No. X. JUSTICE
Justice is the principle of awarding to all men, including ourselves, what we believe to be their just rights. We are morally bound to be just even to our enemies, not only in our actions, but also in our words and thoughts.
Justice is said to be truth in action, that is, truth carried into practical operation. Two brothers at school have a hamper sent them from home. It is directed to the elder, but the letter says it is for both. The elder takes charge of it, and, while enjoying its contents freely with his friends, has the power to allow his brother to partake of the good things very sparingly, and only occasionally. But he allows his brother free access to the basket, that both may share alike. That is a simple case of Justice.
A boy going out to steal apples from an orchard forced a younger and smaller boy to accompany him for the purpose of keeping a lookout. While the bigger boy was in the middle of the orchard the younger lad was caught, and taken back to school to be punished. The real thief, having escaped, returned in time to see the little boy punished for the offence. Instead of bravely coming forward to take the place of his companion, who was really his victim, he laughed it off, and promised him some candy at the end of the week. That is a case of gross injustice. The converse of this form of injustice is also common; when one person takes the praise, or reward, that is really due to another. We see injustice of that kind in business, and, indeed, in every walk of life. It has happened over and over again that the maker of some great invention has been obliged to sell it for bread, while the man who bought it has taken advantage of his fellow-man's distress and made a fortune, and the other was left in poverty. "Render, therefore, to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour."
The Thebans represented Justice as having neither hands nor eyes; their idea being to picture the just judge, who would neither receive a bribe, nor respect persons from their appearance. For a similar reason the English people picture her with eyes bandaged, and having a sword in one hand and a pair of scales in the other. The Emperor Maximilian's motto was Fiat justitia, ruat cœlum; "Let justice be done, though the heavens fall." Mahomet said: "One hour in the execution of justice is worth seventy years of prayer."
"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all."
Though man's justice fail, God's justice can never fail in the end.
Grievous injustice is often done by the exaggerations of enemies, or careless busybodies. Two friends fall out, and one, feeling bitter against the other, repeats something which the other has confessed in confidence, taking care to add a little—just enough to save the story from absolute misrepresentation, but enough to do his former friend an injury which, perhaps, can never be undone. Gossip about the failings of others almost always ends in injustice.
"Let every man be swift to hear; slow to speak; slow to wrath," if he wish to become a just man. One of the most harmful of the smaller sins, and most difficult to get rid of, is the sin of exaggeration. It is fatal to the growth of Justice in the character. If we would be just to others, it is well to practise the rule of silence unless we have something favourable to say. The love of Justice should lead us, whenever we hear anything to a man's discredit about which there is no absolute certainty, to give him the benefit of the doubt. When a prisoner is being tried for an offence, the judge always tells the jury that if there be any reasonable doubt about the evidence the prisoner must have the benefit of it. It is better that the guilty go free than that the innocent should suffer.
We can be unjust in our thoughts of others, as well as in our actions and in what we say. We are constantly warned by the best and wisest men about the folly of rash judgments. These words, from the Sermon on the Mount, are an example of many similar warnings: "Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." It is possible to be guilty of the gravest injustice to others, by forming harsh opinions of them in our own minds for which we have not sufficient ground. It is not necessary to utter our judgment in order to be unjust; we can harm people merely by thinking evil of them, because a harsh judgment in the mind affects all our dealings with them, and may thus injure them in the opinion of others.
In seeking to be just men, our grand guide should be the Golden Rule: "As ye would that men should do to you, do to them likewise." If, when about to do, or say, or think, anything unjust of any one, we could get into the way of asking ourselves how we should look upon the matter if the positions of the persons were reversed, there would be far less injustice in the world. Justice is one of the great virtues, and it is worth striving after. It is a virtue that we can only possess in a marked degree by constant practice in doing just acts, in speaking just words, and in thinking just thoughts.