ther from the former Verse, what a grievous Thing it is in God's Account to offend our Brethren, even the meaneft of them; and we may gather from the latter Verfe, that yet notwithstanding, this is a Thing that is like to be frequently practised in the World, Men will be giving Offence to others, thɔ' Woe be to the Man by whom the Offence cometh. Since therefore this Sin of offending our Brethren is declared to be fo great, and withal fo common, I think it concerns all of us to be rightly instructed wherein it doth confift, that fo we may not, thro' our Miftakes and false Notions about it, either be troubled in our Minds for having committed it when we have not, or be encouraged from the common Practice of the World, to do fuch Actions, as will really bring us under the Guilt of it. The Greek Word, which we here tranflate Offences, is oxavdana, and from hence σκανδαλίζειν to offend, and σκανδαλίζεθαι το be offended. Thefe Words are used in the New Teftament above forty times, and, I believe, always in the fame Senfe. But the English Words by which we render them, viz. Offences, and to offend, and to be offended, as they are used by us in common Speech, do, by no means, give us a true Idea of what is meant by thofe Greek Words in the facred Writers: Nor would it much mend the Matter, if instead of Offences, we would fay Scandals, and instead of offending we fhould fhould fay fcandalizing, and instead of being offended, we should fay being fcandalized; for tho' these be English Words now, and of the very fame Sound with the Greek, and are indeed taken from them, yet as we commonly apply them, they have a quite different Sense in our Language from what those Terms have in Scripture. This Word σκάνδαλον (upon which the two other depend) when it is taken in its proper Senfe, fignifies one of these two Things, viz. either a Trap or a Snare to catch one in, or a Block, or a Stone that is laid in the Way, at which People in the Dark are apt to stumble and fall. In the first Signification it is used in the 69th Pfalm, Let their Table be made a ver.23. Snare to them; where, in the Greek, it is Let their Table be made a Scandal: And in another Pfalm, They fet Scandals in my Way, where our English rightly renders, they jet Traps in my Way. In the other Signification it is taken in the 19th of Lev. Thou shalt not Ver. 14 put a Scandal before the Blind, that is, as we have tranflated it, thou shalt not put a Stumbling-block before the Blind. And feveral fuch Inftances are to be given. This now being the primary Sense of the Word Scandal, when it is ufed properly and without a Figure, we may eafily from hence gather what the true Notion of it is, when it is used metaphorically, or in a moral Signification, as it is here in my Text, and in all the others, where it is tranflated by the Word G 3 Word Offence; for what a Trap or a Snare is to a Beast, or what a Stumbling-block in the Way is to one that is blind, or to one who walketh in the Dark, the fame Thing, that which we call an Offence, is to a Man's Soul, viz. any Thing by which a Man's Soul is endangered, any Thing that occafions his Fall into Sin, any Thing whereby he is hindered and discouraged from doing what he ought to do, or drawn away to do that which he ought not to do. In a Word, an Offence, such as my Text speaks of, is any Impediment that a Man meets with in the Way of Religion and Godliness. Taking now this along in our Minds, we have an easy Account, not only of the Text I am now upon, but of all the others where this Word is used: But I confine myself at Ver. 6. this Time to my Text. Whofoever, faith our Saviour, fall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better that a Mill ftone were hanged about his Neck. Offend one of thefe little ones, what is that? Whosoever Thall lay any Snares or Stumbling-blocks before them, whereby they are diverted from their Christian Profeffion, or made to depart from that good Way in which they are entered; whofoever fhall thus feduce the meanest Christian, whether it be by Terror or by Allurement, Woe be to that Man, he hath contracted an horrid Guilt. And then come in the Words of my Text, Woe be to the World because of Offences, for it muft needs be that Offences Offences come; but Woe to that Man by whom the Offence cometh; that is, as if our Saviour had faid, Mankind is in a dangerous Condition upon Account of the many Temptations they are exposed to in the Way of Godlinefs. The Variety of Occafions they will meet with in the World, either to keep them from a Holy and Christian Life, or to make them depart from it, after they have engag'd in it. It is indeed unavoidable but that fuch Temptations and Occafions to fin will be continually thrown in their Way; but let them look to it, who are the Authors or the Causes of them, for they have much to anfwer for to Almighty God upon Account thereof. Having thus given you the plain Sense of my Text, I defire, before I enter further into the Points contain'd in it, to make two or three Reflections upon what I have already faid concerning the Notion of Scandals or Offences. 1. And first of all, it appears, that the common Opinion which People among us have taken up about giving Offence, hath no Ground or Foundation in the holy Scripture, Men judging of this Matter by the mere Sound of the English Word, usually run away with this, that to offend, or to give an Offence to another, is to do any Thing that may grieve or displease him, or make him angry with us; and upon that Account some take themselves to be obliged in Confcience to avoid all thofe Things, which fome wellmeaning Perfons they converse with, do not like or approve of, as thinking, that every Action they do, which is disagreeable to their Humours, is really a giving Offence to them in a Sense that our Saviour here forbids. I do readily grant, that no Man fhould willingly or caufelefly do any Action, at which another may be grieved or difpleafed. Civility and good Manners will oblige us to it, or if that do not, I am fure Chriftian Charity will. But then, I fay, it is one Thing to grieve or difplease our Brother, and another Thing to fcandalize him, or to give him Offence; for, as I have fhewn, we then only do this latter, when we lay Snares and Temptations before him, that may endanger his Virtue, and occafion his falling into Sin. The Truth is, if this was the Sin of giving Scandal, to act contrary to the Humours and Sentiments of others, it would be impoffible for any Man to live fo, as not to be almost daily guilty of it; for there are few of the common Actions that a Man doth, fo clear and unexceptionable, but that there are those to be met with, who will cenfure and condemn them, and be angry with the Man that doth them. 2. Another Thing we may collect from this Account we have been giving of Scandals and Offences, is this, that they who are most apt to complain of their being scandalized or offended with fome Things which they |
