also illuminated, and in their countenances beams forth a heaven of holy ecstacy and delight. Here we can anticipate how that will come to pass which St. John expresses in the revelation of the city of God: "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." And here also we have the solution of the other saying: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." The disciples on the mount see him as he is thenceforth they are like him. They shine in the same light, and their souls, of a sudden lifted up above the night of the world, dwell in holy joy, like his soul.

I sink." They would rather have remained, eternally have remained, in the blissful irradiation of this divine revelation of complete grace.

We leave the summit of the holy mount, to return thither very soon with our meditation. Hold firm in spirit to the glory which has there beamed upon you. What the sun of spring is to the first buds of nature, so will it be to your faith and love. And, oh, what a blessed light is thence reflected upon the great words of Jesus, "Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me!" What a heart-delighting meaning does it give to that other promise, "The righteous shall shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father!" Oh, now let us build for our souls a tabernacle! Let the summit of the holy mount be our watch tower.

THE HEAVENLY EMBASSY.

"And Jesus was transfigured before them:" thus says the evangelical record of the miracle of mount Tabor. More literally it means, he transfigured himself, he became changed, and took upon himself another form. The expression implies that the glory was not shed upon the Lord externally, but as one that had existed in him from the com- IMAGINE, my brethren, that some one from anomencement, and only broke forth outwardly in the ther world came down upon earth, with his senses manifestation. When, too, as an infant he still lay so constituted as to be capable of surveying in one in the manger, poor, and in need of help, and work-moment all the lands of Christianity, and of hearing ing in his father's shop, the whole "fulness of the every thing that was uttered on the surface of those Godhead dwelt in him "bodily." Stray rays of lands. Imagine that it were the morn of Christmas, this hidden glory had already at times emanated and that the stranger took his station in the centre from him, in acts of omnipotence aud mercy, so of our earth, perhaps on the summit of a lofty that all were struck with astonishment, and said, mountain. Imagine that when he had reached this "What manner of man is this? from whence is eminence, the very winds began to stir, and the he?" But such a complete development of the sound of the myriads of bells which ring simultaRose of Sharon as that on mount Tabor none had as neously in the steeples of the Christian church yet beheld. Such a display of the hidden glory and struck upon his ear in one gigantic harmony; and, majesty had until then never been revealed. Yet, farther, that, when he looked around, he surveyed at however inexpressible, and above all earthly splen- one view the countless multitudes bending their way dour, the glory was which shone forth on mount in festive attire to the temples, and at the same Tabor, still it was not the whole fulness of his time heard the thousand-tongued acclamations beauty as the Son of God. Compared with that which burst forth in the houses of God, and the glory, in which he will once meet us above, it was joyful notes of all the announcements and prayers only perhaps as the early dawn contrasted with the which resound from the pulpits. What would be perfect day. He only manifested his beauty as far the sensations of the stranger? With what intenseas mortals could comprehend and bear it. ness would he await the explanation of this universal festival! Imagine that being some one else approached, and led him away with the promise of interpreting the festival. The stranger thinks that he is going to a field of battle, where some splendid triumph has been achieved. By no means: along lonely paths his conductor leads him into a small town, at once poor, and free from bustle. The stranger dreams of the laurel wreath, and the festive crown, but his companion with significant look directs his attention to two poor working people, who, fatigued by a long journey, are proceeding through the streets of the town in quest of a shelter which they are unable to find. The stranger does not comprehend the object of the guide in thus pointing to these people, and his anxiety increases with every moment. The mysterious friend then leads him to a small cot, the poorest in the place, exclaiming, "We are now there!" "What," thinks the stranger, "does he mock me?" but his guide in the meantime pushes him into the stable, and by the feeble light of a lamp points out to him a poor girl, one of the very two persons whom he had seen tottering through the streets, and by her side in the manger a bed of hay and straw, on which lies a new-born child in lowly swaddling clothes. He now explains to the bewildered stranger that it is this child which has caused such a festive excite

