_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.