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REDEMPTION.
Dear I'rotv'l' 1 fold: —
This is th- n. • temorteiit then
that <•' ■!- ’ is. • -v r can- en~ •
the attention nf men or angels.
■lt is in xhaus. : ■ > > i its fmness.
•uns-?ar'c!’ub!e in the c.teJi of its
mysteries, an ! un -n ling in its re
sults. Unto the tilings pt . mining
to it angels desire to look. And
men —redeemed men, are favored
to catch gdmpses of i!s glory.—
Prophets and tin- a mstUs made It
the theme of their disc v. -js and
their songs. Au r n«'»ra : T- com
pany, in aa., s. imve thought,
spektm. v ; m f kjandthe
same theme shall be the everlast-
' ing song of those who dwell at
■ God's right hand. And we can
not do better than to spend a few
moments, I in writing and you in
reading about it. Redemption is
the mott joyful sound that can
fall upon the ear of a trembling
sinner who knows his just con
demnation before God. Lot us
devote a little time to its con
templation, and may God give us
' light and comfort in so doing!
And Ist. Its author. Here we
i are not left in doubt. The senp
ture plainly declares that God
‘ himself is its author. Jesus is
made unto us.—redemption—Ist
Cor. Ist chapter 30., verse.—Hav
ing obtained eternal redemption
for us. Heb. 9th., chapter 12 verse
I He became the Author of eternal
Heb. sth chapter 9th
▼Verso. This is plain and direct
A>ible testimony; and we need not
Wo outside of it to engage in argu-
or reasoning about it. Man
J does not cannot redeem himself.
| He has no price to pay that will
I avail either for himself or for hie
| everywhere
I in sin Eph.
«ipter Ist he is in
* debt With ho h ich can
meet his
chapter 22nd— We
God all oaajjjferie and ev
ve
God has not
.wa /mH ha-
/hind once, we can never make it
I up, live as fodhfully as we may.
v Therefore <- %fl,nnot redeem
I himself. He is But
Z the “gospel” “thaHBB news” is
I that God himself hour i
1 or ‘ «
, is seen in
t verse, Eph. 3rd chapter, 11th verse
' 'Rom. Bth chapter, 28th verse,
4 ‘ Rom. 9th chapter-! 11th verse,
1 ’ and many other places.—
' We cannot comprehend the eter
inal being and attributes of Deity
and therefore he speaks to us in
language which condescends to our
finite minds. And so he tells us
of his eternal purpose.—That is,
he decrees that things shall come
to pass or have existence in the
which did not then exist.
yV'e are safe in speaking of pur
pose, because thus holy writ has
spoken. Once God dwelt alone
in his own eternity. No man no
angel had been found. In oneness
incomprehensible the“Three’exist
ed, and there was no earth, and
no being beside. The earth was
not created( Hebrew brought into
existence) man was not formed of
dust of the ground, and ’of course
. he had not yet sinned, and fallen
under the curse of the law.— Eter
nity is an attribute of Deity,
Prove that any being has had an
eternal existence, and at once I
must worship that being as God.
The Father, the Son and the Spir
it, are eternal in duration and
therefore we know that they con
stitute the one only living and
true God. If man in any sense of
word or any part of him has had
an eternal existence, then he also
is Divine —is God and should be
worshiped. But man is only
a creature who has had beginning
and would have an end if he were
not held in existence by divine
power. Now God purposed to
( create the world and to make man.
Gen. Ist chapter 26 verse. And
seeing the enl from the beginning
(Isaiah 46th chapter 19th verse)
that man wou’ 1 sin, and so fall
from the high estate in which ho
had been placed, he purposed to
redeem his elect whom he had pur-
I posed to save out the mass of man
kind. And in this eternal purpose
was embraced all the work of the
Son for us, and of the Spirit with
in us, and all the deep and intri
cate providences which surrounded
his elect in this world. The word
“purpose” expresses the same
thought as the word predestinate
(to destinate beforehand) or the
word “before ordained” (to ordain
before hand) Upon the eternal
purpose of God all our hope of sal
vation rests. —Out of this spring?
our union to and communion with
Christ here and forevermore. He
chose us, not because we were his,
but to be his, not because we were
in union with Christ, but to be
in union with Christ, not because
we bad eternal life, but that we
might have eternal life; not be
cause we were holy, but that we
might be holy. Here was the
purpose of God and the blessed
assurance is that it shall be accom
plished. Redemption is not as the
Arminians say of the purpose of
God, it is not because of any di
vine eternal existence, but because
God before hand purposed to re
deemjsome of the fallen race of
Adam.
