The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-09-17
CHARITABLE JUDGMENTS.
The True Office of Charity In Our Estimat,
of the Characters of Others-The UnIvers
al Need of Forbearance.

.
The True ONCE of Charity In Our Estimate
of the Characters of Others-The UnIvers-
al Need of Forbearance.
The command: Judge not, that We
be not Judged does not forbid just
estimates of the characters of others.
1t does prohibit censorious spirit and
habit which lead to harsh, uneharitable
and unjust judgments. In the fifteenth
and sixteenth verses of the same chapter
(Matt. vii. in which this prohibition is
found, Christ commands us to Judge,
and gives rule for Judging: Beware
of false prophets. Ye shall know
them by their fruits. . Instead, there
fore, of all judgments being forbidden,
self-protection and the proper regulation
of our conduct require that we assidu-
ously cultivate the habit of justly esti-
mating the characters of our acquaint-
ance. One of the first things to be done
for children is to possess them with an
attachment for virtue and disgust for
vice. This can only be done by teach
ing them to distinguish between good
and bad men; that is, to Judge them
discriminatory and justly as well as
charitably.
There are good reasons for the exer-
else OF large charity in our judgments
of men. One is that there are usually
extenuating circumstances for much
that is wrong in their characters and
conduct. The reason assigned for the
command: above all things, have
feryent charity among yourselves, y is
that charity shall cover multitude of
sins,a implying that there may be rea-
sons and excuses for many offenses that
call for and justify the exercise of char
ity in judging the offender We are
bound to consider these extenuating
circumstances, to inquire why the man
came to do wrong, and whether there
was not some excuse for his offense4
We should ascertain whether his en-
vironment and education have been
Vicious, and whether he is the victim of
inherited physical and moral diseases
which give him bias toward evil.
Clearly, all who have inherited proclivi-
ties to vice, or have been reared amid
debasing influences, have larger claim
to charitable judgment and forbearance
than those who have been better born
and reared.
But it is not the Office of charity to
obliterate moral distinctions and deny
that sin exists. 1t does not cover sin
by ignoring it 1t is one thing to make
all due allowance in our judgments of
Others for their peculiar temptations,
but quite another to be Indifferent to
moral evil and seek to shield real cul-
prits from merited punishment on the
ground that sin is matter of course
and of little significance The most
charitable dosnot overlook the heinous
nature of sin, or the fact that some men
are inexcusably vicious and deserve to
be whipped of Justice until they
abandon their wickedness and merit
forgiveness by sincere efforts to reform.
Willful, malicious, persistent wrong
doing leaves very little room for chart
ty, in the sense Of forbearance and for
giveness. 1t is not charity, but treason
against virtue and justice, to relent to-
ward vice so long as it is regnant and
insolent
We should Judge others charitable.
because we have great need of like
treatment from them. No man is so
free from faults that he does not need
the charity of others. Indeed, the great
need of mutual charity arises from the
fact that human nature is fallen and
sinful, and we have all inherited SO con-
siderable share of its depravity that
in spite of the most strenuous efforts to
cure them, we are still full of imperfec-
tons. If we have so much need of the
forbearance of others, we certainly
ought to be very charitable and free
from consciousness in judging them.
If man be oyertaken in a fault. We
which are spiritual restore such an one
in the spirit of meekness, considering
myself lest thou also be tempted
Ibe uncharitable Judge of others has
reason to suspect grayer faults in him.
self. Perpetually seeking the mote in
his brother eye, he forgets the beam
IN his own. He would do well to re-
member Christ's admonition: First
cast the beam out of thine own eve. and
then shalt thou see clearly to cast the
mote out of thy brothers eye. y DIR.
Whedon gives this trenchant paraphrase
OF the passage: Thou perceivest on
thy own selfish judgment-seat that thy
brother has very absurd opinions: he
sees things very strangely; it is because
of that little splinter in his eye; take
it out. Alasi there is no splinter
there. What thou seest is the Image Of
Q whole timber in thine own eve re-
dected into his That timber Is NADIA