The Portraiture of the Image of God in Man, Part 2 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of deſire.
Deſire, Deſiderium eſt voluntarius affectus, ut res quae bona exiſtimatur & deeſt, vel exiſtat, vel poſſideatur.is a paſsion which we have to attaine to a good thing which we enjoy not, that wee imagine is fitting for us.
Deſire differeth from love and pleaſure; it differeth from love, Differt deſiderium, ab amore & delectatione.for love is the firſt paſsion which wee have of any good thing, without reſpect whether it be preſent or abſent: but deſire is a paſſion for good that is abſent; and pleaſure is the contentment that wee have when we have gotten a thing.
Man in the firſt eſtate, Prop. his deſires were rightly ſet and moderate. Illuſt.
His deſires were either of ſpirituall things, Duplex deſiderium; ſpiritualis. & naturalis boni.or naturall things. In ſpirituali things, his deſires were ſpeedily carried to the right object God: for as heavy things the neerer that they draw to the center, the more ſpeedily they are carried to the ſame, ſo Adams deſires being ſo neere God the center, they were ſpeedily carried unto him; and in natur all things his deſires were few and moderate; for even as the Children of God, the neerer they draw to their end, they have the fewer deſires of worldly things: ſo, Adam being ſo neere that heavenly glory, few and moderate were his deſires of worldly thigns.A collation betwixt the ſecond and renued Adam.
The deſires of Chriſt were alwayes ſubordinate to the will of God his father: but the deſires of the regenerate, they are many times not ſubordinate to the wil of God.
Object. But it may be ſayd that Chriſts deſires were not alwayes ſubordinate to the will of his father, when as he deſired the cup to paſſe, which his father willed him to drinke, Math. 26.39.
Anſw. Triplex eſt deſiderium, naturale, rationale, & ſpirituale.There is a three-fold deſire: firſt, a naturall deſire: ſecondly, a reaſonable deſire: thirdly, a ſpirituall deſire: every one of thoſe by their order are ſubordinate to another, and there is no repugnancy amongſt them.
A man hath Saint Anthonies fire in his hand, Voluntas rationis duplex eſt; rationis ut ratioeſt, & rationis ut natura eſt.a Chirurgian comes to cut it off; the naturall deſire ſhrinkes and puls backe the hand, becauſe nature ſeekes the preſervation of it ſelfe: but the reaſonable deſire ſaith, rather than the whole body ſhall be conſumed, hee will command the Chirurgian to cut off the hand; here is no repugnancy betwixt the naturall and reaſonable deſire, but a ſubordination. In Feavers, wee deſire to drinke, and yet we will not; and ſo in Apoplexies to ſleepe, and yet we will not.
This will of reaſon made Scevola to hold his hand in the fire untill it burnt. A Martyr is carried to the ſtake to bee burnt, the naturall deſire ſhrinkes, ſeeking the preſervation of it ſelfe; but yet it ſubmits it ſelfe, to the ſpirituall deſire, which commeth on, and ſaith: rather than thou diſhonour God, goe to the fire and be burnt; this ſpirituall deſire made Cranmer to hold his hand in the fire till it burnt.
In Chriſt there are three deſires or wils; In Chriſto tres fuerunt voluntates, diviina, rationalis, & naturalis. Voluntates non fuerunt contrariae, licèt volita fue runt contraria.his divine will; his reaſonable will, and his naturall will. There was no repugnancy amongſt theſe wils, for his reaſonable will, abſolutely willed that, which his divine will willed; and although his naturall will was different from his other two wils, declining the evill of puniſhment, and ſeeking the preſervation of it ſelfe: yet there was no contrarietie here, for theſe which are contrarie, muſt be contrary ſecundùm idem, et circaidem, according to the ſame object, and in the ſame reſpect; but, his naturall will, and his divine will the one willing that the cup ſhould paſſe, and the other willing it ſhould not paſſe, were in divers reſpects; for God willed Chriſt to die for the purging of the ſins of men; but Chriſt as man willed the cup to paſſe; ſeeking the preſervation of nature only.
Chriſts humane will was conforme to the will of the Godhead, in the thing willed formally; that is, Duplex est velle, formale, & materiale.when hee beheld this cup, as the middle to purchaſe mans ſalvation; but it was divers from it, conſidering the cup materially in it ſelfe, as it was a bitter cup.
