also the other' (Luke vi.
29). It were better far to teach that 'he who courts oppression shares
the crime.' Rather say, if smitten once, take careful measures to
prevent a future smiting. I have heard men preach passive resistance,
but this teaches actual invitation of injury, a course degrading in the
extreme ... the poverty of spirit principle is enforced to the fullest
conceivable extent--'Him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take
thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee, and of him that
taketh away thy goods ask them not again' (Luke vi. 29, 30). Poverty of
person is the only possible sequence to this extraordinary manifestation
of poverty of spirit. Poverty of person is attended with many
unpleasantnesses; and if Jesus knew that poverty of goods would result
from his teaching, we might expect some notice of this. And so there
is--as if he wished to keep the poor content through their lives with
poverty, he says, 'Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God'
(Luke vi. 20) ... Poor in spirit and poor in pocket. With no courage to
work for food, or money to purchase it, we might well expect to find the
man who held these doctrines with empty stomach also; and what does
Jesus teach? 'Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled'
... Craven in spirit, with an empty purse and hungry mouth--what next?
The man who has not manliness enough to prevent wrong, will probably
bemoan his hard fate, and cry bitterly that so sore are the misfortunes
he endures. And what does Jesus teach? 'Blessed are ye that weep now,
for ye shall laugh' (Luke vi. 21) ... Jesus teaches that the poor, the
hungry, and the wretched shall be blessed. This is not so. The blessing
only comes when they have ceased to be poor, hungry, and wretched.
Contentment under poverty, hunger, and misery is high treason, not to
yourself alone but to your fellows. These three, like foul diseases,
spread quickly wherever humanity is stagnant and content with wrong"
("What Did Jesus Teach?" pp. 1-3).

But Jesus did more than panegyrise poverty; he gave still more exact
directions to his disciples as to how poverty should be attained. Matt.
vi. 25-34 is as mischievous a passage as has been penned by any
moralist. "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye
shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on." It is said
that "take no thought" means, "be not over anxious;" if this be so, why
does Christ emphasi