Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul, Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI. Of the Affection of Desire. What it is. The severall kindes of it, Naturall, Rationall, Spirituall. Intemperate, Vnnaturall, Morbid Desires. The Object of them Good, pleasant, as possible, as absent either in whole, or in degrees of perfection or continūance. The most Generall Internall cause Vacuity, Indigence. Other Causes, Admiration, Greatnesse of minde, Curiosity.
THe next Passions in order of Nature to these two are Desire and Abomination, which because they differ not much otherwise from Love and hatred, than the Act from the Habit, or then a man sitting from himselfe walking, Desire being but the motion, and exercise, as delight is the Quiet and Repose of our Love, I shall therefore the more briefly passe it over. Desire is the wing of the soule whereby it moveth, and is carried to the thing which it loveth, as the Eagle to the Car…ise I…b 39. 30. Math. 24. 28. …abac. 1. 8.in the Scripture proves, to feed it selfe upon it, and to be satisfied with it. For as the Appetite of the Eagle is attended with sharpenesse of fight to discover its prey, with swiftnesse of wing to hasten unto it, and with strength to seize upon it: So according to the proportion of the Soule… love unto its object doth it command and call together both the Wisedome and Powers of the whole man to direct unto, and to promote the procuring of it. And the very best characters and truest lineaments which can bee drawne of the minds of men, are to be taken from their Desires, …. Nat. Qu…st. …p. 26.rather than from their Practises. As Physitia… often judge of the Diseases of sicke men by their Appetites. Ill men dare not doe so much evill as they desire, for feare of shame or punishment▪ Good men cannot doe so much good as they desire fo… want of Power and Provisions of vertue. Besides Practises may be over-ruled by ends, but Desires are alwaies genuine and naturall, for no man can bee constrained to will that which …ee doth not love; And therefore in the Scriptu… good men have had most confidence in approving themselves unto God by their affections and the inward longings of their soules after him as being the purest and most unfaigned issues of Love▪ and such as have least Proximity and Danger of infection from forraigne and secular ends. Sai… Rom. 7. 18, 19. I…. 21. 17.Paul himselfe was much better at willing than … performing; and Saint Peter who failed in his promise of D…ing, dares appeale to Christs ow… Omniscience for the truth of his Loving. Wha… ever other defects may attend our actions, this is an inseparable character of a pious soule, that … …. 1. 11. Is…. 26. 8. Phil. 3. 20.desires to feare Gods name, and according to th… prevalency of that affection, hath its conversation in heaven too. In which regard Christ is called the Desire of all Nations, both because whereH…g. 2. 6. Iohn …2 32. Ps…l. 1…7. 9. he is he draweth all the hearts and desires of his people unto him, and also doth by his grace most fully answer and satisfie all the desires that are presented before him: as it is said of one of the Romane Emperours Neminem unquam dimisit Tristem, he never sends any discontented out of his presence.
The desires of the Soule are of three sorts, according to the three degrees of perfection which belong unto man, Naturall, Rationall, Spirituall.
Naturall desires respect foreign things ofArist. …. lib. 7. cap. 6. simple Necessity to the Being, Preservation, and integrity of Nature, as the desires which things have to their proper nourishment and place ad conservationem individui, for preserving themselves and to propagation, & increase ad conservationem speciei, for preserving of their kind.
Rationall Desires are such as respect foreign such things as are Elegible in themselves, and the proper objects of right Reason, such as Felic…y the common End of all rationall Appetitions, Vertue the way, and externall good things, as Health, Strength, Credit, Dignitie, Prosperity, the Ornaments of humane life.
Spirituall Desires respect foreign Heb. 9. …3. 1. Cor. 3. 13. Col. 3. 1.Heavenly, and spirituall things, the things of God, Things which are above, The knowledge whereof we have not by Philosophicall, but by Apostolicall discovery, by the Spirit of God who …ely searcheth the deepe things of God.
