The Contentment of Love

Charity envieth not.”

Envy is that passion, which causes us to feel uneasiness at the sight of another’s possessions or happiness, and which makes us dishke him on that account Of all the base passions, this is the basest. It is unmingled malignity, the very worst and bitterest dregs of human depravity; the most direct contrariety of love. Envy is either general or special in its objects. It often exists in the mind to such an extent, that its subjects seem almost instinctively opposed to excellence and to happiness, wherever they see them, or whenever they hear of them. They may not regard the individuals on whom their envious glance is fixed in the light of competitors or rivals; they may have nothing to hope from their depression — nothing to fear from their elevation; but it is enough to awaken their uneasiness and dislike, to know that they are in some respects superior. They cannot bear to see excellence or happiness in any one, or ever to hear the language of commendation or praise. They would beggar the universe to enrich themselves, and monopolize all possessions, and all admiration; they would be alone in the world, as the sole occupants of every thing valuable, and can endure neither a superior nor an equal. This, it must be allowed, is a maturity to which envy rarely attains,

compared with its more special and limited operation.

The OBJECTS of envy are commonly such as these.

1. Persons who are nearly on our own level. Individuals who are either much above us in station, or much below us, are not so likely to excite uneasiness and dislike, as those who are of our own standing, or approaching to it. The tradesman envies not the nobleman, but some fellow tradesman; the laurels and fame of the hero are not envied by the common soldier, but by some officer of his own rank.

2. Those who though much above us, occupy a station from which we have been cast down, are likely to be regarded by us with an evil eye, and to draw forth our dislike.

3. Competitors, but especially some single rival for wealth, or fame, or any valuable possession, is a powerful temptation to this sin. It is extremely difficult to witness their success and superiority, and feel nothing of envy towards them.

It is evident, that persons descending in life are much exposed to this vice: and, perhaps, those still more so, who are candidates for popular applause, whether they be literary, scientific, military, or professional men. “Vanity, or a thirst after applause, is the most unsocial and envious of the passions, avarice itself not excepted. The reason is plain. Property is a kind of good, which may be more easily attained, and is capable of more minute subdivision, than fame. In the pursuit of wealth, men are led, by an attention to their own interest, to promote the welfare of each other: their advantages are reciprocal; the benefits which each is anxious to acquire for himself, he reaps in the greatest abundance from the union of society. The pursuits of vanity are quite contrary. The portion of time and attention mankind are willing to spare from their avocations and pleasures, to devote to the admiration of each other, is so small, that every successful adventurer is felt to have impared the common stock. The success of one, is the disappointment of multitudes: for though there be many rich, many virtuous, many wise men, fame must necessarily be the portion of but few. Hence every vain man regarding his competitor as his rival, is strongly tempted to rejoice in his miscarriage, and to repine at his success.

There is not any kind of superiority, however low in its nature, or obscure in situation, which is not found to be sufficient to call forth the ill will and hatred of some inferior or disappointed spectator. Children and rustics, as well as philosophers, warriors, and princes, are subject to its influence. Like the venomous spider, it weaves its web, and directs its deadly glance, in the cottages of poverty, the mansions of affluence, and the halls of science. It is the epidemic of the human race, the most common operation of human depravity. The Apostle seems to give it as a general description of human nature, while unrenewed by divine grace. “Living in malice and envv, hateful, and hatmg one another.” The whole Gentile world, before the coming of Christ, is described as having been “full of envy.” “Envyings” bear a hih place among the works of the flesh; and on the converts from Paganism, the churches of believers, there was no one evil of which the prohibition was more frequently, or more earnestly enjoined, than this: and the apostle James tells us, that it is still partially inherent in every man — “the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy.”

But let US now contemplate its hateful nature. It is a vice of the utmost deformity and heinousness. To feel uneasiness at another’s happiness, or excellence, and to dislike him on that account, is a sin that needs no analysis to prove its deadly nature — no dissection to expose its corruption; it presents at once, to the most superficial observer, a frightful and disgusting appearance — a kind of leprous surface. It stands directly opposed to the nature of God, whose love delights in excellence and in hiappiness, and whose grace produces both; and by whom this sin must be regarded with infinite loathing and abhorrence.

