"One by one, we cross the River;One by one, we're ferried o'er;One by one, the crowns are givenOn the bright, celestial shore."
"One by one, we cross the River;One by one, we're ferried o'er;One by one, the crowns are givenOn the bright, celestial shore."
"One by one, we cross the River;
One by one, we're ferried o'er;
One by one, the crowns are given
On the bright, celestial shore."
Sermon by Elder John Kline.
Preached at the Old Brick Meetinghouse, Augusta County, Virginia,Sunday, April 24.
Text.—Lest there be any ... profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.—Heb. 12:16, 17.
Esau and Jacob were twin sons of Isaac. But Esau was born first; and this, according to the law of primogeniture in that day, gave him special privileges, among which was the right on his part to a double portion of the heritage to be received from the father.
This right Jacob treacherously bought of his brother Esau. Rebekah, their mother, was favorable to the contract, and laid the plan for its successful completion. Esau had been unsuccessful in his pursuit of game, and soon found himself in a famishing condition. Jacob took advantage of this, and proposed to purchase the birthright. He said to Esau: "Sell me this day thy birthright." And Esau said: "Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" And he sold his birthright to Jacob. "Then Jacob gave Esau bread and a mess of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright."
Esau is here regarded as a profane or wicked person, because he did not more highly esteem the blessing to which he was born. Paul refers to this fact, to teach us that it is our duty, as the regenerated or "firstborn" children of God, to place a very high value upon our relation to him conferred by this birth.
"Esau found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." This means that all his sorrow or regret for the foolish bargain he had made would not and could not place him back where he was before. The blessing of his father had been given to another past all possibility of calling it back. I do not, and can not, however, as some do, apply this to the sin against the Holy Ghost. The blessing of Jacob was all external. It comprehended only earthly things. I will read it, so that you may hear it: "God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee; and blessed be he that blesseth thee." There is nothing in all this giving Jacob any claim to special favor from God, beyond that of mere earthly good. Neither does the sale of the birthright exclude Esau from any higher claim. He did not sell his right to serve the Lord, and thus inherit a heavenly blessing.
The people of God sometimes do things in the way of sin that cause them deep distress. At the same time they do not shut themselves irrevocably out of heaven, because repentance and reformation of life will reinstate them into the divine favor, and place them back into the good way again. But such may lose much, both in the church and the world by the misstep. After the sin of adultery, for example, has been fairly proved against a brother or sister, he can hardly reinstate himself fully into his former standing either in the church or in society at large. Thus is he like Esau. He has sold his birthright; yet still the Lord is ready, with outstretched arms, to receive him the moment he resolves to return, just as the loving father received his prodigal son. Thus it is with many other sins. They leave a sting in the heart which may rankle and fester a long time; and a stigma in the character which may never, in this world, be entirely wiped out.
In regard to the relation of Esau and Jacob, one more thought presses upon my mind, and I will give it utterance. In Jehovah's prophecy to Rebekah before the birth of the children, these words from his own lips were spoken: "The elder shall serve the younger." And in the prophecy of Malachi, the Lord Jehovah is represented by the prophet as saying: "I loved Jacob; I hated Esau." Paul to the Romans quotes both these passages.
The Bible reader justly enquires: "Why this opposition to Esau and this favor to Jacob, when the children, as yet unborn, had done neither good nor evil?" Paul says it was: "That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." Brethren, I do sincerely believe that right here we find the key to many obscure passages in Paul's writings on the subject of election and predestination. God can do nothing without means. Ends as surely imply means as effects imply causes. Esau and Jacob are the Lord's chosen, elected, predestinated means of teaching his people a lesson of instruction that covers the whole ground of every Christian's state and experience from the alpha to the omega.
Every true child of God possesses two distinct natures. A knowledge of this wonderful truth lies within the range of every one's experience. But it is equally confirmed by divine revelation. Paul calls the one nature or consciousness theoutward man, and the other theinward man. The one bears the image of the first Adam, and is of "the earth earthy;" the other bears the image of the last Adam who is the Lord, "and is heavenly." Esau represents the first; and, as such, he can not inherit the heavenly birthright, because he is carnal, and "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven."
