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course had not overcome their prejudices, and therefore he endeavoured to impress the truth upon their minds, as on other occasions, by a significant action. The scene of this change of appearance, or transfiguration, as we translate metamorphosis, was, according to tradition, Mount Tabor, in lower Galilee. Jesus had gone up to pray, and in the act of prayer was transfigured. It was in the night, which explains their having fallen asleep.

75. The transfiguration. Matt. xvii. Mark ix. Luke ix.

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THEY saw their Master daily in the "form of a servant,' as the Son of Man, but on this one occasion they were permitted to behold his glory as the only-begotten of the Father, and had such a discovery of him "in the form of God" as they were able to bear. This his dazzling appearance, bright as the sun, or as the snow, would give them some faint conception of the glory which he had had with his Father before his incarnation, which was always inherent in him, though he saw good to veil it while on earth, and which he would resume after his ascension; and of the glory which awaited them, when hereafter their bodies should be changed into the resemblance of his glorified one. It would also serve to explain to them the meaning of their late confession, “Thou art the Son of the living God;" and to support their faith during his approaching humiliation. Moses and Elijah, the one the giver of the law, the other its great restorer in a period of universal defection, appeared also in glory, and conversed with him on the subject of his death; and this ought to have convinced them that it would be no disgrace, but perfectly consistent with his office of Messiah. Peter, delighted, broke out into an exclamation, that it was good to remain there, and not go down to meet the sufferings, of which he was so reluctant to hear; but in this he knew not what he said: the sacrifice, without which he could not be accepted, must first be offered, and services remained for him and his brethren to perform, which would promote the divine

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glory by the extension and edification of the Church long after their own decease. He seems to have considered them of equal dignity and authority, for he adds, let us make three tabernacles. While thus inconsiderately speaking, a bright cloud, like that, we may presume, which hung over the mercyseat in the tabernacle and in the first temple, the symbol of the Divine presence, overshadowed them, and from it a voice was heard, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" being the same testimony that was borne to him at his baptism; to which was added the command, “Hear ye him," that is, in preference to Moses and the Prophets. They are God's servants, he alone is his Son; they came not to share the glory, but to acknowledge the preeminence of Christ, in whose obedience the morality of the law was magnified, and its ceremonies and types fulfilled; Moses and Elijah disappear, and he henceforth alone remains, the Legislator, the sole and unrivalled object of their reverence. The glory of the vision was more than the faculties of these, who were still in the body, could long endure; awed and overpowered, they lay with their faces on the ground, till Jesus touched them, and encouraged them to rise. On arising, and looking round, they found that the visitants from the world of spirits had departed, and their Master was alone with them, in his usual appearance; except, as is supposed, from the amazement of the multitude on his return, and the respect they paid him, (èžeðaμßítn, Mark ix. 15.) that as the face of Moses shone when he brought down the tables of the law from Sinai, so some degree of brightness still remained upon that of the Saviour. On descending, he charged them to mention the vision to none till after his resurrection, not even, it should seem, to the other Apostles. Before that event it would not have obtained credit, and it was designed, at present at least, more for their own support than the conviction of others. The scene, transitory as it was, made such an abiding impression upon Peter, (and we may infer the same of John, i. 14.) that in his second Epistle, written many years after, a little before his death, he argues from it, that he had not followed cunningly devised

fables, that he had neither deceived, nor been himself mistaken, for he had been an eyewitness of the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, which he heard when he was with him in the holy mount, 2 Peter i. 16-19. Yet for the consolation of those who had not been favoured with such a display of his glory, he adds, that the evidence of fulfilled prophecy was more convincing. The law and the prophets were until John, who came to usher in the Christian dispensation. This will assist in explaining the injunction of secrecy, since the abolition of the ceremonial law was one of the truths which the first converts were unable to bear. The mention of the resurrection of the Son of Man perplexed them, as with the rest of their countrymen they believed that the Messiah was to abide for ever; and they could not understand why Elijah had disappeared, for it was the popular notion that he should come to prepare the nation for his advent, as Malachi had foretold. The fact the Messiah allowed, but explained in a manner that showed, that the person designated by that figure was the Baptist; and this figurative interpretation appears to me to authorize a disbelief of Christ's future personal reign on earth.

