In those Christian communities where the influence of the apostles was most powerful, and where the arrangements drew forth their highest commendations, believers treated each other as brethren, in the strongest sense of that sweet word.  So warm was their mutual love, so strong the public spirit, so open-handed and abundant the general liberality, that they are set forth as “having all things common."[29] Slaves and their holders here?  Neither the one nor the other could, in that relation to each other, have breathed such an atmosphere.  The appeal of the kneeling bondman, “Am I not a man and a brother,” must here have met with a prompt and powerful response.

[Footnote 29:  Acts, iv. 32.]

The tests by which our Savior tries the character of his professed disciples, shed a strong light upon the genius of the gospel.  In one connection,[30] an inquirer demands of the Savior, “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” After being reminded of the obligations which his social nature imposed upon him, he ventured, while claiming to be free from guilt in his relations to mankind, to demand, “what lack I yet?” The radical deficiency under which his character labored, the Savior was not long or obscure in pointing out.  “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.”  On this passage it is natural to suggest—­

1.  That we have here a test of universal application.  The rectitude and benevolence of our Savior’s character forbid us to suppose, that he would subject this inquirer, especially as he was highly amiable, to a trial, where eternal life was at stake, peculiarly severe.  Indeed, the test seems to have been only a fair exposition of the second great command, and of course it must be applicable to all who are placed under the obligations of that precept.  Those who cannot stand this test, as their character is radically imperfect and unsound, must, with the inquirer to whom our Lord applied it, be pronounced unfit for the kingdom of heaven.

2.  The least that our Savior can in that passage be understood to demand is, that we disinterestedly and heartily devote ourselves to the welfare of mankind, “the poor” especially.  We are to put ourselves on a level with them, as we must do “in selling that we have” for their benefit—­in other words, in employing our powers and resources to elevate their character, condition, and prospects.  This our Savior did; and if we refuse to enter into sympathy and co-operation with him, how can we be his followers?  Apply this test to the slaveholder.  Instead of “selling that he hath” for the benefit of the poor, he BUYS THE POOR, and exacts their sweat with stripes, to enable him to “clothe himself in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day;” or, HE SELLS THE POOR to support the gospel and convert the heathen!

[Footnote 30:  Luke, xviii. 18-25.]