or remember that it did so Is it not evidently the Soul that apprehends remembers seeks desires and doth all these things How unintelligible therefore is it to talk of all these things only as Movements of the Body and and not as Movements of the Soul To take his own Instance Do we approach to the Fire by a Bodily movement without desiring the Fire and expecting Pleasure from it And is not this desire and expectation a movement of the Soul Is it not the Soul which moves those animal Spirits into those Parts and Muscles by which we are enabled to approach the Fire by a bodily movement So that as far as I am able to perceive here is nothing true nothing satisfactory I had almost said nothing intelligible in this pretended Illustration Moreover when He and the Lady allow us to move toward these things only as the Occasions not as the Causes of our Good I ask Is not the continuance of my Life and Being good And is Food only the occasion is it not the means by God appointed for the continuance of Life Is Physick only the occasion is it not the means of my Health Is sleep only the occasion is it not the means of my Refreshment And so of the Pleasure that we find in the Recovery of our Health and the Refreshments of our wearied Spirits And lastly were it true that God is the immediate cause of all the Pleasure that we find in the Creature was any Body acquainted with this Notion till these latter days Doth one in Ten thousand now believe it Are the generality of Men capable of Understanding it And must not then all who in former Ages did not and who at present cannot understand or believe it lie under a necessity of desiring the Creature as the true cause of their Pleasure and so have a movement of the Soul toward it as such So that this matter is both impracticable and unintelligible The Notion also seems as useless as 't is unintelligible for am I not as much obliged to God for the Benefit and Pleasure I receive from any of his Creatures whether he do immediately produce that Pleasure in me by occasion of them or doth produce in me those Faculties by which I am enabled to perceive the Pleasure they afford Is not the Pleasure which reflects from them as occasions or as natural Causes of it still the same And is not the Giver of these Faculties and Creatures the sole Author of it Is not causa causae causa causati Must not he who is the efficient cause of all those Faculties by which I perceive Pleasure from the Creatures his Providence affords me be the true efficient cause of all my Pleasure Is it not the same Kindness to give me Money to build me an House and to pay my Debts my self as to build an House or pay my Debts for me since either way my Debts are equally paid and my House built and the Benefit is the same In fine Doth this Notion tend at all to abate or lessen our desires of the Creature Not at all For be it supposed that they are only occasions of our Pleasure yet are they granted to such occasions as are always attended with this Pleasure and without which it would not be produced in us by God If then the Object be as pleasing as it would be provided God had lodged a power in it to excite this Pleasure in me and given me Faculties to perceive it without his immediate Operation as certainly it is then is it also equally desirable it being the Pleasure it self not the efficient of it that I do desire Mr. N. saith We must not desire them as our Good because they do us no Good they afford us no Pleasure but God doth upon occasion of them A very Metaphysical Consideration which scarce any one regards in the pursuit of his Pleasure and which will abate no Man's desire of it for the Gratification of the Appetite the Enjoyment of the Delight and the pleasing Sentiment is that thing desired and pursued Now the Creatures being allowed to be the positive Conditions upon which God by his immutable Law and Order stands obliged to give these Gratifications and Delights and without which he will not produce in us one of these pleasing Sentiments must not my pursuit of Pleasure and desire of it oblige me to desire and pursue that without which I know I cannot have it and with which I am sure I cannot want it they being the positive Conditions determining the Operation of God to produce this Pleasure in me i. e. to give me that which only I desire and pursue and for which only I desire the Creature However it is granted First That we may seek and use sensible things for our Good and hence it is inferred that we may desire and be pleased with that is may love them as our Good because it is the apprehension of them as Good to us or as things which may do us Good which moveth us to use and seek them for our Good Secondly 'T is also granted That we may unite our selves and approach to them by the Movements of the Body which Movements of the Body being not Mechanical Motions but caused by some Movements of the Soul towards them hence I conclude we may approach or unite our selves to them also by some Movements of the Soul which is the thing denied by Mr. N. And having premised this I proceed directly to return an Answer to the Arguments by which Mr. N. endeavours to establish his Opinion That the Love of God is exclusive of all Love of the Creature and doth require us in Iustice to withdraw every straggling Desire from it I confess the Incomparable Lady hath let fall some words which seem to lay an Imputation of the worst of Follies upon this attempt Her words are these I will not search for Arguments to inforce this Love after those incomparable ones you have so well inculcated which are indeed unanswerable And not to be opposed by any thing but that which is as unconquerable as it is unaccountable wilful Folly But though these be indeed hard Strokes I 'm sure they come from a very soft and tender hand and from as sweet a temper'd Soul as lives in Flesh. They therefore must be taken by the right handle and must be thought to be intended as an high Compliment to Mr. N. not as an imputation of Folly to all that should oppose his incomparable Inforcements of his Tenet Passing them therefore over with this gentle touch I pass on to a Consideration of the Arguments of Mr. N. contained in his Sermon and in his Letters Then he argues thus God is the only Cause of our Love that is of that Bent or Endeavour whereby the Soul of Man stands inclined to Good in General this Notion of our Souls being a necessary Adherent to our Beings such as we never were without and such as
