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Zion’s Landmark.
primitive baptist cause.
“TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY.”
Vol. X. - No. 8.
Wilson, N. C., March I, 1877.
Whole No. ^^4.
Zion’s Landmark.
By the helji of the I^nl, tiiiR paper will
contend for the iincicnt landmark, ^;uidel by
!ia stakes of tnnU.andstrengtheiaed by its cords
of lovo.
It }ioj)e« to reject all Tr.AmTiotrs ani>
^N^iTITUT^os.s OF MEN, and rcRard only the
BIBLE AS THE STANDARD of TRUTH.
It urgc« people to search tSse scriptui'ea and
obey Jesus as tlie only King iu the holy hill
Zioii^ keepitij' uu-spottvd fiom
the world.
It aims to conSisnd for ths tsaystery of the
faith in Go«l and die Father, Jesus the Medi
ator, and the Holy Spirit, th« Blessed Com-
tiwter.
All lovers of gewpel truth are invited to
write for it—if so iisfiressed.
May gi'aoe, mercy asvd peace, be multiplied
to »dl lovers of Jesus.
FEAGMEISTS.
AI.L PRESERVE:i>.
“ And ha spake also a parable unto them ;
Jfo man puiteth a piece of new garment u{X3n
All old ; if otherwise, then both the new ihkIc-
eiii a rent, and the piece that was taken out
•of the new agreeth not with the old. And no
man putteth new wine info old bottles; else
ihe new' wine w'iil burst tlie bottles, and be
-spilletl, and the bottles shall perish. But new
wine must bo put into uevr bottles; and both
are preserves!."—Luke 5 ; 36, 38.
Tills jiarabie ilkvstrate.«Mhe a.nswer
-of Jesus to tlie scrili-es anti Pharisees
who asked, why did the disciples of
John and those of the Pharisees fast
'often and make prayers, while those
of Jesus eat and drank. He tells
them they cannot make the children
s)f the bride-chamber fast while the
?orido-rreom is with them : but the
iays will come when the hride-groooi
will be taken from them and that
then they will fast.
Tliere is a divine, preserving con
sistency in the doctrine of Christ
'which saves the recijdents of his
♦ruth. It Is not like putting new
%ine in old bottles, nor patohiug an
♦Id garment with new cloth. To use
new, strong c'oth in patching an ©Id
ji;arine»t would weaken the old gar
ment, rather than strengthen it, and
1^0 make the rent worse, besides losing
die new cloth in patching : so to put
new wine in old leatliern bottles, such
as were used in those days, would
l)urst the bottles when the new wine
fermented, and both the wine w'ould
be lost and also the bottles would per
ish. But men will use only now
cloth, all of a censUteney and all of
the same texture and .strength, in
making garments; and they would
put new wine in new bottles ca,pable
of holding the wine, and thus both
would be saved.
If men are wise- enough to do this
that nothing be lost, shall not the
Ood of all wisdom and prudence like-
Aviso .so bestow the new wine of his
kingdom that none of it be lost?—
AVill he so throw away the new and
everlasting garments of his salvation
^hat they shall be last, and also the
objects upon whom he puts these di
vine bles.sing? also be- made worse?
I say no ! He does not, throw away
these precious, sure mercies. He
does not do a mere patchwork upon
an old garment, but he makes all
things new—a new creation, a new
heaven and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness ; “Old things
are pas,sed away; behold all things
are become new.”
According to the false notions that
hatem of God put upon his work of
grace, this would be so. They say,
“ if I believed as you do, I would
take my fill of sin, I would commit
sin that grace might abound.”
If it were possible (but it is not,)
for pearls to be eaten by swine, for
grace to be given to one witnout his
loving it, or its causing no conversion
in him; if it were possible for true
religion to be merely in the head,
with^i^ut the law of God being
written in the heart; then might
this be true. One of the most dan
gerous classes of people we see, are
those who hold the doctrine of grace
merely in the letter in their natural
raind.s, while their hearts practice all
maimer of iniquity. Such will take
a warrankfrorn God’s word for com
mitting aW*/h's'j^e}e,or sin, and excn.siq
if not jnstiij- it, by saying, they are
such as the Lord made them, and are
accomplishing his purpose. They
pervert the doctrine of God, by hold
ing that it warrants tl eir wickedness.
Tliey turn the grace of our God into
lasciviousness through their much
wantonness. It matters not, say they,
if I get drunk, if I steal, if I He, if I
commit all manner of wickedness, if
I am to be saved I will lie saved,
and will thus shield their wickedness
under tlie cover of pre iestination and
so pervert the true liberty of a
Christian into a license to commit
whatever wrong their hearts may in
cline them to do. Perhaps there is
not a class of people that more re
proach the holy doctrine than this
one. The more of such religion they
have the more it injures and rends
the old garment, the more of such
wine they have the more it inflates
them with pride, and is sure to break
the bottle, and hence both it and their
notions perish.
