The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-07-15


Only True Judge of Man and His
Motives.
Rev. II. @. Buehler, of the Hotch-
Kiss school, Lakeville, Conn. a young
clergyman of much promise. occupied
the pulpit of the Second Presbyterian
church at both services yesterday and
preached two powerful and eloquent
sermons. Especially interesting were
his remarks upon the sin of prema-
ture judgment, in the evening, based
upon text chosen from l Corinthians
iii 4:
Therefore 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 counscls of the hearts: and then
shall every man have praise of God"
Rev. Mr.. Buehler spoke, in part, as
follows:
I'm considering this text we must
consider first the occasion for the
words OF Paul. The church at Cor
inth at that time was nothing more
than a school of ill-natured criticism.
There were opposing parties and there
members of these parties.
The men on both sides We're severe
in their judgments and even took it
upon themselves to declare what were
the cOunsels of the heart and what
were the hidden motives that caused
men to do certain things. They con-
tended that there were many who
were not faithful
WHAT PAUL DOES.
And what does Paul say to them?
He tells them tNat their chief busi-
ness is to be faithful to themselves.
He tells them that he does not ven
ture to declare that he himself is faith
ful. He tells them that they must
wait until the coming of the Lord
before they Judge. What he meant
was not that men should have no opin-
ions, but that they must not sit in
judgment upon their fellows.
How often do we all of us fall into
this sin of premature judgment! one
of the easiest ways in which we fan
into this sin is by the thoughtlcss
calling of harsh names. We call
men fools, liars. hypocritcs and cranks
at the slightest provOcation, simply be-
cause they crossed our wishes or be-
cause they disagree with us on cer-
tain things.
Then there is the judging of motives
and there is no other phase of this sin
SO easy or so alluring as this one. 1t
was this that the Athenians did when
they forced Socrates TO drink the pois-
oned cup, because they judged falsely
that he was corrupting the youth Of
h1
Pharisees to call the Savior a false
prophet. a blasphemer and wine
bihber; it is this that we do when we
ascribe mans liberality to love of
display. when we say that a man who
lives strict life is sanctmonious,
when We call careful man stingy,
when We say a cautious man Is afraid,
and when we call an amia BILE man a
tOady.
CENSURE FOR VIEWS.
How often, too. do We censure a
man for the opinions and views he
holds. The factors that make up human
conviction are so multitudnous that
no one has any right TO place the re-
Sponsibility. We boast that we have
risen out of that old civilization which
imprisoned mon for their opinions and
burned them for their beliefs, but how
quick we are, nevertheless, to put
under the ban those who differ from
us. The inquistorial temper is not yet
extinct. 1t is only toned down
when we label mans character
with bad name, do we know all the
facts about him? When we ascribc
certain motives TO a man, are we sure
we have seen his heart? When we
condemn a man for his opinions. are
we sure we have sounded the question
to the bottom?
Il say that even though we might
have all the facts, we are incompetent
to judge of them. Our own convictions
are not always sound. A thousand
things conspirc to warp our judgments,
! hold that we never have all
the evidence that we are incompetcnt
of judging that which we do have and
that such judging, if attempted, is in
consistent with Christian love.
wherefore, let us judge not until the
Lord comes. To Him only is COM
m!tted the power to judge mems ac-
tions. lie will be the perfect judge. In
Him will be perfect fairness and per-
feet wisdom. There will be no bias of
prejudice, nor no warped judgment. He
will see the things as they are and will
judge accordingly"