Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-08-16

Frank De Witt Talmage in this SER
mon on the text Matthew VII, ],
Judge not, that We be not judged"
After Massillon. the great court
preacher Of France, had finished one
of his sermons. Louis XIV. summoned
him TO his side and said: "Massllon,
how is il you impress me as you DO!
have heard many great orators
preach. They nearly always please
me. But when you preach. instead Oh
being pleased with you am always
discontcntcd with myself. | always
feel that want TO be better man
as well as Il better king" WELL
answered the great preacher, the
only way can account for it, your
maiesty. is because | am always
preaching against myself. When l
am about to make up n sermon, l say
TO myself, Nlassillon, what is the SIN
which YOU have hardest work to battle
todayY And when preach against
my own sins generally find that there
are similar sins in other hearts when
| am also preaching against" If there
is any truth in the words which Mas
sillon smoke TO Louis XIV, this sermon
will carry Il message to every pew
or all sins there is none more. easy
for speaker as well as hearer to tall
into than the sin of hypcrcriticism.
The sin of censorious criticism Is al
most universal because one is apt TO
commit il at first uncOnsciously ana
without premeditation or forethought
If a party of young people are togeth'
or. It is not hard to find fault with the
minister. and the doctor, and the dress
maker. and the neiglbor's wifi and
child and house and all that he mas.
It is not difficult to lay the reputation
of an absent member upon the dissect-
ing table Of traducemont and cut ana
hack if into pieces with cruel, sharp,
merciless tongues. 1t is not always a
dlsagreeable opportunity to repeat the
slanders and the vililications and the
defamations and the wholesale con
demnations which have been circulated
about the ncighborhood in reference 10
other peoples characters.
Now. my text IS a divine protest
AGAINST the haSty AID the unjust judg-
ments with which we condemn our fel'
low men. 1t is 4 divine protest TO
bring men and women to the realiza-
ton of the awful damage they are DO
ing themselves. as well rs others. by
the Dernicious habit Of censOrious crit
icism. 1t is a protest to prove that'
though we can honor men and love
men and praise men and help men, ye'
we must not hate men or deride men
or condemn men. Condemnation Is q
divine prerogativc. Condemnation Is
thunderbolt which will shatter every
human hand that tries to grasp it anu
TO hufl it. Condemnation is poison
ous fang which will destroy our OWL
lives as well as lacerate and instill the
fatal poison into their flesh.
Sin Of Hypocrisy.
Personally we should not condemn
men. because. having imperfections II
ourselves we have no right to eXpec'
and demand perfection in others. II We
were holy. perhaps we might have
right to expect other people to be holy
If we were pure minded, we mlgh'
have a right to expect other people t'
he pure minded. If we loved the Lore
orr God with all our heart and sou
and mind and strength; if we were
nerfect husbands and perfect wives
nerfect parents and perfect children
nerfect in our love for our fellow men
we might expect others to be perfect
But what right has the kettle to com
plain about the pct being uncleah
What right has tho raven to croak pe
cause her young have wings as Olaci
os the night? What right has th'
Pharisee TO stand up and condemn I'M
moor Dublican. who stood afar OF an'
heat his breast. moaning, God be mer
ciful to me. Il sinner" when the Pharl
see himself VAS so sinful that he wa
like a vhited sepulcher, (which indee'
appeared beautiful outward. Dut wa
within full Of dead mems bones ana al
uncleanY And what right have you
! O hearer, to say your neighbor Is
bad man or bad woman ana shoui
he condemned when you yourself nav
an evil eye and have not yet by ID
grace of God, pucked it outf Nhe
YOU yourself have an evil hand or roc
and have not yet amputated it? Vine
YOU yourself have an evil tongue I
sneak or an evil ear to listen agains
the deeds of your neighbors?
What would you think of dlssoIul
Judge condemning a prisoner at IN
bar for the same sins Of which he DIN
self was hagrantly guilty? Why, sue
q hypocritical and unjust judge woui
be submerged under a tidal wave
popular scorn. Such dishonest Jude
would be treated as mercilessly as wa
that Judge who in the darkest days
Rome's infamies undertook to sentenC
some conspira.ors to death while
himself was one of the conspirator
He would be dragged from the Jud
cial bench. And yet this sin or CO..
demning others when we ourselves al
guilty of sin is a habit which can
laid at many a door. We superciliou
ly demand perfection in others whi
= we ourselves are imperfect.
Judge Not.
To illustrate the truth that the mo
we ourselves have gone astray Z
more we are apt to condemn shol
{ comings in others. ! wou!d read fro
II a leaf out of the book Of memory.
remember many years ago lady
character was being assailed on hot
porch. A member Of the party
that time denounced the absent wom'
so severely that | turned and sal
Z Madam, you have no right to pu
licly make a charge like that agar
any one. Even If you had posltl
proof that what you say is true, y
should keep your lips firmly seal'
because no one knows but that sol
d, day the blOodhOunds of slander M
l. l.r4i,,, ,-o,,r oxt-p frociyS' III