Mr. Woodward's Sermon at St. Mary-le-Bow, Decemb. 28. 1696. Before the SOCIETIES for Reformation of Manners.   

THE DUTY of Compassion to the Souls of others, In endeavouring their Reformation. Being the Subject of a SERMON Preached December the 28th 1696. At St. Mary-le-Bow, Before the Societies for Reformation of Manners in the CITY of LONDON. Published at their Request. By JOSIAH WOODWARD Minister of Poplar.  
London, Printed by J. Derby, and sold by A. Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhill, and other Booksellers, 1697.  
Price stitched 4 d,   

TO THE SOCIETIES FOR Reformation of Manners In the Cities of London and Westminster.  
IT is a Divine and Blessed Work, my Honoured Brethren! to which you have so hearty and effectually applied yourselves. And may the God of Heaven and Earth prosper your Handiwork, or rather, his own Work in your Hands.  
The Reformation of wicked People is ever very requisite, but in the present height of our Impieties it is not only seasonable, but of absolute Necessity to be done without Delay; lest our Iniquity, which has visibly been our languishing Distemper, should speedily become our utter Ruin; which shows the unreasonableness of such who call your Zeal an unseasonable Heat.  
And as far are they from Truth, who call it a meddling with things which do not belong unto you; since God makes it your bounden Duty in that Text which is the Subject of the following Discourse. And as little Reason have they to call it Cruelty, since God there calls it Charity, and assures us that the contrary is Hatred in the very Heart. So that my Text is both your Commission and Vindication. And truly, it is your Plea of furthering this your excellent Design by the publication of this Sermon, which alone induces me to consent to it. For I know no greater Good that can possibly come upon this corrupt World, than its Reformation; yea, I do not see how any Good can come unto it, or abide with it, without this. And this is indeed a direct way to prevent not only the Calamities of Kingdoms, but the Eternal Miseries of Humane Souls.  
And therefore it cannot but be matter of great Joy to all good People to hear of your successful Progress in this your pious Enterprise. What exalted Praises will they offer to God, when they hear of your Order, Courage, and Unanimity in a Work of such absolute Necessity; and when they understand that Thousands have been brought by your means to legal Punishment, for their abominable Enormities; and that Multitudes of scandalous Houses, which were the odious Nurseries of Uncleanness, have been suppressed by you; and that public Vice and Profaneness is manifestly checked, and in a way to be rooted out by your exemplary Diligence, Zeal, and Expense in this great Undertaking? As it is more particularly related in an Account of the Rise and Progress of the Religious Societies of Young Men, lately published.  
It was indeed impossible that an Affair of this general and important Nature could have been carried on with any probability of Success, but by the conjoined Prudence, Power, and Cost of an Associated Body of considerable Persons. And blessed be God who inclined the Hearts of so many of you to unite together in an Affair of such difficult and discouraging Circumstances; and that he hath guided your Motions in it with such irreproachable Justice and Prudence.  
For your Method of Procedure against Offenders is so strictly Legal, and your Rules of Management so Prudential, that you have not only drawn many to incorporate with your Societies, but have very much silenced the Calumnies of all but vicious and unreasonable People against them.  
So that when your noble Design, your just Proceed, and your considerable Success comes to appear to the World in a true Light, it cannot reasonably be questioned, but that you'll gain all the Honourable and Sober part of it (by the pure worth of your Cause) to pray for you, support, and vindicate you, according to their Place and Power.  
For, how can the Magistrate, who would be thought Righteous in his Place, or faithful to the Vows of his Religion, or to the Oath of his Office; in the least decline his Assistance to that which so manifestly asserts the Authority of God over Men, and so directly suits the very End for which Magistracy was ordained in the World?  
And will not every Minister of the Gospel of Christ depart from his Sacred Character, yea, revolt from his Lord and Master, if he be wanting to assist you in any thing proper to his Function?  
Yea, every private Person who hath or desireth to have a clear and comfortable Conscience, or has but a just Sense of Moral Decency, and of Civil Government, will find himself in Duty and Interest obliged to join with you, in a seasonable informing against Vice, and endeavouring to suppress those intolerable Impieties which have so long been a Reproach to our Religion and Government.  
So that People's agreeing with you, or being against you in this your Undertaking (which all the Sense of Mankind must pronounce Pious and Just) will be a sort of a Test to discern Religious and Virtuous Minds from others: In which, I pray God, none be distinguished to their Reproach here, and Condemnation hereafter.  
But as our Blessed Lord himself was injured, reviled, and opposed when upon Earth: So, you must expect (yea, I know, you have experienced) the injurious Treatment of a sinful and perverse Generation. But here you are to tread in the Steps of your Saviour in his Sufferings, as well as in his Do: And with him, pray, That such may be forgiven by a Merciful God, who do they know not what against him. And whilst you bring poor senseless Sinners to undergo the just Penalties of the Laws, let your Prayers follow them, that it may indeed be an effectual Method of their Reformation.  
