58
Zion’s Landmai'K.
one mcxlejation in the use of the
blessings of tiiis life. It humbles
Uiin before God, and enables liim to
pity men. It makes him like salt,
preserve a good inflnetice, and henee
the wine of yrace is not lost but sav
ed, and the man in character, nif)rals,
body, ‘Si'C., is saved from evils. What
a great sal vatioii, even the time sal-
vation,^ does the grace of God secure
to man ! What a blessing if his word
:uid Spirit guide and save us in time!
How much greater is the eternal sal
vation ? No, if men would n»t waste
new wine by putting it in old bottles,
■vUich they know would break the
bottles and lose all, shall our
heavenly Father give the grace ot
-alvation to men who w'ill be ruined,
:tnd lost, and perish by it, aud tlie
grace be lost also? We are k®.pt by
the power of God. We are preserv
ed in Jr^jis Christ and called. When
conviction seizes us it is. not t(» de-
■xtroy life, and preaching says to us,
Do thyself no harm.” Wiieu the
Lprd, gives hiiirself to us we feel that
ve are saved, aud are pulled up out
of the mire and put upon a rock and
.rur uoiiigs (steps) are established.
When Jesus came.it was not to de
stroy the law, nor nien, nor life, hut
ta savp. He turns water into wine.
He fills the law with a pure spirit
mul honors it, then he turns it all in
to wine or love that blesses the heart
.\f man and cheers ih.e faint, making
forget their poverty. The last
'.\iiie is a! ways, the best top. What
a salvation is there in the gospel?—
Then tlie w'orks of a Christian are es-
tahlislied—nothing is lost—the frag-
r,]ieuts are gathered up, even as none
pf of Jesus are lost or put
'll, old, bpttles,or on patches. When
tlie ciirisbiau comes to di.e he is not
ipat—his body i.s net lost, his labor
is, not in, vain. But Ln the resurrec-
lion his vile body will have been
changed, and, fii,shh)ned like unto the
glorious body of our Lord Jesus
Qiiri.st. As grace enabled Paul to
bear the thorn in the flesh and even
glory in his infirmities, so grace will
cause one to endure through time,
;Uk1 the ppw'er of God will so change
the.se corruptible bodies that tliey
'wiilibe capable in the resurrection of
ixiafiing the exceeding great and etem-
il weight- of glory, and ever be with
the Lord.
The evidences to us that we are
saved consist in the manifestation of
truth to us, and our love of it. If
lesus is jirecious to us, and we love
ids doctrine and people, aud there is
.>1 life within u|5 that hates sin and
laves, holiness, and fotybids onr com
mitting sin that grace may abound,
then we havm the grape of* Csod in»
new vessels or bottles, and> bot^h afe
preserved. I need not say thfs
greater than all worldly b|essing.s.—
,Hay God preserve us in, hia, truth
uid salvation.:—Ed.
Ifpme, Ga., KeUru^’v IG, lb7T>
f llder 1\- D. Gold,—D^ar. Hrothe'r—
I pause era I write the word broth-
'f, so unworthy do I feel.
The object of this noteis.to inform
of the tknth of the i^eaerable.
(and dearly beloved father of our dear
sister, R Anna Phillips,)?. P. Clop-
ton, of Merriwether County, Ga.,
which occurred a .short time since
at his place of residence in the above
named County.
A few months since sister Phillips
had a most pleasant and .satisfactory
visit from her parents. I had the
pleasure of their society occasionally,
while they were here, and was favor
ed with their presence in my home
also; and I certainly felt that [ wa.s
entertaining true followers of Christ,
and I realized a feast iii listening to
the precious truths that fell from the
lips of the aged Christian, lips that
were ever wreathed in smiles, as if
the soul was always full of the lov«
of God.
