A10659:132
Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulness of sin. The life…Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulnesse of sinne. The life…
Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulness of sin. The life of Christ. Being the substance of several sermons preached at Lincolns Inn: by Edward Reynolds, preacher to that honourable society, and late fellow of Merton College in Oxford.Three treatises of the vanity of the creature. The sinfulnesse of sinne. The life of Christ. Being the substance of severall sermons preached at Lincolns Inne: by Edward Reynoldes, preacher to that honourable society, and late fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford.
London: printed by Felix Kyngston for Robert Bostocke, 1631
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The second Ground is the Corruption of nature, which maketh bitter and unclean every thing that toucheth it.1 It polluteth holy flesh, much more will it pollute ordinary things. We read of a Roll which was sweet in the mouth, but bitterness in the belly: Such are the Creatures; In the bowels of men, their hearts and consciences (which are the Seminaries of Corruption) they turn into gall, however in the mouth they have some smatch of honey in them. For this is a Constant Rule, Then only doth the Creature satisfy a man when it is suitable to his occasions and necess•ies. The reason why the same proportion is unsufficient for a prince, which is abundant for a private man, is because the occasions of the prince are more vast, massive, and numerous then the occasions of a private man. Now the desires and occasions of a man in Christ, that doth not ransack the Creature for Happiness, are limited and shortened, whereas another mans are still at large: for he is in a way, his eye is upon an end, he useth the world but as an Inn, and no man that travels home-ward will multiply businesses unnecessarily upon himself in the way. In his house he can find sundry employments to busy himself about, the education of his children, the government of his family, the managing of his estate are able to fill up all his thoughts, whereas in the Inn he cares for nothing but his refreshment and rest: So here, The faithful make their home their business, how to have their conversation in Heaven, how to have a free and comfortable use of the foo•e of life, how to relish the mercies of God, how to govern ⟨p. 79⟩their evil hearts, how to please God their father and Christ their husband, how to secure their interest in their expected inheritance, how to thrive in grace, to be rich in good works, to purchase to themselves a further degree of glory, how to entail their spiritual riches to their posterity in a pious education of their children, these are their employments: the things of this life are not matters of their Home, but only comfortable refreshments in the way, which therefore they use not as their2 grand occasions to create businesses to them, but only as interims and necessary respites.