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Vol. 3.
poetry,
I’d rather keep the door
Os God’s dear house, and bring
My dove an offering with the poor,
Than reign an earthly king.
I’d rather hunger deep
For righteousness divine,
Than feast with worldly lords and
keep
Their riches all as mine.
I’d rather thirst for thee,
My God, on burning mount,
Than drink to full satiety
From sweetest earthly fount.
I’d choose afflictions deep,
With this world’s scorning rod,
That with Zion I might reap
The fullness of my God.
Then, hungry, thirsty, poor,
And needy I’ll remain,
With joy through life, to find the door
Os heaven’s eternal gain.
F.
SERMON.
By Eld. L. I. Bodenheimer, of
North Carolina.
‘•The sting of death is sin; and the
strength of sin is the law. But thanks
be to God which giveth us the victory
through the Lord Jesus Christ.” 1
fbr. 15: 56,57.
glorious subject of this
is the redemption of the
righteous, including the resurrect
ion of their mortal bodies, as a
part of the man unto whom the
victory is given. The doctrine of
the resurrection is so wonderfully
interesting to the Believer, that no
wonder the Apostle, in portraying
grew sublimely elo-
?6f a blessed immortality Tiimself,
m common with all believers; he
closes the chapter by saying. “But
thanks be to God which giveth us
the victory through our Lord Je
sus Christ.”
I shall first speak of death and
its sting; and who it stings. And
then of the law in its atributes, to
wit, holy, just and good.
Death natural, or corporal, is a
desolution of the physical anato
mical economy; and which is “ap
pointed unto all men.’’
But the sting of death is sin;
and while death is an appointment
of God; its sting is by an ac£ of
man,as“by one man sin entered in
to the world.” I shall show you
that the Apostle by the sting of
death, does not mean the physical
pain and suffering in the desolu
tion of soul and body, for he says
in the 55 verse: “O death, where
-isjhy sting'. 1 ’ From which lan
guage we learn that death was
then doing its appointed work of
mortal desolution; for this was the
victorious cry of a Saint in mortal
death, and yet the Saint did not
find,or feel the sting,and was only
suffering the natural pain common
to mortal desolution. Often I have j
heard the trembling child of God
say .“1 dread the sting of death,and
that is all the reason I fear to die!”
Oh, if you are indeed a child of
God, your sins are washed away by
Jesus’ blood. If so, when death
comes to you, he will come with
out his sting, for the sting of death
is sin. So when Christ shall com
mission death to call for you, he
will say to death, “Go and disolve
the earthly house, but 1 have
wrenched thy.sting from thee, so
thou shalt not sting my child.”
“For precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his Saints ”
So fear not,ye saints,that you will
ever feel the sting of death in dy
ing for your sins are put away and
thereby death has lost its sting for
you, for “the sting of death is sin.”
®he pilgrim's pnmuif
“THOU HAST GIVEN A BANNER TO THEM THAT FEAR THEE, THAJLIT MAY BE DISPLAYED BECAUSE OF THE TRUTH.”—Psalms 60: 4.
I will now show you who death
will sting in a dying day. It will
be the impenitent sinner, whose
God is this world with all its riches,
honors, and pleasures; who would
not retain God in his thoughts;
but loved and worshiped the creat
ure, and loved pleasure more than
he loved God; profamed his name;
oppressed the fatherless and the
widow, defrauded the poor, lived
in vice and immorality; and comes
to death without hope, and with
out God. Oh fearful thought!
Sinner, when thou comest to a dy
ing bed, or when death shall
“come in at thy window” with his
grim and ghastly visage and say to
you “Thou fool! this night shall
thy soul be required of thee, then
whose shall all these things” be?
Then you will look around upon
your riches and say“we must now
part; thou hast deceived me, thou
madest me believe thou was’t
happiness; I forsook all for thee,
even God and his law, and now I
see lam lost through the deceit
fulness of riches.” Death now
lays hold on thee with a thousand
stings, plunging them into thy
guilty soul and conscience; he ap
peals to the law for mercy and
help; and the answer is “nay, you
trampled me under your feet, and
I am just, but you are carnal, sold
under sin;l am holy and good, and
can show no favor to a wicked sin
ner.” Then you will ask “how
long are as flames, to
continue?” the answer is
■"■pod %<<ut sinner,
you may think that in so £bort
time as a life-time, you could not
commit enough sin to deserve
eternal punishment; beside you
sinned as a finite being; and eter
nal punishment is infinite; how
about this? The law replies, “the
soul that sinneth it shall die.”