Example when a Iudge wils a theefe to bee hanged, and the wife of this theefe wils him not to bee hanged, for her owne private weale; here is no contrarietie betwixt the two wils. But if the wife of the theefe, ſhould will her husband to live, as an enemy to the commonwealth, then her will ſhould be contrary to the Iudges will.
This naturall will in Chriſt hindred not his divine and reaſonable will; and it willed nothing but that which theſe wils willed it to will, for they had the abſolute commandement over it: neither was there any ſtrife betwixt them, as betwixt the fleſh and the ſpirit in the regenerate, Gal. 5. but ſtill a ſubordination.
The ſubordination of the wils in Chriſt, Illuſt. may be illuſtrated by this compariſon. Although the inferior ſpheares of the heavens, be carried another courſe than the higheſt ſpheres are, yet notwithſtanding they hinder not the courſe of the higheſt ſphere, but all their motions are moderate and temperate, by the motion of the higheſt ſphere. So although this naturall will in Chriſt ſeemed to goe a divers courſe, from his reaſonable and divine will; yet it was moderate by his ſuperior wils, and did nothing but that which his ſuperior wils willed it to will, Eſay 53. He offered himſelfe becauſe hee would, Ioh. 10. I lay downe my life: ſo that every will kept that which was proper to it ſelfe. Voluntas divina, juſtitiam; voluntas rationis, obedientiam; voluntas carnis, naturam volebat: that is, his divine will, willed juſtice; his reaſonable will, willed obedience; and the wil of his fleſh, willed the preſervation of his nature.
Anſw. How ſaith Luke 22.44. that he being in his agonie hee prayed a long ſpace that the cuppe might paſſe, then it might ſeeme, that there was a contrarietie betwixt his wils?
Anſw. Nulla erat contrarìet as inter voluntates Chriſti, ſed inter voluntat es & mortem.This ſtrife was not properly betwixt his two wills, but betwixt his naturall will and death, which nature ſhunned as contrary to it: this fight wee ſee in children and in brute beaſts; in children who have not the act of reaſon; this is no other thing then the feare of imminent evill.
Chriſt deſired this cup to paſſe. Duplex voluntas, abſoluta & conditionalis.There is a double deſire or willing in the will: either an abſolute will, or a conditionall will: abſolute, as when I wiſh a thing without any condition: as, happines. Conditionall, when I will it with a condition: as, a man would not give his purſe to the robbers, if he could eſcape death; hee wils this conditionally onelyonly to eſcape the danger. So our Lord willed not abſolutely to drinke this cuppe, but ſeeing that God his Father had determinate this way, that mans ſalvation ſhould bee purchaſed, Chriſt would drinke this cup.
In Chriſts deſires there was no reluctation, A collation betwixt the ſecond, renned and old Adam.but ſubordination: but in the regenerate, their deſires are with ſome reluctation, and they are not fully ſubordinate. When Chriſt ſayd to Peter, They ſhall carry thee whither thou wouldeſt not, Ioh. 21.18. meaning what death he ſhould die; there was ſome ſinfull reluctation here, betwixt Peters ſpirituall deſire; and his naturall deſire; although hee gave his life in the end for the truth.
But the wils of the unregenerate, are no wayes ſubordinate to the will of God. When Chriſt ſaith, Volunt as indiger, explicatione, & ſubjections.Let this cuppe paſſe yet not my will be done but thine, Luk. 22.42. here is not a correction of Chriſts deſire, but onelyonly an explication of it. But when Peter gave his life for the truth there needed a correction of his deſire, becauſe there was ſome unwillingnes in him.
But the wicked their deſires have need of ſubjection to the will of God. Conſeq. 1
Chriſts natural will ſought the preſervation of it ſelfe, which his divine wil would not: hence it followeth that a man may naturally will that without ſinne, which his ſpirituall will wils not.
We ſhould learne by Chriſts example to ſubiect our wils to the will of God, Conſeq. 2 and to ſeek the things of this life, but with condition.
If Chriſt ſubmitted his naturall will, to the will of the Father which was not ſinfull, Conſeq 3 much more muſt wee learne to ſubmit our ſinfull deſires to his will.
