make us acquainted. Transfer this thought to the Divine Nature; and then consider what it must be throughout the ages to be shut out from the knowledge of Him whose perfections we know, as yet, only by the hearing of the ear. O that, hereafter, the words of holy Job may rather be ours, 'I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now, mine eye seeth Thee:'-that in us might be fulfilled, in all its Divine fulness, the prophetic announcement, Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty. They shall behold the Land that is very far off'.'

Job xlii. 5.

The Sunday called Septuagesima.

HEAVENLY PAYMENT.

ST. MATTH. Xx. 9, 10.

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.

THESE words are taken out of the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard,-which is one of the hardest of the parables, if not the very hardest of all. It may at least be taken for granted that the 'Labourers' denote Christian men and women. What early in the morning,' and 'about the eleventh hour,' may exactly mean, is perhaps doubtful; and the same must be said of the third,' 'the sixth,' and 'the ninth hour.' At the same time, it must be allowed that this is not a matter which concerns us much, since all the labourers received the same reward, whether they had been sent into the Vineyard late or early. To whichever of these five classes of men, we

may find ourselves, by God's great mercy, in the last day belonging,-(I say 'by God's great mercy,' for all these men received a reward, and therefore it is among that blessed number that we pray GOD to give us our portion;)—to whichever class we may belong, we shall receive 'every man a penny.' Now, 'a penny' denotes about ninepence, which was the wages of a day-labourer in a country where every thing is about twice as cheap as in England. This sum then, ('a penny,') stands for the eternal reward of the Christian labourer. 'Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour, until the evening.' In the evening cometh the Master, and His reward is in His hand.

But here the question arises, (and it is one which affects us nearly, and is sure to present itself,)-Do all men, therefore, who go to Heaven enjoy equal happiness? Are there then no degrees of Glory in the future World? To some persons, it might seem so from this parable; since a penny is the reward of all alike. And a man might go on to argue that therefore one sin more or less cannot matter much; since, if Heaven after all is to be his lot, it will be as happy a place to him with that one additional sin to answer for, as it is to the greatest Saint in

Heaven. There is no limit to the folly and wickedness of men. It is conceivable that this notion of Heaven being Heaven after all, a place of equal happiness to every one who treads its courts; it is conceivable, I say, that this notion might make men careless as to crime; mad enough to dream on of Heaven while they were hurrying along the path which leads to Hell..

On the other hand, think a moment of the many express declarations of a contrary kind which we meet with in the sacred Volume: as, that CHRIST shall render unto every man according to his work: that men shall give account for every idle word they utter: that he which soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully: that the servant who with ten talents had earned other ten, was set over ten cities; while he who with five talents had earned other five, was set over five cities. The teaching of one parable must be set against the teaching of another. If the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard has led us to fancy that rewards in Heaven are equal, the parable of the Talents is enough to shew us our mistake, and to convince us of the contrary. How then is the teaching of these two parables, in this respect, to be reconciled? How can there

be different rewards, if a penny' is to be the hire of every one alike? How can there be different degrees of Happiness, different degrees of Glory, if the reward is one and the same? . . This shall now be explained in a few words; and it will be seen that some very important considerations arise out of the remarks we are about to offer.

Suppose that a Feast were proposed as the reward of a day's labour in the case of ten persons, -one of whom was too ill to be able to partake of the fare provided. Let us suppose that each one received at evening an equal portion of bread, and meat, and wine. These men will be all exactly in the position of the Labourers in the Vineyard; and yet, no one will say that the enjoyment of every one at the table will be the same. There will have been one Reward, yet different degrees of Happiness.

To take another humble illustration :-If the same summer ramble were enjoyed by a band of many brothers, one of whom was rather deaf, and another rather blind; the rest being in perfect health. Who sees not, that although the same cheerful sights and sounds would offer themselves to all the party, there would be one among them who would lose nearly one half of the pleasure;