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pleased God, as 1 hope, to quicken me and show
me my true condition as a lost sinner, I then went
to work performing a round of duties such as read
ing the Bible, and trying in my imperfect way to
ask God to have mercy upon my poo,r soul, not
thinking htyt whjit m.V o,wo good do vugs w,ould be
Kthe. means otfetny sakyaiion. I really thought i( I
did tny part, then, and not*till then, would God
do his; thinking too that it would not be.long be
fore I would he a Christian. -I .continued in this
tain hope until last year, 185©, it then appeared
that I wvas lost forever, and there was no chance of
<*a4vation lor such a rebel against God, and 1 often
feared I should not live to the -©lose of the year,
■feeling-at the same time that if I died ip
dittou there was no peace hut tormet lur me. i
.•was often strufck with great fear, arising, I suppose,
from a feeling seuse of ray guilt and condemnation.
Still 1 continued to ask God for meioy and-plead,
.for pardon. Ou hearing of a death it would strike
ue it it had beeo.sied wopjd be banished forever
from the peaceful,presence of-God. Thousands of
otears have I shed in trying to ask God for mercy
•upon me a lost and ruined sinner. At times. 1„
would try to throw all such impressions and fears
away, but l.eould not. ‘When that light was seen
tin. the elements, last yeajyJ thought the world was
coming loan end and I was lost foiever. Condem
• nation retted heayijy upon me, and I felt to be
without a friend in earth or heaven. How God in
.justice could save wed -could ot see. <4 felt that
the day whs, near at hand that ! must be spurned
from. God’s presence. If over any poor soul did
honestly try to pray surely I did.. The very breath
>.ng of my soul was God be raeicifei to me or I
die. Lord save, I perishJ Every wrong that I
aver had done appeared like mountains
I thought if the .Xiord would only have .mercy on
jtne and. pardon, my.- si as that I twauld be ..willing to
.suffer anything that be saw fit to put upon-me.
:1 continued in this sad state until last Novem
ber, when one of my sisters went forward to the
church and told what great things she hoped .the
Lord had done for her poor soul. Poor me, I was
left behind and knew apt hat to,do. .There I sat
lamenting jaty-case while it was ..continually--sug
gested to me ‘\You .are-Lost and left behind.” As
.1 followed my sister to the water next morning the
..very breathings of my soul, almost ~very breath I
drew, was ‘‘God be merciful to roe.a sinner.” —
(Baptism was administered, and, it seemed to be the
juost lovely and beautiiuL&ight l -ever saw. Eld.
W. M. .Mitchell -preached .after returning to the
bouse, aim I thought that surely someone had told
him rny. condition* for every word seemed directed
to me.
-After - meeting, closed my mother went to him
and a>ked him to remember her and her
.and pray for them. He said he would try to do so,
and l heard it. It seemed to strike me to the heart.. I
felt like one alone, and there was no hope orxiorafof t
. for me. After going home in great distress I ag-ain
tried to throw all had feeliivgs off, but could not.
Every day ;I seemed to become worse and worse.
Oa Tuesday however, alter the meeting, it seemed
SOITII hitJN BAPTIST M is, 88isA<i BK.
that I should die, my burden was -so great-, l got
the Bible to see if 1 could any •comfort. 4 open
ed the book at the sth chapter of Matthew and
read it. My burden left tpe, but still 4 had nowiew
of Christ as rav Savior, .nor any thought that my
sins w* re forgiven for his sake. I retired to my
bed in peace of mind. Toe uext morning l arose
and every thing looked new and beautiful. I start
ed to the cowpen and began to sing—
“ Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sin,
S’-Ue Christian soul is here advised to obey her Lord
and^ing.”
I knew not how I got where I was. When I
come to my self‘l was praising God, and saying,
*f4hessed pre they that mourn iff or they shall be com
forted : glory to ■God in the‘highest:” I felt like
my cruel sins were gone andlE was free. My Sa
vior lived and dud for me. I did ihin*k I never
-should see any;,more trouble in rim world. This
pleasant and happy‘frame cif rainti, continued about
three hours, after which T began to ‘fear*l was de
ceived, and I prayed to God if'J was deceived tto
> undeceive me, and lead me in the t ight way. ‘My
mother asked me about tny condition a,ndT told
her. i also told brother gild sister Mays. They
advisedme togoto the chareli. i felt that'lvwant
ed to be baptised, but feared that I was deceived
and not a.pryper subject. However, 1 and my
brother, who is about 14 >ears old, went to the
church at Providence on Saturday before the 2nd
Sunday in December 4ast, and told what great
things we hoped lhe Y Lord had done for us. We
were teceiyed mi* fellowship, and the next day we
were both • baptwteu 1 by ‘Eld. W.’M. Mitchell. Tiuly
it was one of the most pleasant happy days to me
that jf ever saw. Though I still find a conflict
and warfare, T would do good evil is pres
ent with me, yet H have enjoyed myself imich
better than I ever did.
