William Story said perfection had its degrees!
White said, How can you progress after you have reached your goal?
As if any live man ever did reach his goal! said I.
Is there any progress for God? retorted he.
Not any, for that is a contradiction in terms, I said; but surely you conceive of it for souls in heaven?
Margaret said something about the Gospel injunction to be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect. Does not “even as” mean “after the pattern of”? Does it involve the nature, as well as the degree?
Emerson interrupted quickly, “We are not finite.”
Everybody smiled; but the best answer to this is found in the fact, that we never conceive of ourselves as infinite and at rest,—only as reaching after the Infinite in our motion.
White said to Caroline Sturgis, “If evil brings knowledge of good, is it not a gain?”