shivered  at  the  touch  of  Stoic  apathy  and  shuddered  at
that  of  Epicurean  indolence.
But  we  have  not  yet,  except  by  negatives,  answered  the
question  how  Christ  argued  with  the  sensualist.  We  have
discovered  as  yet  only  that  he  did  not  employ  two  common
arguments.  For  a  lawless  pursuit  of  bodily  enjoyment  he
did  not  exhort  him  to  substitute  either  a  methodical  pur-
suit of  the  same  object  or  a  pursuit  of  intellectual  and
moral  well-being.  What,  then,  did  he  substitute  ?  What
was  that  '  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness '  which
he  bade  men  make  the  first  object  of  their  search?


izo  ECCE  HOMO.
CHAPTEE  XI.
THE    CHRISTIAN   REPUBLIC.
'  SEEK  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteous-
ness.' This  exhortation  is  precisely  what  we  had  reason
to  expect,  for  we  have  already  remarked  that  the  cry
which  John  raised  in  the  desert,  '  The  kingdom  of  heaven
is  at  hand,'  was  taken  up  by  Christ,  and  that  his  life  was
devoted  to  proclaiming  this  new  political  constitution,  to
collecting  adherents  to  it,  and  promulgating  its  laws.  That
kingdom  of  God  into  which  he  called  men  he  elevates  in
this  passage  into  the  summum  bonum  of  human  life,  and
represents  it  as  the  secret  of  happiness  and  of  all  enduring
good  to  belong  to  the  divine  society,  and  to  understand
and  keep  the  rules  prescribed  for  its  members.
