Veneer on Article XXXVIII: Of Christian men's Goods, which are not common

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The Exposition.

I S said indeed, A5is iv. 32. that Z’ Multitude of them that believed ivere of one Hearty and of one Soul : Nei- ther said any of them that ought of the I’hings which he poffc(fed ‘-jcere hh own hut they had all I’bings common : But that theie Words denote no more than a Charitable Con- tribution, and not a Legal Community, appears from chap. v. ‘ver, 4. where St. Peter ibenks to Ananias concerning Part of the Price of the Land which he had fold, and which he and his “Wife had agreed to keep back, in che following Manner : Whiles it remained was it fwt thine own ? And after it was fold was it not in thine vjon Power ? And S. Clement o£ Alexandria ex- C c c horts

770 Jn Exposition on the

Ar..xxxviIT. horts US not to sufFer on the Account of what -*V we poifefs when we have enough, but to help such as apply to us for Relief, and not to fend them away empty-handed , and enforces his Exhortation from the Consideration of the Na- ture of Society, which would be destroy’d, or very much damaged, if Men were not to re- ceive Favours from one another ; and from that Precept of our Saviour’s, Make to yourselves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteoufnefs 3 that when ye fad they may receive you into everlafi-’ ing Bahttations which he says must be looked upon as manifeftly opposite to the rest of his Precepts, if the Duty of Charity be negleded. And then he goes on to tell us, that this can- not be observed, where Men negled: to feed the Hungry to give Brink to the Tbirfty to cloathe the Naked and to receive the Stranger , and that they that do not these Things, but per- form the cheap Part of their Duty only, are threatned with Hell Fire, and Outer Darkness.f And Mat. xxv. 34, c. we are affured, That the Negle6l or Performance of no Duty shall be Co much taken Notice of, as of this great Duty of Charity to the Poor and Needy. And I STim. VI. 18. Such as are rich m this Worlds are commanded to do Good to he rich in good IVorks. ready to dtfirihute willing to communi- cate. From all this it appears, that a Man is to relieve the Poor according to his Ability and alfb that the Substance out of which he is to do it, is his own, since ‘tis acknowledged to be o by Scripture and Antiquity 5 and fmce there would be none to give Alms, and none to re- ceive, if all Things were common. 4

f Quis dives falv. c. 1 3 . ^ See Homily of Alms-deeds.

Ajs^tide

Thirty-Nine Articles.

Art. XXXIX.