“The Power of the Cross.”  A heathen ruler had heard the story of the cross and desired to know its power.  When he was sick and near his end, he told his servants to make him a large wooden cross, and lay it down in his chamber.  When this was done, he said—­“Take me now and lay me on the cross, and let me die there.”  As he lay there dying he looked in faith to the blood of Christ, that was shed upon the cross, and said—­"It lifts me up:  it lifts me.  Jesus saves me!” and thus he died.  It was not that wooden cross that saved him; but the death of Christ, on the cross to which he was nailed—­the death of which Moses and Elias talked with him, that saved this heathen man.  They knew what a blessing his death would be to the world, and this was why they talked about this death.  Here is one of Bonar’s beautiful hymns which speaks sweetly of the blessedness and comfort to be found in the cross of Christ.

  “Oppressed with noonday’s scorching heat,
    To this dear cross I flee;
  And in its shelter take my seat;
    No shade like this to me!

  “Beneath this cross clear waters burst;
    A fountain sparkling free;
  And here I quench my desert thirst,
    No spring like this to me.

  “A stranger here, I pitch my tent
    Beneath this spreading tree;
  Here shall my pilgrim life be spent,
    No home like this to me!

  “For burdened ones a resting place
    Beside this cross I see;
  Here, I cast off my weariness;
    No rest like this for me!”

Moses and Elias understood how the blessing of the world was to flow out from that death upon the cross which Jesus was to suffer; and so, we need not wonder that during the short visit which they made to Jesus, amidst the glory of his Transfiguration, the subject, above all others, about which they desired to talk with him—­was his death upon the cross,—­“his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.”

These are the three great wonders of the Transfiguration—­the wonderful change—­the wonderful company—­and the wonderful conversation.

And this brings us to the second part of our subject, which is—­the three lessons taught by the Transfiguration.

The first of these is—­THE LESSON OF HOPE.

One thing for which the Transfiguration took place was to show us what we may hope to be hereafter, if we are the servants of Christ.  We are told how Jesus appeared on this occasion.  His glory is described.  The brightness and glory that shone around him exceeded that of the noonday sun.  But there is no particular description given Moses and Elias.  We are not told how they looked.  It is only said of them that—­“they appeared in glory.”  St Luke ix:  31.  I suppose the meaning of this is that they shared in the glory which Jesus himself had when he was transfigured.  Their raiment was as white as