ference is, that an enemy's reproofs are usually joined with reproaches, and when we are fallen he will stand and insult over us; but a true Christian friend will faithfully represent our condition to us, pity us in it, and endeavour to help and raise us out of it. And such should we be to all: not railing on them for hypocrites, or lost and desperate apostates; for this, certainly, is not the way to reduce them, but rather to confirm and harden them in their sins: we should not gripe nor press their wounds; but rather gently anoint and chafe them: our reproofs should be as oil, smooth and lenitive, to soke into and supple the part affected: and therefore the Apostle again exhorts us, in meekness to instruct those, that oppose themselves: 2 Tim. ii. 25. But, whilst we exclaim against them with bitter invectives, and dip all our reproofs in gall and satire, we may quickly make them loath the medicine, rather than the disease; and sooner break their heads with such rebukes, than their hearts for their offences.

3. Though our reproofs must be meek and gentle; yet must they be quick and vivacious also.

For, as charity requires the one, so doth zeal the other: and the best and most equal temper, is, rightly to mix these two; that, at once, we may shew meekness to his person, (for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God: James i. 20.) and sharpness against his sin, (for a remiss reprover will make but a slow penitent.) We ought so to reprove, that he may not think we only jest and dally with him: and, for this, it is necessary that we do it with all seriousness, gravity, and authority; not playing about the wound, but searching into the very depth and bottom of it: and therefore we must use such words, as are most significant of our meaning, most expressive of our grief and sorrow for him; and which we think most apt to expose the vice that we reprove, and make it most odious and hateful, keeping still within the bounds of a sober and friendly redargution. Hence the Apostle gives Titus this advice, Rebuke them sharply; that they may be sound in the faith: Tit. i. 13 if they want salt and vinegar, spare them not: this, possibly, may cleanse those wounds, which else would fester and putrify. But here is required much spiritual prudence, to know how to suit reproof, according to the different conditions and tempers of the persons with whom you deal: some must be lanced and searched to the very quick, before they can be healed: others require a gentle hand: if they be proud and

stubborn, they need corrosives; but, for those who are naturally meek and mild, a meek and mild course will be easiest and most effectual. The tempers and cases of particular Christians are so various, that there can be no rules given which may be applicable to every condition: this must, of necessity, be left to your prudence and discretion. Only this rule is infallible : Be sure you flatter none in their vices. Extenuate not their sins: when thou comest to reprove them, do it not in sport: let them see thou art in very good earnest; and tell them their sin, as it is in itself, without mincing the matter or the circumstances of it for men are always apt to impute somewhat of the reproof to the severity of him that gives it, rather than to the demerits of their own offences; and, therefore, if thou thyself shalt speak but slightly of their sins, they will be ready to conclude that they were none, or at least so small that it was nothing but officiousness and the love of censuring which made thee take notice of them.

4. Let all thy reproofs be given as secretly and privately as possibly thou canst; otherwise, thou wilt seem not so much to aim at thy brother's reformation, as at his shame and confusion.

For if (as the Wise Man tells us, Prov. xxvii. 14.) a loud and clamorous benediction given too officiously, is so far from being a blessing, that it is but a curse and a shame to a man's friend? certainly, then, a public clamorous reproof must only tend to the shame and reproach of those, who receive it. Indeed, there are some, who offend openly before many: these, if there be no fear of irritating them to do worse, we ought openly to rebuke; and to give them their reproof, in the company, where they have given the offence: so saith the Apostle, 1 Tim. v. 20. Them, that sin, rebuke before all; that is, supposing that their sins be open and public. But, for others, whose sins and mis. carriages have been private, and only known to ourselves and a few others, we ought to reprove them in secret; and to be tender not only of their souls, but of their reputation also: so is the counsel of our Saviour, Matt. xviii. 15. If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.

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And, indeed, this is a necessary piece of prudence; not only to preserve his reputation and good name as much as may be, but also,

(1) To preserve the reputation of religion itself, which a

more public divulging of his offences might much impair and discredit.

And,

(2) To hinder the spreading of an evil example, which also perhaps some or other would make use of, to encourage themselves in the like transgressions. And,

(3) To preserve him serviceable for the future.

For, by reporting his miscarriages, thou lessenest his credit, and thereby renderest him less capable of doing good than he was before. For, though he may recover himself out of the snare of the Devil, and his wound be healed; yet, if his faults have been made public, the scar will still remain: and this will be such a blemish to him, that, having lost much of his repute among men, he will likewise lose much of those advantages which he formerly had of doing good in the world; and thou, by thy imprudent reproofs, be the cause of it. Upon all these accounts, it is necessary that thy reproofs be managed with the greatest secrecy and privacy that may be: for, as St. Austin speaks well, if whilst thou alone knowest thy brother to have offended, and yet wilt rebuke him before all, Non es corrector, sed proditor: "Thou art not a reprover, but a betrayer."

