[BADMAN'S PRIDE, ATHEISM, INFIDELITY, AND ENVY.]
ATTEN. Well, Sir, now I have heard enough of Mr. Badman's naughtiness,
pray now proceed to his death.
WISE. Why, Sir, the sun is not so low, we have yet three hours to
night.
ATTEN. Nay, I am not in any great haste, but I thought you had
even now done with his life.
WISE. Done! no, I have yet much more to say.
ATTEN. Then he has much more wickedness than I thought he had.
WISE. That may be. But let us proceed. This Mr. Badman added to
all his wickedness this, he was a very proud man, a very proud
man. He was exceeding proud and haughty in mind; he looked that
what he said ought not, must not be contradicted or opposed.
He counted himself as wise as the wisest in the country, as good
as the best, and as beautiful as he that had most of it. He took
great delight in praising of himself, and as much in the praises
that others gave him. He could not abide that any should think
themselves above him, or that their wit or personage should by
others be set before his. He had scarce a fellowly carriage for
his equals. But for those that were of an inferior rank, he would
look over them in great contempt. And if at any time he had any
remote occasion of having to do with them, he would show great
height and a very domineering spirit. So that in this it may be
said that Solomon gave a characteristical note of him when he said,
'Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath'
(Prov 21:24). He never thought his diet well enough dressed, his
clothes fine enough made, or his praise enough refined.
ATTEN. This pride is a sin that sticks as close to nature, I think,
as most sins. There is uncleanness and pride, I know not of any
two gross sins that stick closer to men than they. They have, as
I may call it, an interest in nature; it likes them because they
most suit its lust and fancies; and therefore no marvel though Mr.
Badman was tainted with pride, since he had so wickedly given up
himself to work all iniquity with greediness.
WISE. You say right; pride is a sin that sticks close to nature,
and is one of the first follies wherein it shows itself to be
polluted. For even in childhood, even in little children, pride
will first of all show itself; it is a hasty, an early appearance
of the sin of the soul. It, as I may say, is that corruption that
strives for predominancy in the heart, and therefore usually comes
out first. But though children are so incident to it, yet methinks
those of more years should be ashamed thereof. I might at the
first have begun with Mr. Badman's pride, only I think it is not
the pride in infancy that begins to make a difference betwixt one
and another, as did, and do those wherewith I began my relation
of his life, therefore I passed it over, but now, since he had no
more consideration of himself, and of his vile and sinful state,
but to be proud when come to years, I have taken the occasion in
this place to make mention of his pride.
ATTEN. But pray, if you can remember them, tell me of some places
of scripture that speak against pride. I the rather desire this
because that pride is now a reigning sin, and I happen sometimes
to fall into the company of them that in my conscience are proud,
very much, and I have a mind also to tell them of their sin, now
when I tell them of it, unless I bring God's Word too, I doubt
they will laugh me to scorn.
WISE. Laugh you to scorn! the proud man will laugh you to scorn
bring to him what text you can, except God shall smite him in his
conscience by the Word. Mr. Badman did use to serve them so that
did use to tell him of his; and besides, when you have said what
you can, they will tell you they are not proud, and that you are
rather the proud man, else you would not judge, nor so malapertly[59]
meddle with other men's matters as you do. Nevertheless, since you
desire it, I will mention two or three texts; they are these:--'Pride
and arrogancy--do I hate' (Prov 8:13). 'A man's pride shall bring
him low' (Prov 29:23). 'And he shall bring down their pride' (Isa
25:11). 'And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall
be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up' (Mal
4:1). This last is a dreadful text, it is enough to make a proud
man shake. God, saith he, will make the proud ones as stubble; that
is, as fuel for the fire, and the day that cometh shall be like
a burning oven, and that day shall burn them up, saith the Lord.
But Mr. Badman could never abide to hear pride spoken against,
nor that any should say of him, He is a proud man.
ATTEN. What should be the reason of that?
WISE. He did not tell me the reason; but I suppose it to be that
which is common to all vile persons. They love this vice, but
care not to bear its name. The drunkard loves the sin, but loves
not to be called a drunkard. The thief loveth to steal, but cannot
abide to be called a thief; the whore loveth to commit uncleanness,
but loveth not to be called a whore. And so Mr. Badman loved to
be proud, but could not abide to be called a proud man. The sweet
of sin is desirable to polluted and corrupted man, but the name
thereof is a blot in his escutcheon.[60]
ATTEN. It is true that you have said; but pray how many sorts of
pride are there?
