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.

Same Things, Different Character

A holy person often does the same things which are done by an unholy person, and yet, the things done in the two cases, though the same in themselves, are infinitely different in their character. The one performs them in the will of God, the other in the will of the creature.

— Religious Maxims (1846) CXVI.

Be Aware of Your Own Weaknesses

It is the part of Christian duty to endeavor to understand the nature of temptations. And as included in this, it is our duty to understand their specific, as well as their general nature; in other words, their nature in its application to ourselves personally. That, which would be a temptation to one, would not be so to another. The general idea, expressed by the word temptation, embraces not only the object which tempts, but also the subject of the temptation. In particular, therefore, we should study the weak and comparatively defenseless points in our character and situation; those particulars, in which wrong influences will be most likely to have an effect upon us and lead us astray.

— The Interior or Hidden Life (1844) Part 1, Chapter 19.