But there is one Great Thing wanting yet to accomplish this desired Amendment of wicked People, (the want of which I have heard some of you lament) which is, A due Provision of Work and Work-houses to employ the Hands of the Poor, which otherwise will most certainly be misemployed in sinful and vicious Courses.  
If we ask any Thief, Strumpet, or other Malefactor; What it was that brought them to their wicked way of Life? They usually reply, That it was their want of an honest Employment, and that they did it to get Bread. And 'tis very probable that they speak the Truth: For had they been bred up to diligent Labour, and been enured to Business, it is very likely, that neither the Devil nor their Lusts had ever gotten such Dominion over them.  
Nor indeed is there any probability of reclaiming them, but by such means as these. Were every Malefactor who is sent to the Prison, kept there strictly to the utmost bodily Labour that they are capable of, and this for a competent Time: And had they withal, the Benefit of frequent Prayers and Sermons suitable to their Condition: This would make their Prison a proper House of Correction and Instruction too. And when they had once found the Benefit and Comfort of honest Labour and a good Conscience, it might be hoped that most of them would never return back again to their former course of Life. Whereas now, if a Felon be sent to the Jail, he there finds the most inveterate Villains in the whole County for his Companions and Tutors, and he has leisure in abundance to con over their Lessons, so that he becomes sevenfold more a Child of Hell than before, if he escapes the Gallows. Or if a Slut be sent to Bridewell, and be there severely lashed, and then set free again: 'tis true, she comes out corrected, but not at all amended; for still the first Cause of her Misbehaviour continues; and if want of Employment brought her to her former ill Life, it will be like to reduce her to it again. And thus they harden in their Vices, and the Keepers of those Prisons find them their constant Visitants.  
And, alas! what pity is it? And what a shame in truth to such a Wealthy City and Nation! Yea, what a Reproach to the Faith and Charity of Christians, that due Provision is not made to employ the Poor? For want of which, not only our Prisons and Houses of Correction, but our very Almshouses seldom answer the End of their Foundation.  
And therefore it would be one of the hest Charities in the World, if a competent Number of Gentlemen and Wealthy Citizens, expert in Manufacture, would endeavour to obtain an Act of Parliament in this behalf; and in the mean time contribute to a common Stock, and employ it to this End. And it would become every Person of Ability to contribute towards it, either by giving something to the Fund, or taking the Goods thus wrought from off their Hands that out of Charity employ the Poor.  
It can scarcely be imagined, that People could better serve their Generation than in this Method, or more administer to the Glory of God and the common Benefit of Men. For who can sum up the Advantages that would accrue to any State by the ceasing of the Vices of such multitudes of People, and the Income of their Labours? And if this were generally encouraged, the Wealth arising from it in time, would probably be a visible Reward of the Charity of it in this World; as it has been demonstrated by several Ingenious Pens.  
The good God vouchsafe to prosper all necessary Means of a General Reformation of Manners amongst us, that we may appear (from the highest to the lowest) worthy of the glorious Name of a Reformed People. Which is the earnest desire of,  
Gentlemen, Your assured Friend and Servant, J. W.   

Errat.] Pag. 23. lin. 11. read Harvest.   

The Duty of Compassion to the Souls of Others.  LEVIT. XIX. 17. 
Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.  
IN the Rage of a devouring Pestilence, it is the Care of every wise Government to shut up the Persons infected, and to make a Mark over their Door, that all People may shun them, to prevent the spreading of the Contagion; yet with a just Compassion to the poor People who lie under the dreadful Distemper, and a diligent use of Means for their Recovery.  
And if our Faith had as quick and effectual Apprehensions as our Senses, we should be as much concerned to prevent the pernicious growth of Sin, which is certainly the greatest Plague to Cities and Kingdoms, as well as to Families and particular Persons. It has been the destruction of one World already, and the gross and general overflowing of it is at this Day a pregnant Symptom of the approaching Ruin of the other.  
A public Sinner does not only sin against his own Soul, but against the Community of which he is a Member; yea, against the World in which he lives. The Mischiefs which attend his Sin are general, and spread widely and universally. For hereby the Governor of the World is dishonoured and provoked, and the common Father of Mankind is disowned and defied. So that there is no Person but is concerned to hinder and prevent the Sin of another; and upon the view of any such Transgression, he has just cause of Offence and Resentment given him: and therefore he does at once hate both his Brother's Soul, and his own, if he quietly connives at it, and tamely passes it by; which is directly contrary to the Law of God in the Text, Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart; thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour, and not suffer Sin upon him.  
