"And you are to be equal, or in other words, you are to have equal claims on the properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just." (D&C 82:17.) Only the idler would suffer under such an order of things as is here outlined, and against him the edict of the Almighty has gone forth. We read in the revelations of the Church: "Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer." (42:42.) In the early part of the apostolic ministry, the unity and devotion of the Church was such that the members established a system of community ownership; (Acts 2:44-46; 4:32-37; 6:1-4) and during the brief period of its operation the people prospered temporally and spiritually. More than thirty centuries earlier the people of Enoch had rejoiced in a similar condition of oneness, and their righteousness was such that "The Lord came and dwelt with His people. . . . And the Lord called His people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 38.) The people of whom the Book of Mormon bears record also attained a blessed state of equality and with corresponding results. The Twelve Disciples, whom Christ had specially commissioned, ministered with such effectiveness that the people "had all things common among them, every man dealing justly one with another." (3 Nephi 26:19.) Further, "Therefore they were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." (4 Nephi 1:3.) Of them the prophet wrote: "Surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." (Verse 16.) The United Order will be a success when it is established by Divine direction. The tithing system has failed whenever meddled with by the secular power. Common ownership can never be enforced by the law of the land. It must be a religious observance, of voluntary acceptance devoid of compulsion or restraint; and as such, the world shall yet see this, the Lord's plan, in successful operation. -- 58 -- THE WORD OF WISDOM Sanctity of the Body "KNOW ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Cor. 3:16; see also 6:19; and D&C 93:35.)