WISE. There are two sorts of pride: pride of spirit, and pride of
body. The first of these is thus made mention of in the scriptures.
'Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord'
(Prov 16:5). 'A high look, and a proud heart, and the ploughing of
the wicked, is sin' (Prov 21:4). 'The patient in spirit is better
than the proud in spirit' (Eccl 7:8). Bodily pride the scriptures
mention. 'In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their
tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their
round tires like the moon, the chains and the bracelets, and the
mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the
headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose
jewels.[61] the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and
the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen,
and the hoods, and the vails' (Isa 3:18-23). By these expressions
it is evident that there is pride of body, as well as pride of
spirit, and that both are sin, and so abominable to the Lord. But
these texts Mr. Badman could never abide to read; they were to him
as Micaiah was to Ahab, they never spake good of him, but evil.
ATTEN. I suppose that it was not Mr. Badman's case alone even to
malign those texts that speak against their vices; for I believe
that most ungodly men, where the scriptures are, have a secret
antipathy against those words of God that do most plainly and
fully rebuke them for their sins.
WISE. That is out of doubt; and by that antipathy they show that
sin and Satan are more welcome to them than are wholesome instructions
of life and godliness.
ATTEN. Well, but not to go off from our discourse of Mr. Badman.
You say he was proud; but will you show me now some symptoms of
one that is proud?
WISE. Yes, that I will; and first I will show you some symptoms of
pride of heart. Pride of heart is seen by outward things, as pride
of body in general is a sign of pride of heart; for all proud
gestures of the body flow from pride of heart; therefore Solomon
saith, 'There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes, and
their eye-lids are lifted up' (Prov 30:13). And again, there is
'that exalteth his gait,' his going (Prov 17:19). Now, these lofty
eyes, and this exalting of the gait, is a sign of a proud heart;
for both these actions come from the heart. For out of the heart
comes pride, in all the visible appearances of it (Mark 7). But
more particularly--
1. Heart pride is discovered by a stretched-out neck, and by mincing
as they go. For the wicked, the proud, have a proud neck, a proud
foot, a proud tongue, by which this their going is exalted. This
is that which makes them look scornfully, speak ruggedly, and
carry it huffingly among their neighbours. 2. A proud heart is a
persecuting one. 'The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor'
(Psa 10:2). 3. A prayerless man is a proud man (Psa 10:4). 4. A
contentious man is a proud man (Prov 13:10). 5. The disdainful
man is a proud man (Psa 119:51). 6. The man that oppresses his
neighbour is a proud man (Psa 119:122). 7. He that hearkeneth not
to God's word with reverence and fear is a proud man (Jer 13:15,17).
8. And he that calls the proud happy is, be sure, a proud man.
All these are proud in heart, and this their pride of heart doth
thus discover itself (Jer 43:2; Mal 3:15).
As to bodily pride, it is discovered that is something of it, by
all the particulars mentioned before; for though they are said
to be symptoms of pride of heart, yet they are symptoms of that
pride, by their showing of themselves in the body. You know diseases
that are within are seen ofttimes by outward and visible signs,
yet by these very signs even the outside is defiled also. So all
those visible signs of heart pride are signs of bodily pride also.
But to come to more outward signs. The putting on of gold, and
pearls, and costly array; the plaiting of the hair, the following
of fashions, the seeking by gestures to imitate the proud, either
by speech, looks, dresses, goings, or other fools' baubles, of
which at this time the world is full, all these, and many more,
are signs, as of a proud heart, so of bodily pride also (1 Tim
2:9; 1 Peter 3:3-5).
But Mr. Badman would not allow, by any means, that this should
be called pride, but rather neatness, handsomeness, comeliness,
cleanliness, &c., neither would he allow that following of fashions
was anything else, but because he would not be proud, singular,
and esteemed fantastical by his neighbours.
ATTEN. But I have been told that when some have been rebuked for
their pride, they have turned it again upon the brotherhood of
those by whom they have been rebuked, saying, Physician, heal thy
friends, look at home among your brotherhood, even among the wisest
of you, and see if you yourselves be clear, even you professors.
For who is prouder than you professors? scarcely the devil himself.