3rd. *The first step in the ful
fillment of this purposed redemp
tion is “election.” See the follow
ing scriptures: Rom. 9th chap
ter, in the wh?le, Eph. Ist
chapter 3-4 verses. 2nd Pet. 12
verses and others, This was a
choice of men. It implies a re
jection or passing by of other
men. Election always involves
or implies rejection. When Christ
is spoken of as “the elect” it mean
that all other beings are rejected
from the place which he fills as
the elect. When men are elected
or chosen, men also are rejected or
not chosen. In the eternal purpose
of God men and women were cho
sen also. As Jesus was “the elect”
to bear their sins and be their Sa
vior, so theyalso were the elect
"rArorai to WKft r itffrAwL -USy,
as all spiritual blessings were in
Christ, election was also in him
for men while as yet nothing had
been made. —Election was accord
ing to the foreknowledge and pur
pose of God, and not the creature’s
act, and was it based up
on any good, of any kind, seen in
the elect ;and neither did it depend
upon any thing in heaven or earth
but God’s will and decree or pur
pose.
4th. The next step in this won
derful work is the incarnation of
the Son of God, so that he became
the Son of man. He was God-r
--his elect people were men, He was
holy—his chosen ones were all
unclean. He was in heaven—they
were upon earth. To maxe
them sons of God he became the
son of man. To make them holy
he was made sin. To bring them
to heaven, he came to earth. He
wan divine, they were fallen—That
they might be partakers of the
divine nature, he partook of flesh.
How iftfipite the condescension.
How wonderful the love! We
had sinned, we were ene
mies to God. Our hearts were
evil, God was not in all our
thoughts, we knew not nor cared to
know the way of peace. In soul,
body and spirit, in thought, word
and deed we were wholy under the
dominion of sin and Satan. We
were cursed with a curse. Death
was our due —the proper wages of
sin—Not only were we justly con
demned we went on
adding sin to sin. And no eye
pittied, no arm was stretched to
eave. No arm could save. Then
Jesus’ eye pitied and his arm
brought salvation near.
“He paid the debt
All the debt we owe,”
' More than this, we were in love
with our bondage. The iron fetters
of sin we thought to be bracelets
beautiful and most desirable,
We wore them as though they were
our glory and honor instead of our
shame. Here in continueing this
work of redeption the power of
the Holy Spirit is soon making
us alive from the dead, ami giving
us to see our real condition. Then
the fetters which we had hugged
to our hearts became galling in
deed, and the iron entered the
soul. Thon we cried to the Lord
and he heard us, and delivered u?
from our trouble, and filled our
hearts with rejoicing, and our
mouths with singing. The com
forter took of the things of Jesus
and showed them to us. The Ho
ly Spirit testified of Jesus to us
and in him we could restand have
hope.
Our condition was one of sep
aration from God. Redemption
means a bringing us to God. Re
deemed unto God, Rev. sth chap
ter, 9th verse. Were I dwelling
specially upon the atonement I
might refer at length to the type
under the old dispensation. : The
atonement is one great and won
derful part of redemption. But,
“Redemption” includes more than
the atonement. It includes the
work of the Holy Spirit upon the
heart. ’And I can only give some
general thoughts in the limits of
one article like this. What does
separation from God mean? What
on the other hand, does redemp
tion unto God mean ? In point
of space we are not separated
from God, for He is present every
where. And in this respect the wick
ed are with God as much as the
righteous. And the lost are with
him as well as the saved. If I
make my bed in hell thou art
there.” Psalms 149th chapter, Bth
verse. Separation from God
means a state of unholines while
God is holy. It is a spiritual sep
aration and not physical. In a
natural physical sense the wick
ed live, move, and have their being
in nim as well as the righteous!, I
might illustrate this separation
of the sinner from God in this
way. Two men are shut up in the
same room together. They eat,
drink and sleep together. Yet
they are asifar apart as the East is
from the West, for one is vile in
every thought and word, while the
They have nothTngincommom
So we are in the presence of God
and yet are separated from him.
