to their minds why He should be King of the Jews at the very time that He
was but a poor tradesman’s son, living on charity. It was to shew them
that His kingdom was the kingdom of heaven that He was transfigured
before them.
They saw His glory—the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. The form of His countenance was changed; all the
majesty, and courage, and wisdom, and love, and resignation, and pity,
that lay in His noble heart, shone out through His face, while He spoke
of His death which He should accomplish at Jerusalem—the Holy Ghost that
was upon Him, the spirit of wisdom, and love, and beauty—the spirit which
produces every thing that is lovely in heaven and earth: in soul and
body, blazed out through His eyes, and all His glorious countenance, and
made Him look like what He was—a God. My friends, what a sight! Would
it not be worth while to journey thousands of miles—to go through all
difficulties, dangers, that man ever heard of, for one sight of that
glorious face, that we might fall down upon our knees before it, and, if
it were but for a moment, give way to the delight of finding something
that we could utterly love and utterly adore? I say, the delight of
finding something to worship; for if there is a noble, if there is a
holy, if there is a spiritual feeling in man, it is the feeling which
bows him down before those who are greater, and wiser, and holier than
himself. I say, that feeling of respect for what is noble is a heavenly
feeling. The man who has lost it—the man who feels no respect for those
who are above him in age, above him in knowledge, above him in wisdom,
above him in goodness,—_that_ man shall in no wise enter into the kingdom
of heaven. It is only the man who is like a little child, and feels the
delight of having some one to look up to, who will ever feel delight in
looking up to Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of lords and King of kings.
It was the want of respect, it was the dislike of feeling any one
superior to himself, which made the devil rebel against God, and fall
from heaven. It will be the feeling of complete respect—the feeling of
kneeling at the feet of one who is immeasurably superior to ourselves in
every thing, that will make up the greatest happiness of heaven. This is
a hard saying, and no man can understand it, save he to whom it is given
by the Spirit of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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