because the time for putting on His royal apparel was not yet come. It is impossible to draw any other con- clusion from St. Peter's language, when writing on the subject. He says, with distinct reference to the transfigu- ration, " We were eye-witnesses of his majesty." (2 Peter i. 16.)
It is good for us to have the coming glory of Christ and His people deeply impressed on our minds. We are sadly apt to forget it. There are few visible indications of it in the world.— ^We see not yet all things put under our Lord's feet. Sin, unbelief, and superstition abound. Thousands are practically saying, "We will not have this man to reign over us." — It doth not yet appear what His people shall be. Their crosses, their tribula- tions, their weaknesses, their conflicts, are all manifest enough. But there are few signs of their future reward. Let us beware of giving way to doubts in this matter. Let us silence such doubts by reading over the history of the transfiguration. There is laid up for Jesus, and all that believe on Him, such glory as the heart of man never conceived. It is not only promised, but part of it has actually been seen by three competent witnesses. One of them says, "we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." (John i. 14.) Surely that which has been seen may well be believed.
In the second place, we have in these verses, an unan- swerable proof of the resurrection of the body, and the life after death. We are told that Moses and Elijah ap- peared visibly in glory with Christ. They were seen in a bodily form. They were heard talking with our Lord. Fourteen hundred and eighty years had rolled round, since