A10659:65
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.
But yet neither by the Blessing nor the Gospel is the Creature effectually sanctified unto us, till it be by us apprehended with the Word and Promise, and this is done1 by Faith; for the Word, saith the Apostle, profited not those that heard it, because it was not mingled or tempered 2with faith. For Faith hath this singular operation, to particularize and single out God and his Promises unto a man's self; So then the Creature is sanctified by the Word and Blessing believed and embraced, whereby we come to have a nearer right and peculiarity in the Creatures which we enjoy: for being by Faith united unto Christ3 and made one with him (which is that noble effect of faith to incorporate Christ and a Christian together) we thereby share with him in the inheritance, not only of4 Eternal life, but even of the common Creatures. Fellow Heirs we are and Copartners with him; therefore in as much as God hath appointed him to be Heir of All 5things, as the Apostle speaks, we likewise, in the virtue of our fellowship with him, must in a subordinate sense6 be Heirs of all things too. All is yours, saith the Apostle,7 and you are Christs, and Christ is Gods. Fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est, The Saints, saith Saint ⟨p. 28⟩Austin, have All the world for their possession. And if it be here demanded how this can be true, since we find the Saints of God often in great want, and it would doubtless be sin in them to usurp another mans goods upon presumption of that promise that Christ is theirs, and with him all things: To this I answer, first in general, As Christ though he were the Heir of All8 things, yet for our sakes became poor, that we by his poverty might be made rich: so God oftentimes pleaseth to make the faithful partake not only in the privileges, but in the poverty of Christ, that even by that means they may be rich in faith and dependence upon God, as Saint James spake, Having nothing, and yet possessing