ed all attempts at
spoliation, and gave a proof of their readiness to submit to any
suffering for the cause which they had espoused. An inheritance, when
turned into money, could not be easily sequestered; and those who were
in want could obtain assistance out of the secreted treasure. Still,
even at this period, the principle of a community of goods was not
carried out into universal operation; for the foreign Jews who were now
converted to the faith, and who were "possessors of lands or houses"
[53:1] in distant countries, could neither have found purchasers, nor
negotiated transfers, in the holy city. The first sales must obviously
have been confined to those members of the Church who were owners of
property in Jerusalem and its neighbourhood.

The system of having all things common was suggested in a crisis of
apparently extreme peril, so that it was only a temporary expedient; and
it is evident that it was soon given up altogether, as unsuited to the
ordinary circumstances of the Christian Church. But though, in a short
time, the disciples in general were left to depend on their own
resources, the community continued to provide a fund for the help of the
infirm and the destitute. At an early period complaints were made
respecting the distribution of this charity, and we are told that "there
arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their
widows were neglected in the daily ministration." [53:2] The _Grecians_,
or those converts from Judaism who used the Greek language, were
generally of foreign birth; and as the _Hebrews_, or the brethren who
spoke the vernacular tongue of Palestine, were natives of the country,
there were, perhaps, suspicions that local influence secured for their
poor an undue share of the public bounty. The expedient employed for the
removal of this "root of bitterness" seems to have been completely
successful. "The twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them
and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and
serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of
honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint
over this business." [54:1]

Had the apostles been anxious for power they would themselves have
nominated the deacons. They might have urged, too, a very plausible
apology for here venturing upon an exercise of patronage. They might
have pleaded that the disciples were dissatisfied with each other--that
t