"Those holy gates forever barPollution, sin and shame:For none shall have admittance thereBut followers of the Lamb."
"Those holy gates forever barPollution, sin and shame:For none shall have admittance thereBut followers of the Lamb."
"Those holy gates forever bar
Pollution, sin and shame:
For none shall have admittance there
But followers of the Lamb."
All the descriptions and references to heaven found in the divine Word imply that it is a place and a state where the will of God is the supreme law of life. "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet." "Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne." As heaven is God's throne, his will is the universal law for all, and that law is love. I can think of no state so blessed and happy as that where every one of the "multitude which no man can number" "loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and his neighbor"—every one of the assembly—"as he loves himself." And from the Lord's Prayer it is to be inferred that his people on earth should aim at the same state of perfection.
Let us examine this for a moment. Notice the very first petition after the address: "Thy kingdom come." Is the significance of this petition to be limited merely to the introduction of the kingdom of heaven into places of this world where it has not yet been established? It includes this, of course; but is this all? I think not. Now the next petition: "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so upon earth." Whilst these two petitions have a general significance, they have a most personal application to the heart and life of every one offering them. We sometimes wonder why the Lord's Prayer is so short. It is so because the all of heaven, and the church on earth, is comprehended in doing the will of our Father who is in heaven as subjects of his kingdom. And the aim and end of Revealed Truth from Genesis to Revelation is to teach man how to acquire the power to do this, and how to do it, together with the promises of eternal rewards for doing it. And until our understandings are so filled with the knowledge of the glorious truths of God's kingdom, and our hearts with the love of doing his will that we can make no further progress in knowledge and wisdom, and no additions to the warmth and measure of our love by reason of oursinless perfection, we have daily need to offer this prayer.
Gospel and church ordinances are all important. In my view they hold a relation to every true Christian in the lines of example, power and use somewhat like that which the harness has to a draught horse. The horse has to be first trained to the draught by means of the harness; and when trained he draws by the same means. Entering the church in the Lord's appointed way—inwardly, through repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; outwardly, by a threefold immersion of the body in pure water, the beautiful emblem of truth, in token of our belief in the blessed trinity of God—is simply putting on the harness for work in the Lord's vineyard. It is also the act of putting on the Christian soldier's armor and entering the service. But of what use is a helmet, sword and shield to an idler in the camp? Of what account is harness, unless the horse that carries it is trained and made willing to use it?
The apostles all speak much ofcharity, which is love to others filled with a desire to do them good. This love is of God; for our Lord was filled with it as "he went about doing good." It is this same love or charity in God that has brought salvation to man. Paul and Peter often call itgrace, but it means the same thing. Moses and the prophets mostly use the wordmercy; but it also means the same. These three words,love, grace, mercy, in their true sense, are comprehended in the wordcharity, which, as an attribute of God or a conscious feeling in man, is the love of doing good in the desire to make others good and happy. Ifcharitywere made the life and spring of man's love universally, peace and happiness would be the universal order of man's life on earth. Millennial glory would crown humanity, and the knowledge of the Lord would be its princely attire. Then the wolf of worldly rapacity, having lost its power, would dwell with the lamb. The leopard of crouching deceit, having been deprived of its teeth and claws, would lie down with the kid. The young lion, tamed, but his courage and strength reserved by being regenerated, would feed with the calf; and the little child of innocent will and teachable understanding would lead them.
But "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." We can not know fully all the blessedness to be realized by doing the will of our Father in heaven. But this we may be assured of; it will prepare us for that higher life whose brightest glory and most exalted happiness is comprehended in the welcome that all such as do his will are sure to receive: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
After dinner Brother Joseph Arnold and Michael Lion come with me, over a very rough track, to Abraham Summerfield's, where we stay all night.
Tuesday, September 2. In the forenoon preach the funeral of old Mrs. Summerfield; and in connection with it that of the child of Washington Summerfield. In the afternoon we have meeting at old man Summerfield's on the Dry Fork of Cheat river. Washington Summerfield and his wife and soldier White's wife are baptized to-day. Stay all night at John Pennington's.
Wednesday, September 3. Dine at Widow Cooper's on the Alleghany mountain, and stay all night at Isaac Carr's on the North Fork.
Thursday, September 4. Meeting at Carr's. Come to Enoch Hyre's and stay all night.
