"Arise, my soul, arise;Shake off thy guilty fears:The Bleeding SacrificeIn my behalf appears.Before the Throne my surety stands;My name is written on his hands."
"Arise, my soul, arise;Shake off thy guilty fears:The Bleeding SacrificeIn my behalf appears.Before the Throne my surety stands;My name is written on his hands."
"Arise, my soul, arise;
Shake off thy guilty fears:
The Bleeding Sacrifice
In my behalf appears.
Before the Throne my surety stands;
My name is written on his hands."
We have had good weather all this day and night, and a fine meeting.
Monday, October 16. Between this date and the twenty-third Brother Kline, in company with Anna, his wife, visited the following named families: Daniel Glick's, David Wampler's, Widow George Kline's, Samuel Miller's, Jonas Wampler's, Daniel Wampler's, Jacob Hoover's above Staunton, Joel Garber's, Jacob Zigler's, Christian Kline's, Jacob Wine's, Martain Good's, Joseph Miller's, Daniel Garber's, Frederic Kline's, Jacob Earley's and Flory's. He attended a number of meetings in connection with the foregoing visits, and reports the Brethren and relatives generally well.
Wednesday, October 25. Brother Kline started to Hampshire County, West Virginia. He went by way of the South Fork and Moorefield in Hardy County, West Virginia; and got to Brother Nicolas Leatherman's by Thursday night, after two very hard days' ride on horseback. On this journey he visited John Leatherman's, Daniel Arnold's, Joseph Arnold's, David Good's, Solomon Michael's and others. He attended a love feast and one other meeting at Arnold's meetinghouse, and had night meeting at Solomon Michael's. Here his subject was the baptism of John. From Solomon Michael's he went to Brother Stingley's in the west part of Hardy County, West Virginia, where he met and filled an appointment for preaching. From this place he went to Parks's; and on
Wednesday, November 1, he took dinner at Saul Hyre's, above Petersburg, and stayed all night at Isaac Shobe's.
Thursday, November 2. He had meeting at the widow Chlora Judy's on Mill Creek, where he spoke from John 1:29. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." The next day he had meeting at Rorabaugh's on the South Fork; and in the afternoon went across the Shenandoah mountain to Brother Nesselrodt's. He says: "I crossed two very high mountains to-day. It is cloudy and cold, threatening snow."
Saturday, November 4. Snowing fast this morning. Go on to Mathias's on Lost River, where I meet a small gathering of people at night. Snows fast all day, and meeting small; but I nevertheless speak as best I can on the last two verses of the ninth chapter of John. These are the words, and what follows is an outline in substance of what I said: "And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there." Our Lord's work on earth in the flesh, was now fast drawing to a close. Honest hearts were accepting him as the Savior of the world. His enemies, on the other hand, were becoming more violent in their opposition to him, on the ground that if they would let him go all men would believe on him. One striking feature of our Lord's spirit and doctrine was that of "nonresistance" of personal or bodily enemies. "My kingdom," said he, "is not of this world; else would my servants fight." Ignorant of the power of love, these Jewish enemies of our Lord could foresee nothing in the tendencies of his doctrines but the destruction of their city Jerusalem, and the same also of their nationality as a people.
Although John did no sign or miracle, still he told the truth about Jesus; and inasmuch as he did this in the beginning of our Lord's ministry, and was beheaded soon after, it was in itself strong evidence in favor of our Lord's Messiahship. The people could plainly see the agreement between the life and teachings of Christ and what John had said they would be. The agreement was too exact and uniform to be accidental. This led many to believe on him. They alleged that all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true; and they came unto him. In this they showed their wisdom. How they hung upon his words! How their hearts did burn as he opened unto them the Scriptures! Like Mary, many sat at his feet and heard his words.
At the present day, when any begin to inquire the way of salvation, instead of going to the Word wherein the way is plainly revealed, and the Lord may be found, they go to their preacher, or to others whom they regard as safe guides, or to books that purport to lead inquirers into the right way; and very often they are wrongly taught and misled. If there be one here to-night who is anxiously inquiring the way to Jesus, I say to him: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!" "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father and the holy angels." "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." A good many tongues are found in the mouth with which men make "confession unto salvation." But they all speak the same thing, and the thing which they all speak is humble obedience to the Word of the Lord. Baptism is one tongue. Feet-washing is another tongue. The Lord's Supper is another tongue. The Communion is another tongue. A quiet, honest and peaceable life is another tongue, and one that speaks very loud for Christ. Temperance in eating and drinking, and abstemiousness in the way of rejecting the use of all unnecessary or injurious things is another tongue of power on the Lord's side. Come to Jesus. Confess him in these ways, and thou shall live.
Sunday, December 31. Meeting on Lost River. Matthew 2 is read. Stay all night at Christian Halterman's.
It is said that the centipede has a hundred feet. It may have; and it does seem that superstition, or the belief in supernatural things of a trivial nature has quite as many; and, like the fabled animal of ancient times, has also a hundred heads.
