On Judging Others (part 3)

This is the continuation of the series of quotes about judging others from Frederick Faber. The first 2 summarized points below are from part 1 and points 3 and 4 are from part 2:

1.  It is a universal law that when we judge others, whether individuals or multitudes, we come to erroneous conclusions from the mere fact that we naturally judge over-harshly.

2.  Severity is one of the natural accompaniments of a young and immature state of grace. 

3.  When we see evil in others, we never can see the amount of inward resistance which the person has given to the evil, or the amount of humiliation and sorrow which they may have for their own failures and defects. 

4. The evil in our fellows strikes us with bold startling proportions, whereas goodness is more quiet and hidden, and often passes unobserved...

5. Satan is active, but grace is more active. ...we fail to see that God is ten thousand times more active than Satan, though He seems to be less so...we do not know how to follow God in the deep seclusion of His work, for He works opposite to the methods of satan, and is constantly accomplishing marvelous things in human souls which we do not suspect...If we actually saw what God is doing in the very people we often criticize and condemn, we could be utterly astonished at the immensity, the vigor, and the versatility of the magnificent spiritual work which God is doing all around us in the world.

6. We see the evil in our fellows much sooner than the good. On a very short acquaintance with persons we discover their defects, and the things in them which are disagreeable to us, and soon find the weak point in them where they are most likely to fail; but their better nature is more slowly unfolding...This invisible character of goodness is not so obtrusive as defects because there is an instinctive bashfulness in goodness...oftentimes in little things, in the ordinary wear and tear of life, there will come forth in unostentatious ways traits of humility and self-depreciation, or patience and sweetness and unselfishness beyond what we expect of them.