k 1
V
ZION’S LANDMARKS.
DEVOTED TO THE DEFENSE OF THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS.
‘TO the: to the: TESTiM;o:>fT.”
YoLU^tlE II.
rssap»n»^*»wai«s: a>wtccxna>m.'c.
Wilson, North Carolina, March 1, 1869.
Number
Death of an aged Pilgrim.
.Beliold tb‘j calm, the jieacel'til death,
The aged pil":r)iu dies;
In .Ici-us lie resigns his breath,
Aiid soars above tiie shies!
Here iies.a mat! -whose jhigriniage
W:is ].:i:ig and full of'j-ears,
'Whcii (iou was pleased to call the sage
From thl.i low vale of tears.
Vv'ec.k was his body, sound his mind.
His eyes were growing' dim;
Almost a saatjger to mankind.
And theyaluKjSt to him.
liF eyes had seen the raging tvar;
Beheld returning j'eace;
Had tHtnepsed stern adversity.
Prosperity and ease.
The world had ^own a tiresome place,
Ot'ia,.~e, dr'ceiui'.i ''^.irinst.
lie longed to sec his Saviour’s face,
A'.td dwell in Jesus’ arms.
And when his destined hour -was come,
Contented and resigned.
He left bis clay for heaven, his homo,
'V\Tthout a look behind!
Death and " Heavenly Happiness,
DOVER SELECTION.
And let this feeble body fail.
And let it faint or die I
My soul shall quit this mournful vale.
And soar to -vvorld.s on high ;
Shg'll join the disembodied saint.s.
And find its long-souglit rest,
Thatonly bliss for ivhich it pants,)
In the Redeemer’s breast.
in hope of that immortal crown,
I no-w the cross sustain.
And gladly wander up and down.
And smile at toil and pain :
■t .sufler on 1113' threescore years.
Till iny Deliverer come,
•Vnd wipe away his servant’s tears,
And take liis exile home.
Oh, what hath .Jesus done for me'!—
Before my raptured eyes
Rivers of.life divine I see,
And trees of paradise!
I see a -svorld of spirits bright.
Who taste the pleasures there;
They arc all robed in spotless white.
And eonqueriug palms they bear.
Oh, what are all my sufferings here,
If, Lord, tlioii count me meet
W|^ that enraptured host to appear.
And worship at thy feet ?
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain.
Take life or friends away ;
But let me find them all again
In that eternal day.
The salvation of the righteous is (})f the Lord.
PsALiis, kxxvii. 1:9.
No. V.
And in conformity to th^s senti
ment, we hear it said by thev mspt
ration of the Holy Ghost, |‘It is
good that a man should both)hope
and quietly wait for the salvati®n of
the Lord.” Lamen. iii. 20. But Mien
have become so wise of late aDt^ve
that which is written, as toinculca
a different sentiment; and esteem lit
unfashionable, out of date, and no\t
at all consonant to the refined tast
of the times in which we live, t
believe and preach such an Antinomli-
an, do-nothing, licentious doctrine ais
they .would htve'41;^
argue that thqj(fetate of somety has so
much altered, M’om what it was in the
primitive age| of the church; and
mankind have improved to such a
degree in the arts and sciences,
astronomy, philosophy, and mechans
ism; and are so vastly under the
influence of the new school system
institutions of the^day, that this old
fashioned way of preaching is quite
out of order and altogether useless—
that it will not suit, does not take
with the notions of men now, and
should be abandoned as a mode
unproductive of results in any degree
beneficial to the welfare of men, but
rather to the reverse. Their argument
leads to this : “What! to talk of a
man’s both hoping and quietly wait
ing for the salvation of the Lord ?—
monstrous doctrine ! away with such
^ notions. But come, sinner, come—
' we can teach you better things than
•these; for instance, just come and
get down in this altar here, and mj'
soul for yours but you'll get religion
in fifteen minutes. Or, you, Mr. 1
Sinner, come forward and occupy |
this anxious bencli awhile, and iis |
holy influence will soon procure j
your salvation. Or you. Mr. Sinner ■
step across to this moa,uv;.r’s seat,.!
