684 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts , and Letters . 
may be able to write about them; in order that those under 
them may not conclude from the varying answers and the 
misunderstandings that they themselves (i. e. the preachers) 
hold opposite views and continue to lead others astray—as 
is now the common report. I shall briefly show how much 
God’s Word may effect in such, and afterwards let other 
scholars determine its value. 
A PRELIMINARY QUESTION DESIGNED TO GIVE A BETTER 
UNDERSTANDING OF THE TREATISE. 
Some clamor loudly and ask: If God has made all things 
common possessions, whence this holding of property and 
this paying of tithes and taxes. 
Answer: God made all things else, before man, and finally 
he made man of the dust of the earth, naked and bare: thus 
we were born into this world and thus we must leave it, as 
Job says. Then God made Adam a lord and a ruler over all 
things and subjected everything to him to be used by him 
at his pleasure. Consequently the earth and everything 
contained therein belongs to God, and no man either by the 
act of creation or by nature is superior to another; for they 
are all of the same earthly origin. Therefore none may say 
by authority of divine or natural law: this or that is mine, 
lest he usurp that which be'ongs to the Lord. But since 
Adam was by God ordained lord over all things, he could 
at his pleasure give to his children, being after God the high¬ 
est ruler in temporal matters: thus Cain and Abel his (first) 
oldest sons held their possessions separate (Abel was a 
shepherd and Cain a tiller of the soil) and each gave to God 
of his substance. It is apparent that by their temporal 
gifts they recognized God as Lord of all things which he had 
subjected to Adam. The sons of Noah acted in like manner 
after the flood. 
Likewise, Abraham, Gen. XIII, divided his land with his 
brother’s son Lot, giving him his choice, although Abraham 
was the ruler. This was done by order of the spirit to bring 
about peace between Abraham’s and Lot’s herdsmen, both 
of whom, to please their lords, desired the best pastures. 
Hereby one can see that each had his own cattle and that 
only the pastures were held in common. And if to-day 
conditions were such that temporal possessions would be 