Friday, September 5. Meeting at Hyre's. German W. Deadenborn is baptized to-day. Come to Sister Mary Judy's; stay all night.
Saturday, September 6. Meeting at Sister Judy's. Brother Thomas Lion is with me. Come to Peggy Dasher's; night meeting at Zion.
Sunday, September 7. Meeting at Henry Moyers's, in the Gap. In evening get home.
Thursday, September 11. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Decide the question as to what the churches here in the slaveholding States should require of any slaveowner desiring to come into the church. A very delicate matter to act upon in the present sensitive condition of public feeling on slavery. But it is the aim of the Brethren here not to offend popular feeling, so long as that feeling does not attempt any interference with what they regard and hold sacred as their line of Christian duty. Should such opposition arise, which I greatly fear will be the case at no distant day, it will then be seen that it is the fixed purpose and resolve of the Brotherhood to "obey God rather than men." It was decided in council that every slaveholder coming into the church must give up his or her slaves as property; and yet not turn them off houseless and homeless, but allow them to remain, and labor, and be fed and clothed as usual, until suitable and lawful provisions can be made for their complete emancipation.
Thursday, September 18. This day Brother Kline started on a journey up the Valley of Virginia, to the counties of Augusta, Rockbridge, Botetourt, Roanoke and Franklin. As usual, he was mounted on faithful Nell's back. The reader need not be surprised to be told what the writer heard Brother Kline tell about the somewhat remarkable sagacity of Nell. She not only had her favorite places to stop at, but she had her favorite roads to travel on. And it was not uncommon for her rider to be forced into a mild but resolute contention with her, when he wished to leave a road she had repeatedly traveled before.
Brother John Brower accompanied him from Augusta. Saturday, the twenty-eighth, they crossed the Natural Bridge and got to Sister Sarah Grabil's, where they met Brother Crumbaker. Sunday, the 21st, they attended a love feast at the Valley meetinghouse, and stayed all night at Brother Nininger's. Monday, the 22nd, they attended meeting again, and stayed all night at Brother Benjamin Moomaw's. Next day they dined at Brother Daniel Kiser's, and stayed all night at John Brubaker's in Roanoke County. On this trip they visited or stayed over night with Peter Crumbaker's, James Hayden's, Joseph Howard's, Joseph Weddell's, Christian Bowman's, Daniel Neff's, Abraham Flory's, Abraham Barnhart's, Jacob Miley's, Wendell Sites's, and Jacob Stover's. He got home Friday, October 10.
On this journey Brother Kline attended nine meetings for ordinary services, and six love feasts.
From this time on to the close of the year Brother Kline was actively employed either at home or abroad. He made one trip to Page County. He and Brother Solomon Garber took a journey through the counties of Pendleton, Randolph, Upshur, Highland, and returned through Augusta. They held eleven meetings in the eleven days they spent on this trip. Several were baptized; and they met with kind receptions everywhere they went.
Wednesday, December 31. This year I have traveled six thousand miles. May God forgive all I have said and done amiss, and accept to his own glory all that I have done well. Amen!
Saturday, January 17. A snowstorm sets in this evening.
Sunday, January 18. A terrific and very cold snowstorm has been raging all day and all last night. Thermometer down to zero all day.
Monday, January 19. Terrible snowstorm continues till evening. Snow considerably drifted; but probably enough snow on the ground if evenly distributed over its surface to make a depth of over two feet. Get through reading "The Prince of the House of David."
Monday, February 2. Very cold to-night. Thermometer ten degrees below zero.
Friday, February 5. A general thaw.
Saturday, February 6. Go to Broadway to see the river. Tremendous breaking up of the ice—tearing almost everything before it.
Saturday, April 4. Brother Jacob Wine and I attend a visit council meeting in Page County. Elections are also held. Brother Nathan Spitler is elected to preach the Word; and John Huffman is advanced to baptize and perform the ceremony of marriage. Gideon Toben is elected to the deaconship.
Saturday, April 18. Council meeting at the Flat Rock. Jacob Wine is ordained. John Neff is advanced to the second grade; and Abraham Neff is elected to preach the Word.
Sunday, April 26. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Romans 6 is read. Philip Emswiler and John Toppen and his wife are baptized by myself.
Wednesday, May 13. Go to John Lowry's to converse with him and his wife on the subject of religion.
