brightness and happy in the enjoyment of his perfections in the communication of his felicities The will of necessity therefore shall be prevented fill'd and satisfied because there is nothing farther to be desird for all the good which is in any Object is derived from this Original simple good which we shall then enjoy And this is no Platonick rapsodie but the necessary effects of the Divine Love and agrees with the sober experience of Pious Men whose Souls enjoy of full content and easiness in God though the methods of conveyance are inexplicable That 's the Second 3. Thirdly and lastly If we were sure to gain the world and if it were possible to be fully satisfied in the acquisition yet is our possession uncertain our enjoyment short but the Interest of the Soul is everlasting No present State whatsoever it may be can denominate a Man happy A taste of happiness without continuance is but a mockery a vexation It is propriety and stability which commend an Interest and pass it into the relation of Felicity Vltima Sempter Expectanda dies Ovid. But the natural condition of Earthly things is frail and fugitive All those Reasons which render it so difficult to gain them render it as hard to preserve them when obtained Personal Follies publick Calamities sudden accidents fraud and avarice Sin and Death do all oppose the security of our present state But nothing can more disparage the value of the world than this continual motion flux and change to which it is liable because the loss of what we once possest is a greater calamity than never to enjoy Turk Hist in Regn. Baj. For Bajazet to change his Seraglio for a Cage for Valerian to become the Foot-stool of his Enemy Cassio dor Plut. in vit Emil. for Perseus King of Macedon but the fourth from Alexander to be led in Chains before the Triumphal Chariot of P. Emilius were greater Calamities than never to have been happy But if our possessions of the World were firm and stable in their Nature our enjoyment howsoever would be short and transient because our own foundation is in the dust our life is uncertain and our age as nothing Job 4.24 2 Pet. 14.2.19 No period of life no state or quality is secure a moment from the arrest of death Omnes eodem cogimur c. Hor. We are all under the same necessity all our destinies are hurstled in the same Urn sooner or later we shall all be carried into Eternal exile How many have we our selves observed who in the height of their Pleasures in the vigour of their age in the midst of their hopes have been suddenly snatched away Tu secanda marmora Locas sub ipsum fumus Hor. The polished Marbles we are so busily designing into a magnificent Seat of a sudden are become the Ornaments of our Tomb. And it must needs be very terrible to those who have no other end or Interest but their Possessions in the world to consider how suddenly they may how soon they shall be deprived of all their hope of all their good This consideration depresses the value of the world into vanity it self and in a manner ballanceth the inequalities of Fortune and makes it no very great matter whether we derive from a Scepter or a Shepheards Crook Lay not up for your selves then Treasures upon Earth where Moth and Rust can corrupt or Thief break through and steal but by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Immortality and Eternal life Pursue the interest of the Soul which is everlasting Yet such is the degeneracy of men that we are willing to believe and are content with a state of non-existence of eternal night rather than govern our lives on Earth as may consist with the hopes of a blessed Immortality But it is impossible to extirpate the Expectation of Mankind The independent Powers of the Soul the judgment of Conscience the consent of Nations will be always such irrefragable Testimonies of a future State as we shall never be able to Subdue Besides the positive Revelation of God Heb. 5.9.13.14 Luk. 16.9 that the Spirit shall return to him that gave it that all the Joys of Heaven which we now described shall endure for ever that the City is continuing the House eternal and the Crown shall never fade away We shall then be the Treasure the Children and the Friends of God whose infinite Perfections shall be always present and we shall always be in a capacity of Enjoyment No age shall enfeeble our percipient Faculties a thousand years shall be but as a day No Reasons of Sin of Punishment or of Tryal and there are no other shall interpose to discontinue or abate the Pleasures of this happy life But if we shall neglect this everlasting happiness the loss or punishment of the Soul in the sense I explained it shall be eternal too What then shall it profit a man to gain the world and be cast into sire unquenchable where the Worm shall never dye But if we should suppose it would continue but a thousand years or half the time the Argument is strong enough and would bear the zeal of our Saviour in this compassionate Expostulation of my Text What shall it profit a man c But there is never a plain syllable in the book of God which favours the purgation or Annihilation of Souls And there is nothing more evident than that the Spirit of God intends we should believe the loss or punishment to be everlasting because he hath chosen the most apposite phrases which can be imagin'd to express an unlimited Eternity The worm shall never dye the Fire shall never be quenched Mat. 3.12 Rev. 20.10 Luk. 3.17 and the smoak shall ascend for ever and ever What then shall it profit a man to gain the world a casual empty transient Interest and lose his Soul a certain