Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God

6. It would check any Motions of Envy. It would make us joy in the prosperity of good Men, and hinder us from envying the outward felicity of the Wicked. We should not dare with an evil Eye, to censure his good Hand^*, but approve, of what he thinks fit to do both in the matter of his Liberality, and the Subjects he chooseth for it. Though if the disposal were in our hands, we should not imitate him, as not thinking them Subjects fit for Bounty; Yet since it is in his hands, we be to approve of his actions, and not have an ill will towards him for his Goodness, or towards those he is pleased to make the Subjects of it. Since all his Doles are given, to invite Man to Repentance^*, to envy them those Goods, God hath bestowed upon them, is to envy God the Glory of his own Goodness, and them the felicity those things might move them to aspire to. 'Tis to wish God more contracted, and thy Neighbour more miserable; But a deep sense of his Sovereign Goodness, would make us rejoice in any marks of it upon others, and move us to bless him, instead of censuring him.

6. It would check any Motions of Envy. It would make us joy in the prosperity of good Men, and hinder us from envying the outward felicity of the Wicked. We should not dare with an evil Eye, to censure his good Hand^*, but approve, of what he thinks fit to do both in the matter of his Liberality, and the Subjects he chooseth for it. Though if the disposal were in our hands, we should not imitate him, as not thinking them Subjects fit for Bounty; Yet since it is in his hands, we be to approve of his actions, and not have an ill will towards him for his Goodness, or towards those he is pleased to make the Subjects of it. Since all his Doles are given, to invite Man to Repentance^*, to envy them those Goods, God hath bestow'd upon them, is to envy God the Glory of his own Goodness, and them the felicity those things might move them to aspire to. 'Tis to wish God more contracted, and thy Neighbour more miserable; But a deep sense of his Soveraign Goodness, would make us rejoyce in any marks of it upon others, and move us to bless him, instead of censuring him.