the reft, was fo fhocked at what he had just heard, that " he took Jefus, and began to rebuke him, faying, Be it far from thee, Lord; this fhall not be unto thee." Our Saviour, who faw every thing that passed in his mind, and perceived, probably, that this expoftulation took its rife more from difappointed interest and ambition than from a generous concern for his master's credit and honour, gave him an immediate and severe reproof. "Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offence to me; for thou favourest not the things that be of God, but thofe that be of men."

He then proceeded to fhew, not only that he himself must fuffer perfecution, but that all those who would at that time come after him, and fhare with him the arduous and dangerous task of fowing the firft feeds of the Gofpel, "muft deny themselves, and take up their crofs, and follow him." But then, to fupport them under thofe fevere injunctions, he cheers them immediately with a brighter fcene of things, and with a profpect of his future glory, and their future recompence. "The Son of man

fhall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then shall he reward every man according to his works." · And he adds, "Verily I fay unto you, there be some ftanding here which fhall not taste of death till they fee the Son of man coming in his kingdom." The meaning of these last words I fhall enquire into hereafter. But the evident tendency of the whole paffage is to prepare the minds of his difciples for the cruel treatment which both he and they were to undergo, and at the fame time to raise their drooping fpirits, by fetting before their eyes his own exaltation, and their glorious rewards in another life.

This difcourfe, however, he probably found had not fufficiently fubdued their prejudices, and reconciled them to his state of humiliation; and therefore he determined to try a method of impreffing them with juster sentiments, which he frequently had recourfe to on fimilar occafions; and that was, representing to them, by a fignificant action, what he had already explained by words.

Accordingly, within a few days after the foregoing converfation, he taketh with him Peter, James, and John,

and bringeth them up into a high mountain (probably Mount Tabor) apart. Very fanciful reafons have been affigned by fome of the commentators for his taking with him only three of his difciples. But all that it feems neceffary to say on this head is, that as the law required no more than two or three witnesses to constitute a regular and judicial proof, our Saviour frequently chofe to have only this number of witnesses present at some of the most important and interefting fcenes of his life. The three difciples, whom he now felected, were thofe that generally attended him on fuch occafions, and who seem to have been diftinguished as his moft intimate and confidential friends. St. John, we know, was fo in an eminent degree. St. James, his brother, would, from that near connection, probably be brought more frequently under his master's notice; and as St. Peter was the very person who had expreffed himself with so much indignation on the fubject of our Saviour's fufferings, it was highly proper and neceffary that he should be admitted to a fpectacle, which was purposely calculated to calm thofe emotions, and remove that disgust which the first mention of them had produced in his mind.

With these companions, then, Jefus afcended the mountain, and was transfigured before them; "and behold there appeared Mofes and Elias talking with him." They were not only feen by the difciples, but they were heard alfo converfing with Jefus. This is a circumstance of great importance, especially when we are told what the fubject of their converfation was. St. Luke gives us this useful piece of information; he fays, that "they fpake of our Lord's decease, which he should accomplish at Jerufalem.” The very mention of Chrift's fufferings and death by fuch men as Mofes and Elias, without any marks of furprize or diffatisfaction, was of itself fufficient to occafion a great change in the fentiments of the disciples respecting those fufferings, and to foften those prejudices of their's against them, the removal of which seems to have been one of the more immediate objects of the transfiguration. But if we fuppofe further (what is far from being improbable) that in the course of the converfation feveral interefting particulars refpecting our Saviour's crucifixion were brought un

der difcuffion; if they entered at any length into that im portant fubject, the great work of our redemption; if they touched upon the nature, the causes, and the confequen ces of it; the pardon of fin, the reftitution to God's favour, the triumph over death, and the gift of eternal life; if they fhewed that the fufferings of Chrift were prefigured in the law, and foretold by the prophets; it is eafy to fee, that topics fuch as these must tend still further to open the eyes, and remove the prepoffeffions of his dif ciples; and the more fo, because they would feem to arife incidentally in a discourse between other perfons cafually overheard; which having no appearance of defign or profeffed oppofition in it, would be apt to make a deeper impreffion on their minds than a direct and open attack upon their prejudices.

