Christ must be avenged before we are.

265

9. 10.

9.

the Father hath commanded that His Son should be worshipped; and the Apostle Paul, mindful of the divine commandment, sets forth, and says, God hath exalted Him, and given Phil. 2, Him a Name which is above every name; that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things beneath. And in the Apocalypse the Angel resists John who would worship him, and says, See Rev. 22, thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant and of thy` brethren. Worship Jesus the Lord. How great is the Lord Jesus, and what His patience, that He who is adored in heaven, is not yet avenged upon earth! Let us think of His patience, dearest brethren, in our persecutions and passions. To His coming let us offer an obedience full of waiting thoughts. Let us not, servants as we are, haste with irreligious and immodest speed, to be defended before our Lord. Rather press we and labour on, and let us, watching with the whole heart, and stedfast unto all longsuffering, maintain the commandments of the Lord; that when the day of anger and avenging comes, we may not be punished with the impious and the sinning, but may receive honour among righteous men and fearers of God.

TREATISE XII.

ON JEALOUSY AND ENVY.

[This Treatise was written with the same object as the foregoing, apparently in the same or following year, A.D. 256. Neither in this nor the foregoing is the object expressly mentioned.]

TREAT.

XII.

To feel jealousy of what you regard as good, and to envy those who are better than yourself, to some, dearest brethren, seems a light and minute offence; and when it is thought light and minute, it is unfeared; and when unfeared it is held in contempt; and when held in contempt it is with difficulty escaped from; and it becomes a dark and covert destruction, which, from not being perceived and thereby provision made against it, works latent affliction upon incautious minds. Further, the Lord has commanded us to exercise prudence, and has instructed us to watch with thoughtful anxiety, lest an Adversary, who is ever watchful, and ever on the alert to ensnare, after having stolen entrance into the breast, out of sparks kindle flame, from little things build up the greatest: and while flattering the inert and incautious with gentler air and softer breeze, lift storms and whirlwinds up, and compass the downfal of faith and shipwreck of our life. For this cause, dearest brethren, we must be keeping sentry, and toil with all our might, that against a raging enemy, who is directing his darts against all parts of our body wherein we can be stricken and wounded, we may with anxious and abundant vigilance carry on the fight; according to that which Peter the Apostle in his Epistle admonishes and

8.

teaches, thus saying, Be sober and watch, because your 1 Pet. 5, Adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking some one whom he may devour. He goeth about each of us; and, as an enemy that makes siege upon men who are shut within, he spies the walls, and tries whether there may be some part of our members less stedfast and less sure, by access of which he may gain entrance to the inner places. To our eyes he offers alluring images and easy pleasures, that by sight he may destroy chastity. He tries the ears with melodious music, that by listening to sweetest sounds, he may relax and enervate our Christian vigour. The tongue he provokes by revilings, the hand by provocation of injuries he stirs up to the wantonness of murder; to make a man dishonest, he sets unjust gains before him; that money may make the soul its captive, he loads up the heap of pernicious gatherings; promises earthly honours, that he may take away the heavenly; holds out the shew of false things, that he may steal the real; and when he cannot deceive unseen, he forwardly and undisguisedly threatens, and stretches out the dread of tumultuous persecution, that he may subdue the servants of God; ever unquiet and ever adverse; deceitful in peace, and violent in persecution.

2. Wherefore, dearest brethren, the mind ought to be standing in its array and armed, equally whether against the treacherous plots or the open threats of the Devil; as ready at all times to repel, as is the enemy at all times ready to assail. And since those darts from him are more numerous, which make their approach in a lurking way, and the more covert and hidden discharging of them, does, because unperceived, bear down more heavily and thickly to our wounding, against those also let us be on the watch to know and to repel them; amongst which, is the evil of jealousy and envy. And if any man deeply consider this, he will discover that nothing ought to be more guarded against by a Christian, nothing more cautiously heeded, than his becoming ensnared by envy and bad feeling, so that entangled in the unseen snares of a deceitful enemy, a brother swayed by jealousy to hatred of his brother, should perish at unawares by his own sword; which that we may collect the more fully and see more plainly, let us go back to its source and beginning.

a.

