hath abolished What a presumption is this when there is but one Law-giver who is able to save and destroy who art thou that judgest another That is whatsoever you may fansie there is but one to whose Laws we ought to be subject and that is not Moses but Christ to whom alone belongs the Power of Lie and Death You may take this Authority upon you if you please of passing Sentences of Condemnation upon your Brethren but they are of no force It being out of any Man's power to do those any hurt whose innocent liberty he condemns or to do those any good who comply never so far with his scrupulosity And what the Apostles say in this case may be applied to all other wherein good Men differ and both sides think with a great deal of reason They that have most reason must not yield to the temptation they have to contemn the others needless scrupulosity and they that have least must not condemn those as they are too prone who take the liberty which they dare not use If both sides think as they do commonly that they have equal reason then there is no more reason for the one to judge the other than for the other to judge him But they ought mutually to abstain from all Censures of each others Principles or Actions 3. As we ought not to condemn one another in matters doubtful so much less ought we to pass our Judgment upon Things that are quite out of the compass of our Knowledge The Secrets of Mens Hearts do not fall within our cognizance but only as they discover themselves by outward Acts which sometimes may not be good and yet not proceed from such ill Intentions as we may be apt to imagine In this therefore we ought to be very scrupulous how we judge others to be Men of evil Designs whose ill Actions will admit of a more favourable Interpretation But when Men do good things it is the highest presumption to judge they are not done with a good Mind This is to pretend to know the Hearts of Men into which none can see but God alone And therefore we must not condemn Men of Hypocrisie when their Actions do not declare it but referr that to the cognizance of our Lord who as it follows after my Text will bring to light the hidden things of darkness That is discover the inward Intentions and Purposes of Mens Souls and all the close Wickedness which was contrived there And then every man shall have praise of God. That is if he did well with a good Mind sincerely and heartily he shall receive commendation but otherwise disgrace and shame and confusion of face for being so wicked as to imagine our Lord could see only the outside of things and be deceived by fair appearances 4. In things which fall within the compass of our knowledge we must take care not to judge either falsly or rashly or hypocritically Under these three are comprehended most of the common Censures which Men are wont to pass upon others 1. And then we judge falsly when we charge another person with that of which we know he is not guilty which is so great a sin that it can scarce be committed without the help of other sins which throw Men into it such as secret hatred envy wrath revenge for former Injuries or Offences But whencesoever it proceeds it is an high piece of injustice which as we ought at all times carefully to avoid so then especially when we undertake to be Judges 2. Rush judgment is when we charge others with such things as we know to be but rumours and suspicions or which we have only some slight reason to believe This forward haste to be passing our judgment upon Men though we be well informed is to be corrected especially when we declare it upon all occasions or perhaps without any occasion But to do this before we be well informed or have duly considered is very vicious and is one of the bad dispositions of Mind which lead us to judge the Actions of Others to proceed from worse Principles and Ends than really they do Thus Men are sometimes rashly accused of Covetousness upon the account of such actions as were the effect of Caution not to bestow their Charity amiss Others are charged with Pride and neglect of Company with whom their discretion taught them not to be too familiar Ambition and Courting the favour of Great Men is laid to the charge of those who thought of nothing but only to please God in doing that which proves also pleasing unto them And on the contrary crossness and perverseness is charged on those who cannot comply with others for fear of offending God. Nothing is more common than to call that wilfulness which perhaps is only weakness and to condemn that as wickedness which was no more than ignorance or imprudence And thus whole Sects and parties condemn one another in the lump before they know their circumstances particularly what advantages they have had or wanted of right information In such things which are not very evident we ought to suspend our judgment or rather err on the other side by judging well of others which is the Vertue we call Candor which argues much Wisdom and no less Charity at least a great deal of good Nature 3. The last thing of this kind which I called Hypocritical Judgment is when Men charge others truly and justly with such bad things as they have