r
I
Zion’s Landmark
DEYOTED TO THE PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CAUSE.
“TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY.*’
VoL X. -No. 4.
Zion's ilandmark.
I5v the help of tlic F^ird, this paper will
for tlie ancient landmark, guided by
iustnkii's of truth,andatretigtheiied by its cords
ol' lore.
ft hojics to reject all traditions and
fNSTiTi'TKiNS OF MKN, and regard only the
BIBLE AS THE STANWAED of TRUTH.
It urgee ]ieople ti> search the scriptures and
««'}€v .1 esus as the only King in the lioly hill
of Zion, keefung tlieiiiKclve.s un.spott.J from
the world.
It aims to conteud for the mystery of the
faith in God and the Father, Je.susthe Medi
ator, and the Holy Spirit, the iilessed C'oin-
tijrtcr.
jVll lovers of gospel truth, are invited to
write for it—if so iinpreasotl.
.May gnr.ee, mercy and peace, be multiplierl
(,0 all lovers of Jesus.
Wilson, N. C., Janiiarj 1, 1877.
Whole No. 320.
rnrnmmmmt
THE LAND OF PAOJLSE, Oil THE
CHKiSTiAN’S H0.ME.
Far tfer the hills of time. I .»e«
The pilgriiiis’ (nippy home,
Wheietliev will find eternal r«tii
Beaeeth their Father’s doino.
■rhere Moses and Ills childrsn dwell,
Secure from trials, live;
The L.aml of Fromie they have gained—
To God the glory give.
No l«itger now, the tyrant’s yoke
O’er their devuted heads ;
In pursuit the Ezvptiaiis’ went
' , -V.. X:U.n! tl.ch'wut'l ■“
The hand of God held back the wsv*«
When o'tpjtlie Ollier .side, ^ j
Ifehelil iheir deadly foes engulfed
Bciieads the swelling tide.
But soon a migltty cri' was hoard
Of hunger and of tliirst—
■Grid’s servant clave the flinty r»ok,
Forth from it waters burst.
-They, ofheaven'y manna eat,
.Vliile journeying here heUw ;
.Now lieaven’s golden stret ts they wslic,
And all tiieii trials o’er.
Give us, oh 1 Lord, tliy little floolc,
A portion of thy grace
To lead ustUroiigli this vail «ftearc
Till we shall .see thy face.
Help us to live each day on earth
A» though it was the last.
In humbieness of heart and prayer,
Till earthly trials puss.
The;., oh 1 receive our souls «t last—■
'i'here let us with Thee dwell,
Where Moses and ilie projiheCa are—
We will our story tell,
Of thy redeeming love and grace,
Of m.v salvation free,
And of Thy precious blood once alsed
Forme, unworthy me.
Mrs. W. A. PasMY.
Clayton, N. C., Not. 2«, 1876.
Sflinraiuiitatctr.
iMlAGMENiS-Ko. 32,
Kissing. -Ps. S.S: 10, 11.
Elder 1\ I). Gold^ Beloved Brother: —
Tue ever - -.veicome Eand.m.ark
©ome.s ti) me rt'gularly, ami ha.s lost
none of it.s iiitere.st, always briiigiii'r
good news from a far country, ami
contending for the faitli which wa.s
delivered to the saints by divine au
thority. I shall attempt another
•brief fragment of thoughts on the
Wther pcculhij: tiuhject, named ab«ve,
which yon may dispn.,e of according
to yotir jmlgmcni ; and if I only
say enough in this article to o[)cn the
sni'ject, others may pursue it further
or shed more light upon it.