This evening I overheard a conversation among some young people where I stayed, in which one said that every New Year's night, that is, the night in which the New Year comes in, the cattle and sheep all get on their knees, as if they might be in a devotional posture of body. They talked as if they really believed that this might be so. I do not know how this impression has come about; but I have heard this before, and guess that some mischievous or sportive person tried to make some one else believe that cattle and sheep kneelonlyon New Year's night, when the truth is that they kneel whenever they lie down to rest. I have often thought it a pity that people are so ready to believe in marvelous and supernatural things which can do them no good, and so backward to believe the most marvelous truth the world has ever known; the truth that God has provided eternal life and salvation for all who are willing to accept it on the easy terms upon which it is offered.
In this year I have traveled, mostly on horseback, three thousand, two hundred and sixty miles.
Monday, January 1, 1844. I feel sure that the work of the year cannot be entered upon more suitably than by making arrangements for building a house of worship unto the Lord. The need of a house of this kind has long been felt among the Brethren on Lost River. We have here, as elsewhere, "not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God" publicly, as Paul says he did among the Ephesian brethren, "and that from house to house." But it is best to have a stated place of worship, and with this in view we have this day made arrangements to build a meetinghouse, to be known as the Lost River meetinghouse. Celestine Whitmore, Jacob Mathias and Silas Randall have been elected trustees; and Celestine Whitmore, one of the number, has been elected master builder.
Saturday, February 24. Raise the new meetinghouse on Lost River. Stay all night at Silas Randall's.
Tuesday, March 26. My dear old father dies this night, at forty minutes past three o'clock in the morning. He has lived to a great age, has seen all of his children settled in life and doing well, has served his day and generation to good purpose by a faithful discharge of duty as a husband and father in his own family; as a kind and ever-obliging neighbor in his community; and far, very far outweighing all these, he has honored his God by embracing the faith set forth in the Gospel of the Son of God, the faith that works by love, that purifies the heart, and that overcomes the world. All great endings are but great beginnings. The end of our Savior's life on earth was but the beginning of his life of ineffable glory and exaltation in heaven. As the Head is, so shall the members be. In his own measure, as it hath pleased the Lord to give my father grace, so shall his reward in glory be. Death is the door through which we enter life.
"Farewell! we meet no moreOn this side heaven:The parting scene is o'er,The last sad look is given,"Farewell! O may we meetIn heaven above:And there, in union sweet,Sing of a Savior's love."
"Farewell! we meet no moreOn this side heaven:The parting scene is o'er,The last sad look is given,
"Farewell! we meet no more
On this side heaven:
The parting scene is o'er,
The last sad look is given,
"Farewell! O may we meetIn heaven above:And there, in union sweet,Sing of a Savior's love."
"Farewell! O may we meet
In heaven above:
And there, in union sweet,
Sing of a Savior's love."
Thursday, March 28. Daniel Miller and Benjamin Bowman preach father's funeral. The earth that covers the body and hides it from sight does not bury our hopes. The anchor of the soul is sure and steadfast. It has its hold upon the things within the veil, which are eternal and immovable. I will not sorrow as those who have no hope. Father's age was eighty years, eight months and twenty-two days.
Sermon by Elder John Kline.
Preached at Old Father Kagey's,Sunday, March 31.
Text.—For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.—2 Cor. 4:16.
Our heavenly Father makes known to his children the things necessary for their instruction in the way of a holy life, that they may do his will in all things and live well-pleasing to him at all times. To this end many precious promises are held up to our spiritual vision, and many encouragements set forth to animate us to love and duty. Hence Paul says: "For this cause we faint not. Even though our outward man perish," that is, show signs of decay and approaching death, "yet the inward man is renewed day by day." This natural body in which we live and move, in which we serve and suffer, is what Paul calls "the outward man." Elsewhere it is called "a natural body." It is the offspring of the natural act of generation between the father and mother, and is in its nature bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. This is why it is called a natural body. In the text it is called "the outward man," because it is the external part of the man; is visible; has weight; may be handled and felt; and is the medium of direct sensation. It is also the seat of suffering and sin, and is subject to death and decomposition as its end. Of this body it is written: "Dust thou art; and unto dust shalt thou return." Paul says: "In me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing." He is very particular to tell us in which part of him it is where no good thing dwelleth. He says: "In my flesh."
But there is "an inward man" about which none of these things can be said. This is elsewhere called "a spiritual body." It is so called because it is born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." It is also called "a new creature in Christ Jesus." Generation, in a natural sense, implies the begetting and bringing forth of the "natural body" the "outward man," "the old man;" but regeneration implies the begetting and bringing forth of "the spiritual body," "the inward man," "the new man," which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Peter says: "Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."
But it matters not how good a thing may be, if it is out of our reach or beyond our power to get, it can do us no good. But the new life in the soul, the eternal life of the spirit, is not out of the reach of any, is in reach of all. Even the dead shall hear his voice, and they that hear shall live. "He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life." "Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." "He that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." "This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
Obedience to the ordinances of God's house has its place here in connection with faith. By works is faith made perfect. The first command that Paul received in connection with his conversion was: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord." The instruction of Peter to the convicts on the day of Pentecost was: "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." In preaching Jesus to the eunuch Philip evidently preached our Lord's baptism, else what would the eunuch have known about baptism? How else can we account for his remark to Philip and implied request: "See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?" "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest," was Philip's answer. Sinner, you are invited to come and take of the water of life freely. Come, believe, obey, and live forever.