In like manner Jesus lived and
and moved among men and yet
he was alone. “Os the people there
was none with him” even when
they pressed and thronged him.
So the Christian is a solitary man
in the world, though he meets
thousands in the crowded marts.
He is alone in his thoughts, pur
poses, feelings, views and spirit,
thus we are separated from God
by nature.
He is not ih all our thoughts.
We have cast him out of onr lives.
We are enemies to God by wicked
works. This is separation from
God. Now what is the redemption
to God? It does not mean going to
a place of happiness called heaven,
but it is a state of heart and feel
ing.—lt is to be reconciled to God,
it is to have no will but his will.
It is to be holy—to have dvil affec
tions ftpd desires subdued and
cast out. The atonement is com
plete. Jesus said “it is fiinished.”
John 19th chapter 30th verse.
But the work of redemption is not
finished. Man is to be redeemed
from his sins. Man was once up
right, without sin, but through
the fall he has become a sinner
free from righteousness. But
this is his hope to be free from sin
and the servant of righteousness.
And this will be full redemp
tion.—This coming near to God.
Being made righteous, we are par
takers of the divine nature and so
commune with God. This is to be
a son of God. To be sons of God
does not mean that we are to be
come omnipotent, omniscient, or
omnipresent, but simply that we
are to be sinless and holy as he is.
To be holy, means‘happiness, glo
ry, heaven. This is redemption
unto God. For this the Christian
longs and sighs, and looks for
ward to the day that shall give
him the desired deliverance.
6th. In this redemption God’s
children grow up into a holy tern-
pie wllioh the Lord has dedicated,
for hif*own habitation through
the Spirit. Jesus dwells in them
by his’spirit, and they have vital
union with him. Let us consider
this union for a little. 7 And first
of all, it is a vital or life union.
The union, or unity, is in the life
which the various members all
have. , Life is indivisible. There
are maTiy members but only one
life. And this life isjeternal life. The
members were once dead but the
life has »ntered, and they live and
move and feel and act. Just as in
my body there are many members
but all’actuated by one life, so it
is in the body of Christ, tSe church.
The church is made by redeemed
winners, who did not always exist,
but were made of dust of the
ground and who fell. But the life
which is given to these dead sin
ners is one life, eternal, nover hav
ing beginning nor ending. In
this lim there is eternal unity. I
same natural life that I
had when I was born, but science
establishes the fact that every sev
en yeats more or less, every par
ticle of bone, muscle, flesh and
blood mat I possess passes away:
so th a tat the end of that time I
have n&tthe same bone, muscle, 1
flesh, and blood which I had at the
beginning,—But my life has not 1
changed or passed away, I have
more flesh and blood than I had
when a child, but I have no mere
life. My body has grown in stat
ure but the same life actuates all '
the new bone, muscle and flesh
which has been added to me, so
that ms body is still one organ
ized whole. Just so it is with the
churchf the mystical body of
Christ. It is growing and increas
iug all the time as God adds to it
his elect through the dwelling with
in them of the Holy Ghost, Yet
they remain one body growing con
tinually unto a holy temple in the !
Lord, and still having unity in the 5
one life which they possess. The •
church is not an eternal existance. >
Some good brethren not weighing I
their fords carefully, have an- «
no’uncek it as a fact, that the 1
say that
the litp of the tree and that
which makes it the kind ot a tree
it is was in the seed. But as a mat
ter of simple fact the tree was not
in the seed. The seed itself must
die it should abide alone. But
by its death the life that is in it,
an invisible power bursts its fet
ters and goes forth conquering and
to conquer. It seizes upon dead,
inert matter and builds it up into
its n©Y habitation the plant and
vitalizes it, and finis continues till
the whole tree i? built up. The
fresh wood which constitutes the
new branch of this year’s growth,
last year was dead, inert matter
lying in the ground. It is not
correct to say, this branch is as
old as the rest of the tree; but the
life that is in it is the old life of
the tree. It is not correct to say
that all the tree was in the seed.
