Leviticus 19:17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall in any wise rebuke your neighbor, and not suffer sin on him. I will give you an instance of how you ought to reprove the swearer, which I know to be true. It was by a friend of mine, and I don't mind telling you his name. He was a clergyman, now dead; he wrote some very valuable books; his name was Benjamin Field. He was staying at a Brighton boarding-house. At dinner, at the boarding. house, a young officer in the army swore. At the dinner-table Mr. Field took no notice at all. He waited his opportunity. In the evening, when Mr. Field came in from his walk, he found this young man alone in the drawing-room. He said to him, "Sir, you hurt my feelings very much at dinner." The young gentleman said, "Did I? I am exceedingly sorry. I don't know what you refer to. Did I speak of a friend of yours in a way you did not like?" "That is exactly what you did," Mr. Field replied. "You spoke of my greatest Friend in a way I did not like at all. You swore. And God is my greatest Friend. And you spoke of my greatest Friend in a way that pained me very much, and pained Him." Mr. Field talked to this young man a great deal; and he asked Mr. Field, before he left the room, to pray that God would forgive him, and he did so; and every day, while Mr. Field stayed at Brighton, he went up to that young man's bedroom in the morning of the day, and prayed with him. That was the way to reprove him. The result was, I believe, that young man was converted, turned to God by Mr. Field reproving him for swearing. (J. Vaughan.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. |
    |