36
Zion’s Landmarks; Wilson, N. C.
©nmmiraitatcu.
Aa■LA^'TA, Ga., Oct. 30,1875.
doctrine preached by the
: })opuhu'religionists of tlie day
^ rg is, that it is of him that tvil-
leth and of him that runneth,
and that by works all can be saved if
they will, through the use of means,
and that of themselves; and that
Christ is ever wooing and beseeching
the sinner to be saved, and continual
ly knocking at the heart of every
})oor dead sinner, for admission, but,
to his great surprise, he finds the poor
sinner’s heart locked and bolted
against him, shutting him out entire-
Iv. Seeing, then, his sad disa}ipoint-
luent, he takes wings and flies away,
leaving the poor sinner forever with
out God and without hope in the
world. Oh, what an awful condition
ihe ])oor sinner is now In, just because
he refused to be saved when the savior
was knoclcing at the door of his lieart.
He is left standing, as it were, njion
the brink of an aw'ful hell, ready, to
])lr.nge into that horrible pit with all
the nations that forget God.
According to this popular doctrine,
God has done all that he can do to
. .cave sinners, and now it remains for
them to w'ork out their own salvation
with fear and trembling. Now^, if
Christ can only knock and has not
power to open the poor sinner’s heart,
and God has done all he can do,
where is the propriety in urging sin
ners to pray to him that they may be
saved ? Is it not unreasonable and
foolishness to pray to such a God ?
irTToA ■'fpi|*iktiausteci~'ins atmee
and ability in knocking and trying to
ipen the iiearts of jioor dead sinners
and save them, and failed because
they resi.sted him, is it reasonable to
suppose that he wflll be more success
ful if he shall try to damn them, or
that they will be more willing to be
lamned than to be saved ?
If God has tried to save all sinners
and failed, because they resisted him,
is it likely tliat the so-called Mission
aries will succeed in evangelizing the
world and saving the so-called heath
en? If they do succeed in this good
work (as they call it,) are they not
actually in possession of more powmr
than Almighty God, who has all powd
er both in heaven and earth ? And
no man in heaven, nor in earth, nei
ther under the earth, Was able to open
the book, neither to look thereon, &c.
llev. 5 : dO. So there is no |)Ower in
heaven, in earth, or under the earth,
able to save sinners, but that of God
alone, and that wdthout the so-called
nieans and help of man. “I am God,
;;nd besides me there is no savior.”—
‘•I am God, and there is none else: I
; in God, and there is none like me.—
] Gclarino; the end from the begin-
ning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying,
!uv counsel shall stand, and I will do
all my pleasure. Isiah 46 ; 9, 10.
If God is injustice obliged to save
ail sinners, would it not bo cruel and
unjust in him to damn any? for all
have sinned, and if any are saved up
on the principle .of justice, it is cer
tainly not an act of grace, but entire
ly of justice. And if God wills that
all sinners shall come unto him and
be saved he will most assuredly give
them the power aud di.spositiou to
come, otherwise they are eternally
lost.
The expounders of the popular doc
trine exhort sinners to believe and
come to Jesus and be saved. How
can they come? “No man can come
unto me except the Father which
hath .sent me draw him!” John 6 :
44. And all that the Father giv-
eth me shall come to me !! John 6 :
37. None can come “except as many
as were ordained to eternal life.”—
“For unto you it is given in the be
half of Christ, not only to believe on
him, but also to suffer for his .sake.”
Phil. 1 : 29.
None can work themselves into
God’s favor, and bring him under ob
ligations to .save them for their own
righteousne.ss (and .so-called) good
works, lor Christ says “without me
ye can do nothing.” John 15 : 5.—
Neither can they in their natural and
unregenerated state, believe, hear and
understand spiritual thing,s, for “the
natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither can
he know them, for they are spiritual
ly discerned.” 1st Cor. 2 : 14. Nei
ther can sinners be taught the things
of the Spirit of God in Sunday-
.schools, or bible societies, Ahmng
hlens’ Christian Associations or Theo
logical Seminaries, for it is written
that “they shall all be taught of
God.” “And all thy children shall
be taught of the Lord, and greatshall
be the peace of thy children.” Isiah
54 : 13.
Again, sinners are called upon to
cum'c to .J7'su,','’*^mediately aTKCFe
.saved, or they will be lo-t forever.—
How can they come except the Fath
er which hath sent the Son draw
them ? and when it is his pleasure to
draw them can they resist him ? If
they can, then the creature is in pos
session of more ])owor than the Crea
tor. They are also exhorted to have
faith. Can they liave faith unle.ss it
is the pleasure of God to give it to
them? IA)i’ it is written that faith is
the gift of God, and that they are
saved by grace through faith, and
that not of themsclve.s, it is the gift
of God, not of works lest any man
should boast. Eph. 2 : 8^9. So then,
both works and boasting are exclud
ed, for by works man has all the glo
ry of his own salvation, and faith is
made of none effect. Christ is entire
ly set aside and works are placed in
his stead. “If .sinners arc saved by
works, then grace is no more grace,
but if by grace then it is no more of
works.” Horn. 11 : 6. “By the deeds
(or works) of the law there ahall no
flesh be justified in the sight of God.
Horn. 3 : 20. Nor can our -works be
the ground of our acceptance with God
to eternal life ; for “eternal life is the
gift of God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord.” Kora. : 6.
Sinners are no more likely to be
the subjects of God’s grace by going
up to the (so-called) altar to be pray
ed for, as the popular divines would
have it, than they would be outside of
it, w'hether in the United State.s, Bur-
mah, Japan, Hindostan, Egypt, Tur
key, China, or elsewhere.
