Only Polonius, or the like solemn sort of ass, can offer us a
succinct proverb by way of advice, and not burst out blushing in
our faces. We grant them one and all and for all that they are
worth; it is something above and beyond that we desire. Christ was
in general a great enemy to such a way of teaching; we rarely find
him meddling with any of these plump commands but it was to open
them out, and lift his hearers from the letter to the spirit. For
morals are a personal affair; in the war of righteousness every man
fights for his own hand; all the six hundred precepts of the Mishna
cannot shake my private judgment; my magistracy of myself is an
indefeasible charge, and my decisions absolute for the time and
case. The moralist is not a judge of appeal, but an advocate who
pleads at my tribunal. He has to show not the law, but that the
law applies. Can he convince me? then he gains the cause. And
thus you find Christ giving various counsels to varying people, and
often jealously careful to avoid definite precept. Is he asked,
for example, to divide a heritage? He refuses: and the best
advice that he will offer is but a paraphrase of that tenth
commandment which figures so strangely among the rest. TAKE HEED,
AND BEWARE OF COVETOUSNESS. If you complain that this is vague, I
have failed to carry you along with me in my argument. For no
definite precept can be more than an illustration, though its truth
were resplendent like the sun, and it was announced from heaven by
the voice of God. And life is so intricate and changing, that
perhaps not twenty times, or perhaps not twice in the ages, shall
we find that nice consent of circumstances to which alone it can
apply.