In which words, the Holy and Righteous God binds this Duty upon the Consciences, not only of Ministers and Magistrates, but of every Man, That he maintain a vigilant and constant Concern for his Brother's Soul and Salvation. Next to our own Welfare, we are to have a kind and charitable Concern for our Brother's. Our Brother; that is, every Person who having the same Nature, and deriving it from the same God, is a Brother as to all points of Duty required by the common Lord of all. And therefore these words are an authentic Ground for this Point of Doctrine,  
Observe. That there is a great want of Charity to the Souls of others, in those who make no Attempts to rescue them from the Power of any known Sin. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart, thou shalt in any wise rebuke him: As if it were said, you may in your Lips, and in your other Carriage pretend what Kindness you will to others, but if you induce them to sin, or indulge them in it, all your glavering Professions of Friendship are mere shame and paint; yea they are real and hatred, an Artifice to subvert and destroy them for ever. Like the Tyrant's Engine (mentioned by Sir W. Raleigh) which was composed in the shape of a beautiful Woman, and contrived with that exquisite Art, that it would rise up and embrace any Person before whom it was placed, and at the same time stab them with a Multitude of mortal Wounds when it grasped them in its Iron-arms. And truly the Embraces of sinful Companions are alike fatal; it is the twisting of the old Serpent about them, full of Venom and deadly Poison. It is Hatred in the Heart, says the Text, if you rebuke not your sinful Brother, but negligently suffer sin to lie upon him, and sink him into the pit of Perdition.  
So that we have here three parts of spiritual Charity recommended to us. And these are enforced and pressed upon us by three considerable Motives: And my speaking to each of these will be the proper Method to open and apply the Duty of the Text.  
I begin to consider the threefold spiritual Charity enjoined in the Text. The first of which is,  
I. A vigorous desire of the Happiness of our Brother's Soul.— Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine Heart. The positive Injunction implied in this Expression is, Thou shalt bear an inward and hearty Affection to thy Brother (that is, to every humane Creature) and thou shalt especially love his Soul, and do whatever thy Place and Capacity enables thee towards his Eternal Salvation.  
And indeed a real Christian cannot do otherwise; the Spirit of Christ will constrain him to it. For, if we have not so much of the spiritual Zeal and Temper of Christ, as to seek the Glory of God, and the Salvation of Men, We are none of his. A worldly, carnal, and unchristian Spirit sways that degenerate Soul, who seeks his own, and not his Brother's Good. Yea, such a one gives a very shrewd Suspicion, that he does not hearty seek his own Spiritual and Eternal Welfare: For he that knows and feels the due import of those two words, Eternal Salvation, and conceives something of those innumerable, exquisite, and endless Woes, which are summed up in that one word Damnation, will be sensibly moved to pity such as he sees passing on directly towards the pit of Destruction. He will beg his Brother by all the Entreaties he can use, that he would not resist his own Mercies, nor destroy a Soul for which Christ died: Yea, he will use a sort of Violence with him (if there be any in the Persuasives, Rebukes, and Remonstrances of Love) to restrain him from Self-destruction, and to bar up his Way to everlasting Torment.  
And this Christian Affection to our Brother must not end here; namely, in a pious Exhortation and Admonition only. But it is further required in the Text,  
II. That our Love to Men be exercised in a seasonable (and if need be, in a sharp and severe) Reproof of an offending Brother. This is comprehended in the word Rebuke.— Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour. Thou shalt not be diverted from this good Office in any wise. Thou shalt not fear his Anger, nor the World's Censures, nor any Temporal Damage which may come to thee by so doing. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour when he gives thee cause to do it. Thy Neighbour, that is, He with whom thou conversest, for he is for that time thy Neighbour.  
But here we must observe the Limits of a few Cautions.  
(1.) Our Reproof of our Neighbour must be managed in a Method suitable to his Station, and our Relation to him. An Elder (says the Apostle) is not to be rebuked, but entreated as a Father, 1 Tim. 5. 1. Which implies, that the natural Father is likewise to be treated with the same Respect; not insulting over his Nakedness, but pitying his Infirmities. And Elihu wisely observed, That it is not fit for every one to go bluntly to a King, and tell him that he is wicked, or to say to Princes that they are ungodly, Job 34. 18.  
We see with what Respect and humble Address, the Persons who accompanied Naaman, corrected his Passion. The Men were grieved at their Master's rash Resentment of the Prophet's Message, and were unwilling that he should turn away without a Cure of his Leprosy: whereupon (it is said) that they came near and spoke unto him, and said, My Father, if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean? 2 King. 5. 13. And we find, that this kind and gentle Application to him won upon him effectually; their forcible Argument convinces his Judgement, and their humble Respect softens his Heart to embrace it; and so it came to a desired Effect, to the Cure of the Disorder of his Soul first, and then to the Cure of the Distemper of his Body.  
