Secondly, Thou wrongest thy brother, as thou sinnest against the law of love, which obligeth thee to rejoice in his good as thy own, yea, to prefer him in honour before thyself. Thou canst not love and envy the same person ; envy is as contrary to love, as the hectical feverish fire in the body is to the kindly heat of nature. ' Charity envieth not,' 1 Cor. xiii. How can it, when it lives where it loves ? and when thou ceasest to love, thou beginnest to hate and kill him ; and dost not thou tremble to be found a murderer at last?
Thirdly, Thou consultest worst of all for thyself. God is out of thy reach ; what thou spittest against heaven, thou art sure to have fall on thy own face at last ; and thy brother whom thou enviest, God stands boimd to defend him against th\' envy, because he is maligned for what he hath of God in him. Thus did (Jod plead Joseph's cause against his envious brethren, and David's against wicked Saul. Thyself only hast real hurt.
First, Thou deprivest thyself of what thou mightcst reap from the gifts of others. That old saying is true, Tol/e invidiam, mea tua sunt, et tiia mea : ' What thou hast is mine, and what I have thine, when envy is gone.' Whereas now, like the leech (which they say draws out the worst blood) thou suckest nothing but what swells thy mind with discontent, and is after vomited out in strife and contention. O what a sad thing it is,, that one should go ft-om a precious sermon, a sweet prayer, and bring nothing away but a grudge against the instrument God used, as we see in the Pharisees and others at Christ's preaching.
Secondly, Thou robbest thyself of the joy of thy life : ' He that is cruel, troubles his own flesh,' Prov. xi. 17. The envious man doth it to purpose; he sticks the honour and esteem of others as thorns in his own heart ; he cannot think of them without pain and anguish, and he must needs pine that is ever in pain.
Thirdly, Thou throwest thyself into the mouth of temptation ; thou needest give the devil no greater advantage ; it is a stock any sin almost will grow upon. What will not the patriarchs do to rid their hands of Joseph, whom they envied? That very pride which made them disdain the thought of bowing to his sheaf, made them stoop far lower, even to debase themselves as low as hell, and be the devil's instruments to sell their dear brother into slavery, which might have been worse to him (if God had not provided otherwise) than if they had slain him on the place. What an impotent and cruel mind did Saul shew against David, when once envy had envenomed his heart? From that day on which he heard David prcfen-ed in tlie women's songs above himself, he could never get that sound out of his head, but did ever devote this innocent man to death in his thoughts, who had done him no other wrong but in l)cing an instrument to keep the crown on his head, by the hazard of his own life with Goliath. O it is a bloody sin ; it is the womb wherein a whole litter of other sins are formed! Rom. i. 29, ' Full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity,' &c.; and there- fore, except you be resolved to bid the devil welcome, and his whole train, resist him in this, that comes before to take up cpiarters for the rest.
CHAPTER X-.
OF PRIDE OF GRACE.
Secondly, Pride of grace. This is another way Satan assaults the Christian. It is true, grace cannot be proud, yet it is possible a saint may be proud of his grace ; there is nothing the Christian hath (u- doth, but this worm of pride will breed in it. The world we live in is corniptil)le, and all here is subject to j)utrify, as things kept in a rafty, muggish room are sidoject to mould. It is not the nature of grace, but the salt of the covenant that keeps and preserves the purity of it ; in heaven indeed we shall be safe. But how can a saint be said to be proud of his grace? Then a soul is proud of his grace when he trusts in his grace. Trust and confidence is an inconnnunicable flower of (rod's crown, as sovereign Lord ; even among men it goes along with royalty. Set up a king, and as such
1^2 AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS.