1 Samuel 2:22-25. Now Eli was very old, and heard as his sons did unto all Israel and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil doings by all this people, Nay my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him?
That is the way Eli rebuked his sons. "And very gently he did it, dear old man," says someone. Yes, but don’t you imitate him; for, if you do, you may also inherit the curse that came upon his house. There are other virtues in this world besides gentleness. There is sometimes needed the power to speak sternly, - to rebuke with firmness and severity; and Eli had not this. He was an easy-going old soul. Ah! but when the honour of God is at stake, such action as his is out of place. It is all very well to have everybody saying, "Mr. So-and-so is such an amiable man; there is no sectarianism and no bigotry about him; he never says a word to offend anybody." Just so, but Martin Luther was not at all that kind of man, and where should we have been without such protests as his?
1 Samuel 2:22-25. Now Eli was very old, and heard as his sons did unto all Israel and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil doings by all this people, Nay my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall entreat for him?
That is the way Eli rebuked his sons. "And very gently he did it, dear old man," says someone. Yes, but don’t you imitate him; for, if you do, you may also inherit the curse that came upon his house. There are other virtues in this world besides gentleness. There is sometimes needed the power to speak sternly, - to rebuke with firmness and severity; and Eli had not this. He was an easy-going old soul. Ah! but when the honour of God is at stake, such action as his is out of place. It is all very well to have everybody saying, "Mr. So-and-so is such an amiable man; there is no sectarianism and no bigotry about him; he never says a word to offend anybody." Just so, but Martin Luther was not at all that kind of man, and where should we have been without such protests as his?