And indeed the prudent Management of this Affair is the taking the Instrument by the right Handle, and so the most likely way to the desired Success; which introduces a second Caution, namely,  
(2.) That in the case of rebuking any Person, we should take care to time it well. The proper Season is very material in the Administration of this spiritual Physic. The Physicians of our Bodies decline the giving of a Dose, though never so excellent, in the Extremity of the Paroxysm. And truly a Person in a Passion, or in Drink, or the like, must have time for the Height of his Fit to sink, that he may come to the Use of his Reason, before his Cure can be attempted with any Probability of Success.  
Had Abigail reproved Nabal when he was very drunk, and in a violent Passion, as it seems he was when he sent that railing Message to King David, it is very probable that herself might have had the second Part of the same Outrage, as the only Effect of her Reproof, and Reward of her Pains: But she did more wisely; She said nothing to him more or less till the Morning-light; but then, when the Wine was gone out of Nabal, she lays open all the Parts of his desperate Folly and Rudeness before him; and applies it so home to him, that his Heart died within him, 1 Sam. 25. 36, etc.  
So that the prudent Timing of our Rebukes is very conducible to their taking place upon the Person to whom they are applied. But then we must beware, on the other hand, that our convenient Season be not like that of Foelix, a mere trick to shun the Duty, never thinking of it more. It is of the two, better to mistake the Time of a Duty, than wholly to omit the Performance of it. Again,  
(3.) We must not understand the Words of the Text so as to countenance the Popish Cruelties for their own Superstitions. It is true, we must not suffer Sin upon our Brother or Neighbour; and rather than let him alone to perish in his Vices, we may and aught to deliver him up to the Civil Magistrate, that the Delinquent may suffer the light Inflictions of legal Punishment here, in hope that he may be awakened by these, to shun that everlastiug Anguish which will inevitably come upon him, if he goes on in his Iniquity.  
But then, it must be a Transgression of the moral Law, or some Sin against the plain Revelation of God's Will: in which case the Offender's Conscience (if he has any) will applaud both the Evidence against him, and the Judge who decrees his Punishment: for his own Heart will be both an impartial Evidence and Avenger against him, whenever he comes to himself.  
But as for the bloody Methods of the Romish Inquisition, where innocent Persons are tortured, racked and burnt, because they will not pollute their Faith and Consciences by things of Man's Invention, and by Doctrines not only beside, but against the express Will of God: The Voice of all good Christians, yea of all Mankind, sends forth a loud Cry to Heaven against them: And every body sees, that the beating out of People's Brains is no good Means to bring any Persuasion into their Heads; and that those of the Trent-Council spoke rather after the tyrannical Temper of Popery, than according to the Rules of Argumentation, who were for answering Luther's Books by Fire and Faggot applied to the Author. This is a very inglorious Conquest, like Herod's Victory over the poor Infants, of which this Day puts us in mind. But there is not the least Affinity betwixt the inhuman Persecution of good Men, and the legal Punishment of wicked ones. That is diametrically opposite to this, for that crushes the best of Men, this chastises the worst: That puts Men out of the way of their Duty, this brings them into it: That injures the Conscience, this relieves it: That locks up the Gate of Heaven, this puts a Bar in the Passage to Hell. And, in a word, that is uncommanded by God, yea it is forbidden by him; but this is the express Will of God, which is the strongest Argument in the World to enforce it upon every sensible Conscience. And this leads me to the third Part of spiritual Charity in the Text: namely,  
III. That we ought to use all lawful and suitable Means to reclaim the open and obstinate Transgressor;— Thou shalt not suffer Sin upon him, i. e. Thou shalt diligently pursue all proper Means to pull this Firebrand out of the Fire. Thou shalt appeal to the Minister, and to the Magistrate; not against the Man, but against the Sin: Thou shalt tell it the Church, (Mat. 18. 17.) Thou shalt inform the Bench (the Seat of Justice) of it, (Deut. 13. 8.) That all fit spiritual Censures and temporal Chastisements may be applied to him in time, that his Soul perish not to all Eternity.  
And surely this cannot be disagreeable to the Rules of natural Affection, or Christian Charity, or humane Friendship, since the very Parents amongst the Jews were to appeal to the Magistrates of their City, to punish even with Death their Son who was a Drunkard, or a Glutton, and an ungovernable Rebel; as we read Deut. 21. 19 And however severe this may seem to the Person who fell under this exemplary Punishment, it was certainly a Kindness to the Community; which must needs find that good Order and sober Behaviour was maintained by this strict Law; which was the Benefit proposed in the Institution of it, viz. That all Israel might hear, and fear, and do no more any such Wickedness, (ver. 21.) And that such good Laws as these might not prove useless, for want of due Information and Prosecution, it was a standing Rule and Statute in the Jewish Government, That in all great Enormities, such as heard or saw the Fact were to be Informers and Witnesses against the Offender, though it were a Friend as dear as their own Soul, or a Brother of their own Blood: yea, they were to be the Executioners too; as we read, (Deut. 17. 7.) The Hands of the Witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to Death, and afterwards the Hands of all the People: And this (it is said) was the only way to put away the Evil from among them. So that in such a Case where the Bowels of Nature, and the Endearments of Friendship begin to struggle against the Administration of Justice, and the public Good, the Love and Fear of God must turn the Balance, considering that our overlooking of any gross Sin is a taking the Gild of it into our own Bosom: yea, 'tis a spreading and diffusing of the Curses due unto it upon the Face of the whole City and Nation in which we dwell.  
