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Vol. 2.
Doubts and Fears.
A sinner far away from God,
O Lord thou knowest weil,
How loath I am to kiss thy rod,
No mortal tongue can tell.
r Death’s deepest shades doth oe’r me
lie,
To hide from me thy love,
Which makes my trembling spirit cry
Bfc For light from thee above.
' Vile, sinful, Satan makes me b’lieve
I nave no life in me,
His darkness doth such kindness give
In things I love to see.
He doth me fill with unbelief,
When he doth me deceive,
And when I seek to*find relief
I find none to reieave.
\ O Lord do take me from his snare,
In which he hath me caught,
Leaf I should sink in sore despair,
And give all up as nought.
Morgan Brown,
A New V ersion of an Old Case.
. 2
PARTI.
Once on> time, date and place ,
wanting, but once on a time acer- *
’ . , tain Church got into great difficul- ’
ties, and had great confusion, as
H Churches sometimes unhappily
do. Brotherly love gave place to ,
alienation and coldness, and har
mony to confusion, and mutual
crimination. As might well
’ be supposed, Christian enjoy-
ment was unknown. The
® spirit of prayer silenced, and a
spirit of unchristian bitterness, and
gfe-J animosity reigned. The
of the Church to do good was par
■ alyized. Their minister preach-
but he might as well have
talked in the midst of a tempest
I when he inculcated the duties
| Bk of Christianity, and spoke of its
I benign influence on its subjects,
| some graceless unbelievers in the
| gallery would dart a glance down
F-. upon some of the members below,
z and then with a malicious smile
and look the good man right in the
face; as much as to say.Dont try to
| impose these fictions on us! yon
der sits forty staunch witnesses, all
Wr members of your church, who tes-
tify against the truth of every
word you say.” Thus the word of
divine truth fell powerless at the
feet of these sinners like arrors
striking the iron. Friendship be
came less known, and enmity be-
E came more deeply seated; so that
L’ it became a common remark a-
mong. the surrounding population
whose eyes and ears were wide
I’ t open.“ See how those christians( ?)
hate each other!” If this be chris
l-' tianity give uS in preference to
fr it the worst, form of Paganism or
i the most naked system ofinfidel-
ity,”
; Things were rapidily approach-
ing a crisis. Appearence seemed
to indicate the speedy disolution
of the church as unavoidable and
even desirable, and the pall of
B I death seemed likely to rest on the
BlLfea murdered cause of Christ. Many.
g. I hmdly exulted. The sons ofße-
| j lial in their drunken orgies, and
B> I mighty revels indulged a fiend
triumph over the bleeding
HOga body, pouring contempt and insult
1 on ose who bad troubled their
hearts by their piety and their pray
ers; yet there were a few names
>-B- I even in Sardis Vr’hose garments
■. f ’’"l were undefiled, who wept and
sighed over the desolation of their
I beloved Zion, and who stood
Br~ *1 dmlybetween the porch and the
■'* .1 alter, crying, “Spare thy people
R r I 0 Lord! and give not thine heri
tage to reproach. • Do good in thy
I unto Zion; build
@lje |lilgrtmo fanner.
L— -- 1 ' - •' T .48,,
‘‘THOU HAST GIVEN A BANNER TO THEM THAT FEAR TREE, THAT XT MAY BE DISPLAYED BECAUSE OF THE TRUTH ”—P«alms 60: A
- --- - - ■„... -m. ism?. jMr l ~ -—i—' '—- -- .... .
thou the walls of Jerusalem.’*
These faithful souls prepared,
a letter addressing it to their-pas
tor, who had been their pastor in
earlier, and better days asking his
advice and council. *
The minister was deeply pained on
hearing the sad state of the Church
and with all forcible dispatch pre
pared a suitable answer to their
re quest. W e have no copy of the
letter he ontended for them, but
the substance was probably some
thing like the following; ”1 sincer
ly lament, brethren, the unchris
tian state in to which you are fall
en. How contrary is it to the let
ter and spirit of that Gospel you
profess to believe! How opposite to
your own covenented obligations?
How grievous to thatHolySpirit by
which you are quickened; how
ruinous to to the souls of men
around you, many of whom know
nothing of the gospel but what
they learn from your walk and
conversation. I, therefore ad
monish you first of all, and beseech
’you to walk worthy of the voca
tion wherewith ye are called, with
all lowliness and meekness, with
long-suffering, forbearing one an
other in love, endeavering to keep
the unity of spirit in the bonds of
peace; let all bitterness and wrath
and anger, and clamor and evil
speaking be put away from you
with all malice, and be ye kind
one to another, tender-hearted for
giving one another, even as God
for Christ’s sake hath forgiven
you. But if ye bite and devour
one another, take heed that ye be
It is as ye thus love one another
that all shall know that ye are the
disciples of Christ.” From this
brief specimen, the readers can
easily imagine how the letter
went on, and how it concluded.
