well pleasing to God, according to the declaration of Isaiah, in the 21st verse of his 42d chapter, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable:" and that the third clause, "Hear him," refers to his prophetical office, and is spoken in allusion to the prediction of Moses recorded in the 15th verse of the 18th chapter of Deuteronomy,

without reservation or exception. The Father is well pleased with him, because he is holy, harmless, and undefiled, and reflects in his person the unsullied purity and unbounded love of God. He is well pleased with him, because he has undertaken the office of a Saviour, and has rendered the manifestation of mercy, in which God takes delight, consistent with the maintenance of justice, which he could never compromise" The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee nor violate. What a source of strong con- a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy solation the believer has in this reflection, brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye that the Son was acting in complete com- hearken." pliance with the Father's will, in giving himself to be a saviour and a sacrifice for man, and that the Father is not only well pleased with the work of the Son, but that on this very account does the Father love him, because he laid down his life for the sheep.

There is also a practical injunction added to this declaration. The voice that issued from the cloud on Tabor uttered this command, in reference to the incarnate Son of God" Hear him." These words were not pronounced as part of the testimony which was heard from heaven on the occasion of the Saviour's baptism, which, with this exception, was the same as that delivered on the occasion of his transfiguration. They were probably added in this place on account of the proposal of Peter. The voice of the Apostle was not to be heard; the voice of Jesus is to be alone attended to. He is head over all things to his Church; he has been given as a leader and commander to his people; he alone is to have authority, and no subordinate or inferior minister should ever encroach upon his proper and rightful prerogatives.

Thus we perceive, that the announcement which came from heaven on this occasion consisted of three distinct clauses. Some have thought that these were intended to refer to the three offices which Christ sustains, and that they have been derived from the three leading departments of the Old Testament that the first clause, "This is my beloved Son," has a reference to the kingly power of Christ, who is spoken of in the 6th and 7th verses of the 2d Psalm as the Son of God exalted as king upon the holy hill of Zion: that the second clause, "in whom I am well pleased," has a reference to his priestly office, in the execution of which he magnified the law by a sacrifice

We are now arrived at the conclusion of the history of this splendid transaction:— "When the disciples heard the voice, they fell on their face and were sore afraid."— When God speaks in the language of authority, it is no wonder that men should tremble. The voice of God fills the soul of man with fear on account of his sinfulness and weakness. But, blessed be God! we can never be so cast down and overwhelmed with terror, as that the mild and merciful command of Him who is our righteousness and strength shall prove ineffectual in restoring us to a state of tranquillity and peace. When the disciples were lying prostrate on the ground, in apprehension and dismay, "Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid." Thus, whenever we feel the Saviour's touch, our hearts are instantly filled with that love which casteth out fear, and his voice at once restores the sweetest confidence to the most dejected soul. The narrative concludes by telling us, that "when the disciples lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only." All was now over. The splendid scenery had now departed. Their eyes could bear the sight no longer; nor could this world any longer contain that light and glory, which can only remain as the permanent embellishment of that new earth in which righteousness shall for ever dwell. Moses and Elias were taken away: Jesus was left to finish the work which the Father had given him to do, and the Apostles to sustain the trials, and discharge the labours that awaited them, encouraged by the bright and happy prospect of appearing again, not as spectators only, but as the immediate companions of their glorified Master, in that eternal kingdom of blessedness and immortality which it is the ultimate design of his mediation to establish over the whole extent of a renovated earth.

The Conversation on coming down from

the Mountain.

9. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

By the word "vision," in this verse, is meant a representation to the sight of the Apostles, for the transfiguration was a real transaction which they had seen with their eyes, 2 Pet. i. 16; 1 John i. 1-3. The three Apostles were not to give an account of what they had seen, even to their fellow-apostles, until after the resurrection of Christ, perhaps lest they might have been filled with jealousy, because they had not also been chosen for the enjoyment of the same privilege. Thus we should ever be careful not to boast of any peculiar distinctions that may have been conferred upon us, lest we should be the direct cause of exciting sinful feelings in others. There could have been no use in proclaiming what they had seen, to the Jews in general, before the resurrection of Christ, as it would not have been believed by those who were at the very time personal witnesses of his humiliation and sufferings. But the wonderful event of the Saviour's resurrection is the foundation-stone on which we can easily rest our faith in his transcendent majesty and glory. The disciples, also, were not to bear witness to the glory of Christ until the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to glorify Christ, and who was not given till after he rose from the dead, bore witness in them and through them, Acts i. 8; Heb. ii. 4.

10. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

11. And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things;

12. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed: Like

wise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

13. Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist

The disciples here propose an important question to Christ, showing that their judgments were exercised by what they had been privileged to witness on the mount of transfiguration. They had seen Moses and Elias with Jesus on the mountain under such circumstances as to lead them to suppose that when he should come again in glory, they would come with him as his attendants, and that neither of them would come before him, so that they were led to ask the question

66

Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? or that he must come before the second advent of Christ. To this question our Saviour does not give a direct reply. A direct reply would have been-"Because thus it is written by the prophet, Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." " But our Saviour's reply is an exposition of this prophecy, which he tacitly refers to, and which, as he shews, was to have a double fulfilment, like many of the prophecies, that is to say. 1. A typical fulfilment; and 2. A literal one. He mentions the literal fulfilment before the typical, although the latter was prior to it in point of time, because the question of the disciples naturally required him to do so: but, still, he carefully speaks of the literal fulfilment, in verse 11, as being future, and of the typical fulfilment, in verse 12, as being past. We should notice here that the verb which is translated

shall come," gerai, in the 11th verse, is in the present tense: the strict rendering of the

passage would be-" Elias truly cometh first, and shall restore (amoxarαorno) all things." It is evident, however, that this mode of using the present tense, when speaking of a future event, only adds greater force to the statement; for in that case the passage not only foretells the event in question, but

foretells it as an event that shall occur ac

cording to a pre-arranged and settled plan: as if he had said-" It is not only a correct

This

opinion of the Scribes that Elias shall come | Luke xvi. 16. Some commentators, who first, but his future advent is a part of God's would refer the 11th verse to John the Bappredetermined and predicted purpose." But tist, have, in order to evade the force of this this verse includes in it a confirmation of argument, proposed to translate the original the doctrine of the Scribes. They were quite phrase ȧroxaraσrýou Tavra," he shall finish correct in saying that Elias should first come. all things." This is the rendering of the They were, in fact, as correct in giving a text which has been proposed by Sir Norton literal exposition to the prophecy of the Knatchbull, in his most valuable book of coming of Elijah in Mal. iv. 4, 5, as they annotations upon some difficult texts of the were in giving a literal exposition to the New Testament. But in this instance his prophecy of the birth-place of the Saviour suggestion is inadmissible, as the verb in the in Micah, v. 2, as appears from Matthew ii. original cannot bear such a signification. 1, 5, 6. We do not think then that verse 11 can have any reference whatever to John the Baptist; and to support this view, we give the following reasons: -1. Because it speaks of the coming of the person here called Elias as still future, whereas John had not only come and fulfilled his mission, but was dead at the time, having been beheaded about a year before: 2. Because it represents Elias as coming before Christ comes, or as coming to the earth before Christ comes to the earth, whereas John was a cotemporary harbinger of Christ, preparing his way while he himself was on the earth; for it is said of him, in Luke i. 17, #goeλevõetas εvIOV AUTOU, a declaration, the import of which is not fully conveyed by the common translation, "he shall go before him," but which should be rendered," he shall go before him, in his presence," or, "in his sight," as we find it stated in the song of Zacharias, in the 76th verse, προποξεύση, πρὸ προσώπου Κυρίου, “ thou shalt go before the face of the Lord:" 3. Because the particle "truly," or indeed," uv, in the declaration, "Elias truly shall first come," has the effect of giving to the Saviour's reply the same literal sense which the question of the disciples had, who referred in that question to a declaration of the Scribes that the literal Elias would come again to the earth: 4. Because it is said that the person who is here spoken of as Elias should, "after his coming restore all things;" but this was a work which John the Baptist did not perform. On the other hand, it is said in the next verse, that the Jews" did unto him whatsoever they listed." And so far was John from "restoring all things,"or all things connected with the Jewish state and polity, that the legal and prophetical dispensation had their end in him. His appearance was the signal for their termination, for "the law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached,"