full and everlasting good Now the use of this discourse is Infinite because it is concern'd in every Action of our lives it Directs our Choice governs our Will and regulates our Affections But I am afraid I have already trespassed upon your patience I shall therefore consider but one Inference and so conclude namely this That the gain of the world Inf. with the safety of the Soul is the most perfect happy state That Riches and Honour with Vertue and Piety render a man more exactly happy than either without the other Which indeed is rather a part of the Doctrine it self than a Deduction from it For What shall it profit a man to gain the World and lose his Soul seems to allow the Possessions of the World with the safety of the Soul to be the best advantage the most happy state And 1. In general because our whole selves in all our Capacities may be Filled and Satisfied The craving desire or emptiness of any Faculty Status omnium bonorum aggregatione perfectus Boeth is Misery in its degree but
A SERMON Preached before the KING At His MAJESTIES Free-Chappel of WINDSOR JVNE 13. 1680. By JOHN LAMBE M. A. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Published by His Majesties special Command LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops Head in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXX Mat. 16.26 What is a Man profited if he shall gain the World and lose his Soul TO pursue the perfection of our Natures or to govern the course of our Conversations with reference to some ultimate End or chief Good is not the result of Discourse or Reasoning but an imbred Principle which flows from the frame and constitution of our Natures And it cannot be imagined that God who doth nothing in vain much less to evil purposes should create this strong propension for no other end but to deceive our hopes to frustrate our endeavours and to vex us for ever with unsatisfied desires yea rather we may assure our selves that the Divine Goodness who created the desire hath also impressed such notices on our minds as would direct and guide us as it were by a Moral Instinct to the knowledge and attainment of it's proper satisfaction But this is our unhappiness that we our selves deface these Characters we neglect the study of our own Natures and rashly determine our chief good without the consultation of our best Capacities our noblest Appetites And thus we stray from the good we seek and flee from the felicity we pursue Our Judgment is partial our Ends are trivial and our Love degenerate Riches and Honour transport one sensual Pleasures charm another a third pursues Dominion in short the World in some dress or other is the God the aim the end of the generality of Men. Till we find at last by the constant delusion of our hopes that we sought for the living among the dead for security on a precipice or for Happiness in things without us How greedily then should we embrace such Propositions as would rectifie our Judgment correct our errors and point us infallibly to our best and truest interest and to the Methods of obtaining it And such is the Proposition of my Text where Life and Death are set before us whatsoever is glorious whatsoever can be loved or hoped for against all the false appearances of worth and beauty against all that is miserable wretched and abhorr'd For what is a man profited c. At the one and twentieth verse of this Chapter Ver. 21. our Saviour began to shew unto his Disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and raised again the third day S. Peter partly through surprize Luk. 24.21 for they knew not that these things ought so to be partly through his love and tender affection to our Saviour began to rebuke him saying be it far from thee O Lord Ver. 22. this shall not be unto thee But our Saviour interprets this rebuke of S. Peter as an instance of his Love to the world and improves the occasion into a discourse of self-denyal Ver. 24. Ver. 24. If any man will be my Disciple he must not only be willing to part with me but himself must take up his Cross and follow me He must be ready in mind and heart to relinquish all that is dear even life it self whensoever it shall stand in competition with the Will of God and the Salvation of his Soul for what is a man profited c. Which words are an allusion to a known Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing is more precious than Life An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth but all that a Man hath will he give for his Life From the truth and Reason of this proverbial comparison our Saviour argues the incomparable value of the Soul for if the propriety the inheritance of the Universe be refused even to a Proverb in Comparison of Life how much less shall the world in all it's profits in it's best advantages even life it self contend in the ballance with the Salvation of the Soul And this is all that is necessary to be said for the Explication of the words which of themselves are an entire Proposition and do plainly assert this great truth viz. That the gain of the whole World is but an inconsiderable acquisition in comparison of the Salvation of the Soul Or The loss of the Soul is a greater evil than can be recompenced by the gain of the whole world For the clearer illustration of which truth I shall dispose my discourse into this method 1. I shall impartially represent the profits of the world with the nature the quality and the bounds of his advantage who shall gain them 2. I shall consider and describe the Soul in all it's capacities and interests and from thence determine what it is to save and