DISCOURSE IV. 115 the respect of angels, and reflect honour upon Christ in that solemnity! I confess, we dwell in flesh and blood, and human nature in the best of us, is too much impressed by things sensible: When we 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. Millions ofsuns in one firmament of glory, . Think on that day, and the illustrious retinue of 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 dint shadow over the brightest appearances of a court, or a royal festival; it will spread a dead colouring over all the painted vanities of this life ; it will damp every thought of rising am- bition and earthly pride, and we shall have but little heart to admire or wish tor 'any of the vain shows of mortality. Me- thinks every gaudy scene of the present life, and all the gilded honours of courts and armies should grow faint, and fade away and vanish at the meditation of this illustrious appearance. 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 nor scoff at those poor weak Christians, in whom Christ shall be admired and glorified in the last day." You that fancy you have any advantages 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. xvüi. 6.. When, shall offend one of these little ones which be- lieve 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 seq. Perhaps the good man has some blemish in his outward form, or it may be his countenance is dejected, or his mein and figure awkward and uncomely ; perhaps his garments sit wrong and unfashionable 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 unpolished ; but he has shining graces in his soul, in which Christ shall be'admired in the last day, and how darest thou make him thy laughing- stock ? Wilt thou be willing to hear thy scornful jest repeated again at that day when the poor derided christian has his robes of glory on, and the Judge of all shall acknowledge:him for one of his favourites 1, n 2
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