Friday, April 12. Plant corn in the lower field.
Saturday, April 13. Finish planting the lower field. I never plant corn or commit any seed to the earth, but I am filled with wonder in the contemplation of God's power. In my thoughts over things of this kind my mind and heart find pleasant relief, by recalling in memory the beautiful similitude which Mark, alone of all the evangelists, has left on record for us. These are his words: "And he [the Lord] said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." These words greatly encourage me to labor more faithfully in the ministry of the Word: for as we know the Lord has power to make the dry seed in the dry ground grow unto a rich harvest, we know not how, so has he power to make the seeds of his truth spring up and grow in the hearts of men unto a harvest of eternal blessedness in heaven. But as the corn must be tended, the field kept clean, and the ground kept in order during the growing season, so must the Word in the heart be guarded from the inroads of evils, such as are clearly described in the Lord's own words.
Saturday, April 20. Council meeting to-day on Lost River. Celestine Whitmore elected speaker, and Silas Randall elected deacon. Stay all night at John Miller's.
Sunday, April 21. Meeting at Whitmore's. Luke 14 is read.Humilitywas my subject to-day, founded on the words of the eleventh verse. Pride is the opposite of humility. The proud man exalts himself and refuses to follow in the footsteps of the meek and lowly Jesus.
"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." So says the Apostle James. And why is this so? Because the proud man, in his sense of self-sufficiency, feels no want at the present which he thinks he is not able to supply, and dreads no want in the future, either because he does not think of any future life, or because he has persuaded himself to believe there is no future state of existence. God can never give grace to such a man, in such a state, because he will not receive it. A thing may be offered, but it can never be said to be given unless it is received. Wherefore the Apostle Peter says: "Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." When God exalts a man, when God lifts a man up, he then is lifted up, he then is exalted, sure enough. This is the exaltation to which we may truthfully apply Paul's exultation: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him."
Sunday, May 12. Meeting in our meetinghouse. Ephesians 4 is read. Samuel Myers and his wife are baptized.
Tuesday, May 14. Council meeting to-day at our meetinghouse. John Bowman, of Franklin County, Virginia, and Brother Barnhardt, of Roanoke County, Virginia, were with us to-day; and they are with me this evening to stay all night.
Thursday, May 16. Raise the mill, and in the afternoon go to the Gap and marry George Fawley and Catharine Fulk.
Saturday, June 1. Love feast to-day at our meetinghouse. Brother Daniel Barnhardt, of Roanoke County, Virginia, and Brother John Bowman, of Franklin County, Virginia, and Brother Peter Nead were with us. We had much good speaking by the visiting brethren on the 10th chapter of John and other passages of Scripture.
Sunday, June 2. Go to Daniel Miller's to meeting. Luke 14 is read. I then go to Joseph Miller's where I stay all night.
Monday, June 10. This morning the intelligence comes of the sudden death of Reuben Yount. He was found lying dead in the road. It is supposed that he was killed by being thrown from his horse on his way home last evening.
Tuesday, June 11. Reuben Yount was buried to-day. Age, twenty-five years and thirteen days. Verily the sons of men sink into the grave like raindrops into the sea, and are seen no more. As unexpectedly as the pitcher is broken at the fountain, even before it is filled with water, so unexpectedly does death come to many.
Monday, June 24. Finish making hay. We have about twenty-two tons in all.
Sunday, June 30. Meeting at Frederic Kline's, near Dayton, Virginia. Six persons baptized.
Sunday, July 7. Meeting at our meetinghouse. John Kave and wife, Katy Keysayer, Betsy Holsinger, Polly Knopp, Katy Fry and Betsy Andes were baptized to-day. Daniel Miller baptized them.
Saturday, July 27. Harvest meeting at Copp's schoolhouse in Shenandoah County, Virginia.
Wednesday, July 31. Harvest meeting at the Brush meetinghouse.
Thursday, August 1. Go to harvest meeting at Daniel Garber's meetinghouse. Stay all night at John Myers's in Augusta County, Virginia.
Friday, August 2. Love feast at the Brick meetinghouse. Luke 14 was read. One brother spoke impressively on the last three words in the first verse: "They watched him." Said he, "The enemies of the Lord most likely did this. They were ever eager to find some ground of accusation against him. But the Lord was not alone in this. 'A servant is not greater than his lord.' We, Brethren, are liable to be watched. And I think I may say truthfully that we are watched not only by our enemies, but by our friends too. But there is a great difference between the eye of an enemy and the eye of a friend. The eye of an enemy seeks for faults with which to accuse and persecute; and when no real fault can be found the evil eye seeks to make faults by looking at our actions and motives in a false light, and if possible getting others to regard them in the same false light. But not so the eye of a friend. A wise father watches his children, not to find faults with which to accuse, but in love to correct by pointing out their evil tendencies and the end to which they lead.
