Newspapers / Zion’s Landmarks (Wilson, N.C.) / Oct. 1, 1870, edition 1 / Page 3
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ZION’S LANDMARKS wtmarmm ffTifl life to the bitter in soul.”—' Such are tlie triabs of the Christian, that they “Lon," for death, hut it cnrnethnot: and di" for it more than t'^r hid treasure.” “Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can ilnd the grave.” — That is, they rejoice that the grave will end all their sorrows. Also the tried chri.stian asks, “Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in ? “For my sighing cometh before I cat, and my roarings are poured out like the waiters. For the thing which I greatly feared is come U]ion me, and that which T was afraid of is come unto me.” Well may itbesaid ofthispcojile: “ These are they that have come up out of great ti'ibulation.” But re member that all ymr groauings arc heard, your sighings are heeded, and all your tears are bottled up. Oh ! dear w'eary soul, uo matter how great or liow’small yourtrials are, nor from wiieneo tlicy conic, Christ laiow'S tlicm all, and wall manage them all for you ill due time, and bring you off conqueror and more than conqiicr- through Him that loved you and gave himself for you. Then we shall be free from sin ami pain, and sing, O death, wdiere is thy sting, O grave, w hero is thy victory; the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law ; but thanks be to God, who givetli us tlie victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.—Ed. WTlson, X. C., Sept. 26, 1870. Dn. Hooper—Dear Sir:—Yours ■of September 5th is before me, and contents noted. In reply, you will please be informed that the delaj^ of public notice has been on account of ministerial duties on our part, calling as from home constantly. You state in your article that you take Elder Hassell’s article in the Landmarks of September 1, to be an invitation to yourself to use our columns for your communications, for in no other way «oiild they reach our readers, as you believe our organ does not republish your addresses to Elder Gold, &c , that have appeared in the Biblical Re corder. "We purpose republishing your addresses, and Elder Gold’s I’e- plies, as soon as the Recorder pub lishes Elder Gold’s second reply to you. We also expect to republish yours and Elder Gold’s correspon dence, as long as you and he are will ing to parsue thediscussion. Because it brings the arguments of eacli de- ''oraination before them, so that the Missionaries through the Recorder' have the benefit of the discus.sion, and the Baptists have the benefit of it through the Landmarks. So upon the same principle w'e open to you our columns to reply to, and discuss the Missionary movements with Elder Ha.ssell. That is, on condition that the Biblical Recorder repnblisli from the Landmarks yours and Elder Llasscll’s eomniunicatioiis, so as to bring yours and his arguments fully before your people as well as before mine. We have no doubt but such discussion of principles, coming from such a source of learning and talent as yourself and Elder Hassell, wmuld be read by thousands with in terest and benefit. Our columns are ever open for the dissemination of lisilit, and to shew the strength of truth on the one hand, and the weak ness of error on the other. Editor Landmarks. WTlson, Sept. 5 th. Mr. Editor:—I observed in your issue of September 1, a letter from C. B. Ha'sell, commenting with a good deal of freedom and self-exul tant spirit on the supposed advantage gained over me and my cause by El der Gold’s letter, and inviting me to renew and continue the discussion, in these terms : “Perhaps tlie Dr. would like to try again—to amend his article, &c. We liave no objections. He is at libei;|^^y to amend and add anything new that lie thinks proper. We should be truly glad to hear from him. Truth suffers uo loss from attack.” I take this as an invitation to use your columns for my communications, for in no other way could they reach your readers, as, I believe, your organ does not republish my addresses to Mr. Gold, ■which have appeared in the Biblical Recorder. Mr. Hassell seems not to read that paper or he would have known that I had al ready Avritten three articles in reply to Elder Gold’s letter. As Mr. H’s letter is very short, and contains but one point as a foundation for any reply, I will at £his time only notice that passage in his letter to you which is intended and expected to he a total overthrow of my arguments and positions. The passage runs tli us: “ The Dr. has no doubt ere this dis covered the Avide gap he left open in his argument Avherever he claimed no further antiquity for his gospel than AndreAV Fuller, andno further antiqui ty for missions than Judson and his comiianions. In view of this position, Ave might Avell inquire Avhere Avas the church for about 1800 years after the birth of our Saviour? Was there any church of Christ at all, or gospel or mis sions until Fuller and Judson arose? If so, it does not seem to appear from Dr. Hooper’s letter. And Ave arc led to infer from it that the blessed Saviour and his disciples had nothing to do with originating or propagating tlie gospel of the Son of God—that it was all done by Fuller, .Tudson and others, and that tliey and not the Saviour.and his Apos tles! are entitled to the honor and glory of it.” XoAv I Avould appeal to any fair- minded man to say if any such infer ence can he legitimately, much less necessarily, draivn from my praises of Fuller and his co-adjutors. Does not every body knoAv and take for granted tliat the Saviour originated and that the apostles and their help ers published the gospel during the first century ? And docs not every body also take for granted that men of like mind, impelled by the Sa viour’s last command : “Go into all the Avorld and preach the gospel to every creature,” continued the sacred AAmrk thus begun, and, in progress of time, extended it over the naiioiis till it reached and pervaded almost the Avhole civilized Avorld? And liow did tliese followers of the primi tive preachers propagate the gospel ? Exactly as Ave are doing now. By feeling the obligation to obey the Sas viour’s command and acting under that impulse. But although British Christians, in great numbers, Avere ac tively and zealously laboring to dif fuse Christianity in Christendom, it is undeniable that about the time Fuller and his co-laborers began their move ments, the church AA^as deplorably in sensible to the duty of carrying the gospel into heathen lands, and that the first person Avlio introduced a res olution that it AA’as the duty of Chris tians to send missionaries to the liea- tlien A\ms rebuked as officious and al most deranged. We may justly bo'' lieve and say that the church is some times ignorant and asleep as tn an im portant part of its duties. The pro phet Jonah had to be awakened by the shipmaster Avith the rebuke:— “ What meanest thou, O sleeper! Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God AAull think upon us that Ave per>- isli not,” The five Avise virgins slept as Avell as the five foolish ones Avliile tlie bridegroom tarried, and Avill Mr. Hassell deny that the church collec tively as Avellas individually may he in a state of slumber ? Ev^ea in the limited sphere of his operations, does he not find it necessary to preach aioakeniny sermons to rome sluggish and cold members of the church to a suitable sense of their duty ? 163 I meant not to say that all the cred it of rousing the missionary spirit and putting in motion the missionary op erations AA'as due to Fuller and his co- Avorkers, for there Avere noble devoted men at aawIc in other parts of Eu rope, spending and being spent to make Christ known to the heatlieu. To mention no otlier, the Moi'ariam had established missions in Labrador and Greenland and among our Xorth American savages, Avith Avhat blessed results let all history testify. Can Mr. Hassell help blessing God and his devoted embassadors for such changes produced upon the most bru tish and degraded of mankind as are described so beautifully by CoAAqicr ? Speaking of the Greenlanders before and after their conversion, he says : What -were they ? What some fools are made by art, They are by nature, atheist, head and heart; Tliey were what lax credulity believes True Christians are: dissemblers, drunkards, thieves; The full-frorged savage at hi# nauseous feast Spent half the darkness ana snored out the rest; * * « * * ft AATiat are they now ? The wretch who once sang wildly, laughed and danced. And sucked in dizzy madness with his draught Has wept a silent flood, reversed his ways; Is sober, meek, benevolent and prays ; Feedf sparingly,'communicates his store, ■! Abhors the craft he boasted of before, v And he thatstaijE, has learned tooteal no more- J Well spake the prophet: Let the desert sing, Where sprang the thorn the spiry fir shall spring; And where unsightly and rank thistles grew, Shall grow the myrtle and luxuriant yew. These Avere the results of raissiou- ary labors Avlieii tried upoiiam«7i-^,s7t, for the uative Esquimaux Avas scarce ly superior to the seal he fed upon. Tlie same transforming effects Avere manifested Avhcii tried by British and American missionaries upon the«iff;i'. tigers of Xortli America and of Africa. The reader of these details of self- sacriiicing labours for God and t,lie gospel, unless he has eyes blinded ami a heart poisoned by prejudice cannot hut be filled Avith joy Avlien he sees the Avolf turned into a lamb and the vulture turned into a dove. If these are not “the Lord’s doings and if they do not deserve to be marvellous in our eyes,” then I do not see how the lame man leaping like a hart, the blind man seeing, the dumb maa singing praise, and the dead man raised, can be Avorthy of draAving forth hallelujahs to Jehovah. Those who attribute all these things to the “ man of sin ” come near, in my esti mation, to committing a sin like that of the man avIio ascribed our Saviour’s miracles to Beelzebub. WM. HOOPER.
Zion’s Landmarks (Wilson, N.C.)
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Oct. 1, 1870, edition 1
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