Sentence:  `` Wherefore also He [ God ] drove him [ man ] out of Paradise , and removed him far from the tree of life , not because He envied him the tree of life , as some venture to <WSD>assert</WSD> , but because He pitied him , [ and did not desire ] that he should continue a sinner for ever , nor that the sin which surrounded him should be immortal , and evil interminable and irremediable . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  state categorically