Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

The Pilgrim’s Banner. PL’BLISHED-SEMI MONTHLY BY A. V.SIMMS & CO., VALDOSTA, - - - GA. EDITORIAL STAFF: A. SIMMS, Valdosta, Ga., R. H. BARWICK,... Barwick, “ LEE (TANKS, Bqston, “ MRS. R. ANNA PHILLIPS, Office Manager. SUBSCRIPTION RATES IN AD VANCE. FOR TUB UNITED STATES. CANADA AND MEXICO. Single copy one year SI.OO Single copy six months 50 Single copy three months. ... 25 Single copy 5 Sample copies sent free on appli cation. Address all Communications for publication to THE PILGRIM’S BANNER. VALDOSTA CA, Special Notice. In writing communications for the Pilgrim’s Banner, please ob serve the following rules: Rule 1. Do not write on but ONE SIDE of your paper. Rule 2. Write PLAIN AND DISTINCT, so that it can be easily read. Special Rule No. 3. Above all things, do not write with a LEAD PENCIL. Strictly adhere to the above rules and you confer a great favor on us and a Special Favor to the Printer and Compositors. The Publishers, Entered at the Post Office at Val dosta, Ga.. as second class mail matter. EDITORIALS. A TOUR. (Concluded) The meeting at Fellowship had many good things connected; but chiefly because of an indisposition on the part of her members to be always engaged in conversation about worldly things. How pleas ant when the saints can thus give external evidence of the love and life of Jesus intenally? At Upper Black Creek on Monday 1 piet a very small congregation,but I trust the meeting was not in vain; for I enjoyed my effort in trying to preach.My discourse at Deloaches on Tuesday was of a disciplinary character —something unusual io r jne but I trust the Lord had a use for it. A good congregation was in attendance, among them was Elders H. B. Wilkinson and B. J, Williams, Elder Wilkinson concluded in a few who Lome and appropriate remarks. My heart was made glad at Belknap on Wednesday on meeting Elder Riner again. It was at this church that I enjoyed better liberty in trying to preach than any previous effort I had made on the entire trip. Not many were present, but I fell, and still feel, that the Lord was with us. But that night at the home of a Mr Denmark we had a least of fat things indeed. After preach ing by Elder Riner and myself, the little crowd still lingered as if they were afraid by going they would lose something. Everything was silent for a while, when Elder iiiner called on a lady who had been shedding tears freely during the service, to tell of her hope in Jesus. She seemed willing to talk, and told of past trials and conflicts, and of a fervent desire to become a member of the church, but felt too unworthy to make the attempt. Her talk and tears brought tears to the eyes of every one present. When she had finished, three others told of the dealings of the Lord with them This made my hard heart to feel soft, and I could shed tears of gratitude to the Lord for His goodr to his pebplfe I’ll never fbtget that little night meeting. Next day at Daisy Ga., we had a very good eongiegation, and I hope the meeting was not id vain. I enjoyed good liberty again on Friday at Bethel. This is Elder A. R. Strickland’s home church—a faithful old soldier—a man that old Baptists love and the world respect, and admire him. The meeting was a pleasant one, I also enjoyed the meeting at Beard's Creek on Saturday and Sunday following. Monday at Love’s Chapel andTuesday at Bay Branch were pleasant meeting, and I enjoyed my efforts in trying to preach. This ended my appointments, but while at Belknap Ga., I reciv ed a letter from brother F. R. Brinson written at the request of a lady—Mrs. Emma Durden—re questing me to return to Antioch, and for the purpose, if the church thought her worthy to baptize, to baptize her. To this I consented, and was met at Bay Branch by brother Brinson and conveyed Tuesday afternoon in the neigh borhood of Antioch; a distance of perhaps 25 miles. Next morning early the thunder began to roar in the souih-west, and about 10 o’clock the rain began to fall It was a very dark and damp day; but a good congregation met me at the church, and truly it was a pleasant meeting. The lady joined, but the weather was so bad, her baptism was defered till 10 o’clock next day. When we met at the creek next day, it was swiming, the sister on one side, and I on the other, the congrega being about equally uividod. But I managed to cross to the other side; finding the sister in a great deal of doubt and trouble: ‘•Oh ! Mr. Simms,” said she. “I was afraid I was not a fit subject for the church, and all this seems to prove L.” How satan takes advantage of such th inns to destroy the peace of God’s children. But nothing can destroy, or make void the promise of rest God*has made to all those who fear and obey him; and I trust the dear sister has found it so. After the baptism was over, I returned to brother Brinson’s, bid them good-bye and started fur home; reaching it on Friday afternoon. This, ij some respects, was one ot the most pleasant tours of my life. The dear brethren, sisters and friends with whom I met, did all they could to make it pleasant fo’r me. I will ever remember their acts of kindness and words of comfort and cheer. May the Lord reward them. —S. