Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-12-04
CENSORIOUSyESS.

> CENSORIOUSNESS.
Who art thou that judgest another mans
servant? to his own master he standeth or
falleth: Romans IA, ".
Consciousness is one of the most COM
mon and serious faults of mankind.
From Adam, the father of men, down to
the men and women of to-day, the ma
jority have set themselves up as the CEN
sors of all their acquaintance they fill
the Office of self-appointed judges of
others, with a right, beyond the divine
right Of kings, to arraign their associates
before the august tribunal of their opin-
ion and to afix their own valuation of
character. Like Procustes, they endeayor
by looping off one and stretching out an
other to make all persons fit their meas
ure. What particular power or gift one
man possesses by which he can
Judge his fellow man, is not
known; but he does thus judge, although
ignorant-alike of the motive and COM
pelling causes for the conduct of others.
A drunkard reeling along our streets is
no uncommon sight, and the swift and
severe condemnation which he receives,
may be just; still how little does any one
know of the circumstances of his tempta-
tion and fall. 1t may be the indulgence
of an inherited appetite, or the ri pc
harvest of seed sown in boyhood. Who
knows what the drunkark thinks of him
self, how he loathes his degradation and
struggles vainly to free himself from the
curse?
Let every one put himself in his place,
held in the grasp of such tryant appe-
tite, ever going down, down to drunk
ards grave, and then let him whom no
temptation has assailed judge his tempt
ed and besotted fellow man. The
unfortunate women of this city
s'whose feet go down to death" could in
many instances plead extenuating Cir
cumstances to avert their sentence of
condemnation. Who can tell how their
steps began to slip down the awful in
cline to place almost beyond the reach
of Gods mercy and pardons Can any
one, but an out-cast know the fierce lash
ings of conscience, and the despair of
those who have no hope for time or eter-
nity? The censors of those women sit in
their homes with loving friends about
them anxious for their welfare; the grand
possibilities of life are theirs, wealth,
learning, home and love are for them; and
for the fallen, their condemnation, they
are untried, the fallen have been tried
and failed.
The man who has never united
with any church or professed
any religious creed often
considers himself the judge of his chris
tian associates; he regards all the actions
of church members with critical eye,
ever on the alert for any slip in treading
the narrow way. Faults, and vices even,
with which he is only too familiar, and
which he has never considered blot on
his character appear heinous sins when
indulged in by professed follower of
Christ. Tricks of trade, which he re-
CARDS good jokes for him when they pay
well, are foul dishoner in a church mem
Der. 1t seems minor consideration to
him that, whether his believing neigh
Dor stands or falls, he must answer only
for himself; he is willing to have his eter-
nal welfare in doubt while he watches
the sins and errors of protesting
Christians. He settles the question by
deciding that if believers pull through he
he must be safe, otherwise when "the
Judgment is set, and the books are
opened he will plead their example as
his excuse. To all such self-appointed
Judges the apostle put the searching
question, "Who art thou that judgest
another mans servant? To his own mas
ter he standeth or falleth."