Chapter 4: Reproof A Christian Duty.
Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Leviticus 19:17.
The whole verse reads thus: "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." In the margin, as those of you who have Bibles with marginal notes can see, the last words of the verse are rendered, "that thou bear not sin for him." And this, I am satisfied, is the correct translation. The idea is this that men are bound to reprove their neighbors for sin, lest they become partakers with them, or accessory to their sin.
In speaking from these words, I design to pursue the following order:
I. To show the reasons for the rule laid down by and in the test. II. Show to whom the rule is applicable. III. Mention several exceptions which God has made to the rule, or classes of persons who are not to be reproved for their sins. IV. The manner of performing this duty. V. Several specific applications of the principles established.
I. I am to show the reasons for the rule.
1. Love to God plainly requires this.
If we really love God, we shall of course feel bound to reprove those that hate and abuse him and break his commands. If I love the government of the country, should I not reprove and rebuke a man who should abuse or revile the government! If a child loves his parents will he not of course reprove a man that abuses his parents in his hearing?
2. Love to the universe will lead to the same thing.
If a man love the universe, if he be actuated by universal benevolence, he knows that sin is inconsistent with the highest good of the universe, and that it is calculate to injure and ruin the whole if not counteracted; that its direct tendency is to overthrow the order and destroy the happiness of the universe. And therefore, if he see this doing, his benevolence will lead him to reprove and oppose it.
3. Love to the community in which you live, is another reason.
Not only love to the universe at large, but love to the particular people with which you are connected, should lead you to reprove sin. Sin is a reproach to any people, and whoever commits it goes to produce a state of society that is injurious to every thing good. His example has a tendency to corrupt society, to destroy its peace, and to introduce disorder and ruin, and it is the duty of every one who loves the community to resist and reprove it.
4. Love to your neighbor demands it.
Neighbor, here, means any body that sins within the reach of your influence; not only in your presence, but in your neighborhood, if your influence can reach him, or in your nation, or in the world. If he sins he injures himself, and therefore if we love him we shall reprove his sins. Love to the intemperate induces us to warn him of the consequences of his course. Suppose we see our neighbor exposed to a temporal calamity, say his house on fire.
True love will induce us to warn him and not to leave him to perish in the flames, especially if we saw him inclined to persist in his course, and stay in the burning house, we should