The Envious Man's Character A SERMON Preached at S. MARY's CHURCH IN CAMBRIDGE By WILLIAM ASPIN D. D. Rector of Emberton in Bucks LONDON Printed by B. W. for Ralph Smith at the Sign of the Bible in the Piazza under the Royal Exchange in Cornhill MDCLXXXIV TO THE READER HAVING seriously considered what might be the reason of those heats and immoralities which do but too visibly disturb the quiet of this Church and State I presently found how great a share Envy had in causing them And therefore being to preach a Sermon Ad Populum in S. Mary's Church in Cambridge I thought I could not do better service to Religion than by endeavouring to detect and display that monstrous Vice For 't is apparent to him that sees any thing how great a cause it has been of former commotions as also of our present Discontents and Disturbances I do not wonder when I hear the greatest worth defamed Men of the profoundest Wisdom and most exemplary Piety and Vertue either in Church or State evil spoken of For alas the eyes of some will ever be disturbed at so great a lustre The Israelites envied Psal 106. Moses in the Camp and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. Tertullian observes the Gospel must needs be a precious thing because Nero hated it And it plainly argues that there 's something excellent belonging to that man who is envied And therefore Erasmus saith Ut umbra nusquam est nisi cum adest In Vit. Sanct. Hieronymi lumen ita celebritas sanctissimi viri non caret invidiâ As the shadow is never seen to appear but with a luminous Body so the fame of the most vertuous Person is sure to be attended with Envy Hence some of the bravest men that ever the World had have met with the unkindest usage in it The reason is because the higher their worth has raised them the fairer mark they have appeared for Envy Themistocles in Plutarch sayes He was not envied in his Minority because then he had done nothing that was famous and extraordinary And no sooner were the Athenian Captains by their excellent Conduct Valour and Successes raised the highest in the esteem of those over whom they were Victors but they were presently envied and proscribed by their own Country men And amongst the Romans the renowned Caesar's Fall was owing to the Envy as well as malice of Brutus and Cassius which Caesar himself saw he was in danger of when as Plutarch tells us in the Life of Brutus he said He was not afraid of fat Men but of lean whitely faced-fellows meaning thereby Brutus and Cassius who were such The thinness of their Bodies and paleness of their Faces discovering the Envy and Malice that was in their hearts And therefore 't is a great piece of folly to think the worse of any one for being envied and evil spoken of because 't is sure the Wisest and best men in a Nation though others may shall not escape Censure 'T is certainly every Christian man's wisdom to hold on in a steady course of duty to endeavour to approve himself to God in all cases not to value much what men think or say of him and to look for his reward in another World and not in this When I preached it I had no thought of making this Sermon publick But since that time which is now about a year and half something having happened which I foresaw might occasion its coming abroad at some time or other without my knowledge I concluded it to be the prudentest way to put it out my self since by that means I might avoid some inconveniences which might have happened by anothers doing it It may be some will not like it because 't is but too true a Character of themselves But that I cannot help If it shall contribute any thing to the quiet and welfare of the Community for which it is designed or to the advantage of any individual in it I shall not repent me of what I have now done being contented to be censured by some if I may but profit any ECCLES IV. iv I considered every right work that for this a man is envied of his Neighbour T Would be matter of just wonder and astonishment to a considering mind that Men who are bound to one another by so many obligations of Nature Religion and Interest should yet be at suâ—h enmity amongst themselves if we were not by infallible Revelation acquainted with the degeneracy of our Natures as the cause of it For since there is a concord and agreement between even the Beasts themselves of the same kind it cannot be imagined that human Nature should be at such odds and discords with it self but that its propensions are by sin changed and but that it self is sunk below thaâ—â—f the Beasts that perish Though indeed reason â—â—self if it had wanted the assistance of Divine Revâ—â—ation might have gone a great way towards thiâ— discovery since a change in the Effects must of necessity argue one in the Cause from whence they proceeded And therefore the wisest Heathen though they were never able to assign the true Cause of the degeneracy of our Natures that being beyond their search and past their finding out yet they easily discerned that Man's nature was corrupted and changed from what it should be Hence in Horace The Soldier is displeased with his own Profession and wishes himself a Merchant The Merchant dislikes his own Calling and envies