Watts - Houston-Packer Collection BX5207.W3 S4x 1805 v.2

DISC. Iv.7 IN HIS SAINTS. 415 pressed by things sensible: Whenwe see a train of human pomp and grandeur, and long ranks of shining garments and equipage, it is ready to dazzle. our eyes, and, attract our hearts : Vain pomp, and poor equipage, all this', when compared with the triumph of our blessed Lord, at his appearance, with an endless army of his holy ones; where every saint shall be vested, not in silks and gold, but,' in robes of refined light, out-shining the sun, such as Christ himself wore in the mount of transfiguration.. Millionsof suns in one firmament of glory. Think on that day, and the illustrious retinueof our Lord : Think on that splendor that shall attract the eyes of heaven and earth, shall confound the proud sinner, and astonish the inhabitants of hell : Such a meditation as this will cast a dim shadow over the brightest appearances of a court, or a royal festival; it will spread a dead colouring over all the painted vanities ofthis life; it will damp every thought of rising ambition and earthly pride, and we shall have but little heart to admire or wish for anyof the vain shews of mortality. Methinks every gaudy scene of the pre- sent life, and all the gilded honours ofcourts and armies should grow faint, and fade awayand varnish at the medi- tationof this illustrious appearance. Use IV. This text will give us also two hints of caution. First, " You that are rich in this world, or wise, or mighty, dare not ridicule or scoff at those poor weak christians, in whomChrist shall be admired and glorified in the last day. ". You that fancy you have any advan- tages of birth or beauty, of mind,or body, here on earth, dare not make a jest of your poor pious neighbour that wants them, for he is one of those persons whom Christ calls his glory, and he himself has given you warning, lest you incur his resentment on this account; Mat. xviii. 6. Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' Perhaps he good man has some blemish in his outward form, or, it may be, his countenance is dejected, or his mien and figure awkward and uncomely; perhaps his garments sit wrong and un- fashionable upon him, or it may be, they hang in tatters; the motions of his body, perhaps, 'are ungraceful, his speech improper, and his deportment is, simple,. and

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