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the Aines: for our vines have tender grapes, Sol. 2 15. Foxes are setforth in the script ures as being crafty, and full of subtility and.mischief. Our own observation of them is, that they are ths most mischievious and the hardest to trap, of any pest in our community. They are scarce ly ever seen in the day time, but do their mischief in the night ;and when we would find them to pun ish and stop their depredations, they cannot be found. Our vines, or church organiza tions, are subject to their depre date ns, and the more so, because our vines have tender grapes. Our people are the most unsuspecting and imprudent, regarding the dan gers that may come to them through these slick-tongued, pre su.nptous, mischief-makers, who fox-like creep in unawares, of any people in the world. We are easy to be imposed upon, from the fact that we don’t want to give offence to any, which of itsself, and in its place, is commendable; but we sleep over our rights many times, and while sleeping or standing idly by, the “little foxes” spoil our vines. “Thus saith the Lord God; woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have eetfn pothipgl O Israel the proph- • ts are like the foxes in £l® des erts ” Ez 13 4. There are men to-day wlJk are following their own spiritdand have seen nothing. They Wsire to rule in Israel, supposing tTat it is great honor and distincti®), to to be called a preacher, not. living the burden of the wurk dh the Lord, but desiring to be paused and applauded by men. O i’fsuch could only feel and know fof> one hour, the sorrow of soul, thel bro keness of heart, the deep contri tion of spirit, the sighs,the b| o ken prayers aud the faltering and trembling, that I think a trial ser vant of God teels, they, lik| the true servant, would say forn| the depths of their hearts, <&,ord take it away, I dont want itT’ Their desiring this solemn pos sition, is a proof that they aij ig norant of its hardships au< the power of its calling. I would not discourage those whom the Lord has called for they need encouragement,land dear young soldiers, I know ’your trembling and fears, and letter, agonies you have to suffer, I love you, and pray the Lorfo to bless you. But the carelessness oft O ur churches in suffering every* one to try to labor in the minLtry who desires to do so, is as fri|tfui a source of confusion and cli irc h troubles, as there is among u$ to day. Some say that nearljj all our greatest church troubles atmie from preachers, but yen a little, and see if much of itljdoes not come from those who Waijt to preach, and who, not having the gift and spirit of it, aie not accept able with the church, and wlfo, as soon as they find it out, are glov ed with envy against those who are accepted. They are actuated by the lame spirit that caused Saul to perse cute and to seek the lite of Djvid, just as soon as he found tha®Da vid was more acceptable®!! d praised than he was. ft They are following their fi>wn spirit, and have seen nojgmg from the Lord, in but fox-like, they will sccwetly work some mischief upon four vines, in order to try to axalt themselves, nr to gratify their Lwn wishes. The fox cares no wing for the mischief he makes, so long as he is gratifying his own desires, and then catch him if you can. Sampscn used foxes when he want ed to destroy the Philistine’s corn, and wherever you find one, there is mischief. Any character in the church, who will privily bring trouble up on the church, and seek to gratify his own wishes and establish his own preconceived ideas, regard less of the scriptures, and at the expense of the peace-loving por tion of the church, is fox-like and ought to be taken by the church, and brought to ord.-r. Our vines have tender grapes and they should be cared for and protected.—R. 11. B. SALVATION. PART I. The theme of salvation should be one that concerns us more than any other one subject. We are sin ners cf Adam’s fallen race, and as sin cannot enter heaven, in order for us to be carried to dwell for ever in the bosom of the Sayior in that blessed house of endless felici ty, we must be saved from sin. We shall, if the Lord wills, persue this subject at some length as there are many precious children of God entangled in the meshes of babyion and need to be in structed, we shall notice the un conditional salvation first. The reason that man cannot save him self is that he is dead. death. The scriptures teach that the sinner is “dead.” We do not mean that he is naturally “dead,” or that he does not possess the five senses naturally, the same as the Christian; but he is depraved and his whole being is contamina ted with sift. If is element is sin He loves sin and drinketh it down as the ox drinketh water, “He loves darkness rather than light; because his deeds are evil.” It is natural for him to seek darkness, when following his own depraved will. Paul in describing the con dition of the sinner, says: “There is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all cone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one, Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used de