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Title: Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary

Author: John Kline

Editor: Benjamin Funk

Release date: September 17, 2005 [eBook #16711]
Most recently updated: December 12, 2020

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Mark C. Orton and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND LABORS OF ELDER JOHN KLINE, THE MARTYR MISSIONARY ***

RESIDENCE OF ELDER JOHN KLINE.

RESIDENCE OF ELDER JOHN KLINE.

LIFE AND LABORS

OF

ELDER JOHN KLINE

THE MARTYR MISSIONARY

Collated from his Diary

By

BENJAMIN FUNK

Elgin, Ill.:
BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE,
1900.

INTRODUCTION.

In the burying ground of the Linville's Creek German Baptist church in Rockingham County, Virginia, there is to be seen a marble slab engraved with the name John Kline.

In walking through a cemetery and pensively viewing the memorials of the departed, one question of deep interest often presses upon the mind and heart: Are these, whose names are here recorded on slab and obelisk, still alive and in the possession of conscious being, or are they dead—

"All to mouldering darkness gone;

All of conscious life bereft?"

We turn to earth, and from her lips the ear of reason catches deep-toned words of assurance that death is not the end of life. The hue of the butterfly's wing, "the flower of the grass," the beauty of the vernal year, these all, all teach the sublime truth that "all great endings are but great beginnings." The voice of God from the unrolled page of plainer if not diviner truth, says: "These are not dead, but sleeping—they shall wake again."

Satisfied on this point, the next question turns to the lives and characters, works and words of those who lie buried here. Were they good or bad? Are their spirits now in heaven, or somewhere else? There are two classes, however, concerning whom no such questions arise. The first class is made up of those who have died in their infancy; and ever and anon while looking at the "little lamb," or "rose bud," or "young dove" not yet fledged, the words flow into the mind as from the lips of Jesus: "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." The other class is composed of such as have given clear evidence, by profession and life, that they are the children of God. The words for them come as did the others, from the page of Heavenly Truth, "Therefore are they continually before the throne, and praise him day and night in his temple."

The epitaph of John Kline is read without a doubt ever springing up in the mind of any one who knew him. We saw him, not as Elisha saw Elijah in sight, ascend to heaven; but with the eye of faith we saw him clothed in a celestial body; and with the ear of faith we heard the welcome: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

THE ANNUAL MEETING OF 1878.

In the year 1878 the Brethren's Annual Meeting was held with the Linville's Creek church. Brethren and sisters from many sections of our Union were present. Many graves in the cemetery by the meetinghouse were to be seen. Epitaphs were read by the throngs of people who walked around to view them. Few of these bore anything beyond the simple inscription of the name and the two facts that fall to the lot of all: The time of birth and the time of death.

But there was one grave from whose humble mound each visitor seemed eager to pluck a flower, a leaf, or any other little thing that might be carried back home and enshrined in a casket for a memento of one never to be forgotten. That grave was the grave of John Kline.

One sister, with tears in her eyes, said: "He preached my mother's funeral." Another said: "He used to visit us in Ohio; and we always loved so much to see him come." A brother said: "I traveled with him over two thousand miles, and he was always one thing." Others said: "The meeting is lonesome without him." "He was at our love feast in Pennsylvania the year he was killed," said another. It would be vain to attempt to follow up all the affectionate memories that were expressed by the loving throngs of sanctified hearts that surrounded his tomb.

In this book Elder John Kline is set forth not as dead, but as alive; as living and moving amongst us again. His life work stands recorded on earth as well as in heaven. With untiring perseverance Brother Kline kept a record of his work every day for a period of twenty-nine years. These records contain two great facts common to the life of every man, woman and child.

First Fact.—Where he spent the day and night.

Second Fact.—How he spent the day and night.

A truthful record of these for many, made public, would blast their reputation abroad and blight their peace at home. But not so with our beloved brother. Whilst it is true that he had no expectation of his Diary ever being published, it is equally true that it does not contain a single entry of which he has cause to be ashamed before man or God. That the entries are faithful and true needs no proof other than the testimony that thousands still living are ready to bear to his untarnished name as a man honest and honorable in all things.

As a Christian, the beloved ministering brethren who spoke at his funeral are to-day not ashamed to apply to him the same words they applied to him then, and which were taken as the subject of discourse on that occasion. In speaking of his appointment to the ministry they took these words: "And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." Acts 6:5. They also added the other words spoken of Stephen in the eighth verse of the same chapter, a man "full of grace and power." Can anything loftier be said of a man's qualification for the work of the ministry?

As Stephen was the first Christian martyr, and Brother Kline the last then known, they closed their discourses in heartfelt realization of these words: "And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him." We all took part in the lamentation—the writer himself being present and speaking on the occasion—and felt that the ruthless hand of violence had wickedly torn from our midst a friend and counsellor whose place could not be filled by any other.

As a kind-hearted, loving mother puts her child's best new dress on it before taking it to church or in public, so have I endeavored to clothe the diary of Brother Kline in a suitable attire of Sunday clothes. I sincerely believe that the work in this form will be highly acceptable to the Brotherhood at large; and as Brother Daniel Hays says in a letter to me, "productive of much good."

Part II of Introduction.

This book, if carefully read, will instruct both young and old. In this age of progress, when the forces of nature and art are being applied to practical ends; when "men are running to and fro and knowledge is wonderfully increased," it becomes us as intelligent Christians to look around and see whether we are not living in perilous times.

Far be it from me to discourage any one from seeking that knowledge which is good, or from availing himself of the benefits to be derived from the arts and sciences; but if this knowledge and these benefits are sought and gained only for worldly ends, only to add to worldly accomplishments or worldly treasure, they are dangerous for time and ruinous for eternity. What support can the soul have in its deep conflict with temptation, or in the dark hour of affliction or bereavement, when stayed on this world only? In all the tenderness of a father's heart I turn to the youth of our land and say to them in the words of the best Friend that God himself could give: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and all earthly blessings will be added unto you.

In the following pages you may see what one man may do by "patient continuance in well doing." Brother Kline was a man "subject to like passions as we are." He was once an infant just as you were, and lay at his mother's breast. He very well remembered, when an old man, how he felt when she made for him his first pair of "pants." When that kind mother put them on him, pleased and smiling in the tenderness of her nature, "the first use that I made of my hands," said he to me shortly before his death, "was to feel for the pockets." "We incline," continued he, "to carry this feature of our boyhood into youth and age. The pocket never ceases to be a very important appendage to our dress, and the hand inclines to put into it every valuable thing it can."

Brother Kline never went to school very much. He learned to read and write both German and English; and he also studied arithmetic. Further than this he never went in school. He did not have the advantages of free schools as young people now have. But you may learn from this that one may carry on his education after leaving school. In fact, schools only open the way for acquiring an education.

When a boy I was very fond of reading the lives of great men. I did not then know very much about poetry, but I surely did feel something of the fire that Longfellow has made to glow with so much heat and light in his "Psalm of Life." I am glad to add, by means of this book, one more name to the list of great men, so that in the lines which follow he too may be included.

"Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime;

And departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of Time:

Footprints, that perhaps another

Sailing o'er life's troubled main—

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother—

Seeing, may take heart again."

Elder John Kline will be set forth in this work as one of the great Pioneer Preachers of the Cross. A brief but clear outline of many of his sermons, together with the time and place of preaching them, will be given. Many of the love feasts which he attended, and the substance of what he said at some of them will also be noted.

He has left a record of the name of every family he ever visited in all the States, together with the day and year when such visits were made. Those brethren and sisters of the Lord who still remember him, will, while reading this work, live over again the years that have passed away and been almost forgotten. You will again listen to the voice of his holy, healing words at some love feast long ago gone by. You will again sit with him by the "old home hearthstone" as it used to be when father and mother were living, and all the brothers and sisters together in the room, and hear him talk and sing, and read and pray. And will not this exercise of the mind and heart be pleasant? Will it not be profitable? Will it not serve to refresh your love to Christ and the Brotherhood? May it not rekindle in your heart a flame of that first and tender love which shone so brightly when first you saw the Lord? You then could sweetly sing:

"Jesus, I my cross have taken,

All to leave and follow thee."

Since that time many cares and toils and afflictions and bereavements, perhaps, have caused you to sigh in mournful memory:

"What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!"

and the heart-sobs sadly echo:

"But they have left an aching void

The world can never fill."

In such seasons of sadness and despondency it is helpful to the heart to hold communion with the great and the good through the medium of their writings. Men who leave such comforting testimony behind them are a blessing to all within the circle of their influence while living, and when dead they continue to speak. Their words are felt and blessed on both banks of the "River of Time" as it flows down through the ages.

There were a few points in the life and character of Elder John Kline which may very appropriately be referred to here. I sincerely hope that all the youthful members of the Brotherhood, especially, may become acquainted with these points.

The First Point.—He was truthful. He never spoke positively about anything without first examining the matter carefully; and even then he said about it only what he knew to be true. How different this habit from that of many who speak positively about things which they do not well understand, or which they are for the most part ignorant of!

The Second Point.—He never spoke evil of any one. It is not to be understood from this that he spoke good of every one. On the contrary, he spoke freely of the sinner and to the sinner; warning him of his danger and pointing him to his impenitent doom. But it is to be understood that he never spoke evil to injure any one. Whatever he said in that way was to reform and to bless. His heart overflowed with love to all.

The Third Point.—He was temperate. During a long personal acquaintance with him, I never knew or heard of his taking a drink of ardent spirits or intoxicating liquor of any kind. If he ever did use any at all, it was only as a medicine. But as he was very temperate in his eating, and judiciously careful of himself generally, he was rarely ever sick.

The Fourth Point.—He was abstemious. This, in connection with strict temperance and pure morality, made him a clean man. His mouth was not polluted with chewing tobacco. His nose was not defiled with snuffing tobacco. His breath was not vitiated with smoking tobacco. He consequently never used tobacco in anyway. My dear young reader, in all the love of my heart, I urge you to "go and do likewise, that it may be well with thee."

LIFE AND LABORS

OF THE

MARTYR MISSIONARY

Elder John Kline.

We have no certain account of the time and place at which Brother Kline was set forward to the ministry of the Word. On Sunday, Feb. 8, 1835, he spoke for the first time after his appointment to the ministry of the Word. This much, at least, is inferred from its being the first entry made in his Diary.

He, and Elder Daniel Miller, from near the head of Linville's Creek, in Rockingham County, Virginia, were together at John Goughnour's, west of the town of Woodstock, in Shenandoah County, Virginia. The meeting was at Goughnour's dwelling house. Brother Miller put John Kline forward to take the lead in speaking. Brother Kline had previously selected the subject, and thought upon it, to be ready, in the event of his being required to take the lead in speaking. Matthew 11 was read; and Brother Kline took his text. It was verses 4, 5 and 6 of the chapter read. These are the words: "Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."

"It may be proper in the first place," said he, "for us to inquire why John sent the message to Jesus which gave rise to the words of the text. The message may appear strange to some, as John had, not long before, pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He had seen the 'Heavenly Dove' descend from the open heavens and abide upon him as he came up from the baptismal wave, and had heard the Father's voice from beneath the same uplifted veil: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' It is my belief that John had become doubtful. The iron gates of Herod's castle had shut out from him all bodily comfort, and with this his hope seemed to vanish. This experience has had many a repetition in the realizations of good men since John's day. He felt himself neglected. If Jesus is the friend I took him to be, why does he not come to my rescue? I do not understand him. How can he feel satisfied to know that I am lying here in great bodily distress and perplexity of mind, and put forth no effort to release me, and thus restore me to useful activity in his service? Many, many, not in Herod's castle, but in other castles, such as beds of affliction, castles of poverty, castles of persecution, castles of bodily infirmity, castles of bereavement, castles of losses and crosses in one way and another, have had the same experiences, the same doubts and misgivings.

"John resolved to try to find out about all this if possible. So he sent the messengers. Here note the love of Christ. He does not upbraid John for this half reproachful message. He calmly returns to him in the shape of an answer a series of the most wonderful truths the world has ever heard; truths which, in their spiritual sense, comprehend the work of salvation on the part of Jesus from the alpha to the omega. 'Go and show John again the things which ye do hear and see.' The use of the word 'again' implies that a similar answer had been returned to John at least once before. This testimony, with the love in which it was sent, may have refreshed John's love for Jesus, and reassured his faith. The last words of the returned message contain something like a gentle reproof to John, 'And blessed is he that is not offended in me.'

"I think the Lord knew that John had been somewhat offended in him; that he had doubted his love, or his wisdom, or his power, or all these together; and that the Lord's apparent neglect of him was traceable to a want of these perfections. Doubts of this kind, from weakness of the flesh and spirit, have often been known to invade the hearts of other good men, when the divine love has been partially veiled from sight in seasons of great distress. Even our Lord himself upon the cross cried out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' I cannot think that the divine love ever did forsake him for one instant. It was so only in appearance to him.

"The things connected with the life-work of Jesus, which John's messengers had just seen and heard, bore a much stronger testimony to his divinity and Messiahship than any declaration he could have made by mere affirmation. Here is verified the old proverb: 'Actions speak louder than words.' All may see a valuable lesson here. We are commanded to let our light shine. What an honor it would be to Christ and the church, if every member of it would be able to point to his good works as proofs of the sincerity and genuineness of his religious profession!

"Notwithstanding John's doubts and impatience, the Lord still loved him tenderly; and after the messengers had departed, he said to the multitude: 'Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.' Our way would have been to include this encomium in the message, and let John hear it. In our way of thinking this would have done him more good than the other. But as the heaven is high above the earth, so high are the Lord's thoughts above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways.

"Could our eyes catch a glimpse of the bliss that thrills John's heart in heaven to-day, we would no longer wonder why the Lord left him lie in Herod's castle."

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

Preached at Forrer's, in Page County, Virginia,
Sunday, February 15, 1835.

Text.—And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals: and so he did. And he saith unto him: Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.—Acts 12:8.

Peter's hands were chained, and he was lying in a cold and gloomy prison in Jerusalem. Herod, who was at that time viceroy of Jerusalem and Judea, had imprisoned Peter just to please the Jews. These were the bitter enemies of Christ.

It looks to us as if it would hardly be worth while to pray for the recovery of a sheep already dragged into a den of wolves, and lying there only waiting to be devoured. But the saints at Jerusalem did pray for Peter, and they had to pray secretly too. You may be sure they did not pray to be heard of men. They were only afraid that men might hear. But there was one that did hear. For "the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands."

You know something about Peter's disposition. He often spoke without thinking very well what it might be best to say; and sometimes he acted without thinking what it might be best to do. On this occasion I do believe that he would have followed the angel through the streets of Jerusalem, bare-footed and in his night clothes, if he had not kindly ordered him to gird himself and bind on his sandals and cast his garment about him.

I, for one, do believe that all the miracles and providences wrought by the Lord and recorded in his Word are for the instruction and ultimate good of all who read or hear them.

THE LESSONS OF INSTRUCTION.

I. Sometimes men who have been subject to very bad habits are, by the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, led to forsake them. They form new loves. They find joy in a new life. Old things with them have passed away. They come from the baptismal wave clad, as it were, in a new garment, even the beautiful garment of salvation; and the new song in their mouth is praise to our God. I can name some of this class in our church who have run well; some who have fought the good fight of faith with unflinching courage and resolution to victory complete. But others have been made to weep and lament from the fearful truth that this same beloved Brother Peter tells us, that "our adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour," for they have been devoured by him.

In the garden of Eden the devil came to Eve in the form of a serpent. I imagine this to be his most natural form. We sometimes see him caricatured as a man with horns and cloven feet. This is a mistake. A man in this form would make a frightful appearance. But the devil never approaches any one in a way to frighten him. He is too cunning for that. A fox takes care not to frighten away his prey. Even the lion, when he is seeking his prey, never roars at that time, but crouches and hides in the tall grass or thicket until his prey comes near enough, and then he springs upon it with a single bound. The reason why Peter calls him a roaring lion is because he roars furiously after his prey is in his power. His roaring then is but a note of victory and defiance. The devil knew that he would not frighten Eve by coming to her in the form he did, because she had never then, as yet, known anything of evil. But when he comes to men now in the serpent form, he comes as "a snake in the grass."

I sometimes think that age adds shrewdness to the devil's plans. He comes to men in so many forms and ways, first to delude and then to destroy, that they may be called legion. But, as Paul says, "We are not ignorant of his devices, for Satan is transformed into an angel of light."

He learns to know every brother's and sister's weak point. To the brother who has been fond of ardent spirits he comes behind the deceitful, covetous smile of the rumseller. In this instance the order of the fable is reversed. There the ass put on the lion's skin; here the lion puts on the skin of the ass. To the brother whose weakness is adultery he comes in the form of a harlot, "jeweled and crowned." To the brother whose special sin has been covetousness he comes as a friend. He takes him by the hand, leads him to the top of some high mountain, there shows him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and pledges to him the enjoyment of all this glory and power if he will but fall down and worship him.

Now, Herod was a type of this devil, and the prison in which Peter was chained is a type of the "horrible pit" into which many a good-meaning Christian has been cast by him. But even for such there is quite as much hope as there was for Peter. The Lord is ever nigh to redeem and to save. But there must be a willing mind. If Peter had said in his half-asleep state, "Just leave me alone—I'll come after awhile—I'm too sleepy to go now"—what then? It would have been impossible for the Lord to rescue him, if he had not been willing to be rescued by the Lord.

Some, who have "been taken captive by the devil at his will," keep awake in a certain sense. The pall of darkness and deep sleep has not yet settled down upon them. They are conscious of their situation. They know and feel that they are in the hands of the enemy, but how to escape is the trouble with them. If such would only have the mind and will to do as Christian and Hopeful did in "Doubting Castle," they could readily find a key in their bosoms with which to unlock every gate, and thus make their escape.

II. In this respect they differ from Peter, for "he was sleeping between two soldiers." Besides this, there were men stationed at the door to keep watch all night. But the Lord is prepared for every emergency. What storm can sink a ship when Omnipotence is at the helm? If you or I, brethren, were to see a brother confined and guarded as Peter was, I greatly fear we would utterly despair of ever seeing him rescued; especially so if public sentiment were rife with malice and rage against him. I fear we would say, It is no use to pray for that man. Nothing short of a miracle can save that man; and miracles are not wrought by prayer nowadays. But the loving hearts gathered together in secret places in Jerusalem thought not so. They "made unceasing prayer for him."

Now let us note the order in which the Lord proceeded to answer these prayers. He came to Peter and smote him. Whether the stroke was light or heavy is a thing of little consequence. It succeeded in awaking the man. This was its object. I think the Lord gave Peter only a slight tap on the side, because he was not hard to wake up that night. But there are some, and I have known such, whom the Lord had to smite very hard to stir them from their sleep. They open their eyes in amazement and wonder why they have been so smitten. Unfortunately for some of this class, they open their eyes, but they see not; they hear, but they heed not. I think I have known a few such; and I fear the Lord said of them what he said of Ephraim: "He is joined to his idols, let him alone."

III. There is a third class, and they compose a great multitude, who have, so to speak, grown up in the devil's prison house, and have grown so used to his ways that they are willing to stay there. These may be said to be bound with two chains. Their love of the world is one chain, and their love of self is the other. I may be addressing some now who are thus bound. Let us see. Jesus says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like to it which is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Does every one who is now under the sound of my voice do this? Are you sure, my friend, that you love God more than the world, and that you love your neighbor as yourself? What proof have you to give of this? Jesus again says: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that loveth me will keep my words." There can be nothing more perfectly in harmony with human nature in all its phases than these declarations of our Lord. Where is the subject that is unwilling to render obedience to the prince or king that he loves? Where is the loving child that refuses to obey its parents? I tell you that obedience is the test and proof of love. Do you obey our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you say "No"? Then, my dear friend, let me say to you, in all candor and love, you do not love him. You may imagine that you do, but your imagination on this point is a delusion. But perhaps you are ashamed to confess him. Hear again what the Lord says: "He that is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his glory."

But perhaps you ask: "How am I to get rid of my chains?" Get rid of them, my dear unconverted friend, just as Peter got rid of his. The Lord is just as willing and as able to rescue you from the chains of sin and the thraldom of bad habits as he was to rescue Peter from the chains with which the Roman guard had bound him. The Lord came to him, not in darkness, but in light. He brought the light with him. He never works in darkness. Even when he was about to fashion the world, the first thing he did was to throw a flood of light all over its wide, chaotic surface. But the light which he caused to shine in the prison did not wake Peter up, although it must have shone in his eyes. So he smote him on the side, and no doubt shook him gently.

Peter opened his eyes and saw the light. The angel "raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly." At the very first move he made to stand on his feet, his chains got loose, and when he rose to his feet they fell right off. This is the way you are to get rid of your chains. The Lord comes to you as he is present now and says to you, "Arise up quickly, and follow me." The very moment you firmly resolve to obey him in love, that very moment will your chains begin to get loose; and when you arise to follow him in the way his Word directs, they will fall off.

You may here see how the Lord works with man. It is said the angel raised Peter up; and at the same time, while he had hold of him, he ordered Peter to arise up quickly. This is just the way we would do in trying to get one awake and up, whom we dearly loved if he was in great danger. An infant we would pick up and carry out; but one in health and strength we would expect to act for himself; we, at the same time, doing what might be necessary on our part. Just so the Lord acts with every poor sinner. He comes with light and he comes in love. Sinner, I am sure he has come to you to-day. He is saying to you now, Rise up quickly, and follow me.

And where does the good Lord propose to lead the sinner? He offers to lead you out of your prison house of sin into "the glorious liberty of the children of God." He proposes to take you out of darkness into "his marvelous light." He will, if you but rise up and follow him, give you eternal life, and a home in heaven forever, free from sickness, sorrow, pain and death. Will you not go with him?

VISIT TO A SICK WOMAN.

After preaching the above sermon, Brother Kline, in company with Brother Kagey, visited a sick woman living on Forrer's land. He says: "She seemed to be suffering a good deal in body; but more, I think, in spirit. We told her that Christ Jesus was the only substantial hope we had to set before her; that faith in him would bring salvation and peace to her soul. I read to her from the Sermon on the Mount: 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for if ye know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things unto them that ask him.' The best thing that our heavenly Father can give us is a heart to love and obey him. God works in us both to will and to do the things that please him; but we at the same time must have a willing mind to do them. In this way we come to be co-workers with God.

"'Baptism,'" I said to her, 'is the first public act of obedience required at our hands. Here our sins are in figure washed away; for baptism is called in the Word 'the washing of regeneration.' As a newborn child is washed before it is clothed and set before the family, so the newborn child of God must be washed and made pure before he or she can come into the church as a full member. But the baptism of the child of God denotes a spiritual cleansing; whilst the washing or bathing of a newborn infant means only bodily cleansing. Hence Peter says that 'baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.' This means that it fills the heart with a sense or feeling of 'righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.'"

"After instructing her awhile in this way we ended our call with prayer."

On Sunday, March 15, there was meeting in

DANIEL MILLER'S DWELLING HOUSE.

This is about five miles north of Harrisonburg, in Rockingham County, Virginia. It is at present occupied by Benjamin Miller, the youngest son of Daniel Miller. He stands high as overseer of the Greenmount church. He has a numerous family of intelligent and godly children, all now grown up, and members of the Brethren church.

At the time of this meeting, Brother Daniel Miller's family was young, and most of the children were at home, eighteen in all; and all children of one mother. Brother Kline says: "I felt deeply impressed with the weighty responsibility resting upon the father and mother of this pleasant and orderly household; and not upon them only, but upon us also, who are preachers of the Word. In this feeling, I proposed the reading of the fifteenth chapter of John's Gospel. I spoke briefly from these words: 'If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin.' John 15:22."

Sermon.

"These words are a part of our Lord's farewell counsel to his little band of chosen disciples. This was just before his betrayal into the hands of his murderers. He spoke to them about this sinful world. He told them how the people of the world would treat them, and what they would think of the glorious Gospel which they were soon to proclaim. 'In the world,' said he to them, 'ye shall have tribulation; but in me, ye shall have peace.' The text does not teach that men who are ignorant of God's Word are sinless; neither does it teach that the doctrine which our blessed Savior taught tends to make men sinners. Oh, no! But this is what it means: That God is so merciful and gracious that until men are instructed and warned of their danger, he does not hold them severely accountable. But when the light of truth is shed around them, and the way of life and salvation pointed out to them, and they then shut their eyes to the light and close their hearts to knowledge, he holds them accountable, and deals with them as sinners.

"I feel now to address a few words to the dear young people who are assembled here. The Lord bless you in the dew of your youth, while your hearts are yet tender; before age and sin have made you hard, give your hearts to God. This you can do by loving our Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for you. When you love him with the heart, you believe on him with the heart; and when you believe on him with the heart, you have a desire in your heart to obey him by doing his commandments. You will purify your souls by obeying the truth. 'Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.' 'Seek the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near;' for, saith he, 'they that seek me early shall find me.'

"But you may desire to know how you are to seek the Lord, and where you are to look for him. I hope you are thinking of this now; so I will tell you. The only place where the Lord can be found is in his Holy Word. There you find him in the form of the man Christ Jesus. And whilst he is there set forth as the 'man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,' he is also set forth as the 'true God and eternal life.' He there says: 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.' 'And he that drinketh of the water that I will give unto him shall never thirst.' This water is the truth of his Word. It so fills the soul with love and light and joy and peace, as to become a fountain of delight within us. Reading God's Word in the right spirit is drinking of the Water of Life. When this truth finds a place in the memory through the love of it, the memory keeps our thoughts perpetually supplied with it, and thus it becomes, as our Lord says, 'a fountain within us unto everlasting life.'"

Saturday, March 21, Brother Kline, in company with Brother Daniel Miller, went to Brock's Gap, and spent the night at Brother Sunafrank's.

BROCK'S GAP.

This is a small area of country in Rockingham County, Virginia, containing about one hundred and fifty square miles. It is the head basin of the north fork of the Shenandoah river. It is almost completely surrounded by high and rugged mountains; and where the river has broken a gap for its outlet the scenery is not surpassed by that of Harper's Ferry.

A considerable number of people live in it, and there are some good farms and thrifty farmers. In Brother Kline's day Brock's Gap was only a mission field. At this time the German Baptist Brethren have two well-built and commodious houses of worship in it. At the time Brother Kline commenced preaching there they had no house of worship and the membership was very small. The membership at this time includes some from nearly all the leading families in the section. The Fulks, Fawleys, Richies, Hevners, Moyerses, Smiths, Doves, Lambs, Shoemakers, and many others are represented in the Brotherhood.

Sunday, March 21.—The two brethren crossed the Shenandoah mountain and arrived in

SWEEDLIN VALLEY.

This valley lies in Pendleton County, West Virginia. It extends northward along the west foot of the Shenandoah mountain for about eight miles, and is separated from the South Fork valley west of it by Sweedlin mountain. It is the habitation of a good many families, is exceedingly picturesque, and is in some respects beautiful.

The two brethren were called here to preach the funeral of old Brother Nazlerode. His father had been a Hessian, and served under British colors in the American Revolution. At the close of the war he, with many others, declined returning to his native home in Hesse-Darmstadt in Germany, and decided to stay in America. But this class of citizens was not very welcome among the patriots of American liberty. They were looked upon with a degree of opprobrium; and hence they sought homes in the more remote and secluded valleys among the mountains. Brother Nazlerode had died some time before. The preaching was at the house where the old brother had lived.

Sermon by Daniel Miller.

Brother Daniel Miller spoke first in the German language. He took for his subject 1 Pet. 1:24, 25. "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass: ... but the word of the Lord endureth forever."

He spoke very beautifully and impressively on the short-lived pleasures of earth. He said that the new birth and the new life, which lift man to God and fit him for heaven, are not begotten of the corruptible seed of man, but of God through the Word of his Truth, which liveth and abideth forever. He pointed them to Jesus as the "Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." He then, in a very affectionate manner, exhorted all to accept the salvation offered and walk in the way that our Lord has made plain in his Word.

Brother Kline followed and said: "Brother Daniel and I both felt moved to pity when we considered the situation of these people. They have a poor chance to hear the Gospel, and but few of them can read the Bible. We closed the services suitably, and then went to friend Jacob Wansturf's and spent the night."

Monday, April 13.—Brother Kline, in company with Brother Frederic Kline, went to Brock's Gap on the yearly visit. He says: "We found some of the members in a very poor condition. One sister, in particular, moved my feelings deeply. Her husband is somewhat dissipated and does not provide for his family as he should. She is the mother of three small children; and, judging from their present appearance, they have undergone a good deal of suffering for want of food and clothing. None of them have any shoes; and the thin coverings they have on are so patched and darned that one can hardly tell the kind of goods they were originally made of.

"I inquired how they were off in the way of food. She replied that they had about a peck of corn meal in the house and several bushels of potatoes buried in the garden; and she reckoned they could do right well till she could get some more washing and other work to do. I gave that patient, uncomplaining sister three dollars out of my own pocket money. 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' There is a day coming when we shall more fully realize this truth than now."

THE YEARLY VISIT CONTINUED.

Tuesday, April 14.—"We have found a quiet and peaceable state of feeling in the Brotherhood generally. There is, however, among the younger members, too great a tendency to conform to the world in dress and conversation."

MEETING AT BENJAMIN BOWMAN'S.

Friday, April 17.—"His son, Samuel Bowman, was baptized to-day, and the subject of discourse was the baptism of Jesus as recorded in Mark's Gospel. John seems to have been a sort of open link by which the chain of prophecy in the Old Testament was united with the chain of its fulfillment in the New. As a prophet, he went forth in the spirit and power of Elijah. But Elijah of old uttered his prophecies surrounded by midnight darkness. John utters his in the light of the rising Sun of Righteousness; and they all point to the future glory of that Sun. The Sun rose publicly from the waters of Jordan in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when the Spirit of God in the form of a dove descended upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.'

"What a recognition! What a reception! And will not our heavenly Father meet every true-hearted believer in the same way, as he rises from the baptismal wave? Not visibly, to his natural eye; not audibly, to his natural ear; but by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. For 'baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God.' This is its first blessed power."

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

A Funeral Sermon at Sunafrank's in Brock's Gap,
Sunday, April 26.

Text.—Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.—John 5:25.

The Lord spoke these words to the Jews. They would not believe that he was the Son of God. They sought to kill him, not only because he had broken the Sabbath by healing a man on that day, but also because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. In his reply to them he uttered some of the most wonderful truths the world has ever heard. He said: "The dead shall hear."

In the ear of a Jew these words had an ominous ring. They could not gainsay them in a direct way, because the Lord had, that very day, and before their eyes, wrought a miracle which was almost equal to that of making a dead man hear. It appears strange to us that any class of people could harbor feelings of enmity toward one so kind and good as Jesus was. But the Jews were a very proud people, and exceedingly vain in their imaginations. And because the Lord would not flatter them, and give them credit for great knowledge and wisdom in divine things, they fell out with him and hated him.

Jesus does not say that all the dead shall hear. But he does mean that all shall have a chance and the power to hear if they will. But who are the dead of whom he speaks? They are all who are not spiritually alive; Jews and Gentiles. The Scriptures in many places speak of men as dead who are bodily alive. They are dead in one way, and alive in another. I will explain this. In respect to faith in the Lord and love to him, the Jews were dead. There was no spiritual life in them. Jewish worship was all an outward, external thing. But God regards a man's spirit, his heart. "For they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him."

There stands a tree. It is just now in full bloom, and the sight is beautiful. A few months ago that tree was dead in one sense and alive in another. It was winter-dead. There were neither leaves, blossoms nor fruit upon it. Had it continued in that state, it would be cut down as a worthless thing. But it had a receptacle of life, and that life is in the sun which imparts heat and light to everything. The sun makes the earth warm; the watery vapors to ascend and form clouds which give rain; the sap to rise and form itself into leaves, blossoms and fruits. Every unconverted man and woman, just like that tree in winter, is dead as to all divine or heavenly life in the soul. Let us see: He is dead as to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He does not love him. He lives just as if there were no God to love and obey; no hell to shun; no heaven to obtain. He does not love the people of God as such. But, notwithstanding all this, he has a capacity, such as God has given to every man, to be made alive in Christ Jesus. Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness. He is so called because he, like the sun in our sky, rises and shines upon the evil and the good; and whosoever opens his heart to the light of this Sun is filled with the light of truth and love, and made alive to walk in the way of righteousness before him.

This light comes through his Word, the Gospel of our salvation, as it is proclaimed by his faithful ministers, and falls upon every sinner. If the sinner will open his ears to the voice, and his eyes to the light, the promise in the text is that he "shall live." Jesus says: "I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall have the light of life. In him is light, and the light is the life of men." But if the sinner, like the owl, closes his eyes to the light of truth, and his ears to the voice of the Lord, he will abide in death, and, like the owl, love darkness rather than light forever.

Sunday, July 19, Magdalena Wampler and John Miller's wife baptized.

Sermon by Elder Daniel Miller.

In the German Language, at the Linville's Creek Meetinghouse.

Text.—And there went out unto him all the country of Judæa, and all they of Jerusalem; and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.—Mark 1:5.

Judging from the multitudes that went out to John's baptism, his preaching must have created a lively sensation in Jerusalem and Judæa. All who went out were Jews. In justice to the text, we must notice the fact that the word all, as there used, applies only to the common people. These came to John confessing their sins. He pointed them to the "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." The scribes and Pharisees and lawyers, the chief men of Judæa and Jerusalem, went not out to be baptized of John. These had no sins to confess; no ignorance to deplore; no spiritual ailments or infirmities. "They that be whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick."

It was with the common people that John succeeded in preparing the "way of the Lord." May we not also do the same? When we induce men to think upon the subject of religion, when we persuade them to repent and believe the Gospel, we too are preparing the way of the Lord. The Word of Truth does not have free course all over the world yet. Many amongst us oppose it. Millions far away are still in pagan darkness. But every soul that truly believes in Jesus and is baptized has the promise of salvation; and every such soul is a fresh light in the world's darkness. The more of such lights we can get to shine in the world the lighter will it grow, and the more and more will the way of the Lord be prepared.

In John's day the people were not ashamed to come and be immersed in the Jordan. There does not seem to have been any doubt or uncertainty with them as to the mode or form of baptism. Every one went to the river Jordan. If a few drops of water, applied to some part of the body, had answered the end of baptism as well as the immersion of the whole body in water, I think most of them would have saved themselves this long journey. They would have called John to Jerusalem, to that wealthy and populous city. He could have just passed through the streets with a pail or pitcher of water in his hand, and with little trouble could have applied a few drops to the head or face of each one that asked it.

For want of room, we now pass over all the entries in the Diary from July 19 to September 11. This time was actively taken up by our beloved brother in attending love feasts, council meetings and regular appointments. In body he was robust, vigorous and active: in spirit he had long reaches of faith and hope and love. This incited him to great activity; and I often heard him say: "An hour misspent or trifled away is just so much time given to Satan."

JOURNEY TO OHIO AND RETURN THROUGH
KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE.

This journey occupied two months to the day. Friday, September 11, he passed up through Brock's Gap, and down the Lost River Valley.

LOST RIVER.

This is a small but very clear and beautiful stream in Hardy County, West Virginia. It flows through a rich and delightful valley between Church mountain on its eastern side next to Shenandoah County, Virginia, and the South Branch mountain on its western side. After a course of about twenty miles in a northeasterly direction it suddenly disappears at the base of a mountain extending like a huge dam across the valley. After a subterranean passage of a few miles it reappears on the opposite side "clear as crystal." From this point to its mouth in the Potomac it bears the name of Ca-capon or Capon. Tradition says this is an Indian name, and means found. This stream, from its head to its mouth, may aptly represent the life, death and resurrection of the Christian.

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

For the information of the young especially, many of whom it is hoped will read this book, I will give a brief description of the state of the country through which our beloved brother expected to travel, partly alone and on horseback. No doubt you have read the story of George Washington, not quite twenty-one years of age, starting on horseback with only a single companion, to carry a letter from Dinwiddie, Governor of Virginia, to the commander of the French military forces at Venango, in the extreme northwestern part of Pennsylvania. Washington delivered the letter and returned the answer. Many books of American history give an account of this wonderful achievement, and praise the man who performed it.

Brother Kline, in part, passed over very nearly the same ground on this journey that Washington had passed over on his. Washington went with a motive altogether worldly. He was complying with the wish of the governor of his State. Brother Kline went with a motive as far transcending in sublimity and importance anything appearing in that of Washington as heaven is high above the earth, and the thoughts and ways of God are above those of men. He went to raise men from the depths of sin into which they had so deeply fallen, and exalt them to companionship with angels in the skies. His mission was to turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. He laid no claim to any power within himself to do this; but he went in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and in the power of him who is able and mighty to save.

We must bear in mind, too, that this journey was undertaken more than fifty-eight years ago. A very large part of the country through which he had to pass was yet in a state of virgin forest. No railroads bore the lightning trains on their bosoms. Very few houses in much of the country were to be seen; and many of these offered little besides shelter, and some barely that. There were hardly any bridges. Broad and deep rivers had to be forded on horseback, or crossed in what the Indians called a canoe. This is a kind of long boat made from the body of a single tree, by cutting or burning out the inside, and leaving the bottom, ends and sides like a trough. He reports having crossed some streams in this kind of a boat. His life was several times endangered by crossing deep waters.

Saturday, September 12, he arrived at Abbey Arnold's, in Hampshire County, West Virginia. On the thirteenth he attended a love feast at Daniel Arnold's nearby, and reports a very joyful meeting with the Brethren whom he had not seen for a time.

Monday, September 14, he took leave of the Brethren in Hampshire County, and directed his course through Maryland into Pennsylvania; and on Friday, September 18, he crossed the Ohio river, two and one-half miles below Acreton. He was ferried across in a flatboat.

Sunday, September 20, he arrived at Brother George Hoke's. He says: "I have been exposed to some bad weather, and have passed over some bad roads; but to meet such a dear and kind brother as George Hoke, and be received in such a pleasant way as I have been by the dear brother and family, is more than a compensation for all the exposure and toil it has cost."

As nearly as I can, I will now give the substance and manner of a conversation which took place the same evening between Brother Kline and Brother Hoke. The Diary is silent upon it, but Brother Kline related it to me himself in the year 1862. Brother Jacob Miller, of Greenmount, Virginia, told me afterwards that Brother Kline had related the same to him. The weather being a little cool and damp, the two brethren sat by the fire. I will name the parties in the order of the conversation.

Kline.—Why do not we ordain deacons in the same way the seven were ordained at Jerusalem?

Hoke.—Do you think the seven were deacons?

K.—Yes, I have always thought so.

H.—I do not think they were.

K.—Well, here is a difference of opinion between brethren.

H.—Let us try to get together on this point.

K.—I desire, above all things, to know the truth, and to see eye to eye with all the Brethren on every point of Holy Writ.

H.—So do I. Now let us see. I do not think the seven were deacons, because they are nowhere called deacons. Have we a just right to call them deacons when the Word does not call them so? Again: I must think the church at Jerusalem was fully organized before any demand was found for the appointment of the seven. Did it not have deacons at the start? Who attended to gathering up food and hunting shelter, and making general provisions for the comfortable entertainment of thousands of brethren and sisters, and their children besides? I rather think that the deacons already in office attended to these things. But the number of the brethren increased so rapidly that the deacons needed help in the way of general oversight, and the most natural thing in the world would be for them to apply to the apostles for advice in regard to the matter. But the apostles replied, "It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables." This proves that they had not done so before, and that it would not be right for them to do so now. Hence the importance of getting men of real executive ability to serve the present necessity. Such ability and fitness they found in the seven whom they set apart to that work. But they must not only possess business tact; they must be "men full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, and men of honest report," whose record in life proved their honesty. This, Brother John, is my opinion as to the reason why the apostles were so particular on this point. These seven men would certainly have a great deal entrusted to their general keeping; and unless they were honest, they might take advantage and make personal gain out of it. They soon got things so arranged in the hands of the deacons, that Stephen, one of the seven, could leave and give all of his time, or most of it, to preaching; for we are directly informed that the opposing Jews "were not able to withstand the wisdom and the spirit in which he spake." Right on the strength of this began the terrific persecution which soon resulted in the martyrdom of Stephen, and eventuated in the dispersion from Jerusalem of all the leaders and most of the influential and well-known members of the body. Philip only, of all the seven except Stephen, is mentioned in the New Testament after this. It seems that after he had preached for some time he married and settled down at Cæsarea, where, years after, Paul found him, and spoke of him as one of the seven—not deacons—although it would have been very easy for Paul to call him such, had he been a deacon. Paul here calls him Philip the evangelist. Acts 21:8.

K.—I must admit, Brother George, that your argument is fair and pointed, and I will reconsider the whole subject. I never before saw the office and appointment of the seven in the light in which you have presented it to me this evening.

H.—I believe there are points in addition to those already given, but you may find them yourself.

Monday, September 21, Brother Kline attended a love feast at Brother Snider's.

Wednesday, September 23, he attended another at Brother Samuel Mishler's. He spoke beautifully on 1 John 3:2: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him."

A SHORT DISCOURSE.

In my view, there is no passage in the Bible which requires a stronger faith to believe it fully than the one just quoted. No passage that I know of sets forth in such lofty terms of description the exaltation and glory of the redeemed. Often have I heard persons express their wonder that Jesus did not tell us more about heaven and the future state. This text itself tells us infinitely more about this than we are capable of comprehending. Let us think a little.

I. It tells us that we are now the sons of God. To be the son of a rich man is esteemed a great boon; to be the son of a king is an honor and fortune enjoyed by few. But what are favors like these compared with being a son of God! No wonder John says in another place: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!" Take the words of my text all to yourself, my brother, my sister: believe it; love it; and ever rejoice in the light of it. You desire to know how you attained to this high distinction. I will tell you. Jesus came to you in his blessed Word with the assurance that "as many as receive him, to them gives he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which are born, not of blood; nor of the will of the flesh; nor of the will of man; but of God."

"This promise ever shall endure,

Till suns shall rise and set no more."

You received the Lord by believing on his name. This is faith. You believed with your heart; that is, your faith was full of love, and your love was attended and followed by obedience, and this made your faith complete. It is yours now to rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

II. But you can hardly believe that you are to be just like Christ. On the mount you saw him glorified. "His face did shine as the sun, and his outward form was white as the light." Now Paul says: "He shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto the body of his glory." "Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."

O brethren, let us look at the bright side of the Christian's life, for it has a bright side, and that is the side next to heaven, on which the light of heaven forever falls. I am not unmindful of the fact that, figuratively speaking, one side is turned to earth, and the earth in many respects is a very dark place. On the earth-side "clouds and darkness are the habitation of his throne;" but on the heaven-side "the city hath no need of the sun to shine in it, for the Lord God and the Lamb are the light thereof; and there shall be no night there." "We are fellow-citizens with the saints [in glory], and of the household of God." Oh, brethren, let us walk worthy of our high calling. "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God concerning you."

Friday, September 25. Brother Kline passed through Jerome, Petersburg and Mansfield and got to Brother John Hoover's.

Monday, September 28. "This evening," says he, "I am at Judge Watts's. Having been unavoidably delayed by having to get my horse shod, darkness overtook me five miles away from here, and nothing but a continuation of thick woods appeared in every direction. More than this, the wolves set up a howling in a very threatening manner. Had I been compelled to pass the night in the woods, I would have been in danger of being devoured by them. Whilst alone in the darkness I thought, How quickly would these ravenous creatures fall upon and devour an unprotected sheep! And how surely would the wolves from Satan's den fall upon us and make a prey of our souls if Jesus, the Good Shepherd, did not guard and protect us through the spiritual darkness of this world! Several verses of one of Watts' old 'cradle hymns' came to my mind whilst thinking over these things. They run thus:

"'Once, as oppressed with sleep I lay,

With pining hunger bold,

A prowling enemy came by,

And robbed my little fold.

But Thou, Great Shepherd, dost not sleep

Nor slumber oft like me;

So that no foe can steal a sheep

Eternally from Thee.'"

Tuesday, September 29. "This evening I am at Brother Abraham Miller's in Allen County, Ohio. From Judge Watts's to this place is only five miles. But how different my feelings this evening from what they were last evening! Then I was alone in the woods, in hearing of wolves in several directions, with darkness on every side; now I am here with my beloved brother and his pleasant family. Oh, what will it be, what the ineffable joy to find ourselves, some day, in heaven, eternally safe from all danger and harm!"

Brother Kline spent the time between this and the next Sunday in traveling and visiting.

Sunday, October 4, he attended a love feast at which he made some very beautiful and appropriate remarks on Luke 4. "There is," said he, "much of human nature set forth in this chapter. So long as Jesus spoke of the things that pleased the assembled Jews they 'all wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.' They applied these gracious words to themselves, and flattered themselves into the belief that they were 'God's favorites' on account of their inherent virtues. But when the Lord indirectly spoke of them as starving widows in God's sight, and filthy lepers, 'all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.' When flowers are thrown upon the surface of a calm lake—so the poets say—the lake is made to smile with dimples of delight; but when heavy storms of truth are thrown in, the mud at the bottom is stirred up, and the lake boils with filth. Brethren, let us try to 'cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord;' and then we will not get angry when the truth is presented."

I would like very much to give the name of every family with which Brother Kline passed a night throughout this entire journey, and also the name of every brother and sister and family called on, but want of space absolutely forbids.

October 5 and 6 were spent at a council meeting near Brother Butterbaugh's. He does not say, but I guess this was in Montgomery County, Ohio. The names—Samuel Fouse, David Miller, Abraham Erbaugh, Samuel Kline, John Brower, Abraham Flory—all occur in close connection as having been visited by him.

Sunday, October 11. Brother Kline attended a meeting at which he reports Jacob Rife, John Garber, James Smith and George Miller, all from Virginia, as being present with their families. They have come to find homes in Ohio. They had arrived there on Friday before, which was October 9. It may be very gratifying to the children and grandchildren of these parents to find out the exact day on which their fathers and mothers arrived in the county and State where they settled.

Monday, October 12. Meeting at Brother Hoffert's. Brother Kline spoke to-day on Matthew 25. I can give only a slight touch of his discourse: "This chapter," said he, "is full of wonders. The parable of the talents; the parable of the ten virgins; and a description of the general judgment. Both parables are intimately connected with the judgment, and indicate the broad basis on which it will be conducted. I believe that the virgins in the parable represent professors of Christianity. They all had lamps. They all slumbered and slept. In these two respects they were all alike.

"But the great difference between them at once appears, when the announcement is suddenly made, 'Behold, the bridegroom cometh! go ye out to meet him.' Then the folly of the foolish, and the wisdom of the wise is first disclosed. The foolish had provided no oil for the replenishing of their lamps. I fear they were like too many now, who, in the heat of excitement, under the influence of misguided instructors, blindly fall into the ranks of those who take the name of Christ in one hand and the fashions and pleasures of the world in the other, and thus move on through life. Alas! such have lamps that may answer for this life, and oil enough and of a kind to keep their lamps aglow while living in this world; but when the day of trial shall come their lamps will prove useless for want of the right kind of oil. The only oil that will burn in the presence of Jesus, and whose light he will own, is the oil of heavenly love proved by a life of self-denial and obedience to his Word. Lord, help us, that we all may love thee more, and through obedient faith in thee find the door of heaven open to our ransomed spirits."

Wednesday, October 14. Our beloved brother now takes leave of the brethren and sisters in Ohio and starts on his way to Tennessee. On the fifteenth he is ferried across the river from Cincinnati to Covington in a flatboat, and from this point he pushes on to Lexington, Ky., which he reaches on the seventeenth, having traveled from home to that point, 788 miles. Think of it! The toil of this journey, on horseback; over rough or bad roads; through thinly settled sections of country, and dark forests; in sight of Indians, and in hearing of wolves; more than sixty years ago; and all for Christ and a burning love for his people. Well could he say what he publicly expressed at a love feast at the Linville's Creek meetinghouse some years after this: "I have a house that will accommodate fifty: and a heart to accommodate a hundred if they could find room in my house."

He pushed on, scaled the Cumberland mountains; got across the Cumberland and Clinch rivers as best he could, as both were high from the recent rains, and arrived

Friday, October 23, at Christian Shank's, in East Tennessee. On the day before he stood by the tree that marks the spot where the States of Virginia and Kentucky corner on the line of Tennessee. He says: "I could not help thinking while there, What a glorious country we have in prospect, and what a goodly land it may come to be, if the people can be induced to turn to the Lord and become faithful followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. What a work we have to do! How much wickedness have I witnessed on my way since I left home! In our way of looking at it, enough to sink a world. By turning once around I can look over a part of three States; but how few of the followers of the Lord are found in each, compared with the number who know him not, and who ask not for him."

He reports delightful weather. After spending some days among the Bowmans, Zimmermans, Crouses, Garbers, Basehores, and others, attending love feasts, councils and appointments for preaching, he reports a night meeting at Hase's schoolhouse. This was on the night of

Thursday, October 29. The people were somewhat Calvinistic in their views, and his discourse was so pointed in that direction that I will give a few thoughts presented in it.

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

Preached at Hase's Schoolhouse, Tennessee.

Text.—Enter ye in at the strait gate.—Matt. 7:13.

I tried to impress upon all present the danger of continuing in the broad road of sin. This includes every lust of the flesh, everything the heart desires through the eyes, and all the pride and vanity of life. I said to this audience: I learn that there is quite a Calvinistic or predestinarian sentiment in this community; and from the expression of the countenances of some of you I fancy I hear some of you saying to yourselves: "How can a dead man hear, except the Lord first give him life; or a blind man see, except the Lord first open his eyes?" I will answer your questions in order.

Lazarus had been dead four days. Jesus called to him with a loud voice to "come forth." How could Jesus expect the dead Lazarus to hear? Why did he call? Why did he not first make him alive; and then after he found out that he was alive, and stirring round in the grave, call to him and tell him to come out of that dark place? This is precisely the way a Calvinist would think he ought to have done. But Calvinism was not known in the Lord's day, and so he took a very different way. He threw his voice into that cave, and it went right into the ear of the dead Lazarus, because his power went with the words, and the very instant they struck the ear of Lazarus the life was in his body and he heard. Thunder and lightning always go together; but Calvinists think the lightning must always be first.

The resurrection of Lazarus is a clear exemplification of our Lord's meaning where he says: "My words are spirit, and they are life." No sooner did the Lord call to Lazarus than his heart began to beat and his lungs began to breathe. The Lord's words to him were life and breath. Spirit [in one sense] means breath; and life means a beating of the heart; for as long as man's heart beats there is life in him. Is any one here to-night willing to charge our Lord with the folly, the madness of commanding one of his creatures to do what he knows he cannot do?

Sinner, if the popular view of election be correct, I have a word of comfort for you right here. In Jer. 13:21 we read this question: "What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?" I will tell you what to say. When you stand before his judgment seat and hear from his lips, "Depart, thou cursed into everlasting fire," just say to him: "Why do you condemn me? You told me to enter in at the straight gate, it is true; but you did not give me the power to move in that direction. I was blind, too, and you did not open my eyes. I was all leprous with sin; I knew that all the time; but you did not cleanse me, although you cleansed others. I am told that you say in your Word that you are no respecter of persons; how then can you make such a difference in your treatment of men, when you have 'included all under sin?'"

Now I say to you, poor sinner, the Lord never will and he never can send you to hell with such questions in your mouth and in your heart.

There is no need of one sinner under the sound of my voice going to hell, because Jesus is the strait gate and he is the narrow way of life; and wherever his Gospel is preached his power goes with it, just as it went with his voice into the grave of Lazarus, or fell upon the bier of the widow's son. The blind man did not see until he went to the pool of Siloam and washed; but did not the power of Christ go with him?

Say not then, O sinner, "I have not the power to believe, repent and obey the Gospel." You have the power. God is giving you now, this very moment, all the power you need to reach hither your hand and take the gift of his grace. He has already opened your eyes to see the light of his truth; and were I to say to you this night that you are too dead to feel your duty; too blind to see the path; and too grossly ignorant to know your right hand from your left hand in spiritual things, you would feel yourself grossly insulted by me. But I do not say so; I do not believe so; and in this connection—and I beg you to think seriously upon it, to read the Bible and pray over it—I must repeat the language of Jeremiah: "What wilt thou say, when he shall punish thee?"

Sunday, November 1. Meeting and love feast at Bowman's meetinghouse. This was Brother Kline's last meeting with the Tennessee Brethren on this visit among them. I must extend the outlines of his discourse as it was his last among them for some years.

A Short Discourse by Elder John Kline.

Text.—He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him, who, for their sakes, died and rose again.

This was Christ. Our natural feelings and desires are selfish. Jesus has given us the clearest example of unselfish love the universe has ever witnessed. "For God commendeth his love to us"—that is, he shows the exceeding greatness of it—"in that, when we were enemies, Christ died for us." I do not believe that we ever, in this world, can fully understand the merits of our Savior's life, death and resurrection. Enough for us to know that he has opened a "new and living way" by which we may come back to our heavenly Father and be his children again.

Do you know that Adam was a son of God? Luke calls him so. But he, like Esau after him, sold his birthright, lost the divine image in which God had created him, and fell from his sonship. But now we read: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not, with him also, freely give us all things?" The phrase, "all things," as here used, includes a restoration to our former sonship with God. We, as the children of God, are exhorted to follow in the steps of our blessed Lord. This not only means that we are to shun evils and bear reproach, but it also means that we are not to live unto ourselves and for ourselves alone, but unto him and his people; for "He went about doing good."

John says: "We love him because he first loved us." We, who are here assembled in his name, can truthfully repeat this language. But how do we prove to ourselves and the world that we do love him? It is by letting our light shine. Men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel. A city on a hill cannot be hid. Brethren, I hope we have all made clean "the inside of the cup and the platter;" for this is the only way in which the outside can be kept clean. A pure life flows out of a clean heart, and it can come from no other source. We show our love to the Lord by observing his ordinances: by baptism, by washing one another's feet, by partaking with each other of the Lord's Supper, by communing with him in his broken body and shed blood, symbolized by the bread and wine: next, in "denying ourselves of all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

Think on this last text a little bit. "Soberly" means calmly sincere; not moved by fits of excitement. "Righteously" means doing right; right toward God by obedience, and right toward men in our dealings with them and in our influence upon them. Many a brother has ruined his power for good by not being watchful. He told "jokes." He delighted in frivolous, trifling things. He put on a square face at church, to be sure; but a little disappointment would lengthen it fearfully, and a little fun or glee would broaden it out of all Christian shape.

For the benefit of such and all, I will define the last but not least word in the apostle's category—"godly." Brethren, this means like God; and it includes all the rest, for "God is love." To abide in God is to live in holy, heavenly love. "Abide in me, and I in you." Wonderful, wonderful words! This is heaven on earth.

The apostle says: "We have been made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." A beautiful figure. We sit in the sun, or in sunny places, when the light of the sun falls upon us in that position. We sit in heaven, or in heavenly places, when the light of heaven with its love falls full into our souls. I feel like giving utterance to the emotion of my heart in that sweet old love-song of ours:

"My willing soul would stay

In such a place as this;

And sit and sing herself away,

To everlasting bliss.

"Here the Redeemer's voice

Sheds heavenly peace around;

And life and everlasting joys

Attend the blissful sound."

And now I will close in the words of Paul's valedictory to the saints at Corinth: "Finally, brethren, farewell: Be of good comfort; be of one mind; live in peace. And the God of love and peace shall be with you." Amen!

Tuesday, November 3. Our beloved brother started on his homeward way down the Valley of Virginia. He passed through Abingdon, Salem, Lexington and Staunton, and on

Tuesday, November 10, he reached home after an absence of two months to the day. He says: "I have been absent from home just two months to the day; and in this time I have traveled on horseback 1,317 miles. With much thankfulness to our Father in heaven, do I recount my protection and preservation through the dangers and toils of traveling; the strength and support given me in preaching the Word; and the great joy I have had in meeting so many dear brethren and sisters in the Lord. Amen!"

Thus closes one of the most remarkable missionary tours on record. One would feel sad to think that no memorial should be reared in commemoration of it. But the heart finds relief in the thought that this book will perpetuate the memory of it to future generations, as a tale that will never grow old.

Brother Kline spent the remainder of the year about home; in visiting the sick; in attending to his domestic interests; and in preaching at the different appointments in the district. The Brethren at this time had but few houses of worship. They consequently held meetings in the dwelling houses of Brethren; some of which had been constructed with an eye to that end.

BROTHER KLINE'S OPINIONS RELATIVE TO
THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.

