deſerved, has immediately a right to a prime Poſt, or an overgrown Penſion.
Indeed the labourers in the goſpel, who came in at the eleventh hour, received every man a penny, as well as thoſe, who had borne the heat and burthen of the day; and when the latter repined at this, as an unequal diſtribution, they were ſeverely rebuked for it, becauſe it did them no wrong. But, if the maſter of the vinyard had paid thoſe, who came in at that late hour, every man a penny, and had given nothing to thoſe, who bore the heat and burthen of the day, I believe it would have been condemn'd in the parable, as a very hard and unjuſtifiable proceeding.
This, I ſay, therefore is ſtraining the ſacred text, and is deſtructive of all Morality as well as Religion; for it tends to the encouragement of Religion; for it tends to the encouragement of Rebellion and makes Loyalty (inſtead of being its own reward) become its own puniſhment.
It were to be wiſhed indeed, that the ſtale, political maxim of obliging our Enemies, under the ſtrange ſuppoſition that our Friends will continue to be our Friends, at all events, were as fully exploded in practice, as it is in theory; for though it is univerſally condemned by all parties, as ungrateful, baſe, and impolitick; yet it has had too much influence in the counſels and adminiſtrations of all Reigns; unleſs I may be allowed to except the preſent.