Moreover, your soul is infinite;and
the law is infinite;and the God who
gave it, is infinite, as is His jus
tice. Hence the pen dty of such a
sin, against such a law, of such a
God, must’be infinite. Also the
three grand atributes of the law—
just, holy and good, —make a
cord of infinite strength.
For “the strength of sin is the
law.” So sinner, be not deceived,
God is not mocked.’ ’ All of His
holiness, goodness and justice, is
manifested in the law; and His al
mighty power is engaged to exe
c.ite,and defend it. Oh how strong
then, is the law? How terribly
offensive is sin to God? Sin
can damn forever, having th« law
for its strengtlr.for “the strength of
sin is the law.” Oh what a terri
ble death, sinner, stung! stung to
death by sin, and yet never can
die! Thy heart was set upon this
world, instead; and now the world,
and sin stings thee; and thou now
callest upon God for help. But He
cannot hear thy cry! As He said
“thou shalt call, but I shall not
answer thee”—money was thy
god, call upon him, —“go ye rather
to them that sell, and buy for
yourself.” Oh thou rich sinner!
your riches laid up by oppression
of the orphan and widow, by fraud,
usury, lying, stealing, etc., shall be
moulded into a million stings and
placed in the shaft of death, and
shall be driven through thy soul
by the strength and power of the
law, for “the strength of the law is
sin.”
Another grade of stings is
thy lusts, for “lust is sin, and sin
when finished brings forth death.”
Hence, when death comes, he will
DEVOTED TO THEEAUSE OF CHRIST.
Valdosta, Ga., wbruary 1,1896.
bring a sting ior every one of thy
lusts; can you count them? No,
they are without number; yet j£ar
soul aud conscience will be stung
with each ope; yea also, each one
of thy sinful thoughts will, in thy
dying hour, haunt thy soul and
sting thy conscience. “The sting
of death is sin.” Oh sinner, whah
and where, is hope of escape? YT
thou hast lived filthy, thou must
die filthy, and be turned into hell
with all the nations that know not
God. There is no victory for such
as die out of Christ. Here I leave
thee to consider. *
I now come to speak to thosf 5
who have hope in Christ; and a
hope of the resurection of these
mortal bodies of ours. I shall
show you that redemption is in
complete without their resurrect
ion; for the Lord by Hosea says “I
will ransom them from the power
of the grave, 1 will redeem them
from death. O death, I will be thy
plague! O grave, I will be be thy
(listruction! repentance shall be
hid from my eyes.” As it is the
body that dies, it is also the same
body that gees to the grave; and if
ransomed from the grave, it mngk
be that, and that only, the grave
holds. And as it is the mortal i
body that is holden as the legiti-.
mate poisoner of death; so it muss
be of- necessity, the
mortal body that Christ re"
deems from death. And. as*
death has been the .universal
plague of Adams race,-save tyo,-k,
so Christ will be alsoTTieuniversaf
plague of death to all his; and
hence says, “O death I will be thy
plague.” And as in the resurrect
ion this mortal shall put on immor
tality, it can no more die; and
hence, “he hath abolished death”
by “swallowing up death in vic
tory.”
In view of this signal victory,
wherein Christ has not only caused
the same body that death killed,
to live again; but in order to set
death at defiance forever, he hath
caused this mortal to put on im
mortality; so that it is impossible
for death ever to slay it again, or
make it a prisoner of the grave; no
death hath no more dominion over
it. Well, may the Apostle exclaim
“Thanis be to God which giveth
us the victory.”
In worldly conflicts prisoners are
taken and retaken captives. But
in this, the prisoners of the grave
are redeemed, as well as taken;
they are not only redeemed but al
so their “mortality is swallowed up
of life,” which places them forever
beyond the power of death.
And as the soul by redemption
and the spiritual birth, is placed
above the law and sin, so also is
the body when resurrected. And
these elements that composed the
man on earth, will then re unite,
and compose the man in heaven.
Herein is displayed the lull, com
plete and everlasting redemption
and salvation of the man—the sin
ner. The Apostle in a heavenly
blaze of divine light, as it were,
beholds the dying saint as death
gently prepares him for the grave
without a sting, and softly lays
him sweetly to rest from his labors
in the qnietude of the grave until
the resurrection morn, and by faith
sees the same body raised in glory,
exclaims, “Thanks be to God
which giveth us the victory
through the Lord Jesus Christ.”