ceit, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known ; there is no fear of God before their eyes.” Rom. iii; 9-14. The whole man is thus contaminated with sin from the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no sound ness; but wounds, bruises and pretrifying sores which have never been bound up nor molified with anointment. Isa. Ist chap, This death has passed upon all the race“Wherefore,as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,” Rom. v. 12. Therefore as by the offense of one (Adam) judgement came upon all men to condemna tion.” Rom. v. 18. Adam died, and be being the head, when he died, we all died, —when the head dies the body will die also. Hence man is so dead, body, soul and spirit that he is wholly unable to extricate himself from under the awful sentance of death. We do not claim that he is so depraved that he cannot be honest, truthful and strictly moral ; for this virtue belongs to the natural man. Mau received ability in Adam to live a moral life and be a good citizen and an honor to his country .There are thousands of women as vir teous in Adam as those who are in christ. We can live moral and we should encourage old and young to labor to be upright men rftuTwo’men. Morality is a won derful blessing to any country. But while we find Adam empower ed to live morally, he is wholly destitute of power to come to Christ, have spiritual thoughts, spiritual desires or aspirations Man, in nature, cannot receive the things cf the Spirit of God, be cause they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them be cause they are spiritually dis cerned 1 Cor. 2: 14. He has no power to come to Christ: “No man can come to me except my Father which hath sent me draw him.” John 6: 44. He has no will to come to Christ: “Ye will not come to me that ye might have light.” John. Hence you see that the sinner is destitute of power and will to come to christ —has neither. If he had the power “without the will he would not go to Christ ;and if he had the “will” without the power,he could not go to him, and as he has neither “will” nor “power” there is no possibility of his gettting to Christ upon the conditional plan. But some will say the sinner can come if he would, but that is hie trouble, he has no “will” nor “power” to come. “It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” Rom. ix, If the negro had a will to become a white man, he has not the power. The con ditionalist tells the sinner to serve God and he will become a Christian, quickened into divine life. The negro, while in bondage, served the white man, and he might have served him all the days of his life, and he would have still been a negro and in bondage. The ser vice, the negro performed, did not make him white or tree him from bondage; hence the moral service performed by alien sinner, does not cause him to be related to Christ or free him from the bon dage of sin. All the colored race were in bondage,just alike and the principle that freed one set all frete; The old man and colored] infant were alike in bondage. Preachers might preach to the colcred man and tell him to get white aud free, and he has no pow er whatever to obey his voice. Some will say if this be true God is very unjust to put the sinner where he cannot rescue himself. But God did not put him there The sinner went there by his own wilful act of disobedience. The man commits murder, he does it himself, nobody is to blame but himself, and the sentance of death is passed upon him, he cannot de liver himself, but whose fault is it? and who can he blame? It is his own fault and he is to blame. He might have a will to be free from this awful death sentance, but he has not the power. The alien sinner is in a worse condi tion than this murderer for he has no “power” or “will” to come from ut.der that sentance, and come to Christ. There are many who pro fess to be coming to Christ of their own will, but none have ever coma that way. They make great professions of religion, but they boast of what they are doing and have done for the Lord as the an cieat Pharisees did. Al) “freewill” religion is trust ing in man and not in. Christ. Don’t they say, “Give us men and money and we will evangelize the work.?” Hence you see they are trusting in their own efforts to save the world, and not in Christ. Men in nature make loud profes sions of religion, but it is of the head and not of the heart; and is caused froi»a fear of hell and the devil. Preachers, on such occa sions, do not preach Christ or heaven, but preach the devil and hell, and endeavors to frighten the people into religion. This re ligion is cf the flesh, and is proud and boastful, giving glory to man and abusing God as a poor puny being that would do if he could. Tnis religion says. “Christ offers the sinner salvation, and it is with him to accept or reject.” If this be true, all are gone world with out end, for the sinner is so dead that an offer will do him no good, and he has neither "will” nor “power” to accept the offer; his damnation would be sealed upon that hypothesis. I will here say that all the crim® that has ever been committed upon the earth is a result of man’s “will.” Our state prisons and