h -
Landmarks.
“TO THE LAW MI) TO THE TESTIMONY.”
Vol. viii-No. 18.
Wilson, N. 0., Aiiff list 1, 1875.
Whole No. 186.
Ziorrs Landmarks.
P. D. GOLD, Editor.
PUBLISIIED^EMI-MONTIILY
— ( at )—
Vj^ILSON, j^O^TH j^A^OLINA.
Tw 0 Dollars Per Annum
AUGUST 1st, 1875.
NOTICE!
g^”C]ubs of eight .subfcribers, or a larger'
number, can have the Landmaeks at $1,50
each, and the club.s need net be at the same
Po.9t Office or even in the same State, and
persons renewing can make clubs in same
way.
Our brethren and friends are all authorized
io act as Agents in obtaining- subscribers.—
Their names need not be publi.shed in the.
LLst of Agents. V7e hope they will generally
make an effort to extend the circulation of the
Landmauks.
Money can be sent by express or oth
erwise at my expense. In sum.s of a few dol
lars it can be sent at my risk by ordinary let
ters. \ld.ien money is not receipted please
•always inform me.
When convenient aeways send
Money by Expee.ss ob Money Orders at
MY EXPENSE, IP PREFEBED.“^3g
For a good reason please direct letters to
me as follows:
P. D.
fomraituicattu.
Opelika, Ala., May 15th, 1875.
Brother Gold:—
ii
AM personally acquainted
I with but few of the readers of
the Landmaks, and do' not
know that what I have writ
ten for its columns is'acceptable with
the Lord’s humble poor,, hut from
some cause I oecasionaliv feel a strono;
*>■ O
inclination to write. I know full
well that I am a poor afflicted, ig
norant and unworthy creature, and
in some respects preach and write un
der more adverse circumstances than
any man ever did in modern times,
and if I have any motives of vain
glory to accomplish by my poor
labors, I am really not aware of it.
I confess, however, that I am not
always able to account for the exer
cises of my own mind and have often
felt determined never again to write
another letter for publication; but
without any known cause to me
my mind becomes at times .so forcibly
weighted and irresistably exercised
that I seek this method of empioy-
mentfor relief. At times also 1 have
a feeling of sadness and a deep gloom
seems to pervade the whole mental
powers of the mind, and with all my
efforts for relief, or to be cheerful or
feel comfortable, I cannot. My heart
is heavy and sorely pained within
me, and I am made to understand
full well that ‘^dieavine.ss in the heart
of man rnaketh it stoop,” ami thereby
prepares it for a ‘’good word to make
it glad,” Prov. 12; 25. If those
holy men of olden time were not ex
empt from this I,’.c-avin ::: it is one of
the marks of divine life Avitinn. It
is the living that feel sad and mourn
over their own depravity. Good old
Job had similar trials and would
seek, like I and others often have
done, to “forget our complaint and
leave off our heaviness and comfort
ourselves” a little. Job 9 : 27. Bjit
could he do it ? No, he was again
“plunged in the ditch.” David too
was “full of heaviness’
so
that his
very “soul melted” under the heavy
Aveight of sorrcAAq Psalms 69 : 27.
In this he represented Christ whose
soul Avas heavy and exceeding sor
rowful even unto death. And doubt
less it is thus that the people of God
are to he brought experimentally into
the fellowship of his sufferings.
Men of the AAmrld who know not
God in the forgiveness of their sins
may and often do suffer and sorrow
much with the sorrow of the world;
but none Uut the child :’?n of God and
.nembers of the body of Christ can
be partakers of th.a sufferings of
Christ nor of the alarjW;!
V CM
those sufferings.^
Waw- i y
lows: “For the time is come that
judgment must begin at the house of
God; and if it first begin at us, Avhat
shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel of God? And if the
righteous scarcely he saved, Avhere
shall the ungodly and the sinner ap
pear ?” Brother W. desires me to
Avrite on the Avhole connection, hut
particularly to “ define betAveen the
ungodly and the sinner.”
This epistle is addressed to stran
gers, or saints of God who were scat
tered abroad; to the elect of God,
who had been sanctified through the
Spirit unto ohedienco, and had been
sprinkled by the blood ofCbhish and
hence the general tenor of the epis
tle is applicable to these as saints, and
Avas Avritten in order to stren^^hen,
encourage and instruct his brethren
in Christ, as he was commanded to
do by his Lord and mas'er —sec
Luke 22 : 32, and John 21; l-t-, 17.
His brethren were at that time .t-
tered abroad among the gentil
ount o:
the love of tiie truth, and they were
to be damned,, while others were
chosen unto salvation; (2nd Tiicss.
2 : 10, 13) and Peter says, “the Lord
on
knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptation, and to reserve the-
unjust unto the day of judgment to
be punished,”—29. “The time is
come that judgment must begin at
the house of God ;” at the tribunal
of the Church; for “the Lord shall
judge his people.” Heb. 10: 3o!
