Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A57166
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The staves of beauty & bands opened in a sermon preached at Yarmovth, August 23, 1663 / by Edward, Lord Bishop of Norwich.
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Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.
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1663
(1663)
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Wing R1290; ESTC R2972
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35,887
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91
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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 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 excell 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 Holinesse 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 Image of the invisible God and the Character of his person full of Grace 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 then 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 1. Light and Luster 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 Straitness the wise man thus expresseth our primitive Beauty that God made man perfect and we do then recover this Beauty when we are without guil and perverseness of Spirit when we make strait paths for our feet to walk in and do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 go evenly according to the Truth of the Gospel 3. Integrity and Compleatness 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. 22 21 22. And when we offer up our selves 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks a measure in regard of the Imperfection of every Grace and yet a fulnesse 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exactnesse of Obedience when there is such a due temper of Piety to God Sobriety to our selves and Righteousness to others that none of these do obstruct the other but that there is an equal respect to all Gods 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 gâ—ow 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 then 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 Lords house do flourish in his Courts and are fat and fruitfull in their old age As we may truly say of sin in a wicked man Concupiscentiâ— non senescit though nature wax old and infirm yet Lust doth not so we may say of Grace in a good man Charitas non senescit it is not apta nata of it self 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 1. 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 2. To clense and purifie us from all Defilements for the fear of the Lord is clean and his Commandment pure both in it self and in its operations his precious promises by our faith in them and by our hope and expectation of them do clense us from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit and cause us to purifie our Selves even as he is pure that we may offer unto the Lord an Offering in Righteousnesse 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 Christs Miracles were shewed in making the blind see the deaf hear the lame leap and in curing of all manner of sickness and disease so the spiritual vertue 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 4. To comfort us to wipe away all