My pen and language are too fee
ble to portray the character—private,
puhlic,^ o? Christian character—of dear
father Ciopton. Someone more wor
thy will give tlie particulars of his
death. My purpase was to inform
you, and ask that you announce the
sad intelligence through the columns
of the Landmabk, for the many
readers will sympathize in .spirit with
our beloved and well known si.ster
Phillip.s, Ibr nothing but the grace of
God could enable her (especially in
her feeble state of health,), to bear
this great grief. She was certainly
devoted to her father, as she also is
to the grief-stricken and aged mothe?
who is now with her; and one couldj
readily discern that she was a speciai
favorite with her father.
I ktmw there are many who join
with me in the hope that sister Phil
lips will soon,fk^orus wifrh soraes-^
thing from her pen, through your
valuable paper.
With love for yourself and sister
Gold,
I ana, very unworthily,
E. Kino.
I hope that onr dear sister Phil
lips will be graciously sustained in
tiio loss of her dear father.
I iiope too to soon hear from her
again through the Landmark.—Ed.
EXTREMES.
Brookaville, Blount Ck)unty, Ala,,
January 6th, 1877.,
Mrothfr ]?. D. Gold i’—
I carefully read youx remarks rel
ative to my communication, as touch
ing extremes that essst among Bapr
tists. VVihat I mean by extremes
among Baptists is that which I cor>
ceive to be unscriptural, something
that is tolerated among them that was
not known or practiced by the true
Church for tlie first hundred years.
Now bratker GolJ, I do not wish,
to be tedious iu my communication.
I 'oelievo you to be an houest, straight
forward Baptist, trying to do tlip
thing that is right arapng your hretla-
ren, as an editor and. minister. But
I see from your remarks on my last
communication, that you do not fully
appreciate my position nor my con
dition among the Mjiasionary and
Primitive Baptists of this part of
Alabama. When I, write an article
for a Bajitist pajier, aiuL for Baptists
to read, I write with an-eye single to
the great mass ot Missioaary and.
Primitive Baptists. Uiwier this gen
eral view I wrote ray last letter in
ZioN*aLA¥DM4i54C;. K^fotlief Gold,
will admit that the Missionaries, .as a
mass, have many institntioHs among
them. He mast also t>ear in mind
that the great imss of Primitive Ba{>
tists (especially in this, the Northern
part rtf Alabama,) have institutions,
such as Muson-s, Grangers, Odd Fel
lows, &e.
Brother Goldls kind of Baptists
are very few in nnmlieF «>£Bpared
with the great ma.ss of Baptists; and
vet if they are what Zion’s Land
mark represent thsm t© be, I frank
ly admit them to be the tme Bible
Baptists, and if such Baptists existed
in my reach I would have my mem
bership with them, provider} they
would receive such a poor unworthy
creature as I am.
A^ou now retulih' perceive the ex
tremes I have been writing about,—
For instance both wings of Baptists
in this country are adulterated with
institutions which they cannot very
easily throw off, and if a Missionary
goes to the Primitives, as a gf^ner
al thing they will not recfcive him
without re btiptizing him. And if
he shonhi submit to this Ixrptism, and
then move to North Carolina close to
brother Gold’s Baptist Church, ac
cording to the teachings of Zion’ss
Landmark, he would have to receive
baptism again to get at last into the
true Cliureh. And by ihe fi'sne a
poor fellow would go through »ll
thftse dreadful ordeaU he won*d be
an humble Baptist indeed.
In your remarks yoM s|)oke of get
ting in the mire. From the above
you see that I am in the mire as you
say you were once. It i.s not a mire
t»f my own making or my own choos
ing—and this is the case with many
dear brethren in this country. And
we would like very much for you to
tell us in the columns of your paper
how we are to make a starting point
to get out of this mire. Both the
Missionary and Primitive Baptists
are out of order in these parts, and,
according to the teaching of Zion’s
Landmark and The Primitive Path
way, no Church here in Blount Coun
ty can give a fair and, scriptural bap
tism. This naturally, involves us in
difficulties, and our eyes are turned
iu every direction to know where we
could Hud a clean Church and a prop
er administrator. Brother Gold
might say his Church is clean, but
can he trace her aud. the Association
of which he is a member back
even to the first sittings of the old
Philadelphia Aasoeiation, and, say
things have come up orderly to, the
pre,sent time without any commotion
xvitii worldly institutions? and,, if
his Church or As.sociation has been
in disorder in times past, can he
shoxn that they got into order scrijv
tiiraJly ? If not, they are still in dia-
ordcF and as deep,iu, the mire as Bap
tists are in Alabama,, These thoughts
bring up difficultica.^in our minds,
aud we wish you tOAyrite freely about
ttliem. For my own part, I lieartily
wish tliat Baptists everywhere could,
get rid of all these tilings that ar.e
uiU'eriptural, so we coujd he a united.
