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Zion’s Landmark
mi:wm tbs bsfiuss m tbs pumitiys Birara,
“TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY.”
Vol. ix-No. 16.
Wilson, N. C., Julj 1, 876.
Whole No. 208.
Zion’s Landmark.
By the help of tiie Lord, tliis paper will
eonteiid for the ancient landmark, p;uided by
imstakes of trutii,aiKistreiigtheuel by its cords
of love.
ft holies to reject all TRAtUTtoss and
tN!sTITUTION,S OF MEN, and regard onlv the
(he treatise in question, the design is,
that the sentiments of the writer may
be the more fully obtained by those
who may not see hissernion on ‘^Pre-
Bear Brother in
EtBLE AS THE STANDARD of TRUTH.
It urges i>eople to search tlie scriptures and
riiaey Jesus as tlie only King in the holy hill
o-f Zion, keeping theuiselve.s unspotted from
the world.
It aims to contend for the mystery of the
faith in God and the Fatlirr, .Tesusthe Medi
ator, and the Holy .Spirit, the Blessed Com-
ibrter.
All lovers of gos(>el truth are invited to
write for it—if so iinpres.sed.
May grace, mercy and peace, be multiplied
to all lovers of Jesus.
I
ARE THESE BLESSINGS FOR ME?
How often with wonder Thy word I explore,
What beauties and treasures I see!
'Tis like a vast ocean without any shore I
But are these rich trea.sures for me ?
Thy promises. Lord, with profusion abound,
And blessings as rich as can be;
And balm in abundance to heal every wound.
But are such provisi.ns for me ?
There’s mercy for sinners, thehelplessajid lost,
Forgivet,e.ss and pardon all free;
rhere’s wine, milk and honey, be,stowed with
out c(;st.
Hut ah, are these ble.-«ing8 for,me?
I read, there’s provided a rich throne of
grace,
To which all poor beggars may flee ;
Aud I would resort to that iiallowed place,
But I fear it is not for me.
A door is wide open for such as desire
The King in his beauty to see ;
A glimps of his glory doth set me on tire.
But is that door open .for me t
ril go, there end ask if .such beggars as I,
Are allowed to partake of his store;
For I learn, none were ever permitted to die,
Who eaTuestly knocked at the door.
I. N. Vanmeter.
[Selected.]
LEAVE IT TO GOD !
’Be It a doubt? all doubts ho solves:
Aiuestions which thought in vain revolves,
He settles with a nod.
He it a fear? Ho has the balm.
Which every human fear w'ill calm;
Leave it to God.
Leave it to God!
Be it the W'eight of daily care ?
Bring him the burden ; He will bear
Alone the tiresome load.
'Be it the restle.s,s, anxious thought
For future year.s ? By faith be ^aught-
Leave it to God.
Leave it to God I
Be it the battle of this life? '
He fought it once, aud won the .strife.
Who earth’s rough ways has trod.
Be it the foe who triumph vaunts ?
Jesus had foes, and bore their taunts;
Leave it to God.
Leave it to G«d !
Bo it the loss of worldly wealth,
Or yet, the sorer lo.s.s of health ?
All ios-ses he makes good.
In every loss there is some gain.
Some need of grace in every pain ;
Leave it to God.
Leave it to God I
Be it the heavy weight of guilt ?
'The blood of (Jhri.st was freely spilt,
Aiul sin atoned by blood.
Be it the littleness of faith Y
Ask and be full, the promise saith ;
Leave it to God.
Leave it to God I
Be it a dread to yield this breath,
That life-long bondage, fear of death,
The pang, the worm, the .sod ?
He conquered death, who victory gtv&i,
He Uveuii, and who in Him lives.
Leaves it Qod {
Fida- P. D.
Christ:—
This manuscript was written about
two years ago; before I could finish
I had to lay down my pen and go to
ray farm, to work. When I wa's at
leisure again, I found that the pam
phlet conftiiniiig Dr. Pierce’s Sermon,
to which I designed to reply, W'as
lost; aud I have not yet been able to
procure another, consequently I can
not now finish my purpose. I ex
pected to have it published in pam
phlet form (which I may yet do if the
Lord will), at the suggestion of some
brethren.
I send you what I have written to
publish in the Landmark, if you
think proper. John Kowe.
destination,” in full.
“ Who hath saved us, and called
us with a holy calling, not according
to eur work.s, but according to his
own purpose and grace, w'luch wasgiv-
en us in Christ Jesus before the world
began ; but is now made manifest by
the appearing of our Savior Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death,aud
liath broutrjtt
light through the gospel.
He sets out by calling the atten
tion of his readers to the fact that the
apostle Peter speaks of some of the
writings of St. Paul as “ hard to be
understood which they that are un
learned and unstable wrest, as they
do also the other scriptures, unto their
own destruction. He alleges that the
“ conclusion is a natural one,” that as
Peter refers to the other scriptures—
also meaning some which Paul did
not write. He alludes doubtless to
Paul’s quotation from the Old Testa
ment concerning the hardening: of
O o
Pharaoh’s heart; the loving of Jacob,
and hating ofE.sau; and “the potter’s
power over the same lump of clay to
make one vessel to honor and anoth
er to dishonor.” (Wonder where the
Doctor learned that Peter alludes to
these scriptures exclusively?) But
he continues :
“All of which as read
by an iron-clad Predestinarian must
teach the lawless exercise of power on
the part of God, because the._exercise
ife ai^^d immg^Talitv
■ ■■ _2 TimTy coiiceptl
1 :9, 10.
