God; supposing that none could hear it, and live. It was an awful scene; and Christ's lucid body, the bright cloud overshadowing them, and the voice coming from it, might well strike terror into them.

Ver. 7. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. Art thou cast down to the ground at hearing the terrible voice of God speaking to thee in his commandments, and denouncing death for the breach of them? Here is the touch that must revive thee; here is the voice of comfort, that bids thee" arise, and not be afraid." And now thou canst, thou wilt hear him; and be constrained by his love to live to him, who died to deliver thee from all thy fears.

Ver. 8. And when they had lift up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. So faith is the opening of our eyes, and the fixing of them on Jesus, and him only, for salvation.

Ver. 9. Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. -Though both Jesus preached and taught many things, and the disciples, by commission from him, before that time, and as preparatory to his dying and rising again, yet Christ himself, as dying for our sins, and rising again for the assurance of our faith, and discharge from death, neither was, nor could be preached to the world, till after his resurrection. It is evident, therefore, that the grand opening, and full manifestation of his Gospel of grace, was reserved for his apostles; and that the nature and design of it, or the precise manner of our salvation by him, must be learned chiefly from them. It is almost needless to observe, that hearing them, is hearing him, as they spake in his name, and received all from him.

Ver. 10. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come? - They had just had a fresh, incontestable evidence, in his transfiguration,

and the voice from the cloud, that he was the Christ; but still there was a doubt remaining; the Scribes said, and the Jews universally believed, that Elias must first come; and yet he had not appeared. He answers, that the prophecy of Malachi, iv. 5. was truly fulfilled in John Baptist, and, that, as to power and spirit, he was the Elijah there spoken of.

Ver. 11. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. As Christ's forerunner, preparing the way for him, the great Restorer. This was John's office, and all he could do; to call men to repentance, to point out "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," and put them into his hands. This is the office of the ministers of the Gospel at all times; and all they can do, is to declare the necessity of repentance, and to preach Christ, and faith in him, for healing and restoration. To him then let us go, every one of us for ourselves, in a deep sense of our want of him, and with an earnest will to be restored by him to the favour of God, and to experience his baptism of the Holy Ghost. Why do you now hear this, but that you may come to him for your own restoration! And what can it signify to you, though all the world should be restored by him, if you are ignorant of the work he has to do in you? And observe the order of it; John comes first. There must be a knowledge of sin, of death for sin, and of your own sinfulness, before you can accept of Christ. But if your repentance terminates in itself, if it does not bring you to the Saviour for remission and newness of life, there is, there can be no restoration.

Ver. 12. And they knew him not - None know him but those who are inwardly stirred up to come to his baptism of repentance; they may know the particulars of his history, and that is all.

-Likewise also shall the Son of man suffer of them.-He

will be no more regarded than John, by those who do not know John first.

Ver. 14. There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, &c.- Behold the natural workings of distress, and what you would do, if you felt for your souls. You would come, and fall down on your knees to Jesus; you would cry, Lord, have mercy!-you would tell him of your grief, and make particular mention of your own plague, and say, Thus and thus it is with me, and be earnest with him for help, as the man was for his child. Have you no knowledge of such a work as this? Are all your prayers cold and formal; not breathed from the heart; not forced from you by your own inward sense; not prayed, but only repeated? What then has he done for you, when, in reality, you never desired any thing from him?

LECTURE.

We have been reading of our Lord's transfiguration, and I am now to show you what we learn from it, and what use we are to make of this passage of Scripture. 1. It was intended by our Lord to give the apostles a sensible demonstration of his being the Christ, and to confirm their faith in him, as we now ought to hear it for the same end. It was a convincing proof of his power, or divine nature, breaking through the outward covering of his flesh. 2. As he appeared then, so he will again at his second coming. He told the apostles, "Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here,” viz. Peter, James, and John, "which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom;" that is, as he will appear when he cometh in his kingdom, and all his redeemed with him in their glorified bodies. 3. For

you must know that he will then work the same change in all who belong to him, as St. Paul expressly tells us, Phil. iii. 21. and that when the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, cometh from heaven, "he will change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body;" that is, as he appeared at his transfiguration; "according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself." And with this belief, and in these words, we commit the bodies of our deceased friends to the grave, "in sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ;" which the same apostle tells us will be in new and spiritual bodies, in that very image of Christ which we have now been reading of, for that" flesh and blood," or such corruptible bodies as we now have," cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."

What do you now think of Peter's saying, Lord, it is good for us to be here? Indeed it was not; and at the very time he spake the words, Christ was showing him something far greater than all earthly glory, what he never could be in this world, and all his faithful servants shall be in another. Do you say any thing like this in your hearts, Lord, it is good for us to be here, give us our portion, make us happy in this world, and we are contented? I beseech you, look well at this passage of Scripture, which was written on purpose that we might know what better things he has in store for us, and what glorious creatures he will make us, if in truth we belong to him. For if we are his members, we shall be like him; we shall be raised in glory, with such bodies as he had on the mount, and is now set down in at the right hand of God; for all the righteous "shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," Matt. xiii. 43. No doubt the remembrance of what the apostles then saw would encourage them greatly in their work, and amidst all

their sufferings. St. Paul tells us how he was supported and comforted with the thought of his new body, "his house eternal in the heavens," of God's making and providing, 2 Cor. v. 1.

Let this, then, be the great use we make of the discovery here made to us; let it put us upon considering what we dote most upon; whether these vile, earthly bodies of ours, which are doomed to perish and feed worms, or whether we would be glad to exchange them for such glorious, heavenly bodies as Christ's was, and we may have at his coming. Let us consider that, if we would be prepared for this happy change, and as ever we hope to come to that happy time, we must first be changed into the divine image, by the renewing of our minds. Let us say to ourselves in pain and sickness, on the warrant of what we have now been reading, as well as other parts of Scripture, that like seed sown in the earth, we shall spring up into new forms, with spiritual, immortal bodies; and this belief, this hope, if it is lively in us, will not only support us under all bodily decays, and at the hour of death, but dispose us all our lives long to give due attention to the voice which came out of the cloud "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." This voice sounds as powerfully into the hearts of believers as if they heard it spoken to them from the cloud, and all depends upon it. If you do not receive Christ, and hear him as the Son of God, have no share in him. To him then let us go, in you can a deep sense of our want of him, and with an earnest will to be taught by him, what we must do to obtain the favour of God, and rise again to the likeness of his glorious body. Hear him speaking to you in Scripture; and do not think that you have any desire to hear him, if you are not diligent readers of Scripture to know his will. Hear him speaking to you in your hearts; as