[>eoplo.
We will close this letter by inser-t-
ing.two.queries which, wc think w’ill,
interest, or ought to interest, all Bap
tist readers : Supjiose tlie re is a Bapr
tisi Ql»u|:p,b. tljat ha^u t;?v.o stabhory*-,
and rebellions m&ml>er3 in it by tin?
namos of A and C? A refuses
wasli the saints’ feet after partaking
of the Lord’s Snpiv'r, and the hreth-
ren labor with him and enquire of
him cmiecrning the matter. He telE
them he has no cheek con.scieiict?
in disol>eying this command. C also
is laborcil with concerning the crime
of breaking the Sablialh. C alsi>
sav-s that he lias no check of con
science for this crime, and will not
ackaovvledgc his iluilts. Now what
sliall that Church do with these two
rebellious meml>ers ? !5hall the-
Church turn botii of them out ? or
n-tain both of them in rebellion
or.
shall it turn out C fir breaking tiro
Ssibbath, and retain A that will not
obey the Savior’-s cs>mmand in wash-
rnti'feet ? One is .strictly a coin-
mand as the other; only there i.s a
.severe |>enalty annexed to the crime
of failing to wa.sh the saints’ feet.—
Pe-tsF was made acquainted with its
nature, when afterwards he wa.s very-
willing to engage in this duty.
Again ; Siippcse there is a Bap
tist Church where several of tho-
rnembers partake of the rinpper, but
take care to l)e missing when feet-
wasbing^ fakes place, and in so doing
offend and dislresrRm brother A
who always attends to this duty. He
being discouragetl mid disheartened
concludes that h© will not attend
meeting any more. At last tlae breth-
ren senal a «ommktee of two brethren
to see bro-tber A, when brother A
tells theiso that he is discouraged and
that h® has as good a right to stay'
away fjorer his Cht5i’rii ‘Tieerings a*,
those br&tlaAwn have int staying front
tlie duty of washing feet. Now, th«
question is,, bow can the Cluirch
properly disedpliiie its mombers under
existing eircuimstam:©s-?.‘ Again El
der Gold invites me to* come out ami
preach to the inststa.tien Missionary
Baptists in North Caj'olina. lif I7
wa-s there I would try to-do .so, and
I M'ould try to visit the Elder also*
and try to hear him paeach a little.
And then I would urga him to com#
over in my country and preach to liis-
in.stitutioii Primitive brethren, and 1*
think a good many of them would
glad if he and Elder Henderson cf
Alabama would Ixith come.
J. C. SnKDTON.
Dudley, Wayne C®unty, N-. G.,
P'ebniary 6th, 1877..
Dear Brother Gold:—
I received the Landmark. faF?
January 15th, in which I find a
piece written on Col..4 : 17, with rer-
gard to the fulfilling of the ministry,
which I think i.s one of the best arti
cles I ever read. I suppose it wa»
written by yourself—iu which you
treat at some length ujiori the duty
of the Church iu ordaining a minis
ter. All of which 1 tliink in accord
ance with the scripture. Now, nu*
dear brother, I do agree with you in
both the duty of the minister and the
duty of the Church, and do say, that
if these things were strictly adhere*!
to, as in the days of the apostles, I
bsliev’e there would lie more true
spiritual life in the Church, and, les.«
fire-brands will Ixi thrown into,the
camp of the Lsnielites ; for the true
vvateliman Is not to run into tin-
ciamp of the only a.s t.ke Ritiri!,