I. The Christian view of other men’s sins.—1. The apostle looks upon sin as if it might be sometimes the result of a surprise. 2. As that which has left a burden on the erring spirit. (1) One burden laid on fault is that chain of entanglement which seems to drag down to fresh sins. (2) The burden of the heart weighing on itself. (3) The burden of a secret, leading a man to tell the tale of his crimes as under the personality of another, as in the old fable of him who breathed his weighty secret to the reeds; to get relief in profuse and general acknowledgment of guilt; evidenced in the commonness of the longing for confession. (4) The burden of an intuitive consciousness of the hidden sins of others’ hearts.
II. The Christian power of restoration.—1. Restoration is possible. 2. By sympathy. 3. By forgiveness. 4. In the spirit of meekness. 5. The motive urging to attempt restoration.—“Considering thyself,” etc.—F. W. Robertson.
Brotherly Reproof.—1. A man must so reprove his brother as that it may be most for the advancement of God’s glory, best for winning him to God, and least to the defaming of him abroad. He must pray that God would guide his tongue and move the other’s heart. We may not traduce him to others, either before or after our reproof. 2. Every reproof must be grounded on a certainty of knowledge of the fault committed. 3. It is very requisite the reprover be not tainted with the like fault he reproves in another. 4. The vinegar of sharp reprehension must be allayed and tempered with the oil of gentle exhortation. The word “restore” signifies to set a bone that is broken. We are to deal with a man who has fallen and by his fall disjoined some member of the new man as the surgeon does with an arm or leg that is broken or out of joint—handle it tenderly and gently, so as to cause least pain. 5. Every reproof must be fitted to the quality and condition of him we reprove and to the nature of the offence. 6. Must be administered in fit time when we may do the most good. 7. Secret sins known to thee or to a few must be reproved secretly. 8. We must be careful to observe the order set down by our Saviour (Matt. xviii. 15).—Perkins.
Vers. 2, 5. Our Twofold Burdens.—1. The burden which every man must bear for himself is the burden of his own sins, and from this burden no man can relieve him. 2. If a man be overtaken in a fault, we are to bear his burden by trying to restore him. 3. We are to do this in the spirit of meekness, bending patiently under the burden which his fault may cast on us. This spirit towards those who commit faults is wholly at variance with the natural man’s way of acting, speaking, and thinking. We are to love our friends in spite of their faults, to treat them kindly, cheerfully, graciously, in spite of the pain they may give us. 4. Our Saviour has given us an example of what we should wish and strive to be and do. The law of Christ is the law of love.—J. C. Hare.
Ver. 2. Bear One Another’s Burdens.—The law of Christ was lovingkindness. His business was benevolence. If we would resemble Him,—
1. We must raise up the fallen.—This was hardly ever attempted till Christ set the pattern. People went wrong, and the world let them go; they broke the laws, and the magistrate punished; they became a scandal, and society cast them out—out of the synagogue, out of the city, out of the world. But with a moral tone infinitely higher Christ taught a more excellent way.
2. We must bear the infirmities of the weak.—Very tiresome is a continual touchiness in a neighbour, or the perpetual recurrence of the same faults in a pupil or child. But if by self-restraint and right treatment God should enable you to cure those faults, from how much shame and sorrow do you rescue them, from how much suffering yourself.
3. We must bear one another’s trials.—With one is the burden of poverty; with another it is pain or failing strength, the extinction of a great hope, or the loss of some precious faculty. A little thing will sometimes ease the pressure. In a country road you have seen the weary beast with foaming flank straining onward with the overladen cart and ready to give in, when the kindly waggoner called a halt, and propping up the shaft with a slim rod or stake from the hedgerow, he patted and praised the willing creature, till after a little rest they were ready to resume the rough track together. Many a time a small prop is quite sufficient.
4. By thus bearing others’ burdens you will lighten your own.—Rogers the poet has preserved a story told him by a Piedmontese nobleman. “I was weary of life, and after a melancholy day was hurrying along the street to the river, when I felt a sudden check. I turned and beheld a little boy who had caught the skirt of my cloak in his anxiety to solicit my notice. His look and manner were irresistible. Not less so was the lesson I learnt. ‘There are six of us, and we are dying for want of food.’ ‘Why should I not,’ said I to myself, ‘relieve this wretched family? I have the means, and it will not delay me many minutes.’ The scene of misery he conducted me to I cannot describe. I threw them my purse, and their burst of gratitude overcame me. It filled my eyes; it went as a cordial to my heart. ‘I will call again to-morrow,’ I cried. Fool that I was to think of leaving a world where such pleasure was to be had, and so cheaply.” There is many a load which only grows less by giving a lift to another. A dim Gospel makes a cold Christian; a distant Saviour makes a halting, hesitating disciple.—Dr. James Hamilton.
Ver. 2. Christian Generosity.