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"He was  transfigured  before  them." — Matt. xvii. 2.

Ex. : I.  Life  and  death. II. Church's liturgy. III. Raphael's Transfiguration.

I. Heaven :  i.  Inconceivable. 2. Pagan  notions. 3. Earth's loveliest  spots.

II. It consists:  1. In possessing  God. 2. In  being  in accord  with  Him. 3. In  enjoying  delight  of  soul  and body.

III. Its attainment :  1. Hand in  picture. 2. Its  meaning. 3. The  Law  and  Gospel.

Per.: 1. Our idea  of  heaven. 2. Our  efforts  to  attain  it. 3. Our  models.

Brethren, in  the  midst  of  life,  alas,  there  is  death, but happily,  too,  in  the  midst  of  death  there  is  life. That is  the  idea  of  to-day's  Gospel. He was  transfigured before  them. He had  just  been  telling  them of the  tortures  He  was  to  endure,  and  of  His  death; of the  lives  of  self-denial  and  the  sufferings  in  store for them. "Far be  it  from  us  and  Thee,"  they  said, "to suffer  such  things." They were  shocked  and completely discouraged,  and  to  fortify  their  shrinking souls He  granted  them  a  glimpse  of  heaven — He  was transfigured before  them. So, too,  the  Church; scarcely has  the  gloomy  pall  of  the  Lenten  season closed around  us,  than  she  presents  to  our  thoughts the glories  of  the  Transfiguration. Like a  skilful  general to  his  army  on  the  eve  of  battle,  in  the  shadow  of