T
» \ J..
ZION’S LANDMARKS
DEVOTED TO THE DEFENSE OF THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS.
“TO the: TA.W .A.]srx) TO the: testimony,.’'
VOL. III.
WILSON, NORTH CAROLINA, MARCH 15, 1870.
NO. 8.
Desiring to Ijs FaitliM in tlie Lord.
fn happiness I liope
1 shall live after death,
As .lesus i.s my proj)
A.nd my jiath ;
For tluis I do perceive
Tliat Christ the Lord did j^rieve,
Aiid died that I might liv.-;
Did redeem mo to him,
And may« give him praise-
All my days.
TlusTr.y de.siro i.s nov*,
Him to praise while 1 live,,
For every bliss and joy
I receive;
'Tis my desired intent.
Until my time is spent,
! would I could rejicnt
tViien I .see sin in me;
J-'or it is niy delight
To do right.
Macomb, Iiatnois,
Fe'brhary, 1870. j
-AFragments.
No. 7,
TIPS PRODIG AT "SON.
Brother BoDENiiAMaii:—As long
iago as the time ofthe Saviour, and
even before, there Appears to have
beets some boys wlio did not like to
stay at herewith their parents,
and their brothers and sisters, but
beih^^ die-satisfied with tiie order of
tba-fconsie-, and with parental con-
trol, and conceiving the idea that
tbev could do better on tbeir “own
O that I luid tile iiow-cr
’i'o do riglit day i;y lay,
'To jn-aedee every hour
in tiiis way ;
Dut there is a thorn,
\Vijji(di iMpko'-:,often n:
,-Vmi wiiii many a groan
!. would cry, O that I
Could do my duty right
With delight.
hook” than to listen to a father’s
advice, left the old homestead -and
rambled off. And where tw@ bro
thers were raised together it soraes
times was the case -that the younger;
i-ns
:ead of the elder, lef^
w«|n,
His employer sent him into the
fields to feed swine, rather a low
calling, one would think for a proud
young man who bad recently quite
an estate in his bauds, and whose
father was well to do in the world.
He i'ad no thought v.'ben be started
out with full pockets and well dress-
edfrom his father’s well^stored house
and barns, and his well-fed servants,
■that he should ever see the day lie
ghould ivave to feed swine for the
•mere sustenance of his mortal exis
tence ; and his sense of pride and
independence, with a recollection of
an affronted father and friends, for
bid the thought of returning home
at this time. How could he endure
the thought of going home in bis
rags, penury and disgrace? With
out clothes, credit, money or health
^ n-jere w,rx‘ck,of r^hl'XW^.’Uth ,
he once was i So he went to feed-
Eiit .Jtsiis is my all,
Of myself I am vile,
AVithoiit him I shall fall
All tile -while;
'iTiongh I would if I could',
I can’t do notlilng good,
T'ntii it pleases God,
AVho lias wrought fully br^rght
Redemption through his Won—
Him alone.
was contrary to thc> laws of n'atu'
and of God. My own ohseiwation ! ing «wine, and associating with the
convinces me that this
of misery and w-ant wends his w.ay
towards the door of an injured fa
ther. But as he approaches the
precincts of his former home, lie
thus soliloquizes: “ Will not my
father, when he sees ray rags and
learns the history of my shame and
dissipation,forbid rn?) to come inside
of his inclosures or to -enter his -door?
Will he not be so shocked and dis
gusted at the appearance of liis onc«
res})eetabk son, and so angry agaiii.-'-t
me that lie will disown me forever ?
I cannot expect and surely deserve
nothing better.’’ But long before lie
trenched the homestead, -the father,
semehow looking in that direction,
beheld the long lost hoy a ^^reatw'ay
off/’ and knew liim, notwithstanding
his rags, and liis compassion yearned
over him, not only because Im W'as
^ T 1 -• >1 . • -* ^
'unt oecauw
destitution. Ho his fatlicr ran
»0
in-d unfiHal trait -of
unnatural
character is
unclean in tbeir filth in order to get
bread ; but the famine so increased
fearfully on the increase among the - that no man had any to give him.
