plaints and legal
prosecutions have not, hitherto, come from persons who brought
property into the institution, but from those who came destitute
of property, and who, generally speaking, have been no benefit to
the society in any way, but, on the contrary, after having enjoyed
its hospitality, and brought no small share of trouble upon the
people, have had the assurance to lay claim to wages which they
never earned, or property to which they never had any just or
legal claim.

"No person can be received into this order until he shall have
settled all just and legal claims, both of creditors and filial
heirs; so that whatever property he may possess, may be justly and
truly his own. Minors cannot be admitted as covenant members of
this order; yet they may be received under its immediate care and
protection. And when they shall have arrived at lawful age, if
they should choose to continue in the society, and sign the
covenant of the order, and support its principles, they are then
admitted to all the privileges of members. The members of this
order are all equally entitled to the benefits and privileges
thereof, without any difference made on account of what any one
may have contributed to the interest of the society. All are
equally entitled to their support and maintenance, and to every
necessary comfort, whether in health, sickness, or old age, so
long as they continue to maintain the principles, and conform to
the orders, rules, and regulations, of the institution. They,
therefore, give their property and services for the most valuable
of all temporal considerations--an ample security, during life, for
every needful support, if they continue faithful to their contract
and covenant, the nature of which they clearly understand before
they enter into it.

"We believe it will be generally granted that the history of the
world does not furnish a single instance of any religious
institution which has stood fifty years without a visible
declension of the principles of the institution, in the general
purity and integrity of its members. This has been generally
acknowledged by the devotees of such institutions and facts have
fully verified it. But we would appeal to the candid judgment of
those who have known this institution from the beginning, and have
had a fair opportun