Answered § 7. Argument 7. God only is to be loved because he only acts upon our Spirits produceth our Pleasure and he only does us Good Answered § 8. What the Lady offers on this Subject briefly Considered and Answered § 9. HAving thus considered the Arguments produced from Scripture against the common Interpretation of this Great Commandment and for a love of God wholly exclusive of all love to and desire of the Creature even so far and so unhappily exclusive of it that we are told That he that desires any thing besides God whatever he pretend or however he deceive himself doth not truly love God That the desire of God and desire of the Creature are in their own Nature incompatible even so incompatible that whenever the Soul moves towards the Creature it must necessarily forsake the Creator I now proceed to the Examination of those Arguments from Reason by which Good Mr. Norris and the Lady endeavour to establish this Opinion only premising for the better stating of the Question What he and the Good Lady grant to us And First They own That we may seek and use those sensible things to which by the Order of Nature Pleasure is annexed That they may be innocently sought for and used though they must not be loved That we may seek and use sensible things for our Good but we must not love them as our Good Which in plain terms is affirming and denying the same thing as is demonstrable from Mr. N.'s definition of the love of Concupiscence for Pleasure saith he is Good even our Good seeking Pleasure must suppose a desire of it and that desire is Love or the effect of Love for it supposeth a motion of the Soul towards it and Love saith he is only a Motion of the Soul towards Good Again seek and use sensible things for our Good we cannot whilst we suppose they are not Good for us i. e. that they will do us no Good if then we may seek and use sensible things for our Pleasure and our Good they must do us Good and so be our Good For That saith he is our Good which does us Good Moreover it may be enquired why he is so indulgent to our seeking of these things who will not permit us to love them in the least measure and who contends for an utter annihilation of all desire of the Creature does not our Saviour say as expresly Seek not what you shall eat or what you shall drink as St. Iohn doth love not the World Does not his Apostle say as expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no Man seek his own things And can he tell us any reason why of two things equally prohibited we may be allowed the one and not the other or why the Prohibition of loving or desiring the Creature should be entirely exclusive of all love and all desire of the Creature and yet the prohibition of seeking and minding the Creature should not be as exclusive of all seeking and all minding of it But to proceed This saith he in his Letter I farther illustrate thus you are to distinguish betwixt the Movements of the Soul and those of the Body the Movements of the Soul ought not to tend but towards him who only is above her and only able to act in her but the Movements of the Body may be determined by those Objects which environ it and so by those Movements we may unite our selves to those things which are the Natural or Occasional Causes of our Pleasure thus because we find Pleasure from Fire N. B. this is warrant enough to approach it by a Bodily Movement but we must not therefore love it for Love is a Movement of the Soul And that we are to reserve for him who is the true cause of that Pleasure which we resent by occasion of the Fire who as I have proved is no other than God by which you may plainly perceive what 't is I mean by saying that Creatures may be sought for our good but not loved as our Good But this saith he is more intelligible than practicable But 1. Is this Philosophy suitable to the Language of the Holy Ghost doth he speak as if we sought and approach'd the Creature only by a Bodily Movement and not with any Movements of the Soul Doth not he say Notwithstanding thou mayst kill and eat flesh in all thy Gates whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after according to the Blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy Borders and thou shalt say I will eat flesh because thy Soul longeth to eat Flesh thou mayst eat Flesh whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after Thou shalt kill of thy Herd and of thy Flock which the Lord hath given thee and thou shalt eat in thy Gates whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all the desire of thy Soul thou mayst eat saith the Hebrew thrice Thou must do it only by the Movements of the Body saith Mr. N. Again Thou shalt bestow thy Money for whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after for Oxen or for Sheep or for Wine or for strong Drink or for whatsoever thy Soul desireth Where again we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the desire of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Concupiscence of the Soul allowed to go forth towards Oxen and Sheep and Wine and strong Drink The Preacher also laments the Folly of the Man who having Riches Wealth and Honour in such abundance that he wanteth nothing which his Soul can desire and yet he hath not an heart to enjoy them freely and delight himself in the Good of them See Isa. 58.11 12. Rev. 18.14 So plainly doth the Holy Ghost contradict this New Philosophy 2 dly Is it suitable to the Sentiments of Mr. N. when he saith There are some things in the World which I love N. B. with great passion such as are Conversation with select Friends or Men of Harmonical and Tuneable Dispositions Reading close and fine-wrought Discourses solitary Walks and Gardens the Beauty of the Spring and above all Majestick and well composed Musick these I delight in with something-like satisfaction and acquiescence and the last could I enjoy it in its highest Perfection would I am apt to phansie terminate my Desires and make me Happy Now could he do all this without any Movement of his Soul towards them Are none of these things truely and really lovely because they are Creatures Or must he love them too much if he love them at all 3 dly He is here speaking of seeking the Creatures for our good Now hath the Body any apprehensions of what is for our good Can it desire or seek any thing under that Notion Hath it any apprehension of the Objects that make Impressions on it as the natural or occasional Causes of our Pleasure Doth that find Pleasure from the Fire