chaingangs are filled with convicts, which was a result of their “will.” Read the daily papers filled with all man ner of crimes, murder, theft, drunkness, wife-killing, outrages, etc, committed by the clergy down to the savage, all of which is a fruit of man’s “will,” —yet this is called a day of enlightenment. Crime and infidelity is greatly on the increase, comfidence is lost religiously, politically and social ly. Man takes advantage of his fellow man, and even professors of religion are filling the jails, state prisons, etc., which is a fruit of their will and increases infidelity. This evidences to us that these criminals are yet under the bond age of sin and loving darkness rather than light. The natural man is eo depraved that he cannot and will not come to Christ, ueiter can he hear the words of Christ “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my wolds.” John viii. 43. They have nothing, but a natural ear and can only hear natural words. “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” Again, Jesus says that the natural man cannot receive the spirit of truth: “Even the spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, because il seeth mm not neither knoweth him.” John xiv. 17. Hence you see the world, in nature, has no power to come to Christ, or receive the spirit ot truth, no “will” to come, no ears to hear, nor eyes to see him. Preachers may preach to these dead subjects, but they have no spiritual heart to receive it, no spiritual ears to hear it, nor no spiritual eyes to see it. No wond er that sb many object to truth 1- when Jesus says, is ’;o place for the truth in them.” Man is surely depraved and has no ability to come to Christ, and perform good works. The dead tree can produce green leaves and fruit as easily as the dead sinner can produce spiritual fruit, as holy de sires. aspirations, love, faith, etc. You may preach to the dead sin ner, get him to leave off his bad habits, put him in a so-callfed church, and he is still an alien sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, and it will make no more change in him than pruning a crab apple tree, and planting it in an orchord of sweet apples. This transplanting and pruning may increase the quanity and size of the crab apples, but it will not_ change them frem crab .apples to sweet apples. You may preserve the fruit and make it very sweet and the next year the tree will bear crab apples again. Why is this? Because the nature of the tree is not changed. Jesus says, “Make the tree good and the fruit will be good.” The conditional iet wants to first make the fruit good in order to make the tree good, but the language of Jesus will stand : “A corrupt tree (dead sinner) cannot bring forth good fruit.” (of faith, love, joy, holy desires etc.) The tree or sinner must be made good by his being a partaker of the divine nature, be fore fruit will be good. The tree must be changed in order to bear good fruit, hence there must be a change wrought in the sinner by God working in him to will and do of his good pleature before he will feel poor in spirit, mourn over sin, and Lunger and thirst after righteousness. The sinner is just as passive in regeneration as the tree is in having a sweet apple sprout grafted into it. The mineral kingdom has no will nor nower to grasp hold of the vege table kingdom and go into it, nor the vegetable to the animal, nor the brute to man, nor man, which is the natural, to the spiritual. The higher must go to the lower. The vegetable must go to the ani mal, and the animal to the vegetable, man to the brute and God must come down to the sin ner or the spiritual must come to the natural. The lower is dead to the higher. Man is dead in tres passes and sins, and is contented in this awful dilema, His eyes stand out with fatness and he has more than heart can wish. He knows nothing ot joys, spiritual sorrows, longing of soul, doubts, fears, gloomy forebodings, pray ing fur mercy, and mourning over sin. None of us would volunteer to have those deep troubles and feel broken hearted, None would mourn if they could help it. We are passive in this, and hence it is unconditional. We have shown that the sinner is depraved, and is powerless, and has a will viola ted with sin, and there must of necesity be a supernatural power to bring him out from the awful bondage of sin, if he is ever good. No man, nor inststutions of men can reach him, pool helpless depraved man! “Who then can be saved? with men it is impossi ble for man to save himself, ot one or more men to save another man. The Ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his spots as easy as a dead sinner can make a Christian of himself.—H. (Continued.) Every one that went to Jesus in the name of the law, or to know what good things I must do, as the good rich young man mentioned in the bible, he sent them back to the law, —an impossible way of sal vation. While every one that came tu him in the name of mercy, or as a sinner crying “Lord have mercy on me.” He immediately, without a word of law or works, showed him mercy, nor sent him empty away. A CHANGE. Elder J. N. Bendbow late of Highland Homo Ala. may now be addressed at Hopewell Ala.