sense that we must understand St. Paul when, speaking
of God, he says: "Who alone hath immortality, and inhabiteth light
inaccessible; whom no man hath seen, nor can see."* Evidently he
means that no one can see God by the light of nature; for in another
place he tells us that when that which is perfect is come, we shall
see Him face to face.

1 Tim. vi. 16.

From all this it follows that all men are on a footing of perfect
equality, so far as the power of seeing God is concerned. No one has
that power in himself by nature, and no one can give it to himself or
develop it by study, as we can other powers we have received in the
natural order. It is as if we said that no man possesses the natural
power to see thorough a stone wall, or thorough the earth. Certainly
all men are equal here; for the man whose eagle eye can recognize a
friend at the distance of ten miles, is no nearer seeing thorough the
earth than another, whose sight is so bad that he can scarcely
recognize his own father at a distance of a few steps. So it is with
seeing God. No man has the power in himself by nature, and,
therefore, no one can develop it by study. Even the angels, who are
so vastly superior to us in intelligence, could not see God as he is
until they were elevated by the light of glory; and those among them
who became reprobates by their sin, never did and never shall see
God, although they still retain, even in their fallen state, more
intelligence than man.

I have been particular in explaining and insisting upon these things,
lest it might be imagined that men of highly cultivated minds, such
as philosophers, theologians, poets, and the like, shall see God
better, and enjoy more of heaven's happiness than the ignorant, in
virtue of their superior natural gifts. They certainly shall not. God
does not bestow a supernatural reward upon the natural gifts, or even
upon the natural virtues, which are to be found among pagans as well
as among Christians. But He does reward the faith, hope, charity, and
other supernatural virtues, which his children have practised in this
world. Hence, theology teaches that not even the angels, who are so
superior to us, see God any better in virtue of their nobler and more
perfect intellect. Thus, supposing an angel and a man to be equal in
merit, they both receive the same amount of the Light of glory; they
both see God in the same degree of perfection; and both, therefore,
enjoy the same degree of happi