No man can understand the doc
trine of godliness unless it is given
him from above, and no one can un
derstand it without loving it. There
are many exhortations in scripture
warning and encouraging believers to
watchfulness and faithfulness, and
there-is a principle of grace in their
hearts that suffers and loves this
word of exliortaticn ; and if they de
part from it they acknowledge their
wrong, ki.ss the chastenhig rod, justi
fy God,and rejient of their sins. For
the grace of God which bringeth sal
vation teaches them that denying
ungodliness, and worldly lusts, they
should live soberly,-righteously and
godly ia this present world. There
is a washing away and purging out
of sin, and a leaven given that will
leaven the whole man. Zion hath
reeeived of the Lord’s hand double
for all her sins, forgiveness and justi
fication. The Lord washes her from
her pollution, and then gives new
raiment from head to foot. A Chris
tian is a new creature, none of the old
garment is left, no self-righteousness
is allowed to cling to him. All
these rags are removed. A new
heart is also given him, that holds
the truth in righteousness, and he
receives it in the love of it. Hence
the grace of God does not puff him
up with pride, nor exalt him in self-
confidence, nor incline liim to do evil
that good may come. He does not
feel that it does not matter what he
docs. The more he hopes he is sav
ed, the greater is his humility, and
tlie stronger his desire to glorify God
in his l)ody (the bottle) and spirit
which are both God’s. True reli
gion then does not lead one to abuse
the body by yielding its members to
sin, but it leaches one to keep his
body under, and thus both are pre
served. The liffht that is in him is
Rvhigle and the body is benefitted by
it. (The old mail of deceitful lusts
is not the literal body of a saint, but
sin that dwells in him. The mortal
body of a Christian shall be quicken
ed in the resurrection, and made spir
itual, and hence saved.) A holy
principle is put in a Christian which
leads him to deny self and mortify
his members which are upon the
earth, and thus by walking in the
truth the whole soul, body and spir
it are [ireserved unto the coming of
out Lord Jesus Christ.—1 Thess. 5 :
23. “ And the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly; and I pray God
your whole spirit, and soal, and
body be preserved blameless unto the
coming of oar Lord Jesus Christ.”—
So that true religion never harms
any one, nor does it teach him t® do
himself any harm. It teaches one to
mortify sinful passions and lasts and
deny that corrupt self that is in us.—
It is not any honor to God to cut the
body, or impose penances, or fa.st as
do the Pharisees, nor observe days,
nor abstain from meats which God
hath made to be received in thanks
giving by them that know the truth;
for all these meats and drinks, when
; sanctified by the word of God and
prayer, are to be reeeived with
thanksgiving, and eaten, A volun
tary humility of body and submit
ting to fasts of men, such as are now
observed, is no evidence that one
knows the truth. The fast that the
Christian keeps is not before men, but
when Jesas is withdrawn and his soul
Is cast down, then he .will fast in
those days. But while Jeslls is,with
him he cannot fast. The disciple.s of
Christ rejoiced while ho was with
them. They eat and drank very
ranch to the otfenoe of the proud
Pliarisees. But while the Pharisees
feasted at the crucifixion of Jesus,
behold the true disciples fasted. But
on the de.scent of the Holy Comfort
er tlieir fasting was turned into feast
ing and no man took it from them.
Even so now the law of truth is
written in the heart of a Christian
which preserves his body; which
keeps him from violating the laws of
the land ; which preserves him from
open sins, and the profanation of
God’s laws ; which makes him hate
secret sins; which enables him, as
the true child of liberty, to so u.se the
blessings of God as not abusing them.
For there is a change wrought in the
man who is born again. I do noi
mean that the change is the cause of
ids being born again, but it is the re
sult of +he new birth. Paul will il
lustrate it. As s'iul of Tarsus, his
chief purpose and pleasure seemed to
be to devour Christians ; but when
ever Jesus is revealed to him and in
him, the same man, but inflnencel
now by altogether different princi
ples, s{>ends the remainder of his
life in serving this same kind of peo
ple he once sought to destroy. Was
there no change m him? *?Jis liter
al flesh was not changed; yet he was
a new creature, created in Christ Je
sus unto good works. He yet bore
the image of the eartlily Adam in
his natural man ; “ But we all, with
open face beholding as in a gla.ss the
glory of the Lord, are changed into
his image from glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord.”—2nd
Cor. 3 : 18. This is a change from
law to gospel, from death to life. For
Paul was then animated by a spirit
ual life, and he rejoiced in the Lord-
So great and effectual was the opera
tion of this grace in Stephen tl>giE
even his enemies beheld its i>lorioits
appearance in his face. It led Paa!
to keep his body under and endure.
Was there no change in him ? Hid
he have the same love of the world
he once had? The Canaanite still
dwelt in the flesh, and when he
would do good evil was present, yet
he did dot serve sin in his mind; for
he was renewed in the spirit of his
mind. Why is that change manifest
ed in the general conduct of a man
who is born agairt? Why does he
love the things he once hated, and
hate what he once loved? It is the
effect of putting this wine of the
grace of God in him. Nor does i^
make his last state the worse. It is
not like the unclean spirit that left
the Jews, and leaves a mere profess
or for awhile, but finally rof’nriKNi
to the Jewish nation, and their las:
state was their worst one; and re
turns to the false professor and his
last state is worse than his first one ;
but it as.serts its blessed power ai>')
influence over ns and preserves us in
obedience unto the end. It teaches