^yherever God has a people to be
saved, he will most assuredly save
them, (in fact they are already saved)
through Jesus Christ our Lord.—
The prophet has said, “Behold the
Lord’s hand is not shortened that it
cannot save, neither his ear heavy
that he cannot hear.” Isiah 69 : 1.
And the pillars of heaven are no
more sure and steadfast than the sal
vation of all his redeemed. "Their sal
vation is immutably and eternally
fixed, and all the arts, sciences, ma
chinations of men and devils, wealth,
pow'cr, influence, or industry of all
the popular religionists of the present
time, can no more increase, or dimin
ish the number or safety of his people
than they can stop the whirlwind, or
or tear him from his eternal throne.
If Christ died for the eternal salva
tion of the whole world, and some
will not consent to be saved, but re
ject him, then he certainly must have
died in vain for those who rejected
him: but “he died to save his
people from tlieir sins,” Matt. 1 ; 21,
“thac he might redeem them from all
iniquity and purify unto himself a
pecular people zealous of good works,”
Titus 2:14; yea, he died for those
given to him by the Fnther out of the
world before the dust of the highest
hills was laid, a people called, cho
sen, .sa-tmd, preserved and blessed in
Christ Jesus before the world began :
“created unto good works Avhich God
hath before ordained that they should
w'alk in them. Eph. 2 : 10. If he
died for the whole world, then the
salvation of the whole world is a fix
ed certainty.
People, in embracing the popular re
ligion of the present day, give no evi-,
dence that they embrace the religion
"of jTr?tisWy^jr)3'lSt If it can be proven
by the scriptures that they do, then it
is evidently certain that any religion,
no matter how foreign or amalgama
ted, is the religion of Jesus Christ.
According to the ideas of the pop
ular divines ol the day, God has ac
complished about all he can, to save
sinner.s,and it now becomes absolutely
necessary to inaugurate protracted
meetings and revivals in order to
bring into the fold those ivJiom God
could not bring in and save, and to
carry out and perfect the plan of
salvation which he devised before the
world 6epa»,and of-which Christ .said
in his last moments of agony upon
the cross, “it is finished,” that is, he ac
tually finished the redemption of his
people, given to him by the Father out
of the world before the beginning of
time.
Our modern religionists appear to
have great zeal for God, but their zeal
is not according to divine knowlege.
Their religion is a craft, a religion
of tiade and speculation, convenience
and worldly advantage. They boast
of their great literary attainments and
worldly greatness. They have their
Colleges, Theological Seminaries and
sabbath schools for the i")urposc of
teaching their religion as a science,
and to bring their children, (as they
say,) to Christ. “But all tlieir works
they do to be seen of men, &c., and
love the uppermost rooms at feasts,
and the chief seats in the synagogues,
and greetings in the market places,
and to be called of men .Rabbi.”—
Matt. 23 : 5, 6, 7.
“They compa.ss both sea and land
to make one proselyte, and when they
have made him, he is two fold more
the child of hell than themselves.”—
Operate upon the natural pa.ssions of
men and won-ien and_children by the
recital of horrible death-bed scenes and
hell-scaring tales, flowery sermons
and heated exhortations, in order that
they may more easily draw them in
to their trap to extort from them
money to carry on their human
machinery, casting out devils as it
were and doing many -wonderful
works in God’s name, converting and
saving millions of heathens whom his
arm could not reach, or his car hear :
boasting of their pojAilarity, wealth
and power ; their towering pillars of
intellectual strength and numbers:
lovers of themselves, covetous, boast
ers, proud, blasphemers, &c., false ac
cusers, desj)i.sers of truth, highmind-
ed, lovers of men and pleasure more
than lovers of G(-)d, havflng a form of
godliness, but denying the pow-er
thereof: from such, Paul say.s, turn
away.
“They are murmurers, complain-
ers, walking after their own lu.^t.-s,
and their mouths speaking great
swelling words, having men’s per
sons in admiration becau.se of advan
tage Jude 1 : 15.
It would be folly in the extreme
for any one to deny that their religion
can be taught as a science, for it can
not certainly be taught any other way.
The world’s religion cannot be taught
only as a science, and it is evidently
certain that actual experiments which
they have made clearly demonstrat >
the fact, that it is as necessary fur
them to teach the principles of their
religion by Sunday-schools, traers,
Sunda)~-st;fiool book.‘^'ancl papor.s,
&c., as it is for them to get up their
religious revivals, and make thou-
.sands of converts without one spark
of the grace of God in their heart.-^.
They'bo.ast of having called to their
aid all the arts and science.s, mean.s
and wealth of the world, and that by
a combination of all these things, the
-\vhole world can be converted, (con
verted only to the religion of Anti-
Chri.st,) and it does certainly seem so,
for the whole world gives them cur
rency and calls them stepping-stones or
handmaids to the church, (the church
of Anti-Christ.)
In order to consult the best means
for raising money' to accomplish their
designs, they have their annual con-
ventions and conference.s, and when
thus a.ssembled, read reports, suggest
plans of operation, compare notes and
make every effort possible to find out
wisdom. But their wisdom, or “the
wisdom of the world, is foolishness
with God.” “Plath not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world ?’^
1st Cor, 2 : 20, 21. “The speech and
preaching of Paul was not with en
ticing words of man’s wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of
power,” 1st Cor. 2 : 4.
The wisdom which they seek after
is not that which cometh from God,
for such as he giveth by' his Holy
Spirit w'ould ruin them ; it would
destroy all their plans and schemes
for converting and saving the w’orld,
and -would not make tliem popular in
the eyes of the world, nor would it
point out the best mode of collecting
funds with which to lubricate their
popular machinery for spreading
the (so-called) gospel and coverting
the heatheu,.