5.D6I ,H 
 
 ^% 
 
 
<3r: 
 
 ^v Of f>,l^ 
 . JUN 17 196P 
 
 B52424 
 .5.D6I 
 

 h^ 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TRANSFIGURATION OF CHRIST. 
 
E- 
 
^ . ~L^ KJ\ 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TRANSFIGURATION 
 
 OP 
 
 CHRIST. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 PRINTED BY C. VAN BENTUUYSEN. 
 
 1859. 
 
. • 
 
SERMON. 
 
 -♦♦- 
 
 MARK IX. 2. 
 He was transfigured before them. 
 
 "Without controversy, great is the mystery 
 of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh." 
 If there be any wonder greater than the incar- 
 nation of the Son of God, it is the humiliation 
 and suffering which characterized his life upon 
 the earth. Though the only begotten and well 
 beloved of the Father, equal with Him in honor 
 and glory, the joy and admiration of Heaven, 
 loved, reverenced and adored by Angel and 
 Archangel, by Cherubim and Seraphim, and 
 by all the holy and good in the universe ; his 
 life upon the earth was nevertheless a life of the 
 deepest abasement. He was despised and 
 rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief. Poor — poorer than the birds of the 
 air and the beasts of the field, for they had 
 their nests and their lairs ; but " the Son of 
 Man had not where to lay his head".; — depend- 
 ent for his support either upon his own exertions 
 
or upon the kindness of friends ; frequently 
 called to endure in their worst forms, cold and 
 hunger and thirst and fatigue ; treated with 
 indifference and scorn, with shame and con- 
 tempt ; cruelly mocked and scourged and spit 
 upon ; and, finally, put to an ignominious and 
 painful death, by those he had befriended, and 
 whom he came to save ; — he presents to us an 
 object of the greatest wonder. Can this be the 
 Son of God ? Where are the proofs of his 
 divinity ? How is it possible for us to believe 
 that this poor, despised, way-worn sufferer is 
 the Messiah, of whom the Prophets speak ? I 
 answer, throughout his life of humiliation and 
 suffering, in the midst of the deejDCst abasement 
 and the sorest agony, there were manifestations 
 of his glory — manifestations which prove unde- 
 niably and incontestably his divinity. His 
 birth, his baptism, his temptation, his agony in 
 the garden, his crucifixion on Calvary, which 
 were the most remarkable instances of his 
 humiliation, were accompanied with the most 
 remarkable displays of his exaltation and glory. 
 And not only at these marked periods, but also 
 in the midst of his ministry, which was itself a 
 continued humiliation, there was given this 
 
same kind of evidence, this same manifestation 
 of divine glory. To this the text refers. The 
 transfiguration of Christ was the drawing aside 
 of the vail which concealed the glory of his 
 Godhead, and a decisive proof of his Messiah- 
 shij). There shone in him and about him such 
 an effulgence of glory, and there was given in 
 the voice from Heaven such signal evidence of 
 the approval of God, that no one contemplating 
 that scene can entertain for a moment the 
 shadow of a doubt that He was and is what He 
 claimed to be — the Christ — the Son of God. 
 
 The narrative given by the different Evan- 
 gelists of this remarkable event in the life 
 of our Saviour is both interesting and instruct- 
 ive. 
 
 Let us review the narrative, as gathered 
 from the sacred records, and consider some of 
 the lessons taught by it. 
 
 An account of the transfiguration is given by 
 three of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and 
 Luke ; and is alluded to in the writings of the 
 fourth. In regard to all the main and essential 
 points they agree. There is nothing like con- 
 tradiction between them. The accounts are not, 
 however, copies of one another, but independent 
 
descriptions, by different persons, of the same 
 transaction ; and, as is natural Avhere different 
 persons relate the same fact, certain details 
 and particulars are mentioned by one, which 
 are passed over in silence by the others. We 
 are expressly informed as to the time when the 
 transfiguration took j)lace. ^ The Evangelists 
 unite in saying it was six days after what was 
 previously recorded. 
 
