(2.) If the matter of the reproof he true in fact, then it is duly to be considered, whether the offence for which any one is reproved be private or puhlic, attended with scandal.
[1.] If it be private, then it is to be weighed, whether it was known unto, and observed in and by, the person himself reproved or no, before he was reproved. If it were not so knoivn (as we ma}'- justly be reproved for many things which, through ignorance or in- advertency, or compliance with the customs of the world, we may have taken no notice of), and if the reproof bring along light and conviction with it, the first especial improvement of such a peculiar reproof is thankfulness to God for it, as a means of deliverance from any way, or work, or path, that was unacceptable in his sight. And hence a gTeat prospect may be taken of the following deportment of the mind under other reproofs. For, a readiness to take in light and conviction, with respeci unto any evil that we are ignorant of, is an
488 HOW WE MAY LEARN
evidence of a readiness to submit to the antbority of God in any otbcr rebukes that have their convictions going before them : so the heart that is prone to fortify itself, by any pleas or pretences, against con- victions of sin in ivhat it doth not yet own so to he, will he as prone unto ohstinacy under reproofs in what it cannot hut acknoivledge to he evil. If it were known hefore to the person reproved, but not supposed by him to be observed by other.s, — under the covert of which imagination sin often countenanceth itself, — that soul will never make a due improvement of a reproof, who is not first sensible of the care and kindness of God in driving him from that retreat and hold where the interest of sin had j^tlaced its chiefest resei"ve.
[2.] Sins so far lyuhlic as to give matter of offence or scandal, are the ordinary subject of all orderly reproofs; and therefore need not in particular to be spoken imto.
Having showed the nature of reproofs in general, with such consi- derations of the matter of them as have afforded occasion unto sun- dry particular directions relating unto the duty under discussion, it remains that we explain and confirm the other two generals com- prised in the observation deduced from the text; namely, II. Why lue ought to receive reproofs, orderly or regidarly given unto us, esteeming of them as a singular privilege; and. III. How ive may didy improve them unto their proper end, — the glory of God, and the spiritual advantage of our own souls.
II. As to the first of these, we may observe, —
1. That mutual reproof s, for the curing of evil and preventing of danger in one another, are ^j?"r?»e dictates of the law of nature, and [o/] that ohligation to seek the good of each other which our 'participation in the same heing, offspring, original, and end, doth lay upon us. This God designed in our creation, and this the rational constitution of our natures directs us unto. To seek and endeavour for each other, all that good whereof we are capable in time, or unto eternity, was indelibly implanted upon our natures, and indispensably necessary unto that society among ourselves, with the great end of our joint living unto God, for which we were made. All the mutual evils of mankind, whether of persons or of nations, designed or per- petrated against one another, are effects of our fatal prevarication from the law of our creation. Hence Cain, the first open violent transgi-essor of the rules and boimds of human society, thought to justify or excuse himself by a renunciation of that principle, which God in nature had made the foundation of a political or sociable life, with respect unto temporal and eternal ends. "Am I," saith he, " my brother's keeper?" Gen. iv. 9. Yea, God hath made every man the keeper of his brother so fai' as that they should in all things, in their opportunities, and unto then- power, seek their good, and de-
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liveraiice from evil. In those things wliich are good unto us, tliose which are spiritual and eternal have the pre-eminence. These no- thing can prejudice but sin and moral evils; whose prevention, there- fore, in one another, so far as we are able, is a duty of the law of nature, and the prime effect of that love which we owe unto the whole offspring of that " one blood " whereof God hath made all nations. And one of the most effectual means for that end are the reproofs whereof we treat; and the obligation is the same on those that give them and those to whom they are given, with respect unto their several interests in this duty. Wherefore, to neglect, to despise, not thankfully to receive, such reproofs as are justly and regularly given unto us at any time, is to contemn the law of our creation, and to trample on the prime effect of fraternal love. Yea, to despise reproofs, and to discountenance the discharge of that duty, is to open a door unto that mutual hatred and dislike which, in the sight of God, is murder. See Lev. xix. 1 7, with 1 John iii. 15. Let us, therefore, look to ourselves ; for there is no greater sign of a degeneracy from the law and all the ends of our creation, than an unwillingness to receive reproofs, justly deserved and regularly administered, or not to esteem of them as a blessed effect of the wisdom and goodness of God towards us.