beloved Son I" A wondrous, awe-striking hour I The hush over nature, the darkness illumiued by an inexpressible radiance, the face of the Man of sorrows then and there shining ns the sun, the raiment penetrated by the glory "white and glistering" as the li~ht, and the conversation of the three shining ones,-these, the features of the scene, kl't an indelible impression on the chosen witnesses. Peter, ever ready, though not ever wiso, has some foolish speech a.bout erecting three booths. But by-and-by they realize Lhe significance of that which they saw. "We were eye-witnesses of his majesty," cries the same Peter. "This voice we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount." Not, indeed, that such a momentary illumination of Christ is to be held as a proof of first authority. lie proceeds," We have also a. 'TTl,()1'6 sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place." But it waa a hint as to the" power and coming of the Lord Jesus," confirming the" more sure word," and helping into the understanding of the truth that, with the decease at Jeru- salem, the old was finished and the new began. "God had reconciled aH things to himself." Now, with regard to the vision, observe- I. IT WAS ON A MOUNTAIN. The hill or upland scene occupies a prominent place in the history of our Lord. It seems to have been a craving of his human heart to get " where beyond the voices there is peace." There he could breathe more freely; there be found a. nourishment and invigoration which were welcome. On the high grou,,d he preached his famous sermon. To the mountain he was wont to retire for prayer. When all went to their own homes, he went to the Mount of Olives. On the hill of Golgotha he died. The mountain in Galilee was the meeting-place with his apostles after the Resurrection. From the slope of O!ivet he ascended to heaven. Now, for this brief moment of glory, the place chosen is "the high mountain a.pa.rt." Do we not need an upland scene in our life? No hill, no transfiguration. The face never shines. It is a <lull, dreary toil. 'l'he holy mount, on whose top one can leave the carking care and the weary plod, where the air is always pure-the hill that is commanded only by the heights of God's presence-ah I this is the secret worth possessing. II. lT IS AS HE PRAYS THAT THE FASHION OF THE COUNTF.NANCE IS ALTERED. He goes up to the mountain, not to meet Moses and Elias, nor to have a seance with spirits, but to pray-to meet his Father, that, out of the Father's heart, he might fill the fountains of his spirit. As he prays he passes into that blessed light of God which "enwrapped him in such an aureole of glistering brilliance, his whole presence breathed so Divine a radiance, that the light, the snow, the lightning, are the only things to which the evangelist can compare that celestial lustre." Christian I the lesson thereby suggested thou needst not that any teach thee. It is the san1e lesson, but in a higher form, that was shadowed forth in Jacob's Peniel, in the wrestling by the brook Jabbok. 'l'hrough the wrestling of the angel the heart of the supplanter was plucked out of him; in his prayer which prevailed he found the new name-the Israel, the prince with God ·and man. Hast thou never found it so? Hast thou never, in some great sorrow, poured out thy heart before God, and realized that, when thou didst kneel, thou wast only the worm, and no man-weak and spiritless; when thou didst rise from thy knees, thou wast the man, and no worm-the fashion of thy countenance had been altered? Let the sons of pride speak as they choose, the children of quietness know that "more things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of." Ill. 'l'HEBE IS CONFERENCE WITH THE DEPARTED. 'l'he two shining presences are spokeu of as invested with the pro1'0rties and functions of life. "'l'wo weu, which were Muses and Elias." We know little about the world of the dead, about the possibilities of intercommuuion-they with us, and we with them. There is a feeling, widely d,ffuse,i, that some kind of intercourse there is. Even the negro, in his .African platoon, lays aside a little rice each day as the share of his departed kindred. Through al\ times, everywhere, the human heart is found asking, speculating over the question, "Is there no bri<lcre between the dead and the livincr? Is all speech, all fellowship, for ever broken'!" Well, in this Scripture we read of°two men, who for kmg generations had been removed from this earthly scene, profoundly interested in events to be transacted on this globe of ours on which depended the salvatioi:. o~ the worl~. May not this be a glimpse into the hidden economy? May not that which_ we see m them during this mornont of sight into the unseen, be the picture of what 1s going on even nuw in tho homo of the blessed and holy dead? Is uot the talk ou .1:lcnuuu a.u illuit• 'UiO TIJF. GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [ell.. 1x. 1-02.
trntion of the oommtmion of saints; reminding us tlrn,t heaven and earth ILl'e noorer than we think of, tliat it is given to us in prayer to ". . . join handa With those who went before, And greet the blood-besprinkled ba.nda On the eternal shore " ? "Ye are come ••• to the spirits of just men made perfect.• 1Y. THE GLORY IB TRANSIENT. A brief moment, and then the vision fades Into the light of common day. Moses was forty days and forty nights on the mount. Jesus is on the Mount for only a short hour. Even while the foolish apostle spoke, there came a cloU<l that overshadowed them. The Lord cannot afford to luxuriate on the mountain- top. There is a universe to be reclaimed; there are shapes of disease anil sin and want waiting l~r him be_low. More ~ban ever is he straitened until his bloody baptism is done . •.\ nd so with the disciple. It is good to have the retreat, the mountain the sabbatical hour each day, the sabbatical day each week. But the purpose of the' rest is to refit for the labour. A;id, after all, the highest transfiguration is not that of the dazzling o,1t~·ar<l li!(ht, but that of the beauty shining through the common ordinary things, and investing them with a heavenly grace and truth. The teaching given the apostles nex\ after the transaction on the mouutain is the takinii; of a little child,and saying, "Whoso- ever shall receive this child in my Name recciveth me."