The vanity of the lives and passions of men.: Written by D. Papillon, Gent.

CHAP. VIII.

Of the vanity of the passion of desire.

AS the billows of the Sea rowl one after another till they break themselves into fome against the clifts or rocks of the adjacent shores; even so the desires of men drive away one an∣other till they vanish away into the smok, because the objects of their desires are for the greater part but vanity; for not one man of a thousand doth fix his desires upon the right object, that can satisfie his desires, and fill his heart with joy and

content; and although mens desires be as free as their thoughts; for the greatest Tyrants have no power over them, yet there is an Eagle eye above, who sear∣cheth the reins, that knows their desires as well as their thoughts. Men should therefore be very cautious in their de∣sires, sith they proceed from the concu∣piscible appetite, and are properly called Cupidity, and in plain English Cove∣teousness; and how dangerous it is to de∣sire or covet any thing prohibited in the Law of God, I leave it to the judgment of the Reader; sith in the Interpretation of our blessed Saviour, who was the best Interpretor of the Law that ever was up∣on earth, He that coveteth a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adul∣tery with her. If evil desires then be so cri∣minal, men should be very wary how they fix their desires, for they have a hand in all their passions, either to fur∣nish them with weapons, or with strength to afflict them. And among all the rest of the passions, there is not any which hath more branches, proceeding from one and the same root then this passion of Desire; for if all the desires of men were limited by their objects, the number of passions

proceeding from the general passion of Desire would be as numerous as a Swarm of Bees. I have already spoken of three of its branches, viz. first, Of the desire of worldly honors: secondly, of the de∣sire of worldly riches: thirdly, Of the desire of worldly pleasures: the first be∣ing the passion of Ambition; the second, the passion of Av••rice; the third the pas∣sion of Volupty: And now I shall speak of the fourth branch, called Cupidity, which is of greater concernment then any; and therefore give me leave, for the better description of it, to speak of these particulars in order.

• 1. Of the definition of mens desires.
• 2. Of the two essential causes of them.
• 3. Of their effects and proprieties.
• 4. Of the comfort that proceeds from the spiritual desires.

First, All the desires of men may be reduced to these two heads or comprised under Necessary, and Superfluous: The Necessary are limited, but the Superfluous have no bounds, because they cannot be numbred: And this is the most approved definition of mens desires: Desire is no∣thing else but a passion that men have to at∣tain to some good which they possess not,

which they conceive to be convenient for them; And not withstanding mens desires are commonly fixed upon objects that seem good, but are really evil, because the Senses delude their Imagination, and often-times their Reasion and Judgment: Now the passion of D••sire differs not onely from the passion of Love, but also from the passion of Delight, because Love is the first motion or passion that in∣tice 〈◊〉〈◊〉 to prosecute the good, whe∣ther it be present or absent; but the d••sire is a passion that enduceth men to prosecute the good that is absent; and the passion of Delight is onely a sweet content of the possession of the good, after men have obtained the same. Senault saith. That the passion of Desire is nothing else but the motion of the soul towards a good which she already loveth, but doth not as yet possess; whereby it appears, that mens desires are ordinarily fixed upon uncer∣tainties, and that is the reason why I said formerly, they often vanish into smoke.

Secondly, The two most essential cau∣ses of mens Desires, is their Impotency, and Discontentedness: for God who is Omnipotent hath no Desires, and in the fruition of his blessed and glorious pre∣sence

is the end of mens desires: And sup∣pose he had desires, yet the end of them would be his own incomprehensible Beauty and Goodness: If God doth but Will, he hath the injoyment of his De∣sire, as it is apparent ina Genesis, And God said, or God willed, Let there be light, and there was light. But it is not so with the greatest Monarchs in the world, for through their impotency, they are infor∣ced to desire, and their wishes and desires all are oftentimes rejected by him who is alsufficient to grant them the injoyment of their desires: Alexander the Great was the greatest Monarch upon earth, and yet his wishes and desires, nay the prayers he made to his Idols, or imaginary gods, for the recovery of his dear and beloved Ephestion were rejected, and these desires did manifest his impotency. Augustus Ce∣sar was the greatest Monarch in the world, he wished and desired, that the overthrow given to his Legions in Germany might be vindicated, and out of impatiency of the performance of his desire, he often like a mad man stamped with his feet upon the ground, Crying out, Varro, Varro, give me my Legions again; and yet in his life time he did never obtain his desire: It

