Works, Part 4 · Religious instruction · Chapter 2
CHAP. II. Of the forme and rules of Christian admonition.
THere are two sorts of sins, some greater, some lesse: for Christians areAll sins are not equall. neither Stoickes nor Epicures, for Paul opposeth himselfe to thē both▪ Act. 17 18. they esteeme not all sinnes alike: Neither are they all one with those which hauehave a bottomlesse charitie, who can count all euils infirmities. And there is a third sort worst of al, and they will make euerie sin a mote, & a beame when they list: the earth is a beame in it selfe, but a mote in the skie. But we know that all sinnes are not of one last, Gen. 15. I will not bring in the Israelites till the measure of the sinnes of the Amorites bee full: So there is a full measure, and a wanting measure, all hauehave not one measure. When Paul speaketh of a gangrene, and Iob of a sinne, which he calleth the rottennes of bones, they meanequi me tradi…it maius peccatum habet. there are diuers degrees of sinnes spreading in our flesh. A Father saith, some sinnes were scoured by the blood of his hands, but others required his heart-blood, Ioh. 19.
2 Now, for that in admonition this distinction of sin is not knowne, some doe troubleTurbare oculum & excaecare. the eye, some put out the eye. Some sinnes there be that our brethren may pluck out, some that are left to our selues to pluck out. Trueth it is, if wee consider eueryevery sin as it is against the maiestie of God, we shall see it is no mote or light matter, Matth. 5. God esteemeth one …ot of his law more than heauen and earth. Doth euerie sinne require the blood of Christ?Nihil leue quod praepond…ratu… m…do▪ how then can they be motes, vnlesse we thinke his blood to be a mote also? As it is said of Baltashar in Daniel, so it may be said of eueryevery one that sinneth, if thy sinnes be weighed, it is the losse of thy kingdome, euen of the kingdome of heauen.
3 The better to examine sinnes, let vsus not weigh them by themselues: for a sinne seeming by it selfe to be but a graine waight, yet by reason of some circumstāces, may counterpoise a heauie beame. For example, consider the sinne of Iudas, you shall see it by all the sixe circumstances: First, of his person, in that he was a Disciple put in trust with the temporall things that belonged to Christ. 2. Of the obiect, for that he had confessed Christ before. 3. Of the time, when he receiued the Sacrament. 4. Of the place where Chri…t went out to pray and to teach his Disciples. 5. Of the manner which was in hypocrisite to say, Hayle maister, 6. Of the cause; for such a small value. So in like manner the sinnes are greater in publike persons, than in priuate, and that first for the offence, which ChristNote. Leuit 16. 6. 15. Heb. 7. 27. counteth a beame. There was as much sacrifice offered for the sinne of the Priest, as of all the people besides: for surely as the measures of the Sanctuarie were double, so their sins were double. Adn as this is said of the person, so now of the place. Publike sinnes are greater than priuate, in that they hauehave impudencie ioyned with them, in that they be committed with an high hand. In respect of the time, a sinne of long continuance is greater than a sinne that began but yesterday▪
4 There are sixe notes to know a beame by. The first is taken out of that place where Christ saith, it is impossible for a ca…nell to goe through a needles eye: and this is to expresse the absurdirie of those which say, as Absalom said, eueryevery mans cause was good: these fome outA man may shun a be…me in the darke, but we cannot see motes but in the Sunne light. Multiplex peccatum. Saint lerome saith: Si citò remouetur festuca est, si durauerit trabs est. Simile. Accusat, aggrau…t, quaerit remedium. Sathan. sinne without shame The second is ser downe, Rom 7. where the Apostle speakes of a sin, that by the light of the law he saw to be great and fearefull, which before he counted as a shadow, or a mote onelyonly. The third note is Reuel. 17. a sinne of many heads, able to be diuided, to be quartered, must be a beame: but a mote cannot, being almost as little as the Geometricall punctum. It is a compound sinne. The fourth Dauia speakes of, Psal. 118 22. making relation of certaine stones which the builders refused, such as we vse to serue at turnes, to build the kingdome of ignorance: Thsi must be a beame, & not a mote. A more may be blowne out, but a beame can searse be haled out with horses. The sixt is drawne out of that saying of Christ, Hypocrite, plucke the beame out of thine iowne eye, then thou shalt see: so that is a beame whichmakes vsus blind. This is that which Salomon saith, All the workers of in…quitie goe astray, knowledge first decaieth. These sins we hauehave, and feele them not; and the greater they be the lesse griefe. These malladies of the soule are contrarie to those of the body; for these the greater they be, the more we feele thē, the other the lesse. Those were but small in comparison, and mysticall sinnes, which Paul was so grieued with, Rom. 7. yet he displeased himselfe in them, and sought the remedie; and when he found it, he esteemed it much. The vse of all this is, that we know, when we hauehave motes in our eyes, and that we take heede they grow not to be beames: for there is one will take order they shall not fall out. And to this end, we must labour to hauehave a good iudgement, at the first to esteeme all sinnes as beames in our selues.
