opposite  impression.  He  no  more  meant
that  his  disciples  should  obey  in  the  letter
the  precept,  "  Resist  not  evil  ;  but  whosoever
smiteth  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to
him  the  other  also,"  than  he  meant  that
they  should  give  to  every  one  who  asked
till  they  had  nothing  left  to  give,  or  that
they  were  to  try  to  win  his  favour  by  hating
father  and  mother,  wife  and  child.  The
sayings  are  intentionally  startling ;  they  are
signs  of  a  certain  vehemence  of  exhortation,
driving  the  principles  which  Christ  sought  to
enforce  in  among  the  facts  of  life.  For  any
followers  of  his  who  thought  they  were  bound
by  his  teaching  to  let  wicked  men  do  what
they  pleased  without  restraint  or  punishment,
our  Lord  would  have  had  the  reproach  with
which  he  rebuked  the  Twelve,  "Are  ye  so
without  understanding  ?"  What  he  meant
was  that  a  disciple  of  his  was  not  to  indulge
the  retaliatory,  vindictive,  self -considering
spirit.  The  ideal  of  behaviour  for  a  follower
of  Christ  was  that  he  should  so  restrain  and
suppress  this  spirit  as  to  be  able — so  far  as
he  alone  was  concerned — to  turn  the  left
cheek  to  one  who  smote  the  right.  But  the
precept  was  not  intended  to  prevent  any  man


Preparation  for  War.  189

from  fighting  against  a  wrong-doer.  It  is
true  that  it  pleased  the  Father  that  the  Son
of  man  should  not  be  seen  defending  himself
or  others  with  bodily  force  ;  the  nearest  ap
proach  to  violence  in  his  action  wras  when
he  drove  the  traders  out  of  the  temple  ;  it  is
characteristic  of  him  that  he  submits  and  does
not  retaliate  :  and  we  are  bound  to  give  its
due  weight  to  this  feature  of  the  life  of  Christ.
