The Bishop has indeed said, "That St. Peter expressly Christ's glory compares and majesty on the mount to that "which he will display in his final advent, and considers the "former as an emblem and an earnest, and a proof of the "latter." From thence he concludes, "That the scene upon "the mountain was a symbolical representation of Christ's coming in glory to judge the world, and of the rewards " which shall then be given to the righteous." But where, it may be asked, with all due respect to the learned Prelate, has St. Peter compared Christ's glory and majesty on the mount to that which he will display in his final judgment? Or where considered the former as an emblem and an earnest, and a proof of the latter? He has indeed, asserted, that "When St. Peter says, We have not followed cunningly de"vised fables when we made known to you the POWER and

COMING of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he means, our Lord's coming in his kingdom with power and glory, and majesty, "to judge the world. And how," says the Bishop, does "St. Peter here prove that he will so come? Why, by de"claring that he and the two other Disciples, James and John,

66

were eye witnesses of his majesty; that is, they actually saw him on the mount, invested with majesty and glory, "similar to that which he would assume in his kingdom at "the last day." But if the judicious and attentive Reader will refer to the history of the tranfiguration, he will not find any thing that has the most distant reference to any glory with which Christ was to be invested on the last day. His face, it is true, did shine as the Sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Moses and Elias appeared and conversed with him, and a voice came out of the cloud which saidThis is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased-but these were the only circumstances of majesty and glory alluded to in the history-or referred to, in the account given by St. Peter. But let the Reader form his own judgment from the two accounts, placed in opposite columns, and let him decide according to the evidence, what foundation the learned Bishop had to assert that Christ was "invested with majesty "and glory, similar to that which he would assume in his "kingdom at the last day"-or that St. Peter expressly compared Christ's glory and Majesty on the mount to that which he will display " in his final advent, and considers the "former as an emblem and an earnest, and a proof of the "latter."

Matthew xvii. 1—5.

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart. And was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the Sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto JesusLord, 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. While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him,

2 Peter i. 16, 17, 18. We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye witnesses of his Majesty; for he received from God the Father, honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory-This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy Mount.

If the account of the transfiguration given by the Evangelist be considered, as an attestation of the truth of the character of Jesus as the Messiah, and as such it appears that it ought to be considered; it will probably not be difficult to understand the full force of the Apostle's Argument, and particularly that part of it which relates to the more sure word of prophecy, which does not appear to have been thoroughly understood, even by Bishop Sherlock; though it was one principle object of his discourses on prophecy to ascertain its meaning. We have not, says the Apostle, followed cunningly devised fables. And, as a proof of this, he says-We were EYE WITNESSES of his majesty, that is, of his receiving from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice from the excellent glory-This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. As a farther proof that they had not followed cunningly devised fables he says This voice

which came from heaven WE HEARD when we were with him in the holy mount. Now, says the Apostle-We have not only seen and heard these things, whereby ye may know that we have not followed cunningly devised fables-but we have also the more sure word of prophecy-or rather the word of prophecy, concerning THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, more Fully confirmed. But how more fully confirmed ? Why, by the signs which are now discernible of its near approach; whereunto, says the Apostle, ye do-or rather, ye will do well to take heed as to a light shining in a dark place, and the Day Star, or the Sun,* arise in your hearts, i. e. till the coming of the Son of Man, as the Messiah, shall be as visible as the lightning which shineth from one end of heaven to the other.

This interpretation may perhaps be considered as novelbut it is so natural, and accords so well with the time when the Epistle appears, from the internal evidence, to have been written, that there scarcely can exist the shadow of a doubt that this was the Apostle's meaning, and it is strongly confirmed by the declaration of this same Apostle, of a Salvation READY to be revealed, by his mentioning a day of visitation -by his assertion that the end of all things, relative to the Jewish State and Nation, was at hand, and more particularly by his assurance that there would be scoffers who should say -Where is the promise of his coming-the time being nearly expired in which the Messiah was expected, and no such person appearing, as they had represented to themselves, under the character of the Messiah, they would very naturally fall into a spirit of infidelity, and begin to say that all things continued as they were from the foundation of the world.

