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The Pilgrim’s Banner. PUBLISHED-SEMI MONTHLY BY A. V.SIMMS & CO., VALDOSTA, - - - GA. EDITORIAL STAFF: A.V. SIMMS, Valdosta, Ga., R. H. BARWICK,... Barwick, “ LEE HANKS, Boston, “ MRS. R. ANNA PHILLIPS, Office Manager. SUBSCRIPTION RATES IN AD VANCE. FOR THE 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 GA, 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. SEEKING THE KINGDOM. “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” Sri. 33. ROTHER J. E. Sheffield of Live Oak Fla. requests my views of the above text. It is evident that our Lord was laboring to establish his disciples in that very comforting thought that to be obedient to all the re quirements of the holy law of God, insured, not only spiritual bles sings, but temporal things as well. And not only was it spoken tor the comfort and strength of his disciples who were there present with him, but God had it written and preserved, handing it down from generation to generation, for the comfort and hope of hie peo ple all along the line. These words are as true to-day as when they were spoken by Jesus. Under Moses, the Jews were re quired to offer the Lord of the first fruits of their lands and flocks. “The first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God.” Ex. xx iii 19. The’ first fruits also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give them.” Deut.xviii. 4. xxvl, 2. Ez. xliv. 30. Such was God’s law to the Jews after they had been delivered from their enemies and had settled in the land of Canaan. The first and best of the fruits of their and flocks and herds were requir ed. How humiliating to the pride of human nature is our service to God! The Jews could have made their offerings without any very great sacrifice, had the quality or kind of offering been left to their own choosing. But without a sacrifice there was no service. They must offer just such offer ings as described in the law of God to them: and when this was done ■ they could shelter under God’s protecting power, and their ene mies could not molest, or make them afraid. God had given them the land, and it was a small amount indeed, which he required of them compared with the whole land of Canaan, and its riches which was all their own by gift. God graciously given it to them, and should it ba therefore, unreas onable or burdensome to them to offer the firstfruits of that land? But they became covetous and stiff-necked and rebelled against the Lord, and refused to offer the i first fruits, but offered the i ’‘lame and the blind.” (Mai. i. 8 ) And as a punishment for their sin God scut upon them famine, pes tilence and sword. May not the church learn a profitable lesson here? He who has given us our earthly sub stance —aye, He who has died that we might live, and who gives us all spiritual blessings in heav enly places, has He not the right-- is it not His due that we should honor him with our substance and sacrificing to his cause as thus honoring Him who is our only Law-giv°r, King and Redeemer? And as under Moses, so under Christ, —the first-fruits are re quired. Jesus teaches this in the text to which brother Sheffield calls attention. We (the children of God must first seek the king dom of God and his righteousness, if we would enjoy the blessing and protection of God. We seek the kingd om of God by conform ing strictly to the laws of that kingdom. So long as we obey the laws of our country we are protected and blessed by them. But when we violate the law we subject ourselves to its curse,so then the same law that afforded protection for both life and prop erty, now inflicts punishment for our crimes. We first aware al legiance and perpetual obedi ence to the laws of our country and its blessings are ours. Even so in Christ. We first prove our allegiance to him by taking up the cross—by self-deni al—and the peace, rest and joys of his kingdom are made contingent upon our obedience thereafter. We enter the kingdom through sacrifice and self-denial and re main in it upon the same condi tions. And let us not forget that our gospel law requires temporal sac rifices of all its subjects. We can not plead our poverty as an ex cuse for our disobedience. The law itself forbids it, because all— whether rich or poor, are required to give, as the Lord has prospered them (1 Cor. xvi. 2). The Lord has made all things equal. The rich aie required to give in propor tion to his wealth, and the poor is only required to give in propor tion to his poverty, or as the Lord has prospered him, in bearing the necessary burdens of the church. If one becomes too poor to obey God, he is too poor to enjoy the blessings of God, He does not be come poorer by keeping God's law; or if he does it, it is for his good. The law was given for our good. I may be in error, but I firmly believe that there are thousands ot chrisbians to-day who are pinch ed with poverty because of a fail ure to obey the Lord’s law in the matter of giving. They are reap ing as they have sown. Read what the Lord says: “There is that scattered,and yetW l ” - creaseth;and there is that wilhhol® e^! more than is meet, but it tendetw 1 to poverty. The lioeral soul shalw made fat: and he that watereth be watered himself.” Prov. xi:2.W’ 2 Look among our people-® -^l6 Primitive Baptist! See the pov erty and want; and then let us» the question, is it because t® l3 ? have been too liberal with t® 3ir earthly substance? Hardly. I® is an affliction to be poor and n® e( b' and pinched with want, we W lia Y rest assured that this afflictioiw did not come because of our obedi® nce to God. The cause of it mu® be looked for on the other sid»® I know of a case where a good Uea c.on went to a brother —a m= jnber of the church—and asked i be could not help the preacher i tie, who had attended his cl iurcb faithfully for years oast. ' -^ ie brother refused—pleading hi 3 in " ability to do anything. E efore the year was half gone, two ( lbe brother’s mules had died, au|d he was forced to incur a deh t more to finish his crop. Now whether this was a judgi imßu t sent on him, of course we could not say, but Ido know that! God has said, “He which