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A. E. PLACE

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 20, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 34.

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A. E. PLACE

By A. E. PLACE

“Judge Not”—No. 5

A. E. PLACE

It is said that at one time a noted artist was called to paint the portrait of Napoleon. The artist noticed a bad scar on the general’s forehead; yet the side which would make that scar prominent was the side he wished to paint. He said, “I cannot paint that scar lest I ruin my picture.” So he had the general sit at a table, with his elbow resting on the table, and his index finger over the scar; then the artist went on with his work, which proved to be a great success.
This is doing to others as we would that they should do to us. It would, however, be useless for me, in painting my own picture, to put my fingers over scars; but I believe it to be charity, or rather a virtue born of charity, if I so picture my fellow men that their scars are at least not made prominent.
Husbands, how are you painting your wives? Wives, how are you painting your husbands? Church members, how are you painting? Shall we not pray most earnestly that in all our painting of God’s children we may be artists for God?
To the heart of true love, do scars or weaknesses awaken censure, or do they awaken sympathy and a desire to help? To which child does the mother give the greatest share of her time and tender devotion? Is it not to the one most afflicted? And is not this as true when the child has been guilty as when he is innocent? A true mother will work for her child to the very end, and though he be on the scaffold, ready to meet the penalty for violation of law, mother willcry for a reprieve, that she may still have longer labor for her wayward son. In this way the name mother means much to the world.

No Scars, No Battles

The man or woman who, from a physical standpoint, has no scars, has fought few real battles. I believe this to be as positively true from a mental or moral standpoint as from the physical. Let us remember that the hole in the uniform, the empty sleeve, the sightless eye, the prematurely gray hair and furrowed brow, may mean struggles of which we know nothing.
Each heart knows its own battles and sorrows, its own struggles with temptation, its own prayers and tears, heard and seen by God alone. Could we read the heart and know all, even then we should have no right to judge. But we do not know all, and we cannot know all. No, not even of our own hearts; for concerning them God has written, “Deceitful, . . . wicked.” Jer. 17:9.
If we cannot know our own hearts, but must pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: . . . and see if there be any wicked way in me,” how can we pass sentence upon an individual of whom we know little except the outward appearance?
When Eliab came before Samuel, even that aged servant of God said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before me.” And the horn of oil was raised for the anointing, but God said, “I have refused him.” How did Samuel reach his decision? He looked “on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.”
Circumstantial evidence is often no evidence at all; or, in other words, it is the worst kind of evidence. Looks and acts are often deceptive. A smiling face often covers a sorrowing heart. Many an innocent man has gone to the scaffold, and one word tells why,—“misjudged.” The best Man who ever lived in this world was crucified. Why?—“Misjudged!”
Of Christ the record states, “His visage was so marred [scarred] more than any man.” Isa. 52:14. But upon the cross, that scarred face did not even look condemnation to those who crucified him, or to those who wagged their heads and reviled, neither did his lips speak it; but in that hour when his mental and mortal agony was greatest, he lifted his eyes and his heart to the only Judge and cried, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Do we know what we do today? Are we, by judging or misjudging his children, weaving another crown of thorns? Are we piercing his hands, or feet, or side? Are we grieving afresh that great heart of love? If so, he still cries, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Blessed is that one who, while hanging upon any cross of misjudgment, can turn his eyes to Him who “maketh intercessions” for all mankind, and truly pray, “Forgive them.”
If we are successful in reaching heaven, we may find many there who we decided would never reach that blessed place. We may also look long for others and not find them. The Judge of all the earth does right. O that we may desire to please him more than anything else in this world! If we do this, we can never take up a reproach against one of his children; for, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
San Jose, Cal.