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A26158 Ten sermons preach'd before Her Royal Highness, the Princess Ann of Denmark at the chappel at St. James by Lewis Atterbury ... LL.D. and one of the six preachers to Her Royal Highness. Atterbury, Lewis, 1656-1731. 1699 (1699) Wing A4157; ESTC R35290 112,085 264

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we Reprove in another and the Consideration that his Eye is upon us will make us more wary in our Carriage towards him and more exact in the Government of our Lives and Conversations Thou that teachest another says the Apostle teachest thou not thy self Rom. 2.21 thou that preachest a Man should not steal dost thou steal thou that sayest a Man should not commit Adultery dost thou commit Adultery thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacrilege 3. We shall Entitle our selves to a blessed Reward He that saith to the Wicked Thou art Righteous shall the people Curse Prov. 24.24 25. Nations shall abhor him but to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good Blessing shall come upon him Lastly We shall hereby avoid those Mischiefs which the neglect of this Duty will certainly bring upon us For if we do not admonish our Neighbour when we see him commit any grievous and presumptuous Sin we our selves are Partakers in his Guilt and shall be accountable for it before God Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness Eph. 5.11 but rather reprove them And not to Reprove them will be accounted to have fellowship with them These are such weighty Considerations and powerful Motives as one would think should encourage every one to the Practice of this Duty tho' never so Difficult But since it requires not only Courage and Ability but also a great measure of Prudence and Circumspection to perform it aright I shall in the IV. and Last place lay down some Directions for a due and prudential Execution of it 1. Propose to your self a good End in Reproving others 2. Have certain Knowledge of the Offence 3. Endeavour to avoid that Fault your self you reprove in others 4. Use the most inoffensive Words and do it after the mildest manner imaginable 5. Observe such due Circumstances of Time and Place as your Christian Prudence shall direct 1. Be sure to propose to your self a good End in reproving others Which must be the Benefit and Amendment of the Person to be reproved For if it appears that the Reason why you reprove him is to vent your own Passion or to give way to the Resentments of your own Mind the Person reprov'd will reap very little Benefit by it he will look upon it as a personal Quarrel proceeding from the Ill-will of his Adversary and rather seek a way how he may retaliate the Injury as he calls it than look into his own Breast and amend his Fault 'T is the first step to a Cure to have a good Opinion of our Physician which will incline us to follow his Advice and make a due Application of his Prescriptions For 't is not the Excellency of a Medicine without a proper and timely Application of it can make it effectual If therefore we desire our Reproof should take place we must be sure so to manage it that the Person admonished may look upon it as an Effect of our Love and Good-will our sincere Desire to promote his Interest rather than of any Advantage we may propose to our selves by it or the gratifying a peevish and querulous Humour 2. Let us be sure to have certain Knowledge of the Offence before we take upon us to Reprove any one An uncertain Rumor or common Fame which is to frequently a common Lyar is not a sufficient ground of Reproof much less a groundless Surmise or wide Conjecture But we must be morally certain of the Offence and either Witnesses of it our selves or else we must have such plain Evidence for it tho' not ocular Demonstration as no reasonable Man can call in Question before we believe an ill Report of our Neighbour To yield a ready and willing Ear to Defamation and Tale-bearing shews that either we are very Ill-natur'd our selves or else very Credulous that we want the most excellent of all Christian Vertues which is the very Life and Soul of Christianity I mean Love and Charity to our Neighbour which as the Apostle tells us Is not easily provok'd thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6. beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things i. e. believeth and hopeth the best of every thing and every Man And this is a Grace so Essential to Christianity that whosoever is destitute of it may make what Pretences he pleases to Purity Holiness and Perfection but he is in the lowest Form of Christ's School and ignorant of the first Rudiments of true Religion 3. Be sure you your self are not guilty of that Fault Psal 141.5 which you Reprove in others Let the Righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent Oil which shall not break my head For though 't is the Wisdom and Duty of every good Christian to suffer the Word of Exhortation and Reproof tho' from the worst Man and his most inveterate Enemy Yet for the most part it so falls out that the Reproof of those Men who are notoriously guilty of the same Crime makes very little Impression upon us we can hardly believe them in earnest who blame us for the doing those things which they recommend by their own Examples and we are very apt to conclude that the Reason why they cry down the Vice is that they may engross the Practice of it to themselves But when a Man of known Vertue and Probity takes upon him to Reprove his Admonitions earty weight and Authority along with them the Reverence which is paid to his Person sets an edge upon his Reproofs and he doth not so much request as command a Reformation 4. In Reproving we must use the most inoffensive words and do it after the mildest manner imaginable Brethren Gal. 6.1 says the Apostle if any Man be overtaken in a fault you that are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of Meekness considering thy self least thou also be tempted If his Offence proceed either from weakness or inadvertency from mistake or the frailty of humane Nature the Oyl of Pity and Compassion a mild and friendly Admonition will sink deeper into his Mind and sooner heal the wound than a more rough and churlish Medicine There is indeed a time when we must use the Caustick and the Corrosive when we meet with a daring and insolent Offender At such a time as this to be cold or lukewarm is to give up the Cause of God and to encourage Men in their wicked doings We must shew our selves Zealous for the Law of our God and the Good and Welfare of our Brother But then we must take Care that this Zeal be according to knowledge Rom. 10.2 That it be moderated and temper'd with true Christian Prudence 5. And Lastly we ought to observe such due Circumstances of time and place c. as our Christian Prudence shall direct and right Reason dictate to us 'T is the Observation of Men conversant in Business that the Success of our