I MEAN to handle the transfiguration of Christ, which was: -
1. A solemn confirmation of his person and office.
2. A pledge of that glorious estate which is reserved for us in heaven.
1. It was a confirmation of his person and office, as appeareth Mat xvii. 5, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.' So Peter, who was one present, urgeth it, 2 Pet. i. 16 - 18, 'We have not followed cunningly-devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. 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. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount.' And John also: John i. 14, 'We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father.' They were eye and ear witnesses, and therefore could affirm the certainty of this doctrine.
2. It is a pledge of our glorious estate; for Christ's body was adorned with heavenly glory, and he had spoken, chap. xvi. 27, of his coming in the glory of the Father; and now he gives his disciples a pledge and earnest of it.
Thomas Manton was an English Puritan clergyman.
Born at Lydeard St Lawrence, Somerset, Manton was educated at Blundell's School and then at Hart Hall, Oxford where he graduated BA in 1639. Joseph Hall, bishop of Norwich, ordained him deacon the following year: he never took priest's orders, holding that he was properly ordained to the ministerial office. He was then appointed town lecturer of Collumpton in Devon. In the winter of 1644-1645, he was appointed to preach at St Mary's Church in the parish of Stoke Newington in Middlesex, where in 1646 he was joined by Alexander Popham as the parish's ruling elder and began to build a reputation as a forthright and popular defender of Reformed principles.
Although Manton is little known now, in his day he was held in as much esteem as men like John Owen. He was best known for his skilled expository preaching, and was a favourite of John Charles Ryle, who championed his republication in the mid-19th century. His finest work is probably his Exposition of James.
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