Observations Natural and Moral, Chapter 3

Observations Natural and Moral · Chapter 3

p. 110CHAP. III. Sinfull love degenerateth into hatred.

2 Sam. 13.15. Then the hatred wherewith he hated her, was greater than the love wherewith he loved her.

THere are two affections which carry great ſway in the ſoule, deſire and love: ſometimes we both deſire p. 111and love them; ſomethings we deſire but love them not, till injoyed; and ſomethings we deſire, but love them not when we have gotten them.

Theſe things which wee deſire and love are things honeſt; theſe things which wee deſire and love not, Things honeſt we both love and deſire.are things profitable, we love them not before we injoy them; we may carry ſome Imaginary love to them before we enjoy them, but this is not true love: for other mens profits ſo long as they injoy them affect us not, but when wee injoy them indeed then wee begin to love them; but finfull delights we deſire them, but being once gotten we loathe them, but things honeſt we both deſire them and love them.

Honeſt things wee both love them and deſire them although we want them, but things profitable before we have them, we deſire them but love them not properly: when a man wanteth riches or children he hath a deſire to them, but when he hath gotten them then he loveth them. Things pleaſant before we have them we both deſire them and carrie an imaginarie love to them, but when we have them once, The deſire and love of things pleaſant once gotten periſh together.both the deſire and the love periſh together, and they leave behind them a certaine loathſomeneſſe, as hee that cateth too much of the honey combe loatheth it: Prov. 25.15. here the deſire and the love goe away together, and the love in ſinfull pleaſure is turned to hatred. Things profitable are profitable to us when we poſſeſſe them, and the longer that we poſſeſſe them the greater fruit reape we of them. But the delight which wee have in pleaſant things is neither an habit nor a perfect poſſeſſion of them, but a motion which hath alwayes ſome privation joyned with it, which failing the love faileth likewiſe: Theſe pleaſant things before we injoy them they have a greater force to ſtirre up a deſire in our phantaſie when we want them; but when we have profitable p. 112things they have a greater force to give me contentment than pleaſant things; pleaſant things when wee want them they breed an imagination in our appetite, & when we have them they breed pleaſure in our ſenſe: but the love and deſire of honeſt things conſiſting in vertue and wiſedome, is preferred both to things pleaſant and profitable; The love and deſire of things honeſt remaines both when we want them and when we enjoy them.for wee love them both when wee have them, and when we want them, and the love of them is the firſt degree of injoying them, not in our ſenſe and phantaſie, but in our underſtanding.

p. 113Health, children, Queſt. and glory, whether are they to be referred to things profitable, pleaſant, or honeſt?

Health chiefely is to be referred to profit, Anſw. therefore we loathe it not after we have it, Health reſerved to profite.as we doe theſe things which bring onelyonly delight with them; and health when we want it we wiſh it not onelyonly with our ſenſitive appetite, but with our wil and underſtanding: Children belong to honeſty and pleaſure,children againe belong both to honeſty and pleaſure, for we deſire our children to poſſeſſe our goods, and we enjoy them; this deſire is mixed with delight, and therefore the converſing of parents with their children breedeth not ſatietie or loathſomneſſe as ſinfull pleaſures doe. And they long for children to continue their kind by a certaine immortality, Difference betwixt the love of parents to their Children and the love of beaſts to their young ones.and herein man differeth from the beaſts who love their young ones onelyonly ut nunc for the time preſent, but reſpect not the continuance of their kind in them: and this is the cauſe why parents are never wearie of their children more than they are of their health.

The love of marriage eſpecially conſiſteth in pleaſure, but hath honeſty and profit joyned with it. The love and deſire of dominion hath both profit and pleaſure joyned with it, but there is a twofold honour, Honor legittimut illegittimus.a baſtard honour and a lawfull honour, the baſtard honour onelyonly belongeth to pleaſure, but the lawfull honour belongeth not onelyonly to pleaſure but alſo to honeſtie.

