Most Christians condemn Communism; but was the Communism of nineteen hundred years ago better than the Communism of today? To condemn Communism is to condemn primitive Christianity. Yet, Christians profess to abhor the Communistic ideas of modern teachers, while they worship as a God the founder of this Communistic sect of Palestine. 553 What did he teach respecting poverty and wealth? "Blessed be ye poor" (Luke vi, 20). "Woe unto you that are rich" (24). Poverty is a curse; wealth honestly acquired and wisely used is a blessing. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty" (Proverbs x, 15). 554 In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, what befell the representatives of vagrancy and respectability? "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom" (Luke xvi, 22). "The rich man also died, ... and in hell he lifted up his eyes" (22, 23). "See the red flames around him twine Who did in gold and purple shine! "While round the saint so poor below, Full rivers of salvation flow. "Jesus, my Lord, let me appear The meanest of thy creatures here." 555 Why was Dives' request that his brothers be informed of their impending fate refused? "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them" (Luke xvi, 29). Moses and the prophets do not teach the doctrine of endless punishment, nor even that of a future existence, much less that the mere possession of wealth, acquired perhaps by honest industry, is a crime which can be expiated only by the sufferings of an endless hell. Christ's Kingdom was a kingdom of vagrants and paupers. "A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew xix, 23). "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (24). 556 While at the temple with his disciples what act did he commend? Mark and Luke: That of the poor widow who threw two mites into the treasury (Mark xii, 43; Luke xxi, 3). This widow's offering illustrates the characteristic generosity of the poor and the heartless greed of the church. This text has enabled a horde of indolent priests to prey upon widows and orphans; to filch the scanty earnings of the poor, and live like parasites upon the weak and sickly calves of humanity. 557 Did he practice the virtue of temperance? "The Son of Man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber" (Luke vii, 34). 558 What was his first miracle?