Of Peace and Contentment of Mind, Book 3 · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Of Deſire.
DEſire hath a neere kinred with love, for it is the motion of the appetite towards the beloved object; This is the difference, that Love regardeth the preſent, Deſire aſpireth to the future.
Some deſires are natural, ſome beſides nature. Natural deſires are good and eaſily ſatiſfied, as long as they keepe within their mounds, the firſt whereof is nature, then reaſon to rule nature, and piety to rule reaſon. But wee muſt take heed of miſtaking corrupted nature for pure. Pure nature is contented with little, but corrupted nature runs to exceſſe and embaſeth natural deſites with the allay of deſires beſides nature. It is natural for a man to deſire a woman, but it is beſides nature that he will have her ſo noble and ſo rich; that he increaſeth the deſired object with imagination, and kindleth his paſſion by difficulty. It is natural to deſire meate, drink, clothing, but it is beſides nature to deſire great feaſts, gay garments, and coſtly buildings.
Reaſon, indeed, was given us to embelliſh and inrich nature, but Reaſon (if it be well taught) wil in all occaſions make uſe of nature to rule the deſire, and teach it, that beſides Nature there can be no neceſſity. Thus if your coach breake farre from the towne, inſtead of grieving and fretting, remember that Nature did not give you legs to ſit in a coach, and that it is not neceſſary for you to be carryed, as long as you can goe. If you be repulſed in the purſuite of an Office, remember that God made you not a Treaſurer or a Counſellor of ſtate, but a man; and that to diſcharge the Office of man worthily, there is no need to be a Treaſurer or a Counſellour of State. Apply this to all the croſſes whereby your deſire is oppoſed, you ſhall finde in nature leſſons of reaſon and piety to rule it, and keep every where tranquillity of mind.
But when a man makes no account of the limits of nature, and the Appetite takes licence to deſire as much as it can, the whole world becomes too little for him. Nature hath bounds, but ambitious deſire hath none. If a luſtfull greedy tyrannicall man had as much power as deſire, he would violate the honeſty of all handſome women, and cruſh all the Empires of the univerſe, no mans life could ſcape his anger, God himſelfe ſhould not be ſafe in heaven. There are many ſuch men in the world; But the world may praiſe God that thoſe that have the vaſteſt deſire have the ſhorteſt power, and are kept by neceſſity within their limits of nature, even when their ambition moſt licentiouſly tranſgreſſeth thoſe limits. An idle wiſher will lye raving in his bed, raiſing his greedy thoughts by many ſteps of imaginary conqueſts as high as the crown of China; and then ſeriouſly deliberate whether he muſt make warre upon the Tartar or Japan; till he be ſuddenly called downe by his need from the height of his imperiall projects to the low care of raiſing the wooll of his old thredbare cloak, and ſpinning the coorſe reliques of his Sunday-dinner to ſave him from the ſhambles till the middle of the week. Prov. 13.4. The ſoul of the ſluggard deſireth and hath nothing.
Need doth not ſo much breed greedineſſe, as greedineſſe need; For need many times limiteth greedineſſe, and keepes the Appetite buſy about things neceſſary and neere hand; but whereſoever there is greedineſſe, there is need, even in the midſt of plenty. A great King invading his neighbours Province thereby confeſſeth himſelf needy, ſince he hath not enough of his owne. So long as a man doth not reckon what he hath, but what he would have, he never hath his reckoning; for when he hath what he would he would have more, and all that he hath not is wanting to him; yea he wants even that which he hath, ſince he hath no ſatisfaction in it.
This evill being wiſely managed may prove a remedy to itſelfe. For the inſatiableneſſe of mans deſire, helps us to theſe two thoughts. The one that all that the world affords is too little for man, ſince it cannot ſatisfie his deſire. The other, that, among that corruption, an image of Gods infinity is ſhining; for mans deſire is infinite, and nothing leſſe then infinity, which is God himſelfe, can ſatisfie him. Theſe thoughts ought to breed a reſolution in us, not to labour any more in vaine to fill our infinite deſire with things finite and inferiour unto us, but to raiſe it to the infinite good, as onelyonly adequate to it, and the onelyonly object where we may finde infinite ſatisfaction. They, and they onelyonly muſt expect ſatisfaction of their deſire, that may ſay after Iſaiah, Iſaia. 26.8. In the way of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee; the deſire of our ſoul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Let us looke lower. For as long as we live in this houſe of fleſh, we have inferiour deſires for the uſe of the fleſh. Natural deſires are formed upon the information of the ſenſes; let us take good heed that upon their naturall information we forme not deſires beyond nature, but let us proportionate our deſires to the true and ſimple information of our ſenſes, not to the falſe tale of our imagination, ſwelled and beſotted by our greedineſſe. For the appetite and the imagination, helpe to cozen one onother. The turbulent appetite ſtretcheth the imagination, and the imagination thus ſtretched preſents to the appetite greater images then the naturall.
