SEAM. XXVI.] CHRISTIAN .MORALITY, .VIZ. JUSTICE, &C. 435 none of us guiltyOfsome.lesser injuries rising from `the same principle ? Are there none of us that indulge Our tongues to backbite and slander, to make our neighbours look odious, or to make ourselves easy or merry? This is to play the madman, who casts abroad fire-brands, arrows and death, -and saith, Am I not in -sport? ? Prov. xxvi. 18, 19. Are there none of us that delight to teaze, and vex, and torture our neighbour by disa- greeable speeches and sly reproach ? Do we never envy and provoke one another, contrary to the apostle's ex- press prohibition ? Gal. v. 26.. Do we not take plea- sure to repeat the things that make each other uneasy, in order to vent the gall within us, and scatter the venom upon our neighbour's good name ? This is malice and unrihteousness together; a complicated crime, which one would think should be abhorred by every Christian, if one did not, frequently see and feel the practice of it among the professors of the name of Christ. I might well compare such creatures to a wasp or hornet, who first teaze and disquiet us with their endless humming, and ere we can get, rid of them, they fix their painful sting in our flesh; though .neither the pain nor theteaz- ingvexation they give us, can procure any conveniency to those peevish insects, those noisy animals of a .little angry soul.. If we are poor, this evil humour tempts us to envy the riches of our neighbour, and we magnify and exalt them beyond the truth, that we may give some colour to our splenetic and uneasy carriage. If we are afflicted, or in pain, we envy the welfare and the ease of others, We enlarge our paraphrases upon their blessings, and blacken their character, that theymay appear unworthy of such favours, and worthy of our indignation and envy. " When shall the time come, O Lord Jesus, thou king of righteousness, andkingof peace, when shall that day, appear, that Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor Judah molest Ephraim ?. When shall it be that no ra- venous beast shall come near Zion, and there shall be nothing to hurt. or destroy in all thy holy mountain?" The last spring of injustice that I shall mention, is unbelief, and distrust áf the providence of God. When persons are in low circumstances, they are sometimes hurried by the power of this temptation to use . sinful r
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