Theſe things which we both deſire and love, they proceede ſometimes ab amore ſenſibili, and ſometimes ab amore rationali, when we deſire them firſt, and next wee love; but when they proceed ab amore rationali then wee firſt love them, and then deſire them.When delights give contentmentment both to ſenſe and reaſon

The delights which are ſenſuall when they aſcend to reaſon they give no contentment to it, but when the delights deſcend from reaſon to phantaſie and ſenſe, they give contentment to both. And as the miſt which p. 114ariſeth out of the vallies and aſcendeth to the mountaines betokeneth raine, Simile. but when the miſt falleth from the mountaines to the vallies then it betokeneth faire weather: So when the ſenſuall delights aſcend up to the phantaſie and reaſon, it is a bad token; but when the love of honeſtie and vertue deſcends from reaſon to phantaſie and ſenſe, that it is a good token. When the mind illuminateth the will firſt, then the will beginneth to affect a thing and to ſeeke after it, then it is called foreign beneplacitum animi the good pleaſure of the will being approved by the reaſonable facultie in the underſtanding, foreign .which doth try things firſt and ſetteth the will on worke and the will ſetteth the reſt on worke.

Againe if we ſhall conſider the ſenſes, The baſer ſenſes are ſooneſt cloyed with pleaſures.if we ſhall conſider the ſenſes, we ſhall perceive that the baſer ſenſes, the touch, taſt and the ſmell which ſerve moſt for ſenſuall pleaſures, they are ſoone cloyed, as hee that eateth the honey combe ſurfetteth quickly, Pro. 25.15. Pro. 7.18. when the whore inviteth the young man ſhe ſaith, come & let us take our fill of love untill the morning, one might well give them a furfet of this beaſtly pleaſure; but conſider againe the more noble ſenſes, the ſight and hearing, which ſerve for reaſon, they are never ſatisfied, The eye (ſaith Salomon) is not ſatisfied with ſeeing nor the eare with hearing, Why the eye and eare are not ſatisfied.Eccleſ. 1.8. Why are they not ſatisfied? becauſe they give information to the nobler facultie of the ſoule the underſtanding wherein honeſty and vertue are ſeated, and they are never weary to ſerve her. And if we ſhall compare things honeſt, profitable & pleaſant, we ſhall finde that things pleaſant are fartheſt out of the ſquare, and conſequently muſt breed the greateſt diſtaſt to the ſoule for things honeſt the more wee deſire them the more we are commended for that; but when we deſire things profitable, wee muſt deſire them with a greater moderation, becauſe they are more baſe, and we muſt p. 115reduce them to ſome mediocritie, but moſt of all have we need to take heed to our delights of ſenſe as baſeſt of all; therefore Salomon willeth us, Pro. 23.1. We muſt take heed to our baſeſt ſenſes.when we ſit at a governours table to put a knife to our throate, that is, when we ſit at a table where there is variety of diſhes and dainties, we muſt eate ſparingly then, as if there were a knife ſet to our throate to cut it, leſt our table become our ſnare, Pſal. 69.22.

Some things may breed delight to the phantaſie but not to the ſenſe, Things may breed delight to the phantaſie but not to the ſenſe.as when a Poet deſcribeth a gnat or flea, this is delightfull to the phantaſie; but if a man ſhould feele the gnat or the flea biting him, it would be moſt unpleaſant to his ſenſe and feeling. Somethings delightfull to the ſenſe but not to the phantaſie.Sometimes a thing may be delightfull to the ſenſe, but bringeth little or no delight to the phantaſie, as when a man eateth ſweet things. But things which are honeſt breed delight both to the underſtanding, phantaſie and ſenſe. The ſenſuall pleaſures are like the booke which Iohn did cate, Reve. 10.9. they are ſweet in the mouth, but bitter in the belly, Simile. the griefe of them is more than ever the pleaſure was.

Amnon loved Thamar with an inceſtuous love, Amnon ſinned in hating Thamar.then he falleth into the other extremitie to hate her, but if hee had reduced this to a right mediocritie he ſhould have loved the perſon but hated the vice. Levit. 19.17. Thou ſhalt not hate thy neighbour in thine heart, but thou ſhalt rebuke him.

The concluſion of this is, Concluſion. let us ſet our deſires on the right objects and moderate our affections, leſt they exceed and degenerate into luſt. Iames 4.3. Yee aske amiſſe that yee may conſume it upon your luſts.