Article November 1, 2013

“Love envieth not”

Originally published in the April 21, 1910 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

Christianity with its lessons of love is nominally the guiding star of most civilized nations, and one of its warnings is this: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Love and truth are the things really worth gaining.

Envy is a by-product of covetousness. Covetousness as directed at the possessions, material or mental, of some specific person or class or at material things in general may at first seem free from envy; but in time envy of someone who has attained something we have striven for in vain or which we should like to have is likely to follow the covetous thought. La Rochefoucauld finds freedom from envy the mark of truest human greatness.

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