For every good and perfect gift
cometh down from the Father; yet
all though Jesus Christ; that is, for
I
■ fcissake —for what he was, is, and
, *hall be.
wondrous thought! that you,
■'Su’d especially I, should have a
’ ifttle hope; as we call it, and yet it
>3 strong enough to anchor our
s»puls, while life’s temptuous
bi 1 lbws roar and drive our earthen
’ from shore to shore. And,
ifearful one, this little hope of thine
- to that within the vail
Vhither Christ, the forerunner is
t>r us is entered. Hope! Oh blessed,
’ nope! Well did the Apostle exclaim
4 ln hope of eternal life, which
that cannot lie, promised be
'ij/ire the world began.” Beloved,
•j-'Uis little hope of thine will never,
never desert thee;though it may
sleem small at times, and you may
try to throw it away, but it will
|ever be so thrownjyou may deny
ft,but it will still sink deep in thy
fteart as does the anchor in the
;|orray seas, and while the surface
’raters are tempestuous, and all of
/pur earthly pleasures are swept
ovay, one after another, until
your heart sickens and sinks with-
Wyou; yet your hope is still, still
•<tchored in Christ, the “Rock of
O&s,” and still bears .you over the
tide of human sorrows and
i while a small still voice
■ Oaks within you, “Peace, be
■iWU’ Then how sweetly you sing
gfejin your mothers good, glad old
KWRock of ages cleft for me,
i ,aHE Let me hide myself in the.”
• precious ones of earth!
sons of toil, trial ajjjl.
disappointment! you who feel
sL.all as a sparrow upon the house
top, and lonely as a pellican in
the wilderness, and fearful and
timid as the con a; come and go
with me to the banquet of mercv;
and you shall then see your best,
dearest friend with your name en
graved upon his own bleeding
heart; and in his hands, teet, and
side, you shall see the prints of the
nails and sword that wounded him,
and opened a fountain for your
sin and uncleanness. And in his
right hand you shall see the keys
of death and hell; and on his head a
crown of twelve stars, and on his
glorious banner of love unfurled
and floating victoriously,you shall
see written, “Lord of Lords and
King of Kings,’’and the host of an
gels will gather around him to hear
the redeemed from sin and death
grave, exclaims in heav-
“Thanks be to God
which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
a song they can never sing. Oh
wonderous victory! “through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of you are shedding tears
of sorrow over your departed ones,
and often go to weep over their
silent graves: but when you go
again,listen, you shall hear Jesns
(by Hosea) say to that grave, “0
grave! I will be thy distruction.”
Some of you are shedding sweet,
yet sorrowful, tears of hope of
again meeting the darling that
death hath hidden from your sight;
hear him again,“O death I will be
thy plague,” For he shall reign
till all enemies are put under his
feet, and the last enemy to be con
quored, is death. Then cease to
weep for your dead in Christ, but
rather rejoice, because now
they have no enemy, death was
the last, and that is conquered.
And I do believe that all born
of God shall meet, and know each
other in heaven in a glorified state.
Not after the flesh, for “mortality
shall be swallowed up of life.” Yet
there will be a spiritual recogni
tion in our spiritual bodies. You
and 1 shall see each in a bodily
shape, and shall talk, hear, sing
and praise God in a spiritual way,
even as angels never can. “Thanks
be to God who giveth us the vic
tory” over death,and the grave, sin
and mortality. I believe I shall
see and know Moses, and hear him
tell of that wonderful bush that
burned and was not consumed;
and all those others in like manner.
Yes, all shall know each other,and
all shall know Christ, even as we
are known of him.
Then Christ hath “abolished
death and brought life and immor
tality to light through the gospel.”
He hath suffered the wages of sin,
which is death; he hath magnified
and honored the law—the strength
of sin—and thereby destroyed the
sting of death—which is sin—and
thus conquored death and the
grave, to all his people. And by
his resurrection from the dead
hath justified them to eternal life,
and made them more than con
quorers over every ill and evil.
“Thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ!” “O death where is
thy sting.”
Cox, Ga., January 13th, 1896.
Dear brother:—l have been re
flecting upon a certian passage of
scripture, and desire to pen a few
thoughts concerning it, for the
Banner.
“ForThis purj)ObebT tEe S6n of God
was manifested, that he might destroy
the works of the devil.” 1 John, 3: 8.
