Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-01-25
SUNDAY, JANUARY %. 1920
now CONVERTS WERE MADE

S We are tolu by Jesus, WnOSo-
ever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also.
/ And if any man will sue thee, ut
the law, and take away thy coat,
let him have thy cloke also. And
whatsoever shall compel thee to go
a mile, go with him twain
Preceding this, Jesus said, Re
.sist not evil" Probably no other
text in the Bible has been so mis-
construed or has had its apparent
injunction so thoroughly disregard
ed by Christian people. They have
known from the beginning that
literal Interpretation of Christs
words would place all who under
took to act upon them at the mercy
of the vicious and would make the
Christian q slave.
On the other hand, we have the
example of Jesus using whip with
which to drive the money changers
from the temple, and His declara-
ton that He came not to bring
peace, but a sword.
sAll of these sayings must be I'M
derstood in the light of conditions
then existing in Judea. The coun-
try was under dominion of Rome
and the laws were administered by
Roman authority. 1t was useless
to resist If the Roman soldier, or
the hostile Jew, smote the Chris
tian On his right cheek, the best
rebuke was to turn the other cheek.
If prosecutor brought suit for the
Christians coat. the best rebuke of
the oppression was TO give the OPP
pressor his cloke also. The Chris
tan was incapable of resisting
force with force. Besides. Christ
was commissioning His followers to
become evangelists of His gospel,
The Romans, in policing all
countries subiugated by them, en-
ployed a constabulary that Travelled
with light equipment, and in order
10 give greater mobility the police
man had the right to lay his imped-
imenta upon the back of any sub
1ect citizen and compel him to
carry it one mile. The Roman law
forbade more than a mile. in order
to protect the people from the
thoughtlessness or the brutality of
the constabulaTy.
But Jesus says-speaking TO the
Christians-"lf man compel thee
to go one mile, go with him twain"
Investigators trying to account for
the wonderful spread Of Christian
fly in the Roman army, have as
r cribed it in part, at least to the
fact that the Christian not only
went two miles with the Roman.
but while walking along under the
/ soldiers burden talked to him of
Christ and His teachings, of the
new doctrine of love, mercy, jus
tice, and of life after death, in
which the good are rewarded for
Z their virtues and the unrighteous
are punished for their sins.
Whatever controversialists may
say to the contrary, there was a
+ very hazy and indefinite idea
among the Romans, as well as
among the Jews, regarding 4 flu
ture existence. But there was
nothing indefinite in the doctrine
taught by Jesus. He told Of the
house of many mansions and of go
ing to prepare a place for His fol-
lowers, that where lie was they
might be also.
He taught that each individual
has u personal value, quite the
equal, in the immortal life beyond
the grave, of every other individ-
ual, and that each individual has an
I equal value while living on the
f'earth,
These were new doctrines in the
world, and the Roman soldier,
walking beside the cheerful Chris
tian bearing his burden, first heard
these new things with bored sketi-
cism, then with interest, and, fl
nally, with belief that he was hear
ing the words of eternal life.