The staves of beauty & bands opened in a sermon preached at Yarmouth, August…The staves of beauty & bands opened in a sermon preached at Yarmovth, August…

The Author and Efficient of all this ⟨p. 11⟩Beauty is the Lord, all whose^e works are perfect, who hath made every thing ^fbeautiful in his time. The sum and total of all Gods works are, the World and the Church; the world is called [Greek or Hebrew], for the Beauty and Comeliness of of it; in the which every thing was^g very good when the Lord took a view of it. But the Lord hath chosen his Church upon which to bestow more abundant Glory. It is called a Land of Ornament, Dan. 11. 16. A land of Desire, Jer. 3. 19. in the building whereof the Lord is said to appear in his Glory, Psa. 102. 16. The World is beautified with the power and wisdom of God; the Church besides that, with his Love and Grace: in the World we have the foot-prints of his Greatness, but in the Church we have the Image of his Holiness: The World was made by him, the Church like him; the World to show forth his Glory, the Church to enjoy it; the World a Tenement for his Creatures to dwell in, the Church a Palace for himself to dwell in; he hath ⟨p. 12⟩^hdesired it for his Habitation, it is his Rest for ever. Above all Excellencies, Holiness is the Beauty of a Creature; and therefore the Angels, who excel in all created perfection, are above all other Appellations honoured with the name of Saints Deut. 33. 2. they differ not in nature from Devils, in Holiness they do. Derived Holiness consisteth in conformity to primitive holiness. The Lord is most holy in himself, and our holiness standeth in his Image and Likeness, so far forth as he hath by an holy Law made his Holiness a pattern for ours. And when we threw away that Image of God, wherein our created Holiness consisted, and the Lord was pleased in any of us to renew it again; he did it by the pattern of his beloved Son, who is the