The Cor…pt Desires contrary unto these are either Vitious or Morbid. Vitious are againe of two sorts: First, Intemperate and incontinent Desires, which erre not in the substance or nature of the thing desired; but only foreign, as the Philosopher speakes in the measure and manner of desiringProv. 31. 6. 1. Tim. …. 23. Ps…. 1…4. 15. them. It is lawfull to drinke Wine, and a Man may erre (as Timothy did) in an over *Vid. Soc…at. lib 4. cap. 1…. Euseb. lib. 4. c. 38. l. 5. c. 17. …ren. l. 1. c. 34. Tertul. adv. Psy… c. c. 15. Epiph. T…. 2. l. …. Vid. G…l. St…. A…iq. Comm. lib. …. cap. 7, 8. Clem. Al. pad. lib. 2. cap. 1, 2. …. lib. …. adv. …rigorous severity to Nature, when health or needfull refreshment requireth it: For our flesh is to be subdued to reason, not to infirmities, that it may be a servant to the Soule, but not a burden. But if we let Wine bee foreign, as the Heathen called it, to take a freedome against us, like Cham to mocke us, and discover our nakednesse, and make us servants unto it. If we doe not only eate Hony, but surfet on it; If wee must have meat like▪ Israel in the Wildernesse, not only for our Need, but for our Lust; If we eat and drinke so long that we are good for nothing, but either to lye downe and sleep, or to rise up and play, to live to day and to dye tomorrow▪ If we make our belly the grave of our Soule, and the dungeon of our Reason, and let our Intestina asMegarens… obsonan…, quasi crasti…d die …rituri. Tert. Apol. cap. 39. well morally as naturally farre exceed the length of the whole Man besides. This is in the Apostles phrase to be lovers of pleasure rather then lovers of God, and it is an intemperate excesse against natural desires which will ever end in pain. It was a witty speech of A…acharsis the Philosopher,Diog. L…ert. l. 1. that the Vine beareth three sorts of Grapes: The first of Delight: The second of Excesse: The third of Sorrow. If wee let our Delight steale us into Excesse, and become a mocker, our Excesse will quickly betray us unto Sorrow (as Dalilah did Sampson to the Philistins) and let us know thatProv 20. 1. Pl…. de Audi…one. after Wine hath mocked it can rage too. Like the head of the Polypus, which is sweet to the Palate, but after causeth troublesome sleeps and frightfull dreames.
Secondly there are brutish and unnaturall Desires, which the Philosopher calleth foreign, ferine…. l. 7. c. 6. and inhumane, instancing in those barbarous Countries, where they use to eat mens flesh and raw meat; and in the Woman who …ipped up Women with childe that shee might eat their young ones: VntoUnto which head I refer those which the Apostle cals foreign and foreign ▪ Rom. 1. 26. 1. Thess. 4. 5. …de ve…. 7. Vid. Eus…. de pr…p. Evang. lib. 1. cap. 4. Hierom. lib. 2. Contr. Iov….vile and dishonorable, Affections and Passions of Lust wherein forsaking the guidance of Nature, they dishonored their bodies amongst themselves, and gave themselves over, as S. Iude speaketh unto strange flesh; also incestuous and promiscuous Lusts, going with naked and painted Bodies, as the antient Brit…aines offering of men and children in sacrifices, eating of the bodies of Friends that dyed, burning of the living with the dead, and other like savage and barbarous practices,The…d. Serm. 9. de l…b. C…l Rodingin. Antiq. lib. 10. cap. 21. 28. P…n. lib. 5. cap. 17. 30. & lib. 7. cap. 2. wherein wee finde how farre naturall corruption improved with ignorance and want of Education or Religion, can imbrace the Manners of Men.
Lastly, there are morbid Desires, growing out of some distemper of Mind or Body, called by the Philosopher foreign, as those of children, which eate co…les or dirt, and the strange and depravedEthic. l. 7. c. 6. longings of women with child, called foreign or Pi…a from the Bird of that name, because the inconstantC…l. R…dig. lib. 3. cap. 15. Uid. Stephan. & … …n voce foreign. and various appetences of nature, so misguided by vitious humours, is well resembled by the strange mixture of white and black feathers in that Bird.
Having considered the severall kinds both of Regular and corrupt Desires. I shall content my selfe with a very briefe inquiry into the causes, and effects of this Passion.
