Christ the fountain of lifeChrist the fountaine of life

Fourthly, Neither must I behold my brothers failings with a wanton eye, that is, when a man is not humbled for his brothers faults, but partly puffed up with it,¹ and prides himself with beholding another mans failings, and thinks every mans fall is a refreshing to himself; he builds his comfort upon the remembrance of the failings of his brethren, and his own falling short of them, this is an inbred vanity amongst men; this the Apostle taxed among the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 5.2. You have not so sorrowed for it, ye have not been so humbled for it as ye should have been, but rather have been puffed up; Puffed up, why so? what reason had they to be puffed up? Why only this, that they were not such as he was, they had carried themselves better then he had done, they compared themselves with him, and in the balance found themselves better then he, and this puffed them up. And this is a wanton eye, for a man may behold it with a wanton eye, either when he prides himself in it, or is induced thereby to licentiousness, and are glad of the occasion, and will say,² If such and such men take such liberty, then they hope they may take the same liberty as well as such men do; and therefore they run into the same course with all greediness. This is that which the Lord complained of in the whole Church of Judah, Jer. 3.7, 8. Her treacherous sister Judah saw it, and though for all the causes whereby back-sliding Israel committed Adultery I had put her away, and given her a divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the Harlot also. You heard one use that we ought to make of our brethren's failings was, that we should thereby become to fear, but she saw the fall of Israel, and would not be reformed, she feared not, she was not humbled at such falls of her Sister Church, but was wanton her self, and went and played the Harlot also. As ⟨p. 246⟩the Church of Israel had gone a whoring after false gods, Judah saw her sin, and saw me reprove and afflict her for it, yet she feared not, but went and played the Harlot; to show you, that a man may see his brothers sin, priding himself in his better watching over himself, or with a wanton eye; and this kind of observing the falls of our brethren we ought not to make use of, he pre-supposeth a man ought to observe and see his brothers sin, but not with any of these eyes.