The Diary shows that in the course of this year, Brother Kline entered a new field of useful activity. In his desire to do good; in his heart of general beneficence, we are reminded of the philanthropy of Howard and Wilberforce. They, it is true, wrought in a wider sphere, and operated on a grander scale; but it may be seriously questioned whether they had any more of the love of God in their hearts, or any deeper sympathy for suffering humanity in their souls, than was to be found in our truly devoted pattern of genuine benevolence, Elder John Kline. This new field was that of administering medical relief to the afflicted.

Friday, January 1, 1836. He says: "I have long had doubts in regard to the curative efficacy and health-restoring virtue of the regularly established course of medical practice of the present day. Active depletion of the body, by copious blood-letting, blistering, drastic cathartics and starving, is, to my mind, not the best way to eradicate disease and restore the diseased human body to its normal state. I am well aware that every age has had its own way of treating diseases, and every age has thought its own way the best; but fashion and custom have, no doubt, had quite a controling power in this as in other things; and 'the fashion of the world passeth away,' because there is little or nothing of substantial good in it."

SAMUEL THOMPSON.

"Dr. Samuel Thompson, of Vermont, is introducing a new system of medical practice which I believe to be more in accordance with the laws of life and health than any I know of. His maxim, applied to disease, is: 'Remove the cause, and the effect will cease.'

"Every diseased condition of the body is the effect of some cause. This cause being removed, the disease, either simple or complex, must yield to the restorative forces of nature. But to diminish the activity of these forces, by copious depletion of the body, to be followed by a regimen so severe as to withhold, almost absolutely, the nourishment and support nature demands, is, in my view, to say the least, irrational."

Had Brother Kline penned these words fifty years later in the century, they could not be more in harmony with the popular theory of medical science as it is taught in the schools of the present day. They are almost prophetic. He goes on: "I am therefore determined to try the new way of treating disease, and see what I can do with it. I feel sure it will do no harm, even if it does but little or no good."

His subsequent success as a physician for many years proves that he was not mistaken in the conclusions at which he arrived preparatory to his entering the field of medical practice.

He procured his remedies in their virgin purity from the mountains, meadows and woods, either in person, with hoe in hand, or through agents whom he employed for the work. Lobelia, Boneset, Pleurisy-Root, Black-Cohosh, Blue-Cohosh, Lady's-slipper, Red Raspberry, Ginseng, Spignet, Black-Root, Seneca-Snake-Root, Gentian, May-Apple, Golden-Rod, and many other roots and herbs were quite familiar to him, not only as they were seen growing in their native mountains, fields and forests, but also as to their medical properties and uses.

No recreation could be more delightful to the true lover of nature than to get on a good horse and go with him to see the Brethren, as he called it. This may sound a little odd; but the reader must know that Brother Kline rarely went on an errand with a single aim. His object seemed to be to crowd into his life all the service for both God and man that it was possible for him to do. In this desire to do good he would sometimes humorously repeat the old saying: "Kill as many birds with one stone as you can."

When the season approached for gathering "roots and herbs" he would sometimes write to the Brethren among the mountains of West Virginia, that they might expect him to be with them at a given time. This announcement always sent a thrill of joy through their hearts. The news of his coming spread rapidly; and he was sure of large congregations for that sparsely settled country.

One Sunday, toward the close of his life, he said to me: "Brother B——, would it suit you to go with me over to Pendleton and Hardy? I have a line of meetings in view; and if it would suit you to go with me I will be very glad of your company. I want to gather some medicines by the way, and as you are fond of rambling among the mountains you may enjoy the trip and make yourself useful at the same time."

I agreed to go. So on Thursday morning about the latter part of July, very early, we mounted our horses. "Old Nell"—as he called his favorite riding mare, that had up to that time, as his Diary will show, carried him on her back over thirty thousand miles—seemed to understand where we were starting for, and how fast she ought to go. In the early part of the day she walked very moderately; but as the hours went by she quickened her gait, and really walked with a livelier step in the evening than she had in the fore part of the day. Soon after our arrival the people began to come together for night meeting at the house where we staid.

After a most refreshing supper and a little rest we were ready to engage in the sacred duties of worship. Brother Kline very kindly took the lead in the services, and in a very plain way delivered one of the best discourses I have ever heard on Col. 1:12. This is the Text: "Giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

He showed, in a very impressive way, that if an heir to an estate is not qualified to appreciate that estate, to enjoy it by making a right use of it, it can do him but little good. From this thought his mind ascended heavenward; and he said that heaven, with all its glory and bliss, can never be a desirable inheritance to any but to those who are qualified or prepared for it. Those who are thus qualified are described in the text as "the saints in light." He then drew a most lively picture of the difference between a saint in light and a sinner in darkness. It almost chilled my blood to see how low in the scale of intelligent beings the one stands contrasted with the lofty elevation of the other.

The next day we repaired to the Shenandoah mountain to procure medical herbs. We went up into a very deep and rich hollow, where it looked as if the rays of the sun could hardly penetrate, and soon I saw his face light up with something that evidently pleased him. "Ah! here it is," said he. "What is here?" I asked. "Don't you see this patch of Ginseng?" he replied. "Is this Ginseng? It is my first sight of it."

As I was much younger than he I insisted upon using the hoe; but no! He was so pleased that he seemed to want to do all the digging himself. When a supply of Ginseng was obtained we went to the top of the ridge, where we found a considerable quantity of Seneca-Snake-Root, an article very much in demand at the present day.

The next thing sought for was the Red Raspberry. We hunted and hunted, and were on the point of giving up the quest, when, at the extreme head of a very rough mountain hollow, we discovered a "patch" of the bushes. They were full of berries of a bright scarlet, resembling somewhat in form the common raspberry, but in some other respects they were quite different. They were very beautiful. If the plant would bear domestication it would be highly ornamental. Having filled a "poke" with the raspberry leaves, we set out to return to the place where we had left our horses. I doubt exceedingly whether I could have found the spot; but his familiarity with the mountains generally, and his acute perception of topographical relations in particular, enabled him to find the place without difficulty.

On our way back to where we had left our horses, however, we came across a "patch" of Golden Seal. This is a graceful plant, each one having a single calyx enclosing the seeds, somewhat in the shape of a button or seal of a bright yellow color; hence its name. "The root of this plant," said he, "is an excellent alterative and tonic." We dug up the yellow roots with zest; but being by this time very hungry, I began to fear that we might come across a "patch" of something else that might still longer delay our return. But he seemed satisfied with his success, and we found our horses all right. "Old Nell" had, however, loosed the strap of her halter, and was quietly browsing around. When she heard us coming she threw up her head; and at the call of his voice she came up to him.

It was past two o'clock when we got back to Brother Judy's. Dinner was soon served; and to this day I do feel that if ever I have been truly thankful for the good things of this life it was then.

We followed up the line of appointments to the last one, and returned home.

And now, my dear reader, I can truly say, that if it is as pleasant to you to read these reminiscences as it is to me to write them, you are well repaid.

Sermon by Peter Nead.

Preached at the Linville's Creek Meetinghouse,
Sunday, January 3, 1836.

Text.—Unto you therefore which believe he is precious.—I Pet. 2:7.

Dear Brethren, this chapter is full of instruction and encouragement. Peter knew by experience what it is to backslide. Now, that he is restored again to full fellowship with the Lord and the church, Jesus seems nearer and more precious to him than ever before. In the seventh verse he says: "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." I know he must be so, because he is so precious to me. I shamefully denied him when he most needed my loving support, and swore that I did not know him in the darkest hour of his temptation. Who can comprehend his grace? The meekness, the gentleness, the calmness of his forgiving heart under trials the deepest, under persecutions the greatest, even unto death, are surely worthy of God incarnate.

"'I know not the man' were the very last words he heard me utter on his way through tribulations to the cross; and I added oaths to the declaration. I now fail to find words to express my surprise and joy at the message he sent me on the morning of his resurrection. When he was placed in the tomb I had no hope of his ever coming out thence. But what surprised and overcame me more than the direct news of his rising was the special message of love he sent me by the women who saw him first. He said to them: 'Go and tell my disciples and Peter, that I go into Galilee, and there they shall see me.' His forgiving love singled me out as one of its special objects, because I was such a vile sinner, and had treated him so badly. Brother Paul calls himself the 'chief of sinners,' because he persecuted the saints of God; but I feel that I must be, for I denied his Son. Truly did Paul say of all such great sinners as we are: 'Where sin abounded, grace did also much more abound.' Thanks to my risen Lord, I can now with heart and voice join the chorus of those that sing:

"'O, the length and the breadth,

And the depth and the height

Of the love of Christ!

It passeth all understanding!"

I have here represented Peter as giving us some of his experiences; and I believe that my representations are correct; for in the chapter next preceding the one just read, we find this joyful exclamation: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." I must think that the mercy was much more abundant than Peter expected, for it wrought an effect upon him which he calls a regeneration, or a sort of new birth. At any rate, he says he was "begotten again." It looks as if it made a new man of him. It gave him new life. He never denied his Lord again. When called to fulfill the prophecy of the Lord concerning "the death by which he was to glorify God," he faltered not, but met it "as seeing him who is invisible."

Brethren, some of us may, at times, have a taste of Peter's experience. We feel so vile in our own eyes, that, like him, we go out, and over our sins "weep bitterly." Ah, but these are "pearly tears" in God's sight. Though we may not know it, though we may still feel too bad to repair, on bended knees, to a "throne of grace," yet God knows how to value them. They are precious in his sight; and it is your experience and mine that after seasons of this kind he sends us the brightest tokens of his love, and we are joyfully amazed that it is so.

I once, when a boy, disobeyed my father. I have in mind a particular instance of disobedience, and of a character very trying to his patience. When I came rightly to myself and realized my sin I was afraid to meet him. He discovered, without any confession on my part, what I had done. I expected severe punishment. To my surprise he met me with a smile. Taking me by the hand he said: "Let us go out into the orchard." We sat down upon the fallen trunk of an apple tree, and gently placing one arm around my neck, he said: "Peter, do you know that I love you?" I instantly broke down under the weight of this arm of love, and answered as well as my sobs would let me, "Yes, sir!" "Do you love me?" he next said. Again I answered, "Yes, sir!" "Then never again disobey me, my boy, and we will have a sweet and happy life together." And I can say from my heart, right here, I never did.

I now think, dear Brethren, that you are prepared to understand what Peter meant by the words: "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious." You feel that he is precious to you, because he has taken away your sins by giving you a new heart and filling you with his love. You can now say with the Apostle John: "We love him because he first loved us." Now then, inasmuch as ye love him, "abide in his love," and "the God of love and peace shall be with you." May his grace, mercy and peace be with us all forever. Amen!

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

Preached at Tobbins,
Sunday, January 10.

Text.—As ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.—Col. 2:6.

Paul addressed these words to the church at Colosse, a city of Asia Minor, in the Roman province called Phrygia. It may be of interest to you for me to tell you something about the character of these people at the time Paul first visited them. Ancient history gives a very dark picture of this. What Paul said of Athens applied equally to Colosse: "The city was wholly given to idolatry." The lower classes, especially, were very ignorant, having no knowledge of God save that which the light of nature gave them.

But when Paul went into their midst, preaching the Gospel of salvation, the prophecy of Isaiah, concerning Zebulon and Naphtali, was fulfilled unto them, as it had been before at Capernaum on the shore of the Galilean Sea: "The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up." They opened their eyes to the light and rejoiced to see it; and their hearts to the love it revealed, and they took it in. They accepted Christ Jesus the Lord in all his fullness. Faith became to them a living principle. They felt its truth as surely as though with their natural eyes and ears they saw and heard all that it comprehended for time and eternity, for earth and heaven.

But you want to know how I find all this out. Turn with me to the first chapter of Paul's letter to them, and I will show you. Now notice that right in the beginning he addresses them as "saints and faithful brethren in Christ." By "saints" he means that they are holy; and by "faithful brethren" he means to tell how they got to be so. This, I think, is saying a good deal for them; but he goes on: "We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you; having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus; and of the love which ye have toward all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens."

You now see that these Colossian brethren had the three essentials that distinguish a Christian from a pagan, a saint from a sinner, and an angel of light from a demon of darkness. These three are faith, hope and love; but of these Paul says that "love is the greatest." This they had in large measure, because it extended "toward all the saints." It is natural for every Christian to love some of the saints when he is free "to pick and choose;" but to love all is quite another thing.

If you will thoughtfully read this first chapter through, you will see the high place these Colossian brethren held in Paul's confidence, not only as to faith and love, but also as to the enlightenment of their understandings with heavenly wisdom. He sets forth our Lord Jesus Christ as the triune God—Creator, Redeemer and Savior—in loftier terms than are to be found anywhere else in his epistles. Had there been any doubt in his mind as to their ability to understand these revelations, and thus profit by them, they would have been withheld. He would have fed them with milk, as he did his Corinthian and Hebrew brethren, and not with strong food.

My text says: "As ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." They had received him in faith, and hope, and love. So were they instructed to walk in him. "Ye have been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead." "Inasmuch then, as ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated on the right hand of God." "Set your affections on the things above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For ye died; and the new life which ye now live, ye live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you." "Avoid fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry; for the wrath of God is revealed against all these things. And ye know that a little while ago ye lived and walked in all these things." This last quotation tells what these brethren had been, and the foregoing quotations show what they were when Paul wrote to them.

After a careful study of these good instructions, these faithful brethren could not mistake the way in which they were to walk. Paul not only showed them how to get into the good way in the first place, but he also told them how to keep in the way. It is one thing to get into the right road to any place, but it is quite another thing to keep it. In writing to his Galatian brethren, Paul says: "Ye did run well for awhile; who turned you out of the way?" Ah, brethren, there are many by-roads leading off from "the king's highway." I have known brethren and sisters to start well, to all appearance, and run well for a time; but by and by the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, and other things, like the thorns in the parable, choked the Word in their hearts, so that they brought forth no fruit unto perfection.

AN ILLUSTRATION.

In my travels among the mountains of our Virginia I have often seen the laurel holding out its evergreen but poisonous leaves in sprays of most enticing beauty. Miles and miles of road, in one unbroken stretch, may there be seen densely hedged on either hand by this beautiful emblem of sin and death. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep are every year driven over these roads. Every herdsman and shepherd knows the danger to be apprehended from the inclination of some of either kind to "sidle" off from the plain and beaten track and pluck the green leaves of the laurel to their own destruction.

Many a time have I overtaken flocks of sheep, some of which were lying along the road "down with the staggers." This last is the name of the disease which is brought on by taking laurel. The old sheep avoid it. They will not taste it. The young sheep and lambs are the only ones that incline first to taste and then eat it. It is hardly necessary for me to point out to you the lesson of instruction to be gathered from what I have just said. The staggers, by veterinary surgeons, is said to be a kind of drunkenness often fatal in its effects.

The Prophet Isaiah speaks of some who "are drunken, but not with wine; who stagger, but not with strong drink." I fancy I hear someone in the congregation say: "I guess they must have taken laurel." Precisely so, friend! They took the very laurel that has been the ruin of thousands of the Lord's sheep and lambs. Let me tell you exactly what I mean.

The love of worldly pleasure is laurel of one kind. It blooms forth in the desire for fine dress, gay company, night gatherings, social parties, and the like things.

Worldly treasure is laurel of another kind. It blooms forth in the desire for worldly possessions, no matter how obtained, and only to gratify selfish ends. I have known some old sheep to take this kind.

Ambition to be great and highly honored is still another kind. This is the "deer-tongued" laurel, the very tallest kind that grows, and has the richest looking flowers. But it is just as poisonous as any, and it blooms forth in the desire to be admired for beauty, to be looked up to for superior power and wisdom, and to be held in high honor for great deeds. I have known some old sheep and even leaders of the flock to eat of this kind until they staggered considerably. It was plainly visible in their steps that their heads were not exactly level. I am glad, however, to be able to say, that in the flock to which we belong, I have met with very few who ever gave any signs of being afflicted in the way last described.

In his letter to the Philippian brethren, Paul says: "For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ."

But, brethren, there is a remedy for all these evils. God has provided the remedy. Nor is it a bitter draught. It is the "milk and wine" of his Word. Both mean Truth. I used to wonder why the Prophet Isaiah used both terms, when both mean the same thing. Now I will tell you. He says: "Come unto me, buy wine and milk, yea, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." Milk is truth in its simplest and plainest forms. Gospel truth presented in a way that very young and uninstructed minds may readily take it in, is what Paul calls "milk for babes." But wine is the very same truth extended and expanded into forms of instruction adapted to the understandings of "men in Christ Jesus."

All are invited and even exhorted to come; to come to the "fountain that was opened in the house of David." It is the same that is meant by the "river of the water of life which proceedeth from the throne of God and of the Lamb." I exhort every one, both old and young, to study God's Word for the truth it contains, represented by the beautiful symbols set before you therein. Even the unconverted sinner is invited to come and take of the "water of life freely."

"Here pardon, love, and joy divine

In rich effusion flow,

For guilty sinners lost in sin

And doomed to endless woe."

The interval between the last given date and Monday, February 15, has nothing in it claiming special notice. But here he says: "To-day I attended the funeral of little Susanna Brower, who died yesterday morning. As it is our privilege to 'rejoice with those who do rejoice,' so it is our duty to 'weep with those that weep." I could but weep to see the remains of this interesting little girl laid in the cold and silent grave. I think it was the ancient Romans who personified death in the form of a walking skeleton, scythe in hand, cutting down whatever the whim of his fancy might suggest. This representation may accord with the relentless strokes his scythe is sometimes seen to make; but the light of heaven reveals a Hand that holds his bony arm within its grasp; and that Hand is the hand of our God. For,

"'Not a sparrow to the ground may fall

But our Father's in it: Heart of Love that governs all.

Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.'"

"Heaven is largely made up of children; and until every crown shall have a head, and every white robe have a wearer, God will recall his own."

Wednesday, March 16. Brother Daniel Trump and Sister Polly Moyers were both buried to-day. These make six funerals that I have attended in the space of four weeks.

"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 the outward man, and the other the inward 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 in one tongue 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 least one speak 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 of blood. 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 other blood relatives held the same, lived and died in that faith, and lie buried in the churchyard where they worshiped.

Some are born of the 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 the lusts of the flesh with 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 the will 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.

Some are 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 calls the 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 the spirit of the mind." In another place as "dead to the world, but alive unto God." The prayer of such is: "Lord, what wouldst thou have 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 the few years 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:" not separate in 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 call mercy God's darling attribute. 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. But justice is a very different personification in their eye. He is not only masculine as to gender, but all his looks and ways have an air of condemnation in 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 right to 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.

In justice, however, the love appears in one light; and in mercy or grace the 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 is justice in 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 is grace in 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 word grace would 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 so pitied the world."

In reading the New Testament now you need not wonder why the word grace is 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 only love but truth with it, and truth is 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 a truth by which you prove that you do love him.

How does our Lord prove that he loves sinners? By the truth that 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 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.

"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? There is life in a look when 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 two p.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 his real life. 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 I do say, 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 where the glades are, 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, that our 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 truth is 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,—a very little 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 may then be 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."

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. The robe may be more showy, but there is less wool in the "nap."

Friday, May 12, and Saturday, 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 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;" smiles at the half playfulness of Jesus talking to these two beloved disciples as a tender father sometimes talks to his little children; and tears at 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 he held back the 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

"Our hearts grow warm with heavenly fire;

And kindle with a pure desire;

While our blest Savior from above

Feeds all our souls with holy love."

None but those

"that know the Lord,

And taste the sweetness of his Word,"

can ever know the joys of his salvation.

III. "Jesus Himself Went With Them."

We are not informed how many of the sixty furloughs they had already passed over on their way when "Jesus himself drew near, and went with them;" but from the loving kindness of our Lord we readily conclude they had not gone very far. "Can a mother forget her sucking child? Yea, she may forget; yet will not I forget thee." He knew the depth of their disappointment and the grief that followed when they could say: "We hoped that it was he which should redeem Israel." "We hoped—;" but alas! all hope is now forever gone. It lies buried with him in his tomb.

If one born blind could unexpectedly open his eyes to see the light of the morning sun in a cloudless sky, the surprise and joy could not be greater than were these to the two sitting at the table. They forgot to eat. They were so filled with the sight of the Lord that their hunger for that which merely represented him was all gone. They not only saw the proof of his resurrection; but in him they felt the resurrection of their own buried faith, and hope, and love.

"They rose up that very hour,—" I do not believe they sat still one minute after he vanished out of their sight—"and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, ... saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." This was to them one of the wonders connected with his rising, as Simon had so shamefully denied him so shortly before. But such is the fullness of his grace, that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound unto all such as are willing to receive it.

Some people do not believe the story of the resurrection. But, strange to say, they can believe something a hundred times less reasonable, and absolutely false. They can believe that a lie has done more to better the condition of mankind in this world than all the truth that has ever been told. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the keystone to the great arch upon which rest all the truths of Divine Revelation. Destroy this, and the arch, with all upon it, falls a pile of ruins.

There is one special fact connected with the Lord's resurrection which we must not forget. He never appeared to any but his own. They, only, had eyes to see him. Some may wonder why he did not go out into the streets of Jerusalem and there, to gaping crowds, show his risen form with the nail prints and the spear mark still fresh in his hands and his feet, and in his side. In answer to this I have but little to say, more than that he was ever averse to casting pearls before swine or giving that which is holy unto dogs. I will add this, however, that as none but spiritual eyes can see him now, so none but spiritual eyes could see him then. This is what he meant by saying: "Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also."

And now, my dear Brethren, what have we learned by our meditation to-day? If we have learned to know the Lord a little better, that we may draw nearer to him, we are edified, and our preaching and hearing have not been void. In all our communings with him, Brethren, let us believe and love with all our hearts. In our reasonings together let us know and feel that "he is nigh, even at hand." When we are in the way of duty, we love to feel that Jesus is with us, that he knows all we think, and sees all we do; but when out of the way, when walking in forbidden paths, how abashed and confused would we feel, if "Jesus himself were to draw near!" O brethren and sisters, let us so live, that every thought and word and act of our lives may be fit for his eye. Lord, give us grace so to live. Amen!

Yearly Meeting Opens

At the Linville's Creek Church,
Monday, May 15.

Brethren Henry Kurtz, John Garber, Umstead and Price spoke in exposition of the Word and doctrine in the forenoon meeting, which opened at 8 a.m.

Brother Price took the lead, and spoke from 1 Peter 1:12. I will give a faithful report of his discourse as nearly exact as it can be made from the very brief outlines left by Brother Kline. Had the thought ever entered Brother Kline's mind that his Diary might at some future day be published in a regularly prepared form, I feel sure he would have left more extended entries on points of intense interest.

Text.—"Which things the angels desire to look into."

Salvation is infinitely the most momentous subject that can engage the thoughts of men. It embraces a knowledge of God on the one hand and a knowledge of man on the other. It is a pleasing thought that as the knowledge of God is unfolded to the mind, a knowledge of man's own sinful and lost condition flows in along with it; so that the very same light which enables him to perceive the love and goodness and truth and holiness of God imparts to him at the same time a view of his own sinful state. He is led to see and feel in himself a spiritual condition which is the very opposite of that which he discovers in God his Creator, Preserver and bountiful Benefactor.

The Bible tells us that "in the beginning God made man upright," that he created him in his own image, after his own likeness, and pronounced him, with all else that he had made, "very good." But how is man now? What is his moral and spiritual condition? I appeal to the heart experience of every one in this house for an answer. Brother, there is no charge on the part of the church against you. The church has never at any time preferred a charge against you. You are loved and held in high esteem by all the brethren and sisters. The laws of your land have never brought an accusation against you. You have, in the most minute particulars, been "a law-abiding citizen." More than all this, you labor to do all the good you can, by feeding and clothing the poor; by helping to keep up the church, and by aiding in the spread of the Gospel. You also help your neighborhood, county and State by paying all your dues and by voluntary contributions of money or labor to public improvements, education and whatever else may be for the general good, as necessity may demand.

But, with all these excellencies in your character and life in full view, I ask you, as in the presence of God: Do you feel in your heart that you are a good man? Would you be willing for the world and the church to know every thought and imagination and desire that enters your heart and passes through your mind in the short space of one day of your life? Do you feel that all within is fit for the eye of God? I know, or think I know, just what is in your mind, and your answer is in words like these: "I do not feel that I am good. It is only by constant watchfulness, by looking to Jesus in his Word, and by reading his Word with prayer, in connection with my attendance upon the ordinances of his house, that I am enabled to walk in the path I go, and lead the life I do.

"'He leadeth me: he leadeth me:

By his own hand he leadeth me.'

"His promise, 'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,' sustains my hope and assures me that 'he will never leave me, nor forsake me.' Thus, God being my helper, I do all the good I can, and shun the evil. In this way 'I labor, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing to him; and work out my own salvation with fear and trembling;' feeling, however, at the same time, a blessed assurance that it is God who worketh in me both to will and to do the things that are pleasing in his sight."

Brethren, this is salvation. It is the sum of "the things which many prophets and wise men desired to see, and saw them not; and to hear, and heard them not." But let us look at the divine forces, brother, that have wrought in you this wonderful change from a life of self-love, into which you were born by nature, to a life of divine love, joyful, holy, heavenly love to God and your brother, into which you have been born by the Spirit.

Peter tells us something about this in the chapter read. He here says: "Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with the precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ.... Ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth; ... having been begotten [or born] again, ... through the word of God, which liveth and abideth."

He now introduces the contrast between man's natural birth and his spiritual birth: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit;" and he says:

"All flesh is as grass,

And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass.

The grass withereth, and the flower falleth."

"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return," is the doom of flesh and blood sealed to every mortal as a consequence of sin. No wonder the grave is sad and lonely to the contemplation of those who have no hope of aught of life or love beyond it. It is sad to think how many have no higher claim to life and happiness than mere fleshly, bodily existence. But our Lord hath "brought life and immortality to light," and

"The good Spirit of the Lord

Reveals a heaven to come;

The beams of glory in his Word

Allure and guide us home."

"Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be;" but we know that we have the promise of "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away."

Brethren, this inheritance which Peter talks of—what do you think about it? Is it something extraneous to the man, something outside of him? Or is it something intrinsic to the man in his renewed state, something internal, something inside of him? I, for one, believe that man's eternal and blissful inheritance, which Peter and John and Paul describe in such glowing terms, is in the man himself, in his adaptation to the bliss-inspiring garniture of heaven. It is "Christ in him the hope of glory."

This exalted and blissful state of man redeemed is what Peter calls his "inheritance which is incorruptible." Think of it, Brethren. No more sin to bewail; no more sickness to suffer; no more death to dread! It is also "undefiled." No more "filthiness of the flesh;" "neither idolatry, nor adultery, nor whatsoever loveth and maketh a lie." And "that fadeth not away." The luster of the eye; the bloom of the cheek; the facial expressions of beauty and love, purity and truth, know nothing of decay in the amaranthine bowers of spotless purity.

We often wonder about heaven. But I will tell you, Brethren, what I believe about it. I do believe in my very soul that every Christian man, after the death of his body, finds himself in the very heaven he takes with him from this world; and that every man's heaven is the love and the truth that abound in his mind and heart. If his heart is filled with love to God and to his brother, and his mind stored with the truth of God as revealed in his Son Jesus Christ, that man's heaven is in him. Do you remember, Brethren, that when Jesus was on earth he said that he was also at the same time in heaven? Now let me show you this. He says to Nicodemus: "No man hath ascended to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." John 3:13.

And right here a difficulty confronts us which we must try to settle. Did not Elijah ascend to heaven? How about Moses? These two redeemed saints were both of them in heaven at the very time our Lord said this to Nicodemus. Very shortly after this conversation they made their appearance, not only to Jesus, but to Peter and James and John on the holy mount in glory. How had they gotten there? I will tell you just what I think our Lord meant. He meant to teach that stupid, materialistic Nicodemus that people do not go to heaven by merely ascending, like as one would ascend or go up from a lower room in a building to a higher one. He meant to teach him that heaven must be in the man, inwrought into his character and life. This follows in perfect harmony with what he had just before told him about the new birth and a change of heart. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and nothing more. But Paul says: "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." Elijah had not really ascended. The Lord just took him up as he had taken Enoch many years before. He was in heaven whilst on earth, just as Jesus was. The only change he underwent in his departure from this world was a change in the relations of his state. While here his state was a heavenly state, but surrounded by earthly things. After his departure from earth his state was the same; but his surroundings were heavenly, and he could feel at home.

THE ANGELS.

No wonder, Brethren, that the angels desire to look into these things. Some very good and wise men are of the opinion that all the angels of heaven are none other than saints redeemed from the earth. How this may be I do not know; but some things that the Bible says about angels seem to favor this conclusion. The main thing in this direction is the deep interest they have always felt, and the active part they have always taken in the things of man's salvation. Paul covers this whole ground by a single sweep of his pen. "Are they not all," says he, "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Of course he means by the heirs of salvation those still tabernacling in the flesh, and still exposed to the ups and downs of the waves of life.

I think, though, that one reason why the angels feel such a deep interest in the things of man's salvation is because they are there—in heaven, I mean—always beholding the face of our Father who is in heaven. They see and feel the glory; they know the bliss of that celestial state. So full of love are they even for poor, fallen, lost, ruined man that we are told by the Lord himself that "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Their joy in this is commensurate with the exalted knowledge they have of the blessedness of true penitence. In it they see light shining in the darkness of the poor sinner's heart. Peace to the waves of his storm-beaten soul,—a new creature in the image of their and our Lord Jesus Christ coming forth into the enjoyment of a new life in him; deliverance from the bondage and power of sin, and restoration to the glorious liberty of the children of God! How much more than all this they see in the return of one soul to God. I do not know; and we never can know fully until we go up higher.

"The blessedness of those above,

Why longs my panting soul to know?

For future bliss I know is love,

And love is felt by saints below.

"But love so pure, exalted high

Beyond compute, beyond compare—

No eagle wing that height may fly;

No mortal breathe that upper air.

"There, love springs pure and unrepressed;

There, all are loved, and love again.

Love fills each burning cherub's breast;

Love fires each flaming seraph train.

"Soon, soon shall I, this conflict o'er,

From sin be freed, with love be fired;

Soon, soon in heaven, my God adore,

With love, celestial love inspired."

And right here this thought comes to mind: If angels are so much interested in the salvation of men, should not men be quite as deeply interested in the salvation of one another? If there are such exultant emotions of joy in the bosoms of angels over one sinner that repents, should there not be an equal measure of joy in the bosoms of men from the same cause?

But the text says: "The angels desire to look into these things." We should not infer from this that their knowledge of the way of salvation is limited, or that they meet with difficulties in the way of understanding it. Oh, no! Their desires are being constantly met and supplied with the means of acquiring knowledge upon this subject, fully up to the measure of each one's capacity to take it in. We may, therefore, justly infer from the text that the subject is immensely vast in its proportions and range.

As salvation is infinite in respect to the truths contained in it and connected with it, so is it also eternal in respect to the scenes and experiences through which the redeemed will be forever passing.

"Could we, so rich in rapture, fear an end,

That ghastly thought would drink up all our joy;

And quite unparadise the realms of light."

And here, dear brethren and sisters, another thought comes to mind suggesting another question: If angels desire to look into the things of man's salvation, should not men have an equal desire to look into them? Should not those who still have the stream to cross, and to whom the ford looks somewhat dark and uncertain, be quite as much interested in it, and in all connected with it, as those who are safely landed on the other shore? Think of this, will you? Let me impress this thought: If the angels, who are out of the reach of all harm and danger, feel such a glow of interest to learn all they can about the way in which all are saved; should not men, who are still exposed to danger, feel an equal or a still deeper interest?

But how is it with the bulk of professors? Who of you, my dear Brethren, make the Bible the man of your counsel? Who of you read and study it with that devotion of faith which makes you feel that your eternal life is in that Word? With joy would I give you the touch of heaven's galvanism to quicken your souls to a livelier sense of the transcendent importance of this matter. I feel sure that many of you do read. You love your Bible because it tells you of your sin and your Savior, of your cross and your crown. But how is it with many? They read some, no doubt; partly from a sense of duty and to quiet their consciences; but not, I fear, with a deep and inmost desire to learn the things of salvation.

Brethren, if the Bible be true, it is tremendously true. It is true with a power that lifts the contrite, penitent, faithful follower of our Lord to the gates of the Holy City, and opens them to him; and it is true with a power that sinks the faithless, impenitent, careless, sin-loving sinner to hell. To which class do I belong? With which class am I going to spend a long eternity? I am happy to see in the luster of many an eye here the evidence of your being in the class first named, and on the side of salvation. God grant that all may be in that number; and in a better world and a purer life, with angels on high, sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

Brother Price was followed by brethren John Garber, Henry Kurtz and Umstead, all bearing testimony more or less extended. The services were brought to a close, and an intermission was given. In the afternoon queries were taken in.

Tuesday, May 16. The meeting was continued to-day. Seven queries were disposed of. Love and harmony abound.

Wednesday, May 17. The meeting was brought to a close to-day. The business being all disposed of, it broke up in the afternoon by the singing of the hymn:

"Blest be the dear uniting love

That will not let us part;

Our bodies far apart may move,

We still are joined in heart."

O my God, I pray that we, as thy dear people, may ever be thus joined in heart; that we may ever be of one mind and speak the same thing; that thy Spirit may fill us and guide us into a clear understanding of thy revealed will that we may not err therein; that we may keep all pride and emulation of the flesh out of our hearts; that each one may esteem another better than himself with all lowliness and meekness; with long-suffering; forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man; unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Amen!

Thursday, May 18. Some of the Brethren from a distance start home to-day. Set things in order at the meetinghouse. While thus engaged our thoughts would turn to the pleasant season of brotherly communion we had just passed through. I can but wish and pray that the same spirit of love and union may pervade every meeting yet to be held in the Brotherhood, through all time, to the end of the world.

Thursday, August 10. Benjamin Bowman and Samuel Wampler were established in the ministry to-day, in a council at our meetinghouse.

Tuesday, August 29. Brother Kline and Brother Flory start to Maryland and Pennsylvania on horseback. Brother Abraham Flory, by the way, was a suitable companion for Brother Kline. He loved home, it is true, and he had a home worthy of being loved. But when he made up his mind to go he left all his home cares behind; and, like Abraham of old, he said to these servants of life: "Stay ye here while I go yonder to worship; and I will return again unto you." He consequently never fretted about home in his absence; but was habitually calm and self-possessed. Even a rainy day or high water did not interfere with the equilibrium of his mild temper.

These two brethren were well mounted. Their horses were good travelers, not only as to gait, but bottom as well. This, in common parlance, means great power of endurance. We must not forget that this journey was undertaken more than sixty years ago. The two travelers did not know what weather they might have to contend with on a journey which was to occupy more than five weeks. Umbrellas were rare in that day; but even if they had been abundant they were too much "after the fashion" to have been used by these unfashionable brethren. Indeed umbrellas were not used by the Brotherhood, at least in Virginia, until many years after this.

A great coat, made of heavy and compact stuff, with long skirts reaching to the feet, and a large cape attached, covering completely the shoulders, and buttoning over the breast, constituted a covering defying both rain and storm. Superadded to this was a very broad-brimmed hat of solid felt. Every saddle in that day was provided with what was called a coat-pad. This was a flat leather pad fastened to the saddle just behind the seat, and furnished with straps and buckles so as to hold an overcoat, when properly rolled up and fastened, in perfect order whilst traveling. Leather saddlebags well stocked with changes of clean underwear completed the outfit.

Thus equipped, these two brethren started on their journey. Their spirit in all this reminds one of what passed between two ministering brethren of another persuasion who were traveling together, neither so well equipped nor mounted, but on foot. Trudging along in the face of foul weather to meet an engagement, Comer said to Proctor:

"I don't mind the rain

If souls I may gain."

To which Proctor instantly replied to Comer:

"I can face every storm of rain and foul weather,

When I and my Lord are walking together."

Wherever Brother Kline and his companion went they were recognized, whether personally known or not, as Dunkard Preachers. No doubt the sneer was sometimes thrust at them, and the lip curled with contempt by those whose stolid ignorance and stupid brains had locked the door against the inflow of good breeding and truth. But in the eyes of all honest, sincere-minded people their mission was one of mercy, truth and love; and they were loved and respected accordingly.

Near the close of the third day of travel, they passed

HARPER'S FERRY.

Brother Kline's experienced eye took in the whole scene at one view. He says: "The scenery here is greatly surpassed by that of many places within the Allegheny ranges. It is not nearly equal to the South Branch Gap below Petersburg in Hardy County, Virginia; nor does it at all compare, in sublime grandeur, with the Rocks at the mouth of the Seneca, in Pendleton County, Virginia. It is tame in comparison with either of these places. But so goes the world. It is with places as with people. When one gets a name by being lauded high by some distinguished personage, as Thomas Jefferson, for example, he soon has the eyes and the ears of the world; whilst others, more worthy, perhaps, in all the elements of true greatness, are left unnoticed and unknown. This thought awakens my recollection of a stanza in Gray's 'Elegy.' It touches tenderly and beautifully upon the neglect and lack of appreciation often experienced by real beauty, virtue and goodness. Here is the verse:

"'Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear;

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air.'

"But we must tone our criticisms down to a just standard. The lack of fame with many justly meriting it is not their own fault, nor is it the fault of the world; but the trouble lies greatly in the place of their birth and in the surroundings of their lives. If the South Branch Gap had had its birth at Harper's Ferry the summit of its fame would reach the clouds; whilst Harper's Ferry, born among the rugged recesses of the Alleghenies, would never be thought of. The world is not so partial and full of favoritism as we think. It readily takes up what suits its uses and its tastes, without stopping to inquire whether there might not be something better found."

Crossing the Potomac at the Ferry, they go to Brother Letherman's and spend the night.

Friday, September 1. Love feast at Brother Herschman's in Middle Valley. Luke 3 was read. Three persons were baptized. Next day the brethren go to Beaver Dam, and pass the night at John Garber's.

At this time letter postage was very high, as much as twenty-five cents on some letters; and the transportation of mails very slow. Regardless of this, however, by means of letters, Brother Kline knew just where to go and what to expect before starting on a journey. Appointments for preaching, councils and love feasts fell in the line of his route from beginning to end. Have a little bit of patience, please, and let me quote the entries just as I find them in the Diary for this journey. If they do not interest you, they may interest others deeply, especially the children and the grandchildren of the good people named in them.

Sunday, September 3. Love feast at Beaver Dam. Luke 14 was read. Three persons were baptized.

Monday, 4. Visit Brother Deah's and Saylor's, and stay all night at Joseph Engle's.

Tuesday, 5. Meeting at Pipe Creek. Luke 16 was read. Stay all night at Peter Royer's.

Wednesday, 6. Meeting at Rupp's. John 1 was read. Stay all night at Christian Royer's.

Thursday, 7. Stay at Brother Keeney's.

Friday, 8. Love feast at Brother Keeney's. John 18 was read.

Saturday, 9. Visit Jacob Myers's. Stay all night at David Brillhardt's.

The families visited in the order of Brother Kline and Brother Flory's route were as follows: Christian Longenacker's, John Zug's, Abraham Zug's, Daniel Zug's, Jacob Gipe's, John Gipe's, Abraham Harshey's, Shoemaker's, Brother Myers's on the other side of the Susquehanna, Andrew Deardorf's, David Pfoutz, Fogelsanger's, John Stauffer's, Brother Royer's, Brother Holsinger's, Welty's, Fahrney's, Joseph Emert's, Eschleman's, David Kinsey's, Brother Martain's, James Tabler's; Carter's, in Frederick County, Virginia, Jonas Goughnour's, in Shenandoah County, Virginia; and home Tuesday, October 3.

Brother Flory and I did not separate for one day or night on this journey. He preached a good deal, and has, I think, left a very good impression. He related a little incident about a local preacher with whom he was personally acquainted, and which he stated for a fact, that has several times amused me. It came in at a suitable place in one of his discourses. The preacher had been regularly receiving one hundred dollars a year from his Conference, for stated preachings to several poor congregations not far from his home. The preacher owned a farm and a mill, both at the same time; and with the two combined he became independent. His brethren saw this and concluded that he ought no longer be paid the hundred dollars a year; so the pay was withheld. But his preaching stopped as suddenly as his pay. When asked about the cause of this he pointed to his mill wheel and said: "Do you suppose that that wheel will run if you keep the water off?"

The brethren and sisters generally appeared to be alive to their spiritual interests. The meetings were usually well attended, and good attention was paid to the preaching. In some places, however, worldliness in dress and manners is becoming too apparent.

In Maryland we happened to fall in company with a man traveling our course, who represented himself as a United Brethren preacher. He was very plainly dressed himself, and as we were plain I guess he thought that to give his conversation a turn upon the fashions of the world would not be unpleasant to us. At any rate he went on to tell how pride was gradually creeping, inch by inch, into his own denomination; and, "worst of all," said he, "it looks like it is beginning to take hold of some of our preachers." He then stated that at their last yearly Conference, the bishop had scored some of them fearfully about it. He then repeated what the bishop had said on the occasion about the

ORIGIN OF FASHIONS.

"Some of you may be curious to know from what place the American people obtain their fashions. I will tell you. They get them from New York City. And from what place does New York City get them? From London. And from what place does London get them? From Paris. And from what place does Paris get them? I answer," said the bishop, "that Paris gets them from hell through the devil and his agents."

In the journey from which I have just returned I preached twenty times; attended eight love feasts; visited and conversed with many families on religious topics. In all this service, if I know my own heart, I have been actuated by no selfish motives. As Paul said: I desire that my service may be acceptable to the saints; but to make it so, I have used no deceit, no flattery, and have put forth no effort of any kind save that of trying, by the grace of God, to make myself a faithful minister of Jesus Christ. As one called to preach the Gospel, this is my duty at all times. Conscious of this, I aim to be "instant in season, out of season." May God bless our labors, including those of the dear brother who was with me. "Paul may plant, and Apollos water; but God only can give the increase." We must, by his grace, use all means to keep the Brotherhood pure, by defending it against the inroads of worldliness and pride in every form. May God forgive all our sins. Amen!

Sunday, October 15. Brethren Martain Myers and Samuel Lehman were with us at our meeting to-day. They spoke beautifully on John 5:24.

Resolutions Made by Elder John Kline,

Monday, January 1, 1838.

He says: I now resolve

To do all the good I can this year.

To shun all evil in thought, word, and deed as far as I can.

To learn all I can of wholesome truth.

To make the best use I can of what I learn and know. To do all this with an eye single to the glory of God and the good of mankind.

Could any one resolve better? Could an angel from heaven, if sent down to live with men on earth, resolve to a better purpose? But it is easier to resolve than to carry into effect; easier to think wisely than to act wisely; easier to plan well than to execute. But of this one thing I am sure: If Brother Kline failed in any of the above resolutions, his failure was not chargeable to his will, but to his weakness. Even Paul could say: "To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. When I would do good, evil is present with me." The cause of this conflict in the course of every Christian's experience is what has been very appropriately called "indwelling sin." The serpent's head may be bruised to death, but the tail will not die until the sun goes down. It is true, the tail is not at the dangerous end of a snake; but while the tail rattles and wriggles it gives evidence that there is still some life left; and before one turns away from it in the satisfied assurance that it needs no further attention it might be well for him to look again and make sure, beyond all doubt, that the head end has been crushed to death.

A Funeral Sermon by Elder John Kline.

At the Burial of Mrs. Lauck,
Feb. 7.

Text.—Man that is born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble He cometh forth as a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.—Job 14:1, 2.

The bulk of Divine Truth is addressed to our faith. We are not expected to receive it as we receive knowledge that is based upon our own experience, or upon the experience of others. God expects us to take his Word for the truth of what he says, whether we fully understand it or not. He addresses our faith, as a father does his child when he seeks to inculcate some truth or principle which the child cannot fully comprehend. But the text selected for this occasion is not of this character. It is addressed to our knowledge and every day's observation and experience. We have only to look at ourselves and at others to see and feel the truth that it tells. It is not, therefore, given to teach, so much as to remind us of what, in the busy whirl of life, we may for a time partially forget. The benefit of being reminded of our mortality comes to us in the way of leading us to seek for something better than this world can give.

The phraseology of the text is exquisitely beautiful. Notice the smoothness of its rhythm, the simplicity of its style, the harmony of its cadences: "Man that is born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble." This is the direct opposite of what all naturally desire. All living human beings would rejoice in a life of many days, exempt from trouble. "He cometh forth like a flower."

"They bloom in beauty, side by side;

They fill one home with glee."

This is pleasant to contemplate; and if the beauty could but last, forever free from all decay, few would wish for aught of life or love beyond the things of time and sense. But, alas! "he is cut down—" and soon

"Their graves are severed far and wide,

By mount, and stream, and sea;"

and these graves all tell a tale of buried hopes, buried love, buried peace.

"The same fond mother bent at night

O'er each fair sleeping brow;

She had each folded flower in sight:

Where are those dreamers now!"

We can but sigh our sadness in the closing lines of this beautiful poem—

"Alas, for love! if thou wert all;

And naught beyond, O earth!"

Thus do Inspiration and Poetry alike paint the sombre realities of life and death; and point to death as the doom of life.

But I do not love to dwell upon these sad scenes, and will turn your attention at once to a birth that knows no death, to a flower that never fades, to a beauty that knows no decay. And can this be true? Can it be that there is a deathless life, a fadeless flower, a shadowless beauty? It may be that some of you are skeptical about things like these. You may have the unbelief that held the heart of Aaron Burr's daughter against all comfort, when she saw her son die. In her agony of despair she cried out: "Omnipotence itself can never restore to me what I have lost in my only boy."

Your faces may be turned the wrong way. You may be like Lot's wife, looking back. And one might just as well talk to a pillar of salt about the glory, and the beauty, and the bliss of the eternal state of the righteous after death, as to talk to men whose backs are heavenward and their faces earthward. You have no eyes in the back part of your heads. Your ears are set to hear what is said to your face, and to catch the sounds that meet you in front. You must turn yourselves round. And more than all this, you must open the eyes of your understandings that the light may shine in, and take the wads of earthly wax out of your ears that you may hear the Savior's words of "spirit and life," and loose the strings of your hearts that the good and truth of God's Word may enter. If you will do this I will show you wonderful things. I will show you a fountain from which, if you drink, you will never thirst again. Not like the fabled "Fountain of Youth," which many sought, but never found. The fountain I mean has been found by millions of the human race. It has quenched their thirst forever.

Do not, I beseech you, understand me to mean that one drink of its water is sufficient to do this. No! no! But I do mean that after you have come to the spring and taken one drink it is your privilege to stay by it forever: nay, more; the spring, like the Rock in the wilderness, will follow you wherever you go; and by and by a spring will be opened up in your own heart, flowing with the same sweet water of everlasting Life, and then you can sing:

"I heard the voice of Jesus say,

Behold, I freely give

The Living Water: thirsty one,

Stoop down and drink, and live.

"I came to Jesus, and I drank

Of that life-giving stream:

My thirst was quenched; my soul revived:

And now I live in Him."

But I will show you bread also. It is wonderful bread. The Israelites, many centuries ago, kept a representation of this bread upon the table connected with their altar of worship; and they called it "showbread," because it showed something to come. A kind of bread also fell upon the face of the ground all around them, when they were encamped in the wilderness; and they called it "manna." They gathered this in the morning, and the supply never failed. But it did not keep them from dying. They died all the same as if they had lived on wheat bread, as we do. It is of this that Jesus says: "Your fathers did eat of the manna in the wilderness, and they died." But our Lord, in speaking of the Bread of Life, which is none other than the great love of God in Christ Jesus, says: "This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever."

Live forever! Does not that sound pleasant in your ears? Does it not have the note of solid comfort? If you believe it, it does. It is on this account that our Lord says so much about faith. Faith makes a man thirsty for the water of eternal life, and faith makes a man hungry for the bread of eternal life. Millions in heaven to-day, each one out of his own heart, can sing:

"I heard the voice of Jesus say:

I am the Bread of Life:

Eat of this Bread, O hungry one,

And have eternal life.

"I took the Bread he gave me then:

My hungry soul it fed;

For this, he said, I gave my life,

And on the cross I bled."

When our Lord was on earth he spoke to the people and to his disciples mostly in parables. In fact we are told that "without a parable spake he not unto them." It is from this that so many similitudes, and metaphors, and figures of speech are found in the New Testament. Thus, water and wine, in many places, mean divine truth; and bread means divine love. And now I will venture to make a statement for the consideration of every thinking mind in this house—a statement which, if it be true, is of infinite and eternal importance—and it is this: Love and truth support and keep life in man's spirit, just as bread and water support and keep life in man's body.

Jesus said to the tempter: "Man does not live by bread alone." Do any of you suppose that Jesus meant to inform the devil that man needs other kinds of food in addition, such as meats, and fruits, and vegetables? He had no such thought. He did not mean to inform or instruct the devil by anything he said to him. But he did mean to teach his tried and tempted followers to the end of time that love and truth are the very life and support of man's spirit. "My words," says he, "are spirit, and they are life." Man may love, and ardently love, what is evil. But divine truth tells him what to love. Hence our Lord's answer is about equivalent to this: "Man does not live by bread [love] alone; but by [water also, which is the truth of] every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

And now, in conclusion, I will ask you, friends, do any of you desire everlasting life? If you do, I say unto you, Come to Jesus. Accept his love. He loved you "and gave himself for you." Accept him by faith. He is the Bread of eternal Life. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He invites you to come and take of the water of life freely. This water is none other than the truth of his Word. Be filled with it. Be immersed in it. As a most impressive emblem of your willingness to be thus, submit to the ordinance of baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

By your immersion in the name of the Father you declare to the world, and say to the church that you believe that God the Father loves you, and wills your salvation; that you accept his love in faith, and prove your faith by this act. By your immersion in the name of the Son you profess your faith in the efficacy and sufficiency of what Jesus Christ did to save you, that he is the Word made flesh, and that men should honor him, even as they honor the Father. By your immersion in the name of the Holy Ghost you profess your faith in the power and everlasting presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart, to lead you into all truth, to make you more and more holy by means of this truth, until you are filled with it, thoroughly leavened with "the leaven of truth and sincerity." The Holy Spirit is called "The Spirit of Truth," and "if the truth make you free, ye shall be free indeed;" free from falsities in your faith. What benefit can there be in believing what is not true? Whoever yet found any substantial good in believing a delusion, a falsehood, an error? But we do read of some who "believe a lie that they may be damned." This sounds rough I know; but it is their own fault, because they love a lie; and "whosoever loveth a lie" is excluded, shut out of the Holy City, because nothing but truth and love can enter there. I again call upon every one here present to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and, believing, he shall have life in his name.

AN ENCOURAGING THOUGHT.

The following encouraging thought comes into Brother Kline's mind in connection with a review of his work on Lost river. It is dated:

Sunday, February 18. One man may sometimes strike a hard stone a good many times without breaking it; when another may take the same hammer, strike it in a slightly different place, or in a different way, and it falls to pieces. It may be that the first man's strokes accomplished more than he knew of. The force of his blows may have diminished the solidity of the stone, and thus made it easier for the second man to break. If I cannot see much fruit of my labor here now, perhaps some, who will come after me, may.

THE COVE.

Sunday, April 22. Brother Kline and Daniel Miller had meeting in a place among the mountains in Hardy County, Virginia, called the Cove. This consists of an area of country so nearly enclosed by mountains of a somewhat circular form that it has but one outlet both for its streams and its inhabitants. Viewed from the summit of some neighboring peak it has the appearance of a vast amphitheatre whose dome is the sky, whose floor is a variegation of corn and wheat fields interspersed with beautiful green meadows, and whose walls are the substantial mountain masonry of nature's own sublime art. Here these two beloved brethren broke the Bread of Life to a small gathering of people, mostly residents of the place we have described.

Acts 3 was read. After many instructive remarks by Brother Kline concerning the great Prophet spoken of in the latter part of the chapter, Brother Daniel Miller followed with a brief discourse, so clear, so pointed, so forcible, that I will give his remarks as nearly as I can in the order and manner in which he presented them.

He first endeavored to draw the attention of the unconverted part of the audience specifically to these words: "Every soul, which will not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed." "I know of no expression in the Bible," said he, "more sharply pointed than this. The word 'destroyed,' as here used, does not mean blotted out of existence. But it does mean cast out as evil, unfit for the companionship of God's people in heaven. In much the same sense of the word it is said that intemperance destroys men. It unfits them for the duties of life, and for the society of the pure and the good.

"A ship may be said to be destroyed even though its dismantled hulk still floats upon the sea, borne by the waves and driven by the winds. A fruit tree is destroyed when a worm, secretly gnawing at its root, girdles it with a belt of deadness. It may still stand, but fruitless and lifeless. An eye is destroyed when it becomes so far injured by disease or accident as to be forever out of the reach of power to restore its sight.

"And is this the sense in which every soul will be destroyed who refuses to hear this Prophet? Most assuredly it is. O, friends, how shall I tell you the difference between a soul saved and a soul destroyed? The one is forever happy, the other forever miserable. The one is an eye that sees and enjoys all the beauties of earth and sky, the other is an eye forever blind. The one is an ear that will forever hear the melodies of heaven, the other is an ear forever deaf to all but the wailings of hell. The one is a ship completely rigged and fitted to bear herself nobly and safely over the surging surface of a stormy sea, the other, a floating hulk; mastless, sailorless, only waiting to be cast upon some desert shore to rot.

"But no one can ever have a just excuse for being thus destroyed; for it is plain that whosoever hears this Prophet shall be saved. Jesus Christ is a wonderful Savior. 'He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him.' Will not you come? 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.' The text does not say that God will destroy every soul that will not hearken to that Prophet. I do not believe that this is meant. Our Lord says in one place: 'Fear him, who, after he hath killed the body, is able to destroy both soul and body in hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him.' Who is this that is thus to be feared? I tell you that it is sin, impersonated in the devil. Sin, sin is what is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Sin, disobedience to God, transgression of God's law, has placed the seal of death upon every living human body in the world; and sin has stamped the seal of death upon every unsaved soul in hell.

"O friends, I am afraid of sin. I am afraid to disobey my God and Savior. I am more afraid of sin than I would be of smallpox in an infected district. I am more afraid of sin than I would be of leprosy on the plains of Syria. That or this could only kill my body; but sin is able to destroy both my soul and body in hell.

"It is plain that to hear the voice of that Prophet, who is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, to hear his voice with an ear to find out what he says and what he wants us to do, and then in love and faith to do it, is the only way any soul has by which to escape the threatened destruction. I wish that I could implant in the heart of every sinner here to-day such a fear of sin and its awful consequences as would lead him to flee for refuge, to lay hold of the hope set before us in the Gospel. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is this house of refuge. Sinner, come to him. No, no! You need not do that, for he comes to you, and you only need rise up and open the door and let him in."

A SINGULAR PHENOMENON.

Friday, June 1. This day, says the Diary, I witnessed a very wonderful appearance about the sun. About eleven o'clock I saw a bright circle around the sun like a rainbow, with the sun in the center. At the same time there was another circle somewhat larger than this, on the west side of the sun; and the east side of this ring rested upon the face of the sun. At the points where the rings crossed each other there was a peculiar brightness and blending of colors. The whole was a sublime and beautiful sight.

Sermon by Benjamin Bowman.

Preached in Brock's Gap, Virginia,
June 17.

Text.—There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God.—Heb. 4:9.

FROM NOTES IN THE DIARY.

We are informed by the Apostle of the Gentiles that the sojourn of the children of Israel in the wilderness and the subsequent dealings of Jehovah with them were examples to us who live under the gospel dispensation. These examples comprise two great facts:

 I. Their obedience was always attended with blessings.
II. Their disobedience was always attended with sufferings.

These two great facts comprehend the all of man's life and experience in both worlds, from the alpha to the omega. I am well aware that many in this assembly are not Bible readers. I will therefore give you a brief sketch of the children of Jacob or Israel as I find it in the books of Moses and the book of Joshua, which comprise the first six books of the Bible.

Jacob, who is also called Israel, was the grandson of Abraham. He had twelve sons, of whom Joseph was the next to the youngest. These twelve sons, with their descendants through all time, are called the children of Israel. Later on they are also called Jews. The Jews of the present day claim to be the descendants of these twelve sons of Jacob or Israel. Joseph's older brothers became envious of him and sold him to a company of merchants who carried him into Egypt. Here he was elevated by the Lord to a position of great power, to a place and power next to the king on his throne.

