The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-06-22
AMERICANS AND THE BIBLE.
The "BoOk of Books" DenOunces
What We Call ssOur Institutions.

The "Book of Books" DenOunces
What We Call "Our Institutions"
Ye hypocrtes well did Isaiah prophesy of you
saying
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.-Matthew
XIV, ass.
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 condemned
throughout the Bible. America
allows it to the extent of "devour-
ing widows houses" and a good
many other peoples.
1t is reported that the New Jersey
Legislature has just passed a law
making trespass on another PERSONS
land punishable by fine of $1OO.
In Deuteronomy XIII we read:
When thou comest into thy neighbor's vine
yard then thou mayedt eat grapes thy fill at thine
own pleasure, but thou shalt not put any in thy
vessel.
When thou comest into the standing corn of
thy neghbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears
with thine hand, but thou shalt not move a
sickle into thy neighbor's standing corn.
In the twenty-fourth chapter we
read:
When thou cuttest down thine harvest iu thy
field and hast forgot a 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 ofthy vineyard,
thou shalt not CLEAN it afterward 1t shall be for
the stranger tramp, perhapsl for the fatherless
and for the widow.
Comparing these things with the
New Jersey trespass law and the
tramp laws of various states, think
ing how carefully the nation guards
its grass on the capitol grounds and
how little regard it has fol its starry
ing men, our boasts of Christianity
and civilization become hypocrisy
and nausea.
Nine per cent of the people of
this country own II per cent of the
property, yet we profess to be a
nation believing in the Bible, which
is full of denunciatiOns of the rich
and words of encouragement to the
poor. But in the face of these facts
a New York daily recently sneered
editorially at "the cheap ranters"
who believe that plutocracy "rep-
resents some real danger to Amer
lean institutions If such con-
dition does not represent danger to
American institutions, if the owner
ship practically of all the property
by 10 per cent of the people is in
harmony with American institu-
tions, so much the worse for the
Observation-Disclosures that 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," according to the Bible,
until we are ready to show our
sincerity by caring for the people
themselves, in harmony with it's
teachings.
Whoever ridicules those who
denounce plutocracy ridicules the
Bible.-CELIA b. WHITEHEAD, in
San Jose Tribune.