JESUS. 483 



make proselytes, and received them with reluctance and 

 distrust. Their sublime faith, divested of its Asiatic 

 customs, was offered to the Romans by some Jewish 

 heretics called Christians or Nazarenes. A young man 

 named Joshua or Jesus, a carpenter by trade, believed 

 that the world belonged to the devil, and that God 

 would shortly take it from him, and that he the Christ 

 or Anointed would be appointed by God to judge 

 the souls of men, and to reign over them on earth. 

 In politics he was a leveller and communist, in morals 

 he was a monk ; he believed that only the poor and 

 the despised would inherit the kingdom of God. All 

 men who had riches or reputations would follow their 

 dethroned master into everlasting pain. He attacked 

 the church-going, Sabbatarian, ever-praying Pharisees ; 

 he declared that piety was worthless if it were praised 

 on earth. It was his belief that earthly happiness was 

 a gift from Satan, and should therefore be refused. If 

 a man was poor in this world, that was good ; he would 

 be rich in the world to come. If he were miserable 

 and despised, he had reason to rejoice ; he was out of 

 favour with the ruler of this world, namely Satan, and 

 therefore he would be favoured by the new dynasty. 

 On the other hand, if a man were happy, rich, esteemed, 

 and applauded, he was for ever lost. He might have 

 acquired his riches by industry ; he might have 

 acquired his reputation by benevolence, honesty, and 

 devotion ; but that did not matter ; he had received 

 his reward. So Christ taught that men should sell all 

 that they had and give to the poor ; that they should 

 renounce all family ties ; that they should let to-morrow 

 take care of itself ; that they should not trouble about 

 clothes : did not God adorn the flowers of the fields ? 

 he would take care of them also if they would fold 



