Zioirs Land marks.
k\
SommuitiratEt!.
WaUUP:X CoTfNTY, 'J'k.vn., \ ,
April J2lh, 1874. j |
Brother Gohu nnd P>rrthrcn and Bi'i- [
ters of the Old Bchool Baptist
('tiurrh:—
I ha\e so!itel in order to j
resjjond to a mpiest sent me in a pri- ,
'ate letter i’roin New Mcxii'o, trom a .
Lirolher, F.,'. O. Dawson, (m 8t. Mat
thew. 24: 12, which roads : “Because
iniquity .-.l.al! ai)onnd tlie love of
ur.tnv shall wax cold.’ I he word
“iniquitv” means false worship, false
religion and false doctrine. We see
.a lar^o portion ot the, .Jewish tiation
were lovers - of iniquity, headed in
ttie first ]dace hy old King Herod —
the Red Dragon, Then we see
the church was .surromidel hy initjui-
Iv throughout the ixa-scention from
ti'.e .Tew.s, nr.d many were tried to
emse them t(* denv Chrht and their
faith, and the love and z(‘ai of many
C'fthcm waxed cold, rtnd sfcnc tlirough
woaluies.s denied, (.‘hrist and some en
dured all that tliC hiiqnily of the
Jh'wish nation inflicted until the end
of that tiation. But the iniquitv of
that nation, before they fell, niwer to
ri'e again as a nation, seaitered the
cJuireh into different parts which
agreed with the word? of Christ. He
ailii, smita the .shepherd—speaking
of Ilia orueinxion, by the iniquity
of that nation—and the shtxip shall
be .scattered, and I will turn my hand
or jiower upon the little ones. The
first one of (foil's flock that fell a vic
tim under the ragc of aiiquity wa.s
John the Baptist, the first gi.ispe!
{Hrcaeher. The next that fell a prey
t,> fch.e rage of iniemty was tlie great
head of the church. In this act in-
quitv received a mortal wound, so
hat when he :u-osi lie conquered the
wa.s written in the 24th ehajiter of i the bound,s of iniquity cannot hold j
St. Matthew w'as fulfilled at the de- ' one of God’s children, lor hi.s love is |
struetion of Jernsah'm. They take | stronger than death—the weapon of ^
this for proof. Christ said, “This I iniquity that the Devil, the head ofj
generation shall not {lass a.vay until all iniquity, has always used. But |
all these thim-'s he fultilled.” If vou I Christ, the head of Godliness, has |
will examine the third ehajiter and i and will disarm him, for he shall j
also the 12th, 43th and 2.3rd verses ? reign until he has put all enemies |
you will find the generation that shall ; under his feet, and the last enemy j
not pa.s.s awav. (,'hrist SJtid, all the | that sli.all he destroyed is death. |
righteous blood shed upon earth shall . I will now return to tlie |
be required of this generation which ! twenty-fourth chapter ot S^. Matthew. ;
is the generation of iniquity. AVhere- jAnd .Jesus went out and departed |
ever iniquity abounds there will | from the temple, and his disciples j
darkness and coldness reign in the l came to him. He tells them that the
church just as long as the the .smoke ‘ time' shall come when there shall not
ofthe pit or false doctrine abounds.— i be left one stone upon another that
The love of many of the children | shall not be thrown down.The di.scipk's
will wax cold. But Christ has de-j a.skcd him these questions: 1st. When
dared througli all the works of iniq- | shall these things be, that is, when
uitv lie will bring his people through j shall this temple be destroyed ? Sec-
more than ennquerors. it has been j ond, The sign of Thy coming and
the will of God to permit iniquity, to the end of the world. He give.? tliern
abound for the trial of his people.
