07 — Christ's Transfiguration

Chapter 7 THE GLORY OF CHRIST’S TRANSFIGURATION

Mountain scenery makes a strong, if not the strongest appeal from the world of nature to religious emotions. It is not the valley, nor the plain, where all is sweetness and tranquility, which speaks most emphatically to those sentiments within us that are waked up either by the sublime or the beautiful. It is not the ocean, now breathless, now swelling under the soft breeze, and now tossed by storms. It is not the crowded city, nor the lonely desert, skirted though it may be with rock and tower, and many a memorial of bold adventure. It is rather the mountain range, rising above plain and city, desert and ocean; sometimes crowned with clouds and sometimes brilliant with light; while here and there some bold and lofty peak shoots upward, glowing in azure beauty, clothed with majesty, and struggling for ages with the lightning’s blast, and the fury of the hurricane.

Mount Tabor stands alone. It is a lofty mountain nearly three miles in height, in the northern border of the plain of Esdraelon, and not far from fifty miles north of Jerusalem. Both ancient and modern travellers speak of the view from the summit as one of the most beautiful in Palestine. A late writer says of it, " From the summit of Tabor, the eye wandered over the whole glory of the Land of Promise. To the south extended the mountains of Samaria, their peaked summits glowing in the sun with the colored brilliancy of a chain of gems. To the east, lay the lake of Tiberias, a long line of purple. Northward, like a thousand rainbows, ascended, lit by the western flame, the mountains of Gilboa where the spear of Saul was broken, and the first curse of Jewish obduracy was branded upon Israel in the blood of their first king. Closing the superb circle, ascending step by step, the south-eastern chain of the mountains of Lebanon were seen soaring into the very heavens." On this mountain Barak encamped with ten thousand of the men of Zebulon and Naphthali, on the eve of the battle with Sisera, in which Israel were the conquerors, and sang that song, " So let thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his strength." It was from this mountain, that in our own day that great conqueror that made Europe tremble, descended upon the fierce Turk, and routed his army on the plain below. And here, on this lofty eminence, if uncontradicted tradition may be relied on, was the wonderful scene of Christ’s transfiguration. This scene is the subject of the present chapter; it is the glory of Christ’s transfiguration.

There were scenes in the life of the Saviour, in which the lustre of his divine glory broke through the dense veil which enveloped it by his assumption of our abject nature. Such was that exhibited at his baptism; when the Spirit, like a dove, rested upon him, and a voice was heard from heaven, saying, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Such were the scenes of his miraculous power; when " the God shone gracious through the man," and in his own name, and by his own authority he performed what none but the Deity could perform. Such was the scene on Tabor, when he " took Peter, James and John, and brought them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them." So peculiar and impressive was this manifestation, that it was made only in the presence of three of his disciples. It was not on this occasion only, that he thus distinguished these three apostles. When he raised the daughter of Jairus, he permitted only these to follow him. When he endured his agony in the garden, these three only were allowed to be its witnesses. So great indeed was the distinction he conferred upon them that they were regarded as the chief in the apostolic family, Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, speaks of James, Cephas and John as those who seemed to " be pillars." The scene about to be exhibited was not to be disclosed until after his resurrection; and it may be that Christ thought it safe only with these three trusty men. We do not know all the reasons for this distinction; but it is enough for us to know, that he wisely selected those whose united testimony might substantiate this great fact for the edification and comfort of those who fear God in all future time. In order to give additional interest to this transaction, Moses and Elias long acquainted with each other in heaven, came from that blessed world to witness this wonder on the earth; and themselves appeared in glory to converse with Christ concerning his approaching death. It was a scene of deep interest, when these favored disciples, absorbed in their own thoughts, thus accompanied their master to this Holy Mount. They knew not why it was that he led them thither; but no sooner had they reached its summit, than unearthly glories shone around them, and unearthly sounds came upon their ear.

