in the popular
mind, but were themselves parents of immoral evasions, for it was the
teaching of some Rabbis, at all events, that an oath 'by heaven' or 'by
earth' or 'by Jerusalem' or 'by my head' did not bind. That further
relaxation of the obligation of truthfulness was grounded on the words
quoted in verse 33, for, said the immoral quibblers, 'it is "thine oaths
to the Lord" that thou "shalt perform," and for these others you may do
as you like' Therefore our Lord insists that every oath, even these
mutilated, colloquial ones which avoid His name, is in essence an appeal
to God, and has no sense unless it is. To swear such a truncated oath,
then, has the still further condemnation that it is certainly an
irreverence, and probably a quibble, and meant to be broken. It must be
fully admitted that there is little in common between such pieces of
senseless profanity as these oaths, or the modern equivalents which
pollute so many lips to-day, and the oath administered in a court of
justice, and it may further be allowed weight that Jesus does not
specifically prohibit the oath 'by the Lord,' but it is difficult to see
how the principles on which He condemns are to be kept from touching
even judicial oaths. For they, too, are administered on the ground of
the false idea that they add to the obligation of veracity, and give a
guarantee of truthfulness which a simple affirmation does not give. Nor
can any one, who knows the perfunctory formality and indifference with
which such oaths are administered and taken, and what a farce 'kissing
the book' has become, doubt that even judicial oaths tend to weaken the
popular conception of the sin of a lie and the reliance to be placed
upon the simple 'Yea, yea; Nay, nay.'

NON-RESISTANCE

'Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a
tooth for a tooth: 39. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil:
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the
other also. 40. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take
away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41. And whosoever shall
compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42. Give to him that
asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou
away.'--MATT. v. 38-42.

The old law directed judges to inflict penalties precisely equivalent to
offences--'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth' (Exod. xxi. 24),
but that direction was not