nance became pallid and haggard: “And Cain was exceeding angry, and his countenance fell.”[1] He had no rest until he had got rid of his brother by cruelly murdering him. In the same way the sons of Jacob could not bear the sight of their brother Joseph. “Come, let us kill him,”[2] said they to one another, so great was their hatred of him. And what excited them so vehemently against him? A garment somewhat better than theirs, a more friendly look or caress that he received from their father Jacob; this was the sole cause of their jealousy and bitter malignity. Saul, when he heard the people singing hymns of praise to David, “Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands,”[3] became so filled with envy and hatred that to his dying day he sought David’s life. Rachel had no rest as long as she saw the son of Lia in her house. Aman fell sick and had to take to his bed, and lost all pleasure in his honors and riches, because Mardochai, whom he could not bear, was favored by the king. The Jews, because Stephen overcame them in argument, “were cut to the heart,” as the Scripture says, “and they gnashed with their teeth at him;”[4] envy gnaws at the very marrow of the bones; for the most trifling thing it eats out the very life of a man.
The damned shall also be tormented by the thought of the happiness of the elect. Oh, who can then understand the terrible envy, the madness and rage of the damned in hell, when raising the eyes of the mind unceasingly to heaven, they are forced to behold in the enjoyment of eternal happiness and delights the elect, against whom they have the most bitter hatred, and whom they would willingly drag down from heaven into hell with themselves, if they could? What will not be their rage at seeing the bliss of those whom they persecuted during life, or despised as poor, mean, lowly outcasts, or laughed at as ridiculous fools, or treated contemptuously as their servants or slaves? When they, I say, shall be compelled to behold them for eternity enjoying unspeakable glory and happiness, while they themselves are lying in hell mocked at by demons? This sight, St. Peter Chrysologus and Eusebius Emissenus do not hesitate to say, will cause them such envy that it will be one of their most cruel torments.[5]
- ↑ Iratusqne est Cain vehementer, et concidit vultus ejus.—Gen. iv. 5.
- ↑ Venite, occidamus eum.—Ibid. xxxvii. 20.
- ↑ Percussit Saul mille, et David decem millia.—I. Kings xviii. 7.
- ↑ Dissecabantur cordibus suis, et stridebant dentibus in eum. Putredo ossium invidia.—Acts vii. 54.
- ↑ Prima pœna alienæ beatitudinis conscientia.— Euseb. Emiss. Serm. 3. in Symb.