As the antitype of this great truth which underlies the scheme of redemption, God could not but "hate Esau," because "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but are of the world." "But Jacob he loved," because Jacob is the child "born of God" in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, "the inner man," which after God, is "created in righteousness and true holiness." "The elder shall serve the younger." This means that "the natural body" must be brought under subjection and serve "the spiritual body." For "there is a natural body" first born, and "there is a spiritual body" last born.
In another place Paul uses lofty terms to designate these two. He there calls the one "the earthly house of this tabernacle," which must perish; the other "a building of God, a house not made with hands"—God's hands—"eternal in the heavens." The reason why he says "in the heavens" is because it is in the light of heaven; just as he says in another place, "We have been made to sit together in heavenly places," by which he correlatively means just the same that we mean when we say we sit in the sun, meaning that we sit where the light of the sun shines upon us.
Now, Brethren beloved, I have been very brief on a subject that might be profitably expanded into a volume. I hope that I have given you points by which you may take the subject and think upon it for yourselves; and thus add faith to faith, and knowledge to knowledge. May God add his blessing to what I have said, that it may prove to be strength in much weakness.
During the interval between the twenty-fourth and the twenty-eighth, Brother Kline visited many Brethren in Augusta County, Virginia.
Thursday, April 28, he attended a love feast at the brick meetinghouse. Of this he says: "The afternoon meeting was well attended. The second chapter of Peter's first letter was read. Much good instruction for self-examination was given, both in German and English, from the general scope of the chapter. I made a few remarks on the middle clause in the seventeenth verse: 'Love the brotherhood.'
"I fear we do not speak and exhort one another as plainly and warmly as we should on this most essential part of every true believer's experience and life. What keeps us a united and happy people?Love of the Brotherhood.What keeps us from quarreling with one another, from slandering and defrauding one another?Love of the Brotherhood.What keeps alive our sympathies for each other in times of distress and in seasons of sorrow?Love of the Brotherhood.
"This is the golden chain that binds us together on earth, and will forever bind us together in heaven. As the rain first comes from the sea, and after refreshing and beautifying the land goes back to the sea again, so it is through us, Brethren, that the love we receive from Christ here will be made perfect and return to him there. Oh, Brethren, 'let us not love in word only, but in deed and in truth.'"
Wednesday, May 4. Peter Nead and Daniel Garber started to the Annual Meeting.
Sunday, May 22. Meeting at the Linville's Creek meetinghouse. Brother Kline spoke briefly on Acts 2. He said: "As this is the traditional day on which the Holy Spirit was poured out in a miraculous way, so that the whole house wherein the apostles and brethren were sitting was filled with his presence, so that they were all baptized in the Holy Spirit and in the heavenly fire, we think it good to meditate and speak upon these things.
"It may be that we err by believing that each apostle was endowed with the gift of all the tongues here enumerated. It would be natural, I think, for those who spoke the same tongue to sit or stand together in companies. We may, even at the present day, see examples and instances of this in large cities and public places. Here we see a group of Germans. There, a company of Swedes, or Dutch, or Italians. People of the same nationality as naturally seek for each other as birds seek for their own kind.
"The order appears beautiful to our minds in the light of this interpretation. Each apostle was gifted by the Spirit to speak inonetongue at least. If we go to the pains to count, we will find there were nearly as many apostles as nationalities represented. In this way all could speak at the same time; each one to his own group or class of hearers, in gentle tones of voice; and all in the house hear at leastonespeak in the tongue in which he was born. This interpretation relieves the mind of the apparent confusion which seems to have pervaded that assembly, from a mere cursory reading of the account given of it in the second chapter of the Acts.
"I pray God, that our dear Brethren in Yearly Meeting to-day and to its close may all, like the apostles, be of one mind and speak the same thing."
Sunday, June 5. Meeting at the Dry Fork. Brother Kline made a few remarks upon Eph. 5:14, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
"We called upon the drowsy, sleeping sinner to arise from his deadness and indifference, pointing him to the promise that Christ would shine upon him and give him the light of life. Whilst speaking on this subject to-day, I related what was said to be a well authenticated fact which I lately read.
"An Indian, one evening, tied his canoe fast to a tree not far above the falls of Niagara. Feeling that all was secure, he lay down in his canoe and went to sleep. Just about the break of day the fastening from some cause got loose. Very probably the cord was untied by some mischievous person. The Indian continued to sleep. Noiselessly the canoe glided down the stream, nearer and yet nearer the awful brink, softly rocking its sleeping victim to destruction. Just before the frightful leap, roused by the thunder of the cataract, the poor Indian awoke, only in time to see himself hurled into eternity.
