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I end here, without adding what more I have to say, that in case thou condemnest us, that omission may be supposed to have hurt us, and permitted thee to take the severer side.
I had known every wretchedness and every dolour, treachery, vain hope, defeat, sickness; as one of the living I had paid my frightful debt to suffering, for I was born without knowing why, and I lived without knowing how; and now, behold, O Lord, Thou requirest me to pay my debt yet again; Thou condemnest me to serve my term of punishment afresh!
But it is easy for us, who have never perilled anything for obedience, to sit in judgment on him. 'Wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. God judges him mercifully, and provides a shelter for his weakness, which he should not have needed.
"The admonition of an enlightened man, never to give up any link of the old institutions; because thereby the already weakened chain may be broken, and fall rattling to the ground." "Then thou condemnest me to uncleanness for the sake of all old superstition, and of the populace, but not for my actions? Thou art silent?
Such is the following confession, Ps. 51, 4: Against Thee only have I sinned, that Thou mightest be justified and be clear when Thou judgest, i.e., "I confess that I am a sinner, and have merited eternal wrath, nor can I set my righteousnesses, my merits, against Thy wrath; accordingly, I declare that Thou art just when Thou condemnest and punishest us, I declare that Thou art clear when hypocrites judge Thee to be unjust in punishing them or in condemning the well-deserving.
I am no such NEEDY man. And thus feeding upon thine own fare, or by making a composition of his and thine together, thou condemnest God, thou countest him insufficient or unfaithful; that is, either one that hath not enough, or having it, will not bestow it upon the poor and needy, and therefore, of mere pretence thou goest to his banquet, but yet trustest to thine own, and to that only.
THEREFORE thou art inexcusable, O man, even every one that judgeth: for in the very thing wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest art living in the practices of the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth, against those who practise such things.
Remember thou art now at the point of death, and repent. He was enlightened and touched: he confessed his sins to Jesus, and said: 'Lord, if thou condemnest me it will be with justice. And Jesus replied, 'Thou shalt experience my mercy. Dismas, filled with the most perfect contrition, began instantly to thank God for the great graces he had received, and to reflect over the manifold sins of his past life.
But, if thou condemnest me for ignorance and inexperience of the good, consider how many sleepless nights I have spent, with some problem before me, oft-times no very important one, giving myself no rest until I had found the clear and most apt solution. Aye, and I have laboriously sought thereafter.
Our Blessed Father used to say that the soul of our neighbour was that tree of the knowledge of good and evil which we are forbidden to touch under pain of severe chastisement; because God has reserved to Himself the judgment of each individual soul. Who art thou, says Sacred Scripture, who judgest thy brother? Knowest thou that wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself?
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