1] Covetousness was the cardinal
sin.[2] Now it must be remarked that the sin of covetousness, against
which Christian morality has been so severe, was then the simple
attachment to property. The first condition of becoming a disciple of
Jesus was to sell one's property and to give the price of it to the
poor. Those who recoiled from this extremity were not admitted into
the community.[3] Jesus often repeated that he who has found the
kingdom of God ought to buy it at the price of all his goods, and that
in so doing he makes an advantageous bargain. "The kingdom of heaven
is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found,
he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and
buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchantman seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of
great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."[4] Alas!
the inconveniences of this plan were not long in making themselves
felt. A treasurer was wanted. They chose for that office Judas of
Kerioth. Rightly or wrongly, they accused him of stealing from the
common purse;[5] it is certain that he came to a bad end.

[Footnote 1: _Acts_ iv. 32, 34-37; v. 1, and following.]

[Footnote 2: Matt. xiii. 22; Luke xii. 15, and following.]

[Footnote 3: Matt. xix. 21; Mark x. 21, and following, 29, 30; Luke
xviii. 22, 23, 28.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. xiii. 44-46.]

[Footnote 5: John xii. 6.]

Sometimes the master, more versed in things of heaven than those of
earth, taught a still more singular political economy. In a strange
parable, a steward is praised for having made himself friends among
the poor at the expense of his master, in order that the poor might in
their turn introduce him into the kingdom of heaven. The poor, in
fact, becoming the dispensers of this kingdom, will only receive those
who have given to them. A prudent man, thinking of the future, ought
therefore to seek to gain their favor. "And the Pharisees also," says
the evangelist, "who were covetous, heard all these things: and they
derided him."[1] Did they also hear the formidable parable which
follows? "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple
and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a
certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of
sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich
man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his