Evening star., 1932-02-04
BY MANHATMA GANDHI.


MY acquaintance with the Bible
began nearly As years ago, and that
was through the New Testament.
could not then take much interest in
the Old Testament, which I had GER
tainly read, if only to fulfill a promise
had made to a friend whom l nap
pened to meet in hotel.
But when 1 came to the New Testa-
ment and the Sermon on the Mount,
I began to understand the Christian
teaching, and the teaching Of the Ser
mon on the Mount echoed something
had learned IN childhood and some
thing which seemed to be part of my
being and which I felt was being acted
up to in the daily life around me.
His Ideas Change.
I say it seemed to be acted up to,
me 3ning thereby that 1t was not nee
cSsary for my purpose that people were
actually living the life. This teaching
was non-retaliation, or non-resistance
to evil. OF all the things I read, what
remained with he forever was that
Jesus came almost to give new law,
but tack something on to the old Mo-
sale law. Well, He changed it so that
it became a new law-not an eye for
an eye, and tooth for a tooth, but
to be ready to receive two blows when
one was given, and to go two miles
when you were asked to go one.
1 said to myself This is what one
IearnS in ones childhood. Surely this
is not Christianity" For all l had
then been given to understand was that
to be a Christian was to have brandy
bottle in one hand and beef in the
other The Sermon on the Mount,
however, falSifled the impression.
AS my contact with real Christians,
lie, men living in fear Of God in
creased, I saw that the Sermon on the
Mount was the whole Of Christianity
for him who wanted to live Christian
life. 1t is that sermon which has en-
cleared Jesus to me.
I may say that I have never been
interested in a historical Jesus I
should not care if it was proved by
some one that the man called Jesus
never lived and that what was mar
rated in the Gospels was f1gment of
the writer's Imagination. For the Ser
mon on the Mount would still be true
for me.
Yet to Be Lived.
Reading. therefore, the whole story
in that light, it seems to me that
Christianity has vet to be lived, unless
one says that where there IS bound
less love and no idea Of retaliation
whatsoever. it is Christianity that lives.
But when it surmountS all boundaries
and teaching, then it is something
indeflnable, not capable of being
preached to men, not capable Of being
transmitted from mouth to mouth, but
from heart to heart. But Christianity
is not commonly understood in that
Wav
Somehow, in Gods Providence the
Bible has been preserved from deStruc-
ton by the Christians. The Mission
ary Society has had it translated into
many languages. All that may serve
4 real purpose in the time to come.
Two thousand years in the life OF a
living faith may be nothing. For
though the Christian sings "All glory
to God on high and on the earth be
peace" there seems to be today neither
glory to God nor peace on earth.
AS long as peace remains hunger
still unSatisfied, IS long as Christ is
not vet born, we have to look forward
to Him. When real peace is established,
we will not need demonstrations, but
it will be echoed in our life, not only
in individual life, but incorporate life.
Then we shall say Christ is born.
Then We will not think Of par
ticular day in the year as that of the
birth of Christ. but as an ever-recur-
ring event which can be enacted in
every life.
Truth Behind Them.
And the more I think of fundamental
religion, and the more I think Of mi
raculCuS conceptions Of so many teach
ers who have come down from age to
age and cline to cline, the more l
see that there is behind them the
eternal truth that I have narrated.
That needs no label or declaration. 1t
consists Of the living Of life, never
ceaSing, ever progressing toward peace.
Unless one wishes for peace for all
life one cannot wish for peace for
ones self. 1t is a self-evident axiom that
one cannot have peace unless there Is
in one an intense longing for peace
all around You may certainly eX-
perience peace in the midst Of strife,
but that happens only when to remove
strife you destroy your whole life, you
cruelty yourself
And so, as the miraculous birth Of
Christ is an eternal event, so is the
cross an eternal event in this stormy
life. Therefore we dare not think Of
birth without death on the cross. Liv-
ing Christ means living cross. With
out it life is living death.