Editorial May 11, 1940 Issue

Judgment

Evelyn F. Heywood

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment," said Jesus. Here were two alternatives, the one forbidden, the other commended. A choice would therefore have to be made between them. The easy, the obvious judgment, immediately available, was discredited by Jesus; instead, he advocated that which would make demands upon intelligence and impartiality; in many instances upon integrity and courage.

"Men's judgments are a parcel of their fortunes," said Shakespeare. It was a moderate estimate of their importance. In Christian Science we come to see that men's judgments are more than "a parcel of their fortunes;" they direct and fashion their lives. Continually, judgment of some kind is demanded of them which either strengthens their trust in and understanding of the divine will, or finds them further entangled in human verdicts and conclusions. Each day, perhaps many times a day, men are called upon to make judgments. These will be righteous as they are the outcome of conscious communion with the divine Mind, the source of all wisdom and love; or if they are the result of personal influences and desires, the acceptance of willful, irresponsible conclusions, they will be a departure from justice and therefore from God.

In justice to Him who has made all things perfect, and to His children, who are the rightful inheritors thereof, the first call upon us in every judgment is to refuse to admit the evidence of the material senses, whatever it may be, whether pleasurable or disturbing. First and foremost, let our judgment be between the real and the unreal, that we be not mesmerized into accepting as actual the things which are according to appearance. Let us maintain righteous judgment—the spiritual fact of God and His whole universe—in the face of every lying argument. In this way, as did Jesus, we shall see health instead of disease, and evil will be overcome; we shall see the kingdom of heaven within us, about us, instead of what would sometimes claim to be the kingdom of hell; we shall know that nothing can separate us from our oneness with Principle, where judgment alone is to be found, where justice is enthroned. Such righteous judgment is never involved in obscurities, handicapped by ambiguities, concerned with penalties. It makes no mistakes, and knows no favors. And because it is ours, we are called upon to show it forth in our lives.

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