Principles of Marriage

1As concernynge the thinges wherof ye wrote vnto me, I answere: It is good for a man not to touche a woman. 2Neuertheles to avoyde whordome, let euery man haue his awne wife, and let euery woman haue hir awne hussbande. 3Let the ma geue vnto the wife due beneuolence: likewyse also the wife vnto ye man. 4The wife hath not power ouer hir awne body, but the hussbande: & likewyse the man hath not power ouer his awne body, but the wife. 5Withdrawe not yor selues one fro another, excepte it be with the consent of both for a tyme, that ye maye geue youre selues vnto fastinge and prayer, and the come together agayne, lest Sathan tempte you for yor incontynecye. 6But this I saye of fauoure, and not of commaundemet. 7Howbeit I wolde rather yt all me were as I am. Neuertheles euery one hath his proper gifte of God: one thus, another so.

8To them verely yt are vnmaried and to wedowes I saye: It is good for the that they abyde also as I do. 9But yf they cannot absteyne, let them mary. For it is better to mary, then to burne.

10But vnto them that are maried, commaunde not I, but the LORDE, that the wife separate not her selfe from the hussbande: 11but yf she separate her selfe, yt she remayne vnmaried, or be reconcyled to hir hussbande: and let not the hussbande put awaye his wife from him.

12As for the other, vnto the saye I, not ye LORDE: Yf eny brother haue an vnbeleuynge wife, and she is content to dwell with him, let him not put hir awaye. 13And yf a woman haue an vnbeleuynge hussbande, and he is content to dwell with her, let her not put him awaye. 14For the vnbeleuynge hussbande is sanctified by the wife, and the vnbeleuynge wife is sanctified by the hussbande: or els were youre children vncleane, but now are they holy. 15But yf the vnbeleuynge departe, let him departe. A brother or a sister is not boude in soch cases, but God hath called vs in peace. 16For what knowest thou O woma, whether thou shalt saue ye ma? Or what knowest thou O man, whether thou shalt saue the woman?

Live Your Calling

17But euen as God hath distributed vnto euery one and as the LORDE hath called euery man, so let him walke: and so orden I in all congregacions. 18Yf eny man be called beynge circumcysed let him take no Heythenshippe vpon him. Yf eny man be called in the Heythenshippe, let him not be circumcysed. 19Circumcision is nothinge, and vncircumcision is nothinge, but the kepynge of the commaundementes of God. 20Let euery one abyde in the callynge wherin he is called.

21Art thou called a seruaut, care not for it: neuertheles yf thou mayest be fre, vse it rather. 22For he that is called in the LORDE beynge a seruaute, is a fre man of the LORDE. Likewyse he that is called beynge fre, is a seruaut of Christ. 23Ye are dearly boughte, be not ye the seruauntes of men. 24Brethren let euery one wherin he is called, therin abyde with God.

The Unmarried and Widowed

25As concernynge virgins, I haue no commaundement of the LORDE, neuertheles I saye my goodmeanynge, as I haue optayned mercy of the LORDE to be faithfull. 26I suppose it is good for ye present necessite: for it is good for a man so to be. 27Art thou bounde vnto a wife, seke not to be lowsed: Art thou lowsed fro a wife, seke not a wife. 28But yf thou take a wife, thou synnest not. And yf a virgin mary, she synneth not Neuertheles soch shal haue trouble in the flesshe. But I fauoure you. 29Howbeit this I saye brethren: the tyme is shorte. Farthermore this is the meanynge, yt they which haue wyues, be as though they had none: 30and they that wepe, be as though they wepte not: and they that reioyse, be as though they reioysed not: & they that bye, be as though they possessed not: 31& they that vse this worlde, be as though they vsed it not. For the fasshion off this worlde passeth awaye.

32But I wolde that ye shulde be without care. He that is syngle, careth for the thinges of the LORDE,how he maye please the LORDE. 33But he that is maried, careth for the thinges of the worlde, how he maye please his wife, 34and is deuyded. A woman and a virgin that is syngle, careth for the thinges of the LORDE, that she maye be holy both in body & also in sprete. But she that is maried, careth for ye thinges of the worlde, how she maye please hir hussbande. 35This I saye for youre profit, not that I wil tangle you in a snare, but for that which is honest and comly vnto you, that ye maye cotynually cleue vnto the LORDE without hynderaunce.

36But yf eny man thinke that it is vncomly for his virgin yf she passe the tyme of mariage, and if nede so requyre, let him do what he lyst, he synneth not, let the be coupled in mariage. 37Neuertheles he that purposeth surely in his hert, hauynge no nede, but hath power of his awne wyll, and determeth so in his hert to kepe his virgin, doth well. Fynally, he that ioyneth his virgin in mariage, doth well: 38but he that ioyneth not his virgin in mariage, doth beter.

39The wife is bounde to the lawe, as longe as hir hussbande lyueth. But yf hir hussbande slepe, she is at liberty to mary vnto whom she wil, onely that it be done in the LORDE. 40But she is happier yf she so abyde after my iudgment. I thinke verely that I also haue the sprete of God.