The illustrious Hugo Grotius Of the law of warre and peace with annotations, III parts, and memorials of the author's life and death.

XXII. The second Objection answered.

OUt of the fift of Matthew sund•…•… Arguments are deduced; which we cannot rightly judge of, unless 〈◊〉〈◊〉 remember what was said afore: If Christ had purposed to take away all capital judgements, and the right of Wars, he would have done it in words most ex∣press and special, by reason of the great∣ness and newness of the matter: and the rather, because no Jew could think o∣therwise, but that the Laws of Moses, pertaining to judgements and the Com∣mon-wealth, ought to have their force upon the men of that Nation, so long

as their state endured. This being pre∣mised, let us weigh the places in their order. The second muniment of the ad∣verse party is from these words, Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, that ye resist not the in∣jurious person (so the Gr. turns the ori∣ginal word, Exod. 21 .) But whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Hence do some infer, that no injury is to be repelled or revenged; neither privately, nor pub∣likely. But this is not the meaning of the words; for Christ speaks not here to Magistrates, but to those that are in∣jured; nor doth he speak of every in∣jury, but of such as a blow on the cheek: the following words restrain the gene∣rality of the precedent. So likewise in the next immediate precept, If any man will sue thee at the Law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak al∣so : Not every sute before the judge or arbitrator is forbidden (let Paul be the Interpreter, who denies not all sutes, but prohibites the Christians to con∣tend in the Courts of Heathens; and that after the Jews example, whose common saying it was, Whosoever brings the affairs of Israel before the stranger,

pollutes the name of God:) but the will of Christ is, to exercise our patience, that we should not go to Law about things which may easily be repaired, as a Coat, or (if it so happen) the cloak also: but that, although our cause be good, wee should omit the prosecution of our right. Apollonius Tyaneus said, It was not the part of a Philosopher to contend a∣bout a little money. The Praetor (saith Ulpian) approoves his doing, who would content himself and sit down with the less of a thing, rather than be troubled with often sutes about it. For this mans dis∣position, that cannot endure contention, is in no wise to be dispraised. What Ulpian here saith is approved by the best, the same doth Christ command, choosing the matter of his precepts from among the things that are most honest and m•…•… approved. But, you may not colle•…•… hence, that it is unlawfull for a Paren•…•… or for a Tutor, to defend that before 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Judge, without which the Children without which the pupils cannot to maintained. For the coat and cloak is one thing, the Lively-hood another. In Clement's Constitutions it is said of a Christian man, if he hath a sute, let him endeavour to end it, though he bear some damage. As in matters of morality, so here we say, these things do not consist in a point, but have a certain latitude belonging to them. So in that which

follows, And whosoever shall compell thee to go a mile, go with him twain: Our Lord said not, a hundred mile, a journey that would take a man off too far from his own occasions; but one mile, or, if need be, twain: a walk, not very irksom. The sense therefore is, in these things which import no great in∣commodity, we must not stand upon our own right, but yield, even more than another would require, that our pati∣ence and our benignity may be known unto all men. It follows, Give † to him that asketh thee: and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. If you carry it on infinitely, and without measure, nothing is more hard. He that provideth not for those of his own house is worse than an infidel, saith Paul. Let us then follow the same Paul, the best interpreter of his Master's Law, who stirring up the Corinthians to exer∣cise beneficence toward the poor of Jerusalem: Not, saith he, that other men be eased, and you burthened: but by an equality: that your abundince may be a supply for their want; which sense is also in Xenophon's Cyrus; What I shall see superfluous in my own estate will

serve the necessities of my friends. The like equity must we use for the interpre∣tation of that precept now in hand. The Hebrew Law, as it did indulge a liberty of divorce, to prevent the cruel∣ty of Husbands toward their Wives; so also, for the restraint of private revenge, whereto that Nation was very prone, allowed the offended party a right, to exact, not by his own hand, but by the sentence of the Judge, a retaliation: a Law imitated in the 12. Tables. But Christ, a Teacher of more patience, is so far from approving that ardent desire of revenge in the person wronged, that he would not have some kind of injuries to be repelled, either by force, or Law. What injuries? Such as are tolerable; not, that patience is not laudable in the more grievous, but he is content with a patience more limited. There∣fore he puts the case in a stroke on the cheek, which endangereth not the life, maimeth not the body, but only signi∣fies a certain contempt of us, which makes us nothing the worse. Seneca in his Book of a wise mans constancy di∣stinguishes between an injury and a disgrace, The former, saith he, is by nature the more grievous: this is ligh∣ter, and only grievous to the delicate, whereby they are not hurt, but offended. Again, Contumely is less than injury,

which we may rather complain of, than return: which the Laws also have thought worthy of no revenge. The same Seneca a little after saith, The grief a∣rising from disgrace, or an affront, is an affection comming from a meaness and lowness of the spirit, contracting it self for some word or deed against our repu∣tation. In such a case therefore, Christ commandeth patience: to turn the o∣ther cheek, is by an Hebraism, to bear patiently, as appears in other places: and lest any one object that common sentence, To suffer one injury is to in∣vite another, He addes, that we must rather bear a new injury, than repell the former: because there is no evill to us thence, but that which consists in a foolish † persuasion.

Notes

• Mat. 5. 38, 39.
• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ut & Lucas in Stephani oratio∣ne: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• Id ita ex∣ponit Cypri∣anus de pati∣entia: Ut tuae oblata non re∣petas. Irenaeus l. 4. c. 27. Tol∣lenti tibi tuni∣cam, remitte ei & pallium, sed non quasi nolen∣tes fraudari contristemur; sed quasi volen∣tes donaveri∣mus, gaudea∣mus. Et si quis te, inquit, an∣gariaverit mille passus, vade cum eo alia duo, ut non quasi servus sequaris, sed quasi liber plaecedas. Etiam Libanius, qui Evangelia legerat, laudat non litigantes de chlamyde & tunica, in orat. de custodia reorum.
• Philostrat. 2. 15.
• L. Item. si S. 1. & D. de al. en. jud. mut. cau∣sa facta.
• L. 1. c. 45.
• Justi•…•…us A∣p•…•…get. 2. Quae dicit, huc pertinent, ut ad∣versus ownes s•…•…nus pttieates, 〈◊〉〈◊〉, mini∣me tracundi.
• †

  Just. Apol. eod. De com∣m•…•…icandi ve∣•…•…ò facultatib. nostris eam e∣gentibus, & ne∣quid ad gl•…•…iam aucupandam saciamus, hoe & dixit: Omni pe enti date, &c. Alioi, Com∣munico•…•… •…•…∣stra omni •…•…genli. 1 Tim 5. 8. 2 Cor. 8. 13.
• Sen. de be∣nefic. 2. Dabo egenti, sed ut ipse non egoam. Chrysost. in loc. Deus pro sacultote poscit, quatenus habet quis, non quatenus non habet. Q100 ut secte intelligatur accedant sequentia: Laudat quidem quod facultates exsuperat (nempe in Thessalonicensibus:) sed hos (Achaeos sc.) non cogit idem facere.
• Si membrum vupit, talio esto.
• Vid. Chry∣sostomum di∣cto jam loco.
• Es. 30. 6. Jer. 3. 3. Praebere o•…•… contumelios. Taci•…•…. & Te∣rentius.
• Chrys 7. ad Rom. Haec e∣gregia victoria, plus illi largiri quam velit, & fines improbae in illo lubidinis liberalitate propriae patientiae transcen∣dere.
• †

  Idem de statuis 1. Contumelia non ab inferentis animo, sed ex judicio eorum qui patiuntur aut fit aut perit.