So St. Paul himself plainly teaches us that our knowledge in this world is only partial. Only refer to his language in 1 Cor. xiii. 12. There are two facts there stated—first, that our vision is indistinct, and then that it is limited. It is indistinct, for we see through a glass darkly, or through a dull refractor; and it is limited, for we know only in part. “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Are we to be surprised then if we do not enjoy a full, clear, sun-light vision of the whole? And is not the indistinctness of our vision a proof of the truth of the Scriptures? So we meet in the Scriptures with the full recognition of the selfsame difficulties that arise in modern times. These difficulties are no new discoveries of the sharpened intellect of the nineteenth century, but are as old as the Gospel itself. Do you find a difficulty in explaining the perfect union of a perfect Godhead and a perfect manhood in the one person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? I acknowledge frankly, “So do I.” I am not afraid to acknowledge that I cannot explain it, and that I believe no one can. But my point is that the Scriptures have prepared us for it, and that it is the very difficulty which our Lord Himself presented to the Pharisees when He said, “If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matt xxii. 45.) Do you find a difficulty in the doctrine of “election,” and are you unable to reconcile the gift of life to a chosen number with the perfect equity of the universal government of God? If so, remember that there is nothing new in such a difficulty. It is as old as the Gospel itself, and it is fully recognized in the Scriptures. Nothing can be more perfectly clear than the statement made respecting it in Romans ix. 1–13, or than the full recognition of the difficulty in verse 14—“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” So, once more, with the resurrection. Does it appear impossible that the dead should rise again? Are you unable to conceive the possibility of a body, lost in the ocean, burnt in the flames, or corrupted in the grave, being restored to unity, life, and vigour? I grant you that it does _seem_ impossible. I see the difficulty as much as any of you. But let no man suppose that this difficulty is new, or the discovery of it the result of his own independent intellect; for in the Scriptures of truth we are fully prepared for it. We are not taken by surprise, for we were warned of it 1800 years ago in our Bibles; for there we read, in verse 35 of the great resurrection chapter (1 Cor. xv.), “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” Possibly there may be, at this present time, some whom I am addressing, actually fulfilling that prophecy, and so living amongst us as unintentional “witnesses to its truth.”