Three Doors Whence This Enemy Comes Forth 2/2

2. Make this sin as black and ugly as thou canst possibly to thy thought, that when it is presented to thee, thou mayest abhor it the more.  Indeed there needs no more than its own face—wouldst thou look wisely on it—to make thee out of love with it.  For,

(1.) This envying of others’ gifts casts great con­tempt upon God, and that more ways than one.

(a) When thou enviest the gifts of thy brethren, thou takest upon thee, to teach God what he shall give and to whom; as if the great God should take counsel, or ask leave of thee, before he dispenseth his gifts.  And darest thou stand to thy own envious thoughts with this interpretation? such a one thou findest Christ himself give, ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?’ Matt. 20:15, as if Christ had said, What hath any to do with cavil, at my dis­posure of what is not theirs, but mine, to give?

(b) Thou malignest the goodness of God.  It troubles thee, it seems, that God hath a heart to do good to any besides thyself; thine eye is evil, because he is good.  Wouldst not thou have God be good? you might as well say, you would not have him God. He can as soon cease to be God as to be good.

(c) Thou art an enemy to the glory of God, as thou defacest that which should set it forth.  Every gift is a ray of divine excellency; and as all the beams declare the glory of the sun, so all the gifts of God imparts declare the glory of God.  Now envy labours to deface and sully the representations of God; it hath ever something to disparage the excellency of another withal.  God showed Miriam her sin by her punish­ment.  She went to bespatter Moses that shone so eminently with the gifts and graces of God, and God spits in her face, Num. 12, yea, fills her all over with a noisome scab.  Dost thou cordially wish well to the honour of God? why then hangest thou thy head, and dost not rather rejoice to see him glorified by the gifts of others?  Could a heathen take it so well, when himself was passed by, and others chosen to places of honour and government, that he said he was glad his city could find so many more worthy than himself; and shall a Christian repine that any are found fit to honour God besides himself?

(2.) By this envying of others’ gifts, 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,’ I Cor. 13:4.  How can it, when it lives where it loves?  And when thou ceasest to love thy brother, thou beginnest to beginnest to hate and kill him; and dost not thou tremble to be found a murderer at last?

(3.) By this envying of others’ gifts, 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 bound to defend against thy envy, because he is maligned for what he hath of God in him.  Thus did God plead Joseph’s cause against his envious brethren, and David’s against wicked Saul.  Thyself only hast real hurt.

(a) Thou deprivest thyself of what thou mightst reap from the gifts of others.  That old saying is true, ‘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 from 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 preaching!

(b) Thou robbest thyself of the joy of thy life.  “He that is cruel troubleth his own flesh,’ Prov. 11:17. 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.

(c) Thou throwest thyself into the mouth of temptation, thou needest give the devil no greater advantage; it is a stalk 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 for him—if God had not provided otherwise—than if they had slain him on the place.  What an impotent mind, and cruel, did Saul show against David, when once envy had enven­omed his heart!  From that day [on] which he heard David preferred in the women’s songs above himself, he could never get that sound out of his head, but did ever after devote this innocent man to death in his thoughts, who had done him no other wrong, but in being 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. 1:29, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, maligni­ty, &c.; and therefore, except you be resolved to bid the devil welcome and his whole train, resist him in this, that comes before to take up quarters for the rest.

Three Doors Whence This Enemy Comes Forth 1/2

Three Doors Whence This Enemy Comes Forth

           Question.  But how would you direct us against this?

           Answer.  Arguments you have had before; I shall only therefore point to two or three doors where your enemy comes forth upon you; and surely the very sight thereof, if thou beest loyal to Christ, will stir thee up to fall upon it.

