PART IV. § 12.

4. The Pharisees not only vainly trusted in their own righteousness, and, whilst blessing the covetous whom God abhors,* sought to justify themselves before men, reckless of the opposing judgment of the Lord,† but with bitter, hypocritical censoriousness judged and condemned others. Chrysostom strangely mistakes the scope of the parable on this subject, when he says that nothing could be worse than the publican, and that it was the reproach cast upon him by the Pharisee in his prayer, which happily led him, when he heard and thought upon it, to humble himself before God, and thus enabled him to obtain mercy. For the proud man, who must be regarded as a type of his class, first blessed God on account of his freedom from the gross sins of others, and then added to his own praise, that he was not " even as this publican." This obviously was not to accuse that man of any special acts of sin, but simply to regard him as an irreligious, ungodly man, who probably neither kept any fasts, nor rigidly observed the law of tithes, and therefore to despise him.§ Now this point seems to be one of great importance, too little considered. It sets forth the excessive pride and censoriousness of the Pharisee in the strongest light;

for he looked with disdain upon his fellow, simply because he did not come up to his particular standard, although that was at once a low and a false one.

The language of the Lord before us seems expressly designed to correct this evil. "Judge not, that ye be not judged for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beamt that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, § first cast out the beam|| out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Chap. vii. v. 1—5.)

(1.) A poor and humble man, deeply conscious of his own shortcomings, and anxious to become pure and heavenly as His Master, can have neither leisure nor inclination to sit in judgment upon his brethren, or to thank God that he is not like them. For, in truth, he must know more evil of himself than of any other man; and he is well aware, that, although outward appearances may deceive the world, and satisfy the careless, "God

*In St. Luke we read more emphatically; "judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." (Chap. vi. 37.)

Rather, the thorn. Campbell. § See Luke xii. 1; above p. 187.

Id.

|| Id.

looks at the heart;" and there lies his burden; there rages the fatal disease under which he groans, even when conscious of divine favor. On the other hand, true "charity thinketh no evil," but "believeth all things;"* and we must look with grave suspicion upon any system or teacher, who overlooks this, or who presumes to sneer at the possible excess, to which some may apparently carry so inoffensive and unassuming a principle. These, at least, are commonly found amongst the most amiable of men, and amongst the meekest of Christians.

Moreover the solemn warnings of the apostles prove, that censorious judgments are not only offensive to man, but to the meek and lowly Emmanuel, who “ came not to judge the world, but to save the world," and who continually ate with publicans and sinners. It is, therefore, to anticipate the time, and to dishonour our profession, to imitate the proud sectary, who thus hoped to stand higher in the opinion of men, by criticising and censuring the faults and inconsistencies of others. The apostle Jamest writes with much earnestness. "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law; but if thou judge the law,

* That is, it is "witty and inventive of good constructions upon anything that may clear a brother." Leighton. The Latin Homilist (Chrysost. Op. T. vii. p. 832,) refers the Lord's rule to sins against ourselves, not against God.

James iv. 11, 12.

thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another?" He alone may consistently judge or condemn, who is cognisant of all secrets, and knows the internal conflicts of each spirit. "Evil speakings" cannot possibly lead to any good result, as they seem to originate in nothing but pride and bitterness of heart. St. Peter charges us utterly to renounce them,* as he classes them with their kindred, "malice, guile, hypocrisy, and envy." Nor is St. Paul less decided. "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own Master he standeth or falleth." He here indeed refers to a particular instance, in which judgment was erroneous; for he expressly declares that the individual judged should be upheld; as God was "able to make him stand." But, at another time, he says generally, "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; and then shall every man have praise of God." This supposes that Christians would be tempted to sit in judgment upon each other, especially in cases where they were personally aggrieved, and perhaps unchristianise each other: let all such beware. It is not for man to know the secrets of another. We are so often deceived, because we cannot look beyond "the outward appearance," and † Rom. xiv. 4.

1 Peter ii. 1.

therefore at one time despise the rough diamond, because not yet polished and lustrous as it shall become, and at another unduly admire the gilded tinsel, which we mistake for solid gold. Thus the ardent zeal of one may be mere presumption; and the timid diffidence of another a deep work of the Spirit.

Assuredly the church ought not to be turned into a school for scandal, or even into a judicial court. The one would be a flagrant transgression of the law of love; the other, a profane intrusion into the prerogative of the Lord, a rash and impracticable attempt to antedate a day of righteous and irreversible decision.

A fragment has been preserved from Clement of Alexandria, in which he says, "if any man speaks evil in thy presence of another, be not ashamed to say, cease, brother; I daily sin more grievously than he; how then can I condemn him? You will thus accomplish a double good, and cure both the evil speaker and yourself."* Leighton writes more soberly. "Thou that playest the arch-critic on all around thee, art thou without fault? Hast thou flattered thyself into such a fancy, as to think that thou art above all exception ? Is there nothing, either a true or a seeming blemish for any to point at in thee? Surely there is something, some part lying open, that men may hit at thee; and

* Quoted by Beausobre on James iv. 11. Chrysostom bids his hearer say to a reviler, if thou knewest all, thou wouldest not have merely alleged that! T. viii. p. 553. This thought occurs in Epictetus's Manual c. 33 § 9.