And strife in your hearts. — This is the usual effect of envy. And he saith ' in your hearts ; ' because, though it be managed with the tongue or hand, it is first contrived in the heart, and because this aggravateth the matter. Breaches may fall out between Christians in their converse besides intention ; but where they are affected and cherished, they are abominable.
Glory not ; that is, either of your Christianity, an evil so contrary to it being allowed, or of your zeal, it being so deeply culpable, or of any special wisdom and ability, as if able to reprove others ; this most probably. For the main bent of the discourse is against opinionative wisdom. You have no reason to boast of your wit and zeal in cen- suring or contention, as men are wont to do in such cases, unless you will glory in your own shame ; rather you have cause to be humbled, that you may get these vile affections mortified,
And lie not against the truth. — Some say by a carnal profession. Hypocrisy is a practical lie. Some speak lies, others do them : John iii. 21, ' He that doth the truth cometh to the light,' &c. Rather by false pretences of zeal and wisdom. It is a pleonasm usual in the apostle's writings: Eom. ix. 1, ' I say the truth in Christ, I lie not;' and 1 Jolin i. G, ' We lie, and do not the trutli.'
Out of tliis verse observe : —
Obs. 1. That envy is the mother of strife. They are often coupled : Rom. i. 2ii, ' Full of envying,' then followetli ' murder and debate.' So Rom. xiii. 13, 'Not in strife and envying;' 1 Cor. iii. 3, 'There is among you envying, strife, and factions ;' so 2 Cor. xii. 20, ' Envyings, wraths, strifes ;' and Gal. v. 20, ' Emulations, wraths, strifes, seditions.' These things being so solemnly coupled in scripture, intimate to us that envy is but a cockatrice egg, that soon bringeth forth strife. Tlie world had an early experience of it iu Cain and Abel, and afterwards
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in Abraham and Lot's herdsmen ; then in Joseph and his brethren : Gen. xxxvii. 4, ' They envied Joseph, and could not speak peaceably to him ;' and ver. 11, ' They envied him,' and they conspired to slay him ; so in Saul and David : 1 Sam. xviii. 9, ' He eyed David' ever afterward ; so also in the priests against Christ : ' For envy they delivered him,' Mat. xxvii. 18. There are two sins which were Christ's sorest enemies, covetousness and envy. Covetousness sold Christ, and envy delivered him. These two sins are still enemies to Christian' profession. Covetousness maketh us to sell religion, and envy to persecute it. The church hath had sad experience of it. It is the source of all heresies.^ Arius envied Peter of Alexandria, and thence those bitter strifes and persecutions. It must needs be so. Envy is an eager desire of our own fame, and a maligning of that which others have. It is compounded of carnal desire and carnal grief. Well, then, ' let nothing be done through strife and vainglory,' Phil. ii. 3. Scorn to act out of that impulse. Should we harbour that corruption which betrayed Christ, enkindled the world, and poisoned the church ?
Obs. 2. From that strife in your hearts. There is nothing in the life but what was first in the heart : Mat. xv. 19, ' Out of the heart pro- ceed evil thoughts, murders, blasphemies, thefts, adulteries ; ' there is the source of sin, and the fountain of folly. As the seeds of all crea- tures were in the chaos, so of all sins in the heart. Well, then, look to the heart ; keep that clean if you would have the life free from dis- order and distemper : Prov. iv. 23, ' Keep thy heart above all keeping, for out of it are the issues of life.' The Jews were banished England for poisoning fountains. The heart is the fountain, keep it clean and pure ; be as careful to avoid guilt as shame. If you would have the life holy before men, let the heart be pure before God ; especially cleanse the heart from strife and envy. Strife in the heart is worst ; the words are not so abominable in God's eye as the will and purpose. Strife is in the heart when it is kept and cherished there, and anger is soured into malice, and malice bewrayeth itself by debates or desires of revenge ; clamour is naught, but malice is worse. The apostle forbiddeth Kpav<y7]v, ' clamour,' or the loudness of speech, Eph. iv. 31. But ' woe to them that devise iniquity, and Avork evil upon their beds,' Micah ii. 1. Studied wickedness is worst of all.
Ohs. 3. Envious or contentious persons have little reason to glory in their engagements. Envy argueth either a nullity or a poverty of grace ; a nullity where it reigneth, a weakness where it is resisted, but not overcome : ' They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the lusts and affections thereof,' Gal. v. 24. He is a carnal man that is carried away with any inordinate affection or lust. Now, of all lusts, this is the most natural : ' The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy,' James iv. 5. Children betray it first ; vidi zelantemparvulum — I saw, saith Augustine, a little child looking pale with envy. As it is natural,