Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	bear_v	law_n	nature_n	2,347	5	6.1756	4	false

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

he created vs and cast vs of whom he had made euen to the forme of his Image And as through sinne he gaue vs ouer to the deuill so he iustly appointed the meanes to hamper vs neither was this his doing contrarie to his iustice nay rather if he had not so done he should haue seemed to deny himselfe and to be repugnant to his worde pronounced In the beginning he created man in righteousnesse and holinesse according to his owne shape and likenesse So long as he kept this forme he enioyed his blessed presence his protection and prouidence ruled ouer him He wanted nothing that was necessary for him all creatures were his seruants they came at his call bowed at his beck euen the beasts of the fielde the fowles of the ayre and the fishes of the sea he put all things in subiection vnder his feete so that it forceth the Prophet to cry out and with a lowde voyce to exclaime O Lord how excellent is thy name in all the worlde what is man that thou art so mindefull of him or the sonne of man that thou so regardest him thou madest him lower then the Angels to crowne him with glorie and great worship he wanted nothing that harte could wishe he was placed in Paradise amongst all passing pleasures The ground of it selfe yeelded foorth her increase without toyle or trauell He was made Subiect to no creature but was Lord of all him onely excepted who had so preferred him This God and this Lorde for all these his graces and blessings vnspeakable required no great homage or seruice at his hand he exacted no high rente he did not ouer charge him But only this to shewe his soueraigne authoritie ouer him he gaue him a commaundement no weightie thing to be obserued but a matter easily to be performed to wit that he hauing aboundance of al things beside he should absteyne for his pleasure from tasting of the tree of good and euill and all this he did to trye his obedience Marke now on the other side this vnkinde creature this vngratefull wretch and wicked man forgetting God and what he had done for him casting all aside behinde his backe most traiterouslye villanously and most lyke a monster rebels against his Lord contemneth his Creator and sets his God at naught so listens to the deuill beleeue his lyes following lyke a beast his sensuall appetite and euen in that one thing forbidden spighteth his God regardeth not his worde feareth not Death that was threatned but eateth of the forbidden tree maugre the beard of God and his iudgements See therefore the greatnesse of his sinne and the due deserts of this euerlasting death which I spake of could any punishment bee great enough or any bitter plague bad enough for such a haynous fact that whereas God had giuen him such libertie and freedome of all things he would not so much as obey him in one Againe God did not onely binde him to obey him but threatned his disobedience If thou eate thereof thou shalt dye the death Notwithstanding both Gods commaunding and his threatning he is most carelesse and swiftly runnes headlong to sinne and wickednesse and so entred into such a masse of miseries whence neither he himselfe or his posteritie could euer vnwinde themselues For so abusing his owne freewill he lost it and was made a slaue vnto himselfe defacing Gods image he became like vnto the diuell and contemning life he found out death euen death erernall This was the wages of his sinne this was the hyer of his labour this great profit reaped he for his paines Marke nowe the fruite of his disobedience God thrust him out of Paradise and being extruded kept him out by Cherubins so he sawe his owne shame and could not couer his wickednesse his Figge leaues would not serue his turne but God accursed him and his seede he plagued the earth with barrennesse made all creatures feele the smart of this fall and as he disobeyed God so caused he disobedience in the creatures towardes him Hereof comes thefearcenesse of Lions Beares Tygers Wolues and all wilde beasts hereof arised all rebellions and warre disorder scarcitie dearth hunger cold nakednesse plagues murther and all kinde of miseries that are in the world all which are fore-runners of this eternall death and ringleaders to damnation And to conuince vs of this our accursed state the better God renewed his law first written as I said in nature but blotted out by our fall euen in tables of stone to shew vs the hardnesse of our hearts that so as in a glasse we might see our owne condemnation For amidst the heapes of other sinne pride so possessed our hearts that although we were nothing but sinne yet we thought our selues cleane holy and righteous We were so blinded that we knew not sinne vntill the law layd it open shewed vs our nakednes Without the law saith Paul we had not knowen sinne I knew not saith he sinne but by the law for I had not knowen lust except the law had sayd Thou shalt not lust But sinne tooke an occasiō by the cōmandement wrought in me al maner of concupisence for without the law sin is dead Not as though there were no sinne in the world before the publishing of the law for euen the Gentiles them selues which had not the law written shewed the effect of the law in their harts their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing and therfore being conuinced of sin in their soules without the lawe written are a lawe vnto themselues and sinning without the lawe shall perish without the law written by the lawe of nature ingrafted in their hearts This is prooued by many morrall vertues that they naturally followed and by many vices which they naturally hated This knowledge of the lawe of nature though vnperfect yet sufficient to confound them Albeit sinne indeed was then hidden in respect and their best knowledge of the lawe so ouershadowed and well nigh blotted that sinne could not appeare in his nature But when the lawe was renued sinne that seemed to be dead reuiued and shewed it selfe all our spots did then appeare which before were darkened by ignorance of Gods lawe which we gained by our fall The lawe then conuinced vs of sinne reuealed our nakednesse which our Fig leaues had hidden it opened the inward man with all his concupiscence it shewed vs our shame and confusion our vgelsome shape most monstrous to behold how wee were transformed from the Image of God to the similitude of the diuell it put vs in remembrance of our deuine nature which wee had lost it shewed vs hell and the wrath of God Nothing but condemnation appeared by it it let vs vnderstand how farre we were falne from God how all things both within vs and without vs were corrupted it painted out God in his nature according to his most pure holinesse and iustice how he requireth all our heart all

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