St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-06-06
WHO rs THE INFIDELq
Another Chapter ON the Subje
From NIinnepeliS WOrtxinrmau

Another Chapter on the Subject
From Minneapolis WOrkingman.
To the Editor of the Globe:
The language of the Bible is most emphatic
against usury, yet how many of the church
members, and even a percentage of the
teachers are guilty Of the practice? Is not
the practice proof of infidelity, a disbelief
in the Scriptures, or does the church love
gain more than their eternal salvation? Is it
the laboring class that practice usury? Who
| is the infdel, the man who does not pretend to
believe the inscription of the Scripture, Or the
one who does pretend to believe in its divine
authority and yet practice usury, with the
full knowledge of Deuteronomy xiii,
10, ''Thou shalt not lend upon
usury to thy brother, usury of money. usury
of victuals, usury of anything that is lent on
usuryE Ii the brothers are in earnest about
hunting up the infidels let them read XIV,
10, 20, 'When thou cuttest down thy harvest
in the field, and hast forgot sheaf in the
| field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it, it
shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless
and
FOR THE WIDOW,
that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the
work of thine hands Brother of the cloth,
might not this passage explain the cause of
lnfidelity when we contrast this command
with the practice of the church? Do you ex-
| pect the iaboring class to follow the teachings
respect for its teachings2 Again, when thou
| beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go
| over the boughs again. 1t shall be for the
| stranger, for the fatherless and for the
widow. Can it be that God Intended that
| tramp should live? Dare a person to-day
| CLEAN, or dare poor widow get her small
| stock of apples out of the orchard of the rich?
| But let us look at what the Bible says about
| landholding, Lev XIV, %. The land shall
not be sold forever, the land is mine: for We
i n fInn nra1 cote ~
our preachers and church members ever read
those passages? If they did so, we do not
! think they would haye to inquire why
THE POOR IRE INFIDELs
| il the texts quoted are the word OF God, they
must mean what they say, and that is that no
man can sell the rights of the unborn gener-
| ations to the land alternating the unborn from
| the land-the only means of life, and auding
! them bound to the will of the landlord. Every
! part OF the Bible gives to the person born an
| accountable individuality; yet, from the mo-
| ment the majority OF US breathe, we are the
| slaves OF an unnatural competition produced
| by few men, Withholding from the many the
| bounteouS gifts of nature; and while thou
| sands are unable to get work, millions of
| acres of land are withheld from the hoe of
| the needy that a few spectators may get
rich. Those men that thus speculate, an \
create false values, are as guilty of dealing
| in the
BLOOD AND BONES
OF their fellow men as were the southerners
| in times past. Yet you, the fathers of the
church pretend to preach that we are free
moral agents. Does it make 10 difference to a
person that God is preached as the perfect
| ion of justice, and at the same time you give
| to a few, the means of life and to the many
only leave to labor at the dictation of the few?
| Does the sanctified church ever read the story
of Naboth's vineyard? Do you preachers hav-
| ing salaries far above the average of your
| congregations, and church members counting
| your dollars by the million, ever think by the
system OF society you have built up in direct
opposition to the laws of Moses and the teach
ings of Christ, that you are as guilty as though
You dispossess the unborn poor Of their
right of access of the land-holding
LIEN ON THEIR LABOR
without theil having the privilege of being
party to the transaction? The common law
says there must be two parties to trans
action, but in this the transaction occurs be-
fore one of the parties is born, but we fire.
quently hear it mentioned by those pretend
ing to speak with authority that those things
spoken of occurred under the old dispersal
ton. We will wave the plea that God does
not change, and will in our next take the
teachings of Christ and the practice of the
early church, hoping you will stop talking for
popularity and money and look after US in
fidels by taking Christ as your example.
THOMAS H. LUCAS.
Minneapolis, June4