Exceeding the duties laid down by the Law and the elders,
he demanded perfection. All the virtues of humility--forgiveness,
charity, abnegation, and self-denial--virtues which with good reason
have been called Christian, if we mean by that that they have been
truly preached by Christ, were in this first teaching, though
undeveloped. As to justice, he was content with repeating the
well-known axiom--"Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do
ye even so to them."[4] But this old, though somewhat selfish wisdom,
did not satisfy him. He went to excess, and said--"Whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any
man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy
cloak also."[5] "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast
it from thee."[6] "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you,
pray for them that persecute you."[7] "Judge not, that ye be not
judged."[8] "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven."[9] "Be ye therefore
merciful as your Father also is merciful."[10] "It is more blessed to
give than to receive."[11] "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be
abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted."[12]

[Footnote 1: The _Logia_ of St. Matthew joins several of these axioms
together, to form lengthened discourses. But the fragmentary form
makes itself felt notwithstanding.]

[Footnote 2: The sentences of the Jewish doctors of the time are
collected in the little book entitled, _Pirke Aboth_.]

[Footnote 3: The comparisons will be made afterward as they present
themselves. It has been sometimes supposed that--the compilation of
the Talmud being later than that of the Gospels--parts may have been
borrowed by the Jewish compilers from the Christian morality. But this
is inadmissible--a wall of separation existed between the Church and
the Synagogue. The Christian and Jewish literature had scarcely any
influence on one another before the thirteenth century.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. vii. 12; Luke vi. 31. This axiom is in the book of
_Tobit_, iv. 16. Hillel used it habitually (Talm. of Bab., _Shabbath_,
31 _a_), and declared, like Jesus, that it was the sum of the Law.]

[Footnote 5: Matt. v. 39, and following; Luke vi. 29. Compare
Jeremiah, _Lamentations_ iii. 30.]

[Footnote 6: Matt. v. 29, 30, xviii. 9; Mark ix. 46.]

[Footnote 7: Matt. v. 44; Luke vi. 27. Compare Talmud of Babylon,
_Shabbath_, 88 _b_; _Joma_, 23 _a_.]

[Footnote 8: Ma