"WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS."
"WE shall see him as he is." Glorious anticipation! how it should strengthen our hands while fighting "the good fight of faith," and comfort our souls when wounded in the conflict. Here the clouds sometimes hide the face of our Redeemer, and we remember then that once the Father's face was hidden from him. Sometimes shadows and mists, growing out of weakness of faith and the infirmities and imperfections of our natures, in a degree separate from "the joy of the Lord," which is our "strength." We do not always dwell in the unclouded brightness of the Sun of Righteousness. There are times, even, when the "Father's House" seems far away; and as our thoughts stretch on to the years which lie between us and our eternal home, we grow faint in spirit at the prospect of continuous trial and temptation; we are ready to say with David, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest." What, then, shall cheer us in moments of despondency? The remembrance that at the end of the journey, the goal of the race, we shall see Jesus; "we shall see him as he is"—as he is to us, a compassionate, loving Redeemer; the Pardoner of our sins, the Sanctifier of our nature, the faithful, tender Shepherd of the sheep, the Guide of our pilgrimage, and our Welcomer at the gate of the city of God. "We shall see him as he is" to the angels—a glorious King, the Lamb upon Mount Zion, the receiver of praise from every tribe and tongue. No thorns on the majestic brow, nor wounds in the hands, no more of grief and humiliation; but as the crowned monarch of rejoicing thousands, who ascribe praise unto him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood. And more—oh, soul-sustaining thought! "we shall be like him." These poor, earth-weary natures, worn with conflict, and bearing the marks of "many a storm, of many a fray," shall be transformed, by his own will and power, until they reflect his image and likeness. Serene and effulgent with his divine calm, there will be no traces left upon the brows of the saved of the storms through which they have passed, the memory of which shall only form the theme of more rapturous praises. Strong with a strength to be nevermore shaken, because nevermore tried, what fields of unattained glory lie before them! Pure as the light of that pure heaven shall be every heart, and there will be heights of knowledge to scale, and depths of love to sound, through the grand, eternal ages. While, then, "we look not at the things which are temporal," let us ever bear up our spirits with this reflection, "we shall be like him." So, Moses-like, may we endure, as seeing him who is invisible.—Sel.