appears then that the impotency of men in the most eminent, is a cause of their desires: secondly, the discontentedness of men in their Station and Calling, is the cause of many fond desires, for there is not one of a hundred that is contented with his condition, because there are but few Diogenes in these days that are contented with a Tub to keep them free from the injuries of the air, or with a wooden-bowl to take their meat and drink, or refuse as he did the great offers of such a Prince as Alexander was; for being demanded by Alexander as he sat in the Sun, what he did desire he should do for him, Nothing, said he, but that you should go out of my Sun, because he shaded him from the Sun in a cold day. But their discontentedness breeds in them swarms of desires, and makes them build Castles in the air; and yet is daily seen that our own wishes and desires, and the wishes and desires of our intimate friends do most commonly prove fatal unto us.

Thirdly, The proprieties and effects of mens desires change according to the good and evil nature of their objects, and of their moderation, or distemper; for the necessary desires of men, who are for the

greater part harmless and innocent, be∣come vicious if they be violent and irre∣gular, which makes mens condition to be worse then that of the unreasonable creatures, for they have also natural and necessary desires, or rather natural incli∣nations as well as men, but they are mo∣derate in the greatest part; for the Oxen, Horses, and Sheep have a natural and ne∣cessary desire to their food; but when they have grased sufficiently to satisfie their hunger, they lye down and rest themselves, bounding their desires with that measure and quantity of food as doth satisfie Nature: but men whom God hath indued with Reason, whereby they might better then they, moderate their desires, give them neither bounds nor li∣mits, many of them eating and drink∣ing more then will suffice Nature, and by their exorbitant distemper, are oftentimes inforced (to ease Nature) to vomit up what they have eaten and drunk: Like∣wise the brute creatures are satisfied with the clothing that Nature hath bestowed on them; the beast of the field with their Wooll or Hair, and the fowls of the air with their Feathers, but men are not con∣tented with their natural skins, nor with

woollen Cloth to keep them from cold, and from the injuries of the Meteors of the air, but their desires long after vain and superfluous garments of silk, and cloth of Silver and Gold, although the Indians are as healthful that go naked, as they who go gorgeously apparalled: and Montagnes records, That a French Begger, went for many years together stark naked through the streets of Paris, having onely a linnen cloth before his privy members, and when out of pity men gave him their old apparel, he sold them away, and said that Custom made him prefer the clothing that Nature had given him to all other. Moreover, the Foxes and Conies are contented with their holes, the Tvgers and Lyons with their dens, and the Sheep, Horses, and horned Beasts with the shelter of Bushes and Hedges; but men are not contented now adays with Cabins made of Boughs, of Reeds, or Flags, as many of the Indians are, or with thatched Houses as their forefathers were, but they must have Palaces, and stately Houses of a most exquisite and ex∣cellent Structure: And these and many other like things do multiply their de∣sires, and do vex and disquiet their minds

in these very things which should be free from vanity: but one of the c••••efest pro∣prieties of the superfluous desires, is, That they are insatiable, and harder to be satisfied, saith Salomon, then the Horsleech, the Grave, the Barren Womb, the Earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that saith not, it is enough: and daily experience doth shew, that if one desire be obtained, that seven will succeed in his place, and that they are properly the Hydras heads, who the Poets feign, that when one was cut off seven came in its stead; even so, the greater success men have in their desires, the more they multiply them; for the quintessence of all the most excellent creatures under the Sun cannot satisfie the desires and cupidity of men. Alexander the Great having conquered the greater part of the world, did inquire if there were any more worlds then one, his ambitious Cupidity being not satisfied with the conquest of this world, but aspired to the conquest of another. And Cesar having conquered the lower Asia, Africa, and Europe in three years, his desire was not satisfied, but aspired to conquer also the Hyrcanians and Parthians inhabiting in the furthest parts of the upper Asia: So insa∣tiable