"O, how many unconverted men and women are borne down upon the stream of time, unconcerned, thoughtless, careless of the doom that so surely awaits them!"
Sermon by Elder Daniel Miller (German).
At Lost River Meetinghouse, West Virginia,Sunday, July 3.
Text.—But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.—John 1:12, 13.
This Scripture has a very deep meaning; and it should be well understood, since the power in us to become children or sons of God depends on the nature of our birth. If this be in any other nature than that of God, it is like counterfeit money; it may look to be all right, and pass current for a while, but it will not bear the test of a rigid scrutiny.
Some are born ofblood. Such may be those who adhere to a certain church, and hold certain articles of faith without examining the Word, because their father and mother and otherbloodrelatives held the same, lived and died in that faith, and lie buried in the churchyard where they worshiped.
Some are born ofthe will of the flesh. Such may be those who make a profession of religion; but because they cannot have their own way in everything, and take thelusts of the fleshwith them under the cloak of a Christian profession, they either forsake the people of God entirely or else never come into their number.
Some are born of thewill of man. Such may be those who suffer themselves to be influenced by others; coaxed, persuaded, nor even induced by the promise of reward, to join a certain church and worship in a certain way, because it is fashionable and in good style.
Someare born of God. Such are those who out of an honest heart bring forth the fruit of the Spirit unto perfection.
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, shows the striking contrast between the fruit of man's fleshly, sensual or animal nature and that of his spiritual or renewed nature. The first he callsthe flesh; the last,the spirit. Man's spirit is what is born again. In one place he designates the new birth as "being renewed in thespiritof the mind." In another place as "dead to the world, but alive unto God." The prayer of such is: "Lord, what wouldstthouhave me to do?" Finding a clear answer to this prayer in the Word of Truth, they are willing to follow its leadings. They descend into the baptismal wave "for the remission of sins." They go into the house of God and are not above stooping to wash one another's feet. They eat the Lord's Supper. They commune with him in the emblems of his broken body and shed blood. They continue to walk as nearly as they can in all the commands and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
The difference between the present and future state of the man who lives after the flesh and that of the man who lives after the spirit is very sharply marked in many places in Paul's writings, in words that cannot be easily misunderstood. He uses such language as this: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds [lusts] of the body, ye shall live." "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." "He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God,"—which is the new birth,—"is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
All these quotations are in perfect accord with our Lord's closing words to the Sermon on the Mount: "Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: ... and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
I do not think it is very hard for any one to tell the kind of birth he is of. As an individual can tell by looking in a glass, if in no other way, whether he is black or white, so the professor of religion, by turning to the Gospel Mirror, can see what kind of a birth he is of.
I sometimes feel sorry when I think that a child has no control over its own natural birth. If it is born black and into slavery, poor little thing, there it has to remain for life, and bear and suffer all the evils incident to its color and condition. If one is born with natural deformities which baffle all surgical skill; or with blindness or deafness past all remedy; we can but pity and weep. True, our sympathies are aroused, and but for such objects probably the very purest and noblest springs in our nature would remain forever sealed with ice.
But, thanks to our God, no such unalterable conditions ever attend man's spiritual birth. He himself is a party to the covenant under which every spiritual birth is effected from conception to parturition. God is one party; and man, in whom the new spiritual birth is to be effected, is the other party. This I speak in respect to the divine, heavenly birth. Men are the parties on both sides in all the other births spoken of in the text. God has nothing to do with them.
The Jews were nearly all born after these ways. Most of them seem to have been "born of blood." "We have Abraham to our father." Some were born of the "will of the flesh," for when the Lord told them the truth "they took up stones to stone him." These were included among those to whom he said: "Ye are of your father the devil." The will of the flesh and the will of the devil in spiritual things is one and the same. Some among them seem to have been "born of the will of man." There may have been a good many of this class. When the Lord was teaching in Jerusalem many asked the question; "Have any of the rulers believed on him?" Such were the children of the rulers, born of their will.
One fact is true of all these births; no matter how black, or deformed, or blind, or deaf, all these were spiritually, they were all born just as they wished to be; and all chose, with comparatively few exceptions, to remain in the state in which they were born. On the day of the crucifixion spirits from all classes of births culminated in the cry: "His blood be on us and our children."