hut you will certainly get it the next
time you come. And as for you, you
hard-hearted sinner there Vruth a head
on, if you will go homo and pray
seven times a day for a week, and
don’t'^'ork out your salvation in that
time. I’ll give you my ears ; or if you
should prefer to make shorter work
of it, however, just tumble down
there ^Yhere you are and pray hard
for ten minutes, and v/ith the aid of
my prayers and the prayers of this
holy congregation,—my holy avoca
tion for it but you’ll eftect the salva
tion of your soul, and that speedily.”
They further say to their hearers,
“You must not pay any attention to
Avhat these old rigid Predestinarian
Baptists say about 'svaiting for sal
vation—trusting to the Lord for sal-
of the Lord alone. As for them, they
are not to bo believed; they are
enemies to
all men, and will not
submit to the decrees of our honor
able Sanhedrim. We say unto you be
up and a doing. Bo and live—wait
for the Lord to do, and die. God
never yet pulled any man to heaven
by the hair of his head ; but man to
be there must go himself, whether
God wills it or not, even if he loses
all the hair off his head in buttinar the
chamber door open that leads to the
throne of the King of Kings.”
Say they, “We know you are^s
dead as Lazarus was when in his
but what of that ? you c^n
come forth, you can rise up and
walk, if you choose ; it requires but a
your part to lise
grave,
slight exertion
on
and if 'vou don’t get
from the dead. We also know that
Christ died for you and all mankind
besides, but what of that ? it’s a
small matter after all, for his atone
ment will never save any man, unless
the man in the first place obliges God
so to kt the atonement extend to
him by changing his own soul, clean.s-
ing it from all iniquity, purging it
from siti, and making it by his own
li.'M'd sLiuring a fit temple for the
'-uf;. ;.i and indwelling of the Holv
rej!!ii.>n
this
Tl'..
'.r.
tiinfe^ it will be .becau.') voUj don’t I
groan loud, or agonize'ban]
nough ;
’•'i ie.' iucoi cment.” thi
very fine laing, if you choose to make
sy argue,
it so by giving it the finishing touch in
producing the desired eifect it sb.ould
liave, but not otherwise. For unless
men of their innate goodness and
ability choose to believe, obey the
commandments, and finally rvork out.
their own redemption, not one of
them will ever be saved. Unlcs.s
they choose to do this, Christ has
died in vain, God will certainly fail
in his purpose, and the glorified Son
of God need not have gone to heaven
to prepare places for them among
the mansions of his heavenly Father.
They will never get there, no not one
of them ; hut will all have to lift up
their eyes in hell, and groan with the
devil and his angels forever.”
But enough on this link. Bro
ther, I will just make tivo en-
q^' irj.es ,if ^wi^u.
the above the great and kading^'ten
dency of all the popular doctriue.s
promulgated amongst men in the
present age of the world, under a
color of Christ’s gospel ? Secondly,
is all or any of this kind of stuff in
the least degree consonant to the
principles of God’s pkn of salvation
and Bible truth ?
In strict accordance with the
principles of the text, Saint Paul
urges upon his Thessalonian brethren
the importance of this conskleration.
He says, “We are bound to give
thanks always to God for you bre
thren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation, through sanctifica
tion of the spirit and belief of the
truth.” 2 Thess. ii. 13. Now thi.-
appears to he a clincher, as we would
say in common parlance; and no
doubt but the great apostle to the
Gentiles thought it sufficient for all
rea.sonable folks. But yet after all it
will not do for the polished gentry
of our day. They verily will not
give into the notion of God’s free
sovereign choice of liis people, from
the beginning unto salvation. Suc'a
a position of affairs as this would
not leave them enough to do to afford
ground for exultation and vain glory.
And
no religion
now-a-days, with
most people, without a vast bundle