 The reference here made is to a remarkable 
 conversation, recorded in the preceding chap- 
 ter, in which Christ had endeavored to remove 
 the erroneous views entertained by his disci- 
 ples, in regard to the nature of the kingdom 
 He came to establish, and had opened their eyes 
 with reference to the humiliation which awaited 
 Him, telling them that "the Son of Man must 
 suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, 
 chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and 
 after three days rise again." No doubt they 
 felt saddened and much discouraged by what 
 
 * Luke saj's it was " about an eight days after these sayings," 
 (Luke ix. 28.) — meaning it -was tliat day seven-night, six whole days 
 intervening, and it was the eighth day. Though there may be a 
 seeming, yet there is no real, contradiction between the Evangelists 
 in reference to the time of the transfiguration, for evidently they all 
 refer to the same time, — six, or about eight, days after what waspre- 
 viously recorded. 
 
He told them; and, in all probability, one 
 object of his transfiguration Avas to revive their 
 drooping spirits, strengthen their faith and 
 advance their views of his character and office. 
 However this may be, it is very evident from 
 the fact they are so precise in regard to the 
 time, that the strange, wondrous sight they 
 beheld on the Mount of Transfiguration, im- 
 printed itself indelibly on their memories, for 
 their account Avas written at least thirty years 
 after the occurrence had taken place. 
 
 " And after six days, Jesu.s taketh Peter, 
 James, and John, his brother, and bringeth 
 them up into an high mountain apart." The 
 name and situation of this mountain are 
 unknown, and must remain unknown, for the 
 description given of it is so general that it is 
 impossible to ascertain what mountain it was. 
 From its being spoken of as "an high moun- 
 tain," it is commonly supposed to be Mount 
 Tabor, which is the highest mountain in Galilee. 
 It is worthy of remark, that many of the most 
 important incidents in the life of our Lord, — 
 his transfiguration, sufferings, death, ascen- 
 sion, took place on mountains, and also that 
 it was his custom to ascend mountains for 
 
8 
 
 prayer. It is also worthy of remark that 
 Moses and Elijah, who appeared with Christ 
 in glory, are associated in our minds with 
 mountains. We never think of Moses without 
 thinking of Mount Sinai, and calling to mind 
 the forty days and forty nights he spent on 
 that mountain, holding intercourse with God. 
 We never think of Elijah without thinking of 
 Mount Horeb, where God revealed Himself to 
 the disheartened prophet, not in the whirlwind, 
 or earthquake, or fire, but in the still, small 
 voice. Though we are not informed, and can- 
 not determine, why God has chosen mountain 
 summits as most suitable places for a revelation 
 of Himself, yet we may reasonably conclude it 
 was chiefly because of their solitude and remo- 
 val from interruption. 
 
 The witnesses of Christ's transfiguration 
 were Peter, James and John. Three were 
 chosen, because they were»a sufficient number 
 to bear testimony to the fad of the transfigu- 
 ration, for the law required no more than two 
 or three witnesses to constitute a regular and 
 judicial proof: " out of the mouth of two or 
 three witnesses shall every word be estab- 
 lished." These three were chosen, because they 
 
9 
 
 were the chief of the disciples and the special 
 favorites of Christ. From the number of the 
 twelve, who were tliemselves chosen from the 
 great bod}- of his disciples, Christ selected three 
 to be his stated followers, and admitted them to a 
 more peculiar intimacy than the rest ; and even 
 of these three there was one who lay as it were 
 in his bosom, and was called " the disciple 
 whom Jesus loved." Christ has thus thrown a 
 charm and a sacredness around human friend- 
 sliijDs, by manifesting the same attachments as 
 are common among men. When He lived, a 
 man, ujDon the earth, He had his friends. 
 
