T
\
ZION’S LANDMARKS
55
is, ‘•are His commands in them
selves, capable of accomplishing
His purposes, in effecting the
thing whereunto He sends them?"
If so, to what purpose could His
commands be without human
auxiliaiies? Hence, the suppos
ed assistance, rendered the Holy
Ghost, by those blind guides or
false zealots, under the title of
benevolence, spurred up by ap
peals to chi'istian duties, falls
under the following caption;
“Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter; fear God and
keep his commandments, for this
i i the whole duty of man.” Eccl.
12 ; 18. Hence fearing God and
keeping his commandments, is
the whole duty of man ; this em
braces every thing necessary for
us to do, believe or practice. And
we suppose the hlowing of Joefs
trumj)et, was io blow God’s com
mands in Zion, and Uoio multijili'
ed altars, self-wors’.ip, human
traditions, and men’s command
ments out of Zion. And where-
ver-tkhs t;"umpet is Idown^ God
has a Joel and a Zion. The
mystery of this trumpet is, that
it hljows out as well as in. Firsts it
hlo-ws God’s commands in Zion,
and those commands drive every
thing out but the commands,
even to theslaying of false proph
ets, the hewing to pieces of Agag,
^he dri.’ing out Ishmael, hating
Esau, rejecting Cain, and the
slaying of Uzziah. No wonder
false prophets dislike this mys
terious trumpet, and cannot
abide its sound nor those that
blow it. But while the rage of
wicked men'and devils is heralded
forth at this trumpet, and while
it speaks in terrific peals of thun-
ler to all the enemies of God,
yet, it speaks ill accents mild and
“my sheep know my voice,” &c.
But how mysterious this blowing',
it gathers the poor and makes
them rich, the blind, and gives
them sight, the deaf, and opens
their ears to hear, the hungry,
and feeds them, the naked, and
clothes them, the lame, and heals
them, the humble, and exalts
them, in short, it raises the dead
and kills the living, and sends
the rich empty away. But we
will proceed to the second part
of our subject, that of ‘‘sounding
an alarm in God’s holy moun
tain.” No doubt but the poor
prophet, Joel, trembled, and
awaked as he ascended the
Mount of God, with his trumpet
in hand and a full knowledge of
Israel’s sins, of omission and
commission. But the greater
burden no doubt, was Joel’s un
worthiness of so high A calling;
perhaps he felt as if he never
could blow a single sound, but as
he reached the sacred summit, a
voice shrill and loud, reached his
trembling heart, saying, “wx>
old, of how He destroyed the
land with his terrible array of
worms, files, locusts, &c., and of
His love to them in destroying
of Egypt for their sake.
We now come to speak to the
last part of the subject. ‘Let
all the inhabitants of the land
tremble, for the day of the Lord
corneth, for it is nigh at hand.’
Tremblins: is an evidence of fear
or weakness. Hence, the inhabi
tants of the land are called upon
to fear, “for the day of the Lord
cometh,” the day when forbear
ance is to be turned to judgment.
This is called the day of the Lord,
or the day when He will enroll
his great and terrible army of
swarming insects to consume the
substance of the land; a day when
He will take vengeance upon the
inhabitants for their sins. Oh,
has not sin spread itself in our
land to an alarming degree; is
it not truly a day of darkness in
our midst. The simplicity of the
gospel is turned to vain philoso-
Ty. The name of Christ is
time, humbles our pride, by mak
ing detestable things, our victoi^
md destroyer. Such was the
judgments announced by the
prophet Joel, in reference tc
God’s terrible army. But th(
Prophetcallsforsolemn assembly'
to be held in Israel, and for the
people to sanctify themselve?
unto the I>ord, with a prornis
of returning plenty, and thai
God would yet comfort and bles)
Zion. J'hen let us be solemn ii.
our assemblies, devotioual in
onr worship, humble in our lives,
upright in our walk and patient
in tribulation, and our God, in
whom we trust, will deliver ns
in due time, from all our enemies
of every kind, or give us gracf
to enalile us to glorify Him ii
our bodies and spirits which ar.