WISE. My heart aches at this answer, because there is too much
cause for it. This very answer would Mr. Badman give his wife when
she, as she would sometimes, reprove him for his pride. We shall
have, says he, great amendments in living now, for the devil is
turned a corrector of vice; for no sin reigneth more in the world,
quoth he, than pride among professors. And who can contradict him?
Let us give the devil his due, the thing is too apparent for any
man to deny. And I doubt not but the same answer is ready in the
mouths of Mr. Badman's friends; for they may and do see pride
display itself in the apparel and carriages of professors, one may
say, almost as much, as among any people in the land, the more is
the pity. Ay, and I fear that even their extravagancies in this
hath hardened the heart of many a one, as I perceive it did somewhat
the heart of Mr. Badman himself. For my own part, I have seen many
myself, and those church members too, so decked and bedaubed with
their fangles[62] and toys, and that when they have been at the
solemn appointments of God in the way of his worship, that I have
wondered with what face such painted persons could sit in the place
where they were without swooning. But certainly the holiness of
God, and also the pollution of themselves by sin, must need be
very far out of the minds of such people, what profession soever
they make.
I have read of a whore's forehead, and I have read of Christian
shamefacedness (Jer 3:3; 1 Tim 2:9). I have read of costly array,
and of that which becometh women professing godliness, with good
works (1 Peter 3:1-3). But if I might speak, I know what I know,
and could say, and yet do no wrong, that which would make some
professors stink in their places; but now I forbear (Jer 23:15).
ATTEN. Sir, you seem greatly concerned at this, but what if
I shall say more? It is whispered that some good ministers have
countenanced their people in their light and wanton apparel, yea,
have pleaded for their gold and pearls, and costly array, &c.
WISE. I know not what they have pleaded for, but it is easily
seen that they tolerate, or at leastwise, wink and connive at such
things, both in their wives and children. And so 'from the prophets
of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land' (Jer
23:15). And when the hand of the rulers are chief in a trespass,
who can keep their people from being drowned in that trespass?
(Ezra 9:2).
ATTEN. This is a lamentation, and must stand for a lamentation.
WISE. So it is, and so it must. And I will add, it is a shame, it
is a reproach, it is a stumbling block to the blind; for though
men be as blind as Mr. Badman himself, yet they can see the foolish
lightness that must needs be the bottom of all these apish and
wanton extravagancies. But many have their excuses ready; to wit,
their parents, their husbands, and their breeding calls for it,
and the like; yea, the examples of good people prompt them to it;
but all these will be but the spider's web, when the thunder of
the word of the great God shall rattle from heaven against them,
as it will at death or judgment; but I wish it might do it before.
But alas! these excuses are but bare pretences, these proud ones
love to have it so. I once talked with a maid by way of reproof
for her fond and gaudy garment. But she told me, The tailor would
make it so; when alas! poor proud girl, she gave order to the tailor
so to make it. Many make parents, and husbands, and tailors, &c.,
the blind to others; but their naughty hearts, and their giving
of way thereto, that is the original cause of all these evils.
ATTEN. Now you are speaking of the cause of pride, pray show me
yet further why pride is now so much in request.
WISE. I will show you what I think are the reasons of it.
1. The first is, because, such persons are led by their own hearts,
rather than by the Word of God (Mark 7:21-23). I told you before
that the original fountain of pride is the heart. For out of the
heart comes pride; it is, therefore, because they are led by their
hearts, which naturally tend to lift them up in pride. This pride
of heart tempts them, and by its deceits overcometh them; yea, it
doth put a bewitching virtue into their peacock's feathers, and
then they are swallowed up with the vanity of them (Oba 3).
2. Another reason why professors are so proud for those we are
talking of now, is because they are more apt to take example
by those that are of the world, than they are to take example of
those that are saints indeed. Pride is of the world. 'For all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world' (1
John 2:16). Of the world, therefore, professors learn to be proud.
But they should not take them for example. It will be objected,
No, nor your saints neither, for you are as proud as others; well,
let them take shame that are guilty. But when I say professors
should take example for their life by those that are saints indeed,
I mean as Peter says; they should take example of those that were
in old time the saints; for sin at of old time were the best,
therefore to these he directed us for our pattern. Let the wives'
conversation be chaste and also coupled with fear. 'Whose adorning,'
saith Peter, 'let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the
hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let
it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the
sight of God of great price. For after this manner, in the old
time, the holy women also who trusted in God, adorned themselves,
being in subjection to their own husbands' (1 Peter 3:1-5).
