PART il. SERMON X. 1$7 at poverty and meanness of circumstance in my present pilgrim- age ! nor think it strange if the world scorn and abuse me, or if Satan, the foul spirit, should assault andbuffet me sorely ! Dare I hope to appear in glory, when Christ, who is my life appears ; and can I not bear to attendhim in sufferings and shame ? Am I better than my blessed Lord ? What poor attendants had the Son of God, at iris first entrance into our world ! How mean was everything that belonged to him on earth ! What vile and despicable raiment, unworthy of the Prince of glory ! What coarse provision, and sorry furniture, to entertain incarnate god- head ! And how impious was the treatment he found amongmen, and impudent temptations from the same foul spirit ! He had snares, sorrows, and temptations,watching all aroundhim The sorrowsofdeath compassed him about, and the powers of darkness crouded him with their envious assaults ; earth and hell were at once engaged against him; they hunghim bleeding on a cursed and infamous tree, lifted on high to be made a more public gazing-stock, and an object of wider scorn ! Bles- sed Saviour ! how divine was thy patience to endure all these indignities, and not call for thy Father's legions, nor thy own thunder. But, this was the hour of thy appointed combat, the place of thy voluntary obscurity, and the ,season of thy hidden life; and thy saints must bear thy resemblance in both worlds. How unspeakable were thy past sorrows ! and thy present glories all unspeakable! How infinitely different were these dark and mournfulscenes, from the joys and honoursthou hast purchased by those very sufferings ! Sacred honours and joys withoutalloy, which thou art now possessed of as their great forerunner, and hast made ready for thy subjects in thy own kingdom 1 What robes of light shall array thy followers in that day; What bright planet, or brighter star, shall be the place of- thy dwelling ? or shall all those shining worlds be mansions of various residence, as thou shalt lead thy saints successivelythrough the vast and.uu- merous provinces of thy boundless dominion ? Sorrow, sin, and temptation, shall be namedno more, unless totriumph over them in immortal songs. Tite fairest spirits of light, in their own heavenly forms, shall be tite companions and attendants of the children of God. Jesus, the Lordof glory, is their king and head, the leader of their triumph, and the pattern of their ex- altation. Jesus shall appear in his meridian lustre, as the Sun of Righteousness in the noon of heaven ; yet the beams of his influence shall be gentle as the morning-star. There needs no other sun in that upper world ; the Lamb is the light thereof. .Jesus, the ornament of_paradise, and the delight of God, shall be the .eternal and beatific object of their sensesf and their souls ; they must be where he is, to behold his glory.
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