MOreouer brethren we beseche and exhorte you by the Lorde Iesus, forasmuche as you are nowe sufficiently taught of vs, after what sorte you ought to behaue your selues, and with what endeuours to please God, geue your diligence not only to perseuer still in that you haue learned, but also to excede your selues in dayly en∣creaces of forewardenesse. For you knowe and remem∣bre what preceptes I gaue, not by the autoritie of my selfe, but by the au∣toritie of our Lorde Iesus Christe. I gaue none of these thynges in com∣maundement that the false Apostles cloute in among you, of the ceremo∣nies of Moses lawe, of the excellencie and visions of Angels, as though there were entraunce by them vnto saluacion: but those thynges only that I knewe certaynly to be acceptable vnto God. For this is the wyll of God, that you kepe your selues holy and vnspotted, and not onely to be chaste in soule, but also in body, that you may abstayne from whoredome wherwith the bodies are defiled. The body is the dwellyng house of the soule, and the soule is the Inne of God. Than lyke as it is necessarie for the soule to be pure, because of the geaste God: so is it decente for the bo∣dye to be pure because of the enhabitour, the soule. Therfore let euery one knowe howe to geue this honoure to his sely carcas, as a frayle vessel, that he kepe it cleane and vndefiled: and not suffre it to be spotted with the disease of filthy desyres and lustes: whiche thyng is so farre vnwor∣thy the state of Christians, that it is the state of no nacion of people, but of them that haue no knowlage of God, but thinke that euery one may law∣fully doe what he lusteth without punishment, and that all is honest that is pleasaūt to the body. But the mischiefe of lust doubleth his mischiefe, in case a man Ioyne it with the Iniurie of his brother: as whan a man v∣surpeth an other mannes wyfe. Let no manne therfore eyther in this case or in other matters, in vsurpyng ouermuche to hymselfe, defraude his brother, inasmuche as God wil suffer none of these thinges vnreuenged: and seyng that baptisme shal not onely not availe them that commit these offences, but also make to their more greuouse punishemente, lyke as we haue tolde & recorded vnto you before. For God hath not called vs from the ordinaunce of our former lyfe, to the entente that beyng once washen cleane we should be walowed into the same filthinesse again: but to main∣teyne in holynesse and puritie of lyfe the innocencie that was once free∣ly geuen vs. And that we should not through filthy desyres cast awaye from vs the holy ghoste, whiche is the louer of Chastitie.
These matters (I say) I haue both recorded and doe recorde again, that they are not the preceptes of me but of God: so that whosoeuer contem∣neth them, contemneth not man which is the warning geuer, but God that is the commaundement maker: who hath emparted his holy spirite vnto you, for this purpose, that you should by his inspiracion embrace godli∣nesse. Against this holy spirite euery one worketh dispite, that through fil∣thy lustes polluteth his owne body.