Thus, we maintain that the 11th verse cannot refer to John the Baptist, but that it asserts a future literal coming of the very Elijah, the prophet, who lived in the days of Ahab. There will be a second advent of Elijah before the second advent of Christ. The purpose of his coming is here also stated, it will be to restore all things. will also be the purpose of our Saviour's second coming, Acts iii. 21; but he will come to effect a final and universal restitution of all things which have been injured by the fall, Rom. viii. 19-21, Rev. xxi. 1, 5; whereas the object of the mission of Elijah will be confined to the Jews, Mal. iv. 6; he will be the author of a preliminary restoration of all things relating to the Jewish state and system, which were to be destroyed soon after the appearance of the typical Elias, John the Baptist, when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans, and the Jews were scattered and dispersed amongst all nations. The import of the Greek verb here rendered "restore," is to bring back any thing into the same state in which it had formerly been; a meaning which can be easily illustrated by referring to Matth. xii. 13; Mark iii. 5; viii. 25. This word is used in the Septuagint version of Mal. iv. 6, as the translation of the word which is rendered “turn,” in the English translation of that text: "He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." He shall effect a moral and religious restoration, by bringing the unbelieving posterity of the Jewish nation to be of the same heart and mind as the fathers of the Jewish people were, so as to become the worthy descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who will rejoice in their reformation, and feel their hearts, as it were, turned to them, as to those whom they are not ashamed to call their chil

dren.

That Elijah will also be employed in effecting a political and ecclesiastical restoration, is extremely probable. He will, in short, be employed in performing a work similar to that which he performed in the days of Ahab, but on a grander and more extensive scale, and with a different object, so as to prevent a curse from coming upon the Jewish nation when the Lord shall appear, and to prepare the Jewish people for his advent; so that when they see him, they shall not reject him as they did when he first appeared, but that they may know that he is indeed their Redeemer and their King.

Having thus spoken of the future literal advent of Elias, in the 11th verse, Christ proceeds to speak of the recent typical advent of Elias in the appearance of John the Baptist, in the 12th verse. The word "already" seems to convey the idea of the entire fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi in the advent of John, but the original expression should rather be rendered " just now." "But I say unto you that Elias has just now come." Now it is evident that this declaration must refer to a perfectly distinct subject from the coming of Elias mentioned in the preceding verse, in consequence of what Christ adds-" They knew

him not, but have done unto him whatsoever

they listed;" for this is not the way to speak

been a type of John the Baptist, but we are to look upon John the Baptist as having been a type of Elijah as he shall appear hereafter. Elijah, in the days of Ahab, did not discharge the office of a precursor or harbinger preparing the way of the Lord: this is a work which he shall come again, in his own proper person, to discharge, and as there was an appearance of Christ in the disguise of humiliation after the appearance of the type, so there shall be a coming of Christ in the full revelation of his glory after the coming of the antitype, Matth. xi. 14-15.

The 13th verse refers only to the 12th, When Christ said and not to the 11th. that Elias had just now come, and referred to the wilful and cruel treatment which he had received from the Jews, then they understood that he spake to them of John the Baptist.

Christ heals a Lunatic.

14. And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

15. Lord, have mercy on my Son; for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

16. And I brought him to thy

17. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.

of the results and effects of the mission of one who was to "restore all things." In short, John himself declared that he was not Elias, in answer to a question which evidently had reference to the literal fulfilment of the prophecy in Malachi iv. 4-disciples, and they could not cure "Art thou Elias? and he saith, I am not." him. But although he was not Elijah the Tishbite, he was Elijah in type, acting as a precursor of Christ coming to suffer, as the literal Elijah shall act as the precursor of Christ coming to reign. This is stated in Luke i. 16-17-" And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Thus John was to discharge an office, to a certain extent similar to that which Elijah shall perform hereafter, and in the spirit and power, but not in the person of Elijah. So that we are not to speak of Elijah as he appeared in the days of Ahab, as having

18. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

In these verses we have the account of a miracle of mercy which was wrought by the Saviour immediately after he had come down He had taken Peter from the mountain. and James and John with him, as the chosen