"So, dear brethren and sisters, should we watch one another in the house of God. We should never be quick to take offense when some brother or sister out of pure love for us kindly warns us of some fault that we may not be fully conscious of."
In words as nearly like the above as I can give them, and in many others, did the brother exhort the church.
Sunday, August 25. Attend meeting at the Flat Rock. First Corinthians 1 is read. Louis Nasselrodt and wife and Henry Strawdeman and wife were baptized. I baptized them.
Sunday, September 1. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Colossians 2 was read. Philip Bible and wife, Adam Hevner and wife, William Andes, Samuel Zigler, Christian Krider and old Mother Minick were baptized to-day.
Sunday, September 8. Meeting at Stoner's to-day. Romans 6 was read. I baptized Christian Krider's wife to-day.
[With Elder John Kline to plan was to do; to propose in mind was to perform in act; ever though, let it be remembered, by the help of the Lord. "His will, and not mine, be done," was Brother Kline's motto. The following notes are word for word from the fly leaves of his Diary for the present year. They are inserted here for two reasons. First, to show that he formed a purpose and laid down a plan before acting. In the following pages it will be seen how faithfully the plan laid out in the Diary was executed. Second, to show something of the confidence reposed in his genuine honesty, and his business capacity as a man.—Editor.]
I have in contemplation to take the following route to Ohio: Start on the seventeenth of September, and on the eighteenth have an afternoon meeting at Parks's, in Hardy County, Virginia [now West Virginia]; on the twenty-first to stop at Jacob Thomas's in Preston County, Virginia; on the twenty-second to be at George's Creek; on the twenty-sixth to be at Bull Creek, Columbiana County, Ohio; on the eighth and ninth of October to be at Bucyrus, Crawford County, Ohio; on the twelfth to be at Sugar Creek, in Allen County, Ohio; on the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth in Henry County, Indiana; on the evening of the twenty-third to be at Bear Creek, Montgomery County, Ohio. Things which I have to attend to on my trip to Ohio and Indiana:
To inquire of George Weaver about a legacy of William Toppin, orphan of Thomas Toppin.
Received of Jacob Hoover $73.42 to be paid over as follows:
To get some rents of Joseph Garber for Susanna Garber.
This money I received of Aunt Katy Hoover.
To collect some money of Mahoney and of John Kline for Ziglers. I hold papers for the same.
To collect money of Jacob Leedy in Columbiana County, Ohio, for Peter Nead.
To collect money of John Garber, of Montgomery County, Ohio, for Solomon Garber, of Rockingham County, Virginia. I am to let John Garber have the note if he pays $150.00.
Tuesday, September 17. Brother George R. Hedrick and I start from my home this morning, on horseback, for Ohio. We dine at William Fitzwater's, in Brock's Gap, and arrive in the evening at Isaac Dasher's on the South Fork, Hardy County, Virginia, where we stay over night.
Wednesday, September 18. Come to Isaac Shobe's for breakfast, and on to Parks's for dinner. Meeting in the afternoon at Parks's. John 3 is read. On the way to-day Brother Hedrick and I talked over the interpretation we are to give the Lord's words in the thirteenth verse of the chapter read this afternoon. These are the words: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven." I asked Brother Hedrick if Elijah had not ascended to heaven? I quoted to him the very words recorded in the eleventh verse of the second chapter of Second Kings: "And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." Brother Hedrick confessed that a first thought on our Lord's words might lead the mind to conclude that there is a want of harmony between what he says to Nicodemus and what is plainly said of Elijah. But he removed the difficulty from my mind at once by explaining the Lord's words to mean that no one in his own strength or by virtue of his own power had ascended to heaven. "Elijah went up to heaven, it is true," said he, "but the horses of fire and the chariot of fire by which he went up, beautifully and impressively symbolize the Lord's hand by which he was taken up. And besides this, we read in 2 Kings 2:1, 'And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.' Here it is plainly implied that the Lord took up Elijah into heaven. And this falls in as a part of the great lesson the Lord was seeking to impress upon the mind of Nicodemus, the great truth that the Lord alone has power to lift men, through the regeneration, up to heaven." Stay all night at Parks's.
Thursday, September 19. We go to Stingley's for breakfast; to Eliza Hays's for dinner (still in Hardy County, Virginia), and stay all night at Gilpin's. We are now within sixteen miles of the Maryland line.
Friday, September 20. To-day we passed through what is called the Glades and Wilderness, to the Briery mountain. A very lonely road; but the companionship of a man and a brother like George Hedrick makes solitude enjoyable. Only those who have experienced the agreeableness of a bright, serene, calm and contented mind and heart, such as I find in Brother Hedrick, can ever realize the pleasure of such company. It does seem to me that we can almost adopt toward each other the beautiful sentiment of love which Ruth expressed for Naomi: "Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people. Where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried." We fed our horses and took breakfast at Smith's tavern, in Preston County, Virginia; took dinner at Bransonville, and find ourselves here at Brother Jacob Thomas's, where we are spending the night.