So that it is very manifest, That the due Ministration of Justice is absolutely necessary to the Happiness of any State, in order to suppress Vice, and support Virtue; and so to procure the Blessings, and avert the Judgements of Almighty God, the Righteous Governor of the World.  
Now, the Tribunal of Justice is seated on these two Pillars, viz. First, Upon due Information against Offenders; Secondly, An impartial Execution of Justice upon them, according to the Proof of the Fact.  
As to the first, viz, Information against the impudent and profligate Contemners of the Laws of God and Men. The desire of God's Glory, and men's Salvation may induce us to it; and the Love of Virtue, and the common Good, must needs enforce the Practice of it: Or however, the Laws of God ought to constrain us to it, and the Fear of God's Wrath should awaken us to wash our Hands from the Gild of other men's Sins. For you are unjust to the Offender's Soul, and your own, and to the public Good, if you neglect it.  
And, as for the vulgar Odium, and the common Reproaches against such Informers, they are vain and senseless, and are merely contrived by the lovers of Sin (and the invisible Patron and Promoter of it) to be a Shelter and Subtersuge for Vice and Profaneness.  
For every Body knows, that without Legal Evidence, there can be no Legal Punishment. And though the Magistrate be the best in the World, yet if the Crime be not duly proved and testified before him, Justice itself will bind his Hands, and chain his Sword.  
Had not the People who heard the Blasphemy and Curses of the Son of Shelomith, gone and told Moses of it, Leu. 24. 11. the Wretch might have cursed on, and blasphemed as long as his Breath would have served him to do it. But they that heard him, did better; they went forthwith and informed the Magistrate of it, as they were in Duty bound; and so the Curses of Man were stopped, and the Blessings of God procured.  
And O! where is the love of God, or of Virtue, or of the Souls of Sinners, or of the Public Good, if we are discouraged from so good and necessary a Work, by such unreasonable Cavils as are usually made against it? Alas! what Love of God have they, who will not speak a good word for him before the face of his Enemies? Or what Courage have they in the Cause of God, who cannot bear an ill word, or a Nickname for his sake? And what a poor and pusillanimous Soul is that who dares not be good in ill Company, or in evil Times?  
Ah! what insupportable Shame and Contempt will be poured out on those at last, who are now ashamed of Christ and of his Doctrine! How will they be able to stand before the great God? or to show their Faces before his Holy Angels, those zealous Ministers of his, who do his Pleasure; or before that noble Army of Martyrs, who counted not their Lives dear when ever they might glorify God by such a Sacrifice? Yea, who shed their Heart's Blood for the sake of Religion, with greater Resolution than many now speak a few good words for it, either in reproving of Vice, or informing against it.  
Let us, for Shame, awaken out of such a tepid and torpid State. A brutish Stupidity is a shameful Reproach to a Man; and Spiritual Insensibleness is much more so to a Christian: and therefore let every one that bears the Name of Christ be zealous and indefatigable in his Work, and courageous and undaunted in his Cause.  
Do you see a Person so void of Reason, as well as Faith, as to profane the sacred Name of God in vile and blasphemous Language? You must in any wise rebuke the Wretch, and not only so, but deliver him up to the Magistrate, as the People did in the like Case, Leu. 24. 11. They went and told Moses of it.  
See you a Person so void of God's Fear, as to profane that Day which God hath blest and sanctified? Dare he expose his Wares on that Sacred Day, or follow his Sports or Vices? See that you suffer not this Sin upon him, but suppress it by all lawful Ways and Means. As pious Nehemiah, Neh. 13. 17. who not only threatened and drove away such as brought their Goods to be sold, but contended with the Nobles of Judah, who suffered it upon the Sabbath.  
The same Care should be taken to reform not only plain and downright Drunkenness, but unseasonable and immoderate frequenting of Public Houses, which are not designed to cherish the Vices, but to supply the Necessities of Men.  
And partieular Care must always be taken to root out that nasty Sin, which above others deserves the Name of Uncleanness; and to brand those impudent People with public Shame and Correction, who dare proclaim their Impudence in the very Streets, and before the Sun.  
