ment: "We know that if he shall be manifested we shall
be like him, for we shall see him even as he is" (1 John 3: 2, R. V.).
Whatever difficulty may arise from another translation of this passage,
one thought seems to be taught in the entire connection, viz., that the
unveiled manifestation of God will bring the full perfection of his
saints. Thus Alford sums up the meaning of the passage. As the
believer, having by a knowledge of God been regenerated, "becomes more
and more like God, having his seed in him, so the full and perfect
accomplishment of this knowledge in the actual fruition of God himself
must of necessity bring with it entire likeness to God." In a word, it
seems to us that the sanctification taking place at the manifestation
of our incarnate Lord will be as the instantaneous photograph compared
with the Spirit's slow and patient limning of the {125} image of Christ
in our present state. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," "we
shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15: 52). Then the glorified body and the
glorified spirit, long divorced by sin, will be remarried. So long as
this twain are separated by death, or are at war in our present earthy
life, our perfection in holiness were impossible.

It is because the resurrection and translation of the saints are
instantaneous that we affirm sanctification to be instantaneous at the
coming of the Lord. The Scripture is always harmonious with itself,
however widely separated the writers of its books by time or distance.
David struck the same joyful note with John, though the learned may
insist that he did not know of the resurrection. "As for me, I shall
behold thy face in righteousness"--the seeing him as he is and being
made fit to see him. "I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy
likeness"--the conformity to the Divine image at the instant sound of
the resurrection trump. (Ps. 17: 15.) Perhaps we may conjecture
wherein will consist the perfection of the resurrection state. We may
find it in that one saying: "It is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:
44). _Now_, how often the body dominates the spirit, making it do what
it would not; but _then_, the spirit will dominate the body, making it
do as it will. In a house divided against itself there can be neither
perfection nor peace. Such is the condition in our present state {126}
of humiliation. And not the body alone, but the immaterial within us
may be at war with the divine. What does the Apostle J