 Towards evening, Christ, with his disciples, 
 arrives at the foot of Mount Tabor. Leaving 
 the body of his followers below, and taking with 
 him only the three favored ones, he ascends the 
 mountain, seeking its retirement and solitude 
 for the purpose of prayer. While He is engaged 
 in pra3'er, the disciples, under the pressure of 
 fatigue, fall asleep. The toils of the past day, 
 and their solemn situation amidst the loneliness 
 of night, upon a mountain, with the Saviour 
 apart, conspire to produce drowsiness and wea- 
 riness. Luke says '* they were heavy with 
 sleep." Suddenly they are roused by a glare 
 
10 
 
 of light, and to their amazement they perceive 
 that a great change has passed over their Mas- 
 ter. He is transfigured before them. The 
 fashion of his countenance is altered; " meek- 
 ness has given way to majesty, sadness to daz- 
 zling glory, the look of pity to the grandeur of 
 a God." The perfect splendor of the sun adof ns 
 his face and person, and the rays, streaming 
 through his garments, make them exceeding 
 white and glistening, as white as snow, as 
 white as the light, so as no fuller on earth could 
 whiten them. 
 
 It would seem as if Heaven had come down 
 to earth, for surely Heaven's brightness and 
 Heaven's glory encircle that consecrated spot, 
 and all around the Saviour's form there flows 
 an atmosphere of strange and wondrous beauty. 
 So amazed and overwhelmed are the disciples 
 with the glorious appearance of their Lord that 
 at first they see naught else but Him ; but soon 
 they discover He is not alone. There beside 
 Him, wrapped in the same shining vestments, 
 stand Moses and Elias. Awe-struck, they gaze 
 and listen, and soon voices and words reach 
 their ear. They hear the subject of discourse 
 between the o-lorified three, and to their amaze- 
 
ri 
 
 ment learn it is tire sufferings and death of the 
 one who has summoned the others from the 
 spirit-world to take part with Him in his glory. 
 " And behold," says the sacred record, "there 
 talked with Him two men, which were Moses 
 and Elias, who appeared in glor}^, and spake of 
 his decease, which He should accomplish at 
 Jerusalem." Peter can remain silent no longer. 
 With characteristic impetuosity, he gives 
 expression to his excited feelings in the words, 
 "Lord, it is good for us to be here : if Thou 
 wilt, let us make here three tabernacles ; one 
 for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." 
 Macknight suggests the idea that the disciples 
 may have supposed that Christ would now prove 
 Himself the King expected by the jDeojDle, 
 and excite the popular favor by exhibiting 
 Himself in this heavenly pageantry ; and Peter 
 offered to prepare a pavilion for his Sovereign, 
 and others for his two renowned companions. 
 But it was a hasty speech, for he uttered it, as 
 Luke tells us, " not knowing what he said." 
 While Peter is still speaking, a bright cloud 
 overshadows them. Jesus, with Moses and 
 Elias, enter it, and are thus enclosed as in a 
 sanctuary, while the disciples stand without. 
 
12 
 
 This cloud was a token of God's jDeculiar pre- 
 sence ; it was in a cloud that God, in former 
 days, took possession of the tabernacle and 
 temple ; and we are told that when the cloud 
 " covered the tabernacle, Moses was not able 
 to enter," and when it filled the temple, " the 
 priests could not stand to minister by reason 
 of it." 
 
 No wonder the disciples were afraid to enter 
 a cloud thus filled with the divine presence, 
 and moreover made vocal by the voice of God, 
 saying, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
 am well pleased : hear ye Him." 
 
 When they saw this cloud, and heard this 
 voice, " they fell on their face, and were sore 
 afraid." Christ, observing their fear, comes to 
 their relief. He " touched them and said, arise, 
 be not afraid." " It is not the voice of an 
 angry God, but of God well pleased with Me, 
 and in Me with you ; it is the voice of my God 
 and your God, of my Father and your Father ; 
 arise, stand on your feet, be of good courage ; 
 no harm shall befall you." 
 
 "And when they had lifted up their eyes, 
 they saw no man, save Jesus only." The bright 
 cloud had melted into thin air, Moses and Elias 
 
13 
 
 were departed, the dazzling splendor of the 
 Saviour's appearance had ceased, and they four 
 remained such as they were when they came 
 up into the mountain. As they returned, Jesus 
 commanded them not to divulge the transac- 
 tion until he should rise from the dead. Upon 
 this, there followed an interesting conversation 
 with respect to the fulfilment of prophecy in 
 the coming of Elias. Fully convinced from 
 what they had seen and heard that their Mas- 
 ter was the Messiah, the disciples ask, "How 
 then say the scribes that Elias must first come?" 
 
