Hinderances to Good Judgment: Judging Others

Faith in the heart is the true regulator of that disposition, so widely prevalent, and oftentimes so unjust and so dangerous, of judging the characters of our fellowmen. The judgment of men’s conduct and characters, if it be a just and full judgment, implies the additional fact of a judgment of their motives. But if men are baffled in their inquiries into the nature of a tree or plant, of a drop of water or a grain of sand, ought they not to distrust their powers and to be slow in their decisions, in a matter so remote from direct observation and involving so many elements, as the judgment of human motives. If there be any one thing, which may properly be described as God’s prerogative, it is that of judging the heart. 

The man, who has faith in God, will not be hasty in passing a judgment upon the characters of his fellow-men, because faith is the natural and only effectual extinguisher of those various rivalships and jealousies, which are the frequent and injurious sources of hasty judgment. Nor is this all. He will not judge in this hasty manner also, because he feels that God’s command, to which faith gives a practical import and power of which it would otherwise be destitute, is binding upon him. “JUDGE NOT, THAT YE BE NOT JUDGED; for, with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

— From The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 10.

Good Judgment & Living by the Moment

The doctrine of religious faith involves the doctrine of living by the moment; that is to say, of giving to the present moment the whole amount of our present powers, on the obvious ground of its involving the whole amount of present duty. In other words, a living faith, resulting as it does in a holy heart and life, tends to prevent mental dissipation, and to fix the mind upon one object, the appropriate and all important object, namely, that which the present moment brings before it. Such a mind necessarily forms the habit of strict and profound attention. It is not perplexed in its action by a frequent tendency to fly off from its present inquiries, and to bewilder itself in other subjects which are not connected with them. It is superfluous to say, that such a state of mind is exceedingly favorable in the investigation of the truth. The mind, that is capable of fully giving its attention, other things being equal, will be much more correct in its judgments than other minds.

— From The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 10.

Hinderances to Correct Judgment: The Pride of Human Intellect

One of the favorable effects of faith on the exercise of the judgment is, that it is adverse to the pride of human intellect. When we speak of faith in God, we mean God as he is; not a God who is dwindled down to the compass of man’s imagination, but God as he is; God illimitable, God omnipotent, God who reveals himself in every thing that is made, but who in every thing that is made indicates also that there is something not revealed, and something which cannot be revealed. The pride of human intellect cannot stand in the light of such a presence. The man of true religious faith, the man who has faith, not in the idol of his own imagination, but in God as he is, reverting from the Infinite Mind to his own mind, begins at once to feel that he has no intellectual strength, no true wisdom, no purity of love, and no foundation of hope, except what he derives from a divine source. “The most enlightened of men,” says Robert Hall, “have always been the first to perceive and acknowledge the remaining obscurity, which hung around them; just as, in the night, the further a light extends, the wider the surrounding sphere of darkness appears. Hence it has always been observed, that the most profound inquirers into nature have been the most modest and humble.

Hinderances to Correct Judgment: “Empressement.”

One of those things, which are unfavorable to sound judgment, is an undue eagerness, a precipitancy of spirit, which looks earnestly and interestedly to the end without a suitable consideration of the intermediate steps; a state of mind, which the French spiritual writers happily denominate by the single term, “empressement.” 

Christian faith not only removes that undue excitement, which has already been mentioned, and which may arise from a variety of causes; but is also, as it seems to us, the best and only sure corrective of this unseemly and dangerous urgency; this ZEAL of NATURE, if we may so designate it, in distinction from the pure and calm zeal of grace. 

The truth is hidden in God; IN him, OF him, and FROM him; in him because God is true; of him, because all things that come from God are characterized as they come from his hand by being made in the truth; from him, because all beings that desire and seek the truth, must look to him for it. To the truth, therefore, God can never be indifferent; neither to its nature, nor its dissemination, nor its results. And he, who has faith in God as the source of light to all that seek light, as the giver of truth to all that humbly seek the truth, will find no difficulty in being patient, in delaying his conclusions when there is a want of adequate evidence, in reflecting, comparing, and praying for divine guidance. The perceptive and judging powers, exercised under such circumstances, can hardly fail to ascertain the truth. Not the absolute truth always, which implies a knowledge of all possible facts and relations; in other words, not the whole or all possible truth always; but the TRUTH; that kind of truth and that degree of truth, be it more or less, which God in his beneficence and wisdom sees to be precisely fitted to our intellectual capacities and our moral wants; that truth, which the Savior declared to those who believed on him, should make them free. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which BELIEVED on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32.

— From The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 10.

Hinderances to Correct Judgment: Emotion & Passion

One of the greatest hindrances of correct judgment is inordinate excitement of emotion and passion. Whatever may be the cause of it, it is well known, that, when the passions are excited in a considerable degree, the mind finds it difficult to perceive the relations in propositions, particularly those which are of an abstract nature, and to combine them together so as to deduce the true result. And accordingly if a person has before him some difficult subject for examination, one requiring either by its results or its nature a careful and strong mental effort, we generally find him very solicitous to be freed, during the process in which he is engaged, from all exciting and passionate influences. 

