24. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

At first he saw confusedly, and imperfectly, as we do. Though we are in the hands of Christ for a cure, we must have patience; we do not see all at once.

25. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

So Christ will bring his work to perfection in us, by degrees, and in his own time. And we see clearly, when we know him to be the way, the truth, and the life, and resolve to follow him.

26. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.

Perhaps, because he knew that they would not regard it, and so be the worse for it. Bethsaida was a hardened place, notwithstanding Christ so often preached in it.

27. And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Cesarea Philippi; and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?

What answer can you give to this, of your own proper knowledge?

28. And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.

29. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.

This answer of Peter, may serve to lead to this question, who and what is Christ? The Son of God, and the Saviour of the world. What has he done, and what do you desire he should do for you? He does not want a vain confession from us, that we acknowledge him to be the anointed of God, to be our King, Priest, and Prophet: he desires to do his whole office in us, by opening our eyes, washing us from our sins in his own blood, and ruling over us by his Spirit. This confession of Christ, from a true

knowledge of what he is, of our want of him, and faithfulness to him, makes a Christian.

30. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

As yet they were not fit to preach Christ, as Peter soon made it appear. The disciples then knew him but by halves; and the meanest Christian, now, knows him better than they did at this time.

31. And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Of this the disciples then knew nothing; and here Peter was as blind as the rest of the disciples.

32. And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.

33. But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of

men.

This was sharp indeed! But Christ cannot endure worldly hearts: he knows that they are not fit for him, and intended that this rebuke should pierce into all our hearts like lightning.

34. And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them,

He would have all hear that in which all, to the end of the world, are so much concerned.

34. Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Christ will have him deny his natural self, which savours only of the things of the world. He will also take up his cross, by dying to his worldly self. He will in great humility take up his cross, as his own desert, while he sees Christ's death upon it, as his only deliverance from the

curse and punishment of sin. What can be a greater cross to the pride of nature? And yet, painful as this knowledge is, every man must come to it, let his state or attainments be what they will. The cross of bodily austerities, patient sufferings, and self-denying labours of any kind, however necessary, is a vain subterfuge, when taken up as our righteousness, to the exclusion of a better, and the only one which will be so accounted of God. Besides, we must follow Christ, in doing and suffering the will of God.

35. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

The man who will save his life, is he who only thinks of, and cares for, and desires most to enjoy, his worldly life. He "shall lose it," indeed, as to all the purposes of his being sent into the world, if he loses heaven for it. But whosoever will deny himself for Christ's sake, and the gospel's, even to the loss of life, shall save it eternally.

36. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

37. Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

No man in his senses can have anything to reply to what is so palpably evident; and if this consideration was allowed its due weight, the world would be all self-denial and obedience. But behold the weakness, folly, and strong corruption of human nature! A petty advantage, one single lust in the opposite scale, can outweigh the soul, and all its interests.

Perhaps you would be a better man,―you would deny yourself in what the world thinks you need not,-you would own Christ more, in many things;-you would read the Scriptures, pray in, and with your families, and show yourselves more on the side of religion than you do, if you were not hindered by a false shame. Hear then what Christ says, knowing how many would be thus hindered.

"What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" If we have this constantly before our eyes, and live in the belief of it, we shall be Christians.

38. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Think on these words, and then you will be content to let men speak all manner of evil of you, as they certainly will, whenever you are in earnest in saving your soul according to the religion of Christ.

SECTION XXIX.

Chap. ix. ver. 1—10.

JESUS IS TRANSFIGURED.

1. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

The persons alluded to were Peter, James, and John. The kingdom of God, which Christ came to set up on the earth as a specimen and proof of his greatness in the kingdom of glory, in which he will appear at the last day, and also of God's power to make us like him at his coming.

2. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them into a high mountain apart by themselves and he was transfigured before them.

3. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

4. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

5. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

6. For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

Then it is plain he should not have said what he did. It would not have been good for Christ or them to have stopped there. He had still his own work to finish, and he had appointed to Peter a great work in the world, and a much higher glory was reserved for him. We profit by this mistake, when we conclude, that it is good to be nowhere but with Christ in heaven, and in the way to it, by doing his work.

7. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

This voice sounds as powerfully into the hearts of the faithful, as if they heard it spoken to them from the clouds. And all depends upon it. If you do not receive Christ, and hear him as the Son of God, you can have no share in him.

8. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

9. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.

When they would be better fitted to speak of them, in full belief of his resurrection, and of the great change which will then pass upon our bodies. As yet they were very lamentably in the dark, as appears by what follows.

10. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.

Christ's rising from the dead; for it is not probable that they disbelieved a resurrection in general; only they had no notion of the sufferings and death of Christ, and therefore not of his rising again. What blindness and ignorance was here! And observe, how men are proof against