A treatise of original sin ... proving that it is

¶. 4.

The Corruption of the Will in its Act of Fruition.

The next Act is that which is called Fruition; An operation (you heard) of the will, when it doth possess a thing, as its ultimate end, end resting in it, as a centre, and desiring no further; For as the stone cannot of it self hang in the air, but must descend to the earth, and there it resteth: So the will of man moveth up and down in a restless manner, like Noah's Dove, till it find out an object wherein it doth acquiesce with fullness of content. Now there is no object that we may thus frui, enjoy ultimately, and for it self's sake, but God only. That distinction of frui and uti, to enjoy and use only, which Austin first excogitated, the Schoolmen are large upon; To enjoy a thing, is to have it for its self sake, referring it to no further end, for the Rule is, Appetitus finis, is infinitus, The soul never hath enough of that which it ultimately desireth, but yet desireth nothing else but that. As in Philosophy it is said, Materia semper appetit formam, the Matter doth constantly desire new forms in sublunary things; Hence is that frequent alteration, transmutation and generation, but in the heavenly bodies, the matter (they say) is satiated, desireth no other, because of the great activity and perfection of that form; Thus it is in moral things, the heart of a man, while carried out to any earthly thing, cannot meet with its complement and fullness of blessedness, and therefore like the Horseleech still crieth, Give, give, Sen caret optatis, seu fruitur miser est. It is a Sheol that is always craving, only when terminated upon God, because he is bonum quo nihil melius, there cannot be any good desirable, which is not transcendently in him; therefore the sanctified will doth enjoy him only: Thus David, Whom have I in heaven but thee, and none in earth in comparison of thee; In Heaven David had none but God, not Angels nor Arch-angels, Heaven would not be Heaven, if God were not enjoyed. Indeed Divines do commonly call the enjoyment of God in Heaven fruition, and that is immediate, complete and perfect fruition, but yet even in this life, believers partake of God, have communion with him, and do enjoy him.