As, however, the whole scene on the mount was only a representation of the glory which Jesus had in himself, the apostles, on this account, describe the revelation of the Son of God which they themselves witnessed on the mount as a revelation "full of grace and truth." The glory in which he appeared to them was a borrowed glory; but what there was manifested was his own and most true reflection. It was his inmost self, and, accordingly, a manifestation full of truth. But from what cause that manifestation of the Son of God is called by St. John a revelation "full of grace," he must himself tell us, so that we may completely understand it. It was a benign glory, this glory on Tabor; a transporting reflection of nothing but kindness and love. What was expressed in the countenance of the Glorified One, what was hovering upon his lips, and all that was manifested in his whole appearance, all, all was nothing but grace and love. Streams of peace flowed into the hearts of the disciples; sweet and sabbatic repose breathed around them, and each ray of light that fell from his countenance upon them communicated itself to their souls as a new proof of God's love. None desired that the Lord should veil over or diminish his splendour. None thought of saying with Hiob, "Thine eyes look down upon me, and

alas! amidst all this trumpeting, how lamentable frequently is the state of their heart. How often does this pathetic clamour resemble the shouting and loud self-talking with which timid persons, in dark and lonely places, seek to impose on themselves that they are not afraid, endeavouring at the same time to banish their nameless uneasiness. Thus, with afchild in the manger, for the sole purpose of coying away the doubts which cross their minds; thus they make a terrible noise about belief; too frequently, alas! only for the purpose of concealing from themselves and others the palpitating and misgiving heart, and of overwhelming all the scruples and doubts which so wildly rage within their breasts.

ment on the earth, that it is this babe for whom the bells are ringing, that it is this infant's name that resounds in the million hymns of praise which had reached his ears, and that it was nothing but the appearance of this poor boy which had lit up the countenances of men, from pole to pole, with such beams of delight. Imagine, my brethren, that all this did really take place; can you picture to your-fected ardour, they cry out about the divinity of the selves the astonishment which such an explanation would create in the mind of our guest? For hours would he at first he tortured by the doubt, whether all that he had seen and heard was anything more than a strange dream; then, however, we should see him striking his hands together above his head, and hear him exclaiming impetuously, and lost in amazement, "Tell me who, who is this babe?"

To believe, from the bottom of the heart, in God Now, with this question on our lips, and in our revealed in the flesh, is indeed no childish and easy hearts, even we, after a few days stand, a second matter, but one of great difficulty, since this belief time, by the manger. We may be allowed here to is in itself a miracle, equally with the birth of the ask this question, as neither the infant's brow bears Son of God. Only think that this child which I the impress of what he is, nor do the outward cir- play with, and embrace, and take up in my arms, cumstances, such as the stable, the straw, and the which smiles and lisps at me as children are wont, manger, convey anything particular concerning him. - only think that this child is the eternal Godhead True, from Bethlehem come the tidings: "Unto itself, the great source of all things. Oh! my you this day is born a Saviour!"* An endearing poor brain, where canst thou contain the thought! title! A name overflowing with consolation! This -and is this indeed thy God. Well, the Godhead name tells us what the babe is unto us, and, while cannot rest or be inactive, and so even from the directing all our thoughts on the subject, it leads us manger he governs the world, and from the stable at the same time gently and imperceptibly past those he rules the destinies of nations! In the very modepths of the Christmas-mystery, on whose steeps ment when reposing in Mary's lap, he also fills the our senses become confounded, and into which no heavens and the earth; and, as the Deity, must mortal can look down, without the brain swimming, he not be also conscious of his now lying in the and the knees trembling with wonder and conster-manger as a child; and yet he seems to possess no nation. The importance of the subject, however, more consciousness of himself than any other babe! requires that we should approach these depths, and, Oh! unfathomable mystery! If I knew not what in lifting the last veil from the manger, not only in- it were to be overwhelmed by thought I should now quire what this son of Mary is unto us, but what he experience it. Can ye remain any longer by the is in his own abstract and individual nature. Who manger? I cannot remain, I must away from is he then? Holy men enter into the stable, and this darkness. The manger, the straw, the infant, what do they relate ? Now if they were to assure overpower me. I must hasten onward to the time us that the manger contained a great genius, a when the child grew up to manhood,- onward to the future monarch, a conqueror of the world, the glory-illumined places, where the bud of Bethfounder of a new religion and philosophy, their as- lehem unfolded itself, and, thank God, I need surance would not be incredible, for the history of not search for these places in vain. When many of the greatest men who have appeared in the there, I may again breathe freely; when there, my world may be traced to the obscurity of lowliness heart is relieved of its load. I take my lamp, lighted and poverty. But the prophetic song of this child up by the brightness of his almighty deeds; I rehas been sung in loftier chorus. From the gulf of flect at the same time on the crying necessity of the remotest eternity the holy messengers have my heart for such a God in the flesh; and now that brought him forth, and presented him in the midst I return to the stable, I am no longer incapable of of us. joining aloud in the chorus of the heavenly angels. I clasp firmly the rock of his word and his wonders; I bend my knees before the manger into the dust; I stretch out my right hand towards heaven, and swear, in despite of Satan, who would so fain close my lips for my confession is ruin and destruction to him,-in despite of hell, which meets me with its hideous "silence!"- for my testimony shatters her gates,-in despite the spirit of this apostate age, which with its menaced scorn can no longer lame my tongue, and in despite of mine own reason, which opposes the confession that casts her down from her high place into the very dust; - in despite of all these powers, I point to the child in the manger, and swear: "Yes, verily, this child is the true God, and the life eternal! A weak creature, and yet the Lord and maker of all created things!"

