Selected quad for the lemma: opinion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
opinion_n	church_n	doctrine_n	error_n	2,045	5	7.2142	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26041	The envious man's character a sermon preached at S. Mary's Church in Cambridge / by William Aspin ...	Aspin, William, 1635 or 6-1714.	1684 (1684)	Wing A4003; ESTC R217	17,795	37

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 i● 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