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A28313 The nature and mischief of envy a sermon preach'd before the Queen, Aug. 20, 1693 / by Jonathan Blagrave ... Blagrave, Jonathan, 1652-1698. 1693 (1693) Wing B3110; ESTC R12893 14,097 30

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The Nature and Mischief of Envy A SERMON Preach'd before the QUEEN Aug. 20. 1693. BY JONATHAN BLAGRAVE D.D. Sub-Almoner and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their MAJESTIES Publish'd by Her Majesties Command LONDON Printed for John Southby at the Harrow in Cornhill and Sold by R. Taylor near Stationers-hall 1693. PROV xxvii iv Latter part of the Verse Who is able to stand before Envy The whole Verse runs thus Wrath is Cruel and Anger is Outragious But who is able to stand before Envy AND in these Words the Wise Man designs to set forth the great Evil of Envy to shew us how violent and mischievous a Passion it is and to that end he compares it with two very exorbitant commotions of Mans mind with Wrath and with Anger or FVRY for so it should rather have been Translated the word in the Original implying the highest degree or utmost transport of Anger Now a man that is in Wrath or Anger against any one forgets all kindness to that person he will no longer be govern'd by any law of Love or Charity in any of his Actions towards him Therefore sayes the Wise man Wrath is Cruel all Kindness is lost in an angry or wrathful mans heart And yet perhaps such an one will not do a manifest wrong or injustice to the person he is Angry with But then when Anger rises to a great excess it is rightly term'd Fury and one that is possess'd with it is a Mad-man for the time He hath no regard to Right or Wrong he cares not what injury or mischief he doth and therefore sayes the wise man Fury is Outragious And yet worse than either of these more unkind and uncharitable more unjust more violent and much more mischievous than either of them is Envy There is neither any goodness nor yet any strength that is a sufficient guard against it For First There is no mans Innocency no mans Vertue that can secure him from the direful strokes of Envy Nay many times the more Innocent the more Religious useful and beneficial a man is in his place and station Envy encreases the more against him The Reputation Dignity or Profit such a man gains by his good Qualities inflames the hearts of the Envious and makes them contrive and act all they can for his Ruine When there were but two Brothers in the world and there must be the strongest and most engaging Tie between them both of natural Affection and Love of Society yet Envy broke through all this and made one of them inhumanly Murder the other and that for no other reason but because Abel for the goodness and sincerity of his heart was more approv'd of by God than Cain This example of the violent and outragious cruelty and injustice of Envy we have in the beginning of the World we have another like it in the beginning of Gods chusing him a peculiar Church There we find Esau would have killed his Brother for no other reason but because Jacob valued being the Father of the Faithful more than profane Esau did and so God determin'd to have his Church in Jacob's off-spring And in that very off-spring we have presently a strange instance of the blind and inexorable cruelty of Envy in the Patriarchs otherwise good men who for no other reason but because God had in Visions reveal'd his favour to Joseph and his Father lov'd him set themselves in the most bitter manner against the poor innocent child and had no compassion on him when They saw the anguish of his Soul when he besought them they wou'd have kill'd him The greatest pity they cou'd shew him was to sell their Brother to be a slave to Infidels as St. Stephen sayes Acts 7.9 The Patriarchs mov'd with Envy sold Joseph into Egypt We have likewise a Signal Instance in the History of Saul and David of the great Injustice and Vile Ingratitude of Envy For certainly never was Master better serv'd than Saul was by David never did one man receive greater Benefits from another For first the man whom the whole Host of Israel fear'd was slain by David the Kings Enemies were often discomfited and destroyd by David Saul himself was frequently refresh'd and comforted by him when he lay under the heavy oppression of a Melancholly and an Evil Spirit His life also was divers times sav'd and preserv'd by him David had married his Daughter and was his son's friend He never had done the least Injury either to him or his but shew'n all kindness to the House of Saul and yet Saul looking upon him with an Envious Eye 1 Sam. 18.9 continually with great eagerness hunted after his life to destroy it But the greatest instance of all of the most wicked Injustice and baseness of Envy is in the Envy of the Scribes and Pharisees against our Saviour who was purely Envied for the Reputation of his goodness and nothing else for he neither had nor sought any earthly Title or Riches neither cou'd they accuse him of any sin And yet for Envy as Pilate himself cou'd see They deliver'd him up to the most cruel and shameful Death And as there is no Innocency so clear no Goodness so perfect that can preserve a Man from the soul Reproaches the malicious Contrivances and the ruining practices of Envy So Secondly There is no Man so great or powerful or of so secure an Estate or Fortune but the Violence of Envy hath been capable of overthrowing him Sometimes a private Envy hath been able to do it but a common Envy hath seldom fail'd of accomplishing any Mans ruine We have many Instances in Sacred Writ of Great Men destroy'd by Envy as Abner Captain of the Host of Israel and Amasa Captain of the Host of Judah both of them as David observ'd better Men than Joab who through Envy slew them And in Civil History in the History of all Common-wealths we find innumerable Examples of Great and Mighty Men that have been overthrown and destroy'd purely by Envy Nay we have Instances even of Princes themselves when they have thought their Honour oblig'd them to stand between their Favourites and a general Envy that have fallen together with them There is no standing before a Common Envy there is nothing to be done but to get out of the way of it unless a Man will bravely resolve to become a Sacrifice for Truth and the Common Good For 't is to no purpose for a Man to stand on his Innocency to plead his Merit to seek to oblige or gain favour to oppose strength or interest in this Case A Common Envy like an Hurricane or impetuous Torrent overturns and carries all before it at least it doth so for a time till the Truth of things comes to be known by some woful experience so that the Wise Man may well ask this Question in my Text Who is able to stand before Envy Having thus given you a Tast of the Evil Nature of Envy whereby we may perceive it to be the most violent