“For Ave must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that every
one may receive the things done in
the body,” &c., 2nd Cor, 5: !(>..
“And if it first
hou.se of God, the
begin at us,” the
Church, members
aaIio haA'e obej^ed her ordinances, and
been adopted iuA the family, if \yc.,
have to be judged by the holy law's
of Zion, and can scarcely he saved
from condemnation before her cmn,
tribunal, “what shall the end be of
them that obey not the gospel of
God ?” Tb^m that spurn, re-
-"'’ii?'
can I. But I c:^
heart seai’ching enquiry. “Why art
thou cast down, O, my soul, and
why art thou disquieted within me?”
Is there any known cause for it ? Is
it distrust, unbelief, or AA’ant of confi
dence in God ? No, I would hope
it is rather the result of that iuAvard
teaching of the grace of our God that
gives such a discovery of the deprav
ity and corruption of man as to cause
one to feel sad, sorrowful, cast down
and iriAvardly restless, even to loath
ing one’s self and making him feel
wretched so as to cry out “who shall
deliver me ?”
There are times when I feel quite
c.alm and serene, and others times
AA'hen L really feel much in Avard peace
and soul comfort so that my soul
doth magnify the Lord, and I feel
like saying “bless the Lord, O my
soul, and all \Authin me bless his holy
name.” Surely changes and AA'ar
abide me.
Adieu again,
W. M. Mitchell.
THE UNGODLY AND THE
SINNER.
Beloved Brother Gold
o
|URING the month of May 1
received a very interesting
and comforting letter from
Elder E. J. Williams, of Af-
they should feel happy, and be
terdfied ; chap. 3 : 14. But although
this epistle is an address to his breth
ren
yet in ii he speaks of others aaTo
were not of the brotherhood, or
household of God; so that, while all
the language of the epistle is ad
dressed to them, some of it refers to
i. e. “ unto you therefore
believe,
ton, Ga., at the close of ivhich he re
quested me to give my views, through
the Landjiaeks, on 1 Peter 4 : 17,
18, and I feel it to ho my duty to
comply Avith his request the best I
can, which I fear will be hut ]ioor.
I am not satisfied that I understaiKi
the intention of the inspired iienman
in some of the language refered to in
the passage cited, which reads ^as fiil-
others : i. e. " unto you
which believe, he is precious; bat
unto them which be disobedient,”
&c, to them Christ is a “ rock of
offence, even to them which stumble
at the Avorld, being disobedient;
whereunto also they were appointed.’
chap. 2 : 2, 9 ; Isa. 8: 14, 15; Rom
9 : 32, 33. The above citations and
many similar ones prove that the
inspired writers were draAving a line
of distinction between the believer
and unbeliever, the righteous and
the wicked, the godly and The un
godly, the Church and the world ;
and although the Lord’s regenerate
people often do wrong, and sin against
the brethren, and even against Christ
(1st Cor. 8 : 12j yet such sinners are
to be converted from the error of
their v/ays by their brethren, and
they are saved from death in their
Church relation, and in their relis-
ious enjoyments. But Peter, as Avell
as other inspired writers, often speaks
of those Avithout, and contrasts the
difference between the house of God,
and the Avorld, between him that
servetli God, and him that serveth
him not; and in the connection under
consideration I understand the..
Apostle to he showing thedistinction
between tlie Church and the world.
Paul speaksof thoseivhohad.pleasure
j in unrighteousness, and rcc-JvecI not
strnction, Avhose God is their belly,
and whose glory is in their shame,
who mind earthly things,” .Dhil. 3:
19. “And if the righteops scarcely
be saved;” if it is through much trib
ulation they enter the kingdom, and
through cruel mockings, temptations
and trials they journey on their way;
if it is Avith the skin of their teeth
they escape, (Job 19:20) and they
have no oil to spare; if their feet
often AA^ell nigh slip, and they barely
have strength to get through the
great and terrible wilderness; if they
are scarcely saved, “where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear?”
It appears to me that these ungod
ly sinners Avho obey not the gospel
are distinct from the hoa.se of God,
from the us—Peter and the elect—
the righteous named in the text. I
think no distinction is made, or
should be made bet\A'cen the ungodly
and the sinner, and that they are syn-
onynmous. Ungodly is unlike God,
wicked, sinful,and a sinner is a trans
gressor of the laAV, and I think Avhere
either is used in contrast Avith the
righteous it represents
erato natural man, Avho is
of disobedience
the word ungodly four times in the
15th verse, and one of the times he
calls them ungodly sinners; these,
, though false teachers, and probably,
for a time, inerahers, (verses 4 and
19) yet they Avere to have an awful
end. Solomon uses the conjunction
between the “wicked and the ungod
ly,” (Prov. 11 31) and many such
^examples might he cited.
I do not think, brother AViliiau'.s.
that it is a matter of much inter - :
AvIietliGr the ungodly and the ai.
the uuregen-
, in a state
to God. Jude uses
m