THE BROTHERHOOD by James White

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 15, 1858

THE BROTHERHOOD.

By James White

THERE are advantages in the brotherhood. That is, brethren can help each other, and both be benefited. Some of our brethren who are farmers or mechanics, hire; and it would be most convenient for them to hire those of the same faith and practice in regard to the Sabbath. Also there are many brethren among us who are obliged to hire out by the day, or by the month, and it would be most convenient for them to work for their brethren who keep the Sabbath.

And how natural the supposition that—with brethren who profess to love their brethren as themselves—the wealthy would favor the poor, and the advantages of the brotherhood would finally all fall into the laps of the poor. It should be so. But in many cases it is not so. The advantages of the brotherhood are reaped by the wealthy.

Poor brethren are generally liberal, and often neglect to keep accounts as they should, and the wealthy and worldly, who mark every penny, in settling up sometimes take advantage of the poor. In obtaining their wealth they have become accustomed to making the best bargains, till their consciences have become unfeeling in regard to the poor, and their love of gain leads them to even take advantage of a poor brother.

We have been acquainted with some cases of this kind which have had a most discouraging influence on the poor, which is the reason why we would put our poor brethren on their guard. Two young brethren of the Battle Creek church were induced to go to Round Grove, Ills., to better their condition. They had unbounded confidence in leading brethren there. Those brethren led them into the world, took advantage of them, so that when they returned to Battle Creek they had lost one year of hard work and $100 besides. We cannot hold our peace on this subject. We have read of Ananias and Sapphira, [Acts v,] and their end. But compare with their sin, the crime of oppressing, deceiving and gouging the honest poor, and the orphan; this, too, while professing to receive the testimony of the true Witness, and after having been faithfully reproved for such sins; and then say whose chance would you choose in the resurrection, were you doomed to a choice? O, the deceitfulness of riches! They will make a sober man drunk, a sane man insane, an honest man deceitful. This sin has not rested on those at Round Grove alone.

Had Ananias been a poor man, he, with his wife, would probably have walked with the apostles and with God, and secured everlasting life. One deception is recorded against them. They kept back part of the price. Said Peter, "While it remained, was it not thine own?" But some profess to have all on the altar, and keep back, not only part of the price, but all, or nearly all, and with the influence which money and their profession give them, they grind the faces of God's poor.

"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Jas. v, 1–4.

Now there is no more necessity for this deception than there was in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. Why profess to have all on the Lord's altar, when in fact it is on Satan's altar? If they choose to make a god of their wealth, and risk the future, is it not in their power to do so? While it remains thus, is it not their own? Why act a deceptive part in the face of heaven, and before the followers of Jesus on earth? O, church of Jesus Christ, arise and shake off these sins before they sink thee to perdition! Jesus is spuing the lukewarm out of his mouth. Beware! Beware!! J. W.