aven, yet even short of that, we have
learned to prefer being simply unclothed from the body, because thus
we shall be present with the Lord.

So that we may safely assume thus much, my brethren: that the moment a
Christian's spirit is released from the body, it does enter into the
presence of our Blessed Lord and Saviour, in a way of which it knows
nothing here: a way which, compared to all that its previous faith
could know of Him, is like presence of friends compared to absence.

Now let us take another remarkable passage of Holy Writ bearing on
this same matter. St. John, in his first Epistle says, "Beloved, now
are we children of God, and it never yet was manifested what we shall
be; but if it should be manifested, we know that we shall be like Him:
for we shall see Him as He is:" for this is the more accurate
rendering of the words: meaning, if any one could come back, or come
down, to us, and tell us what our future state is to be, the
information could amount for us now only to this, that we shall be
like Him, like Christ; because we shall see Him as He is. And in
treating these words at considerable length last year, I pressed it on
you that this concluding sentence might bear two meanings: either, we
shall be like Him, _because in order to see Him as He is, we_ MUST _be
like Him;_ or, _we shall be like Him, because the sight of Him as He
is will change us into His perfect likeness_. For, our present
purpose, or indeed for any purpose, it matters little which of these
meanings we take. At any rate, we have gained this knowledge from St.
John's words, that the sight of the Blessed Lord which will be enjoyed
by the Christian's spirit on its release from the body, will be
accompanied by being also perfectly like Him.

Now, here, my brethren, are the elements of an immediate change,
blessed and joyous beyond our conception. Let us spend the rest of our
time to-day in dwelling upon it.

And I will not now insist on the deliverance of the spirit from the
infirmity, or pain, or decay of the body; because this is not so in
all cases. Many a Christian's spirit is set free from a body in
perfect vigour and health. Let us take nothing but what is common to
all who believe in and serve the Lord. Now what is our present state
with reference to Him whom all Christians love? It is, absence. And it
is absence aggravated in a way that earthly absence never is. For not
only have we never seen Him, which is a case perfectly i