all the vessels and utensils belonging unto the worship of God therein, all which were exceeding glorious and magnificent for the building and providing whereof, David prepared as immense a treasure as we shall likely read of in any history" in which respect that holy house is called the 'throne of God's glory.' (Jer. xiv. 21) By the city Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord's holiness, and the joy of the whole earth; by the holy oil, wherewith the tabernacle, the ark, the holy vessels and priests were anointed, compounded of the principal spices after the art of the apothecary; by the beautiful order which was in Solomon's family"; by the dressing and preparing of a bride for the bridegroom 2, as we read of the long and costly purification of the virgins to go unto King Ahasuerus. (Esther ii. 12) So here, in the ordinances, the spouse of Christ is attired and made ready", being arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, and thereby prepared unto glory, and unto every good work. Lastly, By a straight, smooth, even, and pleasant path, wherein is no crookedness, from whence all stumbling-blocks and offences are removed.

The author and efficient of all this beauty is the Lord, all whose works are perfect, who hath made every thing beautiful in his time. The sum and total of all God's works are, the world and the church; the world is called xóμos, for the beauty and comeliness of it; in which, every thing was 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. xi. 16) A land of desire; (Jer. iii. 19) in the building whereof the Lord is said to appear in his glory. (Psal. cii. 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

u 1 Chron. xxii. 14. Vid. Brierwood de nummis, p. 16. Budæum de Asse fol. 112. Sir W. Rawleigh, Hist. 1. 2. c. 17. sect. 9. x Psalm xlviii. 2.

y Exod. xxx. 23. Psalm xlv. 8. 2 Cor. xiv. 15. 1 John ii. 27. x. 5.

c Rom. ix. 23. 2 Tim. ii. 21.

z 1 Kings

b Rev. xix. 7, 8. d Psalm v. S. Heb. xii. 13. Prov. iv. 25. f Deut. xxxii. 4.

a Isai. Ixi. 10. Psalm xlv. 13, 14.

iii. 17. Isai. xl. 3, 4.

• Isai. lxii. 10. lvii. 14.

him, the church like him; the world to show forth his glory, the church to enjoy it; the world a tenement for his crea tures to dwell in, the church a palace for himself to dwell in: he hath desired 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. xxxiii. 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 a 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 image of the invisible God; and the character of his person, full of grace and truth. and truth. Now then according to the excellency of the pattern, we are to measure, and take an estimate of that beauty, wherein we are conformable unto that pattern; and what pattern more glorious than the blessed God, and the holy Son of God, the chiefest of ten thousand? unto whom, therefore, the conformity of a creature must be its chief and principal beauty.

There are several attributes or properties, whereby the excellency of this beauty may be further discovered.

Light and lustre for as a great part of the corporal beauty is in the life and vigour of the eye, so of spiritual beauty in the clarity and brightness of the mind; when the Lord, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness', shineth in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. As the sun is the greatest beauty of the visible world, so Christ, as a sun of righteousness, by the excellency of his knowledge", is the glory and beauty of the invisible.

2. Rectitude and straitness. The Wise man thus expresseth our primitive beauty, That God made man perfect o: and we do then recover this beauty, when we are without guile,

i Psalm cxxxii. 13, 14. lxxvi. 2. Exod. xxv. 8. Heb. i. 3.

12 Cor. iv. 6.

in Matth. iv. 2.

* Col. i. 15.

Phil. iii. 8.

and perverseness of spirit; when we make straight paths for our feet to walk in, and do optomodev, go evenly according to the truth of the gospel. "

3. Integrity and completeness: when all the parts and members of the new man are formed in us, and we do partake of the fulness of Christ', grace for grace; as the child of his parent, member for member. The Lord in the law would not accept of a maimed offering. (Levit. xxii. 21, 22) And when we offer up ourselves a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God", we must be sanctified throughout*, and our whole spirit, soul, and body, must be preserved blameless. For wherever Christ is formed, though it be but in measure as to the degrees of grace, yet that measure must be the measure of every part ; so that there is at once both μέτρον and πλήρωμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, as the apostle speaks; a measure in regard of the imperfection of every grace, and yet a fulness in regard of the perfection of every part or member of the new man.

