A10659:633
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.
Secondly, our Holiness must be conformable to Christs in the Ends of it. First, the Glory of God: Father,1 saith he, I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Wherein there are three notable things for our imitation First that God must first give us our works, before we must do them. We must have his warrant and authority for all we do. If a man could be so full of self-zeal (if I may so call it) of irregular and unprescribed devotion, as to offer rivers of oil, or mountains of cattle, or the first borne of his body for the sin of his soul, should neglect and macerate2 his body and dishonour his flesh into the ghastliness, and image of a dead carcass; yet if the Lord have not first showed it, nor required it of him, it will all prove but the vanity, and pride of a fleshly mind. Secondly,3 as we must do nothing but that which God requires, and gives us to do, so we must therein aim at4 his Glory; as his Authority must be the ground, so his Honour must be the End of all our works: and thirdly, God is never glorified, but by finishing His works. To begin, and then fall back, is to put Christ to shame.
Secondly, our Holynesse must bee conformable to Christs in the Ends of it. First, the Glory of God: Father,1 saith hee, I have gloryfied thee on earth, I have finished the worke which thou gavest me to doe. Wherein there are three notable things for our imitation First that God must first give us our workes, before we must doe them. We must have his warrant and authoritie for all we doe. If a man could bee so full of selfe-zeale (if I may so call it) of irregular and unprescribed devotion, as to offer rivers of oyle, or mountaines of cattell, or the first borne of his body for the sinne of his soule, should neglect and macerate2 his body and dishonour his flesh into the gastlynesse, and image of a dead carcasse; yet if the Lord have not first shewed it, nor required it of him, it will all prove but the vanitie, and pride of a fleshly minde. Secondly,