er a fool placed one "in danger of hell fire." These
objectionable designations were regarded at that time as especially
opprobrious and were therefore expressive of hateful intent. The
murderer's hand is impelled by the hatred in his heart. The law provided
penalty for the deed; the gospel rebuked the evil passion in its
incipiency. To emphasize this principle, the Master showed that hatred
was not to be atoned by a material sacrifice; and that if one came to
make an offering at the altar, and remembered that he was at enmity with
his brother, he should first go to that brother and be reconciled, even
though such a course involved the interruption of the ceremonial, which
was a particularly grievous incident according to the judgment of the
priests. Differences and contentions were to be adjusted without delay.

The law forbade the awful sin of adultery; Christ said that the sin
began in the lustful glance, the sensual thought; and He added that it
was better to become blind than to look with evil eye; better to lose a
hand than to work iniquity therewith. Touching the matter of
divorcement, in which great laxity prevailed in that day, Jesus declared
that except for the most serious offense of infidelity to marriage vows,
no man could divorce his wife without becoming himself an offender, in
that she, marrying again while still a wife not righteously divorced,
would be guilty of sin, and so would be the man to whom she was so
married.

Of old it had been forbidden to swear or take oaths except in solemn
covenant before the Lord; but in the gospel dispensation the Lord
forbade that men swear at all; and the heinousness of wanton oaths was
expounded. Grievously sinful indeed it was and is to swear by heaven,
which is the abode of God; or by earth, which is His creation and by Him
called His footstool; or by Jerusalem, which was regarded by those who
swore as the city of the great King; or by one's own head, which is part
of the body God has created. Moderation in speech, decision and
simplicity were enjoined, to the exclusion of expletives, profanity and
oaths.

Of old the principle of retaliation had been tolerated, by which one who
had suffered injury could exact or inflict a penalty of the same nature
as the offense. Thus an eye was demanded for the loss of an eye, a tooth
for a tooth, a life for a life.[528] In contrast, Christ taught that men
should rather suffer than do evil, even to the extent of submission
wit