Saturday, September 21. Meeting in the schoolhouse near Brother Thomas's. Deuteronomy, eighteenth chapter is read. I spoke on the latter portion of the chapter read, from the fifteenth verse to the end. I spoke particularly on the following words: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." This was spoken to the children of Israel. What follows was spoken directly to Moses: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." I tried to show these people the great danger there is in a life of sin. The great Prophet spoken of and promised in the words of my text is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In the fullness of time he appeared. The prophecy just read was recorded by Moses very nearly fifteen hundred years before it was fulfilled by the appearing of our Savior. This single consideration may serve to remind us of the faithfulness of God in fulfilling his Word. And our blessed Lord while in the flesh more than once turned the eyes of his disciples to the prophecies that foretold his coming. In one place he said to the people: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." After his resurrection, on his way to Emmaus, in company with two of his sorrowing disciples who had not yet fully learned the truth of his having risen, he said in reference to his sufferings and death: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me."
I am now prepared to tell you, and I trust you are prepared to hear some of the particulars in which Christ Jesus was like unto Moses. You know the text says: "A Prophet like unto me." This is the language of Moses. The Lord God had just before told him this. We will now turn to some of the points in the comparison of Moses with Christ. Moses told the people to believe what he told them and obey the commands he gave them. He taught them that if they would obey the commands and ordinances which God gave and established through him they would receive the favor of the Lord, and that as a reward for their obedience he would bless them exceedingly. But if they would turn away from him, he would turn away from them, and multiply their troubles greatly. Christ Jesus does the same. Just at the close of the most wonderful sermon the world has ever heard preached, a sermon in which all the moral and spiritual relations of men to each other and to God, together with the duties growing out of these relations, are set forth the Lord says: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And 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 the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
Friends, let me say to you that each and every one of you is building a house for himself on one or the other of these foundations. Your life, your every-day life, from beginning to end, is the house you are building. If your life, from love to the Lord, is based upon the solid rock of his Revealed Truth, it will stand the temptations and trials symbolized by the floods and winds; but if not, it will never be able to stand, and great will be its fall. Some may think that because God is long-suffering, and does not punish sin in this world so manifestly as he sometimes did in former times, he is becoming more merciful and takes less account of sin than formerly. But this is a very great mistake. God has always been quite as merciful as he could be consistently with his justice and holiness; and the warning given in Hebrews 2:2 should be heeded. This is the warning: "If every transgression and disobedience" under Moses, "received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" Notice this also from the same book: "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"
Again: The children of Israel were baptized unto Moses, that is, into a visible covenant with him, in the cloud and in the Red Sea, as they passed through. In this act of baptism, by which they declared their willingness to follow him as their leader, but the one action was required, and that action was their passing between the walls of water on the right hand and on the left hand, with the cloud overhead completely shutting them in from the world. But the Christian, to be a true follower of the great Prophet of whom we are particularly speaking, is required to submit to a threefold baptism, which is an immersion of the body in water in the name of the Father who loved us and gave his Son; another immersion in the name of the Son who redeems and saves us; and lastly an immersion in the name of the Holy Ghost who convinces of sin, who comforts us, enlightens us as to our duties, sanctifies and makes us meet for heaven.
Again: Moses gave the people water from the Rock. Christ Jesus gives his people the water of life. He says: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."
Again: Moses fed the people with manna, which they gathered every morning from the ground. Christ feeds his people with the heavenly manna, which I take to be the great and eternal love of the Father contained in the blessed words of truth which his Son has declared to the world.
In such and many other words did I speak unto these people, seeking to instruct them in the things of salvation, and induce some of them, at least, to turn to the Lord. After meeting we dined at Brother Thomas's, and started for George's Creek; crossed Laurel mountain to Hagtonsville, then to Brother Joseph Leatherman's, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where we stay all night.
Sunday, September 22. Go to George's Creek meetinghouse. We have forenoon and afternoon meeting. Second Corinthians 6 is read in the forenoon meeting. In the 3 o'clock meeting Luke 14 is read. I speak on the great supper, from the sixteenth to the twenty-fourth verse.
Whilst I am a stranger to most of you, I nevertheless feel assured by the signs I witness that I can confidingly and affectionately address some of you, and I trust a goodly number too, as beloved brethren and sisters. This is, so far, as it should be. But what would be the joy of my heart, and what would be the joy of heart with each one of you, could it be said that this entire congregation is of one mind and all speak the same thing! But the words of my text, harmonizing with the closing words of another parable, recorded by Matthew, which declare that "many are called, but few chosen," may continue to be true, for a long time yet to come. Whilst the advocates of election and predestination claim this as one of their proof texts, to my mind it proves the exact reverse. "Many are called." Here, if I mistake not, the German has it: "The many are called." I take this to mean that all are called. Now compare this with what is said here in my text: "Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." This surely proves that all are called or invited to the great supper. First, the Jews were invited. When Jesus sent forth the twelve he commanded them saying; "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Here it is plain that the Jews were the first to be invited. "But they all with one mind began to make excuse." Next then the poor of the city were invited. Still there was room. Next the off-casts and beggars were invited. These included the very lowest of the Gentile nations, and comprehend all that live, every creature.
Now I ask, in the name of all that is reasonable, can we, dare we, accuse the Lord of dealing deceitfully? Perish the thought forever. No! He invites all because it is his blessed will to see all come and sit at his table spread with the great love feast which he has prepared for all who are willing and desire to come. This very thought is the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue. And it is a joy which no man taketh from me, because it rests on the rock of Divine Truth. But a preparation is necessary. We can hardly separate the parable under consideration from the one recorded in Matthew twenty-second chapter. There we read of a wedding dinner made by a king, to celebrate the marriage of his son. And when the king came in he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And the king said: "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless." And why was he speechless? If he would have had any reasonable excuse to offer for the unprepared appearance which he made, would he have been speechless? Reason says at once. He would have urged his inability to procure a suitable dress for the occasion, as the cause for his appearing in the way he did, if any such cause had existed. And the king knew this full well; otherwise he would not have required all to have on the wedding garment.
I now call your attention to the closing words of the parable: "I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." The reason for this is found in the fact that they would not come. They were the first to be invited. Had they come, they would have received the right hand of welcome. But notice the unreasonable excuses they made. One had bought a piece of ground, and he must go and see it, as if night were the time to look at land. Another must try the five yoke of oxen he had that day bought, as if night were the best time to do this. Another had married a wife and could not come, as if night were not a suitable time to enjoy a rich supper with his bride. We wonder at these vain and almost unnatural excuses; but do we find the excuses of men any more reasonable to-day? Men hazard their souls in a life of sin, not for want of invitations, entreaties and warnings from the Lord to come unto him, but because they will not. The Lord pleads with men to-day, just as he pleaded with Israel centuries ago. Hear what he says to Israel by the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel: "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, ... and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves and live ye."
And now, Brethren and friends, to make a brief application of some of the great principles laid down, I will say that the Lord's Supper is the great love feast which he has prepared for you, for me, for all. This great love feast, of which our own ordinance by his appointment, and bearing the same name, is a beautiful and fitting emblem, is neither more nor less than the bountiful provisions Christ has made for the salvation of all. These provisions are the great truths of his Word, filled with his love. The Lord Jesus says: "I am the bread of life." To the Jews he said: "Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they died." "If any man eat of the bread which I shall give him, he shall live forever." When we are faithfully obeying the Lord from love in our hearts, we are eating this life-giving bread. Every truth which the Lord has revealed, and by which the spiritual man is fed as to his soul, may be regarded as a component part of this great feast.
Jesus said to the tempter: "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The tempter here meant material bread for the body, and the Lord answered him according to that meaning. This is the kind of bread, material bread, with which the devil seeks to satisfy every demand of our being. It embraces everything the natural appetite of man craves. The devil is ever seeking to lead men to feed on the husks which the swine do eat, and to be satisfied with that kind of food. But the blessed Lord Jesus resists the tempter, and continually seeks to lead men into a higher, nobler and heavenly life. He says to every sinner: "Arise, and go to thy Father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned before heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." This is repentance. This is the first move man makes in the way of approach to the feast the Lord has prepared. "Man liveth by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This embraces all of Revealed Truth. Every law, every precept, every prophecy, every parable has some outflowing, healing virtue, some life-imparting power. We touch the hem of its garment when we read or hear in sincerity of heart. O sinner, come and partake of this feast, and thy soul shall live.
We stay all night with David Longenacre.
Monday, September 23. On towards Ohio. Dine and feed our horses at Brother David Wise's. This evening we are at Hays's tavern in Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where we[1]stay all night.
[1]Brother Kline in the Diary almost invariably puts it "Stay all night." I am not willing to depart from his usage in this.—Ed.
Tuesday, September 24. Go to Hickorytown where we feed our horses and get breakfast. Then on through Burgitsville and Florencetown to Frankford, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where we feed and dine at Duncan's tavern. Then on to Georgetown, where we cross the Ohio river in a horse-boat, and stay all night at Smith's tavern. A lonesome ride to-day, because we have seen no Brethren.
Wednesday, September 25. Breakfast and feed in Darlington at Dunlap's tavern. Then on to New Middletown to Daniel Summers's; and this evening reach Brother Henry Kurtz's in Columbiana County, where we stay all night.
Thursday, September 26. Meeting at Brother Haas's. Hebrews 8 is read. Love feast this evening. Come back to Brother Kurtz's and stay all night. Paul has told us more than once of the joy he felt, and how his heart was refreshed on meeting dear brethren and sisters whom he had not seen for a time. In meeting the brethren and sisters here and elsewhere we experience much of the same feeling. They everywhere make us feel at home, and show us more love and give us more attention than we deserve. What a blessed thing it is to be filled with the love of Christ! This implants love in the heart for the Brethren. John says: "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." This is the first-fruits of the tree of life in our hearts.
Friday, September 27. Go westward through Greene, Salem, Damascus, Westville, and on to Brother Joseph Bollinger's, where we stay all night.
Saturday, September 28. Meeting. John 3 is read. Evening meeting at Brother Metse's, where we stay all night. Hebrews 12 is read. Begins to snow this evening, and continues all night.
Sunday, September 29. Meeting in the Franklin Lutheran church. Matthew 7 is read. After meeting we come to Brother David Sommers's. Evening meeting. John 10 is read. Stay all night with Brother Sommers. The weather has cleared up.
Monday, September 30. Visit Michael Dickey who is very sick. We then attend a meeting at Eli Dickey's, in Starke County. Galatians 3 is read. Stay all night with Brother Dickey.
Tuesday, October 1. On westward, through Canton, Massilon, Brooklin, Dover, Wayne County, to Brother Jacob Kurtz's, where we have night meeting. Matthew 9 is read. Fine weather.
Wednesday, October 2. Pass through Jefferson, Pittsburg, and on to Brother Lucas's, where we have meeting. Second Corinthians 2 is read. I spoke awhile on the last verse, particularly on these words: "Corrupting the word of God." In the margin the translation of this part of the verse is somewhat different, and, if I mistake not, is sustained by the German of Luther. It is this: "Making merchandise of the word of God." I regard this as the more literal of the two renderings. But they both mean very nearly the same, with this slight difference, that the one strikes more at the cause, while the other regards particularly the effect of "handling the word of God deceitfully." Men who make merchandise of the Word of God are exactly in line with the Pharisees as the Lord described them: "Verily, they have their reward." Jesus says: "Provide yourselves purses which wax not old; a treasure in the heavens which faileth not." But those who make merchandise of the Word of God provide purses for themselves, for this life, which do wax old; and they lay up their treasures here. Sad to say, such corrupt the Word by handling it deceitfully, that they may make the things of religion pleasing to the natural man, and thereby draw numbers to their side. But, brethren and sisters, I hardly need tell you that this world is no friend to grace—no friend to God—no friend to your souls. "Except a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily, he cannot be my disciple." How different these words of Jesus are from some remarks I heard one of those gospel merchants make from his stand not long since. I give them as nearly as I can. Said he: "Religion is natural to man. And that religion is the best which enables a man or a woman, in the easiest and most respectable way, to lead a good moral and civil life in this world. Christ is your righteousness, and he gives you your necessary fitness for heaven without any effort on your part, any more than to just believe on him; so all you have to do is to sustain a respectable standing in the church, by attending to its ordinances, and you are and forever will be all right."
Now I would ask if such talk as this is not corrupting the Word? How any man, in the face of the sermon on the Mount, in which the deepest humility of heart—in the way of self-denial, forgiveness of enemies, love of the truth, obedience to every commandment, from supreme love to God—and the lowest self-abasement is laid down and set forth in the clearest light and plainest injunctions—how, I say, in the face of all this, can a man speak in this way? And more. Hear the awful, terrific denunciation at the close of this sermon: "He 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 the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Ah! Brethren, something more than a desire to appear respectable in the eyes of the world, and hold an honorable place in the church, so called, is necessary to withstand the floods and storms of temptations that are sure to try us in this world. This is why so many make shipwreck. They do not count the cost; and this is why they desire to make peace, when they see and feel the army of twenty thousand temptations coming against them, and they have only ten thousand, very poorly equipped, to resist their attack.
The temptations to conform to the vain fashions of the world, especially with the young, may be called legion. The temptations to commit adultery are a host. I speak plainly, Brethren, but I must not corrupt the Word. The temptation to acquire property from the avaricious love of wealth, more than we can use ourselves or handle to good ends, comes as the prince of darkness with clouds that shut out the light of heaven from our sight. Brethren and sisters, as I love you all dearly, let me say to you at the close of my remarks that the Lord says: "The scriptures cannot be broken." No man can intentionally break the Scriptures and be saved. We dare not corrupt the Word of God.
After meeting we go to Brother John Shoemaker's, where we have night meeting, and stay all night. Ephesians 6 is read.
Thursday, October 3. Take the Ashland road to Brother Joseph Rupp's, near Ashland, Ashland County, where we have meeting. Luke 14 is read. Stay this afternoon and night with Brother Rupp.
Friday, October 4. Go to Brother Jacob Whisler's, six miles north of Mansfield. Meeting at 3 o'clock. John 14 is read. To-day we crossed the Black Fork of the Mohican. Stay all night with Brother Whisler.
Saturday, October 5. On westward through Shelby, to Brother Samuel Cover's in Crawford County, where we have night meeting. Last part of Acts 3 is read. Stay all night with Brother Cover.
Sunday, October 6. Meeting. Matthew 7 is read. Stay all night with Brother Martain Hestand.
Monday, October 7. Visit William Lupton, but not finding him at home, make settlement with his son of business connected with Hoover's estate. Look over Hoover's land, and stay all night at Bender's. Fine day.
