in a moderate Fortune of their own, and free from all that Grandeur and Magnificence of Mifery, which is fure to attend an invidious Greatnefs And he who is not contented with fuch a Condition, muft feek his Happiness (if ever he have any) in another World, for Providence itself can provide no better for him in this. 3. And lastly, we learn from hence the Neceffity of a Man's depending upon fomething, without him, higher and stronger than himself, even for the Prefervation of his ordinary Concerns in this Life. Nothing can be a greater Argument to make a Man fly, and caft himself into the Arms of Providence, than a due Confideration of the Nature and the Workings of Envy.. For how fierce and cruel, how watchful and diligent, how remorfelefs and implacable, and, which is worft of all, how causeless for the most part, and how unprovoked is this vile Thing in all its Affaults upon its Neighbour; not acting upon any Injury or Motive from without, but boiling over upon all about it, thro' an overflowing Fulness of Malice from within? The greatest Strength which God has youchfafed Men to fecure themselves by in this World, are Innocence and Wisdom; and yet both of them together are not always an equal Match for Envy. Thou perhaps art bufied in the honeft Employments of thy Estate, or Calling, neither doing nor thinking Hurt to any one; but in the mean time Envy may chance to be much bufier than thou, dropping Poifon into the Ears of thy Prince, or Patron, and fo dafhing thy inno cent Name and Fortune with fuch a killing Whisper, as shall strip thee of all in a Moment, before thou shalt know either the Tongue that hurt thee, or the Hand that fmote thee. Haft thou a large Eftate? fo had Naboth; yet Envy quickly found a Jezebel to alter the Title, and difpoffefs the true Owner of his rich Vineyard. Haft thou Friends in the World? their Minds may change, and their Friendship fail thee, when the Envy of two or three back Friends fhall be continually ftabbing and pecking at their good Opinion of thee, till at length they ftrike thee thro' and thro', and fo pierce thy Heart, before it ever reaches thy Ear. And lastly, haft thou a fair Reputation and Name in the World? know that it is but as Glafs, the foul Breath of Envy can quickly fully, and the least Touch of the Hand easily break it. For it is God only who must watch over thy good Name, and protect thy Reputation. For Envy will be awake against it when thou art afleep, and ftill present to afperfe thee when thou art abfent, and fo not able to vindicate or speak one Word Word for thyself. And therefore none but that great Keeper of Ifrael, who neither flumbers nor fleeps, and whofe Omniprefence makes him actually prefent in all Places, can preserve thee in this great Concern. It is he (I fay) who must keep thee fecretly in his Pavilion from the Strife of Tongues, controul their Virulence, and rebuke the foul and reftlefs Spirit of Slander and Detraction. For otherwife, he who reckons himself out of the Reach and Power of Envy, by any Pitch of Greatness or Goodness whatsoever, is like that Man whom Solomon reprefents lying down to fleep upon the top of a top of a Maft, and never confiders either the Winds and Storms roaring about him, or the cruel devouring Deep gaping under him, a very unfecure Place certainly to fleep in, tho' never fo high. Nor has that Man pitched upon a fafer Dormitory, who thinks to reft quietly over a much more merciless Element, and more dangerous a Deep of the two (as we have proved Envy to be) unless the Man's Senfe and Reafon fhould have firft left him, and fallen faft afleep before him. In a word, what Mortal can ftand his Ground against this irrefiftible Engine of all Mifchief? Even the Wifeft have perifhed by its Wiles, and the moft Innocent been taken by its Snares; the Nobleft, and most Valiant; the ableft Mini fters fters of State, and moft renowned Commanders in War; nay, even Kings themselves have sometimes fallen before it; fo impoffible is it for any Thing in Nature to be sure of Protection against it; but that Man only, who, under the Cover of an Almighty Wing, has made the King of Kings his Refuge, and the God of Gods his everlasting Habitation. To whom therefore be rendred and afcribed, as it is most due, all Praise, Might, Majesty, and Dominion, both now and for evermore. A SERMON Preach'd at Chrift Church, Oxon, on the 30th of April, 1668, being Afcenfion-Day. LUKE XXI. 15. For I will give you a Mouth, and Wisdom, which all your Adver Saries fhall not be able to gainsay or refift. T being the great Design of our Saviour's coming into the World to declare and prove himself the Meffias, and to eftablish a Church upon that Belief; we have him here en couraging the Minifters of it with this notable Promife, left them as a kind of Legacy not long before his Death; together with a Prediction of what fhould befall them after |