5 To recouer brethren from their faults, belongeth to priuate and publike, to Minister and Magistrate. Dauid Psal. 101 saith, it was his mornings worke, to cast out the workers of wickednesse: what case are they in then, whose morning and euening work it is to keep them in. This is now the first sin of the Magistrate, to leaue beames as motes vnpunished; as I…roboam would let them commit idolatrie, so he might hauehave his kingdome. Secondly, it is their fault to punish motes, and to let beames passe; as Saul put the holy Priest to death for Dauids cause; but Abner for whoredome was not punished, because he was a beame of his kingdome. Thirdly, they offend in punishing beames as motes, and motes as beames; as Dauid in diuiding the in heritance betweene Mephibosheth and Ziba. For the Minister,Tit 1. élenche apotómos. Redargue praecisè B. Cortipiendo corripies. he must reproue in the light before all men: and if they be slow-bellies he must reproue them sharply. Priuate men must also admonish. There is not only a healing of eyes in the Chirurgians shops, but eueryevery man msut hauehave a care of his brothers eye. If we looke for a commandement, Leuit. 19. 17. Thou shalt reproue him plainely, is as vehement a speech as God could vse. Now they say, if a manreprehend, he is an hypocrite: but assuredly, he that performeth not this dutie when, and where he may; let him know his silence is a seruile hypocrisie.
6 The holy men of elder ages hauehave been in the dutie of reprehension and admonitionExamples practising this dutie. most careful. Esay for this cause was counted a man, in his time, so contentious, as that nothing in the land could please him. I…remie saith, he was borne a man of contention: Eze…hiel was called a finde-sault: Christ himselfe both commanded, Matth. 18. and practised this dutie, he is often curning the eyes of the Pharisees, Sadduces, high Priests, Matth. 23. Herode, Luk. 4. his owne countrimen: his owne disciples, most sharpely; calling Peter Sathan, and saying to Iames and Iohn, ye know not what yee aske, and his owne mother he reproues roundly, Ioh, 2. The holy Ghost is a reprouer also, Ioh. 16 and this he pr…ctiseth euen at his first comming, Acts. 2. 22. Ye hauehave sl…ine the Lord of life, Paul reprooued Peter, and Peter Iames. All their Epistles command this dutie. 1. Thes. 4. 15. Ephes. 5. 11. TheyNote. which will not perform this dutie, to reprehend the wicked, fall often to …euile good men. When there was but one Miohaiah to performe this duty, there were 400. Prophets which stood by to preach peace to the people. As often we reade in the booke of Kings, ThereVenit quidam è Prophetis: where a Father saith, H…ù quid est quòd venit ni…i vnus. How we must suffer reprehension, A Father saith: Ostendo illi lutum, & aspergit me …uto; ostendo ill… speculum, & …llidit parieti. Exiu…e gen…i…m. Ex iure membrorum. Pr…be …crrectio…em diuinam fraterna correctio. Mutua app…obatio. Mutua laus. Nam non putat se pecca…e qui à nemine corripitur. Est peccatum tuum quicquid non dis…l…ce… ubi. came one of the Prophets: there came not many to performe this dutie, and so it is to this day, and this maketh this dutie as bitter as wormewood, for that it is so little put in practise.
7 That we may suffer rebuke, these three things must we doe. First, as Psalme 141. we must esteeme it as a balme, and make profession that we doe so Secondly men must feare themselues more: now eueryevery man presupposeth himselfe innocent, when as we should be fearefull to hauehave offended, when we hauehave not offended, 1. Sam. 22. I am thy fathers death, s…h Dauid, when he was not indeed. Iob was afraid of his children, when he knew not they had sinned. Thirdly, though the accusation be false, we must performe thankefulnes, Iosh. 22. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16 But contrarie waies, if one espie a mote in our eyes, we straightway looke into his, and then ours is whole.
