The Book of Nature Translated and Epitomized, Chapter 10 – Chapter 12
Chap. 9.
Section. I.
Two first loves, or chiefly beloveds.
THere are properly but two principal loves or beloveds, God and self, his will or our own. The love of God carries our will forth to a right, general, universal love of all things, as the works of his hands, loved and approved by him. If our own will be, by way of reflexion upon itself, our chiefly beloved; such a narrow private love will not carry us forth to a right love of any other things; but will cause us to regard or value them, no otherwise, then as relating or subservient unto the great idol, self-interest. We shall love only ourselvs in them; not them, as the works of God's hands, related to, and approved by him. To these two chief loves, of God or self, are all other loves reducible, as flowing from the one or other of them.
There can be but one thing chiefly beloved, for whose sake only, other things, in connexiō therewith, or as related thereunto, are loved. All other subordinate loves to all other things, considered as in harmony, correspondence, union, and connexion with the chief beloved, are included in the first love, as the basis and cause of all; the root and fountain, whence they do pullulate and arise. All are but as one love, centring in, and relating to the chief beloved. Tis the chief beloved only, that is properly loved in all other things. Whatever is in conjunction with that, must necessarily be loved: and whatever is against it, or contrary to it, will as certainly be hated. It is so strongly and intimately united with the will; does so vehemently and intirely draw and engage it unto itself, that it suffers it not to love any other thing but for it's sake, as in harmony with, and subserviency thereunto. By necessary consequence, so many particular hatreds wilbe begotten in the will, as there are things contrary to, or against its chief beloved; and as many particular subordinate and secondary loves, as there are things in harmony and union therewith. If the radical or chief love be good, just, and orderly, all the rest are so too: if evil, corrupt, and disorderly; so are the rest. As is the root, such are the branches: as the fountain, so are the streams issuing there-from.
Self-love is a narrow, private, unlawfull, destructive thing, the fountain and root of all false and unlawful loves of other things. If the love of God be not the chief, the love of the creature is. And amongst the creatures, that which is most neer and dear unto the will, wilbe its chief beloved; and that is the will itself, which can reflect its love upon itself, as the most dear, lovely, and desireable thing to itself. If then God be not a man's chief beloved, his own will or himself most certainly is. And then he loves neither God, nor any other creature, but as conducible to the gratifying and pleasing of his selfish, private, narrow will. If he do seem to have some regard unto God, so as to pray to him; he does, in such demeanour, but make use of God in a subserviency to his own selfish will. He askes things of God, to consume upon his lusts. Jam. 4. 3. He regards not God, any body or any thing else, but as conducible and helpful towards the bringing in provisions for his flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Rom. 13. 14.
In the first sin of Adam, we all turn'd away from God, into the love of our own will, in distinction from and opposition to his. Such self-love can never be destroy'd or eradicated, but by the irresistible grace of God, which alone can cause man's will freely to draw off and disengage its love from every thing else, in order to the receiving of the omnipotent creatour in the room of a fraile, impotent creature, as its chief beloved. By receiving God for its beloved, it is furnish'd with the power and armour of God, ha's the power of godlines in it, whereby to withstand all the powers and works of darkness. No created being can bear up against a man that's thus furnished with power from on high. If God be for us, in us, with us, who can be against us? Rom. 8. 31.
SECT. II.
THese two chief loves are capital enemies of each other, contending for primacy. The primacy is due to god alone; and he has no enemy to contest with, but self love. As he is infinitly above all, so ought he to be loved above all. The prerogative and honour of being our chief beloved, does, on all accounts, belong to him alone. Whatever then stands in competition with, or oppositiō to him, in this point, ought to be look'd upon and handled as the capital enemy of god.
