e
the Beatific Vision, he says: "In these three acts resides God's
chiefest glory, which He himself intended in all his works; and so,
likewise, in these same acts reside the highest good and formal
beatitude of men and angels. By these acts the blessed spirits are
vastly elevated above themselves, and, in their union with God,
become godlike, by a most lofty and supereminent similitude with God,
so that the mind can conceive no greater. Thus, like very gods, they
shine to all eternity in the divine brightness. By these same acts
they expand themselves into immensity, so as to be co-equal and
co-extensive, as far as may be, to so great a good, that they may
take it in, and comprehend it all. They linger not outside, as it
were upon the surface of it; but they go down into its profound
depths, and enter into the joy of their Lord; some more, some less,
according to the magnitude of the light of glory imparted to each.
Immersed in this abyss, they lose themselves, and all created things;
for all other good and joys seem to them as nothing by the side of
this ocean of good and joys. In this abyss there is to them no
darkness, no obscurity, such as now hangs over us about the Divinity;
but all is light and immense serenity. There are their eternal
mansions, with a tranquil security that they can never fail. There is
the fulfilling of all their desires. There is the possession and
enjoyment of all things that are desirable. There nothing will remain
to be longed for, or sought for any more; for all will firmly possess
and exquisitely enjoy every good thing in God. There the occupation
of the saints will be to contemplate the infinite beauty of God, to
love His infinite goodness, to enjoy his infinite sweetness, to be
filled to overflowing with the torrent of his pleasures, and to exult
with an unspeakable delight in his infinite glory, and in all the
good things which he and they possess. Hence comes perpetual praise,
and benediction, and thanksgiving; and thus the blessed, having
reached the consummation of all their desires, and knowing not what
more to crave, rest in God as their last end."*

* De Perf. Divin. lib. xiv. c. 5.

CHAPTER II.

THE BEATIFIC VISION. (CONTINUED.)

In the Beatific Vision, "we shall be like Him; because we shall see
him as he is."*

* 1 John iii. 2.

In the preceding chapter, we have endeavored to understand the
meaning of the Beatific Vision. We have seen that it is not a mere
gaz