Soon after this a very grievous famine came upon the land of Canaan, the country in which Israel, with his other sons, still lived. They heard that there was plenty of food in Egypt, and so Jacob sent his sons there to buy grain for bread. When they arrived in Egypt, to their great surprise, they found their brother Joseph there, whom they had sold to the merchants for thirty pieces of silver. He received them kindly, supplied their immediate wants, and very soon made arrangements for them and their father Jacob to come down to Egypt and live with him. And Jacob went down into Egypt and lived with his son Joseph till he died.

These Israelites grew and multiplied in Egypt until they became a great people. But the time came when the Egyptians oppressed them, laying heavy burdens upon them; and treated them as slaves. At this time the Lord said to Moses: I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt; and I now send thee thither to bring them out of that land, and into a land that I will tell thee of. Under the leadership of Moses, the most interesting and instructive part of their history is found.

After a succession of miracles, wrought by Jehovah through Moses, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, agreed to let them go. But they had to pass through a desert and uninhabited country, which lay between Egypt and the land of Canaan. Pharaoh knew this, and to get revenge for the way the Lord had compelled him to let them go he gathered a very large army and pursued after them. Just at the time Pharaoh thought he had them in his power, and when the whole camp of Israel trembled with fear of being suddenly destroyed by the hosts of the Egyptians, the Lord opened a passage for the children of Israel through the

RED SEA.

The Red Sea, at this place, had a very smooth bottom of sand, as has been discovered since, although it is very deep, and perhaps twenty miles across. The water stood like a wall on both sides of this passage. Some of you may think this could not be. I will here relate the substance of a conversation, which is said to have really taken place between the first English minister to Siam, and the king of that country. Siam is a very hot country in the south part of Asia. There is never any winter, or even cool weather, in that country. So the people there know nothing of ice, and even the king himself had never heard of any such thing. The English minister told him many things about England and other countries, and among other things referred to the effect of cold upon water, that it makes it hard.

"You do not say," said the king, "that water gets hard in your country!" "Indeed I do," said the minister. "It sometimes gets so hard all over the surface of broad rivers and lakes that men, and even heavy beasts, may walk upon it with dry feet; and if your heavy elephants were there, even they could walk upon the hard water too." "I have, thus far," replied the king, "been willing to listen to you, and believe what you say; but now I know you lie."

So it may be with some who read or hear the story of the children of Israel. They may think it all reasonable and fair enough, until they come to the passage through the Red Sea: there faith stumbles and falls. But we must never forget that all things, not self-contradictory, are possible with God. It is just as possible and easy for him to crystallize the billows of an ocean as to freeze a drop of dew on a blade of grass. At the command of Moses they enter this avenue through the deep, walled by the waves, and roofed by the sky. Surely no eyes but theirs ever witnessed so sublime a sight.

"Water to right of them;

Water to left of them;

Water in front of them;"

while over their heads passed the cloud of Jehovah's presence and glory to follow in their rear; at once to hide them from the sight, and to shield them from the attack of the enemy that was pursuing them. I can hardly ever read this simple statement without a tear. The kindness, the love of the Lord in thus placing himself between his children and their enemies, like as a tender father would shield his offsprings from danger, always melts my heart. But this is just the way the Lord always does. If his own dear people will but shelter under his wings, the devil will never be able to get one of them.

Some of you may wonder why the Lord did not close up the way behind them, after they were all in, so that Pharaoh and his hosts would be compelled to stay back. But God knew best. He is wiser than men. He allowed the Egyptian army to enter. They followed just as close behind the Israelites as the Lord would let them come. The way was still open, and Pharaoh, no doubt, thought the way as free for him, and quite as safe too, as for Moses. His intention was to slaughter the whole camp of Israel as soon as his army got through. But see how he failed! The salvation of Moses was the destruction of Pharaoh. When the children of Israel had all reached the land in safety they ascended the hills on the shore to look back at the long train of Pharaoh's host. But what did their eyes behold! All at once the walls of water broke down; and the sea closed over them.

It seems strange to us now that Pharaoh would venture to follow the Israelites. We now think he might have known it would prove his own destruction. But this is one example of the folly of which Satan is always guilty. At the very time he thinks victory is within his grasp disappointment and defeat overtake him. Let me show you another instance of this.

For some time he had been plotting the destruction of our Lord Jesus Christ. One time he tried to have him cast down a very steep place on the side of a hill. But he failed. At another time he tried to have him stoned to death. But the Lord escaped out of his hands. At last, however, he succeeded in having him put to death. He entered into the heart of a man by the name of Judas, and made arrangements with him to betray our Lord into the hands of his enemies. The plot was successful, and when Satan saw our Lord expiring on the cross he felt jubilant over the victory he had gained, in the belief that he had now rid the world of its most dangerous foe to his kingdom. But you see how it turned out. The resurrection and glorification of our Lord have given such a deathblow to Satan's power that, after awhile, the eyes of all heaven will see that old Serpent, the devil, and Satan cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

After the children of Israel all got through the Red Sea they formed a camp on its eastern shore, and each family prepared the food they had brought with them to eat. But the supply soon gave out, and as there was none to be had in the desert where they were encamped they began to fear that they must all starve. They complained to Moses, and he carried their complaints to the Lord. Very soon the manna began to fall in abundance.

THE MANNA.

This was a kind of bread which fell all over the ground at night, and looked like hoar-frost. They gathered it every morning, except the morning of the Sabbath day. It was just what they needed to satisfy their hunger and impart health and strength to their bodies.

The Lord also caused a great spring of fresh water to burst out of a solid rock near the camp; and thus they were supplied with water.

We can hardly see how these people could ever turn against the Lord and become unthankful and disobedient toward him after he had been so kind and done so much for them. But they became so. They even went so far as to make a golden calf to worship instead of Jehovah, who had brought them through the Red Sea. For this they were sorely punished.

After awhile Moses died, and Joshua led them into the land of Canaan, after they had wandered about in the wilderness under Moses for the space of forty years. The land of Canaan was a good land, flowing with milk and honey, and if they had been willing to serve the Lord by obeying his commands they would have found rest and peace. But they never found either rest or peace, because they were never able to drive their enemies from the land. They found many enemies in the land when they entered it, and on account of their disobedience to the Lord they were unable to rid the land of Canaan of them. This is what is meant by the verse that next precedes my text: "For if Joshua had given them rest, the Lord would not have spoken of another day."

But as Joshua failed to do this, on account of their disobedience, we have the words of the text: "There remaineth therefore a rest unto the people of God." But where is that rest? In the beautiful lines of Montgomery we ask:

"Oh, where shall rest be found?

Rest for the weary soul:

'Twere vain the ocean's depth to sound;

Or pierce to either pole.

This world can never give

The rest for which we sigh."

Where may be found that favored spot in whose delightful shade the soul may fold her wings and be at rest? I imagine that some of you are now saying to yourselves, "This rest is in heaven." In this you are right, in one sense. Heaven is a place of rest to those who are prepared for it. But let me say to you in all candor and love that heaven is rest only to those who first find rest here in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is now calling to every sin-burdened sinner: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The hardened unbeliever could no more be happy in heaven, even if allowed to enter there, than a fish could be happy out of water. Heaven is not the sinner's element. Besides, an unconverted sinner can never get there.

"Those holy gates forever bar

Pollution, sin, and shame;

For none can find admittance there,

But followers of the Lamb."

Rest must first be found in Jesus by coming to him, accepting his yoke, and working in his service. And to encourage all to do this he himself says: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." If you want to find out how easy his yoke is, and how light his burden, take it upon you, and see if it does not give your soul rest.

I sincerely believe that Charles Wesley, long ago, gave expression to feelings similar to those of some in this house, in the lines of a beautiful hymn, a part of which I will repeat. See if it does not find an echo in your soul:

"O, that my load of sin were gone!

O, that I could at last submit,

At Jesus' feet to lay it down!

To lay my soul at Jesus' feet!

"Rest for my soul, I long to find:

Savior of all, if mine thou art,

Give me thy meek and lowly mind;

And stamp thine image on my heart.

"Break off the yoke of inbred sin:

And fully set my spirit free:

I cannot rest till pure within:

Till I am wholly lost in thee."

You will realize the truthfulness of every one of these lines by coming to Jesus and fully consecrating your life to him. But rest does not necessarily imply inactivity. It means a heart and mind at peace. It means a heart filled with love to God and his people. It means a life of good works, wrought in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is the rest that remaineth unto the people of God. It begins here; it goes on eternally in the heavens.

THE YELLOW SPRINGS (at present Orkney Springs).

This health and pleasure resort is near the head of Stony Creek, in Shenandoah County, Virginia. It is now universally known by the name of "Orkney Springs." It is beautifully situated near the eastern base of the Church mountain. From the yellow color of the sediment, left by its chalybeate waters, it first got the name of Yellow Springs.

It was, for many years, a favorite health resort for the German population of Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties in Virginia. Almost every Sunday during the "spring season," there would be preaching there by the ever earnest German Baptist Brethren. Attentive audiences would assemble under the shade trees, and on rustic seats listen to the plain but earnest sermons of such men as John Kline, Peter Nead, Samuel Wampler and others. All was quiet and order. But the goddess of fashion soon found her way to this lovely spot, and a long train of worshipers at her shrine, robed in rustling silks and sparkling with jewels, followed her leadings. In a few years not only the character, but the very name of the place was changed. It is at this time a very popular pleasure resort for the rich and fashionable.

On Sunday, August 19, Brother Kline delivered a very interesting and instructive discourse at the above-named place. It is with profound emotions of gratitude that I report this sermon. I was there myself and heard it. Whilst I do not retain in memory much of the substance of it, being at the time very young, I do well remember the feelings of veneration and regard for the preacher with which his earnest manner and kind looks impressed me. Little did I then think that fifty-five years from that date I would be expanding that discourse, and thus preparing it for the eyes of the world, from the leaflets of the Diary that was then being faithfully kept by that good man.

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

Preached at Orkney Springs,
Sunday, August 19.

Text.—Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.—Rev. 22:17.

In view of our surroundings and the attractions that have drawn so many of us to this quiet and beautiful mountain retreat, I feel that the subject selected for to-day suits the occasion.

When I look at a mountain spring and see the wavelets playing on their pebbly beds, or chasing one another down their steep descent, I am ever led to think how free from all the taints of sin these innocent drops of water are! Not one of them has ever transgressed the divine law of its being. Not one has ever failed in a single point to fulfill its mission. Are you thirsty? They never refuse to quench your thirst. Does your field need rain? They never refuse to wet the ground. Always ready, they cheerfully serve the behests of God and man.

The diversity of the applications and uses of water, the variety of its forms—its frozen state in that of ice, its fluid state in that of a liquid, its aëriform state in that of clouds and other modes of atmospheric suspension—all these, together with its transparency and cleansing power make it a most appropriate emblem of Divine Truth. As such, water is much spoken of by the prophets in the Old Testament, and by our Lord in the New. I will here quote some passages from each:

"Then with gladness shall ye draw waters out of the wells of salvation." Isaiah 12:3. What can be meant by the "wells of salvation," but the fountains of truth in God's Word?

By way of describing the abundance of the supply of truths from this source I will here quote from the forty-first chapter of Isaiah, as follows: "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water: ... that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand." One man is a hillside; another is a valley. One man is a desert; you think he never can be made to produce anything. But he shall be supplied, and thus be made to blossom as the rose. Others are dry land of a general character; but there is water enough to make all fruitful: so that instead of the thorn, the myrtle; and instead of the thistle, the fig; and instead of the deadly upas, the olive shall grow.

In Jeremiah's description of the departure of the Jews from the truths of God's Word we find the following complaint against them from the mouth of the Lord himself, recorded in Jer. 2:13, "My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." This can mean nothing, spiritually, but a departure from the truth of God as revealed, and substituting in its place some false doctrine of man's own invention.

Jesus said: "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink." For, said he: "My words are spirit, and they are life." His words are the water of life. This explains my text.

It might surprise some of you if I were to point to that spring yonder and say, "There flows the water of life." But would I not tell the truth? Can man or beast live one moment without it? Let us think a little. What is your blood? It is water, holding in solution the various elements with which your bones, and sinews, and muscles, and nerves, and other tissues of your body are to be supplied and nourished. Can man or beast live a moment without blood? Then they cannot live a moment without water. Can trees and plants live a moment without sap? They cannot, because their sap is their blood. But the water of that spring, indispensable as it is to your bodily life, ceases as to its uses in this respect when this end is met; and if man had no life other than that of mere corporeal or animal existence, no other water would ever be demanded by him. In that case there would be no need of the invitation given in the text.

But every human being has a twofold nature. He has a spiritual body as well as a natural body. Paul says: "If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." Man's natural or physical organization consists of flesh and blood. Paul calls this the "outer man." This is man's animal or sensuous nature. Man's spiritual body consists of will and understanding. Paul calls this the inner man; because it is the interior, "hidden man of the heart." This is capable of becoming the higher, nobler, better part of man, because it is the "house" of his affections and thoughts, of his loves and enjoyments.

There is a wonderful difference between the two natures; and yet the one corresponds to the other so perfectly that in all of man's experiences, in all that pertains to his life in this world, the two natures make one man. Whilst this is so, we must not forget that our natural bodies are mortal; they will soon die. But our spiritual bodies are immortal; they will never die. This is quite as true of the evil as of the good. The spiritual bodies or souls of men will live on, after the death of their natural bodies, through the countless ages of eternity,—the good, in the enjoyments of ineffable bliss; the evil, in the sufferings of deepest woe.

And is this true? Can it be that one or the other of these experiences is sure to be realized by every one present here to-day? Can it be so? Or am I here just beating the air to make you and me hear myself talk? I solemnly protest that I am not here for that purpose. I have a higher aim, a nobler end. But let me point you to my authority for what I say, and show you the Rock on which my faith is built. All the authority which any man dare claim on this subject is found in God's revealed Word. I will here quote a few passages:

"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all the nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.... Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.... Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."

These words are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ; he here portrays, in one grand view, the good state of the righteous in the next world and the evil state of the unrighteous. In the very inmost of my heart I believe what our Lord here says, and out of the abundance of my heart my mouth now speaks. I also sincerely believe, friends, that every one here to-day can most surely determine for himself, even while living in this world, whether he will be happy in heaven forever, or miserable in an everlasting hell. You may justly ask, "How can this be determined?"

I answer that a man's life in this world determines this for every individual, as surely as the fruit of a tree makes the quality of the tree known. Notice these passages from Paul's writings: "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." "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." "God will reward every man according to his works."

Every intelligent man can know with certainty what kind of seed he is sowing. Is he sowing the seeds of love and good will to his neighbor, the seeds of peace, and order, and comfort, the seeds of faith, and hope, and love? He surely can know what his will is, at least; and if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted of a man according to what he hath; and if he does his all it is the widow's mite in God's eye. Every intelligent man can know with certainty whether he loves God or loves him not. His readiness to keep his commandments is the proof of this both ways. I tell you, friends, there is no getting around this. Your obedience to our Lord is the unquestionable and undeviating test of your love. "He that loveth me, keepeth my words. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings." "A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things: but an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil things." Is not this plain?

It may now be asked, "How is an evil man to become good?" No question of deeper interest can ever be asked. No answer of deeper importance can ever be given. The Lord direct me in this. Relying on his Word, I answer, that the very first step in the direction of this change is to respond to the invitation given in my text: "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Jesus says to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." To be born of water is to drink of the water of life—the truth of God's Word—by hearing it, by loving it, by believing it, by obeying it, until it makes a new man out of him,—a new man in the image of Christ our Lord.

As a most impressive and appropriate emblem of this change water baptism has been ordained by the Lord; and every convert to Jesus Christ is commanded to submit, cheerfully in love, to this ordinance. Baptism, say what you please, is one of the first fruits of this change. To the church it is the external act of the internal birth. To be born of the Spirit is to live the life and enjoy the blessedness of the kingdom of God, which is a life of righteousness, a life of peace, a life of joy in the Holy Ghost.

All this is effected by taking the water of life freely, by drinking in the truth of God's Word because one loves it, because one desires in the heart to be saved, because one desires in the heart to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

"If any man thirst," says Jesus, "let him come unto me, and drink." The water of this mineral spring here can do no one any good except he drink it. But not one of us can go to that spring yonder and take a drink of water from it without the power of God in us. "In him we live, and move, and have our being." But he gives us the power so freely that in the use of it we are unconscious of any power within us but our own. So with drinking of the water of life. The power of every one to drink is all of the Lord, but is so freely given by him, and so freely used by us, that it is to all intents and purposes the very same as if it were all of ourselves: and this makes us accountable.

Jesus wants every man's will to drink the water of life. A sick man may come here to regain his health. But upon tasting it he may say, "I do not like this water; I have no thirst for it; let me have some of another kind." But his physician says: "You must drink it or you will die." He obeys his physician and drinks the water. After awhile he begins to feel better, and as his health improves the water tastes more natural to him; and by and by, as he regains his health, he loves it and feels loath to leave the spring. But no one ever need leave the fountain of divine love and truth: for if a man drink of it freely to the healing of his soul, it will be in him "a well of water, springing up into everlasting life" and he will love it more and more.

In a large spring you will hardly ever see all the water come from one orifice or opening. It boils up through the sand and pebbles in many places; and one observer will think this the main stream, and another that. So with the water of eternal life. It is not all found in one verse; nor in one chapter: nor in one book even. Jesus said to the devil: "Man liveth by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Ah, friends, time would fail me, were I to attempt to bring to your minds the many precious promises we have in Jesus Christ. His Word is full of them; and I most affectionately exhort every one here to-day to go to that Word and find the water of eternal life.

You may sit by the spring;

And in your soul you may sing:

"I heard the voice of Jesus say:

Behold, I freely give

The Living Water; thirsty one,

Stoop down, and drink, and live.

"I came to Jesus, and I drank

Of that life-giving stream:

My thirst was quenched; my soul revived;

And now I live in him."

DIRECT FROM THE DIARY.

Thursday, October 4, 1838. Attended the funeral of one of Brother Christian Niswander's sons. His age was thirteen years and one month.

Monday, October 8. Attended the funeral of another one of Christian Niswander's children to-day. Age, nine years, nine months and twenty-one days.

Sunday, October 14. I attended the funeral of Susanna, daughter of Brother Christian Niswander, to-day. She was fifteen years and nearly seven months old. This is the third child that this deeply bereaved family have been called to part with in the brief space of ten days. Gladly would we pour into their bleeding bosoms the oil of consolation. We weep with them that weep. Our tears mingle with theirs. We lead the way with them to the throne of grace. Our Father on high, pity them, and do for them exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. Help them to feel that their dear children are not dead; that their deathless spirits have soared above all sickness, sorrow, pain and death. Thus we pray, and thus we try to comfort. But our feeble, tender, sympathizing natures sink under the load of grief; and the eye of faith but feebly catches the rays of hope that beam from the pages of Heavenly Truth. Verily, here we see through a glass darkly.

Sermon by Elder Daniel Garber.

Preached at Arnold's Meetinghouse,
Sunday, October 28.

This sermon was delivered in the course of a visit brethren Kline and Garber were making among the churches and Brethren in Hampshire County, West Virginia. They left home October 25, and returned October 31, by way of Moorefield and the South Fork in Pendleton County, West Virginia.

Text.—Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love.—Eph. 5:1, 2.

Some one has said of this letter to the Ephesians that it is the whole Gospel in a nutshell. This may be true; but I must confess for myself that in some parts the shell is so very hard, that in my efforts to crack it the broken fragments, under the hammer of investigation, fly out of sight, with the kernel still sticking in them. It may be that Peter had some of these hard shells in mind when he said: "Our beloved brother Paul hath written many things hard to be understood; which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they also do the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." The Lord forbid that I should thus do with any of the Scriptures.

I am delighted to say, in full view of all this, that there is not much danger of the honest seeker for truth being misled by anything Brother Paul has left on record. If there is any danger at all of this kind, I think it is to be found in giving what he says on election and predestination a wrong interpretation. I have been frequently asked how I interpret his strikingly bold utterances on this subject, and how I reconcile them with my belief in the absolute freedom of the human will.

In the first place, I unhesitatingly profess my belief in the absolute freedom of man's will. How else could man comply with the injunction given in the text: "Walk in love?" If he has no will of his own, why give him a command? This freedom of man's will is a logical necessity. Reason demands it. Now, let us look at this a little. If man is not free to choose between good and evil; between right and wrong; between truth and falsity; wherein lies the reasonableness of instructing him? of exhorting him to do what is right, and to shun what is wrong? of commanding him to do good, with promises of reward for his obedience, and threatenings of judgment and fiery indignation as the sure penalties of his disobedience and sin?

Some admit the freedom of man's will to do evil, but not to do good. But do you not see that if this be true man's will is only half free—free to act in one direction, but not in another? On this assumption, where is the reasonableness of giving him admonitions, invitations and entreaties to do good, when he has not the power within him to comply?

You may answer by quoting the Lord's words: "Without me ye can do nothing." I fully believe these words of our Lord. But if you apply them specifically to the will, they prove that men can do neither good nor evil without the Lord. This you may not admit; but I believe it is just what our Lord meant. All life is from him as God. All beings, the evil as well as the good, "live and move in him." I believe that our Lord is, every hour and every moment of every man's life, seeking to turn the heart, the will of the man from evil to good, from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to himself. "He causeth his sun to rise on the evil and the good; and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust."

The light and heat of the sun, as well as the falling of the rain, are beautiful emblems of the life-giving love of our heavenly Father. He freely imparts the power to every one who hears the words of gospel grace, to love and obey him if he will; to turn from his sins, and walk in newness of life. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance; and repentance is neither more nor less, and nothing else than a change of one's love or will from evil to good; from the love of self and the world to God supremely.

Thus briefly have I sought to prepare your minds for a few remarks I propose making on the doctrine of election.

Election simply means a choosing. It is an undeniable fact that our Lord Jesus Christ elects, chooses, accepts every one that truly repents or turns his heart from evil to good. "Him that cometh unto me," says he, "I will in no wise cast out." "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Truth is the broad platform on which the elect of God forever stand; and love is the golden chain that first drew and forever binds them there.

PREDESTINATION.

There is not a living thing upon the face of the earth but is predestinated to a certain end. The horse, in his very creation, is predestinated to be the horse in kind, and to serve the end of his creation; and his nature and characteristics as such admit of no change. Predestination is one of the essentials of God's eternal order. If the horse, or the ox, or anything else which God has created, could be changed from the nature and order of its creation, confusion would be the inevitable result.

I do not wonder that Paul wrote what he did upon predestination, because it implies the immutable, eternal order of God's love and wisdom. Heaven and earth may pass away, but Christ's love shall never pass away from the lowliest and poorest soul that loves and obeys him. His love to Christ is the seal of his predestination to eternal life.

"He that believeth the Son hath life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." This is the sum of election and predestination. God's eternal love has given to man the way of man's salvation. All who choose that way are on that very account elected and predestinated to eternal life in heaven. Elected, because this fits them for heaven: predestinated, because it is God's eternal purpose to save all such. Predestination applies equally to the impenitent; because, according to the same plan and the principles involved in it, they must be forever lost.

Nothing can be more reasonable than that God's elect, the people of his choice, should be holy and without blame before him in love; that they should be followers of God as dear children, and walk in love. This is both the cause and the proof of their election to eternal life.

If you will take the pains to look into a dictionary for the word walk, you will find that it means: To conduct one's self; to order one's life. Every man feels in himself the power to order his own life according to what is just and right in the sight of God and men. To regard man in any other light would be to place him on a level with the brute. It would be taking away from him his moral feelings, and depriving him of the just exercise of his will through the understanding. Whilst man feels in himself this power, still he must not forget that all life is from God, and that without God man is nothing. "Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us." And every true child of his can say: "I love him because he first loved me."

Sinner, let me say to you that God loves you and wills your salvation. But he cannot save you without your will to be saved by him. You must reciprocate his love. You must answer his call. You must obey his voice. His Holy Spirit is now saying to you: "Be thou reconciled to God. Turn thou, turn thou, for why wilt thou die?" You need not pause and wonder whether or not you are one of his elect. I can answer this myself. I say to you that in your present state you most assuredly are not one of his elect. But if you truly repent of your sins by giving your heart to him in love and obedient faith, just as surely as his Word is true, you will become to be one of his elect; for election is salvation. But if you stay away, who is to blame? "He that will not plough by reason of the cold, shall beg in harvest." If you fail to sow, where will your ingathering be? But note this: "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." To sow to the Spirit is to do the will of God from love to God; and to all who do this, the promise is sure.

Brethren and sisters, I must exhort you to remember the text. Don't forget it as you go home after meeting closes. When you get home look for it. Some of you, I fear, have already forgotten the place where it is found; so I will tell you again. It is the first, and part of the second verse of the fifth chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. These are the words: "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children; and walk in love."

You know that good children imitate good parents. They follow their examples. Now ye are called to follow the leadings of God, to imitate the examples of love he has set before you. Let me present to you some of these: "If any of you have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." This is the best way to settle a quarrel I have ever found.

Here is another: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets." This means that all that God has ever spoken to man is to the end that each one love his neighbor as he loves himself. No one can be a true neighbor who does not love God. The neighbor, then, that is to be loved in this way must be a brother or sister in the Lord; and none but a brother or sister in the Lord is capable of loving in this way, and to this degree. So you see that love to the neighbor, such as the law of Christ sets forth, implies supreme love to God. This love makes heaven here, and there, and everywhere.

Here is one more: "Love not in word only, but in deed and in truth. He that hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"

Brethren, the devil does not like the odor of charity and faith in the church. It is worse in his nose than the smoke of burning brimstone. If you want to keep him out of the church, all you have to do is to keep brightly burning the fire of love on the altar of every heart; and from these altars, all together, there will ascend the odor of an incense that will put the devil to flight and keep him away forever.

Friday, December 7. Brother Kline, in company with brethren Brower and Rodecap, started to

THE PASTURES.

The Pastures comprise a considerable scope of rich grazing country in the western part of Augusta County and the eastern part of Highland County, Virginia. This section is watered by two principal rivers of small size, respectively called the Calf Pasture and the Cow Pasture. They are tributaries of the James river in Virginia. Here these brethren preached day and night for some time.

We rarely find anything amusing in the Diary. Brother Kline's mind and heart were too deeply imbued with sincerity in religion and the life flowing out of it, to give place to things of a light or trivial character. But for once, on this journey, we find one entry that brings a smile to the face: One evening, when they were all seated around the fire at Brother Henry Snell's the conversation turned upon a company of Indians that had, shortly before, passed along that way. They asked permission to spend the night in one of Brother Snell's outbuildings, which was cheerfully granted.

These Indians, Brother Snell went on to relate, had killed a wild turkey on their way that day, and in the evening asked the family for a suitable vessel in which to cook it. This being furnished, they went on to prepare the turkey for the pot. This they did in true Indian style. Two squaws went through the performance. One took hold of one wing, and the other took hold of the other wing; and thus between the two most of the feathers were removed. They then opened the bird, removing such of the internal viscera as were thought not fit for food, washed it in a vessel of water, and then put it on to cook in the very same water they had washed it in.

Brother Kline could not help applying the last point in the above incident to some features in the lives of men. He says: "That minister who gets up and in a beautiful and glowing discourse sets forth the Christian 'cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit;' and then comes down to mix with the world, and follow its fashions and vanities, is cooking his turkey in the same water he washed it in. That professor of religion who, to appearance, makes a very humble confession of his sins, with seeming repentance and deep contrition of heart, only to go away and thrust himself again into the filthiness of his former life, is cooking his turkey in the same water he washed it in."

REFLECTIONS ON THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.
FROM THE ENTRY OF DECEMBER 31.

This evening closes the work of another year. The record of this year is now nearly complete. Have I any idea of that record? I think I have. Of one thing I feel sure. It has not been kept with paper, pen and ink. Neither has it been written in the skies. Each one's yearly record is written by no hand but his own, and upon no tablet but that of his own heart. Each one's life, therefore, is his record. This, before God and the angels, is a faithful transcript of his mind and heart within. "A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things; likewise an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil things." The good things of the one and the evil things of the other constitute the life record of every man. This makes character, and character is the basis on which men make up their opinions of one another; but the heart, out of which the character grows, is the book that will be opened before the throne, out of which every one will be judged. A good heart is each redeemed saint's book of life: and an evil heart is each lost soul's book of condemnation.

Hence we are told by our Lord "that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment;" and that "whatsoever is spoken in the ear in the closet shall be proclaimed upon the housetop." Good words leave the lines of their light upon the heart's love-tablet; but evil words leave their shadows in the chambers of the soul, and deepen the darkness there.

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

Preached on Lost River, West Virginia,
March 3.

Text.—Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many be they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it.—Matt. 7:13, 14.

It is declared that our Lord spake to his disciples in parables; "and without a parable spake he not unto them." A parable is a brief statement of such facts as men are well acquainted with; which facts are designed to correspond to or represent things they are not well acquainted with. Every parable, then, carries with it two lines of thought. The one line is natural, and is based upon the natural things given in the parable. The other line is spiritual, and follows the natural line, as a shadow follows its substance. My text is not properly a parable, but it is in the parabolic form, and must be treated as such.

We notice at once the two gates and the two ways. We also notice that these two ways or roads lead in opposite directions and to opposite destinies. These statements the simplest mind can lay hold of. Even young children know what gates are, and what roads are. They can also look in thought toward the ends of roads, and comprehend, in some measure at least, what is meant when they are told that one road ends in a great fire that will burn forever, and that the other ends in a delightful garden where flowers of beauty and fragrance, with fruits of exquisite taste and healthfulness, hang upon trees and vines of unfading loveliness.

It is never necessary to speak to the simple-minded man or child about the freedom of the human will. Their lessons in this are learned from observation and experience. By experience every one knows that he has the power to choose what he likes and to reject what he does not like. Even beasts, and birds, and reptiles do the same. They choose and appropriate the foods they like. They mate together according to the same free will, which is their love. Birds select their roosting places, and construct their nests where and how they will. "Foxes have holes;" but this is so because God first made the caverns in the rocks, and the foxes afterward chose them for their habitations. Every unit in the whole animate world, not only chooses the place of its abode, but also the modes and means of its subsistence. Even plants in a state of nature conform to this general law. Shall man, born to glorify God and enjoy him forever, be cut short in the free exercise of his will? I cannot believe it. But I do believe that the brightest saint in heaven is where he is because it was first his will to go there; and being there, it is forever his will to stay.

I am not ignorant of the arguments advanced by the other side. Many good, but, I believe misguided men, hold the opinion that man is so depraved as to his will, so lost to all sense and understanding of what is good, that he is wholly incapable of choosing the right and shunning the wrong. But I believe the Lord knows just what man can do and what man cannot do. And it is a thing self-evident to my mind that Goodness and Wisdom has never yet commanded man to do anything that is out of man's power to do.

Let us grant that man is dead in trespasses and sins, as Paul represents him. But does not Jesus say: "My words are spirit and they are life"? The Lord's words have life in them; and if man will but hear them with his natural ear, as you now hear me speak, and then be not a forgetful hearer, but be a doer of the Word; this man shall be blessed in his deed; and soon be filled with the new life of God.

The text opens in these words: "Enter ye in at the narrow gate." This is impossible for any one to do without his knowing what the narrow gate is, and where it is. Whilst we have no direct and positive information upon this point in connection with the text, we still may learn something by noticing into what it opens. The narrow gate opens into the narrow way, and this leads to life. The narrow gate and the narrow way are one. I mean by this that entering the narrow gate means making a start in the direction of a good life, and walking in the narrow way is progress in a good life. But where is the gate, and where is the way? I answer:

"The Gate is before you, and so is the Way;

The Gate is wide open, and no toll to pay."

and this gate is our Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in his Word.

"Where'er we seek Him, He is found;

And every place is holy ground!"

But, my dear hearers, do not for a moment imagine that it is a small thing to make the change here implied. First, it means a change of the heart or will. Of course no one ever leaves a road that leads in one direction, to turn right around and enter upon another that leads in the very opposite direction, without a great change of mind. Second, it implies that there has been new light imparted, new truth received into the mind. This new truth teaches the understanding that it is neither wise nor safe to keep the broad road, because it leads to destruction. Fear of destruction, then, on the one hand, and the love of life on the other are involved in this change.

I am just now reminded of what we are told in history that a great man, many years ago, left his home in Europe and came across the Atlantic ocean in his own ship to hunt for the fountain of youth that was confidently believed to exist somewhere in the wilds of America. This fountain, it was said, possessed the virtue of imparting youth to the aged, and life and health to the sick and dying. To the dying it was, Drink and live; to the aged it was, Bathe in its waters and return to the vigor and beauty of youth. As this great man was far advanced in age he thought it would be wise to make an effort to find this fountain, which never has existed but in the imaginations of silly men; and never will exist in any other way in this world. Of course he failed to find it; and, worst of all, he died in the vain effort.

But not so with any that have ever entered into the narrow way through the narrow gate. It surely leads to life, as thousands now living in this world can testify. It does appear to me that this change is quite as rational, quite as harmonious with man's common sense, as anything that he does in the daily course of his life's experiences and operations. The intelligent, rational man acts from reason in all the affairs of life. What he loves he calls good, and what he fears or hates he calls evil. This he shuns and that he covets, and puts forth every effort of mind and body to gain it.

In this fact we find the truth of our Lord's words verified: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." The word generation in this place means state or condition from which proceeds a given manner of life, and daily attention to business. The men of the world are active as to their works, and watchful as to their interests. This watchfulness and activity is what our Lord calls their wisdom, and in its degree it exceeds that of the children of light. Our minds and wills act as freely in choosing the things of religion, and doing the duties connected therewith, as they do in the things that belong to this life only.

But we must not forget that every one who enters in by the narrow gate is but a child in experience when he first enters. He is but a lamb. But the Good Shepherd and Father go with him, leading him and feeding him. Like Enoch, he walks with God.

The text does not say that the narrow way is life; but that it leads unto life. To my mind it is clear that whenever the "sinner forsakes his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts," he then and there enters in by the narrow gate. This is repentance. He returns to the Lord by the narrow way: and the Lord is life.

It may well be asked why the gate and the way are narrow. The narrow gate is the truth of God's Word as it is first found and loved: and the narrow way is the same truth as it is followed and obeyed. Truth is always a straight or narrow track, because any departure therefrom, either to the right or left, is error and falsity.

Jesus says: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." This door is just as narrow as the gate. He also says: "I am the way." As such, he is so narrow that, as the prophet represents, it is as if a fire of destruction were on the one hand and a flood of wrath on the other. Ah, Brethren, the truth can never be made to bend. It is as the builder's line to the foundation; and as the plumb line to the column.

To such as walk in the narrow way our Lord says: "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish." Is not this encouraging? It is to be in the Lord, and the Lord in us. It is to be a live and fruitful branch of the true Vine. It is to be a son of God, an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ. It is, when the coil of mortality is laid aside, to shine as the sun in the kingdom of our Father in heaven.

It would afford me much joy to find some here to-day ready to enter in by the narrow gate. Do I hear some one say: "I feel that I ought to leave the broad road that ends in destruction, but I cannot"? It is true, you can of yourself do nothing. If left to yourself you would never draw another breath; you would never again move your hand or foot. But for the life-supporting power of the good Lord you would instantly be a dead man or woman in every sense. Do not forget that in God you live, and move, and have your being. This is as certainly and as literally true of every man's natural life as of his spiritual life. God is constantly present with you; for without him you can do nothing.

Now, since he is ever present with you, sustaining a life which you acknowledge is not being spent in his service and to his glory, will he not much more give you at the same time power and love and faith to do his will? O, try him. Try my Lord in one sincere, humble, honest, fervent prayer. Say, Lord, open my eyes. Take away my heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh. "Create in me a clean heart; and renew a right spirit within me." My friend, the moment you sincerely wish to do his will by loving and obeying him he will enable you to do so, as surely as he now enables you to rise to your feet and walk home, or go wherever you will and do what you choose.

It is not a small thing the Lord means when he says: "Consider the lilies of the field, ... they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothe the grass of the field, ... shall he not much more clothe you?"

My friend, let me here impress your mind with the sublime truth that it is quite as much in accordance with the Lord's way, and quite as harmonious with his love, to clothe you with power to do his will as to clothe the grass of the field with beauty. He gives life and beauty to every sparrow. Are you not more in his eye than many sparrows? Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. O friend, think of it. He even hears the young ravens when they cry. And will he let your soul perish? Will he suffer your naked soul to sink into hell when you cry to him for help? Perish the thought! For it "is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"; not to condemn them.

What is it to be saved? Let the Lord answer: "He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed out of death unto life." This is salvation.

THE FOREST.

This is a section of country in the southwestern part of Shenandoah County, Virginia. In early days it was very densely timbered, and its few scattered inhabitants were said to live in the forest or woods. In this way they were locally distinguished from those living in the eastern part of the county, along the North Fork of the Shenandoah river. At present it is one of the wealthiest and most highly cultivated sections of the county. The population is largely composed of German Baptist Brethren. Many of these are now distinguished for piety and usefulness. In this number we find the names of Peter Myers, Benjamin Wine, Daniel Wine, Christian Haller, Samuel Garber, Martain Garber and others, with their descendants, many of whom are church members. Brother Daniel Hays married in this section, and formerly resided there; but he now lives near Broadway, in Rockingham County, Virginia.

Among the deceased from this section, posterity will long remember the name of Jacob Wine, who was, for many years, so noted for his liberality and activity in the ministry. His uncle, Michael Wine, was, perhaps, no less distinguished for his outspoken opposition against everything he did not like, as well as for his earnest defense of what he believed to be good and true. Such men, by force of character in the direction of right, secretly carve their names upon the rock of memory, where they defy the surges of time.

Here may be seen the old Flat Rock meetinghouse, a substantial brick structure, so-called from the rock on which it stands. This is limestone, and presents a comparatively smooth and level surface, probably two hundred and fifty feet in length, by two hundred feet in breadth. The formation is wonderful, and affords a striking emblem of the Rock of Truth on which are founded the doctrines and practices of the Brethren.

May 10, 11 and 12 were spent by Brother Kline in visiting, mostly with a view to religious conversations and instructions. In these three days he visited Martain Good's, Abraham Glick's, Christian Garber's, David Wampler's, Peter Nead's, George Kline's and Daniel Glick's.

Thursday, May 13, there was council meeting at Christian Garber's. John Wine, John Harshberger and Joseph Miller were elected for speakers. Martain Miller and Solomon Garber were elected for deacons.

Sunday, June 6. Meeting at the Flat Rock. I baptized Emanuel Grabil and Christian Funkhouser. John 3 was read.

Sunday, June 13. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Matthew 3 was read. I baptized James Mauck and Susanna Shull.

Sunday, July 18. Meeting at Jesse Whetzel's on Lost River. Acts 3 was read. Brother Daniel Miller is with me. In the afternoon we had meeting again, and Brother Jacob Motz was baptized.

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

Preached at William Fitzwater's,
August 8.

Text.—We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God.—2 Cor. 5:20.

Every chapter and every verse of Gospel Truth discloses the love of God in one way or another. Our Lord came into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world; and all the words that make that salvation known to men are words of love. I am sure we think too little upon

THE LOVE OF GOD.

In my talks with sinners I very often discover in them a sort of impression that God is their enemy. I would not, on any account, intentionally misrepresent a single individual; either as to the opinions he may hold or the secret sentiments he may entertain; but I am impressed with the belief that if the hearts of many, if not all, unconverted persons could be laid open to view, they would in their inmost recesses disclose the belief or impression that God is not their friend; that he does not wish them well; that he is only bearing with them until it suits his time to cut them off and send them to hell. This sentiment springs from a consciousness of sins indulged and duties neglected. Hence, when such fall into deep affliction, when danger threatens or destruction impends, they call on God to have mercy upon them; and beg him to turn away his wrath.

A wrong interpretation of many passages in the Bible tends to foster this impression. I will here quote a few passages of this kind, and then interpret them according to what I believe to be the truth. When the children of Israel were about ready to cross the Jordan over into the land of Canaan, Moses said to them: "Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness.... Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you, to have destroyed you." Deut. 9:7, 8.

The Old Testament abounds with passages of similar import, and many are found in the New Testament. But let us examine carefully the kind of wrath and anger to which the Lord may be provoked. It cannot be such wrath as men and devils feel. In Rev. 12:12 we read these words: "The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

We can not, we dare not, think for a moment that the word wrath, when spoken of God, means the same as when spoken of the devil. The devil's wrath implies a feeling in him to do all the evil and mischief he can. But the wrath of God cannot mean anything like this; because, when his wrath burns the fiercest, he is still ever ready to forgive all who repent and turn from evil. Nay, he even entreats and beseeches men to be reconciled to him, that his anger may be turned away. I might quote many passages in proof of this. I have time to give but one from the Old Testament. When the Lord made an end of laying before the children of Israel the blessings and the curses, he wound up all by saying: "And there shall cleave naught of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; when thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God."

An appeal to the light of reason must convince any unprejudiced mind that our heavenly Father is angry and wrathful toward no one, in the sense of willing evil to him, or of seeking an opportunity to do him mischief. Men may, and no doubt often do, have this feeling; but it is a wicked feeling. Perish the thought of such wrath ever having a place in the heart of our heavenly Father. The Apostle Peter says: "The Lord is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

But let us crown all this argument with the Lord's sunrise upon the night of Nicodemus. Here it is: "God so loved the world,"—the very worst, and wickedest, and most depraved and abandoned part of it; he made no exceptions—"that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

Do not imagine that God, our Creator, took a spell of love and good will when he sent his Son into the world. God does not take spells, either of love or wrath. He is the same yesterday, to-day and forevermore. The same God who brought destruction upon the disobedient, wayward, unthankful tribes of Israel, is the God who so loved the world. He loved it then, just as he loves it now. He loves it now, just as he did when he sent his Son to die for its sins. But let us inquire a little further into the nature of the

DIVINE WRATH.

When I am crossing deep water I always find it best to be calm, go slowly and steadily, and look well to the point where I expect to land. The wrath of God is such only in appearance. The real wrath is in man, and upon man. Let me explain this. Our blessed Savior says: "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect:" "for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

There lies a man who gave himself up to intemperance. Alcohol had permeated his body, carrying its deadly poison into every nerve, and fibre, and tissue of his entire organism. He exposed himself to the sun's rays on a very hot day, and he fell dead from sunstroke. The wrath of the sun destroyed his life. God made the sun to rise on the morning of that day; and God filled the sun with its heat; but it was wrathful to the man who was not prepared for it, and to no one else. Nature everywhere rejoiced in its light and heat; the corn grew; the hay was cured; and devout hearts thanked the Lord for that lovely day.

Right there, on that sand, is where a man once built his house. He was told by many that it was not a safe place to build a dwelling house, that it would certainly be in danger of being swept away by high water. He would not hear, but went on building; and finally he moved in. But great wrath came upon him; for in one night his house, with all in it, including himself, was washed away. Wise people all over the land rejoiced to see the rain. It had been a dry time, and everybody said: "What a fine rain! It has replenished our wells and flushed up our springs. The mills can now start up again. When the ground dries off a little people can go to plowing again." But this very same rain was destruction and wrath to the foolish man who had built his house in the way of its flood.

You may now better understand what I mean by saying that the wrath of God is not wrath as we usually understand the word to mean; but wrath only in appearance. The Lord did not send the flood to destroy that man's house; the flood was just as necessary as the rain, and its end quite as benevolent. The destruction of the man's house was purely the result of his own folly.

All just laws are founded upon love, because their highest end and aim is to protect the good. But the law, "which is holy, just, and good," is full of wrath to the evil doer when it overtakes and punishes him for his crimes. But does the good law, which essentially is nothing but love, change? Is it to-day in a good humor, and to-morrow angry? Such is our heavenly Father. To the wise and good he is love, both in appearance and essence; but to the foolish and evil, the very same unchangeable love assumes the appearance of anger and wrath. You are now prepared for

THE TEXT.

"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." The life of Jesus on earth was a life of love. A part of the angelic chorus as it floated down from the skies, announcing the birth of the Son of God, was: "Good will toward men." Good will toward men was everywhere manifested by our Lord in the life he lived and in the death he died. In his life "he went about doing good;" and no part of that good gave him deeper joy than to see sinners repent of their sins.

The burden of John's ministry, by which the way of the Lord was prepared, had for its keynote: "Repent, and bring forth fruits meet for [corresponding to] repentance." When our Lord sent out the twelve to preach, he charged them to say: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Right here I wish to impress your minds deeply with this thought that repentance and reconciliation mean one and the same thing; at least, there can be no reconciliation without repentance. Reconciliation is repentance made perfect.

What keeps men in a state of enmity toward each other? It is pride, self-will, and self-love.

Pride says: "I will not bow to him. He has got to come to me."

Self-Will says: "If he will not accede to my terms, there will be no reconciliation."

Self-Love says: "What would others think of me, were I to humble myself to him?"

It is self-evident that just so long as this state of feeling exists with the parties, the enmity will remain. Where deep enmity exists, both parties may be in fault, as is often the case; but this is not necessarily so. There are cases where the fault and enmity are all on one side, and nothing but love and a desire for reconciliation on the other. I just now call to mind a case of this kind. An avowed infidel had been at considerable expense to have his daughter educated in the refinements of learning and art. She excelled in these, and became her father's pride.

But a day came when her heart was stirred within her. Accidentally meeting with these words of Paul, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth," her mind was led to think and wonder what they could mean. Her father had taught her to look upon religion as a thing of mere superstition, and to treat the Bible as a book of fables and delusions. But these words clung to her thoughts, and with them some others which fell from the lips of the minister who preached where she sometimes went to church.

Finally she opened her heart to a minister who took great care to instruct her in the way of salvation, and gave her a Bible. This she read to the illumination of her mind and heart, made an open profession of her faith, was baptized, and would have gone on her way rejoicing every day but for one thing. That one thing was her father's displeasure. His daughter's conduct in the things of religion had wounded his pride. He became wrathful, and for a time lost his self-control. In this outburst of passion he ejected her from her home, and threatened her minister with violence. In this case you readily see that the fault and enmity are all on one side, and if a reconciliation is ever effected it must be based upon the repentance of the guilty party.

I see you are interested to know how all this turned out. I will tell you very briefly. About two years after the above occurrence the lady's father met with a very serious accident, in which his leg was broken and his body otherwise injured. His recovery was slow. When he could begin to sit up a little he thought what a comfort it would be to have his daughter's company, if she still were as she once had been.

Waiving all this, he resolved to ask her to come back home. She had been with her uncle all this while. Having returned home in compliance with her father's request, she showed him all the kindness and attention in her power. One day, when the two were alone together in the room, he asked her what had induced her to treat him as she had done. Her tearful eyes and gentle words, as she told him of the love of Christ which had constrained her to do as she had done, of the joy and consolation she felt in his service, of her bright hope of bliss with angels and glorified saints in heaven so impressed him that he listened with rapt attention. He had never been so talked to before. From this time on, up to his complete recovery, conversations on the subject of religion were of daily occurrence; and I am happy to say that they resulted in deep and godly repentance on his part, which effected a reconciliation to his daughter and her minister forever.

My dear, unconverted friends, the enmity between you and your God, like the enmity of this father towards his daughter, is all on one side, and that is your side. No steps are needed to reconcile God to man. No such steps ever have been needed, because God holds no enmity in his heart towards men. His words of invitation, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest," mean love, love to the guilty. "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink," means love. His bleeding heart on the cross, and his bleeding hands, and his bleeding feet and his side, all, all mean love. He ever loves you, and asks you to be reconciled to him. He is not visibly here now, but he has committed to his faithful ministers this word of reconciliation; and as a very humble one of their number I take up the refrain, and in the words of my text I say to you and to all: "Now then, I am an ambassador for Christ, as though God did beseech you by me: I pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

ELDER JOHN KLINE AND ISAAC LONG VISIT PENNSYLVANIA.

Thursday, August 12, the two brethren started on their journey. They attended council meeting at the Flat Rock. Here they took leave of the Brethren, and started on a journey that was to occupy about five weeks. Brother Kline, as was his custom when his spirit stirred him to go on a journey of this kind, had sent many appointments ahead; and many were eagerly expecting and hopefully awaiting his arrival.

The imagination can find much pleasure in accompanying these two brethren on this protracted visit to the churches. Both on horseback, they had every opportunity to view the country as they passed along; and many must have been the remarks and observations suggested by things along the way. Brother Kline's mind was peculiarly active, and his temper and social disposition genial in an eminent degree. It was never my privilege to be with him on one of these protracted excursions, but from the short ones I occasionally took with him in later years, I feel sure that each day, all else favorable, was a sort of heavenly delight.

Seeing a fine looking tree in the forest, whose leaves and branches and general appearance showed that it was solid to the core, straight grained, and deeply and firmly rooted in the soil, he would say: "That tree is a fair representation of a good church member. He stands upright. You see he does not lean to one side or the other. He holds his head high in the perpendicular line of justice and truth. The squirrels that run up and down on his trunk and over his Branches do not annoy him: these are his little charities. They feed on his fruit, to be sure; but a pleasant smile is all the account he takes of them. You tap him with a mallet, and his trunk gives out a dull but certain sound of solidity to the core. There is no wind-shake about him. His thrifty appearance proves this. The storms, in the church and out of the church, have never disturbed the solid texture of his faith and Christian integrity. He is not twisty. The fibers that compose his huge trunk are just like his principles; they all run straight up and down. You always know how to take him, and what to depend on when you have him.

"But there stands another tree of a very different character. Tap that tree, and the drum-like sound tells you at once that it is hollow. You can see, too, by the furrows in the bark not running up and down in perpendicular lines, that it is twisty. It can hardly be said to be wind-shaken, for there is not enough solid timber in it to be affected in that way. The few nuts or acorns which it bears are worthless; for there is not sufficient vitality about it to mature its fruit. It would have been to the ground long ago but for the support given it by that other tree on which it leans. I leave you to form your own opinion of the church member represented by this tree. I hope there are not many such, for if there were I fear we would not be able to find enough solid material to build a house that would stand."

Brother Kline was gifted with that fortunate cast of mind which enabled him to draw from nature themes for thought and conversation, which added much to his happiness when alone, and to his geniality in company; and not only so, but even in his preaching he drew largely from the magazines of God's creation. I have not a doubt that if all the items of interest that passed between himself and Brother Long, in the way of conversations on this journey, could be collected and presented in proper form they would make a most instructive and entertaining volume. I sometimes fear that the world's best thought escapes its hands. It may, however, so turn out that after awhile stenography will set her delicate nets and catch these wild birds which now flit by us on such active wing that we catch but a glimpse of their forms and beauty.

Friday, August 13, the two brethren got to Jonas Goughnour's, below Woodstock, in Shenandoah County, Virginia. They had meeting in a schoolhouse near by. Brother Isaac Long, at this early day, gave clear indications of the ability and usefulness which have characterized his ministry to the present time. Trained to correct business habits from early youth, he carried them over into his church work; and judging by his success, to plan and to perform, to design and to execute, with him mean one and the same thing.

Between the fourteenth and twentieth of August the two brethren visited John Rowland's, Emanuel Long's, Joseph Long's, Daniel Reichert's, Daniel Long's, David Kinsey's and John Brandt's.

Friday, August 20. The two brethren, in company with David Kinsey and John Brandt, go to Brother Nussbaum's. They went through London, Path Valley and Fennelsburg. They must have had a long ride this day; but who could think the road long with such company? The next day they went towards Huntingdon. Brother Kline says they crossed a tolerably high mountain this day, and dined at Brother Jacob Berket's.

I wonder how they kept him from wandering off and hunting for medicinal roots and herbs while crossing that mountain. You may be sure that no patch of Lady's Slipper, Golden-Seal or Golden-Rod escaped his eye. The absence of a hoe is all that saved them from a deal of trouble with him. They went on through Shirleysburg, and got to Brother Andrew Spanogle's about sunset.

Following Brother Kline on this and similar journeys, by means of the Diary, enthuses my soul with an undefinable longing to have been with him. The excitement, and danger, and hurry and bustle constantly incident to travel at the present day were all unfelt and unfeared by this company.

Brother Kline's habit was ever to rise early; and, especially on excursions like the present, would he often rise before the family and walk out to take the air, as he said, and see the sun rise. This he did even when the days were at their longest. To get up with him and take a walk before breakfast to some elevation not distant from his lodging place, and hear him discourse upon the rising sun, the balminess of the air, the clearness of the water, the songs of the birds, the delicate tints and wonderful mechanism of the flowers of fields and woods, was a treat of rare enjoyment.

Sunday, August 15. They all attended a meeting and love feast. John 15 was read. Five persons were baptized. The four brethren stayed all night at Brother Umbenhaver's. On the twenty-third they dined at Brother Seacrist's; then crossed the Juniata to Waynesboro and stayed all night at Brother Kensel's. On the twenty-fourth they attended a love feast near Brother Samuel Myers's. Hebrews 2 was read. One person baptized. On the twenty-fifth they went to Brother Dolyman's. On the twenty-sixth they went through Lewistown; then down the canal to Mifflinburg, and on to Michael Basehore's, where they had meeting. Acts 10 was read. From this place they went to David Myers's, where they had night meeting. Mark 11 was read.

From some unknown cause, here is the first sermon outlined by Brother Kline in all this journey. He may have been too busy, at times, to give the outlines; and at other times may not have felt like doing it. There is so much originality of thought in the outlines that I here reproduce his discourse as nearly as possible.

Sermon by Elder John Kline.

Preached at David Myers's, in Pennsylvania,
August 26.

Text.—"By what authority doest thou these things?"

It was an exceedingly bold act on the part of our Lord to cleanse the temple at Jerusalem in the way he did it. In justification of his right to do this he appealed to what was written: "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." But reference to this authority involved other questions of grave import in the minds of the scribes and Pharisees. They wished to doubt his right to appeal to this Scripture, because they were unwilling to concede his claim to the divine sonship. To raise as strong a breast of opposition against him as possible, there "come to him in the temple the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and say to him, By what authority doest thou these things?"

Most unexpectedly to them, they were confronted by another question quite as direct, from whose point and power they quailed: "The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?" Whilst many of the scribes and Pharisees and elders had never condescended to show John enough respect even to be present at any time when he was baptizing in the Jordan, still they knew, and felt most keenly, the power of his teachings and work upon the common people; for "all held John to be a prophet;" "but the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him," John.

To all human appearance, the influence of the baptism and teachings of John, upon the common people, saved our Lord's life upon this and probably other occasions, for the scribes and chief priests sought opportunity to destroy him; but they feared the common people. In this we discover traces of the good accomplished by John's mission, which was "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord;" and this people was the common people.

Our Lord, however, had a much higher thought and loftier end in the question he put to these men than that of merely saving his life by the facts involved in the question.

When a minister, either diplomatic or religious, on foreign soil, is asked for his authority, it is absolutely necessary for him to produce satisfactory credentials of his investment with the office and the honor he may claim. Our Lord's credentials must be clear and satisfactory, beyond those of any other minister, because no others ever have been or can be subjected to such a rigid scrutiny and to such scathing tests as those were which he bore. They must present a more imposing front than that of the power to work miracles. Others had wrought miracles before. Moses had made the bottom of the Red Sea dry ground; and with a single stroke of his rod had cleft a mighty rock to the gushing forth of a flood of water from it. Elijah had raised the widow's dead son, and had kept her cruse of oil and her barrel of meal replenished; so that the famine came not nigh her door. The walls of Jericho had fallen under the sound of Joshua's band of rams'-horn trumpeters; and, in fact, miracles had, in one way or another, been connected with almost all the events recorded in the Jewish Scriptures. On the evidence of these facts the scribes and Pharisees said to him in scorn: "Art thou greater than our fathers, which are dead? and Moses, and the prophets, which are dead?"

You may now perceive how necessary it was for our Lord to have some higher claim to authority, in the eyes of these unbelieving Jews, than they were willing to see in his power to work miracles. This higher testimony to his authority was given by his Father, signed and sealed by the Holy Spirit, in the presence of witnesses, as Jesus came up out of the water when he was baptized. It was on the bank of the Jordan that "the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." To this fact all four of the evangelists bear testimony, in nearly the same words.

Peter, in an address recorded in the first chapter of the Acts, indirectly affirms that many witnessed our Lord's baptism and the attendant manifestations from heaven. To his mind it was an essential part of the qualifications of a candidate for the apostleship, that he had been a witness of our Lord's baptism, as well as of his resurrection. And why not? The proofs of his Sonship, of his Messiahship, of his union or oneness with the Father, of the Father's love for him, and of the acceptableness of the Son's work and obedience, were as clear and undeniable in the first as in the last.

