of Scorners III. And lastly How are we to understand the Prohibition when it is said Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee This may be taken either Absolutely or Comparatively Absolutely And so we are to let him alone and as to what respects this way of dealing with him to leave him wholly to himself 1. It supposes some former Trials either by our selves or others and that there is the fullest Proof of his Obstinacy and Incorrigibleness Which being so we are not to spend any further Time and Pains to no purpose upon him but pass him by as a desperate Wretch with whom other kind of Methods must be taken 2. It may be taken in a Comparative Sense which is frequently to be observed in the Hebrew where the Negative Adverb is commonly put for the Particle of Comparison as Chap. 8.10 Receive my Instruction and not Silver i. e. rather than Silver It immediatly follows and Knowledg rather than Choice Gold So Joel 2.5 13. Rend your Hearts and not your Garments i. e. rather rend your Hearts than your Garments And so may we not accommodate this Hebraism to the words of the Text Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee but as is immediately subjoin'd rebuke a Wise Man and he will love thee that is Reprove not a Scorner but rather bestow your Reproofs upon those who will receive Good by them and heartily thank you for them We should much sooner turn to a wise Man one that will hear Reason and think upon what we say than one where all our Counsels will be rejected Not but that such Emergences and Circumstances may happen wherein it may be our Duty to reprove the worst of Scorners to testify our Abhorrence of the Sin even when we cannot not better the Man But usually and for the most part we should apply our selves to those who will hear us where there is the greatest likely hood of doing Good with the least Damage at the same time to our selves And so the words teach us to make a wise and discreet Choice of the Persons we would admonish and not heedlesly to expose our selves to the Contempt and Obloquy of scornful men But when all Circumstances considered there is the greatest Reason to believe that we shall neither do Good to the Person we reprove nor to Others nor bring any Glory to God but only draw down an Inconvenience upon our selves in such a Case we are to forbear our Reproofs And thus it most commonly happens with reference to the openly Profane and Wicked Such generally do but make a mock of Sin and deride every thing that carries the face of Seriousness with it To tell such of their Sins does but exasperate them the more to check them in their Career is to make them fly out with the greater Violence and to offer to controul them is to inflame their Wrath and increase their Hatred against us Here then it is fitting we should desist and hold our Hands because when we can do no Good we ought not to administer an Occasion of further Evil and since we cannot suppress Mens Wickedness we should not do any thing that might provoke it Herein acting consonantly to those words of our Blessed Lord who thought fit to advise us not to give that which is Holy unto Dogs nor to cast our Pearls before Swine lest they trample them under their Feet and turn again and rend us Matth. 7.6 But yet as I have already observ'd this is not so absolute a Rule but may upon some extraordinary Emergency admit of an Exception And it may so fall out that we shall find our selves under an Obligation to speak up boldly for the Glory of God tho we despair at the same time of any Good to the Sinner Yea By-standers by considering our Place Profession and Character may expect something from us And to avoid being accus'd of Connivance or Cowardice we may find our selves bound to take some notice of Scorners tho to speak properly I think this is not so much a reproving of them as a clearing of our selves When this is to be done and How and what are those Circumstances that must determine us as I have not time so neither do I judg it fit for me to assign This must be left to a Man 's own Conscience and Prudence and it being a very nice and critical Point he hath the more Reason to look up to God for his Assistance and Direction But setting aside some rare and special Emergences the Instruction the words afford us is to be the Rule of our Conduct towards Scor ners and Wicked Men. And this leads me to a Query which doth Naturally result from hence which is the Second thing propos'd in answering of which I shall not only remove the Objection that hath been started but make it undeniably appear that because we are forbidden to reprove a Scorner in the plain Sense of our words for that very Reason we are indispensibly bound to reprove him in the Sense that our Adversaries oppose The Query then is this If we are expresly forbidden to reprove Scorners and wicked Men in a way of Counsel Advice Admonition and the like pray what must be done or what other course must be taken with them In answering of this Inquiry I shall undertake to evince these two things I. That they must not absolutely be let alone that is be left to pursue their hellish Courses with that full Swinge and Liberty as to be entirely without all manner of Controul But II. That the supreme Governour of all things in his great Wisdom and Mercy to the World hath appointed other Methods of dealing with such irreprovable Sinners I. That they must not absolutely be let alone so to pursue their hellish Courses as to be without all manner of Controul The Reasons of this are so strong and obvious and the Absurdities of the contrary supposition so gross and palpable that there are none who do not wilfully shut their Eyes but must readily assen to the truth of it And as for Scorners themselves if we could as easily turn their Wills as convince their Understandings of this we should not only presently put to silence all their Objections but save them from those Severities which otherwise they must shortly fall under and it may be before they are aware But to speak somewhat to this there needs no more to prove it than to suppose the contrary Suppose that Scorners were to be wholly uncontroul'd to live as they please and do what they list The Consequences of this will appear to be such as must render it absolutely necessary for the Honour of God the Defence of Religion the maintaining common Order and the Peace and Welfare of Humane Societies that some Course be taken at least to restrain and curb them For if no notice were to be taken of them if men of prophane and atheistical Principles of unbridled Lusts and Passions haters of all that is Good and
A SERMON Preach'd to the SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of MANNERS In the CITYS of London and Westminster February 19. 1699. Published at their Request By THOMAS REYNOLDS LONDON Printed for Richard Mount on Tower Hill and John Lawrence in the Poultrey 1700. To the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS ABNEY AND Sir OWEN BUCKINGHAM Knights and Aldermen of the City of LONDON Most Honoured I Esteem it a favourable Providence that my first appearing thus publickly should be in defence of so Noble a Cause as that of Reforming the Manners of Wicked Men which has overcome the reluctance I had to the publishing of this Discourse And the Post you bear in the Government of this Renowned City besides the honour of being admitted to your Acquaintance hath emboldned me to offer it to your Patronage The suppressing of Vice and Immorality which have too long been the Reproach of our Nation is such a work as requires the Assistance of all that have any regard to Religion or Virtue and it is not the least of our Publick Blessings that so many of your Rank and Quality are ready to lend their helping hand to it This is a Design that greatly becomes Persons in your Station and is truly worthy of Those that bear the highest Character Your Zeal therefore in promoting it will be your Glory while living and a considerable comfort to you in the hour of Death They who act in a lower Sphere direct their eyes to you for encouragement and they are such as You that must animate 'em and make 'em chearful in their work who otherwise will be apt to faint and be discourag'd You are better known than to need the display of Your worthy Characters And I much rather chuse to be silent than incur the least imputation of Flattery Yet I hope you 'l pardon me that I have declared You the Friends of Virtue and the Promoters of what is aimed at in the following Sermon by Dedicating it to You. I beseech you to accept it as a Testimony of my unfeigned Gratitude for the Favours I have received from you And espouse what I have end eavour'd to recommend to Persons of all Statious that You may be reckon'd among our valuable Blessings and as you outshine others in the Honours of this World you may partake of a larger share in the Glories of the other which is the Humble and Hearty Prayer of GENTLEMEN Your most Obliged and most Obedient Servant Thomas Reynolds PROV ix 7 8. He that reproveth a Scorner getteth to himself Shame And he that rebuketh a wicked Man getteth himself a Blot Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee HOW improper soever these words at their First view may seem to the present occasion of our Meeting a little Patience and Attention it 's hop'd will beget in you other conceptions about them I have not chosen them to become an Advocate for Vice or to lay Discouragements in their way who are vigorously bent to suppress it No my Brethren it is so far from my purpose to abate your Zeal that I would do my uttermost to increase and inflame it And I heartily pray that wicked men may be sooner weary of their sins than you in reproving them in all those ways and by all those Methods that are becoming proper and lawful And altho my Text may carry a face contrary to what I pretend yet I promise my self some considerable advantage in drawing an Argument from it that I presume will be allow'd to have strength in it both for the justifying your Laudable Proceedings and encouraging your Perseverance therein It is more than probable some may from hence raise an Objection against you and for this very reason it is necessary these words should be considered and understood both for your own satisfaction and the confuting of those who would be glad to lay hold on any thing whereby to disparage and give a check to that good Work you are engaged in If I shew that these words are not directed against your assisting the Civil Magistrate in punishing Profane and Vicious Men but from what they are really oppos'd unto they render it your indispensible Duty may I not hope hereby to wrest out of the hands of your Enemies one of the principal Weapns they may use against you and so do some Service to your Cause He that reproveth a Scorner getteth to himself Shame and he that rebuketh a wicked Man getteth himself a Blot Reprove not a Scorner lest he hate thee And is this all that 's to be gotten may the Objector say by reproving Scorners and wicked men Is this all the Recompence to be expected What wise man then would engage in so fruitless a Service and bestow his Pains where he is like to meet with so bad a Requital Were it not better to sit still at home and sleep in a whole Skin than by casting Pearls before Swine or endeavouring to pull them out of the Mire to provoke them to turn and rend us What man will parley with an Enemy when instead of bringing him to terms of Complyance he is sure before-hand to be torn and cut to pieces by him Who would venture to reprove wicked men when they instead of being softned and reclaimed thereby will but be the more enrag'd and wound our Innocency while we are striking at their Vices Common Prudence and Self-preservation would teach us to forbear in such a Case But the rather should we do it when Wisdom her self favours us with her Advice and expresly forbids us to Reprove a Scorner lest he hate us implying that he certainly will do so and this is all we are like to get from him whatever kind Intentions we bear towards him Now it is of dangerous consequence to draw upon our selves the hatred of wicked men Men who have no Fear of God before their eyes who are professed Enemies to all that is Good who have banish'd their Reason and debauch'd their Conscience who matter not what they say or do nor which way their Tongues or their Hands are employ'd so they can but discharge their Malice upon us And this being so as Wisdom her self who cannot err assures us Attempts for reforming the Manners of Scorners and Wicked men would seem a vain and hazardous undertaking A Work that a Wise man would be shy of and no man is under any Obligation to engage in nay under an express Charge to the contrary If therefore by medling in a Matter which doth not belong to them they receive to themselves no other Recompence of their Pains than Shame and a Blot that is all the Dirt and Calumny that wicked Men can rake together and throw upon them they must charge it to their own Imprudence and thank themselves for if they had taken Wisdom's Advice they would not have done it This Objection hath not as I know of been designedly taken notice of by any of my Brethren that have gone before me yet deserves to be considered as that
tho you cannot change their Nature may be chained up from doing further Mischief And our assisting the Magistrate to this end is what we are all of us in our several Stations and Capacities obliged to both as Men and as Christians To this we are indispensibly bound as we tender the Honour and Glory of God the good of the Society of which we are parts the Welfare of our Families the Authority of the Magistrate as we would not partake of other Mens sins nor be guilty of their Blood and as we would put a stop to the spreading of Iniquity and avert the heavy judgments of God or procure those farther desirable Blessings we may need And this being so then in the Third and last place how fair an opportunity doth this give me and what Scope does it afford to expose the weakness and impertinency of the Objection which your Adversaries might pretend to raise from these words to discourage your noble Undertakings How evident doth it now appear that your Opposers are so far from gaining an advantage against you from hence that on the contrary whoever should offer to urge these words would not only be presently put to shame and silence but have the weapon whereby he thought to stab your Cause sheath'd in his own Bowels I mean his own Argument would be turned into one of the strongest Arguments against him How little pretence have any to argue from these words against your assisting the Civil Magistrate in punishing of leud and notorious Sinners It is true we are not to use verbal Reproofs to a Scorner we are not ordinarily to spend our Breath upon so vile and impious a wretch we are not to admonish and counsel him but are to forbear using any further Arguments and Persuasions with him And what then must the Magistrate therefore not have any concern with him or we not yield our assistance to the Magistrate whence do they infer this where is the Nexus But how convincing and clear is the reasoning on the other side Because we are not to minister verbal Reproof to the Scorner and yet his wickednesses are such as upon no account to be tolerated therefore and for that very reason we are to join with the Civil Magistrate in doing our utmost to suppress their Abominations for which very end the Sword is delivered from God into his hands that so they who will not be brought into order by methods of Reason may be compel'd and forc'd into it by mulcts and bodily punishments The reasoning here is close and pertinent so clear and natural and so strictly cemented and united that all the malice of wicked men and the subtilty of all the Devils in Hell will never be able to break the force of it But yet after all we have said I am apprehensive our Adversaries may resume the Objection and proceed to reply We will acknowledg it is probable they may say that the Text may be wholly confin'd to the verbal reproving of Scorners and so far it must be granted that our Objection is not pertinent or valid But notwithstanding the reason on which the Prohibition in the Text is founded is applicable to your case and if it holds true and hath force in the one why may it not in the other Now is it not plain that in the method you take of reproving Scorners and wicked men by the power of the Civil Magistrate you incur their hatred and malice In your way of dealing with Sinners don't you make good the words in getting to your selves Shame and a Blot doth not your own daily Experience confirm and verify it do not the many Sermons that have been preach'd and printed acknowledg it a good part of which is taken up in solacing you against the Calumnies and Reproaches of Scorners And if here in the sense given of the Text you are not to reprove a Scorner lest he hate you and not to rebuke him lest you get to your selves Shame and a Blot why should you not then for the same reason be forbidden to reprove him by the Civil Magistrate I shall give as short an Answer to this as I can tho many things might be said unto it It is falsly suggested that we are forbidden to reprove a Scorner merely or solely upon the account of shame and hatred For I have shewn you that when by verbal reproving a Scorner there is nothing else to be got but shame and reproach no good end or purpose can be serv'd that might ballance the present evil we sustain by administring our Reproofs that is there is no good to be done to the Person we reprove nor to others neither any Glory to be brought to God there is nothing redounds from our pains but a reproach to our selves and a further exasperating of the wicked wretch In such a case we are to desist and forbear our reproofs But if any of those great and noble Ends I have mentioned might be obtained if by exposing our selves to shame we might bring glory to God or do any good these are such valuable ends that we should not only be willing to sacrifice our Reputation but all we had for the sake of them And this now is the case with reference to our assisting of the Civil Magistrate which makes it vastly different from that in my Text. For by bringing Offenders to punishment tho we incur the reproaches and malice of wicked men yet we do thereby answer such good ends and purposes as do infinitely outweigh the particular loss or evil we may sustain in the faithful discharge of our Duty For to instance hereby 1st Sometime a great deal of good is done to the person we reprove he is reclaimed and reformed or prevented from growing worse 2dly A great deal of good is done to others they are warned and admonished thereby 3dly A great deal of evil is prevented that might result from mens uncontrouled Impieties And Lastly a great deal of glory is brought to God as Religion is defended God's Honour is maintained his Name is reverenced the Authority of the Magistrate is upheld and Order and Government is kept up in the world Each one of which ends if but one might be attained is so valuable and all put together so unspeakably advantageous and such a general good that no man ought nay no good man that duly considers it can be unwilling to sacrifice his Name and Reputation nay to venture his Life for the attaining of them And if in our Endeavours hereunto we get to our selves shame and a reproach we might use the Scripture expression and say if this is to be vile we will yet be more vile 2 Sam. 6.12 Let them call me Informer Busy-body and a thousand worse names I 'll matter them not Let them heap up all the Dirt they can upon me I will still pursue these great ends Much more might be said towards the silencing of this part of the Objection but this I judg to be sufficient
what Service is more honourable than the being employ'd in beating down the Devil's Kingdom in lifting up the Name of God in promoting the Peace Welfare and Happiness of your Country and in doing the most beneficial kindness to your Neighbour Indeed hereby we incur the anger and reproach of those we have to deal with but this is little to be regarded by us And if we are calumniated for doing of good we ought not to be discourag'd thereby but esteem it our honour that God hath thought us worthy to suffer for his sake This is to be like our blessed Lord who was grievously reviled and mocked even by those very Sinners he came to reform and save Yet he went on in his merciful design tho at last it cost him his Life and the warm Blood of his Heart This is to be like the holy Apostles and Martyrs who had trial of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonments Yet they persisted in their endeavours to amend the World And indeed who should be asham'd to be engaged in such a Cause as this or afraid to die for it since it is worth losing a mortal Life if it be to save but one immortal Soul It may afford great comfort to us to think that all our present shame will redound to our future glory that every reproach and calumny we suffer will but add to the lustre and brightness of our Crown For these light afflictions saith the Apostle which are but for a moment shall work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory Who then should fly back from such a work fly back nay who should not strive and be ambitious to appear in it and herein be as forward to suppress mens sins as they are greedy in committing ' em 3dly Consider the advantageous opportunity God hath put into your hands for the furthering your designs we have a good KING the brightest Ornament we have ever seen in the English Throne who as he hath studied and ventured his Life to procure our Peace and Quiet so he hath not been wanting in his care that under his Government we may live in all Godliness and Honesty How often hath he express'd his desires of a Reformation and by his Speeches to both Houses of Parliament and issuing out his Proclamations hath done his part to endeavour it And shall the KING cry for Justice and will not the People too Would the King have us reform'd and shall we hate to be reform'd Again you have many of the NOBILITY and JVDGES of the Land who in their Letter prefixt to a Book intituled An Account of the Societies for Reformation of Manners and worthy to be recommended have publickly applauded the Design and the Methods propos'd for the accomplishing of it adding their most humble and hearty Prayer That Pious men of all Ranks and Qualities may be excited by this good Book to contribute their best endeavors toward a national Reformation of Manners Besides our REPRESENTATIVES in Parliament have taken care there should not be wanting good Laws to discourage Prophaneness and Immorality and have made it their humble Address to the King that he would issue out his Proclamation commanding all his Majesty's Judges Justices of the Peace and other Magistrates to put in speedy execution those good Laws that are now in force against those Vices which was accordingly done And lastly you have many good Magistrates that hold up the Sword ready to smite and only want your bringing Offenders to Justice You especially of this City are honour'd with this Blessing The CHIEF MAGISTRATE like an Illustrious Head communicates Life and Vigour to the Body Politick On these occasions he countenances you my Brethren of the Church of England with his presence in your Assemblies and all of us with his Power and may he with the rest of his Brethren continue to do so May he carry the Sword triumphantly through this City driving Sinners before him who are timorous enough when Justice looks them in the face May he entail a lasting honour upon himself by thus honouring of God and finally may he thus set a truly great Example to those that shall succeed him And now being favoured with so fair a juncture and opportunity having all this to countenance you a good King good Laws good Magistrates and good men of all Ranks and Qualities to own you how should this inspire you with Zeal and embolden you in your Work And how much of guilt will lie at their door who act in a private capacity if a Reformation of Manners be not vigorously carried on Stir up your selves therefore and be of good Courage and the Lord of Hosts will be with you 4ly And lastly consider the success you have hitherto had and let that encourage you You have met with many difficulties but have surmounted them You have begun the work and that was the greatest difficulty of all don't faint therefore but go on Some have been reform'd by you and bless God heartily for it and more have been restrain'd I hear your Societies increase and are strengthned may they do so still This will put Sinners out of heart They begin to give ground do you not only maintain yours but pursue them And thus if out of a conviction of your duty and an aim at the glory of God joining a pity to Sinners with your punishing of 'em and praying God to bless those Punishments to them you vigorously prosecute your charitable and noble Undertaking you will do abundance of good you will at least drive Sin into corners and tho men should not cease to commit it you will no longer behold it and if you cannot remove guilt from their Persons you will from the Nation You will avert the heavy Judgments of God and draw down a Blessing upon your selves your Families the Land and when you have done your work and your life is ended Men will have reason to say as they are following you to your grave we accompany the Corps of one who while he liv'd was a Reformer of this World and is now gon to live in a better But how short is this of that Commendation which your departed Spirits shall have when introduc'd into the presence of your glorified Master whose Interest you have industriously promoted and who thereupon will openly acknowledg and abundantly reward it by saying Well done good and faithful Servant enter into the Joy of your Lord. Amen FINIS