It is for tlie benefit of the church for
them to ho surrounded with iniquity
and darkness, for when God delivers
them from tluve enemie,s light will
lie pleas.mt and their love strong —
We see it wa.s God’s pleasiire to suf-
ti'r some of the Gamaanites to dwell
in the Band of Canaan to try his
people. He likewise permit^ iniqui
ty to creep into the Church. In
many signs that would come before
the de.?truction of Jeru.salem. The
first .sign, take heed that no man dc-
(Xiive yon. And he tells that, they
shall bo hatel of all men, that ir,, all
the men of sin or iniquity. This
took ])laee day by day, and took place
at that time. He tells them that
manv shall oome in my name—all
the preachers of iniquity come in the
name of (Jhrist—if thev were to come
spe.aking ofthe same. Jude say.s, men j in their own name they could not de-
of vour own selves shall ri.se up and
speak perverse things to draw awaiy
di.ecipkis after them. My dear breth
ren, some of us if not all have been
eye-witnesses to these things, and in
all sucli ca.se.s the love of rnanv of
■ddeh
was
ceive any. He tells ns that many
false prophets shall rise and shall de-
cei''c many. Afal.se prophet is a false
teacher or preacher. The doctrine
that is umght by tiiese false teachers
is evidently the works of iniquity
that have almost eclii)se-il the sun or
the light of the go.-^j)el trut
at^d has
of the
naio weapon of iniejuily v
death. There i.s, and was, and will
Ixv two great my.steries until God
tekes one mvsterv otst of the way.—- j
These two my.steries are : the mystic- j
rv of godliness and of in>(pHty. The
Devi), the .sonra; of iniquity, ha.s al
ways been trying to get l>is subjects
mixed up will) .subjects ef Christ’s
kingdom or godliness. Wlien he
. c-in get iniquity in the hejtrts of the
visible ehureh, corruption and cold-
takes place, and the church in
tliis cmidition makes the lovcof many
wax wld and iniquity abounds and
triumphs. Some of my old brethren,
as well as myiself, have felt >ome of
ihcefffx't.s of iniquity when we were
mixed up with the Missionaries and
Camphdlites. Wlien we the Old
Bapti.sts were in this condition, there
^\-as not much love, or at least very
xdd love. But iniquity was abonnd-
iim and in its own element. But
when the time comes te ca.st out the
honi-woman and her children, we j
had to be-,ir the .shu>g of iniquity, and |
1 fuHv believe manv of the etiildren |
• ^ j
of G(h1 were led off by them into Bab- i
'.vlon, or raysU'ry of iniquity. And I j
will say ia the language of Chri.st: j
“Como out of her my people !” Some 1
Old Ba4>tist« contend that all that,
God’s dear children will wax
cold. My brethren, if we can keep
iniquity oiitsidc of tiie *'ciiun-.h we
have nothing to fe:u’. Ir, seemed to
grieve Paul worse than anything else
to get in amoi'vg false brethren. The
workers of iniquity are of the Devi), |
and yon all know that the Devil is
a liar and the father of lie.s—and I
will sav timt the least oneof the work-j all nations. AVe see the gospel
ers of iniquity is ofthe same Dripe. | sure to be preached to all the world
anu viil be tiit;
love of many of the cliiklren ot God
waxing cold. He .said in the four
teenth verse : And this gospel, not the
-jf Anti-Christ, but of this
kingdom shall be preached in all the
world, for a witne.ss unto, not against,
IS
If yon find theni in the true ehureh
they told lies to get there and will
tell lies in order to stay there.—
In liis day, Rt. Jolin spoke
of one of these workers of iniquity
who loved to have the pre-eminence.
When you see a preacher trying to
control the church and finding fault
of other preachers, and Lying to pre
vent them from preaching in the
church where he l)elongs, you may
mark him as a worker of iniquity and
the love of the members of that church
is .sure to w^ax cold. AVc see that
iniquity has abonnded ever since the
Devil preached the first sermon to
our mother Eve, and mixed only
enough truth in i« to decievc her, and
Christ .said, that if it wa.s poswiblethat
they .should deceive the elect. But
mv dear brethren and sisters, iniquity
cannot lead God’.s people beyond the
bounds of Gotl’s love, and power, and
wisdom ; he has said and will say to
tlie North, give up, and to tlie South,
keep not Ixick—bring my son.s from
afivr and ray daughters from the ends
of the earth. It is a plain c»se th-at
without the agency of Anti-Christ,
unle.ss persecntlon i.s an agency. He
commences at the tiventy-third verse
to describe the second coming of
Chri.st. Some of our Old Bapti.st
preachers believe he has already come,
but we beg kxive to differ with them.
