Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/450

 tion will  come  heavy  upon  you. " Judge  not  and  ye shall  not  be  judged."

Lastly, Brethren,  the  parable  teaches  how  much  at variance  usually  are  the  judgments  of  man  and  the judgments of  God,  They  are  generally  as  different as the  grounds  on  which  they  are  based;  as  different as was  the  Pharisee's  fair  exterior  from  his  proud,  uncharitable, sinful  soul,  or  the  publican's  unpromising aspect from  his  humble  and  contrite  heart. Far God is not  concerned  with  the  outward  appearances  of things,  nor  is  His  knowledge,  like  ours,  acquired slowly and  with  much  labor  and  easily  forgotten. See what a  weary  process  has  to  be  gone  through  with  in a  court  of  justice  that  one  little  case  may  be  decided, one little  wrong  righted,  and  consider  how  often even then  justice  miscarries  and  the  innocent  are punished and  the  guilty  freed. And if  decisions  so laboriously  arrived  at  frequently  prove  false,  what  of opinions  formulated  in  a  moment? But with  God,  to exist  is  to  know,  and  so  penetrating  and  so  comprehensive is  the  scope  of  His  vision  that  all  creatures, all events,  all  men  from  time's  beginning  to  time's end  are  ever  present  before  Him;  aye,  even  our  very motives regarding  which  we  manage  so  often  and  so egregiously  to  deceive  ourselves. " Thou  hast  understood my  thoughts  afar  off,"  says  the  Psalmist, (Psalms i.  38),  "Thou  hast  foreseen  all  my  ways. Whither  shall  I  go  from  Thy  Spirit,  whither  flee  from Thy  face?  If  I  ascend  into  heaven  Thou  art  there,  if I  descend  into  hell  Thou  art  present,  and  in  the  uttermost parts  of  the  sea.  And  I  said:  Perhaps  darkness