1: Matt. xxii. 2, and following; Luke xiv. 16, and
following. Comp. Matt. viii. 11, 12, xxi. 33, and following.]

Pure _Ebionism_--that is, the doctrine that the poor (_ebionim_) alone
shall be saved, that the reign of the poor is approaching--was,
therefore, the doctrine of Jesus. "Woe unto you that are rich," said
he, "for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are
full, for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall
mourn and weep."[1] "Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou
makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren,
neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee
again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast,
call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be
blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be
recompensed at the resurrection of the just."[2] It is perhaps in an
analogous sense that he often repeated, "Be good bankers"[3]--that is
to say, make good investments for the kingdom of God, in giving your
wealth to the poor, conformably to the old proverb, "He that hath pity
upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord."[4]

[Footnote 1: Luke vi. 24, 25.]

[Footnote 2: Luke xiv. 12, 14.]

[Footnote 3: A saying preserved by very ancient tradition, and much
used, Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._ i. 28. It is also found in
Origen, St. Jerome, and a great number of the Fathers of the Church.]

[Footnote 4: Prov. xix. 17.]

This, however, was not a new fact. The most exalted democratic
movement of which humanity has preserved the remembrance (the only
one, also, which has succeeded, for it alone has maintained itself in
the domain of pure thought), had long disturbed the Jewish race. The
thought that God is the avenger of the poor and the weak, against the
rich and the powerful, is found in each page of the writings of the
Old Testament. The history of Israel is of all histories that in which
the popular spirit has most constantly predominated. The prophets, the
true, and, in one sense, the boldest tribunes, had thundered
incessantly against the great, and established a close relation, on
the one hand, between the words "rich, impious, violent, wicked," and,
on the other, between the words "poor, gentle, humble, pious."[1]
Under the Seleucidae, the aristocrats having almost all apostatized and
gone over to Hellenism, these associations of ideas only became
stronger. The Book of Enoch