I hope what I have said may awaken some thought in the mind of each hearer, as to the state of his own heart. Do I love the Lord my God with all my heart, and my brother as I love myself? Do I show this love in my dealings with him, and in my daily conduct towards him? Do I show my love to the Lord by walking continually in his ways? Enoch walked with him thus for three hundred years. Am I careful to follow his example during thefewyears allotted me here? If I do not love my brother and find delight in his company here, how can I be happy with him in heaven? If I do not love the Lord here, in whose love alone there is bliss, what will heaven be to me?
No wonder the doom of the hypocrite is so fearful! When his cloak is removed and the wolf appears in the presence of the angels, will they not shrink from him as one of us would shrink from a viper coiled about our feet?
Brethren, let us be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Brother Kline bore a hearty testimony to Brother Miller's discourse throughout.
A Short Discourse by Elder Daniel Garber.
Sunday, August 7.
Text.—For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.—John 1:17.
By the law spoken of in the text we are to understand the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, as they are usually called. We are not to understand that this law is not truth. Far from it. It is truth so sacred and holy in God's sight that he directed Moses to construct an ark or small chest out of pure gold and place therein the two stone tablets on which the law was engraved by the finger of God, and keep them there forever.
Jesus the Lord honored it. He fulfilled it, not only in the letter, but in the spirit. His outward life was so righteous that none could convict him of sin. "He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners:" notseparatein the sense of not eating and drinking with them, of not associating and conversing with them; but separate in the sense that he was not, like them, a transgressor of the law of God.
The Lord's heart and hand were together in all he did. His thoughts and his words were one. His looks, and all the expressions of his face, were but images of the love within. His denunciations against Pharisaical hypocrisy, cloaked under the guise of outward rectitude, were like an avalanche of snow and ice, unlocked by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness.
Jesus said: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail." A tittle is a very small point in a letter. Many Hebrew letters have dots or tittles. A change in the tittles of the letters that compose a word changes the meaning of the word. But Jesus says not a tittle shall pass from the law. It will to eternity mean just what it means now, and will continue to be the bond of union with saints and angels forever in heaven. It is all love. Love is the alpha and the omega of the law; for the law is of God, and "God is love."
Some people callmercyGod'sdarlingattribute. They clothe her in a white robe down to the feet; they fill her eyes with the milk of human kindness and her mouth with the tender words of forgiveness. Butjusticeis a very different personification in their eye. He is not only masculine as to gender, but all his looks and ways have an air ofcondemnationin them. He is a dark-faced, frowning judge, forever watching with keenest eye not only the outward life of every man, but his mind and heart within; and is always ready to pass judgment against every one guilty of the slightest transgression and disobedience.
Such conceptions may not be sinful; but they are very far from agreeing with the revelations God has made of himself to men. In these he discloses himself as "a God merciful and gracious; abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands; slow to anger; ready to pardon; and of great kindness." (Nehemiah 9:17.) He is just, it is true. But what is justice? I answer that justice, in its highest and divinest sense,is equal good and equal rightto all. And does not this imply love? I do unhesitatingly declare that there is quite as much love in the administrations of justice as there is in the bestowments of mercy.
Injustice, however, the love appears in one light; and inmercyorgracethe love appears in another. God's love for the holy angels and the spirits of just men made perfect is unmixed love, or the love of complacency. This manifestation of his love isjusticein its highest and purest sense. God's love for sinners who have transgressed his law, and who, on this account, are "miserable and wretched, and poor, and blind, and naked," is mixed love. It is mixed with pity, and is what is called the love of compassion. This manifestation of his love isgracein its highest and purest sense. This is just what our Lord Jesus Christ brought with him. If all the race of mankind had continued righteous, as man was when first brought into being, the wordgracewould never have had a place in heaven's vocabulary. But since man has fallen, fallen into sin, into death both corporeal and spiritual, into sickness and sorrow, into labor for his bread, into hunger and thirst, and anxieties and cares, God has ever pitied him. Instead of our Lord's saying, "God so loved the world," he might have said, "God sopitiedthe world."