what to lose the Soul 3. And lastly I shall compare these Interests together by unquestionable Measures and Rules of Profit and Loss that from thence it may appear how contemptible an interest he hath espoused who to gain the world shall lose his Soul First I shall impartially represent the profits of the world with the nature the quality and bounds of his advantage who shall gain them The proposal or preference of the Soul as a better interest neither denies nor extenuates the worth of temporal things simply But on the contrary a just and proper value in it's place and kind is here supposed and must be allowed to the World as a foundation of Comparison For if the world and all it's interests were simply and intrinsically evil the gain of the World and the loss of the Soul would be the self same thing numerically and so the Comparison would be most absurd It remains therefore as the granted Question of the Text that the gain of the World is a real substantial good in its place and kind And possibly Religion has been much endamaged by an indiscreet proposal of the severer duties of self-denyal simply which are only required upon particular reasons and under emergent circumstances By the World then we shall understand whatsoever is without us whatsoever is apt to gratifie our Sensitive Appetites and render our natural lives easie and desirable It is 1. A Negation of natural Evils of Perils Anxiety Poverty Slavery Disgrace and Pain 2. The Possession of the contrary goods of safety liberty ease dominion pleasure honour plenty strength and friends 3. Health or the vigour of those natural appetites which are gratified by these enjoyments and the pleasures arising thereupon This is the nature the quality and bounds of his advantage who shall gain the world But all these interests especially in their utmost measures if they were ever pursued yet were they never obtained by one Man The Wisdom therefore of our Saviour in putting the question to the utmost possibility If he shall gain the whole World is very observable because it takes in all the Circumstances which any man of whatsoever State or Place
can possibly be under And anticipates the flatteries of the greatest Fortune By gaining the World then paticular Persons are to understand such portions of these interests as are proper to the place we fill or as we may reasonably propose to our selves under our circumstances and in our Stations Now that these enjoyments these advantages of natural Life are good in their own Nature and a real profit to the Possessors will appear if we consider these two things 1. The nature and original Reason of happiness What other Rules or directions have we to determine our Judgment of Good and Evil but the natural necessities sensations and desires of men According to the account of the best Philosophers Bonum est quod cuique convenit Arist Ith. Voluptas est principium boni Convenience Pleasure or the satisfaction of Appetites is the Principle of Good But the essential capacities of Humane Nature are Sensitive and Annimal as well as Religious and Intellectual The Divine Principle of Religion Reflection and Understanding is lodg'd in an Earthly body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr in vitu Pyth. and sent into a World surrounded with the proper satisfactions of every desire and endowed with Organs of the quickest sense To determine therefore the happiness of such a Being so mixt and composed of a corporal and angelick nature by the perfections only of his Soul without provision for the pleasures of the natural Life is an imperfect unphilosophical account For in whomsoever the Appetites of the body are stifled or exterminated there is disease and an unnatural mutilation and in whom they remain ungratified there must be dolour and uneasiness 'T is true the improvements of the Mind and a good Conscience are an abundant satisfaction for the want of temporal Enjoyments as we shall discourse anon but we speak not now comparatively but of things as they are in their own Natures and yet even a compensation is a satisfaction for something that is wanting and implies either a fault or an imperfection There must be therefore a strict Philosophick Good in the things of the World consider'd simply in as much as they contribute to the pleasure of our being and are the proper satisfactions of essential desires 2. Neither is this all but as the world hath a proper good in its own Nature so are we obliged to esteem and value it by the Law of God It was God that made the Spirits so subtile the Nerves so sensible the several amabilities in the Object and the inclination in the Faculty not to betray us into Evil but to delight us with the dominion he hath given us of the world Such Pleasures and Enjoyments therefore as proceed from these desires as these desires proceed from God and Nature Reason without Revelation would instruct us to be good and innocent But if we consider the testimony which God himself hath given of them the question will be without dispute Who after a strict review of his six days work pronounced of the whole Creation that it was very good Gen. 1. and who out of his especial favour to his own Image put the man whom he had formed into the Garden of Paradise and who lastly allures us to Obedience by the promise of these temporal rewards Gen. 2. Both the negation of every natural Evil and the position of every natural Good of Riches and Honour of Safety Preferment 1 Sam. 2.30 Ps 21.5.22.4.10.3 Success and Reputation are all promised by God as Blessings and Rewards Isa 32.17 And in the Gospel of