| 56 things for them, and who sacrificed them voluntarily for the benefit of establishing the Lord's poor; and thus we design to fulfill the saying of Jesus, that the poor have the gospel preached to them, not in form and theory only, but it will be the gospel of good news of great joy; for it will be an invitation of a return to the Father's house, where there is bread and to spare, it will be the practical realization of the spirit and design of the gospel of Jesus Christ; it will be the exemplification of the great practical maxim taught by the Son of God, when he said, (Matthew 7:12,) 'Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men [should] do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets.'
"And this is what the people of Preparation have done; those who were a little better off than others have sacrificed in common with those who had but little; all is now merged into one common treasury, and they are now equal in earthly things; none, according to the spirit of brotherly kindness and love, of equality and benevolence, calls anything his own, not in the fraternity of the Presbytery, but all are willing to share and enjoy all things, produced by united industry on common and on equal terms. This is the spirit and practical operation of the work; but in law every individual has so much real interest deposited in the common treasury, and which the law of the land secures to him, whatever that amount may be; and this is positive proof that the work is voluntary; and those who have left us, have taken their interest they had here away, and they have therefore no further claim upon us. Every individual who ever joined the Presbytery was well instructed in the design of the work and the conditions and requisitions for membership. Every individual relinquishes morally all claim to all he has, according to the spirit of the work, and by his free and voluntary consent, he does not claim anything as his own; just as it was in the days of the apostles, of which we read in Acts fourth chapter, thirty second verse, as follows: 'And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and [of] one soul: neither said any of them that aught [ought] of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had
(page 56) |