We may well approach this scene with religious fear, and holy admiration. Nine of the chosen apostles were prohibited from beholding it; the three who did behold it, are long since fallen asleep; and it were presumption in us now, at the distance of eighteen centuries, to hope to draw aside the veil, and disclose all its wonders. It suggests to us the four following thoughts. Of all the great realities which this scene discloses, the first is the glory of the God-Man Mediator. The low and abased condition of the Son of God, during the period of his Incarnation, was an unnatural condition. It was a humiliation voluntarily assumed; a stoop from his original dignity; a descent from his previous elevation; a condescending resignation of his superior claims; and a renouncement of the pre-eminent station which he had before occupied. Heaven was his primeval residence, and there he possessed " the glory of his Father before the world was." No being was more exalted, for he " was in the form of God." " He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." He was emphatically transformed and transfigured by his assumption of our nature; and in the scene before us, he is transformed again; he lays aside for a while his condescension and humiliation and rises to some faint exhibitions of the majesty with which he was originally invested. The fulness of the Godhead which dwelt in him, for a little time shines forth in his humanity. When the prophet Daniel in vision beheld him, his " garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head, as pure wool;" of such " exceeding whiteness, that no fuller on earth could whiten them." That glory which had been covered and hidden, now for the first time was manifested to men, as it is to the blessed in heaven. That visage, " marred more than any man’s, and his form more than the sons of men," was luminous, and shone as the "Sun, and his raiment was white as the light." He threw off his low attire, and put on his unearthly robes. He rose to something of his true grandeur, and manifested himself in a majesty and glory that made him the object of admiring adoration, both to the living and the dead. Moses and Elias, with the three selected disciples, no longer looked upon him as in the fashion and likeness of a mere man, but worshiped him as in the form of God.

There are some incidents in this transaction, which would lead us to conclude that for a part of the time, these three disciples were asleep; and that when they awoke to see this strange spectacle, like Jacob in the open field, they were constrained to exclaim, " the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not." Their surprise was the greater, in that, though they came alone with Jesus into this desert mountain, they now beheld him in company with two others, who were also covered with unearthly glory, and conversed with Christ. These apostles had never seen them; did not know them, except as distinguished strangers, and perhaps some angelic visitants. Yet nothing was more simple, or more natural, than that, as they heard Jesus converse with them and identify them, they should recognize them as the two most illustrious prophets of the Hebrew race, since its foundation to the coming of the Messiah. It was altogether a most wonderful exhibition. Their divine Lord concealed this exhibition of his glory from the world. " The world knew him not," and knows him not now; but the eye of sense then beheld, and now the eye of faith beholds him, as "the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The import of this appearance of the Son of Man, in the shining figure of a glorified body, and the Father, from the bright cloud that overshadowed him, proclaiming him to be " his well beloved Son," no man can understand who questions the Saviour’s Divinity. Like his incarnation, it is glorious for its mysteriousness. It was as beautiful in its objects and aims, as it was unexpected and marvellous. It was indeed scarcely in keeping with the low condition and humble views of him who was born in the manger, and who had not where to lay his head; who entered into this world as the theater of his humiliation, and who was going up to Jerusalem to meet the death of the cross; to aspire to the inexpressible dignity of this wonderful hour. But it was kind to his disciples, kind to his church, and, in the dispensations of the divine government, unspeakably kind to him. It was his more formal consecration to his work of suffering. It was the lighting up of his course before he descended into the dark vale of his approaching sorrows. It was heaven’s " anointing to his burial." It was the attestation of his Father’s love, not to be forgotten when he hung in agony on the cross. But this was not all its object; there is another truth suggested by this scene. We are told by the Evangelist, that as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged the three disciples to " tell no man the vision, until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead." There were disclosures on the mount which the Saviour knew could not fail to irritate the Jewish rulers and people; and which therefore were to be kept secret until he had accomplished the vision and prophecy by his death and resurrection. The Jews believed that their law would remain in full force under the gospel. The strength and extent of this popular prejudice was one of the most formidable barriers to the dissemination of the gospel among a people whose pride it was that they were the descendants of Abraham, and who so often exulted in the superiority of their own Lawgiver. It was the design of the Saviour to " take away the first covenant, that he might establish a second." The ceremonial law formed altogether of positive institutions, and founded on mutable and not immutable reasons, was of such a nature that it might be abrogated, whenever it was no longer necessary to preserve one nation distinct from all the nations of the earth as a religious community. It was plainly predicted in the Old Testament, that this dispensation should be abrogated by another, and more mild and life-giving dispensation. And this abrogation, the Saviour intimates, should actually take place at his death and resurrection. The ceremonial dispensation is revealed and enforced in " the Law and in the Prophets." But what do we behold on the Mount of Transfiguration? Moses, the great Lawgiver, and Elijah, the great Prophet, the two most distinguished ministers of the old dispensation, miraculously called from heaven for the express purpose of bearing witness to the Messiah; of paying their homage to the more illustrious Author of the Christian dispensation, and to lay down their authority at his feet. It was a constant and prevalent tradition among the Jews, that both Moses and Elijah should appear in the times of the Messiah; and to this tradition the disciples refer after they came from the Mount, when they inquire of Christ, "Why then say the Scribes, that Elias must first come?" The character and history of Moses, as the great Jewish Lawgiver, were famous for ages, and in almost all countries of the world. Elijah was scarcely less distinguished, as the chief of the Prophets, as the founder and head of the school of the prophets which God instituted under Samuel; as the favored individual who was translated to heaven without tasting of death; and whom the Jews supposed to have appeared on the earth in the person of Christ. Yet these two greatest and most honored of God’s ancient servants descend from heaven to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord, and to speak of his death as the end of the Law and the great subject of all the predictions of the Prophets. When Moses was about to depart from the children of Israel, he told them, " A Prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto thee of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken." Here on the Mount of Transfiguration is that great Prophet, according to the divine word. When Moses died, the cloud of glory which had overshadowed Israel in the wilderness, departed; now it is restored, and a voice out of that cloud testifies, " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him!" The three disciples would fain have detained Moses and Elijah upon the Mount, to listen to their instructions still; but a voice from heaven suppressed the untimely thought, and spoke to them out of the cloud, and said, " This is he; hear ye him " It is in him that I have delighted. He is now your Lawyer and Prophet. Hear him! Moses and Elias were my servants; he is my well beloved Son. He is the way, the truth, and the life; and no man " cometh unto the Father, but by him."