Tuesday, October 9. Meeting at Brother Hestand's in afternoon. Matthew 10 is read. Night meeting at Brother Clark's. Part of John 3 is read. Stay all night at Brother Clark's. Fine day.
Wednesday, October 9. Start for Allen County. Dine and feed at Upper Sandusky; then on to Huston's, in Hardin County. Bad road from the Bellefontaine road for twelve miles. Stay all night at Huston's.
Thursday, October 10. By Williamsburg, breakfast and feed at Michael Baserman's, and on to Abraham Miller's in Allen County, where we stay all night. Brother Hedrick and I have slept together in the same bed every night since we left home.
Friday, October 11. Stay at Brother Miller's till after dinner, then go to Brother Samuel Miller's, where we stay all night.
Saturday, October 12. Pass through Lima, dine and feed in Wapokaneta, and stay all night at Shannon's tavern.
Sunday, October 13. Go to Brother Joseph Risser's, dine and feed, then to Brother Jacob Basehore's, where we leave our horses and walk two and one-half miles to meeting and back to Brother Basehore's. Night meeting at Brother Cabell's. First John 3 is read. Stay all night at Brother Basehore's, in Miami County. Fine day.
Monday, October 14. Westward through Greenville to Brother Emanuel Flory's in Darke County, where we dine and feed; then on to Winchester in Indiana, and stay all night at Acker's tavern. We are now in Randolph County, Indiana. If we were among false brethren in this new country, as Paul says he once was in the land in which he traveled, situated as we are in respect to bad roads, a long way from our homes, with no means of conveyance except the backs of our horses to carry us to Virginia, the prospect of our stay here, and our hopes of safe return, might be gloomy indeed. But, thanks to the good Lord, we are not among false brethren. Our Brethren are true Brethren wherever we find them. There may be some hypocrites, God knows; but I know of none. Brother Hedrick and I have repeatedly discoursed on this subject in our travels together, and neither he nor I have in a single instance met with a brother or sister that has not, in our presence at least, shown something of the gentleness and meekness of Christ. We are made to feel at home wherever we go among them, and these considerations strengthen our faith and encourage the assurance that the Gospel which we as a band of Christians preach and practice, and which works mightily in the hearts of the dear Brethren everywhere, is of God. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Friday, October 11. Still westward through Cameron, to Brother Fullhearts, where we feed our horses and get dinner. We then cross the White river to Muncie in Delaware County, and stay all night with David Bowers. Rough, windy and rainy day.
Wednesday, October 16. Visit the following named families, in nearly all of which we find members of our Brotherhood. We first visit Sowerwine's, then Joseph Coffman's, Sheets's, Jacob Good's, Absalom Painter's and George Hoover's. At the last-named place we have night meeting and stay all night. We are now in Henry County, Indiana.
Thursday, October 17. Meeting at Jacob Brunk's. Mark 1 is read. Then to Peter Fesler's, where we have night meeting. Acts 3 is read. Stay all night with Brother Fesler.
Friday, October 18. Come to Middletown and get a letter from home. Glad to hear that all are well, but sorry to learn of some deaths. Leaving Middletown, we go eastward to Brother David Hartman's, in Wayne County, where we stay all night. Raining all day, and in afternoon it falls in torrents.
Saturday, October 19. Love feast at Brother Abraham Hoover's. John 1 is read. Stay all night at Brother David Hartman's. Clear and cold.
Sunday, October 20. Forenoon meeting. Acts 3 was read. I spoke on verse twenty-second: Subject, "The Great Prophet." Meeting again at one o'clock. I speak on Mark 1:27. Text: "And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this?"
The Jews could well ask the question set forth in the text: "What new doctrine is this?" To them the teachings of Christ were all new. Whilst he came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill, nevertheless his fulfillment of them was so spiritual, so essentially holy, so pure in motive, so beneficent in act, that the Jews were entire strangers to it: or probably better, it was strange and new to them. Even Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews, failed to perceive what Jesus meant when he told him about the nature and necessity of the new birth. Our Lord manifests something of surprise at the ignorance and stupidity of Nicodemus. Such ignorance as Nicodemus exposes in the presence of Christ appears to us as wholly inexcusable, when we look at what had already been taught on the subject of a change of heart, or regeneration, in the law of Moses and the prophets.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, walked with God three hundred years, and never saw death, for God took him. Did he walk with God in a fleshly mind, or in a spiritual mind? Hear what Jesus and Paul say: "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh," and Paul says: "Therein dwelleth no good thing." "But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and therein serve we the Lord acceptably. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Elijah are to-day in the heavens. Are they there in the flesh? Nay, verily, but in the spirit; in the new nature which God had implanted in them. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven."
"And what shall I say more? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephtha; of David also, and Samuel," who prayed: "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." But the Jews had become carnal, fleshly minded, and, like Nicodemus, were unable to see the spirituality of their own Word. How, then, could they apprehend the grace or see the truth which came by Jesus Christ! Let us, Brethren, search the Scriptures and acquaint ourselves much with the Gospel of our salvation, so that when we read or hear, it may not be to us as it was to the Jews, a new doctrine, but the