if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. righteous shall go into life eternal.”

"The

LECTURE XLIV.

THE CERTAINTY OF THOSE THINGS WHICH CHRISTIANS BELIEVE.

2 PETER i. 13-18.

13. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

Like the father who knows that the time must soon arrive when he must leave his children, and is anxious to establish them in the faith on which his own hopes depend; so St. Peter delivers his parting testimony, which may live after him, and be remembered when he is gone. Moses had done the same. God had revealed to him, "Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers." And knowing this, Moses set the example which Peter follows: he provided that his laws should be imprinted on the hearts of the Israelites with all the solemnity which a dying command could give. (Deut. xxxi. 28.) "Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their

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ears,, and call heaven and earth to witness against them." In the same spirit the apostle employs the time yet remaining to him, and stirs them up by putting them in remembrance, knowing that shortly he must fulfil the prophecy which foretold his death. As the Lord Jesus Christ had shewed him. (John xxi. 18.) "When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying, by what death he should glorify God." Perhaps, too, a special notice had been given him, as was given to Paul, that this event was now nigh at hand. Shortly, he says, I must put off this my tabernacle. The tent must be taken down, in which he was now dwelling: the tabernacle of his body in which his soul lodged. Removal is no strange thing, to one who has been long used to dwell in tents. And to Peter, who for more than thirty years had daily hazarded his life in the cause of Christ, it was no surprise to be informed that the time of his departure was approaching. It was, however, a reason why he should use the present opportunity. He stirs them up by putting them in remembrance; and he records his own personal knowledge and recollections for the benefit of future ages.

15. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

1 2 Tim. iii. 6.

17. 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.

18. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

Peter was well aware that there would "come in the last days scoffers," who would ascribe the history of the Lord Jesus to man's invention: treat it as a cunningly devised fable. To this he opposes the testimony of his own senses. They say that Jesus was but a man had no claim to be described as "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." We were eyewitnesses to his majesty. "He was transfigured before us: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." They say again, that he took upon himself an authority to which he had no claim. We heard the voice which came from heaven, confirming his authority. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And therefore and those who come after you, may know the certainty of the things which ye have believed.

you,

The Gospel rests on facts. And if a fact is properly authenticated at first, it is as certain at the end of a long chain of witnesses as at the beginning. Nothing ought to weaken belief except a break in the chain. We may compare it to electric power conveyed along a wire. The wire may be of indefinite length: the extremity far out of our sight: but if the shock is felt, we are sure that at the extremity there is a battery which causes it. may be certain of the facts of all well-authenticated

history: and no history is so well authenticated as the history recorded in the Scriptures. What Peter saw and heard, he related to others who did not see or hear those others repeated the same to their own generation; and every successive generation since has handed down the truth, so that it is as sure to us as it was to the scattered disciples to whom Peter wrote. The chain of testimony is unbroken: no link is wanting: and we may be as convinced as they were that we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we have believed in the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. To encourage his apostles, and enable them to encourage others, the Lord assumed the glory of that majesty, and received that testimony from God which Peter saw and heard in the holy mount. And now after more

than thirty years he makes use of the testimony for the purpose which it was given to serve. He records the impression fixed upon his own mind, that he may fix it on the minds of others. It is the testimony of one who knew that he must shortly put off his earthly tabernacle; and we are accustomed to give especial credit to such testimony. But it is more; it is the declaration of a man who was not merely soon to die, but to die in attestation of the faith which he was affirming. And this witness declares, that he beheld the glory of the Lord Jesus, the glory as of "the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

On such testimony we believe. And our prayer should be, that our lives and our faith may agree; so that we too may hereafter behold his glory, "that glory which he had with the Father before the world

was;" not, like the apostles on the holy mount, for a short and transient glimpse, but for ever and ever. His promise is no less; and to as many as receive it, and believe in his name, his promise will be fulfilled.

LECTURE XLV.

THE NATURE AND EFFECT OF PROPHECY.

2 PETER i. 19-21.

19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the daystar arise in your hearts.

St. Peter had before said, speaking of the things related concerning the Lord Jesus, "This glory we saw, this voice we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount."

To him, and to all who had this testimony of their senses, nothing more sure could be offered, nothing could be made clearer. We cannot be made more sure of anything, than of what "our eyes have seen and our hands handled." Why then does he write, We have the more sure word of prophecy? More sure to those whom he was addressing: more sure to all future ages. To these, a prophecy declaring

4 John xvii. 24.