In reading the New Testament now you need not wonder why the wordgraceis so often met with. It means just what Jesus has brought into the world—love for sinners. "He came not to condemn the world, but to save the world." But notice, he brought not onlylovebuttruthwith it, andtruthis neither more nor less than the forms or manifestations of true love. Let me illustrate this. You love your brother. But he does not know it until you manifest your love by the thousand ways that are open for this in your associations and dealings with him. Every manifestation of this love is atruthby which you prove that you do love him.
How does our Lord prove that he loves sinners? By thetruththat manifests or shows it. In the first place he went about doing good, in the way of healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, cleansing the lepers, making the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the dead to come to life. In the next place he showed his love by the meekness and patience with which he bore the scoffs and sneers, and persecutions of the opposing Jews. In the next place, by the promises of eternal life and salvation which he gave to the very worst of sinners, on the easy terms that they repent of their sins, by turning to God and living a life of faithful obedience to his Word. In the next place,—and all the other proofs culminate in this,—by dying upon the cross, by which he atoned for the sins of the whole world. In this, his last temptation, he conquered sin, death and hell; and as a mighty Conqueror he has become the Captain of our salvation and the Author of eternal life to all them that obey him.
But light will not enter the eye that is closed; neither will the words of grace and truth enter the heart unless there be a will to take them in. Some here present, I feel sure, have taken the words in, and ye rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Yours is the joy that no man taketh from you. Yours is an unfailing treasure in the heavens. Yours to sing:
"Should earth against my soul engage,And fiery darts be hurled;Now I can smile at Satan's rageAnd face a frowning world."Let cares, like a wild deluge, come,And storms of sorrow fall,So I but safely reach my home,My God, my heaven, my all."There shall I bathe my weary soulIn seas of heavenly rest;And not a wave of trouble rollAcross my peaceful breast."
"Should earth against my soul engage,And fiery darts be hurled;Now I can smile at Satan's rageAnd face a frowning world.
"Should earth against my soul engage,
And fiery darts be hurled;
Now I can smile at Satan's rage
And face a frowning world.
"Let cares, like a wild deluge, come,And storms of sorrow fall,So I but safely reach my home,My God, my heaven, my all.
"Let cares, like a wild deluge, come,
And storms of sorrow fall,
So I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all.
"There shall I bathe my weary soulIn seas of heavenly rest;And not a wave of trouble rollAcross my peaceful breast."
"There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest;
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast."
But I am sad to think how many there are who have never yet "tasted that the Lord is gracious." May I not induce some to look to him to-day? Thereis life in a lookwhen it springs from love and is followed by obedience. "Look unto me, saith the Lord, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth." Sinner, thou art one of these ends. Look and live.
BAPTISMAL SCENE AT BENJAMIN BOWMAN'S,SUNDAY, AUGUST 29.
Peter Driver and wife, and Benjamin Byerly were baptized to-day.
Whilst it is our delight and joy to see even the vilest and the lowest come into the church through the divinely appointed way, still it is an additional pleasure, especially in the view of helpfulness to the cause, when such excellent and true-hearted people as those above named cast in their lot with us.
These dear people will draw their children into the church where they are, and many of the grandchildren will follow their steps. Thus will they sow the seeds of a good life by the power of example, and others will reap the harvest. These, in turn, will sow again for others, until, after awhile, all will realize the truth of our Lord's words: "He that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together."
LOVE FEAST AT BEAVER CREEK MEETINGHOUSE,SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24.
Preparatory services began at twop.m.Second Corinthians 5 was read. There was much good speaking. One brother's remarks on the ninth verse deeply interested me. They were in substance as follows:Text.—"Wherefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him."
No better aim can ever have place in the breast of man or angel. But how natural it is for us to aim to please ourselves and others! There is no wrong in trying to please others, when that aim does not conflict with what pleases God. But for any one, especially a minister of the Gospel, to make it his chief aim to please others, that he may become popular and be highly esteemed of men, is an abomination to God.
Whether we are as humble and self-denying in all things as we should be, is a subject for self-examination, not only on the part of our lay brethren, but as well on the part of us who are ministers of the Word. Self-love is self-worship. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve," is as true to-day as when it was hurled against the devil from the lips of Jesus Christ. Worship is love; and love unites us to the Lord, as the branch is united with the vine which is its life. Man has no spiritual life in himself other than what comes from the Lord.
