On Rash Judgments.
_Judge not, and ye shall not be judged_, saith the Saviour of our souls; _condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned._ _Nay_, saith the holy Apostle, _judge not before the time, until the Lord come to reveal the secret things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of hearts._ Oh! how displeasing to God are rash judgments! The judgments of the children of men are rash, because they are not one another’s judges, and in judging they usurp the office of Our Lord. They are rash, because the chief malice of sin proceeds from the intention and disposition of the heart, which is for us a secret thing of darkness. They are rash, because each has quite enough to do in judging himself, without undertaking also to judge his neighbour. It is equally necessary, in order not to be judged, that we judge not others and judge ourselves; for, as Our Lord forbids us the one, the Apostle enjoins us the other, saying: _If we judged ourselves, we should not be judged._ But, O God! we do quite the contrary; for what is forbidden us, we cease not to do, judging our neighbour at every turn; and what is commanded us, namely, to judge ourselves, we never do.
_Judge not, and ye shall not be judged_, saith the Saviour of our souls; _condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned._ _Nay_, saith the holy Apostle, _judge not before the time, until the Lord come to reveal the secret things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of hearts._ Oh! how displeasing to God are rash judgments! The judgments of the children of men are rash, because they are not one another’s judges, and in judging they usurp the office of Our Lord. They are rash, because the chief malice of sin proceeds from the intention and disposition of the heart, which is for us a secret thing of darkness. They are rash, because each has quite enough to do in judging himself, without undertaking also to judge his neighbour. It is equally necessary, in order not to be judged, that we judge not others and judge ourselves; for, as Our Lord forbids us the one, the Apostle enjoins us the other, saying: _If we judged ourselves, we should not be judged._ But, O God! we do quite the contrary; for what is forbidden us, we cease not to do, judging our neighbour at every turn; and what is commanded us, namely, to judge ourselves, we never do.
According to the various causes of rash judgments, various remedies must be applied. There are hearts sour, bitter, and harsh by nature, which likewise make sour and bitter all that they receive, and which, according to the Prophet’s experience, _turn judgment into wormwood_, judging their neighbour only with all severity and harshness. These have great need to fall into the hands of a good spiritual physician; for this bitterness of heart being natural to them, it is difficult to overcome; and although in itself it is not sin, but only an imperfection, it is nevertheless dangerous, because it brings rash judgment and detraction into the soul and makes them reign there. Some judge rashly, not from bitterness, but from pride, imagining that the more they lower the honour of others, the more they raise their own; arrogant or presumptuous spirits, who admire themselves and place themselves so high in their own estimation that they see all the rest as something small and low. _I am not as the rest of men_, said the foolish Pharisee. Others have not this manifest pride, but only a certain slight pleasure in considering the evil in others, so as to taste and make others taste more pleasantly the contrary good with which they believe themselves endowed; and this pleasure is so secret and imperceptible that, unless one has keen sight, one cannot discern it, and even those who are afflicted with it do not know it unless it is shown to them. Others, to flatter and excuse themselves, and to soften the remorse of their conscience, readily judge that others are guilty of the vice they themselves have contracted, or of some other just as great, persuading themselves that the multitude of criminals makes their sin less blameworthy. Many give themselves to rash judgment for the sole pleasure of philosophising and endlessly commenting on the disposition, conduct, and manners of persons, making of it a kind of exercise and game of the mind. And if by misfortune they sometimes happen to be right in their conjectures, then their boldness and mania for judging so increase in them that it is very difficult to restrain them. Many judge through passion, always thinking well of what they love, and always ill of what they hate, except in one altogether astonishing, and yet true, case, wherein excess of love leads one to judge ill of what one loves: a monstrous effect of a gross, imperfect, troubled, and diseased love; accursed jealousy, which, as everyone knows, upon a mere glance, upon the slightest gesture, condemns persons of treachery and perjury. Finally, fear, ambition, and a thousand other weaknesses of mind often contribute to these vain suspicions and rash judgments.
But what remedies are there for so many evils? It is said that those who have drunk the juice of an Ethiopian herb, called _ophiusa_, believe that they see serpents and other dreadful things everywhere, and that to cure them they must be made to drink palm wine; even so, those who have swallowed pride, envy, ambition, hatred, see nothing that they do not find evil and blameworthy; and to cure them I say: Drink as much as you can of the sacred wine of charity; it will deliver you from those evil humours which cause you to make so many strange judgments. Charity fears to encounter evil; far from seeking it out. And when she encounters it, she turns away from it and conceals it: thus, at the first rumour that reaches her, she closes her eyes so as not to see it; and then, through a holy simplicity, she believes that it was not evil, but only the shadow and, as it were, the phantom of evil. But if nevertheless she is forced to acknowledge that it is evil itself, she immediately turns her thoughts from it, and strives to forget its shape.
Charity is the great remedy for all evils, but especially for this one. Everything appears yellow to those who have the jaundice, and it is said that to cure them of this affliction, they must wear poppy leaves beneath the soles of their feet. Certainly, this sin of rash judgment is a spiritual jaundice, which makes everything appear evil to the eyes of those afflicted by it; but whoever would be cured of it must apply the remedy not to the eyes, but to the feet of the soul, that is to say, not to the understanding, but to the affections. If, then, you have gentleness and charity in your heart, all your judgments will be gentle and charitable; and here are three admirable examples which I present to you.
