1. He who is severe in his judgment of his neighbor, will in his turn be judged severely by God. Our Lord says: “Judge not [unjustly], that you may not be judged” (Matt, vii. 1). “For with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again” (v. 2). “Condemn not and you shall not be condemned” (Luke vi. 37). [Our Lord tells us to judge righteous judgments instead of rash and unjust judgments: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment.” (John 7:24)]…
2. To judge one’s fellow-man is to commit an offence against God, for it is an usurpation of His rights. There is one Lawgiver and Judge; but who art thou that [unjustly or rashly] judgest thy neighbor?” (Jas. iv. 12.) “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant?” (Rom. xiv. 4.)…
3. He who robs another of his good name is often severely punished by God upon earth; not unfrequently he is overtaken by the same calamity which he sought to bring on his neighbor. A man of evil tongue shall not be established upon the earth (Ps. Cxxxix. 12). Jezabel, the wife of King Achab, suborned two wicked men to falsely accuse Naboth, who would not give up his vineyard to the king, of blasphemy. Retribution eventually fell upon her; she was thrown from the palace window, trampled upon by horses and eaten by dogs (3 Kings xxi.)
It is now no uncommon thing for the slanderer to meet with the self-same fate which he prepared for another, as the following story shows: St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, had a favorite page, who used to distribute her alms. One of the king’s servants, who was jealous of the large share of the queen’s favor enjoyed by that page, calumniated him to the king, one day when he was out hunting. The king believed the calumny; and going up to a lime-kiln which he saw in the forest, he said to the proprietor: “To-morrow I shall send a young man hither, who will ask you whether you have executed the king’s orders; seize him instantly and cast him into the kiln.” On the following morning the king dispatched the queen’s page to the lime-burner with the message agreed upon. On his way thither the young man passed a church, and as the bell was ringing for Mass, he went in and assisted at the holy sacrifice. Meanwhile the servant who had slandered him, curious to know his fate, followed him, as he thought, to the lime-kiln, and on arriving, eagerly asked if the king’s orders had been executed. Almost before he had uttered the question, he was thrown into the furnace. When the queen’s page shortly made his appearance, he was told that the royal behest had been obeyed, and the workmen expected a reward. On his return to the palace, the king was astonished and horrified, and saw clearly that he had been foully deceived. “He hath opened a pit and dug it, and he is fallen into the hole he made” (Ps. vii. 16).
