A10659:342
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.
Thou hast saved me from all sins, those which by mine own will I have done, and those which by thy Grace I have been kept from doing. If every man would single out some notable sins of his life, and in this manner anatomize them, and see how many sins one sin containeth, even as one flower many leaves, and one Pomegranate many kernels, it could not but be a notable means of humbling us for sin.
Thou hast saved me from all sinnes, those which by mine owne will I have done, and those which by thy Grace I have been kept from doing. If every man would single out some notable sinnes of his life, and in this manner anatomize them, and see how many sinnes one sinne containeth, even as one flower many leaves, and one Pomegranate many kernels, it could not but be a notable meanes of humbling us for sinne.
Sixthly, not evil circumstances only, but unpro• ble ends add much to the life of sin: when men sp•d 1money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfieth not; when men change their glory for that which doth not profit, forsake the Fountain, and h•w outbroken2 Cisterns which will hold no water; •owe nothing but wind, and reap nothing but shame and reproach. Our Saviour assures us, that it is no valuable price to get the whole World by sion: and Saint Austen hath assured3 us, that the salvation of the World, if possible, ought•ot to be procured by but an officious lie. But now how many times do we sin even for base and dishonourable end• ▪ lie for a farthing, swear for a complement, swagger for a fashion, flatter for a preferment, murder for a revge, pawn our souls which are more worth then the whole frame of nature for a very trifle?