Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Sermons for the Christian Year, Vol. 3
Yes, my brethren, it is so decreed and appointed. Nevertheless, there is just one way, and no other, of escaping entirely this awful judgment. That way has been pointed out to you in the gospel which you have heard read Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Is it possible, my dear brethren? Yes, it is possible; and not only possible, but in fallibly certain, for the very Judge Who will sit in judgment upon us, Jesus Christ Himself, has said it. He has solemnly declared that if we do not judge our neighbour, we shall not be judged ourselves. Ah! My brethren, let us try to realize now what will be our feelings at the day of judgment. We shall then look eagerly enough for some way of escaping that dreadful judgment. But we shall look in vain; for it will then be too late. But now we need not look in vain; such an escape is not only possible, but easy, in the way that has been pointed out to you. Oh! What a boon is this! How easily purchased!
That awful judgment, from which we have so much, in fact everything, to fear, which the saints themselves have feared, will be altogether omitted in our favour, if only we will spare our neighbour the rebuke of our own judgment. And yet, who is there to be found who fulfills the requisite condition? Who is there, on the contrary, who will not have to sustain severe judgment by reason of his merciless judg ment of others. For is not rash judgment the be setting sin of our lives?
Let us, then, consider the malice of this sin; and first, what right have we to judge our neighbour? None Whatever; we have not the shadow of a right. Sin is an offence against God. It is, then, for God alone to judge the sinner and punish the sin. And this would be the case even when we are the sufferers by our neighbour's fault. If my neighbour does anything to injure me, the sin is not committed against me, but against God. I have, therefore, no cause of animosity against the culprit on account of the injury; seeing that I have deserved a thousand times more than this. We ought to look upon the offending party as a minister of God's justice, whose intervention God uses for our correction. If we did but regard the matter in this light; instead of feeling resentment we should rather rejoice at having to suffer something in satisfaction for our sins, and at being able to imitate, however distantly, our crucia fied Redeemer, Who, when He was reviled, did not revile; when He suffered, He threatened not; but delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