As in the clay upon the potters wheele if you trace a ſmall circle it will ſtretch and grow wider as the wheele turnes and the clay ſpreads; likewiſe, a little image of the deſired object traced by the common ſenſe in the imagination will grow as the imagination is dilated by the agitation of the deſire. Hence it is that the firſt impreſſion that the fancy receiveth of an ordinary beauty becomes in ſhort time the Idea of a more then humane perfection; and the ſplendor of a gawdy equipage and attendance, having cauſed an agitation in the deſire, is ſoone imagined much greater then it is.
But as in popular rumors which are growing as they runne, the firſt relator muſt be examined; likewiſe, to know the true ſtate of things, of which the imagination & the appetite increaſing one another make ſo much noiſe and ſhew, we muſt examine the firſt relator, the outward ſenſe, to undeceive the overheated deſire by an information in cold blood. It is true, that the ſenſes perceiving nothing but the outward ſhew will make ſometimes a diſadvantageous report of the objects, but when they ſtirre not the deſire, but misinforme the imagination which doth the like to the judgement, whereby the object appeares evill, contemptible, or leſſe deſirable then it is indeed. Wherefore I would not truſt altogether the report of the ſenſes, but ſo examine them by reaſon that the ſoul be not ſeduced by the report imputed unto them. And indeed this wil be no ſmall prevailing over the appetite, if we can bring it to deſire the things that truly belong to the ſenſes, by no other Idea then that of their ſimple report, ſo ſhall we limit the meerely ſenſuall deſires, according to Nature.
But becauſe this might be thought an auſtere rule to keepe-in the deſire within the limits purely naturall, ſomething muſt be yeelded to cuſtome and conveniency; Let the deſire be allowed to walk a little beyond theſe limits of Nature, but ſo led by the bridle of piety and reaſon, that it make no wild eſcape. Let us deſire things juſt, facile, neerehand, and inviting our hope, not troubling ourſelves about things remote and difficult.
To ſtay our deſires, we muſt ſtay our thoughts before, and weane our minds of that falſe popular opinion, that thoughts are free; for it is the licentiouſneſſe of thoughts, that makes the deſire licentious. He that permitteth to himſelfe to think what he ſhould do with a hundred thouſand pounds a yeare, if he had them, will not be long ere he deſire to have ſo much. He that conſulteth what women he ſhould chooſe if it were lawfull and poſſible for him to keep as many as the Turke hath in his Seraglio, will preſently wiſh it poſſible though it were not lawfull; and this fancy will ſet his appetite on fire; Evill thoughts are next neighbours to evill deſires; there is but one ſtep betweene. He that will keep himſelfe from an infamous houſe muſt not take the lodging at the next dore.
The beſt way to ſatiſfie the deſire of temporal things is to abridge it; A counſel comprehending theſe two, Not to depend of the future, and to be content with little for the preſent: Both are effects of an entire confidence in Gods goodnes and providence. Of not depending upon the future I ſhall have ſeveral occaſions to ſpeake hereafter. To be contented with little is an unſpeakable treaſure. That way one may with much eaſe get plenty, which a covetous man cannot get by heapes of money ſcraped up with a greedy labour. He that deſires onelyonly what he can have, obtaines eaſily what he will have; And he that deſires nothing but what pleaſeth God, hath obtained it already, All things ſmile on him becauſe he receives all things at the hand of God, whom he knowes to be good and wiſe. Little and much are all one to him, for both ſerve alike for contentment, as it pleaſeth God to extend a bleſſing upon it. Let us apply this to the three principal deſires that cauſe ſo much tumult and diſorder in the world, Covetouſnes, Ambition, and Voluptuouſnes.