Tuesday, May 19. Considerable snow to-day; but on low-lying sections of country it melts almost as fast as it falls.
Wednesday, May 20. The Blue Ridge, and the mountains on the west side of the valley are all white with snow.
Thursday, May 21. This morning the tops of the western mountains are still white with snow. The oldest weather records I have heard from contain no account of snow so late in the spring as this anywhere in Virginia.
Friday, May 22. Peter Fesler and wife are with us here at my home. We are all made to feel glad by their company.
Friday, June 5. Go to John Lowry's to discuss some of our doctrines with Jacob Stirewalt and Socrates Henkel, Lutheran preachers from New Market, Virginia. It was no part of my aim in this private talk with those preachers to work any change in their settled opinions regarding the subjects of our controversy. I long ago learned that the conversion of a theological sinner from the error of his ways is hardly to be hoped for in any case. When the truth is loved for its own sake it is not hard to find; and it is readily perceived when found. It is then the pearl of great price for which a man will sell all that he has to obtain it as his own. Luther was no doubt sincere in much that he taught: but men may be sincere in holding very erroneous dogmas, because of their being so deeply rooted in their minds and their minds being so confirmed in them that it would be almost like parting soul and body to give them up. It was said of Luther, by one of the later reformers, that he cut a large piece out of the Pope's pontifical robe as he left the Vatican, and kept it all his life as a sacred relic. This is of course highly figurative, and not to be understood literally; but to mean that he incorporated many papal errors in his subsequent teachings. My object in meeting these preachers at this place was to comply with the request of the family for me to do so. Friend Lowry and his wife did not appear to see the lines of truth and duty very clearly; and as they seemed desirous of learning the way I thought it important for some one to present the truth on one side, to oppose the error that was likely to be poured in from the other side. The whole thing reminded me of what I often do—give medicine to counteract disease.
Saturday, July 25. Visit, medically, George, and Noah Shoemaker's, Joseph Shoemaker's, William Miller's; and am hurriedly called to James Fitzwater's. He has been bitten by a copperhead snake. I succeed in relieving urgent symptoms; and by evening he is almost free from pain.
Saturday, August 1. Go to Orkney Springs.
Sunday, August 2. Have preaching at the hotel. My subject is "Righteousness, Temperance, and a Judgment to Come." My audience was composed of hearers from far and near; and almost all classes, as to intelligence and social standing, were represented. A man like myself, who only occasionally strikes such a crowd, hardly knows how to adapt himself to the situation. If he lets himself down to the comprehension of the illiterate, the highbred city folks may say: "He is beneath his calling." And if he lifts himself up to their standard of appreciation, the unlearned go away without being able to say amen to what they have heard. I decided, however, to follow the example of Paul before Felix and Drusilla. Hereasonedof righteousness,etc.
In the forty-fifth Psalm David says: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a scepter of righteousness. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness." A scepter is a kind of staff borne by kings as an emblem of their authority. It is a comfort to know that the scepter of Jehovah, as King of the universe, is a scepter of righteousness. We could never know that God is righteous, and that he loves righteousness, except by being told in his Word of Truth. This world does not give unequivocal testimony to the righteousness of God. The wicked bear rule, and the nations tremble. Evil often overcomes good, and wrong triumphs over right. Disease or accident lays the good man low in death; while the wicked near by is left to exult in the strength of his arm. I say it is comforting to know, in the midst of these apparent contradictory evidences of the just government of the world, that God is nevertheless righteous: and although iniquity largely bears rule and carries the day, God still hates wickedness. God does not acquiesce in the injustice and wrong that is being perpetrated in the world. He merely permits it; and he permits it for the reason that he can not arrest and put an end to it without destroying man's freedom. Man is free as to his will and understanding—free to believe what is false and to do what is wrong. But he is just as free to believe what is true and to will what is good. This freedom is what makes him capable of being reformed and saved.
It is self-evident that righteousness, which is right doing from right willing, is the basis of all true order and happiness in earth and heaven. "God is love," and he therefore loves righteousness because it is good, and hates wickedness because it is evil. But man has fallen from his primeval state of righteousness, and therefore he is not in a condition of mind and heart fit for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, nor capable of enjoying the divine presence in the society of the pure and good. Righteousness and holiness are related to each other very much as the fruit is related to the tree that bears it. Holiness corresponds with the sap, fiber, life and whatever else makes the tree good; and righteousness corresponds with the fruit the good tree bears; and "without holiness no man shall see the Lord."
