apt to cherish. We can neither rejoice over the misfortunes of those we love, nor repine. at their success.

III. Charity envieth not.

A happy exemption! whereby the Christian is set free from those deserved miseries that destroy the quiet of the envious!

He whose hopes lay hold on the sublime felicity of heaven, and the rewards of immortality, can never possibly be sensible of envy, because those distinctions and possessions which usually excite that sensation, with him can have no merit. The heart whose affections are placed on things above, is privileged from all the vexations that attend this guilty passion. The human mind has always one principal object, to which its attention is turned, and on which its hopes are fixed. Whatever interferes with these hopes will create uneasiness, and, if competition is in the case, there will be envy also. But a man can have no competitor for the favour of God, whose success can possibly be prejudicial to him; therefore he who seeks an interest only in the counsels of Providence, rests free from envy upon those principles.

Inferior considerations, and temporal interests, though they may require his attention, will never obtain such an influence over his

heart as to make him envious or dissatisfied when he beholds others more successful in the pursuit. He moves forward with a calm and indifferent tranquillity, while he sees many strain before him to the goal of worldly distinctions and preferments. He is neither envious at the success of evil doers, nor is his heart a stranger to gladness during the time that their corn and their wine incrcaseth.

Yet it is not only because of uninterfering interests that the charitable man cannot envy. He is exempt from such sentiments upon nobler principles.

Tender and benevolent in all his dispositions, he has no wish but for the general happiness of his fellow-creatures, and in beholding that happiness, he finds his own. Agreeably to the principles and the practice of his divine Master, he is ready to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and to weep with them that weep; far and happily different from the temper of envy, which weeps with them that rejoice, and rejoiceth with them that weep.

How gracious is that eternal Providence which thus, in every dispensation, consults the benefit of mankind! How kind that heavenly wisdom which instituted a religion, that, by rectifying the heart, gives it a capacity of happiness; and by cherishing the social and

benevolent affections, would banish that evil out of the world, which is inseparable from the indulgence of contrary dispositions.

What a miserable sensation must envy be! and how destitute even of the common measure of happiness must be those wretched minds that entertain it! A benevolent man makes the most of human enjoyments; and not a little increases that portion of felicity which falls to his own share, by partaking of and rejoicing in the welfare of others but the diabolical spirit of envy converts those very circumstances to misery, from which benevolence bringeth forth joy.

Thrice happy that gentle and charitable disposition, which so far from being pained by the apparent superiority of others, would in tenderness be unwilling to give others pain by assuming a superiority itself.

IV. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

Humility is inseparable from that genuine piety, that Christian benevolence and meekness, of which the charity we are here describing is altogether comprehensive.

The subdued spirit and the humble sentiment are unavoidably adopted and derived from the temper and character of the Author of Christianity. They who learn of him, must be meek and lowly; and, moreover, in such a

temper they will infallibly find that rest which he hath promised.

There is scarce any sensation that brings more pain along with it than that of pride. However apt we are to indulge it in ourselves, we always take a pleasure in mortifying it in others, and if we likewise entertain so troublesome a guest, we seldom fail of being mortified in our turn.

But the humble mind is never exposed to any troubles of this kind, and this is another degree of happiness peculiar to that evangelical charity which vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

From what motives, or upon what principles, this Christian love or charity is always accompanied by humility, it is not difficult to discover.

Love and pride are always incompatible. The one gives the preference and esteem to its object; the other assumes them both itself. The one is a social affection extended to others; the other is a selfish passion that centers in its own being. Christian charity comprehends in its scheme of benevolence all human kind, and being kindly affectioned in brotherly love, in honour preferreth others. In such a system there is no place for pride: because there is no object over which it might exalt itself.

Humility is a friend to decency and order,

to a regular and becoming deportment in every station of life. And thus it is that,

V. Charity doth not behave itself unseemly. Upon an unwillingness to give offence, no doubt it is that the apostle founds this characteristic of charity.

And, indeed, this is so amiable, and, for the commerce of society, so necessary a quality, that the system of Christian virtues would have been very incomplete without it.

Little and ungenerous minds there are that take a low-thoughted pleasure in doing and saying offensive and unbecoming things: these evidently want that enlarged and benevolent spirit which is inspired by the genius, or formed upon the precepts, of Christianity.

It was partly upon this principle that St. Paul became all things to all men; to render himself agreeable to them he admitted nothing in his own conduct offensive or unseemly; and this he did, as well in compliance with the spirit of his religion, as that by this agreeable politeness, and conformity of manners, he might, by all means, gain some of them.