that of the Soldiers The Lawyer envies the Husbandman's happiness And the Husbandman is displeased with his own Calling and thinks they are only happy that dwell in Cities What 's the reason men should find their own conditions so uneasie and should envy that of other mens 'T is not because other mens all things considered are better for them than their own For he that makes a change finds himself to be as uneasie as he was before And indeed the same Suit is not fit for every ones back But 't is because men have not a right apprehension of things and because they would engross all the goods of the World to themselves And therefore are troubled when they see any body else possessed of them 'T is because their natures are degenerated and corrupted But whatever be the more general and remote or the more particular and immediate Causes of it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or thing it self is too obvious to escape any ones notice That there is a great deal of Envy in the World which Solomon has observed in these words saying I considered every right work that for this a man is envied of his Neighbour Now Envy seems to be the same which the Orator Cicero has defined it namely A grief conceived in Aegritudo animi ex alterius rebus secundis suscepta quae praesertim nullam jacturam afferunt invidenti 4. Tuse the mind at the good which another enjoyes and that good especially by which the envious man receives no injury We
which the envious person receives no injury Thus having shewed you the monstrous nature of Envy our next enquiry shall be into the Causes of it And as we commonly guess from the sordidness of a man's temper at that of his Birth and Breeding so doubtless this more than Brutish vice of Envy must needs be of very base extraction and original whither if we trace it we shall find it descended from one or all of these Causes And 1. From Ignorance For if the envious man did not think some things to be valuable beyond what really they are such as Riches and Honour Beauty Wit and the like he would not grieve to see another possessed of them Alas a man may enjoy all these to his hurt and 't is but too evident that a great many do all indeed that mis-imploy them and use them to other ends than those for which God designed them And then if we understood things aright they 'd be the objects of our pity rather than of our envy as being more miserable than others that want them Our Saviour opposes the Goods of Fortune to the Goods of Grace calling the Goods of Grace true riches Luk. 16. 11. thereby implying That the Goods of Fortune are false riches And indeed in the event they are as often evils as goods And surely none would envy the goods of Grace which any one possesses if he understood that they were imparted to him for the advantage of others as well as his that possesses them and consequently that others may be benefited by them if they will Methinks it should rejoice us to see that man rich that 's obliged to maintain us out of what he has This I say upon supposition that the goods of Grace may be said properly to be envied But that envy is owing to ignorance we need no other proof than what David will furnish us with who when he hath told us That he envied the prosperity of the wicked and Psal 73. was grieved at the Goods which they injoyed he afterwards lets us know the cause of that envy in him saying So foolish was I and ignorant And Vers 22. therefore when once he understood things aright he 's so far from envying them any longer that he describes them as objects of the greatest Vers 18 19 20. pity 2. Unbelief is another cause of Envy For he that believes God is All-sufficient and has enough of all Goods to bestow upon every man and that every gift of his is the issue of his infinite Wisdom and Goodness will never grieve to see another man possessed of it As that Child who believes his Father has enough left for him and that he has done well in the disposal of part of his Estate upon his Brethren will never be troubled at it The elder Brother in the Parable would not have been disturbed at the provision which his Father made for his younger Brother's welcome home but that he thought what was spent that way properly belonged to him and that his Father did ill in bestowing it upon another And therefore we read That they who were moved with envy were the Jews which believed not He that firmly believes Act. 17. 5. that God in infinite Wisdom and Goodness allots to every man his portion here and what 's best for him as he most certainly does all things considered as he 'll see no reason he has to grieve that he has less than another so he 'll see no cause he has to envy another man that has more 3. Pride is another cause of Envy For whatever good another possesses the proud man having a great opinion of his own merit thinks it properly belongs to him And hence he 's grieved to see another enjoy that which he accounts his own due Envy ever accompanies Pride And therefore the proudest persons are the most envious as was evident in the Pharisees and is but too apparent in those whose Principles and Practices argue them to be descended from them They that fancy themselves to be more