man.

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And what do they tell of the infant? Scarcely do we trust our ears. If they were to say that an angel lay on the straw, a seraph who had become But what a seraph! They swear that he whom the angels call their Creator now lies in the manger; that he who marks out to the stars their course now drinks the milk from the breast of a mortal mother. In one word, the young child is said to be "God in the flesh."- He is said to be Jehovah in human appearance. 'But why detain us?" I hear you exclaim; why tell us that "he is said to be," and not that "he is, that he is so in truth." Yes, indeed, such is the custom with many in their Christmas sermons, who, opening the Bible, clamour and trumpet forth among the congregation, "The child is the true God!" and, making a prodigious noise and bustle, accuse all, without mercy, of heresy who cannot as yet believe it. But, * Luke, ii. 11.

One of the many places in which it is as difficult to abstain from this great confession as in Bethlehem it was difficult to pronounce it is mount

Tabor. From this mountain falls a stream of light upon the manger and the cross, before which all doubts must be dissolved. To this holy place let us to day return, in order that, with renewed peace and cheerfulness, arising from belief, we may steep our souls in the radiance of its glory.

MATTHEW, XVII. 3-4.

"And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, talking with him. Then answered Peter 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.'"

Now then we stand again on our holy mount. A solemn silence reigns around us, and before us appears the king in his beauty. Again do we desire to steep ourselves in his glory, when, behold, our attention is divided.-The silent and blessed circle extends itself, and our eyes are attracted by a new appearance.

green and fresh as the palm-tree, and rejoices in eternal youth. Look at him, do ye not read on his brow who stands before you? Behold, in these hands, now so glorified, rested once the miraculous rod which smote the waters of the Red Sea mountain high. Under these feet did Sinai thunder, when the Lord went forth from mount Paran, in his splendour with the fiery law in his right hand. These are the arms which, stayed up by Hur and Aaron, and raised towards heaven, laid Amalek in the dust; and, these are the eyes which longed to behold the Lord in his glory, and now behold him ; and which saw the manna rain from the clouds, and the waters rush forth from the rock. It is Moses, my brethren, who stands before you, the leader of Israel; the man "who held the reproach for Christ's sake for greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, far he saw his reward."

