Six sermons preachedSixe sermons preached

But the Lord saith Levit. 19. Thou ¹shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but shalt reprove him, and suffer him not to sin: noting thereby, that if we flatter any in their sin, or see them sin, and not reprove them for it, that it is a manifest sign that they do it of hatred, how great love and good will so ever they pretend toward them, seeing the matter tends to the hurt of their souls, and the offence of God. ⟨p. 96⟩If a preacher reprove sin, he is thought to do it of hatred, or of some particular grudge: & others as though they were galled, will say, let him keep his text: or they will say, he is beside his book, as though no text in scripture doth reprove sin, and so of all doctrines, the doctrine of reproof & reprehension of sin is most contemned, and least esteemed. But let a preacher preach dark mysteries, or profane speeches, or unprofitable fables, or frivolous questions, or curious inventions, or odd conceits, or brainsick dreams, & any of these will be more welcome unto them then reprehension which is most profitable and necessariest of all. Balaam's ass never spake but once, and then he reproved. Then