Charity and Its Fruits
us to yield to the authority of these precepts, and the influence of the motives enforcing them. And,
1. A spirit and practice entirely contrary to an envious spirit is much insisted on in the precepts of Christ. — The New Testament is full of precepts of goodwill to others, and of precepts enjoining the principles of meekness, humility, and beneficence, all of which are opposed to a spirit of envy. In addition to these, we have many particular warnings against envy itself. The apostle exhorts (Rom. 13:13 ) that we "walk honestly, as in the day,… not in strife and envying;" and again (1 Cor. 3:3 ), he blames the Corinthians as being yet carnal, because there was envying among them; and still again (2 Cor. 12:20 ), he mentions his fears concerning them, lest he should find among them envyings, and that, too, coupled, as envyings too often are, with "wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;" and again (Gal. 5:21 ), envy is ranked among the abominable works of the flesh, such as "murders, drunkenness, revellings," etc.; and again (1 Tim. 6:4 ), it is condemned as implying great wickedness; and again (Titus 3:3 ), it is mentioned as one of the hateful sins that Christians had lived in before their conversion, but which they are now redeemed from, and therefore should confess and forsake. And in the same spirit, the apostle James (Jam. 3:14 , 16 ) speaks of envy as exceeding contrary to Christianity, and as connected with every evil work, being earthly, sensual, devilish; and he warns us against it (Jam. 5:9 ), saying, "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door;" and, to quote but one more instance, the apostle Peter (1 Pet. 2:1 , 2 ) warns us against all envies, as connected with various other evils, and as preventing our growth in divine things. Thus we see that the New Testament is full of precepts which Christ has left us, which enjoin the very opposite of the spirit of envy. And these precepts,
2. Are strongly enforced by the doctrines and history of the gospel. If we consider the Christian scheme of doctrine, we shall find that it tends strongly to enforce the precepts we have considered. For all of it, from beginning to end, strongly tends to the contrary of an envious spirit. In all its bearings and teachings, the Christian form of doctrine militates against a spirit of envy. The things it teaches as to God are exceeding contrary to it, for there we are told how far God was from begrudging us the most exceeding honor and blessedness, and how he has withheld nothing as too much to be done for us, or as too great or good to be given us. He has not begrudged us his onlybegotten and well-beloved Son, who was dearer to him than everything beside, nor hath he begrudged us the highest honor and blessedness in and through him. The doctrines of the gospel also teach us how far Christ was from begrudging us anything that he could do for or give us. He did not begrudge us a life spent in labor and suffering, or his own precious blood which he shed for us on the cross, nor will he begrudge us a throne of glory with him in the heavens, where we shall live and reign with him forever. The Christian scheme of doctrine teaches us how Christ came into the world to deliver us from the power of Satan's envy toward us; for the devil, with miserable baseness, envied mankind the happiness that they at first had, and could not bear to see them in their happy state in Eden, and therefore exerted himself to the utmost for their ruin, which he accomplished. And the gospel also teaches how Christ came into the world to destroy the works of the devil, and deliver us from that misery into which his envy hath brought us, and to purify our natures from every trace of the same spirit, that we may be fitted for heaven.
And if; in addition to the doctrine of the gospel, we consider its history, we shall find that it also tends greatly to enforce those precepts that forbid envy. And particularly is this true of the history of the life of Christ, and the example he has set us. How far was he from a spirit of envy! How contented in the low and afflictive circumstances in which he voluntarily placed himself for our sakes! And how far was he from envying those that were of worldly wealth and honor, or coveting their condition! He rather chose to continue in his own low estate, and when the multitude, filled with admiration of his teaching and his miracles, on one occasion stood ready to