how to act in a particular emergency, you may properly apply to a pastor or other officer of the church, or to any judicious and experienced brother, for advice, and you ought to do sobut you need not in such a case bring your complaint against the individual, with whom you have to do. How easy is it to state your difficulty, and propose your inquiry, without mentioning any name whatever.

3. Nor are you to go round from one brother to another with your fears, and your anxieties, and your intimations about the supposed offender. That is the way in which mischief is sometimes done on a wide scale; and if you attempt to act in that manner, you ought to meet a prompt rebuke from every one whom you address.

What then is the proper method of proceeding? I answer by referring you to the well known rule laid down by Christ, in Matthew xviii; 15-17. "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every

of the church to follow him, so far as they have reason to believe that he is right; and no farther. Perhaps the office of judge-advocate in a military court, would afford a better illustration of these duties of a pastor, than can be found any where else.

word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican." This text prescribes the method which ought to be adopted in all cases of personal injury, and in all ordinary cases of more general or public offense.

In regard to cases of personal injury, the language of the text is clearly imperative. "If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault." First then, let us consider the rule in reference to such a case.

1. The first thing to be done in the treatment of such a case, is private expostulation with the offender. "Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone." This you are to do, in just this way, in regard to every offense which deserves to be noticed at all. It is a too common practice with church-members, when they disagree, to neglect this simple measure—the dictate of common sense and christian feeling, no less than of the Savior-till the difficulty has been fermenting and brewing a long time; till each has shown the other, in many ways, how much he dislikes and distrusts him; and perhaps till their mutual alienation has become a matter of general notoriety, not only in the church, but among all their worldly neighbors and acquaintance. Then when the difficulty

has grown old and stubborn, one of the parties begins what he calls a course of discipline with the other, and goes to him, not with the design or hope of effecting a reconciliation at once, but only to tell him with a bitter mind all his grievances, and to get the matter in a way to be prosecuted before the church. I say then, remember this distinctly, If thy brother trespass against thee, go at once, like a brother, and in the spirit of a brother, to win him back to the exercise of kind feelings toward yourself. Tell him just what it is which has wounded you; hear his explanation; make every concession which you would make if you and he were in dying circumstances; be resolved that by your kindness, and gentleness, and meekness, you will heap coals of fire on his head, to melt but not to consume, to purify but not to destroy. If the offense is too small to be treated so formally, it is too small to be mentioned to a third person; nay it is too small to be remembered to his disadvantage. Do this then, if you do anything. Do this, and perhaps thou wilt gain thy brother.

2. The next step, if the former fails, is expostulation with the assistance of one or two brethren. "If he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more." It was a principle of Jewish law, that no man should be condemned but by the concurrent testimony of two

or three witnesses. "On the word of two witnesses, or on the word of three witnesses, shall the matter rest." Deut. xix; 15. This seems to have been a proverb among the Jews in the time of our Savior. Christ quotes it accordingly in one of his public discourses, where he says, "My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the father that sent me. It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true." (John viii; 16, 17.) So in this instance he quotes it-the very words of the law-in a popular and proverbial sense. Take with you one or two more, that your expostulation with the offender may be confirmed by their concurrence and authority; and that, if you should be constrained to carry the matter farther, your complaint may be sustained by them, as well as by yourself. Here is a second trial of the man's spirit, a second opportunity for a reconciliation. Though the former effort failed, there is hope that this may be successful. When you came alone, perhaps he heard you with some prejudice against you, perhaps your manner was not sufficiently conciliating, perhaps your words were not fitly chosen. But now you have selected one or two of the brethren whom you cousider most likely to have a favorable influence over him; and in their company you go to him, determined not to give him up, and earnestly bent on effecting a reconcili

ation. These brethren act as mediators between you and him, and as moderators of your debates. They hear his explanations, if he offers any; they hear his defense, if he defends himself. They show you perhaps some error on your part; they lead you perhaps to new concessions. They ply him with new arguments, or set the former arguments in a new light. Perhaps he yields; if so, how blessed is the victory. Peace is restored. Thou hast gained thy brother.

3. If he is still unyielding, there remains another effort. "If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." In bringing the matter before the church, still use the advice and assistance of those brethren who have already assisted you. Let that which is alledged against the offending brother be distinctly defined. Show, in your complaint, (which ought of course to be in writing,) what specific offenses the accused has committed against you, so that he may know, and the church may know, what it is which you are to prove, and against which he must defend himself. Let your complaint be put into the hands of the elders, that they may advise you of any mistake which you may have committed, or of any thing which you may have left undone. And if, even at this stage, a reconciliation can be effected, by their mediation, or in any other way, so much the better;