Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	adam_n	death_n	sin_n	5,480	5	6.3830	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20191	A pastime for parents: or A recreation to passe away the time; contayning the most principall grounds of Christian religion. By Arthur Dent preacher of the word of God at South-Shoobery in Essex.	Dent, Arthur, d. 1607.	1606 (1606)	STC 6622; ESTC S116342	31,603	114

reason can you yeelde that Angels know not the essence of God Child This the essence of God is infinit therefore no Angell can know it or comprehend it For that which is finit cannot cōprehend that which is infinit but the Angels are finite therefore they cannot comprehend y e essence of God being infinit for the essence of God is verely knowen to himselfe he knoweth his owne essence and therefore hée is infinit For whatsoeuer knoweth comprehendeth that which is infinit must néeds it selfe be infinit Father Where be the holy and elect Angels of God Child Then bée both in heauen earth and the aire And wheresoeuer any people of God bée there be they also Father What is the speciall office of the good Angels Child To preserue the children of God to gard them to minister vnto them and to kéepe them in all their wayes Father What is the reason that the Angels are discribed with six wings a peece in the Scriptures Child They haue two winges to couer their face because they are not able to indure the brightnesse of Gods glory they haue two wings to couer their féet because man is not able to abide the brightnes y t is in them they haue two to fly withal to signifie their readines prompt obedience to all the commandements of God Father What vse are wee to make of all this that God is so infinite in himselfe and so glorious in all his creatures specially in the Angels Sunne Moone and Starres c. Child We are not onely to feare dread and reuerence so great a maiestie but also to loue him worshippe him and obey him with all our hearts with all our spirit and with all our strength and with all our thoughts Father Did not the blessed Angels fall from that excellent estate wherein they were first created Child Many of them fell from their first estate became diuels as appeareth in the Scriptures Father What was the cause or chiefe motiue of the fall Child They fell of themselues that is to say through their owne motion will disposition without any instigation of any other or any former motiue whatsoeuer which thing caused God to cast them downe without all hope of recouery but man falling by the first motiue and by instigation of others hath left vnto him an assured hope of recouery Father Is not the number of the Angels that fell from their first estate and became diuels very great Child Yes excéeding great for the diuell being demanded by our Lord Iesus what was his name answered My name is Legion for saith hée wée are many which plainely prooueth that there be many diuels Father What doe you call a Legion Child A Legion according to the account of the Romans was sixe thousand footmen Our Lord Iesus said to Peter Put vp thy sword for doest thou not thinke that I can now pray to my father and he will giue me more then twelue Legions of Angels So then it appeareth by the scriptures that there bée very many both good Angels and bad Father If there bee so many diuels why doth the Scripture speake of the diuell in the singular number as if there were but one Child There bée multitudes of infernall Spirits but yet they doe so ioyne together in one that they bée called the diuell in the singuler number because there is a kingdome of them and a vnited societie vnder one head prince or principall diuell and they doe all ioyne to vphold their societie and kingdome as Christ teacheth Father Did the diuels by their fall loose that great power and strength which they had by nature and creation Child No They doe still retaine their first power and strength as experiance teacheth and the Scriptures doe call as well the Diuels as the good angels principalities powers Father Haue the diuels by their fall lost that great wisedome and vnderstanding which they had in their first estate Child No But they haue corrupted and depraued it and turned it from wisedome into déepe craft and subtiltie the like may be sayd for their swiftnesse and agilitie Father Where are the diuels what place do they keepe in Child Their principall aboad is in the ayre through the which they glide too and fro with vnspeakable swiftnesse and therefore the Apostle calleth the diuell the Prince of the ayre and the diuels are said to be in y e high places Father The common opinion is that the diuels be shut vp in hell as it were in a dungeon of darknesse and that they neuer come out except they be forced and raised vp by coniurers Child That is an ignorant false and fantasticate opinion quite contrary to the Scriptures which teach that the diuels are in places héere below Father Is it not a true and warrantable speech to say that the diuels are in hell Child Yes If you take hell metaphorically for the torments they are in and not for any circumscript place for it may be very probably coniectured that the aboad of the diuels is in the ayre and not in any other circumscript place as yet but after the great iudgement they shall goe to their owne place euen that depth or gulfe mentioned Luke 8. vers 3. which they doe quake and tremble to thinke off as appeareth in the Gospell Father What is the estate and condition of diuels in the meane time Child In the meane time they are in chaines of darknesse as Saint Peter saith that is in a most miserable condition of life full of terrible horrour euen as grieuous malefactours hauing receiued the sentence of death are yet for a time retained in a stinking prison vntill they bée drawen out to their full and last execution for S. Iude saith expresly that they are reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great day Father Hauing thus farre spoken of God and of the Angels and their fall Let vs now proceed to speake of man and first of all tell me In what estate man was first created Child In a most pure and excellent estate frée from sinne and corruption being made after the very image of God in respect of knowledge wisedome and righteousnesse hauing fréedome of will and Lordship ouer the earth Father How then fell he from this so glorious and perfect estate Child The woman being beguiled by the suggestion of Sathan in the likenesse of a serpent did entise Adam her husband to eate of the forbidden fruit in the middest of the garden and so presently both lost all their former excellency and also wrapped themselues and their whole posterity in perpetuall thraldome and misery and thus sinne first entred into the world and together with sin came death and the curse of God vpon all mankind Father Now since the fall of Adam wherein doth our misery especially consist Child In this that wée are wholly corrupted

