r
110
Zion’s liUndmarks; Wilson, N. C.
a great Many married lier. And, there
was another secret order called
Knights of the Golden Circle; and,
another at the North called Union
Leagues. I think they have done
all they could to draw, persuade and
wreck God’s people—but they are
uiimoveable, they can’t move them
for they (God’s people) have that faith
that the anchor of the soul holds
them sure and steadfast. • There is
still another secret order, called Good
Templars: to keep men (they say) from
drinking and getting drunk ; but 1
think it made more drunkards than
they stopped, in fact I never knew a
man to sto]) long at a time that be
longed to them—but turned out in
the end to be a regular drunkard.
But, my dear biethren, there is a
loveiy daughter started recently call
ed the Grange—the loveliest of all.
After trying for over eighteen years
to toll God’s people into the worldly
institutions gotten up by men with
all their schemes and p’ans, they say
that the Grange is a great benefit to
them and say there is no harm in
it and invite them to join it. AVhy,
my dear brethren, they were confi
dent that they could ensnare every
Old Baptist—it was gotten up for the
farmer and we will get them to marry
this daughter sure, she is so pretty
and good and don’t cost much to join
her—only fi’ce dollars—and in buy
ing two or three barrels of flour you
will your money back. I ^have
not heard of but one Old Baptist that
joined them in this country and he
was holding a letter at the time.
Mv dear brethren, never run after
these daughters of men, because there
is enough laid down ill God’s word
for us to do—more than any man
ever did or ever will do. To fear
the Lord and keep his command
ments iS the whole duty of man. A
city set on a hill cannot be hid.—
The world seeing our good works
may take warning. So, let us work
out our own salvation with fear and
trembling. ATa, tlie Lord worketh
in us to do of his own good pleasure.
The gospel church is enough for any
man to belong to. We have no use
for worldly institutions, for they be-
lom>- to the ivorld and let the world
O
have them. As our blessed Saviour
said, “Seek first the kingdom of heav
en,” &c., and such things as we need
will be added unto us. Let us try to
resist ail temptation as our Redeemer
did when he was in the wilderness
f rty days and tempted by the Devil-
as long as Moses was on the Mount
w'hen he received the lav : we suppose
there was nothing there to cat or
drink—he fasted forty days, being
supported by the power of our heav-
enlv Father. We know not how
much he suffered, but it seems that
at the end of that time, he was at--
tacked by the Devil who, we suppose,
was fully acquainted with the mani
festation of divine glory which had,
at Christ’s baptism, declared him the
Son of God. He (the Devil) un
doubtedly thought he could tempt
Christ by going to him when he was
hungry and thirsty, probably M^ant-
ed to know of him how he could en
dure such hardship when it was in
his power to easily find relief. If
thou be the Son of God, said the
Devil, Command that these stones be
made bread. This temfitation, seem
ing so kind and harmless, was the
more dangerous; the crafty fiend de
signing to allure our Redeemer to
some superfluous acts of his divine
power to sustain his present necessity
which might have been contrary to
an entire resignation and obedience
to the will of his heavenly Father;
but, our Lord repelled this insinuat
ing temptation by quoting the words
of God, which implied that God,
when he pleases, can, by extraordi
nary means, supply the wants of his
creatures, and provide food for the
support of the human race. Man
shall not live by bread alone but by
every word of God. Tiie Devil be
ing repulsed in his great attempt on
the blessed Jesus, piv.cecded to the
second trial to ensnare our exalted
Saviour; yea, he took him to the Holy
City and set him upon a pinnacle
of the Temple and said. If thou be
the Son of God cast thyself down,
for it is written. He shall give his
angels charge concerning thee, and in
their hands they shall bear thee up
lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against a stone. Thus, by quoting
from the Psalms, the great adversary
of mankind attempted to dravv aside
and overcome their only Saviour—
The words, to keep thee in all thy
ways, were not to the artful tempter’s
purpose and therefore were craftilv
omitted. The tendency of this temp
tation seems to be the exciting; of our
Lord to presume too much upon the
divine jirotection in his present state
of humility and submission, and as
he depended on the word of God
when he was in danger of being fam
ished in the wilderness, the tempter
quoted the same word to. assure him
that God would send his anyels to
protect him, though he should leap
from the pinnacle of the temple, and
perhaps the malicious fiend might
secretly hope rhat if the Lord could
be prevailed upon to make the exper
iment, he would be dashed to pieces
with the fall and all the apprehen
sions of all the infernal powers on his
account would then have been at an
end ; but, tlie blessed Jesus was not
to be thus overcome: he stood fixed
on the immoveable basis of his hu
mility and meekness, and replied to
the insinuating Tem[)ter in the words
of Moses : it is written again, said he,
Thou shaP, not tempt the Lord thy
God—by which we ought to know it
is not lawful to try the gospel of
God or the reality of his paternal
cai’e in our preservation, by putting
ourselves into unnecessary danger or
making wild an-I extravagant exper
iments of hi.s protection. But, he
did not stop at this, he took him
to an exceeding high mountain and
showed him all the world and the
glory of it, Ac., and said that he
worship him; but he gave him a
sharp rebuke, saying. Get thee hence
Satan, for it is written. Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God and him
only shalt thou serve. So, Satan
fled and tempted him no more.
