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GOSPEL of St. Matthew, Chap. xvii. Verse

1. And after fix days, Jefus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.

2. And was transfigured before them, and his face did fhine as the fun, and his raiment was white as the light.

3. And, behold, there appeared unto them Mofes and Elias talking with him.

4. Then anfwered Peter, and faid unto Jefus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make bere three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Mofes, and one for Elias.

5. While he yet Spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which faid, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed; hear ye him.

6. And when the difciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were fore afraid.

7. And Jefus came and touched them, and said, Arife, and be not afraid.

8. And when they had lift up their eyes, they faw no man, fave Jefus only.

9. And as they came down from the mountain, Jefus charged them, faying, Tell the vifion to no man, until the Son of man be rifen again from the dead.

IN

The MORAL REFLECTION.

N the preceding chapter, our Saviour declared to his difciples, that he was the Son of God, and commanded them to keep this great mystery fecret; then he expofed the whole series of his paffion, his ignominious death, and glorious refur

rection :

rection: From that time forth began Jefus to fhew unto his difciples, how that he must go unto Ferufalem, and fuffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and fcribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day, Matth. xvi. 21. Befides, he pafs'd from the rehearsal of his own fufferings to that of his difciples. He told them in plain terms, that, if they refolved to follow him, they muft prepare themfelves to fuffer in this world, and to expect the reward of their labours in the other. If any man will come after me, let him deny himfelf and take up his cross, and follow me, ver. 24; that the only way to fave their fouls was to lofe them for his fake; for he that will fave his life, fball lofe it, ver. 25; that when occafion prefented itself, either to die or to betray their confcience, they must rather expofe their bodies to the fury of tyrants and cruelty of hangmen, than diffemble their religion to fecure their fortunes, or commit a fin to fave their lives. Now the firft was a mystery hard to be believed, and the fecond a doctrine not eafy to be practised. The apoftles were illiterate, and imperfectly acquainted with the fecrets of the incarnation; fo that they could hardly comprehend how a Being infinitely happy could fuffer, and the immortal die; and this difficulty was able to perfuade them they misunderstood our Saviour, or to difbelieve the mystery.

On the other fide, the doctrine of felf-denial and fuffering, appeared, no doubt, not only new, but fevere, to men brought up in different principles of Judaism, which promifed to the oblervers of its precepts, peace and plenty, and the enjoyment of all thofe temporal bleffings men moft eagerly covet, together with an exemption from the inconveniencies of war, and the fear of famine and peftilence, and from all thofe painful accidents Q 2

that

that discompofe nature, and turn life into a burthen.

First therefore, to confirm the apostles (and in them the faithful of future ages) in the belief of his Divinity, He was transfigured before them, i. e. he appeared in glory, that by this vifion they might learn, that his being liable to fufferings was an argument of his goodness, not of his weakness; and that, if he pleased, he could render his body not only proof against death, but even against fufferings. But coming into the world as a Saviour (that is) to redeem mankind, by his temporal death, from an eternal one, he would embrace all the miferies that wait on human nature, fin excepted; and, fufpending the effects of his glorified foul to influence his body, he left this in its natural capacity of fuffering all thofe torments hell could invent, or the rage of his enemies inflict.

Secondly, Man has fuch a propensity to those pleafures that gratify the fenfes, is fo taken with prefent enjoyments, that he will not quit them upon the expectation of the future, without good fecurity; much lefs will he mortify appetite, crucify his flesh, war upon his paffions, unless he has fufficient hopes that the recompence will bear proportion to the labour. Our Saviour therefore, to encourage the apostles to the obfervance of all his commands, would fhew them a glimpfe of the reward they were to expect, and convince them, by their own experience, that all the fufferings of this life could not be compared with the recompence God hath prepared for the bleffed in the next.

And indeed, St. Peter was fo opprefs'd with the majesty of his Mafter, so overfet with his glorious appearance, that, quite forgetful of Chrift's fufferings and his own, he was wholly taken up with the sweetness of his prefent felicity; nay, was

fo

fo abforpt in this fea of pleasure, that his only defire was to contemplate that refplendent object eternally. Let us build, fays he, three tabernacles; he required now no other reward for his abandoning all for his Mafter's fake, but a continuation of the prefent apparition: this put a stop to all his defires: It is good for us to be here! the only apprehenfion of lofing it alarmed his fear, and convinced him fomething was wanting to make him compleatly happy.

And yet, good God! what is this glorious fpectacle, if compared with that which God has prepared for his faints in heaven! All this was but the object of fenfe; the eye conveyed thofe rays of glory to the apoftles fouls, that caused the tranfport. But the effential happiness of the faints is above sense; neither the eye nor taste can reach it : and as hearts cannot conceive it, fo we want words to express it in fine, we fhall poffefs God himself; for the fame object, that makes him happy by nature, will render us happy by his favour. We fhall fee him face to face, fays the apoftle, that is, not through a mist, or under a borrowed fhape framed by the imagination, but as he is, with all his perfections. From this knowledge fprings neceffarily a moft ardent love; this transforms us almost into the beloved object; and, by a ftrange union, puts us in the poffeffion of God himfelf, and, by confequence, of all his perfections; it carries the creature to the moft intimate commerce it can have with God.

This enjoyment ftops all our defires, because the object is infinite in all perfection. It places us in a ftate of impeccability; for it is impoffible to poffefs God, and not love him. It is eternal, and therefore the bleffed are as well without fear as without hope. It fatiates, yet never gluts, never fur feits i

Q3

feits; it irritates the appetite without trouble, and enflames the foul without torment. O the happy State! What can we defire more than to defire nothing, to fear nothing; than to be above fin, out of the reach of difeafes, and exempt from the jurifdiction of death?

But, methinks, nothing gives us a more clear idea of the happy estate of the bleffed, than the price of the purchase: the Son of God, whofe wifdom is infinite, could not be deceived in the value of it; nor the Father, who is infinitely juft, fet too high a price upon it. Yet the one would not give it us, unlefs the other bought it at the expence of his blood; and our Redeemer thought not he had over-purchased it at fo exceffive a rate. He led a miferable life three and thirty years, and underwent a painful and ignominious death: in fine, like that merchant, of whom he speaks in the gofpel, he bought this jewel at the price of all he poffefs'd, that is, an infinite treasure, and deemed himfelf happy to have procured it at this exorbi tant rate. Seeing therefore the reward of the juft bears an exact proportion to the merits of our Saviour, who can comprehend its greatness, but those bleffed fouls who enjoy it?

Let us therefore not be fo intent upon our fufferings, as quite to forget the greatness of our reward, nor fo tie our thoughts to the prefent, as to leave no place for the confideration of the future. A mifcarriage in our eftates, a disappointment in our enterprises, a disease borne with patience and refignation to providence, entitles to this glorious ftate, Nay, St. Paul affures us, that our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 2 Cor. This confideration fhould sweeten all our pains, and make us fupport all temporal af. fictions,

iv. 17.

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