fome diftant period. The direct import seems to be this: "fome of thofe ftanding here fhall, before their death, be favoured with a fight of the kingdom of GOD; but the reft shall not, in this life, be fpectators of such an appearance." Clearer terms were not used, nor the names mentioned of the chofen Three, who were to be thus honoured, left the others should be moved with envy; and for the fame reason probably, they were charged to tell the vifion to no man, till the Son of man was

• Hæc autem locutio non guftabunt mortem donec videant mihi videtur proverbialis, et denotare rem certò et proximo tempore futuram. Lamy in loc.-That inevitable stroke, which may fall any day and which never is far off, fhall not happen, before, &c." This seems to be confirmed by what we read Luke ii. 26. of Simec; to whom it was revealed " that he fhould not fee death, before he had feen the Lord's Christ." Neither the age of this devout person nor the time of this revelation to him is mentioned; but the whole tenor of the story evidently fuggefts this interpretation: "That old as he was, and though, in the ordinary courfe of providence, there was but a ftep between him and death; ftill, nevertheless, he fhould live to behold the promised Meffiah." Had he not already reached, if not paffed, the usual term of human life, inftead of "Nunc dimittis," the more natural wish would have been, that he might live to be a hearer of the heavenly difcourfes, and fpectator of the miracles of the glorious child, of whose birth it had pleased God to forewarn him.

O mihi tam longæ maneat pars ultima vitæ,
Spiritus et quantum fat erit tua dicere facta.

rifen from the dead; when the defcent of the Holy Spirit, which was quickly to enfue, would enlighten their minds, and fubdue their prejudices.

In the mean time, this promife, graciously fubjoined to the preceding predictions of calamities and perils, was a fource of confolation, as its accomplishment evinced, and an affurance that their Lord was able to reward, as well as to punish, to the uttermoft. It was evidently a display both of power and of glory. The great Lawgiver of Ifrael, and the Reftorer of the law, the man Moses, with whom the Lord fpake face to face, and the prophet Elijah, who was caught up to heaven. in a fiery chariot; these perfonages, whom the Lord of old fo highly honoured, now appeared as the fervants of the Son of man, and talked with him. Of a future ftate GOD had never left men without fufficient evidence. The respective tranflations of Enoch and Elijah were proofs of this, in times when proof was most wanted, among the fons of riot before the flood, and when idolatry pre

P St. Peter, mentioning this appearance, fpeaks of it as a manifestation of "power," of "majefty, of "honour,” and of "glory." See 2 Pet. i. 16-18. He feems alfo to allude to it in his first Ep. c. v. 1.

vailed

But when the Son of

vailed most in Ifrael.
GOD affumed our nature, heaven, as it were,
came down upon mount Tabor, and glorified
humanity was made vifible to eyes of flesh.
In Mofes were reprefented the generations of
the dead, and in Elias, who died not, thofe
who fhall be alive at the laft day. When
Mofes on mount Sinai talked with God, his
countenance was fo bright that the Ifraelites
could not steadfastly behold it. When St.
Stephen was arraigned before the Sanhedrim,
they "faw his face as it had been the face of
an angel'." If fuch is the effect of God's
bleffed countenance, whenever he vouchfafes
a glimpse of it in this life; what shall be the
radiance, how ineffable the bliss, when we
fhall behold him face to face, and enjoy him
for evermore !

1 2 Cor. iii. 7. with Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30. It is in like manner fuppofed by fome, and with great probability, that the countenance of our Lord fhone, when he defcended from the mount. See Dr. Townson on the Gofpels, p. 8. n. *. and Whitby and Doddridge on Mark ix. 15. to whom he refers. • Acts vi. 15.

In fupport of the

s See 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 2 Cor. iii. 18. above interpretation of Matt. xvi. 28. another argument might have been offered; which, as it was neceffary not to lengthen the fermon, I fhall beg leave to ftate here. Our bleffed Sa viour, on one or other occafion, foretold to his difciples almost all the greater events of his life and his death. Is it likely then, that the Transfiguration, which whether we con

Another advent of the Son of man is mentioned by St. Matthew, previously to that which we have been confidering; but it relates, I apprehend, to a subsequent period. When our Lord fent forth the twelve to preach the kingdom of GoD, he not only gave them ample instructions for that purpofe, but likewife forewarned them of the dangers that awaited them, on this as well as on future occafions, in his fervice. For the prefent he permitted, or rather enjoined them, when perfecuted in one city, to flee to another; and he was pleased to add this as a reafon: "For verily I fay unto you, ye fhall

fider it fimply in itself, or as the atteftation of Gon to his be loved Son, is undoubtedly the most august appearance recorded of the miniftry of our Lord; is it likely, that this manifeftation of his glory should have been left without its proper prediction, to happen as if it had been unforeseen? This, I imagine, will hardly be fuppofed; and yet if the transfiguration is not alluded to in the paffage before us, I think it is not at all foretold in the Gofpels. Whether the words were, or, which is more probable, were not understood by the apostles at the time, is not material; for they did not understand the much plainer prophecies of their Lord concerning his death, but fancied them, as it feems, to have fome figurative fignification. It was fufficient therefore if the prediction was expreffed in fuch a manner, that either the event itself, or the fubfequent illumination of the Holy Spirit, fhould lead them to the true intention of the Speaker; and that, it is hoped, has been fhewn, with fome probability, to have been his then approaching Transfiguration.

not

not have

gone over the cities of Ifrael, till the Son of man be come."

It may help us perhaps to ascertain the true meaning of this paffage, if we fee, first of all, to what it does not belong; and it cannot be referred to the destruction of Jerufalem. Several, indeed, of the preceding verses have respect to events, which happened fome time after our Lord's afcenfion; when, as it is there foretold, the apostles and others were brought before governors and kings,-for a testimony against them and the gentiles "." But the words under confideration will not admit of fo remote a reference.

The truth is, fome of the admonitions, contained in this difcourfe of our bleffed Lord, appear to have been delivered by him again, on another occafion. These particulars therefore St. Matthew has recorded here, when first they fell from the heavenly speaker; but St. Mark has inferted them in a series of predictions, with which, in point of time, they were more nearly connected, when they were repeated in the account of the approaching diffolution of the Jewish ftate *.

Matt. X. 23.

u Matt. X. 19.

* Compare, in the original, Matt. x. 17-22. with Mark xiii. 9. 11-13. The 21ft and 22d verfes of St. Matthew are, both