Now, mark the other. What, can he be a stranger to you? Look at him. Did that venerable eye never fix itself upon you? Look at that The subjects which claim our attention this day cheerful countenance, can ye not recollect its feaare three in number: I., the heavenly embassy; tures? Oh, wonderful and unheard-of occurrence, II., the conversation of Moses and Elias with the thus to meet again after nearly a thousand years! Saviour; and, lastly, the request of Simon Peter. An acquaintance, my brethren, one with whom, in I. There stand the disciples in adoring wonder, heart, we have had many a converse. "Is it Elias, and with strained eye, profoundly blessed in the then?" Yes, even Elias, our friend from Tishbeh. contemplation of their glorified Master; when, all Nearly a thousand years have passed away since he at once, they are again struck with amazement. shook the dust of earth from his feet in the wilderAnd what do they perceive? Behold, on either ness of Jericho, and rode through the clouds in his side of the Lord, two other figures, surrounded chariot of fire; nearly a thousand years has he now with the same rays of glory, in reverential and lowly joined in the lofty chorus, under the shadow of the posture. "What means this? Whence these two? eternal palm-trees. There he stands again bodily Came we not alone with Him to the mountain? before us, on the old theatre of his contets; but, and this spot is solitary, unfrequented, and deserted! only he himself and the Lord know what are his senWho could ascend hither, especially at night time? sations, while standing there, and what passes within And even if but these are not mortals who stand him, while, by the light of the stars, all the old before us! On those brows already sits the crown and familiar places strike upon his sight. Here, of immortal life!" Such would be the secret mount Carmel, with silent greeting, rears its head; thoughts of the astonished disciples. Their Master there lie Jezreel and the plain of Esdraelon; farther then begins to discourse with the holy strangers. on, the dark and mountainous forest where the The disciples listen; and Jesus calls the strangers Crith flowed through the rocky cavities; and, both by name. What do they hear aright? lower, towards the meridian, the lonely desert, with What names are those? What are the sensations the Juniper-tree, and Horeb's miraculous mount. of the disciples ? Do they not feel as if the very" Oh, thou God, amen! thou merciful and faithful earth gave way under their feet; yea, as if, at one blow, time itself were annihilated, and eternity, which concentrates in one point and one day all that here below was separated by land and sea, and divided by the space of ten thousand years, had burst in. Who then are these wonderful strangers? They are two who are perfect in righteousness; two citizens of the invisible world, of the Jerusalem on high. Mark the one there. Do ye not know him? The disciples would have known both him and his companion, even if their master had not called them Moses and Elias! Welcome visitors in the dark by name; and not only the disciples, but every other vale of death! If they had only vouchsafed to faithful Israelite. "For such characters as these open their lips to us, how many and how wonderful two," some writer very justly and wisely observes, things should we not have heard! For, only reflect "bear, for all who live in the spirit of the Gospel, that, for hundreds of years, they have been walking a stamp not easily to be mistaken. Who shall about in the throne-hall of the Almighty; that, for hereafter make known by name the glorified and hundreds of years, they have breathed the sabbathholy Jesus, and the apostles? The individual nature rest of eternity. Yes, these feet have actually wanof each will be reflected, as from a mirror, in their dered on the flowery meads over which neither frost outward appearance, and Peter and John will be in- nor heat any longer brandish the scythe of death stantly recognised as they are. Such is the case here. These hands have already tuned in paradise the joyThe two figures on Tabor are so firmly imprinted ful harps of which we dream. These eyes have on the mind of the Israelite that he recognises already heheld the glories which we can only remotely them like the practised painter. The one is an old divine from imperfect pictures, and through these man, fifteen hundred years of age, and yet he is | hearts hath already flowed the stream of bliss, with

God!" would then be the secret breathings of his glorified heart. "Oh, thou faithful and merciful God, who shall praise thee worthily?" And the sufferings which he had then and there endured now dawn again upon his mind, as the dreams of a night long since passed away, and he can look back on the hours of doubt, and fear, and despondency, only with a smile, with the smile of shame. 'Oh, folly without equal, for the pilgrims of God to be afraid!"

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the drops from which the earth is only sparingly the barren assurance that, it is out of his power to give us any account of what he had seen and beheld What then could not these messengers from on above. What did I call this assurance? A barren high have related to us, what disclosures could they one? I hasten to recall the word. No: this assunot have made to us, concerning death and resur-rance is not barren, but of unspeakable meaning rection, concerning paradise and the life of paradise. and importance; for it conveys in itself the most But, they were silent; perhaps, for the very same splendid account. The most eloquent words had reasons which compelled even Paul to withhold the description of the "third heaven," into which he had been caught up. Ye know the apostolic secret, preserved during fourteen years, to which I allude." I knew," writes Paul, "a man, in Christ, about fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or, whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth :) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth ;) how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." *

one day lay down for us.'