Lest I shojuld ..weary tfce of the reader,
I will come to a. close. -Bro. Beebe, do as you
you think be§t with jhis. ff desire the prayers
of alll the brethren and sisters.
May the Lord bless you all is my prayer for
Christ’* sake. SARAH C. PARKER.
Opelika, Ala., April 2, 1860.
JTo Allen Olover of Mississippi.
Dear Brother —1 will now try to attend to
your request in the 5 h No. of the Messenger, in
which you ask my views of Rev. iii. f7. ,LB. “Be
cause thou sayest, 1 am rich , and increased with
goods aud have need of nothing; and knuw.est.not
that thou art wretched and miserjabje, and poor,
and blind, and n.aked : .1 cuimsej thee to buy ot me
gold tii*d in the tire that thou mayest he rich,”
&c. These are the words of. Him who walked in
the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, even
Jesu* who wap dead and is alive again . forever
more. .They were spoken immediately to John,
and .he was specially commanded to write to the
“ Aug*d of the church of the Laodicean*.” The
term “ angel” here signifies a gospel minister who
was doubtless the pastor of that church. Tue thing*
which are written L view to be rather descriptive
of the condition of the church than of the angel or
minister. In the re/y introduction this view is
confirmed, wherein he says, “John to the seven
churches.” jEfe tells ;is also that when he was in
the Sp rit he was spoken to by the Alpha and
Omega with a great voice as of a trumpet, and
told to “ write what thou seest in a book ami send
it to ‘the -seven .churches which are in A*ia-” The
nunfber -seven 4s a .very important number in the
Scriptures, and generally signifies a full, complete
or perfect number. The seven spirits of God rep
resent the fullness and perfections of the whole
Godhead as .embraced in Christ who was in the
midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The seven
golden candlesticks are the seven churches,‘by
which the fullness of the whole gospel church is
represented, and the seven stars in the right band
of him who is Alpha and Omega, the Almighty,
represent, the Gospel ministry or all the gift*
Which are given for the work of the ministry, for
the perfecting of the saints and edifying the body
6f Okrist.
Tajking this brief.view ol the subject, we jriJl
further say, that if this-view, is correct, theo every
varied condition in ..which the gospel church may
be, in her militant or earthly .state, is represented
by the seven,churches ot Asia. There is no con
dition in which the church may he, whether of joy
=.and. effort, or of trial, sorrow, affliction, persecu
tion, strife or confusion, E>ut what there is soii)
portion oh-SeriptJiee immediately applicable to the
case and descriptive of it. Though ibe seven
represented by sevm golden candle
sticks, yet there is something against all of them
except two. .Tue whole chu.ch of God as regards
her standing in Christ is holy and without bhtrge
before God in love, she is clothed ia his righteous
ness, and is therefore without spot or wrinjrie Qr
any such thing, but as regards the .deportment, pf
her members there is often “somewhat against
them.” Hence as regards. the. condition of the
church at Laodicea, they were in a careless, indif
ferent and lukew.arju state, in a practical point jof
view, and the. Lord expresses his displeasure against
their course by saying, fßecapsethou artlokewarm,
and- neither .cold nor 1 hot, I wi,!J spue thee out of
my mouth:” -Olturcties.so,metises tihrtmgh their
•carnal minded ness an'd *4oQse,ness *f gospel order
and 4scipline lose their visibility as-churches, and
aie thereby-“spued out” like the inhabitants of the
land of-Canaan who had dtflied the - land with
their abominations, and therefore the laud “vom
ited them out. 4 ’ God’s chosen nation were specially
admonished to strictly observe the. commands of
ike*Lord, le t they also should be “spued out,” of
that pleasant land that flawed with inrlk and hon
e\. ‘Levit,.xviii.-25—28. ‘When a church for her
lukewarmness and carelessness in attending to tha
duties and privileges of a church is spued out like
Israel of old, they loose the sweets of the milk and
noney ol gospel order that is enjoyed by a church
where the ordinances of the gospel are faithfully
observed, the gospel faithfully proclaimed, and
wheie they live iu peace and fellowship one with
auolber. To is ia indeed a pleasant gospel land,
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