Evening journal., 1916-02-19

O @
CHRISTIAN COMMUNISM.
February 40. Acts asa, sac

February 40. Acts 4:sa, $40.
Christ's sympathetic, loving spirit illus
trated in the early church and since.
Love is benevolent. "Seekcth not her
own" interests only. Communism
tried. Why it failed Why it was
permitted. Ananias and Sapphira.
How severe was their punishment.
'loye one another from the heart fer
vently.'-l Peter l:22.
God is Love- and all. in proportion as
thoy have fellowship with God must
have His character likeness and be low
ing. generous, kind. Sclfshness is of
Satan. lie is the embodiment of that
spirit, since he allowed pride and ambi-
tion 90 mislead him. The world. under
the influence OF "thc prince of this
world Satan-and the influence of the
Adamic fall, is selfish and to that ex-
tent ungodly. The work of the Milen-
nial Age will be to give all mankind
full opport nifty of recovery from the
snare of the ilevil-tO Restitution, to
recovery of all that was lost in Adam
but redeemed for Adam and his race by
jesus
This Gospel Age is the period in which
] God has been selecting the Church from
amongst mankind. lie has destined that
none shall be Of that sanity company
except those who are copies of His Son.
tRomans s;20) The Church has re-
ceived special testing and education for
the glorious mission marked out for her
/ the blessing Of judging the world.
Hence the Church not only must have
-.
( this quality to the attainment Of
1 Christ's likeness--in heart. and as much
4 as possible in outward living and think
ing
The record tells MS that the number
Of believers was more than five thou
sand in a little while The spirit of love
began to burn in their hearts-thank-
fulness to God, appreciation of His
| favor. a desire to serve Him, and a sym
! pathy and love for the brotherhood.
/ Evidently some were poorer than
/ others; and. controlled by the spirit of
love, they wished the poorer brethren TO
/ have just as good as themselves. First
they gave privately. one to another, as
they realized the needs. Then they or
ganized as little community. Many
of the wealthior sold their possessions
and turned in the money to the Lords
I treasury, desiring that a certain amount
he supplied 10 each Of the community
share and share alike. This manifested
very beautiful spirit. and under per
feet conditions would have been the
proper course. As II was, the commun.
ity proved failure. Nevertheless, the
lord apparently permitted that test ant
failure 10 show MS that no such com
munity amongst His people is possible
. at the present time. As soon as Mes
b sinh's Kingdom is established. however
Q the community principle viii prospe
wonderfully.
= Barnabas Not an Apostle.
This lesson introduces us TO Barnabas
| a godly man and wise, mighty powe
+ in the Church His proper name wa
lOses; and he must have been a yer,
fine character when the Apostles calle'
Misunderstanding that he had
beautiful spirit and was in his daily lif
"a son Of consolation 10 all with whom
he had contact. Barnabas had a prop
erty or estate, and sold IL and brough
the proceeds to the Apostles. He wa
! not an Apostle; for there were onll
twelve Of them altogether, and at thi
time only eleven, because of the loss o
Judas, whose place was subsequent,
filed by st. Paul. Coronthians las.
Barnahas was quite willing TO TAX
his share with the others from the gen
eral dole. Amongst those who accepte'
the terms of his proposition were Ana
MAS and his wife, Sapphira. These sol'
their property. but kept back a portion
Of the price, bringing the remainder Il
the Apostles as though II were the entir
sum. Indeed, they had agreed betweel
! themselves to declare that the none,
they turned into the treasury was al
that they had received from the prop
erty.
Today's lesson tells us how st. Pete
treated the matter. Under the gudanc
Of the Holy Spirit he said; "Ananiai
, why hath Satan filed thine heart TO Ii
TO the Holy Spirit and to keep bac
! ! part Of the price Of the land?' II
pointed out to Ananias that the proT
erty was his own, that he was neithe
compelled nor urged to donate il to th
community, that IL was his own volur
tary gift. and that he had lied 10 Coz
e not merely to the community. Anania
,. hearing these words, fell down dead
J. smitten of the Lord A little later h
,uffo at,frerad similarly A crrpaf fear fp