S4

It is a secret murmuring against the appointments of heaven — an incessant quarrel with Providence — an accusation preferred against the wisdom, equity, and goodness of the divine administration. As it is unlike God, so it is the image of Satan, — being the disposition, united with pride, which cast down the apostate angels from their seats in heaven, and which fills and fires their bosoms in the bottomless pit; it is perfectly the state of hell, and unceasingly the passion of devils,; who despair for themselves, and envy the happiness of men and angels, yet cannot rejoice either in the good or the evil they witness, although they endeavour to hinder the good, and promote the evil, with all the restlessness of malice, and the devices of a mighty understanding. It is a parent crime, and its progeny are as mischievous and as deformed as itself: for malice, hatred, falsehood, slander, are its ordinary brood; and not unfrequently murder: for when carried to excess, there is scarcely an injury within its reach which it would not inflict upon its object. It cannot even offer the excuses for itself which many vices sometimes bring forward: anger pleads the provocation it has received; but envy has received no offence, except the well-being of another be an insult: lust and intemperance plead the gratification which their objects yield, and robbery holds up its gain; but envy gains nothing but misery, and converts the happiness, of which it is the witness, into wormwood and gall for its own cup, and transvenoms .the honey of another man’s comfort into the poison of asps for its own bosom: it is a source of eternal vexation — an instrument of self-torment — a rottenness in the bones — a burning ulceration of the soul — a crime, which, partaking of the guilt, partakes as largely of the misery of hell.

Such is envy; but who can describe it accurately, or do it justice 1 If we look for it as embodied in living characters, we shall find it in Cain, the proto-murderer, who slew his brother at the instigation of this vice. We shall find it in the dark, and gloomy, and revengeful spirit of Saul, who, under the influence of envy, plotted for years the slaughter of David. We shall find it in the king of Israel, when he pined for the vineyard of Naboth, and shed his blood to gain it. Yea, it was envy that perpetrated that most atrocious crime, ever planned in hell or executed on- earth, on which the sun refused to look, and at which nature gave signs of abhorrence by the rending of the rocks; I mean the crucifixion of Christ: for the evangelist tells us, that for envy, the Jews delivered our Lord.

Bishop Hall has given us a very striking po;rtraiture of the envious man, which I shall here introduce: —” He feeds on other’s evils; and hath no disease but his neighbours welfare: whatsoever God does for him, he cannot be happy with company; and if he were put to choose whether he would rather have equals in a common felicity, or superiors in misery, he would demur upon the election. His eye casts out too much, and never returns home, but to make comparisons with another’s good. He is an ill prizer of foreign commodity — worse of his own; for that he rates too high — this undervalues. You shall have him ever inquiring into the estates of his equals and betters, wherein he is not more desirous to hear all, than loth to hear any thing over-good; and if just report relate aught better than he would, he redoubles the question, as being hard to believe what he likes not; and hopes yet, if that be averred again to his grief, that there is somewhat concealed in the relation, which, if it. were known, would argue the commended party miserable, and blemish him with secret shame. He is ready to quarrel with God, because the next field is fairer grown; and angrily calculates his cost, and time, and tillage. Whom he dares not openly backbite, nor wound with a direct censure, he strikes smoothly with an over-cold praise: and when he sees that he must either maliciously oppugn the just praise of another (which were unsafe,) or approve it by assent, he yieldeth; but shows, withal, that his means were such, both by nature and education, that he could not, without much neglect, be less commendable: so his happiness shall be made the colour of detraction. When a wholesome law is propounded, he crosseth it either by open or close opposition — not for any incommodity or inexpedience, but because it proceedeth from any mouth but his own; and it must be a case rarely plausible that will not admit some probable contradiction. When his equal should rise to honour, he striveth against it unseen, and rather with much cost suborneth great adversaries; and when he sees his resistance vain, he can give a hollow gratulation in pretence; but in secret disparageth that advancement; either the man is unfit for the place, or the place for the man; or, if fit, yet less gainful, or more common than opinion: whereto he adds, that himself might have had th*e same dignity upon better terms, and refused it. He is witty m devising suggestions to bring his rival out of love into suspicion; if he be courteous, he is seditiously popular; if bountiful, he binds over his clients to faction; if successful in war, he is dangerous in peace; if wealthy, he lays tip for a day; if powerful, nothing wants but opportunity for rebellion; his submission, is ambitious hyprocrisy; his religion, pohtic insinuation; — no action is safe from an envious construction. When he receives a good report of him whom he emulates, he saith. Fame is partial, and covers mischiefs; and pleaseth himself with hope to find it false: and if ill will hath dispersed a more spiteful narration, he lays hold on that against all witnesses, and broacheth that rumour for truth, because worst; and when he sees him perfectly miserable, he can at once pity him and rejoice. What himself cannot do, others shall not: he hath gained well, if he have hindered the success of what he would have done and could not. He conceals his best skill, not so as it may not be known that he knows it, but so as it may not be learned, because he would have the world miss him. He attained to a sovereign medicine by the secret legacy of a dying empiric, whereof he will leave no heir, lest the praise should? be divided. Finally, he is an enemy to God’s iavouTs, if they fall beside himself; the best nurse of ill

