60
ZION’S LANDMARKS.
Camden, Kershaw Co., S. C., 1
February 10 th, 1869. j
Bear Brother Bodenhamer :—It
being a rainy morning, and me con
fined in the house, I think it better
for me to be engaged in the cause of
God some way, than to do nothing;
and I have concluded to give you a
few of my weak and scattering ideas
on the fifteenth chapter and twenty
second verse, of Paul’s first epistle to
the Corinthians: “For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive.”
Paul wrote this epistle to the mem
bers of the Corinthian church, who
had fallen into the great error that
the resurrection was passed already,
and he labors assiduously, and shows
very clearly the resurrection is not
passed. At the 12th verse he says,
“now if Christ be preached that he
rose from the dead, how say some
among you that there is no resurrec
tion of the dead ?” Thus we see their
faith were opposite to the gospel, and
one or the other must be false. 14th
verse, “and if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain.” 15th verse, “ye
and we are found false "witnesses of
GaL ^“^cause we have tesfiified of
God that he raised up Christ: whom
he raised not up, if so be that the
dead rise not. Here we see some
thing of the depth of the device of
Satan in raising so great a contradic
tion of the gospel, and thereby mak
ing the whole word of God without
cftect, for if there is no resurrection,
there can’t be any future rewards
or punishment, and the human fami
ly may take their fill of sin, not at
all fearing eternal punishment. 18th
verse, “then they that are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished.” Then
there is no hope of the happiness of
deceased friends nor for ourselves
when we die ; and this idea, gives
Paul’s expression of great horror in
the 19th verse, “if in this life only,
we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable.” These alarm-
i ag trials without and heavy tempta
tions within, these alarming fears
and heavy surges of the mind that
we shall never obtain that glorious
immortality beyond the grave, would
all profit us nothing if we had no
hope, faith nor love to God, and could
get no foretaste of the love and mer
cy of God, we would be far more mis
erable than the people of the world.
20th verse, “But now is Christ risen
from the dead, and become the first
fruits of them that slept.” What
encouragement Paul gives every poor
tempest tossed and distressed soul,
by assuring them that they shall rise
with Christ at his appearing. 21st
verse, “for since by man, came death,
by man came also resurrection from
the dead as if he had said, all
Adam’s posterity is doomed to a tem
poral death by original sin, and by
the resurrection of Christ, all his pos
terity shall be made alive at the great
day of judgment. 22nd verse, “For
as in Christ all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive.” It is al
ways our duty in explaining a por
tion of the scripture, to take the gen
eral idea of scripture on the subject;
and as the making alive in Christ is the
same as the dead in Adam, we will
ask a question or two. Question,
How, and did or does all die in Adam,
and how are they made alive in
Christ ? Answer, says one, God tol
erated Adam to eat of all the trees of
the garden, save of the tree of knowl
edge of good and evil, “for in the
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.” Adam did eat thereof
and died to God and godliness. But
Jesus came in the flesh and atoned
for original sin, and placed every
thing as it was before Adam .sinne^i.
and the child is now born in a state of
grace, and is made sufficiently alive
in Christ to make him a free agent.
agree that Adam did die to God
and godliness when he partook of the
forbidden fruit. Gen. 3 :10, “I was af
raid because I was naked, and I hid my
self.” Fear always follows guilt, “fear
hath torment, but perfect love casteth
out fear.” Adam confessed his sin,
but laid the blame on the woman ;
the woman confessed her sin, but
laid the blame on the serpent. 14th
verse, “And tho Lord said unto the
serpent, because thou hast done this,
thou art cursed above all cattle, and
above every beast of the field : upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust
shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life.” loth verse, “And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed :
it shall bruise thy head and thou
shalt bruise his head.” I believe this
serpent is the devil. John says. Rev.