           First Door. This kind of pride discovers itself in dwelling upon the thoughts of our gifts, with a secret kind of content to see our own face, till at last we fall in love with it.  We read of some whose eyes are full of the adulteress, and cannot cease from sin.  A proud heart is full of himself; his own abilities cast their shadow before him.  They are in his eye wherever he goes.  The great subject and theme of his thoughts in what he is, and what he hath above others, ap­plauding himself; as Bernard confesseth, that—when one would think he had little leisure for such thoughts—even in preaching; pride would be whis­pering in his ear, Bene fecisti Bernarde—O well done, Bernard.  Now have a care, Christian, of chat­ting with such company.  Run from such thoughts as from a bear.  If the devil can get thee to stand on this pinnacle, while he presents thee with the glory of thy spiritual attainments and endowments, for thee to gaze on them thy weak head will soon turn round in pride; and therefore labour to keep the sense of thy own infirmities lively in thy soul, to divert the temp­tation.  As those who are subject to some kind of fits carry about them things proper for the disease, that when the fit is coming—which is oft occasioned with a sweet perfume—they may use them for their help; sweet scents are not more dangerous for them, than anything they may applaud thee is to thy soul.  Have a care, therefore, not only of wearing such thoughts in thy bosom, but also of sitting by others that bring the sweet scent of thy perfections to thee by their flattery.

           Second Door. This kind of pride appears in a forwardness to expose itself to view, I Sam. 17:28. David’s brethren were mistaken in him indeed, but oft the pride and naughtiness of the heart breaks out at this door.  Christ’s carnal friends bid Christ show himself; pride loves to climb up, not as Zacchaeus, to see Christ, but to be seen himself.  ‘The fool,’ Solomon tells us, ‘hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself,’ Prov. 18:2.  Pride would be somebody, and therefore comes abroad to court the multitude; whereas humility delights in privacy.  As the leaves do cover and shade the fruits, that some hand may gently lift up them, before they can see the fruit; so should a humility and holy modesty conceal the perfections of the soul, till a hand of providence by some call invites them out. There is a pride in naked gifts, as well as in naked breasts and backs.  Humility is a necessary veil to all other graces, and therefore,  1. Christian, look when­ever thou comest forth to public duty, that thou hast a call.  It is obedience to be ready to answer when God calls thee forth, but it is pride to run before God speaks.  2. When called, earnestly implore divine strength against this enemy.  Shun not a duty for fear of pride—thou mayest show it in the very seeming to escape it—but go in the strength of God against it.  There is more hope of overcoming it by obedience than [by] disobedience.

           Third Door. This kind of pride discovers itself in envying the gifts of others, when they seem to blind our own that they are not so fair a prospect as we desire.  This is a weed may grow too rank in a good soil.  Aaron and Miriam could not bear Moses his honour, Num. 12.1; that was the business, though they pick a quarrel with him about his wife, because an Ethiopian, as appears plainly, ‘Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?’ ver. 2.  They thought Moses went away with too much of the honour, and did repine that God should use him more than themselves.  And it is observable, that the lusting for flesh broke out among the mixed multitude, and baser sort of people, Num. 11:4,5; but this of pride and envy took fire in the bosoms of the most eminent for place and piety.  O what need then have we, poor creatures, to  watch our hearts when we see such precious servants of God led into temptation?  ‘The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy,’ James 4:5.  Our corrupt nature is ever putting on to this sin.  It is as hard to keep our hearts and this sin asunder, as it is to keep two lovers from meeting together.  Thatch is not more ready to be fired with every flash of lightning, than the heart to be kindled at every shining forth of any excelling gift or grace in another.  It was of the first windows that corrupt nature looked out at—a sin that shed the first blood.  Cain’s envy hatched Abel’s murder.  Now if ever thou meanest to get the mastery of this sin,

1. Call in help from heaven.  No sooner hath the apostle set forth how big and teeming full the heart of man is with envy, but he shows where a fountain of grace is, infinitely exceeding that of lust: ‘The Spirit within us lusteth to envy, but he giveth more grace,’ James 4:5,6.  And therefore sit not down tamely under this sin: it is not unconquerable.  God can give thee more grace than thou hast sin—more humility than thou hast pride.  Be but so humble as cordially to beg this grace, and thou shalt not be so proud as wickedly to envy his gifts or grace in others.