Therefore let no man tempt
you to despise learning, for it is holy to the Lord.
There is one more lesson which we may learn from our Lord's
transfiguration; when St. Peter said, "LORD! it is good for us to be
here," he spoke a truth. It WAS good for him to be there;
nevertheless, Christ did not listen to his prayer. He and his two
companions were not allowed to STAY in that glorious company. And
why? Because they had a work to do. They had glad tidings of great
joy to proclaim to every creature, and it was, after all, but a
selfish prayer, to wish to be allowed to stay in ease and glory on
the mount while the whole world was struggling in sin and wickedness
below them: for there is no meaning in a man's calling himself a
Christian, or saying that he loves God, unless he is ready to hate
what God hates, and to fight against that which Christ fought
against, that is, sin. No one has any right to call himself a
servant of God, who is not trying to do away with some of the evil
in the world around him. And, therefore, Christ was merciful, when,
instead of listening to St. Peter's prayer, He led the apostles down
again from the mount, and sent them forth, as He did afterwards, to
preach the Gospel of the kingdom to all nations.
Pages:
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173