The True Christians T est, Part 1 · Meditation 51
MEDITAT. LI. Of Fantaſtical Pleaſures.
THere are pleaſures of the Fancy; which may be diſtinguiſht from the Pleaſures of the Senſes, though Divines uſe to confound them. To prefer theſe before God, is to be a predominant lover of the World.
There is no ſin, that I know of, but may be acted over in the Fancy, and affect the body no further.
A mental dalliance with a Miſtreſs, though it gets no Baſtards, yet is Adultery, and prefers the World before Chaſtity and Purity. The vigour of the Fancy both prevents and ſurvives bodily uncleanneſs: There are earlier and later Adulteries in Fancy, than in Senſes. Inceſtos amores a tenero meditatur ungui, ſays the Poet: And Fancy acts over again the uncleanneſſes to which the Body is inſufficient.
Covetouſneſs is acted, yea mainly acted in the Fancy; Oh the full Bags and Barns, the large Fields, the Mountains of Gold that are to be found in a covetous Fancy, Sure theſe men who fancy ſuch great things to themſelves, and delight in ſuch Fancies, are they whom the Prophet Ezekiel ſpeaketh of, whoſe heart goeth after their Covetouſneſs.
Pride is acted mainly upon the Stage of Fancy; though ſomtimes it breaks forth into words, as in Nebuchadnezzer, yet ſometimes it never goes further than the Fancy, and yet is mortal and damnable; as ſeems to have been the caſe of Herod, whoſe Fancy was pleaſed with the blaſphemous acclamations of the people, and he gave not glory to God.
The diſtractions and ſtrange rovings of Fancy, after odd impertinent things, in a careleſs and incoherent manner, is a great corruption. And to give the reins to a roving deſultory Fancy, without ſeeking to reduce and reclaim it, is a predominant Senſuality. Methinks that even to think nonſenſe for an hour together, ſhould ſhame a wiſe Man, what can any man think of thoſe men that are more ſolicitous to reclaim the wild ranging of their dogs, than of their fancies, but that the beaſtial part doth predominate over the rational.
Who can ſufficiently lament the ſad diſorder of the Fancy, and the evil that it betrays us to? How unſeemly and unjuſt is it that our thoughts, which are the firſt-born of our Souls, ſhould be ſo ſquandred away in a wild-gooſe chaſe, much ſillier than childrens purſuing of butterflyes, or following of crows through thick and thin, teſtaquae lutoquae.
O my mind, haſt thou ſo lowly an object, and ſuch important matters to beſtow thy ſelf about as God, and the things of Eternal life; and canſt thou have leaſure to dream away thy time, and ſpend thy powers upon things that are not, that need not be, that never will be? Doſt thou laugh at the Chimerick fictions of Poets, and yet ſpend thy ſtrength in Poetry? Doſt thou account it time next to loſt, to read Romances; and yet canſt be at leaſure every day to make them?
Lord what a fickle, fluid, ungovernable thing is Mans Fancy! How is this contexture of the body a ſnare to my Soul; diverting, hindring, ſpoyling its operations? Fancy is a neceſſary faculty, without which I can perform no action; and alas how has ſin got into it, and deſiled it, poyſon'd the very fountain?
To a Worldy Fancy, I might add alſo a Worldly Memory: For certainly to be able to remember all Worldly Concernments, and ſtill to forget the matters of the Soul, and the World to come, is a ſad Symptom of a worldly mind. But amongſt the corrupt Pleaſures of the Fancy, I muſt inſiſt a little upon Revenge, becauſe it is frequently acted only upon the Stage of Fancy, and does not proceed into Act: And all this while vain men are apt to think themſelves free from it. To this therefore I will now apply my Thoughts.