A REFORMATION SERMON. 555 3. They complain that you are " partial, and have a ' respect of persons. Some you prosecute withont mercy, and you indulge an escape to others who are equally cri- minal." Answer them that you pursue'vice impartially, wheresoever'you find it, and that you follow those me- thods that may most effectually reclaim mankind. Tell them that you make no distinction between transgressors ofhigh or low degree ; you put no difference between the guilty, whether they belong to your own partyand pro- fession, or to another. Assure them that in this case you are unwilling to know a friend or a brother, even as the sons of Levi when they girded on their swords in the camp of Israel, " and consecrated themselves that day to the Lord, every man upon.his companion, his neigh- bour, his brother, and his son ;" Ex. xxxii. 26, 27, 29. But the apostle Jude seems to direct you to make a difference in other respects with compassion and fear, treating those more severely " that are mockers and sensualists walking after their own ungodly lusts,;" Jude 18, 19, 22. The very design of the work of reformation seems to require that a distinction be made between young and old offenders, between the bashful and the impudent, the trembling transgressor and the obstinate wretch, that has no sense of guilt or shame : Some may be reclaimed for ever, by one admonition or reproof; others must be sharply chastised to make them feel con- viction. Yet it needs divine prudence to practise the.e directions aright; and sometimes you must be forced to make no distinction at all where nature and virtue seem to desire one, lest the enemy should take occasion to revile your conduct. May the God of wisdom and counsel be ever near you, and direct you to pursue your glorious designs by the most successful and unreproacl.- able methods ! 4. You are charged with tempting others to sin that youmay accuse them, But this slander is so malicious, and so inconsistent with your design, that your enemies can persuade but few to believe-It. The standing rules of your societies bear witness against it, and your con- stant practice refutes the lie. It is easy to accuse in general, and fling impudent falsehoods in gross upon the fairest reputation ; but you have madefrequent and bold appeals to your reproachers, and none of them have been 2 1I.3í
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