It is not enough to justify us in censuring and denouncing others, that we have evidence of their faults, which amounts to probability. The evidence should be conclusive and irresistible. We should also have a clear conviction, from mature reflection, that the reproachful truths ought to be uttered that their proclamation is adapted to accomplish some definite and important end, before we proclaim them from the house-tops.

We must also first cast out the beam out of our own eye, or censure, like the spirits cast out by Sceva’s sons, will turn and rend us. When a brother trespasses against us, we are bound first to tell him his fault in private, and faithfully to seek his acknowledgment and reformation.

If this fails, the publication of his fault should be no wider than the public good requires.