But probably no subject in the line of human thought has given rise to so many different opinions as the subject of how righteousness is to be attained. The Jewish leaders and representatives in our Lord's day upon earth were very exact in their outward lives. They kept clean theoutsideof the cup and of the platter. Their external conduct was ordered to a rigid conformity to divine law. They endeavored to establish a righteousness of their own; and to all human appearance they succeeded; for the Lord himself said to them: "Ye make clean theoutside"—as vessels may appear cleanexternally. He also compared them to beautiful monuments of marble sculptured after the highest style of art and polished to shining perfection, set up over the dead. But of this very class of men he said: "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven." This proves that the righteousness which they had was not the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.
Self-respect, or self-love, inclines almost every one, except the very abandoned, to make a show of righteousness; that is, they want others to think they are living right lives. No man who holds himself up to respectability is willing to be called a thief, or a liar, or an adulterer, or any other thing that is vile. He may be any or all of these, yet he is not willing that it should be known, or even suspected. Evenhedesires to make a fair show in the flesh.
Others, again, who make no profession of religion, but who yet believe in a supreme God and a future state of existence, desire to be righteous before God and man. They are not like the scribes and Pharisees, who attached virtue and merit to their rigid observance of the ceremonial law of ordinances in their religion. These that I now speak of are simply good moral men, who are honest in their dealings and careful of the conduct of their lives generally. These do not really desire to make any display of their righteousness. They wish rather to be esteemed for their real worth; and not for any fancied or spurious excellencies. They desire to liveabovethe just reproaches of men, and the condemnation of God. They persuade themselves to think that their righteousness is all that God can require.
But the most numerous of all the classes that seek after righteousness is composed of those who trust in the righteousness of faith. Righteousness or justification by faith was the password of the Reformation. Martin Luther, misapplying Paul's utterance that "a man is justified or made righteous by faith without the deeds of the law," set a large part of Europe going with the impression that salvation, in the highest sense, is attainable on the easy terms of merely assenting to the statement that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Many passages can be adduced from the epistolary writings in plausible support of this theory of salvation. Although it is incomprehensible how the righteousness of Christ can be applied to each individual sinner on the bare ground of his merely giving assent to the doctrine of the atonement through the merit of Christ's death upon the cross, still it is the leading dogma of what is popularly called orthodoxy. But I must confess before all present this day that I have "not so learned Christ," nor Paul either. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom, but he thatdoeththe will of my Father which is in heaven." At the close of his sermon on the Mount, in which is given all necessary instruction and encouragement for living a righteous life from holy love in the heart, the Lord Jesus says: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine anddoeththem, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon a rock." And he said to Peter: "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The rock is the greattruththat Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This truth involves every good affection and thought and work of man. It takes in and requires obedience to every divine command, and compliance with every divine precept. When any one complies with these conditions of salvation through the faith that sees and knows that God's Word is true because it is understood and must be so, he is righteous in the sight of the Lord, and necessarily in a state of salvation. He is then to "let his light shine before men, that others seeing hisgood worksmay glorify our Father in heaven."
For want of time I must pass over the subject oftemperance, to say something about "a judgment to come." And right here there are all sorts of ideas and conjectures. But of all the subjects in the universe, that involving the judgment is the most momentous to man; because it is there that his eternal destiny will be disclosed to him, as to whether he shall be an angel of heaven or a demon in hell. And we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. It is not to be wondered at that Felix trembled under the weight of this great truth. God's Word will be the basis of judgment. Says our Lord: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day." As "man liveth by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," so does every word of his truth point to that great day for which all other days were made. All the parables and miracles of our Lord, full of instruction as to heart and life, point, like so many guideposts, to this great central truth of man's experience and existence.
But, friends, let us imbibe no erroneous views and impressions regarding the judgment to come. Let us not regard it as being an occasion for the display of God's wrath; but let us rather look upon it as the sublimest manifestation of his love. Draw a comparison here. Good human laws are not a terror to the good. A jury is impaneled. A criminal is arraigned before it. Testimony is received and evidence drawn from it respecting the innocence or guilt of the accused. The balance of testimony is altogether in his favor. He is acquitted. That trial is a joy to that criminal, because it sets him right as to character before the world. But suppose he is found guilty. Is it a joy then? It is not. It is a grief. Why? Because his sin has found him out. His real character is laid bare. But in their consignment of him to the punishment prescribed by law, do the jury and the judge act from wrath? They do not, but from a love of good will to all. The law that condemns may have the appearance of wrath to the condemned; but never to the innocent.