are the desires of glory. Likewise Cresus the King of Lydia had heaped up unparallel'd treasures, yet could not they satisfie the Cupidity of his desires to in∣crease his riches, but he undertook a war against Cyrus to augment them by the conquest of Jonia, the richest Province that was then in Asia: but this desire pro∣ved fatal unto him, for he lost his own Kingdom, and all his treasures, and had lost his life, without the mercy and cle∣mency of Cyrus. Cresus also was the rich∣est man that ever was at Rome, and yet his wealth could not satisfie his Cupidity, but longing still after more, he lost his life in the prosecution of the increase of them: neither can carnal pleasures satis∣fie the lascivious desires of men, as it doth appear in the effeminate lives of Sardana∣palus, Tilegnius, Nero, and Heliogabalus, but rather cast them into the abhorred delights against Nature, and from ratio∣nal men, makes them become more bru∣tish then beasts. Another propriety of mens superfluous desires, is, that they are swifter, and more inconstant then the windes, for they have the same agility as the thoughts, who are here and there at an instant by the working of the imagina∣tion,

and more fickle in the prosecution of their objects then the winds, for one ob∣ject be it never so beautiful or pleasant, cannot detain them long, but it becomes distastful and odious unto them, and by this they are inticed to seek after another, which they suppose to be more excellent then the former, when it is oftentimes more deformed, and of less worth, be∣cause mens desires delight most in Novel∣ties, and variety of changes. The next propriety of mens desires is their Extrava∣gancy, being rather guided by Fansie, then by Reason, for they desire commonly such things as are most opposite, and con∣trary to their own good, and the welfare of their souls and bodies; for in their diet they love and desire to eat of such things as are most contrary to the preservation of their health; & in their actions they desire, and take more delight in those which are more opposite to the salvation of their souls, their desires being more violent af∣ter the pleasures of the flesh, then zealous or fervent after the ways of a godly life; so that mens desires and inclinations are ever more addicted, and fixed upon the evill then upon the good, except the na∣ture and propriety of them be changed

by divine Grace. As for the effects of mens desires, they are, as I have said before, Good of Evil, according to their objects; but sith it hath been pro∣ved that they are commonly fixed upon evil objects, their effects must of necessity be rather evil then good: If the honors of this world be their object, the fruits and effects of Adhbition is the desolation of Kingdoms, the shedding of innocent blood, and the miseries that follow civil and intestine wars: If their object be the riches of this world, their effects are carking cares, moiling and toyling, and vexation of minde in their acquisition, and fears and apprehensions in their keeping, and grief and sorrow in the losing of them. If the pleasures of this world be their object, the effects wil be the wasting of their means, the impairing of their health, and the indangering of their souls. But if the object of their desires be the glory of God, then their effects will be comfort in this life, and eternal bliss in the life to come; So that upon the good or bad election of the objects of mens de∣sires, depends their happiness or woe in this life, and their torment or glory in the life to come: It behoveth men therefore

to be wary upon what objects they fix their desires, sith there is not any thing under the Sun that can satisfy them; for if all the excellency of the creatures were abstracted into one, yet it could not sa∣tisfy the desires of men, sich their soul is a spark of the divine essence that can ne∣ver be free of the anxiety and perturbati∣ons of minde, that proceed from the in∣constancy, and restlesness of mens desires, till by grace it doth injoy the sight of the glorious presence of God, the original Spring of it, who is the fulness and per∣fection of all bliss, for that object onely can satisfy the wishes and desires of their souls.

Fourthly, The comforts that Christians may receive in this life of their godly de∣sires are many, as it shall appear when I have perswaded them to indevor to ba∣nish from their minde the swarms of vain desires, that disquiet the tranquillity of their souls, which may be done by these means: first, To hate and abhor all car∣nal desires, for as long as they have a pre∣dominancy in their souls, it is impossible for them to have a feeling of the com∣forts proceeding from the spiritual de∣sires: for the flesh having the mastery

