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T H E By J O H N.B U N Y A N. 1680. Published two years after Pilgrim's Progress. |
CHAPTER XII.
[BADMAN'S PRIDE, ATHEISM, INFIDELITY, AND ENVY.]
TTEN. 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.
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