20 : 1, 2, “And I saw an angel come
down from heaven having the key of
the bottomless pit, and a great chain
in his hand; and he laid hold on the
dragon, that old serpent, which is the
devil and Satan.” Eccl. 9:14, 15th,
“There was a little city and a few
men within it, and there came a great
king against it, and besieged it, and
against
it
built great bulwarks
now there was found in it a poor
wise man, and he by his wisdom de
livered the city, yet no man remem
bered the same poor man.” To prove
that it is no abuse of the word of God,
to claim this “little city” to be the
church of God, Isaiah says, “there is
a river, the streams whereof shall
make glad the city God.” And Jesus
likens the kingdom of heaven to a
“city set on a hill, that cannot be
hid.” This city is the church of the
living God, or the spiritual seed of
the woman ; the “poor man” is Jesus
the Saviour of sinners, and the “few
men in it” are the children of God ;
Isaiah says, “Behold I and the chil
dren, which God hath given me.”
And Jesus delivered all the men in
the city when Satan “besieged it and
built bulwarks against it,” by his
strong and crafty temptations and vic
tory over the church of Christ; as the
seed of the woman, at this time com
prehended the whole church of Christ,
and they all died as Adam did, to
God and godliness, and subjected
themselves and their posterity, to a
temporal and an eternal death. 16th
verse. And unto the woman he said,
“I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception.” Notice this
“multiplication of conception” is af
ter man had sinned and died to God
and godliness, or after man was filled
with the carnal mind, and of course
they were not in tho loins of Adam
before he fell, or the ‘poor wise man’
would have ‘delivered’ them also from
an eternal death. Paul says, Rom.
9 : 7, 8, “neither because they are
the seed of Abraham are they all
children, but in Isaac shall thy seed
be called, that is, they which are of
the children of the flesh, these are not
the children of God, but the children
of the promise are counted for the
seed.” Gal. 4; 28, 29,30,31, ‘Now we
brethren, as Isaac was, are the chil
dren of promise. But as then, he
that was born after the flesh perse
cuted him that was born after the
Spirit, even so it is now. Neverthe
less, what saith the scriptures ? Cast
out the bond woman and her son, for
the son of the bond woman shall not
be heir with son the ofthe free woman;
then brethren, we are not the children
of the bond woman but of the free.”
Jesus says. Math. 12 : 34, “0 gen-
“Ye are of your father, the devil,
and the lusts of your father you will
do.” St. Math. 13 : 37, 38, 39,
“He that soweth tho good seed is
the Son of man, the field is the world,
the good seed is the children of the
kingdom, but the tares is the children
of the wicked one ; the enemy that
soweth them is the devil, the harvest
is the end of the world, and the reap
ers are the angels.” From the above
quotations, we gather that the fruits
of the ‘multiplication of conception,’
took place after man had sinned and
died to God and godliness, and the
image of God on his soul defaced,
and the image of Satan stamped
thereon in its stead ; for they were
not in the loins of Adam when the
prince of the power of the air, which
worketh in the hearts of the children
of disobedience, come against Adam
and Eve with his strong tempta
tions and overcame them. If they
hed been in the “city” the “poor
wi^se man” would have “delivered”'
them with his church, and there^
wouhfshave been a final, effectual and
eterna]\delivery from sin. We all
know wmtvt ‘multiplication’ is, it is to
multiply or\o given number by anoth
er given nunkber ; for instance, if
muptiplj 12 ^ 12 we have
number of 14-l5?^ainst 12. Jesus-
says, “strive ye tw enter in at the-
strait gate, for vcrilW 1 say unto you,
strait is the way and narrow is the-
gate that leadeth untn life, and few
there be that find it ;Vbecause wide-
is the gate and broad is the way
which leadeth to de^ruction, and
many there be which, go in thereat.’"
These “children qf the flesh,” is the
the great
eration of vipers, how can you, be
ing evil speak good things.” Math.
23 : 33, “Ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers, how can you escape the
church of anti-ehrist; and we be
lieve, the church of Christ and the
church of anti-christ, was kept sep
arate for a number of years. Gen.
6 : 2, “That the sons of God saw:
the d.aughters of men that they were
fair, and they took them wives, of
all which they chose.’ 4th verse, ‘And
also after that, when the sons of God
came in unto the daughters of men^
and they bear children to them : the
■same became mighty men, which
were of old men of renown.” I be
lieve, this is the time which the
Saviour alludes to: Math. 13: 25,
“but while men slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the
wheat and went his way.” “While
men slept” in sin, after Adam and
Eve had sinned and died to God and
godliness, the “enemy” of God and
man, tempted the “Sons of God” to
damnation of hell.” St. John 8 : 44, take them wives of the daughters of