By these Sins a Land is greatly defiled, and the Wrath of God highly incensed against it. And therefore it becomes every Christian to set himself courageously against them, and to rejoice in an Opportunity of doing such a piece of Service to his great and good Master, as to bring them before the Magistrate to receive condign Punishment: That the World may see that there are some who dare be as bold and vigilant for the Honour of the Prince of Light, as some others are in the Service of the Prince of Darkness. And though your Adversaries will cry out of a Beam in your own Eye, we are sure these are not Motes which you endeavour to pull out of theirs; nor can they with any Reason or Justice, apply those words of our Saviour to you, Mat. 7. 5. unless they can prove you abundantly more guilty of that Sin for which they are punished, than themselves.  
And as to the second Point, which is necessary to support our Religion, and the public Good, namely, The impartial Execution of Justice upon profane and licentious Persons: This is the Magistrate's peculiar Province; and blessed be God, that (as we have good and excellent Laws against Profaneness and Debauchery, so) we have some righteous Magistrates who duly put them in Execution. The good God raise up more of these Labourers, to cut down this ripe and exuberant Vintage of Vice, the Fields of which are grown even white unto Havest.  
O! what an Honourable and Divine thing is Magistracy duly exerted in its proper Acts! How venerable is that Person in the sight of Angels and Men, who piously uses that Sword wherewith the God of Justice (to whom Vengeance belongeth) has girded him withal! Ah! let none dare to wear that Sword in vain, lest it be drawn at last forth against themselves by the Almighty God, as David did Goliath's, to the destruction of him that wore it.  
Truly I here testify to you, that I know no other way for Magistrates to shun this, but by their present and impartial executing of Justice upon Evil-doers, and supporting them that do well. This is indeed a blessed Work, and will receive a glorious Reward at last from God the Righteous Judg.  
It is so Godlike, to distribute just Punishments to such as do Evil, and to support Religious and Virtuous Persons; that the Magistrate who does it in the Integrity of his Heart, will find Favour with God, and Esteem among Men. It is indeed more than a single Good; there is a Constellation of Virtues and Advantages in it; it will glorify God, and credit our Religion; it will make our Public Affairs Prosperous, and our Nation Happy. It will make the Name of such a Magistrate truly Honourable, and his Conscience serene: yea, 'twill make his Life Comfortable, his Death Hopeful, and his Eternity Blessed.  
And to press this further, let us consider the Motives expressed or employed in the Text, which tend to fix Holy Purposes, of setting in good earnest to this Duty, in every Person according to his Station and Capacity. And this will be the proper Application of what has been said.  
Motive 1. Let us therefore remember in the first place, That it is Hatred to any one, not to rebuke him for his Fault. For indeed it is the greatest Declaration of God's Wrath towards a Sinner, that he expresses upon Earth, when he will no more reprove nor correct him for his Offences: As in that dreadful Expression, Hos. 4. 17. Ephraim is joined to Idols, let him alone. Let him be no more disturbed, either by Reproof or Affliction, but let him securely persist in his Sin, and harden in it, and perish. And can we be content that our Remissness in our Duty to our Brother's Soul, should draw on him these direful and eternal Plagues?  
It is a part of the Law of Nature, as well as a Statute in Israel, That no Person hate his Brother in his Heart; but that he be very kind and compassionate towards him. We are to live by the mutual Kindness of each other; this is the end of our incorporating into Societies. And indeed, this is suggested to us in the Frame of Nature.  
Our good and wise Creator has so ordered the state of Humane Life, that no Person (of what Rank or Condition soever) can subsist without the Help and Assistance of others. We are born naked, destitute, and impotent, and should not survive our Birth many Hours, except some Eye pitied us, and did the common Offices of suitable Ministration to us. And thus we live many Years by the Kindness and Charity of others; being in our Infancy not only unable to provide our own necessary Food and Raiment, but even incapable of feeding or dressing ourselves, though the Means of both be provided to our hands.  
And when a Man comes to maturity of Years and Strength, he is absolutely insufficient to supply his own wants of himself, but must crave the helping Hands of many others, both as to the necessaries of his Soul and Body. And it has pleased the common Father of all Men, to give peculiar Accomplishments to the various Individuals, suitable to the Exigencies of the universal Kind. And the thing in which one Man excels, is providentially fitted to make up the Defects of the rest, by Him who distributeth to every one severally as he will.  
And the Case is the very same, if we are considered as Christians. We are often minded in the Gospel, that we are Members one of another, and are to have the same Care of one another's Welfare, as the Members in the Natural Body; where the least part has its necessary Use, and the greatest cannot say to it, I have no need of you. And this is one end of our Blessed Saviour's uniting us in a Church, or Christian Society; that we might be like Stones in the same Building, where each Stone supports, and is supported by some other, 1 Pet. 2. 5. And in Truth we so often want, not only the Counsels, but the Rebukes of a faithful Friend, that these are sometimes the greatest Kindnesses they can do us.  