our Saviour though the clear Revelation of eternal Life is such an invincible motive as to which nothing can be added yet as a collateral encouragement to those Mat. 6.33 who shall seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof in the first place all things else are promised to be added to them This says Plutarch is the foundation of devotion trust and confidence in God that we believe he Governs the world Plut. de Superst and that prosperity is of him Wherefore then since the things of the world agree with the Philosophy of good in general and are design'd by the wisdom of God to entertain our sensitive inferiour faculties and are promised by his goodness as blessings and rewards we cannot but conclude that the Possessions of the world are a substantial good in their own Natures though of inferiour place and kind But the Objections drawn from such passages of our Saviour as insinuate the danger of Riches and prescribe the strictest Self-denyal the most entire resignation of our sensual Appetites appear so plausible at the first sight that we must not wholly pass them over Yet the answer will be short and easie because our Saviour himself hath taught us by his own interpretation to put constructions upon all such Precepts and Positions For when himself had declared Mark 10.24 That it is easier for a Cammel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven He presently explains himself by those who trust in Riches 〈◊〉 26. Which shews that the Precepts and Passages of this nature are not intended to be understood literally but in a sense As sometimes in Comparison Lay not up for your selves treasure on Earth Take no thought for to morrow Mat. 6. Sometimes with respect to emergent Circumstances as when the Apostles encouraged the Disciples to sell their Possessions for the relief of the persecuted Brethren Sometimes personally sometimes habitually If thou wilt be perfect sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and whosoever will be my disciple let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me Be ready in mind and heart to relinquish all whensoever it shall be necessary And that thus the Apostles understood our Saviour is evident from that of S. Peter Luk. 18. Who glories of himself and the other Apostles that they had performed these duties we have left all and followed thee and yet S. Peter kept his House at Capernaum and the Apostles retained the Propriety and Possession of their Ships and Houses To conclude this the noblest Science is to know ones self to keep the mean to preserve the vigour and gratifie the desires of all our Faculties Cato's best Emperour was he who should govern not destroy his Appetites Away then with all such superstitious Doctrines as prescribe us to live upon intuitive entertainments to hide our selves from the Sun Coll. Gran in vita R. P. Th. Sanchez or to dwell in a pleasant Garden but never touch a Flower Which indeed is so far from the perfection of a Christian or the design of my Text that it is the disease of the mind sullen morose distrustful impotent But on the other hand to esteem the world above its appointed value or to consider it as our Chief Good is the most pernicious Folly the greatest Calamity which can befall us
which leads me in the second place 2. To consider and describe the Nature the Capacities and Interests of the Soul which the Text prefers to our care and choise rather before and whatsoever becomes of the Profits of the World And we shall easily acknowledge that we cannot comprehend the essence of the Soul or the manner of it's operation volition and understanding it is inconsistent with the disadvantages of our present state But by the acts effects and inward sensations of the mind we certainly know that it is neither Air nor Fire nor Blood nor moving Numbers but as it is defin'd by Porphyrie Seâ—t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Being immaterial self-moving and immortal a Principle of an independent intellectual life of Understanding Judgment Reflection Conscience Goodness Providence acting as God freely and for the sake of Ends. And the Objects about which these Faculties are exercised and with which they are entertain'd are the excellencies of the Divine Nature to study and contemplate the Divine Perfections by which as by a Rule to judge and govern our estimate of things the works of Creation and Providence the Government the Wisdom and the Histories of the World to improve our minds with useful knowledge divers Relations to God and to one another for the exercise of Devotion Wisdom Providence Love and goodness This is the Nature these are the Capacities the Acts and Exercises of the Souls From whence we collect that the highest interest or the perfection of the Soul considered in its natural capacities consists in the strength and vigour of these sensations and desires Simpl. in Epict. in the habitual exercise of the faculties with their proper objects in understanding clearly in judging discreetly in loving universally in governing our lives wisely in subduing our passions in preserving the dominion of our Reason It follows therefore that to lose the Soul according to this Original simple sense is to vitiate or destroy these Moral Appetites and by a constant conversation with sensual Objects to be wholly govern'd to understand to judge esteem and love according to them And methinks the naked representation of this loss is of it self sufficient to convince us that the World with all it's Profits can be no Price for so inestimable a Jewel as the safety no satisfaction for so great