over the spirit, it keeps these effects under hatches. But if men desire the sear of God, and prefer his Statutes and Judg∣ments before the refined gold, and hold them sweeter then hony, or the hony comb, they will by degrees obtain the dominion over their carnal desires: The second means is to indevor to obtain a contented minde, for discontentedness is the cause of the extravagancy of mens desires, But godlinessa with contentment, saith St. Paul, is great gain; for the daily discontent of men makes them desire they know not what; but when they are con∣tented with their estate and condition in this life, their desires aspire higher, and endeavor to attain to the supream good, as the onely object of mens desires. The third means is to purifie their hearts; for as clean and pure streams cannot proceed from a foul and muddy Spring, even so it is impossible that godly desires should spring from the hearts of men except they be purified and sanctified by the Spirit of God; for as our blessed Saviour saith,b Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, &c. and these are the effects of mens desires, whose hearts are not purified by grace,

because the Concupiscible appetite re∣sides in the heart; and this appetite is the spring or root of all the desires of men. The fourth means is for men to set a watchful Centry over their eyes; for by the eye men perceive the objects, and the objects are the moving cause of mens de∣sires and Cupidities: by the eye King David saw the beauty ofc Bathshebah, by which he was tempted to lust. Therefore men must make a covenant with their eyes as Job did,d for they are the windows whereby mens lascivious desires are con∣veied into their hearts, and by these means, and the free grace of God, men will be able to keep their desires within the limits prescribed in his Word, from which wil proceede; first, A true and real contentment of minde, which cannot be obtained as long as their vain desires do interrupt the peace of their souls; for being freed of their extravagant desires of Cupidity, They may, as St. Paul saith, be contented with that they have, sithe God hath promised that he will never leave nor forsake them: secondly, An unspeak∣able inward joy: for being free from the continuall vexation proceeding from the irregularity of their desires, whereby they

have more liberty to beat the ways of righteousness, and make theirf calling and election sure, from which they were di∣stracted by their worldly desires: thirdly, A far greater consolation, by the familiar communion they will have with their gracious God, then they had before, At whose right hand, saith the Prophet David,g there are pleasures for evermore: fourthly, A fervent desire to walk in the ways of righteousnes, and to seek the Lord in the night, and in the morning, as the Prophet Isaiah saith,h With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: fifthly, A certain assurance that their desires shall be granted, sith they have banished their former vain, and extravagant desires, as Salomon saith,i The fear of the wicked shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous shall be granted: sixthly; A hunger and thirst after righteousness, whereby they shall be in love with all righteous duties, and be induced tok meditate day and night in the Law of God; and by their constant habit in the ways of true piety, they shal be made partakers of this blessing of our blessed, Saviourl Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they

shall be filled, viz. with incredible joy, and unspeakable comfort. It is then apparent that worldly desires are but meere vani∣ty and vexation of spirit, and that there is no true comfort but in the Spiritual, &c.

Notes

• Senault in his use of passions, pag. 273.
• The Bishop of Marsulles pag. 206.
• The defini∣tion f••nens desires.
• See Senault, pag. 27.
• The impo∣tency of men, is a cause of their de∣sires.
• a

  Gen. 1.3.
• See Plutarch in A••••ran∣ders lite.
• See Suetoni∣us in Augu∣stus life.
• The discon∣tentedness of men is a cause of their desires.
• See Plutarch in his Mo∣rals.
• The propri∣ety of natu∣ral desires.
• See Mon∣tagnes Essais.
• How mens desires are multiplied.
• Pro. 3.16.
• The proper∣ties of the superfluous desires of men.
• 1. Of their Insatiable∣ness.
• 2. That ho∣nor, riches, nor pleasures can satisfy mens desires.
• 3. Of the swiftness and inconstancy of mens de∣sires.
• 4. The ex∣travagancy of mens de∣sires.
• The effects of mens de∣sires.
• The fruition of Gods pre∣sence, is the onely object that can sa∣tisfy the de∣sires of men.
• Allusion up∣on the 19. Psalm. ver. 9, 10.
• a

  1 Tim. 6.6.
• Four means to contain mens desires within their limits.
• b

  Matth 15.19.
• c

  2 Sam. 11. ver. 2.
• d

  Job 31.1.
• Six comforts proceeding from the spi∣ritual desires of men.
• e

  Heb. 13.5.
• f

  2 Pet. 1.10.
• g

  Psal. 16.11.
• h

  Isa. 26.9.
• i

  Pro. 10.24.
• k

  Psal. 1.2.
• l

  Matth. 5 6.