st be on our guard against several errors into which very good and
even spiritual persons may easily fall.

The first error consists in ignoring or making little of the Beatific
Vision, after the resurrection, and letting our mind pass from
creature to creature, gathering exquisite pleasures from each, until
practically we make man's happiness in heaven come almost exclusively
from creatures. This is, substantially, the view which Protestants
take of heaven. They have written books on the subject, in which they
speak eloquently and even learnedly on the joys involved in the
mutual recognition of friends and kindred, on the delights we shall
enjoy in our social intercourse with the saints and angels, in the
music that shall ravish our very souls, and other things of that
nature. In a word, they maintain, as well as we do, that, in heaven,
man will enjoy every possible intellectual, moral, and sensible
pleasure, and that nothing will be wanting to make him perfectly
happy in his whole being.

Here is the Protestant view of heaven. It is certainly far from being
gross or carnal. It may even, at first sight, appear not to differ
from that which is taught by the Catholic Church. But, on closer
examination, the difference becomes apparent. In the Protestant view
of heaven, the Beatific Vision is either entirely ignored, or, if
mentioned at all, it is explained so as to mean next to nothing; at
hast, it does not appear to add anything to the exquisite happiness
already enjoyed in creatures. In their view heaven is really nothing
more than a natural beatitude, such as might leave been enjoyed even
in this world, if Adam had not sinned.

We must, therefore, be on our guard against any view of heaven which
would make its principal happiness come from creatures. We must ever
remember that no creature, either here or hereafter, can give perfect
happiness to man. Wherefore, in our meditations on heaven, we must
beware of making its chief happiness consist in delightful music,
social intercourse with the saints, or in the pleasures enjoyed
through the glorified senses, however pure and refined we may imagine
them to be. This, then, is the first error to be avoided, and with
much care; not only because it is untrue, but because also it lowers
the beatitude of heaven, which consists essentially in the vision,
love, and enjoyment of God himself.

The second error to be avoided consists in placing the whole
happiness of man so compl