SERMON XXIX.

CHRIST'S TRANSFIGURATION.

PREACHED ON TRINITY SUNDAY.

ST. MARK ix. 7.

"And there came a cloud and overshadowed them: and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son; hear him."

THOSE who read the Gospels with attention, and compare them one with another, can hardly help observing a remarkable agreement between the account of our Lord's transfiguration, of which these words are a part, and the account of his baptism by St. John, which the church appoints to be read as one of the lessons for today. In both there is something very unlike the ordinary course and tenor of our Lord's life on earth among men in this respect, that whereas generally his divine glory was under a veil, his humiliation and low estate open to the eyes of all, in these two examples, and perhaps in a very few others, the opposite of this is the truth: he appears all over encompassed with majesty and brightness, only some faint shade appearing of his being yet in the form of a servant.

Then, if we compare the circumstances of the two events; the one came just before his temptation, the other, just when he was addressing himself, more openly, to prepare his disciples, and if one so may speak, himself, for his bitter cross and passion.

The one, the visible glory and voice at his baptism, came to him as he was praying; the other, the change which is called his transfiguration, found him in the act of prayer.

Both were before chosen witnesses; the one, as it

seems, St. John Baptist only: the other, the three great apostles, and the two great prophets. In both it seems to have been part of our Lord's design to set forth the agreement between the law and the gospel; in his baptism, where he said, "it became him to fulfil all righteousness, even ceremonial; at the transfiguration, by the appearance of Moses and Elias, the law and the prophets, as it were conferring with him who came not to destroy, but to fulfil them.

In both, the same message was brought to men's ears, concerning the Son of man, by the voice of the Almighty Father: the only difference being, that in the one instance, the baptism, the voice spoken seems to have been to our Lord: "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased;" in the other, the transfiguration, it was spoken to the disciples of him: "This is my beloved Son hear him."

Finally (and this is the reason why I have selected this passage for consideration to-day), in both these marvellous events, if I mistake not, there was a manifestation, even to men's outward senses, of the whole Divine Trinity. In the case of the baptism, this is apparent; the voice of the Almighty Father being heard from heaven, the Son appearing incarnate on earth, and the Holy Ghost descending on him in a bodily shape like a dove; which is, of course, the reason why the passage is selected as one of the lessons for the day. In the transfiguration, the presence of the holy Father and of the blessed Son, is marked too plainly to be mistaken: the Father by his voice, showing himself to the ears of those his chosen witnesses, the Son incarnate showing himself in their sight with his glorious body. But the presence of the Holy Spirit is not so distinctly marked. I conceive, however, according to a conjecture of one of the old fathers of the church, that God the Holy Ghost, the third person in the blessed Trinity, did then and there manifest himself in the bright cloud which overshadowed the disciples. The same cloud or pillar of glory, had been the token of his presence at the Red sea: when he went between the host of the Israelites

and their enemies, and was a cloud and darkness to the one, but gave light by night to the others: and, afterward, in their march through the wilderness, the same cloud resting over the tabernacle door, or moving onward, showed them when to rest or move. And to this Isaiah seems to allude, when he particularly mentions among God's mercies to the Israelites, that "he put his Holy Spirit within them :" and in another place, where he says of them in their sinful stubbornness, that "they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit."

The same cloud of glory, as is well known, was the especial token of God's presence both in the tabernacle and in the temple. Of the tabernacle, it is said, when it was first finished, and God did, as it were, take possession of it, and begin to inhabit it; "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." In like manner, when the temple was builded, and Solomon was in the act of dedicating it, "the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister, because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord" the same glory which was shown in part to Moses, when God passed by him on Mount Horeb; the same glory which filled the temple, spreading round the throne of God like a train, when Isaiah had that wonderful vision of the seraphim, singing, "Holy, holy, holy."

I say, on comparison of all the places, this visible light or glory evidently was the outward sign of the presence of the Holy Ghost, the invisible Spirit of God the Father, and of Christ; and, therefore, the apostle, speaking of the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, as a figure or type of Christian baptism, says, "They were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." He means, as Christians are baptized into Christ by water and the Spirit: the cloud answering to the Spirit, and the sea to the water of baptism.

All this being so, it seems most reasonable to believe, that the bright cloud into which the glorified Jesus entered with Moses and Elias, was the token of the same Holy Spirit, overshadowing them with the same dove

like motion as when he came hovering over our Lord at his baptism; and, therefore, although the name of the Comforter is not mentioned, we may well regard the transfiguration as one of the occasions, on which the whole blessed Trinity graciously condescended to reveal itself to mankind: the more so, as the time and manner of the cloud's appearing were exactly suited to repre sent to the apostles, the time and manner of the Holy Spirit's coming down from heaven, to reveal the whole gospel of Christ. The voice, declaring Jesus to be the beloved Son, came not from heaven, until the bright cloud had overshadowed them: even as the great mystery of the gospel, the one Godhead of the Father, and the Son, with the communion of saints, was not fully revealed, until the Holy Ghost had come down from heav en, and actually set up the church: according to the promise of our Lord," At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you."

The bright cloud being thus supposed to betoken God the Holy Ghost, personally present in his church, we may, perhaps, perceive, that the whole course of things which took place at our Lord's transfiguration, is well fitted to represent, to a thoughtful mind, no small part of the counsel of God in his church. St. Peter seems to imply as much, when speaking of what he then saw, he says, "We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." The word which stands for eyewitnesses, in St. Peter's own original writing, means "persons admitted to see with their eyes some great and awful secret of religion." And some portion of the secret which was then revealed to St. Peter and the rest, he has himself told us. They had made known to them "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He appeared to them in his glorious body, such as he appeared after his resurrection, such as he will appear to us all at the great day. He appeared in conference with Moses and Elias, concerning his decease, which he was soon to accomplish at Jerusalem: whereby is represented to the thoughts of all men the agreement of Moses, that is, the law, Elias that is, the prophets, and the gospel of our Lord

Jesus Christ himself, in the great doctrine of his death and sacrifice for the salvation of the world.

And what if the sleep of the apostles, which hindered them at first from seeing the glory, and from which they were only awakened by our Lord's touching them, and by his gracious voice, saying, "Arise, and be not afraid:" what, if this sleep of St. Peter, St. James, and St. John, be a token and type of the sleep of death, which is one day to overtake us all, and from which no child of Adam can be awakened, except by the touch and voice of the Son of God made man? His voice, which the dead, he promised, should hear and live: his touch in the most holy eucharist, whereby his very body and blood is mysteriously received, to be a pledge of resurrection, a seed of immortal life to our vile bodies. And whereas, after the voice was past, they looked up and " saw no man, save Jesus only:" is not this a lively representation of the condition of Christian men, walking by faith and not by sight; only seeing around them, with their very bodily eyes, the tokens of the presence of him who was made man for us, and through whom only they can ever hope to know God as they are known?

In all these particulars (and others, perhaps, might be found), the Transfiguration of our Lord does seem, as though it were intended to show forth a good deal of God's gracious way of saving us by his Son and Spirit; a good deal of the awful mystery of the holy, blessed, and glorious trinity, three persons and one God. If so, it becomes us reverently and faithfully to examine the circumstances, which, by God's providence, accompanied that wonderful revelation: if, haply, we may find help in ordering our minds and hearts and tongues rightly, when we are speaking or thinking of these secrets of the highest heaven.

Thus, when we think of the particular time at which it pleased God thus to reveal himself, we seem to perceive what kind of preparation is required for those, who would think worthily of him and his gospel. The doctrine of the cross must go before: even as our Lord,