PERFECTION. The Son of God commands us, saying; Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect. Not that we can ever attain his Luke vi. 36. Matth. xix. 21. Luke vi. 40. 1 Cor. i. 10. xiv. 10, &c.Perfection, but yet we ought always to be making Advances towards it. We ought always to propose it to our selves as our Pattern, in the Exercise of all Sorts of Virtue, and chiefly his Mercy and Charity. Whence St. Luke says in the Passage parallel to this; Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful. In another Place our Saviour says, that he that would be perfect, must forsake all and follow him. And again, that the Disciple that would arrive at Perfection must become like his Master. St. Paul often exhorts his Disciples to be perfect, that is to say, to acquire the Perfection of Christianity, to be convinced of the Excellence of it, and to practice its Truths.
In the Books of the Old Testament, the Words perfect and Perfection answer to the Hebrew Words Tham and Thummim, which properly signifie intire and compleat, without Blemish or Defect, irreprehensible, perfect. Gen. vi. 9. Gen. xvii. 1. Deut. xviii. 13. Josh. xxiv. 14. 2 Kings xx. 3.Thus it is said, Noah was a just Man, and perfect in his Generations. And God says to Abraham, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And speaking to his People, Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. In all these Places perfect is put for without Reproach, unreprovable, sincere. And in like Manner, to serve God with a perfect Heart, is to serve him faithfully, purely, without admitting a Rival. Perfect Knowledge, a perfect Law, perfect Charity, a perfect Work; in all which Expressions the Word Perfect is used to signify, whatever may make those Things compleat, finished, intire, and where nothing is wanting. St. Paul says, The Law made nothing perfect; it Heb. vii. 19.may be said to give only Sketches of Things, and to enjoin Things that have less Perfection than what the Gospel requires.
A perfect Captivity is when a whole People Jer. xiii. 18. Amos i. 6, 9. Deut. xxiii. 8. Vulg.are transported into a strange Country, without leaving any to cultivate the Land, And in Deuteronomy, Perfectio tua & doctrina tua stand for the Urim and Thummim, that the High-priest carried about him. See those two Words.