really committed but neither out of dislike to the Sins which they condemn nor with any design to do good either to the guilty Persons or any other but meerly to gratifie their own Spleen or Arrogance or such like bad affections to which our Saviour seems to have had some respect when he said Matth. VII 1. Judge not that ye be not judged for it follows immediately Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy Brother's Eye but considerest not the beam that is in thine own Eye And he calls this in effect an Hypocritical judgment when he adds Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye If it be Hypocrisie to find out smaller faults in others sooner than greater in ones self it is much more so to discover any fault whatsoever meerly to please some bad Affections which delight in speaking Evil of others These are dangerous kinds of judging which the Apostle here requires us to forbear false rash or hypocritical condemning of others The first of them is slander the second is uncharitable censure the third is ill designing self-love envy pride or some such vice which we harbour in our breasts And so I proceed to the third Thing I propounded The Reasons and Grounds why we ought not to judge in this manner III. There is one reason in my Text and there is another so nearly allyed to it that they are frequently joined in other places That
in my Text is The respect we ought to have to our Lord whose Office it is to judge That which is nearly linked with this is The respect we ought to have unto our Brethren over whom we have no Authority and therefore ought not to take upon us to be their Judges The first of these if it be weighed will make our judging others appear to be an insolence towards our Saviour The second will represent it as an insolence towards Men. 1. First I say it is an insolence toward God our Saviour an usurpation upon his Right a bold intrusion into his Office an arrogating to our selves that which truly and properly is his sole Prerogative especially when Men proceed so far as to dare to judge the very Hearts of others or to censure and condemn them for that which God's Law doth not condemn For the judging of the Heart is a thing which God and our Lord assume as peculiar to themselves I the Lord search the heart and try the reins even to give every man according to his ways Jer. XVII 10. I am he saith our Saviour which searcheth the reins and the heart and I will give unto every one of you according to your works Rev. II 23. Upon which account it is a most bold presumption a dangerous arrogance in us to pass a sentence upon the secret purposes and designs of Men of which we know nothing but they are reserved to the peculiar cognizance of him who alone searches their Hearts And so it is also in the other case when we presume to censure that which the Law of God it self doth not condemn either in general or in particular He that doth this as you heard out of St. James speaketh evil of the Law and judgeth the Law and he that judgeth the very Law casteth off the relation of a Subject and sets up for a Soveraign instead of being a doer of the Law he takes upon him to be a Judge that is he puts himself into the place of God who as he is the only Maker of Laws so is the only Judge of those who are to be governed by them He therefore that Censures and Condemns where this Lawgiver doth not Condemn forgets himself and is so lifted up in his own opinion that he usurps the Divine Authority Whereas poor Wretch he can neither save nor destroy as it there follows but meerly show his own folly and arrogance to the great offence of Almighty God and the indangering his own Soul For God saith the Apostle v. 6. of the same Chapter resisteth the Proud he resists him as an Enemy to his Majesty as one that invades his Soveraign Right and intrudes into his sole Office of judging others II. And though it be less considerable yet this is not to be neglected that he who judges the Hearts of Men or Censures and Condemns that in them which the Law of God no way Censures commits an insolence upon his Brethren over whom he hath no such Authority He arrogates a jurisdiction over them which he hath no right to exercise and is guilty of a breach of all the duties we owe to our Neighbour of Justice of Charity and of Humility Who art thou says St. Paul that judgest another Man's Servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth Rom. XIV 4. That is whom dost thou take thy self to be that thou presumest thus to cenfure and condemn him who is none of thy Servant but the Servant of the common Lord of us all By what right dost thou meddle with another's Servant who hath his own Master the very same that thou hast by whose judgment and not by thine he must either stand or fall That is either be pronounced innocent or guilty If his Master have not forbidden this which thou condemnest in him it is presumption in thee to censure him it is an injury both to the Master and to his Servant an usurpation of an Authority over him unto which we can have no pretence and therefore cannot be answered either to God or to our Neighbour who are both wronged by such judging