COMMUNITY OF GOODS 447
COMPLETORIUM
daikmB belong the Shaken (q. ▼.) and the Gennan Sey- enth-daj Baptists (q. v.), who epjoin universal celibacy, the.cfdonies Economy and Zoar, established by Separ- atists from Wurtemberg, and the Oneida Compianlky (q. ▼.), which teaches a community of women as well as of property. — Pierer, Umverscd-Lexikon^ s. v. ; Her- zog, Beal-EnqfUopddie^ iii, 21 ; Romang, Bedeutung des Ocmummismtu cms dem Gesichttpunci des Christen^fns (Bern, 1847); Reybaud, Etudei sttr lea RiformaUurs on SociaiUiea Modernes (2 tom. Paris, 1848) ; Sudre, Hist, du Oommuniame (4th edit. Paris, 1850) ; L. Stein, Der Sodatiamut «. C. d. heutigen Frankreichs (Lpz. 1842 ; 2d ed. 1848) ; Gtach, d, aoaalen Bewegung in FrcmJsrtich V. 1789 b, a. imaert Tage (Lpz. 1850, 8 vols.) ; Karl GrOn, Die aocicde Bewegung in Frankreich «. Belgien (1845); Th. Muidt, Die Geach. d, GeaeUachaft in ikren ntueren EntwickeUmgen u. Problemen (1844) ; Williams, 7%e Harmony Society at Eeonomg, PemugkHmia (New Haven, 1867). See Socialism.
Comintuiity of Gk>od8. (1.) From the fact ''that the early Christians ^had all tMnga common' (Acts ii, 44), some have supposed that to renounce all properly, and to stiare one's goods with fellow-Chris- tians, is the perpetnal duty of Christians. But it is to be observed that no precept is given in Scripture to this effect ; we have only the &ct recorded that the early disciples were indifferent to property, unselfish, and * willing to communicate.' And, if history is to be our help in thb matter, it seems never to have been a pflot of Church discipline that goods should be com- mon. It is usually supposed that the renunciation of i private property, and Uie system of community of goods, was, for a time at least, adopted by the tokole of the infimt CHiurch of Jerusalem. That the system, if ever so adopted, was soon discontinued, is perfectly | evident. Those * who were rich in this workP were ex- horted to he ' ready to give, and glad to diatribute^' I which implies both that there were rich men in the churches, and that they were not required to sell all that they had, and cease to possess property, which would have left them, for the future, nothing to give. And the same may be learned from all that we read about the collections made in Greece for the poor Christians of Judsaa, and from many other circum- stances in tiie sacred hisfbry.
(2.) ** But it has been contended that even in the in- fimcy of the Church of Jerusalem, the community of goods was in reality confined to those engaged in the mkiiatryy including the female catechists, or deacon- esses, who were called 'widows.' Just at first, this description may have included aU the believers ; that is, those who were the first to embrace the Gospel may ail have been employed in some department of the ministry. That Aiumias and Sapphira thus offered themselves for the ministry is (doubtless) both a cor- rect supposition, and one which will make the whole of- the transaction recorded in Acts v intelligible" (Eden, Churchman^a Dictionary, s. v.). This view is taken by Hinds, Early Chriatianity (pt ii, ch. ii), who refers to Eusebius (lib. iii, c. 187) for confirmation of the suggestion.
(3.) Moeheim treats the subject largely in his treat- ise De Vera Natara Communioma bonorum in eccl. Hi- eroaoL (Dies, ad Ecd. Hist, pertin. vol. i), and seeks to show that the passages in Acts ii, 44 ; iv, 82, imply a communion merely of the use, not the poaaeaaion of property, and that only for a temporary purpose. But the more likely view is that the infant Church of Jeru- salem "went so far in the ardor of their first love as to abolish the external distinction of rich and poor," perhaps as ''a prophetic anticipation of the state of things in the perfected kingdom of God." The offer- mg was entirely voluntary, and not the fruit of any command. On the contrary, the N. T. abounds in pre- cepts for the right use of property, implying its separ- ate and proper possession. See Hinds (1. c.) ; Schaff, ^1^ CK HiaL § 114; Killen, Ancient Chatrch, p. 52 ;
Neaader, PhmUng and Trtmmg (Bohn's ed.), i, 258; ii,84.
Commutatloii of Pbkakcb Sn the Boman (Cath- olic Church. See Pbnancb.
Compass (usually 33D, KVKk6ia, to aurround) iis used as a noun by the A. Y., especially in the phrase ** fetch a compass" (22D, Num. xxxiv, 5; Josh, xv, 8 ; 2 Sam. v, 23 ; 2 Kings iii, 9 ; vtpupxofuii, Acts xxviii, 18), L e. ^ around.
Compel, in Matt v, 41 ; xxvii, 82 1 Mark xv, 21, is the rendering of the A. Y. for the technical term dyyaptvia, to impreaa into public service [see Anoa- REUo] ; in Luke xiv, 28 (avayKa^ut, often to *• con- strain"), it has a milder sense, i. e. urge, rather than the fuU meaning of coercion (as elsewhere).
Compiegne, Stkods of (Conventua Compendien^ aea; Concilittm Compendienae). The synods held in Compiegne began first in the middle of the 8th and ended in the 14th centuxy. The Diet held by Pepin the Little, A.D. 757, at (Compiegne, is counted among the synods, because the privileges of the archbishop Chrodegang were ratified and signed before the assem- bled bishops (Mansi, Conciliorum nova et ampl. Collection vii, 653 sq., Florent. 1766), Whether the few church laws which were issued under Charlemagne in the year 775 as capitularies, which related partly to church gov- ernment, partly to ecclesiastical revenues, and partiy to monastic discipline, were established at a synod in Compiegne is very doubtful, because in the record of the capitulary there is only mention made of a aynodaUa con- ventua (see Harduinus, A eta Conciliorum, iii, 2056, Paris, 1714). A synod held there in 828, at which the bishops spoke of the usurpations practised by laymen in church matters, may indeed be regarded as a diet (Mansi, L c xiv, 410, Yenet. 1769). The synod held in Ck>mpiegne in 838 was of real importance in the development of the Church. In the year 829, a Council at Paris, in a letter to the kings Louis and Lothaire, referring to an explanation which it was said the Emperor Constan- tino had given, set up the opinion that the bishops were the judges of kings, but that the bishops them- selves could not be judged by men. This thesis first found a practical application at the above-mentioned synod in Compiegne, as the sons of Louis desired their father to be sentenced to a public penance by the bish- ops, and thus declared unfit to reign (Harduinus, 1. c. iv, 1878, Par. 1714 ; Mansi, 1. c. xiv, 647). The synod of 1095 declared a nobleman, Hugo de Juiaco, under the ban ; that of 1286 established several regulations which aimed at securing ecclesiastical liberties ; and that of 1270 declared against the unlawfril possession of ecclesiastical benefices, which was regarded as sacri- lege (see Harduinus, L c. vii, 654, Par. 1714 ; Mansi, 1. c. xxiv, 18, Yenet. 1782). More important was the synod in 1801, as it made several decisions concerning ecclesiastical jurisdiction (Harduinus, I. c, p. 1247; Mansi, 1. c. xxv, 87, Yenet. 1782). The last synod in Compiegne issued only some decrees for the mainte- nance of Church discipline (see Harduinus, 1. c. p. 1268; Mansi, 1. c. p.ll7),-^ILerzog,]ieal-Encykl(}padie, Supplementbd, i, 845.