3. Another reason is, because they have forgotten the pollution
of their nature. For the remembrance of that must needs keep us
humble, and being kept humble, we shall be at a distance from pride.
The proud and the humble are set in opposition; 'God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.' And can it be imagined
that a sensible Christian should be a proud one; sense of baseness
tends to lay us low, not to lift us up with pride; not with pride
of heart, nor pride of life. But when a man begins to forget what
he is, then he, if ever, begins to be proud. Methinks it is one
of the most senseless and ridiculous things in he world that a
man should be proud of that which is given him on purpose to cover
the shame of his nakedness with.
4. Persons that are proud have gotten God and his holiness out of
their sight. If God was before them, as he is behind their back.
And if they saw him in his holiness, as he sees them in their
sins and shame, they would take but little pleasure in their apish
knacks. The holiness of God makes the angels cover their faces,
crumbles Christians, when they behold it, into dust and ashes.
And as his majesty is, such is his Word (Isa 6). Therefore they
abuse it that bring it to countenance pride.
Lastly. But what can be the end of those that are proud in the
decking of themselves after their antic manner? Why are they for
going with their bull's foretops,[63] with their naked shoulders,
and paps hanging out like a cow's bag? Why are they for painting
their faces, for stretching out their neck, and for putting of
themselves unto all the formalities which proud fancy leads them
to? Is it because they would honour God? because they would adorn
the gospel? because they would beautify religion, and make sinners
to fall in love with their own salvation? No, no, it is rather to
please their lusts, to satisfy their wild and extravagant fancies;
and I wish none doth it to stir up lust in others, to the end they
may commit uncleanness with them. I believe, whatever is their
end, this is one of the great designs of the devil and I believe
also that Satan has drawn more into the sin of uncleanness by the
spangling show of fine cloths, than he could possibly have drawn
unto it without them. I wonder what it was that of old was called
the attire of a harlot; certainly it could not be more bewitching
and tempting than are the garments of many professors this day.
ATTEN. I like what you say very well, and I wish that all the proud
dames in England that profess were within the reach and sound of
your words.
WISE. What I have said I believe is true; but as for the proud
dames in England that profess, they have Moses and the prophets,
and if they will not hear them, how then can we hope that they
should receive good by such a dull-sounding ram's-horn as I am?[64]
However, I have said my mind, and now, if you will, we will proceed
to some other of Mr. Badman's doings.
ATTEN. No; pray, before you show me anything else of Mr. Badman,
show me yet more particularly the evil effects of this sin of
pride.
WISE. With all my heart I will answer your request.
1. Then: It is pride that makes poor man so like the devil in hell,
that he cannot in it be known to be the image and similitude of
God. The angels, when they became devils, it was through their
being lifted or puffed up with pride (1 Tim 3:6). It is pride also
that lifteth or puffeth up the heart of the sinner, and so makes
him to bear the very image of the devil.
2. Pride makes a man so odious in the sight of God, that he shall
not, must not, come nigh his majesty. 'Though the Lord be high,
yet hath he respect unto the lowly; but the proud he knoweth afar
off' (Psa 138:6). Pride sets God and the soul at a distance; pride
will not let a man come nigh God, nor God will not let a proud
man come nigh unto him. Now this is a dreadful thing.
3. As pride seest, so it keeps God and the soul at a distance. 'God
resisteth the proud' (James 4:6). Resists, that is, he opposes
him, he trusts him from him, he contemneth his person and all his
performances. Come unto God's ordinances the proud man may; but
come into his presence, have communion with him, or blessing from
him, he shall not. For the high God doth resist him.
4. The Word saith that 'The Lord will destroy the house of the proud'
(Prov 15:25). He will destroy his house; it may be understood he
will destroy him and his. So he destroyed proud Pharaoh, so he
destroyed proud Korah, and many others.
5. Pride, where it comes, and is entertained, is a certain forerunner
of some judgment that is not far behind. When pride goes before,
shame and destruction will follow after. 'When pride cometh, then
cometh shame' (Prov 11:2). 'Pride goeth before destruction, and
a haughty spirit before a fall' (Prov 16:18).
6. Persisting in pride makes the condition of a poor man as
remediless as is that of the devils themselves (1 Tim 3:6). And
this, I fear, was Mr. Badman's condition, and that was the reason
that he died so as he did; as I shall show you anon.