A man's home life is hisreallife. In the presence of his family, when no stranger's eye or ear is nigh, he is out and out himself, and he then and there appears in his real character. But when absent, either among his brethren or strangers, he aims to put the best foot foremost and leave a favorable impression. I do not say that this is true of every one; but Idosay, and say it from the depth of my soul's deepest affection, that the apostle's resolution should be true in the heart of every brother and sister: "We make it our aim, whether at home or abroad,to be well-pleasing unto God."
BAPTISMAL SCENE AT THE LINVILLE'S CREEK MEETINGHOUSE,SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9.
John Zigler and wife, Celestine Whitmore and wife, and David Haller were baptized to-day.
I rejoice that these good people have cast in their lot with us; and hope that they will prove to be a blessing and an ornament in the church. Brother David Haller is a very sensible and active man, with a young family, and he can do much for the good cause. Brother Celestine Whitmore will exert a good influence on Lost River. And Brother John Zigler will show to the world how an active business may be carried on in a godly way. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, did put on Christ."
History tells us that Xenophon, in his famous retreat from Cunaxa, wore a wolfskin about his shoulders and breast. This was becoming to him as the general of an army of Greeks trained to slaughter, and bent on cutting his way through all opposition with the sword. It might also have been a suitable covering for each soldier in his army; since the uniform of an army is thought to signify, in some measure, the spirit by which the soldiers are incited to action.
The uniform of the soldier in the army of the Lord should, therefore, signify the spirit and mind that is in him. If the spirit is that of nonconformity to the world, so should the dress or uniform be. If the spirit is that of meekness, humility, kindness, goodness, purity, peace and love, the dress of both sexes, each in its appropriate form, should correspond to these affections of the heart.
Thursday, October 20. Brother Kline and Daniel Garber started to
THE GLADES.
The Diary does not say wherethe gladesare, but, from the churches and Brethren visited, it is inferred that they lie in the southern part of western Pennsylvania.
Among the places named at which they attended meetings may be mentioned Abraham Beachley's; Myers's schoolhouse; William Miller's; Brother Blaugh's; Berben; Brother Moser's; Dr. Krone's; Jacob Myers's and Bearkles. At the last-named place a council meeting was held at which brethren Cover and Fahrney were established in the second degree of the ministry. "They both," so the Diary says, "have a good report from those that are without, as well as from those that are within."
On their homeward way our two brethren had night meeting at Abbey Arnold's in Hampshire County, Virginia. The last chapter of Revelation was read. Brother Kline says: "Toward the close of my discourse I gave a farewell invitation to sinners to come and take of the 'Water of Life freely.' After meeting one man came to me and said that he was tired of drinking of the bitter waters of sin and thirsted for the sweet 'Water of Life.' I told him that our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life as revealed in his Word, is the Water of Life, thatour loving acceptance of the truth of his Word as a matter of faith, and our living a life of obedience to God in conformity with that truthis drinking the Water of Life. It then becomes eternal life to our souls. I tried to encourage him to drink in this way; but I do not know what he may do."
DEPARTED MINISTERS.
Some things may appear in this book that are of little interest to the general reader. In this respect, however, it may not differ from many other books. The reader should kindly bear in mind that nearly all of the ministers and other Brethren whose names appear, in the fore part of the work especially, are known on earth no more, save as they live in the memory of those whom they have left behind.
In the list of deceased ministers are to be seen the names of Peter Nead, Abraham Flory, Daniel Garber, Daniel Miller, Martain Miller, George Hoke, Benjamin Bowman, Jacob Wyne, John Wyne, Daniel Thomas, John Harshberger, and a host of others. The records of these noble ministers of the Word are on high. No earthly monuments have ever been reared in honor of their achievements; and they need none. The good they have done by leaving the world and the church better off than they found them has won for them a crown of glory in heaven as imperishable as the throne of the eternal. The reader should remember that a sort of filial love for these men still lingers in the memory of many, who, in their younger days were personally acquainted with them. They heard them preach; and they looked up to them as children to parents. A lock of hair from a loved one long since passed away, is a little thing,—averylittle thing in the eye of a stranger,—but in the eye of a loving friend it is above price. So some things in this work, apparently trivial to the general reader, may be highly prized by others. I will give, for an example, the following statement:
Monday, November 21. Peter Nead and Benjamin Bowman go with me to Harrisonburg, and obtain license of the County Court of Rockingham County, Virginia, to perform the ceremony of marriage.