His second coming will l)e wlien the
mighty angel casts Satan into the
bottomless pit and chains him with
all iniquity a thou-sand years, 1
believe, when he comes the second
time, he will reign here with his
church a thousand years.
I have not space to .say more on
this subj^'ct, but will say to brother
Dawson that I have given the best
views I have on tliis subject.
Abner Hern.
Griffin, Georgia, j
April 24th, 1874. )
Bea^' Brother Gold :—
Below you will find a few scatter
ing remarks on a portion of God’s
word and a part of my poor feeble
Christian experience, if a Christian at
all, and if you think that k will not
do aiiv harm to the children of God
to read it, let them read it through
the Landmarks and judge forthem-
.seives. I hope that their though,s
and judgments may be seasoned w’itb
(Trace and truth, &o: AVhascK'ver is’
born of God doth not commit sin, thr
his seed remaineth in him and he can
not sin because he is born of (k'd,
John 3: 9. And again, We know
that whosoever is born of God sin-
neth not, but be that i.s begotten 4
God keepeth himself and that wlelo d
one tonebeth liini not—John 6: lo.
If we say that tve have no sin we de
ceive our.sclves and the truth is not
in Its—Joint 1: 8,
To the dear children ot Gxl that
read the Landmark^,, pardon me
for giving you a i’ew thougbt.s on trie
foregoing scripture, its God has and
mav im}rre.s.s my mind. They hat’C
troubled and given me more thought
lliari anv of God’s dear truths. ()ver
twenty years ago I felt tliat God hiKl
led my mind and heart along paths,
and given me thoughts and desires
that were averse to the carnal mind
and appetit(‘, and my iroubies were
such from viewing my.sclf agreat .sin
ner before God, that I >vas made tr
fall down before him as I trust, and
a.sked for forgiv'cnc.ss. And I
was made to believe that God ^va,s h
just God, and tliar Jesus was the Son
of God, and that God could not look
on sin with the least a'lmvance, and
there was no remedy lor me but the
imputed righteousness of Christ, as
the dear Son of God and the onlv
friend whereby a poor sinner couh.’
be justified to ask of God lor pardon
for su(4i sinner as 1 was, and
while asking Gixl for piardou and
for fbrgivcnes.s of rny sins which
troubled my poor heart so much
to cause me to feel the need of a Sav
iour there came a change in my
mind and feelings that I could nr*
account for. Instead ot con
demnation and sorrow I fell relieved
of sorrow and my jioor lieart wa-
filled with love for the cause of GtKi.
and the people of God, and had a
strong de.sire that everybody would
seek God ami be saved, and tell thw
I wanted to tc4I iny feelings to the
dear chiidren of God—and did try.
But, I fell so far short of telling my
feelings to them that I really felt
bad because I fell so far short front
telling the feelings of my heart I
felt that there was something in my
feelings too pure and joyful for mv
poor sinful heart to have. After ex
pressing my feelings to, soim;
of the dear children of God a-
best I could, they tri«.-d to consol>'
me with the consolation that I was a
child of God and was born in tiie
kingdom of grace and that 1 iva.?
lx>rn of God. And 1 felt at that
time that I should never .“in or want
to sin again, nor ever could be in
duced to sin any more, and for .sever
al weeks and months I still felt tliat
Jesn.s was my Sitvior. But alas !
while I felt that sin could have n«
more dominion over me I soon fouml
I was U»e subject of weakoees and