January Twenty-ninth.
THE LORD'S TRANSFIGURATION.
"And when they had lifted up their eyes, and saw no man, save Jesus only."—Matt. xvii. 8.
PETER, James, and John, were the three favoured apostles before whom the Lord was pleased to manifest Himself in his transfigured or transformed glory. In this manifestation, the Man of sorrows and of grief was for a time put off, in order that the true glory of the Redeemer might be put forth, and be thus seen as the Divine Person, "in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily," (Coloss. ii. 9.) The Lord says, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." (John xiv. 9.} "I and my Father are one." (x. 30.) And John says, "Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal Life." (1 John v. 20.) The Lord, to instruct his disciples in this truth, was pleased to shew them his Divine glory, and thus to exhibit before them his supreme Divinity and Godhead. To enable these three apostles to behold the Lord thus transformed, they were taken up into an high mountain apart from the world and all earthly things. Man, before he can behold the King in his beauty, must be withdrawn from the world and its scenes, in order that he may be raised into a heavenly state of soul, and thus, in vision, see the Lord as He is, rather than as He appears to be in the eyes of worldly men. The process which prepares for such beatific vision is beautifully described by the six days, after which the Lord took them up into this high mountain. The six days being descriptive of the six states in the regenerate
