A14150:26
A path way i[n]to the holy scripture
London: printed by Thomas Godfray, 1536
Title page typeset from the transcription.
A pathway into holy. &c. › PartA pathwaye into holy. &c. › Part
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.
¶ The fall of Adam hath made us heirs of the vengeance & wrath of god & heirs of eternal damnation And hath brought us into captivity & bondage under the devil. And the ⟨image 14⟩devil is our lord & our ruler / our heed / our governor / our prince / yea and our god: and our will is locked and knit faster unto the will of the devil / than could an hundred thousand chains bind a man unto a post. Unto the devils will consent we with all our hearts / with all our minds / with all our might / power strength / will & lust: so that the law & will of the devil is written as well in our hearts as in our members / & we run headlong after the devil with full seal / & the hole swing of all the power we have / as a stone cast up into the air cometh down naturally of his own self / with all the violence and swing of his own weight. With what poison deadly / and venomous hate / hateth a man his enemies? With how great malice of mind inwardly do we slay & murder▪ With what violence ⟨image 15⟩& rage / yea / and with how fervent lust commit we adultery / fornication / & such like uncleanness with what pleasure & delectation inwardly serveth a glutton his belly? With what diligence deceive we? Howe busily seek we the things of this world? Whatsoever we do think / or imagine / is abominable in the sight of god. For we can refer nothing unto the honour of god: neither is his law or will written in our members or in our hearts / neither is there any more power in us to follow the will of god / than in a stone to ascend upward of his own self. And beside that we are as it were a sleep in so deep blindness that we can nether see nor feel i what misery / thraldom & wretchedness we are in / till Moses come & wake us / and publish the law. When we here the law truly preached / how ⟨image 15⟩that we ought to love & honour god with all our strength & might from the low bottom of the heart / because he hath created us / & both heaven and earth for our sakes / & made us lord thereof: and our neighbours (yea our enemies) as our selves inwardly from the ground of the heart because god hath made them after the likeness of his own image / and they are his sons as well as we / & Christ hath bought them with his blood / & made them heirs of everlasting life as well as we: