thereof."[4] [Footnote 1: Compare Talm. of Bab., _Baba Bathra_, 11 _a_.] [Footnote 2: The god of riches and hidden treasures, a kind of Plutus in the Phoenician and Syrian mythology.] [Footnote 3: I here adopt the reading of Lachmann and Tischendorf.] [Footnote 4: Matt. vi. 19-21, 24-34. Luke xii. 22-31, 33, 34, xvi. 13. Compare the precepts in Luke x. 7, 8, full of the same simple sentiment, and Talmud of Babylon, _Sota_, 48 _b_.] This essentially Galilean sentiment had a decisive influence on the destiny of the infant sect. The happy flock, relying on the heavenly Father for the satisfaction of its wants, had for its first principle the regarding of the cares of life as an evil which choked the germ of all good in man.[1] Each day they asked of God the 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.