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VVe vvere by nature the chyldren of vvrath as others.
Othervvise your children shuld be vncleane but novv they are holy.
IT is certayne that al men withoute exception are worthy of condēnatiō til they be quit by ye sōne of God wtout whom ther is no righteousnesse or sa∣uing health nor excellēcy, for when. S. Paul sayeth that we were children of wrath, he meaneth that wee were lost and woorthy of eternal Deathe. For thys woorde wrath signifieth Goddes
Iudgemente, as thoughe hee sayed that we were condemned before God. And we were such by nature, that is to say from our byrth and from our Mo∣thers wombe. And if the Iewes were for a while the blessed seede yet as tou∣ching nature they wer like vnto other: the difference was onely herein, that God dealing graciously with them de∣liuered them from distruction: but thys was a remedye that followed the il. But howe soeuer man eauyl, the Holye Ghoste pronounceth that there is neyther Iewe nor Greeke but are al by nature subiect to condemnation: And if we be of nature worthy of con∣demnation, it followeth then that sinne hath the firste and chiefe place in euery one of vs, for God is not an∣grye but agaynste synne. And the other sentence of the seuenth Chapiter of the fyrste to the Corinthes, tendeth to a diuerse end: for it is spoken of the holinesse of Mariage. The band of ma¦riage is singular: The wife is the half part of the houseband, there be two in one flesh, there the housebande is the
wiues hed, ther the woman is her hus∣bandes fellow in al things. It seemeth thē that a faythful man cānot dwel wt an vnfaythful wyfe, or contrarywyse, but that by so strict a knotte the fayth∣full muste bee polluted: but Mariage leaueth not therefore to bee holy, ney∣ther muste thou feare the infection, as though the beleuing part were defiled by the vnbeleuing. And beholde the argument is brought from the effecte. If the Mariage were defiled the chyl∣dren which should come of it should be vncleane: but they be holy, it foloweth then that the Mariage is holy. Euen therefore as the vnbeliefe of the one of the twayn, either of the father or of the mother letteth not but that y• children are borne holy, so also it letteth not but that the Mariage is holy.
How then shal we agree this sētence with the other that of nature wee are the children of wrath? or with this sen∣tence of Dauid? Beholde I am conceyued in sinne. As it hath bene sayed before, ther is an vniuersall encreasing of synne and Damnation in the seede of Adam.
All then from the fyrst to the laste are shut in vnder thys curse whether they be descended from the faythfull or frō the vnfaythful: for the faythful get not children accordyng to the fleshe in as∣muche as they are regenerate by the holy ghost There is therfore in al one equall state and condition of nature so that they are subiect as wel vnto sinne as to eternal death. But where the ho∣ly ghost geueth here a special pryuilege to the faythful, that procedeth from the benefyte of the league: and when thys grace foloweth, yt former course of na∣ture is blotted out, and they which be∣fore were prophaned and foule of na∣ture, are now sanctifyed and halowed to God by grace.