On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Mammon . The parable of Dives * and Lazarus then followed , the tendency of which is sufficiently manifest . When one wanted to refer a dispute about an inheritance to Christ , he refused to have any thing to do with the matter ; —desires the man to take heed and
beware of covetousness $ as a man's Life consisted not in the abundance of the things which he possessed ; and then relates the parable of the rich man who would have pulled down his barns and built greater , and whose
golden dreams of " much goods laid up for many years /' - ( - were awfully interrupted by the approach of death . He also bore his testimony against the pursuits of traffic in a remarkable manner when " he cast out all them
that sold and bought in the temple , and overthrew the tables of the money changers , " % as having made the house of prayer into a den of thieves . And by the story of the widow ' s mite , he teaches that the possession of wealth is not necessary for the exercise of charity .
The concomitants of wealth—pnde , § domination , and the claims of rank , were equally the subjects of our Lord ' s reprobation . When there was a strife for pre-eminence among his disciples , he says , " Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles
exercise lordship over them , and their great ones exercise authority upon them ; but ye shall not be so : he that is greatest among you , let him be as the younger , and he that is chief as he that doth serve . " ||— " He that is least among you all , the same shall be Be not called
great . " ^ f " ye rabbi ; for one is your Master , even Christ , and all ye are brethren . " ** To which may be added the sentiment conveyed by his washing the feet of hits disciples , and many precepts of similar tendency .
lhe reprobation of the pursuit of riches , and the frequent animadversions on the evil consequences of inequality ? Dives is exactly what is called in the phrase of the mammonarchical faction , " a respectable person . " t Luke xii . 19 . J Matt . xxi . 12 . § Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination unto the Lord . Prov . xvi . 5 . H Mark x . 42—44 . % Luke ix . 48 . ** 1 Vfa * t vwtn O
Untitled Article
of " rank and condition , which are such prominent features in the teaching of our Saviour , might well be expected to produce a strong effect upon the minds of his disciples . Accordingly , we find that after his ascension , as soon as a considerable number were
converted , they at once commenced the plan of a Community of Goods . This shews what was the first impression on their minds : and the miraculous punishment of Ananias and Sapphira may lead us to conclude that it was sanctioned by Heaven . If it should be
objected that this plan of life , not having continued in the church , must have been found on trial to be impracticable , it may be replied , that this departure affords no better argument against the primitive practice , than is presented by any other corruption of Christianity against its genuine
doctrines ; and we shall find on further inquiry , that in fact it has uninterruptedly continued to the present time as an apostolic institution in the Christian Church , and , though much disfigured and corrupted , yet perhaps not more so than the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord ' s Supper .
The general tenor of the apostolic writings is quite as remarkable upon this subject as that of the gospels . There are several passages which seem to relate to the community of property in , the church . Paul writes to the
Corinthians , " For I mean not that other men be eased and ye burdened : but by an equality ) that your abundance may be a supply for their want ; that their abundance may also be a supply for
your want : that there may be an equality : as it is written , He that had gathered much had nothing over ; and he that had gathered little had no lack . " * With respect to the acquiring of property , * f he thus writes to
Tiino-* 2 Cor . via . 13—16 . + Richard Baxter says , " There are few texts of Scripture more abused than that of the apostle , ' He that provideth not for his own , and specially those of his family , hath denied the faith , and is worse than an infideL * This is made a pretence
for gathering up portions , and providing a full estate for posterity , when the apostle speaketh only against them that did cast their poor kindred and family on the church , to be maintained out of the . common stock , when they were able to do it themselves /* i € His following words shew
Untitled Article
The Nonconformist No , XX , 89
Untitled Article
VOIi . XVI . N
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1821, page 89, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2497/page/25/
-