Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	sin_n	will_n	3,206	5	6.5361	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07686	A liuely anatomie of death wherein you may see from whence it came, what it is by nature, and what by Christ. Togeather with the power, strength, and sting thereof: as also a preparatiue against the same. Tending to teach men to lyue, and die well to the Lord. By Iohn More, preacher of the Gospel.	More, John, d. 1592.	1596 (1596)	STC 18073; ESTC S120562	24,364	78

oucrthrowe of mankinde an enemy to nature the breache of Gods lawe the power of the diuell the strength of Gods wrath and most heauie displeasure And albeit that Death as I haue said be deriued from the diuell yet it is also attributed to man himselfe to leaue him inexcusable as it most plainlie appeareth in Paules comparison betweene Christ and Adam As by the offence of one man saith he Death raigned ouer all and sinne came on all to condemnation so by Christ which is one the benefit of grace abounded towards all men to iustificatiō of life and as sinne by Adam reigned vnto Death so grace reigned by righteousnesse vnto eternall life through Christ In which opposition we may likewise see Death attributed vnto all through Adam and not vnworthily so that man and diuell are partners in sinne and so in Death Here two things runne together the tempter and the obeyer Satan tempted and perswaded of enuie intermingling the matter with lying and slandering of the truth to breake Gods commandement yet notwithstanding all this Satan had nothing preuailed had man resisted and not consented therefore we may conclude that in respect of Sathans enuie and roote of his euill temptation and lying tending all to mans vndooing and vtter destruction that so he may be called as he is indeed the Auctor of Death yet in respect of the assent consent of man in transgressing Gods lawe Death may well lye on his neck and he may most boldly be accounted his owne bane though indeede there were no other Autor being created to the likenesse of God himselfe and flourishing with free will which as then he possessed The diuell then is not the absolute and proper cause of sinne and death because the nature of the absolute and proper cause is such that it going before the effect cannot choose but follow but it falleth not out so in man prouoked of the deuill who although he continually assaile and most vehemently assault Gods children to sinne yet sinne doth not alwayes follow his assaults His worke is not effectuall for many of Gods saints and seruants very mightily resist him being armed with faith which weapon he flyeth Againe let vs imagine saith a godly father the diuell himself neuer to haue falne from God and man as yet to haue stoode in his creation yet man by nature might haue declined and should haue had indeed the cause of sinne in himselfe the reason is this God gaue him free will and so left him to himself free it could not be but that he had full choise of good and euill yet not so vnarmed and naked was he left but that God gaue him power and strength sufficient to continue in his vpright state albeit he leaning too much one waye and sliding from Gods lawe and not vsing but rather abusing the meanes that God had giuen him he fell of himselfe from his creation and so was intangled in the snare of the diuell death and euerlasting condempnation so that in this supposition the suggestion of the diuell is not simplie the cause of sinne and death the diuell as yet not degenerating from God Neither also hath the diuell power of mans will to bowe it as he listeth to his purpose Furthermore we must not thinke that God is to be blamed for not shutting all gates and stopping all gaps tending to sinne for that as I sayd before he gaue to man armour sufficient to defend himselfe and to keep him from falling Neither yet was it vnagreeable to Gods iustice to make a distinction betweene himselfe and his creature for that he himselfe is only good without change or alteration all his creatures good yet subiect to change yea in the very Angels of heauen themselues in respect of God there is found imperfection the Cherubins hide their faces with their wings for the brightnesse of his glory Thus doth God humble all his creatures to exalte himselfe to teach them this not to go from him of whom they had and haue their goodnesse nor to leane onely to themselues though by creation good yet subiect to corruption Though mans nature saith Augustine was vpright and sound and nothing sinfull yet it was capable of sinne apte to receiue corruption Though man in his nature were immortall standing in his state yet was he inclinable to mortalitie As for example we see our flesh apte to receiue a wound yet euery one is not wounded The body of man is subiect to sieknesse yet many often dye not subiect to sicknesse so the state of Adams body was such that although he might haue dyed yet except sinne had come betweene he might and should haue beene preserued of God from death Euen as the hose and shooes of the Hebrewes in the desert by Gods mightie power neuer waxed olde by wearing or consumption Therefore to hedge vp this gap man was subiect to death by nature yet not necessarily as though he sawe no way to shunne it for now I go no further then mans knowledge setting Gods election and secret working aside for he had sufficient force giuen him of God in his creation to auoide it Gods lawe was written in his heart agreeable to his nature he thought it no yoake or slauerie to obserue it his shoulders and other parts being strong enough to susteine it Sinne therefore we may see hath diminished our strength and altered our nature that now we are slaues to those who before were our subiects Gods law now written is the same that before were ingrauen in nature yet now it is a huge weight and heauie yoake which neither we nor our fathers were able to beare except we be first new borne in by the holy Ghost giuen vs of God through Christ So that to conclude this point not only the diuell but euen we our selues are the cause and auctor of sinne and so of Death Although indeed as Augustine alledgeth An ill thing hath no cause efficient but rather deficient And if any man sayth he wyll goe about ouer curiouslie to searche out the efficient cause of Death it is all one as if a man should labour with his eyes to see darkenesse or to bend the sence of his eares to heare silencc which since they bee of themselues meere depriuations haue no essence in nature though existent in some subiect and knowne vnto vs. The sight seeth nothing but bright things and the eare heareth nothing but a noyse of loude things these thinges are knowne to our sences not by vse but by depriuation onely The deficient cause and Autour therefore of sinne and Death is Diuell and Man the diuell by suggesting the other by obeying both their actions not vrged of God but voluntarily of themselues Learne therefore this by the way whosoeuer committeth sinne is of the diuell whosoeuer sinneth is the seruant of Death Neither let vs so rage against the Deuill as that we altogether exempte our selues from gilte but rather knowing the readinesse of the diuell in