In point of fact qo part of the tree
was there but the lite. And just
as wi|h the tree, so with the body
of Christ. We were dead matter,
separated from God and Christ
until the life of “that corn of
wheat” which fell into the ground
and died else it had abided alone,
came to us and took hold upon us,
and made us one with Christ to
live in vital union with him forev
er and ever. And so Paul speaks
of Andronicus and Junia, of whom
he says, that they were in Christ
before himself. Rom, 16th chap
ter 7th Verse. And so Paul speaks
of the church growing and mak
ing increase. Eph. 2nd chapter,
21st verse; Col. 2nd chapter 19th
verse. Take also the figure of our
first father Adam. The church was
in Christ spiritually, just as all
mankind were in Adam naturally.
And here it is at once manifest
that our unioai to Adam was only
in the life and nature of Adam.—
My body was not in him, but my
life was, my body is made up of
the food which I eat every day,
and which is gathered from the
earth around me, and which must
be dead before it is incorporated
in my body. And so Adam and I
have the same life, but not the
same soul, life and body. There
is but one natual life, but there
are many souls, minds and bodies.
So our spiritual life was in Christ,
but when we were dead in sins we
were not there. Our union to Ad
am does not hinder our separate
individuality. I have my father’s
life but still my father and laareI a are
twojjmen. Our*spiritual litejwas
in Christ, but it is not ours, actu
ally until Jesus is formed in our
hearts the hope of glory. I would
not then say there was eternal vi
tal r.nion between Christ and his
people. But I can see a vital uni
ty or oneness of life, and when
this life comes upto your heart and
mine, then we are united to Christ,
never to be sundered from him
again.—And to be united to Christ
is reiemption itself. The life is
not the church, but the church
has the life.
Lastly. Redemption will be
completed in the resurrection of
the body at the last day, and with
out this, it would not be complete.
As the body was- involved in the
curse, so it must be in the. salva
tion. And then shall death itself
be swallowed up in victory. Then
shall we be satisfied for we sh ill
awake in the likenes of God. To
see the father will suflice us. And
we s iall be. like him as he is.
Brother Gold, I am much pleas
ed with the article of Bro. Harris
in the Landmark for Nov. Ist. I
desire to commend it to the care
ful perusal and reperusal of all.
In Christian fellowship I re
main your brother,
F. A. Chick.
—Zions Landmark.
Reistertown, Md., Nov. let, ’B3.
PREACHING TOUR.
Dear Bro. Simms:—
My last article wound up with
the eud of my tour in Mississippi,
where I found so much peace, ac
tivity, life and prosperity among
the churches, and since leavi' ig
there have news of more ingath
erings among them. My next ap
pointments were in Louisiana and
churches generally in peace, but
little ingathering, and much cold
ness and indifference manifested
among the churches with a few
exceptions. In Louisiana I heard
some strange views advanced and
claimed to be pure, scriptural and
primitive doctrine. Namely: That
Chriet died only for original sin.
That there was no scriptural, proof
of a covenant between the Father
and Son in eternity, and that tho
unbelievers mentioned in the Bible
were all Christians in disobedience.
I found also a few non-resurrcc
tionists. Surely the time bus
come when many among us cannot
endure sound doctrine, but are
heaping to themselves teachers
having itching ears.” I find also
some fatalism. Such as I have
named give all the cold shoulder
who are not in harmony with them.
They are the cause of confusion,
strife and division among the
Lord’s people, but Ahab like they
charge the result of their own do
ings and teachings upon those who
are earnestly contending for the
faith once delivered to the saints.
They also in secret poison the
minds of all they can against ev
ery one that dares lift his voice
against their strange doctrines and
privately advise the brethren not
to allow;thempn their pulpits gall
ing them “would-be’ regulators”
and “striving to bring about a di
vision of God’s people.” But tho
“Lord God omnipotent reigneth.’
