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Vol. 2. IABEWELL. BY KTTA BAVIB. Dearest loved ones, God has called me From the dear ones that 1 love, From a world of sin and sorrow To a happy home above. I must cross death’s gloomy river, But I do not cross alone; Jesus gently leads me over To the bright celestial throne. Keep my little earthly treasures, As mementos of my love, For perhaps they may remind you Os the one whois above. I was happy and ambitious, Thoughtless, too, it wonld appear, For I never dreamed our parting Was so very, very near. *. . ' You have aM been kind and tender, Striving hard my life to save; And you have by loves attention, Smoothed my pathway to the grave. • ..« • ■ >- I have seen your care-worn faces, I have hoard your mournful sighs, I have heard your wails of sorrow, I have watched your tearful eyes. ■. Farewell, father, farewell, mother, Farewell, brother, sisters dear; Do not shed these tears of sorrow, I am very happy here. Do not think of me as lying, In the cold and silent tomb, For the thought would cause you an guish, And would fill your hearts with gloom. Think of me as I lived with you, In the home I loved so well, Sharing with you every pleasure, I Sharing sorrow, too, as well. I You, too, life’s rough hills are climb- SbOn the summer you shall see, ’ One by one He then will call you, And then happy we shall be. Back Lane, Ind. g THE NEW BIRTH. [Conclusion.! One of the best evidences that any one has ever had that he is born again is that he is personally concerned about his own case. The man who th inks that salva tion is by works is never concerned about the new birth; but ihe heart upon which the import and necessity of being born again have been impressed, is bound tq be personally concerned in the matter, but the import and necessity of the new birth are only communicated through the birth itself, Let us begin the examination with a ques tion. Do you know that you are a Christian? Every exercised heart answers at mice, I do not know that lam a Christian. Do you know that you are a sinner? O yes I know that I am a sinner Do you know that you are saved? Do you know how asinner is saved? 0 yes; a sinner must be saved by grace. How did you find that out? Everybody does not know that. If you know that salvation is by grace, rest assured that you are saved, . for that knowledge comes only by experience. None of the princes of this world know that. Human wisdom has never made that discovery. Those who have this knowledge are in posses sion of that hidden wisdom which God before the world ordained to our glory. The knowledge of sin is one Os the brightest evidences that you will ever have that you have passed from death unto life. ‘Permanent incorrigible, inherent sinfulness has always been acknowledged by holy men. David said,“ I am a worm, and no man,” Isaiah con fessed that he was a man of un clean lips, and Paul excUimed/’O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? • There was a time in the £ ? . - -- - -•;*• - W filgnmv fanner. I • “THOU HAST GIVEN A BANNER TO THEM THAT FEAR THEE, THAT IT MAT BE DISPLAYED BECAUSE OF THE TRUTH.”-Psalms 60: 4. experience of many of us, perhaps, when we thought that we would never know sin nor sorrow again, but that we would live in the com fortable peace of that sweet deliv erance all the rest of our days. But when we began to feel again the power of sin in ohr members we sank into a sea of doubts and fears,anddisappointment bordering on despair. We thought that one who is bqrn again is free from the motions of sm; and when we found that sin still remained in us, we concluded that we were still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. But we have learned many lesson since that time and are still learning. We have learned that in the flesh we are ig- creatures, no better now than at the first dawn of our hope. I think these lines of the poet express the experience of us all. “I asked the Lord that I might grow In faith and love and every grace; Might more of his salvation know, And seek more earnestly his face. “I hoped that in some favored hour i At once he’d answer my request, And by his love’s constraining power Subdue my sins and give me rest. “Instead of this he made me feel The hidden evil of my heart, And let the angry powers of hell Assault my soul in every part. “Yea, more, with his own hand he seemed Intent to aggravate my woe, Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, Blasted my grounds and laid me low. “Lord, why is this? I tremblingly cried; Wilt. thou pursue thy worm to death? Tis in this way, the Lord replied, I apswer prayer for grace and faith. | “These inward trials I emplojvdJJT From self and pride to set thee And break thy schemes of earthly joy, That thoa may’st seek thine all in me.” | ’ Men in nature have most etren ously assailed