Envy is closely related to pride on the one hand and to covetousness on the other.  It begins in the perception of another’s superiority, and carries its victim through the feeling of hurt pride at the contrast with himself to desire for that which is not his own.  The envious person covets the qualities of possessions of another, while vividly denying that they are in fact superior to his own, except, it may be, in certain apparent and not very valuable aspects.  The contrast between the superior and the inferior has one of two results:  either the inferior is stirred to admiration, or he is stirred to a greater or less degree of envy.

It was thus that contact with our Lord revealed the reality of men.  It was a very true judgment to associate with him.  His apostles were simple men who never thought of putting themselves in comparison with Him:  the more they knew Him the more wonderful He seemed to them.  We feel all through the Gospel story what an overwhelming impression His personality made upon men.  There is no criticism raised on His character from any point of view.  His enemies fell back on the accusation of blasphemy growing out of His claims, an accusation that would be true, if the claims were not true.  What we really discover in those who oppose Him is envy, envy of the influence He exercises over others, envy stirred by His obvious superiority to themselves.

Envy is one of the sins of which we are least conscious.  When people affirm that they envy others this or that:  their leisure, their beauty, or what not, they clearly do not envy them at all, but are mildly covetous of the things that they see others possess.  Where envy does show its presence and where we do not recognise its nature, is in that horrible inclination to depreciate others which is visible in certain characters.  They seem never to hear another mentioned but they try to think of something which limits the praise bestowed upon him, or altogether counteracts it.  It seems to be an instinctive hostility to superiority as involving an implied criticism of one’s own inferiority.  It is that curious love of the worst that lies at the root of gossip.

And what about the last of the deadly sins, the sin of sloth?  One is almost tempted to say that it is at once the least obvious and the most destructive of all the deadly sins.  That would no doubt be somewhat of an exaggeration, but it would not be very far off the truth.  It is spiritual sloth that prevents us from considering as we should the spiritual problems that are presented to us, and therefore prevents us from gaining their promise.  It is the quality in humanity that blocks the consideration of the new on the ground that we already know and can gain nothing by further exertion.  The Jewish religious leaders declined the intellectual and spiritual effort of considering our Lord’s claims; they just set them aside unconsidered.  And is not that just what we are constantly doing, and what constitutes the most pressing danger of the spiritual life?  We will not consider the future as the field of constantly new opportunity and therefore new stages of growth.  We do not want to make the effort that is implied in that attitude.