 The meaning of the question is this : " Since 
 Thou art the Messiah, how is it that Elias, as 
 we have now seen him, did not precede Thee?" 
 He replied that Elias truly should come first, 
 and restore all things ; but that already an Elias 
 had appeared in John the Baptist. 
 
 Such is the account of the transfiguration of 
 Christ, as gathered from the sacred records. 
 It may be called the most striking miracle there 
 recounted, and will well repay the further 
 inquiry and reflection we may give it. 
 
 There are many important truths taught or 
 illustrated by the transfiguration of Christ. 
 
14 
 
 1. We are taught tlie future glory of Christ. 
 His appearance on the Mount of Transfigura- 
 tion was a representation of the glory with 
 which He will be invested, when, at the end 
 of the world, he shall a second time appear 
 upon the earth. In the conversation with his 
 disciples, recorded in the preceding chapter, 
 Jesus had told them that. the Son of Man would 
 come in the glory of his Father, with the holy 
 angels, and would reward every man according 
 to his works. The transfiguration was a pic- 
 ture or exemplification of this. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that John, in his 
 vision of Heaven, beholding the glory of Christ, 
 describes his appearance in nearly the same 
 terms as are employed to describe his glory on 
 the mount. " His head and his hair were white 
 like wool, white as snow ; and his countenance 
 was as the sun shineth in his strength." Luke 
 calls his appearance, after being transfigured, 
 " his glory." John, who was himself present 
 at this appearance, gives it the same name : 
 "We beheld his glory, as of the only begotten 
 of the Father." And Peter, who was another 
 witness to the transaction on the mount, refers 
 to it by a similar expression : " For He received 
 
15 
 
 from God the Father honor and glory, when 
 there came such a voice to Him from the excel- 
 lent glory, ' this is My beloved Son, in whom 
 I am well pleased.' " The appearance of 
 Christ, when He shall come the second time, 
 will be Godlike. Language is inadequate to 
 express the splendor and majesty which will 
 adorn his face, encircle his person, and make 
 his way one of dazzling brightness and terrible 
 power. 
 
 He will not come as the Babe of Bethlehem, 
 as the despised Nazarene, as the man of sor- 
 rows, as the meek and lowly Jesus ; but as the 
 King of Kings and the Lord of Lords ; and will 
 appear with all the ensigns of majesty and regal 
 dignity that become his character as Judge of 
 the quick and the dead. Llis first coming was 
 in the meanness of sinful flesh — his second 
 coming will be in the glory of God. At his 
 first coming, He was attended by a few poor 
 and despised fishermen — at his second coming, 
 He will be attended by a retinue of the myriads 
 of his saints and by all the holy angels. 
 
 2. We are taught the doctrine of a general 
 resurrection. The transfiguration of Christ 
 points forward to the completion of his work, 
 
16 
 
 viz.: his resurrection. The power which dwelt 
 in Him from the beginning, and whereby, after 
 his sufferings. He subdued death and corruption, 
 was, on the Mount of Transfiguration, suffered 
 to shine forth through the dark vale of the 
 flesh, as a type and pledge of his future com- 
 plete and abiding glorification. But the doc- 
 trine of the resurrection is taught more 
 clearly by the fact that there appeared with 
 Christ on the mount two persons who had many 
 years before departed out of the world, 
 Moses and Elias. The one had been dead 
 nearly fifteen hundred years, and the other 
 about nine hundred. That they actually 
 appeared in their own .proper persons, there is 
 no reason to doubt. Some have even gone so 
 far as to suppose that the body of Moses did 
 not see corruption, but was reserved for this 
 appearance. The supposition is indeed possi- 
 ble, but there is neither ground nor necessity 
 for it. It is true, we know not where his sepul- 
 chre was, but we know his body was actually 
 hurled, and in all probability it underwent the 
 usual change of nature ; and, as the whole 
 transaction was miraculous, it was just as easy 
 for Omnipotence to restore life and form to a 
 
17 
 
 body mouldered into dust, as to reanimate a 
 body preserved uncorrupted and entire. "With 
 God all things are possible." 
 
