike, and there is the fame event to the righteous and to the

wicked;

wicked; but things will not be always thus. Have but a little patience, and the juftice of God's providence, which is now under a cloud, will clear up; the day is coming, which will make a wide and vaft difference between good and bad men, between thofe that ferve God, and thofe that ferve him not; thofe that fwear, and thofe that fear an eath; between the lewd and the chafte, the fober and debauched, the meek of the earth and the murderers; between the proud and the humble, the juft and the oppreffors; between those that perfecute, and those who are perfecuted for righteoufnefs.

Now, the difference is frequently on the wrong fide; good men fuffer and are afflicted, the wicked flourish and are profperous: But go into the fanctuary of God, and there thou shalt fee their end. Let us but look a little before us, beyond the things which are feen, and are but temporal, unto the things which are not feen, and are eternal, and we fhall fee all things ftraight; that the end of the wicked, who flourished in this world, is to be deftroyed for ever; and that the righteous, who were fo diftreffed and afflicted in this world, fhall enter into reft and joy; when the days of refreshing fhall come from the prefence of the Lord, these fhall be comforted, and the other tormented.

III. If the reward of the next life fhall bear a proportion to the degrees of good or evil which we have done in this world, then, on the one hand, here is matter of great comfort and encouragement to us in the ways of holiness and obedience. This is a mighty argument to good men to grow in grace, and to prefs forward toward perfection, to be fedfaft and unmoveable, and abundant in the work of the Lord, because they know that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord; but that, according to the degree of our fervice and obedience, of our virtue and goodness, fhall be the degree of our glory and happiness. We ferve a good mafter, who will confider every thing that we do for him; who is not unrighteous, to forget our work and labour of love, and will not let the leaft service pafs unrewarded. Let us not then content ourselves with any low degree of goodness; but be continually afpiring after the highest perfection we are capable of. Since we have fuch a prize in our view, let us run with patience,

and

and with all our might, the race which is fet before us. For, by the fame reafon that any man defires happiness, he cannot but defire the highest degrees of it that are attainable; and will confequently endeavour to make himself capable of the greatest degree of glory: And though no degree of holiness can merit everlafting life and happiness, yet greater degrees of holinefs will certainly be rewarded with a larger portion of happiness. God is not bound antecedently to his promife, to give fo great a reward to any man for his works; yet he hath promifed to reward every man according to them.

So that there is no reason why a good man, when he is once come to this, that, by the grace and affiftance of God, he can refrain from grofs fins, and refift the temptations to them, and perform the great duties of religion, why he fhould, with Efau, fit down and fay, I have enough, I have fo much as will carry me to heaven, and I defire no more. It is a fad prefage of apoftacy, to ftand ftill in religion. He that once ftops, the next thing is to look back. This is the remedy which St Peter prescribes against apoftacy, 2 Peter iii. 18. Take heed, left ye fall from your own stedfaftness and then it follows, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Fefus Chrift. The beft remedy against apoftacy, is growth in goodness. It is a rule in policy, that an ambitious man fhould never ftay at any ftep of preferment, till he come at the top, because it is fome fecurity to be in motion. Our afcent to heaven is steep and narrow, and we are safest when we do not stand still: temptation cannot fo well take its aim at us.

Let us therefore prefs after the highest degree of virtue and holiness, and labour to be as good as we can in this world, that, in the next, our happiness may be the greater; that, when the day of recompence fhall come, we may receive an ample reward, and God, the righteous judge, may fet a bright and glorious crown upon our heads.

We ought likewife to confider, that, if any man can be content only to be faved, and defire no more but just to get to heaven, that fuch a degree of holiness and virtue, as will fave a man that can attain no more, will perhaps not fave that man who lazily refts in the lowest degree,

and