What greater evidence of its kind, can there be of the abrogation of the Old and the confirmation of the New Covenant than is here given by Moses, the great prophet of the Jews; by Elias, the great prophet of Jews and Greeks; by Christ, the great Author of the Christian dispensation; and by God the Father, the great Lord of all? Moses and Elias come from the world of spirits to wait upon their divine Lord. His own power brought them down upon Mount Tabor, to confess that a greater than Moses, or Elias, was there. This is the reason why these two men, above all the race of Adam, were called to act a part in this wonderful scene. Christ converses with them, recognizing their authority and honoring their office, but giving them their proper place. They converse with him, but it is concerning his " decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem," by which the great end of their mission was accomplished, and no longer had any binding force, or obligation.

These dispensations differ only as the " letter killeth and the Spirit giveth life;" as the old is the shadow of the new, and the new the light of the old; as the old is the new under the thick, dark cloud, and thundering of Sinai, and the new is the old under the bright sunshine and heavenly voice of Tabor. Christ is under a cloud in the one, he is in his glory in the other. " The law is but the shadow of good things to come." The Old Testament is the text of the New, and the New is a commentary upon the Old. " The whole revelation of God is here wrapt up and rolled together in itself, showing Moses, Elias, and Christ talking together upon the mount." Let us be thankful that our allotment is cast, not under the dark cloud and burning lava of Sinai, but under the mild and clear radiance of that illumined mountain, whence the voice, not of the mere lawgiver and judge, but the voice of our heavenly Father utters the language, " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." " By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." " Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." The day-spring from on high has dawned upon us, a flood of light from Tabor and Calvary is poured upon our path. If the Jews were favored above the heathen, how much more are we favored than the Jews! and " how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" This scene also suggests another thought, and: of a different kind. The reality of the world of spirits and the immortality of the soul; the resurrection of the body, and the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, are truths that are substantiated by a great variety of evidence. The varied testimony by which the Scriptures are demonstrated to be a plenary revelation from heaven, prove these truths on the testimony of that great Being who cannot lie. But there is one species of testimony not to be resisted even by the most skeptical and unbelieving mind. It is that which results from his own experience. If these doctrines are true, every man at death will find them to be true. The moment his soul leaves his body and he enters the world of spirits, he will see for himself that there is such a world. The righteous will see this the moment they enter heaven; and the wicked will see it the moment they enter their gloomy prison. They will have the most perfect conviction of the truth of a future state, and of all the realities of an unchanging eternity. Allied to this species of testimony, would be the testimony of those who have already died, and who should be permitted to come back to this world and bear witness to us of what they themselves have seen and heard in regions beyond the grave. Were the intercourse between this and the future world more frequent; could we travel into eternity as we can travel into foreign lands, and see its wonders, and then come back and dwell on the earth, we should no longer doubt the reality of the world of spirits and a future state of rewards and punishments. Or could those whom we have often seen, and with whom we have engaged in the common business of life, and who have eaten at the same table or slept in the same bed with us, return from that world for a short period, and walk these streets, and visit our dwellings, or even appear to us in the night watches, and whisper to us that the revelations which God has made in his word are no cunningly devised fables, and that there is in truth a heaven and a hell; it seems to us that we should be no longer faithless, but believing. One of the difficulties men profess to have in not believing these solemn realities, is that so few who die ever return to this world. Our friends pass away, and we see them no more; we hear of them no more. Age after age, and generation after generation passes away, and none come back to tell us where they have been, or where we shall go. No, not one word have we heard from that distant country for these eighteen hundred years! Eighteen hundred years ago, he who inhabiteth eternity, gave the