 From the flict that the Bible everywhere 
 represents Christ as "t he first fruits of them 
 t hat slept,^ " we may infer that Moses was not 
 finally raised. Like Lazarus and others, who, 
 to serve some wise purpose of God, were sum- 
 moned from the sleep of death, Moses returned 
 to the grave's repose, there to wait till the 
 morning dawn, when " all that are in the grave 
 shall hear the voice of Christ, and shall come 
 forth, they that have done good unto the resur- 
 rection of life, and they that have done evil 
 unto the resurrection of damnation." Of the 
 glorious change of the dead in Christ, Moses, 
 at the transfiguration, was the type. 
 
 Elias did not die, but was translated. He 
 was taken to Heaven without tasting death. 
 Doubtless his change was wrought " in a 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye," when the 
 chariot and the horses of fire parted him from 
 the earth, and he went up by a whirlwind into 
 Heaven ; it was then that " the corruptible put 
 on incorruption, and the mortal put on immor- 
 tality." Elias was thus a type of those believ- 
 
18 
 
 ers who will be found alive at the day of judg- 
 ment. Paul teaches that not all will sleep in 
 the grave: some will be living on the earth 
 " at the last trump"; but all who are Christ's, 
 whether living or dead, will be changed, will 
 relinquish the image of the earthly for 
 the image of the heavenly. " If we believe 
 that Jesus died and rose again, even so, 
 them also which sleep in Jesus, will God 
 bring with Him. For the Lord Himself shall 
 descend from Heaven with a shout, with the 
 voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
 God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then 
 we which are alive and remain shall be caught 
 up together with them in the clouds, to meet 
 the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be 
 with the Lord." 
 
 There is another truth connected with the 
 resurrection, taught us by the transaction on 
 the mount — a most interesting and precious 
 truth : we shall know, and hold intercourse 
 with one another in Heaven. We are not 
 informed, and therefore cannot determine, 
 whether our future bodies will be composed of 
 exactly the same materials which compose them 
 now ; probably they will not, but we know there 
 
19 
 
 will be such a resemblance between them and 
 our present bodies, that we can call them our 
 own, and others will recognize them as ours. 
 Moses and Elias were together with Christ on 
 the mount, and held communion Avith each 
 other. They were known and recognized by 
 the disciples who witnessed the transfiguration. 
 May we not infer from this that the saints in 
 Heaven will know one another? The happiness 
 of Heaven is a social, not a selfish or solitary 
 joy. God has made us social beings, and a 
 great part of our happiness in this life is derived 
 from the attachments we here form; and as 
 God will not destroy what He Himself has 
 made, and what He has pronounced as good, 
 we may reasonably expect that if we love each 
 other in the Lord on earth, we will do so in 
 Heaven. But, oh, how much stronger, purer, 
 holier will be our intercourse above ! What 
 friendship) of earth is not sometimes marred by 
 doubts, apprehensions, suspicions? The friend- 
 ships of Heaven will be free from all such 
 imperfections. Language is too Aveak, and im- 
 agination too poor, to portray or even to conceive 
 the intimacy of intercourse, the promptness of 
 communication, and the sympathy of feeling 
 
20 
 
 we will enjoy in heaven, where all our duties 
 anil employments will dispose us to love, where 
 doubts and suspicions never enter, where affec- 
 tions never grow cold or attachments grow 
 weak, where the very atmosphere we breathe 
 is love. 
 
 3. The transfiguration of Christ teaches 
 another truth intimately connected with what 
 we have been considering, viz.: the doctrine 
 of a future retribution. 
 