Judgment and reward will be according to works, and never according to professions of faith, except where the professions are genuine, and lead to good works from the love of doing good. I have met with some who have manifested dread in contemplating the majesty of that great day, the day of "a judgment to come." I feel warranted in making the assertion that no one whose purpose in life is to do the will of our Father in heaven has any just ground whatever to dread the coming of that day. Justice never condemns the innocent. Just and wise laws are never a terror to the good, and such are all the laws of God. In the book of Revelation we read of those "who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, saying: Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." These all exulted in the prospect of a judgment to come, because they had gotten the victory over the adversary of their souls and were ready for trial before the King of saints whose ways are alljustandtrue. I once read of a criminal who was deeply distressed at the near approach of his trial. A friend endeavored to soothe his agitated feelings by telling him that justice would be done him, and that he consequently had no cause for fear. But the criminal was honest enough to confess to his friend thatjusticewas the very thing he was afraid of. I have no doubt that this very same fear was what made Felix tremble before Paul.
The Son of man, on the judgment seat, will be the very same in every particular that he is now on the mercy seat. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forevermore." "The heavens shall depart as a scroll; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up; but thou art the same." By viewing him now as he is on the mercy seat we may see what he will be on the judgment seat. The trembling waters of Galilee became a pavement under his feet, and his disciples were thrown into consternation by this miraculous approach of the Lord. But he instantly dispelled their fears by the assurance: "It is I;be not afraid." Peter, James and John on the holy mount feared as they entered the cloud and saw his glory; but he most tenderly said to them: "Fear not." John, on the isle of Patmos, beholding the glory of his unveiled face, "fell at his feet as dead." But he laid his right hand upon him and said: "Fear not. I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold! I am alive forevermore."
These thoughts lead to the further consideration that there will be no arbitrary or despotic power exercised in "the judgment to come." "My words shall judge you in the last day" is given by our Lord as the standard of judgment. Is there one here who desires to know how he will bear the searching ordeal of that day? If there is, let me say to such a one, you can decide that question here in this world for yourself. You have the Lord's word for this. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life,and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life." To hear is to hearken, and to hearken is to obey, from a right faith in God. If you believe that this book which I hold in my hand, called the Bible, is the revealed truth of God, and from the heart are willing to obey its precepts under a sense of love and duty to do the will of your Father in heaven therein revealed, and continue faithful unto death, you have the assurance therein given that the judgment to come will be a day of triumphant joy to your soul. But if you come short of this you can have no such assurance: and I am compelled to repeat in your ears these terrific words of an apostle: "If we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversary." To sin willfully is to refuse to do what we know to be the will of God our Father in heaven.
I said awhile ago that judgment and reward will be according to works. Let us now turn to some of the proofs in confirmation of this assertion. They drop from the lips of our Lord without the least show of any design in him toestablisha great principle. The principle had been established as an element of divine order before the Son of man came into the world. It is a truth so simple that even little children comprehend it. If a little child that has been taught any correct ideas about salvation and heaven be asked a question like this: "Who go to heaven?" it will at once answer with childlike simplicity: "Good people go to heaven." If further interrogated as to who good people are, it will say: "People who love one another and do good." It is a truth intuitively known that good people are saved and happy, and bad people lost and miserable.
"This is the judgment, that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, becausetheir deeds were evil. Every one that doeth evil hateth the light ... lesthis deedsshould be reproved. But he whodoeth truthcometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, becausethey are wrought in God. If ye know these things,happy are ye if ye do them. He that hath my commandmentsand doeth them, he it is that loveth me ... and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him; ... and will come to him, and make my abode with him. He that loveth me notkeepeth not my words. Ye are my friends,if ye do whatsoever I command you.... I have chosen you, ... that ye should bring forth fruit,and that your fruit should remain." I must drop a word of comment upon this last quotation. By fruit remaining it is to be understood that it goes with the child of God through the judgment into heaven, and remains to eternity. In Revelation we read these words: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;and their works do follow with them. A book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged according to those things which were written in the book,every one according to their works."