the doctrine of total innate, inherent depravity, and have long devised and proclaimed their lying, deceptive and seduc tive arg uement against it; but God will make his people know the truthfulness of it by a daily expe rience of their own sinfulness. A vital knowledge of sin puts to flight every traditional theory of human ability or Adamic purity, and fastens upon the conscience a pun gent conviction that man is a sin ner, from the cradle to the grave, with no part or capacity reserved. It is npt the Christian's burden that he only sins by word and deed but his thoughts are unclean, and above all he discovers lurking like a serpent in the deep recesses ot his heart the love of sinful things. This almost drives him to despair, and makes him hate his own life, and trust nothing but the blood and righteousness of the ’adorable Redeemer How prone we are to take com fort in the thoughts of our own hearts or the state of our feelings | and to look within ourselves for t something good to build our hope upon .How often do we say OI if I could only see myself as I desire to see myself I would have some hope then that I am a~christian, ,If you could always see your self just as you would like to be, would you ever deny yourself? And if you should never deny yourself could you ever be the diciple of Jesus? Did he not say, “If any man will be my disciple let him deny himself?” When Jesus says “Let him deny,” denial of self must follow. , God said, “Let there be light,” and light was. He also said,“ Let the earth bring forth,” and it was so. Have you not yet been able t ©translate those feeling of unworthiness that fill your soul: and stand like an impassible wall, DEVOTEDTO THE CAUSE OF CHRIST VALDOSTA, GA., rvw7»s, 1895. , an immoveable mountain, betweei you and your ideal Christian char , acter that your own imagination • conjures up and places before youi They are translated into this sen . tence,“Let him deny himself.” Thii is the first qualification to follow Christ. The tempter comes with another : plea that we are not the children of God. This plea is our weakness how often do we consider this sug gestion of the tempter and put it on file as evidence againt ourselves. Christ put the tempter to flight by quoting what is written; so allow me to bring the same weapon to our defense; it is written, “Except ye be converted and become as a little child ye shall in nowise enter the kingdom of heaven.” What did the Savior mean by this expres sion? I heard preachers say, in my early exercise of mind, that little children are innocent, pure and sinless, and that we must gpt like them or we can never be saved. I thought this was true, and set about most diligently to attain unto this child-like purity of char acter, but failed, utterly failed, failed us completely as Hermes in search for "the philosopher’s stone or Pounce de Leon for the foun tain of youth. The more I tried it the more hopeless it seemed to grow, and yet I thought it must be so. O what au'.'vd things will men not undertake q the name of religion 1 If all the absurdities that have been taught and practiced in the name of re ligion could be collected and placed before men’s eyes the ex hibit would shock the world, and tsitrpkss in qaautw ty and quality all other Wirrtuß-, caprices and that the worm fiatT’ever known. Suppose for one moment that lit tle children do receive the kingdom of heaven upon the ground •'f their puritymf character, and we must become as they, where is hope to be found for any who have grown out of infantile purity? How can a man ever be a child again? We might repeat here the question of Nicodemus. ‘ How can a man be born when he is old? Can he en ter the second time into his mothers womb and be born?” Suppose a man could be born when he is old would he not come forth again in the likeness of his parents? A man might be made a child again ten thousand times,, if such a thing were possil le, and still he would never be raised above the nature and likeness of his parents. A corruptible .seed can never bring forth an incorruptible object. So if a man should be born again, of the same father and mother, would he come fourth the same natural man and grow up the same blind, alienated, wicked sinner? It is not only necessary to have anol her birth, but a birth proceeding from Jan entirely different source, a I birth from above,from an incorrup tible seed, a birth of water and the Spirit of that water which is above the firmament. Th'e Savior did not mean that the little child is sinless, and we must become such. Sinless persons have no need of Christ-, and he has ho blood for them. What is the characteristic of the little child that forms the basis of the Savior’s teaching here? It is the helplessness, the weakness of the child,its inability to provide for itself. The child is not only una ble to