Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-08-15

uerinS them helpless With despair; W.
can bind the human race together 10y
ties OF holy affection instead of an
tagonizing them as mortal foes.
1t is possible TO criticise even tn,
best of men. The story is told tha
Zeuxis, the famous Greek artist
painted wonderful picture OF a DO,
holding dish OF grapes. The pic
ture was so wonderful that the bird,
hew through the open window ant
with their bills pecked at the Crane.
which the artist had drawn. But
though there We're thousands ready t.
praise, there were still many censo
rious critics who condemned the pic
ture. For" said the evil minded
critics. ''if the boy had been painted
as perfectly as the dish of fruit the
birds would have been afraid to ap
proach the dish which the lad is sup
posed to hold in his hand" 1t is pos.
sible to harsEly judge the actions OF
even the best OF men. Therefore il
is very easy by bitter criticism to
destroy thousands who might be saved
by the gentleness of loving. forgiving.
Christlike tongue.
Beware of Unjust Criticism.
No man should condemn his neigh
Dor, because when he DESTROYS his
brother by evil criticism he also equal
! ly destroys himself. Some people sup
pose that nay text, Judge not, that
ye be not judged" is only to be an
piled in temporal way; that 1t only
ailades to things OF this world; that it
Is TO be interpreted in the sense that
/ nj, tof a. NAax~
serious criticism others will be unjust
TO us. The injustice which we do
10 others with the tongue will always
as boomerang come back and strike
ourselves. As DIR. Guillotin i'm his old
age is said to have been executed upon
the fatal instrument which he had in
vented In his younger days; as the
! prime minister Of one of the French
monarchs was confined in the very
cage OF torture he had builded for his
enemies, a cage so short that the pris-
oner In It could not lie down and so
low that he could not stand upright
ia It; as Regent Morton was Rugged
20 death by the spikes of the fatal
Image OF torture known as the
Maiden" which he himself had intro
dueed into Scotland, and as a Hannah
was hanged upon the gallows he had
erected for the despised Mordecai. so
the unjust criticisms which we mete out
to others are often the very condemna-
tons with which we ourselves shall
| be condemned by our fellow men.
But the text has a deeper and wider
| meaning than merely the Interpretation
which implies that if we utter condem.
nation against our brothers our breth-
ren will in turn speak similar condem-
| nations against us. 1t means that if we
condemn our brethren Christ will con-
denim us. 1t means that if we do not
speak kindly of those who have gone
wrong Christ will not become our di-
vine advocate and plead for OK for
giveness What does the BibIcS6y i'm
order to impress this truth upon our
hearts? Christ gave us the Lords
Prayer as the model of our supplica-
lions. Our Father, which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy
Kingdom come. Thy will be done In
earth rs it is in heaven. Forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against u.s." In other words.
we must pray that as we are ready to
forgive the sins OF others so may God
forgive us our own trespasses. NV
Lord and my God, II thy pardon is TO
De dependent upon our willingness to
forgive and pardon others what chance
have most of us of thy forgiveness!
The older / grow the more believe
that thousands and hundreds of thou
sands of Christian men and women are
barred from the divine joys OF higher
Christian service because they are
harsh In their criticism upon the errors
OF their fellow men. You know that
some people make the sinful boast that
IL an injustice or wrong has ever
been done against themselves they will
never forgive. How can such persons
expect Christs pardon when they are
willfully refusing TO obey Christ's com.
mand to judge not. so that they shall
not be judged?
We Must Forgive To he Forgiven.
Mr.. Moody was the evangelist, / |
think, who once illustrated the impossi- |
billy OF receiving Christ's pardon for |
sin unless ut the same time we are will |
Ing TO forgive the sins of others by tell |
ing an incident that happened Mt one of |
his revival meetings. a woman was
under deep conviction OF sin. She felt
that Christ was ready to pardon. She
felt that she was sinner, but for some
unknown reason she would not be par
doned. At last the great evangelist
came TO her and said: Madam, there
Is some sin In your life which you are
to give up. What is il? VIII
you confess the sin to me?" Yes"
answered the lady, 81 will. / want to
be saved. i feel that Christ is willing 70
save me. But every time / begin To
pray Tor pardon 1 think of woman
who has done me in the past great
wrong. cannot but condemn her and
Judge her very harshly. Then, as /
pray FOR pardon, Christ seems to say to
ne, VIII you pardon and forgive your
sister If pardon and forgive youY and
say, No. / cannot forgive her. Then
christ, with sad face, seems to saw.
Then will not forgive YOU" Mr..
Moody said to the lady, "Win you kneel
Town here by this seat and let me pray
OF your She answered, 81 will" Then
ne evangelist prayed that God might
otten her heart toward her sister; that
lie would help her to forgive, as she
wanted to be forgiven. And in the
nidst OF the prayer the erring woman
oDDed, 20 Lord, / forgive, forgiven
no she was saved. So, my brother, if
ou are not ready to deal gently with
nose who have done you wrong and
$50 ready to forgive others Christ will ,
OF forgive you. Judge not, that We be
OF judged, Tor with what Judgment We
Judge, We shall be judged. And with
That measure ye mete it shall be meas
red unto ye again."
But have one thought more to de- :
elop, and then 1 am done. No man
as a right to condemn his brother, be-
ause after the condemnation is once
poken it often happens that it can q
ever be recalled, no matter how much {
may repent. Our judgments are v
early always spoken Judgments: S
ierefore those evil words which S
'eak to others about an absent friend Il