The causes moving it are Externall ex parte objecti, in the object, or …ternall ex parte subjecti inDeb… & Iucund… vid. Philosoph. R…e. cor. lib. 1. the minde. The Object is any thing apprehended sub ratione Boni & Iucundi, as good and pleasant. For upon those inducements did Satan first stirre the desire of Eve towards the forbidden fruit.Ge…. 3. 6. foreign Dam …seen de …. s…d. l. 2. …. 22. She saw that it was good for food, and pleasant to the eye.
Now the Qualification of these to distinguish the formall reason of their being objects to our desires, from that wherein they are Objects of our love, is first that they bee Possible: For Desire being the motion and indeavour of the Soule towards that good which it loveth, and wherein it seeketh to delight, take away the possibility of such delight, and this would bee motus in Vac…, like that of Noahs Dove that found no place for her feet to rest on. Hope is the whetstone, and wheele of industry, if that saile, how ever a man may waste and pine away his thoughts in empty Velleities and imaginary wishes, he ca… ever put forth nor addresse his endeavours towards an impossible… etiam & qu… non poss… Sen. de l. à▪ lib. 1. c. 3. foreign Arist. Ethic. lib. 3. c. 4. Vid. de volitione & … … Aquin. 1. 2. qv. 13. … 5. & Valen…. To. 2. disp. 2. q…st. 8 p. 2 good. Though an old man may wish himselfe young againe, yet no man was ever so besotted as to endeavour it. And this distinction betweene vanishing wishes and serious desires is of great consequence to be attended in all th… motions of the Soule morall or sacred, in as much as those Desires onelyonly which are Active and Industrious, purposely addressing themselves to the prosecution of that which they apprehend as acquirable, doe commend the Soule from whence they issue for vertuous and pious.
Secondly, the object of the Desires quatale is apprehended as Absent and distant, in as much as presence worketh delight rather than desire. The things we have, we enjoy, wee doe not covet, wee rest in them we doe not move towards them. Yet not alwaies Absent quoad t…m, but quoad gradus, not in the whole, but in the parts and degrees of it: for the presence of a good thing doth in some sort quicken the Desires towards the same thingCrescit A…or nu…i quantum ipsa pecu nia cresc…. … … … … qui … …abet …. S…. 14. Aristot. lib 1. Politic. c. … ▪ Plutarch. lib. de Cupidi…. diviti…. Se …. …p. 73. M…. 9. …4. so farre forth as it is capable of improvement and augmentation.
As we see in externall riches of the body, none desire them more eagerly than those that possesse them; and the more vertuous the Soule of man is, the more is the heart enlarged in the Appetition of a greater measure▪ as the putting in of some water into a Pump, doth draw forth more. No man is so importunate in praying, Lord help mine unbeliefe, as hee that can say Lord I beleeve. Thus even present things may be desired in order to improvement, and further degrees of them: as many times a man hath a better stomacke to his meat after he hath begun to eat, than when he first sate downe unto it. Againe, things present may be the Object of our Desires unto continuance, as hee that delighteth in a good which he hath, desireth the continuance of that Delight. And therefore Life, even while it is possessed it is desired, because the possession of it doth not cause the Appetite to nauseate or surfet upon it. Few men there are who desire not old Age, not as it is old Age, and importeth decay, decrepidnesse, and defects of Nature: For a young man doth not desire to bee old now; but as it implyeth the longer and fuller possession of Life: For a man being conscious to himselfe, first of his owne insufficiency to make himselfe happy, from and within himselfe; and next of the immortality of his Nature: as upon the former reason, he is busied in sending abroad his Desires (as the Purveyors and Caterers of the Soule) to bring in such things as may promote perfection: so those very Desires having succeeded, doe farther endeavour the satisfaction of Nature,Arist. Ethic. lib. 3. cap. 13. Eadem lib. 3. c. 3. problem. ¶ 28. quast. 7. sujd…s in …. Aelian. var. Hist. l. 10. 6. 9. foreign Diog. Latri. in …: l. 6. by moving towards the Perpetuity of what they have procured. It was a fordid and brutish wish of Philoenus in the Philosopher, who wished that he had the throat of a Crane or Vulture that the pleasure of his taste might last the longer (it being the Wisedome of Nature, intending the chiefe Perfections of Man to his Soule, to make his Bodily Pleasures the shorter.) But surely the Soule of Man having a reach as farre as Immortality, may iustly desire as well the Perpetuity as the Presence of those good things wherein standeth her proper perfection. And therefore it was excellent counsell of Antisthenes the Philosopher, That a man should lay up such provisions, as in a Shipwracke might swimme out with him such treasure as will passe and be currant in another World, and will follow us thither, which as the Apostle speaks, is to lay up a good foundation against the time to come
