their final good? Could the utmost stretch of their capacities look
further? Would not infinite perfect goodness be their very end, the
last end and object of their affections, beyond which they could
neither have nor desire, beyond which they could not form a wish or
thought?

Consider wherein that presence of a friend consists which has often
so strong an effect as wholly to possess the mind, and entirely
suspend all other affections and regards, and which itself affords
the highest satisfaction and enjoyment. He is within reach of the
senses. Now as our capacities of perception improve we shall have,
perhaps by some faculty entirely new, a perception of God's presence
with us in a nearer and stricter way, since it is certain He is more
intimately present with us than anything else can be. Proof of the
existence and presence of any being is quite different from the
immediate perception, the consciousness of it. What then will be
the joy of heart which His presence and THE LIGHT OF HIS
COUNTENANCE, who is the life of the universe, will inspire good men
with when they shall have a sensation that He is the sustainer of
their being, that they exist in Him; when they shall feel His
influence to cheer and enliven and support their frame, in a manner
of which we have now no conception? He will be in a literal sense
THEIR STRENGTH AND THEIR PORTION FOR EVER.

When we speak of things so much above our comprehension as the
employment and happiness of a future state, doubtless it behoves us
to speak with all modesty and distrust of ourselves. But the
Scripture represents the happiness of that state under the notions
of SEEING GOD, SEEING HIM AS HE IS, KNOWING AS WE ARE KNOWN, AND
SEEING FACE TO FACE. These words are not general or undetermined,