Pity we think the Church* never
got it. But not to anticipate. Now
this good preacher owned a good
farm some distance from his resi
dence, |obtained most probably
by inheritance or marriage) and it
so happened that just as he had
folded the above letter, and before
he had directed it, word was
brought that certain mischief was
being done on his farm, and«jvhicff
required Jds advice. Whereupon
he took up another sheet of pa
per, and wrote the following la
conic order for his overseer:
“Mend the fence, and keep the
black bull out.” This sheet he
also folded up as the other and by
sheer mistake directed it to the
Church, and away it went, and
the Church letter to the farm, at
which we might well suppose the
overseer marveled greatly. But
before the mistake could be cor
rected the letter had gone past re
call, which brings our story to
PART 11.
Church met for business,
pursuant to adjournment. The
. Moderator took the chair*, and the
Clerk his seat at the table, with
the aforesaid letter in his hand,
sealed, and duly, directed to the
Church. He commenced break
ing the seal with a gravity be
coming the occasion and his
office. A profound stillness reign
ed over the assembly, such as
had not been witnessed for months
before. All waited with breath
less expectation the council of
age*and the advice of experience
and wisdom. The Clerk opened
the letter. The first thing that
struck his flying vision was its<
brevity. But without salutation
or note he proceeded—“ Mend the
DEVOTEDTO THE CAUSE OF CHRIST
VALDdsTA, OA.,#UNE 1, 1895,
fence, and keep the black bull
out.”He looked, was jure he
had made no mistake. He turned
over a leaf, but there was nothing
there but a blank; and it was mani
fest he had reached the end of the
epistle. He colored 1 and looked
at the Church, and the Church
looked at him, and then
they looked about among them
selves. It was very evident they
were all taken by supprise and
thrown back.
After some time spent in silent
musing, some of the members be
their feet, qnd one of
the nreuiren recovered/himself
sufficiently to askthat the letter
be read again.
Whereupon, the clexk
“Mend—the—fence, and—-keep—
the black bull - out,” On
which the brother aforesaid, rose
and delivered himself much as fol
lows:
Brother Moderator:"^— I am
astonished! Utterly astonished! I
don’t know what to make of it;
nor wfiat to say, or think about it.
What does? what can the man
mean? We wrote to him out of
the depth of our afflictions for
council and advice, and we are
here answered with this impertin
ent and vulgar trifling. The man,
old and esteemed as he is, de
serves our rebuke; if not scorn.”
Having said the above with all
resentment, he sat down. An
other of the brethren of the
forty qpposed to the last speaker:
“I said he, “to
what the brother just up has said. It
ly provoking. It is utterly un
worthy of the character of the
man, and of the respectability of
this church. Something spiritual
ought to be done.” He ended and
gave place to a third brother,, who,
through the course of the long
difficulty had been a silent mem
ber. He remarked very calmly.
“I am heartily glad to hear my
brethren who have just spoken,
for once express an agreement.
For to my certain knowlege it is
the first time they have agreed on
anything for the last twelve
months. lam also of the opinion
that something ought to be re
plied to chat strange letter,” de
cidedly disapproving it. “Though
as to the respectability of this
Church, of which mention has
been made, the less we say about
that under our present circum
stances the better. However, I
e, jf I can get a second, that a,
letter be prepared and sent to
Elder Good, expressing our dis
appointment, and our disapproba
tion of the one he has sent us.”
The motion was instantly seconded;
but just as the Moderator was
about to put it,, a somewhat un
obtrusive brother rose and asked
the privilege of making a few
remarks. Now concerning thij
brother, who is about to address
the conference, we would Just
promise that he had a remarkable
tact and turn at allegorizing and
spiritualizing. *And*it was amaz
ing, unpretending as he was, how
he would sometimes make a great
dea) of just nothing at all, greatly
to his own edification, and.the
wonder of others. This peculiar
ity in the man’s genius was ac
counted for, in part, by the fact
that in his younger days, when
impressions was supposed to be
the strongest and most durable, he
attended the ministery of an. Elder
Wiseacre; a famous preacher, who
also had great skill in allegorizing
and in which it was thought his
main strength lay. Elder Wise
! acie could prove the doctrine of
th| Trinity from the three‘white
baskets on the head of Pharoah’s
Baker; the same doctrine, together
with “the decrees” from Solomon’s
chord.” Also he had
a which proved to his
owb satisfaction the universal
hismry ofthe Church in all ages
from the seven Apocalypic letters.