After a brief consultation among themselves over the question propounded unto them by our Lord, these deceitful Jews decided that the most expedient answer they could frame would be to confess that they "could not tell." No wonder, now, that he told them that "the publicans and harlots would enter the kingdom of heaven before they would." We may here see a verification of the fact that love must precede faith. The truth may be forced upon one, and he be compelled to acknowledge it; yet, unless he falls in love with that truth, he will not believe it as a thing of faith, and will not think and act correspondingly thereto.

"Convince a man against his will—

He's of the same opinion still."

We may here, very properly, inquire why the heavenly testimony was given at our Lord's baptism. Why were the Father's acknowledgment and approval of his beloved Son not given in the temple of Jerusalem, in the presence of his enemies, that they might be convinced; or in one of its populous streets on a public day, that the world, in a representative sense, might know of him? It is impossible for men or angels to know the mind of the Lord where he has not revealed it. He has withheld from us any direct information on this point; but we may draw some inferential conclusions, which may serve to satisfy the mind and rest the heart.

It is a matter of fact that the Father never put his Son on exhibition; neither did the Son ever seek any place of honor or distinction before men. "He was meek and lowly in heart." The Word made flesh, the Way and the Truth and the Life did not appear on earth to be gazed at as a thing of mere curiosity, nor examined and handled as an article of merchandise.

Men have their opinions; and especially at this day is there a decided tendency with many to make a show of their denominational strength and numerical importance; but, really, it appears to me that the Son of God shunned observation, and apparently shrank from the echo of his fame. More than once did he kindly request those with him to say nothing about some sublime manifestation of divine power and love which he had just given.

Whatever else baptism may signify, to my mind it is plain that it is the visible door to the visible kingdom of heaven on earth. Christ the Lord is King of that kingdom; and as such it behooved him to enter it by the same door through which he has commanded that all his future subjects shall enter; and that door is water baptism. "He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice." The fold is the kingdom; the shepherd is the Lord; and the porter is John the Baptist.

How fitting that the divine recognition be given at the door of the kingdom in which the Lord is to be crowned "King of kings." A few honest-hearted witnesses were all the Father wished, before whom to make known this glorious disclosure of love for his Son.

Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. This is not its legitimate result. Its effect is the answer of a good conscience toward God. When one submits to this ordinance in the right spirit, and it is properly administered, it never fails of being followed by this happy experience. It gives the heart peace and rest in Christ. "The eunuch went on his way rejoicing." "The jailer rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." These rejoicings followed baptism in each case. The Psalmist says: "The testimony of the Lord is sure, enlightening the eyes: the statutes of the Lord are pure, rejoicing the heart. More are they to be desired than gold; yea, than much fine gold; for in the keeping of them there is great reward."

Baptism is both a testimony and a statute. It is a testimony because it bears witness to the truth by the joy it imparts; and it is a statute because it is a written command of God which it is the duty of every believer to obey; and in the keeping of it there is great reward.

Friday, August 27. They had meeting at Henry Hart's. Acts 3 was read. Two brethren were advanced from the deaconship to the ministry of the Word, and two were elected to the deaconship. The twenty-eighth they spent mostly with Brother John Royer. The twenty-ninth they attended two meetings: one at Brother Joel Royer's, and the other near the same place. At Joel Royer's, Brother Isaac Long took the lead in speaking; and from the outlines of his discourse, given in the Diary, I am assured it is worthy of being expanded into a sermon, and of holding a prominent place in this work.

Sermon by Elder Isaac Long, of Virginia.

Preached at Joel Royer's, in Pennsylvania,
August 29.

Text.—"A sower went out to sow his seed."

There is one feature about my text for to-day that is likely to draw at least momentary attention. That feature is its simplicity. I am glad to hope that this may give rise to a query in the mind of each hearer in substance something like this: "What can he have to say on such a simple text as that? I am going to listen and see what he will make of it." I see your eyes have turned to me now; but, beloved brethren and sisters, whilst the eyes of your bodies are turned to me from feelings of curiosity, I beg that the eyes of your understandings and hearts may be turned to the Lord, for grace, on my part to speak, and on your part to hear.

The text, in its simplicity of phraseology and external sense, looks like a nut without a kernel. It comes to the ear like the uncertain sound of a trumpet: "A sower went out to sow his seed." No part of the farmer's work, however, is more common in its seasons than this; and I may add with emphasis, that no part of the farmer's work in its seasons is more important than this. The life of the world depends upon two great facts—seeding and harvesting; and when the Lord established his covenant with Noah after the flood, two of the essential provisions of that covenant were couched in these words: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest shall not cease." I never read that covenant but with delight, because I love farming, and when at home farming is my business. Here is my covenant with the Lord, and my assurance that my seedings will be blessed.

There is one thing in the provisions of that covenant to which I wish to call special attention. It is all found in one compound word, and that word is

SEED-TIME.

It does not read seeding and harvest. Seeding means the act of sowing seed. The Lord in his covenant does not say that this shall not cease; because the act of sowing seed or seeding depends upon man: he only assures man that seedtime, or the time for sowing seed, shall not cease. But notice the other part. He does not say harvest-time; but he says that harvest shall not cease, because he makes the harvest. He speaks positively here of results, as being able and forever willing to fulfill what he covenants to do. In this covenant, man's work is implied as well as God's work. Man's part of the work is to sow the seed when the time is given. God's part is to bless the seed sown, by giving the harvest. In all of man's labor pertaining to providing for the support and comfort of his body, "we are coworkers with God."

Our heavenly Father deals with us as children. By natural things he instructs us in spiritual things. Paul says; "First that which is natural; afterward that which is spiritual." This is God's order.

REASON AND FAITH.

Some think that reason must yield to faith. Others think that faith must yield to reason. The opinions on both sides are wrong, because both imply a conflict between reason and faith, when in truth no such conflict ever has existed, nor can it exist. Reason is neither more nor less than the intelligent operations of the mind in seeking to know the truth; and faith is but a willing acceptance and acknowledgment of that truth when it is known. In one way of looking at it, faith and knowledge are one; only faith is a loving acceptance, by the will, of what the understanding is assured of being true. What the understanding doubts can never be received by the will as a thing of faith.

Wisdom is the union of faith and knowledge in man, and becomes more and more his guiding light in all intelligent action. If man's wisdom be merely that of earth, it is not genuine; but if it be heavenly, it is true wisdom, and leads more and more to God, and eternal life in him. Wisdom says that there must be a sort of reciprocal correspondence between the seed and the ground on which it is sown. This fact involves several principles based upon experience. The sower must know what kind of seed he is sowing. "It may be of wheat or some other grain." He should know what preparation the ground requires to make the hoped-for harvest. He should know what fertilizers and stimulants are likely to do most good. He should also know the right time for sowing his seed.

A mere knowledge of these principles, however, is not sufficient. There must be a practical application of them, in the way of complying with the necessary conditions, or the sowing will prove a failure. The seed that fell by the wayside was picked up by the birds. That which fell on the rock perished. That which fell among the thorns was soon overcome by their superior rankness of growth, and it made nothing. Only that which fell into good ground made a remunerative return.

MAN'S WILL IS THE FIELD.

I may say to you now that man's will is the field which our Lord meant in the parable here recorded; "and the seed is the Word of God."

Notwithstanding the practical explanation given of this parable by our Lord, a degree of obscurity still broods over it in the minds of many Bible interpreters. What made the bad ground bad; and what made the good ground good, and how the bad ground is to be made good and productive, are questions that puzzle the minds of many. Some may not agree with me; but I do believe that the diversities in human nature, set forth and described by our Lord in this parable, all relate to the will. What makes the difference between a good man, and a bad man? Brethren, it is the will. A good man does good from a good will, and a bad man does bad from a bad will.

Let us take the wayside hearer. There is no defect about his understanding. His head is as clear in matters of business as any man's. He understands what the preacher says when he is sowing the seeds of gospel truth as readily as any one in the congregation. Why then does the devil take away the Word out of his heart? I answer, because the devil is very fond of doing that sort of work; and the man does not object. In other words, the wayside hearer has no will to keep the Word in his heart. If he had a will to keep the Word in his heart, and live conformably to it, the gates of hell could not prevail against it. He would then be good ground according to the measure of his capacity, and the life of love and obedience growing out of it.

Take the rock-hearer next. He has a very thin skin of soil over the surface of the rock that lies underneath. From the way he goes to meeting and talks about religion, you might readily conclude that all he needs to become a bright light in the church is a little encouragement. He says: "That was a splendid sermon we heard to-day. It did me good to hear that man talk. I could listen to him for a week;" and he tells the truth; for if the man stays a week, and works up something of an excitement, this rock-hearer will go every night and praise every sermon. I am sorry to say, however, that the devil does not try very hard to get the Word out of that man's heart, because he knows that if he leaves it alone just a little while it will die out of itself. The real trouble with this man is a want of will to reduce to practice the truth received into the understanding. The rock, underneath the skin of soil that hides it, is a will which is wholly averse to the life of self-denial and godly obedience set forth in the Word which he hears. He loves the world and himself more than God; and the delight or joy with which he hears the Word is all in the understanding. The words of life and salvation fade from his memory, because there is no desire in his heart or will to retain them, as the things that belong to his everlasting peace.

Next in order comes the thorny-ground hearer. He may be a man of talent, perhaps a genius. Naturally thoughtful and ambitious, he covets both wealth and honors. He is not entirely forgetful of the claims of religion upon him. He goes to church with his family; behaves genteelly; invites the ministers to his house, and entertains them very hospitably. He thinks religion a very good thing in society, and one that ought to be encouraged. You often hear people say of him: "What a pity he is not a member of the church: how much good he could do!" In all matters of public interest he takes an active part. During an electoral canvass he is all astir, and wonders how any one can be indifferent at such a time, or even show a moderate degree of coolness. He is a useful man in society, and his loss would be keenly felt by the community. The real trouble with this man is akin to that of all the rest. It has its seat right in the will. He loves the world, and the world loves him; and to hold his place in society he must comply with its demands. He must not be scrupulous about small matters. He must take a drink with a friend. If invited to take part in some pastime or popular amusement, even if it be of doubtful moral character, he dare not decline the invitation. If memory should even blow the ashes from some live coals of truth, and conscience remonstrate, he must ignore all weakness of that kind. Such and such-like are the thorns that choke the Word, and it brings no fruit to perfection.

Last, but not least, comes the good-ground hearer. I have reason to believe that most of you know him from your own experience; therefore I will not describe him here. But before I conclude I desire to direct your attention to a few points more in the line of my thought.

Who is to blame or to incur the responsibility for the failures of fruit in the three classes of hearers given in the parable? Some say the devil is to blame, because he throws every obstacle and impediment that lies in his power in the way of the growth of the seed. Others say the Lord is to blame for not having made the ground better by nature. Others again say—and these say what is true—that the hearers are to blame. The Word came with just as much power to these unfruitful classes as it did to the good-ground hearer. "But it was not mixed with faith in them that heard." Whose fault was it that they did not believe? Manifestly their own.

I fully believe that man's will is free. And I do also believe in my very soul that it would be the pleasure of the Lord to save every human being born into existence. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Ezekiel 33:11 and 18:31.

But man's will cannot be forced. The Lord cannot compel any one to love him, any more than one of us can force a man to be our friend who inwardly hates us. The Lord is every day seeking to turn the hearts of men to himself through the life-giving, holy, healing power of the Word of gospel grace. He does this through the faithful ministers who preach it. In this way he causes the sun of truth and love to rise and shine upon even the very worst of sinners, and sends the rain of his grace to fall upon them. Without the sun and the rain the seed would forever lie dead in the ground; but what is very wonderful in the gospel seed is the fact that it carries along with itself, as it falls upon the ground, all the light, and heat, and moisture it needs. Our blessed Lord says: "My words are spirit, and they are life."

In illustration of this let us notice the power of his words in several instances recorded in the New Testament Scriptures. Let me refer to Jairus's daughter. She was dead. Every one could know this that saw her. Jesus said to this dead girl: "Maiden, arise." Her spirit came back into her. The heart, that before was pulseless and still, began to beat; and the breast, over which the pall of death had fallen, began to heave. In obedience to his word she rose up and lived. Were not his words spirit and life to this girl? The very same thing took place with the dead boy, the only son of the widow of Nain. Things no less wonderful were of daily occurrence in the life of Jesus. The cleansing of the lepers, the healing of the sick, the casting out of devils, all, all proved the spirit and life that are in his words.

His words, however, have not only natural life and breath in them; but they have spiritual life and breath; and this means eternal life. My brother, my sister, if the Word of Christ is in your heart you have a holy, heavenly beating there of love to God and love to all his dear people; and you have a holy, heavenly breathing after more knowledge of his words, and for larger and clearer views of the revelations of his grace. These are proofs of the inward, heavenly life in the soul.

DO NOT FORGET THE TEXT.

Every intelligent human being is a sower of some kind of seed. Every one is either sowing the Word of God or the word and spirit of some one else; but let the seed be of whatever kind it may, this thing is sure: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 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." Sowing to the flesh is living after the flesh with its affections and lusts; but sowing to the Spirit is crucifying and mortifying the flesh, and living the new life of faith, and hope, and love.

Brethren and sisters, there is a mighty, mighty difference between the two. What has the mere fleshly, carnal mind to hope for in the world to come? It can feel no delight, no enjoyment in heavenly things, such as love to God and love to man. It knows nothing of that love which is the bond of perfectness.

You can always tell what a man's love is by the company he keeps. If his love is of worldly things only, you will see him in worldly company, and hear him talk only of worldly things. Notice the books and papers he reads. They are of the same character. He enjoys no other readings. He delights in no other company and conversations. This man is sowing to the flesh, and he will be sure to reap corruption. His treasure is all on the earth; his harvest is here; and he is sowing no seed for a harvest of glory and bliss in the world to come.

The good ground hearer is a very different man, and he sows far different seed. His seed is Divine Truth, and his field is his own spirit. He digs up the thorns and the thistles by the roots; destroys the serpents, and drives out the wolves and the foxes. In this way he mortifies the body of sin and crucifies the flesh with its affections and lusts. In a well prepared soil he plants the fig and the olive, the vine and the pomegranate. In the place where the lion lay, the calf shall lie down in peace; and instead of the wolf and the fox, the sheep and her lamb shall feed in safety. Where the serpent hissed and the basilisk was waiting to sting, the myrtle and the rose shall bloom. Thus is the desert made to rejoice and the wilderness to bloom. The man who thus subdues and cultivates his own spirit that is within him, all by the help of God, is sure to be everlastingly blessed in his deed. He will reap a rich harvest of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, here and eternally in the heavens.

Friday, September 17. The two brethren reached home. Of this Brother Kline says: "Brother Isaac Long and I have been together nearly all the time on this journey, which has occupied just five weeks. It makes me feel somewhat lonely to part hands with such an agreeable companion in labor; so cheerful; so full of the Spirit; so wise in counsel; so clear in judgment. I feel that we have been together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ah, well! not long till we shall no more take the parting hand! The Brethren everywhere showed us much love. May the Lord continue to bless them, both temporally and spiritually."

Between the twenty-ninth of August and the above date they attended quite a number of love feasts and other meetings. The Diary reports many families visited in Huntingdon and Bedford Counties. Probably many of the older brethren and sisters, then belonging to the families named, may still remember this visit. Among the names reported are to be found the Spanogles, Altebergers, Becks or Bocks, Allebaughs, Browns, Bicheys, Sniders, and others.

Want of space absolutely forbids any further notice of the Diary for this year.

Sunday, January 23. Peter Nead is with us to-day at our meetinghouse. He spoke at some length from Acts 13. To those who could follow him his discourse was very instructive. He traced Paul in his journeys with Barnabas and John, from the first place named in the chapter to the last.

Sunday, April 3. Meeting at Samuel Wine's in the Brush. Luke 14 was read.

Tuesday, May 10. Brother Kline, in company with Abraham Stoner and David Kline, started to the Annual Meeting. On the evening of the twelfth they got to William Deahl's, near the place of meeting.

Friday, May 13. Council meeting opened. Many Brethren present. He says: "The acquaintance, brethren and sisters form with each other at these meetings, is not the least good accomplished by them. We stay to-night at Solon Garber's."

Sunday, May 15. Public meeting to-day. Matthew 11 was read. Love feast to-night. We stay all night at William Deahl's.

Monday, May 16. Started homeward, and got as far as to Brother B. Bear's.

Friday, May 20. Got home this evening. Often will my thoughts return to the churches attended and the homes visited. I could not help cautioning the Brethren in some of the congregations against the inroads of pride and fashion. The younger members, particularly, need to be instructed in regard to these things, that they may avoid conformity to the world in dress and other things; not because the church, as such, opposes them in it; but because the Word and Spirit of the Lord opposes them in it. The love of Christ, that is, our love for him and his people, and the way of holiness, lead to a life of self-denial for his sake. The new nature in Christ does not crave the vain and often hurtful fashions of the world. It is best, for both body and soul, to dress plainly, but comfortably; and to live, in every respect, according to the same rule. The godliness that is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and also of that which is to come, is not conformed to this world.

Thursday, June 2. Council meeting at the old Garber meetinghouse. The subject of marrying was under consideration. It was laid to continue as the church has heretofore held it. The enemy of souls was ready to interfere with the holiness and innocence of our first parents in the garden of Eden. Time has not changed his nature. Nothing but the flaming sword of God's Word and Spirit can keep him out of the church. The flaming sword! It gives light and heat to the children of God; but threatens destruction to their enemies. All should bear this sword; not sheathed in a scabbard, but forever held high in the right hand, ready to be used whenever the enemy approaches.

Saturday, August 13. Daniel Miller and I go to Brother Nasselrodt's in Brock's Gap and take dinner with him. In the afternoon we go on to Lost River, and stay all night at Jacob Motz's.

Sunday, August 14. Meeting at Brother Motz's. John 15 was read. After meeting we went to the Yellow Spring, where we stayed all night.

Sunday, August 21. Meeting at Neff's schoolhouse. Matthew 25 was read. Also meeting at Samuel Wine's in the Brush. Matthew 25 was read there. Also meeting at Pleasant Valley. Brother Koontz was baptized.

Wednesday, August 24. Went to Benjamin Bowman's and back home. We have had a wonderful rain to-day. Waters higher than they have been for twenty-eight years.

Sunday, September 4. Meeting in our meetinghouse. Romans 6 was read. John Miller and Abraham Deitrich's wife were baptized by Benjamin Bowman.

Thursday, September 8. Anna [Brother Kline's wife] and I go to Lost River to attend a love feast. We stay all night at Celestine Whitmore's.

Sunday, September 11. Meeting and love feast at Mathias's. Hebrews 8 is read. We have a delightful day and night, and many people are assembled. I speak on the chapter read, and also upon the general scope and design of the epistle to the Hebrews. Hebrews, and Jews, and Israelites are all one; each being only a different name for the same race of people. The name Hebrew and Hebrews appears to have been derived from Eber or Heber, the grandson of Shem. The name Jew and Jews is supposed to have been derived from Judah, one of the sons of Jacob. The name Israelite and Israelites was derived from Jacob, whom the angel of the Lord called Israel.

This epistle was written to the Hebrews, or Jewish Christians, to remove from their minds some difficulties and obscurities in their way of rightly understanding the way of salvation provided by our Lord Jesus Christ. On account of their former connection with the ceremonial law and the Mosaic ritual, it was hard for them to see and appreciate the simplicity that is in Christ. Like Naaman the Syrian, they thought the ceremonial part should possess more parade and show, to have in it the required virtue. He thought that bathing his body seven times in the river Jordan was a ceremony too simple to remove his leprosy: so these Hebrew Christians thought the simple ordinances of the house of God were too insignificant to take away their sins. They had been instructed in the ordinances of a worldly sanctuary and a worldly priesthood. As Christ had abolished all these, by giving to the church the spiritual substance of which these were the shadow, it was necessary that they be very particularly and plainly taught how this was done. The writer of this epistle has shown this in very clear light.

The chapter read speaks of the True Tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. It presents Jesus as the Mediator of a better covenant, which has been established upon better promises. This is the covenant: "I will put my laws into their mind, and on their heart also will I write them: I will be to them a God; and they shall be to me a people. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." These are cheering words: "Their sins will I remember no more." Beloved brethren and sisters, this is precisely the way God deals with every one of his truly penitent and obedient children. He remembers their sins no more. No matter how great sinners they have been, no matter how they have abused and dishonored him, he holds nothing against them. In this we may see the spirit we should all possess. We are all commanded to be followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love.

I have sometimes heard a brother or a sister say: "I can forgive, but I cannot forget." Brethren, we would not feel very well if the Lord were to say this to us and of us. How would we be made to feel if our blessed Lord were to say to each of us: "I am willing to forgive your trespasses against me; I am willing to save you, because I have promised to save all who repent and believe my Gospel; but I can never forget the way you have treated me, and will never be willing to trust you as I could have trusted you; and can never again have the same confidence in you that I would have had, had you treated me in a different way"? Such forgiveness as this on the part of our Lord toward us would rob salvation of all its joy. It would turn the sun into darkness and the moon into blood. It would change the harmony of heaven into notes of discord in our ears. But this would be the very sort of forgiveness that is implied in the saying: "I can forgive, but I cannot forget."

Notice, however, the care and the order apparent in the insertion of that loving clause, "and your sins will I remember no more." Notice the introduction: "I will be to you a God; and ye shall be to me a people." In what follows the Divine Love is strongly marked: "For I will be merciful to your iniquities, and your sins will I remember no more." This last crowns it all. The same thing is meant by the prophet in another place where the Lord says: "As far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your sins from you;" and again: "He hath cast our sins into the bottom of the sea;" so deep down are they that they will never rise up against us any more.

Such must our forgiveness of one another be, brethren and sisters, if we would imitate the Lord. We should never forget that genuine forgiveness implies a complete forgetfulness of all trespasses in the past. Our Lord says: "If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." To forgive from the heart is to forgive in love; and love thinketh no ill of one's brother or sister.

Let each one examine himself. If you feel in your heart that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your brother and your sister in the Lord as you love yourself, I feel authorized in behalf of Christ and the church to say to you that Jesus will remember your sins no more. You have a right to sing the song:

"Savior, more than life to me,

I am clinging close to thee;

Let thy blood, by faith applied,

Keep me ever near thy side.

Every day and every hour,

Let me feel thy cleansing power,

Till my soul is lost in love,

In a brighter world above."

Tuesday, September 20. Love feast at our meetinghouse. John 3 was read. David Correll and Abraham Miller and his wife were baptized.

Wednesday, September 21. Benjamin Bowman and I start very early to Hampshire County, Virginia. We get dinner at Rorabaugh's, and reach Moorefield by night, after a ride on horseback of forty-seven miles.

Thursday, September 22. Go to David Vanmeter's for breakfast; reach Abbey Arnold's for dinner, and get to the love feast at David Arnold's just after the first meeting. We have delightful weather, good order in the house, and a pleasant meeting.

Friday, September 23. Meeting again. Revelation 3 is read. Stay at David Arnold's all night.

Saturday, September 24. Go to Joseph Arnold's, and in the afternoon to Joseph Leatherman's, where we have night meeting. I speak on Luke 24:48.

Sunday, September 25. Attend a love feast at Solomon Michael's. Revelation 3 is read.

Monday, September 26. Homeward through Petersburg; dine at Isaac Shobe's; then to night meeting at Sister Chlora Judy's. We speak on Matthew 11. Stay all night.

Tuesday, September 27. Cross the South Fork mountain over to Jacob Warnstaff's, where we have an afternoon meeting. Speak on Luke 28. We also have night meeting at the same place. Brother Benjamin speaks on Luke 16. His talks are not lengthy, but they are very pointed, and prove that they come from a thoughtful and studious mind.

Wednesday, September 28. We both get home.

Sunday, October 2. Meeting at Henry Huffman's in Page County, Virginia. Mark 1 is read. Isaac Spitler is baptized.

Saturday, December 3. Samuel Wampler and I go to Lost River. We stay all night at Silas Randall's.

Sunday, December 4. Meeting at Brother Celestine Whitmore's. Matthew 7 is read. Silas Randall and his wife are baptized. We stay all night at Celestine Whitmore's.

Sunday, January 1, 1843. I and Frederic Kline go to George Fulk's schoolhouse in the Gap. We have meeting, and I speak on John 15. We dine at George Fulk's, and in the evening return home.

Sunday, February 19. Meeting at our meetinghouse. John 3 is read. In afternoon Peter Nead and I go up to Benjamin Bowman's, at the head of Linville's Creek, where we have night meeting. Brother Nead speaks very beautifully on John 15:14, "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you."

Thursday, March 30. Visit Dr. Newham, and take him through "a course of medicine." This last expression frequently appears in Brother Kline's Diary. The phrase, "course of medicine," was first introduced by Dr. Samuel Thompson, the founder and propagator of what afterwards assumed the name of "The Thompsonian System of Medical Practice." To the minds of many very worthy and sensible people in Virginia and other States, Dr. Thompson's definitions of disease, and his corresponding views of their treatment, appeared quite reasonable. They met with great favor in some communities, and by many were enthusiastically received. Among the latter Brother John Kline stood in the foremost rank. He espoused the "Theory and Practice of Dr. Samuel Thompson" with unreserved confidence. In his zeal to do good with it he furnished the medicines and administered them to hundreds of the afflicted; and to many free of charge.

The phrase, "course of medicine," was meant to comprehend in its signification the whole routine of treatment demanded by nature to rid itself of disease. This usually consisted of a Lobelia emetic or vomit, more or less thorough as the symptoms of the impending disease appeared to require. Preparatory to this vomit, and in connection with it, warm and stimulating infusions or teas were administered to induce very active sweating, or "free perspiration," as it was called. As an aid to this, steaming the patient was sometimes resorted to. The "course" usually took up several hours. After all was gone through with, the patient was allowed to rest, excepting, however, the administration of a few mild sedatives or soothing nervines, to induce sleep. The reader may conclude that the patient very likely needed rest after all this treatment.

Prejudice against the system has grown old, and nearly died out; and, at this point of distance in time, it may be calmly said that "the course of medicine" very often seemed to do much good. Many were ready, at any time, to bear testimony in behalf of its efficacy in their own individual cases, and in those in their families; and it is hard to conclude that mere confidence in the treatment, and in the hands by which it was administered, could effect so much good.

Brother Kline went into it with a sort of zest and zeal that looked a little as if he might have hitched it to his train of religious duties. Be this as it may, one truth is sure, a truth which Wordsworth has beautifully woven into the poetic lines which follow:

"The sick he soothed; the hungry fed;

Bade pain and anguish flee:

He loved to raise the downcast head

Of friendless poverty."

Sunday, May 28. To-day we held our first regular meeting in our new house. It has been decided to name it "The Brush Meetinghouse." This is a frame building, constructed by Christian and John Wine, sons of Samuel Wine.

"The Brush" is a small section of country in Rockingham County, Virginia. It lies between the North mountain on the west side and Linville's Creek on the east; and between the North Fork of the Shenandoah river on the north and the head waters of Muddy Creek on the south. It comprises, probably, sixteen square miles.

Samuel Wine, one of the pioneers of the German Baptist Brethren, raised a very useful and respectable family in the very heart of the Brush. Of his sons, Christian, and John, and Samuel, and George were set to the ministry of the Word in the church of their father's choice. Michael, the only other son, is a deacon.

Jacob Mitchell, who spent his last years in the same Brotherhood, raised a very respectable and intelligent family in the Brush, at the place now occupied by his son Joseph A. Mitchell, and officially known as Cherry Grove; that name having been given to the post office kept at the place, from the great abundance of sweet cherries which for many years have grown there and in the vicinity to great perfection.

Anthony Showalter, father of John A. Showalter, and grandfather of Anthony J. Showalter, both favorably known as composers and teachers of music,—raised a numerous family of noble boys and girls in the same section, nearly, if not quite all of them, members of the Brethren church.

All of the above-named brethren were personal friends of Brother Kline, who often visited them at their homes.

David Haller, whose name is often seen in the Diary, was another intimate friend of Brother Kline. He held membership in the church many years, and assisted in building the Brush meetinghouse. From what has been said of the Brush, it appears to have been favorable to the reproduction of the race, both numerically and substantially. Brother David Haller had born unto him from a first and second marriage twenty-two children, nearly all of whom grew up to manhood or womanhood. The question was once asked: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" History forever answers, yes! Truth echoes the same answer to the same question, applied to the Brush.

Sunday, June 4. Meeting at the Flat Rock. Mary Pope is baptized.

Sunday, June 25. Meeting at the Powder Spring. Peter Beacher is baptized. We dine at Abraham Funkhouser's and stay all night at Abraham Swartz's.

Thursday, June 29. Attend a very sad funeral to-day. Brother John Zigler's child was drowned, and quite dead when discovered. It was one year, seven months and twenty-eight days old. The death of a child is always distressing; but when death comes by accident, it is much more so. Brother John Zigler lives in Timberville, Rockingham County, Virginia.

Monday, July 10. Dine at Sister Judy Deitrick's. Call on Dr. Biggs, whose headquarters are at John Higgins's. He is a straight up and down Thompsonian doctor. He seems to fear no opposition. He says that such plain, common-sense principles as underlie Thompson's System of medical practice must stand the test of time, and eventually win the day. He says that Dr. Thompson was the first to formulate the Axiom: "Remove the cause, and the effect will cease." Disease is removed from the body by expelling the cause. Nature, when the cause of disease is removed, will of herself, restore health to the body. Reduce the strength of the patient, and you reduce the patient's power to get well. Do bleeding, blistering, starving and drastic purges strengthen the vital forces, or add power to the recuperative system? No! All these tend to reduce the restorative forces by weakening the alimentary, respiratory, circulatory and nervous systems of the body; the only powers upon which the physician may rely, and to which he dare look for the restoration of the sick to health. Such are the convictions which the doctor expressed to me in the brief interview I had with him to-day. Stay all night at Joseph Miller's.

Saturday, July 15. Brother Daniel Miller and I go to Brock's Gap, dine at George Moyers's, and stay all night at Celestine Whitmore's.

Sunday, July 16. I baptize Magdalena Moyers and Barbara Tusing. We stay all night at Charles Snider's.

Friday, August 11. Attend harvest meeting at the Flat Rock. It behooves us, at these meetings, to be on our guard, lest we fall into a feeling of self-satisfaction. I mean by this that it is possible for us to become so well satisfied with ourselves now that we have returned thanks to the Lord for the rich gifts of his love, in the bountiful harvest we have just gathered, that we have no need of being watchful as to the use we make of it. Brethren, if our thankfulness be from the heart, this very feeling will lead us into a desire to make a right use of what the Lord has given. Perhaps it would be better for us to take up more time at our harvest meeting in talking about the ways and means of using the gifts of God, and how best to apply them to the end that will do most good to one another and the poor, and thus most honor and glorify him. I made remarks similar to these, and think that I will speak more on the same line of thought to-morrow.

Saturday, August 12. Harvest meeting at our meetinghouse. After meeting, go up to Isaac Ritchey's in Brock's Gap, and stay all night.

Sunday, August 13. Jacob Stirewalt, a Lutheran minister, preaches and administers the sacrament at Sowders's church to-day. I happen to be present, and am reminded of my boyhood experience in Pennsylvania, when I used to be in the Lutheran church on such occasions, and when it often fell to my lot to pump wind for the organ. In the afternoon we have meeting at Jacob Whetzel's. I stay all night at James Fitzwaters's.

Sunday, August 27. Meeting at Daniel Garber's. Matthew 13 is read. Brother Daniel Miller baptized three persons to-day. This day also Samuel and Joseph Good and their wives are baptized.

Friday, September 15. Creek and river very high. A great freshet. A very wonderful washout occurred in the side of the North mountain, above Turleytown, back of Elijah Baker's. It is supposed to have been caused by a waterspout or cloud-burst, as it is sometimes called. A great flood of water seemed to fall on the side of the mountain on a small patch of ground, uprooting trees, overturning rocks, and carrying all in one huge mass into the hollow below, where they lodged. The flood, rolling on, carried off Moses Pumphrey's milk-house, and did some other damage.

Wednesday, October 4. Meeting and love feast at Beaver Creek. Hebrews 12 is read. The brethren and sisters were exhorted to "follow after peace, and the holiness without which no one shall see the Lord; to take heed lest any fall short of the grace of God by living unholy lives." Whilst it is the duty of the housekeepers to look after the purity and order of the church at all times, still it does appear that a special eye should be had on the body at the times of our love feasts. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do." There should be no spots in our feasts of love. All should be unspotted love and purity in Christ Jesus. Otherwise our services may not be acceptable to him. If there be anyone amongst us to-day who feels and knows in his own heart that he is a fornicator or profane person as Esau was, any one that is conscious of having in himself any feeling of bitterness towards the body or any member of it; I hereby, according to authority from the Lord, admonish such not to approach the table of the Lord. Such sins should be publicly confessed before the church; and according to the words of the Lord, the church has authority to loose the brother or sister from such sins, when deeply and duly repented of. "Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven."

But I here entreat all to think soberly. Let none stay away from the table of the Lord on account of a feeling of unworthiness before God. "For the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." When we are meek and lowly in heart under a deep sense of unworthiness and shortcomings, then it is that the spirit is bearing witness with our spirits. Though free from sin, still our Lord confessed that he himself was "meek and lowly in heart." Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

After such exhortations and instructions the brethren and sisters joined in singing that heart-cheering old hymn:

"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 kneel only on 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 more

On this side heaven:

The parting scene is o'er,

The last sad look is given,

"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. Humility was 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 George Hoover,$17.57

To Peter Fesler,17.57

To Elizabeth Fesler,38.28

$73.42

To get some rents of Joseph Garber for Susanna Garber.

To pay over to Betsy Fesler,$200.00

To pay over to George Hoover,50.00

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

"Old, old story,

Of Jesus and his love."

This is nearly the substance of what I said.

Night meeting at Samuel Cave's. I speak from John 1:29. Fine day. We stay all night with Brother Cave. We are now in Wayne County.

Monday, October 21. Start eastward to William Minnick's, and on through Richmond, by Eaton, Preble County, Ohio, to Samuel Showalter's, where we stay all night.

Tuesday, October 22. Get dinner at Jacob Trout's: visit John Brower's, and stay all night at Solomon Stoner's. Fine day.

Wednesday, October 23. Visit Joseph Kline's, Samuel Kline's, David Dristle's, and have night meeting at David Bowman's. Matthew 25 is read. Stay all night at Brother Dristle's. Our gatherings for worship and attendance upon the Word, as a rule, have not been large; but people generally appear to pay heed to what is spoken, and we trust the good seed may find a lodgment in many an honest and sincere heart.

Thursday, October 24. Meeting at Bowman's meetinghouse. Luke 14 is read. Stay all night at Brother Abraham Aerbaugh's.

Friday, October 25. Visit George Miller's, Sally Aerbaugh's, Daniel Garber's, John Garber's, David Miller's, and Joseph Garber's, where we stay all night. Fine weather.

Saturday, October 26. Visit Felix Landes's, and go to night meeting at Philip Wampler's. Matthew 11 is read. Stay all night at Philip Wampler's.

Sunday, October 27. Meeting at the Bowman meetinghouse. Acts 3 is read. I then visit Brother Brumbaugh, who is very low in sickness; and also visit Henry Harshbarger, and stay all night at John Kline's.

Monday, October 28. Go to Dayton, and after spending some time in visiting the factories and other points of interest in the city, we start towards Cincinnati, and stay all night in Miamisburg, at Zimmers's tavern.

Tuesday, October 29. Pass through Butler County into Hamilton, and stay all night in Cincinnati, at the Franklin House, kept by Ross.

Wednesday, October 30. Visit Dr. Curtis and settle with him. [Dr. Curtis was at this time a very noted Thompsonian doctor located in Cincinnati. He was editor of the Botanic Medical Recorder, a journal which was very popular with the advocates of the Thompsonian practice of medicine in its day; and also author of a series of lectures in the same line.—Ed.] Dr. Curtis appears to me as a very kind, open-hearted, well-informed man. He seems to be very confident as to the future success and final triumph of his favorite system of medical theory and practice. "Why should we not," said he, "feel as sure that the might of truth will prevail in this as in other things? It may be that further experience will shear off some things that we now hold; and add on to our system some others which we as yet lack; but the great principles of truth which underlie our medical creed must remain unshaken, while the laws of health and the inroads of disease remain as they are to-day." We then visited the city markets, and about 10 o'clock started for Clermont County, and got to John Dickey's tavern, where we stay all night.

Thursday, October 31. On to Hillsborough in Highland County; dine and feed at Jacob Runyon's, and stay all night at Elijah Thurman's.

Friday, November 1. On into Ross County, and stay all night at David Kline's.

Saturday, November 2. Cross Deer Creek and push on across the Scioto river at Boggs's Mills, and get to Sampson Zimmerman's, in Hocking County, where we stay all night.

Sunday, November 3. On through Logan on the Hocking river; then down the same river to Warren's tavern, near Athens, in Athens County, where we stay all night. The Hocking Valley is a fine, rich country, and I feel to encourage some of our younger people to come here and get good cheap homes. In this way they might establish the church here, and thus prepare the way of the Lord as John did in the wilderness of Judea. What an opening there is here for good, industrious people!

Monday, November 4. Down the Hocking river to where the road takes off towards Parkersburg in Virginia, near which place we cross the Ohio river in a horse boat, and stay all night at Henry Dill's entertainment, in Wood County, Virginia.

Tuesday, November 5. To-day we travel thirty-nine and one-half miles on the Parkersburg turnpike, and stay all night at Isaac Martain's, in Ritchie County, Virginia.

Wednesday, November 6. Keep the turnpike all day. Dine and feed our horses at Neeley's tavern, and stay all night at Clinch's, three miles west of Clarksburg, in Harrison County.

Thursday, November 7. Through Clarksburg, Prunty Town, Evansville and on to J. Stone's tavern, in Preston County, where we stay all night.

Friday, November 8. Cross Laurel mountain, Cheat river, and on to top of Cheat mountain, where we dine and feed at Stemple's tavern near West Union; then to North Branch to Hays's where we stay all night. Fine day.

Saturday, November 9. Go to Stingley's, dine and feed; stop awhile with old Sister Parks; then on to Enoch Hyre's, on the South Branch, near Petersburg, Hardy County, Virginia, where we stay all night. Fine weather.

Sunday, November 10. I do not like to travel far on this day, but there being no meeting in reach of us, and both eager to get as near home as possible, we leave Sister Hyre's, stop a little with Isaac Shobe's on Mill Creek, dine and feed at Isaac Dasher's, on the South Fork, and stay all night at Jacob Whetzel's, in Brock's Gap, Rockingham County, Virginia. Fine weather continues.

Monday, November 11. Home to-day. Find all well, but some sickness in the neighborhood around. On the journey from which I have just returned, I traveled 1,271 miles on horse-back, one beast carrying me safely all of that distance. The roads we traveled were in many places just as nature formed them, the hand of man having done but little more than cut the timber out and remove impassable obstructions. We crossed high and rugged mountains, and forded dangerous streams. But in the West the people are waking up to the importance of improving the public roads. The abundant natural wealth of that country, when properly developed by wise industry, will respond in such lavish abundance that there will be no lack of means to build the best of roads, and in every respect to raise the country generally to that state of beauty by high culture, which ministers to the comfort and usefulness of its people.

The Baltimore & Ohio railroad will soon be completed to Wheeling, and this road, in connection with other roads likely to be built and connect with it, will open a very active traffic between that city and the East. I feel like saying to the Brethren everywhere that now is the time to sow the pure seeds of Gospel Truth in the West. If this be not done, tares will be sure to grow and multiply where the wheat of holy love should abound. Such fields of humanity, so full of life and vigor, will never remain unproductive. Education and civil law may help to control and keep in bounds the flood of moral and intellectual power flowing from them; but if the hand of sanctified religion be not put forth to give it proper direction, they will turn out to be a moral wilderness of sin, filled with all the wild beasts of human passion, "and every hateful bird."

In the time of my absence Eli Spitzer and wife, Polly Hindgardner, and another woman were baptized. This was done September 18. On the twenty-second there was a love feast at the Lost River meetinghouse; and about that time Samuel Toppan and wife, and three other persons, all on Stony Creek, were baptized. Thomas Lampkin and Polly Fridley, and another sister were also baptized in my absence.

Monday, December 16. To-day I preach the funeral of old Brother John Wine in the Forest. Text, Rev. 14:13, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them."

I aimed to set forth, in the practical part of my discourse, a few thoughts based on the last part of the verse: "Their works do follow them." Our works are as sure to follow us from this world to the next as they are when we remove from one place to another in this. Let any one come among us, no matter from where, and he brings his character with him. If that is good, good works will follow him. They follow not only in the way of reports we may receive from those among whom he lived before he came among us, but they follow all he does while here. In this consists the blessedness of those who die in the Lord. In heaven the same good works follow them in all they do, only in much greater perfection, that accorded with the good will in their hearts that characterized their lives while here. The lives of good men are so conjoined with the Lord, because from the Lord, that whatever good they do in the way of helping others he accounts it as done to him. Indeed, this blessed following is the ground of proof that they are of his sheep. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Will not that be a glorious and happy following? Is it not something worth sacrificing our life and our all in this world for? And that day will surely come. Just as sure as we live it will come, for the Scripture cannot be broken. This blessed following of good works will be sure to receive on that day the welcome plaudit: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Wednesday, December 25. Christmas day. Meeting in Keagey's schoolhouse. Matthew 2 was read. Brother Daniel Miller spoke beautifully in the German language on the advent of the Lord Jesus. His main subject was the love of the Father, the good will toward men that gave the only begotten Son to redeem and save them.

He said: "The day is unimportant. We may have Christ's birthday correct, or we may not. I am not historian enough to speak positively on this point. But one thing there is upon which I can speak positively; and all the enemies of Jesus are unable to wrest the conviction of that truth from my heart; and that thing is this, that 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.' It has pleased our heavenly Father to tell us about our Savior's birth; how lowly it was, in a stable; and that he was laid in a manger, which means a kind of box from which horses take their food; and that a star in the east, sometimes called the Star of Bethlehem, guided the wise men who came from the east to see the infant, Jesus, to the place where he lay. Those good men hardly knew that this beautiful star was but an emblem of the leadings of God's revealed Truth. But it is so; for all the light of prophecy centered in that star which showed the time and place of the birth of the Son of God. Some seem to think the star was only a natural light, such as natural eyes could see, but I do not think so. I rather think it was a heavenly light, and that it could be seen only by such as loved the hope of our Lord's coming and were ready to rejoice at his birth.

"We have the brighter light of his more clearly revealed Word, by which we are enabled to find, not an infant Savior, but a Savior grown up to perfect manhood made perfect through sufferings ending in his death upon the cross. We find him as the risen and glorified Lord with power to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. His heavenly truth is to us now and to all who are willing to open their eyes and see, as the Sun of Righteousness; 'for we are not of the night, nor of darkness, but we are all the children of light, and the children of the day.' Paul here means such as are true Christians. I love to preach the Gospel; but I love still more to see men and women open their eyes to the light of its truth, and their hearts to the warmth of its love. In this way they are led to seek the Lord; and the promise is: 'Every one that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.'

"One more thing I must notice. These wise men brought gifts to the infant Jesus. I suppose these were the first Christmas gifts ever made; and the custom of making presents at this time has probably been kept up ever since. If presents are made on this day with an eye to the gift of God's love, they will be acceptable in his eye; but if made lightly, simply to comply with custom or fashion, they have no promise."

I must yet add this from the brother's beautiful discourse. He said: "The greatest of all the Christmas gifts that man ever has received, or that even God himself can bestow, was made on that first Christmas day. Some of you may not think as I do about it, but on that day God gave to the world his own and only beloved Son, and to my eyes, and I hope to the eyes of many of you, he is the fairest of all the fair, and the one altogether lovely. I lay all the gold, and the frankincense, and the myrrh of my heart's best affections as thank offerings at his feet on this Christmas day. Brethren, God has made his most costly gift to us in the person of his Son; should we not be willing to reciprocate this gift with the most precious gift we are able to offer? And what is the most precious thing in his sight that we can give? It is our love in return for his love to us. If we do make this return in fullness, we place ourselves in a state of highest blessedness, described by John in few words: 'We love him, because he first loved us.' This is a heavenly state, and it must be the basis of all the bliss of saints and angels."

I wish I had time to give more than this mere outline of the brother's excellent discourse in the German language, but I must leave off. We have night meeting at Koontz's, where Brother Daniel Miller and I stay all night.

Tuesday, December 31. I have traveled since last New Year's day, nearly all on horseback, 3,827 miles. The year's work is done. The record on high is made. Does it stand favorably in my behalf for the life to come, or have I received my reward here? I can only pray my Father in heaven to forgive the wrong and bless the right. This is my evening prayer at all times, but especially do I offer it now at the closing hour of the year.

Saturday, January 4. Go to Isaac Myer's on Stony Creek, and stay at Louis Naselrodt's all night.

Sunday, January 5. Meeting in the Sulphur Spring schoolhouse. Acts 3 is read. Stay at Brother William Andes's all night.

Monday, January 6. Return home. Snows all day.

Thursday, January 23. Solemnize the marriage of David Hoover, near Plain's Mill, and Mary Zigler, of Timberville.

Sunday, January 26. Attend the funeral of Mrs. Kootz, mother of our State Senator, Samuel Kootz. Her age was seventy-three years, five months and twenty-eight days.

Wednesday, February 12. Attend the funeral of old mother Shultz. Her age was seventy-five years. I speak from Isaiah 3:10, 11. Text: "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with them: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with them: for the reward of their hands shall be given them."

I regard these words of the prophet as being true, not only as applying to the world to come, but as applying with equal power to the life of man in this world. A life of honesty, integrity, righteousness, in all we do, is not only policy or wisdom in respect to the world to come, but it is the best policy or highest wisdom in all the affairs of this life. It secures the best results because it makes use of the best means to promote our own happiness here, and the happiness of all within the sphere of our influence. Says the Psalmist: "The leaf of the righteous shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. He shall flourish like the palm tree." We are told that the palm tree, to which the righteous are here compared, is not only a very beautiful tree, but a very useful tree. It casts a very delightful shade in the hot climates where it grows; from the abundance of its sap it affords water to the thirsty; and its excellent fruit supplies food to the hungry.

Whilst godliness, as Paul says, "is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and also of that which is to come;" still, the life to come is what should chiefly concern us here. Our time in this world is so short, so brief, that it makes but little difference whether we are poor or rich, whether we weep or rejoice, whether we be sick or well, provided we have a clear title to a heavenly home, a clear title to an "inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." We may just as certainly get a true title to this heavenly possession by a proper course of life here as we can to a farm or any other property we may buy and pay for. The difference, however, between the title to earthly possessions and that to a heavenly estate is that the first is visible to our natural eyes, and the last is not. How justly the old adage, that "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," applies to the views and decisions of great numbers of people! They talk of not risking a certainty for an uncertainty,—the very thing they are doing. Such make no preparation for death and eternity which are certainties; but all for life in this world, which is an uncertainty.

But to be faithful to my calling, friends, I must repeat the last part of my text, if nothing more. Hear it, take the warning of its terrific words, for it is God's warning and not mine. Here it is: "Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with them, for the reward of their hands shall be given them." These words should strike terror into the hearts of the ungodly. The word reward means recompense, and recompense means payment for work done or services performed. But, according to all just laws, the one in whose service we labor is the one to whom we have a just right to look for our pay. Now I ask you to tell me whom you serve. Can you say in your heart, "I am serving the Lord"? If not the Lord, whom do you serve? Satan, the Devil, the old Serpent, the world and the flesh. These are what you serve, and these are the one—for all together make but one—to whom you are to look for your reward. And let me tell you from love in my heart for your soul, that your life in the service of the devil is a life of sin, and the reward or wages of sin is death; not extinction, but a state of deadness to all blessedness and happiness forever. But you say, "I cannot bear such a thought." Neither can I. Come then with us, as the prophet says, and we will do you good. Turn from sin and seek the Lord. Serve him, and your reward will be glory, honor, immortality and eternal life.

Friday, February 28. Father Wampler died at eleven o'clock to-day.

Sunday, March 2. Father Wampler was buried to-day. His age was seventy-six years, five months and seventeen days. He was the father of Anna Kline, my beloved wife, and of Samuel Wampler, one of our ministers. He was the grandfather of a very numerous line of grandchildren, among whom are many excellent members of the Brethren church.

Saturday, March 8. Samuel Wampler and I go to Page County. We have night meeting at Isaac Spitler's. I speak from John 1:16. Text: "And of his fulness have all we received."

The Apostle John made his record of the Gospel sometime after the other evangelists had written theirs. This fact accounts for the many things given by John which are omitted by the others. He wrote it long after the day of Pentecost, and after he had seen the church established in Judea, and in the regions of Asia under the ministries of Paul, and Silas, and Barnabas, and Peter, and others. He saw a tendency in the churches even in his day to depart from God's ordinances; and led by the Divine Spirit he felt it his duty to set these forth in their simplicity and plainness, as he had seen them instituted and exemplified in his own personal presence by the Lord himself.

I think it is clear that the corruption in the Corinthian church had broken out before John wrote. Paul tried to check this disorder by a letter, and instruct them in that way as far as he could at the time; but at the close he adds: "The rest will I set in order when I come." I am free to express the belief here, that Paul wanted to see John and learn from him all about feet-washing and the Lord's Supper. Up to this time Paul had not taught the Corinthian brethren anything about these ordinances. He had only taught them baptism and the Communion, as he had received them from the Lord by reading the accounts given of them in the records made by the other evangelists. Hence John finds it necessary to give a particular account of the institution of feet-washing and the Lord's Supper, from beginning to end, with the same exact care that characterizes everything else which he has written. John can well record the words of my text: "And of his fulness have all we received." Jesus has left nothing incomplete. There is fullness and completeness in his life and examples, in his doctrines and practices, and in his objects and their accomplishment.

Near the close of Paul's life he wrote a kind of love letter to his son Timothy, as he calls him, in which he says: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God," meaning the church, "may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." There is no place for a doubt in my mind that Paul wrote this letter to Timothy after John had made his gospel record. He therefore includes the Gospel recorded by John in his comprehensive expression that "all scripture is given by divine inspiration." In this view of the case, Paul could well insert the words, "and is profitable for correction, for instruction in righteousness," because he himself had been corrected and instructed by it.

And now, brethren and sisters, and as many as hear me to-day, let us go to the fullness of his love as it is tied up in his Word. Let us open these bundles of grace with penitent hearts and tearful eyes, and the peace of pardon, like the odor of the ointment from Mary's broken box, will flow over our souls. Then with joyful heart each one may say: "Of his fulness have all we received." But we constantly need fresh supplies. We naturally run dry. The anaconda, it is said, can live three months on one meal. But he can do this only in a state of absolute inactivity. God does not expect us to live in a state of constant inactivity as this serpent does; he expects us to work for him, and the workingman has need of daily food and drink. Let us so live that we may all joyfully approach some one of the pearly portals of the Golden City, and receive the angel keeper's welcome there: "Of his fulness hast thou received: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Sunday, March 9. Meeting at Lionberger's schoolhouse. Romans 10 is read. Dine at Lionberger's, and come to Abraham Rothgeb's (Rodecap's) on Mill Run, where we have night meeting, and stay all night. I speak from the latter part of Acts 3. Subject, "The Great Prophet."

Saturday, March 15. This day I mail a letter to Henry Kurtz; one to Daniel Arnold; one to Jacob Basehore, and one to Philip Wampler.

Tuesday, April 1. Council meeting in the Garber's meetinghouse. Two of Brother Daniel Miller's sons, viz, Joseph and Jacob, are elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, April 5. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Brother Abraham Knopp is elected speaker, and two sons of Brother Samuel Wine in the Brush, viz, Christian and Samuel, are elected to the deaconship.

Tuesday, April 8. Council meeting at the Flat Rock. Isaac Myers is elected speaker; and John Neff, Jacob Wine, and John Hindgartner are elected to the deaconship. Daniel Miller and I go to the widow Wilkins's and stay all night.

Wednesday, April 9. We attend council meeting in Shaffer's meetinghouse to-day. John Copp and Thomas Baker are elected to the deaconship. We stay all night with Brother George Shaffer in Shenandoah County, Virginia.

Tuesday, April 29. Prepare for love feast at our meetinghouse. Brother Henry Kurtz and Brother Shively come to my house to-day and are with us to-night. To say the least, it is exceedingly pleasant to have such company. We heard some good speaking done by them at our love feast this evening and night.

Saturday, May 3. Start, in company with brethren Kurtz and Shively, for Botetourt County, Virginia. Get as far as Brother Jacob Humbert's in Augusta County, where we stay all night.

Sunday, May 4. Love feast at the Brick meetinghouse to-day.

Monday, May 5. Dine at Brother Coffman's and stay all night at Brother Jacob Forrer's.

Tuesday, May 6. Through Greenville, and on to Layman's tavern, in Fairfield, for dinner. Stop a little in Lexington, then on to Siler's tavern, where we stay all night.

Wednesday, May 7. Get breakfast and feed our horses at Luster's tavern at the Natural Bridge. This is one of nature's wonderful curiosities. But it does not strike me with that degree of astonishment which many seem to feel on a first sight of it. I am so familiar with God's sublime works among the mountains of Virginia and those of other states that the view does not impress me with that sense of sublimity and awful grandeur that one might expect from reading the descriptions given of it. The Natural Bridge appears to me to be nothing more than the remains of a cave, nearly all of the roof of which has long since fallen in and been washed away. There are many natural bridges in Virginia and Kentucky, but they are mostly underground. From the Bridge we go on to Brother Peter Ninsinger's, where we stay all night.

Thursday, May 8. Get to Brother Benjamin Moomaw's for dinner. Brother Moomaw gives promise of great usefulness. We then go to Brother Barnhardt's, where we stay all night.

Friday, May 9. The Yearly Meeting opens to-day. Many Brethren are present. We stay all night at Brother Haut's.

Saturday, May 10. Back to meeting at Brother Barnhardt's. Council continues till noon to-day, then public meeting begins. We have a love feast out in the orchard this evening and night. I stay all night at Brother Eller's.

Sunday, May 11. Meeting to-day. John 7 is read. Brother Henry Kurtz spoke from the eighteenth verse. Text: "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." The brother spoke in substance what I here give in small space. He said:

"These are the words of Jesus Christ, who knew what was in man. It becomes every minister who preaches the Word, to examine himself prayerfully, in the light of Holy Truth, to know certainly what impels him to the work. If, by such examination, he becomes assured that the love of Christ and for Christ lures him on, and that the salvation of souls and the consequent glory of the Lord is the beginning and the end of his motives, he can go on with heart and tongue, under the Lord's banner, defying the very gates of hell. But if the love of self and the love of the world enter as the chief elements of his power and will in the work, it would be better for him, better for the cause, and less dishonorable to the Lord if he would stop off short. I will here repeat the text. You may now be better prepared to perceive the warmth of its power and the light of its truth. 'He that speaketh of himself'—or as the Greek more nearly and fully puts it, from himself, from love to himself the meaning is—'seeketh his own glory.' This is self-evidently true, for such a one can have the glory of no one else to seek. Self, the love of self, fills his eye and heart. And, like the Pharisee, verily, he has his reward.

"But, my beloved Brethren, especially you who have been set to the work of the ministry, I can say from my heart that I have but little apprehension that you are led on in your work by any other than a right motive. I do believe, from all that I know of you personally, as well as by reputation, that each one of you, with perhaps a somewhat varied perception of their exalted meaning and power, can adopt Paul's words: 'The love of Christ constrains me.' 'Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.'

"There is one feature particularly in the order of our ministry that I have always advocated, and expect by the grace of God to advocate to the last, and that is an unsalaried ministry. The world will say to me right here: 'You are working against your own interest. You are destroying the race that would bring water to your mill. You are breaking the wagon that would carry grain to your storehouse.' In answer to this I have to say that God never meant for the Gospel to be used as a means for getting water to the preacher's mill, or grain into his garner. When the Gospel is converted into merchandise, the preacher becomes a merchant, and like all other merchants it becomes his interest to handle his goods in a way that will please his customers, and put them in such shape and procure for them such kinds, whether good, bad, or indifferent, as will suit their fancies and please their tastes. 'The love of money is a root of all evil,' no less in the ministry than anywhere else.

"'But he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.' How wonderfully did our Lord fulfill his mission! Even on the banks of the Jordan, when John had already expressed his unworthiness to untie the latchet of his shoe, still more so to baptize him, he said: 'Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.' And the Father answered, and the Holy Spirit bare witness. 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Brethren, our Lord's maxim, expressed in these words, 'I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me,' should be the watchword with every one of us. And if the truth leads us through the waters of the Jordan, or into the fire of persecution, let us still deny ourselves, bear the cross, and say: 'Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness;' and we, in heart, in a conscience void of offense toward God, will be sure to receive the heavenly recognition: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'

"But it is not to be inferred from anything I may have said that a minister should not have a decent regard for the manner and the style of language in which he proclaims the Gospel of Christ. The most faithful and skilled workmen in any craft are, as a rule, the most careful in regard to the quality and fitness of the tools they employ, as well as about the manner in which they handle them. Paul instructs Timothy to 'study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.' When a man seeks the honor, the wealth and general interest and success of his employer he gives proof of his honesty in the service, and also of love in his heart for him. These two principles underlie all right work for the Lord,—honesty and love; childlike simplicity and sincerity. Brethren, let us not aspire to the high things of the world, but to the meekness and gentleness of Christ."

I wish many more could have heard the brother's edifying discourse.

After the forenoon meeting was dismissed, brethren Henry Kurtz, Shively, Christian Kline and myself start homeward, and come to Brother Daniel Kinsey's, where we stay all night.

Monday, May 12. We all get to Siler's tavern, where we stay all night.

Tuesday, May 13. We pass through Lexington, Fairfield, Greenville, and on to Jacob Forrer's, where we all stay over night. We have fine weather.

Wednesday, May 14. We all come to Brother Abraham Garber's, and after dinner go to meeting at the meetinghouse. Hebrews 12 is read. Stay all night at Brother John Myers's.

Thursday, May 15. All go to Brother Frederic Kline's, near Dayton, Virginia, for dinner. Call at Brother Daniel Garber's, and in evening get back to my house.

Friday, May 16. In afternoon we have meeting in Brother Samuel Kline's dwelling house. Brother Shively speaks from John 4:14, 15. Text: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."

I here give, as nearly as I can, a brief outline of Brother Shively's interesting discourse. He spoke of water: its purity, its beauty, its utility, its abundance.

"Water," said he, "when it is free from all extraneous substances, is the purest thing in the world. The curse that fell upon the ground, whereby it would no longer yield its spontaneous increase to support and comfort man, doomed it to bring forth thorns and thistles instead. 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.' 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' These fearful words are still true of the ground to-day. Wherever man inhabits the earth, labor, sweat and constant attention are the price which has to be paid for comfortable subsistence in this world. But water is not included in all this. It really is not a constituent of the ground. It may be in the ground, but it is not of it; and its tendency is to leave the ground as quickly as possible, under favoring conditions, as though it felt that ground is not its place. The ground gives rise to poisonous vapors which produce disease; but pure water never does. The only impurities that ever enter water come from the ground as their original source.

"It is probable that on this account our Lord used water to represent the divine truth of his Word. Let us turn to the testimony we may gather on this subject. First to my text, 'He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.' I believe that this means the truth of his Word. What else could it mean? Now again: 'Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.' Filled with what? I believe that such will be filled with the love of God and man, through a knowledge of the truth, to such a degree that they will seek to live righteous lives. 'He that doeth truth is righteous.' 1 John 3:7.

"Again: Our Lord says: 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.' And what is the drink the Lord will give? Not elementary water, I am sure; but if you will allow the expression, I will call it spiritual water. Let us return to the text again. If you will trace the chapter throughout, you will see how gently and tenderly the Lord approached the dark mind of this woman. He told her of things in her life that no stranger would be likely to know. In this way he gained her confidence. She said: 'I perceive thou art a prophet.' This was one point gained. Next he told her that 'ye' (including the class of Samaritans to whom she belonged) 'worship ye know not what. We know what we worship.' This was another step with the cup of living water in his hand to apply to her lips. His next step was to tell her that God is a Spirit, and that all true worship must be from the heart, 'in spirit and in truth,' and that the Father seeketh such to worship him. I do suppose this is the first time she ever heard God called Father. It was new to her, so new that she confessed her belief in a coming Messias, who would be able to tell her all things; but that he would come in the spirit and love of a kind Father exceeded all her hopes.

"And say, Brethren, did not this poor woman take the cup from the Lord's hand and drink of the Water of Life? I think she did, for she turned missionary right away, and if you will read the thirty-ninth verse you will see something of her success, for 'many of the Samaritans ... believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.'

"I will now quote one more text to show that this living water, or life-giving water, also represents the Holy Ghost in his enlightening power and love. 'He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.' Here, it does seem to me, the believer in Christ is compared to a spring of pure water. What makes a spring flow, and keep on flowing even in dry weather? It must be that deep down in the veins of the rocks, away out of sight, it is being constantly fed by an influx of pure water. What a lesson we have here! Brethren, the Spirit, or what is the same thing again, the truth of God's holy Word, must not lie dormant in us. We must, as the passage quoted puts it, we must give out rivers of living water. These rivers flow out of our hearts into everything of our lives in a way to make others know that we are full of the water of life.

"I very lately read about the Dead Sea. And how did it get its name? I will tell you. It got the name 'Dead Sea' from its resemblance to a human being who is constantly taking in God's gifts, and giving nothing out in any visible way. If you will look at a map of Palestine you will there see that the river Jordan is constantly pouring its flood of fresh water into this sea; but with all this influx of fresh water this sea is so full of all manner of impurities that even fish cannot live in it, and no waterfowls, I am told, are ever seen on its shores. Truly it deserves to be called 'Dead Sea.' It has no outlet; no refreshing stream ever flows from its bosom.

"But, Brethren, if we are truly alive in the Lord we will be like the garden of Eden that sent out a river to water the garden, whence it was parted and became four heads, and each head was a river. Does not all this throw some light on what our Lord meant in what he said to the woman, 'It shalt be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life;' and this: 'Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water?' There is nothing like a dead sea here. All, all is life from the Lord. But water is beautiful. Who does not admire a clear, flowing spring or river! In this respect water is an emblem of the Lord's Word. Can any one read the Scriptures, and not be struck with their beauty? Take, for an example, the story of creation. Even children see its beauty and love it. Take the last two chapters of Revelation. Who can read them without perceiving in them a beauty that is all divine? The Bible opens in beauty and closes in beauty.

"And now, dear Brethren, whilst my subject has only been touched a little, I will close by briefly directing your minds and hearts to the river that John saw in vision, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. I believe this river to be a symbol of God's love and truth. It proceeded from the throne of God. Now, 'heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool.'

"You know the Lord said to the Pharisees: 'The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?' They would not answer. But we can answer. It was from heaven. It was performed in the beauty and clearness of the truth that the Lord Jesus brought from heaven. It proceeded from the throne of God. What a high origin our baptism has! It is from heaven. And the immersion of our bodies three times in water symbolizes, in a way more impressive than anything else ever could, that we have implicit faith in the love, wisdom and power of the divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. There is a trinity in every good thing we do. There must be the love to prompt or make the start, the wisdom to direct this love intelligently, and the power to execute what is in the will and understanding to be done. Our trine immersion of the body in water, the beautiful emblem of truth, shows our acceptance of it internally and externally, in life, in death, in heaven.

"One more thought, and I will close. Once within the city, we shall thirst no more: 'For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead us to fountains of living water.' All darkness will be removed. What is obscure here will be light there. For now we know in part. There we shall know even as we are known. Amen!"

Saturday, May 17. Brethren Kurtz and Shively go to Lost River. Dine at James Fitzwater's, and stay all night at Celestine Whitmore's.

Sunday, May 18. Meeting at the Lost River meetinghouse. Matthew 7 is read. The brethren both take part in the speaking to-day. Dine at Jacob Motz's, then take leave of the dear brethren, Kurtz and Shively, and come home. Those two brethren and I were together three weeks, lacking only two days. The pleasant conversations we had, the unity of our faith, and the oneness of our aims in life have wrought in us an attachment for each other that made separation painful. But we parted not without hope of meeting again.

Friday, July 25. Harvest meeting at our meetinghouse to-day. Luke 16 was read. The singing of devotional hymns, the offering of thanksgiving prayers, with instructions as to the way in which the worldly gifts of our heavenly Father to us may be most wisely used, occupied the time we spent together.

How best to help the poor has been a matter of much thought with me. If we give to such as are able to work and support themselves, but do not, we rather encourage them in their habits of idleness. If we do not give to them, they complain that we care but little for them, and do not feel toward them as we should. I think the best way to help such is to encourage them to honest labor by aiding them to procure situations in which they can support themselves. If they then fail to provide for their families, I think they should be visited by a committee and instructed in regard to what Paul says: "He that provideth not for his own, especially those of his own house, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever." Paul never aimed this stroke of condemnation at any who are not able to provide for themselves. I am glad to think that we have but very few poor members who are not able to help themselves. These are the ones of whom the Lord said: "The poor ye have always with you, and whenever ye will ye may do them good." In respect to such he also said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Sunday, August 3. Meeting in our meetinghouse. First Peter 3 is read. Daniel Glick, Hildebrandt, Sister Trump, Mary and Susanna Miller were baptized to-day.

Sunday, September 7. Meeting at Motz's. John 3 is read. Nimrod Judy and wife, Susan Randall, Mrs. Shireman, the widow Toppan and Mrs. Ridenour were baptized by me to-day. We have a love feast this evening.

Monday, September 8. Return home. In my absence, on the thirtieth day of August, the following named persons were baptized in the Linville's Creek near my house: John Wine and wife, Elizabeth Glick, Mrs. Funk, Mrs. Rodecap, Mrs. Miller, and a young Sister Niswander.

Friday, September 12. Attend our two days' council meeting above Harrisonburg. Stop on my way there, and assist in anointing Brother Daniel Garber with oil in the name of the Lord.

Friday, September 26. Start to Albemarle County, Virginia. Benjamin Bowman is with me. Stay all night at John Leedy's.

Saturday, September 27. Cross the Shenandoah river in a horse boat; dine and feed at Sipe's; cross the Blue Ridge mountain and on to Nesterville. Stay all night at Henry Coverston's.

Sunday, September 28. We have meeting in the Methodist church. The latter part of Luke 24 is read. Henry Coverston and wife were baptized by Benjamin Bowman. I think this is the first administration of the ordinance of baptism ever performed by the Brethren on the east side of the Blue Ridge in Virginia.

Monday, September 29. Get home after a ride on horseback to-day of forty-three miles. We got dinner and fed our horses at Donovan's.

Saturday, October 11. Meeting and love feast at the Flat Rock. Luke 13 is read. Benjamin Bowman baptized John Rorabaugh and wife.

Thursday, October 16. Daniel Miller and Daniel Yount, in company with myself, start to Hampshire County, Virginia. We get to Jacob Warnstaff's, in Pendleton County, Virginia, where we stay all night.

Friday, October 17. We have meeting at Bethel church. Matthew 11 is read. Cross the South Fork mountain and stay all night at Chlora Judy's. I am not surprised that these people are fond of hunting. Several deer crossed our path in front of us to-day.

Saturday, October 18. Meeting at Chlora Judy's. Romans 6 is read. Magdalena Rorabaugh is baptized. Brother Daniel Miller spoke in the German on the twelfth verse of the chapter read; and I interpreted to such as could not well understand German, following him. Text: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body."

He said: "Man, as he first came from the hand of his Creator, was not a sinner. He was included in the creation which God had just finished, and upon which he looked down and said that it was 'good, yea, very good.' With this agree the words of Solomon, greatly gifted in wisdom. After going over and investigating the whole human family, as far as his knowledge and wisdom enabled him to go, he returned to his own reflections and expressed the sad conclusion of his mind in these words: 'Lo, this only have I found, that God made man upright: but they have sought out many inventions.' The Word of God from beginning to end shows us that man is no longer upright. The inventions which Solomon speaks of are inventions of evil. They are not good inventions. In the opening chapters of the Bible we learn how man fell from the high and holy state in which he was created. It is there declared that 'God made man in his own image, in the image of God made he him.'

"The Apostle John says that 'God is light.' By this I understand him to mean that God is infinitely wise, knowing all truth. The same apostle says that 'God is love.' By this I understand that the Lord God has a will for good to every creature that he has made. That he has no other feeling than that of love for the human race and for every individual of the human family. Now, it was in the image and likeness of God that man was made at his first creation. Is it not plain from this, then, that he must have been wise in regard to the things of his understanding, and filled with love in his heart for all that is truly good? In this state he could love the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his strength, and love his neighbor as he loved himself. But what does the Bible, and what does the history of the world tell us about man ever since he fell from this heavenly state in which he was first created? The Bible declares that the 'heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' The Lord said to the Pharisees, a class of people who even claimed to be religious: 'Ye are of your father the devil; and the works of your father ye do.' From the Bible we turn to the history of man's career through all the ages down to the present time, and we find its lines all written in characters of blood. Revenge, murder, cruelty, deceit, malice and ill-will of one toward another are manifest on almost every page of history.

"But in the very face of all this evil God still loved the world; and he so loved it that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And I declare him to you to-day as my Savior and your Savior; able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. And what does he save us from? He saves us from hell. And what is hell? I say to you that it is the place where the devil, and all his angels and evil spirits of men live after they leave this world. It is the fire prepared for the devil and his angels. It is the everlasting fire into which the accursed depart. It is the place from which the rich man lifted up his eyes, tormented, as he himself confessed, sorely tormented in this flame. But, dear friends, God does not will that any of us should go to hell; for he says: 'As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but would that all should turn and live.'

"And he tells us how we are to turn and live. He says to all: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Repent, that your sins may be blotted out. And what is it to repent? It is to turn away the heart from the love of sin. It is to die unto sin and live unto God. The meaning of my text is not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to fulfill the lusts thereof. And what does true repentance lead to? It leads to a life of obedience to all the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ. 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name,' that means in obedience to the command 'of Jesus Christ, ... and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.' This takes in all. It may be that some who hear me to-day are very far off. Still, friend, the promise is to you. And more: I am sure you are hearing the Gospel to-day, so God is calling you now, and the promise is to as many as the Lord our God shall call, and this means every one who hears the Gospel sound.

"When I was young I was afraid I had sinned against the Holy Ghost. But I found some precious words from the lips of our blessed Lord himself that took away all my fear and gave me a hope which has never, up to this time, left my heart. You begin to wonder what precious words these were. I will tell you where they are and you can find them yourself. John's Gospel, sixth chapter, and the thirty-seventh verse is where they are, and these are the words: 'And whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' The word whosoever takes in every one, without exception. I tell you joyfully, it took me in, and it has kept me in, and by the grace of God it will keep me in forever.

"As I have told you some things the Bible says about death and hell, I must tell you a few things it says about life and heaven. Jesus says: 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead' (as to his body), 'yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.' O, can this be true? Yes, it is true, because Jesus never said what is not true. He is life and truth, and when we have him in our hearts we have the witness in ourselves that what he says is true. We then 'know of the doctrine that it is of God.' Our bodies will all die, but the real man is more than the natural body. Paul tells us about a spiritual body that will never see death. This is what Jesus says 'shall never die.' This is the body that will rise and live forever.

"Our Lord said to his disciples: 'I go to prepare a place for you.' The place which the Lord prepares is heaven. In his prayer he said: 'Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.' Where is the Lord's glory, and where is he in his glory? We read that he ascended to heaven. He is in heaven, the heaven of glory and bliss to which he ascended. He is there preparing a place for you and for me, if we live faithful to him by our obedience to his commands. Let us be faithful to him, that we may be accounted worthy to enter in through the gates into the city."

After dinner we all go to Isaac Shobe's, where we have night meeting and stay all night.

Sunday, October 19. We have meeting at Brother Jacob High's. Acts 3 is read. Also night meeting at Parks's where we stay.

Monday, October 20. Meeting at Solomon Michael's, where we stay all night.

Tuesday, October 21. Meeting at Joseph Arnold's, on Patterson's Creek, in Hampshire County, Virginia. I spoke to-day on 2 Timothy 1:13. Text: "Hold fast the form of sound words."

This passage of Scripture is a part of the fatherly instruction Paul gave his spiritual son Timothy. God's works and man's works in the conversion and regeneration of man are so blended, so connected and identified one with the other that Paul sometimes speaks of doing what none but God himself can do. Thus to the Corinthians he said: "For I have begotten you through the gospel." And to Philemon he said: "I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds." These passages show how clearly the true child of God stands connected with the Holy Spirit, in his blessed work of regenerating man and qualifying him for heaven. The conjunction of effort may be compared with what we see and know to exist in husband and wife. When the twain are really one flesh, one heart, one mind, what is done by the one is regarded as done by the other. It must be in a sense somewhat like this that Paul calls Timothy his son. The aged John also says: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." He here means spiritual children. He calls them his children from the love he has for them, and the fatherly care he has over them, and the fatherly instruction he gives them. They are near to him, as children are to their own parents, and when he sees or hears that they receive the truth and walk in it, it gives him joy.

When Paul addressed the words of my text to Timothy, most of the New Testament had been written. It is to the New Testament Scriptures that he calls Timothy's special attention, where he says: "It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Here, in these Scriptures, is to be found the form of sound words which Timothy is admonished to hold fast. This instruction harmonizes with what was said to the angel of the church in Thyatira: "But that which ye have, hold fast till I come." And in the last of the book of Revelation there are awful warnings given against adding to or taking from what God has spoken. The temptation to skip over, misquote, and misinterpret the Scriptures must be very great, as it is to these three sources that nearly or quite all the denominational differences among professing Christians can be traced.

Brethren, it becomes us to be very careful here, "lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices." I believe a departure from the form of sound words mainly accounts for the many errors in doctrine and practice which exist among professing Christians to-day. A departure from the form of our Lord's great commission has not only perverted the ordinance of baptism by applying it to infants; but it has destroyed the ordinance itself by setting aside trine immersion, which it so plainly teaches.

And what shall we say of the ordinance of feet-washing! When a parent or teacher wishes to impart to his child or pupil a clear understanding of some duty or obligation, he usually feels relieved of all further responsibility when he has given the necessary instruction to his child or pupil in words which he knows can be understood. But in the institution of the ordinance of feet-washing our Lord did not depend upon oral instruction to impart a clear knowledge of his will; but he went through the performance himself, and at the close he said: "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Are not these sound words? What are sound words, and what is their form? I answer that sound words are words which have no doubtful meaning; and the form of sound words is such a use of them as clearly expresses and conveys to the mind of the reader or hearer just what the writer or speaker wants him to know. But do the so-called churches hold fast these words? No, they do not. They let them go as things out of date, or unnecessary at the present advanced stage of enlightened thought. But "if the light that is in them be darkness, how great is that darkness!"

I can say of the Lord's Supper, which Jude calls a feast of charity, or love feast, which is the same, and which the Lord instituted in connection with feet-washing, just what I have said of this ordinance. It is let go. These, with many other omissions and errors, have crept into the so-called Christian faith and practice, by letting go the form of sound words. Still more. The injunctions to nonconformity to the world in dress and other things are all let go instead of being held fast, and loose reins are given to all manner of worldly forms and fashions. Professing Christians even defraud one another through covetousness, which is idolatry, going to law one with another. They also do not hesitate to bear arms in war, which is the greatest of all earthly evils.

Brethren and friends, I do not speak in this way from any feeling of ill-will toward any, but from the depth of love in my heart; for there is no joy that could be compared with the joy that I would feel could I see the whole Christian world bowing, meekly bowing under the weight and power of God's revealed Truth. Our way, Brethren, is to hold fast "the form of sound words." As we expect to have a love feast here on to-morrow evening, let each one examine himself to see whether in his faith or in his works he may have departed from the form of sound words of warning, of encouragement, of instruction, of exhortation, of doctrine. And it most assuredly becomes us to inquire whether we have done our duty in the way of searching the Scriptures, giving ourselves to reading, to meditation, to prayer. We are too apt to seek for what pleases the taste of the natural mind, to the neglect of what is necessary to refresh the spiritual mind and keep that healthy and strong.

As there was but one rock in the wilderness from which all the tribes of Israel were supplied with natural water, so to us, God's spiritual Israel, there is but one Rock from which flows to us the water of life, and that Rock is Christ Jesus in his Word. On this Rock the church is founded, and I rejoice to know that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Wednesday, October 22. Love feast to-day. Matthew 23 is read.

Thursday, October 23. Meeting. Matthew 13 is read. Brother Daniel Miller goes to the Greenland Gap. I stay all night at old Brother Arnold's.

Friday, October 24. I and Daniel Yount start for home. We dine at Sister High's, and stay all night at Vanmeter's.

Saturday, October 25. Dine at Elijah Judy's, and stay all night at Isaac Dasher's on the South Fork, Hardy County.

Sunday, October 26. Meeting at Rorabaugh's. John 10 is read. I baptized Lydia Shireman. Stay all night at Rorabaugh's.

Monday, October 27. Preach funeral of Joseph Reel's daughter. Age, seven years and nine months. Stay all night at James Fitzwater's in the Gap.

Tuesday, October 28. Reached home.

Saturday, November 8. Brother Benjamin Moomaw and family, from Roanoke County, come to my house this evening.

Sunday, November 9. Brother George Kline's little Daniel died to-night. I was with him when he died. Just three years and four days old. How deep the grief with which this kind family is stricken! On Tuesday, October 21, while I was in Hampshire County, Virginia, Anna, aged seven years, two months and nineteen days, was laid in the cold grave. On the thirty-first, only nine days later, little Mary passed away, aged four years, seven months and eleven days. And now, only nine days later still, another, little Daniel, passes away. All three bright, promising, happy children. We can only lift up our voices and weep. The only light that breaks in upon the darkness of this providence comes from heaven. There is light beyond the cloud that now hangs so darkly and heavily in the sky above our heads. God is our refuge. His promise is: "When thou passest through the deep waters, I will be with thee." Thou wilt not leave nor forsake us now. The little lambs have been gathered into his arms. He took them into his arms and blessed them here; how much more can he bless them there, for "of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Thursday, November 27. Have night meeting in Winchester, Virginia, in the Methodist church. I speak from Luke 13. Subject: "The Strait Gate." Stay all night at Henry Krumm's.

Friday, November 28. Breakfast at Brother Fahnestock's; dine at Brother Mummert's, and have night meeting in the Quaker meetinghouse. Speak on John 4:24. Text: "God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." As the house in which we have met for worship this evening has been erected by the Friends, or Quakers, and called after their name, I feel that it will not be out of place for me to speak from a passage of Scripture upon which they very much rely, as a strong support to their faith and ways of worship. I must, at the same time, confess that I love these people dearly, as far as my acquaintance with them goes. Their views and convictions in regard to simplicity in manners, and plainness in dress, and general nonconformity to the world; in regard to bearing arms, and using human laws in the adjustment of difficulties between brethren, are so very much like our own that I cannot avoid a strong attachment to them in my religious sympathies. And I would not desire to eradicate this sympathy from my heart if I could. These considerations, in connection with my early knowledge of them in Pennsylvania as being an honest and virtuous people, have always kept me in friendly love with the Quakers.

The language of my text is part of the instruction given by our Lord to the Samaritan woman at the well. She said to him: "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; but ye [meaning the Jews] say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." She alluded to the temple, I suppose. But our Lord at one stroke levels every support on which these false conceptions of him rested in her mind, by assuring her that God is a universal Spirit, and not confined to any one place; and that the worship which he delights in is not that of form and ceremony, but that of the heart, in the inner man, in spirit and in truth. The meaning of my text also lays the axe at the root of all hypocrisy and spurious professions of religion.

In addition to all this it sets up the only true sanctuary for his worship on earth, the sanctuary which is found in the heart of every sincere and obedient believer in him. Paul says to the Corinthian brethren: "Know ye not that ye are the sanctuary of God? If any man defile the sanctuary of God, him will God destroy; for the sanctuary of God is holy, which sanctuary ye are."

Every step the sinner takes in his return to God, and every step the Christian takes in his walk with God, must be in spirit and truth. Repentance is heartfelt hatred of sin. Faith is a loving acceptance of Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This confession includes all the ordinances of God's house, which is the church of the living God. How men can think, as many seem to think, that they can confess Christ in spirit and truth, and at the same time reject the chief means by which Christ intends this confession to be made public, I can not see. Baptism, or the immersion of the body in water by a proper administrator, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is either laid aside entirely, or argued out of form, or very lightly regarded. The ordinance of feet-washing, the salutation of the kiss, and the Lord's Supper are entirely cast away. In love I say all this, because I burn with desire to see the Truth accepted in the love of it and obeyed from the heart. When man does this, like little Samuel of old, he responds to the call of the Father who seeketh such to worship him.

Wednesday, December 31. In the year that is just closing, I have traveled 3,578 miles. This I have done mostly on horseback. I have done what I could for God and humanity. I hope that when I come to die I may not have cause for deep regrets, or to mourn over a misspent life. I hope to lay my body down in peace, in the bright hope of a glorious waking up at the call of my Lord.

Thursday, January 8, 1846. Go to Christian Shoemaker's in the Gap and perform the marriage ceremony of John C. Miller and Deborah Shoemaker. Stay all night at Ely Spitzer's.

Thursday, January 15. Write a letter to Henry Kurtz, and one to George Hoke.

Tuesday, February 17. Make an amicable adjustment of complicated business matters between the widow Judith Detrick and Abraham Detrick. It is pleasant to straighten between members of our body business matters which present a somewhat crooked and tangled appearance, when all the parties are willing to have things adjusted through the mediation of disinterested Brethren. How much better this than to go to law! The tendency of private adjustments by arbitration is to heal over breaches of friendship and love between members; but going to law before the world is almost sure to widen them. I am glad to be able to add, here, that I say this, not from any experience with law that I have ever had in my own case, or in that of any of the Brethren; but I speak it from what I have observed in others who have gone to law.

Thursday, February 26. Go to David Kline's and perform the marriage ceremony of Abraham Neff and Elizabeth Kline.

Tuesday, March 3. Perform the marriage ceremony of Josiah Sowder and Elizabeth Dove.

Saturday, March 21. Abraham Knopp and I go to Lost River. Stay all night at Jacob Motz's.

Sunday, March 22. Meeting at the Lost River meetinghouse. Luke 24 is read. Come to Abel Dove's and perform two marriage ceremonies; one for Isaac Whetzel and Catharine Dove; the other for Michael Myers and Julia Ann Dove. Stay all night.

Sunday, April 5. Meeting at the Flat Rock. John 6 is read. Brethren sent out on the yearly visit. I and Jacob Wine go together. We stay all night at the widow Cherryholms's in Brock's Gap.

Tuesday, April 7. We get through with the visit. The members generally expressed themselves as being in sympathy and full fellowship with the church. We hope they told the truth.

Wednesday, April 8. Council meeting at the Flat Rock. Jacob Wine is elected speaker. He gives promise of becoming an able and active worker in the vineyard of the Lord.

Friday, April 10. Council meeting in the Brush meetinghouse. Joseph Miller, son of Daniel Miller, is elected speaker. John Wine, son of Samuel Wine in the Brush, and John Miller, are elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, April 11. Council meeting in the old Garber meetinghouse. Solomon Garber is elected speaker. He likewise gives promise of becoming a very useful man in his calling. Surely the Lord has established a beautiful order in his house. "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven." When the church fairly chooses a brother to any office or service, to the ministry of the Word or to attend to the temporal duties connected with keeping the Lord's house according to order, he need no longer question as to whether the Lord has called him or not. The Lord uses the church to show his will in these things. "Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." I was once very much impressed with the answer a beloved brother gave in the presence of some three or four others, just outside the meetinghouse, after an election had been held just about an hour before. The church had voted for two, only one of whom was needed. The vote had been so nearly a tie that the brother elected had a majority of but one. Some one asked: "Are we to infer from this that the Lord wanted both of these brethren elected?" The brother above referred to answered promptly, "No, he only wanted to show that both were fit for the place."

Michael Flory and Samuel Long are elected to the deaconship.

Friday, April 17. Go on the visit in the Cove, in company of Jacob Mathias.

Saturday, April 18. Finish the visit in time to have council meeting in the Lost River meetinghouse. In all my visiting this spring but very little complaint or dissatisfaction has been laid. Our council meetings, too, have been harmonious. The members generally show a heartfelt will to live in the church, to be built up in the church, and to help to build up the church so long as the church keeps house according to God's order.

Monday, April 20. Get home in the night. Go right on to John Zigler's. Catharine is very sick. She dies at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Wednesday, April 22. Catharine Zigler is buried to-day.

Friday, April 24. Jacob Wine, Joseph Miller and I go to Forrer's furnace in Page County, Virginia, and have night meeting. Jacob Wine speaks from John 1:29. He prefers the German language. He makes a right good stagger even in English for a beginner, but he will need much practice before he can use this language with much freedom. But it is not by the might nor the power of man that souls are saved, but by the might and power of the Lord working with man.

Saturday, April 25. Dine at Isaac Spitler's, and stay all night at John Huffman's, both in Page County.

Friday, May 8. Go to Brother John Harshbarger's on my way to Albemarle.

Saturday, May 9. He and I go to the Ferry on the Shenandoah river, but finding the river too high to ferry in a horse boat, we go around by the bridge, and get to Brother Coverston's in the night.

Sunday, May 10. Meeting at Brother Coverston's. Matthew 7 is read. "The Strait Gate" is the subject.

Monday, May 11. Dine at John Conrad's, and come across the mountains by a desperate path, home; thirty-eight miles. The path by which we came to-day is almost or quite as steep in places as stairsteps, and very rough from large stones in its bed, with others projecting into it on either side. Brother John was in front of me slowly leading his horse down one of the very steep places, when his saddlebags slid out of the saddle down over the horse's neck and fell on his arm. He pleasantly looked back at me saying in a very cheerful way, "It looks as if my baggage wants to go ahead of the horse that carries it."

Wednesday, May 13. Love feast at our meetinghouse. Five persons baptized. Brethren John Bowman, from Franklin County, and John Barnhardt are with us. They are this far on their way to the Annual Meeting.

Friday, May 15. Start to Pennsylvania.

Saturday, May 16. Through Winchester, Virginia; Opequon past fording, go round by the bridge, and stay all night at Smithfield.

Sunday, May 17. Through Charlestown, by Harper's Ferry and Fredericktown, on to Daniel Bowers's, where we stay all night.

Monday, May 18. Get to Uncle John Garber's, where we stay all night.

Tuesday, May 19. Spend day in visiting Henry Beecher's, Widow Deahl's, William Deahl's, and get back to Uncle John Garber's.

Wednesday, May 20. Visit John Pfoutz's, Jacob Saylor's and Solomon Garber's, where we stay all night.

Thursday, May 21. Get to Brother George Deardorf's, where we stay all night.

Friday, May 22. Get to Brother Balsbaugh's, beyond Harrisburg.

Saturday, May 23. Meeting and love feast at Brother Balsbaugh's. Seven persons baptized to-day.

Sunday, May 24. Visit George Copp's, Joseph Long's, Christian Gipe's, and stay all night at Abraham Gipe's. In all my visits I make it a point not to leave a house without making an effort to speak on the subject of religion, and say something that may leave an impression for good.

Monday, May 25. Meeting. Acts 10 is read. Visit Brother Shank's, and stay all night at David Zug's.

Tuesday, May 26. Meeting. Romans 6 is read. Visit George Fesler's, Michael Fesler's, and stay all night at Benjamin Landis's.

Wednesday, May 27. Visit Daniel Zug's and several other families; and at 11 o'clock meeting begins preparatory to love feast this evening. First Peter 1 is read. Stay all night at Brother Minick's.

Thursday, May 28. Meeting at 11 o'clock. John 5 is read. In afternoon visit John Royer's, and stay all night at George Keller's.

Friday, May 29. Yearly Meeting begins. Many brethren and sisters present.

Saturday, May 30. The Yearly Council closes at noon. Much love and union exists in the Brotherhood. Public meeting this afternoon, and love feast to-night. Much spiritual joy is manifested by the singing of hymns and the offering of prayers. May our heavenly Father grant that the same love and union may continue with us to the end of the world. Our Yearly Meetings will continue to do much good so long as they show to the world our love for one another. "Hereby shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love for one another."

From this meeting Brother Kline set his face homeward, but on the way he managed to attend six appointments for preaching, and two love feasts besides. In tracing his course on his journeys, and noting the amount of active service he performed in the way of preaching and visiting, one is forcibly impressed with the proofs he gives of the order and system that must have characterized and attended his labors. Not unfrequently he has one or two appointments ahead for every day in the week; and with only a very few exceptions in the whole course of his life, and they were on account of sickness, he never failed to meet the congregations that were looking for him. Soon after getting home from this journey he attended to gathering the grass and grain harvests on his own farm. He reports twenty-eight tons of hay made this year. He likewise had a tolerably large wheat harvest. About the eighteenth of June heavy rains set in, and they continued to fall at intervals of only a day or two apart for the next six or seven weeks. The Diary reports a very heavy rain on Sunday, June 28. From this time on for the next six days it reports a flooding rain every day, and very high waters. The grain suffered very much on account of continued wet weather for many days following. This has ever since been known as "the wet harvest." Much of the wheat sprouted in the head before it could be cut; and much of what stood in shocks suffered in the same way. The Diary for July 15 says: "We finished hauling in our grain to-day, some of which had stood in shocks over three weeks. Such extraordinary seasons come along once in a while; but I do imagine it will be a good while in the future before people can generally say, 'I never saw such a wet harvest as this,' alluding to the one they may then be passing through."

Between this time and the first day of August, Brother Kline went on another tour to the county of Hardy, in which he attended several meetings; baptized Rebecca, wife of Elijah Judy, on Saturday, July 11; and performed the marriage ceremony of George Runion and Susan Aubrey, on the thirteenth.

Sunday, July 26. Meeting at Jacob Whetzel's. Matthew 24 is read. I baptized Jacob Pope and his wife.

Sunday, August 2. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Samuel Kline and Samuel Roller and his wife are baptized.

Monday, August 10. This day Brother Kline started on a journey to Ohio, in company with George Hoover, Joseph Miller, Katy Hoover and Benjamin Wampler. They went in two carriages across the western part of the State of Virginia (now West Virginia) into Pennsylvania, and through the western part of that State into Ohio. As this trip was made specially memorable by a very severe spell of sickness which Brother Kline passed through while making it, as well as by the sad effect it had upon his beloved wife, Anna, at home, the editor will be very particular in giving, from the Diary, all the points of interest connected with it.

The second day they crossed the South Branch mountain by what is called the Howard's Lick road. The view from the top of this is perhaps unsurpassed by any point in the entire range. A very large part of Hardy County, with its magnificent streams and rich bottoms, is visible to the eye. The town of Moorefield from this view reminds one of a child sleeping in its cradle.

Brother Kline, as usual, had a line of appointments for meetings by the way, and he met them as regularly and timely as a train of cars gets to its destined stations. He must have had the name and address of almost every prominent member in the denomination, and they must have had implicit confidence in his word; for the Diary nowhere intimates that he was ever disappointed by not finding the expected congregation when the weather permitted. Nothing of any special interest occurred until the night of Saturday, August 15, at which time we find the company at Colley's tavern in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. At this place Brother Kline complains of being sick. He takes some medicine and is able again to travel on through the next three days, and fill one appointment. But on

Wednesday, August 19, there is an appointment in waiting for him which he cannot attend. He says: "I am sick. Cannot go." Bowling Green was the place. He is now at John Shelly's. Notwithstanding his illness, he, with the company, traveled thirty-one miles the next day; and the day after attended a love feast at Brother Daniel Wise's.

His next appointment was at Brother Shively's. He requests George Hoover and Joseph Miller to go on to that place, while he remains at Brother Wise's with Benjamin Wampler and Katy Hoover. He says again: "I am sick." On the evening of

Sunday, August 23, we find him at Brother Hershey's, near Lewistown. He says in the entry for that evening: "I am still sick. Take more medicine to-night." On

Monday, August 24, he sent for Dr. Jacob Myers, who gave him a course of medical treatment. The doctor came again the next day, and gave him another course of treatment. He says: "I took another emetic of lobelia to-day, and perspired freely." If lobelia is the poisonous drug that some seem to think it is, we can hardly account for the improvement which Brother Kline reports to have experienced in his feelings, following every administration of it. For on the next day,

Wednesday, August 26, he says: "I feel some better to-day; so much so that I write my will."

Thursday, August 27. His own words: "Start again, and pass through Canton, Massillon, Brookfield, Greeneville, Dover, and on to Brother Jacob Kurtz's, where we stay all night." We have to wonder how a man laboring under a well-defined attack of typhoid fever could keep on going for twelve consecutive days before the final breakdown came. It makes one think of Paul, who could even be stoned until he was thought to be dead, and next day be found preaching again. But the crisis with Brother Kline came at last. The entry in the Diary for

Friday, August 28, says: "To-day Brother Hoover and Brother Miller, at my request, leave me; Brother Wampler and Sister Katy remain with me. What a precious thing love is! My dear Brethren have not only staid with me day and night, but they have constantly watched for opportunities to minister to my comfort or necessities. The Lord reward them abundantly in this life and the next: and bless them at the meetings which I now feel I cannot attend. Dr. Overholtz comes at my request and gives me medicine."

Saturday, August 29. Suffer extremely, but not quite so much as last night. I now feel as if I were just on a balance between life and death: almost gone.

Sunday, August 30. Dr. Overholtz comes again and gives me another course of medicines. I am slightly relieved, but still suffer very much. The Doctor reports fever not as high as yesterday.

Monday, August 31. Rest to-day, but am very weak.

Tuesday, September 1. Doctor does not come to-day.

For some days past the Diary has been kept in a strange hand. Some kind but intelligent friend has made the daily records in perfect imitation of Brother Kline's unaffected style and manner.

Saturday, September 5. The Doctor is here, but does not give me medicine. I write a letter home.

This letter created overwhelming distress in the mind of Anna, Brother Kline's wife. She had heard about his illness prior to this time; but when she read this letter her mind seemed to give way, and when Brother Kline got back home he found her very ill, both in body and mind. They told him at home that when she read the letter all hope of ever seeing him again vanished, and the shock was more than her sensitive nature could bear. It is very sad to relate, but true, that she never again seemed fairly to realize his being in her presence. His kindness to her was shown in unremitting attentions, to the day of his death; and I am persuaded that few men could be found to bear such a dire calamity with so much patience and resignation.

There were no entries made in the Diary from September 1, to the fifth. He must have been very sick indeed, during the three days that are omitted.

Saturday, September 6. He says: Brother Samuel Buck gives me a course of medicine; it works well. Fever entirely broken. Have some appetite. Begin to mend.

Monday, 7. To-day I have rest. Eat some toast bread.

Tuesday, 8. Still continue to mend, but somewhat slowly.

Wednesday, 9. Take another course of medicines.

Thursday, 10. Feel very much better. Can be up some.

Friday, 11. Still mending.

Saturday, 12. Doing well. Write a letter home, and one to William Lupton.

Sunday, 13. Still continue to do well.

Monday, 14. Still well, but sit out in the cool air too long, and take a slight backset.

Tuesday, 15. Do not feel so well, but appetite good.

Wednesday, 16. Still not very well, but appetite good.

Thursday, 17. Do not feel very well. Dr. Overholtz comes again, and gives me another course of medicines.

Friday, 18. Feel a little better again.

Saturday, 19. Not much change from yesterday.

Sunday, 20. Dr. Overholtz gives me another course of medicines.

Monday, 21. Do not feel entirely relieved yet.

Tuesday, 22. Take another course of medicines, and am much relieved.

Wednesday, 23. Brother Benjamin Wampler takes me in the carriage to Brother Buck's, two miles off, and back home.

Thursday, 24. Much rain to-day. Cannot ride out.

Friday, 25. Brother Benjamin takes me to Brother Samuel Myers's to-day, and back home. Rain in the afternoon.

Saturday, 26. Paint the top of carriage, and do some other work to it.

Sunday, 27. Visit Brother Reuben Pinkerton and return home. How very kind all of these dear people have been to me! They will accept nothing in return for all their kindness to me, but my gratitude and love, and, heaven knows, my heart is full of that.

Tuesday, 29. Go to Brother Jonathan Gaines's for dinner; then to Wooster, and stay all night with Dr. Overholtz.

Wednesday, 30. Go to the bank in Wooster and attend to some other business. Dine with Dr. Overholtz, and in evening get back home to Brother Jacob Kurtz's.

Thursday, October 1. Fix to start towards home.

Friday, October 2. Take leave of my very dear Brother Jacob Kurtz and family, who have nursed and cared for me through all of my sickness. Such kindness as he and his family have shown me relieves affliction of half its distress. It is almost a luxury to be sick where so much love is shown. I can never forget Brother Benjamin Wampler. He is so calm and gentle in the sick room that his very presence is a comfort to the sick.

The Diary does not contain anything of special interest on their way home. Brother Kline noted the distance traveled over each day, from the time they left Brother Jacob Kurtz's till he arrived at his own home. According to his report the whole distance was 264 miles. This they made in eleven days. Their average daily rate of travel was just twenty-four miles. They arrived at his house on the evening of the twelfth, having left Brother Kurtz's the morning of the second day of October. Brother Kline often notes some reference to the satisfaction of getting back home after a long absence; and it is painful to find a record the exact reverse in this instance. But no murmur at the Divine Will, or word of impatience or complaint against any one is to be found on the page of the Diary.

From this time to the close of the year Brother Kline never went far from home. A few marriages solemnized, funerals preached, neighborhood medical visits, and near-by meetings attended make the sum of his work from home. His afflicted wife required his daily attentions.

Thursday, January 21. Perform the marriage ceremony of Josiah Wampler and Mary Kline.

Tuesday, February 23. Go to Michael Wine's and perform the marriage ceremony of Isaac Harpine and Barbara Wine.

Thursday, March 4. Perform the marriage ceremony of William Andes and Catharine Miller, at the widow Miller's in the Forest.

Wednesday, March 31. Dr. Newham is at my house to-day. We start my new electro-magnetic machine, and give Anna an electric shock, in the hope of its vitalizing her enfeebled nerves. Dr. Newham regards her case as not being out of the reach of relief by a course of protracted and judiciously applied medical treatment.

Thursday, April 1. Council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. Perform the marriage ceremony of Seth Alger and Rosina Fifer.

Saturday, April 3. Abraham Knopp and I go to Page County. Call to see old Sister Gibbons who has reached a very high age. We read and prayed with her, and her heart seemed to overflow with joy. She said: "I love all the friends of Jesus. Brethren, I will soon be gone; but I hope the Lord may leave you here many years yet to do his blessed will, by calling many sinners from darkness to light, and by comforting his saints as you have comforted me this day." When we took leave of her she said: "Farewell: and may the God of love and peace be with you." Sister Gibbons is the mother of Samuel Gibbons, and is now living with him on the Hawksbill Creek, not far from the town of Luray, in Page County, Virginia.

Sunday, April 4. The brethren and sisters meet us very early this morning for prayer and exhortation on the visit; after which the regular public meeting opens. John 5 is read. Dine at Isaac Spitler's, and stay all night at Henry Gander's.

Friday, April 16. Abraham Knopp and I go to Lost River. Attend the burial of Celestine Whitmore's child. Age, seven years, four months, and one day. In afternoon Jacob Pope and I go on to the visit. Stay all night at Henry Moyers's.

Saturday, April 17. After getting through with the visit we have council meeting. The reports brought in by the visiting brethren are mostly encouraging, and show a good spirit existing in the Brotherhood.

Sunday, April 18. Meeting at the meetinghouse. Luke 12 is read. After meeting perform the marriage ceremony of Washington Cook and Anna Jane Parker at Brother Whitmore's; then come to William Fitzwar's and perform the marriage ceremony of Frederick Nasselrodt and Catherine Weatherholtz. Get home at nine o'clock in the night.

Thursday, April 29. Perform the marriage ceremony of William Halterman and Elizabeth May, at Samuel May's, in the Gap.

Sunday, May 2. Meeting at Nasselrodt's in the Gap. I baptized Lotty Koon.

Tuesday, May 18. On this day Brother Kline starts to the Annual Meeting. He takes Anna and Sister Betty Knopp with him. They get to the widow Nipe's in the evening of the nineteenth. He left Anna and Sister Betty at this place, whilst he went on to the Annual Meeting at Brother Jacob Deardorff's, which opened Friday, May 21. The business features of the meeting closed on Saturday, May 22; and on Sunday, May 23, he started back after the eleven o'clock service. He found Anna somewhat more cheerful than usual. She stood the trip remarkably well. From some cause, I know not what, he gives not a word of comment on the state of feeling, matters considered, or anything else pertaining to it.

Friday, May 28. We have a love feast at our meetinghouse. Union in the evening. A fine day and good behavior. Some of the older Brethren will no doubt know what Brother Kline means by the word union, here and elsewhere used in the Diary in a specific sense.

Tuesday, June 8. To-day I attended two buryings in one graveyard. Christian Eversole, age, sixty-nine years; and Samuel Bowers, age, twenty years; both buried at the Brush meetinghouse.

Saturday, July 3. Cross the Blue Ridge mountain to-day, and get to Henry Coverston's late this evening.

Sunday, July 4. Meeting in the Methodist meetinghouse. John 4 is read. I spoke as best I could on the Water of Life and kindred topics, but in this country we feel sadly the want of encouragement and sympathy which we are used to in our own houses and congregations. Our doctrinal views and practices as a denomination are not well understood in Albemarle County, Virginia. The prevailing denominations here are Baptists and Methodists. We have one consolation, however, even here. We can preach the Gospel to the poor, and they are ready to hear it. But there is one barrier between us and the wealthy classes which will continue, God only knows how long; and that barrier is African slavery. Many, seemingly good and reasonable people, in this country justify themselves in their own eyes, even on scripture grounds, for taking part in and encouraging the holding of slaves. I fear, however, that the god of this world has blinded their eyes, so that seeing they see not, and hearing they understand not.

A gentleman whom I met here and who said that he had traveled a great deal in the slave-holding States, told me that he witnessed the sale of some slaves in a town in North Carolina. A mother and her three children, two boys and a girl, were put up for sale separately. It happened that the mother was bought by one man, the two boys by another, and the daughter by a third. The daughter was twelve years old; and the boys respectively eight and ten. They were now to be parted, never to see each other more. There was no hope left them of ever hearing from each other again. The gentleman said the little boys did not seem to mind it so very much; but, said he, the agony of the mother, and the distress of the daughter were past description. It is to be hoped that such heart-rending scenes are not often to be witnessed; and I do believe that the time is not far distant when the sun will rise and set upon our land cleansed of this foul stain, though it may be cleansed with blood. I would rejoice to think that my eyes might see that bright morning; but I can have no hope of that.

Tuesday, July 6. On this day Brother Kline made arrangements to move to Orkney Springs with Anna. Some account of this place is given elsewhere in this work, and need not be repeated here. He and Anna staid here about five weeks, and he reports her general health as being much improved by the use of the different waters, as well as by the cheerful society she enjoyed. Whilst staying at this place Brother Kline reports some interesting acquaintances made with several noted persons whom he had only casually seen before. Among these was the Rev. Henry Brown, a Presbyterian minister of Harrisonburg.

Saturday, July 17, he says: Take a walk over some of the surrounding eminences with preacher Henry Brown of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Mr. Brown is a very sociable and pleasant man to be with. Whilst we differ on a good many points of Christian doctrine, we can still walk and talk together sociably; and I enjoy his company very much. It would be pleasant to believe, did the Scriptures warrant the conclusion, that all the differences which mark the divisions of Christians here will melt away in love and be forgotten there. Of one thing I am sure: No one will ever have a just right to boast of his own goodness, or lay claim to preferment on the score of his own obedience. "When ye," says our Savior, "have done all these things that were commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which it was our duty to do." Whilst it is true that the Presbyterians are zealous advocates of education and moral improvement, and as a people exhibit in their daily lives many Christian virtues and graces, still I fear they are occupying dangerous ground by rejecting some of the plain commands of our Lord Jesus. "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the disobedient appear?" I know of no righteousness but that of obedient faith, or, as Paul puts it, the righteousness of faith that works or obeys from love, and in this way purifies the heart. A hungering and thirsting after this righteousness

"Gives exercise to faith and love;

Brings every blessing from above."

If this dear Christian friend is in darkness as to the nature of obedience and its blessed fruits, himself misled and misleading others, I pray that the scales may drop from his eyes, that he may see clearly the whole truth which God has placed in the line of our duty to do and teach.

Sunday, July 18. Friend Henry Brown preached to-day. He is a very clear and pleasant talker. In his discourse, however, he made me think of some beautiful birds that hop over what they do not wish to touch, and take hold gracefully of what they are pleased to alight upon.

Thursday, August 12. This day Brother Kline moved back home. He says: Anna much improved in health. The season at the Springs has been quite pleasant, with the exception of atmospheric dampness from the abundance of rain we had while there.

Monday, August 23. This day Brother Kline started on another journey to Pennsylvania. It may be irksome to the general reader to follow his daily steps from this date to the thirteenth of September, the day on which he returned home, so I will only name the families he visited or stayed with all night, in the order given in the Diary. His habit on this was the same as on other journeys of like motive; he preached as he went, and never failed holding family worship where he stayed all night, when well enough to do so. Few of those that were fathers and mothers then are living now; but their children and grandchildren may be living, to whom these reminiscences will, doubtless, be pleasant. Reflections like these instinctively impress us with a consciousness of time's rapid flight; and make us, who were young then, realize, with more or less acuteness of perception, the impressive truth that we, too, are growing old. To such of my readers as find no pleasure or profit in things of this kind I gently say: Pass over it as you would an advertisement in which you feel no interest, in a newspaper you may be perusing: Daniel Fahrney's; John Shank's, near Greencastle; William Etter's; Allen Mohler's; John Sollenberger's; George Copp's; Dr. Fahnestock's, in Middletown, Pennsylvania; Abraham Gipe's, near Lebanon; Jacob Gipe's; Abraham Balsbaugh's; Peter Miller's, this side Harrisburg; George Deardorf's; Daniel Longenacre's; Widow Bowman's, near Middletown, Maryland; John Garber's, Jr.; John Garber's, Sr.; Jacob Rupp's; Nathaniel Bondsack's; Jacob Saylor's; William Deahl's; David Reinhardt's; Sherk's, near Sharpsburg; Fahnestock's, near Winchester, Virginia; George Shaver's, in Shenandoah County, Virginia.

Some may say: This reads like a bill of goods with the prices omitted. But think a little, my friend. Let us suppose that business would compel you to mount the back of a horse away off in Rockingham County, Virginia, and travel day after day, until you had completed the round of visiting every family above named; and in addition to this attend a meeting of some kind every day or two, and yet be compelled to do all this in the short space of twenty-one days; would you not think it a task worthy of mention? Now Brother Kline did all this, but not on the score of any business interest whatever. Instead of seeking any worldly gain by it, the direct opposite was the truth, for he came home with less money in his pocket than he started with. It was just what he expected and felt assured would be the case. But he went. And what induced him to go? The love of Christ constrained him. The love of doing good to others by pointing out the way of salvation to them. Have I, have you, such love?

Between the last date given and the twenty-first of October Brother Kline attended a love feast at Beaver Creek, Virginia; one on Lost River; and one at Flat Rock. Besides these, he attended the regular Sunday meetings, council meetings, and visited, medically, a considerable number of patients. He reports much rain in October, and several times his life was endangered crossing high waters.

Friday, October 22. On this day he started on a journey across the mountains of western Virginia. He followed a line of love feasts and other meetings through the counties of Hampshire, Virginia; Garret, Maryland; Preston and Monongalia, Virginia, to Dunkard Creek in Pennsylvania, not far this side of Wheeling. He returned over nearly the same route by which he went, filling appointments he left on his way out. He reports, on this journey, 371 miles traveled on horseback, over some rugged mountains and bad roads much of the way. He arrived home November 4, after an absence of two weeks.

Tuesday, November 30. Attend the burial of old Mother Horn. Age, ninety years, two months and two days.

Sunday, December 5. Attend the burial of old Mother Conrad. Age, eighty-five years and nine months.

Wednesday, December 15. Louis and Samuel Kline, of Pennsylvania, visit us. I take them around to see their and my kindred.

Tuesday, December 21. Perform the marriage ceremony of Samuel Hinegartner and Catharine Ralls, at Christian Crider's.

Friday, December 31. Meeting of general council in our meetinghouse. In the year that is now about to close I have traveled 3,424 miles, nearly all on horseback. The work of another year is done; and the record has passed into eternity. As clay, once formed by the hand of the potter and burnt in a kiln can never be reduced to clay again and worked over into other forms, so our deeds in life, once done, are done forever. A vase may be broken, it is true, but the fragments are apt to reveal the form of the vessel from which they came. So the hand of jealousy, of envy, of persecution even, may shatter the results of our best efforts here; but God will gather up the pieces and be able to tell by their appearance and quality that they belonged to a vessel of honor in his sight. Seeds sometimes lie a long time in the ground before they grow and make a blade; so it may be with much of the good seed that I and others of our beloved Brotherhood have sown this year. Backward springs and other unfavorable states of weather during the early part of the growing season are sometimes followed by rich harvests. We do not know what the future may bring forth, but we do know that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. In him I trust.

Sunday, January 1. Attend the burial of old Mother Baer, at Brother George Kline's. Age, ninety-six years, four months and twenty days.

Thursday, February 3. Perform the marriage ceremony of Michael May and Julian Custer at George Riddle's.

About this time Brother Kline became deeply interested in the construction and erection of a bridge across a ford in the North Fork of the Shenandoah river. His design in this, however, included more than the avoidance of one dangerous ford; it took in two others. It was equivalent to spanning three bad fords with one bridge. His plan, which has since been exactly carried into effect, was to cut down the end of the mountain in the Gap where it projects into the river, open up a good highway through the cut, and thus shorten the distance very materially and shun two dangerous and ever-shifting fords, one above and the other below the cut. His patience and perseverance in this great enterprise yielded to no discouragements, and he saw the bridge built, and the projecting end of the mountain cut down. Like all other men who have embarked in great enterprises above or beyond the grasp of ordinary comprehension, he had to combat opposition from some who should, on the score of direct personal interest in the improvement, have been most willing to aid in the work. Brother Kline did not live to see his design fully executed, but it has been carried into effect within the last decade by the construction of a new bridge upon the old abutments, and a new road on the very line he proposed. As the improvement under consideration is a very great one, and originally undertaken by individual contributions; and as future generations may wish to know who the prime movers were, and when the first move was made, the following entry in the Diary will be given here:

Friday, February 25. Attend a meeting of some public-spirited men, at Samuel Coots's store near the Gap, for the purpose of agreeing upon the construction of a bridge across the river near the store; for cutting down the face of the Gap Rock; for making a new road through the Cut; and for raising funds to meet the same.

Samuel Coots, State Senator from Rockingham County, took an active part. Abraham Funk, Benjamin Bowman, John J. Bowman, with many other prominent citizens, nearly or quite all of whom have passed away, deserve to have their names enrolled as patrons of the enterprise.

Wednesday, March 8. Attend the burial of Brother David Hollar's wife to-day. Age, forty-seven years and five months.

Friday, March 10. Go to Michael Wine's and attend the burial of his mother. Age, ninety-three years, three months and fourteen days.

Wednesday, April 12. Attend the funeral of Mrs. Wells Hevner in the Gap. Age, thirty-three years.

Thursday, April 13. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Samuel Wampler and myself are established in the ministry, and Joseph Miller advanced.

Friday, April 14. Council meeting at the Flat Rock. Jacob Wine is advanced to the second grade in the ministry of the Word.

Monday, April 17. Council meeting in the Lost River meetinghouse. Jacob Pope is chosen speaker.

Friday, April 21. Council meeting in the Old Garber meetinghouse. Solomon Garber is advanced to the second degree in the ministry of the Word. Sarah Norman is reinstated to the fellowship of the church.

Wednesday, April 26. Attend the funeral of the widow Sister Cherryholms in the Gap. Age, fifty-nine years. Sister C. was a woman of real force of character. Her house was a welcome shelter for the Brethren and others who often visited her.

Monday, May 1. Attend the funeral of old Sister Evers, widow of John Evers. She died at John Hawse's. Age, seventy-two years, three months and three days.