The Apostle Peter's reply to the question of these Scoffers -Where is the promise of his coming? is expressed in very strong language, and has by some, been thought inapplicable to the destruction of Jerusalem-but Dr. Lightfoot, whom Mr. Maltby has quoted, p. 4. as throwing "more light upon the "language and allusions of the sacred volumes, than almost "all other Commentators whatsoever," appears to have been particularly successful in shewing that the language of St. Peter was in common use, in antient prophecy, in describing temporal calamities.

The Reader will not perhaps be displeased to have the substance of what this very learned Writer has said, upon the The Greek word here translated Day Star, signifies that which bringeth light.

subject,

subject, laid before him, particularly as it will strongly con firm what has been said in the preceding pages. Speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem, he says, it is set forth in "Scripture, in such expressions, as if it were the destruc❝tion of the whole world. Moses beginneth this style in "Deut. xxxii. 22. where he is speaking of that vengeance. "Afire is kindled in mine anger, and it shall burn to the lowest "hell, and it shall consume the earth with her increase, and "set on fire the foundations of the Mountains. So again, "Jeremiah iv. 23. I beheld the earth, and lo it was without form and void and the heavens, and they had no light. "I beheld the mountains, and they trembled, and all the hills were removed. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, " and all the birds of the heavens were fled. In all these in"stances, it might be imagined that the whole universe were "dissolving-but look but (in the latter instance) in the 27th verse, and it speaks (of) no other than the dissolution " of that people, for thus hath the Lord said. The whole "land shall be desolate.

66

"In Matthew xxiv. 29-Our Lord says, The Sun shall "be darkened, and the Moon shall not give her light, and "the Stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of the "Heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign

66

of the Son of Man, &c. Who would not conclude that "these expressions related to the dissolution of the world, "and Christ coming to Judgment-yet the context plainly "intimates, that he only means the dissolution of the Jewish "state; for Christ expressly says, that that generation should "not pass till all these things were fulfilled.

"The beloved Disciple follows his Master's stile, upon "the very same subject, in the sixth of his Revelation, "where, after he had described the means of the destruction "of this wretched people, under the opening of certain "Seals, by sword, famine, and plague, he comes at last, in "ver. 12, 13, 14, to speak (of) their final dissolution itself,

in the very like terms, The Sun became black as sackcloth "of hair, and the Moon became as blood. And the Stars of "Heaven fell unto the Earth, and the Heavens departed as a "scroll that is rolled together, and every Mountain and Island

were removed out of their places. One would think the "final dissolution of all the world were spoken of—but look "in the 16th verse, and you find the very same words that

our

bur Saviour applies to the destruction of that people. Luke xxiii. 30. They said unto the montains fall on us, "and hide us, &c. Our Apostle Peter's meaning is no "other when he speaks of the Heavens being dissolved by fire, "the Earth, and the works therein (being) burnt up, and the

Elements melting with fervent heat. By these expressions " he intends nothing more than the dissolving of their "church and economy, by fiery vengeance-the consump"tion of their State by the flame of God's indignation, and "the ruine of their elements of Religion by God's fury. "Not the elements in Aristotle's sense, of fire, air, earth, and water, but the elements in his brother Paul's sense, whom he "mentions presently after-the carnal and beggarly elements "of their Mosaic rites and traditionary institutions." *

The Reader hath now before him, an extensive and enlarged view of the Scripture doctrine of the coming of Christ, comprising, if not the whole, at least, the chief passages upon which the Historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire hath founded his charge of our Lord and his Apostles having predicted the near approach of the end of the world in their own time. And from this view it appears, with an evidence which is almost, if not altogether irresistible, that the language upon which the charge appears to have been founded, is so far from being objectionable, that it really contains, both in the case of our Lord and his Apostles, the strongest proofs which can reasonably be desired, of the genuine authenticity of their Writings.

From the nature of the controversy in which our Lord was necessarily engaged, and from the peculiar sentiments and prejudices of the whole Jewish Nation, concerning the true nature of the Messiah's character, (the Disciples of Jesus themselves not excepted), it was not possible for him, with any probability of success, to have adopted any other language than that which he did adopt. He could not say that he was come or that he was the Messiah-having none of those proofs to offer, of his sustaining that character which they had uniformly affixed to it. His only alternative was, to keep hope alive to confirm their expectations of the coming of the Messiah, and to give them such assurances of his coming as the peculiar exigencies and circumstances of

*See Lightfoot's Works, Vol. II. pages 1073, 1074.