1. How far carnal and unregenerate men desire happiness.
2. Why this is so little improved, and they make so little use of it. First, How far a carnal and unregenerate man may desire happi- ness ?
1. They may desire good confuse, non indefinite,'1 happiness in the general ; but this desire cometh under no deliberation and choice. The happiness that is offered by Christ, or that life and immortality that he bringeth to light, cometh under another consideration. Good, good, is the cry of the world. Certainly no man would be miserable, but all would be happy, and live at ease. Christians, pagans, all good men, bad men, they that seldom agree in anything, do all agree 1 Qu. ' having ' ?— Ed. 2 Qu. ' definite ' ?— Ed.
Vers. 11, 12.] sermons upon matthew xxv. 411
in this, they would have good. To ask men whether they would be happy or no, is to ask them whether they love themselves, yea or no.
2. They would not only have good in the general, but some eternal good. And because this is not so evident by nature, they grope and feel about for it, Acts xvii. 26. There is an unsatisfiedness l in present things, and therefore they are scrambling and feeling about for some better thing. As Solomon tried all experiments, so do men go about seeking for good, Eccles. vii. 29. Since we lost the straight line of God's direction, we seek it sometimes in one thing, sometimes in an- other ; and Christ saith, Mat. xiii. 45, 46, that the ' kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls ; and when he had found one pearl of good price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.' Man would have something contentful, that may be an everlasting ground of rejoicing to him.
3. As to true happiness and eternal good, when it is discovered to us, our inclinations to it are but weak and ineffectual. Without grace we discern it but weakly ; for there is a great mist upon eternity, and the light of nature being dim, cannot pierce through it, 2 Peter i. 9. As a spire at a distance, men see it so that they cannot know whether they see it, yea or nay; or as the blind man, when his eyes were first touched by Christ, he saw men walking like trees. Again we consider it but weakly, the mind being diverted by other objects. As when we see a man in a crowd, we can hardly take notice of him ; so men seldom retire to consider what God offereth them in Christ. When God promised Abraham the land of Canaan, he biddetli him go and view the length and the breadth of it, Gen. xiii. 14-17. So when he promiseth the kingdom of heaven, he doth in effect speak the same to us ; for certainly no man shall enter into that land of pro- mise but he that hath considered it, and well viewed it, and can lay aside his earthly distractions sometimes, to take a turn in the land of promise : but few do this ; few send their thoughts before them as spies into that blessed land, and therefore it worketli so little upon them. And we desire it but weakly ; the affections being prepossessed and pre-engaged by things that come next to hand, we conceive only a wish or a velleity for this happy estate, not a serious volition, or a firm bent of heart ; and therefore we pursue it but weakly, as children desire a thing passionately, but are soon put out of the humour : they do not pursue it with that earnestness, exactness, and uniformity, which is requisite : ' The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing/ Prov. xiii. 4, ' because his hands refuse to labour/ Prov. xxi. 25. So that this inclination to happiness is neither serious, nor con- stant, nor laborious : these desires are but desires.
4. If they like the end, they dislike the means. Our souls are more averse from the means than from the end. All agree in opinions and wishes about a supreme and immortal happiness ; yet there is a great discord in the way that leadeth to it, not so much in opinion as prac- tice. Men like not God's terms : Esau would have the blessing, yet sold the birthright, Heb. xii. 16, 17. Indeed in things natural we do not expect the end without the means ; but in things supernatural we do, and so by refusing the means, we do separate the end, Ps. cvi. 24.
1 Qu. ' unsatisfyingness ' ? — Ed.
412 SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [SeR. IX.
Heaven is a good place, but it is a hard matter to get thither ; so loath are we to be at the cost and pains: we desire happiness, not holiness. God doth promote those things we naturally desire ; but still that we submit to those things we are naturally against. Whatsoever maketh for ourselves we are naturally more willing of than what maketh for the honour of God : now if we will not submit to the one, we shall not have the other. We would .all be pardoned, and freed from the curse of the law, and the damnation of hell ; but we are unwilling to let go the profit and pleasure that we fancy in sin.