This statement, taken from the Diary, may seem of no consequence to some; they may feel, as their eyes glance over it, that it is of no interest to them; when at the same time, to others it will be an incident they will never forget. Many can now say that one or the other of these ministers performed the ceremony when their father and mother were married. One or the other of these names stands upon the "Marriage Record" in many an old Family Bible. Even the grandchildren will find interest in things like these; and to learn more about these, and many other great and good men who have lived and died in the church of the Brethren, will not only interest the mind, but improve the heart.
A MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY OF THE AURORA BOREALIS.
Thursday, January 26. This night, says the Diary, a very wonderful display of the Aurora borealis was witnessed. The sky was all over a bright red, with white streaks streaming up from the north. The sight was wonderfully grand. As to the cause of this sublimely beautiful phenomenon various opinions have been held, and various theories launched upon the waves of scientific thought; but none, as yet, to my knowledge, have covered the ground of a satisfactory solution. Let the cause be what it may, there seems to be no good reason for fearing any harm to the earth or its inhabitants from its occasional appearance.
I have since learned, however, that many people were frightened at the sight, and feared that the last day was at hand. One sister in particular, not far from here, wrung her hands screaming almost spasmodically, fearing in her soul that the next thing would be the sound of "the last trumpet."
Some may smile at this; but suppose the trumpet had then sounded! Would those who now smile, or perhaps laugh, have been able to hear the thunder of its voice with a steadier nerve than she? Her faith was strong; nay, too strong for the weakness of her feeble body. She believed every word of Divine Truth. She believed in a final judgment, than which nothing is more positively declared in the sacred Scriptures. But because she had never seen such a sight before, and as no one could account for it, the conclusion was quickly reached that it was supernatural and sent as a herald of the coming Lord.
But he will come, and every eye shall see him. But "who shall abide the day of his coming?" Only they who shelter under the almighty wings of Jesus. "How often"—said he to Jerusalem, and now to every one else—"would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings." To those who laugh at sacred things now, it maythenbe said what follows in the above connection: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."
"Hide me, O my Savior, hide;'Neath the shadow of thy wing."
"Hide me, O my Savior, hide;'Neath the shadow of thy wing."
"Hide me, O my Savior, hide;
'Neath the shadow of thy wing."
The above phenomenon lasted till midnight.
Sunday, February 12. "Peter Nead was with me at the Plains to-day." Whether Brother Kline saw or heard something in Peter Nead to-day that especially wrought upon his attention, he does not say; but this follows in the entry: "Brother Nead gives promise of becoming a very able speaker and a very useful man. May the Lord prosper him in all he sets his heart and hand to in his service." The church now knows the singular correctness of Brother Kline's estimate of the man, written over sixty years ago.
Brother Nead, like many other good and live men, may have had some apparent eccentricities in the direction of practical conservatism and the like; but, take him through and through, it is questionable if the church has ever been favored with a purer or sounder man.
Thursday, May 4. Preparations are being made to-day for the Annual Meeting. The brethren and sisters are all alive with desire to make all the visiting brethren and sisters as comfortable as possible during the meeting.
The Diary reports the arrival, during the next week, of brethren from Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Among those named are John and Joseph Bowman, Henry Kurtz, George Hoke and Brother Yant.
Thursday, May 11. Brother Beachley arrived. Brother Kline reports something like a heavenly feeling permeating the heart at the sight of the arrival of those beloved brethren. They all stopped with Brother Kline, whose house and heart both were large enough for their reception and entertainment.
As editor of this book, what would I not give for an exact report of the heart-refreshing conversations and sweet interchanges of thought and sentiment enjoyed by this group of heavenly-minded brethren, during their sojourn here! As a relief, however, to this thought another comes to mind, that this same group are again together, not for a "Yearly Meeting," but for an eternal meeting. The last one has been called to glory. The cross then; the crown now.
The interviews of brethren with each other fifty or sixty years ago present a striking contrast when placed side by side with those of the present day. The native simplicity, the artless manners, and the honest motives of all betokened a purity of heart and life that was truly charming. We mourn the absence of these marks of genuine piety, when at the present day, we see artistic display, formality, stiffness, and a "putting on" of studied courtesies and civilities on the part of many. The exterior of the hive is more ornamental now than it was then, and the swarm may have the appearance of better order in some of its workings, but it is a question whether there is as much pure honey inside. Therobemay be more showy, but there is less wool in the "nap."