Wednesday, May 3. Brother Benjamin Bowman, with Sister Catharine his wife, and Brother John Wine, with Anna and myself, start to Ohio. We go in two carriages. To such as are not used to traveling in this way a journey to Ohio and back in a two-horse carriage, over all kinds of roads, through all the changes of weather likely to occur at this season, and I may add, among all kinds of people, might look like an undesirable undertaking. But for myself I can say I do not dread making the start. I am best satisfied and most delighted when doing something for God and humanity. But the company I have on this visit makes the anticipation of it especially pleasant. Brother John Wine is a live man; cheerful, but ever earnest and sincere; lively, but never light or frivolous. His mind is always inquisitive, seeking for knowledge in every line of truth. Hence he asks many questions. If your answers involve any doubt as to their correctness, or fail of the clearness he thinks should appear in the instructions of a teacher to his pupil, he will dispute a whole day with you on a single question, rather than appear to be satisfied with your answer when he is not. With a mind hard and sharp as flint, he strikes fire out of everything he hits. But he has sense enough, and goodness enough, never to strike fire where he has reason to fear there may be danger of causing an explosion. He is the son of Samuel, in the Brush, and brother of Christian Wine. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Zigler, in Timberville, Rockingham County, Virginia. He now resides on his farm about two miles away from where he was born and raised. He is an eminently good and useful brother.

Benjamin Bowman is the son of Benjamin Bowman, who settled in Rockingham County, Virginia, about or very soon after the breaking up of the war of the Revolution. This elder Benjamin Bowman had three sons,—Samuel, Benjamin and John,—all of whom married, raised highly respectable families, lived and died in the same county in which they were born. These all became members of our Brotherhood; and Benjamin is at this time a very active and acceptable preacher of the Word, and promises to be a very agreeable companion on the journey we have now undertaken together. He is no great talker in the way of conversation, but what he says is generally to the point. Very considerate in forming an opinion, and exceedingly careful in reaching a conclusion, he is not likely to be wrong in anything he asserts to be true. By means of these habits assiduously cultivated, he has built up a reputation for reliability which not only aids him in business, but stamps the seal of truth on his discourses from the ministerial stand. He will not readily debate a matter you may present to his mind, even if his views do not coincide with yours at the time; but after due consideration he will let you hear from him with arguments not to be refuted.

We stay first night at Celestine Whitmore's on Lost River.

Thursday, May 4. After we were on the way this morning Anna changed her mind and preferred going back to Brother Whitmore's. So we took her back, and they will convey her home. Travel thirty-three miles, and stay second night at Joseph Smith's.

Friday, May 5. Go through Romney, Virginia, and at the end of thirty-five miles stay third night at McNaer's.

Saturday, May 6. Go through Frostburg, and come to Jacob Lighty's. We have night meeting. I speak on Acts 17:30. Text.—"The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent."

Athens, the capital of Greece, was a large city. It was noted as the chief seat of Grecian learning, refinement of taste, cultivation of genius, and skill in the production of almost everything belonging to the fine arts. It had its philosophers, statesmen, orators, lawyers, priests, poets and painters. It had its high and low orders in society. But when Paul beheld the city his spirit was moved in him, for he saw that it was wholly given to idolatry. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him and said: "He seemeth to be a setterforth of strange gods." They said this among themselves, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. But they did not seem inclined to do him injury as the Jews had done in some other places, but gave him a chance to speak in the Areopagus, a large building in the city called the Hill of Mars, or Mars' Hill. In this building Paul preached a wonderful sermon, the whole of which you may read in Acts seventeenth chapter.

But to-night I wish to speak on just one thing that Paul said in that sermon, and these are the words: "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent." When we are commanded to do something, we like to know what it is we are commanded to do. Now I will tell you. It is to repent. But you may say, "I do not exactly know what that means." I will now tell you about all I know of the meaning of the words repent and repentance. The Lord Jesus knew exactly what these words mean, and I will give you his definition. He said to the Jews: "The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah." Now let us turn to the book of Jonah in the Old Testament and see what the men of Nineveh did at the preaching of Jonah, and we will then understand what the Lord meant when he said they repented. You must know what Jonah's sermon was. It was so plain that all could understand it, and so short that all could remember it, This is the sermon: "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed." The city had more than a hundred and twenty thousand people in it; and it took Jonah three days to go from one end to the other with his message of destruction; but at the end of the first day "the people of Nineveh believed God; and when the word came unto the king of Nineveh he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes and said: Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yea, let them turn, every one from his evil way. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way."

Now, notice, when God commands all men everywhere to repent, he means for them to do what the Ninevites did, but in a more spiritually enlightened way. They believed God. This is the first step in repentance, as this same apostle says: "He that would come unto God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." The Ninevites had no written word as we have, that gives us intelligent knowledge of God as he is revealed in the face of his Son Jesus Christ. All they knew of him was from tradition, and what they could see of him in his works. But they believed God, and gave proof of it by turning from their evil way. Now, friends, this is just what God commands all men to do. This is what he commands every impenitent man and woman in this house to do to-night.

But some of you may say: "I have no evil way from which to turn. I do an honest business; I lead a sober life; I am true to my marriage vows, and live a moral and orderly life generally. What lack I yet?" Let me ask you: Why do you live in this orderly and consistent way? Is it because you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself? If you can truly say that this love is the hand that leads and draws you in your good life, I say, Thank God! I have found a brother of whom I am not ashamed. But anything short of this love is short of what God requires, and you with the rest are called upon to repent. You still have a way that is evil in God's sight. That way is the love of self and the love of the world. The Pharisees were just as particular and careful in regard to their moral or outside life as you can ever be; and still the Lord said to his disciples: "Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven." Their righteousness proceeded all from the love of self and the world. Their ambition culminated in the honor, respectability, credit and wealth such a life procured for them; and on this account the Lord Jesus said of them: "Verily, they have their reward."

But our blessed Lord says again: "Except a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily, he cannot be my disciple." This means repentance. It is commendable in the eye of society of almost every grade to live a decent, orderly, virtuous life; but if this sort of life be led from any motive short of the love of God, what is said of the Pharisees must also be said of this: "Ye make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but the inside is full of hypocrisy and deceit." Now, true repentance makes clean the inside of the cup and the platter, "that the outside may be clean also."

"Repentance is to leave

The things we dearly love;

And o'er our sins to grieve,

And seek the things above."

After meeting we go to David Beichley's, and stay fourth night.

Sunday, May 7. Meeting at Jacob Fige's. John 5 is read. Then come to Jacob Miller's, near Milford, and have night meeting in a schoolhouse near by. Stay fifth night with Brother Miller.

Monday, May 8. Go to council meeting at Joseph Lighty's. An election for deacons is held. Stay sixth night at Christian Miller's. Rain this afternoon and night.

Tuesday, May 9. Dine at Emanuel Beichley's on Indian Creek, and stay seventh night at Joseph Folger's, near Mt. Pleasant.

Wednesday, May 10. Stay eighth night at Beidler's tavern, in East Liberty.

Thursday, May 11. Breakfast and dine in Pittsburg, and stay ninth night in Economy.

Friday, May 12. Stay tenth night at Jacob Leedy's, near New Middleton.

Saturday, May 13. Get here to my dear Brother Henry Kurtz's, where we stay eleventh night.

Sunday, May 14. Meeting at Brother Jacob Summers's near by. Ephesians 6 is read. Brother Benjamin speaks first, and John follows him. They speak of the Christian's armor; that it is not for the flesh, but for the spirit; that it is not for defense against persecution and trials in our life here, but for defense against the wiles of the devil; that it should be constantly worn, and kept bright by daily use. After meeting the Brethren agree to have a little love feast this evening, and a good time we have. Stay twelfth night at Brother Henry Kurtz's.

Monday, May 15. Pass through a number of little towns and villages and at the end of forty-four miles to-day find ourselves pleasantly received by my very dear Brother George Hoke, with whom we stay thirteenth night.

Tuesday, May 16. Meeting at Brother Solomon Kiser's. Mark 1 is read. Three persons baptized. Stay fourteenth night at Brother Michael Sprinkel's, near McDonelsville.

Wednesday, May 17. Get to Brother Jacob Kurtz's, where I have the pleasure of meeting again the dear family that showed me so much kindness two years ago. Stay fifteenth and sixteenth nights here. If the meeting with those we love, and a brief stay with them, can give us so much joy here in our imperfect state, what will be the measure of our joy when we meet in that world where all is perfection, and partings are known no more! "In his presence there is fullness of joy: and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore."

Thursday, May 18. Evening meeting here at Brother Jacob Kurtz's, where we stay sixteenth night.

Friday, May 19. Meeting in River Brethren's meetinghouse, near George Harting's. Luke 14 is read. Come to Wooster, Wayne County, and stay seventeenth night at John Overholtz's.

Saturday, May 20. Meeting in the Campbellite meetinghouse. John 4 is read. Evening meeting at Brother John Shoemaker's. John 15 is read. Stay there eighteenth night. Heavy rain to-day and night.

Sunday, May 21. Meeting at Brother Eli Dickey's. Revelation 21 is read. Brother Benjamin Bowman gave us some delightful thoughts suggested by these words: "Behold! I make all things new." He said: "This promise is generally thought to point for its fulfillment to the golden day when God's people shall realize in fact what John saw in vision,—'a new heaven and a new earth.' I believe that day is coming. I believe the tabernacle of God will be with men; that God will dwell with them in that Holy City, the New Jerusalem. But I ask here, first of all, whence arises the necessity for making all things new? If the existing order of things is faultless, why this renovation? There must be imperfection, there must be a defect somewhere. Whatever else these words may comprehend, I for one regard them as applying to the church as it will then appear, as Solomon describes it, 'comely as Jerusalem;' the New Jerusalem he means; 'and terrible' in the power of its righteousness and truth, 'as an army with banners.'

"Notice right here the striking similarity of the text to what Paul says. What does my text say? 'Behold, I make all things new.' What does Paul say? 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.' What is it to be in Christ? It is to be filled with his truth as a sponge is filled with water when immersed in it. It is to be filled with gospel light as a healthy eye is filled with light in the blaze of a clear day. And when the spiritual eye is single, that is healthy, not double-sighted, our Lord says the whole spiritual body shall be full of light. The light is in the body, because the body is in the light. I mean just what the Lord meant, the spiritual body, for Paul says: 'There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.' But he goes on and says: 'However, that which is natural is first.' This we can all see and know. We know that we were not naturally born of God. 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,' and what is born of the Spirit is the spiritual body.

"To be in Christ is to be in his love. I was once asked this question by an individual who probably wished to puzzle me. He said: 'You preach that a man must be in Christ to be saved, and at the same time say that Christ must be in the man. How is this?' I answer by using a very plain illustration. I said to him: When you get uncomfortably cool in the shade, and move to where the sun can shine full upon your body, do you not feel its warmth? Now, I said to him, the warmth of the sun is in your body, because your body is in the warmth of the sun. Just so we may say it is with us in a spiritual sense. The love of Christ enters our hearts when we place ourselves where that love can reach us. Now let me say, by way of digression from my main point that the love of Christ will never enter a man in a drinking saloon or in a gambling hall, because it is not there. Such places are as destitute of the truth and divine love of Christ as the darkest and coldest night is destitute of the light and heat of the sun. 'Behold, I make all things new.' This is just what the Lord will do in every man's mind and heart, spirit and soul, thoughts and affections, purposes and their accomplishments, who opens the door and bids him come in. This is the glorious work of regeneration.

"But, Brethren beloved, let us inquire a little as to whether the church, our own church I mean, needs to be made over anew, or as we may say, needs to be renovated. Can any brother or sister in this house say: 'I am just as pure in heart as I desire to be. My faith never grows weak; my love never grows cold. I am as innocent and pure in all my affections and thoughts as a little child. I have no jealousy or envy in my soul. I never get angry, or think of wishing evil to any one. I have the spirit of Christ in me in all perfection, and have purified myself even as he is pure'? I repeat the question with emphasis, Is there a soul in this house who can truthfully say all this? I can answer boldly that there is not, for it is not given to man away down in his imperfect state here to have such sinless perfection. The most heavenly-minded amongst us have often to mourn over our shortcomings; and the holiest man or woman, looking into his or her own heart with an eye filled with the light of gospel truth, can but at the best say, with the poor publican: 'God be merciful to me a sinner.'

"But there is a day coming when all things shall be made new, and we shall be made new with the rest. I do not want to be understood here, however, as believing that God will in any sense force his renewing power upon any one; or that this renewing power will be enjoyed in the world to come by any but such as earnestly desired it here. I believe that when we get into the other life our eyes will open to such clear visions of the beauty of holiness and the excellencies of heavenly love, all thoughts of evil will be rejected with a repugnance something like what we would feel here by having the most offensive or poisonous substance thrust into our mouth. It is declared concerning the New Jerusalem that nothing shall enter therein that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. Nothing shall enter therein that defileth. Our Lord has graciously told us the things that defile a man. He says: 'Evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.' Now, these are the Lord's own words; and they enable us to understand just what is meant by the words, 'nothing shall enter therein that defileth.'

"Now, Brethren, when the angels that meet us at the gate of the Golden City shall take of the blood of the Lamb, and, with gentle hands, wash away every stain of defilement from the sins here enumerated, and we, thus cleansed, find ourselves safe, forever safe, within its blessed walls, will we not shout and say: 'Behold! all things have become new'?"

Stay nineteenth night with Brother Eli Dickey. We are now in Ashland County, Ohio. Heavy rains to-day, and waters very high.

Monday, May 22. Pass through Richland County, and stay twentieth night with Brother Samuel Shaffner, four miles from Bucyrus in Crawford County.

Tuesday, May 23. Night meeting at Benton. Subject: "The Miracles of Christ's Healing Power." Text.—"And he healed all that came unto him."

We hardly need being told that man is composed of body and soul; that the body is the visible, material part of man, in which the soul, man's invisible part, finds its home. Man's material part is but little superior to that of the rest of the animal creation. It is subject to the same laws. It must be fed and sheltered. It finds enjoyment in food and drink, and comfortable surroundings, very nearly akin to what we see in the life of brutes. Like them it is subject to natural decay, liable to disease; and like them, must die. But man is in possession of capacities and capabilities infinitely superior to anything the rest of God's sentient creation enjoys. He has a soul which is capable of unlimited attainments in the knowledge and love of God, and in the knowledge and love of his fellowman. The heathen philosophers supposed they had done their whole duty to themselves and the world when they could vainly believe that they had realized in their experiences what they thought a compliance with their favorite maxim: "Know thou thyself." Whilst Christians believe and feel that self-knowledge, or the knowledge of one's self, is very important, at the same time they have longing aspirations to know all they can of the Being who created this self, this thinking, reasoning, loving, restless thing within them, called a living soul. Brutes have no aspirations, no desires of this kind.

Right here we may see what God loves. It was not man's animal or bodily life that brought the Lord into our world, for this is not the man. It is the soul or spirit within the body that is the real man, and all these souls collectively make the world that God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son to save it. God never loved trifles. The fact that God loved the world of man is proof that man, as a being capable of glorifying God by reciprocating his love, was worthy of it. This key opens the way to a glimpse of man's high destiny, attainable by his taking hold of the Hand reached down in love to lift him up. God's Word is the only book that can give man a true knowledge of himself. It is the only source from which he can learn that he is a sinner by his habitual transgressions of the great, law of love that would bind all the units of God's intelligent creation into a brotherhood of ineffable and eternal happiness. It was to redeem man from this deplorable state, and deliver him from the destroying power of sin, that Jesus came into the world. But when he came he found man so low down in the darkness of ignorance, so stupid and slow to open his eyes, so benumbed by the chilling power of the love of self, so infested and possessed by evil spirits of hell, that but little impression could be made upon him, except such as could be felt and seen by means of his bodily senses.

These statements, which are true, account for the miracles wrought by the Lord. In working them, however, he had a two-fold purpose. The first was to arouse the people from their dormant state to one of consciousness that a Being of superior power was among them. This they were made to feel by his healing touch, his cleansing hand, and his life-restoring virtue. And what was the effect of all this? It had very much the same effect in one way that kindness toward children in the way of giving them little presents, and gentleness and tenderness in the way of gratifying their bodily desires and wishes, has upon them. They love the one who treats them in such ways. Now, the Lord healed the people. He healed all that came to him, of whatever bodily ill they were suffering. He fed them, too, and did it all so lovingly that they believed him to be the best and most powerful Friend they had ever known. They followed him in throngs. They felt secure, bodily secure and safe when they were with him. But we must not forget that they followed him, not on account of the words he had spoken to them, the instructions he had imparted, but "for the loaves and the fishes." We almost instinctively say, in our meditations upon these things: What a pity they could not discover in him something higher to believe in and love than the mere power and will to heal their bodily ills and minister to their bodily wants! This strong faith in his power and readiness to minister in a miraculous way to their external, worldly enjoyments and comforts is what led them to try to take him by force and make him their king. Having now given you his first object in working miracles, I turn to the second.

Here a great field for thought opens to our view, from which a volume could be written. Every miracle the Lord wrought, just like every parable he spoke, has a double line of truth, an inner and an outer sense. These are related to each other as the soul and body are related. Jesus says: "My words are spirit, and they are life." His miracles, when rightly understood, are the same. "They are spirit and they are life." Their spirit and life enter us through the light they contain. Let us look at one or two with a view to find what spirit and life we can: One Sabbath day Jesus met a man in a Jewish house of worship, called a synagogue, whose right hand was withered. Notice, the man's hand was withered. This means that it was dead, just as we mean that a plant is dead when it is withered, or so nearly dead that its life is almost gone. This man's hand must have been powerless. He could not use it to do anything; and it was his right hand. He could not move a joint of it. It was simply powerless.

But notice particularly what Jesus commanded him to do. He said to this very man: "Stretch forth thy hand." Does not that look like an unreasonable command? The man might have plausibly said: "I cannot do this. I have not been able to reach my hand to my mouth in the past year. I can not do as you tell me." But instead of urging objections he instantly obeyed, for the words, "Stretch forth thy hand," were not more than out of the Lord's mouth when we read, "And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other." Now I ask, Did this man have any part to act, or duty to perform in this miracle of healing? I answer, He did; and without his obedient coöperation his hand would have been left dangling powerless at his side.

Is there not a lesson here? Let us try to gather crumbs of instruction from it. If you take your Bible and concordance, and hunt up the places where the expression "right hand" is used, you will plainly see that "right hand," when spoken of as the "right hand" of God, means power, the power of God. As applying to man, it means the same, the power of man. In this sense the right hand of every unconverted man and woman is withered under the blighting curse of sin. But Jesus is present to heal. He is ever ready to heal all who have need of healing now, just as truly as when he was visibly among men. But he cannot heal you without your willing consent to obey his commands. He first of all commands you to repent, for now "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent." The moment you are willing to obey this command, that moment he will give you the power to obey. Without aid from the power of the Lord that man never could have stretched forth his withered hand; but the instant he was willing to obey, that very instant he received the power to obey.

Again he says: "Give me thy heart." But your heart is all withered too. It is so chilled and blighted by the cold, and damp, and darkness of sin, that, like the man's right hand, without help of the Lord, it is powerless. But the instant you feel a desire to give your heart to the Lord, such desire as the blind beggar had to receive his sight; such desire as the poor leper had to be cleansed; such desire as the publican had that God would be merciful to him a sinner; I say the instant you feel such desire to give your heart to God, that instant he will give you power to do so. It surely was a great relief to that man to have his withered hand restored to healthy activity. It may not have been very painful; indeed, it may have been so lifeless that there was not much feeling in it. So it may be with your heart. And let me say to you that if you really give God your heart in faith and love he will so effectually heal it that it will beat with new life, and the warm blood of love and truth from his Word will flow through it until your greatest joy will be found in doing his will.

Stay twenty-first night in Benton.

Wednesday, May 24. Stay twenty-second night at Lupton's.

Thursday, May 25. Go to Squire Knapp's and make deeds. Then to meeting at Brother Heastand's. Part of John 1 is read. In afternoon return to Lupton's and finish business with him. Stay twenty-third night at Lupton's. Fine weather.

Friday, May 26. Stay twenty-fourth night at Brother Jacob Bowers's. Beautiful weather.

Saturday, May 27. Council meeting at Brother Jacob Bowers's, Jr. Night meeting at Brother Thomas's, where we stay twenty-fifth night. Fine weather continues.

Sunday, May 28. Meeting at Brother Jacob Bowers's, Sr. Speak from Matthew 3. John's baptism was unto repentance. The people came to him and were immersed of him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. This was their first step in repentance. From this they were to keep on bringing forth fruits meet for, or corresponding to, repentance. The outside life was to be the exponent of the penitent heart within. He also pointed them to him who was to come after him, that is, Christ. He would baptize them in the Holy Spirit and fire. This was literally fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Baptize one person to-day. Stay twenty-sixth night at Brother Rotebauch's.

Monday, May 29. Go westward to Daniel Miller's, Solomon Wine's, Jacob Miller's, and stay twenty-seventh night at Samuel Miller's.

Tuesday, May 30. After meeting we go to Isaac Miller's in Richland County, where we stay twenty-eighth night.

Wednesday, May 31. Stay twenty-ninth night at Jacob Miller's.

Thursday, June 1. Visit Daniel Wine's, David Good's, Jacob Earley's, David Weaver's, where we have meeting; then go to Samuel Earley's, where we stay thirtieth night. A very fine day.

Friday, June 2. Stay thirty-first night in Tymocaty.

Saturday, June 3. Dine in Upper Sandusky, and stay thirty-second night at Brother Heastand's. Rain this forenoon.

Sunday, June 4. Meeting at Brother Solomon Miller's on Silver Creek. First Peter 2 is read. Two persons baptized. Evening meeting at Stone meetinghouse, on Honey Creek near David Rupp's. Luke 14 is read. Stay thirty-third night at Brother Rupp's.

Monday, June 5. Stay thirty-fourth night with Brother Isaac Hartzog.

Tuesday, June 6. Stay thirty-fifth night with Brother Jacob Harshbarger. Fine day.

Wednesday, June 7. Stay thirty-sixth night with Brother Cober.

Thursday, June 8. Stay thirty-seventh night with Brother Jonas Kline, nine miles from Ashland.

Friday, June 9. Get back to Brother Jacob Kurtz's, eight miles from Wooster, in Wayne County, where we stay thirty-eighth night. Fine day.

Saturday, June 10. Annual Meeting begins. Peter Nead and I speak. Three persons baptized. Love feast this evening. Delightful weather. Stay thirty-ninth night at Brother Kurtz's place.

Sunday, June 11. Public meeting to-day. A great concourse of people. Preaching at both house and barn. Fine weather continues. Stay fortieth night at same place.

Monday, June 12. Council meeting is ready for questions. But few are handled. Business goes on slowly. Stay forty-first night at same place. Fine, clear day.

Tuesday, June 13. This day we progress briskly. Much business is transacted. Very fine weather continues.

Wednesday, June 14. Finish business, and in afternoon we come to Brother Sprinkel's, one mile from Canton, Stark County, where we stay forty-third night. Very fine weather, but somewhat dusty.

Thursday, June 15. Call at Brother George Shiveley's; and have night meeting at Brother Rothrock's, where we stay forty-fourth night. Speak on John 1. Warm day.

Friday, June 16. Stay forty-fifth night at John Shelly's, five miles from Richmond, Jefferson County. Fine weather.

Sunday, June 18. Dine with Brother Jacob Shideler's and stay forty-seventh night with Charles Guthrie, near Brownsville, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Rain to-day.

Monday, June 19. Stay forty-eighth night with Brother Michael Thomas. Rain this afternoon and night.

Wednesday, June 21. Stay fiftieth night at Brother Daniel Arnold's in Hampshire County, Virginia.

Thursday, June 22. Dine at Brother Zachariah Arnold's and stay fifty-first night in Moorefield, Hardy County, Virginia.

Friday, June 23. Dine at Isaac Dasher's in Hardy County, and stay fifty-second night at William Fitzwater's, in Rockingham County, Virginia.

Saturday, June 24. Breakfast at Daniel Fulk's at foot of Mt. Pleasant in Brock's Gap, and then home. On this journey Brother John Wine and I traveled in my carriage 1,083 miles. Brother Benjamin Bowman was not with us all the time. He left us after we got among relatives and acquaintances who were not the same, in these respects, to us that they were to him. Otherwise they were the same to both alike, for they were nearly all Brethren. But we met again at the Annual Meeting, and returned home together. We had much pleasant conversation on the way, and endeavored to build each other up by giving a religious turn to our discourses. They are both clear-headed thinkers. I feel sure the time has been well spent by our mutually improving each other, aside from the good I hope we have done to others. May our heavenly Father bless this happy journey to the present and everlasting good of all who may have heard our public or private words of warning, of instruction, of encouragement to the weak, of confirmation to the strong, is my prayer. Amen.

Anna was safely conveyed home, nicely and tenderly cared for in my absence, and I find her as well as I could expect.

Thursday, July 13. Perform the marriage ceremony of William Carrier and Barbara Summers.

Wednesday, July 26. Meeting at Forrer's Furnace. I speak on the fiftieth verse of the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm. Text.—"This is my comfort in my affliction." I have chosen this subject on account of the afflictions which some of you have lately passed through, and which are, I learn, still clinging to others in this neighborhood. As I have been called—or sincerely believe that I have been called—to administer medical relief to the sick, and have thus had much experience in the sick room, and by the sick bed, I will venture to offer some observations regarding the ways in which the sick should be cared for and nursed, that they may be comforted in their afflictions as to their bodily feelings. This done, I will endeavor to say something regarding the ways in which their souls may be comforted.

The bed for the sick should be soft, but not heating. Nothing can be more regularly and uniformly comforting to the afflicted than a soft and easy bed. It need not be costly. Clean straw of oats, cut fine, is my preference over all other materials. To stir the bed, the patient need not be taken out, but gently, very slowly and tenderly, moved to the opposite side first prepared, left there awhile, and then in the same gentle way returned to the front, similarly prepared. Cleanliness is next to religion, pure and undefiled, in the sick room. All fumes of tobacco or other unpleasant smells should not be allowed for a moment in the sick room. All offensive odors can most readily be gotten rid of by ventilation. This can be best secured by opening doors or windows, or both, if necessary. This should be repeatedly done daily in all weathers. At this season windows should be open all the time; but the patient should not be exposed to heavy draughts of air. Unnecessary conversation is very distressing to most sick people, even though the words be spoken low or in a whisper. Some of you, no doubt, have had experience of this fact. People kindly feel it a duty to visit the sick. One does not know that another is going, and each being impelled by a sense of duty, more go than can be needed; and in determining who shall return home, and who shall stay, conversations take place that are often very distressing to the patient. I remember a conversation I had with one of my own patients once, who had just shortly before that time recovered from a severe and protracted illness. He said to me: "Brother John, do try to set the people right about visiting the sick. There is so much wrong about it the way it is carried on now that very often more harm than good is done. I remember," said he, "one night while I was sick. You had been coming, I think, near three weeks, and I was beginning to mend. In the evening I felt so much better I thought I was going to rest well and get some good, natural sleep. But about eight o'clock several neighbors came in who got to talking; and seeing that I appeared better they were encouraged to keep on, under the impression that I was strong enough now to stand it. Ah," continued he, "they did not know they were almost killing me; for I became restless; and being very weak every nerve and fiber in my body seemed to be excited into a state of distressful commotion, from which I did not fairly recover during the next three days. When you came again you gave very strict orders not to allow more than one attendant in the room at a time, aside from the nurse; and after that I began to mend again and got well."

One thing more, and I will leave this feature of the subject. This, although last in order, is first in importance, because it is the very basis of recovery. I mean food and drink. Very sick patients, we all know, can take, and require very little; but that little is all-important both as to quality, and uniformity as to quantity, and exact regularity as to time in its administration. I will say here with emphasis, that in no regard is it more important to comply punctiliously with the instructions of an intelligent physician, than in the nourishment given the sick. Without nourishment, recovery in any case is impossible. How very important, then, that it be rightly composed and properly administered! Food should be made as attractive to the patient as possible. This should be carefully kept in mind when preparing it for patients in a state of convalescence or recovery. The nerves of the stomach at such time are often very sensitive, and small excellencies in its quality will be highly appreciated, and slight deficiencies as readily detected.

You remember, I started out with the text: "This is my comfort in my affliction." I have tried to give you some bits of counsel as to the means and ways by which the afflicted may be comforted physically. I now turn to the means and ways by which they may be comforted spiritually. But here a difficulty confronts us at the very start. We cannot make pathological examinations of the soul's distress, and conclude from these what therapeutic agents to employ for its relief, as we can in that of the body. In the last we are governed almost exclusively by the visible and tangible symptoms; but regarding the first, we are deprived of all these, and are compelled to rely mainly upon the oral testimony of the sufferer himself. I have repeatedly been called to the bedside of the dying in compliance with their wish to receive some comfort, some consolation in their last moments, before launching out on the unknown deep of eternity. But, alas! with the exception of a few, paid to humble and obedient followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, nearly all such visits have caused me to feel my own absolute incompetence to do them any good, and only left me to witness the sun of their life go down in clouds and darkness. But David says: "This is my comfort in my affliction." In saying this he must have in mind some particular idea; some state of feeling springing out of some previous preparation of heart, which he can claim as his comfort in his affliction. The few verses preceding the text give a clew to this very state of mind and heart. Let us look over them and see what it was. In verse 44 he says: "I will keep thy law continually for ever and ever." Verse 45: "I seek thy precepts." Verse 46: "Of thy testimonies also, I will not be ashamed." Verse 47: "I delight myself in thy commandments which I have loved." These declarations make manifest David's love for the Lord; and the joy springing out of this love is what he calls his comfort in his affliction.

It was once my privilege, and I can say my happy privilege, to pass a night beside the dying bed of a faithful minister of the Word. His deathless and joyful spirit took its flight from earth about four o'clock the following morning. He did not suffer much pain, and had strength to express his feelings and thoughts to a limited degree. His mind was clear. He was dying of a hemorrhage which no power on earth could check. His comfort in his affliction was so great that from the joy and peace in his soul he distinctly said to me, in these exact words: "This is the happiest night of my life." He would sometimes say: "I love God. I love all his dear people. I will soon join the spirits of just men made perfect." About four o'clock in the morning he asked to be turned in the bed, and he was gone. Ah, friends, this brother had comfort in his affliction; nay, more, unspeakable comfort in death. This is what all may enjoy in a greater or less degree, who are laid on beds of affliction. A good life, a life lived in obedience to the commandments of our Lord, is sure to bring peace to the soul when we are in health, and this peace will not leave or forsake us when affliction or misfortune overtakes us. Our Lord says: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." Again he says: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." We take his yoke upon us when we repent of our sins, believe on his name, love to do his commands, come over freely and fully on his side, and work for him. Instead of working for what is perishable, we work for that which endureth to everlasting life. We come out of the darkness of sin and death into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Monday, July 31. Harvest meeting at the Flat Rock. David Kline is elected speaker.

Saturday, August 26. The job of building the abutments for the bridge at Coots's is let to contract.

Monday, August 28. Attend the burial of Brother Solomon Garber. Age, fifty-four years, five months and twenty-nine days.

Wednesday, November 1. On this day Brother Kline, in company with Joseph Miller, son of Daniel Miller near head of Linville's Creek, started on a journey to West Virginia. They got to Jacob Warnstaff's first day—had night meeting in Bethel meetinghouse, near by; meeting at Chlora Judy's, on Mill Creek, next night; meeting at James Parks's, on Looney's Creek, the night following. I will dress up the skeleton of the sermon Brother Kline preached here, as best I can. Romans 14:7. Text.—"For none of us liveth to himself."

The phrase "none of us," as used in the text, means not one of us. I say this to give emphasis to this part of my subject.

The social element, or love for society, is deeply impressed upon all the animate world. We feel the truth of a very common saying—"birds of a feather will flock together"—every time it is repeated in our hearing. This expression, in its most comprehensive sense, applies to everything having life and volition or the power to will. It is seen in the fishes of the sea, in the birds of the air, and in all the denizens of earth, from insects and worms up to the highest forms of organic brute life, and in man. This love for society, or company, or companionship, is so strong that it is the bond of the universe. Without it nothing living could subsist. To make this thought clear to your understandings, let me just call your minds to reflect a little upon what the state of things would be in the natural world if this law of love were reversed in the brute creation. Our domestic animals, instead of feeding together in harmonious and peaceable flocks and herds, would instantly turn to fighting and seeking to destroy each other. The earth would soon be strewn with the dead bodies of beasts and birds, and the waves of the sea would throw drifts of dead fishes upon the shore. But, fortunately for man, this love has never been perverted in the lower orders of creation. Each kind loves its own kind, and seeks its propagation. But man has fallen from this love, the love of his fellowman, into a state of feeling in some respects the very opposite, which is hate. Let the history of the world but unfold her page, and the truth of what I have just said will appear in lines written with human blood. It is from this, and this alone, that human laws have been instituted. It is self-preservation. This is the one single origin and basis of all human law. What protects me from the wrath or cupidity of those who would destroy or devour me, protects you; and inasmuch as all desire such protection, human governments, and laws with fearful penalties annexed, have been instituted. Right here, in a civil and social sense, the words of my text apply with profound meaning: "For none of us liveth to himself." They apply to every statute in every national code, as well as to every local law in every land.

But human laws restrain by fear, and God would have all restraint from evil to spring from love. The gulf between these two principles is immeasurably wide and deep, quite as much so as the chasm between heaven and hell. I said: Human laws restrain by fear. Why does the heart murderer not kill? He is afraid that if he kills me, and it is found out on him, somebody else will kill him who feels himself in as much danger from his bloody hand as I was. Why does the heart-rogue not steal? He is afraid his booty may not balance what it may cost in the way of punishment. So with all criminality. With those who have not the love of God in their hearts, nor the love of their neighbor which springs out of this love, nothing but fear restrains them from the worst of crimes. But this is a very unhappy state to be in, because all fear hath torment. Human beings can never be happy in their social relations, when the fear and dread of each other is the governing principle in their lives. The heart of man was originally created for the exercise of love, for perfect love, which knows no fear. All the happiness and peace of heaven spring out of love made perfect.

"There love springs pure and unrepressed;

There all are loved, and love again:

Love warms each angel's glowing breast:

Love fills each shining saintly train."

Fear, with its long and varied list of torments, primarily springs from a sense of guilt. We have a clear example in proof of this in the third chapter of Genesis. Immediately after the fall Adam is represented as saying to the Lord: "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, and I hid myself." Now, Adam had heard that voice before; it was the voice of love; but, oh! how changed! The voice itself was not changed; but the ear that heard, and the eye that saw, and the heart that felt its power, these, these were changed. Ever since that sad day man has been subject to fear, and has sought to hide himself from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord God still loved Adam, and right there and then gave a promise to save man. That promise is in these words: "I will put enmity between her seed and thy seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This was spoken to the serpent. Christ Jesus our Lord is the seed of the woman. He bruises the serpent's head under our feet whenever we sincerely desire him to do so. The head of the serpent stands for sin and transgression of God's holy law in all its forms, with the evil loves which prompt us thereto. The heel which the serpent shall bruise is man's natural body, and the natural feelings incident to him from his connection with this body. Diseases, the infirmities of age, with all the pains and anguish of body and mind; yea, death itself, and the fear of death, all, all are but the bruises which the serpent, the devil and Satan is inflicting upon the heel of the woman's seed.

But, Brethren, Christ is bruising the head of the serpent daily under our feet. Every temptation to do some forbidden thing, every inclination to indulge evil and impure desires and thoughts, fairly resisted and overcome, is just that much of the serpent's head, of his very life, bruised and crushed under our feet. Now, it appears to us as if we did all this of ourselves, and in our own strength. But this is very far from the truth. Jesus says: "Without me ye can do nothing." "I am the way, the truth and the life." All the spiritual life, which embraces all pure and holy thoughts, affections, motives, with all the truth and holy love in the Christian's soul, is from the Lord. Man of himself is nothing but evil, and but for the Lord's redeeming and saving arm would forever sink to lower and yet lower depths of ruin. But just turn with me to the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, fourth verse, and see to what the Lord offers to exalt man. We there read: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." There is quite an excitement over California at this time. Thousands have left their homes to try their fortunes in the far-off land of gold. Some have already perished in the attempt to reach the shining Eldorado, and many more may have to suffer the same sad experience. But the Gospel invites the sinner to a city whose gates are of pearl, and whose streets are paved with gold, and where the society is exempt from all the ills of life; for there they die no more.

Brethren, let us live not for ourselves, but for others, as far as lies in our power. Our love feasts show our love for one another, and our social equality with each other insomuch as we all eat together: and our beautiful order in washing one another's feet sets forth our readiness to help one another in the Christian life, for "none of us liveth to himself."

Saturday, November 4. The two brethren have forenoon meeting at old Brother Parks's, and Joseph Miller speaks in a somewhat general way on First Corinthians 15. In the evening they have meeting at Enoch Hyre's, and Brother Kline speaks on John 14:6. Text.—"I am the way." His thoughts on this passage are so original and instructive that I will endeavor to extend and elucidate them as best I can.

This passage, said he, comprehends the whole Christ as the Son of man. As the way, the holy way, we may trace and follow his steps, and walk in him from the manger to the cross; from the cross to the grave; and from the grave to his exaltation at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Of this way the prophet Isaiah speaks in these words: "And an highway shall be there, and it shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; ... but the redeemed shall walk therein." Is not this a delightful view of Christian life as it was exemplified by our Lord! The prophet calls it the highway of our God. Like the way of Noah's ark, it is above the tops of the loftiest mountains of sin and death and destruction. Like the way of the ark again, it is the way of holiness, for righteous Noah and his family are upon it.

But I wish to call the attention of all here to-night to the particular line of truth and motive the Lord had in mind when he said, "I am the way." By thus pointing out the way, and showing that eternal life and happiness are the blessed reward of walking in it, I hope to induce some here to-night to enter it. I might here generalize somewhat by calling your attention to the fact that it is natural for us all, when going anywhere, to feel best satisfied when we know the way we are on is the right way to where we want to go. It is true, however, one may tramp along through life over public roads, merely to get a subsistence from the fragments he may pick up by the way, and be wholly indifferent as to where the road is conducting him. I will not say that such a life is a fair representation of the thoughtless sinner's way, as regards all preparation for a future state of existence, but I will ask him if it is not so? But let us particularize.

The first recorded words that Jesus uttered were spoken by him when he was twelve years old. They were addressed by him to his parents when they found him in the temple: "How is it that ye sought me sorrowing? Did ye not know that I must be about my Father's business?" This was his first public step in the way we are to follow. We all have the same Father to love and obey that Jesus had, and he is none other than the God who made us. It is his business to fit and prepare us for everlasting happiness; and when we are about his business as Jesus was we are reciprocating his love by doing his pleasure. But this was only the beginning. No further record of Jesus is given until about eighteen years after, when he came to the Jordan to be baptized of John. But John said: "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? But Jesus said, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."

Some may think lightly of baptism, but if it "became" the King of glory to be baptized in water to fulfill all righteousness, how can any one esteem it lightly, who has any regard for his soul? Since he himself is the way, can we rationally conclude that he would do anything for a guide to us that is unimportant? He had no sins to confess, it is true; but still he must be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. How important, then, must it be for us to submit to this ordinance, who are all defiled with sin!

"Ashamed of Jesus! yes I may

When I've no sins to wash away:

No guilt to shun, no good to crave;

No love to give, no soul to save."

But now I must call your attention to his Sermon on the Mount. This is the most instructive, truth-abounding and love-abounding sermon the world has ever heard. It is a summary of the love, the truth, the purity of heart, the humility of soul, the poverty of spirit, the hungering and thirsting for righteousness, the forgiveness, the charity, the meekness of the true child of God. Hence our blessed Lord says right at the close: "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." I want to tell you right here that Jesus fulfilled every jot and tittle of its truth in all its varied and minute applications, in the pure and holy life he lived on earth. He thus became the way.

I have sometimes been accosted by others on this wise: "You teach a doctrine of works! You teach that people must do so and so to be saved. I understand the Word to teach that Christians are saved by faith without works." I have occasionally answered such accusations, I fear, perhaps, in not the true spirit of meekness, by retorting that if some professing Christians are ever saved at all it will surely be without any works on their part. But usually, when I am rightly at myself, or better, when my heart is with the Lord, both in answering and preaching, I say, We as Brethren believe and teach that "faith without works is dead." All good works are done in faith. And no man can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with his heart, without loving him; because faith is a loving acceptance of all the truth revealed by the Lord to man. Our heartfelt reception of that truth leads to obedience, and obedience is good works. For "by works faith is made perfect." When he says: "This do, and thou shalt live," he does not lose sight of the loving faith in which it is to be done. When he says: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify"—you? No!—"your Father, which is in heaven." It is by good works, then, that we are to glorify our Father which is in heaven.

Again to the Sermon on the Mount. I told you a while ago that this sermon sets forth the living way, or the living Christ. All the parables and miracles aim at nothing higher than to prepare the minds and hearts of the people to do, in an enlightened way, the things commanded and taught in that wonderful sermon. Obedience to all the ordinances of God's house is but a showing to the life and in the life that meekness, that state of heart purity, that forgiveness, that charity or brotherly love, that heavenly mindedness, which shine forth in clear light there. But all the good there is in that sermon consists in the doing of it. I may think of loving my enemy, and of praying for him, and of forgiving him, but will the thought avail anything, unless I carry my thought out in the acts of my life? Our Lord prayed for his enemies even on the cross. They had nailed him there, so unjustly too; but in the anguish of his distress he said: "Father, forgive them; they know not what they do."

One thought more, and I will close. We must not forget that the Lord, by his Holy Spirit, is the life of the way. Of ourselves, and left to ourselves, we could never enter the way. Without the Lord's power in us through his Holy Spirit we can do nothing. This great truth in its fullness, accepted and believed in the heart, is the highest attainment in faith that man is capable of. The deeper and warmer our love for the Lord is, the clearer and stronger our faith grows; and the clearer and stronger our faith is in him, the firmer are our assurances that he is our life. We feel so free, so at liberty to do just what we will, either good or bad, that the truth of our absolute dependence upon God for every good affection and thought, for every good motive and its attainment, is a lesson we are slow to learn. Peter had not learned this lesson when, confident in his own strength, he declared that he would not forsake the Lord. It is this sense of our own weakness that leads us to pray. Prayer must proceed from the heart. Otherwise it is not prayer, but a mere form of words. The Lord will never help any one spiritually who does not feel the need of divine help. Saul was struck down when the divine light flashed upon him with a radiance above the brightness of the sun; but that light only blinded him. The Lord then sent Ananias to inquire in the house of Judas in Damascus for one called Saul of Tarsus: "For," said he, "behold he prayeth." Without this prayer Saul would nevermore have seen anything. This prayer was the opening of his heart to do the will of the Lord, for in it he said: "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" I need only add here that the very first thing he was commanded to do was: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

Sunday, November 5. The two brethren had meeting at Isaac Shobe's and stayed all night at Jacob Bargdoll's. On

Monday, November 6, they had morning meeting at Isaac Dasher's, and night meeting at Nimrod Judy's, where they stay all night.

Tuesday, November 7. They dine at William Hevner's in Brock's Gap, and reach home in the evening.

The editor is making these transcripts from the Diary January 26, 1899; just a little over fifty years after the entries were made. He was then a young man; and the current of life's forces, like a mighty river, has borne him on its bosom over a large part of the territory—especially in the two Virginias—traveled over and preached over and prayed over by our long since sainted brother, Elder John Kline. He lived to see good results from his labors, but they were not strikingly conspicuous. As the Diary shows, now and then a brother, a sister, applies for, and receives baptism at his hands. But we must not overlook the truth that he was breaking the ice of indifference to all the claims of religion in the minds and hearts of these people. He was the very first minister in the Brotherhood to begin and carry on what may be called an aggressive effort to spread a knowledge of gospel truth through the present counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Grant, Hampshire, Mineral, Randolph and Pocahontas in what is now West Virginia. Other active and able ministers of that day, a few of whom I will here name, all living in the Shenandoah Valley, would cheerfully go with him; but he led the way. Those whose names I will give were Benjamin Bowman, Daniel Miller, Abraham Flory, Isaac Long, father of the very excellent and able preacher Isaac Long, Jr., Martain Miller, brother of Daniel; John Harshbarger, and a little later on Jacob Wine and Christian Wine. These are all gone to the heavenly shore, to live in the paradise of God. But their works do follow them. They follow them, and will follow them to the end of time, in the form of new houses of worship erected by a largely increased and increasing membership; by an increase of enlightened piety, as exemplified in its possessors by their nonconformity to the world and their attendance upon the ordinances of God's house. Here, however, we see only the beginning of the good fruits from their sowings. The records of the book of life; the palms; the white robes and crowns; the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb will better tell than we ever can here the exceeding preciousness and excellence of their works.

Thursday, December 7. Perform the marriage ceremony of Benjamin Wampler and Anna Driver at Mother Wampler's; also the marriage ceremony of Eli Summers and Sophia Frank.

Sunday, December 24. Get word of the death of Uncle Frederic Kline. Go up to his place.

Monday, December 25. Uncle Frederic is buried to-day. Age, seventy-five years, ten months and fourteen days. Stay all night at Christian Garber's.

Thursday, December 28. Perform the marriage ceremony of Michael B.E. Kline and Elizabeth Rhodes.

Sunday, December 31. At home. I have traveled in the year that is just at its close 4,411 miles. The year appears very short. When I review its labors and toils I am forced to reflect upon the imperfection of my work. I have never delivered a discourse that was satisfactory to me throughout. I hardly ever fail to see some lack of thought right where I wanted to make the truth clear and impressive. Often and often the reflections of my mind, as it were, hear a voice within saying: "Why did you not put it this way? Why did you not think of that very appropriate passage of Scripture, which would have fit the place so nicely, and have been so expressive?" I do not suppose that any one will see this little book while I live. After I am gone it may he consigned to some dark closet, with the rest of its kind, as useless rubbish. But should it ever fall into the hands of any minister of the Word who may be afflicted in his work with thoughts akin to those I have expressed in this review of the year, I beg him to be encouraged rather than discouraged by them. I believe they are messages from the Lord, who constantly seeks our highest good and greatest usefulness. Satan, if he could, would induce us to believe that we are all right, just what we should be; and in this way inflate us with a profound sense of our own importance, and in this pride of heart make us esteem ourselves greatly superior to all others. How this feeling differs from that inculcated by Paul: "Let each esteem another better than himself"! How different, too, from the words of the meek and lowly Jesus: "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted"! These reviews and criticisms of our works and ways tend to make us more thoughtful and circumspect in the future. We seek to have our lacks supplied, our wants relieved, and are induced thereby to apply our minds to the study of the Word with more vigor, looking at the same time to the Lord for the enlightening guidance of his Holy Spirit. It now lacks just ten minutes of midnight. I will retire with the retiring year, wishing to all a good-night, and joyful eyes to behold the dawn of the new year.

Thursday, February 22. Hear the distant report of cannon in commemoration of the birth of George Washington, which is said to have occurred on the twenty-second day of February, 1732. It is presumable that those who find pleasure in public demonstrations of this sort are moved by what they regard as patriotic feelings and principles. Let their motives and enjoyments spring from what they may, they have a lawful right to celebrate the anniversary of his birth in any civil way they may choose. But I have a somewhat higher conception of true patriotism than can be represented by the firing of guns which give forth nothing but meaningless sound. I am glad, however, that these guns report harmless sound, and nothing more. If some public speakers would do the same, it might be better both for them and their hearers. My highest conception of patriotism is found in the man who loves the Lord his God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. Out of these affections spring the subordinate love for one's country; love truly virtuous for one's companion and children, relatives and friends; and in its most comprehensive sense takes in the whole human family. Were this love universal, the word patriotism, in its specific sense, meaning such a love for one's country as makes its possessors ready and willing to take up arms in its defense, might be appropriately expunged from every national vocabulary.

Perform the marriage ceremony of Isaac Brady and Leanna Hulvey, at John Hulvey's.

Saturday, March 3. Night meeting at John Mongold's on Lost River. I speak from Luke 10:42. Text.—"But one thing is needful."

Various interpretations have been given of this text. Having given it a good deal of thought myself, from the belief that a right understanding of the passage is all-important, I will endeavor to make clear to your minds what appears to me the Lord's meaning. All of you take time to-morrow to read the tenth chapter of Luke, and you may see many things I will not take time to notice to-night.

"But one thing is needful." If one were to come to each of you privately to-night, and say to you: "I have plenty of this world's goods to give away, tell me what you need, and I will supply you," and remove all doubt from your mind of his meaning to do what he said, we might be surprised at the varied answers and statements that he would receive. Possibly—but I sincerely hope there are none such here to-night—some might say tobacco, or snuff, or whisky. There are, however, many things really needed for the support of life in this world, and it is a part of wisdom to know our real needs, and how best to supply them. Our Lord, on one occasion, referred to the two most general needs of people,—food and clothing,—in which he instructed them not to be forgetful of God in all their efforts to obtain these, for, said he, "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."

Our Lord does not limit our bodily wants to one thing; so it cannot be any worldly good he has in view. It must then be a need above, and of vastly more importance than any worldly consideration. On one occasion our Lord uttered a self-evident truth in these words: "He that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." By darkness in this place ignorance of divine and spiritual things is meant. Again: "The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." In this passage darkness means ignorance and light means knowledge from teaching. Sitting in the region and shadow of death is a figure so strong in its import that we hardly know how to show forth its full significance. Sitting implies an easy state of mind and feeling. The region of death signifies the place where the love of self and the love of the world bear rule, and find their gratification and satisfaction in worldly enjoyments, and that place is man's depraved and spiritually dead heart. The shadow of death signifies that beclouded state of the understanding which is the inevitable consequence of being satisfied to sit in darkness. Is not this altogether a frightful picture of man's unenlightened and unregenerate state? But it is a true picture, for it is given by the Lord, who knows what man is and what is in man.

Have I wandered away from my text? By no means. I have held up this picture to show that man is so deeply sunk in darkness or ignorance regarding himself and God that without instruction in the truths of God's holy Word he does not know and he never would know what he does need. Prior to the discovery of America the native Indian did not know that he needed anything beyond what he then had in a natural way.

When the white man came and got acquainted with him he might have addressed him in the exact words of my text as applied to his social, moral and civil state and surroundings: "One thing is needful." That one thing, properly infused and evolved, and in connection with such infusion and evolution therefrom, properly applied to use, would have transformed him from a savage to a civilized state; from temporal misery and wretchedness into the enjoyments of life, liberty and the high pursuits of happiness.

You may now wonder what that one thing would have been. One word expresses it all, and that word is education. The wonderful gifts of divine goodness, in the shape of latent treasures of coal, iron, and the precious metals; the exhaustless fertility of American soils; the salubrity of its climates; the boundless power of its falling streams, all, all these were here for the Indian alone, for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years before the white man came. Why did he not use them? Because he lacked the one thing needful, the proper education or development of his mind, the knowledge of understanding the ways and means of converting the heterogeneous into the homogeneous; the useless into the useful; the ill-formed into the suitable. What the Indian lacked is the very basis of the white man's individual and national prosperity.

I have here laid a broad foundation on which I hope to erect a superstructure of doctrine that may do us all good. I will here say that education into the knowledge and love of God's revealed Truth in its true relation to man's life is the one thing needful to every human being. I use the word education in its most comprehensive and exalted sense, that of preparing the mind and heart for the attainment of the highest and noblest ends of life on earth and in heaven. In this sense it takes in salvation with its happy experiences and results. It takes in regeneration, that wonderful and radical change in man wrought by God through his Holy Spirit, by which man passes from darkness to light, and out of death into life.

The word disciple means a learner, one who is receiving instruction. Our Lord had twelve disciples whom he was training in a special way for a special work. He was divinely educating them. He was opening their minds and hearts as he opened Lydia's heart so that she attended the things spoken of by Paul. He was imparting to them by parables, by miracles, and by private interpretations, and still above all by the examples he set, the means of acquiring this spiritual, this divine, this heavenly education that would carry them through life by his help, and make them the very pillars and grounds of the truth when they should behold His face no more on earth. This heavenly training, then, or the training of man's mind and heart for a heavenly life on earth and for the ineffable enjoyment of that life above, is the one thing needful. A deep consciousness of this is what led Mary to sit at the Lord's feet and hear his words. The want of this left Martha to be careful and troubled about many things—things of time and sense. A desire for this high attainment caused David to sing so sweetly these beautiful words: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." By dwelling in the house of the Lord David meant with the Lord's people: and as the Lord is always in his house with his people, dwelling in his house is dwelling with him. All, in every age, who sincerely desire to know the Lord, to do his will, and enjoy his presence, desire to dwell in his house, which is the church of the living God. They desire, like Mary, to sit at his feet and hear his words. They sit at his feet and hear his words when in deep humility of soul they hear his Gospel preached, or sung, or prayed; or when they read it themselves.

Can I not prevail on some here to-night to accept Mary's happy choice, to choose that good part which shall not be taken away from them?

Sunday, March 4. Meeting at Nesselrodt's. John 13 is read. Stay all night at James Fitzwater's, and come home next day.

Friday, March 16. Jacob Ritchey in the Gap is taken with a very severe attack of cramp colic. I relieve him speedily and effectually by means of active treatment. I found him in a state of almost indescribable distress from the acute pains he had. I decided very quickly, after a brief examination, that the cause of his trouble lay in a spasmodic contraction of the muscles of the bowels. The powerfully antispasmodic action of lobelia and steaming caused the nerves to let go their abnormal grip, and he was well.

Saturday, March 31. Council meeting at Shaver's meetinghouse below Woodstock in Shenandoah County, Virginia. Brother George Shaver is established in the ministry, and Brother Neyhiser advanced.

Friday, April 13. Council meeting in the Brush meetinghouse. Jacob Miller, son of Daniel Miller, is elected to the ministry of the Word.

Friday, April 20. On this day Brother Kline, in company with Brother Benjamin Bowman, started on a journey to some of the western counties of Virginia, now West Virginia. The first day they got to the widow Miller's, on Briery Branch, in the southwest corner of Rockingham County. The next day they went through North River Gap and got to Henry Sanger's, in Highland County, Virginia, where they had night meeting. Here Brother Bowman delivered a discourse, which, according to the outlines in the Diary, was so pregnant with original thought characteristic of the man that I will endeavor to expand its contracted form and give it a more readable shape. Text.—"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him: If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

There was great diversity of feeling among the Jews in Christ's day, just as there is among Gentiles now. Some were flint; others, clay in the hand of the potter. "The common people heard him gladly; but the scribes and Pharisees resisted the counsel of God against themselves." If we read the entire chapter carefully it will give us a more impressive view of and a clearer insight into the stubborn hardness of the Jewish heart than any other single chapter that I can now think of. The Jews were so wedded to their worldly sanctuary, so in love with the representative forms of worship, that they could receive no just ideas of genuine spiritual worship. Let me draw a comparison here. Many people seem to think themselves rich when they have plenty of money either in hand or standing out on interest. They think so from the fact that money represents every exchangeable commodity of worldly goods. In it they behold the supply of every bodily want, the service they need and the honor they crave.

This is something like what the scribes and Pharisees, the elders and priests saw in their religion. And these worldly emoluments and benefits are what they feared would be taken away from them, should the great principles of love to God and love to man, inculcated by our Savior, be generally received. They said: "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

The Roman power had a civil regard for the temple so long as it retained its dignity as the national house of Jewish worship. Should it, however, lose this honor by being no longer needed and used as such, the Romans would withhold this regard and convert it—as was actually done years afterward—into a barrack for soldiers. Where would then be the salaried scribe, the domineering and overbearing elder, the rich but hypocritical Pharisee, and the pompous high priest? Their place and their nation would be gone. These considerations, in connection with their inbred conceits that they were the peculiar, chosen and exclusive people of God, caused them to reject the Lord. "He came unto his own and his own received him not." But some did receive him, and "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his name." It was to such as believed on him that the words of my text were addressed. The text gave them, and it gives the same to us, three promises by the mouth of him whose word is yea and amen.

First promise: "If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples."

Second promise: "And ye shall know the truth."

Third promise: "And the truth shall make you free."