The Internall Causes moving Desire, in regard of the subject or minde of man, may be different according to the different kinds of Desires spoken of before. The most generall which respectethforeign Arist. Ethic. lib. 3. cap 11. foreign Cl…m. Alex. Str. l. 7. them all is a Vacuity, Indigence, and selfe-insufficiency of the Soule: For having not within it selfe enough either to preserve it or to content it, it is forced to goe out of it selfe for supplies; for wheresoever God hath implanted sensitive and rationall affections, he hath bin pleased to carry them from themselves, and to direct them abroad for their satisfaction: by that means preserving the Soule in humility, and leading it as by Degrees up unto himselfe. Every creature though it have its life in its own possession; yet the preservation of it, it fetcheth from some things without. The excellentest creatures are beholding to the meaner, both for their nourishment, and for their knowledge. And therfore of all Graces, God hath chosen Faith & Repentance, as the chief means of carrying us to him, because these two do most carry us out of our selves, and most acquaint us with our insufficiencies, Repentance teaching a man to abhorre himself, & Faith to deny himself.
Now because Emptinesse is the cause of Appetence, Si q…id deterit ida nobis petierimus. Sen. Epist. 119. Vid. Plutarch. de Curiosit. Cae ius …oodig. lib. 14. cap. 7.we shall hereupon finde, that the fullest and most contented men, are ever freest from vaste desires. The more the minde of any man is in weight, the more it is in rest too. As they say that in Rivers, ships goe slower in the Winter, but withall they carry the greater burdens: So many times men of lesse urgent and importunate Appetitions, and motions of mind, are more furnished and better ballanced within. In Iothams Iudg. 9 9. 15.Parable the Bramble was more ambitious than the Vine, or the Olive. And the Vine we see which is of all other Arbor Desiderii, the Tree of Desire, is weakest and cannot stand without another to support it. Therefore wee shall finde that mens Desires are strongest when their constitutions are weakest, and their condition lowest; as wee see in servants that labour, women that breed, and sick men that long, whose whole life in that time is but a change and miscellany of Desires. Thus we see little children will reach at everyI… 7 1, 2 3. thing which is before them, being wholly destitute of internall furniture. Vacuity is ever sucking and attractive, and will make even dull and heavie things rise upward. Eager and greedy, various and swarming Appetitions are usually theforeign Arist. de G…netatio An ma, lib. 4. cap 4. signes either of a childish or a sicke Temper of minde; as the Naturallists observe that the least creatures are the greatest breeders, a Mouse bringeth more young ones than an Elephant.Vivunt, non quomodo volunt; sed quomodo Cap… runt. Sen. de Tran. cap. 2. Plut. Sympos. lib. 5. quast. 9.
OnelyOnly here wee must distinguish both of contentment and of Desires. There may bee a double Contentment, the one arising out of sluggishnesse and narrownesse of minde; when men out of an unwillingnesse to put themselves to the paines of gaining more, rest satisfied with what they have, and had rather have a poore quiet, than a Treasure with labour. As they say of the Fig-tree, though it be least beautifull of other Trees (for it alone beareth no flowers) yet withall it is free from Thunder. And as the Historian said of some men that they are solà socordià Innocentes. Tacit.doe men no hurt only because it would cost them paines to doe it: so may wee of these, that they are beholding to their torpid and sluggish constitution, for the contentment which they professe to have. And this doth not regulate inordinate desires, but onelyonly lay them asleepe, as even an hungry man when he sleepeth, hath his hunger sleepe with him.