“ Mercy ami truth are met togeth
er; right*ousness ami peace have
ki.Ssed each other. Truth shall
spring out of the earth; and riglit-
eousiiess sliall look down from heav
en.” In the .salvation of sinners all
the attributes of God must harmon
ize, ami every divine perfection of the
infinite .Jehovah must lie susta ned, .so
tiiat the divine truth may he made
manifest, that (Jod is just, ami yet
the Juslifier of him that hclieveth in
JesiH. God is Indy, and nothing nn
clean can enter or dwell in his pre.s-
Cince. “ Thou art of purer eyes titan
to Ix hold evil, and canst ttot look ott
iniqitity.”—ITai). 1: 13. Matikittd
are sinners; hot, i Jews atul Geittiles
are all under sin; so that every
mouth is stopjied, and all the world
has hecome guilty Ixtfore God. . Be
holding the vast an 1 infinite contrast
hetweeit an holy God.ati l a viie, pol-
Ittted siitttcr, how catt the condemned
cr^i tial Ite released, acquitted, jnsti-
fi‘d and saved, and Gol remain
just? Tlie.se are questions ofsuo.lt
tuif^'tauce that' tisey A(v5tvcA
the eternal honors of the tluvme
o^' tlie divine Majesty, the just claims
ofhis holy law, the demamls of his
itiflexihle jitsti'e ami the iiiviolahle
riglits of tiiialterahle truth. Love
may yearn over the sinner; mercy
may pity him; power may he aide to
save; hut ju--iice stiy.s, cut him down
f»r he is guilty; truth says, the .soul
that simteth it shall die; righteous-
nees ami holiness spurn the vile ami
comtpt wretch from their presence;
immortality says, I cannot change the
sentence of death ; omnipresence
‘ho (the sinner,) can not fly from my
presence and dominion ; and so fat
as the poor guilty soul is concerned
before God, he is forever dehared
from hope, and undone, witliout a
Mediator between him and a just aad
holy God. How all the glorious per-
feecious of God can ho harmonized,
and the sinner saved, i.s a question
that none hut the infinite and incoin-
prehensihle God can solve, and no
ch.irac.er hut that of Jesus, in whom
dwelt all the fulness of the God-head,
can accon>plish. John wept much
in gazing on the sealed doom of men,
heeause none was f uind in heaven or
eartii that was worthy or able for
the mighty task.
“ Gull a mlglitr council in the skiea—
SiTaphs, ye miglity ami ye wi^e, ”
S.iv. are ve «tnmg to bear the loafl,
The weiglity vengeance of a God ?’'
In viln we a:k, for all arounil,
Stand .silent on the lieavenly ground."
But the great mystery of godlitiess,
of redemption, of the eternal salva-
• tian of sinners, and the glory of God
are made raauifest in, and are accom
plished by, our Ixtrd Josas Christ, in
wlio-ic won lerfiil cliaracter we lioliohl
all tlie p-rfections of G'ol, and also
the nature of man, having a soul,
l)ody and spirit, Init witliout sin. In
liis divine nature the creator of all
ihings, the upli-«Ider of al! things
was liefore all things, kno vs all
things. He is the brightness  f
God’s glory, and the express iniage
of iii.s per.-on, and has all po ver in
heaven ami earth ; but in his iiicar-
' •
nation he was made of a woman,
made nmler the law, bail the form
of a servant, and the likeness ofsin-
fnl flesli, was a m ui of s irro'w, and
acquainted with grief, and htimhled
himself unto deatli. God eould not
die, divinity could not sutler, angels
had no blood to shed, and were not
related to men, as having their nat
ure, man couhl not re ieem himself,
ami could not he saved in his sins;
hence in the everl 'sting covenant of
peace Ciiri-st ami his people arc in
cluded as one in the c.:un.sels of the
divine mind. In that covenant,
which was orderetl in all things and
sure, Christ is given to he their Head,
Hn^l)aml, Shepherd and R.;deemer,
and they were betrothed to him as
his Itride, given to him, chosen in
Idm, l)Ie.s.sed in him and preserved in
him. .'.^-re, ilii tC- v'siM, they ai'e'
the offspring of a fallen Adam, a|
fleshly and sinful, eomlemned a.id
