The law kept by sympathy. "Judge not, that ye be not judged." This word of Christ's implies
I. That we are not to be eager to spy out our neighbour's faults, for that is not worthy, not Christian, not fulfilling the law of God. The more vigilant we are over him, the more careless we are of ourselves. The less we spare his faults, the more tender we grow of our own. The men who are most censorious are just the very men who are themselves the least faultless, the most indulgent to their own cherished sins.
II. That neither are we to speak hastily of the sins of our neighbour. A readiness to spy out faults is one thing; it is another thing to be eager to speak of them and point them out to others. The two things are generally combined. And this is indeed the mischief of that kind of character, that it seldom, if ever, refrains from proclaiming the faults which it is so prone to discover, reckless of the pain or the injury which it may thus inflict; were it otherwise, the evil resulting from such a habit would be mainly limited to the man himself who indulged in it.
III. This implies also that we are to watch against that uncharitable spirit which is ever ready to ascribe the worst meanings and the worst motives to our neighbour's conduct. If there is any moral duty which, more than another, stands out as the very badge and symbol of Christianity, it is charity.
IV. In all such matters we must be regulated by the great law of moral sympathy, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Judge not your neighbour in a way in which you would not like him to judge you. Do not spy out his faults in a fashion which you would consider unkind and ungenerous if done to yourself; do not talk of his errors as you would feel it unfair to have your own discussed and babbled about; do not ascribe base motives and wicked meanings to him, which you would hold to be unjust if ascribed to you. So do ye to others whatsoever ye would that they should do to you.
W. C. Smith, The Sermon on the Mount,p. 276.
References: Matthew 7:1. H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. vi., p. 42; Preacher's Monthly,vol. iv., p. 27. Matthew 7:1; Matthew 7:2. Preacher's Monthly,vol. iii., p. 172.Matthew 7:1-6. Parker, Inner Life of Christ,vol. i., p. 234; J. Oswald Dykes, Manifesto of the King,p. 529.