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An Inquiry respecting Private Property , and the Authority and Perpetuity of the Apostolic Institution of a Community of Goods . €€ As it must be extremely difficult to establish such wise regulations where private property takes place , it may justly be doubted whether property must not be excluded out of the most
perfect government . "—Wallace , Various Prospects of Mankind , &c . € i A scheme of government may be imagined that shall , by annihilating property and reducing mankind to their natural equality , remove most of the causes of contention and wickedness . "
—Dr . Prices Four Dissertations on Providence , 1777 , p . 138 ( Note ) . HOWE VER opposed to the opinions now generally prevalent , I confess I cannot wonder that from the first promulgation of Christianity there
have at various times been found many amongst its most sincere disciples who considered its spirit and tendency to be directly opposed to the acquirement of personal riches , or the systeiri of private property . The example of Jesus Christ , in conjunction with a multitude
of precepts and maxims repeated from time to time during the whole course of his ministry , pointing out the evils which result from the pursuit of riches , and the vices and failings of the rich , —the humble rank of the persons whom he chose as his first disciples , *
—and the numerous precepts which they have left us , agreeing with those of their Master , —may well account for the prevalence of the opinion among the first Christians , that the system of private property was incompatible with the prevalence of the gospel . And when we find how continually the
Christian Scriptures inveigh against the pursuit of wealth , and the temper and conduct of its votaries , and how constantly and repeatedly the first teachers of Christianity dwell upon this subject , we might rather wonder at the little attention it excites among professorsof Christianity in the present
* Judas , the only one who proved unworthy , was corrupted through the love of money .
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day , than that their predecessors should neither have overlooked nor explained away a doctrine 50 prominent in the Christian code . Christ came to preach the gospel to the poor . * ' Blessed be ye poor , " said he , * for yours is the kingdom of GocL But woe unto you that are rich ;
for ye have received your consolation / ' * The benediction , as recorded by another Evangelist , is upon the poor in spirit ; probably meaning those who are not given to the pursuit of riches . In the parable of the sower , " He that receiveth seed among thorns , is he that heareth the word ; an ^ the c are of this world , and the deceitfulness of riches , choke
the word , and he becometh unfruitful . " After the rich young mvai , * who had kept the commandments , ( and whose wealth , therefore , had neither been ill acquired nor ill employed , ) had gone away sorrowful when directed , if he would be perfect , to give up his great
possessions , " Jesus looked round , and saith to his disciples , How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God !—It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God . " The question , "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed 011 him ? " shews that his doctrine was not at all acceptable among those who are called the higher orders . Nicodemus , indeed ,
went to converse with him , but it was by night . When Christ said , " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon , " the Pharisees , who had the common
notions of the importance and prerogatives * of property , derided him , which may be thought much more natural for them , than for Christians to talk so much as they do of standing up for Religion and Property , which seem indeed to be but other words for God and
* Luke vi . 20 , 24 . » f- Omnis enim res , Virtus , fama , decus , divina humanaqiie , pulchris Divitiis parent ; quas qui constraxerit , ille Clams erit , fortis , J ustus : — Sapiensne ?—Etiam , et rex , Et quidquid volet . Hor « Sat . Lib . ii . 3 .
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88 The Nonconformist . No . xX .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1821, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2497/page/24/
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