that sufficient warrant so to interpret the other Particulars And since these words respect the Moderation of our Joy and Grief and we do joy and grieve according as we do affect the Objects of those Passions why should they not be also deemed to respect the Moderation of our Affection to or our desires of this World Secondly If we Deifie the Object that we love we Deifie every Woman that we love in order to Matrimony every Child and Relation we desire to preserve that so we may enjoy the Benefit and Comfort of their Presence we Deifie our selves when according to the Psalmist we desire life and love many days yea we Deifie all the Meat and Drink we love and therefore do desire to eat and drink of and if I love and desire a Cup of good Wine because it maketh glad the Heart of Man I am ipso facto an Idolater Thirdly I deny that it is necessary that he who loves i. e. desires any Creature suppose Meat when he is hungry or Drink when thirsty must suppose that Creature perfects his Being and is the cause of his Happiness or that it is able to act upon his Soul and affect it with pleasing Sensations 'T is only necessary that he should suppose those pleasing Sensations will follow upon the Enjoyment of those Creatures and are not to be had without them for put case a Sensual voluptuous Man were of your Opinion would he ever the less pursure the delights of the Flesh and of the sensual Appetites Is it not the Pleasure annexed to the Enjoyment of these things which all the World pursue And must they not then have the same reason to desire and pursue them while the same Pleasures are annexed to the Enjoyment of them whoever be the efficient cause of that Pleasure or whatever it be that acts upon the Soul and affects it with these pleasing Sensations Fourthly It cannot be Idolatry to suppose God acts upon my Soul by the virtue he hath put into a Creature rather than immediately by himself for then all the World must have been Idolaters before Mr. M. and Mr. N. made known this new Opinion to the World for he confesses that among the whole Tribe of Philosophers that went before them none of them thought any otherwise or any farther but universally held that Bodies had a power of producing such Sensations 'T is also evident that Children for a long time taste the Pleasures of the Creatures before they can be able to discern that God immediately produces these pleasing Sensations in them and that the Generality of the World are still uncapable of knowing that he doth so Now is not this to vilifie the Providence and Wisdom of God and to reproach his Goodness to say That he hath laid the World under a sad necessity of defrauding God of his Worship and committing that Sin of Idolatry which he that doth saith the Apostle shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Moreover all Idolatry implies an act of Religious Worship though misplaced now do we by desiring Meat when we are hungry or Drink when thirsty or by thus loving Meat and Drink as things which may gratifie our hungry or our thirsty Appetites by the virtue God himself hath implanted in them worship Bread and Drink All religious Worship proceeds from a direct immediate Intention either to give Honour to that which we conceive to be God or else ascribes to the Object worshipped some of the Divine Attributes or Essential Perfections but do we conceive Bread and Drink to be God by asking them of God that is desiring them or by rejoicing in them as his Blessing i. e. being pleased or affected with them as such or by conceiving he hath put any virtue into them to do us Good Do we ascribe unto the Creature any of the Divine Attributes or Perfections or say in effect they are Omnipotent by thinking God may enable them to raise pleasing Sensations in us or to work upon our Animal Spirits and by them upon our Souls Surely could there be any semblance of Idolatry in this case it must wholly lie not in conceiving that Creatures can move our Animal Spirits which is all we say or think they do but in conceiving that these Animals Spirits can act upon the Soul and that these Motions of them can be grateful or ungrateful to it The words of the Apostle Iohn run thus Love not the World neither the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life is not of the Father but is of the World And the World passeth away and the Lusts thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever Here you have again all Love of the World expresly forbidden as altogether inconsistent with the Love of God not the immoderate Love of the World only For 't is plain that the words import a great deal more namely That we are not to love the World at all that all Love of it is immoderate To this the Reverend Dr. Barrow Answers that The Apostle explains himself that by the World he means those things which are most generally embraced and practised in it the Lust or the desire of the Flesh that is Sensuality and Intemperance the Lust of the Eyes that is Envy Covetousness vain Curiosity and the like the Ostentation or Boasting of Life that is Pride Ambition vain Glory Arrogance Qualities as irreconcilably opposite to the Holy Nature and Will of God so altogether inconsistent with the Love of him begetting in us an Aversation and Antipathy towards him rendring his Holiness distasteful to our Affections his Justice dreadful to our Consciences and Himself consequently his Will his Law his Presence hateful to us And that this is the true import of the words is highly probable 1. Because these things saith the Apostle are not of the Father Whereas the moderate Desire of and Affection to the World 's Good things is of that God who hath implanted in us natural Affections and Propensions to them made them the Objects of our Desires and our Industry encouraged us to affect them by making the matter of his Promises and hath allowed us to rejoice in them 2. Because he saith He that loveth the World the love of the Father is not in him which cannot possibly be true of that Relative and Subordinate Love unto it which he hath made Provisions for Again if we understand by these things the desire of those things which gratifie our Appetites with Pleasure V. G. by the Lusts of the Flesh the desire of Meat Drink and voluptuous Enjoyments as they do gratifie the Flesh by the Lust of the Eye the desire of Gold Silver large Possessions noble Houses rich Furniture fair Gardens as they do gratifie the Eye By