Suqh were the early advantages of
now on the floor, who
spoß, and said, “Aftd I am also,
astonished; not SM. much at the
lettdr in question, as at the views
whi< the brethren have taken of
it. Wiiy,it is just the thing. A bet
ter J-dter could not have been
You chTI it “importinept,”»
I saW is ol: e appreciative You
sly it miling,” I sayi t.iplies
h sql a and ,.und
contwis a most important piece of
advise, to which we do well that
we t>ke heed. I* can explain it
accosting to the method of inter
pretation which I learned many
years ago from our good minister,”
(Here the recollections of past
days,j and of Elder Wiseacre
his sensibilities, and his
emotions produced the following
reflections) “Ah, we had preaching
then., ; He knew how to explain
the hardest part of Leviticus, and
the JUvelations. We have no
such preaching now. But to the
“Mend'the fence, and keep
twoapk bull out.” “Here,” said
he, “it is plain; the fence means
manage it with
Christian love. This fence was
Apostles to keep tjie bad out, and
the good in, and it ought never to
be down. Then fl at black critter
evidently means trie wicked one;
that okhserpent, waich is the De
vil; who goeth about like a roar
ing lion, as. saith the Apostle;
seeking whom he may devour.
Now brethren, our fence is broken
down and trampled under toot;
Gospel discipline is neglected, and
brotherly love banished. The
Devil is among us, and we are be
come hateful and hating one an
other. He has set brother against
brother, and husband against wife,
and children against their parents.
He his made sad work. He has
the Holy Spirit to with
draw and leave us almost deso
lute. He has made us a reproach
and a by-word among our neigh
bors; land our enemies rejoice
amongthemselves, saying, ‘Aha!
So wuM we have it.’ Now
brethren, lhe letter means tHat we
shpuli banish this bad, unchris
tian spirit from ouf hearts—that
we slwuld make strait paths for
our fjet— that we should confess
to and to one another our
evil ways and forsake them; and
that we should thus drive the Devil
out of our midst, and let him no
more gain .advantage over us.
Then brethren all will be well; and
God will again delight to bless us,
and make us a blessing to others.”
Here he ended. But the effect of
of his good speech, founded on al
legory .was wonderful. The eyes
of the church were opened, lhe
letter became light itself. It was
excellent, oracular. They all saw
it, and whariwas better, they felt
it. I’hey saw their evil state.
There was the Devil before them.
They shuddered at their danger.
Their hearts began to relent. The
fountains of deep contrition were
Brotherly love began to
glow in their bosoms. They began
to “Mend the fende,” each one
his own length. They confessed
-■■■ r
to each other with weeping their'
unchristian conduct and spirit.
They mutually asked and obtained
forgivenness. They knelt to
gether before God with weeping,
and supplication. They rose with
renovated feeling, and soon it was
like a little on earthly
ground and glory in the earth.
After some further profitable ex
ercises v all joined >iT *53--
and sch.l* a sinj g f so .owing
hymn,. .ch. had not beui heard
among them before in many, many
months: ■
“From whence doth this union arise,
That hatred is*conquered by love?”
Here many voices followed, over
come by deep feeling; and many
; ey t-s were dimned by the gushing
Argos mingled penitence and
jvy. they recovered and went
on
“It fastens our souls in such ties,
That distance and time cannot re
move.”
After this they all cordially shook
hands, and every man to
his home wiser for
letter.” each resolving henceforth
to look well to the fence, and
“keep the black bull out.”—Se
lected.
? ■■■ h "
May the above lesson be re
membered by the saints.—Ed.
'..Xn-... _
“Not every one that saith untb me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doetb the will of
my Father which is in heaven.”