I might continue this multiplication of scripture passages to a much greater number, but time forbids. Every passage I have quoted bears either directly or indirectly upon the judgment to come. It remains a thing of choice with every intelligent human being, whether he will be prepared to face the shining judgment throne with joy, or quail before it in terror. The Lord says to all: "Seek ye my face." What a blessed response it would be for each one to answer as did the young Prophet Samuel: "Thy face, Lord, will I seek."
Tuesday, August 18. Brother Kline and Jacob Wine have night meeting at Nimrod Judy's, in Hardy County. The conversion of Saul is their subject. Acts 9.
Wednesday, August 19. They have meeting at John Judy's on South Mill Creek.Text.—"God is a Spirit." John 4:24. They speak on the spiritual nature of true worship, and prove that ordinances in connection with all the externals of worship, to be acceptable to God, must be but the outward evidences of internal realities. They stay all night at John Judy's.
Thursday, August 20. This day they have two meetings: forenoon at Isaac Judy's; afternoon at Michael Mallow's. Stay at Adam Mallow's.
Friday, August 21. Two meetings to-day. Forenoon at Bethel church—dine at Peter Warnstaff's; afternoon at Warnstaff's tanyard. Stay at John Davis's in Hardy.
Saturday, August 22. Meeting at Zion church on the South Fork. In the afternoon cross the Shenandoah mountain into Brock's Gap.
Sunday, August 23. Meeting at Keplinger's chapel, where they meet Benjamin Bowman and Solomon Garber. A joyful surprise. Brother Benjamin Bowman speaks from Luke 8. He speaks mostly from these words of the eighteenth verse: "Take heed how ye hear." From the outlines I gather that he followed very closely the lines of thought here briefly expressed.
He said: Hearing may be that of mere sound. Brutes hear in this way. A horse, near the stand, may hear a sermon, but it will be that of mere sound to him. I have known ofpeoplehearing somewhat after the same manner. They can tell nothing, and seem to remember nothing of what they have heard. Some hear to criticise the preacher's style of expression, including his language, modulation of his voice, and gestures. Others hear as the Pharisees and Herodians tried to hear Christ, "that they might catch him in his talk;" and like the scribes and Pharisees, "laying in wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth" with which to accuse him. But these are not the only profitless hearings which the God-loving and soul-loving minister of the Gospel has to mourn over. The lives of someprovethat they hear mainly from a desire to make others think that they have great respect for religion and the Word of God. They go to church and hear, but heed nothing. "By their fruits shall yeknowthem." If people were rightly to obey the injunction of my text, all such heedless and profitless hearing would be at an end.
But how is the injunction of the text to be obeyed? And how is one to know when he is obeying it? The command means that the hearer shalltake heed. This means "watch." What must he watch? "How he hears." The text has relation, not towhatye hear, buthowye hear. It does not point to the subject matter or the manner of the address, but to the endforwhich and to the spiritinwhich it is heard. If the heartfelt desire of the hearer is to learn truth, that he may be enlightened and given to see the way of eternal life, he may feel assured that his hearing is acceptable to God. He will then not be a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, and such a one shall be blessed in his deed.
It is enjoined upon all to hearintelligently, for this belongs to themannerof hearing. No one can hear a sermon understandingly without some previous knowledge of the subject matter of the discourse. To acquire this knowledge every one should read and study the Word of Divine Truth. It is able to make all "wise unto salvation." Intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures can be acquired only by patient study of them: but when they are studied to the illumination of the understanding, the truth, like water in a well, rises up into the understanding and meets you. We sometimes hear it said of one who listens attentively and intelligently, "He seemed to drink in every word spoken." This, I think, is what the Lord means by these words to the woman at the well: "He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but he that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." To hear the truth attentively and understandingly is to drink it in, as we drink water when we are thirsty.