command. Seal up the sayings of the prophecy of this book. The rich man in the parable who went to hell, is represented as soliciting Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house, that he might " testify unto them, lest they also come to the place of torment." Abraham makes no other reply than this: "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them;" and when still importuned, he replies, " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they hear, though one rose from the dead." The request was unreasonable, and it would be unreasonable now. It were impossible to repeat this sort of testimony frequently enough to satisfy all the demands of a skeptical mind, without breaking down all the barriers between time and eternity, and throwing this world into a state of trembling and consternation which it could not endure. And it would be utterly useless. Men who do not believe the Bible would not believe even such testimony as this. The true difficulty lies not in the want of evidence, but in a corrupted heart. Let pure and holy spirits come down from heaven, or let the dark and scathed sufferers be evoked from their deep abyss; and no sooner would the terrors of the moment be over, than a skeptical mind would find a thousand reasons for uncertainty and doubt.

It were reasonable to look for this testimony to some extent; and to this extent men already have it, in the word of God. What they could not endure to hear, God has revealed. He has called up the miserable tenants of the world of woe, and taken their narrative and copied it out in his word. He has called down the bright spirits from heaven, and received and recoded their testimony. There is the son of the Shunamite raised by Elijah; there is Lazarus raised by Christ; there is the rich man in the parable narrating his bitter woes; and there are Moses and Elias descending on the top of Tabor, hidden from the gaze of the curious multitude, but leaving their testimony to the realities of the eternal world, as well as to the sufficiency and perfection of the Sacred Writings.

Moses had been dead upwards of fourteen hundred years; and Elias had been translated near nine hundred years before. Yet they were still existing. They appeared on the mount. They conversed with Christ. They had a corporeal form; Elijah, the same body he had while here on earth, and Moses with a body raised from the dead, as a pledge of the great resurrection. Where had they been; what portion of the universe had they occupied; what had been their employments, and what their state, during the long centuries in which they had been absent from this earth? Is there then no world of spirits — no immortality — no resurrection — no reward and punishment beyond the grave? Does death chill and freeze forever the current of human existence? Shall that cold clay bloom no more? and that eye never more beam with lustre? and no voice be ever again heard from those lips that moulder in the tomb? Go to Tabor, and see and hear, while the bosoms of the long since departed glow, and their eyes kindle, and their lips are fervid, as they speak of the decease which their Lord should accomplish at Jerusalem. No, it is not in vain that we wander along the shores of that unseen world. A sound does reach us over this vast abyss of waters. The waves of eternity will give up their dead. The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, as he came on Tabor to his astonished and adoring disciples. The scene on Tabor made such an impression on the mind of Peter, that long after it we hear him saying, " We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came to him such a voice from the excellent glory, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount." Let such be our impressions of the vivid realities of the coming world! It is but the pretext of unbelief, that we cannot see and hear these things for ourselves. Never will another return from these invisible regions, to confirm our faith. No, never! The next audible voice we hear from that world, will be the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God; the next ocular demonstration of the realities of that world, will be the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, in the glory of his Father. But the most important thought suggested by this scene, remains to be considered. What was it that thus attracted these glorified men from their abodes of light, once more to visit this lower world? It was to have a personal interview with their adorable Saviour, whom they had so often beheld on Mount Zion above; with whom they had so often held sweet communion there, and at whose feet they had so often cast their crowns. And what was the subject of their interview, and what the subject of their delighted colloquy? It was a most affecting, amazing theme. They " spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." They knew it was to be accomplished, for they had spoken and written of it, and had announced it to the world.

