St. Teresa calls this difference "a prodigious inequality." We must not imagine, however, that these various ranks of glory in Heaven are founded upon such accidents as birth or good fortune. They are founded upon that proportion of merit which we shall have gained, each one by his good deeds in this life. {313} The amount of grace and personal holiness that we possess when we appear in judgment before the Lord, this, and not wealth, or position, or gifts of any kind, will be the standard by which we take a high or low place there. It is about this principle of "personal merit" before God, and in view of Heaven, that I am going to speak to you this morning. In order to do this, I shall speak of the certainty of merit, of the sources of merit, and the conditions of merit. I. The Certainty Of Merit. What is meant by merit? It is that supernatural reward, which God has promised by way of justice, to a good work done in the state of grace. God has made a contract with us, as it were, in virtue of which He has given us the privilege of claiming eternal happiness from Him on certain conditions. Let me show you how this is the teaching of Holy Scripture. "_Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven_." [Footnote 138] [Footnote 138: St. Matt, v., 12.] {314} Our Lord, you see, uses the word reward which I have used. "_Every one shall receive his own reward according to his labor_." [Footnote 139] [Footnote 139: 1 Cor. iii., 8.] St. Paul here adds another idea to that of reward, namely, that it shall be given according to one's labor, or good works. This is what our Lord says in the words of my text: "_Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his work_." "_For the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just Judge will give me in that day; and not to me only, but to them also who love his coming_." [Footnote 140] [Footnote 140: 2 Tim. iv., 8.] In this passage St. Paul tells us another truth about the principle of final rewards. He says they shall be given by way of justice. The time for mercy will then have passed, and we shall be weighed in the balance of justice, and our reward shall be in strict proportion to the weight of merit we have cast into the scale. "_Therefore, my beloved brethren_ (he writes to the Corinthians), _be ye firm and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord_." [Footnote 141] [Footnote 141: 1 Cor. xv., 58.] {315} Then, there is that passage of which I have already spoken, where St. Paul illustrates the diversity of rewards. "_For there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also shall it be in the resurrection from the dead._"