MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 373 breaks out indeed before the eyes of the world, to the shame and scandal of religion, and appears in its own most hateful form, rejoicing in mischief; but it much more frequently sits brooding (within, fretting at the peace and welfare of others, and spreads a melancholy gloom and painful horror round all the chambers of the soul, if the sun but shine upon a neighbour's house. There is many a christian indulges this secret iniquity, and practises this vice without the reproaches of conscience, because he cannot believe his conduct deserves this name. And whither can I send such a one to learn the nature of this sin better than to his bible ? The holy psalmist was once overtaken with a fit of envy, and after he had been divinely convinced and ashamed of it, the way wherein he confesses and describes it is this : That he enlarged his ideas of the prosperity of the wicked, he spread abroad all their honours and their riches before the eyes of his imagination, and magnified every circumstance of their health, their strength, and all their comforts of life ; but he conceals or lessens all their troubles, as though they had nothing to complain of: While, at the same time, his mouth was filled with com- plaints of his own sorrows, he painted his own grievances upon his fancy in the darkest colours, and the most dismal shapes, and by the comparison of their condition and his own, his soul grew much more uneasy. " As for my wicked neighbours, says he, they thrive in the world, they encrease in riches, they are not in trouble like other men, nor are they plagued as I am ; their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart can wish; they oppress and prosper, they are encompassed with pride and honours, they are gay and wanton in their garments of oppression and violence ; in life their strength is firm, and they die easy, for they have no painful agonies in their death : But as for me, the waters of a full cup are wrung out to me; all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning ;" Ps. lxxli. The good man, when he felt this evil temper working in him, indulged it too much at first ; but upon a just review he OM himself, and submitted to call it by its proper name ; " I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." O that it liad been found only among the Jews and Hea- thens, and never broke into Christendom ! But this is a fruitless wish. Thonillo has an affluence of all the blessings of life, except perfect health and public honour. He is sometimes confined to his chamber by small indispositions, while his next neighbour; Thiron, is half gone in a dangerous consumption, and Thonillo knows it too ; but Thiron walks about the fields, and rides daily in the country, if possible to preserve his life; in the mean time
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