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Judge not, and ye shall not be judged," said the Saviour of our
souls; "condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:" (1) and the
Apostle S. Paul, "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord
come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness,
and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." (2)
Of a truth, hasty judgments are most displeasing to God, and
men's judgments are hasty, because we are not judges one of
another, and by judging we usurp our Lord's own office. Man's
judgment is hasty, because the chief malice of sin lies in the
intention and counsel of the heart, which is shrouded in darkness
to us.
Moreover, man's judgments are hasty, because each one has
enough to do in judging himself, without undertaking to judge his
neighbour. If we would not be judged, it behoves us alike not to
judge others, and to judge ourselves. Our Lord forbids the one,
His Apostle enjoins the other, saying, "If we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged." (3) But alas! for the most
part we precisely reverse these precepts, judging our neighbour,
which is forbidden on all sides, while rarely judging ourselves,
as we are told to do.
We must proceed to rectify rash judgments, according to their
cause. Some hearts there are so bitter and harsh by nature, that
everything turns bitter under their touch; men who, in the
Prophet's words, "turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off
righteousness in the earth." (4) Such as these greatly need to be
dealt with by some wise spiritual physician, for this bitterness
being natural to them, it is hard to conquer; and although it be
rather an imperfection than a sin, still it is very dangerous,
because it gives rise to and fosters rash judgments and slander
within the heart.
Others there are who are guilty of rash judgments less out of a
bitter spirit than from pride, supposing to exalt their own credit
by disparaging that of others. These are self-sufficient,
presumptuous people, who stand so high in their own conceit that
they despise all else as mean and worthless. It was the foolish
Pharisee who said, "I am not as other men are." (5)
Others, again, have not quite such overt pride, but rather a
lurking little satisfaction in beholding what is wrong in others,
in order to appreciate more fully what they believe to be their
own superiority. This satisfaction is so well concealed, so nearly
imperceptible, that it requires a clear sight to discover it, and
those who experience it need that it be pointed out to them.
Some there are who seek to excuse and justify themselves to
their own conscience, by assuming readily that others are guilty
of the same faults, or as great ones, vainly imagining that the
sin becomes less culpable when shared by many.
Others, again, give way to rash judgments merely because they
take pleasure in a philosophic analysis and dissection of their
neighbours' characters; and if by ill luck they chance now and
then to be right, their presumption and love of criticism
strengthens almost incurably.
Then there are people whose judgment is solely formed by
inclination; who always think well of those they like, and ill of
those they dislike. To this, however, there is one rare exception,
which nevertheless we do sometimes meet, when an excessive love
provokes a false judgment concerning its object; the hideous
result of a diseased, faulty, restless affection, which is in fact
jealousy; an evil passion capable, as everybody knows, of
condemning others of perfidy and adultery upon the most trivial
and fanciful ground. In like manner, fear, ambition, and other
moral infirmities often tend largely to produce suspicion and rash
judgments.
What remedy can we apply? They who drink the juice of the
Ethiopian herb Ophiusa imagine that they see serpents and horrors
everywhere; and those who drink deep of pride, envy, ambition,
hatred, will see harm and shame in every one they look upon. The
first can only be cured by drinking palm wine, and so I say of
these latter,--Drink freely of the sacred wine of love, and it
will cure you of the evil tempers which lead you to these perverse
judgments. So far from seeking out that which is evil, Love dreads
meeting with it, and when such meeting is unavoidable, she shuts
her eyes at the first symptom, and then in her holy simplicity she
questions whether it were not merely a fantastic shadow which
crossed her path rather than sin itself.
Or if Love is forced to recognise the fact, she turns aside
hastily, and strives to forget what she has seen. Of a truth, Love
is the great healer of all ills, and of this above the rest.
Everything looks yellow to a man that has the jaundice; and it is
said that the only cure is through the soles of the feet. Most
assuredly the sin of rash judgments is a spiritual jaundice, which
makes everything look amiss to those who have it; and he who would
be cured of this malady must not be content with applying remedies
to his eyes or his intellect, he must attack it through the
affections, which are as the soul's feet.
If your affections are warm and tender, your judgment will not
be harsh; if they are loving, your judgment will be the same. Holy
Scripture offers us three striking illustrations. Isaac, when in
the Land of Gerar, gave out that Rebecca was his sister, but when
Abimelech saw their familiarity, he at once concluded that she was
his wife. (6) A malicious mind would rather have supposed that
there was some unlawful connection between them, but Abimelech
took the most charitable view of the case that was possible. And
so ought we always to judge our neighbour as charitably as may be;
and if his actions are many-sided, we should accept the best.
Again, when S. Joseph found that the Blessed Virgin was with
child, (7) knowing her to be pure and holy, he could not believe
that there was any sin in her, and he left all judgment to God,
although there was strong presumptive evidence on which to condemn
her. And the Holy Spirit speaks of S. Joseph as "a just man." When
a just man cannot see any excuse for what is done by a person in
whose general worth he believes, he still refrains from judging
him, and leaves all to God's Judgment.
Again, our Crucified Saviour, while He could not wholly ignore
the sin of those who Crucified Him, yet made what excuse He might
for them, pleading their ignorance. (8) And so when we cannot find
any excuse for sin, let us at least claim what compassion we may
for it, and impute it to the least damaging motives we can find,
as ignorance or infirmity.
Are we never, then, to judge our neighbour? you ask. Never, my
child. It is God Who judges criminals brought before a court of
law. He uses magistrates to convey His sentence to us; they are
His interpreters, and have only to proclaim His law. If they go
beyond this, and are led by their own passions, then they do
themselves judge, and for so doing they will be judged. It is
forbidden to all men alike, as men, to judge one another.
We do not necessarily judge because we see or are conscious of
something wrong. Rash judgment always presupposes something that
is not clear, in spite of which we condemn another. It is not
wrong to have doubts concerning a neighbour, but we ought to be
very watchful lest even our doubts or suspicions be rash and
hasty.
A malicious person seeing Jacob kiss Rachel at the well-side,
(9) or Rebecca accepting jewels from Eleazer, (10) a stranger,
might have suspected them of levity, though falsely and
unreasonably. If an action is in itself indifferent, it is a rash
suspicion to imagine that it means evil, unless there is strong
circumstantial evidence to prove such to be the case. And it is a
rash judgment when we draw condemnatory inferences from an action
which may be blameless.
Those who keep careful watch over their conscience are not
often liable to form rash judgments, for just as when the clouds
lower the bees make for the shelter of their hive, so really good
people shrink back into themselves, and refuse to be mixed up with
the clouds and fogs of their neighbour's questionable doings, and
rather than meddle with others, they consecrate their energies on
their own improvement and good resolutions.
No surer sign of an unprofitable life than when people give way
to censoriousness and inquisitiveness into the lives of other men.
Of course exception must be made as to those who are responsible
for others, whether in family or public life;--to all such it
becomes a matter of conscience to watch over the conduct of their
fellows. Let them fulfil their duty lovingly, and let them also
give heed to restrain themselves within the bounds of that duty.
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