4. Symmetry, and an exact proportion of parts, and equal temperament of humours one with another; which in regard of spiritual beauty is called by the apostle axpíßera, an exactness of obedience; when there is such a due temper of piety to God, sobriety to ourselves, and righteousness to others, that none of these do obstruct the other, but that there is an equal respect to all God's commandments; and such a supply and accurate distribution of vital influence unto every member of the new man, that no part doth either swell or wither; that zeal is not blind, nor knowledge unfruitful, nor faith without love, nor the duties of one table without those of another; but that we grow up unto Christ in all things, and have an effectual working in the measure of every part.

5. Growth and progress in these proportions: for while we are in this world, we are still in our minority, and therefore must still be contending towards perfection. To be a man in years, and a child in stature, is an unbeautiful thing. Christ hath no dwarfs in his body. Though one man attain greater degrees of perfection than another, yet all are in a

growing condition; the life of Christ in us being a life that abounds, and his grace, like the waters of the sanctuary “, rising up higher and higher.

Lastly, Indeficiency, wherein spiritual beauty surpasseth all other. For bodily favour is deceitful, and beauty vain *; it runneth all at last into wrinkles and deformity: but as Christ himself never saw corruption, no more doth the beauty that he brings to the soul with him. They who are planted in the Lord's house, do flourish in his courts, and are fat and fruitful in their old age. As we may truly say of sin in a wicked man, 'concupiscentia non senescit,' though nature wax old and infirm, yet lust doth not; so we may say of grace in a good man, 'caritas non senescit;' it is not 'apta nata' of itself to decay, but proceeds from strength to strength.

The ends of the ordinances do likewise further evidence this beauty of theirs unto us; for they are by Christ intended for such purposes as these:

To quicken us, and to fashion him in us. By nature we are dead in trespasses and sins", and death ever induceth deformity; but by the holy Spirit of Christ, working in and by his ordinances, we are restored unto his life and likeness; and conformed unto the image of him, who is altogether lovely.

m

2. To cleanse and purify us from all defilements: for the fear of the Lord is clean', and his commandment pure, both in itself, and in its operations. His precious promises " by our faith in them", and by our hope and expectation of them, do cleanse us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and cause us to purify ourselves even as he is pure, that we may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness ", that our offerings may be pleasant unto him.

3. To heal us of all our spiritual distempers, whereby the beauty of the soul is dimmed or impaired. As many of Christ's miracles were showed in making the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and in curing all manner of sick

ness and disease; so the spiritual virtue of his holy ordinances is seen in spiritual operations consonant unto those. In which respect he is called a physician',' to bind up the broken-hearted, and to heal the stroke of the wound of his people; he is the tree of life",' whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

all

4. To comfort us, to wipe away all tears from our eyes, sorrow from our hearts, and thereby to make our faces shine. For as Moses, by extraordinary converse with God on the mount, had a lustre on his face; so in some proportion, all communion with him doth, by the spiritual comfort, bring a beauty upon holy men", filling them with the peace of God, which passeth understanding, and with joy unspeakable ad glorious.

5. To fit and prepare us for the Lord himself to delight in, that his image in us may attract the eye and heart, the love and delight of the Lord of glory, unto us. The Lord hath set apart the man that is godly, for himself; hath chosen Israel for his peculiar treasure; hath formed them for himself", to show forth his praise; and purified them unto himself for a peculiar people. And because the church is, in this special manner, God's own, therefore he will, in special manner, put his comeliness upon her, and will beautify the place of his sanctuary. As he is called the glory of his people Israel,' so he hath honoured his people Israel with this high dignity, to be called his glory. f

b

Lastly, The manner of Christ's governing his church by his ordinances, is full of beauty and sweetness; with a still voice; with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love. He gathereth the lambs in his arm, and carrieth them. in his bosom ; as one whom his mother comforteth, so doth he comfort them. He doth not break the bruised reed', nor quench the smoking flax. He deals with persuasions and entreaties, by his ambassadors, beseeching us to be reconciled unto God. He leads his flock by still waters",