The same may be said of all other sorts of judging before-mentioned by which we give great offence both to God and unto Man towards whom if we have any regard we shall hearken to the discourse of St. Paul v. 10. c. of the same Chapter where he puts both these reasons together But why dost thou judge thy Brother Or why dost thou set at nought thy Brother For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ For it is written as I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more We ought that is to examine our selves strictly particularly about the false the rash the causeless Judgments we have passed upon others for which we ought to call our selves unto an account and judge our selves severely and passing an upright Sentence upon our Actions after we have laid them to the Rule of Christ's Laws repent sincerely of what we have done amiss For that 's the use the Apostle makes of this Doctrine in another place Acts XVII 31. Now God commands all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness c. But as for other Men we must not be so forward as we are to pass our Censures upon them but in many cases leave them to our Lord who only can pass a certain Judgment upon their Actions he seeing their secret Intentions what was the spring of them and the end at which they aimed All which he will come again to examine in the season proper for it and make an exacter search than we can do and be more impartial in his Judgment than we are apt to be and likewise render to every man according to his work which is not in our power though we were never so well inclined to it These things are sufficient if duly pondered to show the reasonableness of the Apostle's injunction To judge nothing before the time And therefore I need not enter into the consideration either of the Causes from which this censorious humour flows which are Arrogance Envy Hatred Ignorance Self-interest and such-like Or of the very mischievous Effects of it both upon the Censurer himself and upon those who are loaded with his Censures Whose Spirits are hereby irritated from whence proceed sharp Contentions and dangerous Disorders and whose Names are hereby blasted their Reputation and Esteem in the World diminished by which means they are rendred less capable to do the Service they otherwise might have performed either in Church or State For it gives a Man a great advantage in whatsoever place he be to be well thought of in it and to have a fair Character Which whosoever Spoils by his unjust or uncharitable Censures
secret known or concealed and accordingly receive their doom from the Almighty and Righteous Judge of the World. Let me only therefore remember you that it is necessary to keep these great confessed Truths continually in Mind and carry this sense about with us every where That there will be a day when the Lord Jesus who came in the form of a Servant to visit us in great Humility to give us his Laws and to die for our Sins will come again in Glorious Majesty not as a Servant but as a Soveraign attended with all the Host of Heaven to call us before him and examine how his Laws have been observed by us and what fruit there hath been of his shedding his precious Blood for us This if we thought of daily with a lively belief that as he is a most impartial Juge so the greatest secrets cannot be concealed from his knowledge It would move us to observe all his Laws with the greatest care and diligence because he will certainly and unavoidably sentence those to the heaviest punishments who contemn his Authority by the violation of any of them particularly this in my Text which the Apostle infers from those Principles not to judge any thing before the time but to leave all to the Judgment of the Lord. For the understanding of which it will be necessary to do these three things First to show what it is to Judge Secondly how the Apostle is to be understood when he saith judge nothing Thirdly What the Reasons and Grounds are upon which this precept stands in the right sence and meaning of it I. For the first of these to judge sometimes signifies no more than to make such a difference in our thoughts between one thing and another when they are presented to our understandings as our reason shows us there is in the things themselves To discern for instance between truth and falshood so as to approve the one and to reject the other In which sence we ought to judge every thing and to admit nothing till we see good reason to entertain it for it is a Christian Vertue to make a discrimination between good and bad true and false and as we find things upon examination so to determine whether they are to be received or rejected And therefore the Apostle's meaning cannot be to forbid us to judge in this sence of the Word for he himself saith in this very Epistle Chap. X. 15. I speak as to wise men judge ye what I say i. e. I desire not to be believed if I speak not reason which you understand and therefore I leave it to your selves to determine upon serious consideration whether I speak not the Truth And again Chap. XI 13. Judge in your selves is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered i. e. I need say no more for you can resolve what is fit in this matter if you please to consult with your own sober thoughts We must find then another sence of the Word Judge which is this 2. To pass sentence upon other Men's actions or qualities pronouncing them either good or bad And thus the Apostle uses the Word in the two Verses immediately preceding my Text v. 3. But with me it is a small matter that I should be judged of you or of mans judgment that is I make no great account what opinion you or any Body else hath of my Fidelity in the Stewardship committed to me mentioned v. 2. of dispensing the Mysteries of the Gospel of Christ for whether you judge well or ill of me you may be mistaken and therefore I am not much concerned about it Yea I judge not my own self that is I do not absolutely depend upon my own opinion of my fidelity though I cannot but know my self better than any one else can do because I may overlook many things which the Lord sees and so think better of my self than I deserve And therefore as it follows v. 4. though I know nothing by my self yet I am not thereby justified for he that judgeth me is the Lord It is not as others judge of us or as we judge of our selves but as the Lord who cannot be deceived shall judge In all which discourse judging is passing a Sentence either for or against another Person either to acquit and clear him or to censure and condemn him And thus it is frequetly used in other places particularly for passing a sentence of Condemnation upon others accusing them as guilty and censuring them to be worthy of punishment For Example Rom. XIV 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth That is condemn him of prophaneness or contempt of God's Laws in taking his liberty of eating any thing without distinction of Meats and v. 4. Who art thou that judgest another mans servant That is condemnest him over whom thou hast no jurisdiction And thus it is to be understood in my Text for Censuring and Condemning others which is an Office that belongs not to us who seldom have a sufficient cognizance of their case Which may be done either inwardly in our own thoughts or outwardly also in our Words and Speeches whereby we pronounce the sentence which our Mind hath passed upon them Between which two inward and outward censures of others there is no small difference and therefore this is a distinction which ought to be carefully observed because it may be lawful to pass a judgment upon Men's actions in our own thoughts when we ought not to signifie it to others by our Words For first the Persons upon whom we pass a judgment may be so much Superiour to us in Dignity and Authority or they may excel in so many eminent Vertues and do so much good to the World that it may not be fit for us to speak of every thing we see amiss in them which we may truly judge in our Minds to be faults Or Secondly the Company to whom we speak may be such as will not make a good use of our judgment but a bad which is a just cause why we should forbear to declare our judgment whatsoever we may justly think in our own breasts Or Thirdly The thing it self which we cannot but condemn may be of such a Nature and done so secretly that it will be a breach of Charity to speak of it unto any but him that is guilty of it Now the Word judge being thus explained I proceed to the Second thing II. How the Apostle is to be understood when he saith judge nothing For it may seem an impossible precept seeing there are many things which ought to be condemned and many Persons who are apparently guilty of them We must therefore understand him with some limitations that we may make a wise judgment concerning judging other Men and not let all things they do pass without censure because we are bound in some cases not to censure them at all And for our clearer
information I shall shew First what judgment is not here forbidden Secondly what is First With respect to the former of these I shall only put you in Mind of these three things 1. That publick Judgments and judicial Censures are not here condemned for they have the Divine Authority to warrant them and Humane Societies cannot subsist without them Therefore let none imagine there is any thing in these Words either forbidding a Christian to be a Magistrate or forbidding a Magistrate to judge and condemn evil things and evil-doers For as Magistracy is God's Ordinance for the good of Mankind so it is the Duty of every Magistrate to condemn and punish such as do evil being sent or commissioned by God for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well 1 Pet. II. 14. They do ill then that censure and condemn this Office or those that execute it for it is that which all Men do in their own Families where having Authority as Parents or Masters they correct what is done amiss 2. And as there is nothing in these Words forbidding Magistrates to exercise their Office so they contain no prohibition unto private Persons either to form an Opinion concerning others in their Mind upon the serious observation of the course of their Actions or to reprove and rebuke each other for their sin according to the Rules of Truth and Charity For it is necessary to form a Judgment concerning others in our Minds that we may avoid the Company of evil Men and preserve our selves from the danger of their Contagion And Charity being the sum of all our Duty to our Neighbour prudent and seasonable reproof is often the greatest Charity we can bestow upon them Let the righteous smite me saith David and it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head Psal CXLI 5. 