These promises are all so full of love and truth that a long and instructive discourse might be based upon each one separately, and then much of their subject matter remain untouched. We are told how we may be true disciples of the Lord. A disciple is a learner, one who is receiving instruction because of a sincere desire in him to know the truth. We are truly his disciples when we abide in his Word. What is the meaning of the clause, "If ye abide in my word"? Let James, the apostle of charity, answer: "If a man be not a forgetful hearer of the word, but a doer that worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing." For myself, I must say that learning the lessons of Christ is very much like learning the lessons given in almost any other branch of knowledge. We send our children to school. Some take delight in their books, and make satisfactory progress. Others, that have the same opportunities to learn, seem to take very little interest in their lessons or in the instructions of their teachers, and move on very slowly. Why is this? It is mainly a lack of love for study. One hungers and thirsts for knowledge, another does not. But the one that loves to acquire knowledge is the one that abides in the instructions of his teacher and his books, and he is a true disciple or learner. It is very much the same way in the school of Christ. Some hear, obey and profit greatly by what they hear. Such abide in his words. Such are his true disciples.

Some one may ask: "What are his words in which man must abide?" I answer, They are all the words he has spoken. "Man liveth by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Jesus never uttered an idle or unnecessary word. All "his words are spirit and they are life." In his last great prayer our Lord lifted up his eyes and said: "Father, sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Remember, too, that the Son spake none but the Father's words; for he said to those very wicked Jews who sought his life: "The things which I heard from the Father, these speak I unto the world." Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms of the Old Testament; and the writings of the New Testament comprise the entire Word of God. It was of the life-giving power of this Word, Old and New, that the angel said to John on the isle of Patmos: "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." All teaching is prophecy; and all teachers of Divine Truth are prophets. And as the spirit and meaning of all the words God has ever declared to man in their most exalted sense bear witness of Jesus and set him forth as the very life and truth and way, this, therefore, is what is meant in what the angel said to John. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." This Word made flesh was none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. To abide in his Word is to live in him as the way, the truth and the life. In this state we are truly his disciples. We will now turn our thoughts to the

Second Promise.—"And ye shall know the truth." This promise will surely be realized by every one, without exception, who abides in the words of the Lord. It is a promise very much like that other in these words: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Books have been written in defense of the truth of Divine Revelation. I have read several. They are ably written, and with good intentions. But I doubt if any unbeliever has ever been converted by any of them. In the first place, unbelievers are not likely to read books on such subjects; and in the second place, without a heartfelt desire to know the truth, they would not be persuaded though one should arise from the dead. To one who loves the truth, the truth bears witness of itself. It is self-evidencing in its own light. It bears its own testimony.

I not long since read what purported to be a true story of a man by the name of Casper Hauser, who had been intentionally brought up in a dark cave from his very infancy. Up to mature manhood he had never seen a ray of light, except what proceeded from the dim lantern which his keeper used in supplying him with food and other things. Had this man been told, while in the cave, of the wonderful light of the sun and the beauties of the outside world, he would not have been able to understand what was told him. But if he would have been willing to take the hand of some true friend and be led out into the light, he would not have needed any argument to convince him that what he had heard was true. Like the queen of Sheba, when she visited King Solomon, he might have said: "It was a true report I heard, but now mine eyes have seen it, and the half had not been told me."

Let me say to you, friends, that right here in this Divine Word is one greater than Solomon, whose eyes are as a flame of fire to illuminate the sinner's dark understanding, and whose countenance is as the sun shining in his strength to warm and cheer the sinner's cold and cheerless heart. That one is Jesus. As the Divine Word, he revealed his glory on the mount, and Peter in the joyfulness of his heart said: "Lord, it is good to be here." How often does the true disciple, when the Word is revealed to his heart, in the warmth of its love and light of its truth, feel like exclaiming in the same words: "Lord, it is good to be here!" But not all know the truth; and we ask, Why is it so? In answering this question several things have to be kept in mind. Some—but very few in our land—are not in reach of the preached Word, are not instructed so as to be able to read it, and are so situated socially as to hear nothing of the Gospel. Some are born deaf, who can neither hear nor read. Some are born idiots who are incapable of understanding. With such ignorance is no sin. But what shall we say of the great army of unbelievers who, in the very blaze of gospel light, shut their eyes and, like the Gergesenes, beseech the Lord to depart out of their borders. These "love darkness rather than light; and they will not come to the light." This answers the question, "Why do not all know the truth?" They will not abide in his words. They will not do the truth: "For he that doeth the truth cometh to the light." We now turn to the

Third Promise.—"And the truth shall make you free." This is the most precious promise of all. It is just what the truth will do for every one who knows the truth and obeys it in his life. It will make him free. Like the Jews, some may say, "We have never been in bondage. We are free now, and how can you say, The truth shall make us free?" The Lord may answer you on that. The Jews claimed the same freedom that you claim. They said: "We be Abraham's seed, and have never been in bondage to any man." But Jesus answered: "Verily, verily I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin." You decide now for yourself whether you are a bondservant or a free man. Do you commit sin in the love of it? Do you willingly transgress God's holy law contained in the Ten Commandments? If so, Jesus says you are a bondservant of sin. Paul says the same in these words: "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, whether of sin unto death; or of obedience unto righteousness."

Again: You are commanded to repent and believe the Gospel. You are commanded to be baptized, confessing your sins. Have you complied with these plain precepts of Holy Truth? If not, the seal of bondage is still upon you, and every day you live in sin stamps that seal deeper and yet deeper upon your heart. But there is balm in Gilead for you if you will accept it; and there is a physician there for you, if you will but let him administer the remedy. That balm is the heavenly, holy, healing Word of the Lord, and that Physician is the Lord himself. Do you ask how you are to take it? Take it in faith, "for he that believeth is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God."

"And the truth shall make you free." Thousands on earth and millions in glory bear testimony to the truth in these words. A living, loving belief in the words of Jesus; a faith that works from love and purifies the heart is the only power that will break the yoke of sin. This faith God is ever ready, through his Holy Spirit, to help you to have. Of yourself you can do nothing; but the very last words Jesus uttered on earth were these, "Lo! I am with you to the end of the world."

Sunday, April 22. The two brethren had meeting at Doe Hill, in Highland County. They took dinner at Joel Siple's, and had night meeting at George Wine's. On the twenty-third they went down the South Fork to Jacob Stone's and had meeting in one of his outbuildings. In the afternoon they had meeting at the widow Hoover's on the Fork, and stayed all night at Dr. John Keister's. On the twenty-fourth they had meeting at Bethel church in the forenoon; got dinner at Jacob Warnstaff's, and in the afternoon have meeting at Zion church in Hardy County. They stayed all night at the widow Peggy Dasher's. Mrs. Dasher (quoting from Diary) is a member of the Methodist denomination, and a very kind and hospitable woman. She lives up to her Christian profession as taught by her Discipline. We held family worship in her house and tried to impress upon the minds of her sons, who are intelligent and promising young men, the "one thing needful," the giving of their hearts to the Lord.

Wednesday, April 25. They had meeting at Nimrod Judy's. Brother Kline spoke from Matthew 18:11. Text.—"The Son of man is come to save that which was lost."

If man could fairly realize what he has lost through sin; and what may be gained by forsaking all for Christ; in other words, what it is to be lost, and what it is to be saved, he could not rest satisfied to remain one moment longer in his sin-ruined state. Like the Philippian jailer, he would instantly cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" Like the people on the day of Pentecost, being pierced as to their hearts by what they heard and saw, he would say: "Brethren, what shall I do?" "The Son of man is come to save that which was lost." It is of the utmost importance to know what was lost, so as to know what it is that the Son of man came to save. I will try to tell you this. It is you, it is I, it is every human being upon the face of the earth. And are all lost? Yes, without an exception. To what extent are we all lost? To the extent of all that is of us—body, spirit and soul. And are our bodies lost? Yes, our bodies are lost to all that God intended them to be. Our bodies were never designed to be the abodes of disease and suffering; neither were they intended to be subject to infirmity from age. When God looked down upon a finished creation he saw that it was good, yea, very good. Can this be said of our bodies now? Let the blind, the deaf, the lame, the countless sufferers on beds of affliction, the child-bearing mother, the decrepit consumptive, the rheumatic invalid, let these say whether our bodies are very good now. And how about our spirits? I use the term spirit here in the sense of its being the basis of human perception and thought. Are our spirits or minds very good? Let those who are trying to learn and look into the secrets of knowledge and science answer this. From the child in school to the highest rank in scholarship ever held by any man, the same complaint comes up, that lessons are hard, and what is acquired as knowledge is very unsatisfactory.

But I have touched only the hem of sin's garment in what I have said. If the soul or will of man were still very good, I mean to say here that if man had not lost his love for his fellow-man and his love for God; in other words, if man still loved the Lord his God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself, feebleness of body and weakness of mind would be matters of small moment. The body is soon done with any way; and the mind or intellect is still sufficiently clear for all the purposes of life in this world; and when once disengaged from the body that here clogs and fetters it,—as it will be at death,—in the hope of being lifted to a higher sphere of perception and thought, the loss to man suffered by the fall in these two departments of his being would be comparatively small.

But man's will or inmost love is the secret spring of life. From this all his affections flow; and right here we find his Marah, the bitter waters of his soul. In reading the story of the children of Israel in the wilderness we learn that they came to a place where the waters were all bitter. Brethren, that place is right in our own hearts. Our hearts are the springs from which these bitter waters flow in the form of "evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." Mark 7:21, 22. What an outflow of bitterness! Enough to flood a world to destruction! And this destruction had come, and its arm would have held its power over man eternally, had not the great Prophet, the Moses of love, come and cast a tree into the waters whereby they were made sweet. The Lord in his Word is this tree. He is the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. His voice comes to us from far: "I am the Lord that healeth thee; for the Son of man came to save that which was lost."

It is of infinite importance for us to know how he saves us, what we are expected to do, how we are to work with him and to what extent. I will try to give some light on this from the Word itself. Jesus said to his disciples: "If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him." This beautiful and striking parable, showing the benefit of knowledge and the disadvantage of ignorance, lights the sinner's way for his first step toward the Lord. Knowledge, which is light from the Lord through his Word, is the very first thing every one must receive. The sinner first receives the clay and the spittle applied to his blind eyes. He does not get his sight from this application. When he hears the Gospel with something of a desire to have his eyes opened he is receiving this anointing of his eyes. He must go to the pool of Siloam and wash before he can have sight. This washing in the pool is the first step in that humble spirit of obedience by which the understanding is cleared up and prepared to know the Lord. When any sinner gets this far the Lord is sure to find him and whisper in his heart: "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" Every true penitent sinner, with his eyes open, will answer in heart: "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?" Then the joyful response will be whispered again: "Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee." The Lord meets the returning sinner in his blessed Word, and there he shows himself to him, and there he talks with him.

Water, in many places in the Old as well as the New Testament, is the emblem or symbol of Divine Truth. I need not say that without water man cannot live. His body is largely composed of water. It is consequently essential as a beverage; and as an ablution, indispensable to cleanliness. Reading and hearing the Word of Divine Truth from a real thirst or desire to know the truth, is what is spiritually symbolized by drinking water. This may be proved by what the Lord said to the Samaritan woman: "He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; for it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." By the expression, "never thirst," Jesus does not mean that there will never be any further inclination to drink the water of life, but he means that there will in that soul never be any more perishing, dying thirst, for the water of life will be like a spring in the heart that will flow on forever from the Lord. It will be the rock in the wilderness that supplied the camp of Israel with water, and that Rock is Christ.

But again. The sinner's whole inner man is defiled with sin. This may be illustrated by the spots and scales and raw blotches on the skin, caused by the disease called leprosy. This disease affected every part of the body; but, like smallpox and some other kindred affections, it made itself mostly visible upon the surface of the body. It gave the victim a horrible appearance, so much so that no one was willing but such as were similarly afflicted, to go near a leper. But the water of Divine Truth will effectually and forever wash away all this filth and loathsomeness from the redeemed sinner's soul and prepare his spiritual body for that bright array of fine linen, clean and white, in which the saints shall be clothed as a fit emblem of their righteousness. Paul calls all this the washing of regeneration. In that great change, without which no man can see the kingdom of heaven, called regeneration, or the new birth, wrought by God only, the water of truth is the means employed. This is so evident that water is specifically named in connection with it in these words: "Except a man be born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."

Ananias did not forget this when instructing the penitent Saul of Tarsus; for at the close of all the words the Lord had authorized him to say to Saul, we find these: "And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. And Saul arose and was baptized." Saul's sins were not washed away by the water in which his body was baptized, but that water symbolized the truth, the Lord's truth, that does wash away sins. And his being immersed in it in each of the three names, according to the great commission which the Lord had given some time before, signified his faith in the Word of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Peter says: "Baptism is not the washing away of the filth of the flesh," but I feel authorized to say that it is the outward sign or emblem of the power of divine truth to wash away the filth of the soul. The change in Saul, wrought by this act as the crown of obedience, was so great that from this time on he was a new man, and had a new name, for he was called Paul ever after.

But we must not forget that salvation is all of God. Of ourselves we can do nothing. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. All that man can do is to take the Lord's hand and be led in the way; to open his eyes to the light, and his ears to the truth, and his heart to the life, in faith receiving, and in life living the precepts that make him wise unto salvation.

Thursday, April 26. The two brethren preached the funeral of Isaac Shobe's mother. She had passed away shortly before, at the high age of ninety-four years. They spoke from First Corinthians 15. From here they went to James Parks's and had night meeting. The next day they had meeting at William Parks's; and on

Saturday, April 28, they had meeting at Enoch Hyre's in forenoon, and at Elijah Judy's at night. They anointed Sister Elijah Judy with oil in the name of the Lord.

Sunday, April 29. They had meeting at Sister Chlora Judy's in the forenoon, and then crossed the Fork mountain to Nimrod Judy's, where they had night meeting and stayed all night.

Monday, April 30. They got home. Quoting from the Diary Brother Kline says: "I love to go among the mountains. The people there seem to pay better attention to what is said, and manifest better behavior at our meetings than they do in the thickly-settled and more fashionable sections of our State. It is true that ignorance and poverty abound in some places; but are the souls of the poor less dear to the Lord than the souls of the rich? On one occasion our Lord referred to the fact that the Gospel was preached to the poor as a proof of its heavenly origin. But there are intelligent people living among those mountains. And in the way of hospitality and genuine kindness, meeting you with a smile and a hearty welcome, they are probably unsurpassed as a people, rich and poor alike."

The high regard in which Brother Kline held the people of the western part of the old State of Virginia, and the reciprocation of that regard by their high appreciation of him and his mission, accounts for the many visits he made among them, and his devotion to their spiritual welfare. Nor was his work evanescent. The seal of his influence was so deeply impressed upon their affections and memories that to-day, after the lapse of fifty years, its stamp is almost as fresh as when first made. Nor is this a matter of wonder or surprise. The sermons I have set in order were substantially preached by him and other ministers, mostly led into that section by him; and the power of such discourses, together with the worship and instructions held and given in families wherever he stayed, had an influence that will never be forgotten. The writer's own personal acquaintance with the people living in sections of his vast district of labor gives him to know that the name of John Kline is still as a household word with many of them. Nor is this all. The indoctrination of these people into the beliefs and practices of Revealed Truth as held by the Brethren was so profound, so clear, so convincing, that they to-day stand abreast of others in defense of these doctrines as at first received, in the face of all the isms and religious innovations of the times.

Friday, May 18. Start to the Annual Meeting. Ride Nell. Stay first night at Isaac Dasher's.

On this journey the Editor can not depart from the simple but beautiful and almost childlike daily entries in the Diary. If they appear monotonous to the reader, the Editor begs him to leaf over them and find something that will suit his taste better. He must, however, say something about Nell. She proved to be a very remarkable mare indeed. For strength and endurance, through cold and heat, in hunger and thirst, over mountains numberless and pathless woods and valleys, on long and exhausting journeys, Nell has had few equals. History has not been willing to drop the name of Bucephalus; and Nell is more worthy of a place on its roll. He bore a conqueror for a corruptible crown: she bore a conqueror for an incorruptible crown. His was an earthly service; hers a heavenly. The name of Nell, under very peculiar and distressing surroundings, will appear again.

Saturday, May 19. Meeting at Elijah Judy's. Hebrews 12 is read. After meeting go to James Parks's, and stay second night.

Sunday, May 20. Meeting at Patch's church on Looney's Creek in Hardy County, Virginia. Speak from Acts 2. Dine at John Stingley's. Have night meeting at Jacob Cosner's, where I speak on Hebrews 12, and stay third night.

Monday, May 21. Come to meeting at Solomon Michael's. Elections are held. Thomas Clarke and Michael Lion are established; William Michael is elected speaker; William George and Thomas Lion are elected deacons. Come to Samuel Arnold's on New Creek, and stay fourth night.

Tuesday, May 22. Dine at Robert Broadwater's on the Alleghany, and stay fifth night at Eli Whetzel's.

Wednesday, May 23. Meeting and elections. First John is read. John Ogg is elected speaker, and Eli Whetzel deacon. Love feast in the evening. A little company of brethren and sisters, with the Lord in our midst. A time I shall probably never forget. Stay sixth night with Brother Whetzel.

Thursday, May 24. Meeting at the Greenville church. Matthew 5 is read. In the evening have meeting in a schoolhouse near the widow Berkley's, and stay seventh night at her house.

Friday, May 25. Meeting in a schoolhouse near Daniel Beachley's. Matthew 24 is read. Five persons baptized. Stay eighth night at John Beachley's near the Berlin meetinghouse.

Saturday, May 26. Meeting at the meetinghouse. John 3 is read. Stay ninth night at Brother J. Beachley's.

Sunday, May 27. Meeting at the meetinghouse. Acts 2 is read. Stay tenth night at same place. We had much edifying speaking on the chapter read. One beloved brother spoke at some length on these words in the last verse of the chapter read: "Having favor with all the people." He said in substance: "Brethren, the having favor with all the people is very pleasant to us naturally, and encouraging spiritually, if the favor be of the right kind and obtained in the right way. I am here reminded, in the way of a comparison, of what a distinguished statesman once said of the presidency of these United States. He said it is an office that is neither to be directly sought nor directly declined. I do not think his statement would be far out of the line of true wisdom if applied to us as Brethren, in relation to our standing in the eye of society at large. What may be truthfully said of one brother or sister in private life, in this particular regard, may be truthfully said of our entire Brotherhood in a public regard.

"We all know how pleasant it is to enjoy the favor, the friendship and respect of those living around us. The enjoyment from this source has given rise to the formation of 'harmonies' and 'colonies,' with some. Such establishments are favorable to social enjoyment, no doubt; but it is to be feared that segregation in that form may engender feelings akin to selfishness, and dwarf the higher impulses to general good. But the favorable regard in which we may be held should not be sought as a consideration of the first importance. To serve and please the Lord should be the first and foremost aim of every brother and sister. If the favor and respect of others meet us in the line of duty, as set forth in our doctrines and practices as a Brotherhood of believers in and humble followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us regard it as a desirable token of good already done, and a promise of good that may still be done.

"Brethren, a review of our growth in numbers and influence as a body of Christians, with our original and, in the eyes of the world, peculiar observances as to ordinances in the church, and deportment and customs in the world, is to say the least pleasantly surprising. Our name as Brethren is hardly a century old, if I am rightly informed; and what are we now? A legion, not of devils, but of angels for good. And may I not here add the words of my text, 'Having favor with all the people'? I do not think these historic words are to be construed to mean that the Brethren of that Pentecostal day had no enemies; but that they had the favor of the disinterested and unprejudiced classes. This is just what I think we have, where we are known. There has been a day,—but thank God that day is past,—when public opinion, if history be correct, was largely the reverse of what it is with us. Vice, then, was virtue; and goodness was criminal. Rebukes of sin and calls to repentance and reformation of life were silenced by the martyr's faggot and stake. We cannot here, and we would not if we could, attempt to trace the sublime array of causes, both divine and human, that have contributed to the happy change we now enjoy; but sure it is, we now realize the ideal dream of the far-off seer, described in these words: 'But they shall sit, every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid.' We have the favor of the people when we have the favor of the government; for the people are the government.

"Brethren, we have cause for inexpressible emotions of gratitude to God for the favor we enjoy. The outlook is bright; the sky of promise calm and serene. It is said that a Grecian patriot and statesman once assumed a very weighty responsibility, which required him to leave his home and State to meet it. He seemed loath to go. He expressed fear that things would not go on in his absence as they had in his presence. Finally, however, he secured a pledge from every member of the Athenian court that no change in the order of government and the laws should be made during his absence. He went; but such was his love for his country that he never returned. Brethren, the time is not far distant when I, your humble servant, burning with love for my church and people, will have to leave my home and country. Nothing, I say nothing, could give me more comfort when I make the start than the assurance on your part that you will make no changes in our faith and rules of order, in church and out, during my absence. Then will I bid a joyful farewell to all, feeling that no changes from our present order will ever be made, for I will never return."

Monday, May 28. Our Annual Meeting begins. Questions received and some motions made. Stay eleventh night at same place.

Tuesday, May 29. Council continues. Good order and love prevail. Stay twelfth night at same place.

Wednesday, May 30. The business having all been disposed of in a way as satisfactory as we could do it, after prayer and the singing of the hymn,

"Blest be the dear uniting love

That will not let us part,"

the meeting closed, and we gave each other the parting hand about 10 a.m.

Have night meeting at Brother John Ogg's on way home. Speak from part of Luke 13, and stay thirteenth night with Brother Ogg.

Thursday, May 31. Stay fourteenth night at Thomas Clark's.

Friday, June 1. Stay fifteenth night at Jacob Cosner's.

Saturday, June 2. Meeting at Rorabaugh's on New Creek, in Hampshire County, Virginia. Acts 10 is read. Get to Enoch Hyre's and stay sixteenth night.

Sunday, June 3. Meeting at Enoch Hyre's. Part of Acts 2 is read. Polly Stambaugh is baptized. Cross the mountain to Leonard Brake's, where I stay seventeenth night.

Monday, June 4. Attend the burial of Frederic Dove in the Gap. Age, eighty-seven years, two months and seventeen days Stay at Dove's eighteenth night.

Tuesday, June 5. Attend the burial of Brother Nasselrodt, near Dove's. Age, sixty-one years, five months and twenty-eight days. In the evening get home.

Friday, August 17. Attend the burial of Elizabeth, daughter of William Hevner, in the Gap. She died of typhoid fever. I speak from these words in Psalm 103: "Surely, man's days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth: ... and the place thereof shall know it no more." Her place in the home is sadly vacant. We can only bow in tearful sympathy with the bereaved family.

Thursday, September 6. Perform the marriage ceremony of William Miller and Sarah Shoemaker, and the same for Levi Runion and Elizabeth Aubrey.

Friday, September 7. This day Brother Kline started on another journey to Hampshire County, Virginia. He attended a succession of meetings and love feasts both going and returning, as was his custom. He got home September 21, after an absence of just two weeks. He does not forget Nell. On the evening of his arrival home he says: "On the journey from which I have just returned, Nell has carried me 221 miles. If Martin Luther and John Wesley are correct in their opinions, Nell may be rewarded for her uncomplaining faithfulness, in a future state of existence. But as we have no assurance of this, I desire to reward her in this world as well as I can, for her gentle and untiring service. I think the comfort of brutes generally is not thought of as much as it should be. Solomon says: 'The righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.' Prov. 10:12. Solomon deals out a bit of very cutting sarcasm here, in the subordinate clause of his proposition; but it is fairly merited by such as are cruel to brutes. People do not, I am sure, regard the comfort of brutes as they should. There are, here and there, noble exceptions; but horses labor faithfully for us, and very often the only reward they get is harsh treatment and scanty feeding. The Lord has graciously given to man the supremacy over the brute creation. But man should not show his supremacy by acting the part of a tyrant; but, like a wise ruler, 'do justice and love mercy.' Whatever else may be brought against me on the day of judgment, I am resolved, by the help of God, that no brute shall there, in fact or figure, rise up and say: 'You mistreated me intentionally.'"

Sunday, September 30. Attend the burial of William Hevner's son Harvey. He died of typhoid fever. His age was twenty-seven years, two months and four days. It has been a very short while since his sister Elizabeth passed away. We should weep with those who weep: but our deepest sympathy for others cannot give us a realization of the depth of grief felt by bereaved parents and their children. Happy are those who can look beyond the tomb to have their sorrows healed.

Between this time and the close of the year Brother Kline made only one long journey. He and Anna went in his family carriage to Maryland first. After attending a number of love feasts and other meetings around Frederic City and Shepherdstown, they went down the Cumberland Valley beyond Harrisburg, and after a few days' sojourn there they return by very nearly the same route they went. They were just three weeks and two days on this journey.

End of 1849.

Whole distance traveled this year by me is 3,903 miles.

Sunday, February 12, 1850. Meeting at Buck Hill, in Shenandoah County, Virginia. I speak from John 6:44, 45. Text.—"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him."

I here note the substance of what I said. My text sets forth the two great facts which all should know: man's weakness and God's power. The first part of the text declares man's absolute weakness in himself and of himself. In another place our Lord says: "Without me ye can do nothing." In the text he says: "No man can come to me." Had he stopped here we would be left without hope. But he did not stop here. Immediately, as if by the same breath of love, he adds: "Except the Father which hath sent me draw him." This part shows that if the Father does draw a man he can come to Jesus. Now, then, does the Father draw? The prophets say he does in these words: "And they shall all be taught of God." He draws them by teaching them. In what follows we may learn the power of this Great Teacher. Notice very particularly: "Every man,"—this means every human being, whether man or woman,—"every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me."

But here are things very deep. Our minds inquire to know how the Father, whose voice we have never at any time heard and whose shape we have never seen, can teach us. It is through the Son that the Father speaks, for the Son bears this testimony himself in these words: "I speak not from myself; but the Father which sent me, he hath given me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life eternal: the things therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak." Nothing can be plainer than this that Jesus spoke with authority, the divine authority of the Father, and that he is God the Father manifest in the flesh, the Emmanuel—God the Father with us. For further proof of this, turn to Isaiah 9:6, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Again our Lord says: "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth." Paul's teaching harmonizes with this: "For," says he, "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." By the Godhead he means the Divine Head of creation, providence, redemption and eternal salvation: "For all things were made by him;" and as Paul again says: "In him all things consist," or hold together.

We are now prepared to understand how Jesus could know the thoughts of men, and why he needed not that any should testify to him of man, for he knew what was in man. He knew all this by creation and preservation, by his power of perception which is boundless, and his knowledge which is infinite. Man's body, when viewed intelligently, with its organs of life and motion, is a thing of wonder in our eyes. Anatomy reveals in its organs, designs and purposes in their structures and uses which overwhelm us with astonishment. What, then, must the soul be, when its structure and organization, essence and power as far exceed those of the body as the man who lives in the house exceeds the house? For the body is nothing more than the house or habitation of the soul. Paul calls it "our earthly house." He says: "In this we groan—it will be dissolved." He then immediately turns his thought to the renewed soul or spiritual body, and calls it "a building of God, a house not made with hands." All things, then, pertaining to our souls, being naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do, we may rest secure in the belief that whatever he tells us about ourselves is true. He knows just what we can do and what we cannot do. And it is he who says, "No man can come to me, except the Father draw him."

But perhaps some inside this house are saying within themselves: "Is man not free to choose good or evil—to do right or wrong?" I answer that he is free,—free as the eagle in the air; free as the fox in the bramble; free as the lion in the desert; free as birds and beasts are free to comply with the instincts of their natures and the inclinations of their wills. Man's freedom is what makes him a responsible being. He is yet more free than the brute creation; because that is bounded by the limits of capacity. But man's mind is capable of indefinite expansion and elevation in knowledge. Still the text is true: "No man can come to me, except the Father draw him." Let me draw a comparison here. A king once made a great supper and invited many to come and partake of it. At the right time he sent forth his servants to tell them that were bidden to come, for all things are now ready. Did they go? No! They all began to make excuses. You see they were free, free to go, and free to stay away. They chose to stay away, and in this very way every sinner uses his freedom; he chooses not to come to the Lord.

When a man's will or a woman's will is set on something they love above everything else, can they of themselves change their wills? I have known several instances in which a young lady set her affections upon a man who was not her equal in any respect, and very far below her in general character. I have known the mother of such a lady to bend over her daughter, and with tearful eyes entreat her to withdraw her affections from that unworthy object and give them to another who, in breathless suspense, and with a soul and character and surroundings worthy of her, was but waiting to receive them. And did that young lady change? Did she withdraw her love from the unworthy object and give it to the other? She did not. Her answer every time was: "Mother, I cannot." Just in this sense, relatively, the sinner is free. He is free to love most what he likes best, and that is himself and the world. In this state he would forever remain but for "the grace of God which bringeth salvation." Right here comes in the necessity for the change of heart, the new creation and regeneration, as Paul calls it; the being born again, as the Lord and Peter call it, upon which everything depends, and without which no man can enter the kingdom of heaven. This is connected with the drawing of the Father, "for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart."

When I was young I could not understand what it is to come to Jesus, to be with him, to follow him. I thought I could readily see how people could come to him to be healed, and to be cured of their diseases, and to be fed by his liberal hand, when he was visibly on earth in the flesh. But he is no longer here in that form. I was in darkness. My eyes could behold no form which I could approach unto; no visible steps for me to follow; hear no audible voice of comfort to encourage, of instruction to enlighten, and of commands to obey. Where, thought I, is he to be found, and how are we to know when we have found him? These and many other similar thoughts occupied my mind, until I wondered much why he did not stay when he was here. I suppose that many young but thoughtful minds have wandered, and others at the present time are now wandering in this same wilderness of doubt and uncertainty. Let me say to you, my dear young friend, that Jesus is here as truly now as he was when visible to natural eyes. As God, he is here in his glorified state. To every one who desires him he says in words of warmest love, "Lo, I am with you alway." These are his very words. He is everywhere. He said, just before his death, by way of encouraging his disciples: "I go away, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you." He continued: "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come unto you." But he has promised yet more than his presence to go with all who love him: he declares in words we can understand that "if a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Again he says: "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit." In his last prayer to the Father he says: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one." These promises ought to assure every one of the greatness and the power of the love of Christ; since he loves us so much as to be willing to come and dwell with us and be in us forever.

It is by faith that we come to him. We see him with the eye of faith. We walk with him by faith, not by sight. We love him because he first loved us, and gave his life to redeem and save us. All this and much more we learn in his Word. His Word is the Gospel which is able to make us wise unto salvation. Let me exhort all of you, old and young, to read and search for its hidden treasures, for therein are contained the words of eternal life. It is the duty and privilege of every one to pray. Prayer is the eye that looks to Jesus, and the heart that says: "Lord, save, or I perish." Faith is the hand that lays hold of his saving promises. Obedience is the whole man in active service on the side of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday, March 3. Go to Sellers's schoolhouse. Speak on John 14:6. Dine at Felix Senger's; then home.

Felix Senger deserves more than a passing notice. He, with his father, Joel Senger, moved to Rockingham County, Virginia, about the year 1847. Both father and son belonged to the Brotherhood, and each was like the other in devotion to its interests, actively employed. Felix established a nursery of fruit trees, the second, if not the first, established in the county. Most of the orchards planted from his nursery, after having given the most abundant satisfaction, are now very old or dead. Some trees, though in the decline of life, still tell the sweet story of Felix Senger's nursery. They are like some good people, who, though old, can still remember and tell of the one who, though dead, was the means of their being planted in the Lord's orchard of spiritual fruit trees.

Brother Kline attended the burial services of four aged people in this month. The first was that of old mother Mills, as he calls her. This took place the fifth. Her age was eighty-one years and eleven months. The next was that of Mrs. John Carr, on the eleventh. Her age was seventy-one years. The next was that of Mr. Stern, on the eighteenth. His age was eighty years. The next was that of Alexander Glovier, on the twenty-seventh. His age was seventy-nine years, one month and twenty-four days.

Saturday, March 30. Attend council meeting at Shaver's meetinghouse in Shenandoah County. Samuel Mummert is elected speaker.

Thursday, April 11. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Jacob Wine and Jacob Miller are elected delegates to the Annual Meeting.

Saturday, April 20. Council meeting at the brick meetinghouse in Augusta County. Daniel Brower is established, and Jacob Brower advanced in the ministry.

Sunday, May 5. Meeting in our meetinghouse. Romans 6 is read. Joshua Wampler and wife, Hannah Sites, Mary Miller, Hetty Showalter and Mrs. Eaton were baptized by me to-day.

Tuesday, May 7. Perform the marriage ceremony of John Tussing and Susan Watkins.

Monday, May 13. Visit Mary Wampler, who is very sick. Give her a course of medicine. Then go to see Christian Fulk in the Gap. He is very sick.

Tuesday, May 14. Visit Christian Fulk again. He appears some better, but his case is very doubtful.

Note.—This brother, after a severe illness, in which he was assiduously attended by Brother Kline, was buried June 9 following.

Thursday, May 16. Attend an evening meeting at John Zigler's in Timberville. Brother George Shaver is there. He speaks from Acts 2.

Substance of what he said: The day of Pentecost witnessed the establishment of the first Christian church on earth. The wonderful prophecy of Joel received its fulfillment on this day. The sun had been darkened and the moon turned into blood, or darkened so as to appear like black blood; volcanic fire and the vapor of smoke had attended the earthquake while the Lord of glory hung upon the cross; the baptism in the Spirit and in the fire was now present; the apostles were induced with miraculous gifts to speak with other tongues; and when Peter and the rest set forth the Lord Jesus in his resurrected glory and power, the Jews there assembled, being cut to the heart, cried out: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The answer which Peter gave then and there is the true answer to that all-important question. I sincerely desire that every unconverted man and woman in this house will duly consider the answer, for it may redound to the salvation of his or her soul. I will therefore give it in the exact words we find recorded. They are these: "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." Notice here, obedience comes first. The repentance and the baptism precede the gift of the Holy Spirit. God is holy; and the sanctuary must be cleansed before he is willing to set up his glory there. The Temple had to be dedicated before the Lord could dwell in it. This gift of the Holy Spirit, by which we are to understand his entering into our hearts and making his abode with us, is the beginning of a heavenly life in the soul. The fruit of the Spirit, as it appears in the life of its possessor, is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, meekness, temperance, brotherly kindness, charity.

The body of every true follower of Jesus Christ is a temple of the Holy Ghost. But I cannot dismiss the subject yet. I have reason to believe there are some unconverted men and women in this little assembly. Were those hearers on that day sinners above all men? "I tell you nay! And except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." I sometimes think they were not such sinners as many we see around us now. Was it not for these the Lord prayed as he hung upon the cross? Hear his dying prayer: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Can this be said of the many who go on heedless of all the preaching, and praying and reading that is being done to instruct their minds and move their hearts? I do not think it can. And it is to be feared that in a coming day the very sinners who go on in sin, facing the very light of gospel day, may be compelled to realize the awful truth uttered by our Lord: "He that knoweth to do his Master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes."

But there is glorious news here for every one who is willing to obey. Thousands of obedient hearts are rejoicing to-night, on earth and in heaven, in the happy experiences they have of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their souls. This is the good news, this is the Gospel of their salvation. God is his own witness in every one that loves to obey him. "If ye abide in my words, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. It is the Lord in man as "the way, the truth and the life." "Ye are God's sanctuary: ye are God's building." How ineffably exalted is the state of that man in whose heart and mind the Lord has fixed his dwelling place! We can not realize the glory that awaits us, when the veil that now hides the inner sanctuary shall drop and disclose to our eyes the enraptured vision.

Brethren and sisters, let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Therefore let us rejoice evermore; let us pray without ceasing; and "in every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God concerning us."

Thursday, May 23. Perform the marriage ceremony of Christian Runion and Diana Estep.

Saturday, May 25. Preach the funeral of Elijah Judy's wife. A very dear sister whom I lately baptized has left us. But our loss is her gain. She was the sister of Enoch and Saul Hyre. She leaves a sad husband and two very fine children, Enoch and Sallie. My prayer for them is that they, with their father, may follow in the steps of their pious mother and receive her glad welcome

On the blissful shore,

Where partings are no more.

Thursday, July 4. Attend the burial of Peter Driver on the head of Muddy Creek, in Rockingham County. His age was eighty-three years and eight months. He was an honest member of our Brotherhood. His children consisted of four sons and five daughters; and they are now all heads of families, doing well, and members of our order of Brethren. Peter Driver was a blacksmith. He once related a fact to me which I will here note. "In my early days," said he, "we knew nothing of binding wagon and carriage wheels with a heated tire. I wonder," continued he, "that our daily experience in working iron did not teach us that an iron band or tire is larger when it is hot than when cold. Some may have thought of this," he said, smiling, "but if they did, I guess they were afraid that if they would venture to put on the tire hot, the wheel might be burned up before they could get the tire cooled." He was very partial to the German language, and was never known to speak English from choice. Some one once said to him, "Mr. Driver, English people have the same God that German people have." "I believe that; but he speaks to German people in a much plainer way in his Word than he does to English people." Of course he could understand German best.

Saturday, July 13. Go to Page County. Cross the Massanutton and Peaked mountains by what is known as Koontz's Path. Daniel Dovel and John Harsbarger are with me. They are very pleasant and cheerful brethren. We spend the night together at Brother William Dovel's.

Sunday, July 14. Meeting at Liberty schoolhouse. Isaac N. Walter is there. He is a well-known and very popular preacher in the Christian church. This is the first time I have ever met with him. He is very friendly and sociable, and will carry an influence wherever he goes. He was at one time a very strong Adventist. He professed to believe in our foreknowing the day of our Lord's coming, and announced it as being very near at hand. Brother Benjamin Bowman told me that on one occasion friend Walter announced that he would preach a sermon on the second advent of Christ, and therein tell the day on which we might confidently expect the Lord to appear in glory, and give the scripture evidences on which his proofs rested. This sermon was announced for Antioch, a brick meetinghouse belonging to the Christian connection, and stood four miles north of Harrisonburg, and not far from where Brother Bowman lived. He told me that a large concourse of people was present to hear, and he with the rest. The discourse was eloquent, but with the thoughtful not very convincing. But the day, which Mr. Walter had so confidently set for the appearing of the Lord in glory, passed by as all other days pass by, in harmony with all the other notes that make the music of the spheres. Not long after this, the two met in the road. Walter looked a little bashful, but spoke first, and said: "Well, Brother Bowman, I was mistaken." "Yes," Brother Bowman replied, "but I had discovered that before you told me."

Sunday, August 4. Meeting in Elk meetinghouse, in Page County. I speak from Luke 16:9. Text.—"Make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations."

This is a very remarkable passage of Scripture. My understanding of it differs a little from that of some of our Brethren, but it is all in love, and each bears with the other's interpretation. I will here give a brief outline of my view of it. I think the Lord meant to encourage a very free use of this world's goods in the way of helping the poor, especially those of the household of faith. Through Paul we learn that Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Christian people may imitate the unjust steward in this one thing: he aimed to provide for the future by making use of what was within his reach at the present. This may be our Lord's meaning. But he may have meant more. The wealth of some has doubtless been acquired in an unrighteous way, while in their unregenerate state, heedless of conscience and justice. Such mammon or wealth must be unrighteous, because unrighteously obtained. Those who have acquired wealth in an unjust way, and who afterward repent in heart and see the evil of their former course, may be deeply distressed, and at the same time have no opportunity to do as Zaccheus did,—make restoration. To such, it does appear to me, Jesus would say: "Let my Father's children have a share of it. Use it in a way that will glorify him, by helping his dear children; and if you fail to be found in the number of those who are 'my brethren' at the great day of final accounts, you may still come in as 'the blessed of the Father' and inherit the kingdom prepared for you. It will then be my joy to acknowledge you and say: 'I was hungry, and you fed me; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came unto me.'" Whatsoever is done to one of the least of the Lord's brethren he accounts it as done to him. Such is the wonderful union and identity of the Lord and his people. When Paul was struck down he cried out: "Who art thou, Lord?" And the answer came: "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest."

I would earnestly encourage all to go on unto perfection. Then we will be sure of the heavenly inheritance. "And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord."

Friday, August 9. Harvest meeting at our meetinghouse. I baptize Henry Swartz and wife, and Barbara Yount.

Sunday, August 31. Meet brethren Daniel P. Saylor and Boyle at Shaver's meetinghouse, in Shenandoah County.

Sunday, September 1. Meeting at same place. The visiting brethren speak to great edification and comfort.

Monday, September 2. Meeting at Flat Rock meetinghouse. The visiting brethren are with us, and rivet attention by their able discourses. Brother Saylor does not seem to be lifted out of his shoes by the encomiums passed upon him. But I suppose he has got used to them.

Tuesday, September 3. Meeting at our meetinghouse. The visiting brethren with us to-day. They draw large congregations.

To-day I was somewhat amused at an answer I heard given. Brother Sam Wampler noticed the deep interest visible in the congregation, and, I suppose, contrasted it in his mind with that manifest on occasions when none but our home preachers are present. He accosted, in a very pleasant way, one of the members in these words: "How does it happen that when I preach you hang your head as if you might be asleep; but when preachers from a distance come you appear to be all eyes and ears?" "Why," replied the brother, "Sam, when you preach I know it is coming all right whether I hear it or not: but when strange brethren get up I do not know what may be coming, and think it best to listen."

Monday, September 9. This day Brother Kline and Daniel Yount start in company of each other to Pennsylvania. They went on horseback, out through the mountains of the western part of Virginia and Maryland.

Friday, September 13, they had meeting at the widow Jacob Snider's in the forenoon, and evening meeting at Brother Jacob Steel's, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. On the fourteenth they had meeting at the same place.

Sunday, September 15. They had meeting and a love feast at the Yellow Creek meetinghouse. On the sixteenth they visit John Deahl's, John Eschleman's and stay all night at John Brumbaugh's, near Clover Creek meetinghouse, in Blair County, Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, September 17. They attended a meeting and love feast at the Clover Creek meetinghouse. John 3 was read. Isaac and George Brumbaugh were established in the ministry of the Word. One person was baptized.

Wednesday, September 18. They passed through Martinsburg to Brother David Allebaugh's, where they had night meeting. Brother Kline had for his subject "The Importunate Widow, and the Unjust Judge."

Diary Notes.—We should not conclude from this parable that our heavenly Father is compared to an unjust judge who has no regard for his subordinates. This is not at all the point of comparison. We should not let our minds dwell here for a moment, because the contrast between the character of the judge and that of God is so great that there is no point of similarity.

The whole lesson, I think, is found in the power of prayer. What moved the judge to grant the widow's request? It was her importunity. But he did this only to get rid of her. It, however, shows what earnestness will do even with an unfeeling man. Here the comparison comes in. If an unfeeling man, who has no reverence for God and no regard for the welfare of others, can be influenced to regard the petition of a poor widow, though from a selfish motive, because she will not be put off, what may we not expect to do by prayer when our Father in heaven is ever ready to hear and answer prayer? He invites us to pray. He says: "Pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." We must by no means lose sight of the one great point in the comparison, and that point is the widow's earnestness. Prayer, without earnest feelings of want and dependence upon God, is but a form of words, and no prayer at all.

But let us notice the point in her prayer: "Avenge me of mine adversary." Who her adversary was we have no means of knowing, nor how he became her adversary. But we are told who the Christian's adversary is. Peter tells us in these words: "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The word avenge means to conquer or destroy an enemy, for the purpose of securing tranquility to the party avenged. In this sense Moses avenged the children of Israel on the Midianites. In the same sense Ahimaaz said: "Let me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord hath avenged the king of his enemies." I think you are now prepared to understand what the Lord means by the words: "And will not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily."

It is now understood that the devil, the very vilest and worst of all tramps, is the Christian's adversary. But God has promised to avenge him, if he will call upon him in that spirit of earnestness which is deaf to denial, such as the widow had. We must not forget, however, that God, in all he has ever done for man in the way of avenging him of his enemies or adversaries, required man's assistance. As Paul puts it, we are coworkers with God, and so must we ever be.

Let us now test this matter a little. God is willing to bruise Satan's head under your feet, and thus avenge you of the worst adversary you have ever known. He is at hand, ready, with more than twelve legions of angels at his service, if needed. You are sorely tried. You are tempted to commit adultery with some one until every nerve in your body trembles from the agony of suspense between conscious right and conscious wrong. One deep, fervent prayer from the heart breathed to Almighty God: "Lord, save, or I perish," will avenge you of your adversary, will put him to flight, and leave you and God masters of the field. Brethren and friends, this is no idle talk. God will as surely give you the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, as he has promised it.

The Lord says with apparent emphasis: "Hear what the unjust judge saith." There must then be something in it which deeply concerns us to know. Just what I have said is in it, the power of prayer. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

But again: You are tempted to do something very sinful, and you seem to yourself to try to pray. You feel the serpent's coil about your heart drawing tighter and yet tighter, until your spiritual breath seems almost gone. I will tell you now just how you have got into this fix. You did not look to God soon enough. You put off praying and allowed the tempter to twist himself around you in the way he is. Do you ask what you are to do in this case? I will tell you. If you will just summon breath and courage to say from your inmost soul: "God, be merciful to me a sinner," your adversary will let go his filthy hold of you, and the Lord will set your spirit free. "God will avenge his own elect speedily." But they must cry unto him.

I love this word "cry." It carries with it to my mind the cry of an innocent child to its parent, when it fears danger or feels the need of something. Brethren, such let our cry to the Lord ever be. There is never any dallying with words in the mouth of a little child. Its requests, though they may not always be wise, are always sincere, and sincerity is what the Lord most loves, and hypocrisy is what he most abhors. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye can not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Thursday, September 19. They had meeting at a schoolhouse near Brother Brumbaugh's. They spent the night at Jacob Burket's. The next day they came to Brother Samuel Coxe's, in Logan's Valley, and spent the afternoon in writing letters. I here note an example of Brother Kline's exactness. He this afternoon wrote a letter to Brother Henry Koontz. He notes the main points in the letter. One is that he wants Brother Koontz to be at the Flat Rock meetinghouse on December 8, at 10 o'clock, without fail.

Saturday, September 21. They came to Brother Jacob Beck's, and had night meeting in the Baptist meetinghouse near by.

Sunday, September 22. Delightful morning. This is the first entry for the day. Brother Kline was not unappreciative of the beautiful. This must have been one of those bright and balmy mornings witnessed only in September months, and rarely then. Nature is in her calmest mood. Summer is just bidding farewell, with a smile of promise that he will return again, and as a proof of his good will lays all the rich treasures he has gathered for us into the lap of Autumn, who is at hand to receive them.

We have morning and afternoon services in the Baptist church here. In the morning meeting "The Strait Gate" is the subject. In the afternoon, "The Departure of Paul." Acts 20:36, 37. Text.—"And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him."

The first impression made on the mind upon reading this text is the great love which these tender-hearted disciples had for Paul. But we need not be surprised at this, when we remember the great love which the tender-hearted Paul had for them. The elders of the church at Ephesus, and probably many of the sisters and lay brethren, had come to Miletus to have Paul take affectionate leave of them before taking sail for Jerusalem. He also desired to give them a parting exhortation and offer prayer with them on their behalf. The words of the exhortation are recorded in the chapter read, but the words of the prayer are not. We are not sure that the prayer was audible. It is possible to think they all kneeled together and thus prayed with and for each other, but mostly for Paul. From the secret chambers of their hearts the still small voice of loving prayer ascended to the ear of him whose throne is heaven, and whose footstool is earth. Be this as it may, the prayer was earnest, and the exhortation gladly received: "For they all wept sore, and fell upon Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all that they should see his face no more." Who of us, Brethren, has not prayed at the departure of one we dearly loved? As you take the hand probably for the last time, and give the last touch of the lips, who can withhold prayer—prayer from the inmost depths of the soul? As the receding form fades from sight, how the heart swells with emotions of prayer for blessings upon the departing one, altogether too big for utterance. Such were the feelings of these sorrowing disciples at the departure of Paul.

Brethren, the account here given shows the love in which the truth was received in that day. Paul here says: "I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God." This means a great deal. Oh, how many, many at the present day fear to declare the whole counsel of God! And it is a sad truth, or at least I believe it to be true, that if a minister in almost any of the so-called orthodox churches would have the courage, from a sheer sense of duty, to declare the whole counsel of God in the ears of his congregation, instead of falling on his neck and kissing him at his departure, they would be heartily glad to get rid of him. But, Brethren, I am persuaded better things of you, and things which accompany salvation. Our love for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is our best evidence, when that truth is lived out in a life of obedience to the Lord's precepts, that we are walking with God in the fellowship of the Spirit. So let us ever walk.

Monday, Sept 23. They went through Huntingdon City, in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and got to Brother Michael Bolinger's, where they had evening meeting in a schoolhouse near by, and stayed all night at Brother Bolinger's. Next day they took dinner at Brother Andrew Spanogle's, and got to the meetinghouse at one o'clock. Meeting and love feast. Luke 24 is read. They stay all night at Brother Umbenhaver's.

Wednesday, September 25. They have meeting at the meetinghouse. Hebrews 10 is read. Brother Michael Bolinger was this day ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry. May the Lord bless the good brother in his work. They had night meeting at Brother Samuel Myers's in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, where they stayed all night.

Thursday, September 26. They had a union meeting at Brother George Keever's, and stayed all night with Brother Keever.

Friday, September 27. They attended a council meeting before preaching. Brother Abraham Rothrock was this day ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry; and Brother Jacob Mohler was advanced. The visiting brethren spoke on the text: "My kingdom is not of this world." Night meeting was appointed, but owing to a violent storm of hail and rain no people assembled.

Saturday, September 28. They got to Brother Jacob Royer's, in Union County, Pennsylvania, where they stayed all night. Clear and cool.

Sunday, September 29. Meeting begins at half past nine o'clock. Union meeting this evening.

Monday, September 30. The vote of the church was taken before preaching, and Brother Isaac Myers and Brother John Sprogle were ordained to the full work of the gospel ministry. They attended a night meeting in a schoolhouse near Brother Christian Shiveley's, and stayed with him all night. They are still in Union County, Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, October 1. They went to Brother Christian Shallaberger's, in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, where they attended night meeting and Brother Daniel Yount spoke from Eph. 2:8, 9, 10. He explained the meaning of the word grace, that it is the love of God for the undeserving of his love. He defined faith as being a loving acceptance of God's revealed truth: that faith is the gift of God only this far, that he tells man what he is to believe and how he is to believe, that the Gospel of our salvation is what man is to believe; that he is to believe with the heart, with all his heart: that the new man, the regenerated man, is God's workmanship, created unto good works. He carried out all his points very ably, and left a good impression.

Wednesday, October 2. They attended a union meeting in Good Will meetinghouse.

Thursday, October 3. They attended a council meeting in the forenoon at the meetinghouse. Brother David Myers was ordained to the full work of the ministry, and Brother Solomon Seever was chosen speaker. They had night meeting at Thomsonsville, and stayed all night at Brother Solomon Seever's.

Friday, October 4. They had meeting in a schoolhouse near Brother Pool's on the Juniata river; then night meeting at Brother Jacob Spanogle's, where they stayed all night.

Saturday, October 5. They had meeting in a schoolhouse near by. They stayed all night at Brother Peter Long's near Germantown, in Perry County, Pennsylvania.

Sunday, October 6. Meeting in the Methodist meetinghouse in Germantown. Brother Kline spoke on Luke 24:48. Text.—"And ye are witnesses of these things."

It is a happy but not uncommon experience with Christians, when reading the Divine Word, to receive some new thought, or see some new truth by the reading of the most familiar passages. In this particular the Book of Revelation is like the book of nature. The treasures of knowledge in both are inexhaustible; but they do not come to us, we must go to them. "And ye are witnesses of these things."

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." "The Word was God." "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." These Scriptures, in their most comprehensive sense, include the all of the divine manifestation in the flesh. The Lord is the life of all the things written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms. Their spirit, or spiritual significance is all confined to the testimony they bear to the Emmanuel, the God with us. Hence "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," very much as the spirit of man is the life of his body. In the early part of his ministry he had told these very disciples that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. He fulfilled the law of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments to the extent of every jot and tittle, from its lowest natural to its highest spiritual requirement and significance. The prophecies likewise all centered in him, and found in him their fulfillment; not, however, in their fullest development, for eternity alone will witness this; but they disclose in him their spirit and life. "Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

These eleven disciples, from this time on to do the work of apostles, had been with the Lord in nearly all of his public ministry and life. They knew how he had overcome in temptation; how victorious he had been in his conflicts with the accusing and fault-finding Jews, and how patient and forgiving he had been in his trial before Pilate and the high priest. They were witnesses of the purity of his character and life; of the disinterested love he bore toward all within his reach; of the good will toward men manifested by his going about doing good wherever he went. But the point above all other points in his character in which all poor sinners are most deeply interested is the duty and work he here laid upon these eleven apostles: the commission he gave them, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name. They were witnesses of his mercy so often shown to sinners of the lowest and vilest character. Did he ever send one away empty? If you will read the four Gospels in which are recorded the life of Jesus Christ you may be surprised to see how often he said, "Thy sins are forgiven." Once when he was in a Pharisee's house a woman in the city, who was a sinner, washed his feet with her tears of penitence, and he said: "Her sins which are many are forgiven." Some people brought to him a man sick of the palsy lying on a bed. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the sick of the palsy: "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven." This man's sins were remitted, because remitted and forgiven have the same meaning.

I must here call special attention to one point in all the miracles of healing wrought by the Lord, and that point has relation to the cause of all our woe. It is the sin of man. To the impotent man who had lain by the pool thirty and six years, unable to get in, after being healed, the Lord when he met him in the Temple said: "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee." Paul says: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Death of the body is the point at which all diseases, ailments and infirmities aim; and the death, the eternal death, of the soul is the point at which all sins aim. "Death is the wages of sin." "And ye are witnesses of these things." In relieving insane, idiotic, epileptic and dumb people of the mental ailments afflicting them, he always removed the cause by casting out the devils or evil spirits as the cause of their troubles.

I know that some people doubt or disbelieve that sin is the cause of all suffering. I have met such. They freely aver that this cannot be so, because the brute creation suffers, which they say is sinless. It is a well conceded fact that brutes are not accountable. They have no future state of existence. They lack that freedom of the will to choose good or evil, and that understanding to know good from evil, both of which man has in unlimited possession. Still, brutes are subject in a low degree to the very same vile passions, the indulgence of which in man becomes sin to him. And why? Because man is destined to live to eternity, in another state of existence. If man's existence were to terminate with the life of his body, his sins, although of a somewhat viler character than those of the brute creation, would be of no more account. The Lord sent out his apostles, and in their steps others to follow, whose great business it was, has been, and ever will be to tell people that they are sinners; that sin is the cause of all the misery, wretchedness, suffering and unhappiness in earth and hell, and that the only way for people to be rid of the multiform evils of existence is to be rid of sin.

Salvation from sin, then, is immensely the most important matter that can possibly engage man's heartfelt attention, as I said at the start. How to get rid of the evil of sin—I mean the love of evil—and how to come into the possession of the love of what is good, and as a result of that love lead a good life, is the sum and substance of all divine teaching. And why? Because a man's character, whether good or bad, goes with him when he dies. Character is the only thing we do take with us when we leave this world and enter the next. "He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." "Whatsoever a man soweth the same shall he reap," is a law as immutable as the law of gravitation. Our Lord has mercifully opened up a way, a highway, out of a life of sin into a life of holiness. The first step in this way, nay, the first step towards it, is repentance. This involves a very great change in the state of man's will or heart. Heart and will have the same meaning. Repentance is a change in the affections of the heart. It is a change so great that man of himself, unaided by the Lord, would never make it. It is a change from the supreme love of self and the world to love of the Lord and one's neighbor. "Except a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily, he cannot be my disciple." Self-denial and bearing the cross are repentance.

"If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." All these relationships symbolize evil affections and thoughts which are to be no longer loved. The withdrawal of the affections from all our inherited and acquired evils is repentance. If the right hand be in the way of our repentance, it must be cut off. If the right eye cause us to stumble, it must be plucked out.

But it will not do to leave the matter thus. The quotations and references I have given are so strong they almost overwhelm us. We almost cry out when we hear or read them, as the disciples did when the Lord had just told them of the impossibility of a rich man's entering the kingdom of heaven: "Who then can be saved?" But I give you the same answer the Lord gave the disciples: "With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible." It is the Lord who gives us the power to repent. Bartimeus could not see until the Lord opened his eyes. But when he called, the Lord heard. So we must call. "And whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved." This is faith; and I may here add the Lord's words: "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." But remission of sins is as sure to follow true repentance as day is sure to follow the darkest night. "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit." Remission of sins, and a life of good works, is the fruit borne by the penitent man symbolized by a good tree. And what does remission of sins imply? It implies casting our sins behind us; forsaking them; leaving them off, and not looking back. It implies putting one's hand to the plow in a new field of life and labor, and never looking back. "He that putteth his hand to the plow, and looketh back, is not fit for the kingdom." Looking back with a longing eye, as Lot's wife did, is sure proof that we have not fairly remitted our sins in heart, but that we still love them.