Tills .Tesu.s is my love,
All my 1k?> c anil my fricnil,
I’hrough him I’ll live and move
To the end.
Tlu'ougii him I’ll wor.sliip God,
P\iid walk tlie narrow' road,
I’ll do all things a.s good
Through his name as I can,
If 1 luivc one accord
With niy Lord.
Abel IKlmer, 1S4L
I’oor believers are hut princes in
dl.SKuise here in this world. Princes
youth of the present degenerate
times,in these “last days ’ when
Paul says they shall become “d’S^
obedient to parents, unthankful,,
unholy, wdthout natural aPcction,”
&o. 2d Tim. 3:2, 3. Ghdst,in%.
15th chapter of Imke, speaks of oue
of these dissatisfied hoys leaving his
father’s house, his older brntherand
the family, taking with b?ra his
part of the estate and going into a
far country. There, instead of the
young man pursuing a course of
uprightness, morality and industry,
he wasted his substance in rioting
and dissipation, and soon spent all
lie was now far from
his living.
and ’tiis kunger became so great that
he would have eaten husks, hut they
had no sustenance in them for a
hungry man. Und-ar these circiiin-
stacces lie “came to himself,” and
was fully convinced that there vras
but one fwlternative to prevent the
.certain pangs of starvation and
death: that vras to return to his
father’s house -without delay, while
he yet had strength to go. Tie re
solves nov/ to arise and go to Ins fa
ther. Tut a c-onsciousness of his
guilt and disobedience, against both
his earthly fa,ther and his Father
in heaven, forbids a.11 hope of ’oeing
received at home with any degree of
home, without means of Eubsistence, joy, or even allowed to enter thi
and without friends or credit. To j threshold of Ins fcAher’s mansion
they are. Christ hath made them all
so ; but wdrile here below they are in
a foreign land, under a v-eil.
Honor the Lord with tliy suhstaAct,
and wdtli the,first fruits of all thine
increase^ so shall thy barns be filled
with plenty, and thy presses shall
■burst out with new wine.
mighry
add to his misfortunes a
famine arose in that land and he
began to be in want'; and feeiing
the pinchings of hunger, and leok-
ing at his tattered clothes, and
ha-ving nothing in his pockets, he
was driven,as the best way he could
then think of adopting for a sup
port,'to join himself te a citizen of
that country and work for bread.
so he makes up his mind to confess
all his guilt to his father on sight,
and beg no more liberty or honor
than a hired servant enjoyed—a
place in the kitchen ; for even these
have “ bread enough and to -spare,
and I perish here with hunger.”—
Under the deepest emotiens of shame
and repentance, and pin-ched--with
hunger .and -cletked in rags, the son
liis
and' met, embraced and kissed Ids
truant but repentant .son, wdio, from
the -sinecrit',’- of his heart cried _ out,
Father, I have sinned against iiea-
ven, and in thy sight, and am no
more W’orthy to be called thy son.”
But did the father suffer him to come
into his liouse, and into the society of
the family ? Not just yet. He is too
ragg'cd and filthy. Don’t let the
family seethe wretchedness andsliame
of our once noble boyn Don’t .morti
fy his sense of decency by ushering
him into the parlor thus in lii; rags.
Tic may' have a motlicr and sistens in
there. Matth.evv 12 ■: 50. N-ay, go,
my servants, and brmgthe best robe,
and put it on him, first divesting him
of his filtl-iy rags; and put shoes on.
his'fect and a ring en Iris hand, and
let ur kill the fal.ted calf and feast
and rejoice over this our lost son who
is now' found,
Brethor E-odenhamcr, and brethren,
can }'ou bear w'itli me till I make a„
brief application of this subject —
Though it appears to me that this
“frs,gment” is about to become a bas-
kctfuil. The parables of the lost
sheep, the lost piece of silver, and tin;
prodigal son, were all spoken just
after the Pharisees and Scribes had.
murmured at Jesus for havino- coin