Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1874-04-18
JUDGE NOT.

The busy-body and the tale-Dearer
are the common enemies OF society, and
by universal consent they are looked
upon as fair game for whoever is smart
enough to drive home the shalt OF
sduelching determination.
The man who goes about running
you down among your acquaintance,
and the man who is always coming to
tell you what you "oughtn't have done,
or what you sought to do'-they are
the pests of everybodys house, and like
rats and snakes, which are put outside
the rules of the Society for the Proven
ton of Cruelty to Animals, any person
is applauded who can sling good shot
at them, and succeed, by his sharp aim,
in driving them to the social cellars and
sink-holes.
In the command, Judge not" there
can, of course, be no allusion to offlciai
Judgment, or to the mere formation OF
opinion. 1t is something intermediate
between these-something neither I'M
avoidable, like personal opinion, nor OBJ
ligatory, like those official Judgments
which are pronounced by persons au-
thorised to do so for the good of socie-
ty. What is implied is exactly those
fault-fndings which are not required by
personal obligation or public duty;
They are gratuitous and needless, and
on this account they imply more than
folly or thoughtlessness in the tattling,
silly pate. There is malice-because,
being needless, they show a desire to
fasten imputations on those who might
otherwise go Unbalanced. :.
We little think, when we take in hand
to tax another with fault, or even IN our
own mind to condemn him, how awful
place We are assuming. Who made
thee a Judge? How about your own
faults I Done in the way of duty, it is
a thing no man need be in haste to do !;
snd when We are forced to it, it should
always be done with pity, with conside-
ration of our own frailties, and with
lenient desire to admit every extenua-
tion-for we are necessarily so ill-quali-
fed to Judge. Who can know all the
circumstances of the temptation, or in
what different light another may view
his duty from what we do' And when
there is actual wrong, who can know
the struggles, the endeavors and the
sacrifices with which he fought, or the
sorrows, and prayers, and self-humllia-
lions amidst which he fell ?
The pestiferous proclivity for need
less criticism of others conduct has its
origin in some of the deepest-rooted per-
versities of our nature. At Its base lies
a ridiculous selfconceit. no man, who
is not too we'll satisfied with his own
character, will busy himself to 60 about
finding sins in any one else. A proper
sense Of humility will always lead SEN
sible person to feel that he has too much
on hand, in mastering his own delin-
quencies, to find time for taking Gods
place oyer his fellow-beings. 1t be-
speaks pride and self-exaltation; for you
cannot 90 out of your way to charge
another with failure, without a feeling
of your own superiority and this very
feeling of superiority is greater fault
than what you decry. His is the mote,
speck; yours the beam. 1t is the spirit
of hypocrite; for you do it with a
mighty air of being scandalized; you do
it with the profession of acting in the
interest of right and goodness, while in
fact the motive is low and contempt.
BILE one-to assert the ascendency OF
YOUR own virtuousness, to exhort con-
fessions due to One above; or you 60
away with look of injured excellence
at finding the sinner obdurate and re-
sentful, when he simply asserts bis
rights by repelling a meddlesome inter
ference with his conscience and his at.
fairs. One of the commonest forms OF
the fault is the practice of evil speaking.
/ know not why it is that we are all so
easily tempted to ventilate what we
happen to know to the disadvantage OF
our fellow-men. Certain it is that we
all practice it to some extent. Yet we
are as much liable to be abused as they;
and as we pass out at the door, those
who are left can as easily find flaw to
fetch up against ur,as we have Just done
against the victim of our uncharitable
tongues. Talk as we may against 9th
ers. we may be sure that we are only
giving them more reason to talk against
US.
There is another form of the vice,
that of casting suspicion, which is worse,
If anything, than open evil speaking. :.
because the indirect imputation Of guilt
= not thoughtless thing, as open fault
finding is apt to be- A leer Of the eye,
! dde-long glance or wittioi.m, IN am
bieuous hint, or pretended charitable
.psrhaps there is no truth m It . oftsa
thrown out when IN the mind q the
psif1on Who doss It thsrs u . fs1lisa1aon
81 dc enornisy of i&hat hs b doing.
.f41 shrihIz from direct ststsment4 syei
he sbrinks only far enough - secure
h;msejf For his halfway charge, hia