holy than all others can hardly be contented that any others should injoy what they account good but themselves And therefore they would have all Temporal Power and Jurisdiction and would exclude all others as carnal and formal from having any thing to do with the regiment of the World They would dispose of Crowns and Scepters imagining that a right to Rule and Government is founded in Grace and that Grace is no where to be found but amongst themselves Neither is this opinion to be found only amongst a few from whose weak and crazy heads one can scarce expect much better reasoning But 't is become the avowed Doctrine of a whole Church whose reason would soon detect the Error if Pride and Interest did not obstruct the discovery of it Hence they tell us That the Pope has power to deprive that Prince of his Kingdom and to depose him from his Government that deserts the Romish Faith and refuses obedience to the Apostolick See Binii Concil de Haereticis as is declared in the Lateran Council held under Innocent the Third But since God gives these outward things in common to bad as well as good men and furnishes them with natural endowments and abilities to accomplish those ends that he looks at in bestowing them And since bad men are often possessed of them by just and lawful means there being nothing either in Divine or Humane Laws to infringe their titles but enough in both to warrant them And since 't is impossible without Divine Revelation to know assuredly who has grace and who has not And since bad men have just right and lawful authority to alienate what they have and to vest others in it sure he has need of a strong Faith that can believe Heresie Idolatry or any other sin doth null any man's title to his worldly estate But Pride makes men think they have a right to all things and therefore they are troubled to see any body else possessed of them Hence the Apostle telleth us Envy cometh 1 Tim. 6. 4. of pride 4. Another cause of Envy is Covetousness For if I did not desire my Neighbours Estate I should not envy him the injoyment of it We do not grieve at the absence of that the presence of which we never wished for Where love and desire go not before grief never follows after The degree of Envy is often answerable to the degree of Covetousness And therefore as none were more covetous so none were more envious than the Pharisees The Apostle tells us That the love of money is the 1 Tim. 6. 10. root of all evil and therefore of this of Envy Which he seems not very obscurely to insinuate by saying That while some coveted after iâ— they pierced themselves through with many sorrows Grief and Sorrow being ever the concomitants of Envy 5. Uncharitableness is another cause of Envy For he that loves his Brother will not
Henâ—e that ingenious Moralist before named sayes 'T is a kind of infinite Thing like an inflammation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Eye that causes it to be disturbed at every light it sees 4. 'T is most dangerous to them that are the objects of it An envious man being a worse enemy than he that 's openly and professedly so because an open enemy strikes at us when our faces are towards him but an envious man takes his advantages of doing us a mischief when we are least aware of him skulking in secret so that we cannot ward for our selves which is most ingenerous in it self and most deadly in its effects For he wounds the sorest who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz. Orat. 32. not thought to have any design of hurting us And consequently it hurting the more and being the more deadly must needs be the more sinful 5. 'T is a foolish Vice For besides that the envious person receives real damage by it in his body and mind loses the esteem of men and favour of God which is ten thousand times more valuable and excludes himself Heaven if he did rejoice at all the good that happens to another he might certainly be some gainer by it himself since that very joy would be more advantagious to him than the grief which the envious man has And all those goods that another is possessed of might some way or other be to his profit from his wisdom he might have good counsel from his piety good example from his Estate relief if ever he should come to want it And many other waies one may be advantaged by the good which another is possessed of Hence it is that S. Augustine saith Take away envy and what I have is Tolle invidiam tuum est quod babeâ— Tolle invidiâ—m meum est quod babes in Psal 139. thine and what thou hast is mine But the envious man loses the benefit of all And therefore having thus opened the nature of the disease having taken an impartial view of it both in its Causes and in its Effects charity requires that I should in the next place propose what 's proper and sovereign in order to the remedy and cure of it For I account when the Physician has faithfully and plainly demonstrated the nature of the Malady with the fatal and deadly consequences of it unless it be timely removed He has done sufficient to perswade the Patient to make use of those remedies which he shall rationally offer as proper to expel it Now having already found out the Causes 't is but removing