Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Ver. 1. Judge not, that ye be not judged] Hoc verbum quandam indaginem involvit. The word a imports a kind of curious inquiry into other men's faults, that we may the more severely censure and subject them to a sinister interpretation. It signifies sometimes no more, I grant, than to reprehend, asRomans 2:1. But this, so it were wisely done, our Saviour would never have reprehended. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart:" but (for prevention of such a mischief) thou shalt plainly (not perfunctorily, or in jest, bravery, form, derision) rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him, as some read it; lest thou suffer for his sin: or, as others, lift not up his sin over him as an ensign, b blaze it not abroad to his just grief and disgrace; but clap a plaister on the sore, and then cover it with thy hand, as surgeons, use to do, that the world may be never the wiser. This were charity, which hides with her mantle a multitude of sins; yea, prepares covers and cures for the infirmities of others as fast as they breed them, 1 Peter 4:8. And the neglect hereof, the not giving vent to our hearts, by a wise and plain reproof, causeth estrangement of affection, dwelling suspicions, blind censures, a very habit of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of all things, till men grow rusty with rancour and malice, the poison whereof would be soon drawn out by a seasonable reproof: this, well and wisely done, were far better than judging and grudging one against another, since it is, "judge not, that ye be not judged," and "grudge not, that ye be not condemned," James 5:9. The sins of others we should hear of with indignation, fearfully and unwillingly believe, acknowledge with grief, never speak of them but in an ordinance, rather hide them, as much as may be, with honest excuses, and make apology; as, that there are infirmities in the best, though we know them not; that, as good gold, they are haply of the lightest, may want a grain or two of their just weight; but give them their allowance, and they may pass for current, &c. Be not rash in rejecting or sour in censuring your fellow servant. c That saying is true, Three things are not subject to our judgments, the counsels of God, the Holy Scriptures, and the persons of men, Romans 14:10. It is a good rule of the schoolmen concerning the judgment of our neighbour, Ut bona eius certa, meliora; certa mala, minora; dubia bona, certa; dubia mala nulla iudicemus: that we make the best of everything that we can with truth, and not aggravate small faults; exclaiming, with Momus, against the creaking of Venus's pantofle.
That ye be not judged] Judge we must ourselves, and God will not judge us. Step from the bar, where thou hast arraigned, accused, witnessed, and pleaded guilty against thyself, to the bench, and there pass sentence of condemnation, judging thyself worthy to be turned into hell torments. Thus judge yourselves and spare not. But judge not others; namely, rashly, sinisterly, finally, and peremptorily, "lest ye be judged;" both first of God, into whose chair ye leap, and whose children ye condemn, even the generation of the just; as David once did, and befooled himself well favouredly for it, when he had done. And secondly of men: good men must suspect you, bad men scorn you, and all men shun you, and desire to be rid of you, as unfit to live in a civil society. d Therefore judge nothing before the time, behold, the Judge standeth at the door. It is the office of angels to sever the sheep from the goats, the tares from the wheat, the elect from the reprobate. Those that undertake positively to determine of men's final estate, they know not of what spirit they are, with those sons of Zebedee; they take too much upon them, with those sons of Levi; they understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm, with those impostors in Timothy, Numbers 16:7; 1 Timothy 1:7. Neither may they escape here uncensured, that for particular acts or petty failings take upon them rashly and harshly to censure their betters many times. Job and Jeremiah met with such as watched for their halting, and made them offenders for a word. These pry into every particular more narrowly than Laban did into Jacob's stuff, waiting as a dog for a bone, for anything less beseeming the saints, that they may fasten upon with their fangs, that they may tear with their teeth, and swallow down with those open sepulchres, their throats, the good names of others; censuring them deeply for human frailties, unchurching and unbrothering them for unavoidable infirmities, e It is hard measuring of a man by his state and behaviour in a pelt, in a passion, which are violent, and have made the holiest, in their heat, little less than bestial,1 Samuel 25:22; Psalms 116:9. The like may be said of sins strengthened by ancient custom, or natural inclination, or hereditary, the sins of our parents, or furthered by a multitude of temptations and enticements. Handle these gently in the judgment of charity, and joint them again in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself; lest thou also be tempted. f It is not to be liked, when men leap from the cradle of profession into the chair of censure, blinder than beetles at home, sharper than eagles abroad. Charity and humility would teach them to wink at small faults, as God doth, and to pitch upon that in another that is praiseworthy. Our Saviour is said to have loved the rich young Pharisee, for that little good he found in him; and Bucer never rejected any, though different in opinion, in whom he discerned aliquid Christi, anything of Christ. St Paul bids us consider one another, to whet on to love,Hebrews 10:24, to pitch upon such good parts and properties as may engender love and sway us to a good opinion of our brethren. The wisdom from above is full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, &c. But they shall have judgment without mercy that use no mercy in their judgings, James 3:17. God shall bring home their own dealings to their own doors. "For with what judgment ye judge," &c. Only our Saviour is to be understood here of private and corrupt judgment passed upon others, out of sinful curiosity and ill-will, for Nemo curiosus quin malevolus, either to set up ourselves above them, or by condemning them to countenance our own evil courses. Magistrates may and must judge between the righteous and the wicked. Ministers must take out the precious from the vile, and say to the wicked, "It shall be ill with them, the reward of their hands shall be given unto them," Isaiah 3:11; "Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? yea, thou shalt show them all their abominations,"Ezekiel 22:2. How often doth our Saviour call the Pharisees hypocrites, serpents, vipers, &c. And how roundly dealt St Paul with the sorcerer, Acts 13:10 : and with the incestuous person, 1 Corinthians 5:13. Lastly, though we may not be many masters, James 3:1, supercilious and censorious, &c., yet we may all judge the tree by the fruit, call spade a spade, a drunkard a drunkard, &c., and leaving his final doom to the searcher of all hearts, judge and censure him, for the present to be God's enemy, and in a most wretched estate. We both may and must condemn all six in ourselves and others. But it is a fault to be itchingly inquisitive after other men's misdemeanours, to be an eavesdropper,Ecclesiastes 7:21, or to censure them, when they come to our knowledge, unmerciflfily and above the royal law. Let your επιεικεια, moderation of utmost right, be known to all men: the Lord is at hand Philippians 4:5 .
a κρινειν etiam significat interpretari, et plerunque de somniis dicitur. Novarin.
b Leviticus 19:17. Ne eius peccatum luas. Ne tamen super cum peccatum tollas tanquam vexillum.
c Noli esse alienae vitae aut temerarius iudex, aut curiosus explorator. Bernard. The Hebrew word for prayer hath the first signification of judging, because thereto we must judge ourselves.
d Iupiter hunc coeli dignatus honore fuisset;
Censorem linguae sed timet ipse suae.
Sic. in Laur. Vallam, severum censorem scriptorum, quidam lusit. Trithem.
e Sunt quidem in Eccelesia Catholica plurimi mali, sed haereticis nullus est bonus. Bellarm. de not. Ecc 4:13
f καταρτιζετε, Galatians 6:1. Aut sumus, aut fuimus, aut possumus esse quod hic est.