A confession of faith made by common consent of divers reformed churches beyond the…A confession of fayth made by common consent of diuers reformed churches beyonde the…

¶ Of the fall of Man, of Sin, and of the cause of Sin. Cap. 8.

¶ Of the fall of Man, of Sinne, and of the cause of Sinne. Cap. 8.

Man was at the beginning created ¹of God, after his Image, in righteousness, and true holiness, good, and virtuous: but by the enticement of the Serpent, and through his own default, he fell from goodness & righteousness, and was made a bond-slave to sin, death, & sundry calamities. Such as he became after his fall, such are all they which be his offspring, subject I mean, to sin, to death, and diverse miseries. We understand by sin, that natural corruption of man derived ²or sprung from those our first parents to us all, wherewith we being drowned in wicked concupiscence, given to no good, but prone to all mischief, full of naughtiness, distrust, con tempt, and hatred of God, are able of our selves to do, no not so much as to think any good: Moreover increasing in years, offending by wicked ⟨image 60⟩thoughts, words and deeds against ³the law of God, we bring forth corrupt fruit meet for so corrupt a tree, by reason whereof through our own default, being subject to Gods wrath, we stand in danger of just punishment, and should in deed utterly have been rejected of God, had not Christ our deliverer brought, & reconciled us to him again. By death therefore we understand, not only bodily death (whereof ⁴we must also ones fast, for our sins) but also continual punishment due for our sin, and corruption: For the Apostle sayeth, We were dead in sin,