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It would be unnatural in us not to have some desires to know the substance of their conversation. But as it was for wise reasons hidden from the nine disciples who were not permitted to ascend the mountain, so it is wisely concealed from us. From what we know of their intellectual and spiritual character while they dwelt among men; from their familiarity and interest in the theme; from their augmented knowledge and holiness, perfected by their long residence in the heavenly world, and from the immediate presence of their Lord; we have reason to believe that their discourse upon this great subject, was the most instructive and tender, the most pure and holy, that ever fell from the lips of men. But not one word of it is left on record. They did not narrate it to the other disciples; nor were they allowed even to mention the vision itself, " until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead."

We can only conjecture what it was. Was it the expression of their sympathy with the approaching sorrows of their Lord? Amid the lustre of that memorable scene, did they foresee the terrors of his death, and the rising tempest that was about to burst on his guiltless head? Did they speak of the sadness of the garden, the clamors of the infuriate populace and their scorn and spitting, the iniquitous trial, the barbarous sentence, the crown of thorns, the bitter passion, the splendor of his present glory between the two greatest prophets, contrasted with his approaching infamy between two thieves, and the awful moment fixed from eternity for the righteous One to be stricken by the hand of justice, and for the Author of life to die? Were thoughts like these present to their minds; and while they marked his heavenly submission and calm serenity, would they fain have soothed his sorrows, as both he and they turned their eyes toward his cross? Or did they dwell on the necessity and efficacy of his death as the only foundation of pardon and life to penitent and believing men; as the consummation of all the scenes through which he had passed for the purpose of " making his soul an offering for sin;" and as giving the finishing stroke to his character as the mighty Saviour the great and glorious Deliverer of his people? Or did they indulge their strongest and most admiring expressions of his marvellous love to this sinful and perishing world, and tell how it was " stronger than death." Or did they glance at its great and glorious consequences, and speak of the attraction and conquests of his cross; of the travail of his soul which he should see; of the multitudes who would " be turned from dumb idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven;" of the "gathering of the people" unto the predicted Shiloh; of the thousand channels through which the healing waters of life should flow; of the Jews and Heathens who should be raised to a partnership with him on his throne; of the concurrence of all the arrangements of divine providence, and all its resources, with the designs of his redemption; of the effusions of his Spirit, and the subjection of the world to hi§ dominion; of the place which his accomplished decease should occupy in the history of time and the developments of eternity, when heaven should be filled with the brightness of its glory, and every holy creature in the universe shall say, " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!" We do not know; and only know that the subject of their discourse was the greatest and most affecting that ever employed the lips of men, the song of angels, or the thoughts of Deity. It was the great mystery of the Divine mind before the foundations of the world. It was the song of angels when he was born, their sympathy when they appeared to strengthen him in the garden, their wondrous vision when he died. Men had read, and heard, and thought of it; philosophers had discussed it; the nations had been agitated by it; and when the mournful scene was realized, we are told, that " all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things that were done, smote upon their breasts and returned!" The " decease accomplished at Jerusalem’ imparts a portion of its own grandeur and solemnity to the very spot where it was accomplished. Even now, " trodden down as it is by the Gentiles," there is no such spot as that ancient " City of our God," consecrated by this Great Sacrifice; rendered memorable by the most solemn and affecting spectacle in earth, or heaven; and marked, even at the present hour, with the scarcely retired sackcloth and darkness that first veiled it when this mighty sufferer said, " It is finished and gave up the ghost "