them and the Cure will be effected 1. Therefore endeavour after a conviction of the vanity and emptiness of all worldly goods And indeed if we did not think them better than they are we should envy no man the possession of them If a man had as much of them as he desired he might still be miserable When a man 's going into another World 't is but little ease to his mind to think how well he 's provided for in this They are often the ruine of wicked men and they are snares and temptations to them that are good For one man that 's profited I am perswaded that ten are hurt by them Since therefore they are so hazardous in the injoyment there 's no reason we should envy them that have them David saw them that had most of them to stand in slippery places Besides we know not how much care solicitousness pains attendance flattery c. they cost some of them so as that we 'd be loth to purchase them 2. Let us cherish Humility and indeavour after a mean opinion of our selves and then we shall never think much at any good that happens to another and shall account our selves to have beyond our desert already He that thinks meanly of himself will conclude that God deals graciously with him in that he gives him any thing If he thinks himself to be less than the least of all God's mercies the least of his mercies will please him 3. Have a love for and bear good will to all men and think charitably of them unless there be evident cause to the contrary For he that loves his Neighbour will not grieve but be glad of any good that happens unto him And if we bear him good will and desire his good 't will rejoice us to see it And if we think charitably of him we shall think he deserves it 4. Study contentment Consider in how much better circumstances you are than many others who have deserved as well and that your condition whatever it be is such as God accounts the best for you This is necessary For he that looks with murmuring and reâ—â—â—ng on his own condition is apt to look with envy on other mens And he that 's pleased with his own condition will never be troubled to see his Neighbour's better 5. Endeavour after a firm assent to all that God has reyealed of himself to the World He has told us That he is most Wise Powerful and Gracious inclinable to do good to his Creatures If we did believe him to be so instead of envying what others enjoy we should approve of his disposals to them and sue to him for what we want our selves resting our selves satisfied in what it is his pleasure to do to us or with us 6. Be alwaies well imployed This is the way of making us become the envy of others and of raising us to such a condition that we shall not have so great temptation to envy them But Solomon tells us Idleness will cloath a man with raggs and then he 's most likely to envy those that go better clad Idleness brings a man to want and then he 's ready to envy his Neighbour's plenty 7. To all these let us add our hearty and humble supplications to Almighty God who is the giver of all good things that he would endue us with such a love to our Brethren as will extirpate and root all envy out of our hearts that he would so thoroughly convince us of the fading vanity of all worldly goods that we may neither eagerly desire them for our selves nor be grieved when we see others enjoy them having far better things in our eye than this World can afford us Let us beg of him a humble heart that we may ever think our selves to have beyond our desert may submit our selves wholly to his disposals and may esteem others better and more deserving than our selves and in whatever state we are we may be therewith content Being perswaded that as he 's All-sufficient so whatever his wisdom sees best for us his Goodness will communicate to us if we use our own sincere endeavours and are not wanting to our selves in the use of those means which are necessary in order to those supplies which we expect from his hands FINIS
grudge but rather rejoice at any good that happens unto him This the Apostle asserts telling us That Charity envieth 1 Cor. 13. 4. not Where there 's least of charity there 's most of Envy And the Devil who is most uncharitable is the most envious alwaies grieving at any good that happens to man and indeavouring by all arts and devices imaginable to deprive him of it and by all means to bring upon him all the evil he can Doubtless if God did not hold him back and limit his power he 'd soon destroy this lower World as envying those wicked mens any longer reprieve from the extreamest misery that inhabit it And for fear that by all the means and methods of Gods Providence that he uses to that end they should at last be brought to repentance And therefore that request mentioned in the Gospel where the rich Glutton in Hell is represented as petitioning Luk. 16. 27. 