Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-06-15
AMERICANS AND THE BIBLE.

80 ! Call "Our Institutions"
Especial Correspondence
We hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of
you, saying: III ~ II
This people draweth nigh unto me with their
mouth and honoreth me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments Of men.-Mat-
thew XIV. Z, 6, 9. E..--
There is nothing more apparent to
one who compared the Bible with our
state and national laws than that the
above words spoken of the Jews by the
prophet Isaiah and repeated by Jesus,
the Christ, are as applicable to America
at the present day as they have ever
been to any nation.
Our tramp laws would imprison Jesus
and his disciples. Our laws relating to
land make millions homeless, while the
Jewish land laws allowed no one to be
entirely disinherited. Usury is con-
demned throughout the Bible. America
allows it to the extent of ''devouring
widows houses and a good many 9TH
er peoples.
1t IS reported that the New Jersey
legislature has just passed law max
ing trespass on another PERSONS land
punishable by fine of $780, In Deu-
teronomy XIII we read:
When thou contest into thy neighbours vine
yard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at
thine own pleasure. but thou shalt not put any
in thy vessel.
When thou contest into the standing corn of
thy neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears
with thine hand. but thou shalt not move a
sickle unto thy neighbours standing corn.
In the twenty fourth chapter we read:
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in
thy field and hast forgot sheaf in the field,
thou shalt not go again to fetch it.
When thou beatest thine olive tree. thou
shalt not go over the boughs again.
When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vine
yard. thou shalt not CLEAN it afterward. 1t
shall be for the stranger tramp, perhaps], for
the fatherless and for the widow.
Comparing these things with the New
Jersey trespass law and the tramp laws
Of various states, thinking how careful
ly the nation guards it's grass ON the
capitol grounds and how little regard it
has for it's starving men, our boasts of
Christianity and civilization become q
hypocrisy and q nausea
Nine per cent Of the people of this
country own II per cent of the property,
yet we profess to be u nation believing
in the Bible, which is full of denuncia-
tions Of the rich and words of encour-
agemsnt to the poor. But in the face of
these facts New York daily recently
sneered editorially at 1.-THE cheap rant
ers" who believed that plutocracy rep
resents some real danger to American
institutions. If such condition does
not represent danger to American insti.
buttons, if the ownership practically OF
all the property by 10 per cent of the
people is in harmony with American in.
situations, so much the worse for the
institutions '-whatever $hat may
mean. The sooner we have done with
such institutions the better.
Let US tear down our churches and
cease all pretense of caring for ''souls, 81
according to the Bible, until we arr
ready to show our sincerity by caring
for the people themselves, in harmony
with it's teachings.
| Whoever ridicules those who denouncf
| plutocracy ridicules the Bible.
=. .- CELIA B. WHITEHEAD.
| woetf3old Mt