8 If yet we desire more reasons to perswade vsus to the practise of this most Christian dutie: let vsus remember we are to admonish, because they are our brethren. If two strangers walke together, and a mote fall into one of their eyes, the other will blow it out, or wipe it out: this nature teacheth vsus. Paul goeth a note higher: If there be a thorne in the foote, the head stoopeth; but if any thing be in the tender eye, it laboureth to ease it much more. But we reproue commonly when we fall out with our brethren: and therefore in veritie we be enemies and not brethren: for this is a good argument wi…h …s, he is thine enemie, therefore reproue him. And this is an Aegyptians tricke, to reiect a iust reproofe and to say who made thee a ruler? who made you a Preacher? Augustine faith, if thou dost not helpe his eye, God will plague thine eye and his too. And againe, though thou saiest not euge, yet because thou saiest not apage: there is (saith he) a mutuall approbation, as well as a mute commendation.
9 Three things ought to moue vsus to this dutie. First, least men thinke it an indifferent thing to offend, and so we nourish him in his sinne, and thereby his eye will gather more filth and scales, and in time goe cleane out. Secondly, if thou pitie not him that offendeth, yet pitie him that standeth by, least he be offended, or any way indangered by thy silence, or by the sin past, or both: as we see in Barnabas by Peter, Gal. 2. 13. Thirdly pitie thy selfe, and deliuer thy selfe from the guilt of this sinne: for if thou be pr…sent, & be est not grieued for the offence, it is in account laide vponupon thy score. Neither let that hinder vsus that we shal not preuaile: for Nichodemus also performed this dutie when he had no hope to be heard, Ioh 7. 50. Again, by rebuking thou shalt deliuer thy selfe from cotempt, for by thy silence the wicked will giuegive thee the same reward they giuegive vntounto God, Psalm 50. 21. They will conclude, that thou art in the s…me league of imp…tie with them. Finally, so doing thou shalt free thy selfe from the punishment of sinne. Ely for not reprouing his sonnes, perished with them in the same calamitie: but L…t escaped in the destruction of Sodome, Saint Peter rendreth this reason, because he was v…xed with the vncleanly conuersation of the wicked, continually preaching righteousnesse and reclayming them from their sinnes.
10 This dutie of reprehension is onelyonly to be done to a brother, of whom there be twoWho ought to be reprehended. sorts: the naturall, and the beleeuing brother; for the faithfull hauehave one spirituall Father, and one Holie mother, euen the heauenly Ierusalem, the mother of vsus all. As there be beames so great that we cā …ot moue them at all, so th…re be some men whom we must not touch with any reproofe. We must not reprehend thē whom the Church acknowledgeth not for childrē, for they be not our brethrē: Such a… deserue to …e reiected by the Church, I am not bound to performe this dutie vntounto them, for holy things must not be giuen to dogges Againe, the scorner must be smitten and cast forth, as Ismael was, he is not worthie a christian reprehension, nor a barker or biter of the religious & godly, as prophane Esau: for these cast off all our admonition with a iest. Some thought Paul should hauehave reproued Nero, but it was a rule in the Primitiue Church, and the Schoole men hauehave obserued, thatAbsti…endum metu charita…s non metu …upiditatis. furious Tyrants may not be reproued, least they disturbe the peace of the Church. Elias was more plaine with the Kings in his time, albeit he was left alone. If thou hast authority, thou maist reproue all that are vnderunder thee. Reproue strangers onelyonly of open and known sinnes: no Samaritan at al, vnlesse he be wounded. Let vsus in performing this dutie obserue diuine rules well, for some are as vnfit to reprehend and to be reprehended, as Esaus Plow…are was to make a sword.