 Christ told his disciples that when lie would 
 come in the glory of his Father, with the holy 
 angels, he would reward every man according 
 to his works. And we are elsewhere informed 
 that " we must all appear before the judgment 
 seat of Christ, that every one may receive the 
 tilings done in his body, according to that he 
 hath done, whether it be good or bad." It is 
 true, the righteous in that day will not be 
 acquitted on the ground of their good works, 
 but still these will be presented as evidences 
 of their interest in the righteousness of Christ, 
 while, on the other hand, the evil deeds of the 
 wiclvcd will be brought forward, not only as evi- 
 dences ofthcir being strangers to Christ, but also 
 as the grounds of their condemnation. To those 
 
21 
 
 on his right hand the King will gay, " Come 
 ye blesBed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 prepared for 3'ou from the foundation of the 
 world/' To those on his left, "Depart from 
 me, ye cursed, into everlafcting fire, prepared 
 for the devil and his angels." "These shall 
 go away into everlasting punishment, but the 
 righteous into life eternal." 
 
 We have an emblem or representation of this 
 doctrine in the fact that Moses and Elias 
 appeared with Christ in glory — a glory some- 
 what similar, we may suppose, though far 
 inferior to that with which Christ was invested. 
 Both Moses and Elias were eminently devoted 
 men. Tlirouirh a lon^r life, thev labored much 
 and suffered much in the service of God. They 
 proved themselves true and faithful men in the 
 midst of a perverse generation, and did all in 
 their power to teach men their duty both to 
 GiA and man. AVere they, while they lived, 
 rewarded for their devotion and fidelity ? By 
 no means. It was not till their labors on earth 
 were ended, and thev had reached Heaven, that 
 the crown of glory encircled their brow. Their 
 appearance on the Mount of Transfiguration 
 was a representation of the glorified state of 
 
22 
 
 the saints in Heaven. Brethren, in what, think 
 you, will our reward or glory consist ? It will 
 be in our being made like Christ, and being 
 forever with Him. These vile bodies will be 
 changed, and will be fashioned like unto his 
 glorious body, and we shall be forever and ever 
 with our Lord. 
 
 With this scene before us, and engaged in 
 such contemplations, well may we break forth in 
 the glowing language of an eminent writer :* 
 " Glorious and blessed day ! when the meanest 
 of the saints shall resemble Moses, not in that 
 green and lively old age, which exjDcrienced 
 not dimness of eyes nor abatement of natural 
 vigor, but in that renovated youth, that unfad- 
 ing beauty, that impassive strength, that 
 immortal lustre, wherein on the Mount of the 
 Lord he was seen ; and shall resemble Eli as, 
 not by mounting, with the help of a chariot and 
 horses of fire into Heaven, but with native force 
 immediately derived from the great source of 
 life and motion, shall spontaneously ascend up 
 to his native seat, and shall resemble Christ, 
 his divine head, not in that sinless infirmity to 
 which He voluntarily submitted in the days of 
 
 * Henry Hunter, D. D. 
 
23 
 
 his flesh, but in that glory whicli He had with 
 the Father before the world was, and wliieh lor 
 a moment burst forth on the Mount of Trans- 
 figuration, ' when his lace did shine as the sun 
 and his raiment was white as the light.' Glo- 
 rious and blessed Gospel ! which first taught 
 the resurrection from the dead, which has 
 'abolished death, and brouiiht life and immor- 
 tality to light,' whose ' exceeding great and 
 precious promises' make men ' partakers of a 
 divine nature,' whose hallowed page represents 
 saints and angels quitting their heavenly abode 
 to minister to the necessities of wretched mor- 
 tals, and wretched mortals rising to the ever- 
 lasting possession of heavenly thrones : ' 
 death, where is thy sting ? grave, where is 
 thy victory ? Thanks be to God, which giveth 
 us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' " 
 4. We learn from the Transfiguration of 
 Christ the abrogation of the Mosaical, and the 
 establishment of the Evangelical, dispensation. 
 On the mount there appeared in the persons 
 of Moses, Elias and Christ, the representatives 
 of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel. And 
 in the fact that they were together, holding 
 communion with one another, we learn there 
 
24 
 
 is no contradiction or hostility between the 
 two dispensations. The Law and the Gospel 
 there clasped hands, and Prophecy, the con- 
 necting link, bound them closer together. In 
 Christ, the Law's requirements were answered 
 and Prophecy fulfilled. But while this is true, 
 we are clearly taught the superiority of the 
 Christian, and the cessation of the Jewish, dis- 
 pensation. When the three disciples saw 
 Moses and Elias conversing familiarly with 
 Jesus, they doubtless considered them as of 
 equal dignity and authority ; and, under this 
 impression, Peter proposes to make three taber- 
 nacles, one for Christ, and one for Moses, and 
 one for Elias. How is the proposition received? 
 It is answered by a bright cloud overshadowing 
 them, and by a voice from that cloud, saying, 
 " this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well 
 pleased: hear ye Him." 
 
