Mexico weekly ledger., 1883-08-02
Communicated
WAR AGAINST EVIL PRACTlc3e6 q,

WAR AGAINST EVIL PRACTICES.
Neither said any Of them that suoks Of
The things which be posseseed was his
ewn; but they had al things common
Acts y and92. }
The eommunistic prsctices Of the
church established at Jerusalem
has, in late years, been . fruitful
source Of protestant, popish bulls Of
all sorts Of colors, sizes, ages and
conditions, with and without horns,
What gave rise to such q condition Of
al now, at this late day, only
be q matter Of conjecture. No one,
clothed in his sober senses, win AZ
firm Of 1t that any divine command
was the starting cause. The most
rational view would put the cause as
an extreme enthusiasm growing ont
Of the peculiar times and place, and
operating with such tremendous force
as to overthrow for the moment the
fact that, while the Kingdom Of the
Messiah was not OF this world, yet
that it was in the world and must
make the best Of it, all things con-
sidered, that the surroundings would
admit. That the experiment was .
failure, is shown by the fact that
nowhere else in all the bounds Of the
historic earth was it attempted . sec-
ond time. In all the works Of the
great apostle of the Gentiles, in Asia
Minor, in Judea, or at Rome; nor in
Greece. among the polished inhabi-
tants Of the gay city Of Corinth, was
this idea Of having and owning all
things in common ever attempted to
be incorporated in the churches.
Such an idea is not set forth in any
epistles written by the apostles re-
corded in the New Testament. We
are safe, then, in concluding that it is
to be. Chased among the extreme zeal.
OTIS Of that exciting place, the vicinity
of the tragic death of the Messiah.
That it bordered on frenzy and fanat-
icism, is certainly q part OF any con.
clusion to be drawn from the facts in
the case. That any man of common
information, who claims to be ordina.
riIy rational, should take that isolated
Jerusalem church as . criterion, and
attempt to mold modern society into
its extreme policy, would prove his
own narrow conception. not only Of
the age in which we live, but Of the
teachings of Him who spoke IS never
man spake.
For a church to have all things il
common, let us see what would b,
the picture as it would pass in view
before the eyes Of the observer:
First. Each one must sell all b.
has-lands, houses, cattle, farmini
utensils, horses, wagons, household
and kitchen furniture-take the none.
and deliver it up to whom? or, lay |
at the feet of whom? We have n
dIvinely inspired apostles at who's
feet the offering can be laid. Thi
treasurer then, not being inspired no
infallible, ought to give a bond. L
such case, where would his bondsmes
come from? The church member
could count for nothing, because the
have nothing. But let us waive tn
bond, and the money il all laid at tn
feet Of this treasurer; then wins
comes next? Each one has no home
has no food, no water, no fre-noth
ing to shelter him or her from th
weather. The church is too small
hold them all, even il this treasure
could feed and clothe them. Thei
what work could they do? Take Il
the Mexico church-how could the
be employed? What steps could the
take to increase the capital in u
treasury? They could sing, some {
them; a few might pray pubHcl.
and some again, might preach an
exhort but hunger would come, sicl
ness follow, and the treasurer and b
'gang of attendants would have
pretty large contract in issuing r
tions. But this would not be all 4,
while the Christian Church was tn,
carrying out Jerusalem communist
the Presbyterians, the Methodists, Il
, Baptists, the Catholics and the Epi
copalians would also be at the san
thing, and the only people folloMl
, any ayocation would be those vi
| ignore religion in toto, or who folio
the teachings of Moses-the Jew
This class would own all the stor
houses, lands, trades, profession
cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, wagon
household goods, &c. They won
: run the mills, farms, mails, "a
roads-in short, everything. No
my reader, what spectacle, think 20
would your communistic church mt
: resemble? A capsized lunatic asylul
or a quarter section Of pandemoniuI
would only form q counterpart Of Il
motley group, and yet this 10 8 fai
conception Of what the real ca
t would present. Such q thing, the
is wholly out OF the question. II