a calamity as the loss of the Soul For if we consider a a man without Knowledge without Wisdom without Goodness there is nothing left whatsoever his circumstances in the World may be to commend him to others or reconcile him to himself If his Passions are tame he is the pity and contempt if they rage the regret and detestation of Mankind He is a diseased imperfect Creature the ignoble parts are swell'd to an unnatural fullness whilst the noble are wasted and shrivell'd into nothing He hath lost the pleasures of a healthful Constitution the delicate entertainments the pure and unmixt delights which flow from all the Faculties in the exercise of their proper functions and is invested on the contrary with a dull Understanding an unsatisfied Will tumultuary vex'd and discomposed Affections But if this were all the loss such is the degeneracy of men how few would value it We shall farther therefore consider the interest of the Soul as it stands in the relation of a Subject to God our Law-giver who hath obliged our obedience to an Institution of Religion to a Rule of Life with Sanctions of future Bliss and Misery He then that despises Wisdom and Goodness may yet fear him who is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell This is the loss of the Soul emphatically and which our Saviour principally intends the displeasure of God the future punishment of our Disobedience and the loss of our Interest in the Rewards of Vertue in the Joys of Heaven And though the nature and affections the manner of the reception and conveyance of these Felicities are impossible in our present State to be understood distinctly as it is fabulously reported of the Ghost of S. Jerom that it appeared to S. Austin writing a Tract of the fullness of joy in Heaven and asked him if he could measure the Waters in his Fist or meet out the Heaven with a Span Yet this we know in general that it consists in the absence of all Evil tears shall be wiped away from all Faces Is 25.8 1 Cor. 15.54 no forbidden fruit shall be there to tempt us no adversaries to assault us no impetuous desires to molest us and in the affluence of all good Whatsoever is contained in Abraham's bosom Luk. 16. Jo. 14.2 Ps 16.11 2 Cor. 4.17 1 Cor. 2.9 in the house of our Father in fulness of Joy in eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can the heart of man conceive is the felicity of that blessed State Our understanding shall be perfected in a clear discovery of the most excellent glory and loveliness of God for we shall see him as he is 1 Jo. 3.2 We shall then discern the beauty of his Holiness the brightness of his Understanding and the largeness of his Love And because the Soul in all its capacities of life and action in judgment choice desire and love is absolutely govern'd by the understanding Therefore our knowledge our sense of the Divine Perfections Rom. 8.29 Phil. 1.21 shall of necessity transform us into the same Nature quicken us into the same life and invest us in the joy of our Lord in the same felicities with himself Our Wills shall be perfect with indefective holiness our Affections shall be unalterably fixed and ravished with the ever-fresh and inexhaustible Treasures of his Beauty In a word our souls shall be struck with such a powerful sense of his unspeakable glory his Image shall be so deeply impress'd upon our minds that our selves shall be changed into the likeness of his excellency and entertain'd with the pleasures of his life These are the glorious possibilities of the soul the very privation thereof or to be thrust from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power without the punishment of pain is more than enough to be contained in losing the Soul though a thousand worlds were to be set against it Yet even this is not all for the sanction condemns the disobedient to the punishment of pain as well as to the punishment of loss A guilty Conscience consummated with wretched horror and despair shall be his Portition He shall be cast into outer darkness Rev. 21.8 Mar. 9.43 Mat. 8.11 Rom. 2.9 Mat. 5.26 Luk. 13.28 where he shall be sure to find whatsoever is contained in the vengeance of an Omnipotent God who is a consuming fire And thus I have impartially stated both the Nature and the Value first of the world then of the Soul I proceed therefore as I propos'd in the last place 3. To compare these Interests together by the most infallible Rules and Tests of worth that from thence it
may appear how contemptible an interest he has espoused who to gain the world shall lose his Soul And amongst those many reasons of difference which might be found I shall only select a few which seem to be the most considerable And 1. I shall compare them with respect to certainty 2. With respect to Fulness or Satisfaction of the Will 3. With reference to Duration And there is no man but will readily acknowledge that a certain full and everlasting good is incomparably preferable to a contingent empty transient interest 1. But first the interest of the World is casual and uncertain And if as great success in our pursuit as can be feigned if the gain of the whole world be no advantage to him who shall lose his Soul as the Text supposes how much more unreasonable is it to prefer this interest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. in Ep. considering the continual Flux the fugitive nature of temporal things He who pursues an interest out of his own power courts unhappiness says Seneca But our success in the pursuit of the world depends upon a train of Circumstances Epist 63. which we may dispose and order in