soweth^ s P ar ‘ ingly shall reap also spar in gbb and he which soweth bounte billy, shall reap also bountefully.” : ICor. ix. 6. Then again I believe I hav 3 seen brethren who were using their substance in away as that i| prov en a curse instead of a blwsinß -of using their nioyy as directed in the woi d of Gow aQ d enjoying the blessings of sj c h a life, they are withholding ft, or worse still —are appropriates it to an unholy use and a heavy-inontcii sluflu, life no more than others vKio do , not pcsess a dollar. Thougp they may acquire great wealth! they cannot enjoy it; for as | their 1 wealth increases, so their qorrows * increase; and thus instead of being | i the Lord’s freemen they ®’e the unrequited slaves of filthl/ lucre. But let no one obey Jesuis as a ] I matterot investment; for if this 1 should be our only motive in giving, we may look for disappoint ment. But when we are charitable I because Go d’s word enjoin it, or 1 because we feel it is our duty,such faithfulness God will always bless. The text, in short, teaches that though we may be cumbered with many earthly cares, such as labor ing for the things necessary for this life, yet these, important though they be, should not be allowed to hinder us in rendering the service done unto the Lord or subvert the things God hap given us from a holy to an unholy use— to let our duties to God, and our service to Him be first in all things; and having done this, we may rest assured that “a|l these things,” necessary for ottr good “shall be added.” I have written briefly and hur riedly hardly knowing what I have written, as the compositors have taken it from me, sheet by sheet as fast as they were written* I have written upon the subject as I have felt it. If my views are wrong I stand ready, and am anxious to be corrected. I submit them to brother Sheffield and others, hop ing all will weigh them in the bal lance of God’s eternal truth. Many things are omitted for lack of space. Hope to hear from oth ers on the subject if any should feel so impressed.——-S. SALVATION. , (Continued.) Part ii. LIFE. We have shown that the sinner is dead in sins, depraved and pow erless, and thefirst thing he needs to enable him to have a power to come to Christ, or a will to come, eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive and understand the truth, light to behold his own depraved heart, is “Life.” Life must precede action; lite must pre cede hearing,feeling,tasting, smell ing and seeing spiritually. There are none of these five senses with out “life” naturally. Go to the man that is destitute of natural life, and you can not make him hear, see, understand, taste, smell nor perform any acts; tor the one grand and first essential element is gone. You can send for a physi cian to treat a man that has life, for as long as there is life there is hope, but when life becomes ex tinct we are at once despair of any further hope. No medicine nor skill of man can benefit him. We may embalm the body and pre serve it from putrifact’on, but we cannot give life. There is no service to God here, and no heav en for us without life. This is nec essary for the old man, for the young, and even the little infant must have life to reign with Christ forever. Preachers cannot give life in America; neither can they give life in China or heathan lands. As the physician cannot benefit the dead naturally, neither can the preacher benefit the dead spiritual ly. The minister of Christ is a good physician to living Christians who are sick of love. Then as preachers nor any combination ot men can give this life, and the dead cannot attain to it—“no life without antecedent life,” it must upon the sinner’s part. YoiFwouldthink a man in sane, exhorting a dead man to re pent, act laith, pray etc. that he might have life. Jesus s tys, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth (giv eth life) the flesh (preacher) profit eth nothing.” “As the Father rais eth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.”—John v:2l. This is done by Christ to the dead sin ner independent of the efforts of men. Agnin. This salvation or giving life, is unconditional upon the sinner’s part, for Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me; I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands.” He gave hie to persons that had no life before. The way one sin ner gets this life is the way every sinner that is ever saved will re ceive it. Abel, Noah, Abraham, and all that were saved before or since the advent of Christ to earth was given this life. “In him was life and the life was the light of men and the 1 ight shineth in darkness (the sin ner’s heart) and the darkness comprehended it not.” Light does not consult the darkness where it shall shine, hut light makes manifest and drives out the darkn°ss. This life reveals to us, what poor contaminated sinners we are; and when it show’s us all of the corruptions of our deprav ed hearts, then we begin to beg for mercy. We never feel the need of mercy until we first have life; we over a broken heart and contrite spirit until w’e have life; we never mourn over our sins, until we have life which gives us to behold them; we never feel poor in spirit until we have lite; we never hunger and thirst alter righteousness, until we have life; we never heard the preaching of the Gospel,until w z ehave life;we never loved the Lord's people un til we had life; we never desired to follow Jesus in his ordinances, un til we had life. “He that hath the Son, ha th life, and he that hath l not the Son hath not life.” “1 am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.”