Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/449

 ety to  which  they  may  be  more  appropriately  compared than  to  an  Irish  land-grabber,  or  a  "scab" workman during  a  strike,  or  a  soldier  who  betrays  his country's military  secrets  to  the  enemy. An orthodox Jew,  a  Pharisee,  could  no  more  see  good  in  a publican  than  can  I  in  the  vilest  proprietor  of  a  combined saloon  and  brothel. And yet  this  man,  this publican, went  down  to  his  house  justified  rather than the  other. Ah, Brethren,  there  is  enough  there to deter  me  for  the  rest  of  my  days  from  ever  presuming to  pass  judgment  on  my  neighbor. " Man looketh  on  the  outward  appearance,  but  the  Lord looketh  on  the  heart — and  He  resisteth  the  proud and  giveth  grace  to  the  humble." No judgment  of one  man  by  another  can  ever  be  infallible;  the  more severe it  is,  the  more  likely  it  is  to  be  false;  and  even when it  is  favorable,  there  is  still  danger  of  error,  as we  see  in  the  opinion  nine-tenths  of  humanity  would have conceived  of  the  Pharisee. No man  nor  set  of men  are  above  reproach,  and  no  man  nor  set  of  men are utterly  beneath  praise. St. Paul  himself  tells  us that  he  was  a  Pharisee  and  the  son  of  a  Pharisee, and SS. Matthew and  Zacheus  had  both  been  publicans. Two classes  of  society  which  produced  such material, and  which  besides,  as  we  read  in  the  Acts, sent hundreds  of  their  members  into  the  early  Christian Church,  could  not  have  been  wholly  bad. Judge not, therefore,  and  ye  shall  not  be  judged,  but  if  you persist in  passing  condemnatory  sentences  on  your, fellowman, be  sure  you  will  make  such  glaring  mistakes and  work  such  mischief,  that  God's  condemna-