By nature, through the fall of Adam are we the children of wrath, heirs of the vengeance of God by birth, yea, and from our conception. And we have our fellowship with the devils under the power of darkness and rule of Satan, while we are yet in our mothers’ wombs; and though we show not forth the fruits of sin, yet are we full of the natural poison whereof all sinful deeds spring, and cannot but sin outwardly, be we never so young, if occasion be given; for our nature is to do sin, as is the nature of a serpent to sting. And as a serpent yet young, or yet unbrought forth, is full of poison, and cannot afterward (when the time is come, and occasion given) but bring forth the fruits thereof; and as an adder, a toad, or a snake, is hated of man, not for the evil that it hath done, but for the poison that is in it and the hurt which it cannot but do; so are we hated of God for that natural poison which is conceived and born with us before we do any outward evil. And as the evil, which a venomous worm doeth, maketh it not a serpent; but because it is a venomous worm, therefore doth it evil and poisoneth; and as the fruit maketh not the tree evil, but because it is an evil tree, therefore it bringeth forth evil fruit, when the season of fruit is; even so do not our evil deeds make us evil; but because that of nature we are evil, therefore we both think and do evil, and are under vengeance under the law, convict to eternal damnation by the law, and are contrary to the will of God in all our will, and in all things consent to the will of the fiend. By grace, that is to say by favour, we are plucked out of Adam, the ground of all evil, and graffed in Christ the root of all goodness. In Christ, God loved us, his elect and chosen, before the world began, and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of his holy gospel; and when the gospel is preached to us, he openeth our hearts, and giveth us grace to believe, and putteth the Spirit of Christ in us, and we know him as our Father most merciful; and we consent to the law, and love it inwardly in our heart, and desire to fulfil it, and sorrow because we cannot; which will (sin we of frailty never so much) is sufficient till more strength be given us; the blood of Christ hath made satisfaction for the rest; the blood of Christ hath obtained all things for us of God. Christ is our satisfaction, Redeemer, Deliverer, Saviour, from vengeance and wrath. Observe and mark in Paul’s, Peter’s, and John’s epistles, and in the gospel, what Christ is unto us.