Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1881-04-16

W illCu 10 tDlOluGu ny his OOQ Nub
gives him life, and salvation, and
eternal happiness. Obedience re-
quires this, If God demands it. Now
can you hear the Divine injunction
of the text. and reply that God does
not demand it ?
There we leave the question for
the present, and ask, now, what does
providing for family mean? Not
! merely support i'll the ordinary sense
of the term. That must be attended
to it is true. We cannot starve
those who are dependent upon us.
We cannot allow them to go un-
clothed. But in addition to all this
we must sndeavor to educate them,
so to train their minds and hearts,
that as the young ones grow up, they
will be capable Of taking proper
position in life, capable of entering
into business, and then conducting
that business upon proper principles.
| This we take to be fair meaning of
the expression ''provide for his own,
especially for those Of his own fam
lily" Now what does membership
in this Order do /? True, it does not
look so much to the care of the fam
lily, while we are able to exercise
our full duty towards them in
this life; but should God in His
Providence call US away from them,
we will have left that which
will furnish Tour own''-our loved
ones-"our family"-the necessities
of life, whether they be food or cloth
ing, or that education which will fit
and prepare them to do their duty
here, and "serve God in their day
and generation Think you then
that an Order which has this for its
object, is contrary to Christian prin-
ciples ? Is it not in reality offering
to every man, not otherwise able, an
opportunity to put scriptural and
Christian principles into practice.
But our text is still stronger than
this. Not merely does this provid-
ing for the family promise good to
those who do it, but every man who
is Christian is Sound to attend to
it. There is a solemn duty resting
upon every Christian man to put in
to practice the precepts of the Cos
pei. There is sin which is quite as
destructive to the Christian life as
the sin of commission. That is the
sin of omission. The Word OF God
says: ITO him that knoweth to do
good and doeth it not, to him it is
SIN" The precepts of the Gospel
are all binding and not to do them,
is to reject the very thing the Chris
tian pIofesses-is, in a word, to
deny the faith. Here then, is a posi-
tive Divine injunction-an injunc-
ton given to every protesting Chris
tian, and one which he is to obey
"If any provide not for his own fam
ily," mark the import if he does
not obey this, she hath denied the
faith" Hence il you kno,o that this
good is to be done, and yet do it not,
it is a sin. Now then this Order en-
ables a man, in providing for his
family, to keep the faith, and not de-
ny it. Understand me ! | do not as
sert that man must be in this Or
der if he is Christian, | only say,
this offers one way of doing his
Christian duty and keeping the faith.
But again our text asserts that the
christian man who does not provide
for his family, sis worse than an in
fdel.n Many heathens or infidels in
the apostles day, as well as in this,
being sensible of the obligations
they were under to take care of their
relations, especially OF their own
families, maintained them when they
were unable to support themselves.
You perceive, the argument OF the
apostle is: That Christians who neg.
lect this duty and obligation, are
worse than those who do not profess
to be governed by the high and holy
principles which were taught and
exempliied by the great Founder of
Christianity. Again this Order Of
fers to Christians the opportunity to
be at least, not worse than infidels.
But some one may offer the objec-
ton that the founders of this and all
kindred organizations had in view las
their chef object, tie securement OF
offices which would enable them to
make money-to obtain large sala-
ries. In the first place we are not
prepared to say that this objection is
well taken. Secondly, if it is, there
is this thought: The chief officers
in so large and influential an organi-
Zation have no sinecure of it. Their
work, in conducting its affairs,is no
child's play. They must be men of
large business talent or they could
not gain public complementary would
be ousted by popular clamor. And
if they are men of business talents,
faithfully doing their duty, they de-
serve to be we'll paid for their labor.
1t is a scriptural law, that 1.-The la
borer is worthy of his hire" Be-
sides this, the founders of this as
well as all other organizations of the
kind, know that they will bless and
help mankind. And unless they did
help and bless, the members could
not be numbered by the tens and tens
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