Timothy Dwight, one of Jonathan Edwards’ grandsons, pronounced a brutal verdict on what men want most:
No passion of the human mind is stronger than this. After it has been sufficiently indulged, it becomes so habitual that it occupies all the energy of the soul — or perhaps more accurately, it becomes all the energy of the soul, transforming all of the soul’s faculties and all its efforts into servants of its own selfish purposes. In such cases, the soul is changed into a mere mass of ambition; and nothing in heaven, or in earth, is valued except to the extent that it can serve this master ambition…There is no excess, no length to which this passion will not go. There is no authority of God or man against which it will not rebel; no law which it will not violate; no obligation which it will not neglect; no pure motive which it will not overcome. There is no other form of wickedness that can become more intense, nor its plans more vast, nor its obstinacy more enduring, nor its destruction more extensive, or more dreadful than the love of distinction.
Again, this was by Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College in the late 1700s to early 1800s, from his sermon “On the Love of Distinction” (paraphrased by Lou Priolo, People Pleasing, p.17), with emphasis added.
I found the quote while leafing through Priolo’s book after preaching on the fear of man and how it is rooted in pride and self-worship. First, I wish I would have discovered the quote before my message, and second, I pray that God would make what I want most to be love of His distinction, especially since Jesus made clear that religious pretense deserves greater condemnation.
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Man, that’s news as old as the Earth. Go back even to c.700BC… when Homer tells of Odysseus passing by the island of the Sirens strapped to his bow begging to be let loose; what was it that they tempted him with? Pleasure? Riches? Long life? Nope - Honor and Distinction - to hear them sing songs in praise of his glory, his honor, and his wondrous acts. That was a greater temptation for the hero than anything else that had tried to stall him on his journey home.
(Wish I had my Fitzgerald translation…) “Hither, come hither, renowned Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans, here stay thy barque, that thou mayest listen to the voice of us twain. For none hath ever driven by this way in his black ship, till he hath heard from our lips the voice sweet as the honeycomb, and hath had joy thereof and gone on his way the wiser. For lo, we know all things, all the travail that in wide Troy-land the Argives and Trojans bare by the gods’ designs, yea, and we know all that shall hereafter be upon the fruitful earth.”
Ummm, that’s really weird. Not only was I too thinking about Homer and Odysseus and Sirens Island, I was also wishing you had your Fitzgerald translation. Talk about coincidence.
Too weird. It’s not a very exact translation, but it turns out that when we’re not talking about the Word of God, I sometimes prefer what makes good reading rather than the “perfect” translation. So, just for us then…
This way, oh turn your bows, Akhaia’s glory, As all the world allows - Moor and be merry.
Sweet coupled airs we sing. No lonely seafarer Holds clear of entering Our green mirror.
Pleased by each purling note Like honey twining From her throat and my throat, Who lies a-pining?
Sea rovers here take joy Voyaging onward, As from our song of Troy Greybeard and rower-boy Goeth more learned.
All feats on that great field In the long warfare, Dark days the bright gods willed, Wounds you bore there,
Argo’s old soldiery On Troy beach teeming, Charmed out of time we see. No life on earth can be Hid from our dreaming.
Trinian, I’m sorry that skh hasn’t responded to your last comment yet. He’s very busy working on his own Fitzgerald based translation of Homer. I’m sure he’ll be wrapping that up shortly to get back to you…
Nice try, we all know he’s busy tweaking his new Facebook account.