XII

TREAT. 3. Let us consider from whence, and at what time, and in what way, jealousy had its beginning; for it will be easier for us to escape from so destructive an evil, if both the source and magnitude of that evil be known. From it the Devil in the very beginnings of the world, did first both perish and vid. xi. destroy. He who long had been upheld in Angelic majesty, 12. note he the accepted and dear to God, when he beheld man made after God's likeness, did in malignant wrath break forth into envy, not sooner overthrowing another through impulse of jealousy, than by jealousy he was himself overthrown; captive before he was capturer; perishing before he became destroyer; and while under the spur of envy he carries off from man the grace of immortality that had been given him, becoming the loser of that estate which had before been his. What evil, dearest brethren, is that, by which an Angel fell?-by which that lofty and illustrious height was able to be deceived and overthrown?-by which he was deceived who was the deceiver? It is thus that envy practises its assaults upon earth, when man, about to perish through bad feeling, submits himself to the teacher of perdition; becoming through jealousy imitator of the Devil. As it is written, Wisd. 2, But through envy of the Devil death came into the world. They therefore imitate him who are of his part. Hence in a word the original estrangements of the new brotherhood, hence commenced the unnatural fratricide; unrighteous Cain becoming jealous of righteous Abel, the bad man persecuting the good with envy and venom. So much availed the madness of jealousy towards the commission of crime; so that no thought was felt of love for a brother, nor of the greatness of the crime, nor fear of God, nor retribution for guilt. He was unrighteously oppressed, who first had manifested righteousness; he underwent hatred, who knew not to hate; and he was impiously killed, who in death made no resistance. It was through jealousy also that Esau was enemy of his brother Jacob. For because the one had received the blessing of his Father, the other became inflamed to persecuting hatred by the firebrands of envy. Moreover when Joseph's brethren sold him, the cause of their selling him was derived from enviousness; for when he with simplicity set forth to them, as a brother to brethren, that prosperous thing

24.

which had been shewn to him in visions, their unkindly spirit broke forth into envy. What else moreover than the spur of jealousy provoked King Saul to hate David, and seek with persecutions oftentimes repeated to kill that innocent and merciful man, full of meek and gentle patience? Because when Goliath was killed, and that great enemy destroyed through the help and goodness of God, the admiring people broke forth with suffrage of acclamation in praising David, Saul conceived through envious feeling the mad spirit of hatred and persecution. And not to lengthen on in numbering all, let us mark the fate of a nation that entirely perished. Did not the Jews for this cause perish, because they would rather envy Christ, than believe in Him? Carping at those great works which He performed, they were deceived by jealousy that blinded them, and could not open the eyes of their heart to the acknowledgment of divine things.

4. Thinking now on these things, dearest brethren, let us watchfully and boldly arm our heaven-surrendered breasts, against this great instrument of destruction. Let others' death avail for our saving; let the sufferings of unwatchful men contribute health to those who take thought. None can think that that mischief exists in a single form, or is comprehended in brief limits or a narrow boundary. Far spreads the manifold and fertile mischief of jealousy. It is the root of all evils, the fountain of calamities, the seedbed of sins, the material of wicked deeds. Hatred arises from hence; from hence wrathfulness issues. Jealousy inflames avarice, when a man cannot be content with his own, seeing another more rich. Jealousy excites ambition, when a man sees another in greater possession of honours; when jealousy blinds our senses, and reduces the secret springs of the mind under its power, the fear of God is despised, the guidance of Christ is disregarded, and the day of Judgment unprovided for: pride inflates, fierceness embitters, unbelief plays false, impatience harasses, discord rages, anger burns; nor can he any longer restrain or rule himself, who is delivered over to another power. By this the bond of the peace of the Lord is broken, by this the love of brethren is violated, by this truth is corrupted, unity is rent, and men fly to heresies and schisms;