October 4 — On rash Judgment

Consider, first, thai this commandment is also violated by the sin of rosA judgment, which robs one’s neighbour of his esteem and reputation, if not with regard to others, by publishing to them the suspicions we have conceived, or the judgment we make to his disadvantage, at least within our own breast, by despising and condemning him there. Q, how much is this crime ](when fully voluntary and deliberate) condemned by the word of God! O, how contrary it is to all Christian charity! Judge not, saith our Lord, (Luke vi..37,) and you shall not hejtuJged: condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Why dost thou judge thy brother 1 saith St. Paul, (Rom. xiv. 10,) or why dost thou despise thy brotJer? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and every one of us shall render account to God for himself. Let us not therefore judge one mother any more. And again, (1 Cor. iv. 4, 5,) He then judgeth me is the Lord: therefore judge not before the time until the Lord come, who both mil bring to Light the hidden things of darkness, and wiU make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And again, (Rom. xiv. 4,) Whn art thou that judgest the servant of another 1 It is to his own master he must stand jor faU, He that detracteth his brother, saith St. James, (chap, iv. 11, )&»c.) or he that judgeth his brother, detracteth the law and judgeth the law. There is one lawgiver and judge, that is able to destroy and to deliver: but who art thou that judgest thy neighbour? O, let us always attend to these divine admonitions, and fiy rash judgment like death

Consider, secondly, the injury done by rash judgment, first to God himself, to whom all judgment belongs, by usurping his authority in judging and condemning others without lus license, and even presuming to claim his prerogative of diving into the intentions and secrets of hearts; then the wrong that is done to one’s neighbour, by passing sentence upon him unheard and without sufficient knowledge of his guilt, (which way oi proceeding would be highly unjust in any judge or court what- ever,) and this without any sufficient authority over him, or observing any orde of justice in his regard. Moreover, rash judgment, when fully voluntary, is also highly criminal upon account of its opposition to those two most essential virtues of a Christian, charity and humility. For the rashly censuring and condemning one’s neighbour must needs destroy charity since the property of charity is to think no evil, 1 Cor. xiii. 5. And how can it be otherwise, for charity is hme; and love, so far from rashly imputing imaginary crimes to the beloved, is ever willing to overlook even real defects, when duty does not oblige to correct them. And as to humility, nothing can be more opposite to it, than the despising and undervaluing one’s neighbour, and secretly preferring one’s self before him, in one’s own breast: now, this is commonly one of the chief ingredients in rash judgment.

Consider, thirdly, that, in order to overcome the vicious habit of judging rashly of one’s neighbour, one must search out the root of this evil, and then lay the axe to the root, in order to cut it up. Rash judgments, in many persons, spring from pride, and from their having too good an opinion of themselves, which makes them ever ready to believe the worst of others, and to Censure them in order to exalt themselves. In others, the root of their rash judgments is the ill will, hatred or envy they bear to their neighbours, which inclines them to put always the worst construction on what they say or do, and to condemn their intentions, even in their best actions. Others again, because they are evil themselves, judge ill of their neighbours by themselves. Others, in fine, from the presumption they have of their owrr wit, great talents and experience, arrogate to themselves a piivilege of passing their judgment upon every one, and yet proudly imagine, they are out of the danger of rashness or injustice itf so doing: such is the confidence they have in their own clear sightedness; though, alas! it often pretends to discover the mote in another’s eye, and sees not the beam in its own. The general remedy for all rash judgments, from whatsoever source they proceed, is to have our eye always upon ouiselves, and upon out own faults, and to turn it aWay from our neighbours; to endeavour also to be sensible how great an evil it is to judge and condemn our neighbours, and how pernicious it is to oui own souls; to make frequent acts of detestation of it; and to pray continually to our Lord to be delivered from it.

Conclude to guard against all manner of rash judgments, as being hateful to God, injurious to your neighbours, and destructive of the salvation of your own souls. The study and practice of charity and humility is the sovereign means to gel the victory over this pernici ms evil.