Friday, May 12, andSaturday, May 13, were spent at the meetinghouse preparing to have everything in order.
YEARLY MEETING BEGINS.
Introductory Sermon by Elder George Hoke, of Ohio,Sunday, May 14.
Text.—And it came to pass, that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.—Luke 24:15.
To the true child of God no conceptions of bliss are worthy of being compared with those that flow from an ideal companionship and association with our Lord Jesus Christ.
"To dwell with him; to feel his love,Is heavenly bliss enjoyed above:And the sweet expectation nowIs the same bliss begun below."
"To dwell with him; to feel his love,Is heavenly bliss enjoyed above:And the sweet expectation nowIs the same bliss begun below."
"To dwell with him; to feel his love,
Is heavenly bliss enjoyed above:
And the sweet expectation now
Is the same bliss begun below."
The text selected is suited to the occasion that has brought many of us together. We have met to commune in our thoughts with each other, and to reason together. Since the first hour of my arrival here I could but notice the delight, and even joy, on the part of many at meeting former acquaintances and renewing the ties of love, both social and Christian, that have bound us together in one common Brotherhood for years in the past, and which are still to bind us and our children's children together in the future on earth and the eternity in glory.
The subject for to-day naturally divides itself into three propositions:
I.They communed and reasoned together.II.Jesus himself drew near.III.Jesus himself went with them.
We readily enough, at the start, inquire who they were that communed and reasoned together. This we never can know with certainty, until the scales of mortality drop from our eyes. One, we are told, was Cleopas by name. It may have been the same Cleopas whose wife had stood by the cross. Some think the other was Luke, the writer of the Evangel, whom Paul calls the beloved physician.
Slowly and sadly, with crushed hopes and broken hearts, these two loving disciples of our Lord were wending their way from the scenes of confusion that had attended his crucifixion in Jerusalem to a quiet little village about eight miles distant, called Emmaus. Here, at least, they hoped to find exemption from the taunts and sneers of the infatuated mob in the city, whose mutterings were still to be heard in the distance, like those of a cyclone that has done its work.
I. "They Communed and Reasoned Together."
The particular point in their conversation is not stated, but it is included in the general topic which is given as "the things which have happened in Jerusalem concerning Jesus of Nazareth." The imagination here finds scope to multiply themes without limit, on which they could reason, and over which they could be sad. At this very point of time, just when despair, like darkness at the close of an evening twilight, had settled down upon the entire landscape of their mental sight,
II. "Jesus Himself Drew Near."
"But their eyes were holden that they should not know him."This simple statement has more than once caused "smiles in tears;"smilesat the half playfulness of Jesus talking to these two beloved disciples as a tender father sometimes talks to his little children; andtearsat the condescending love of Christ our God and Lord, walking as a wayfaring man with two of his heartbroken creatures. Can you take this in, and not fall at his feet and kiss them? Can you take this in, and not look up into his face smiling through your tears?
And then he said: "Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?" This very sentence, by which he shed the first rays of light upon the dark waters of their storm-beaten bosoms, tells the whole tale of Christ's redeeming love. The cross and crown! Joy of earth and bliss of heaven! The cross of dishonor; the crown of glory! The cross of death; the crown of life!
"But their eyes were holden, that they should not know him." He came as the divine Word. He is the truth and the life of the Word; for "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Though they knew not that it was he, still their hearts did burn within them as he opened unto them the scriptures. "Beginning at Moses he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." They do not tell us the passages he quoted and explained; but it is believed we have them all in our Bibles. I think it is evident we have all the Scriptures now that were extant then; and it is our great privilege to hunt up for ourselves and others these broken pieces of the Bread of Life.
The word "holden" means simply,held back; restrained. For wise reasons heheld backthe sight of their eyes that they should not know him. Had they known him at first sight, it would have interfered with and prevented the accomplishment of his gracious purpose to make himself known in the "breaking of bread." In this very act he has taught his people one of the most precious lessons in all the Christian's experiences. He is the Bread of eternal Life. His whole Word is but one great loaf, and he is that loaf. And how my soul quivers with the thought that if we invite him in as these loving disciples did, and ask him to abide with us, he will take a seat with us at table, and break unto us the Bread of Life. Our spiritual eyes will be opened, and we shall joyfully know him. Then will