Serm.7. portAke of other amens fmss I 49 may adn.onith with the greater Advantage, Authority, Efficacy. Let the Righteous finite me, faith David,&c. Pfal.141. 5. Aman of a ffrid and fevere life, and religious and righteous converfation, carries a kind of a Majeffy and Authority along with him, at which the guilty conici- encesof guilty (inners cannot bin recoil, as Herod did to john Baptifi, Mar .6 Though?An had reproved him, and touched him to thequick. v.18. And then 2. Aman mull be blamelefs in reference to that fin he reproves ofecialy ; elfe, in healing his Brother, he cloth but flab himfelf ; if thou reproveff Pride inothers, and art proud thy felt; Covetoufnefs, and art covetous thy fell; Drunkennefs,and art a drunkard thy felf, thou doff but like Da- vid in NathanParable, pronounce the fencence of thine owncondem- nation, Rem.z.I. But here I muff enter one Caution, none is exempted from this,duty for unfitnefs ; no, this thou oughte(f to have done, and nor to have left the other undone. z.. - -As he mrad take heedthat himfelfbefaultlefr, fohe muff bejure that his Brother befaulty ; For otherwife it is not to reprove him,but to reproach him ; and fo inflead of doing a Chritfian duty, a man com- mits a devilifh fin ; he becomes an acculer of the Brethren, in(fead of a Reprover of theBrethren, Ga1.2.1I. And here are likewife two things confiderable; 1. It muff be a truth that thou reproveff him for. z. It mutt be a fin that thou reprove( him for. Lit muff not be a conje &ure,or imagination,or jealoufie,or rumoLT, or hear-fay chat's ground fufficient for Reproof : for all thefe maybe falfe,and the Rule of Charity is, quifgsse prafumitrer effe bonus nijicon- _fiat de malo --* but verily the guile of theworld is far otherwife ; we deal with our Brethren as the pe fecutir.g Pagans did with the Primi- tive Chri(fians,put them intoLions 5kins,and into Bear skins,and then bait therrt,'nd tear them to pieces.Alasl he poorChriffians were harm- lefs, meek Lambs, but they difguifed them, and fo abufed them. Thus 'cis now, Chriffians are apt and ready to put their poor Brethren into I knownot what kind of monflrous, ugly fhapes, of their own imagi- ning, and devifing, or elfe of other mens traducingand reporting, and without more ado,they fall foul uron them ; This is not to imitate our Saviour, Jfa.1 I. z,3,4......Not from rumours '---- but wi'th righte- oufnefs and equity ; as God laid in deflroying of Sodom, fo flìould we fay in reproving our Brethren, Gen.18.z1. I willgo down and fee. z. It muff be. a 1reach of Tome command Affirmative or Nettive, iirehly or reduLively ; either the. o:nißion of that which is good, ° as
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=