ZION’S LANDMARKS.
DEVOTED TO THE DEFENSE OF THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS.
‘‘TO THK TO THE TESTIMONY.”
VOL 3.
WILSON, NORTH CAROLIISA, NOVEMBER 1, 1870.
NO. 23.
At Home, 1 mile west of Henderson,
Kusk County, Texas,
September llth, 1870.
Brother Bodenhamer :—It seems
to me that months and years have
passed away since I have felt more
Bolemn and serious than at the pre
sent time. The wonderful provis
ions in the great plan ot salvation,
from w'hich flows an unceasing and
an untiring love for the cau.se ot
Christ and his followers, causes me
to say with David, O, Lord^ my
heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes
lofty : but surely it is a great mat
ter, yea, too w'onderful for me.
(Psalms 131.) David had vowed a
vow, that is, he had promised to
•follow him, the Lord, and said tliat
he would not give sleep to his eyes
or slumber to his eyelids until he
found out a place for the Lord, a
habitation for the mighty God of
Jacob. The above quotations, my
brother, I realized experimentally
when I vowed my first vow public
ly, that is, put on Christ by open
profession, promised to follow him
through evil as well as good report,
and for conscience sake, which con
science was in my bosom not the
head ; it being tlie stronger man
leads the old fleshly body down into
the liquid grave and then to rise in
newness of life j a burden left the
bosom, and in its room and stead a
place is found for the habitation ot
the mighty God of Jacob. The
Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath
desired it for his habitation. Yea,
he hath ordained a lamp for his
anointed. (Psalms 132.) Now,
brethren and sisters, you who are
such able writers, and in compari
son 'with whom 1 do not amount to
more than a mark in the sand, per
haps my desires for the good of
God’s people may be as large as
yours, so bear with my folly a little
and let me speak a few words to a
class who feel near me, yea, are in
my bosom, viz: those who leel that
God, for Christ’s sake, has pardon
ed their sins, but who have never
went in the discharge of your duty;
you who have for years been safely
kept and preserved in the ark of
the covenant of grace amid the ob
noxious bull-rushes of this fast age
of time, perhaps for twenty years,
unobserved by persecutors, but not
by God’s people—they have an eye
to see, and have been there too.
Come out and feed more bountiful
ly at the King's, yea, the King of
kings table, or your Father’s
house, for there is plenty of bread
for his whole family. Give not
sleep to your eyes nor slumber to
your eyelids until you find out a
place, a habitation, for the mighty
God of Jacob.
Here bounty mercy shall be given,
To all bis soldiers here.
And glorious crowns of joy In heaven,
When Jesus shall appear.
Now in unison with David, the
Lord, through John when on the
Isle of Patmos, speaks to you in
the plainest language and say.s, (3d
chapter and Ihth verseEevelation,)
As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. You feel his chastening
rod perhaps every day, in divers
ways, and you Avant to live with his
people; they are so much better
than you are that it is almost an in
surmountable bar; the Conference
floor is too solemn and sacred a
place for you to tread your foot on;
but thanks be to God, who giveth
us the victory, that he looks to his
(Son Jesus Christ, and made Him to
be our wisdom and righteousness,
our sanctification and our redemp
tion; and all this done not a few
days back, but in the ancient settle
ments of eternity—grace given us
in Christ befnre the world began—
bore your sins in his own body on
the cross, sweat as it were great
drops of blood. Think, poor soul,
ifyourloadof guilt was so heavy
to you, what must have been the
weight ot the sins of all his people.
No wonder be should pray his Fa
ther that if it was possible to let this
cup pass ; but it w'as not possible,
he paid all the demands of the law
for you. Still he proceeds to do
more for you and me than the law
demanded ; though it demanded
his burial but not his resurrection,
yet he arose to justify you in his
Father’s presence, has revealed him
self to you as a sin pardoning God,
and says to you, Repent, torn from
your course, put him on by open
profession ; behold, I stand at the
door and knock, if any man hear
my voice and open the door I will
come in and sup with him and he
with me; as to say, I make the im
pressions on your mind to join the
church, opens the door. You go in
to the discharge of the duty or du
ties you feel to be enjoined on you.
This is a fine Arminian text, but it
belongs alone to a believer—the
in and supping, the joy,
coming
ease of conscience in the discharge
of duty now in the midst of trials
and storms and the slanders of all
the wicked world ; all is well, all is
peace; Christ supping with you and
you with him; you have found a
place for the habitation of the God
of Jacob. Matthew says of him,
that He and his Father will come
in and take up their abode with
him. Jesus, for the joy set before
him, endured the cross and despised
the shame; can’t you, poor disobe
dient soul, do like him ? He does
not require one thing of you that
you cannot perform ; he is a reason
able master and the best one to pay
I ever worked for—often pays mid
way the work. Right about this
place is the victory that we obtain
over the world, and as it is faith,
and we have or ought to show our
faith by our works; it calls on all
God’s children—all that hope they
are one of the highly favored of the
Lord—to be active in the discharge
of Christian duties. Yet he feels
weak and sinful—often feels that
the duty is so great that I sink un
der its weight. One tiling I would
say here to all God's children, that
strange as it is to me, yet true, I
some how or other have never lor^
got to remember you all at a throne
of God’s gtace. I know your
strength is in him, and you always
come up before me, who am the
weakest of all the weak. I Aviil
close by asking to he remembered
by you all. I well know your faces
I shall never see in time, but say
in the close, that I believe with all
the powers of ray soul, that I shall
join Avith you in praising God
around his throne, and sing hallelu
iah, for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. J. E. HARDIE.
Edgecombe County, N. C., ?
October llth, 1870. j
Mr. Ij. I. Bodenhamei—Dear Sir t
Through the tender mercy of an all
wise God I am spared to avail my
self of the privilege to try to relate
what I hope the Lord has done for
my poor soul, as I am not able to
be about my business. But the task
is 80 great I almost shrink from it;
but if the Lord will be my helper
I will say a f^w words. I will say
that if ray eyes were ever opened to
see the condition of my lost aud
ruined state by nature, it was on
seeing my wife baptised, and there .
it seemed that we were parted both
in this world and that which is to
come, I continued in that frame ot
feeling for some length of time-
how long I am not able to say—but
if am not mistaken she was baptised
in June, and sotne time in the latter
part of the same year I was sum
moned as a juror, and wentto gerre
my tour, aud while I was there I
went to stay with my brother-in-
low, and when bedtime came he
asked me to help him sing a hymn,
and then he went to duty. Whether
I slept any or not X am not able to
say, but while lying and studying
over the condition of my soul, it
appeared that a man came to the
side of the bed and took hold of ray
right hand, but he never said tiny
thing, aud he was dressed in a long
white garment. \Vhen I oppne|.
ray eyes I saw no one, hut it seemf
to me that I can almost feel that
hand now at times. Eight here I
felt to rejoice, for I felt that my
burden •was gone in part. But
those feelings did not last long be
fore I got back in trouble again,
and remained in deep distress. One