[3,] Thirdly, If the penny that every one had in the parable be meant of glory, then it will roundly follow, that murmurers shall be saved and glorified as well as others, for the murmurers had their penny as well as the rest : ver. 10-12, ' But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more, and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.'i The Greek word, €767- 71*^01/, that is here rendered murmured, signifies to grunt as swine grunt. They grumbled and grunted, and they grunted and grumbled ; and pray tell me what should such swine as murmurers are do grunting and grumbling in heaven ? doubtless the crown of glory is too bright, too noble, too glorious, and too weighty a crown to be set upon murmurers' heads. Heaven would be no heaven if there were but one gruntler or murmurer there. In heaven all the vessels of glory shall be full, and there shall not be the least shadow of envy or repining there. In the streets of that new Jerusalem above, none shall ever complain that others have too much, or that themselves have too little. Every glorified saint shall sit down fully satisfied and contented with his portion there. Now should we by the penny understand a glorified estate and condition, then this would unavoidably follow, that many shall be brought to a state of glory which are not elected, nor sanctified, nor prepared for glory; but this can never, nor must never be granted; and therefore without all peradventure this parable doth no way hold
^ The Roman penny is the eighth part of an ounce, which after five shillings the ounce, is seven pence halfpenny.
382 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [Heb. XII. 14.
out that state of glory and felicity which all the called and chosen of God shall have at Christ's coming to judge the quick and the dead. But,
[4.] Fourthly, The penny that is here mentioned in this parable cannot, nor may not, be interpreted so as to signify an equality of glory, or an equality of happiness and blessedness, that the saints shall have in heaven, because such an interpretation, such an exposition, is cross and contrary to the common and received rules of interpreting and expounding of Scripture. Now, among other rules that are to be observed in the interpreting and expounding of Scripture, there are these two :
First, You must so interpret and expound one text of Scripture, that you do not set it at strfie and variance with another text of Scrip- ture ; for though there is a seeming contradiction between scripture and scripture, yet there is a blessed harmony and a glorious corre- spondency between all the parts of Scripture. It is a very dangerous thing so to interpret Scripture as to raise contests and opposition between scriptures and scriptures ; it is an evil thing to raise up scrip- ture against scripture, and so to interpret one as to make it affront another. Woe to him that by his interpretations of Scripture pro- claims the scriptures to be at open war amongst themselves. Now to interpret the penny in the parable so as to make it signify an equaUty of glory and happiness among the saints in heaven, is to set this scripture at variance and strife with all those scriptures that I have produced to prove an inequality in the glory and happiness of the saints in heaven, and therefore such an interpretation is rather to be abhorred than to be received. But,
Secondly, Another rule that is to be observed in the interpreting of Scripture is this, we must always interpret those scriptures that are more dark and mysterious by those scriptures that are more plain and cleai', and not interpret those scriptures that are plain and clear by those that are dark and mysterious, for this were to darken counsel by words without knowledge, Job xxxviii. 2. Now they that in- terpret the penny in the parable to signify an equality of glory among the saints in heaven, they transgress this second rule ; for they must then interpret all those clear and plain scriptures that I have brought to prove degrees of glory in heaven by this dark and mysterious parable, whereas they should interpret this dark and mysterious parable, if I may so say, by those plain and clear scriptures that I have already cited ; and therefore their interpretation must be rejected. It is true, of some parables we may say as Gregory doth, viz., that they rather require a practiser than an interpreter, Ps, xlix. 4, and xcvii. 2 ; John xvi. 29. And it is as true that other parables are so dark, obscure, and mysterious, that we shall never understand them without the sweat of our brows and the beating of our brains, and such a parable this seems to be, and therefore we must interpret the parts of it rather by other clear scriptures, than to make clear and plain scriptures bow to this that seems to have a veil upon it. And thus you see by these arguments that the penny in the parable hath no reference at all to heaven, nor to any equality of glory that shall be among the saints there.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 883