ZION’S LANDMAEKS.
DEVOTED TO THE DEFENSE OF THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS.
‘TO THE .A-JiTX) TO THE TESTIM03STY.”
Volume IL
Wilson, North Carolina, May 15, 1869.
Number 12.
•oetvg.
A Spiritual Song.
’ome all my dear brethren, I bid you farewell,
I am going to travel to the land of c.xcell ;
1 am going to travel the wilderness through,
Therefore, my dear brethren, I bid you adieu.
10016, brothers aud sisters, all join in a band.
Who tecl love and frieadship, come give me
your hand;
The Lime is coming when we ail must part.
In the name of my Jesus, here’s ray hand and
my heart.
Once more, my dear brethren, I bid you fare
well,
Oome follow tne Saviour, who saved you from
hell;
On the top of Mount Calavry, he was nailed to
the wood,
S^rom the spear and the nail holes, there came
water and blood.
tiis work it is litiished, that He came to do,
The wav orsa'v-ttioK is opened to jnm :
The way u is Oj'eu tbn, leads unto God,
And you may walk ia j,. ’tis marked out with
blood.
All you that haro found favor in your blessed
Lord,
in heaven aud gtery shall be your reward ;
The song of salvation you then shall sing loud,
And Jesus and tiis angels will come in the
cloud.
He calls all the righteous, the price of his
blood,
Heirs of his glory and joint h.eirs of God ;
We will ail m«et together on Canaan’s bright
shore.
Where weeping and mourning and parting ’«
no more-
Farew'eli, seeking mourners, with hearts aU
m-jsc broke,
Who have a desire, to Jesus look up ;
Your Saviour Btands ready, with arms opened
for ye,
Poor shelterless doves, for refuge must flee.
A warning, jjoor sinners, away we must ride,
to tru-jt, lii ail danger the Lord doth provide ;
If no inorr 1 see you, while this life doth re
main,
At the great day of resurrection, we will meet
you again.
Religion.
'Tis religion that can give
Sweetest pleasures while we live ;
'Tis religion must supply
Solid comfort when we die.
After death its joys will be
Lasting as eternity I
Be tie living God ray friend.
Then my biisg '‘bnU ueTerciid.
Newnan, Ga.,
March 1st, 1869.
Eld. L. I. Bodenhamer—jE’c^itor
It is with much pleasure that I have
been reading your “Zion’s Land-'
marks,” for two or three months past,
and feasting, as I have been on the
experiences of God’s dear children ;
and feeling that godliness is great
gain, and believing the scriptures have
been handed to us that we may profit
thereby; and in obedience to the
same, making Christ, our great High
Priest, we feel that it is very impor
tant that we should divide our time,
and give a good portion in searching
the Scriptures prayerfully, that God
may impart wisdom and knowledge
to us, poor creatures, that we m-ay
know what w are by nature, and
what we ar ? by grace ; and as a part
of God’s \>ord that has been accom
panied ly his Spirit and goodness to
help me, as I trust, to overcome
some of my troubles ; since I trust
God, for Christ’s siike, opened n y
blinded eyes and give me a heart to
love God’s ways, and not my own;
and since then, I often think, and
am led, as I trust, by the goodness
of God, to think and read Paul to
the Romans, sixth chapter: “What
shall we say then, shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound; God
forbid ! How shall we that are dead
to sin, live any longer therein. Know
ye not that so many of us as were bap
tized into Jesus Christ, were baptized
into his death, therefore we are bur
ied with him, by baptism into death,
that like as Christ was ra’sed up
from the dead, by the glory of the
Father, even so, tve also should walk
in newness of life.” Again, 11th
verse, “Likewise, reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed, unto
sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord.” 12th verso, “Let
not sin therefore reign in your mor
tal body, that you should obey in the
lust thereof.” 18th verse, “Neither
afield ye your members as instruments
of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield
yourselves unto God, as those that
are alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteous
ness unto God.” 14th verse, “For
sin shall not have dominion over you,
for ye are not under the law, but un
der grace.” 15th verse, Then the
question again comes, shall we sin
because we are not under the law, hut
under grace ? God forbid; “know ye
not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye
are to whom ye obey, whether of sin
unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness.”
Dear Editor, I would not weary
you with the reflection of these im-.
portant Scripture truths, only as one
who loves the truth, and desires that
the word should have due weight,
and run and be glorified in the salva
tion* and comfort of God’s dear chos
en children ; for it does appear from
the reading of the r oregoing truths,
that God’s dear children, are a pecu
liar people, and from common obser*'
vation, we often fear that many, very
many, who profess to know Christ
as their chief concern, and to walk
in the light of Christ, do certainly
ignore, by their exampl s, the truth
and power, and will of our blessed
Lord and Saviour, in such a way as
to cause a gain-saying world, to say,
“of a truth there is no truth nor
virtue in the eligion that we pro
fess.” 0, could the religious world
of Baptists, but reflect for one moment,
upon the great mercy and amazing
grace and goodness of God, and go
back in our minds, to the time when
God in his infinite mercy and grace,
opened our eyes to see how helpless
we are by nature, and what he made
us by grace. By viewing Christ, as
the only sacrifice that could atone
for our sins, and bringing through
him glory and consolation to our poor
souls, aiivl implanting in our poor souls
the hope of glory, only by tuk
ma
Jhrist as the man of our counsel;
which shows to us conclusively, that
not of works, but of faith, or m other
words, of grace ; and for the contin
ued encouragement of God’s dear
children, we should ever keep before
their minds, the power and grace of
God. ShoAving that by grace are we
saved through faith, and that is not
of ourselves, it is the gift of God;
not of works, lest any man should
boast. And if the grace of God has
brought us to the light of God’s rich
grace, his dear children should never
fear, but endeavor with faiih, as we
did by the help of God, m our first
conflict with Satan.
Search the Scriptures, for God says,
“his eyes are ever over the righte
ous and his ears are opened to their
prayer,” and he has promised to be
with us always, even to the end of
the world ; and if we are God’s dear
children, there ought to be a vast
difference in our conduct, and that
ol the men of the world ; as the dear
children of God can testify the truth
lof Paul, when he said, “there is there
fore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not a ter the flesh, but after the Spirit,
for the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ, hath made me free from the
law of sin and death.” So we see
that faith in Christ, makes a great
change in the state and character,
conditions, enjoyments and prospects
of man, and is compared to a city
that is set on a hill, that cannot be
hid. And if Christ be found in the
soul, the hope of g.ory, then God’*
dear children become heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Christ, and the
consequence is, ever become entirely
under the Spirit and influence of the
Spirit of God, and behold old things
pass away, and behold all things be
come new; and bj grace through
faith, Ave the dear children of God,
are enabled to look into the promised
land, and with this hope the child of
God goes forth by the grace of God,
and lets his light shine before the
world, and no longer is conformed to
the things of the world, but is trans
formed by the renewing of his mind,
day by day, looking unto Clirist as
the author and finisher of hi.s faith,
and to the honor and glory of God.
Pray for me dear Brotlien in Christ,
and may the blessings of heaven at
tend you and vour dear family.
G. -W. COOK.