for the guidance of individuals. It was
suited for the stage of civilisation in which it was given, and probably
was then a restriction, rather than a sanction, of the wild law of
retaliation. Jesus sweeps it away entirely, and goes much further than
even its abrogation. For He forbids not only retaliation but even
resistance. It is unfortunate that in this, as in so many instances,
controversy as to the range of Christ's words has so largely hustled
obedience to them out of the field, that the first thought suggested to
a modern reader by the command 'Resist not evil' (or, an evil man) is
apt to be, Is the Quaker doctrine of uniform non-resistance right or
wrong, instead of, Do I obey this precept? If we first try to understand
its meaning, we shall be in a position to consider whether it has
limits, springing from its own deepest significance, or not. What, then,
is it not to resist? Our Lord gives three concrete illustrations of what
He enjoins, the first of which refers to insults such as contumelious
blows on the cheek, which are perhaps the hardest not to meet with a
flash of anger and a returning stroke; the second of which refers to
assaults on property, such as an attempt at legal robbery of a man's
undergarment; the third of which refers to forced labour, such as
impressing a peasant to carry military or official baggage or
documents--a form of oppression only too well known under Roman rule in
Christ's days. In regard to all three cases, He bids His disciples
submit to the indignity, yield the coat, and go the mile. But such
yielding without resistance is not to be all. The other cheek is to be
given to the smiter; the more costly and ample outer garment is to be
yielded up; the load is to be carried for two miles. The disciple is to
meet evil with a manifestation, not of anger, hatred, or intent to
inflict retribution, but of readiness to submit to more. It is a hard
lesson, but clearly here, as always, the chief stress is to be laid, not
on the outward action, but on the disposition, and on the action mainly
as the outcome and exhibition of that. If the cheek is turned, or the
cloak yielded, or the second mile trudged with a lowering brow, and hate
or anger boiling in the heart, the commandment is broken. If the inner
man rises in hot indignation against the evil and its doer, he is
resisting evil more harmfully to himself than is many a man who makes
his adversary's cheeks tingle before his own have ceased t