100 An Expofition of the Epi.JUe ~ The fidl: whereof is this : That thefe Lu!l:s do vary, according as Mens natu– ~ ral Tempers, or their Under!l:andmgs, and the degrees thereof, are more or lefS. In Men of Under!l:andmg, Lu!l:s of the Mmd prevail mo!l:; and in Fools, fen' fual Pleafures, in Meat andDnnk, and the hke, and m the natural Comforts of the Body. Andthey are d!Verfified thus, accordmg as the natural_ con(\itution, or natural elevation of the Spmts of Men are, accordmg to the vanous elevation or advancement of the Under!l:anding ; for Man being a rational Creature and Reafon being the chief Principle in him, he ufeth that little Under!l:andi~g he bath, to find out what will fuit him moft, what he can have deare!l: contentment ' in, and accordingly he pitcheth upon, and profecuteth by Nature that. Tho a Man hath all Lufls in him, yet he profecuteth thofe things with the dearefl con– tentment, which that poor fmall Underflanding he hath, counteth mofl excellent. Hence therefore, according to the variation of Men's Underflandings, it comes to pafs, that their Lufls are ordinarily pitc,)led higher or lower. In worldly Ob– jects, there is a gr~at deal of differem;e in the excellency of them. Some are more abflracred from the grofs. fub!l:ance of things, (as I may fo fpeak) ; fome are more fpmtQal, and more auy. And as you fee among living Creatures, rhere are Come that hve upo:t a finer kmd of Food than others; Birds, you know, live upon a finer kmd of Food, than Bea!l:s; and there is one Bird, the Cat;Je/ioH, that lives, as Come lay, meerly upon Air: So the Spirits of Men, the more airy and intellectual they are, the finer is that Food that nourillieth their lu!l:s. Therefore your great Philofophers of old, that were wife Men, pitched upon moral Vertues, and upon Civility, and placed their happinefs in them; and thei.r Wifdom was fo firong in them, that even thatdid judg meer fenfual Pleafur~s to defile the Soul, which they apprehended to be the moll: noble of Creatures and out ofthe greatnefs of their Spirits, they would not !l:oop to what was bafe~ they thought it moll: unfit, for an elevated Soul to ferve any Creature ]efs than it fclf: but as for Virtue, and Morality, and the like, they thought that thefe were meet for the Underfianding and Soul of a Man : Yet becaufe they took not God in thefe things, hence it came to pafs, that all thefe were lufls, tho lufis of the Mind, as I lliewed you likewife the !all: Difcourfe. So likewife thofe among the Jews, that were raifed higher than the Heathens, accordingly the lulls of their Minds were raifed higher alfo. The Zeal that Pa,l had for the Law, it was a·lufl of the Mind, for it was without God: They have a Z eal, but 11ot according tokpowledg, faith he, Rom/ 10. 2. without a direl.'cing of it to God, as the chiefe!l: end. And this alfq I underfland to be part of the l;lleaning of that Elace, (which is pat and exprefs for this,) in I Pet. I. 14- where writing to the Jews, he bids them, that they lhould not f.llliion themfelve~ according to their former lufts in their ignorance; and among other Arguments he hath this, "'<· 18. Forafomch os ye ~now, that ;e were not redeemed with corruptible things, from )IJJ{P "1/ai"-,Converfttion,. received by_tr~djtio .. IZ from ;ou~ Fathers. Th~t Jewilli Rel_igion, whtch they !l:uck m, and whtch they bad recewed by tradmon from thetr Fa– tbers;·even this was one part of die Object of tho(<; former luft1 in their igno– rance, according to which he bids them, v. I4. not to falliion thep1felves. And tbus likewife experience lliews,this to be true ; for you !hall. find, that as Men grow )lP in years, and fo grow·up in Wifdom, accordingly their lu!l:s vary; as they grow more wife, fo they live more intellel.'cual Lives, and grow up more to lufts of the Mind : Therefore Covetoufnefs, which is plainly a luft ofthe Mind, prevails mofl in old Age; whereas Prodigality, which ts a luft,of the Fancy, pre– vails in Youth more: why ? becaufe Men grow wifer. Lufts therefore arc va– ried in Men, according as their Underflandings grow higher or lower. . The fecond thing that I lliall fay unto you is this: That of the two, the Jufts of the Mind are the llrongeft in Men, and they are the greateft. They ar;e the !l:rongeft lu~s, for they have the greateft compafs. If a Man confine himfelf t\) fcnfual pleaft1rcs, he bath a gre~ter Narro~ ; _ !;>u,t if to lufts of the Mind, Pride, and the like, he bath a larger Fteld t@ run m ; for defire ofCredit, and the hke, anfeth fi·om a thouland things, out of all forts of excellenctes, of what kmd'fo, ever: And fuch lufls now a Man feeks continually to upold. Men are given to fcnfuallulls occafionally, but thefe ]ufls of. the Mind, they act the great paMe~;
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