RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

PRESENT-DAY OUTLOOK.

THE TRANSFIGURATION.

SYMBOLISM OF TWO FIGURES. Some arresting thoughts on the Transfiguration appeared recently in tlie "Times," London. They are as follow: — Mysterious, beyond question, the incident of the Transfiguration is and must remain, yet wholly congruous with the supreme mystery of which it is only a part—the Incarnation of God in man. What precisely happened, in what degree the vision granted to the three disciples was objective or subjective, are points about which speculation has been as fertile as it is futile. That for them and for their Mas'er the Transfiguration represented a real and tremendous spiritual experience seems clear. The precise nature of that experience can never be determined, and is comparatively unimportant. The symbolism of the two figures, those of the great Lawgiver and the great Prophet, standing beside the Master in the Transfiguration vision certainly lias a meaaing to which modern knowledge has given increased significance. As "we have come to appreciate more clearly the animosity between those on the one hand who maintained that religion must be wholly ceremonial and those on the other who held that spiritual faith made all ceremonies worthless, the value of this scene, where both stood in accord beside Christ, grows strikingly evident. It typified the work of Him Who had not come to destroy either the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil what was noblest in the teaching of both. It typifies no less the proanise of religious reunion to-day. Ritualist and Evangelical achieve unity when both stand in the realised Presence of Clici&L ! r The Simpler Truth. Yet, impressive and legitimate as such an interpretation may be, no imagery should blind us to the simpler and direct truth which the Transfiguration proclaimed. It occurred before and not after the Resurrection. Our Lord was transfigured in the days of his human weakness, limitations and suffering. The power of God, in other, words, is not merely something which is to ennoble and make radiant those who serve Him when they have passed eafely to the other side of death. It transforms them now, and in moments of exalted vision they make the world luminous with glory. To that truth the stories of the saints in each age bear witness, and few of us can liave missed the happiness of knowing some, at least, of such servants of God: Servants of 'God ! —or sons j Shall I not call you, because Not as servants ye knew Your Father's innermost mind.- . . . Then, In such hour of .need Of your fainting, dispirited race, Te, like angels, appear, Kadiant with ardour divine! Beacons of hope, ye appear! j Imnguor is not in your heart, "Weakness is not in your -word, "Weariness not on your brow. "Ye alight in our van I At your to lee Panic, despair, fleet away. Transfigured Men and Women. Who of us las not been able at some period of his life to echo gratefully those words of Matthew Arnold? We, too, have had the happiness of seeing these transfigured and transfiguring men and women. They may have been humble folk of no worldly distinction; they may' have been people whose careers seemed hopelessly crippled by misfortune or long disease. Yet they did not, merely endure with stoical fortitude; they were radiant with happiness; they were transfigured by their goodness, by their unconquerable faith, toy the power of God which shone through them. The light which shone through them illumined for us, too, the darkest places. For a moment at least we were able to see things as they saw them; helplessness and pain were not the crushing forces we had imagined; death itself woe stripped of its specious terrors; in their light we saw light, and grew ashamed of our own failures, our complainings, our want of faith. The power of God shines through God's children still, and through them transfigures life,, death and eternity. *