His. Then blow ye the trumpe
in Zion ; blow the same trumpet,
the same doctrine, the same faith
and the same practice, until
Christ shall come in his glory,
to be admired by all His saints,
and had in reverence by all that
are about him’—Ed.
Decatuk, Iee.,
February 7th, 1869.
other
me if I preach not the gospel.” disgraced in ten thousand ways
He then begins to sound the by professors of I’eligion. Infidel-
alarm, and In place of getting
weaker, as he supposed, be wax
ed stronger and stronger, to bis
surprise and comfort. He could
now tell them of tbeir idolatry
and of tbeir fornication, leanness
of soul, and worldly-minded
ness; be could here point out
to them wherein they had sin
ned and departed from God’s
holy laws. His object is to
alarm them of sin, for says God
to him, “sound an alarm in my
holy mountain.” If being world
ly-minded is alarming in God’s
holy mount, may we not sound
the alarm now ? If covetnous-
sound ihe alarm ; if idol-
ity is making gigantic strides
over our boasted land of religious
ness.
advantages, catholjcism is fast
rising, her deadly wound is being
healed in the consciences of many
professed protestants, and the
once sacred morals of our youths,
has fallen, and vice is now wink
ed at. May not this then be cal
led a day of darkness and of
gloominess, a day of clouds and
of thick darkness, as the morning
spreads upon the mountains. “A
great people and a strong; there
hath not been ever the like,
neither shall beany more after
it, even to the years of many gen
erations.” When nations become
musical .as the voice of God, when I atry be in the mount, give the strong they grow proud, and Sol-
He speaks to Moses in Iloi'eb, to
all the iiihaViitauts in Zion,
-raying, “fear not little flock, it
is your Father’s good pleasure to
give you the kingdom.” But
this ti'umpet has a peculiar sound
that no other trumpet ever had,
and none fully understand its pe
culiarity but God’s pecnliarpeo-
pje. Hence tbe King of Zion says,
alarm ; if coldness, sound it not
abroad, but in the mount; if
false doctrine, give the alarm ;
if negligence of duties of any
kind, or any disobedience, sound
the alarm, stir up the inhabi
tants of this mount, to every
goeth
Ij
a luumhtv
O */
omon says, “pride
destruction, am
before a fail.” Prov. IS) : 18. And
althougii (iod has with a single
man, as with Samson, subdued
nations, ^ ei i i e ciio'.ises at times
good work and labor of love.—
^ - of
Alarm them by telling them
God’s judgments upon Israel oi
to resort
means o. el-
SniS» HUO t.DG
sovereis'ji
insignificant
ISA'.,cement for
.ay displays
Fear ' Bi other in the Lord :—I
avail myself of the present opportu
nity of writing you a few lines to let
you know that I received two of your
papers some time since, and I am
well pleased as far as I could judge.
.... I would like to hear from
the various portions of the borders of
Zion ; and I have a great desire to
hear from those of my kindred in
Christ that are located in the South.
Some would have us believe tlia*' you
Southern people are perfect man-
eaters or C- nnibals ; hut I don’t un
derstand that there is any sectional
lines in Christ’s kingdom : all my
people shall be taught of the Lord ;
and none shall say know ye the Lord,
for they all shall know him, from the
least to the greatest; and th^world
by wisdom knows not God.
our
Mile same
Durim^
the war I was made to wonder it
Ziuii’s God would Suffer those locusts
and caterpillars, yes, and abolition-
ists, to entirely devour the sunny
South ; and while our Northern ar
mies was doing their souls delight, in
de.-:t, oying you as a people, those that
fought you on paper at home, how
they would rejoice over your downfall.
But 1 never saw anything to rejoice
over ; on the contrary, a many hours
;-:leep I have lost, in meditating over
your .situation. Many are the afflic
tions of the righteous, but the Lord
is able to deliver them out of them all
in his own time and way.
JOHN U. MYERS.