The £rst thing m order to enter
is life. Natural life can do, see,
and say. the things of nSturp. Na
turally, its theory of salvation is
jjpnditional, and of short dura
tion, from natural birth tb depth;
fience it requires fast workeia to
teach how to comply with the so
called terms asd conditions of the
gospel. That will suit the fancy
and taete of natural life subjects to
bnter kingdoms of the same rela
tion of life, of their own choosing,
as to the name, for while they have
quite a number of names, but one
in principle, so the will of Father
and subjects, all the same natural
ly said and done. Acceptance—no
trouble-—in fact the good work(?)
is carried on by all kind of pull
ing and pushing the Devil after
them in a frightful manner by
the rivers of Babylon in the time
of a big freshet called by them a“re
vival,” the waters muddy, spreads
wide takes in all the trash and
filth as far as it reaches, some of
God’s little ones are caught in it,
and have to hang their harps upon
the willows in the midst thereof,
sat down, yea, we wept, when we
remembered Zion. Ps, 137 and
1,2. Poor things! no place to
sing one of Ziens sbngs, made to
say, “How shall we sing the Lord’s
song in a strange land?” Come
out from among those Babylonians
and follow Jesus and ye shall
find a resting place to sing with
joy of soul, gladness of heart, un
The theory of Babylon has all
the way through, took right for
wrong, and wrong for right; hear
ing, seeing, continue in perform
ing the conditions in order to life.
What did the first man Adam do as
to natural life, that is our life,
and all we have naturally? If their
doing proved any thing, it in
order to death, at first, by reason
of sin and disobedience, and first
in order to doing, and is equally
true that eternal lite is first in or
der to hear, see, comprehend and
do spiritual things. The Savior
says: “Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God.” By this second birth
he is made alive and willing with
joy and gladness of heart-to enter,
heavily impressed, but feels poor
little and unfit, too unworthy; yet
the mind, life, will, desire, and
love is there; they see the beauties
and sweets of the gospel of Christ,
can say witn Paul, “Lord what
wilt thou have me to do?” Can
say, “Lord, Lord,” understanding!]?
” and evidence the fact that they
have spiritual or eternal life, haye
beep born again, born of God, and
: living characters, proper subject*
. ate r the kingdom, the Church
o Christ; not in order to obtain
life, but because of life. Jesus
the foundation principle, the
supporting power of all spiritual -
blessings promised to the living
and not the dead, and he says,
ome unto me all ye tha£ labor.
a. d are heavy laden arid* I will
give you rest, take my yoke upon
you and learn of me for I am meek
and lowly m heart and ye shall
find* rest to souls,” Deas? •
children of God, it is right to obey
Jesus, to live in the Church a doer *
of the work required of you as his
children. Continue therein, you
have all the promises of a growth
in gr|ce,jiseful, full of seasoning—
the*salt of the earth, a city upon a
hill, full of light, stroiikin the
Lord, injoying all spmSSl bless
ings in the heavenly place in
Christ, and reat, but no
promise of sweet rest in the wick
ed places in Adam. .
J. W. Pabkkb.
Ozark, Ala., Mar. 21, 1895.
Leliaton, Ga., Feb. 5,1895.
Elder A. V.Simiiis—
I ual desire*m iny mind
I attempt to write a little
Banner. /“As we have thdrefoTO:
opportunity, let us dMgSml unto
men, especially to the household
of faith.” (Gal. vi. 10.) Now it
is very evident that we are pre
pared of the Lord to do good unto
all men. Yes, we are born of the
uncorruptible seed of God, which
liveth and abide th" forever. God
does not command, or place duties
upon His people which they
cannot perform. He has redeem
ed us from under the law, has taken
our feet out of the mire and clay;
put a new song in our mouths and
bids us follow Him. He has ena
bled us to sing “We’re a happy *
pilgrim band,” etc.
We are left without excuse.
There is nothing that will kill a
Christian but giving place to the
adversary. Fear God and keep
His commandments, for this is the
whole duty of man. As we have
therefore opportunity, let us do
good unto all men. It is not the
duty of a Christian to do good to
the brethren only. They are the
light of the world. “This I say
then, walk in the spirit and ye
shall not fulfill the lust of the
flesh.” When a man gives railing
for railing, and returns evil for
evil, what evidence have we that
he is bom of God? When we
transgress do we not receive the
stripes? *We learn obedience by
the things we suffer.
It is reasonable to suppose that
God’s people are a very disobe
dient people for they are whipped
for every disobedient act. Then
when we see a brother so often
engaged, or indulging in wicked
ness our confidence gradually les
sens and weakens till our soul is
so faint till we believe he is dead,
and it therefore becomes, the duty ‘
of the Church to bury him. We
believe the Lord has turned him .
over to Satan for the destruction
of the flesh. This is offered to •
your better judgement.
Your brother amidst trials and
hopes. L. M. Guthbib.
No. 11.