How
seldom do we hear any one say in a public debate or in a private
conversation, I don't know; or, It is no matter of mine; or, I feel that
I am not in possession of all the facts; or, It may be so, but I must not
judge. We never hear such things as these said. No one pays the least
attention to the Preacher on the Mount. And if any one says to us, I
must not judge, we never forgive him, because his humility and his
obedience so condemn all our ill-formed, prejudiced, rash, and
ill-natured judgments of our neighbour. Since, therefore, so Butler sums
up, it is so hard for us to enter on our neighbour's character without
offending the law of Christ, we should learn to decline that kind of
conversation altogether, and determine to get over that strong
inclination most of us have, to be continually talking about the
concerns, the behaviour, and the deserts of our neighbours.
Now, it was all those vices of the tongue in full outbreak in the day of
James the Just that made that apostle, half in sorrow, half in anger,
demand of all his readers that they should henceforth begin to bridle
their tongues.
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