All the heresy among His people
will not stop Him from sending
forth His servants where He pleas
es, nor stop Him from telling them
to “cry aloud, spare not, lift up
thy voice like a trumpet, and show
my people the ; r transgression, -and
the house of Jacob their sins. The
favorite preacher among unsound
disorderly Baptists is described by
Micah 2-11, “If a man walking m
the spirit and falsehood do lie
saying,! will prophesy unto thee of
wine and strong drink ; he shall
even be the prophet of this people?’
The tongue of the faithful old ox
is too rough for them. They itch
for rhe tongue that will call evil
good. <kc. But God says,- “Woe
’ untc them that call evil good.
■ Woe unto them that are mighty to
drink wine, and men of strength
to 'mingle strong . drinks
-’‘Therefore as the .fire deveureth
the etubble, and the flame ccn— ’
sumoth the chaff, so their root
shall be as rottenness, and their
blosiiom shall go up as dust; be
caus i they have cast away the law
of the Lord of hosts, and despised
the word of the Holy One of Is.
raeF’ Isa. 5: 20 to 25. Yet in
the iiidst of all this God has not
left himself without a witness, a’nd
will not. I meet with precious
true, tried and faithful brethren,
in the ministry and out of it, who
are smnd in faith and practice, all
all a eng wherever I go. To me
this is great encouragement. I
woul 1 love to speak of them all by
name, but it would make this ar
ticle too lengthy. A great many
peop e rush to Texas for homes, to
find bad water and disappointment
generally, while if they would
stop in Louisiana they would find
plent yof good water, healthy lo
cations, and good land from one
to th *ee dollars per acre, and room
for thousands of homes. There
are thousands of acres of good im
prov* d lands for sale, and thou
sand? of acres of good land that
was cleared before the war and
cultivated by slave labor that was
abandoned about the close of the
war for the want of labor to culti
vate dhem, on which now there is a
thick growth of old field pines
large enough for house logs and
rail timber. There are many such
placei also m Arkansas cheap,
healtiy, and good water to be had
in abmdance by digging or boring
wells from twenty-five to’forty feet
deep. In Bowie county Texas
there is en abundance of good lev
el land of a sandy nature, with
fairly go<?d water, and healthy lo
cations, that can be bought at
from one to three dollars per acre,
so I was informed. In’all the re
gions that I have mentioned and
that I have traveled over they have
rftin for.,
crops, while much of Texas is so
drouthy that there to no certain
ty of making a good crop, to say
nothing of bad weather and many
other inconveniences. In all the
country traveled over I find the
corn crop good and plentiful, but
the cc tton crop is short, much of
it ha? been stripped by the worms,
and about all is open. I think it
will all be gathered by the middle
of November. If the farmers now
will be prudent and not all rush
their lotton on the market at once
they surely will obtain good prices
I understand it is bringing in the
local markets here now eight cents.
On account of long spell of wet
weather,late in the spring extend
ing ii to the summer months, fol
lowed by hot dry weather, here
is an abundance of sickness, so the
farmers are slow in gathering their
crops. The Lord willing, I expect
to be in Texas for some time.
Those who desire to correspond
with me (and I invite correspon
dence) will please write me at For
nev, Kaufman County Toxas till
Oct. 10th.
Greenville, Hunt Co, till Oct. 17th
Unite, Delta “ 24 th
Blosjjm, Lamar “ 30th
Henry Grove, Fannie Co, Nov. 4th
Gober “ “ loth
Bonham 4 “ “ 15th
Savoy, « « 19th
Dallas, Dallas “ 21st
Kauf nan, Kaufman “ 24th
‘Payne Springs, “ “ Dec. Ist,
J. H. PUREFOY
Omaha Tex, Sent-25th,
Dear Brother Simms:—ls there
any church of our order near
Heal.ng Springs Alabama? I ex
pect spend the winter there, for
my health, and would like to be
where I could attend our meetings.
Please insert this in your paper,
and if any brother can give me
the i iformation wanted, I should
be glad to have them address me
at Farmington, 111.
v ; Your brother in hope.
E. D, Varnes.