"HE hath sent Me to publish good tidings "To set at liberty them that are bruised [with fetters], "This day," said our Lord, (when he had read the passage and closed the book)" is "this Scripture-prophecy (ʼn ypaøn áurn) ful 66 filled in your Ears"-" And the eyes of all "in the Synagogue were fastened on Him— "And all wondered at the words of grace "which proceeded out of his Mouth," Luke iv. 20, 22.-And afterwards, "the Multi"tudes" who listened to his Divine instructions, and to his Incomparable Sermon on the Mount, were struck with astonishment at his Teaching; for He taught them "as having authority," Matt. vii. 28, Mark i, 22, Luke iv. 32. And how amazingly insinuating and powerful must have been the tone of his voice and mode of his speaking, when the woman exclaimed with rapture, Blessed is the womb that bare thee! &c.-even the officers sent to apprehend him, pleaded in excuse for not doing so, to the Chief Priests and Pharisees “Never Man spake like this Man!” John viii. 46. And they who did afterwards ap prehend Him, as soon as he had pronounced the words Eyw εsμs" I am,' Εγω ειμεν "I "retreated "backwards, and fell to the ground," appalled; nor durst they, we may presume, execute their commission, or lay their unhallowed hands on Him, until encouraged by his own permission: "I told you that I am: if then ye seek Me, let these [meaning his Disciples] retire." John xviii. 4, 9. Nor is the Prophet Isaiah's description of the person of the suffering MESSIAH, at all inconsistent herewith; as having 66 66 по form nor comeliness" and " his visage "disfigured more than Man, and his form "more than the sons of Adam," Isa. hii. 2, and lii. 14. For this was the natural result of the greatness of his passion; when "His "soul was exceedingly sorrowful, [even] unto death"-verifying the Prophet's prediction in the next verse; that He should be " a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” Isa. liii. 3. Insomuch, that in the poignancy of his agony, in the Garden of Gethsemane, 66 "His sweat was as it were great drops of "blood falling down to the ground." Matt. xxvii. 38, Luke xxii. 44. But what was the native dignity and majesty of his presence, we may collect from the awful and astonishing circumstances of his Transfiguration, shortly before" his de 66 parture," attended by his glorified Servants, Moses, the great founder, and Elijah, the great restorer of THE LAW; in the sight of his confidential disciples, Peter, James, and John, the great Heralds of THE GOSPEL: and the favoured “ eye-witnesses of "his Majesty," 2 Pet. i. 16, who" them"selves beheld his glory; a glory suitable to "the only genuine [SON] of THE FATHER; "after THE ORACLE became flesh, and so"journed among us, full of Grace and 66 Truth," John i. 14. They who furnished the three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with the following circumstances: 66 46 "And it came to pass, while He was praying, that the form of his visage was changed: His visage shone as the Sun; "and his raiment became dazzling bright, very white as snow, such as no Fuller on "earth "earth is able to whiten; white as the "light" 66 And the effect of this stupendous Vision on the Disciples is thus described—“ they fell on their face, and were greatly af-. frighted"" they were terrified" ___" they "were oppressed with sleep"-" But JESUS "touched them”—and "when they were tho 66 roughly awake, (diayenyognoavтes), they saw "his glory, and the two men standing with "Him." N. B. Compare with this, OUR LORD'S similar manifestations to Daniel, x. 5, 12, and to John, Rev. i. 12, 18. And see THE INSPECTOR, p. 72. This astonishing Transfiguration, so clearly and distinctly described by the three Evangelists, from the two original witnesses Peter and John, happening during OUR LORD'S incarnation, is satisfactory evidence of a Divine Nature, intimately blended with his Human Nature; but in a way utterly incomprehensible to us; it is also of the utmost importance, as forming a middle link, between his antecedent and subsequent manifestations, under the Old and New Dispensations, pensations, as THE GOD OF GLORY," Acts vii. 2, and "THE LORD OF GLORY." 1 Cor. ii. 8. It is truly remarkable, that this was the second time, that Moses and Elijah were made spectators of his glory, on the same Mount of God, Horeb or Sinai: The appearance to Moses is described, Exod. xxxiii. 12, 23, to Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 4-18,-graciously vouchsafed to both, for, their encouragement and support under the arduous trials of their ministry; after Moses had signalized his zeal for THE LORD, by punishing the idolatrous Israelites at Sinai, with the sword of the Levites who ranged themselves "on the LORD's side," Exod. xxxii. 15, 19, and after Elijah had slain all the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings xviii. 21-40. 3-5. "Gird thy sword upon thy Thigh, O thou "MIGHTY! "In thy glory and thy majesty, "And in thy majesty ride properously, "For the cause of truth, meekness and right "eousness: "And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible "[exploits]." |