 At the giving of the Law, on Mount Sinai, 
 God appeared in a cloud, but the cloud was 
 dai^k and thick, and there were " thunders and 
 lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet exceed- 
 ing loud, and all the people that were in the 
 camp trembled.'' At the transfiguration, on the 
 contrary, the cloud was bright, the whole scene 
 
25 
 
 luminous .and transporting, and naught was 
 heard but a voice, a still small voice, and that 
 not ushered in with a strong wind or an earth- 
 quake or fire, as when God spoke to Elias — the 
 voice of the Father expressing delight in his 
 beloved Son. 
 
 Does not this point out the characteristic 
 difference between the two dispensations, and 
 show the superiority of the latter? The former, 
 from its severity, was calculated to excite ter- 
 ror ; the latter, from its gentleness, to inspire 
 love. 
 
 And what was the meaning of that voice from 
 Heaven, if it were not that the Jewish must 
 give way to the Christian dispensation? 
 " This is My beloved son, in whom I am well 
 pleased : hear ye Him." Matthew Henry 
 strikingly observes : " Moses and Elias were 
 great men, and favorites of Heaven, yet they 
 were but servants, and servants that God was 
 not always well pleased in ; for Moses spoke 
 unadvisedly, and Elias was a man subject to 
 passions ; but Christ is a Son, and in Him God 
 was always well pleased. Moses and Elias 
 were sometimes instruments of reconciliation 
 between God and Israel ; Moses was a great 
 
26 
 
 intercessor, and Elias a great reformer ; but in 
 Christ God is reconciling the world ; his inter- 
 cession is more prevalent than that of Moses, 
 and his reformation more effectual than that 
 of Elias." Hear ye no longer Moses or Elias, 
 but Him and Him only. He is henceforth to 
 be your Lord, your Legislator, your King. 
 The ceremonial law must cease, and Moses and 
 the Prophets give way to Christ. 
 
 As soon as these words were uttered, Moses 
 and Elias disappeared, that Christ might be 
 all in all. They left their thrones in Heaven, 
 and bringing with them their golden crowns, 
 laid them at Jesus' feet ; to Him they jDointed 
 as the one in whose light they shone, and from 
 whom came all their glory ; and, with John the 
 Baptist, each exclaimed, " He that cometh after 
 me is preferred before me, whose shoes' latchet 
 I am not worthy to unloose." " Behold the 
 Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world." 
 
 Thus, in the presence of Moses and Elias, 
 representatives of the Law and the Prophets, 
 the Gospel is established, and thus they both 
 confess Him whom they typified and predicted. 
 Brethren, can we, gazing on this scene, hear- 
 
27 
 
 iiig this voice, beholding this example, with- 
 hold our praise and homage ? 0, let us joyfully 
 bend the knee to Ilini before whom bowed 
 Moses and Elias in willing homage, acknow- 
 ledging Ilim greater than they ; let us cheer- 
 fully worship Him whom the angels are com- 
 manded to worship, who has created all things, 
 and upholds all things, and who is over all and 
 above all, " God blessed forever." 
 
 We have thus reviewed the narrative of the 
 transfiguration of Christ, and have considered 
 some of the lessons which it teaches — the future 
 glory of Christ, the doctrine of a general resur- 
 rection, the doctrine of future retribution, 
 and the abrogation of the Mosaical, and estab- 
 lishment of the evangelical, dispensation. 
 
 There are several inferences, which flow 
 naturally from the subject discussed, to which, 
 in conclusion, I call your attention. 
 