There has recently come to my
view, an article written by the Rev.
Dr. Pierce, of Georgia, upon the sub
ject of “ Predestination,” which the
Doctor was plea.sed to head with the
above text; but, in my humble judg
ment, the leading sentiments of his
treatise come in direct contact with
the plain teachings of the text,and are
.subversive of the whole sy^stera of sal
vation through Christ. Wherefore,
it came into my mind to reply to his
article, and to head my reply with
the same text. My’ motive in reply
ing is, that those who read may
.see, (so far as I am capable of determ
ining,) that the truth may be stripped
of the mists of error ; that those who
have “ eyes to see ” may see and de
light therein. It is a fact, fully man
ifest from the scriptures, that the
saints while in this life are subject to
the bewitching influence of false doc
trines. And, to defend them against
such, is the high privilege aud sol
emn duty of every mini.ster of the
Word : hence, I shall offer no other
apology, nor shall I be detered by the
superior age of Dr. Pierce, who, I
suppose, is now nearly ninety years
old ; for, if he had lived an hundred
years and was now dead, he had lived
and died a man, and as such his
writing would still be subject to scru
tiny.
My plan is to quote and comment
upon the objectionable parts of the
Doctor’s treatise,- aud then try to pen
a plain and candid solution of the
text with which both our articles are
headed. A'ud if I quote largely from
and his idea of -sovereigngrace be
stowed on the elect just becau.«e God
would bestow it, underlay all other
doctrine. Of course, if in the exer
cise of sovereign grace, God ordained
some to everlasting life just because
he would do it as a Sovereign Lord,
.so also he must have ordained
others to everlasting wrath
just because he would do it; for the
moment Predestinarians drop out of
this idea “just because he would,”
the bubble of sovereign g race explodes
and the mind gravitates to the more
4!oraplacent conception of God in
(Jhrist, providing salvation for all
on condition of faith. I do not mis
take the faith of every full blown
Predestinarian in all their catechisms;
this is a cardinal item-—that God did
all these sovereign deeds for his own
glory. This experssiou thus used I
object to as being unsound, because it
antagonizes the declarations that God
sent his Son into the world that the
world through him might be. saved.
“And yet, reason itself determines in
spite of prejudice, that no human soul
can ever be justlv lost, unlessjt might
and ought to have been saved in ac
cordance with God’s pleasure. God
declares he has no pleasure in the
death of the wicked; and, in refer
ence to the causes of his pleasure, they
have always been the same. If the
death of sinners now is repugnant to
God’s essential nature, it is certain he
will never sentence any soul of man to
perdition, except for refusing to believe
in the name of the only begotten Son
of God who died for him. And in
this unbelief there could be no moral
guilt, except it takes its demerit from
rejecting aa offered Savior.”
On reading the above extract, the
reader will preceive at first view, 1st,
That Dr. Pierce is in his old age
still at war with God’s .sovereignty j
and 2nd, that he holds that faith is a
duty to be performed by sinners at
their own o.ption ; or in other words,
that sinners are free to believe in
Christ to the saving of their souls,' or
not believe—just as they may choose
— and that God’s purpo.se in saving
sinners is regulated by the sinner’s
choice in believing or not believing.
Such are fair deductions from the ex
tract as best I can understand it.—
And I suppose that Dr. Pierce him
self would hardly object or feel mis
represented by this statement of his
faith. He quotes the Lord’s “harden
ing Pharaoh’s heart; loving Jacob,
and hating Esau ” before the chil
dren were born; “ the potter’s power
over the lump of clay ” to make ves
sels dissimilar and to different ends,
and alleges that “all of which, as
read by an iron-clad Predestinarian,
must teach the lawless exercise of
power on the part ofGod,”&c. Now,
what can Dr. Pierce mean by the
“ lawless exercise of power on the part
of God?” If he should speak of the
lawless exercise of power on the part
of men, his words might be legitimate,
and therefore intelligible ; for men
are held under law and not nnfre-
quejitly liable to the charge of a law-
;e ofi such jipowtr an ij >y
po.ssess. But, suppose I should prove
that God has exercised his power
► somewhat to the Doctor’s disliking?
(which I expect to do.)
By what rule will he proceed in
judging the Almighty? There is re
bellion enough implied in these words
(“ the lawless exercise of power on
the part of God ”) to damn a whole
race were it not for the very princi
ples which Dr. Pierce sets himself to
oppose. It is the doctrine of dis
crimination which is so obnoxious to
his feelings; it is that principle he
would regard as a “ lawless exercise
of power on the part of God.” But,
apart from the instances of Gotl’s
sovereignty and discrimination quoted
by the Doctor, there are many more
like instances given in the Bible; and,
the same may be said after I have
quoted a few, as follows: Christ says,
“But I tell you of a truth, many wid
ows were in Israel in the days of
Elias, when the heaven was shut up
three years and six months, when
great famine was throughout all the
land; but unto none of tliem ws
Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city
of Sidon, unto a woman that was a
widow. Aud many lepers were in
Israel in the time of Eliseus the
prophet; and none of them was
cleansed, saving Naaman the Syri
an.”—Luke 4: 25, 26, 27. Not
only does the cases instanced there
imply discrimination, but that .such
as had no expectation, nor faith, nor
worthiness to induce it, were- cho.sen
and saved, while such as (thq carnal
Jews) were in high self confidence,
were left to perish therein. But
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