But what need I thus talk of the particular actions, or rather the
prodigious sins of Mr. Badman, when his whole life, and all his
actions, went, as it were, to the making up one massy body of sin?
Instead of believing that there was a God, his mouth, his life
and actions, declared that he believed no such thing.[65] His
'transgression saith within my heart, that there was no fear of
God before his eyes' (Psa 36:1). Instead of honouring of God, and
of giving glory to him for any of his mercies, or under any of his
good providences toward him, for God is good to all, and lets his
sun shine, and his rain fall upon the unthankful and unholy, he
would ascribe the glory to other causes. If they were mercies,
he would ascribe them, if the open face of the providence did not
give him the lie, to his own wit, labour, care, industry, cunning,
or the like. If they were crosses, he would ascribe them, or count
them the offspring of fortune, ill luck, chance, the ill management
of matters, the ill will of neighbours, or to his wife's being
religious, and spending, as he called it, too much time in reading,
praying, or the like. It was not in his way to acknowledge God,
that is, graciously, or his hand in things. But, as the prophet
saith, 'Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn
righteousness' (Isa 26:10). And again, They returned not to him
that smote them, nor did they seek the Lord of hosts (Isa 9:13).
This was Mr. Badman's temper, neither mercies nor judgment would
make him seek the Lord. Nay, as another scripture says, 'He would
not see the works of God, nor regard the operations of his hands
either in mercies or in judgments' (Isa 26:11; Psa 29:5). But
farther, when by providence he has been cast under the best means
for his soul--for, as was showed before, he having had a good
master, and before him a good father, and after all a good wife,
and being sometimes upon a journey, and cast under the hearing of
a good sermon, as he would sometimes for novelty's sake go to hear
a good preacher--he was always without heart to make use thereof
(Prov 17:6). In this land of righteousness he would deal unjustly,
and would not behold the majesty of the Lord (Isa 26:10).
Instead of referencing the Word, when he heard it preached,
read, or discoursed of, he would sleep, talk of others business,
or else object against the authority, harmony, and wisdom of the
scriptures; saying, How do you know them to be the Word of God? How
do you know that these sayings are true? The scriptures, he would
say, were as a nose of wax, and a man may turn them whithersoever
he lists. One scripture says one thing, and another says the quite
contrary; besides, they make mention of a thousand impossibilities;
they are the cause of all dissensions and discords that are in
the land. Therefore you may, would he say, still think what you
will, but in my mind they are best at ease that have least to do
with them.
Instead of loving and honouring of them that did bear in their
foreheads the name, and in their lives the image of Christ, they
should be his song, the matter of his jests, and the objects of his
slanders. He would either make a mock at their sober deportment,
their gracious language, quiet behavior, or else desperately swear
that they did all in deceit and hypocrisy. He would endeavour to
render godly men as odious and contemptible as he could; any lies
that were made by any, to their disgrace, those he would avouch
for truth, and would not endure to be controlled. He was much like
those that the prophet speaks of, that would sit and slander his
mother's son (Psa 50:19,20). Yea, he would speak reproachfully of
his wife, though his conscience told him, and many would testify,
that she was a very virtuous woman. He would also raise slanders of
his wife's friends himself, affirming that their doctrine tended
to lasciviousness, and that in their assemblies they acted and
did unbeseeming men and women, that they committed uncleanness,
&c. He was much like those that affirmed the apostle should say,
'Let us do evil that good may come' (Rom 3:7,8). Or, like those
of whom it is thus written; 'Report, say they, and we will report
it' (Jer 20:10). And if he could get any thing by the end that had
scandal in it, if it did but touch professors, how falsely soever
reported, O! then he would glory, laugh, and be glad, and lay it
upon the whole party; saying, Hang them rogues, there is not a
barrel better herring of all the holy brotherhood of them. Like to
like, quoth the devil to the collier, this is your precise crew.
And then he would send all home with a curse.
ATTEN. If those that make profession of religion be wise, Mr.
Badman's watchings and words will make them the more wary, and
careful in all things.
WISE. You say true. For when we see men do watch for our halting,
and rejoice to see us stumble and fall, it should make us so much
abundantly the more careful.
I do think it was as delightful to Mr. Badman to hear, raise, and
tell lies, and lying stories of them that fear the Lord, as it
was for him to go to bed when a weary. But we will at this time
let these things pass. For as he was in these things bad enough,
so he added to these many more the like.