5. Reprove not one, who is greatly thy superior, unless it be at a respectful distance.

Toward such, we must not use downright and blunt rebukes; but rather insinuate things into them, with address and artifice, What says Elihu, Job xxxiv. 18? Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly? And, indeed, in this case, usually, it is most fit and decent that thy reproofs should not carry their own shape and form; but disguise them rather into parables or intreaties, or into any such humble and becoming method; yet, withal, let so much appear, as that they may well enough know thy drift and intent. For it becomes the wisdom and station of inferiors, so to order their speech, that, if it can but be interpreted as a reproof, their superiors may and will certainly know they meant it for such. Thus the Apostle bids us, 1 Tim. v. 1. Rebuke not an elder, but rather intreat him as a father: for, because their place and calling required respect and reverence, therefore the Apostle would not have them bluntly rebuked; but that the reproof should be clad in another dress, that they might appear to be rather intreaties than rebukes. We may observe, likewise, that, when Nathan was sent immediately by God to reprove King David, he doth

not attack him directly, and fall rudely upon him for his adultery and murder; but clothes his speech in a parable: and, when he had so represented the heinousness of his sin, so as by that means to make him first reprove and condemn himself, then he tells him, Thou art the man.

6. If thou wouldst have thy reproofs effectual, especially beware that thou thyself art not guilty of those sins, which thou reprovest in another.

It were, indeed, a temper to be wished and prayed for, that we could only respect how righteous the reproof were, and not how righteous the person is who gives it; for there is no more reason to reject sound admonition, because it comes from an unsound heart, than there is to stop our ears against good counsel, because it is delivered perhaps by an unsavoury breath. Yet, so it is, that, when men of defiled consciences and conversations reprove others, they are apt to justify themselves by recriminating; or, else, to think they do but sport and jest with them; or, thirdly, to hate them for gross hypocrites and dissemblers; or, lastly, to think they do but envy them their sins, and that they would engross all to themselves. It was a true observation of Pliny, in his Epistles, Lib. viii. Epist. 22. that there are some, Qui sic aliorum vitiis irascuntur, quasi invideant : "Who are so angry at other men's vices, as if they envied them:" it cannot be hoped that the reproof of such should ever take place. But, when a man of a clear and unspotted name shall reprove the sins and vices of others, his rebukes carry authority with them: and, if they cannot reform, yet at least must they needs daunt and silence the offenders, that they shall have nothing to reply, no subterfuges nor evasions; but they must needs be convinced, that their sins are as evil as he represents them, by his own care and caution to avoid them.

V. The only thing that remains, is, to propound to you some MOTIVES, which may quicken you to the conscientious discharge of this much neglected duty.

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And I shall but name some few; and leave them to your consideration, to be farther pressed upon you.

And, here, next to the express command of Almighty God, whose authority alone ought to prevail against all the difficul ties, which we either find or fancy in the way of obedience thereunto :

Consider,

i. The GREAT BENEFIT, WHICH MAY REDOUND, BOTH TO THE REPROVER AND REPROVED.

1. To the Reprover.

(1) Thou shalt hereby provide thyself a friend, who may take the same liberty to reprove thee, when it shall be needful, and for thy great good.

And it may very well be thought, that the Apostle, upon this account, requires us to restore our fallen brother, with meek reproofs, considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted: Gal. vi. 1. that is, that hereby we may purchase a true friend, who will be as faithful to us, as we have been to him. However, certainly it is the best and most generous way of procuring to ourselves true love and respect, from those, whom we have thus reformed. So, says Solomon, Prov. ix. 8. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee: and, in another place, says he, He, that rebuketh a man, afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with his tongue: Prov. xxviii. 23.

(2) Thou wilt hereby entitle thyself to that great and precious promise, Dan. xii. 3. that They, that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they, that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever: and to that other, of the Wise Man, Prov. xxiv. 25. To them, that rebuke the wicked, shall be delight; and a good blessing shall come upon them.

(3) Thou shalt increase thy own graces and comforts, more than possibly thou couldst do by separating thyself from them. Thy graces will be more confirmed, because reproving of others will engage thee to a greater watchfulness over thyself. Thy comforts also will be increased, because a conscientious discharge of this duty will be to thee a great evidence of the integrity and sincerity of thy heart.

2. The practice of this duty will be greatly profitable unto him, that is reproved.

How knowest thou but it may be a means to turn him from his iniquity? and so thou shalt prevent a multitude of sins, and save a soul from death: James v. 20. And hereby, likewise, we shall frustrate one of the great designs and artifices of the Devil; which is, to allure men to sin by the examples of those wickednesses, that pass unchecked and uncontroled in the world,