28. Abraham that he would send Lazarus to his Father's house unto his five Brethren that he might tell them what was befallen him and what was necessary for them to do in order to their being happy lest when they died they should come to the same place of torment where he was did not proceed from charity to his Brethren there being nothing so lovely amongst the damned But from fear lest they to whom he had given evil example and with whom he was a Companion in all Vice and Wickedness should enhance his misery and add to his torment when they were once come where he was 6. Idleness is another cause of Envy For when men are grown poor by sloth they begin to envy those who are grown rich by their industry Solomon tells us That the soul of the sluggard desireth and Prov. 13. 4. hath nothing When he has by sloth and negligence wasted and spent his own he then desires and envies his Neighbour's estate An idle person is commonly envious and would be glad if some great misfortune might happen to his Neighbour's estate though he himself was never the better for it So near approaches does the envious person make toward Hell even in this life Thus if we look upon Envy either in its Nature or in its Causes we must needs see enough to make us abhorr it as a most detestable vice Neither will it appear otherwise if we view it in its effects since the Apostle tells us Where envying is there is James 3. 16. every evil work Now those effects I shall rank into three Heads because some respect God some other men and some the envious person himself I. Some respect God who is struck at by all sin but has contempt offered him by this sin of Envy 1. For he that envies his Brother any good that he possesses does in effect find fault with God as if he had not done well in so disposing of it The elder Brother in the Parable who was troubled to see the provision made for his younger Brother's entertainment thereby blamed his Father who caused it Such an interpretation our Saviour makes of their grutching at those on whom the Master bestowed a daies wages when they wrought but an hour saying Is Matt. 20. 15. it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own implying that whoever he be that 's troubled at any good which another injoys does thereby find fault with him that bestowed it upon him And what are we that we should instruct God or blame him for his disposals As if without us he knew not how rightly to bestow his benefits Which carries blasphemy with it it being a charging God with want of wisdom and the fetting our selves above him 2. He that envies his Brother any good that he possesses does in effect quarrel with the goodness of God with that Attribute whereby he 's propense and inclinable to do good to all his Creatures If the envious man might have his mind he 'd limit and bound his Goodness and confine all the offices of it wholly to himself not liking nor by any means approving that others should be benefited by it And so would have God cease to be what he is to please him As if he were not infinitely Perfect Lovely and Desirable not only in respect to the transcendent excellency of his Nature but also in respect to his Munificence Bounty and Goodness towards his Creatures So that you see the envious man would not only detract good from his Neighbour but also Goodness from God which is the cause of all that good which his Neighbour is partaker of 3. He that 's troubled at any good that another possesses goes about to eclipse the glory of God For every excellency and every good that we see the creature endued with issues from God As all the light the Moon has it borrows it of the Sun so every good which the creature enjoys is derived from God and points at its original from whence it came He therefore that envies any good that his Neighbour has since 't is a representation of God and an effect that manifests the cause from whence it sprang would darken and obscure the glory of God How can he be said to desire the glory of God that 's grieved to see it shine forth in its excellent lustre so as men might admire and adore it As he cannot be said to be a friend to a Prince's Honour who is troubled at every thing he does whereby to obtain to himself an esteem from his people Besides the envious person does as good as tell the World that all the good which God does to others is not worth his thanks and so he does what in him lies to hinder God from receiving that tribute of Praise that belongs unto him and not only would withdraw from men the things that are theirs but would withhold from God the things that are Gods 4. He offers the greatest affront and discovers the greatest enmity to God imaginable For when a man is sleighted the more for being regarded by us and when the more kind we are to him others stand at the greater distance from him we account it argues their great sleight and contempt of us Now the more kind God is to any one the more does the envious man hate him If God has done well for him the envious man presently wishes him ill The more he has of the expressions of God's the less he shall be sure to have of his love And the more regard he seems to have from God the less he shall have from him For the more good he receives from the bountiful hand of Heaven the thicker are the Arrows of envy shot at him As Xenophon has observed in his Pag. 157. Cyrus Thus we see how great an evil Envy is if we consider the effects of it as they respect God For it quarrels with his Wisdom grieves at his goodness would detract from his glory and deprive him of that Honour and Praise which