But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
Ver. 28. Thou hast not sinned] If any man call lawful marriage a sinful defilement, he hath the apostate dragon dwelling in him, saith Ignatius. (Epist. ad Philadelph.) And yet the Papists teach that it is a far greater sin for a priest to have a wife than to keep many harlots.
Such shall have trouble in the flesh] Mark that he saith, "in the flesh;" the delights of wedlock will be alloyed with troubles, to avoid surfeit. Before marriage people promise themselves much happiness in that estate, and think they could live together with all delight; but after, they see they are deceived, and therefore need to go to school to learn how to behave themselves one toward another.
But I spare you] q.d. No more of that; and yet I'll show you a way how you may escape, or at least mitigate those troubles in the flesh. Thus this First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, though in weight of argument it be far inferior to the preceding Epistle to the Romans, yet in variety of things it ought to be judged equal, and in order of time before the other. Thesaurus sane est, imo vere mundus rerum cognitu dignissimature, as Erasmus saith of Pliny's Natural History: surely it is a treasure, yea, a very world of things, most worthy to be understood.