In order that our minds the
better comprehend this subject, let
us consider,first,the magnitude,and
horrible consequence of the “works
of the devil.” And second, the
glorioui things accomplished in
the destruction of these works.
The first work of this enemy we
see manifested was the beguiling
of our mother in the garden. The
horrible output of that first work
is, to some extent, realized when
we hear the groans and cries of
millions of suffering human beings.
Some perishing with hunger, some
suffering in nakednes and destitu
tion, scorched with fever, pierced
with pain, steeped in sorrow, and
so on. Even the infant is subject
to these awful consequences.
Horrible indeed is the fruit of the
“works of the devil.” And yet, we
have not yet reviewed the most
awful and terrible stream of this
evil work, —the whole world lying
in wickedness —none seeking after
God; all naturally loving darkness
rather than light, and running
down the declivity of time, toward
the great ocean of destruction,
without the fear of God before
their eyes. Work I Oh horrible
“work of the devil!”
Invite these heedless characters
to come to the great marriage sup
per of the Lamb ;and “they all with
one consent, begin to make excus
es.” Tell the moral man to sur
render all earthly possessions, and
take up the cross and follow the
humble, meek and lowly Jesus;
and he shall have treasures in
heaven. And we see him “go away
sorrowful.” Depravity! depravity!
who can fathom its depths?
“Walking according to the course
of this world,” “according to the.
prince of the power of the air;’’
rolling sin as a sweet morsel un
der their tongues; “led captive by
the devil at his will.” Call, yes,
call aloud with all gravity and
sincerity of heart, to check this
downward tendency; but we be
hold the heart “decitful above all
things, and des{.
How then can u>
God? Salvation!
tion, where dwelles*
heaven’s power
the Lion of th 5 tribe of Judan,
come to the rescue, and “destroy
the devil.” He alone
is found worthy to loose the seal,
of Gfir aud open the
prison cells of our depravity, and
set the captive free. He can shut
the “gates of hell,” and none can
open. He can open the doors of
mercy, and none can shut. The
poor, downcast, desponent leper—
a filthy castaway because of the
works of the devil—heard the bless
ed, soul-inspiring words, “Be thou
clean,” and immediately his lepro
sy was cleansed, The poor blind
beggar, bound in darkness, under
the prevailing curse for sin, (works
of Satan) could cry in helpless
ness** Jesus thou son of David have
mercy on me!” and his powerful
words, “Receive thy sight,” with
divine authority, brought light
out of darkness and illuminated
the poor man’s double darkness,
and caused.him to sing praise and
glory to God. The dying thief re
joice to sea that distruction of the
works of the devil, in his hour of
fear and death; and listened to
the sweet, unspeakably welcome
words of mercy, “This day shalt
thou be with me in paradise.”
Oh what could the poor sinner
have done, if Jesus had not been
“manifested to destroy the works
of the devil?”
See_him tarry, -aa-ia the case of
Lazarus, until the works of Satan
(Sin) had reigned unto death ;and
then, behold the power of death
and the grave, honor his divine
call, as he frees Lazarus from both..
Behold what manner of
have loved the with an evetlastiiig
love,” says Jesus to hit; people.
And nothing is able to aeparittßO
us from the love of God given
Jesus. Truly his love is stronger
than death, since he came forth
to conquor as “maifested to de
stroy the works of the devil,” by
his own death and resurrection in
behalf of his people; hence, no
weopon formed against them shall
prosper.
When the poor, helpless, humil
iated sinner realises his bondage to
sin, and feels the power of Satan
in his depraved nature, filling his
mind with evil thoughts, and his
heart with vanity; it is but the
light of grace revealing his corrupt
ions and weakness. His chance for
heaven —he concludes —now seems
less than that of any other; he
hears the thunderings of Gods ho
ly law saying “The soul that sins
it shall die,” and feels its terrible
denunciations against him; his
heart involuntarily goes out to
God, crying for mercy, “Lord be
merciful to me, a sinner!” “Lord
what will thou have me to do?” In
this valley of humility, poverty
and ruined helplessness, Jesus of
Nazareth passeth by.” Having
lost all confidence in all created
resources to deliver him; and be
ing converted—from depending on
his own strength and works—and
become as a little child, that only
can cry from hunger—and crying
“Lord have mercy;” it shall come
to pass “that whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be
saved.” And thus by grace,
through faith he is saved. There
Jesus was “manifested to destroy
the works of the devil”—to “de
stroy him who held the power of
death over us.” In which he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men He gives his redeemed
[Continued on 4th page. J