e bread for the
morrow.[2] Why lay up treasure? The kingdom of God is at hand. "Sell
that ye have and give alms," said the master. "Provide yourselves bags
which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not."[3]
What more foolish than to heap up treasures for heirs whom thou wilt
never behold?[4] As an example of human folly, Jesus loved to cite the
case of a man who, after having enlarged his barns and amassed wealth
for long years, died before having enjoyed it![5] The brigandage which
was deeply rooted in Galilee,[6] gave much force to these views. The
poor, who did not suffer from it, would regard themselves as the
favored of God; whilst the rich, having a less sure possession, were
the truly disinherited. In our societies, established upon a very
rigorous idea of property, the position of the poor is horrible; they
have literally no place under the sun. There are no flowers, no grass,
no shade, except for him who possesses the earth. In the East, these
are gifts of God which belong to no one. The proprietor has but a
slender privilege; nature is the patrimony of all.

[Footnote 1: Matt. xiii. 22; Mark iv. 19; Luke viii. 14.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. vi. 11; Luke xi. 3. This is the meaning of the word
[Greek: epiousios].]

[Footnote 3: Luke xii. 33, 34.]

[Footnote 4: Luke xii. 20.]

[Footnote 5: Luke xii. 16, and following.]

[Footnote 6: Jos., _Ant._, XVII. x. 4, and following: _Vita_, 11,
etc.]

The infant Christianity, moreover, in this only followed the footsteps
of the Essenes, or Therapeutae, and of the Jewish sects founded on the
monastic life. A communistic element entered into all these sects,
which were equally disliked by Pharisees and Sadducees. The Messianic
doctrine, which was entirely political among the orthodox Jews, was
entirely social amongst them. By means of a gentle, regulated,
contemplative existence, leaving its share to the liberty of the
individual, these little churches thought to inaugurate the heavenly
kingdom upon earth. Utopias of a blessed life, founded on the
brotherhood of men and the worship of the true God, occupied elevated
souls, and produced from all sides bold and sincere, but short-lived
attempts to realize these doctrines.

Jesus, whose relations with the Essenes are difficult to determine
(resemblances in history not always implying relations), was on this
point certainly their brother. The community of goods was for some
time the rule in the new society.[