thine enemy," there was cause for doubt. In other references Jesus cited textually the terms of the Mosaic law; but here he apparently cites words that have no such authority; he seems to calumniate the law of Moses.

As with regard to my former doubts, so now the commentators gave me no explanation of the dilll- culty. They all agreed that the words "hate thine enemy " were not in the Mosaic law, but the} offered no suggestion as to the meaning of the unauthorized phrase. They spoke of the difficulty of loving one's enemies, that is, wicked men (thus they emended Jesus words); and they said that while it is impos sible to love our enemies, we may refrain from wish ing them harm and from inflicting injury upon them. Moreover, they insinuated tfiat we might and should " convince" our enemies, that is, resist them; they spoke of the different degrees of love for our ene mies which we might attain from all of which the final conclusion was that Jesus, for some inexplica ble reason, quoted as from the law of Moses words not to be found therein, and then uttered a number of sublime phrases which at bottom are impractica ble and empty of meaning.

I could not agree with this conclusion. In this passage, as in the passages containing the first four commandments, there must be some clear and pre cise meaning. To find this meaning, I set myself first of all to discover the purport of the words con taining the inexact reference to the ancient law, "Ye have, heard that it hath been said, Thiou shalt