 1. How diversified are the states of God's 
 people upon earth ! Though the three disci- 
 ples were exalted to the very Heavens in point 
 of privilege, in being permitted to witness the 
 unveiling of Christ's glory on the mount, yet 
 this exaltation was of brief duration, for soon 
 they had to descend into the valley again, and 
 
28 
 
 to go " through much tribulation in their way 
 to the kingdom." Thus is it with all the people 
 of God. Their life is at best a checkered scene; 
 joy is quickly followed by sorrow. If, some- 
 times, we are favored with special manifesta- 
 tions of divine grace, glimpses and pledges of 
 future glory, yet they are never of long contin- 
 uance ; they are soon Avithdrawn, for " two 
 Heavens are too much for those to expect that 
 never deserve one." We must come down 
 from the mountains, where we have communion 
 with God, and take delight in that communion, 
 and of which we are saying " it is good to be 
 here"; for even then we have no continuing 
 city. Blessed be God, there is a mountain of 
 glory and joy before us, whence we shall never 
 come down, and when we have reached that 
 mountain we may say with an emphasis, "it is 
 good for us to be here." We shall need no 
 tabernacles, for we shall dwell in the temple 
 of our God, and shall go no more out forever. 
 2. If Moses and Elias left Heaven to converse 
 with Christ in regard to the decease which He 
 should accomplish at Jerusalem, surely that 
 subject is of the greatest importance. And if 
 
29 
 
 it occupied their thoughts and attention, surely 
 it should occupy ours. 
 
 The most vital doctrine of* the Gospel is the 
 doctrine that Jesus Christ came into the world 
 to die — to die, not as a mere example or wit- 
 ness of the truth, but as the atonement for sin. 
 It is by the blood oi Christ that the Church has 
 been purchased ; it is by the blood of Christ 
 that the guilt of sin has" been removed and our 
 consciences purified from dead works to serve 
 the living God. The death of Christ is a sub- 
 ject in which are found the inexhaustible trea- 
 sures of divine wisdom and knowledge, a sub- 
 ject which fills Heaven with wonder, and which 
 eternity itself will not be sufficient to unfold. 
 And yet this subject is " to the Jews a stum- 
 bling block, and to the Greeks foolishness." 
 how little does it occupy our thoughts and fill 
 our souls ! Brethren, let us determine to know 
 nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, 
 and to glory in nothing but his cross. 
 
 3. If we would have our bodies made like 
 unto the glorious body of Christ, we must be 
 like Him in the spirit and temper of our minds. 
 We must be redeemed Ijy the blood of Christ, 
 and be renewed by the Spirit of Christ; these 
 
30 
 
 cold and stony hearts must be taken away, and 
 hearts of flesh given us in their stead ; we must 
 die unto sin and live unto holiness, and then 
 shall "we all with open face, beholding as in a 
 glass the glory of the Lord, be changed into the 
 same image, from glory to glory, even as by 
 the Spirit of the Lord." 
 
 Why, then, need we fear the hour of death ? 
 He, whose we are and whom we serve, is the 
 resurrection and the life. Whosoever believeth 
 in Him, though he be dead, shall live again. 
 As He lives we shall live also. He has gone 
 to prepare a place for us. In his Father's 
 many mansions, there is a home provided for 
 each one of his followers ; and when He, who 
 is our life, shall appear, then shall we also 
 appear with Him in glory. Brother Christian, 
 death may be very near you, but be not dis- 
 mayed. " Look on the transfiguration, with 
 all its doctrine and all its comfort ; behold in 
 that vision the glory of thy heavenly reward ! 
 In this bright view, let faith quicken her wing, 
 and greet the Saviour with the inspired wel- 
 come, ' Even so, come, Lord Jesus.' " 
 

 
 4'^ .. •'T'fl^ 
 
Syrocui*, r«. ' . 
 Stockton, Coin. 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 NTCDINU • » 
 
w 
 
 BS2424.5.061 
 
 A Discourse on the transfiguration of 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 ^A 
 
 ^^ 
 
 1 1012 00053 0719