THE QUIET HOUR

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 38, 16 February 1929, Page 3

THE QUIET HOUR

SUNDAY READING. SECRET OF MORAL STRENGTH. (By Rev. H. L. Biamires.) The religion 'cf Jesus Christ is not only deeply mystical and intensely spiritual, but also thoroughly practical. It not only emphasises iSalvaiy.on by 'personal trust in a living Saviour, the importance of the Sacraments and the hope (of heaven; but it deals with the practical duties of our daily life and the manifestation of Christian conduct. We are constantly being reminded that what the world needs is the

Christianity of the Sermon on the Mount—less dogma, and more doing. But let anyone take the Sermon on the Mount for his standard of conduct, and he will soon discover that its ideals are tcloi high for} him, unless he has first discovered the secret of moral strength in spiritual union with the living Christ.

JUDGING OTHERS.

Take one of the simple com-

mands from the Sermon on the Mount: “Judge not that 1 yc lie not judged” (Mailt. VII. 1.) Is there anjlone who can live up to that standard wtihout constant help from a spiritual source. What our Lord here enjoins is not the estimating of the character of others. That we must do; and Jesus Himself says we are to judge righteous judgment, and we are n'ct to cast mir pearls before swine. Some we must judge unworthy of the secrets of religious experience. But what' He condemns is the censorious spirit, the sin of fault finding and of scandal. “Why heholdest thLu the splinter in thy brother’s eye, and considerest not the beam of timter in thine own eye.” The relationship of brotherhood calls for charity and protection. “Judge not that ye be not judged.” The fault-finding critic will be criticised by others and judged ac the bar cf QoJ. Those who are keen of. scent for the failings of ethers are often blind to their own more serious sins. Censoriousness has a

hoismet ang effect upon the censor. The lit'tle dog which is constantly yapping at our heels is likely to find a tin can tied to his taii. “Judge not that ye be not judged.”

GOSSIPS AND SELF-RIIGIITEOUS.

The idle are specially prone to this sin of judging others. Idleness means gossip, and gossip breeds scandal. The self-righteous also seek to divert attention from their own failings, by drawing attention to those of others. The Pharisee

who thanked God he was not as other men thought that the perfunctory of religious ceremonies and a few moralities entitled him to pass judgment on the publican whose humble and contrite prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” had brought him the favour of God.

The period of youth, is also a time for dcieksureness and a sense of infallibility which tends to harsh judgment of others. But there is usually no malice here, and it wears off with growing wisdom. John Wesley says: .“The older I grow the more I am concerned about' my own defects and the more charitable I become toward the opinions of others.” A DELICATE OPERATION. When we draw attention to the faults of others we wish it to be assumed that we ourselves are free from the faults w e condemn. But nfcst frequently we are unfitted to judge of others moral worth, because of our own moral obliquity. When others pass harsh judgment upon us we feel that had all the facts been known, the treatment would have been more charitable. But o/ffa&rs’ judgment of ourselves is just as likely to be correct as our estimate of them. “Judge not—the working of his brain And of his heart, thou canst not see: What looks to thy dim sight a stain, In God’s pure eyes may only be A scar brought! from some wellfought field, AVhere thou wouldst only faint and yield.” jib requires a steady hand and a clear eye to remove even a speck, of coal dust from the eye of another. The only one fitted to pass judgment on another is the one who is free from fault. “Let him that 1 is without sin, cast the first sltone.

THE GOSPEL NEEDED. Our Saviour said there is only one way to deal with a. brother’s fault. First to see the offender himself, and 'often the explanation will save the scandal. Only in the event of failure here, are we (to tell it even to the Church—the spiritual and charitable among Christians. And only if they fail to effect a remedy is the guilty one to be regarded as a heathen and a publican —and for those the Church prays and seeks by the Gospel of Christ ito bring them light, leading to repentance and forgiveness and restoration. Our own study of this practical command of our Lord’s, only makes us conscious of our own harshness and want of charity, and leads us to seek His forgiveness at the Cross of Calvary, and to pray for His Spirit to move within , us t 0 better life.