We linger about such scenes, and are reluctant to turn away. The favored disciples selected to be with their divine Lord on the Mount, naturally desired to prolong that affecting and transporting interview. Peter exclaimed, and said unto Jesus, " Lord, it is good for us to be here! If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." Many a time since, has the Saviour manifested his gracious presence to his people, when they have reverenced and adored him, and enjoyed his love. Like Aaron, when he led Israel to the door of the Tabernacle, to hear the responses from between the Cherubim; and like Solomon, when he had made an end of prayer at the dedication of the Temple; they have seen the glory of the Lord filling the house, and bowed themselves and worshiped. So it was on the Day of Pentecost; so it was at many a memorable season, when the early Christians met in solemn convocation; and so it has been at many a season since, when the adorable Saviour has been found walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks, and unfolding his glory to the churches which he has redeemed and bought with his own blood. Moses and Elias in a short time, disappeared from the transforming scene, and Peter, James and John " were left alone with Jesus." Alone with Jesus! The world shut out — alone with Jesus! Heaven and earth shut out, and alone with Jesus! No; heaven is not shut out, when the soul is alone with Jesus. What Christian does not feel that to be alone with Jesus is to enjoy heaven upon earth! It is in fellowship with him, that his people are changed into his image; that they have a foretaste of the coming blessedness, a glimpse of the glory to be revealed. Such seasons give great vigor to faith, and to hope great and precious assurance. They have the " inward witness" then that their title to the heavenly inheritance is clear; and like Moses, they go up into the Mount to take a view of the promised land. " Lord, it is good to be here!" There is a refuge here, from the storms of earth; from the fiery darts of the adversary; from perilous times and from seasons of spiritual darkness. Who would not watch and pray, lest this ensnaring world and the sin that dwelleth in him should exclude him from those consecrated hours when he might be alone with Jesus!

Mount Tabor is a most impressive and affecting preacher of the gospel. How unspeakably interesting to us as sinners is that memorable scene! What is the momentous fact which this scene on Tabor unveils? It is that "God so loved the world;" it is that "the Son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost." It is that " it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Men were lost, but Jesus came to save. Men were obnoxious to the stroke of justice, but Jesus averted the fearful blow. The decease he accomplished at Jerusalem has lost none of its interest. Eighteen hundred years have not blotted it out from the memory of men, nor obscured its glory. It is still the most solemn and affecting event recorded in the history of time, or the annals of the universe. We are verging, in our series of subjects, toward that great event. Tabor throws its light across to Calvary; the transfiguration is intimately allied to the crucifixion of the Son of Man. In the midst of all this splendor, there are mournful thoughts, because, enveloped as we here are with his divine glories, we hear him speak of the " decease which he would accomplish at Jerusalem." Yes, that dark hour draws near. The death of God manifest in the flesh; of the great Teacher; of the great Healer; of him " whose glory shone on Tabor, and now shines on the mount Zion above! How infinitely interesting to the believer is the death of Christ!

" O, the sweet wonders of that Cross, Where God the Saviour lived and died." That Cross, Christian, is thy refuge; and it is thy refuge, trembling sinner. It is all thy hope; it is thy peace; it is thy salvation. Thine all is identified with that sacred cross. The church of God, on earth and in heaven, casts her highest honors at the foot of that cross. You will not, you cannot forget the cross. No, never can you forget the cross.

Bring the question home, then. What interest have I in the decease and glory of the once crucified and now glorified Saviour? Angels announced his birth as the " tidings of great joy;" but what cause of gladness has his wonderful condescension proved to you? His spiritual kingdom has been set up in our world, but has it freed you from the tyranny of sin? His name was revealed by an angel from heaven, and it is above every name; but do you " bow at the name of Jesus, and confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father?" Men from afar have seen him, and he has been the object of triumph to Jew and Gentile; but have you learned to glory in this star of Bethlehem — this Sun of righteousness — this light of the world? From his baptism to his death, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs; he was "wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities;" his soul " was sorrowful even unto death." He suffered as no other could suffer. The daughters of Jerusalem wept over him, and Calvary heard him say, " I thirst," and saw his life ebb away, and the great sacrifice completed! But what is all this to you? He descended into the grave, and the mouth of the sepulcher was closed upon him, and the stone sealed, and on the third day, he rose by his own divine power from the dead; but to what lively hopes and consolations have you been begotten by his resurrection? He ascended on high, led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men; but have you become rooted and grounded in a firm belief of rising and being happy with him in everlasting life? Shortly will he come again to judge the world in righteousness; and will you appear on his right hand, or on his left?