Self-love is an unjust, false, tortuous, inordinate love, contrary to god, to truth, to the good of man, to the order and voice of nature in the whole universe. Tis the root of all other evil loves, of all vice, injustice, iniquity. To deny God the first place in our hearts, and to place our selvs in his room, is a high contempt of him, a denying and jusslling him out of what is his due by the law of nature. When a man bestow's his chief love on himself, he offends God, both as he is the giver and receiver of his own love. He gives and receiv's that unto himself, which is indispensabiy and undeniably due to God alone. So, on both accounts, as giver and receiver thereof, is he the direct enemy of God. If he should bestow his chief love on some other creature, and not on himself, he would be the enemy of God, only as the giver away of his right unto another, but not as the receiver thereof.
By self-love, man preferr's his own will to God's, and so makes himself his God. In pursuit of self-interest, he will desire to annihilate God, which is the highest enmity to him, imaginable. His will, by self-love, assum's an absolute primacy, refusing to follow or obey another will, which is the incommunicable prerogative of God alone. Tis peculiar to him only, to follow his own will, and not be subject unto, or lead by any other.
When a man has once proudly set up his own will in the room of God's, he wil also rob God of his other dues. He will desire his own honour, his own glory, his own praise, not God's. When he hath presumptuously made himself his God, he will desire all those things for himself, that are due to god. Self-love erects a new Kingdom, dominion, and soveraignty within man, out of God, and against him, which renders man a direct capital enemy of God.
Man's love of God or himself, is the root and cause of all he does. The love of God in him, is the root and fountain of all good actions. 'Tis also the fountain of all other right love, of all true friendship, courage, rest, peace, comfort, light, joy, gladnes, and whatever is truly good for man.
Self-love then, as the capital enemy of the love of God, is the root of all evil actions, of all injustice, sin, blindnes, ignorance, and so of all sorrow's and evils, incident unto man. He that by selflove exalt's his own will, into the roō of god's, find's this false god to be but a weak, indigent thing. This puts him upon agreedy and eager pursuit after innumerable vanities, corruptible, transient things, for the support of his impotent, false God, himself; and so render's him subject unto those things, which by nature are inferiour to him. Such a man must needs be in continuall sollicitude and tribulation, his false God and all the supports thereof, being but feeble, fickle, unstable, indigent things; and the true, omnipotent, all-sufficient God, being all along against him. Thus have we seen how selflove renders a man the capital enemy of God, evil and perverse in himself, exposed to all evils, and slavishly subject to abundance of transitory things, inferiour to his own nature.
The love of God render's the will divine, universal, communicative and bountiful to others. Selflove renders it narrow, private, incommunicative to others; all for itself. The love of god makes the will just, holy, righteous, meek, good, peaceable, friendly, humble. Selflove makes it unjust, evil, perverse, proud, unquiet, litigious, ful of discord, tumult, and confusion. The love of God gives the will of man dominion over all inferiour creatures: Self-love brings it into bondage and captivity under them. The love of God makes the will unmoveable, firm, stable, and fixed: self-love renders it a fluctuating, unstable, variable thing. In a word, the love of God makes it beautiful and lovely: Self-love makes it filthy, deformed, and detestable. He then that know's what the love of God is, know's all the good of man. He that know's what self love is, know's all the evil of man. He that's ignorant of both, know's neither the good nor evil of man, in the two distinct roots and causes of all. He that has the love of God in him, is thereby so illuminated, that he know's what that is, and what self-love is, together with the comfortable consequents of the former, and sad consequents of the latter. But he that lives in self-love, is thereby darkned, blinded, and confounded, as to the making any right judgment of himself. He neither know's what the love of God is, nor what self love is; nor what are the good or evil consequents of the one or other, unto man. The root of all evil in and to man, self love, is the greatest evil; but the most lurking, hidden, undiscern'd thing of all the rest. It obscures and blind's the mind of man, that it may not be discovered, in its native, ethiopian hiew.
SECTION. III.
Two principal parts of self-love.
