(
ZION’S LANDMARKS.
DEVOTED TO THE DEFENSE OF THE PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS,
“X'O THE L.A.'W' AISTD X'O TITE TESTIISHONY.’'
VOI.. III.
WILSON, NORTH CAROLINA, APRIL 15, 1870.
NO. 10.
C0RIlESP0m)ENCK
Macomb, ]lb., \
March, 1870. j
Fragments.
No. 8.
OIL AND AtEAL.
Bkoteer Bodeniiamer:—I have
felt for mooths past that I was oc
cupying too much space in your
little pa):>er, for the small amount
osf edification I presume my scrib'
hling has contributed to its readers;
and were it not that you are still
soliciting contributions from your
readers to supply the columns of
the “Landmarks,” I should not
so often intrude upon you and your
readers. But here I am again with
another Fragment, and it you ap-
jirove it, and any of the Lord’s
little ones shall receive a crumb of
comfort and consolation from it, I
sliall be gratified.
How often does the Lord work
out of the sight of mortals in the
accomplishment of his purposes?
ilow high are his ways and thoughts
above that of blinded human rea*
son ? How unsearchable are His
judgments, and His ways past
rinding out! He destroys the wiss
dom of the wise, baffles the best laid
plots of wicked men, and check
mates the hellish designs of the
wicked one when they are opposed
to His gracious purposes in behalf
of his children.
During the great famine in the
days of Elijah, while the wicked
Allah was hunting him in order to
•destroy him, and searcning all the
surrounding kingdoms for the ob
ject of his vengeance, how little
did he and his emissaries imagine
that Elijah’s God was feeding the
old prophet within twenty miles of
Jerusalem? And how contrary to
the laws of nature, to reason, and
out of the sight of mortals that
God should send him his daily sup
plies of bread and flesh in his lone
ly retreat by the fowls of heaven 1
But the Lord will provida for the
Nvants of his children, though it
itnay beby-a miracle, pro'-
phet may have wondered where
these wdnged messengers got their
food, and how they could find him
in his hiding place. Will they
come again, and arain, morning and
evening, and supply my daily re
turning warts? If not, Iraust inev->
itably perish. How often he was
reminded of his absolute depen
dence on this miraculous provision
for his very existence? But he
called to mind that the Lord whom
he served had declared “I have
commanded the ravens to feed thee
there.” livings 17:4. Butafter
a while the brook that supplied
him with water dried up. What
now shall he do ? He must have
water as well as food. The pros
pect is gloomy; doubts are ready to
rise, and distrust is creeping into
his heart. “Will the Lord cast
off forever? and will he he favora
ble no more? Is his mercy clean
gone for ever ? Hath God forgotten
to be gracious ?” Ps. 77 : 7 : 9.
“Since so m:\ny mercies past,
Will be let me sink at last?”
No; in the last extremity, when
all was dark before him, and heat
his wit’s end, the Lord informed
him of another means of support,
equally as unexpected as the other.
There was a Gentile city some two
hundred miles north called Zare-
phath, (Sarepta). To it the prophet
was directed to go, by the word of
the Lord, “Behold, I have com
manded a widow woman there to
sustain thee.” Beader, how do
you think the prophet ever got
through the country such a dis
tance without being captured by
the King’s subjects who were un
der oath to report if they found
him? Ch. 18:10.
But the “way of man is not in
himself; it is not in him th®,4
w'alketh to direct his steps;” 'fend
hence the prophet reached the -gate
of the city in safet3X But, poDt
old man, how weary, and hungry
and thirsty ! Had he been long i'n
finding thra widow he might 'have
sunk under his fatigue Riad want;
but, blessed be G©d, tire very wo
man upon whom his life depended
was there. The thirsty man, re-
)cof»nizing her as “the widow”
1 ® ^ t
whom God had appointed to sus
tain him, begged her to bring him
a “little water,” and as she was go
ing to wait on him he added ano •
ther request for a “morsel of
bread.” Did you ever ask your
self, reader, why the prophet was
sent to this poor widow for sus
tenance instead ot some honorable
and wealthy man ? Had he been
sent to and sustained by tlie opu..
lent, the hand ot the Lord had not
been seen in it; but as God has
ever chosen the poor, the weak
and the despised things of this
world, through whom to glorify
his name, and accomplish his pur
poses, so in this case a destitute
widow is chosen to feed the prophet
during the mighty famine. Tliis
widow was not the only one that
ever gave a disciple a cup ot cold
water, or ca.st a mite into the trea..
sury of the Lord, as many ot the
Lord’s way-worn ministers can
testify.
At the second request of the pro
phet, the destitute woman was
compelled to divulge tlie mortify
ing fact of her poverty, declaring to
the hungry man that she had but
a “handful of meal in a barrel,
anda little oil in a cruse.” But
the wants of the man of God were
urgent and must be supplied.
Herself and little son had consum
ed all but a handful during the
great dearth, and now she was
about to prepare the last morsel
and eat it, and then she and her
son looked foA- nothing but a cer
tain and awful death. But the
pirophet tells her to fear not, hut
tn-fire him a little cake and then
make for herself and son; “For
thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
The barrel of meal shall not waste,
neither shall the cruse of oil feil,
«ntil the day that the Lord send-
eth rain upon the earth.’’ And she
did as •'8l>e was told, and ted the
prophet and her household for
many days, evea until the earth
Was blessed with rain, and the
meal wasted not. The widow goes
daily to her barrel, and finds each
day a little still there, just enough
for one meal for the family.—
“Will it do,” savs she to herself,
“for me to take all there is in th.e
barrel this time? What will we do
for meal to morrow? Yet it will
take all there is to supply tlie
household a respectahlc repa.st.’‘ —
lIow often she raked the bottom,
and scraped up the last handful ot
meal she could find ? How often
was she reminded of her depen
dence on the word of the Lord, and
on him to miraculously supply th.e
absolute necessities of their exis
tence? Had He filled her barrel to
the brim at any ene time, s.,e
might have become forgetful ot l.er
dependence, and might have be
come gluttonous, but she mnAt
daily see the bottom, and be re
minded every morning of her de
pendence for fresh supplies c;
meal and oil. She had draine.l
the cruse the day before, and nev-
slie finds just enough again to ans
wer in making th-e next cake.
If she doubts the word of t: ?
Lord any moruing when she rises,
she goes into her pantry and look-
in to her barrel again, even to tiic
very bottom, and there she shed -
tears of joy, and feels to weep ove;
her unbelief in the promise of God .
And the meal wasted not, neltho’’
the oil till the time of plenty. Sr
it was with Israel in the desert;
they had to gather a little mannr
every day, except on the Sabbatl,
and was reminded of the Lord s
mercies being fresh everj' morning.
“Give us this day our daily bread.
Thoug-h the outward man perisl'.
the inward man is “renewed day
by day.” “As thy days so shaib
thy strength be.” “My grace fe
sufficient for thee.” “1 never will
leave thee nor forsake thee,” I
must qU«t this in the middle.—
Brother Bodenhamer, may you
and your readers get a daily hand
ful each.
1-. N. VANMETER.