Another contentment there is arising out ofPhil. 4. 11, 12. Heb. 13. 9. Nam que lab…nt cur… … sint ponder… navet. Perq, mare instab les nimi… levitate seruntur. Ov. Met. lib. 2. I…ven. Sat 14. Pli…. l 7. c. 56. Stuck. l. 2. c. 8 …ol 165. Wisedome and practicall learning (as the Apostle tells us, that it is a matter of learning to bee contented) when the heart being established and made steady with grace, and solid materials within, as a ship with ballast▪ is the lesse tossed with lower affections, as Saul cared not for his Asses when he heard of a Kingdome.
—Grata post munus arista
Contingunt homines veteris fastidia quercus.
When men had once discover'd better corne,
They loath'd their mast & oaken bread did scorn
And this kinde of contentment doth not stupisie loose Desires, but change them, as the Cats Vnum magnum was more worth to her than all the… Plat. de Solart. …. variety of shifts which the Foxe did boast of, and one Sunne doth more comfort us in the day than many thousand starres in the night.
Againe, Desires are either of things excellent, Sapien… est divi…iarum naturalium qu… sitor acerri… Sen Epist. 119as the vertuous and spirituall desires of the soule whereby men move towards God; and these doe neither load the heart, nor cloy it, but much rather open and enlarge it for more. No man was so well acquainted with God as Moses, who yet was the more importunate to know him better, I beseech thee shew me thy glory, nor any man moreExod 33. 18. acquainted with Christ than Saint Paul, who yet desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ neerer.Phil. 1. 23.
Other Desires are of middle things foreign Arist. Ethic. lib. 7. cap. 6.the Philosopher calls them; such as Wealth, Profit, Victory, Honour, which are not good in themselves, but as they are managed. And these Desires though not extinguished, yet are very much asswaged, and moderated by the weight and wisedome, of solid contentment. He was the wisest man then alive, and who knew all the quintessence, and what ever was desireable in the Creature, who said Da mihi panem Statutim… …rv. 30. 8.Give me the Bread of my Allowance; foreign …heophylact.so much as the quality of my place and state requireth, which is that which our Saviourforeign …. Luke 12 42. I…me 12. 15. Iob 23. 12. …. Reg. 4. 22. Vide …. d… mensuri…, lib. 2. cap. 3. & A…g … …ani …ium de pane quot…d. ad … I…stit. …yria▪ S…uck. Convival. lib. 1. cap. 22. limiteth our desires unto, foreign our portion and dimensum, foreign in Saint Iames, dayly food, and was pleased to answer that wise King in that his request, and to give us a record and Catalogue of his daily bread.
Another cause of Desire may bee Admiration; A strange thing though monstrous and deformed calleth the eyes of every man unto it. Rarity is a marveilous Lenocinium, and inticer of Desire, …. stiv… nives, hybern… rosae as the Panegyrist spake, Snow in the Summer and Roses in Winter; the Birds of this Countrey, and the Roots of anothor; dai…ties hardly procured without the shipwracks of men, to feed the gluttony rather of the eye than of the belly; these are the delights of the curiosities of men. The same fruits when they are worse but rarer, have a farre greater value set upon them, then when expos'd by their commones unto every mans purchase And it wasPl…t. Apop…. a wise complaint of old Cato; That it went ill with the City when a Fish was sold for more then an Oxe. We see Desires doe not put forth themselves more freely in any then in children, I thinke the chiefe Reason of it is the same which the Philosopher giveth of their memories, becauseRbet lib. 2. every thing to them is new and strange▪ for st…ange things as they make stronger impressions upon the Retentive, so they doe upon the Appeti…ive saculties. And therefore we find Herod whoLuk… 23 8. cared nothing at all …or the Doctrine of Christ, because it was holy and divine, had yet a great Desire to have seene his miracles, because they… Acbin… … … invis…rus Plut de Curio…it. 1. Reg. 10. Plat… Aegypt… Italia…, … pe…jt Philosophiae c…sd▪ Vid. Throd. Oral. 1: De …ide. Zeph. 1. 8. Greci… foreign Arist…. Tom. 2. … de pace p…ster.. Graciae, Graecia. …hycidides Uide Coel. …bod. l. 10. c. 25. Acts 17. 