But the circumstance which would, probably, be most effectual in correcting the erroneous ideas of his disciples on this head, was the act of the transfiguration itself, the aftonishing change it produced in the whole of our Lord's external appearance.

one.

From the expreffions made use of by the feveral evan gelifts, this change appears to have been a very illustrious They inform us, that "as our Saviour prayed, the fashion of his countenance was changed; his face did fhine as the fun, and his raiment became exceeding white and gliftering; as white as fnow, as white as the light, fo as no fuller on earth could whiten it." Now Chrift having affumed this fplendid and glorious appearance, at the very time when Mofes and Elias were converfing with him on his fufferings, it was a vifible and ftriking proof to his disciples, that thofe fufferings were not, as they ima gined, any real difcredit aad difgrace to him, but were perfectly confiftent with the dignity of his character, and the highest state of glory to which he could be exalted.

But further ftill; Jefus had (in the converfation mentioned in the preceding chapter) told his difciples, that the Son of man fhould come in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels, to judge the world. The scene on the mount therefore, which fo Joon followed that conver

fation, was probably meant to convey to them fome idea and fome evidence of his coming in glory at the great day of judgment, of which his transfiguration was, perhaps, as just a picture and exemplification as human fight could

bear.

It is, indeed, defcribed in nearly the fame terms that St. John in the Revelations applies to the Son of man in his ftate of glory in heaven. "He was clothed, fays he, with a garment down to the foot. His head and his hair were white like wool, white as fnow; and his countenance was as the fun fhineth in his strength." It is remarkable, that St. Luke calls his appearance, after being transfigured, his glory. St. John, who was likewise present at this appearance, gives it the fame name. "We beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of his Father." And St. Peter, who was another witness to this transaction on the

mount, refers to it by a fimilar expreffion. "For he received, fays that Apoftle, from God the Father, bonor and glory, when there came fuch a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased*." There can hardly, therefore remain any doubt, but that the glory which Chrift received from the Father on the mountain, was meant to be a representation of his coming in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels, at the end of the world; which is one of the topics touched upon in the preceding chapter.

:

Another thing there mentioned was our Saviour's refurrection. Of this, indeed, there is no direct fymbol in the transfiguration but it is evidently implied in that tranf action; because Jefus is there reprefented in his glorified, celeftial state, which being in the natural order of time fubfequent to his refurrection, that event muft naturally be fuppofed to have previously taken place.

But though this great event is only indirectly alluded to here, yet those most important doctrines, which are founded upon it, a general refurre&ion and a day of retribution, are exprefsly represented in the transfiguration.

* 2 Pet, i. 17.

In the fixteenth chapter of St. Matthew, Chrift tells his difciples, that when " he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels, he will reward every man according to his works* :" From whence it neceffarily follows that every man who is dead fhall rise from the grave. And in confirmation of both these truths, there are two juft and righteous men, Mofes and Elias, who had many years before departed out of the world, brought back to it again, and reprefented (as we shall see hereafter) in a ftate of glory. That they actually appeared in their own proper persons there is not the least reason to doubt. Grotius even goes so far as to affirm, that their bodies were referved for this very purpose. But there is no neceffity and no ground for this imagination. For though, indeed, the fepulchre of Mofes was not known, yet his body was actually buried in a valley in the land of Moab, and there. fore must have feen corruption; and as the whole transaction was miraculous, it was just as easy to Omnipotence to restore life and form to a body mouldered into duft, as to re-animate a body that was preserved uncorrupted and entire; and, indeed, was a much exacter emblem of our own refurrection. We may, however, readily admit what fome learned men have justly obferved, that Elias, having been carried up into heaven without undergoing death, he was here a proper reprefentative of those who shall be found alive at the day of judgment, as Mofes is of those who had died, and are raised to life again. And his appearance a fecond time on earth, after he had been so many ages dead and buried, must have been a convincing proof to the difciples (had they duly attended to it) of the poffibility of a refurrection.

And what is no lefs important, the manner in which both Mofes and Elias appeared on this occafion, afforded the difciples an occular demonftration of a day of retribution, agreeably to what their divine Mafter had a few days before told them, that he would reward every man according to his works.

For we are informed, that both Mofes and Elias appeared also in glory; a glory fomewhat fimilar, we may

Ver. 27.