So then, every Excellency in Man, whether it be Spiritual, Moral, or Political, infused or acquired, is a Talon put into the Hands of that Person by the common Father of Men, to be employed for the Good of the Community; like the Bulk of an Estate given to the eldest Son, for the good of the whole Family: Which is the first Consideration proper to move Men to do good to the Souls of others, and to rebuke them upon Occasion.  
Motive 2. We are to remember our near Relation to every Man; He is thy Brother, says the Text, a sharer in thy Nature, a partaker of thy Blood. And except the Bowels of Humane Nature are perished in thee, thou canst not but feel a painful Regret when thou beholdest one of thy own Kind going in the way of Destruction. Can you find in your Heart any tendency to verify that severe Reflection upon Human Cruelty which some have made, namely, that one Man is many times a Wolf and a Fury to another? This is a Carriage worse than that of Barbarians; for they show Kindness to the Miserable, Acts 28. 2. Yea, it is worse than the savage Brutes; for the fiercest of them seldom pray upon their own Kind; and the very Swine run at the Cry of their Fellows to help and secure them. Can Man then that was made after the likeness of God, be so much of a Devil to his Brother, as to indulge his Sin, and further his Course in the ways of Damnation? Surely, in such Persons, Righteousness, Charity, Tenderness, and Humanity itself is perished.  
Motive 3. The Text further moves us to do all the good Offices of Piety one towards another that we can, by minding us, that he is our Neighbour.— Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour. He is your near Associate, his Lot is providentially cast near unto you, that you might help and secure him. Friendly Assistance among Neighbours, is a mutual Debt; and every one with whom we converse, is for that time our Neighbour. We must therefore endeavour to put a stop to his Sin, in order to prevent his Ruin.  
If you see your Neighbour's House on Fire, all the Neighbourhood will cry shame upon you, if you get not out of your Bed, though it be at Midnight, to help him quench the threatening Flames, that he be not ruined by them. And will you not be as vigilant to keep your Neighbour from falling into those Flames which can never be quenched? If not, there is a deplorable Defect both in your Faith and in your Charity.  
Upon the whole Matter; since God lays this Duty of suppressing the scandalous Sins of Men upon every Person's Conscience, according to his Station and Capacity: Can any of us that have any sensibleness of Conscience, evade the Charge and binding Force of it?  
Will you (like Gallio) care for none of these things? Or will you lull yourselves to sleep with Felix his shifting excuse, fancying that you may hereafter have a more convenient Season to do it? Or will you turn short with churlish Cain; and even ask God to his Face, Whether you are your Brother's Keeper? Yes truly; God has so far made you the Guardian of your Brother, that if you see him about to cut his Throat, you must stay his Hand if you are able; or if he be Blind, and in his mistake be going directly upon the Mouth of a Pit, you must discover his Danger, and dissuade him from it, or every Body will deem you Accessary to his Death. These are Cases in which every Body is convinced that he ought to secure his Friend, yea, his Enemy; and needs no Casuist to determine the bounds of his Duty in so plain a Matter. And what? shall we have more Care about the Body of our Brother, than about his Soul? And shall we be more concerned to prevent his Temporal than his Eternal Ruin?  
And does not he whom Satan hath blinded, need the Direction of those whom God has enlightened, as much as he who has lost his Bodily Sight? And has not that infatuated Soul, whom Lust and Passion hath put out of his right Mind, need to be bound with Chains, and to be rigidly dealt with, as much as any poor distracted Creature in Bedlam?  
It is true, neither of these sorts of mad People will at present give you Thanks for your Pains with them, because, during their Lunacy, neither of them have Sense enough to discern, that what you do is for their Good. But you must wait the Recovery of their Senses, and then they will be exceeding thankful to you, and bless the Time in which they were acquainted with you, and praise God who put it into your Heart to do them such a Kindness.  
And if it shall so please God, that by all our Informations, Admonitions and Reproofs, we become instrumental to gain but one Soul from the Power of Satan to God; it will be an abundant Recompense for all our Labours and Sufferings in it. For then all the Good he does, and all the Glory which he gives to God, will in a great measure redound to our Advantage in the other World, which should mightily invigorate our Endeavours of this kind; and if they be but hearty and diligent, they cannot wholly miscarry.  
But there are some who frequently make use of a proverbial Speech in this Case, to hinder the progress of this blessed Work, though it be but little to their purpose; which is, That every Vessel must stand upon its own bottom. And thus far it is true, That every one must principally answer for his own Sins to God. But it's as true, That we may be partakers of other men's Sins, 1 Tim. 5. 22. And that if we are sharers in their Gild by Connivance, or a sinful Silence and Neglect, we shall also share in their Punishment. Hence it is that we are advised, Rev. 18. 4. That we partake not of the Sins of Babylon, that we receive not of her Plagues.  