provide for itself, but unable to minister to itself .what others may provide for it. Food and drink and raiment might be abundantly provided and placed in the closest proximity to the child, and it left to itself, and it would be none the better off. It would perish as cer- ■ ) _ tainlyand as speedily as it would • if not&bg bad been provided. i The min or woman who has expe ’ ,rience|this helplessness in a spirit ■ ‘ual sjwe has become as a little • child, or, in other words, has been born and the very weakness which he so much deplores, and from <hich he would daily flee, is the sti(e and abidding evidence that God is Father. Our blindness is urged as an evidence again-® us, but God says he will knew jftoi, and in strange paths willhAead them. God leads his people as' those who are blind and cannot find their own way. If your travels have been in entirely different ways from what you yourself marked out, if you ex perience daily of the opposite of your own planning, if you are led of th© Lord; and as jnany as are led by the Spirit of God, they are th| sons of God. Belief in Jesus is an effect of the new birth and consequently an evidence of it. “Whosoever be- Jesus is the Christ, is bpm 1 John v. 1. What a comprehensive, decisive and con clusive statement! This birth raises men to a knowledge of Christ. and imparts to them the evidence that he is the Christ. The doc trine that men have the capacity ' th believe in Jesus, and are called upo4 to believe in him as a con dition pf salvation, is as fabulous, asulkisive and as foreign to the goipel of the grace of God as the mythologies of the an- or the nonsensical nursery rhymes of Mother Goose. Belief is “not a violation of will. We do not have to revert to dusty libraries of philosophy to preve this statement, but to our minds. Each man knows more about himself than ■ the wisest philosopher knows about him. Belief is a condition of mind produced by evidence; it is an effect, and evidence is the cause. Every day we hear re ports that we do not want to be lieve, and seek in every direction 1 a refuge from the conviction of the truth of the report. Every power of the mind is aroused against it; but facts come, evidence con quers, and we reluctantly, unwill ingly sink into a belief of the the very thing we tried so hard not to believe. Upon the other hand, how often have we exerted every power of will to believe a certain thing to be true; but not withstanding our ardent desire and willing efforts we at last had to yield/ to lack of evidence or to contrary evidence, and believe against our will to the contrary. Believing in Jesus is brought about#by the new birth. It is on ly by j the Holy Ghost that any man can say that Jesus is the Christ, and the man who believes in the only begotten Son may rest assured that he is born of God.” “He that hath the Son hath life.”lt is he hath the Son that believes on him. . , „, * , Faith, which is the substance of tfle Christian’s hope, is the evidence upon whhh we believe; and this faith is born of God, is the fruit of the Spirit, and is found alone is the man who has been born again. Believeing in . Jesus, repentance and faith, are new covenant blessings themselves instead of being conditions of bless ings, and are the fruit of the new birth of conditions upon which it is brought about. | ’ a- k • ' 4i - . ** The ultimate effect of the new birth is to dwake in the likeness of Christ. This -birth constitutes t|ie man who receives a Son of God, and consequently an heir of God, raid guarantees to him a in the likeness of Christ, and consequently an eter nal and enduring satisfaction. The development of Christ’s char acter is a process begun, caried out and consummated by4he inherent sovereign, unfailing working of Christ-life in the soul. It is an evolution, but a grander evolution than ever Darwin dreamed of; not the process that transforms a monkey into a man, but an evolution that conforms a wretched, wicked, hopeless, help less sinner into the image of Jesus the immaculate Son of God. This process is first the blade, then the stalk, and after that the full corn in the ear. The blade and the stalk may appear here, but the full corn in the ear must appear hereafter. In as much as we have born the image of the earthly we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. This birth orginates from above and is directed alone by soverign unconditional election. It pomes’ by virtue of life given us in Christ before the foundation of the world, according as the saints were chosen in him in the ages eternal. We could never .be born from above without a life above. This heavenly, eternal, incorrup tible Christ-life is implanted in the the subject of God’s electing grace by the sovereign, irresistible unconditional working of the Holy own time whether it be in he babe upon its mother’s breast,as