both in reason vnderstanding will and affections which is the very cause why we are so proone to euill and so vntoward to all goodnesse Father Doth God hate vs for this our naturall corruption Child As an Adder or a Toad is hated of man not so much for the euill it hath done as for the poyson that is in it and the hurt which it cannot but doe so God hateth vs not onely for the euill wée doe but for the euill which wée cannot but doe that is for our poysoned nature which is borne and bred with vs. Father Then you holde that our actuall transgressions doe not first make vs euill Child I hold so indéed For as the hurt which a venemous serpent doth maketh her not a serpent but because shée is a serpent shée poysoneth and hurteth so our euill déedes doe not first make vs euill but because wée are of nature euill therefore wée thinke and doe euill Father Doe you thinke that this originall contagion is wholly in euery particular man or that one man hath one part of it and another man another and so part it among them part and part like Child I thinke thus that as euery man receiued from Adam the whole nature of man so also hée receiued the whole corruption and is cloathed with it as a beast with a skinne his whole nature both bodie soule being oppressed with it as a most infectious leprosie and therefore euery man hath in him from his parents the séede of all sinne which is a naturall disposition pronenesse to commit any sinne whatsoeuer For the spawne of all the horrible sinnes that are practised in the world are in that man which is thought to bée best disposed by nature Father But experience teacheth that some euen by nature are more ciuill gentle and tractable then others Child This commeth to passe not because some men are by nature lesse wicked then others but béecause God by his prouidence doth limit and restraine mens corruptions more or lesse which hée doth for the good of mankinde for if men were wholly left to themselues corruption would so excéedingly break out into all manner of villanies that there should bée no liuing in the world Father It seemeth by this that man is a most contagious and vile nature Child The nature of man in regard of the corruption thereof is the worst of all natures except the Diuell yea worse then the nature of beasts as Lions Woolues Dogs Swine c. for there is in mans nature some thing of euery beasts nature For hée is proud as the Lyon cruell as the Woolue greedy as the Dogge craftie as the For filthy as the Swine leacherous as the Goat c. For looke what degrée of goodnesse wée had in our first creation in Adam the same degrée of euill haue wée in the corruption of our nature by his fall Father But is this naturall corruption alwaies liuely and operatiue in vs I meane in continuall action and operation doth it not sometimes lye dead in vs and cease to worke Child It is alwayes aliue and woorking except where it is kept downe by speciall grace and there also it will not bée held downe one minute longer then speciall grace woorketh and preuayleth in the soule For so soone as the thought or action of grace is out the thought and action of sinne is in Our concupiscence is like a crabbe trée which bringeth foorth alwayes sowre fruit or like an vntilled field which bringeth foorth nothing but wéedes or a lusty strong horse pricked with prouender that carieth his rider headlong ouer hedge and ditch Father But put the case a man should haue no outward obiection to mooue him nor externall prouocations to allure him Doe you not then thinke that this naturall infection would lye dead in him and cease to worke Child Concupiscence would shew it selfe though men were shut vp alone in closets betwéene stonewals where they could haue no externall prouocations yea though there were no Diuell or that the Diuell were chained vp Father Whether then doe you thinke that the Diuell or our corrupt nature are greater enemies to our saluation Or whether doth more euill spring out of our currupt nature then from the diuels suggestion Child First I answere that our corruption is a stronger enemie against vs then Sathan and consequently our selues greater enemies to our selues then the diuell for wée haue no such enemy as our selues and secondly that more greater euill doth spring from our corrupt nature then from Sathans instigation And all this S. Iames doth affirme saying Euery man is tempted when he is drawen away by his owne concupiscence and entised It is the concupiscence that doth first both draw away and entice as for the Diuell he doth but worke vpon our concupiscence and is as it were the bellowes to blow it and fire it without the which he could not come within vs to doe any thing against vs. Father Doe you then thinke that the diuell cannot worke immediately or sine medijs without meanes vpon the soule or heart of man Child I thinke so indéed But that which the Diuell doth vpon the heart is by the externall sences and outward obiects by reason of the hypostaticall vnion betwixt the soule and the bodie for hée worketh and pierceth through the body to affect the soule by reason of the naturall sympathy Father But doth this birth-corruption remaine in the very elect after their regeneration Child Yes vndoubtedly and the children of God haue greatest féeling of it and are most troubled with it and grieued for it strugling with it by all good meanes to suppresse it and kéepe it vnder for sure it is that euen after the people of GOD are iustified and sanctified and assured of eternall life yet they haue their hands full and as wée say towe inough to their Rocke to snib and nippe of those manifolde blossonies and fruites of corruption which dayly and hourely arise and spring vp in their nature For as fast as one is pinched and nipt in the head an other foorthwith springeth and sprouteth out Not vnlike the Monster Hydra with seauen heads that the Heathen write of which hauing one of them cut off seauen others did arise in the stead of it And thus wée sée that the very Elect of GOD haue an endlesse trouble and as wée say worke enough cut out for as long as they liue to repayre this rent and torne nature For alas alas though GOD forgiue vs our sinnes yet doth hée not nor will hée in this life frée vs of naturall corruption Father Is not the knowledge and feeling of this a great corsey and heart smart to the most deare children of God Child Yes verely For there is nothing that doth so sorely pinch them at the heart as the consideration of this which indéede maketh them wearie of their life weary of the world and weary of all and often wish with the Apostle to bée dissolued and to bée