And as to the Case of public and scandalous Sins, the whole Community is concerned to bring the Transgressor to due Punishment: for we are often assured in the Book of God, that there's no other way to put away the Evil from the whole Body of the People, which is ever liable to the Vengeance of God, where such Enormities are unpunished, Deut. 13. 5. Deut. 19 19 and 21. 21. So that we must conclude, That such as frequently hear or behold those Vices and Impieties which the Laws of God and Man condemn, and yet never endeavour to bring them to a just Rebuke and Correction, are Sinners against God and Men: and next to the principal Actors, these Connivers at Sin are the Instruments of pulling down the Curses and Plagues of God upon a Land. For in the Case of uncertain Murder, Deut. 21. the Elders of the City were to protest, That their Eyes had not seen the Fact, as well as that their Hands had not done it. And, alas! how great are the Dangers of this our Nation, by reason of this deplorable neglect of doing Justice upon public Wickedness. Vice has so long been uncontrolled, that it's now grown Impudent: yea, it has been so long encouraged by great Examples, and dandled upon the Knees of some Magistrates, who ought to have trampled it under their Feet, (and with Samuel, to have hewn it to pieces, as he did Agag, before the Lord) that it is grown Monstrous, Scandalous, and Crying.  
And therefore, as you would be found Lovers and Servants of God, and not Fighters against him: and as you would avert, and not pull down his Judgements upon your Native Land; I earnestly entreat you, yea, I charge it upon your Consciences (as my Text empowers me to do) that you seriously and resolutely set yourselves from henceforth to a vigorous Prosecution of all legal Methods of Reformation, as you would prevent the Judgements of God on Earth, and avoid the Vengeance of his Eternal Wrath.  
I shall now conclude all with a few practical Inferences from the whole.  
Infer. 1. We may from what has been said perceive, what a gross Mistake the pretended Kindness of Compartners in Sin is. If it be Hatred not to rebuke a Person for Sin, what a fatal Enmity is it to lead him into it, and caress him in it? The filthy Acquaintance of the Adulterers and Adulteresses, and of all sinful Companions, is not only Enmity against God, but against themselves also. They trip up each others Heels, and tumble in each others Arms into the bottomless Pit. The Rebukes of the Text have infinitely more kindness in them, than such treacherous Embraces, though such abandoned Creatures have not competent Sense to perceive and value it.  
Infer. 2. Since God requires us to rebuke the Sins of our Companions in the Text, how difficult shall we find it to be innocent in ill Company! 'Tis very uneasy in some Tempers, to reprove a Friend, or a Superior; and 'tis more uneasy to a tender Conscience, to omit a proper Season for Reproof. And sometimes a defect in your Zeal may cause you to slip the fit Opportunity; and this will be to your wounding, when you reflect upon it with due Seriousness and Tenderness: So that you will always find your Integrity and Peace best preserved by a careful shunning of vain and lose Company, as much as possible.  
And in truth, this demonstrates the usefulness of those Religious Societies, which are of late erected in this City, which I pray God confirm and increase. For it is an invaluable Benefit for young Men to know what Conversation is proper for their Intimacy; and where they may join themselves with those who are going towards Everlasting Bliss. The want of such edifying Company (and the Poison of the contrary) has been the Ruin of many a hopeful young Man and Woman.  
Infer. 3. Lastly, How sad a Thought is it, and how should it cut us to the Heart, That there is so little Zeal for God in a Nation of professed Christians? How unlike are the most of those who bear the Name of Christ, to him of whom it is said, The Zeal of thine House hath eaten me up? Yea, how unlike are we to those Primitive Christians, whose holy Fervency carried them through the most threatening Dangers, whose Religion scattered the gross Fogs of Profaneness and Superstition with its bright and warm Beams, and made the Christian Name Illustrious and Honourable in the World?  
O Sirs! as we love our Lord and Saviour, let us act something like our Holy Profession, and our infinite Hopes: Let our whole course of Life demonstrate that we are indeed resolved for Heaven: Let our Speeches savour of our Holy Faith; and let us continually breathe of God, and the things of his Eternal Kingdom; and let it be seen in all Places and Companies, that we cannot bear the appearance of any Contempt of the Great God, and of his Holy Will and Authority.  
Truly if ever our Holy Religion regains its Primitive Reputation and Renown, it must be by the exemplary Purity, Zeal, and Fervour of its Professors; even by a general, vigorous, and resolute Opposition to Vice, and a zealous and conscientious Practice of all Christian Duty. To which Holy Frame, I beseech God to raise every Soul of us, that we may not only escape the Pollutions of this World ourselves, but be a means of pulling others out of the Mire of Sin here, and of saving them from the eternal Vengeance of God, which will otherwise be their Portion for ever.  
Consider what has been said, and the Lord give you Understanding in all Things.  
Amen.  
FINIS.