11 Though good duties are to be done, yet eueryevery man is not fit to do eueryevery good duty, therfore let vsus see who is fit to execute this worke of reprehension. The eie is a tender part, eueryevery finger must not be taking in it: for of an action without skil commeth an end without fruit. This dutie doth not consist in readines of vtterance, nor in bitternes & stingingMunus proportionatur dono. Per oculum mentem, pervisum cogni…onem. words, but in good sound iudgement, which maketh a man fit. And to this are required three things, which answere to those in the bodily sight: first the cleerenes of the eye: secondly, the right situation of it: thirdly, not to be hindred without. By the eie, the minde, the seate of knowledge is vnderstood: & here in they must be rich. It is promised, Esa. 64. that the people vnderunder the Gospell should excell in knowledge the Leuites vnderunder the Law: and it may appeare it was so in the Primitiue Church, for they became most ready and familiar in the holy Scriptures: in so much that womē began to grow so cunning, that there was a generall prohibition that they should not speake in the Church. Daniels prophesie was, that in the later times men should run ouer bookes: and if wee cannot so abound, yet must wee get a through knowledge of things, against which wee deale by reprehension. Christ finds the Pharisees often short, and blind, albeit they gloried of great knowledge, though the Phylacteries were broad, yet their heads were shallow. So it is also with vsus: ther are many dim eyes which hauehave need of that eye salue, Reuel. 3. If any thing be ambiguous we cannot hit the ioynt to restore the member that is loosned, Gal. 6. 1. And so in our building, all will downe in the tempest that we build with vntempered morter. Nothing can abide soundly in affection, that is not surely grounded in the iudgement. That which Philip said to the Eunuch may heere well bee vsed, a little changing the word in the originall: Doest thou knowe what thou doest condemne? And it is said well of Peter, that many speake euillGinóskeis, anaginóskeis, Cataginóskeis Sapiunt ex a…no pectore. of those things they know not: but they doe as Balaam, fetch their diuinations from others, and so cannot speake according to time, place & persons, but as they are then prouided. Secondly, the eye must stand rightly in his proper seate, for if it stand awry we cannot see well, how cleere soeuer the eye be, This site and right place of the eye, the old writers call intentio vitae, and that is that which euen their owne consciences knowe, and other men often see, they leuell at in their whole life. The right situation of the eye is this, if we set before vsus this scope to please God, without any sinister respect: albeit some can looke awry and that sildome, and that shortly, and waxe not worse and worse, but more zealous. He lookes not aright that hath a worldly end, as Balaam would now & then looke to Gods commandement, but because his heart and minde was fixed on the wages of iniquitie, his eye was euer ouer his shoulder, and in the end shewed hee was blinde indeede. Thirdly, the outward hinderances are the beames that are in the eye, and they are those sinnes that are past shame and sorrow, and such as may be felt at midnight. They receiue many diuisions: they vpholde wicked practises; they bee such as the Disciples cannot cast out, they are directly opposite to the calling of a Christian. They that worke this trad, are workers of iniquitie, of whose eye and iudgement marke Dauids question, the answere whereof is soone made. Are they not all without vnderstanding that worke wickednesse ▪ And this is the reason why the Fathers hauing lesse meanes of knowledge than wee, yetNote. saw more concerning heauenly things then we. Albeit Christ saith of this eye, thou seest a mote, yet hee speaketh but of his false imagination, for it is hard for him to see a mote, that hath a beame in his owne eye▪ hee may onelyonly thinke there is a mote where there is none, and therefore no man is to beleeue him. And yet this man challengeth to himselfe authoritie not only to dispute, but also to reproue, yet little reason is there of the first, but none of the second. Besides, whereas the end of reprehension is amendment, hee is like to make him worse: for seeing how little hee accounteth of the beame that is in his owne eye, he may gather, if that hurt not him, his mote will hurt him lesse: nay he is moreA rule. Deceptus in minoribus nō debet de maioribus iudicare. Mensura enim prior mensurato. Potes ne alium melius noscere quam …? like to plucke out the eye, than the mote out of the eye. It is a generall rule, that hee that doth willingly reprehend, and feeles not a mixt affection of sorrow and feare, is not fit for it. Our owne louelove is the measure of our louelove to others: he cannot then be good to others, that is not first good to himselfe. Chrysostome saith, Canst thou know another better than thy selfe? He that loueth another more than himselfe in spirituall things, he is void of charitie. We must therefore euer take heede of these beames in our owne eyes, for if we so cast aside our eye after preferment, wee set the fist commandement aboue the first, and make our selues vnfit for the practise of the dutie of Christian admonition.
12 The people so profited by Moses sharpe rebuke, that they after came to aske him counsell, as loth to displease him, when they sawe that he was angrie for Gods cause, and their sinnes. Where we see how needfull it is for a man to hauehave his conscience ript vp, and to take heed when the Minister of God doth with anger rebuke, that then we doe rightly interpret his anger, for the diuell will be too busie to perswade, that he doth it for his own pleasure. And the Ministers of Christ must take heede to rule their anger, euer intending principally Gods glorie, and the profit of their brethren.
13 In admonition, when we louelove too much the person, we slacke our zeale against the sinne: when we are too zealous against the sinne, we forget meeknes and louelove to the person. It is the greatest iudgement of God, vponupon the corrupt iudgement of the world, that vntill sinne be prodigious, and monstrous, such as goeth round about the world, wee are not moued with it. When wee admonish others of sinnes, as of iesting, and such like: forsooth we must smile, when we doe so, and we must laugh vponupon them, least wee moue choler, and giuegive offence. Well, for all sinne in equal measure, and for the least of all sins, Christ Iesus the Sonne of God was faine to shed his pretious blood; howsoeuer this seemeth little to vsus in committing, it was very great to Christ in suffering for it. They be small sinnes to vsus, which are vsuall to all; but if they were not vsuall, they would seeme prodigious.