Ye have heard, &c.— With respect to men's resisting and revenging such injuries as are done them, Jesus assured his disciples, that although, for the preservation of society, Moses had ordained the judges to give eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, if the injured party demanded it; yet the doctors were greatly in the wrong, not only when they enjoined men to insist on retaliation as their duty, but declared it lawful in many cases for the injured party to avenge himself with his own hand, provided, in his revenge, he did not exceed the measure prescribed in the law. Christ's doctrine is, that the good man is so far from revenging private injuries, that oftentimes he does not even resist them, and always forgives them when they happen to be done to him; a Christian generosity which he warmly recommended to his disciples in the passage before us. To understand it aright, we must take notice, that there are five cases put, wherein Christianmeekness must especially shew itself: first, when any one assaults our person, in resentment of some affront which he imagines we have put upon him: secondly, when any one sues us at the law, in order to take our goods from us: thirdly, when he attacks our natural liberty: fourthly, when one who is poor asks charity: fifthly, when our neighbour begs the loan of something from us. In all these cases, our Lord forbids us to resist: yet, from the examples he mentions, it is plain, that this forbearance and compliance are to be understood under due limitations; for it cannot be supposed that our Lord forbids us to defend ourselves against murderers, who would unjustly take away our life: neither can it be, that he commands us to give every idle and worthless fellow all he may think fit to ask, whether in charity or in loan: we are only to give what we can spare, and to such persons as out of real necessity seek relief from us; nay, our Lord's own behaviour towards the man, who, in the presence of the council, smote him on the cheek, gives reason to think he did not mean that in all cases his disciples should be perfectly passive under the very injuries which he here speaks of. In some circumstances, smiting on the cheek, taking away one's coat, and the compelling of him to go a mile, may be great injuries; and therefore we may be justified in vindicating ourselves in a way perfectly consistent withevery Christian temper. The first instance was judged so by Jesus himself, inthe case mentioned; for had he forborne to reprove the man who did it, his silence might have been interpreted as proceeding from a conviction of his having done evil, in giving the high-priest the answer for which he was smitten. But, in respect to small injuries, it is not only our duty to bear them patiently, and be passive under them, but it is advantageous even in a temporal point of view: for he who bears a slight affront consults even his own interest much better than he who resists or resents it; because he shews a greatness of mind worthy of a Christian man, and avoids quarrels, which frequently are attended with the most fatal consequences. In like manner, he who yields a little of his right, rather than go to law, is much wiser than the man who has recourse to justice in every instance; because, in the progressof a law-suit, such animosities may arise, as are inconsistent with charity. Again, benevolence, which is the glory of the divine nature, and the perfection of the human, rejoices in doing good; hence, the man possessed of this godlike quality cheerfully embraces every occasion in his power of relieving the poor and distressed, whether by gift or loan. Some are of opinion, that the precept concerning alms-giving, and gratuitous lending, is subjoined to the instances of injuries which our Lord commands us to bear: to teach us, that if the persons who have injured us fall into want, we are not to withhold any act of charity from them, on account of the evil they have formerly done us. Taken in this light, the precept is generous and divine. Moreover, as liberality is a virtue nearly allied to the forgiveness of injuries, our Lord joins the two together, to shew, that they should always go hand in hand: the reason is, revenge will blast the greatest liberality, and a covetous heart will shew the most perfect patience to be a sordid meanness of spirit, proceeding from selfishness. See Macknight, Blair, and Blackall. The original words, μη αντιστηναι τω πονηω , are rendered by Dr. Doddridge, Do not set yourselves against the injurious person. See the force of the original word αντιστηναι, 2 Timothy 3:8 where to resist the truth, is the same as to endeavour to destroy it. Instead of coat and cloak, in the
40th verse, Dr. Doddridge reads vest and mantle, which more exactly answer to the Greek words χιταν and ιματιον, and are parts of dress, under different names, still retained in Barbary, Egypt, and the Levant. The mantle was much larger than the vest, and probably the more valuable. See John 19:23 and Shaw's Travels, p. 289. The word αγγαρευσει, rendered compel, in John 19:41, all the commentators have observed, is derived item the name of those officers or public messengers among the Persians, who were wont to press the carriages and horses they met on the road, if they had occasion for them, and even to force the drivers or riders to go along with them. See ch. Matthew 27:32. We may very properly render the word press. This custom was also in use in Judaea, and the Roman empire. The last clause of the 42nd verse should be rendered, and do not turn away him that would borrow of thee. The advice, or rather the commands, given above by our blessed Lord are applicable to all who are called to be members of the Christian dispensation; and the following observation may be useful to set them in their proper light.
The essence of virtue consists in mental disposition; in our temper and frame of mind: but, as human language is adapted to express bodily action much better than mental disposition, it is usual to express the latter by the action that it would naturally produce: and, as the principles of action are complicated and various, and prudence or necessity may often oblige us to omit in respect to action what the frame and temper of our mind inclines to: hence it comes to pass, that some evangelical counsels, which prescribe an outward action, mean in particular cases only the proper inward disposition; namely, a readiness and inclination to perform it: so that the will, though not formally mentioned in the precept, is always required; and the deed, though nominally expressed, may on many occasions be omitted. For instance, it is said at Matthew 5:42, Give to him who asketh thee, &c. Now this precept is in the letter, and, with regard to the outward act which it commands, very often impossible, very often improper to be put in practice: but in the spirit of it, that is to say, the disposition of heart which it enjoins, it is always possible, always practicable, always obligatory through divine grace: the narrowness of our own circumstances may make it impossible, or the circumstances of him who asks our bounty may make it improper, to put this precept in execution, as to the outward act; for we may be so poor ourselves, or the person who applies to us may, by his vices or other qualities, be so circumstanced, that we either cannot or ought not to relieve him. But an inclination to assist him, and do him service, is always in the power of the genuine Christian: the poorest man may have in the good treasury of his heart wherewithal to defray this universal debt of benevolence to all who ask or need his assistance; and thus the precept will be virtually fulfilled. So again, when our Lord commands us not to resist the man who injures us, &c. his meaning is, that we should not repel and strive against the occasions of suffering which occur in the order of Providence, but readily accept every cross which comes in our way. Those who are capable of this lesson know full well how salutary sufferings are, and that it is hardly possible to carry on their purification without these means: so true are those words of our Lord, Luke 14:27. Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.