There are three characters of judgment with which the saint has to do — self-judgment; the judgment of the church; the judgment of the Lord. They are very distinct in their character. Attention to the first necessarily precludes an individual from falling under the judgment of the church, whose province it is to judge those within, while those who are without God judgeth. The failure of the church to exercise judgment, in its own proper province, on overt acts of evil — such as occurred at Corinth — brings on the judgment of the Lord in some outward and manifest form. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." It is equally the province of the church to judge the doctrine of those within. The Lord had it against Thyatira — that Jezebel, which called herself a prophetess, was suffered to teach her seducing doctrine. And the Lord must judge in this case also, if the church tolerates evil doctrine. But the judgment of the Lord is ever supreme, and we are always, individually and collectively, amenable to it. Self-judgment, indeed, would prevent us, as individuals, from falling under the Lord's judgment in a marked and manifest manner.
Presbutes. (perhaps J. L. Harris.)