My love to God’s people every
where. May the Lord be with us
all, now and forever.
AMur unworthy brother,
If one at all,
R. C. Browning.
Instead of “Cotton Grove, Texas,” as
tins commurication is headed, (by an over
sight discoverad too late for correction) it
should be Cotton Gjiove, Tennes-see.
Ziors^s Laiiiliiiarks^
r. D. GOLD, Editor.
PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY
—( at )—
’jY'lLSON, JIo^TH JDa^OLINA.
Two Dollars Per Annum
JUNE 1st, 1875.
would give it all to him if he would
li i 1 0 i’ i a I .
J “ Ilemove not the ancient land-
\ mark, ■\\d)ich thy fathers have set.
?lHANCTd-^SPECUl^fK)N.
Whatever people of any age or
period practice they defend or apolo
gize for. If they resort to such
schemes as lotteries and life insurance
comjianies, either for selling tickets or
poTcies in order to secure their bread,
or for buying chanAs in theiw, they
will advocate the system ; if need be
directly, or by seeking to degrade
the honest methods of living, such as
the Bible endorses, to an equality
with these. As, if a man should
.say, in defending gambling, that there
is a risk in every thing—that even
the good old, honest, farming business
is full of risk, and therefore gambling
is no worse—for all business is gamb
ling. [We would here remark that
a poor system of farming does make
it very uncertaiu, but that there is
little uncertainty, if any, as to wlieth-
er a good farmer will live by it.]
In honest kinds of business a man
makes an exchange of something
usually as valuable as what he re--
ceives. Does that hold good in
buying lottery tickets ? Does the
ticket seller always or generally part
with a ticket known to be worth
about as much as the money he re
ceives? If so it would cease to be
a lottery.
In the instances of casting lots in
the Bible, no money or jiroperty was
risked-—-nobody lo.st any thing, or
made any thing. It was a method
divinely approved of ascertaining a
guilty person, as in the case of
Achan, or the one before chosen of
God foi a purpose, as Matthias who
was chosen to be a witness, not an
Apostle. “The lot is cast into the
lap ; but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord,” Prov. 16: 33.
In the many instances mentioned
in the Bible of casting lots—no such
thing as risking money, or betting,
or making money, is even hinted at.
Nor is there ever any uncertainty
about the casting of the lo(. That
discovered the proper person, the
Jonah, or Achan, or Jonathan, or the
right person is always found out by
that means, for it was of the Lord.
The system of lotteries of this day
is as unlike that one as darkness is
different from light, or as false re
ligion is contrary to the.true.
And how unworthy and even cor
rupt the reasoning that .seeks to make
the way that God has commanded
man to -get his bread as uncertain
and speculative tis the modern
schemes of living, such a.sTife in
surance agencies, lotterie.s, ,‘itock oji-
erations ot various sorts, and specu
lation in general ? The keeping of
cattle, tillage of the eiw’th, teaching
people v/holesomc truth, whether
orally or by writing, and similar
modes of producing something valu
able from the earth, or communicating
information beneficial to others, of
improving the crude matter created
for man’s good, as shaping metal into
useful tools for labor, or comforting
mankind and ameliorating their con
dition of suffering and snrroiv, are
methods of honestly laboring which,
according to the Bible, are not only
endorsed, but entitled to reward.
Such labors benefit all cla.sses, and
impoverish none. The priest who
waited on holy things did faithful
service to others in teaching Ac., and
lived of tho.se things. Thescribe who
wrote and expounded the law wvas
authorized. How frequently tilling
the soil is mentioned, and cunninir
' O
or skilfull workman in wood, stone,
metal Ac., or merchants, or hone.st
traders. No^v the Bible rives ex-
O
amples of what is useful, to encourage
us and of what is Imitful, to warn
mankind. But men may argue from
the true to the false, if the spirit of
sophistry is in their minds. They
may argue that it is right to put u[>
lightning rods on hou.ses because the
Bible teaches us it is riecht to have
houses; but the Bible furnishes us
the examples of hou.ses for shelter,
though it does not give us the ex
ample of lightning rods. One might
argue that, because a man should
provide -for tho,=^e of his own liou.se,
that therefore he i.s ju.^^tifled in insur
ing his life Ac. But the Edile
teaches a man to do these things by
honest labor,and by economizing in
a good W’ay, and giving to tlie needy
Ac., and thus committing his way to
God and trusting in ])rovidenee, or
by living to God in righteousnes.
There is a tonnitation in insuring
life or property that I should prefer
not to be under. If th.e family of
one wliose life is insured loved money
too much (and tlio fact of insuring is
too good proof of th.at to- be rejected)
perhaps they wmuld not value his
life as they ought. Or when proper
ty is insured there is a teraptation to
negligence-Ac,, and a distrast of
providence, and too strong a reliance
in the insurance company is evinced;
all of which is certainly corrupting
to man and dishonoring to God.