76 THE UTOPIAN COMMUNIST
all the brethren."^3 He restated his views on crime and punishment
and supported them with Biblical proof. He identified the Holy
Spirit with "the spirit of truth" made manifest in men like Keppler,
Copernicus, Newton, Bacon, Columbus, Gutenberg, and, in its
most perfect form, in the career and character of Jesus of Naza
reth. The sin against the Holy Spirit was the use of power for
selfish ends, to perpetuate existing inequality and injustice.
Jesus emerged from this long analysis of the record as a revo
lutionary at war with all the forces of Mammon, the indomitable
champion of man's unrelenting struggle for the necessities of life
against the forces of special privilege. Weitling interpreted the
parables to support this thesis, and though his interpretations may
conflict sharply with the conclusions of the theologians, they
make interesting and provocative reading. For his specific purpose
the author marshaled the incidents in Jesus' career which revealed
him as a foe of property and a consorter with the sinful poor.
Jesus is presented not as an obscurantist or ascetic, but as one who
had "picked as many flowers of joy in his short life" as possible,
and who took leave of his boon companions in a final feast of lamb
and wine. The Evangelium closed with the statement that the
Christian Gospel is "one of freedom, equality and love; man has
made it into a gospel of tyranny, subservience and deceit."
In an appendix to a later edition, Weitling tried to summarize
his view of Christian morality and conduct. As essentials of Chris
tian living, he stressed temperance, patience, loyalty, honesty,
modesty, good will, and mercy. He admonished his followers to
look for the best in people, and to give every man the benefit of
the doubt in this respect. He added that in the communist state
"we will love our enemies as soon as we have conquered them"
and will treat them as we would be treated. He cautioned against
speaking or writing in anger; demanded charity for the poor, com-
(^3) See W. Wiston (trans.), Flavius Josephus' The Wars of the Jews (London,
1915), 134; Emil Schürer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Christ
(Edinburgh, 1885), 190-218; W. O. E. Oesterley, The Jews and Judaism During
the Greek Period (London, 1941), chap, xxi; and Ch. Guignebert, The Jewish
World in the Time of Jesus (New York, 1939), 172-90.