—Jno. 14:6. He does not give this life to ev ery bedy; but to his sheep that were given to him before the world began: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” John 17:2,3. Hence he has power to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him through all ages of the world and in every nation. Heathens then are safe, because they are his sheep, given to him; and he has power to give them eternal life, and does give it to them and they shall never perish. Notice the sinner is always pass ive in receiving this life, “you hath he quickened, (made alive) who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Eph. ii:l. This giving of life, is not conditional, because it is rep resented as a resurrection. “If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.” Col. 2:1. It cannot be conditional, because it was promised to man before he existed or did good or evil: “In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Tit. i:i. l It is urged upon the sinners that ! he must hear and believe, in order to get this life;but Jesus says, “He that heareth my words and be lieve on him that sent me, hath ! (already has it before he hears and believes) everlasting life and shall not come into condemna tion, but is passed from death un to life. Hethat believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” John iii;3s. The believer has ‘flife,” hence it is too lateYor him to be lieve in ordor to get? life. Instead of the dead sinner producing tins of himself, the work of God that ye believe on him whom he-hath sent.” John. vi:29. Believing on Jesus, is the work of God and not the work of the dead sinner. base our obtaining life, upon our believing, when no man can be lieve on Christ as the Savior of sinners, but one to whom life is given. “He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself.” “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”—l John v: 1, 10. Hence the believer has the witness with in himself, and is born of God be fore he believes on Christ, there fore the conditional idea is wrong. The conditionalist tells the sinner to love God in order to life, but love is a fruit of life. There is no natural love without natural life; neither is there spiritual love without spiritual life. “He that loveth is born ofjGod,” “and know eth God.”—l John iv:7. Faith repentance, fear, love,desire, long ings of soul, are fruits of the spirit that dwells in God’s children. The > man destitute of liie or the Spirit will never produce such heavenly fruits. See the tiny green spring of grass after the gentle rain which evidences to us that there is “life” 1 When the doctrine of God distills as the dew, or the gentle rain up on the tender grass (sinner) caus ing him to bear the image of Christ ( and a tear trinkle down the cheeks ( of the broken heai ted mourner un der Gospel preaching, we know € there is life in that person. We j have seen many persons under preaching, sobbing in tears, or even trying to conceal their deep sorrows which w T as an evidence to us that he was in possession of life. We have had persons come to us after we were through preaching, and say “I want you to pray for me, for 1 feel to be a great sinner.” I was filled with praise to God and could thank God for giving him life, but I felt burdened with prayerfor that one. I asked a girl once, it she had a hope, and she broke dewu in tears and replied, “No, I tear there is no hope for me.” I told her she was a child of God, and that she had life.” She is now a devoted member of the church. I staid one night where there was a lady in deep trouble, and had been for years, and we had a little expe rience meeting, and we called on the good woman to tell her ex perience, but she said that she had none, but she began, and told about her burdened heart, that she carried so long, and at last she had a view of Jesus in a dream, but was not willing to take that as she did not believe in dreams, and hence she was dragging out a mis erable existence. We told her that she had eternal life,for many of God’s people received revela tions in dreams. The Bible gives abundant testimony of many re joicing in a Savior’s love in a dream. God can operate upon the mind when an individual is asleep sis well as when he is awake. This poor woman was filled with ecstatic joy and “said this is the first time in my life that I could claim a hope in Jesus,” notwith standing she received it years be fore. She often alluded to that happy night,when we told her that she had life. I have received let ters from poor penitent subjects, saying,'“Pray for poor me, for I am a vile sinner ana feel] to be lost!” Thank God for such evi dences of life. Poor mourner, yours is not a hopeless case, Jesus has given you eternal life,” is why you have such feelings. Sometimes the poor needy ones come to me and say, “I want to join the church, I have no expe rience; but I love the Lord’s peo ple better than any people on earth. I once loved the world but it has no charms for m® now, I feel to be a poor helpless sinner, but cajMtomilo no time when I Sfuft m adef^ ■— others telfjneither can I tell a bright deliverance, nor even the day when delivered, but I do not feel worthy of a home with you, but can never be satisfied as I am.” I can say to all such, that you have “life.” Love of the truth and for the house hold of faith, and a desire to follow Christ, is an evi dence of life. You can not feel too little or poor to have life. May the Lord bless you, for these help less, despondent feelings endears you to us. Our heart goes out in prayer for you.—H. (Continued.) [Continued from first page.] would have been so. He will not he. That circumstance is a strong pillar in my evidence. If it had been wrong for me to be baptized, satan would not have been angry with me for doing so. The next day after 1 was baptized was the happiest day that I have spent upon earth. I knew that I was persecuted, but I did not feel like injuring any of my persecutors. I felt to be at peace with God and man. Immediately after our Saviour was baptized, he was tempted of satan, and then angels ministered unto him. Christians are generally tempted in some way soon after taking any important step in their Christian duties. When they are doing right satan tries to make them believe that they are wrong. ” have written so much in refer ence to my experienae that 1 must for the present defer a detail of my call to the ministry. Your brother in hope. James S. Dameron. Elder JRufus H. Jennings of Dawson Ga., is authorized and requested to act as Agent for the Pilgrim’sßanner. in taking names of new subscribers, and in receiv ing and forwarding mony for the same, Also any other ministers who feels inclined thus to help us. Editobs,