fame; a man of the worst diet, for he consumes himself, and delights in pining; a thornhedge covered with nettles; a peevish interpreter of good things; and no other than a lean and pale carcass quickened with a fiend.”

How hateful, then, is this crime; and although we may not be in danger of carrying it to the excess here stated, yet we should ever strive against its least and lowest degrees. The means of opposing and mortifying it are many.

Let us very seriously meditate on its evil nature. A steady contemplation of its deformity and demon-like countenance, is calculated to excite disgust, and to produce abhorrence. Many evils, and this among the number, are too much indulged, because they are too little contemplated. The more we meditate upon the heinousness of envy, the more we shall be convinced of the utter unsuitableness of such a temper as this to be the inmate of a Christian’s bosom: it is like a fiend inhabiting the temple of the Lord. We must next form a deliberate resolution for its mortification: we must stand prepared to take the greatest pains, to maintain the most determined efforts, for the riddance of our hearts from so hateful a disposition. Let us next consider, that the circumstances which excite our envy are among the arrangements of a wise Providence; and that to dislike another on account of his excellence, or happiness, is a crime of no less magnitude than a wish to oppose and subvert the dispensations of heaven. Let us remember, that if others have more than ourselves, we have infinitely more than we deserve; a deliberate and frequent consideration of our numerous and aggravated sins, with our deliverance from their consequences, together with a survey of our mercies, and hopes, as Christians, would very powerfully help us in the great business of mortifying envy; for the chief difference between man and man, as to real happiness-, lies in spiritual distinctions; and if we have these, the absence of any thmg else is matter of little consequence. It may not be amiss also to consider, how comparatively small is the amount of happiness derived by the object of our envy, from those possessions on the ^ound of which we dislike him: and how soon, could we transfer them to ourselves, they would cease to impart any strong gratification to us. We always act under a delusion, when we indulge this hateful passion: its objects are seen through a magnifying medium of very high power. The circumstances which excite our envy, have their attendant evils; — evils which, though concealed from general observation, are well known to the possessor of them. We should labour to be content with such things as we have: contentment is the secret of happiness, whether we have much or little. The man who makes up his mind to enjoy what he has, is quite as happy as he who possesses twice as much.

But still the great thing is, to endeavour, by God’s gracious help, to increase m love. Our envy will then as certainly diminish, as darkness retires before the entrance of light, or cold before the power of heat. Love and envy are the very antipodes of each other: the former delights in the happiness of others, the latter is made miserable by it. Let us endeavour to cultivate this disposition, and to delight in witnessing and diffusing blessedness. This is what the Apostle meant, when he said, “Rejoice with those that do rejoice.” What a beatifying, and even sublime, temper is that, which leads its possessor to find consolation, amidst its own straits, privations, and difficulties, in contemplating the possessions and the comforts of those around him! What rehef would such elevated virtue bring to the mourner, when he could turn his own darkened orb toward the illumination of his neighbour’s prosperity! Happy the man who can thus borrow the joys of others when he has none, or few, of his own; and, from the wilderness of his own situation, enjoy the beautiful prospect of his friends’ domain. Difficult and rare as such a temper is, it is that which is the subject of the Apostle’s description, in the chapter we are considering, and which it is the duty of every Christian to cultivate. Hard, indeed, is the saying, and few there are who can bear it, but it is assuredly the lesson which Christ teaches his disciples, and which those disciples must all endeavour to learn. Much may be done by effort. Let us determine, by God’s help, to acquire it; let us make the attempt, and let us only persevere, notwithstanding many defeats and many discouragements, and it is astonishing what may be done. But this goeth not forth but by fasting and prayer. Love cannot be cultivated, nor envy destroyed, in our hearts, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. We may as well try to pull up by the roots the oak of a century’s growth, or overturn a mountain by our own strength, as to eradicate the vice of envy from our hearts, without the aid of God’s own Spirit: that aid is promised to fervent and persevering prayer, and if we have it not, the fault is our own.