I. Thus have we at length waded through that mighty sea of matter, in doing which, all who have made the attempt have so greatly sweated and toiled, and this sweat we also have fully experienced. To us however the whole way was much more direct and plain, because, throwing aside all allegories, we have followed throughout the historical and proper sense of every passage. Whereas, the most commentators have not regarded that proper sense, but have made Origen, Dionysius and others their teachers, rather than Moses himself; and so have deservedly wandered out of the way. The things which now follow in the divine record are plainer than the preceding and admit of less dispute; and therefore they tend more to support my view of the sacred narrative; because every one must plainly say that the intent of Moses was not to put forth a host of allegories, but simply to write a history of the primitive world. V. 1a. _And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain._ When Adam had fallen into death by sin, he had the promise given him, as we have heard, that from his flesh, thus made subject to death, there would surely arise unto him a _Branch_ of life. He fully understood therefore that he must propagate his seed; and especially so, since the blessing pronounced on him and his wife, "Be fruitful and multiply," was not only not taken away, but afterwards confirmed by the divine _promise_ concerning the _Seed_ of the woman, which should bruise the serpent's head. Therefore Adam did not know his wife Eve from the mere inclination of the flesh, as we generally judge; but it was the necessity of that salvation, which was to come unto him through the blessed Seed of the woman that constrained him to do so. No one therefore ought to be offended with the relation of this circumstance by Moses that Adam "knew his wife." For although, on account of original sin, this divine act of generation is considered to be one of turpitude, by which we find pure ears to be generally offended; yet spiritual men ought always to distinguish between original sin and the creature or the appointment of God. The act of generation, as a creation-appointment of God, is good and holy, for it is the very blessing pronounced of God upon male and female when they were created. And if man had not fallen this act of generation would have been most pure, most holy and most honorable. For as no one blushes to converse, eat and drink with his wife, because all these things are honorable among all men, so, had it not been for the fall of Adam, the act of generation would also have been most honorable and void of all "shame!"