speaking blasphemous words against Moses, and against the law." 8 And the charge laid against Paul was that he taught the Jews" to forsake Moses," and spoke against the law and the temple. When then the Roman forces overran the country, and laid it waste; desolated Jerusalem by a siege, which has scarcely a parallel in history for horror; and scattered abroad the surviving remnant of the people; then the enemies of the kingdom of God were vanquished; the Jewish polity, the religion of Moses, was overthrown: of the temple "not one stone was left upon another:" and the Jews remained" without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim." It was "the sign of the Son of man in heaven." 2 The fulfilment of the prophecy, “Hereafter "Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in a cloud with power and great glory." The Christians, warned by their Lord, "fled into the mountains :" and saw from their places of refuge the triumph of the Son of God, in the destruction of his enemies, and the overthrow of the nation which would not "have him to reign over them." They saw the prophecy accomplished, in the coming of the kingdom of God with power. And some were at that time standing by our Lord, who did not taste of death till this was done.

1

"4

In another sense, and that an important sense, they all saw the kingdom of God come with power. They saw the fulfilment of the promise, which assured the disciples, that the Comforter, when he should come, should reprove (or convince) "the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”5 They saw the effect of that Spirit, when on the day of Pentecost three thousand persons" gladly received the word" of truth as preached by Peter, and were baptized in the name of Him, whom shortly before they had joined in crucifying. They saw "the Lord adding to the church daily such as should be saved:" they saw" a great company of the priests" abandon the prejudices in which they had grown up, and the law which they had administered, and "become obedient to the faith."

6

tiles beseeching that the word

They saw the Genmight be preached to

them, and “turning to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." 8

Had there been no other victory gained against the most vehement opposers of the gospel, this would sufficiently have explained and justified the words, There be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with

power.

5 John xvi. 8.

7 Acts vi. 7.

• Acts ii. 46.

8 1 Thess. i. 10.

LECTURE LII.

JESUS IS TRANSFIGURED.

MARK ix. 2—13.

2. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them.

3. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

4. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

5. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

6. For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

1

He spoke, according to St. Luke, "not knowing what he said:" i. e. not having any distinct purpose; but comparing in his mind the glorious scene before him, and that which he had just left in the world below, he would gladly continue on the mount in presence of this heavenly company. Master, it is good for us to be here: here let us set up our tent; here let us dwell, in the midst of the brightness of this glory.

Luke ix. 23.

It was the natural effect of what he had witnessed on his mind. But it was not the purpose of God respecting him and his brethren. They were not to be taken out of the world, but to serve him in the world. And what they had now seen, and could not fail to remember, would better enable them to maintain their cause; would strengthen their faith, and give reality to their words and exhortations. It would produce in a stronger degree that result which the Scriptures are designed to effect, when they set before us those holy men of old who "witnessed a good confession," living on this earth" as strangers and pilgrims," and "looking to a better country' for the recompence of their labours. St. Paul brings these forward in a bright array. He shows us Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Joseph, and Moses, who "all obtained a good report through faith" he bids us contemplate them as witnesses of our own course, and as encouragements to obedience and constancy: just as the remembrance of what they had beheld on Mount Tabor, enabled Peter, and James, and John, like Moses, to endure "the reproach of Christ," and act a prophet's part, in calling their countrymen to repentance.

Peter was now recalled to himself by a voice which declared the purpose of this vision.

7. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

8. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

See Heb. xi. 4-40; xii. 1, 2.

9. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.

10. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should

mean.

66

It could answer no good end, to relate the vision then. Jesus was now approaching the hour when the purpose for which he came should be fulfilled: a purpose which could not be set aside :-or "how should the Scriptures be fulfilled," or man be saved? This, as we learn from St. Luke, was the subject of discourse with these holy men. They spake of the decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Moses had long before predicted Him who was now come; "a prophet like unto himself:"4 and had given to the Israelites the same injunction which the voice out of the cloud now issued to the three apostles, Hear him. Elijah had rebuked the people for their idolatry, and called them from their vanities to serve the living God, the God of their ancestors. But the decease which was now to take place, the sacrifice to be offered on the cross for the remission of sin, should effect that which had not been effected by the laws of Moses or the prophet's exhortations: it should "turn men to God:" and looking forward to this, no doubt these holy men, these " spirits made perfect," would exult in the prospect, "Now shall the Father be glorified in the Son," who" when he is lifted up" shall shall "draw all men unto him." 6