Charity is the great remedy for all evils, but especially for this one. Everything appears yellow to those who have the jaundice, and it is said that to cure them of this affliction, they must wear poppy leaves beneath the soles of their feet. Certainly, this sin of rash judgment is a spiritual jaundice, which makes everything appear evil to the eyes of those afflicted by it; but whoever would be cured of it must apply the remedy not to the eyes, but to the feet of the soul, that is to say, not to the understanding, but to the affections. If, then, you have gentleness and charity in your heart, all your judgments will be gentle and charitable; and here are three admirable examples which I present to you.
Isaac had said that Rebecca was his sister, and Abimelech, who perceived certain tender and very familiar tokens of affection between them, judged that she was his wife: an evil eye would have judged that she was his mistress, or that, if she were his sister, he himself was an incestuous man; but Abimelech took the charitable course that he could take in such a case. This is how we ought to judge favorably of our neighbor, as far as we can; and if an action had a hundred different aspects, we should look at it only from its fairest side. Saint Joseph could not doubt that the Blessed Virgin was with child; but because he knew her eminent holiness and her life, wholly pure and angelic, he allowed himself not the slightest suspicion against her, however violent his misgivings might be: so he resolved, on leaving her, to leave all judgment to God. The Divine Spirit makes us note in the Gospel that he acted thus because he was a just man. Now the just man, who absolutely cannot excuse either the deed or the intention of someone whose integrity he knows, will not judge that person, but even tries to put the matter out of his mind, and leaves the judgment to God. The crucified Savior, unable wholly to excuse the sin of those who had nailed Him to the cross, wished at least to lessen its malice on account of their ignorance: likewise, when we cannot excuse the sin, let us at least make it worthy of pity, by attributing it to the most forgivable cause it could have, such as ignorance or weakness.
But may one never judge one’s neighbour, then? No indeed, never: it is God, Philothea, Who judges criminals in the judgments of human justice. Yet He makes use of the voice of magistrates to make Himself understood by our ears; they are as His interpreters and oracles, and must pronounce nothing but what they have learned from Him. But if they do otherwise, and follow their own passions, then it is truly they who judge, and who consequently shall be judged; for men, as men, are forbidden to judge others.
To see or know a thing is not to judge it; for every judgment, at least according to the phrase of Scripture, presupposes some difficulty, great or small, real or apparent, which must be decided. This is why it says that those who have not the faith are already judged, because there is no doubt concerning their condemnation. Is it then wrong to doubt one’s neighbour? No, for it is not forbidden to doubt, but to judge. Nevertheless, one is permitted neither to doubt nor to suspect, except insofar as good reasons constrain us to do so; otherwise doubts and suspicions are rash. If some evil eye had seen Jacob as he embraced Rachel beside the well, or had seen Rebecca receive bracelets and earrings from Eliezer, a man unknown in that country, it would doubtless have thought ill of these two models of virtue, but quite unjustly; for when an action is in itself indifferent, it is to form a rash suspicion to draw an evil conclusion from it, unless several circumstances lend that suspicion credence. It is also a rash judgment to seize upon an act as an occasion to blame the person who performed it; but of this I shall speak more clearly presently.
To see or know a thing is not to judge it; for every judgment, at least according to the phrase of Scripture, presupposes some difficulty, great or small, real or apparent, which must be decided. This is why it says that those who have not the faith are already judged, because there is no doubt concerning their condemnation. Is it then wrong to doubt one’s neighbour? No, for it is not forbidden to doubt, but to judge. Nevertheless, one is permitted neither to doubt nor to suspect, except insofar as good reasons constrain us to do so; otherwise doubts and suspicions are rash. If some evil eye had seen Jacob as he embraced Rachel beside the well, or had seen Rebecca receive bracelets and earrings from Eliezer, a man unknown in that country, it would doubtless have thought ill of these two models of virtue, but quite unjustly; for when an action is in itself indifferent, it is to form a rash suspicion to draw an evil conclusion from it, unless several circumstances lend that suspicion credence. It is also a rash judgment to seize upon an act as an occasion to blame the person who performed it; but of this I shall speak more clearly presently.
Lastly, those who take good care of their conscience are little prone to rash judgments; for, as bees, when they see mists and cloudy weather, withdraw into their hives and there prepare their honey, so good souls do not let their thoughts run over perplexing matters and the ambiguous actions of their neighbour; but, to avoid encountering them, they retire within themselves and form, in the depths of their hearts, good resolutions for their own amendment.
It is the mark of an idle soul to amuse itself with examining the lives of others: I except those who are charged with the care of others, whether in the family or in the state; for a good part of their duty of conscience consists in watching over the conscience of others. Let them therefore do their duty with love: beyond that, let them remain at rest and concern themselves only with themselves.
It is the mark of an idle soul to amuse itself with examining the lives of others: I except those who are charged with the care of others, whether in the family or in the state; for a good part of their duty of conscience consists in watching over the conscience of others. Let them therefore do their duty with love: beyond that, let them remain at rest and concern themselves only with themselves.