The Disabled Debtor Discharged, Part 3
Simon I have ſomewhat to ſay unto thee. Text.
He prepares him by naming of him [Simon] which is as much as hearing or obeying.Shamaang Obedience.
There is a double uſe (we know) of Names: Firſt, Civill, for diſtinctions ſake, Nomen quaſi notamen. Secondly, Religious, which is obſerved at our Baptiſme. So often as we heare our ſelves named, we ſhould remember our Covenant with God there made.
Chriſt names him firſt, to diſtinguiſh him from the reſt preſent: He it was that queſtioned whether Chriſt was a Prophet; our Saviour (therefore) addreſſeth himſelfe to him eſpecially. Hence we learne
Doct. It is (ſometimes) lawfull to ſingle out men by Name in Inſtructing, Reproving, and admoniſhing of them, Mat. 26.40. Gal. 2.14. Luke 10.
And yet this muſt not be taken for a generall Rule, ſome Cautions muſt be added. Firſt, this liberty is allowed in Private rather then in Publike. Secondly, when in Publike, then not in a Fraternall, but in a Iuridicall way.
In Private Reproofe, our Saviour directs us all, Mat. 18.15. If the ſin be private, knowne to hee alone, or ſome few els, Corripe inter te & illum; Reproove him betwixt thee and him, (or before two or three at moſt,) make no wordes of it to a multitude, Ʋbi malum oritur, Optimum ſepulchrum peccati inter te & illum.ibi moriatur, where an evill ariſeth, there let it dye and by buryed: No better Sepulcher then that betweene thee and him, to bury thy brothers faylings. For hee that proclaimes it openly, ſaith S. Cirill. lib. 3. in Levit. non corrigat, ſed infamat, defames and reprooves not his neighbour.
And this was our Saviours owne practiſe, he did not reproove the woeman of Samaria, Ioh. 4. whiles his Diſciples were preſent, but when they were gone into the City, and ſhe alone, he comes unto her.Quae peceaniar coram omnibus coram omnibus corripiēda ſunt, ut omnes timeant. Qui ſecretò peccavit in te ſecretò corripe nam ſi ſolus noſti, & cum vis coram alijs arguere non es corrector, ſed proditor, Aug. de verb. Dom. Serm. 16. So in curing that man who was deafe and dumb, Mark. 7.33. (the Text ſaith) he tooke him aſide from the multitude. Thus muſt we; where the fault is private, and not publike and ſcandalous, take them aſide that have offended. Our reprehenſion in ſuch a caſe muſt be auricular, no care muſt heare it, but theirs who doe offend. And ſo they may heare, both their name and fault as Simon heard here.
If the Reproofe be Publike and in the Miniſtery of Preaching in a Fraternall way, the like liberty is not graunted. Therefore (its well obſerved) S. Paul directing Titus how to proceed with the Cretians in reprooving of them, ſaith foreign redargue illos, not foreign, redargue illum, Rebuke privately [him] publikely, not [him] but [them.] He would not that he ſhould turne his Sermons into Philippicks. Should I particularize in my reproofes (ſaith S. Auſtin) eſſem proditor non correptor, I ſhould not be a Rebuker but a Betrayer. I ſmite indeed (ſaith he) the cares of all men in my Preaching, but I convent the conſciences of ſome few; Wherefore I ſay not, thou Adulterer correct thy ſelfe, but whoſoever. are infected with that vice in this people correct thy ſelfe. It is not ſafe nor ſeemely for a Preacher to taxe any perſonally; He may not come as Nathan to David, in his publike Miniſtery, with T… feciſti. It is indeed the hearers duty, to make particular application to himſelfe of what is generally ſpoken, but no part of the Miniſters to ſingle out any from the reſt by Name.
But if in caſe the Church (uſing the keyes) proceeds againſt any ſcandalous and notorious Perſon Iuridically, then the ſinner may be named, that he may be avoided, 1 Tim. 1.20. & 2. c. 1. v. 17. & 4.14.
Vſe. Learne we this point of wiſedome, ſo to Reproove as not to blemiſh: ſo to name our Brother as not to diſgrace him. We read, Exod. 37.23. God required that there ſhould be Snuffers made for the Lampes of the Tabernacle, and Snuffe-diſhes of pure gold. God would teach his Churcy hereby (as ſome conceive) Firſt, that they who cenſure and reproove others, ſhould themſelves be blameleſſe, the Snuffers were to be of gold? Secondly, the faults which we reproove our Bretheren for, are to be forgot. The Rabbins ſay, thoſe ſnuffe-diſhes were filled with ſand, to bury the ſnuffes in. You know, if a man ſhould top a candle (as we ſay) and then throw the ſnuffe about the roome, he would offend more with the ſtench he makes, then pleaſe by his diligence. Remember there are Snuffe-diſhes as well as Snuffers, uſe both: and take him for a Chirurgion who doth heale the face without a ſcarre.