our thoughts but not command For if we were wise enough as but few are to lay our designs subtilly to dispose Instruments aptly to foresee accurately to mind our business and govern our passions strictly yet the Wisest often find their Purposes defeated some Links of the Chain are broken Quod quisque vitet nunquam homini satis Cautum est in horas Hor. Because our condition is so dependent that there is nothing brought to pass but by the assistance and meditation of others by time and by things without our power Where then there are so many free agents pursuing their respective private interests as it were in a tacit conflict one upon another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar. in Ep. there must be cross events and disappointments This contrariety therefore of Will the deceits of Correspondents publick Calamities and personal Follies render our success in the world uncertain in the nature of the thing besides the over-ruling Providence of God who causes all Designs and Interests to serve the Ends of his Alwise Councils valet ima summis Mutare insignem attenuat Deus He puts down the mighty from their seat and exalts the humble and meek But whosoever pursues the favour of God and the Salvation of his Soul may with Reverence be certain of obtaining it Because the means and instruments are all within between our selves and God alone No cross conjunction of unforeseen Accidents can impede our progress Deliberate Choice and firm Resolution are infallible securities of success But liberty of choice is essential to our Nature Force in any sense is Necessity and therefore a contradiction to a reasonable Creature It is a scandal to Religion and the Humane Nature to suppose it impossible to Chuse the good 1 Cor. 7.34 and Refuse the Evil. Boeth de Cons Vertue is the life the pleasure Amat sapit recte facit animo quando obsequitur suo Isoc a Socr. the rectitude of the Soul who then but the wicked who want Apology can think it impossible to attain the perfection of our being especially considering the great assistances which God so freely offers to those who are sincere and willing to pursue this interest That his holy spirit shall encourage our endeavours Jo. 14. and assist our weakness Jer. 32.39 that he will give us an heart of Flesh Ez. 11.19 and cause us to walk in his ways And what shall we not do through the power of God that strengthens us That 's the first 2. The world if we could obtain it is empty and unsatisfying allayed with vexations and uneasie cares but the favour of God and the rewards of Heaven are such an unmixt and perfect good as being once obtained we can desire no more The formal reason of good is satisfaction and of evil desire unsatisfied But the disproportion is so great between the world and our innate desires of perfect happiness that it is impossible it should fill them For the world is confin'd by the Wisdom of God and fitted only for the Service of our Earthly limited inferiour faculties and is therefore inadaequate both in Nature and measure to the vast capacities to the unbounded appetites of the mind Whosoever then shall fix his happiness in the Possessions of the world expects more form it than it can perform and shall therefore be sure to be for ever followed with cross events and new desires Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops nec sitim pellit nisi causa morbi fugerit venis Hor. For sick and unnatural appetites are infinite Indulgence in the Dropsie doth but inflame the thirst the disease is within and the desire insatiable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatsoever the change of Fortune or Life may be they can never remove the vexations of the mind Plut. de Tranq which arise from false Opinion says Plutarch The Star is lost we steer an unknown course and sail in an immense Sea of wild and extravagant desire All this is natural and necessary But besides the disproportion between the Object and the Faculty we our selves create vexation to our selves Our inordinate love of the World betrays us into fears and jealousies and fills us with envy and ambition which cause us to judge of things not as they are in their own nature but with respect to others and so removes our happiness yet farther out of our own power as Plutarch writes of Themistocles In vita Theâ—â—ist that he raved and walk'd about the Streets at midnight vexed and tormented with the triumph of Meltiades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inordinate desire hinders even that imperfect satisfaction de tranq which might otherwise be found in the Object we pursue as the same Author observes Perfect happiness then or full content is not to be found in the Enjoyments of the world Nec gemmis nec purpura venale nec auro Hor. What shall we say then I man alone design'd by God to be the sport the mock of Nature Are we the only Creatures which were made for ever to pursue but never obtain our happiness No surely Ps 63.3 Ps 16. 1 Pet. 1.8 Rom. 14.17 Thou hast made us O Lord for thy self and our Soul is unsatisfied till it rests in thee Thy favour is better than Life and at thy right hand there is fulness of Joy and Pleasure In a word whosoever by Vertue and Obedience shall obtain the Rewards of Heaven and the Love of God are under a full enjoyment a compleat Possession of abosolute perfect and unlimited goodness For passionate Fondness is infirmity and therefore incompetent to the Love of God or the perfection of the Attribute which consists in the most substantial effects and operations not only in shining upon us but in making us luminous with his