He was an angry, wrathful, envious man, a man that knew not what
meekness or gentleness meant, nor did he desire to learn. His
natural temper was to be surly, huffy, and rugged, and worse; and
he so gave way to his temper, as to this, that it brought him to
be furious and outrageous in all things, especially against goodness
itself, and against other things too, when he was displeased.
ATTEN. Solomon saith, He is a fool that rageth (Prov 14:16).
WISE. He doth so; and says moreover, that 'Anger resteth in the
bosom of fools' (Eccl 7:9). And, truly, if it be a sign of a fool
to have anger rest in his bosom, then was Mr. Badman, notwithstanding
the conceit that he had of his own abilities, a fool of no small
size.
ATTEN. Fools are mostly most wise in their own eyes.
WISE. True; but I was a saying, that if it be a sign that a man
is a fool, when anger rests in his bosom; then what is it a sign
of, think you, when malice and envy rests there? For, to my knowledge
Mr. Badman was as malicious and as envious a man as commonly you
can hear of.
ATTEN. Certainly, malice and envy flow from pride and arrogancy,
and they again from ignorance, and ignorance from the devil. And
I thought, that since you spake of the pride of Mr. Badman before,
we should have something of these before we had done.
WISE. Envy flows from ignorance indeed. And this Mr. Badman was so
envious an one, where he set against, that he would swell with it
as a toad, as we say, swells with poison.[66] He whom he maligned,
might at any time even read envy in his face wherever he met with
him, or in whatever he had to do with him. His envy was so rank and
strong, that if it at any time turned its head against a man, it
would hardly ever be pulled in again; he would watch over that man
to do him mischief, as the cat watches over the mouse to destroy
it; yea, he would wait seven years, but he would have an opportunity
to hurt him, and when he had it, he would make him feel the weight
of his envy.
Envy is a devilish thing, the scripture intimates that none can
stand before it: 'A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a
fool's wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger
is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?' (Prov 27:3,4).
This envy, for the foulness of it, is reckoned among the foulest
villainies that are, as adultery, murder, drunkenness, revellings,
witchcrafts, heresies, seditions, &c. (Gal 5:19,20). Yea, it is
so malignant a corruption, that it rots the very bones of him in
whom it dwells. 'A sound heart is the life of the flesh; but envy
the rottenness of the bones' (Prov 14:30).
ATTEN. This envy is the very father and mother of a great many
hideous and prodigious wickednesses. I say, it is the very father
and mother of them; it both begets them, and also nourishes them
up, till they come to their cursed maturity in the bosom of him
that entertains them.
WISE. You have given it a very right description, in calling of it
the father and mother of a great many other prodigious wickednesses;
for it is so venomous and vile a thing that it puts the whole
course of nature out of order, and makes it fit for nothing but
confusion, and a hold for every evil thing: 'For where envying and
strife is, there is confusion, and every evil work' (James 3:16).
Wherefore, I say, you have rightly called it the very father
and mother of a great many other sins. And now for our further
edification, I will reckon up of some of the births of envy. 1.
Envy, as I told you before, it rotteth the very bones of him that
entertains it. And, 2. As you have also hinted, it is heavier than
a stone, than sand; yea, and I will add, it falls like a millstone
upon the head. Therefore, 3. It kills him that throws it, and him
at whom it is thrown. 'Envy slayeth the silly one' (Job 5:2). That
is, him in whom it resides, and him who is its object. 4. It was
that also that slew Jesus Christ himself; for his adversaries
persecuted him through their envy (Matt 27:18; Mark 15:10). 5.
Envy was that, by virtue of which Joseph was sold by his brethren
into Egypt (Acts 7:9).
6. It is envy that hath the hand in making of variance among God's
saints (Isa 11:13). 7. It is envy in the hearts of sinners, that
stirs them up to trust God's ministers out of their coasts (Acts
13:50, 14:6). 8. What shall I say? It is envy that is the very
nursery of whisperings, debates, backbitings, slanders, reproaches,
murders, &c.
It is not possible to repeat all the particular fruits of this
sinful root. Therefore, it is no marvel that Mr. Badman was such
an ill-natured man, for the great roots of all manner of wickedness
were in him unmortified, unmaimed, untouched.
ATTEN. But it is a rare case, even this of Mr. Badman, that he
should never in all his life be touched with remorse for his
ill-spent life.