Ralph Erskine (The Vanity of Earthly Things, etc.), Sermons 1:240:
All the beauty and bravery of the world is vanity. Beauty is vain, saith Solomon, Prov. 31:30. “When God with rebukes doth correct man for his iniquity, he maketh his beauty to consume as a moth: surely every man is vanity,” Ps. 39:11. Solomon was famous for the beauty and bravery of his court, and the splendour of his government, but he saw all to be vanity: and Christ preferred even the beauty of a pile of grass to him; for he saith of the lilies of the field, that Solomon and all his glory is not like one of these, Luke 12:27. Such, indeed, is the fading beauty of men, so much thought of by many, that it is but skin-deep, and fades like a flower. If you would be a true, spiritual, and durable beauty, it is to be had in Christ, whose Spirit and grace makes a man beautiful, and all glorious within, Ps. 45:13. “Thou wast beautiful through my comeliness put upon thee,” Ezek. 16:14.
All the beauty and bravery of the world is vanity. Beauty is vain, saith Solomon, Prov. 31:30. “When God with rebukes doth correct man for his iniquity, he maketh his beauty to consume as a moth: surely every man is vanity,” Ps. 39:11. Solomon was famous for the beauty and bravery of his court, and the splendour of his government, but he saw all to be vanity: and Christ preferred even the beauty of a pile of grass to him; for he saith of the lilies of the field, that Solomon and all his glory is not like one of these, Luke 12:27. Such, indeed, is the fading beauty of men, so much thought of by many, that it is but skin-deep, and fades like a flower. If you would be a true, spiritual, and durable beauty, it is to be had in Christ, whose Spirit and grace makes a man beautiful, and all glorious within, Ps. 45:13. “Thou wast beautiful through my comeliness put upon thee,” Ezek. 16:14.