Was the case with David or from its very birth, as with John the Baptist or in tiie declining days of old age decreptude, as may be the case with many; but whether in the babe upon its mother’s breast, or m the man in the prime of life, or in old age upon the verge of the grave, the issues are all the same and alike certain in results. All who receive it shall awake in the likeness ot Christ. H. M. Curry ' Lebanon, Ohio,March 6, 1895. —Signs of the Times. UNITY. Beloved Brethren: My desire is to write upon some points of doctrnie,to try to have unity in our faith. For I would greatly rejoice if all our ministers could happily see eye to eye and speak the same thing, keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of pedee. If the ministry could do this, the brotherhood would then live in fel lowship and peace, and we should realize“how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell togeth er in unity I”. So now in the first place, let me kindly state five points, which are advocated to the hurt of Zion: First, the eternal existence of the man Christ. Second, the like ex istence of the church in, and with him, as a generation or seed. Thifd, the eternal existence of the children of God, also in and with Christ the man, as his generation. Fourth, the eternal, actual, vital union of Christ and the church, or of him and the children of God. Fifth, the church or people of God only stood and sinned in the first Adam; therefore the text; “Wherefore, as by one man sin en« tered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” ' (Rom. vi 12), does not mean all mankind but the people of God only. - ( r Now, we do not believe that the j precious truth of God will confuse > and divide his dear children: but such has been the effect of these five points. Therefore should we not all labor to shun whatever causes discord, strife and division in the Zion of our God? Paul the inspired servant of Christ com mands us to follow after the things that make for peace and edifica tion, and to endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. If we do not, we must suff er. Let me now state the faith of our people at large upon the above points of doctrine as we believe the scriptures fully testify: First. “In the beginning was the word,and the word was with God, and the word was God. And the word was made flesh.” Not a word in the Bible about an eternal man. God alone is eternal. His name alone is Jehovah, said David, which means the eternal, self-existing one. It is written of Christwho being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” The word was God.” But the man, Jesus said,“ My Father is greater than I?' “ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteou? Branch and a King shall reign and prosper . and shall execute judgement and justice in the eartii.“ Jor. xxiii :V. “Thus speaketh the Lord,of hosts saying,Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place* a Q d he shall build the temple of the Lord.”(Zech V :12.) Now when the man Christ Jesus had thus grown up M “And upon this book I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”'. This is too clear to’need com ment. t Second. The last scriptures clearly show that the temple of the Lord, the church of Christ was not brought forth or bailt in eternity, for the man who was to build it had not grown up out of his place of whom the prophets thus wrote, neither had Christ built the church when he thus spoke. The very word,church means the called out; the congregation of the Lord. Therefore, the church that Jesus loved and laid down his life the temple of God that he should build had no actual existence be fore time. Yet it was complete in the foreknowledge and eternal pur pose of God. Third. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God ,they are the sons of God,” Says Paul. No others, then are his children. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.” “whosoever believe th that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” “ Whosoever loveth is born of God.” wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son and if a son then an heir of God though Christ. So then the relation of this one is changed from that of ser vant to that of son. Please observe thas the Scriptures thus speak of.< the children of men, calling them the sons of God. Now we know that men are not eternal; for God created man and the Creator alone is eternal. This is self-evident. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said un to them, “Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the child ren of the living God,” wrote the inspired pen. It becomes us to ac cept this divine truth, as believ ing children. This is truly a most gracious change m them who were not even the people of God under Moses, but are now his children [ Conclude® oa Fourtti paged No. 10