A10663:435
A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soul of man With the…A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man With the…
A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soul of man With the several dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. By Edward Reynolds, late preacher to the honourable society of Lincoln's Inn: and now rector of the Church of Braunston in Northamptonshire.A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man With the severall dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. By Edvvard Reynoldes, late preacher to the honorable society of Lincoln's Inne: and now rector of the Church of Braunston in Northamptonshire.
London: printed by R. Hearne and John Norton for Robert Bostock, 1640
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, unbounded Desires do work Anxiety and Perturbation of Mind; and by that means disappoint Nature of that proper end which this Passion was ordained unto; namely, to be a means of obtaining some further good; whereas those ⟨p. 193⟩Desires which are in their executions Turbid, or in their continuance Permanent, are no more likely to lead unto some farther end, than either a misty and dark, or a winding and circular way is to bring a Man at last unto his journeys end; whereof the one is dangerous, the other vain. And together with this they do distract our noble Cares, and quite avert our thoughts from more high and holy desires. Martha her Many things, and Mary's One thing will very hardly consist together.
Secondly, unbounded Desires doe worke Anxiety and Perturbation of Minde; and by that means disappoint Nature of that proper end which this Passion was ordained unto; namely, to be a means of obtaining some further good; whereas those ⟨p. 193⟩Desires which are in their executions Turbid, or in their continuance Permanent, are no more likely to lead unto some farther end, than either a misty and darke, or a winding and circular way is to bring a Man at last unto his journeyes end; whereof the one is dangerous, the other vaine. And together with this they doe distract our noble Cares, and quite avert our thoughts from more high and holy desires. Martha her Many things, and Maries One thing will very hardly consist together.
Lastly, there is one Corruption more in these unlimited Desires, they make a man unthankful for1 former benefits: as first, because Caduca memoria f•turo imminentium. It is a strong presumption that he seldom looks back upon what is past, who is earnest in pursuing some thing to come. It is S. Pauls Profession and Argument in a matter of greater consequence, I forget those things which are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before. And secondly, though a man should look back; yet the thoughts of such a benefit would be but sleight and vanishing, because the Mind finding present content in the liberty of a roving Desire, is marvellous unwilling to give permanent entertainment unto thoughts of another Nature, which likewise (were they entertained) would be rather thoughts of murmuring than of thankful fullness: every such man being willing rather to conceive the benefit small, than to acknowledge the vice and vastness of his own Desires.