is works; and we
shall rest perfectly satisfied to see the just sentence carried into
effect.

Even now we possess that attribute, as well as others which make us
the living images of the Most High. But it is far from being perfect,
because our feelings, private interests, and passions warp our
judgments, and even reverse them after we have pronounced a just
sentence. Suppose, for instance, you hear of a man who has committed
a premeditated murder. You are horrified at the atrocious deed, and
without a moment's hesitation you pronounce in your heart that man's
sentence. Your judgment is that he must die on the scaffold, or, at
least, that he be deprived of liberty and condemned to hard labor for
the remainder of his days. But you have scarcely pronounced this just
sentence when you discover that the murderer is your own father! What
a change this one circumstance will bring about in your judgment! If
you are of an affectionate nature, you will do all in your power to
find circumstances that may lessen or palliate his guilt; and perhaps
you may even succeed in making him appear, in your eyes, wholly
innocent; and thus your first judgment is entirely reversed. What is
it that has thus changed your first judgment? Is it your deep sense
of justice? Not at all. Your instinctive feelings of love have
blinded you, and made it impossible for you to judge his case fairly,
and on its own merits.

But, again, if you are not of an affectionate nature, you may be so
transported with rage at your father's crime, that you can find no
punishment severe enough for him. And why so? Because you see
yourself and your family forever disgraced. You feel your cheek
burning with shame, and, in your desire for revenge, you heap
maledictions upon your unfortunate father's head. Here, again, your
judgment is wrong, because it is dictated by an unmanly desire of
revenge. So, in either case, you are unable to judge fairly, and to
pronounce a just sentence, simply because the criminal is your own
father.

Now, it is very certain that none of these prejudices or passions,
which now so much interfere with our judgments, will follow us into
heaven. There, clothed with the justice and sanctity of God himself,
we shall judge as He does, without passion or prejudice. And the fact
that the criminal is our own father, or mother, or other loved one,
will neither influence nor reverse our judgments. I do not mean to
say that we shall actually sit in judg