knowing whither the road from the blood-stained heavenly citizens stand before him! How utterly scaffold will lead. Oh! how poor appear to him are they lost in the contemplation of his beauty! even the most desirable things of this world, after Yes, indeed, the power of resting on the breast of having cast one look into those regions of light! Emmanuel had hitherto been wanting to make How joyfully he now receives the wormwood-cup their bliss complete. They had not, as yet, tasted of sorrow, sweetened as it is by the reflection that the joy of greeting, in the King of Kings, a brother he shall empty it, only soon to see it replenished and a relation. To think that they now behold Him, with the life-waters of those fountains between the wonderful, whose day they had so long awaited! which he has already once wandered. Oh, how That their blessed eyes now catch the rays of the willing is he to bear all,- all that it may please the bright morning-star, to which, through the perLord to impose on him,-if permitted only to in-spective of faith, they had so often looked up with dulge the hope of hereafter closing his career there burning desire! "Thou, then, art the Man through where he had seen the king in his beauty; "For I whose sufferings we have worn the crown these one reckon," he exclaims exultingly, "that the suffer- thousand years? Thou, then, the divine Lamb, ings of this present time are not worthy to be com- whose sacrifice, even before it was performed, blotted pared with the glory which shall be revealed in us!" out all our sins? In these limbs, then, rolls the "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!" blood which, in primeval ages, washed us clean "Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that even before it flowed; and these are the hands I may finish my course with joy!" which opened to us the pearly gates on high, after Thus, my brethren, was the hearer of "unspeak-showing to the Judge the ransom which they would able words" compelled, although silent, to betray the great secret of his life, and thus, without either word or image, enrich us with presentiments of Paradise, which only the more inflame our desire for the heavenly home the less they are adapted to expression or conception. In this indirect manner do the two heavenly visitors on Tabor gladden us with abundant intelligence. Themselves a living writing of the things above, they allow us scarcely to regret the absence of any oral communication. Their mere appearance even, how sweet an address to that faith which still trembles with weakness and doubt at the grave! What a refreshing evidence of the conscious, undivided, and individual after-existence of the departed just!-And then the radiance by which they are encircled, the bright and heavenly glory that sits on those brows, over which so many a storm hath passed, the peaceful sunshine on those countenances, once so furrowed by conflict and care, and then the silent joy on those features, from which the last breath of death hath long since blown away. What blessed evidence do they bear of death and resurrection! What sweet message from Canaan and its peaceful abodes! True it is, perhaps, that we know a witness from you side still greater than Moses and Elias. But we know also the hour of fear and deadly terror, when the troubled soul exceedingly desires, by the bursting grave in Joseph's garden, to get sight of the height of Tabor, and from the anxious question, "Son of Man, can these bones live," to be able to flee not only to the image of the risen Lord, but also to the forms of those two, its equals, who departed hence centuries ago, and now at once again stand visibly before us, in quick and bodily appearance.

Thus, do the two blessed visitors commune in their own heart, and new heavens disclose themselves in the glorious reflection. All their feelings entwine themselves in glowing love around the form of the great and priestly King, and their spirit bows down with adoration into the dust before Him who was to them the resurrection and the life; and who had once lent them the attire in which they, the sinners, received the testimony that they were holy and righteous before God, and worthy of his favour and love. Oh, look once more on the glorious and blessed circle on Tabor. There, in the stillness of night, and on the silent mount, they stand one by the other, all united into one, all bound together in one great cause. Oh, holy union! Sublime alliance! The Father as one with the Son, not only in essence, but in the plan of the world's atonement! The Son allied with the ambassadors from on high, who were in his service and prepared the way before him. Moses and Elias, united with John, and Peter, and James, as the bearers of one standard, as pillars of one and the same temple of God!

The apostles allied with the angels, who are ready to carry in their arms, the lambs that shall become faithful through the words of the former; and the angels again joined with the Son and the Father; administering spirits, who perform with equal joy the mission of each, for the sake of those who are to inherit the salvation. Sublime bond! Magnificent alliance for one end and object, in order that His name may be hallowed; His kingdom of grace may come; and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

II. Moses and Elias appear in glory before the Son of Man.-The one the bearer of the tables of Never, perhaps, since the closing of the gates of stone, the other the reforming leader of the holy paradise, was heaven more present upon earth than prophets. This meeting of such infinite importance, here on mount Tabor. What an assembly! Here may be regarded as an actual exhibition of the perthe Son of eternal love clad in his majesty; before fect harmony and unity between the divine economy, him the two high ambassadors from the city of the at the time of the old testament, and that which was Lord; on either side the pillars of the new Church newly commencing in Christ. Moses appears as the of Mercy; in the clouds above, holy and angelic representative of the law; Elias, of the prophecies. hosts; and, in the midst of them, although invisible, In these characters they approach Jesus, in humility, the Eternal Father. Where was ever such a meet-adoration, transport, and homage. The law and the ing held as this? What are the most splendid as- promise kiss the feet of Mary's Son;-behold the semblies of earthly potentates in comparison with fulness of the meaning which we are to collect from the meeting on that mount? And, oh! the light which illumines this glorious circle! the bliss and by which flows through every heart! How the two

this group. The two, both the promise and the law, join in the exclamation of Jacob, "Judah thou art he!" The two here bear witness, the one that it had