The deſires of the regenerate are moderate; Acollation betwixt the renowed and old Adam.the deſire of the unregenerate are immoderate. Agur prayeth, Prov. 30. Da mihi lechem chukki, panem dimenſi mei, as the Iſraelites, had their Manna meaſured out to them in a gomer: Exod. 16. ſo Agur deſires that God would give him the meaſure that is fit for him. They are content with that foreign, Luk. 12.42. which ſignifyeth a mans ſtint: where he alludeth to the care of governours of families or ſtewards, who doe allow to every one in the houſe their portions ſee Iames 2.15. They having meate and cloth they are content, 1 Tim. 6.8. nature taught ſome men to be content with little, grace can teach them to be content with leſſe.
The Prophet Eſay in his fourteenth chapter and fourth verſe, noting the inſatiable deſire which men have to riches cals Babel gold-thirſty Babel: and Habaccuk 2.6. ſaith, Woe be to you who load your ſelfe with thick clay; meaning gold and riches, The deſires of beaſts are finite, but the deſires of unregenerate men areinfinite when they come to the meaſure what will ſuffice them.
The Philoſopher ſaith, the cauſe of this, is to live, but not to live well; the beaſts when they are ſatisfied for the preſent content the mſelves, neither ſeeke they any more: the Lyon when he hath killed the Bull, ſatisfieth his hunger, but hides not up the reſt in the ground: neither doe the fowles lay up any thing, Math. 6.26. onelyonly creeping things and moſt imperfect lay up: as, the Piſmire hordes up in Sommer againſt the Winter, Prov. 6. but man is not ſatiate for hoording and treaſuring up for the time to come: his deſires are ſo infinite.
The ancient Philoſophers compared the firſt matter, to an infamous ſtrumpet, who is never glutted with preſent pleaſure, but ſtill doth meditate upon new imbracings, for it ſtill deſireth new formes. But wee have more reaſon to compare our deſires which are inſatiable to this ſtrumpet.
Queſt. Whether are mans deſires infinite or not?
Anſw. They are not actually infinite, Duplex infinitas, actualis, & perſucceſſionem.becauſe nature tends alwayes to ſome finite thing, for no man deſireth infinite meate; yet his deſires are infinite by ſucceſſion, Leo Hebraeus.becauſe theſe bodily things which wee deſire are not permanent, Nam pereunte unodeſiderio ſuccedit alterum One deſire being gone, another comes in place of it: Chriſt ſaith, He who drinkes of this water ſhal never thirſt again; So he that hath true deſire after righteouſneſſe ſhall be ſatisfied; but hee that thirſts after the things of this life, ſhall bee in a continuall thirſt, like the Horſe-leach which hath two daughters, crying continually, Give, give, Prov. 30.15.
The remedies to cure theſe ſinfull deſires.
That we may cure theſe ſinfull deſires. Firſt, wee muſt take heed that theſe deſires of ours, be not ſuffered to gather ſtrength, but we muſt choke them in the very beginning, and daſh the heads of the young ones againſt the wal, Pſal. 173. cruſh this Cocatrice egge in the beginning, leſt it come to a Serpent, Eſai. 30.6. In confinibus eſt arcendus hoſtis, the enemy is to be beaten back while he is in the borders.
Secondly, we muſt thinke often how neere we are to death, and this wil reſtraine our covetous deſires, parum viae & multum viatici, To have a ſhort way and much proviſion, is a fooliſh thing.
Thirdly, to remedy our covetous defires we ſhould marke, that there is no paſſion ſo much to bee deteſted as it, becauſe this monſtrous paſſion draweth no contentment from that which it gathereth together. Wee abhorre more the Cantharides, than Lyons, Tigers, or Beares; for they kill men and reape no fruite of their death, whereas the ſavage beaſts when they kill any feede themſelves and ſatisfie their hunger: So theſe covetous deſires when they have ſcraped much together they make no uſe of that which they have gathered.
Of the paſsion of abomination contrary to deſire.
Abomination is a paſsion which is oppoſire to deſire, for it is the ſame whichmakes us to abhorre or flee that which wee moſt diſtaſt; this was in Chriſt himſelfe. Luk. That which is in high requeſt with men, is in abomination before God: abhomination and hatred, both abhorres evill, but abhomination doth ſhunne evill in a higher degree than hatred, and hatha greater deteſtation of it. Hatred reſpects the evill preſent, abhomination the evill to come,