3. And as we may thus judge Men to be worthy of reproof and take upon us to tell them of their Faults so there is nothing in these Words forbidding us to speak of them unto others in their absence especially when they are not amended by private reproof provided first that we sincerely design the good of those to whom we declare our mind concerning them and secondly that we say no more than is necessary to forewarn their Neighbours left they be misled and infected by them We must not blacken them more than needs much less make them worse than they are but only give such a just Character of them as may serve for a Caution to those who otherwise may be in danger to be enveigled by them into their evil Courses Thus our Lord bids his Disciples beware of the Scribes who look'd demurely and behav'd themselves gravely and made a shew of great Piety in their long Prayers that they might be the less suspected of bad Designs and the more securely deceive such as trusted to their Honesty Luke XX. 46 47. And thus St. Paul bids the Ephesians Ch. V. 11. have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them that is detect them and declare against them II. These things therefore being not forbidden in these Words let us now consider what Judgment or Censure is forbidden 1. And this is certain That we ought not to judge such things to be sin nor censure and condemn others upon the account of such things as the Law of God doth not condemn For to censure those things as unlawful which the Law of God hath not forbidden is in truth to judge and condemn the Law it self as an imperfect and defective Rule of our Actions Which is the Censure St. James passes upon this practice in those known words of his James IV. 11. He that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law and judgeth the law Which cannot be meant of any other evil-speaking and judging but this When a Man censures and condemns his Brother where the Law doth not censure and condemn what he doth Whosoever thus judges his Brother doth really and truly argue the Law of Christ to be wanting in something which ought to have been prescribed by it Instead of conforming himself to it he takes upon him to be a Corrector of it and to make supplements to it as if it were an insufficient Direction to us without his Additions Which is the meaning of the next Words But if thou judge the law thou art not a doer of the law but a judge Let such Men consider that there is but one Law-giver as it follows v. 12. who is able to save or destroy Who art thou that judgest another for such things that is as the Law of Christ doth not condemn Who gave thee Authority to pronounce first peremtory Sentences upon thy Brethren when thou art not appointed by God to be either a Lawgiver or a Judge of others especially of such as do not break any Law of Christ 2. As we ought not to judge that is condemn Men for such things as the Law doth not condemn so in matters of Dispute and Controversie where the Law is doubtful or not clear to many good Men we ought to forbear judging those who are not of our Mind or act not as we do if otherwise they do well This was a famous Case in the Apostles days when there arose a Question Whether the Law of Moses should be observed by the Disciples of Christ The Apostles said No because our Lord had abolish'd it and left Men at liberty to eat for instance any Meat whatsoever if they were but thankful and temperate But the Jewish Christians generally maintained it was still in force and therefore judged all those to be impious who did not observe his Rites and Ceremonies This was a high Charge for which St. Paul in many places reproves them as going about ignorantly to abolish the Law of Christ whilst they endeavoured to establish that of Moses Particularly in Rom. XIV 3. he tells them it became such as were weak in the faith to be so humble as not to judge those who made no difference of Meats which Christ they stedfastly believed had made common Though their ignorance made them scrupulous it ought not to have made them censorious especially in such a case where Men followed Christ rather than Moses Which some think is the meaning of St. James whose Epistle is written to the Jewish Christians in the place before-nam'd Ch. IV. 11 12. He that judgeth his brother about such matters as I now mentioned judgeth the law i. e. the Gospel of Christ call'd in that Epistle The Royal Law the Law of Liberty and the perfect Law of Liberty Ch. II. 8 12. I. 25. which absolv'd them from such Obligations And if thou judgest the law thou art not a doer of the law but a judge that is takest upon thee the Office of Christ to enact those things again into a Law which he