What I have said, however important it may be to know, does not cover the entire ground comprehended in the text. I must show you another element which must exist in themannerof all right hearing. That element isdiscrimination. Without this, how is the hearer to know whether the truth or its opposite is being preached? The comparison may lack adaptability in some of its points, but I have heard it said that some hearers are like young birds in their nest, ready to swallow down anything put into their mouths. Such as hear in this way lackdiscrimination; that is, they do not discern the difference between what is true and what is false. This is particularly the case with such as have been trained to regard what their own denominational ministers preach as being the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I am aware that some may just now be saying in their minds: "You Dunkard people are the very ones to whom your words most justly apply; for I know of no people who take so great pains to instil this very belief into the minds of the young as you do." I can truthfully say that such charges are not strange to me. But with all due respect for such as differ from us in religious faith and practice, I do say that we, as a denomination of Christian brethren, acknowledging no teacher but Christ, no authority but his Word, have no will, wish or desire to lead the truth and thus pervert, ignore or misapply any part of it; but our will, wish and desire is to be led by the truth. And I do not in my heart believe there is one member of our Brotherhood who would desire to instill into the mind of his or her child any belief or practice not sustained by a plain "thus saith the Lord." In this very way the power ofdiscriminationis developed in the minds of our young people, so that when they hear or read they do not question whether this or that that they hear or read has for its authority the Methodist Discipline, the Episcopal Prayer Book, or Lutheran Catechism; but they at once perceive that it either has or has not the sanction of God's Word. We are taught that in a spiritual sense no one is to be called rabbi. "Be not ye called rabbi; for One is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth; for one is your Father in heaven." How the mind might expatiate here in making historic disclosures of the times and ways in which this plain command of our Lord has been violated! Hearing the Word preached, and the hearer not able to discern truth from falsehood, has given to priestcraft nearly all of its power; because priestcraft, unsupported by the common people, could never have risen into power. If the common people had been wise enough to take heedhowthey hear, they never would have suffered themselves to be imposed upon as they have been.
I now take up the last but not the least element in themannerof hearing. That element issincerity; which I define to be a heartfelt love for the truth. Paul puts it "Receiving the truth in the love of it." The person who hears the truth lightly, thoughtlessly, carelessly is not instructed by it. The same is true of one who hears with prejudice against the truth. He refuses to be instructed, because he does not love the truth he hears. Let me use an illustration here. Two men once happened to meet at my house, one a Presbyterian and the other a member of no church. After dinner the subject of feet-washing was broached. After we had all talked awhile about it one of the men asked me whereabouts in the Bible it was to be found. I turned to the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel, and he then asked me to read it aloud. I did so. These two men listened attentively, so, at least, they appeared to me. The Presbyterian friend very modestly gave it as his opinion that the command is fully met by acts of hospitality, and referred to the reception which Abraham gave the three angels who came to his tent as proof of the correctness of his conclusion. Very little more was said about it at that time. The two men, soon after, went away together; and I had little or no conversation with either of them for probably nearly a year afterward. But it so turned out that the one who was not a professor of religion came to my house again, and showed a desire to talk on the subject of feet-washing. I was ready to answer such questions as he proposed; and he very soon expressed a wish to know if I remembered having once read the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel to him when on a call at my house. I told him I did remember it. "Your reading of that chapter," said he, "struck my mind with so much force that I could not rid myself of the impression it made. I never, until then, knew there was anything so plain in the Scriptures, and so easy to understand. I had always thought the Bible was a book of dark sayings, unintelligible to any but the learned; and even in their hands doubtful as to its true interpretation. Since then I have been reading it, especially the New Testament part of it, and find so much that I can understand that I begin to love it." I have only to add that this man soon applied for membership in our church, was baptized, and manifested enthusiastic delight in obeying the command, "So ought ye also to wash one another's feet," at the first love feast he ever attended.
In connection with the case I have just described, the two men spoken of heard with different ears. The ear of the first was so modified by previous indoctrinations that it could almost shut itself in and become deaf or callous when the plain truth was read: the ear of the last was open to take in the truth; and the mind, being free from prejudice, received the truth from the love of it. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The Lord includes all such hearers as the one I have just described, in the promised blessing.
"Take heedhowye hear." In speaking on this text so much comes before my mind that it is difficult for me to stop. I must say something to the unconverted sinner. The Lord says to you: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This means that you should turn away from your sins and enter the kingdom of heaven. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy upon him; and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon." And Jesus says: "Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." To come unto the Lord is to hear his Word with full purpose of heart to understand it, see its truth, believe it and obey it. I beg every unconverted person in this house to ask himself just now: "How do I hear what the preacher has just now said? Do I hear it with a thoughtless, careless ear? If I do, what is to become of me? Can I bear to hear the voice from the judgment throne say: 'Depart, ye workers of iniquity, into everlasting fire'? Would I not better 'seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near'?" O, that all might hear aright, repent and live, for with the Lord there is plenteous redemption; and he is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him.