MAn, having two principal parts in his constitution, a soul, and a body, has distinct desires in reference to each; but all centring in selfinterest. The soul desires praise, honour, and the like, in reference to itself. In reference to the body, it desires and affects sensual delights. Self-love then puts a man upon the seeking and looking after his own honour and bodily pleasur's, as his two principal goods. And from these two principal branches of self-love, do arise the secondary loves of all other things, as tending to the encrease, defence, or preservation of his own honour and sensual pleasur's. On these accounts, he must needs love, desire, and seek after outward riches, as conducible both to his honour and pleasures. He will also desire and seek after humane sciences, offices, and dignities, as tending to the advance of his honour.
Thus from self-love do arise these vicious, evil, corrupt loves in man; pride, which is the love of his own honour, with a glorying in it; luxury and gluttony, which is the love of bodily delights; covetousnes, which is the inordinate love of outward things. And he that loves his own honour and pleasur's, does by necessary consequence hate every thing, that tends to the diminution or destruction thereof. Hence arises anger, which is a love and desire of revenge against those that endeavour to diminish his honour or bodily pleasur's. Hence also spring's up another monster, envy, which contein's in it a hatred of any other's good, as it tend's to the obscuring or diminution of his; as also a love of and delight in another's evil, if it diminish not, but rather tend to the encrease of his good. From the love of bodily pleasures, do arise negligence, sloth, intemperance, incontinency, and the rest. Thus may we se, how that all vices do arise and spring up from self-love.
CHAP. X.
The love of God causes union amongst men; self-love, division and strife.
LOve does most intimatly unite the will with the thing chiefly beloved. If then the thing first loved, be one, and satisfactory to all that love it; they that unite with, fix, and center in that one beloved, will have love and union amongst themselvs. All that deny and quit the single motion of their own private wills, and agree to live in the will of god, must needs have union with one another. But all that live in their own will, making that their chiefly beloved, in opposition to the will of God, have so many distinct chief beloveds, …s they are men. Every one is for his own will, his own praise, honour, and bodily pleasur's, in distinction and seperatiō from all others; and therefore can no otherwise love another's honour or pleasure, then as conducing to his own. He will hate, oppose, and speak against any other's honour or pleasure, that stands in competition with, or opposition to his. He that makes himself or his own will, his chief beloved, makes himself his God. So many men then, as are of this strein, so many Gods. And amongst this vast multitude of needy, false, idol-gods, must needs arise envy, strife, division, wrath, hatred, war, every one seeking to defend and encrease his own honour and delights, against others; and …aking what he can to himself, for support thereof. They contend for propriety in those outward things, whereby their indigent wills may be gratified and maintein'd in the lusts thereof. Whence come warrs and fightings amongst men, but from their lusts, that war in their members? Jam. 4, 1. A self-lover loves not himself as a man, in common with others; but as this individual man, in separation from all others. Pretend what he will, he loves not the community of mankind. He seeks only him self in the community. His love is private, narrow, and personal; not large, universal, and common to man, as man. Whatever love such a man pretend's to any other persons or things, 't is himself only that he seek's in all. All other loves, arising from self-love, are private and selfish, as the root and fountain is, from whence they flow. He that loves God in the first place, loves all creatur's, as related to him. The more common, larg, and universal our love thus is, the better: the more narrow, particular, singular, and private, the worse.
CHAP. XI.
From self-love may we argue our duty to god.
BY self-love may man find, even from within himself, as the neerest and most evidencing example that's possible, what it is he owes unto God. For having by self-love made himself his God, he gives, seeks, and ascrib's unto himself, all things that he ought to give unto God. He seek's his own honour, praise, and glory, not God's. But thereby may he know what belong's unto God, into whose room he hath thrust himself. By the consequents of loving himself, and following his own will, may be certainly know what would be the consequents of loving God and following of his will. He now seek's his own honour, above all other honour, of God or men: he does all he can, to preserv, defend, and encrease it. From hence may be certainly conclude, that he ought to seek, defend, propagate, and multiply the honour of God in the hearts of men, to his utmost; that he ought to hate, oppose, and do all he can, to diminish and abolish any honour that's contrary thereunto. In a word; all things a man does from an evil principle of self-love, or would have done by others, to and for himself, ought he to do, and desire may be done by others, unto god.