Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity.

TEACHING OF THE TRANSFIGURATION.

S. MARK ix. 3.

He was transfigured before them.

THE entire transaction which occupied our attention last Sunday was clearly at once a symbol and an earnest of CHRIST's second Coming. Our LORD Himself declared as much, beforehand and the awful majesty in which He was revealed is the same in which He will at last reveal Himself to the World. "Lo, He cometh with clouds," it is said, of His second Advent: and behold, with a bright cloud He came now. There will then be gathered to Him "the quick and the dead;" and who so apt an emblem of the former, as the man who never tasted death? who so apt an emblem of the latter, as the man who died within sight of the promised Land, and whose entombment became a care to the Angels of GOD?

Further, the Transfiguration took place in the night, at which season our SAVIOUR threatens that He will at last "come as a thief." The

waking up of the three Apostles from the earth whereon they were lying, was a lively emblem of what must be hereafter; when "they who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." And the terror which they forthwith experienced, reminds us forcibly of those many passages where it is prophesied that fear will be the prevailing sentiment of the great and terrible Day.

All this, lies, in a manner, on the surface of the narrative. What follows, is perhaps a little less obvious.

1. Moses had been dead for nearly fifteen hundred years. The translation of Elijah had taken place nearly a thousand years since. These Saints not only live therefore, but are full, as ever, of their ancient hope. Does not this mention of the great Lawgiver and the great Prophet of the Hebrew nation, at the end of so many years, forcibly remind us of the unseen World, with its many myriads,-its marvellous powers, its strange nearness;as a great and awful reality, of which, assuredly, we think too little Pod #

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2. But, secondly, bur LORD was trans figured," as S. Matthew and S. Mark relate that is," the fashion of His countenance was altered," as S. Luke explains. A dazzling lustre penetrated every feature, and shone out from

every part of His sacred person,--rendering His very raiment glorious as the Light itself. He was another therefore, yet the same. The whole course of the narrative shews it. And we note the circumstance with the more interest because from such places only can we gather any intimation concerning what is in reserve for the people of GOD. When S. Paul, in a famous place which we read in our Burial Service, hints at a change marvellous as that which transforms the "bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of some other grain," into such a body of beauty as gladdens the heart and eye in our fields and gardens, verily, even Fancy folds her wing, and can make nothing of it. As for modest Speculation, it confesses humbly that it cannot follow up the Divine hint of what is in store for the sons of GOD. But a body rendered glorious: a countenance transfigured: the fashion of what once was human, so altered as to become Angelic, and yet remaining essentially the very thing it was;-O this affects us very differently! The heart leaps up in gratitude to GOD, our Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier; and prays Him, in the great and terrible Day, in our individual case, not to despise the work of His own Hands!

3. A third striking intimation derivable from

the history before us is conveyed by the instant recognition of Moses and Elijah by Simon Peter. Mauy are the places of Scripture which convey the same doctrine; I mean, that there will be Recognition in a future state. future state. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing," (asks S. Paul, addressing his beloved Thessalonian Church:) "Are not even ye, in the presence of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, at His Coming?" What can this mean, except that in the great Day of account, the holy Apostle confidently looked for his beautiful crown,-based his hope, and depended for his joy,-on the presence, yea in recognizing the presence, (and at GoD's right Hand too,) of that little flock which he had tended so faithfully and so well, at Thessalonica?

"We preach CHRIST," (he elsewhere says,) and we "warn every man, and teach every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in CHRIST JESUS." But how could he present those whom he no longer knew?... O depend upon it, his well-grounded confidence was this; that he should at the last Day, that he shall at the last Day,-(for his confident hope yet awaits accomplishment,)-present those early Christians, one by one, to GoD: feel them, once his hope, now indeed his joy; and wear them,

throughout the ages, as his imperishable crown!

Here, however, the intimation is direct. Saints in bliss, we are hereby taught; recognize each other instantly; as well those whom they never beheld before, as their kinsfolk and acquaintance. . . . How ample a field of delight is thus provided for us! How solemn an anticipation is thus held out for Faith and Love to feed upon! How utterly must the resources of that future Life surpass everything we could even imagine to ourselves in this!... Shew me a Land where all lost treasures shall be recovered, all lost ties reunited; and not only so, but where, in mysterious brotherhood, the whole society of GoD's redeemed, from the beginning to the end of Time, are knit into one large family, knowing even as they are known;--and I must confess that, of a truth, that will be Heaven indeed!

4. Further, let us be careful to note the indication which this narrative affords us of the bliss of the Saints; the rapturous joy of that unseen World where CHRIST is. S. Peter beheld it but for a moment; yet he cried out that it was good to be there, and would have lingered on the mountain-top to prolong the strange delight, which yet he was incapable of