It is hardly necessary to say here, after the remarks which have been made at various times, that faith in God tends to subdue and calm every thing of this kind. And I think it may be said with truth, that it is a matter of common Christian consciousness, which Christians will verify by their testimony, that when they are in their best religious state by strong faith and by consequent freedom from worldly passions, they are in the best condition to decide promptly and correctly upon all questions, whether moral or prudential, which require their attention.

— From The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 10.

Faith and Good Judgment

We have seen something in the remarks which have been made in some of the preceding chapters, of the mighty influence of faith in the regulation of the affections and the will; but it is worthy of notice, that it has influence in other parts of our nature also; and particularly in giving rectitude to the judgment. 

Knowledge, which is the result of the action of those perceptive and comparing powers, which we commonly express by the single term, the JUDGMENT, has a closer connection with a correct and thorough inward experience, than is sometimes supposed. True knowledge is the food of the purified mind; that upon which it lives and gains strength. “He, that hath the truth,” says the Savior, “heareth my voice.” False knowledge, if we may call it such, or rather falsehood, under the semblance of knowledge, may be described, on the contrary, as the soul’s poison. Looking at the subject in this point of view, it is not easy to appreciate too highly any thing, which gives precision and steadiness to those powers of the mind, in which knowledge has its source.

The Blessedness of a Will Lost

If we truly believe in God as a being possessed of every natural excellence, if we believe in him as a God present in all his providences, and ever watchful and faithful for the good of his people, and if at the same time we fully believe that in all his actions he is right and that in all his claims upon us he is right, there remains no reason, no possible consideration, no motive, why we should either desire on natural principles, or should feel under obligation on moral principles to possess a will, an aim, a purpose adverse to his. All ground or basis of movement in such a direction entirely fails. But every thing stands firm and effective in the other direction. So that it will not only be unnatural not to give our wills to God; but it will be impossible, (that is to say, it will be psychologically or mentally impossible,) not to do it. All the motives, which can be conceived of, those which have relation to our moral duty, all combine in the same direction; so that the laws of his being must cease to be the laws of his being and man must cease to be man, if, having full faith in God, he does not fully yield his will to God.

An Affectionate Submission to God

The subjection or submission of the will, for which we contend, is an affectionate submission, a submission which has some elements of the heart in it, a submission of love. We do not mean to say, that the submission of the will is, psychologically or mentally, the same thing, with love; but that it is a state of mind which implies love. And furthermore, the existence of love, as a necessary attendant upon it, gives to it one of its marked peculiarities, and a great share of its exceeding value. And it is this submission, therefore, the submission of the will in love, which God desires, and which he demands. But it is well understood, that the love of God, implies faith in God. To love him without having faith in his character as a good and holy being would be an impossibility. And, accordingly, looking at the subject in this point of view, we may confidently say the will is never truly subjected to God, is never subjected in that sense which alone God can accept, without faith.

Subjection of the Will by Faith

How is this great work, the subjection of the will, to be effected? 

And the answer must be repeated, which has already been so often given, that it can be done, so far as we can perceive, only by the operations and influence of FAITH. 

And in saying this, it can hardly be necessary to add, that we do not mean to exclude personal effort, in whatever form of resolve or of action it can properly be made; although it is true, and always will remain true, that personal effort here, as elsewhere in the things of religion, will be unavailing without faith. And this is so truly and emphatically the case, that we cannot hesitate to speak of faith as the cause, and as the one great and preeminent cause of a result so desirable and glorious.It is obvious, in the first place, that the man, who has no faith in God, can see no reason, and in the actual state of his views and feelings he has no reason, so far as he himself is concerned, why he should subject his will to God’s will. To subject our wills is to subject ourselves. If God has the control of the will, he has the control of the man. And no man, no rational being whatever, could be expected to subject his will, and thus to subject himself, to another being, however exalted he might be supposed to be, without faith in such being. It would obviously be against nature. That is to say, it is something, which in our apprehension is naturally impossible.

Keep The Eye Fixed on God's Order of Things

...the man, who has experienced the practical annihilation of his own will, does every thing and suffers every thing precisely in the order of God’s providence. It is the PRESENT MOMENT, considered as indicating the divine arrangement of things, which furnishes the truest and safest test of character. Holiness requires the fulfilment of our whole duty; and our duty necessarily has relation to the facts which God’s providence now presents before us. If our whole soul goes forth in obedience to what his holy providence now imposes on us, then, and not otherwise, are we acceptable in his sight. It is necessary, therefore, to keep our eye fixed upon God’s order of things. We must do this in relation to our place and situation in life, whatever it may be; not murmuring at our supposed ill lot; not giving way to any eager desires of change; but remaining quietly and humbly just where God has seen fit to place us.