It is remarkable that,
unlike other reformers, he has not contradicted error by an
exaggeration, which itself very soon stands in need of contradiction,
but by simple sanity which requires no correction. One reason for this
peculiarity is that the Ethic was the result of long meditation. It was
published posthumously and was discussed in draft for many years before
his death. Usually what we call our convictions are propositions which
we have not thoroughly examined in quietude, but notions which have just
come into our heads and are irreversible to us solely because we are
committed to them. Much may be urged against the Ethic and on behalf of
hatred, contempt, and sorrow. The "other side" may be produced
mechanically to almost every truth; the more easily, the more divine
that truth is, and against no truths is it producible with less genuine
mental effort than against those uttered by the founder of Christianity.
The question, however, if we are dealing with the New Testament, is not
whether the Sermon on the Mount can be turned inside out in a debating
society, but whether it does not represent better than anything which
the clever leader of the opposition can formulate the principle or
temper which should govern our conduct.
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