76. Jesus on his descent cures a demoniac, whom his disciples were unable to dispossess. Matt. xvii. Mark ix. Luke ix.

DURING their absence, a father had brought for cure to the remaining nine, his son, whom a demon tormented with epilepsy, then called lunacy, because supposed to be under the influence of the moon. On their late mission they had found the evil spirits subject to them: they were now baffled, not because this demon, as I conceive, was more difficult to eject than others, but because their faith had failed. Our Lord on his return found the Scribes disputing with them, and his address, "faithless and perverse generation," which includes them, supports this explanation. He requires the demoniac to be brought to him, which revives the father's hope, and after suffering the demon to display all his power, by throwing

down and convulsing the boy, he dismisses him by a word of authority. The faith of the father, though inferior in degree to that of many whose cases are recorded, some of which drew forth our Lord's commendation, was genuine, for it brought him as a suppliant, notwithstanding the failure of the Apostles; and his petition, "increase my faith," seems to show a conception, however indistinct, of his superiority to a prophet, and of his power not only of casting out evil spirits, but also of enlightening the understanding, and influencing the heart. As soon as they were in private, the Apostles asked the cause of their failure; and he, using proverbial expressions, to contrast the smallness of the principle with the greatness of the effect, and alluding to the mountain where he had been so lately transfigured, declares, that nothing is impossible to faith. He adds, " this kind,” that is the race of demons, "goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting." Faith is not here used in its ordinary sense, but, for a strong persuasion of the power of working miracles, as in the Epistles to the Corinthians, where it is classed with the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and is described, as in this passage, as capable of removing mountains, and as separable from charity; which cannot be said of the justifying faith that worketh by love. But there is no reason why we should limit the efficacy of faith to that age, or to this extraordinary kind; the experience of every age has shown the grand results that have been produced under the present administration of Providence, when miracles have ceased, even by believers of no greater natural attainments or opportunities for service than others; when, with an implicit reliance on the Divine blessing, they have steadily pursued some great end, with no other view than the promotion of God's glory. If, therefore, we do less, it is because we are straitened, not in him but in ourselves; it is because though we have faith it is but weak and wavering. "Pains and prayer through Christ can do any thing," was the declaration of the venerable Eliot, on completing the translation of the whole Bible into the language of the Indians of Virginia. "Attempt great things, expect great things," the

motto of a modern missionary, (the late Dr. Carey of Serampore,) who has been the instrument of translating it into almost all the numerous dialects of India, and has so rendered the tidings of salvation accessible to many millions of idolaters. And even the heathen Quinctilian teaches the same lesson; for he says, speaking of eloquence and the fine arts, and the observation is equally applicable to other pursuits, that it has sometimes happened that great things have been accomplished by him, who was striving at what was above his power. May we not hence infer the efficacy of preparing ourselves by prayer and fasting, in cases of peculiar difficulty and temptation in our own lives, since Scripture is not of private (idías) interpretation, (2 Peter i. 20.) but, generally speaking, independent of its primary meaning, has a secondary application to the believers of all ages?

77. Jesus procures by a miracle the tribute-money for himself and Peter. Matt. xvii.

As Peter's house at Capernaum might be regarded as the residence of Jesus, it was to that disciple that the collectors of the tribute applied to know if his Master would pay it. Their question shows that it was a voluntary one, it therefore could not be a Roman tax; and this also appears from our Saviour's argument, which rests upon his being not an ordinary worshipper of the Sovereign for whom it was levied, but his Son. It was in fact an annual contribution towards the expences of the service of the temple, not only raised in Palestine, but remitted from foreign countries. It was paid by all Israelites above twenty years of age; and it was one of their national mortifications, that on the destruction of Jerusalem, Vespasian transferred it to the Capitol, so that the worshipper of Jehovah was taxed for the support of idolatry ©.

c Cum aurum Judæorum nomine, quotannis ex Italia, et ex omnibus provinciis Hierosolyma exportari soleret Flaccus sanxit edicto ne ex Asia exportari liceret. Quis est Judices qui hoc non vere laudare possit? The orator's contemptuous feeling is throughout strongly expressed. Barbara superstitione tam suspiciosa ac maledica Civitas. Cicero pro Flacco, 28. Josephus, vii. 26.

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