shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me” (Matt. xix. 21).  The fact is that Jesus held the ascetic doctrine, that poverty was, in itself, meritorious; and, in common with many sects, he regarded the highest life as the life of the mendicant teacher.  His doctrine of poverty passed on into the Church that bears his name, and one of the three vows taken by those who aspire to lead “the angelic life” is the vow of poverty.  The mendicant friars of the Middle Ages, the “sturdy beggars,” are the lineal descendants of the Eastern mendicants, and are the fruits of the morality taught by Christ.  On this point, as on many others, the morality of the Epistles is far higher than that of the Gospels, and the common-sense and righteous law, “that if any would not work neither should he eat” is, however, incompatible with Christ’s admiration for mendicancy, a far more wholesome and salutary kind of moral teaching than that which we have been considering.

The dogma of rewards and punishments as taught by Christ is fatal to all reality of virtue.  To do right from hope of heaven:  to avoid wrong for fear of hell:  such virtue is only skin-deep, and will not stand rough usage.  True virtue does right because it is right, and therefore beneficial, and not from hope of a personal reward, or from dread of a personal punishment, hereafter.  Christianity is the apotheosis of selfishness, gilded over with piety; self is the pivot on which all turns:  “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark viii. 36).  “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.  And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in nowise lose his reward” (Matt. x. 41, 42).  “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.  But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Ibid, 32, 33).  “Pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Ibid, vi. 6).  “We have forsaken all and followed thee:  what shall we have therefore?...  When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones” (Matt. xix. 27, 28).  The passages might be multiplied; but these are sufficient to show the thorough selfishness inculcated.  All is done with an eye to personal gain in the future; even the cold water is to be given, not because the “little one” is thirsty and needs it, but for the reward promised therefore to the giver.  Pure, generous love is excluded:  there is a taint of selfishness in every gift.