Sunday, September 6. Meeting at Turner's schoolhouse. William Miller and wife, and Andrew Lamb's wife are baptized.
Thursday, September 24. This day finds Brother Kline and Solomon Garber in Randolph County, Virginia, nearly one hundred miles from home, holding a meeting. Both have come on horseback. They hold a council meeting with the Brethren assembled. Joseph Houser is elected to the deaconship. After meeting Brother Solomon Garber baptizes Mrs. Houser and Diana Bainbridge.
Saturday, September 26. They have meeting in meetinghouse near Josiah Simon's. Matt. 5:13 is the text. Brother Solomon Garber spoke first; and the Diary notes are so suggestive of original thought that I give them in a somewhat expanded form.Text.—"Ye are the salt of the earth."
Jesus spoke by parables: and we are told that without a parable spoke he not. My text is a parable. But what is a parable? A parable is a way of teaching in which natural objects are used to represent or symbolize spiritual realities. It is a way of comparing natural things with spiritual things. This way of teaching is based upon the correspondence existing between natural things and spiritual or heavenly things. Thus: a natural birth corresponds to a spiritual birth; natural water, to spiritual water, which is divine or heavenly truth. Wind, which is air in motion, corresponds to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Now notice, Jesus said to Nicodemus: "If I have told you earthly things, and you believe or understand not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" Nicodemus could not understand how earthly things could symbolize or represent spiritual things. Hence he asked: "How can these things be?"
I have tried to find out as nearly as possible what the wordsaltis used to represent, as found in my text. I have searched many books for this one thing alone. But after all my investigations I am compelled to rely upon my own judgment, and decide the matter for myself. I notice, however, that salt is often spoken of in the Bible. All the priestly offerings had to be salted with salt. There must, then, be a high and holy significance in its use in this way.
Elisha succeeded Elijah in the prophetic office. Elijah had been carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire, and Elisha had just returned from the scene and sight of his master's glorification, and was at the city of Jericho. And the men of the city said unto Elisha: "Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, ... but the water is naught"—worthless, not fit to drink. And Elisha "went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters." To my mind these bitter waters of Jericho symbolize the truths of God's Word, as these truths appear to the mind and affect the taste of the unconverted man. Read the Bible to the man who has no relish, no love for its truth. Is it not to his soul like the waters of Jericho—"naught," or nothing? These men of Jericho are all around us, and you may find opportunities to prove what I have said. I have repeatedly tried it. I have read chapter after chapter of the divine Word to unconverted men, sometimes to my own work hands who I knew cared nothing for religion, and whilst they would not tell me to my face that they cared nothing for it, I could find out by others, and by their own after lives that what they heard was to their souls as the waters of Jericho were to the men of that city. But when the salt of pure love for the Lord, and the desire to leave off and forsake all sinful indulgences and worldly pleasures by leading a new life in doing the Lord's will, enters a man the Word becomes sweet and precious to his soul.The waters are healed, because the man is healed.
The twelve disciples, particularly, were, at the time our Lord spoke the words of my text, the very embodiment of all the virtues of heart and life which make the Word of the Lord sweet to the soul. To such these beautiful words in the Song of Solomon apply: "He brought me to the banqueting house: he stayed me with flagons of wine: he comforted me with apples: his banner over me was love: yea, andhis fruitwas sweet to my taste."
Now, to bring my text to something like a practical head, I must say to every unconverted soul here: You must put the salt into the water of God's Word for yourself. If you look to the Lord, and ask him to give you eyes that you may see, and ears that you may hear, and a heart that you may understand, you will also receive all the salt you need to heal the Word and make it healing to your soul. But if you neglect and despise or reject the offers of God's love, the very thing that he has prepared for your eternal joy will be everlasting bitterness to your soul. For one to know his duty and not at the same time do it exposes him to the danger of being converted into a pillar of bitter salt as Lot's wife was. She could not give up her love for the world. She knew that she must not look back with longings for the Sodom of the sinful life she had left; but she did look back, and her awful fate is brought to mind by our Lord as a warning to all: "Remember Lot's wife."
By the words of my text, then, the Lord meant that the disciples represented the charity and faith that sweeten and give to every word of Divine Truth a gracious reception into the heart and life. In this happy love the Christian sings of the Word of Life in the beautiful sentiment of an old hymn: