I proving stronger than the devil and he, he had to
get out of the way, or the wagon would have gone over him.

So I gave the wagon to the boy. Then said Tom:--

"'I've a good mind to smack thee on the face.'

"'Well,' I said, 'if that will do thee any good, thou canst do it.' So
he struck me on the face.

"I turned the other cheek to him, and said, 'Strike again.'

"He struck again and again, till he had struck me five times. I turned
my cheek for the sixth stroke; but he turned away cursing.

I shouted after him: 'The Lord forgive thee, for I do, and the Lord
save thee.'

"This was on a Saturday; and when I went home from the coal-pit my wife
saw my face was swollen, and asked what was the matter with it. I
said: 'I've been fighting, and I've given a man a good thrashing.'

"She burst out weeping, and said, 'O Richard, what made you fight?'
Then I told her all about it; and she thanked the Lord I had not struck
back.

"But the Lord had struck, and his blows have more effect than man's.
Monday came. The devil began to tempt me, saying: 'The other men will
laugh at thee for allowing Tom to treat thee as he did on Saturday.' I
cried, 'Get thee behind me, Satan;'--and went on my way to the coal-pit.

"Tom was the first man I saw. I said 'Good-morning,' but got no reply.

"He went down first. When I got down, I was surprised to see him
sitting on the wagon-road waiting for me. When I came to him he burst
into tears and said: 'Richard, will you forgive me for striking you?'

"'I have forgiven thee,' said I; 'ask God to forgive thee. The Lord
bless thee.' I gave him my hand, and we went each to his work."[167]

[167] J. Patterson's Life of Richard Weaver, pp. 66-68, abridged.

"Love your enemies!" Mark you, not simply those who happen not to be
your friends, but your ENEMIES, your positive and active enemies.
Either this is a mere Oriental hyperbole, a bit of verbal extravagance,
meaning only that we should, as far as we can, abate our animosities,
or else it is sincere and literal. Outside of certain cases of
intimate individual relation, it seldom has been taken literally. Yet
it makes one ask the question: Can there in general be a level of
emotion so unifying, so obliterative of differences between man and
man, that even enmity may come to be an irrelevant circumstance and
fail to inhibit the friendlier interests aroused? If positive
well-wishing could attain so supreme a degree of exci