can do no more, show your sympathy for his sufferings by such kind
offices as are within your power.

III. Charity _envieth not_. It is not grieved but gratified to see
others more prosperous and wealthy, more intelligent and refined, or
more holy. The extension of holiness and happiness is an object of
rejoicing to the benevolent mind, without regard to himself.

There are some persons who are always complaining of the rich, and
fretting about the aristocratic spirit of those whose rank and station,
education or mental endowments, place them in any respect above
themselves. This is a sure indication of an envious disposition. There
may be, in these respects, some ground of complaint; but place these
persons in the situation of those of whom they complain, and where the
latter are proud, the former would probably be aristocratic; and where
these are aristocratic, those would be tyrannical.

An envious disposition argues, 1. _A want of self-respect._ If we
respect ourselves, we shall not desire the factitious importance arising
from wealth so much as to grieve that others have more of it than
ourselves; nor shall we be willing to concede so much merit to the
possession of wealth as to suspect those who have it of esteeming us the
less because we have it not. 2. It argues a _want of benevolence_. The
truly benevolent mind desires the increase of rational enjoyment, and
will therefore rejoice in the happiness of others, without respect to
his own. 3. It argues a _want of magnanimity_. The truly great will
rejoice in the intellectual and moral elevation of others, as adding so
much to the sum of human excellence. But the envious person cannot bear
to see any other one elevated above himself. This is the spirit that
brought Haman to the gallows, and Satan from the seat of an archangel to
the throne of devils. 4. It argues a _narrow, selfish spirit_--_a little
and mean mind_. The law of God requires us to love our neighbor as
ourselves, and reason sanctions the requisition. But, the envious person
will hate his neighbor, because he is not permitted to love him less
than himself.

If you regard your own happiness, I conjure you to suppress the first
motions of this vile and hateful temper; for, while indulged, it will
give you no peace. Its envenomed darts will rankle and corrode in your
bosom, and poison all your enjoyments. It is a disposition which can
never be satisfied so long as there is a superior being in the unive