DISCOUR:3g II; $tg done away. When I was a child, I spike as a çhild, I under- stood as a çhild, I thought as á child ; but whenI became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly ; but then face to face : Now I know in part ; but then, shall I know even as also I am known." The imperfection of our knowledge in this world consists much in this, that we are liable to perpetual mistakes. A thousand errors stand thick around us in our enquiries after truth, andwe stumble uponerror often in our wisest pursuits of knowledge ; for'we see but through a glassdark',, but thenwe shall know, evenas we are known, and seeface to face; that is, we shall have a more immediate and in- tuitive view of God and Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, without such mediums as are now necessary for our instruction. We shall know them in a manner something a-kin to the way where- by God knows us, though not in the same degree of perfection; for that is impossible. Yet in these respects our knowledge shall bear some resemblance to the knowledge of God himself, viz. that it shall be not merely a rational knowledge, by inferences drawn from his works, not merely a knowledge by narration, or report and testimony, such as we now enjoy by his word; but it shall be such a sort of knowledge as we have of a man when we see his face,'and it shall also be a certain and unwavering know- ledge, without remaining doubts, without error or mistake. O happy spirits that are thus divinely employed, and are entertain, . ing themselves and their fellow-spirits with those noble truths and transporting wonders of nature and grace, of God and Christ, and things heavenly, which are all mystery, intanglement and confusion to our thoughts in the present state ! II. This perfection consists in a glorious degree of holiness without the mixture of the least sin ; and in this sense it is per- fect holiness. All holiness is contained and summed up in the love and the delightful service of God and our fellow-creatures. When we attempt to love God here on earth, and by the alluring discove- ries of grace tryto raise our affections to things of heaven, what sinful damps and coldness hang heavy upon us? What counter- allurements do we find towards sin and the creature, by the mis- chievous influences of the fleshand thisworld ? What an estrang -. edness from God do the best of christians complain of? And when they get nearest to their Saviour in their exercises of holy love, they find perpetual reason to mourn over their distance, and they cry out often with pain at their hearts, " What a cursed enemy abides still in me, and divides me from the dearest object of my desire and joy !" But thespirits of the just made perfect, have the nearest views of God their Father, and their Saviour ; and as they see them face to face, so, may I venture to express it, they love the with a union of heart to heart; for he that is 1
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