helpltss; Imt, according to tienial
covenant engagements, he comes into
tiie world, a>^snmes their entire nat
ure, hut without sin, was made un
der the law, and as the surety of his
people emnes to redeem them. He
fully keeps and magnifies the law,
and dies on the ero.ss fir them, a vi
carious death, liearing tlieir sins in
his own body on the (iross. Here,
then, in the person and character of
the wonderful God-m,in mediator, in
their Praphet, Priest and King, this
Lawgiver, Judge ami Ruleemer, this
sin-hearing victim—here, 1 say, we
behold meeting, uniting, embracing
and kissing each other, all the attri
butes of God. We hehohl the hriglit-
est display of tlie dazzling glory of
God shining in the face of Jestts
Christ. “Justice ami judgment are
the habitation of thy tiirone ; mercy
and truth shall go befire thy face;”
and while the strokes of inexorable
justice fall with awful vengeance on
Jesus, our sin-hearer, and the right
eous law is shedding his sin-atoning
blood, ail the glorious perfections of
God .say, Amen. Mercy and truth
meet at the cro.ss, righteousness and
jicace kiss each other at this hallow
ed sjiot, ivhile the Prince of peace is
grappling with the powers of dark
ness, and making peace by his own
blood. A righteous God can not
spare his own Son, because he is the
elder brother, aud has come to re-
deem. He dies, the work is consum-
mated, his people, are redeemed, the
law fnllilled, mercy flows, love eter
nal runs, and ,salvation is proclaimed
to helple.-^s lost sinners, and in their
free and eternal pardon all the attri-
huts of God meet and harmonize.
J. N. VANMF/fEK.
Macomb, HI., Nov., 1870.
Near Water V.illey, Yallabiislia conntv,
Miss., Jan. 21st, 1872.
Brother Beebe: —
The subject of baptism has of late
borne ii[|)n my mind with consider
able weight, and I theref >re have ex
amined the subject witli more care
than I othcrwi.se would have done.—-
My examinations Iiave led me on
from one step to another until it ap
pears to me that perhaps the Bip-
risis have been too ungardel in
.some particulars, in relation to the ad
ministration of that divine ordioancK.*;
the ortlioiace tint his been ap;)C()v-
ed in the most miraculous manner
from heaven, on some memorable oc-
casimis, as found in M.itt. 3 : IG,
17, Mark 1 : 10, 11 and Acts 8: 26,
39.
Now there were many kinds of
wood, no doubt, when Noah built the
Ark, hut lie was comiHanded, to Imild
it of gopher wood—Gen. 6 : 14.—
must
make the ark of tlie covenant, but he
eomrnauded them to make it ofsliit-
tim wood, and the length, breadth,
highth, &c., jiarticularly designated.
— Ex. 25 ; 10 to 37. And we know
there were many kinds of M^ater, sea,
brook, pool, lake, river. &c., when
Got! sent Jotin the Biptist (John 1 ;
6,) to iihstitute the heavenly ordinance
of baptism. But when the time
eame for him to establish that ordi
nance, he did not go to the pool of
Siloam nor to the pool of Bethe.sda,
at Jerusalem, to make it convenient
for the people; no indeed, for lho.se
pools were used for cleansing and
healing purpo.ses (John 6; 2, and 9:
7). and baptism is not for cleansing
and healing, but for the “answer of
a good conscience toward God by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.”—1st
Peter 3 : 21. And indeed it cannot
be proven that John or any of the
apostles ever baptized a single person
at Jerusalem, notwithstanding, all
Judea and Jeru.sa!eni were hajitized
by John. But not at Jerusalem,
“ Eor the word of God came tinto
John, tile son of Zacharias, in the
wdilerncs.s, and lie came into all the
country about Jordan, {ireaching the
baptism of repentance fiir the remis
sion of sins,”—Luke 3 ; 2, 3 “And
were all baptized in the River Jor
dan.”—Mark 1 : 5. And Jernsalein
is not less than eighteen or twenty
miles from the nearest point of the
Jordan river on a straight line. And
Nazareth, in Galilee, ,not.> less thau
fifty or sixty miles from Betha'bati