21. were wonderfull. And Men have travelled farre to see those persons and things, the fame whereof they have before admired, strange Learning, strange Birds and Beasts, strange Floures and Roots, strange Fashions; yea, strange Sinnes too (which is the curiositie and corruption of Nature) are marvellous attractive, and beget emulation amongst Men. Nero gave rewards to the inventors of strange Lusts. Even Solomons Ships, besides substantiall Treasure, did bring home Apes and Peacockes. Athens which was the eye, the floure, and Epitome of Greece (to shew that this curiosity is the disease as well of Wits, as of Childehood) spent all their time and study in inquiring after new things. And for this cause it is (as I conceive) That wise Men have made Lawes to interdict the transporting of their countrey fruits into other places, lest the sight of them should kindle in strangers a Desire to bee Masters of the Countries where they grew, as we see the Grapes and Figges of Canaan were used as Incentives unto the expedition of Israel… and hence Plutarch telleth us that the Word SycophantPlut. in Solon, & de Curiosit. & lib. 1. Cod. quares export…ri non debeant. is derived to note originally such as detected those who surreptitiously transported Figge… into other Countries. As on the other side wee read that the Athenians set up a Pillar▪ wherein they published him to bee an Enemy of the City, who should bring Gold out ofAristid. To. 3. Ora…. 2. Aelius Spart. in Piscen. N g. Media, as an Instrument to corrupt them▪ And the Romane Governour commanded hi… souldiers that they should not carry any Gold or Silver into the Field with them, lest there▪ by they should bee looked on by the Adv…rsary, as the Persians by Alexander, rather as a prey than a foe.
A third cause which I shall touch on of exciting Desires, is height and greatnesse of minde▪ which cannot well set bounds of measure unto it selfe, as Seneca said in another sense, Magnitud… non Epist. 43.habet certum modum. Great minds have great ends, and those can never be advanced but with vast and various Desires. A great Ship will not be carried with the Sayle of a Lyter. Nor can an Eagle fly with the wings of a Sparrow. Alexander was… infaelix angust…i mite mundi. Vt Gy…ae inclusus sco…ulu, & …. …uv. …. 10. Sen. de … n…fic. l. 7. c 2. p. 54. & 119. Ecclet. 6 9. P…ov 17. 24. not so great in his Victories as in his Desires, whom one World could not satisfie: nor Pompey in his Triumphs, as in his Ambition, to whom it was not enough to be Great, except he might be the Greatest.
Another cause of Desires may be Curiositie, which is nothing else but a desire of prying into, and listning after the businesses of other Men, which is ▪called by Solomon, Ambulatio Anim…: The walking up and downe of the Soule, as he elsewhere telleth us, that the Eyes of a Foole are in the Ends of the Earth: Such a Man being like the witches which Plutarch … l…t. de Cu….speaks of, that weare Eyes when they went abroad, but put them in a box when they came home … Or like the Falckoners Hawkes that are… qu…q, m…o semper sugi…. Luc…t. …pud S…a. de▪ trauq l. c. 2. hooded in the House, and never suffered to use their Eyes but to the hurt of other Birds: like a man in a Dungeon, that sees nothingNon horam …ecum esse potes, … non etia re… …, &c. …. where hee is; but can see a great deale of light abroad at a little passage. So these kind of Men have vast desires of forreine Knowledge, but wonderfully shun the acquaintance of themselves. As they say of a Swine, that hee looks every way but upward: so we may of Pragma tists, that their eyes looke alwaies save onelyonly inward. Whereas the Minds of prudent Men are like the Windowes of Solomons Temple, broader inward than outward. As the Pillar1. Reg. 6. 4. that went before Israel in the Sea, whose light side was towards Israel, but the darke towards Pharaoh: Or as the Sunne in an Eclipse, whose light is perfect inwards, though towards us it bee darkened. A wise Mans eyes are in his head, whereas a Foole hath foreign as it is in the Proverbs, his minde in his heeles only to wander and g…d abroad.