FAULTLESS BEFORE HIS PRESENCE.
By Augusta W. Heald
"FAULTLESS before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Jude, verse 24. Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, left His glorious home on high, took upon Himself the nature of sinful man, and, "for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame," and, being made "perfect through sufferings," He is able to present you and me "faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy." For this He had prayed the Father in the days of His earthly humiliation: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which thou hast given Me; for thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." If the sinless Captain of our salvation, "in bringing many sons unto glory," is made perfect through suffering, how much more shall we, who are "of the earth, earthy," be purified by a like experience, so that we may be partakers also of the glory and the joy. Yet whatever trial and suffering may be ours, in these days of our earthly pilgrimage, one glimpse of the glory, one taste of the exceeding joy, will richly repay us for all. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit."