DIRECTIONS AGAINST SCANDAL AS GIVEN.
Scandal being a murdering of souls, is a violation of the general law
of charity, and of the sixth commandment in particular. In handling
this subject, I shall, 1. Show you what is true scandal given to
another. 2. What things go under the name of scandal, which are not
it, but are falsely so named. 3. What are the particular ways and
sorts of scandal. 4. The greatness of this sin. 5. Directions to avoid
it.
[Sidenote: Scandal what it is.]
I. I shall not need to stand upon the etymology of the word scandal;
whether it come from σκάζω, _claudico_, as Erasmus thought, or
from σκάμβον, _curvum_, &c. Martinius, Stephanus, Lyserus, &c.
have sufficiently done it, whither I refer you. As for the sense of
the word, it is past doubt, that the ordinary use of it in Scripture
is for a stumblingblock for a man to fall upon, or a trap to insnare a
man; and in the Old Testament it is often used for a stumbling-stone,
on which a man may fall into any corporal calamity, or a snare to hurt
or ruin a man in the world; (as Exod. x. 7; 1 Sam. xviii. 21; xxv. 31;
Psal. cxix. 165; Ezek. vii. 19, Sept.) But in the New Testament,
(which speaketh more of spiritual hurts,) it is taken for a
stumblingblock or temptation, by which a man is in danger of falling
into sin, or spiritual loss, or ruin, or dislike of godliness, or any
way to be turned from God, or hindered in a religious, holy way; (and
if sometimes it be taken for grieving or troubling, it is as it hereby
thus hindereth or insnareth;) so that to scandalize, is sometimes
taken for the doing of a blameless action, from which another unjustly
taketh occasion to fall, or sin, or be perverted: but when it
signifieth a sin, (as we take it in this place,) then to scandalize
is, by something unlawful of itself, or at least unnecessary, which
may occasion the spiritual hurt or ruin of another. 1. The matter is
either something that is simply sinful, (and then it is a double sin,)
or something indifferent or unnecessary, and then it is simply the sin
of scandal. 2. It must be that which may occasion another's fall, I
say, occasion; for no man can forcibly cause another man to sin, but
only occasion it, or tempt him to it, as a moral cause.
[Sidenote: What is not scandal, that is by many so called.]
II. By this you may see, 1. That to scandalize, is not merely to
displease or grieve another; for many a man is displeased, through his
folly and vice, by that which tendeth to his good; and many a man is
tempted (that is, scandalized) by that which pleaseth him; when Christ
saith, "If thy right eye or hand offend (or scandalize) thee, pluck it
out, or cut it off," &c. Matt. v. he doth not, by offending, mean
displeasing, or grieving; for by so offending it may profit us; but he
plainly meaneth, If it draw thee to sin; or else he had never added,
"That it is better to enter maimed into life, than having two eyes or
hands to be cast into hell!" That is, in a word, Thy damnation is a
greater hurt than the loss of hand or eye, and therefore if there were
no other way to avoid it, this would be a very cheap way. So _pedem
offendere in lapidem_, is to stumble upon a stone. The most
censorious and humorous sort of men, have got a notion, that whatever
offendeth or displeaseth them is scandalous! And they think that no
man must do any thing which grieveth or displeaseth them, lest he be
guilty of scandal; and by this trick whoever can purchase impatience
and peevishness enough, to be always displeased with the actions of
others, shall rule the world. But the truth is, the ordinary way of
scandalizing these men is by pleasing them.
I will give you one instance of scandal in Scripture, which may help
this sort of people better to understand it, Gal. ii. 10-16. Peter
there giveth true scandal to the Jews and gentiles; he walked not
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, but laid a
stumblingblock before the Jews and gentiles; and this was not by
displeasing the Jews, but by pleasing them. The Jews thought it a sin
to eat with the gentiles, and to have communion with uncircumcised
men. Peter knew the contrary, but for fear of them of the
circumcision, lest they should be offended at him as a sinner, he
"withdrew and separated himself." This scandal tended to harden the
Jews in their sinful separation, and to seduce the gentiles into a
conceit of the necessity of circumcision; and Barnabas was carried
away with the dissimulation. Here you may see, that if any think it a
sin in us to have communion in such or such congregations, with such
persons, in such worship, which God alloweth us not to separate from,
it is a sin of scandal in us to separate to avoid these men's offence.
We scandalize them and others, even by pleasing them, and by avoiding
that which they falsely called scandalous. And if we would not
scandalize them, we must do that which is just, and not by our
practice hide the sound doctrine, which is contrary to their
separating error.
2. And it is as apparent that to scandalize another, is not (as is
vulgarly imagined by the ignorant) to do that which is commonly
reputed sinful, or which hath the appearance of a sin, or which will
make a man evil thought of or spoken of by others; yet commonly when
men say, This is a scandalous action, they mean, it is an action which
is reproachful or of evil report as a sin. And therefore in our
English speech it is common to say of one that slandereth another,
that he raised a scandal of him. But this is not the meaning of the
word in Scripture: materially indeed scandal may consist in any such
thing which may be a stumblingblock to another; but formally it is the
tempting of another, or occasioning his fall, or ruin, or hurt, which
is the nature of scandalizing. And this is done more seldom by
committing open, disgraceful sins, and doing that which will make the
doer evil spoken of; for by that means others are the more assisted
against the temptation of imitating him; but scandal is most commonly
found in those actions, which are under least reproach among men, or
which have the most plausible appearance of good in them, when they
are evil! For these are apter to deceive and overthrow another.
3. And it is also apparent, that it is no sinful scandalizing to do a
duty or necessary action, which I have not power to forbear, though I
know that another will be offended, or fall by it into sin. If God
have made it my duty, even at this time, I must not disobey him, and
omit my duty, because another will make it an occasion of his sin. It
must be either a sinful or an indifferent action that is scandal, or
something that is in my power to do or to forbear; yet this must be
added, that affirmatives binding not _ad semper_, to all times,
and no duty being a duty at every moment, it may oft fall out, that
that which else would have been my duty at this time, may become at
this time no duty but a sin, by the evil consequents which I may
foresee, as if another man will make it an occasion of his fall. So
that this may oblige me to defer a duty to a fitter time and place.
For all such duties as have the nature of a means, are never duties
when they cross the interest of their chief ends, and make against
that which they are used to effect. And therefore here christian
prudence, foreseeing consequents, and weighing the good and evil
together, is necessary to him that will know a duty from a sin, and a
scandal from no scandal.
[Sidenote: The sorts of scandalizing.]
III. The several ways of scandalizing are these following: 1. Scandal
is either intended or not intended, either that which is done
maliciously of set purpose, or that which is done through negligence,
carelessness, or contempt. Some men do purposely contrive the fall or
ruin of another; and this is a devilish aggravation of the sin: and
some do hurt to others while they intend it not; yet this is far from
excusing them from sin; for it is voluntary as an omission of the
will, though not as its positive choice: that is called voluntary
which the will is chargeable with, or culpable of; and it is
chargeable with its omissions, and sluggish neglects of the duty
which it should do. Those that are careless of the consequent of their
actions, and contemn the souls of other men, and will go their own
way, come of it what will, and say, Let other men look to themselves,
are the commonest sort of scandalizers; and are as culpable as a
servant that would leave hot water or fire when the children are like
to fall into it; or that would leave straw or gunpowder near the fire,
or would leave open the doors, though not of purpose to let in the
thieves.
2. Scandal is that which tendeth to another's fall, either directly or
indirectly, immediately or remotely. The former may easily be
foreseen; but the latter requireth a large foreseeing, comparing
understanding; yet this kind of scandal also must be avoided; and wise
men that would not undo men's souls while they think no harm, must
look far before them, and foresee what is like to be the consequent of
their actions at the greatest distance and at many removes.
3. Scandals also are aptitudinal or actual: many things are apt to
tempt and occasion the ruin of another, which yet never attain so bad
an end, because God disappointeth them; but that is no thanks to them
that give the scandal.
4. Scandal also as to the means of it, is of several sorts. 1. By
doctrine. 2. By persuasion. 3. By alluring promises. 4. By threats.
5. By violence. 6. By gifts. 7. By example. 8. By omission of duties,
and by silence: by all these ways you may scandalize.
1. False doctrine is directly scandalous; for it seduceth the
judgment, which then misguideth the will, which then misruleth the
rest of the faculties. False doctrine, if it be in weighty, practical
points, is the pernicious plague of souls and nations.
2. Also the solicitations of seducers and of tempting people are
scandalous, and tend to the ruin of souls; when people have no reason
to draw a man to sin, they weary him out by tedious importunity. And
many a one yields to the earnestness, or importunity, or tediousness
of a persuasion, who could easily resist it if it came only with
pretence of reason.
3. Alluring promises of some gain or pleasure that shall come by sin,
is another scandal which doth cause the fall of many. The course that
Satan tried with Christ, "All this will I give thee," was but the same
which he found most successful with sinners in the world. This is a
bait which sinners will themselves hunt after, if it be not offered
them. Judas will go to the Pharisees with a "What will ye give me, and
I will deliver him unto you?" Peter saith of the scandalous heretics
of his time, "They allure through the lust of the flesh, through much
wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error;
while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of
corruption," 2 Pet. ii. 18, 19.
4. Threatenings also and scorns are scandals, which frighten
unbelieving souls into sin. Thus Rabshakeh thought to prevail with
Hezekiah. Thus Nebuchadnezzar Dan. iii. thought to have drawn those
three worthies to idolatry. Thus the Pharisees thought to have
frightened the apostles from preaching any more in the name of Christ,
Acts iv. 17, 21. Thus Saul thought to have perverted the disciples, by
breathing out threatenings against them, Acts ix. 1.
5. And what words will not do, the ungodly think to do by force; and
it enrageth them, that any should resist their wills, and that their
force is patiently endured. What cruel torments, what various sorts of
heavy sufferings, have the devil and his instruments devised, to be
stumblingblocks to the weak, to affright them into sin!
6. Gifts also have blinded the eyes of some who seemed wise: "As
oppression maketh a wise man mad, so a gift destroyeth the heart,"
Eccles. vii. 7. What scandals have preferments proved to the world,
and how many have they ruined! Few are able to esteem the reproach of
Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of the world.
7. And evil examples are the commonest sort of scandals:[135] not as
they offend, or grieve, or are apparently sinful; but as they seem
good, and therefore are temptations to the weak to imitate them. So
apt are men to imitation, especially in evil, that they will do what
they see another do, without examining whether it be justifiable or
not. Especially if it be the example either of great men, or of
learned men, or of men reputed eminently godly, or of a multitude, any
of these the people are apt to imitate: this therefore is the common
way of scandal. When people do that which is evil as if it were good,
and thereby draw the ignorant to think it good, and so imitate them.
Or else when they do that which is lawful itself, in such a manner as
tendeth to deceive another, and draw him to that which is indeed
unlawful; or to hinder him in any thing that is good.
8. Lastly, Even silence and omissions also may be scandalous, and draw
another into error and sin. If by silence you seem to consent to false
doctrine, or to wicked works, when you have opportunity to control
them, hereby you draw others to consent also to the sin: or if you
omit those public or private duties, which others may be witnesses of,
you tempt them to the like omission, and to think they are no duties,
but indifferent things: for in evil they will easily rest in your
judgment, and say that you are wiser than they; but they are not so
ductile and flexible to good.
5. Scandals also are distinguishable by the effects; which are such as
these:
1. Some scandals do tempt men to actual infidelity, and to deny or
doubt of the truth of the gospel.
2. Some scandals would draw men but into some particular error, and
from some particular truth, while he holds the rest.
3. Some scandals draw men to dislike and distaste the way of
godliness; and some to dislike the servants of God.
4. Some scandals tend to confound men, and bring them to utter
uncertainties in religion.
5. Some tend to terrify men from the way of godliness.
6. Some only stop them for a time, and discourage or hinder them in
their way.
7. Some tend to draw them to some particular sin.
8. And some to draw them from some particular duty.
9. And some tend to break and weaken their spirits, by grief or
perplexity of mind.
10. And as the word is taken in the Old Testament, the snares that
malicious men lay to entrap others in their lives, or liberties, or
estates, or names, are called scandals. And all these ways a man may
sinfully scandalize another.
And that you may see that the scandal forbidden in the New Testament,
is always of this nature, let us take notice of the particular texts
where the word is used. And first, to scandalize is used actively in
these following texts: in Matt. v. before cited, and in the other
evangelists citing the same words, the sense is clear; that the
offending of a hand or eye, is not displeasing, nor seeking of ill
report; but hindering our salvation by drawing us to sin. So in Matt.
xviii. 8; and Mark ix. 42, 43, where the sense is the same. In Matt.
xvii. 27, "Lest we should offend them," &c. is not only, lest we
displease them, but lest we give them occasion to dislike religion, or
think hardly of the gospel, and so lay a stumblingblock to the danger
of their souls. So Matt. xviii. 6, and Mark ix. "Whoso shall offend
one of these little ones that believe in me," &c. that is, not who
shall displease them, but whoso by threats, persecutions, cruelties,
or any other means, shall go about to turn them from the faith of
Christ, or stop them in their way to heaven, or hinder them in a holy
life: though these two texts seem nearest to the denied sense, yet
that is not indeed their meaning. So in John vi. 6, "Doth this offend
you?" that is, doth this seem incredible to you, or hard to be
believed, or digested? Doth it stop your faith, and make you distaste
my doctrine? So 1 Cor. viii. 13, "If meat scandalize my brother;" our
translators have turned it, "If meat make my brother to offend." So it
was not displeasing him only, but tempting him to sin, which is the
scandalizing here reproved.
View also the places where the word scandal is used. Matt. xiii. 41,
Πάντα τὰ σκάνδαλα, All scandals, translated, "All things that
offend," doth not signify All that is displeasing; but all temptations
to sin, and hinderances or stumblingblocks that would have stopped men
in the ways to heaven. So in Matt. xvi. 23, (a text as like as any to
be near the denied sense; yet indeed,) "Thou art a scandal to me,"
(translated an offence,) doth not only signify, Thou displeasest me,
but, Thou goest about to hinder me in my undertaken office, from
suffering for the redemption of the world; it was an aptitudinal
scandal, though not effectual. So Matt. xvii. 7, "It must be that
scandals come," (translated offences,) that is, that there be many
stumblingblocks set before men in their way to heaven. So Luke xvii. 1,
to the same sense. And Rom. ix. 33, "I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone,
and a rock of scandal," (translated offence,) that is, such as will
not only be displeasing, but an occasion of utter ruin to the
unbelieving, persecuting Jews; according to that of Simeon, Luke ii. 34,
"This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel."
Rom. xi. 9, "Let their table be made a snare, a trap, and a
stumblingblock." The Greek word εἰς σκὰνδαλον doth not signify a
displeasure only, but an occasion of ruin. So Rom. xiv. 13, expoundeth
itself, "That no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall into
his brother's way." The Greek word is, or a scandal. This is the just
exposition of the word in its ordinary use in the New Testament.[136]
So Rom. xvi. 17, "Mark them which cause divisions and scandals,"
(translated offences,) that is, which lay stumblingblocks in the way
of christians, and would trouble them in it, or turn them from it. So
1 Cor. i. 23, "To the Jews a stumblingblock," that is, a scandal, (as
the Greek word is,) as before expounded. So Gal. v. 11, "The scandal
of the cross," translated the offence, doth signify not the bare
reproach, but the reproach as it is the trial and stumblingblock of
the world, that maketh believing difficult. So 1 John ii. 10, "There
is no scandal in him," translated, no occasion of stumbling. These are
all the places that I remember where the word is used.
The passive verb σκανδαλιζομαι, to be scandalized, is often used. As
Matt. xi. 6, "Blessed is he that is not scandalized," (translated,
offended in me,)[137] that is, who is not distasted with my person and
doctrine through carnal prejudices; and so kept in unbelief: there
were many things in the person, life, and doctrine of Christ, which
were unsuitable to carnal reason and expectation. These men thought
them to be hard and strange, and could not digest them, and so were
hindered by them from believing: and this was being offended in
Christ. So in Matt. xiii. 57, and Mark vi. 3, "They were offended in,
or at him;" that is, took a dislike or distaste to him for his words.
And Matt. xiii. 21, "When persecution ariseth, by and by they are
offended;"[138] that is, they stumble and fall away: and Matt. xv. 12,
"The Pharisees were offended," (or scandalized,[139]) that is, so
offended as to be more in dislike of Christ. And Matt. xxiv. 10, "Then
shall many be offended," (or scandalized,) that is, shall draw back
and fall away from Christ. And Matt. xxvi. 31, 33; Mark xiv. 27, 29,
"All ye shall be offended because of me," &c. "Though all men shall be
offended (or scandalized) yet will I never be scandalized;" that is,
brought to doubt of Christ, or to forsake him, or deny him, or be
hindered from owning their relation to him. So John xvi. 1, "These
things have I spoken that ye should not be offended;" that is, that
when the time cometh, the unexpected trouble may not so surprise you,
as to turn you from the faith, or stagger you in your obedience or
hope. Rom. xiv. 21, doth exactly expound it; "It is good neither to
eat flesh, or drink wine, or any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth,
or is scandalized, (or offended,) or made weak:" it is a making weak.
So 2 Cor. xi. 29, "Who is offended;" that is, stumbled, or hindered,
or ready to apostatize. So much for the nature and sorts of scandal.
IV. You are next to observe the aggravations of this sin. Which
briefly are such as these:
1. Scandal is a murdering of souls; it is a hindering of men's
salvation, and an enticing or driving them towards hell. And therefore
in some respect worse than murder, as the soul is better than the
body.
2. Scandal is a fighting against Jesus Christ, in his work of man's
salvation. "He came to seek and to save that which was lost;" and the
scandalizer seeketh to lose and destroy that which Christ would seek
and save.
3. Scandal robbeth God of the hearts and service of his creatures; for
it is a raising in them a distaste of his people, and word, and ways,
and of himself: and a turning from him the hearts of those that should
adhere unto him.
4. Scandal is a serving of the devil, in his proper work of enmity to
Christ, and perdition of souls; scandalizers do his work in the world,
and propagate his cause and kingdom.
V. The means of avoiding the guilt of scandal, are as followeth.
_Direct._ I. Mistake not (with the vulgar) the nature of scandal,
as if it lay in that offending men, which is nothing but grieving or
displeasing them; or in making yourselves to be of evil report; but
remember that scandal is that offending men, which tempteth them into
sin from God and godliness, and maketh them stumble and fall, or
occasioneth them to think evil of a holy life. It is a pitiful thing
to hear religious persons plead for the sin of man-pleasing, under the
name of avoiding scandal; yea, to hear them set up a usurped dominion
over the lives of other men, and all by the advantage of the word
scandal misunderstood. So that all men must avoid whatever a
censorious person will call scandalous, when he meaneth nothing else
himself by scandal, than a thing that is of evil report, with such as
he. Yea, pride itself is often pleaded for by this misunderstanding
of scandal; and men are taught to overvalue their reputations, and to
strain their consciences to keep up their esteem, and all under
pretence of avoiding scandal; and in the mean time they are really
scandalous, even in that action by which they think they are avoiding
it. I need no other instance, than the case of unwarrantable
separation. Some will hold communion with none but the rebaptized;
some think an imposed liturgy is enough to prove communion with such a
church unlawful (at least in the use of it); and almost every sect do
make their differences a reason for their separating from other
churches. And if any one would hold communion with those that they
separate from, they presently say, That it is scandalous to do so, and
to join in any worship which they think unlawful: and by scandal they
mean no more, but that it is among them of evil report, and is
offensive or displeasing to them. Whereas indeed the argument from
scandal should move men to use such communion, which erroneous,
uncharitable, dividing men do hold unlawful. For else by avoiding that
communion I shall lay a stumblingblock in the way of the weak; I shall
tempt him to think that a duty is a sin, and weaken his charity, and
draw him into a sinful separation, or the neglect of some ordinances
of God, or opportunities of getting good. And it is this temptation
which is indeed the scandal. This is before proved in the instance of
Peter, Gal. ii. who scandalized or hardened the Jews, by yielding to a
sinful separation from the gentiles, and fearing the censoriousness of
the Jews, whom he sought to please; and the offending of whom he was
avoiding, when he really offended them, that is, was a scandal, or
temptation to them.
_Direct._ II. He that will escape the guilt of scandal, must be
no contemner of the souls of others, but must be truly charitable, and
have a tender love to souls. That which a man highly valueth, and
dearly loveth, he will be careful to preserve, and loth to hurt. Such
a man will easily part with his own rights, or submit to losses,
injuries, or disgrace, to preserve his neighbour's soul from sin.
Whereas a despiser of souls will insist upon his own power, and right,
and honour, and will entrap and damn a hundred souls, rather than he
will abate a word, or a ceremony, which he thinks his interest
requireth him to exact. Tell him that it will insnare men's souls in
sin, and he is ready to say as the Pharisees to Judas, "What is that
to us? See thou to that." A dog hath as much pity on a hare, or a hawk
on a partridge, as a carnal, worldly, ambitious Diotrephes, or an
Elymas, hath of souls. Tell him that it will occasion men to sin, to
wound their consciences, to offend their God, it moveth him no more
than to tell him of the smallest incommodity to himself: he will do
more to save a horse or a dog of his own, than to save another's soul
from sin. To lay snares in their way, or to deprive them of the
preaching of the gospel, or other means of their salvation, is a thing
which they may be induced to, by the smallest interest of their own;
yea, though it be but a point of seeming honour. And therefore when
carnal, worldly men do become the disposers of matters of religion, it
is easy to see what measure and usage men must expect; yea, though
they assume the office and name of pastors, who should have the most
tender, fatherly care of the souls of all the flocks, yet will their
carnal inclinations and interests engage them in the work of wolves,
to entrap, or famish, or destroy Christ's sheep.
_Direct._ III. Also you must be persons who value your own souls,
and are diligently exercised in saving them from temptations; or else
you are very like to be scandalizers and tempters of the souls of
others. And therefore when such a man is made a church governor as is
unacquainted with the renewing work of grace, and with the inward
government of Christ in the soul, what devilish work is he like to
make among the sheep of Christ, under the name of government! What
corrupting of the doctrine, worship, or discipline of Christ! What
inventions of his own to insnare men's consciences! and driving them
on, by armed force, to do that which, at least to them, is sin, and
which can never countervail the loss, either of their souls, or of the
church, by such disturbances! How merciless will he be, when a poor
member of Christ shall beg of him but to have pity on his soul! and
tell him, I cannot do this, or swear this, or subscribe this, without
the guilt of a deliberate sin; and I cannot sin without displeasing
God, and hindering my salvation. He that dare wilfully sin himself,
and make it his deliberate choice, and dare play away his own
salvation, at the poorest game that the devil will invite him to, and
will sell his own soul at the basest price, even for a little pelf, or
pleasure, or high titles, for so short a time, certainly this man is
unlike to be very tender of the souls of others, or to stick at
scandalizing and insnaring them, or to care any more to murder souls,
than a butcher doth to kill a hog: Judas's heart will make them sell
their Lord, or his flock, at Judas's price; and prepare themselves for
Judas's reward. And hence it is, that the carnal seed, even within the
church, hath ordinarily persecuted the spiritual seed. For saith Paul,
"As he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born
after the Spirit, even so it is now," Gal. iv. 29.
_Direct._ IV. To be well acquainted with the methods of Satan,
and the way of particular temptations, is a great help against your
scandalizing others. He that seeth the devil as the principal in each
temptation, and knoweth in what manner he engageth his instruments to
carry on his work, and whither all this tendeth at the last, will
scarce be willing to serve such a master in so bad a work. Remember
that scandalizers and tempters of others, and hinderers of men's
salvation, are the servants of the devil, and are executing his
malice, for the damnation of their brethren's souls. And what reward
can they expect for such a work from such a master? The devil useth
them but as men do ferrets, whose mouths are sealed, because they must
not partake of the prey; but only bring it to their master's hand.
Live in a constant watchful resistance of temptations yourselves, and
you will have no mind to the drudgery of tempting others.
_Direct._ V. Set not yourselves upon any worldly, ambitious
design. For the love of the riches and honours of the world, will not
only engage you in a course of sinning, but also make it seem your
interest, to make others as bad and miserable as yourselves, and to
drive them on to serve your interests by their sin.
_Direct._ VI. Take heed lest a fleshly inclination do draw you to
the love of fleshly pleasures. And that your minds be not set upon the
pleasing of your fancies, sense, or appetite; either in meat, or
drink, or clothes, or dwellings, or recreations, or any such delights:
if once the love of these grow strong, it will conquer your reason,
and seduce it into libertinism, and make you think that a voluptuous,
flesh-pleasing life, (so it be not by gross disgraced sins,) is but
the lawful use of the creature, which Christ hath purchased not only
for our necessity, but for our delight; and that the contrary opinion
is but the too much rigour of such as understand not their christian
liberty.
_Direct._ VII. Be not rashly and ignorantly zealous in soliciting
and importuning others to your private opinions, before you are
certain that they are of God. Oh what abundance of zeal and labour
hath many a man laid out, to make others of his mind, in the points of
antinomianism, anabaptism, separation, popery, &c. thinking that the
saving of their souls had lain upon it; and at last they find, that as
they erred themselves, so all their labour was but to scandalize the
weak, and lay a stumblingblock in their way to heaven!
_Direct._ VIII. Never persuade any man (much less compel him) to
any thing unnecessary, which he taketh to be a sin (whatever you take
it for yourselves). For if he judge it a sin, it is a sin to him. No
man can innocently do that which he thinketh is forbidden him of God.
And shall a thing unnecessary be preferred before the saving of a
soul? yea, before the souls of thousands, as by many merciless men it
is? Indeed, if there be an antecedent necessity, (as well as a
lawfulness in the thing,) and such a necessity as is not in your power
to take away, then the doing it will be his sin, and the not doing it
his greater sin; and the greater sin is greatliest to be avoided (but
by convenient means).
_Direct._ IX. Remember the charge which you have of the souls of
one another. Though you be not magistrates or pastors; (for their care
of souls is so unquestionable and so great, that scandal in them is
like parents murdering their own children;) yet no private man must
say as Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Every man is bound to do his
best for the saving of his neighbour; much more to forbear infecting,
seducing, scandalizing, and destroying him.
_Direct._ X. Keep up a special tenderness of the weak. So doth
God himself, and so must we. "He gathereth the lambs with his arms,"
&c. Isa. xl. 11. If his infants cry he doth not therefore knock out
their brains, or turn them out of doors. Nor doth he say, they are not
his children, for every ignorance or peevish passion which they are
guilty of. Christ doth not turn men out of his school, because they
want knowledge. For why then will he have little children come? And
what do they come for, but to learn? He doth not hate his new-born
babes, but feedeth and nurseth them with a special tenderness; and he
hath commanded and communicated the like tenderness to his ministers;
who must not be weak with the weak, and froward with the froward, but
in meekness and patience must bear with the weak, and endure their
bitterest censures and requitals. "For the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, in
meekness instructing those that oppose themselves," &c. 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25.
And if they are long learning before they come to the knowledge of
the truth, they are not therefore to be cast off. He that can read
Rom. xiv. and xv.; 1 Cor. xii. 12; viii.; Gal. vi.; and yet can be so
merciless and cruel, as to cast men out of the ministry or church, or
to ruin them, for tolerable weakness, which God hath so earnestly
charged us to bear with in our brethren, either he doth not understand
what he readeth, or not believe it, or hath somewhat else which he
more regardeth at his heart, than the authority or love of God.
_Direct._ XI. Do not censure every man to be wilful or obstinate,
who is not of your opinion, when he hath heard your reasons, how clear
soever they may seem to you. Alas! how many things are there besides
wilful obstinacy, to hinder one man from being as wise as another! If
a few times repeating over the reasons of an opinion, is enough to
implant it in all the hearers, why do your children go so long to
school, and after that to the universities? And why are you so long
preaching to all your parishioners? Sure you preach not novelties to
them as long as you live! And yet thirty or forty years' painful
preaching, even of the same fundamentals of religion, shall leave many
ignorant of them in the best of parishes in the land. There must be a
right and ripe disposition in the hearers, or else the clearest
reasoning may be uneffectual. A disused or unfurnished mind, that hath
not received all the truths which are presupposed to those which you
deliver, or hath not digested them into a clear understanding, may
long hear the truest reasons, and never apprehend their weight. There
is need of more ado than a bare unfolding of the truth, to make a man
receive it in its proper evidence. Perhaps he hath been long
prepossessed with contrary opinions, which are not easily rooted out.
Or if he be but confident of the truth of some one opinion, which is
inconsistent with yours, no wonder if he cannot receive that which is
contrary to what he so verily believeth to be the truth. There is a
marvellous variety of men's apprehensions, of the same opinions or
reasons, as they are variously represented to men, and variously
pondered, and as the natural capacity of men is various, and as the
whole course of their lives, their education, company, and
conversation, have variously formed their minds. It is like the
setting together all the parts of a watch when it is in pieces; if any
one part of many be misplaced, it may necessitate the misplacing of
those that follow, without any wilful obstinacy in him that doth it.
If in the whole frame of sacred truth, there be but some one
misunderstood, it may bring in other mistakes, and keep out many
truths, even from an honest, willing mind. And who is there that can
say, he is free from error? Have not you perceived in yourselves, that
the truths which you heard a hundred times over, to little purpose,
when you were children, were received more convincingly and
satisfyingly when you were men? And that you have found a delightful
clearness in some points on a sudden, which before you either
resisted, or held with little observation or regard? And yet it is
common with the scandalizers of souls, to cry out against all that
conform not to their opinions and will, as soon as they have heard
their reasons, that they are stubborn, and refractory, and wilful, and
factious, and so turn from arguments to clubs; as if they had never
known themselves or others, nor how weak and dark the understandings
of almost all men are. But they shall have judgment without mercy, who
show no mercy. And when their own errors shall all be opened to them
by the Lord, they will be loth they should all be imputed to their
wilful obstinacy. And perhaps these very censorious men, may prove
themselves to have been on the wrong side; for pride and
uncharitableness are usually erroneous.
_Direct._ XII. Engage not yourselves in an evil cause. For if you
do, it will engage you to draw in others; you will expect your friends
should take your part, and think as you think, and say as you say;
though it be never so much against truth or righteousness.
_Direct._ XIII. Speak not rashly against any cause or persons
before you are acquainted with them; or have well considered what you
say. Especially take heed how you believe what a man of any sect in
religion doth speak or write against his adversaries of a contrary
sect. If experience had not proved it in our days, beyond
contradiction, it would seem incredible how little men are to be
believed in this case,[140] and how the false reports will run among
the people of the sect, against those whom the interest of their
opinion and party engageth them to misrepresent![141] Think not that
you are excusable for receiving or venting an ill report, because you
can say, He was an honest man that spoke it; for many that are
otherwise honest, do make it a part of their honesty to be dishonest
in this. They think they are not zealous enough for those opinions
which they call their religion, unless they are easy in believing and
speaking evil of those that are the adversaries of it. When it may be
upon a just trial, all proveth false; and then all the words which you
ignorantly utter against the truth, or those that follow it, are
scandals or stumblingblocks to the hearers, to turn them from it, and
make them hate it.[142] I am not speaking against a just credulity;
there must be human belief, or else there can be no human converse;
but ever suspect partiality in a party. For the interest of their
religion is a more powerful charm to the consciences of evil speakers,
than personal interest or bribes would be. How many legends tell us
this, how easily some men counted godly, have been prevailed with to
lie for God!
_Direct._ XIV. Take heed of mocking at a religious life; yea, or
of breaking any jests or scorns at the weaknesses of any in religious
exercises, which may possibly reflect upon the exercises themselves.
Many a thousand souls have been kept from a holy life, by the scorns
of the vulgar, that speak of it as a matter of derision or sport.
Reading the Scriptures, and holy conference, and prayer, and
instructing our families, and the holy observation of the Lord's day,
and church discipline, are commonly the derision of ungodly persons,
who can scorn that which they can neither confute nor learn; and weak
people are greatly moved by such senseless means. A mock or jeer doth
more with them than an argument; they cannot endure to be made a
laughing-stock. Thus was the name of the crucified God the derision of
the heathens, and the scandal of the world, both Jews and gentiles.
And there is scarce a greater scandal or stumblingblock at this day,
which keepeth multitudes from heaven, than when the devil can make it
either a matter of danger or of shame to be a christian, or to live a
holy, mortified life. Persecution and derision are the great
successful scandals of the world. And therefore seeing men are so apt
to be turned off from Christ and godliness, never speak unreverently
or disrespectfully of them. It is a profane and scandalous course of
some, that if a preacher have but an unhandsome tone or gesture they
make a jest of it, and say, He whined, or he spoke through the nose,
or some such scorn they cast upon him; which the hearers quickly apply
to all others, and turn to a scorn of preaching, or prayer, or
religion itself: or if men differ from each other in opinion in
matters of religion, they are presently inclined to deride them for
something in their worshipping of God! And while they deride a man as
an anabaptist, as an independent, as a presbyterian, as prelatical,
they little know what a malignant tincture it may leave upon the
hearer's mind, and teach carnal persons to make a jest of all alike.
_Direct._ XV. Impute not the faults of men to Christ, and blame
not religion for the faults of them that sin against it. This is the
malignant trick of Satan, and his blinded instruments: if a hypocrite
miscarry, or if a man that in all things else hath walked uprightly,
be overthrown by a temptation in some odious sin, they presently cry
out, These are your professors! your religious people! that are so
precise, and pure, and strict! Try them, and they will appear as bad
as others! If a Noah be once drunk, or a Lot be overthrown thereby, or
a David commit adultery and murder, or a Peter deny his master, or a
Judas betray him, they presently cry out, They are all alike! and turn
it to the scorn of godliness itself. Unworthy beasts! As if Christ's
laws were therefore to be scorned, because men break them! and
obedience to God were bad, because some are disobedient! Hath Christ
forbidden the sins which you blame, or hath he not? If he have not,
blame them not, for they are no sins; if he have, commend the justness
and holiness of his laws. Either the offenders you blame, did well or
ill. If they did well, why do you blame them? If they did ill, why do
you not commend religion, and the Scripture which condemneth them?
Either it is best for all men to live in such sins as those which
these lapsed persons or hypocrites committed, or it is not. If it be,
why are you offended with them for that which you allow? If it be not,
why do you soothe up the wicked in their sins, and excuse an ungodly
life, because of the falls of such as seem religious? There is no
common ingenuity in this, but malicious spite against God and holiness
(of which more in the next chapter).
_Direct._ XVI. Make not use of civil quarrels to lay an odium
upon religion. It is ordinary with ungodly, malicious men, to labour
to turn the displeasure of rulers against men of integrity; and if
there be any broils or civil wars, to snatch any pretence, how false
soever, to call them traitors and enemies to government. If it be but
because they are against a usurper, or because some fanatic persons
(whom they oppose) have behaved themselves rebelliously or
disobediently; a holy life (which is the greatest friend to loyalty)
must be blamed for all. And all is but to gratify the devil in driving
poor souls from God and holiness.
_Direct._ XVII. When you think it your duty to speak of the
faults of men that profess a godly life, lay the blame only on the
person, but speak as much and more in commendations of godliness
itself; and commend that which is good in them, while you discommend
that which is evil. Is their praying bad? Is their instructing their
families, and sanctifying the Lord's day, bad? Is their fearing sin,
and obeying God, bad? If not, why do you not say as much to commend
them for these, or at least to commend these in themselves, as you do
to discommend them for their faults? Why do you not fear lest the
hearers should be drawn to dislike a godly life by your disgracing
persons accounted godly? and therefore warn them to think never the
worse of godliness for this? You that give the poison, should in
reason give an antidote, if it be not your design to poison souls. Is
it really your design by speaking against men accounted godly, to draw
the hearers to the hatred of godliness, or is it not? If it be, you
are incarnate devils: if it be not, why do you endeavour it, by making
odious the persons, under the name of professors and godly men? And
why do you not speak more to draw people to a godly life? and to
imitate them in that which is good, while they disclaim them in that
which is evil?
_Direct._ XVIII. Be especially tender of the reputations of
those, that the souls of men have most dependence on: as the preachers of
the gospel, and the eminentest men for knowledge and religiousness.[143]
Not that I desire that sin should be the better thought of for being
theirs, or that evil should be called good in any; but experience
hath told the world since God and the devil had their several ways and
servants upon earth, that it hath been the devil's most usual
successful course, to wound religion through the sides of the
religious, and to blame the persons, when he would turn men from the
way! For he knoweth that religious persons have their faults, and in
them his malice may find somewhat to fasten on; but religion hath no
fault, and malice itself is seldom so impudent, as to speak directly
against a holy, heavenly life. But the way is to make those
disgraceful and odious, who are noted to lead such a life; and then
secretly to infer, If those that seem godly be no better, you need not
be godly, you are as well as you are. This religion is but a fantasy;
a needless, if not a troublesome, hurtful thing. Seeing therefore that
the devil hath no blow at religion, so fair as by striking at the
persons of the preachers and professors of it, every friend of Christ
must be acquainted with his design, and must not serve him in it, but
counter-work him, and preserve the reputation even of the persons of
the religious: not so much in charity to them, but for the people's
souls, and the honour of Christ.
_Direct._ XIX. Let all that preach and profess the gospel, and a
godly life, be sure that they live according to their profession; that
the name of God be not evil spoken of among the wicked through their
misdoings, Rom. ii. It was the aggravation of David's sin which God
would not quite forgive, that he made the enemies of the Lord
blaspheme, 2 Sam. xii. 14. "Servants must count their masters worthy
of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not
blasphemed," 1 Tim. vi. 1. The duties of good women are particularly
named by the apostle, Tit. ii. 3-5, with this motive to the practice
of them, "That the word of God be not blasphemed." Obedience to
government is commanded with this motive, 1 Pet. ii. 15, "For so is
the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men." And ver. 11, 12, "Dearly beloved, I beseech
you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul: having your conversation honest among the gentiles,
that whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your
works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."
And it was the aggravation of the heretics' sin, that "many shall
follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall
be evil spoken of," 2 Pet. ii. 2. Oh then, how carefully should
ministers and all that are godly walk! The blind world cannot read the
gospel in itself, but only as it is exemplified by the lives of men:
they judge not of the actions of men by the law, but of the law of God
by men's actions! Therefore the saving or damning of men's souls, doth
lie much upon the lives of the professors of religion; because their
liking or disliking a holy life doth depend upon them. Saith Paul of
young women, "I will that--they give no occasion to the adversary to
speak reproachfully; for some are already turned aside after Satan,"
1 Tim. v. 14, 15. Hence it is, that even the appearance of evil is so
carefully to be avoided, by all that fear God, lest others be drawn by
it to speak evil of godliness. Every scandal (truly so called) is a
stab to the soul of him that is scandalized, and a reproachful blot to
the christian cause. I may say of the faults of christians, as
Plutarch doth of the faults of princes, A wart or blemish in the face
is more conspicuous and disgraceful than in other parts.
_Direct._ XX. Let no pretence of the evil of hypocrisy make you
so contented with your secret innocency, as to neglect the
edification and satisfaction of your neighbours. When it is only your
own interest that is concerned in the business, then it is no matter
whether any man be acquainted with any good that you do; and it is a
very small matter how they judge, or what they say of you; the
approbation of God alone is enough. No matter who condemneth you, if
he justify you. But when the vindication of your innocency, or the
manifestation of your virtue, is necessary to the good of your
neighbours' souls, or to the honour of your sacred profession, the
neglect of it is not sincerity, but cruelty.
[135] Heb. xi. 26.
[136] So Rev. ii. 14. Balaam did βαλλεῖν σκάνδαλον, lay a scandal,
or stumblingblock before the Israelites; that is, a temptation to
sin.
[137] Luke vii. 23.
[138] Mark vi. 3.
[139] Mark iv. 17.
[140] Psal. cxix. 69.
[141] Vix equidem credar. Sed cum sint præmia falsi Nulla; ratam
debet testis habere fidem. Ovid.
[142] Rom. iii. 7, 8; James iii. 14; Job xiii. 7, 8.
[143] Ita comparatum est ut virtutem non suspiciamus, neque ejus
imitandæ studio corripimur nisi eum in quo ea conspicitur, summo
honore et amore prosequamur. Plutar. in Cat. Utic.