I perceive from the expression of some faces that surprise is felt at my intimation that man remits his own sins. But he does as truly as he destroys the grass from among his corn or the weeds from his garden. God gives him the strength and the will to do both, but man has his work to do. He must be a coworker with God. Would there be any good in blind eyes being restored to sight, unless man would be willing to see with them? Or any good in palsied arms made strong, unless they were used to do good? Or any good in having the whole leprous body cleansed, unless the cleansed man would return to give glory to God?

Isaiah's very first vision of the church called forth that wonderful exclamation: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes: cease to do evil; learn to do well." This, when done, is the remission of sins. It is sending them back, to the rear; while we have the Lord always before our eyes. He said to the blind Pharisees: "Cleanse first the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also." Paul says: "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." James says: "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." Does not all this look as if man had a good deal to do with the remission of his sins?

It is natural, or, rather, it is in harmony with God's order in the creation of man, for him to desire to have a part and lot in all the Lord does for him. He enjoys most the fruit of trees planted by his own hands. A lady appreciates the garden or lawn arranged and set according to her taste, and cultivated by her hands. God mercifully favors us with similar feelings in making good, pure-minded, truth-loving, faithful men and women of his intelligent creation. With this intention he has given man special work and ways of manifesting his will to work with the Lord. The only ordinance of this kind which I will call your attention to to-day is that of baptism for the remission of sins. It is also called the washing of regeneration. As the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, the three eternal and infinite essentials of the Divine Trinity, all have part in man's repentance, in the remission of his sins, as well as in the regeneration of his will unto eternal life, baptism in water, in each of the three names, is enjoined in our Lord's great commission. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

As an order of Christian Brethren, we hold that a threefold immersion of the body in water by a properly authorized administrator is necessary to fulfill the requirement of the great commission. As water, in its highest and divinest significance, symbolizes all the holy means by which man is enabled to renounce and remit his sins, so baptism symbolizes his heartfelt acceptance of and submission to those means. From this it is called the baptism of repentance first, and, later on, as the truth became clearer, it is called baptism for the remission of sins. As additional light was still thrown upon man's salvation, a light which Nicodemus could not see, baptism acquired a new significance, described by Paul as "the washing of regeneration."

Almost unwittingly we now find a threefold significance in the ordinance. It symbolized first, in the ministry of John, repentance toward God the Father. But after the martyrdom of John no baptism was administered until the day of Pentecost, when it received its full significance. As Peter had experienced so much of the evil of sin and the joy of forgiveness, it symbolized to his mind the remission of sins. He was right. Paul was the unbelieving, educated Jew, whose heart was so set against the Lord that after his conversion he felt himself to be a new man, with a new name; and in his letter to Titus he calls it "the washing of regeneration." Thus we have a threefold significance of the ordinance, as well as a threefold act. Anyone, then, whether fully conscious of the truth or not, says, by submitting to the ordinance, "I have repented of my sins; I have forsaken my sins and desire to keep them forever behind me; I desire to walk in newness of life. I accept the love of the Father, the truth of the Son, and the power of the Holy Ghost by which I have been taken 'out of death into life,' and from the power of Satan to God; my feet set into the way of holiness, and a 'new song put into my mouth, even praises unto our God.'"

The two brethren had night meeting at John Eby's, where they stayed all night.

Monday, October 7. They got to Brother David Kinsey's, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, October 8. They had night meeting at Brother Jacob Rile's.

The next day they joined company with brethren Christian Long and John Glock, who come up the Shenandoah Valley with them to Brother Kline's home, which they reached Saturday, October 12.

On December 8 Brother Kline started to Baltimore. He went partly on a visit to his relative, Michael B. Kline, who was, at this time, a very prosperous commission merchant in the city. Brother Kline spent about six days in Baltimore this time; and whilst hardly any one else would have thought of anything beyond the pleasure of the visit and a little business to be attended to, he must have a gathering and preach. He made his voice heard time and again. No doubt many heard what they had never heard before—the truth. On his return home, he stopped in Washington City and had a pleasant interview with President Fillmore.

In the year 1850 Brother Kline traveled 4,070 miles. He preached thirty-one funeral sermons. Twelve of these were for persons over fifty years of age; seven, for persons between twenty and fifty; and twelve for persons under twenty. He delivered one hundred and ten sermons at appointments for preaching, besides the many councils and other meetings attended. When at home he was also called to administer medicine to the sick. This service and the ministry kept him actively employed almost the whole of his time.

Thursday, January 9. Perform the marriage ceremony of Conrad Custer and Nancy Shoemaker; also the same for George Hulvey and Diana Turner.

Tuesday, February 11. Perform the marriage ceremony of Jackson See and Bettie Whitmore.

Thursday, February 20. Perform the marriage ceremony of Solomon Hulvey and Catharine Ritchie.

Monday, February 24. A fearful storm unroofs part of my barn to-day.

Saturday, March 8. Council meeting at Beaver Creek meetinghouse. The church has under consideration the matter of preparing for Annual Meeting to be held at the Brick meetinghouse, near Christian Kline's, on Middle river in Augusta County, Virginia, to begin Saturday, June 7, 1851.

Sunday, March 9. Meeting at the Beaver Creek meetinghouse. First Peter 1 is read. Afternoon meeting in Bridgewater, in the Lutheran church. Speak on John 3:29. Text.—"He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."

This is a wonderful testimony, borne by John the Baptist. It at once shows the love which that wonderfully great and good man had for the Lord, and at the same time his own deep humility of heart in his presence. And the Lord's testimony concerning John given in these words, "He was a burning and a shining light," is equally wonderful, and carries with it the great love he had for John.

John had many friends. All held him to be a prophet of extraordinary character; and if his popularity had tended to corrupt the honest simplicity of his heart he would not have borne this testimony to Jesus. But he goes still further in his disavowal of all claim to preferment by confessing and not denying that he is not the Christ. He says: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Jesus was the sun rising in his splendor; John the moon paling in his light.

The church is the bride. The Lord is the bridegroom. "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." There is a doctrine of deep interest involved in John's testimony. It concerns every one of us to know it. It is the relation subsisting between the Lord and the church. This relation is represented as that existing between husband and wife, the very nearest that can subsist between two human beings—the unification of one with the other to the extent that they are no more twain, but one flesh. Reference to this relation of the church to the Lord is to be found in the Scriptures at several places. Isaiah prophesying the glory of the true Christian church exclaims: "For as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

But it is consistent and proper for a bride to adorn herself preparatory to her marriage. But even for this occasion she should be arrayed in modest apparel, as becometh saints. But God recognizes the propriety of suitable ornamentation, and uses it as a figure in these words: "My soul will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." The garments of salvation beautifully symbolize the holy life of God's saints, and correspond to the fine linen, clean and white, in which the bride, the Lamb's wife, is arrayed, as described by John in the Apocalypse. Her jewels correspond to the divine truths of the Word, which ornament a good life.

I will now offer some practical thoughts on what I have stated, so as to draw the attention of your minds more closely to the subject. Some people seem to think it a matter of small moment whether one makes a public profession of religion or not. Such seem to satisfy their minds by concluding that God knows what is in their hearts, and that the church has no business to concern itself about them. They think they can live as good and as pure lives out of the church as in it. This last conclusion may be correct, for many do not live very pure or good lives in the church. But all this has nothing to do with God's established order. A man might say: "I love that lady, and with her consent I will live a virtuous life with her. But I do not intend to marry her after the ceremonial style of most people. Marriage ceremonies are useless, and with her consent we will just go together as husband and wife, and so live; and whose business is it but our own?" In the first place I have to say, that if two could be found who were willing to go together and live in this way, if they were not in some way severely punished, they might thank their good stars for it. In the next place I have to say that such cohabitation would wholly subvert the order of society by giving loose reins to lust which would break in upon the legal relationships of the social compact to an extent that would place us on a social level with the aborigines of America.

And what would the Lord's kingdom be without a visible church? He says: "My kingdom is not of this world." His kingdom being essentially invisible, it remains a matter of necessity that there be some way for making its subjects visible to one another as such, and capable of being recognized and known as such.

Our Lord says: "The kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation; for lo! the kingdom of heaven is within you." Now, we cannot look into a man's heart. All we can know of a man's heart is from what he says and does. But the Lord has established an order for the subjects of his kingdom. He has proclaimed a law, call it a ceremonial law if you choose, by obedience to which all the subjects of his kingdom on earth may be found out and become known to each other. That law is the Lord's will made visible in the order of his brethren, carried out in the forms of church organization by means of established ordinances appointed by him. The Lord does not want his bride to wander through earth's vanities a viewless, inactive, unprotected entity:

Doing nothing for his cause,

Learning nothing of his laws;

but he wants her to appear "all glorious within" and without; "bright as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners."

I have been accused by some of never preaching a sermon without having something to say about baptism, as if discoursing on that subject might be criminal in their eyes. I can boldly say I do not like to close a sermon without saying something about it, because baptism in water, as the door to the visible church, has so much significance in it that I do not feel as if I had fully discharged my duty to the souls of men without it. But I am not altogether singular in this respect. I have some very good company. John the Baptist had baptism in two of his sermons. Peter the apostle had baptism, in two out of three of his sermons. Ananias had baptism in the sermon he preached to Saul, and that in a shape altogether too strong for many, as that Saul should wash away his sins in it. Philip had baptism in his sermon to the eunuch, and Paul had baptism in his joyful anticipations of heavenly glory, and calls it the washing of regeneration; and in fact he laid strong emphasis on it in his answer to the Philippian jailer's question, "What shall I do to be saved?" But the Lord's sermon to Nicodemus gives the crown to baptism as the visible birth into the visible church. He calls it "born of water,"—internally born of the Spirit, externally born of water. So you see, friends, I have plenty of company in this line of preaching, and good company too.

Baptism, as the visible ceremony of union of the penitent, believing, loving candidate with the church, and of the church with the Lord as his bride, holds the same rank in its relation to the Divine Law as the ceremony of marriage holds to human law. Both are simple in form, yet both are absolutely essential to order and an orderly life both in a religious and social sense. The ordinance of marriage and that of baptism compare remarkably in another point of view. Both cement a union to be dissolved only in death. Both have the stamp of the divine seal, impressed by the Lord's hand, engraven with the words: "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

Now, friends, let me beg you to take the Lord's way. He invites you affectionately to come and take his yoke upon you. Learn to work in his vineyard. Your own heart is a vineyard which the Lord will own if you will but give it to him: and he will help you to keep it clean. He will give you richly to enjoy the first ripe grapes of a good life lived in his service. But remember: "He that is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his Father's glory, and the glory of the holy angels." Then why not come into the church? None are too poor to come. It costs no money or goods. Why not please your King by visibly becoming his subject? Why not honor your Lord by obeying his commands? Why not glorify your Husband by publicly taking to yourself his name and living henceforth a holy and virtuous life in his sight?

Tuesday, March 25. Aunt Mary Kline, Uncle Frederick Kline's widow, was buried to-day. Age, seventy-two years, eleven months and five days.

Wednesday, March 26. Attend the funeral of Giles Devier's little child. It was buried at our meetinghouse. Age, one year, five months and sixteen days. It is a pretty thought that angels may gather little children from the arms of their parents, as love plucks roses from their parent stems. "Of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Thursday, March 27. Perform the marriage ceremony of Robert Allison and Mary Kline, daughter of Joseph Kline.

Tuesday, April 1. William Smith took leave of us for his new home in Illinois.

Wednesday, April 9. Council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. John Wine is elected speaker.

Thursday, April 10. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Christian Wine is elected speaker.

Friday, April 18. Council meeting at Lost River meetinghouse. Jacob Pope is advanced. His work in the ministry is very acceptable to the Brotherhood as far as known.

Thursday, April 24. I am sick. Erysipelas right bad.

For the next six days Brother Kline is confined to his room. Dr. Jacob Driver, a very well informed and successful Botanic Physician, is called to the case. His treatment is so judicious and active that by Thursday, May 1, Brother Kline is able to ride out. Dr. Jacob Driver was born and raised in Rockingham County, Virginia. He gave rise to a numerous family, and in the autumn of 1852 moved and settled in Allen County, Ohio. His children all became members of the order of the Brethren. His son Jacob is now an active minister in the Sugar Creek congregation in the above County. Dr. Jacob Driver died in Allen County about the year 1867, deeply lamented by all who knew him. He and his wife, in their early days, became members of the Brotherhood. He was a son of Peter Driver, a brief notice of whom has been given.

Tuesday, June 3. Meeting and love feast at our meetinghouse. Revelation 2 is read.

Saturday, June 7. Meeting in the grove near the Brick meetinghouse, on Middle river. Many people gathering. Acts 3 is read. From present appearances there will be a very large concourse of people at this Annual Meeting.

Sunday, June 8. Meeting in the meetinghouse and also in the grove.

Monday, June 9. The Yearly Council opens. Take in the questions. Transact some business. Good order prevails, and a spirit of love and union abounds. If by these meetings we can foster and preserve the unity of the faith and order of our beloved Brotherhood, so that wherever we may go among our Brethren we may be able to see eye to eye and face to face as to the doctrines we preach and the order of Christian life we uphold, our highest aim will have been reached. It may be that as time goes on and knowledge is increased new things will come up demanding consideration; but I sincerely hope and pray no departures from what we now regard with so much love and unanimity as the will of the Lord will ever take place.

Tuesday, June 10. All the queries and business items left over from yesterday are taken up and disposed of to-day. The Annual Meeting breaks up in good feeling, but with the sad forecast that some present to-day will never attend another Yearly Meeting. Be it so. In heaven no farewell tears are shed. It is not the parting that makes one sad. It is the how and the where and the when we shall meet again that break up the fountains of our hearts.

Wednesday, June 11. Meeting in the Methodist church in Harrisonburg. Brother Daniel P. Saylor spoke on the Great Commission, Matt. 28:19, 20. He showed great boldness of speech. He shuns not to declare the whole counsel of God. Many were present to hear a sermon from a minister of our faith for the first time in their life. I have sometimes feared that Brother Saylor's love for souls is at times obscured by the severity of his speech in the stand, and by the austerity of his manner among the people. Whilst Christian propriety does set limits to "becoming all things to all men," still, as far as consistency will allow, God's ministers should show great love for the people in their associations with them. Some preachers, I believe, do more good out of the stand than in it. They do this by little acts of kindness and little words of love.

Between the last date above given and the thirtieth day of July, Brother Kline preached ten funeral discourses, each of which was delivered on the day of burial. Paul uttered a great truth when he said: "It is appointed unto men once to die." But only once. If they die a second death, it is their fault. The death of the body is the only death ever appointed unto men.

Wednesday, August 6. Attend the funeral of Nimrod Dove. Age, forty-eight years, eleven months and thirteen days. Nimrod Dove was a patient and persevering school-teacher. Some, who are now young, will doubtless remember him gratefully when they are old.

Friday, August 8. Harvest thanksgiving in our meetinghouse. Betty Frey is baptized.

Sunday, August 17. Meeting in Andrew Chapel in Harrisonburg. Good attention. Stay all night at Christian Myers's, near head of Linville's Creek. I spoke to-day on Luke 14:10, from this clause: "Friend, go up higher." This is what the Lord says to every one who comes to the gospel feast in that spirit of deep humility and self-abasement that is willing to take the lowest place. God's people go up higher when they arise to walk in newness of life. When they add to their faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge charity. They go up higher as they increase their knowledge of his Word, in the love of its saving truth. They go up higher as they love God and their neighbor more.

The love of self and the world attracts man downward into the foul pits of vice, immorality, intemperance, gambling, profanity, anger, jealousy, worldly fashions, and all the forms and phases of evil. God would have men come out of these horrible pits, wash themselves in the pure water of his Word, and take a lowly seat at his table. Then with joy he will say to each: "Friend, go up higher."

These are the outlines of my discourse to-day. The Editor would love to expand the rich thoughts, condensed in these outlines, into an elaborate discourse in exact accord with what he feels sure the beloved brother said, but the limits of this work forbid.

Sunday, September 21. Meeting in our meetinghouse. I this day baptize Noah Frey and wife; Isaac Smith and wife; Widow Dove; Mrs. Bulger and Barbara Baker.

Monday, September 22. Brother Kline started to Maryland. The Diary shows many meetings, councils and love feasts attended. On

Friday, September 26, he assisted at the ordination of Brother Christian Keafer to the full work of the ministry. Brother McCleningen was elected speaker. This service was in the Welsh Run congregation, near Brother William Engel's. He speaks of union meetings in which he served, at different places, but does not say a word further about them, as to why they were so called or for what particular object they were held.

Tuesday, September 30. He attended a union meeting in the Beaver Creek meetinghouse, in which he served; and on

Wednesday, October 1, he attended a union meeting in Welty's meetinghouse, in which Brother Shaver served.

After attending several other meetings and making many visits, he started for home, where he arrived October 5.

Tuesday, October 28. Attend the funeral of Sister Gibbons. She died yesterday at the home of her son Samuel Gibbons, near Luray, Page County, Virginia. She grew old in years, but the service of the Lord was not old in her heart. She passed from labor to reward at the high age of ninety-one years, lacking nineteen days.

Wednesday, November 12. Brother Kline started on another journey to Hardy and Hampshire Counties. He held a night meeting at James Stump's in Hardy; preached the funeral sermon of Brother Solomon Arnold; held a union meeting at Brother Benjamin Leatherman's; attended morning meeting on

Saturday, November 15, at the meetinghouse; and held night service at Joseph Arnold's.

Sunday, November 16. He had forenoon meeting at William George's and night meeting at Solomon Michael's. He filled six other appointments between this, and his return home, where he arrived Friday, November 21. I find extended outline notes of but one sermon preached on this journey. These I will here put in as good shape as I can. He delivered this sermon at Jacob Keplinger's, in the Gap, the night before he got home. Jacob Keplinger was a Lutheran himself, and the sermon was preached right in a community of people of the same faith. But they had respect for Brother Kline. The religious warmth of his heart and the purity and simplicity of his life won for him the esteem and friendship of people wherever he went.

Text.—The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.—Luke 17:20, 21.

People never grow entirely out of their childhood feelings. We naturally incline to value most what our eyes can see and our hands handle. Our natures are so sentient that objects of sense please us best. It is from this that object lessons attract the young. They can best apprehend what their senses can grasp. It is very difficult for the mind to grasp abstract truth. But right here lies the basis of all true education. The power to comprehend truth in the abstract, to take hold of its ramifications as subjects of thought, and reduce them to order in the mind, so as to develop and give them concrete form for practical ends in life, is education.

The Pharisees wanted a sign. Even Herod hoped to see some miracle done by the Lord. The reply of Jesus to the Pharisees was that "an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." And now they want to know when his kingdom will come. My text is the Lord's answer. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." It is not something representative, with visible outlines and surfaces that you can perceive by means of your senses. It is altogether invisible: it is a state of mind and heart: it has its place in a man's soul: it is not outside of you; "for lo, the kingdom of God is within you." In this regard the kingdom of heaven is like education. You cannot tell by simply looking at a man whether he is educated or not. And why? because education is not a thing of the body, but of the mind; and the mind or understanding is invisible.

Just so it is with the kingdom of God. It has no connection with the body. In fact the body, with its appetites and passions opposes it. For as Paul says: "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other." The kingdom of God, then, has its place in man's renewed heart and mind, and can therefore never be a thing of observation. But let us look a little further. The most precious and valuable things of earth are worthless until brought out into use. Of what good are all the mineral treasures of earth while hidden in the mines? Just so "the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in the field."

But our heavenly Father has prepared a body, a visible, organized body for his kingdom on earth, so that it may become active, useful, and in every way promotive of man's highest good on earth and his highest bliss in heaven. This body is the Lord's visible church. Like the human body, it is composed of members, and each member has his place and office of service in the body. The church is composed of those who do the Lord's will; and he owns all such as his brethren. On one occasion he exclaimed: "Who are my brethren?" And immediately he said: "Behold my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Thus the church is composed of such as hold a relationship with him, symbolized by that of brother, sister and mother. It is for his church that Jesus offered that wonderful prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John. He there says: "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word." The church, then, is composed of such as keep the Lord's Word.

He said: "My kingdom is not of this world." Neither is the church, which is the visible, active, use-loving and use-performing body of the kingdom, of this world. It is not organized according to the order of human institutions and laws, but according to God's order. Human laws and customs have really and legitimately nothing to do either with its organization and government or with the admission of members into its body and their retention and conduct in the body. But the church is in the world. By its being in the world, where sin and sorrow and suffering abound; where there is so much pain to assuage, so much want to relieve, so much evil to combat, so much ignorance to dispel by the light of truth, numberless and boundless opportunities and demands are presented for "the good man, out of the good treasure of his heart to bring forth good things."

And in the world is just where the Lord wants his church to ever be. It is in the church on earth that God's people learn those wonderful lessons of self-denial, humility, gentleness, brotherly kindness, forbearance, patience, and all other heavenly qualities and graces. In a word, the church, in its purest form and highest sense, is heaven begun on earth. Hence the blessed Jesus, in the prayer referred to, says: "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil."

Since the church is the outward, visible form of God's kingdom on earth, it is of the utmost importance that the church give expression to and be a representative of the soul and spirit of the kingdom. Paul says: "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." The church must be righteous. By this is meant that it must obey the Lord's Word. He says: "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." It is obedience on the part of the church that makes any organization bearing that name acceptable to the Lord. In the great day to come some will say: "We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets." But he will say: "I tell you I know you not whence ye are." Many others again will say: "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." The lips of man may not apply these terrific words to any whose doom is yet to be disclosed; but all organizations claiming to be churches of Jesus Christ will do well to see to it that they obey from the heart those ordinances given by our Lord both by example and precept. When he pronounces us happy, we may feel sure that we are safe.

Let us now, before we close, look over the ground and see where the church of the Brethren stands, which it is my privilege to represent here to-night. Jesus was baptized, that is, immersed by John in the river Jordan. We follow his example as further set forth in the great commission he gave. He washed the disciples' feet, giving us an example that we shall do to one another as he did to them. This we do. He ate a supper with them before the administration of the Communion. This we do; and from other scripture authority we feel justified in calling it a love feast. He administered the Communion of his body and blood, symbolized by the bread and wine. This we likewise do. Now we have his blessed Word for it: "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

Sunday, December 7. Michael B.E. Kline and wife are baptized at Timberville.

Wednesday, December 31. I have traveled this year 3,816 miles, mostly on horseback; and preached forty-five funeral discourses.

Thursday, January 22, 1852. Attend upon my aged mother. She passed a calculus or stone from the bladder to-day weighing seven ounces and two and one-half drachms. Its greatest circumference is nine inches. A very wonderful concretion indeed.

Thursday, March 11. My dear aged mother passes away from earth to-day, at 1 o'clock. She has been a good mother. I rejoice in the thought that from her bright home in heaven, if saints are permitted to look down upon earth, she can still witness the fruits of her good example and influence, manifest in the well-doing of all her children, and most of her grandchildren.

Friday, March 12. Take Anna over to Brother Samuel Kline's, where our dear mother now lies a corpse.

Saturday, March 13. Mother is buried to-day. Her age was eighty-one years, three months and twenty days.

Monday, March 22. This day Brother Kline started to Maryland. As usual on such journeys, he visited many friends and Brethren, among whom he mentions D.P. Saylor, Jacob Saylor, Howard Hillery, Brother Cover, Joseph Engle, Philip Boyle, Israel Engle, Brother Rupp, Jesse Royer, Betsy Engle, William Deahl, Abraham Deahl, Brother Rhinehart, and others. He preaches and prays as he goes; leaving behind him good examples, good instructions, good doctrines, with prayers and good wishes for all. What a life of good works! He returned home Thursday, April 1.

Thursday, April 15. Council meeting at the Flat Rock meetinghouse. John Neff is elected speaker.

Friday, April 16. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. John Zigler is elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, April 17. Council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. Jacob Miller is advanced in the ministry of the Word.

Sunday, May 16. Attend a meeting in the Campbellite church in Baltimore. I meet Brother D.P. Saylor there. He speaks from Heb. 12:1, 2. Outlines of his discourse. Text.—"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us; and let us run with patience the race that is set before us; looking unto Jesus."

He said: The book of Hebrews is, in one respect, the most extraordinary book in the New Testament. It sets forth Christ the Lord to us in a somewhat new light, and new relation. All the other books of the New Testament are mainly occupied in setting forth Jesus as the atoning Savior. But this book is preeminently taken up with Christ the anointed High Priest of our profession. The other books tell what Jesus has done to redeem the world from sin. This book tells what he is now doing to save his people.

In his admonitions and instructions Brother Saylor beautifully referred to the Olympic games celebrated by the ancient Greeks once every four years. From these the figure of running a race, given in the text, was borrowed. A man cannot run long and well with a load on his back. You have no doubt seen the fabled demigod Atlas pictured with the world on his shoulders. I have often thought of that old Grecian representation of avarice, as being something like a true picture of many professors of the Christian religion at the present day. You see the old myth struggling along with this big round world on his back, apparently casting his eyes upward at times as if he might be longing to reach the top of Mount Olympus, the home of the gods: but alas! his head is bowed and his back bent under the mighty pressure, and he never got there. It will fare no better with the man who tries to carry this world with him to heaven. The apostle says: "Let us cast off every weight" that would hinder our progress.

You know the devil is called a serpent. No sane man ever yet invited a snake to bite him. If one is bitten by a copperhead or rattlesnake, it is either because he has gone where he ought not go, or else, if compelled, he was not watchful, but was off his guard. Besetting sins are these snakes in the grass and along the hedges. The apostle here takes it for granted, as a thing settled long ago, that the Christian has laid aside his habitual sins. Besetting sins are such as we meet or overtake unexpectedly in the way, and like robbers that beset us and take our goods, they spoil our peace and take away our joy. The best way for all Christians is to keep out of the way of snakes and robbers.

"And let us run with patience the race that is set before us." In another place Paul says: "I press forward to the mark for the prize." He represents the Christian as running, but not as uncertainly. Not as if some one else might beat him and take the prize, and he thereby lose it. No, no! In the Christian race there is a prize for every one that runs with patience the race set before him.

But he also speaks of a mark. The language here employed indicates that the mark must be reached before the prize can justly be claimed. This mark is conformity to Christ in spirit and life. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "He has set us an example that we should follow in his steps." The prize is heaven and eternal happiness. God is pleased to give to his children things which they are incapable of obtaining by their own efforts; but he will not give direct what they are capable of getting by judicious means rightly applied. It is no credit to any one to depend on others for what he could win for himself. It is so in the Christian's race for eternal life.

"Looking unto Jesus." If you have ever been at sea you noticed the interest with which sailors watched the lighthouses along the shore in a dark night. This figure may help us in our thought of looking to Jesus. His word is a "lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." Friends, when you look prayerfully to the Lord's Word for guidance in your religious life you are looking unto Jesus. He is nowhere else to be found. But he is always there, and whosoever will look may find him there unto the salvation of his soul.

They stayed all night at Michael B. Kline's.

Monday, May 17. They stopped awhile with Sister Rubicum in Philadelphia; and arrived at the Irving House, in New York City, at 10:30 p.m.

Men love to honor their favorites. Washington Irving has caused his name to be stamped upon the affections of the people of this city. Irving collars, Irving hats, Irving signs and Irving attached to many things give evidence of the high regard in which he is held. We will pass his home on the Hudson to-day.

Tuesday, May 18. Take the steamer "Henry Clay" to Albany, where we land at 3 p.m. Kossuth is in the place. A great procession, with many other demonstrations in honor of the Hungarian exile, is given. These things are not done for the man personally, but for the cause which he represents, that of freeing his country from the galling yoke of bondage. We have a delightful boat ride up the Hudson.

I must here relate a short encounter which I had with a professed infidel on the boat. He some way came to the conclusion that I was a religious man, and probably a preacher. This led him to approach me for a talk, and he introduced himself in a very courteous and agreeable manner. After he had stated his objections to the Christian religion, I asked him if he was absolutely certain that there is no place and state of future punishment. He answered: "I do not contend for this; but only hold that hell is unreasonable, and that heaven is impossible: and according to Bible description, to me at least, it would be undesirable." I answered: "I suppose you will allow, that if the Bible is not true I will fare no worse after death for having taught its doctrines and the faith of Jesus Christ: and you no better for having denied both?" "All this," said he, "is self-evident." "But if it so turns out that we both, after death, find that God's Word is absolutely true, which, my dear friend, will fare the better then? You, for having rejected the Lord Jesus Christ before men; or I, for having humbly confessed him?" We parted at the landing to meet, perhaps, no more until that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be made known.

Wednesday, May 19. Get to Buffalo, New York, at 8 p.m. Stay all night at the Mansion House. Philip Dorsheimer, proprietor.

Thursday, May 20. This day I enjoy my first sight of Niagara Falls. Cross on the bridge over to the Canada side and go up to the falls. Return by the bridge and go up to the falls on the American side. Go to see the buffaloes; and visit the telegraph office. Return to the Mansion House and stay there all night. I suppose that all the thoughts and emotions which a view of Niagara Falls is capable of exciting in the beholder have been so clearly and graphically expressed in prose and verse, so far as lies in the power of words to express them, that I feel like keeping silent. This, however, I will venture to say, that in the sight of such mighty power I felt very small and weak. How, then, thought I, will I feel when I come in sight of the Power that made and moves the world!

Cold and snow this morning. But I must remember that I am not in Virginia.

Friday, May 21. Take passage on the steamboat "America" to Erie; then on to Cleveland, where we arrive at 5 a.m. Sleep a little. Then, on same boat, to Sandusky City, where we take cars to Tiffin, and from there go to Brother Eversole's, in Hancock County, Ohio.

Sunday, May 23. Brother Kline attended forenoon meeting at Brother Peter Weant's; and afternoon meeting at Brother Dickey's. In the evening he went to Brother Daniel Rosenberger's and assisted in anointing a sick sister. Next day they had meeting at Brother Jacob Kendrick's. On Tuesday, while they were detained at Perrysburg, Brother Kline says: "We saw the fishermen make a haul with their seine. While witnessing the adroitness and care with which they separated the bad fish from the good, I was reminded of the parable in which the same performance is spoken of. The gospel net catches or takes in both good and bad. But the separation of the good from the bad cannot take place on earth. 'At the end of the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just.'"

Wednesday, May 26. They take the boat "John Hollister" for Toledo: from there they take cars to Elkhart, Indiana. The two brethren, Kline and Saylor, do not appear to have been together all the time on this journey; but at Elkhart it seems they got together again and two other brethren with them; for he now speaks of brethren Saylor, Krontz and P. Ebersole all going together and staying all night at Brother Jacob Studebaker's; and on the twenty-ninth they all go to Jonathan Wylan's, the place of the Annual Meeting. Brother Kline reports a wonderful concourse of people.

Sunday, May 30. They have meeting at three places. On Monday business begins. Many queries are placed in the hands of the subcommittees. On Tuesday the reports of the subcommittees are taken in, and discussions follow freely, but all in a spirit of love.

Wednesday, June 2. Business is all disposed of by 3 o'clock, and the meeting breaks up. Brother Kline goes to Michael Waybright's and holds night meeting.

On his return trip Brother Kline revisits Elkhart, and goes to Dayton to Brother Henry Yost's. From there he goes to Cincinnati to see Drs. Kost and Curtis, with whom he spends a night; thence back to Columbus; goes through the state prison; visits other places of interest; and thence through Cleveland and Pittsburg home. He arrived home

Saturday, June 12. He reports 2,685 miles traveled from the time he left home till his return.

Sunday, June 27. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I baptize Daniel Wampler and wife.

Friday, July 2. Write letters to Brethren in Pendleton and Hardy Counties to make appointments for preaching. He gives plenty of time for those Brethren to whom the above letters were sent, to make the appointments generally known; and allows time for the slow transit of the mails in that day. Brother Kline's successes were never brilliant or dazzling, as some men's appear, but they were acquired by methods which few men are willing to adopt; and achieved by self-sacrifices and labors which few men are willing to undergo.

Friday, August 20. This day Brother Kline started to Pendleton County, Virginia. From Pendleton he went to Hardy County, and from there to Hampshire County. He filled every appointment made for him by the Brethren to whom he had written on July 2. On his outward way he left a line of appointments which he filled on his return homeward. On this tour he traveled 183 miles on the back of his faithful mare Nell, over roads and mountain paths next to impassable. He was gone from home on this trip just two weeks, in which time he preached nineteen sermons, attended one council meeting and one love feast.

Such preaching tours, as this work abundantly shows, were but common proofs of his missionary spirit and love for the souls of men. Added to this we find a purely unselfish spirit in him. Not long before his martyrdom he told me that if he would have asked for money along the lines of his work extending over many years—using his very words—"I know that I would have freely received it; but I have never asked one cent; and, God prospering me in the future as in the past, I never expect to." He went on his own expenses, always and at all times, apparently more ready to give than to receive.

Thursday, September 30. On this day Brother Kline started to Tennessee. He rode Nell. He went up the Valley of Virginia, stopping with Brethren and preaching by previous arrangements made by letters. He stayed all night with Peter Nininger, and one night with Benjamin Moomaw. At both places he filled appointments previously sent on.

Monday, October 4. He dined at Jacob Brubaker's. He arrived at Brother John Bowman's on Friday, the eighth.

Saturday, October 9, he had meeting at John Bowman's. It would seem that he had leisure here to jot the outlines of his discourse on that day. He spoke from Rev. 2:7. Text.—"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

There is a wonderful correspondence of natural things with things spiritual. It is this correspondence which makes a good life give evidence of a good heart within, and intelligent conduct prove that it is the offspring of an enlightened mind. If there were no correspondence between internal and external things—between the tree and its fruit—what would we know about anything? It is from this law that all our Lord's parables and miracles derive their significance. When he spoke of external, natural things, he wanted his disciples to learn internal, spiritual things. In the text he speaks of a hearing ear. "He that hath an ear." Do not nearly all men have ears? In several other places the Lord says: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." It is plain that the natural ear is not meant; but the ear of the soul (by which is meant an understanding mind) is the ear meant in the text. But to hear means more than just to understand what is said. People may understand what they hear or read, and still be none the better off for it. To hear, in a divine sense, is to hearken; and to hearken means to obey, or a willingness to obey. The text then means about this: "He that understands what the Spirit saith to the churches, let him obey." This brings up the question whether or not people of ordinary intelligence are able to understand what the Spirit says to the churches.

Let us turn to what the Spirit says to the church at Ephesus. After reviewing the good qualities and characteristics of this church, much to their praise and credit, he does not flatter their vanity, by intimations or otherwise, to think themselves all right and in need of nothing; but "I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love. Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent." It is truthfully said "our best friends are those who warn us of danger." This is God's friendship for his churches. He shows his people by his Word where they may go wrong, and, if they have ears to hear and eyes to see, where they are wrong. Leaving their first love is the charge brought against this church of Ephesus. And it is the only charge. To what extent or degree they had departed is not definitely said; but they had gone so far that repentance and reformation, or the doing of their first works, was necessary that they might be restored to the state they had once enjoyed.

Now it appears plain to my mind, from all the teachings I find elsewhere in the Word, that love to the Lord their God with all the heart, and love to the neighbor, which is the church, is, and forever ought to be, the first and only love. The church is the good Samaritan that lifts up the wounded brother who has fallen among the thieves of temptation, and restores him. This love to the Lord and the church is the love from which these Ephesian brethren had fallen. Departures from first loves are not uncommon in the church and out of it. The newly married couple enjoy a warmth of affection that sweetens their cup of happiness and strews flowers all along their pathway of life. This pleasure lasts while their love lasts; but when love dies, happiness dies with it. This accounts for the joyless, pleasureless life of many married partners. First love, alas! departed; the first fire all burnt out, leaving naught but the dull ashes of cold indifference and burning tears. It sometimes goes somewhat the same way with members coming into the church. They run well for a season, manifest a deep interest in the things of religion, but when tribulation or persecution ariseth on account of the Word, directly they stumble. Entire churches sometimes lose their first love for the Lord and for one another. This seems to have been true of the church at Ephesus.

The best way for all is to be sure that the first love is of the right kind. I have heard of some coming into the church from motives of mere personal interest. I have heard of one man who confessed, after he had been expelled, that he got out of the Dunkards all he wanted. Said he: "They helped me out of debt, and that is what I went in for." That man never lost his first love. His first love was the love of self and the world, and that is the love he carried with him when he was turned out. Such examples, however, are rare. As a people we are not often imposed upon in this way. But some who come in with the best of motives, desiring to live in the church, to be built up in the church, and to help build up the church, may, as I have known instances of the kind, lose these good feelings, become discouraged, and altogether unhappy. To such, if any of that class are here, I now speak.

At the start I have to say, I have glorious news for you. The Lord says to us all: "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." The blessed Savior has overcome the world for every one of his people. We all have our tribulations; but some are better able to bear them than others. The Apostle Paul says: "Confirm the strong, support the weak." It seems strange to us that any could ever grow weak in his day, when they were as yet almost in sight of their ascended Lord, and in hearing of the echo of his voice. But so it was then, and so it will ever be. But God knows our feeble frame. "As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Our Lord, just before his crucifixion, said: "I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you." This he spoke to his sorrowing disciples. This he says to you, and to every discouraged disciple of his: "Ye, therefore, now have sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." As he was preparing to wash the disciples' feet it is said of him: "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."

"His is an unchanging love,

Higher than the heights above;

Deeper than the depths beneath;

Stronger than the hand of death."

It is impossible for one human soul to enter fully into the feelings of another, so as to realize in all the particulars of experience what the other suffers. But the Lord knows it all. "He that made the ear, shall he not hear? He that made the eye, shall he not see? He that made the heart, shall he not understand?" He consequently knows the proper remedy for all the backslidings, declensions of our first love, and all relapses into states of lukewarmness. His prescribed remedy is repentance, in every case. If you will take the time to read carefully the seven letters addressed to the seven churches of Asia, you will see that repentance is the remedy prescribed in every case of failure in duty, weakness of faith, coldness of love; together with all the troubles growing out of these.

Repentance is a change of mind. It is a change from wrong feelings and affections in the soul to right feelings; from weak faith in the Lord to strong faith; from weak love for the Lord and the church to strong love. Joy of heart and peace of mind are as sure to follow a change like this as a tree is sure to bloom in spring. Blossoms on trees, other conditions favoring, give promise of fruits. Your joy and peace from true repentance, like the bloom on a good tree, will give promise of a life full of good fruits. No one need tell me that he cannot repent. "Nothing shall be impossible unto you." Who says this? Jesus says it. Again: "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." But again he says: "Without me ye can do nothing." Speaking to the Father, of his disciples, the Lord said: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one."

We are slow to learn the greatest of all the truths God has revealed, the truth that the Lord is personally, in the fullness of his love, wisdom and power, in the soul or spiritual body of every one of his children. "Ye are God's temple; ye are God's building." As the life of the vine is the life of the branches, so is Christ our life. The Lord is ever at hand; not only around us, but in us. And he is not only able but ready at all times to do us all the good we are capable of receiving from his hand. Say not then, "I cannot repent;" for one earnest, believing, trusting look to him, with whom all things are possible, will cause the tears of penitence to flow down your face in a stream that will "make glad the city of our God," rebuilt with its walls, in your heart.

But the Lord tries to encourage his lost-love children with promises additional to those of his presence, love and power. He sets forth inducements of a character that surpasses all worldly considerations as far as the heaven is high above the earth. Notice some of them: "To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." To eat of the tree of life is to enjoy all the blessedness and happiness of a heavenly life. "In the paradise of God" is a figure taken from the garden of Eden, for paradise means garden. We sometimes wonder at the folly of our first parents in disobeying God's commands, and thus bringing upon themselves the disgrace and ruin which followed. But do we not act after the same manner when we disobey the Lord? We as surely deprive ourselves of the enjoyments of his favor and conscious presence as they did. But through his abounding love in Christ Jesus we can be reclaimed and reinstated sooner than they. Thanks be to God, the scheme of redemption and salvation is now complete; and we are not now required to wait four thousand years to have the head of the serpent bruised under our feet. Neither is there a flaming sword of threatening vengeance to guard the gate against our return. We are invited to return. The gate is open. Yea, the Lord himself is the gate. He stands beckoning, even calling and saying: "I am the way; I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved." The paradise of God, the garden of Eden, is planted by the Lord in the heart of every true follower of his. This is a great truth. When we are in heavenly frames of feeling we are in a state to enjoy its cool shade and partake of its fruits. There the sun does not light upon us, nor any unpleasant heat.

Hoping that what I have said in much weakness may be made strong by the Spirit of God, unto edification and comfort, I now close. On

Sunday, October 10, he had meeting at Brother Christian Wine's. Next day he visited David Garst's; and stayed all night at the widow Bowman's.

He visited successively, in order, the following named brethren and sisters, preaching nearly every day: Daniel Crouse's, John Sherfey's, John Basehore's, Henry Swadley's, widow Bowman's, John Bowman's, Henry Garst's.

Tuesday, October 19. He started homeward, but stopped at Brother Michael Grabil's and attended a meeting in Roanoke meetinghouse. Assisted by brethren Kinsey and Brubaker, he ordained Brother Christian Wirt to the full work of the gospel ministry.

Friday, October 29. He arrived home safe, after an absence of something over four weeks. The whole distance, going and returning, was about 600 miles. This he traveled on Nell's back. Good, patient, faithful Nell!

From this time on to the close of the year, Brother Kline was mainly engaged in the practice of medicine, together with his ministerial labors. On far into the next year the same may be said of his work. Ever active, no such thing as idleness ever had a place in his life. Looking through his Diary, observing the unintermitting activity of his life "every day and Sunday too," I am struck with wonder that he did not get tired.

Sunday, March 13, 1853. Meeting at the Elk meetinghouse, in Page County, Virginia. Acts 9 was read. My topic was Saul's conversion. There are three points in the conversion of Saul which I noted particularly in my discourse to-day. They are as follows:

  I. Saul's conversion was unexpected.
 II. It was miraculous.
III. It was thorough.

No event could have been less expected than the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Lightning from the clear blue sky, or the breaking forth of the sun at midnight, could not have struck both Jews and Christians with deeper amazement than did the report of the change of Saul from persecutor to protector of God's people. But this is sometimes God's way. Often does he send us blessings and do wonders when we least expect them. Day breaks at the darkest hour. In the midst of parching dryness the refreshing shower comes. The hardest pain is just before the birth. A sleepless night ends in a joyful morning. In this way he shows us that the "excellency of the power is not of men, but of God."

In our religious experiences we sometimes feel prayer a burden; reading and meditation a task. We loathe ourselves and wonder how Jesus can love us. Out of such frames of feeling the Lord sometimes suddenly lifts us, by causing light to break in upon our souls, revealing some new truth, some fresh affection, in which we rejoice. In addition to these instances of unexpected blessings, we sometimes see men gathered into the fold, for whose conversion we had lost all hope.

We need not wonder that Saul's conversion was wholly unexpected. He had shown such hostility to Jesus of Nazareth that no ground for hope of any change in him was anywhere visible. His conviction was therefore, in the eyes of Christians, a miracle. But it was so only in appearance. The light, above the brightness of the sun, that shone upon him, was but the same light that shone from the face of the Lord and glistened from his raiment on the holy mount when he was transfigured. John had a somewhat similar vision of the Lord upon the isle of Patmos. John was better prepared to receive the vision than was Saul; but even John fell at the Lord's feet as dead. The Lord immediately laid his right hand upon John, and in the tenderness of his love said: "Fear not." These same sweet words fell from his lips upon the ears of the three disciples on the holy mount. But Saul heard far different words. A voice sounded into his soul: "I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest." This terrific announcement broke up the sealed fountain of his sinful heart and he cried out: "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" He was then told to go into the city of Damascus, and it would there be told him what he had to do.

Notice the difference. The Lord did not say to him as he had to many others: "Fear not." This seemed to be his cherished phrase to all who loved and believed on him. To the women at the sepulcher, these words, "fear not," were addressed by the angel. To the church, seen in vision by the prophetic eye of Isaiah, the words, "Fear not, for I have redeemed thee: fear not, for I am with thee," are tenderly spoken by the Lord. If Saul's conviction had been brought about by human agency through the preaching of the Word, the adversaries of the cross might have said that he had been persuaded, or bribed with money to change his manner of life. But nothing like this could be said now. The men who journeyed with him could testify otherwise. They saw the light that flashed upon him; but they heard not the words spoken. They were not persecutors of Jesus by intention as Saul was. Like the soldiers who nailed the Lord to the cross, they knew not what they did. But Saul knew what he was doing, and the light struck conviction to his heart.

Conviction is a knowledge of sin imparted by the Holy Spirit through the Word. The light that Saul saw is an expressive emblem of the light of revealed truth. Light signifies truth, in very many places in the Scriptures. Take, for examples, the following: "The people which sat in darkness saw great light." Darkness here does not mean natural darkness, but mental or spiritual darkness, which is ignorance. Again: "Every one that doeth evil, hateth the light." This was Saul's state exactly. He was doing evil, and he hated the light to such a pitch of passion that he sought to take the lives of the children of light. But it was God's way then, and it is God's way now, to convict and convert men by means of the very thing they hate, which is the Word of Truth.

Saul remained three days and nights in this awful state of conviction in which time "he did neither eat nor drink." The anguish of spirit suffered during these days and nights no heart but his own can ever know. His sins were red with the blood of the saints. Doubts as to what the persecuted Jesus might require of him, with a thousand unanswerable questions, harassed his mind. Conviction, or a feeling sense of sin, always precedes conversion. Repentance cannot take place without a knowledge of sin's condemning and destroying power. When this is felt man desires to be rid of sin, and asks what he must do to be saved. This is the first step in repentance. Conversion and repentance, complete, are expressions meaning one and the same thing. Our Lord's illustration is instructive: "When a woman is in travail, she hath anguish; but when she is delivered she straightway forgetteth her anguish for joy that a man is born into the world." These words from the lips of Jesus tell us more about conviction and conversion than all else that has ever been written.

We must notice the kindness in which Ananias approached Saul to complete the manward side of his conversion and usher in the new birth. He put his hands on him, not roughly, but gently, and said: "Brother Saul,"—"and immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." His spiritual eyes were now open; his sins washed away; and out of the baptismal stream he was visibly born into the church a new creature in Christ Jesus, with a new name. I hold the belief that Saul changed his name himself. His old life was now so abhorrent to him that he could no longer bear to hear the name by which he was called when pursuing that course of life. It was his desire to cast all recollection of it out of mind, and the old name with it. But he never did forget entirely. He calls himself the chief of sinners, and almost gets wild with exultation over the mercies of God. Hear some of his joyful exclamations: "Who shall condemn us! Who shall separate us from the love of Christ! O, the length, and the breadth, and the depth and the height of the love of Christ!" Paul never doubted his conversion. He became as enthusiastic in building up the church as he had been in tearing it down. He tried to repair the evil he had done by adding new recruits to the church to fill the places of those whom he had either driven out or caused to be martyred.

Brethren and sisters, here is a lesson for us all. Let us follow Paul's example in self-denial, in love for the Brethren, in love for the unconverted, in the love of doing good at all times and in all ways.

Thursday, April 7. Council meeting at the Flat Rock. David Kline is advanced in the ministry, and John Long is elected to the deaconship.

Sunday, April 10. Meeting at the Lost River meetinghouse. George Halterman is baptized.

Sunday, May 1. Meeting at Turner's schoolhouse, in the Gap. Samuel Smith is baptized.

Sunday, May 8. Meeting at Joseph Glick's. Samuel Good and wife baptized.

Monday, May 9. Meeting in our meetinghouse. John Bowman and Daniel Crouse are with us, on their way to the Annual Meeting.

Thursday, May 12. This day Brother Kline and Benjamin Bowman started together, on horseback, to the Yearly Meeting, which, according to the Diary, was appointed to meet near William Deahl's. They went down the Valley of Virginia, and arrived at Brother William Deahl's Saturday evening following.

Sunday, May 15. Diary: There is preaching at three places. We were made to witness a very distressing occurrence to-day in the sudden death of Brother Daniel Haines's wife. She came into the meeting in her usual state of health, and in two hours she was a corpse. Death had done its work upon the body; but it could not touch the soul to which Jesus had given eternal life. "Hither shalt thou go, but no farther; and here shall all thy waves be stayed," may be applied to death as it comes to the child of God, as appropriately as to the great ocean.

Monday, May 16. Come to the meetinghouse. Committees are appointed. Go to Jacob Saylor's and take in questions. In the meantime preaching is going on at the meetinghouse as yesterday. We stay all night at Brother Deahl's.

Thursday, May 17. Business progresses slowly.

Wednesday, May 18. At about four o'clock it is announced that all the business before the meeting has been disposed of, and the meeting breaks up, with many farewell salutations and much tender feeling. We stay all night with John Waltman, married to Martin Deahl's daughter.

Monday, May 23. Love feast at our meetinghouse. A great concourse of people, but good order. The brethren John Bowman and Daniel Crouse are here. They speak to good acceptance.

Tuesday, May 24. Go to the Tristle meetinghouse. Christian Funk is buried. Age, eighty years, three months and nineteen days. He was a very consistent member of the Mennonite persuasion, and suddenly died in the meetinghouse, on Sunday before, in the very act of singing a devotional hymn with the congregation. Let us hope that as the song died on his lips here his soul caught its echo in heaven.

Sunday, June 19. Go to Philip Ritchey's schoolhouse in the Gap. Speak from Jer. 7:23. Text.—"But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people."

I said in substance: Man is to-day what he has ever been. "The carnal mind is enmity against God" now, quite as deep-seated in man's heart as when he led his unholy and rebellious people out of Egypt. Man's will now, as then, is contrary to God's will. But God wants to change man's will so as to incline it to good instead of evil. God is infinitely blessed and happy, because he is infinitely just and good. Man is unblessed and unhappy, because he is unholy and evil. One of the clearest proofs of man's degeneracy is found in his willingness to remain in his sinful and unhappy state. Like the man among the tombs, he is ready to cry out, in thought if not otherwise, "Let us alone! what have we to do with thee? Art thou come to torment us before the time?"

The two great lessons given in the text, are obedience and reward. I will tell you about obedience first. To make this very plain you must first be told that obedience consists in doing what one is commanded to do. Two things, however, are necessary to make obedience a duty. First, the command must come from a right source; it must be based upon the right authority. Second, it must be given in a way that can be understood. The command must be plain. These two things being established, it is the duty of every one to hear and obey what he is commanded to do. Disobeying good commands is as sure to bring suffering and loss as violating the laws of health is sure to bring disease into our bodies. Let us notice some of the commands which, in the course of our lives, it may be our duty to obey. There is no difference between a law and a command. Every law is a command in substance, and every command is a law. There are very deep things involved here, but I will not now enter upon them. Every command is but the expression of the will of the commander; and the will of the commander in every case, when expressed, and compliance with it is demanded, is a law.

Authority has many grades. There is parental authority, teachers' authority, magisterial authority, legislative authority. All these grades of authority are necessary for our well-being. But no benefit can be derived from authority of any kind without obedience to that authority. The best law can do no good unless it be obeyed. Parental laws, no matter how wise and good they are in themselves, are of no account unless the children obey their parents. It is the same with all laws.

Possibly it may not be clear to the understanding of some how obedience to God's laws makes man happy. Let us then consider this matter of obedience on a lower grade. Parents love their children. Parents have much of life's experiences. They are capable of knowing better than their children can what is best for the children. Now if children will heed what their parents say to them in the way of good counsel, instruction, and government, love, peace and harmony will prevail in the household. Joy will be a constant guest. Happiness will crown the board. Habits of good will be formed in the young which will not forsake them when they are old. In youth the foundation is thus laid for honorable success in later years. Reverse this picture: instead of happiness, discontent; instead of joy, distress; instead of peace, contentions and broils; instead of respectability, disgrace; instead of honor, shame. What an amazing difference between the rewards of obedience and the effects of disobedience! The good results of obedience to good laws are boundless in extent and endless in duration.

This now brings me to the main point of my discourse, obedience to God and its rewards. As God is infinitely good, and therefore wills nothing beyond the good of his creatures; and as he is infinitely wise to know in what the highest good of his creatures consists, it becomes man's highest duty and privilege to know what God would have him to do. But inside of all the externals of obedience there must be a state of heart and mind conformed to God's will before any works can be done acceptable to him. What is this state of mind and heart? It is all expressed in two words,—love and faith. Jesus says: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." As much as to say, "Do not act the part of a hypocrite by putting on the form of obedience with no love in the heart." He continues the thought by saying: "He that loveth me will keep my words." Obedience, you see, is the proof of love, true obedience, I mean.

Some gravely ask, Which is first in the heart, love or faith? This question is very nearly like that of asking which is most necessary to the growth of plants, heat or moisture? The truth is plain, that both are necessary; and both together. Without both together no seed could sprout, no plant put forth its leaves. Just so it is with the growth of gospel seeds in the soul. There must be love and faith, both. But this is very plain and easy to be understood. No one can believe in Jesus truly without loving him; and no one can love him without at the same time believing on him. "We love him because he first loved us:" and faith is but a belief in and joyful acceptance of the words which tell us how he has made known his love for us. Out of this love and faith true obedience springs.

We must notice one particular in our thought upon this subject. It is a matter of the deepest interest to every one of us. I now state it: Our love and faith grow with our obedience. What class of children love their parents most and repose the most confidence in them, obedient children or disobedient children? Obedient children, you all answer. Why is this? It is because obedient children receive daily rewards for their good conduct in the expressions of appreciation and love on the part of their parents, brothers, sisters and friends. Love begets love. Just so it is with man and God. The Apostle James puts this thought beautifully: "If a man be not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." How will he know this? By the heart consolations and comforts it brings him. The Holy Spirit will bear witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. "God is not slack concerning his promises." When he says: "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people," do you think he has no way of letting them know they are his people? Will not a father and mother own the child they love? How much more our heavenly Father will own and bless his child!

"The opened heavens around me shine

With beams of sacred bliss,

When Jesus shows that he is mine

And whispers: I am his."

There can be no greater enjoyment than the reading of the Scriptures when we feel that we have complied with their injunctions and requirements, and have a will to do so for ever. It is then the "peace of God which passeth all understanding" fills the soul, and the mind is happy.

The text says: "I will be your God; and ye shall be my people." This is the reward of our obedience. If men would preach from this to the end of time they could tell but a very small part of the blessedness wrapped up in this promise. People think much of the blessings of this life when they are joyous and cheerful from health and prosperity. But in this promise life and health are guaranteed to all eternity. "He that believeth on me shall never die." We are assured that in the glory world sickness and pain and death shall be no more. "I will be your God." This means in the way of every good. "No good thing," says the Psalmist, "will the Lord withhold from them that fear him." This will be made clearest in the world to come. "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think." "I will be your God,—not for awhile and then cast you off. I do not repent of my promises and gifts. You may make a promise, or give something, or do something from an impulse of feeling, which you afterwards regret; but I am subject to no such weakness." In this sense he speaks to us in his Word. He will, if we heed his voice, make of us all "a people prepared for the Lord," a converted, obedient, sanctified and eternally saved and happy people.

Some may regard God as man's enemy. They seem to think there is something terrible in religion, and the farther away they can keep from it the safer they are. What a fatal mistake! To be a child of God is to be safe and happy. Our heavenly Father feels the love of pity for the sinner. I lately read a very touching account of a lost child. The father went calling, calling the name of his boy. After awhile the boy was found; but his mind was so bewildered and confused that he did not seem to know his father's voice. So it is with the sinner. He has wandered so far away from home, the home of peace with God, that he knows not the voice of the Father. That voice is still calling: "Come unto me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls;" for "he came to save that which was lost."

"And ye shall be my people." We get to be his people by true repentance, faith and baptism. He commands us to repent. He commands us to believe on the Son. "He that believeth the Son hath everlasting life." He commands us to be baptized. Obedience from love and faith makes us his people. As Jesus ascended from the waters of the Jordan, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and a voice from heaven said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This was an expression of the Father's love which he has for every one who, from the heart, will hear his voice.

Wednesday, June 19. It is now delightful weather, and Brother Kline is this day on the Great Cheat mountain, filling two appointments at a place which he calls Marsh's. The Great Cheat mountain lies west of the Alleghany proper, and for many miles ranges nearly parallel with it. A branch of Cheat river drains the valley between the two. The people in this section are mainly employed in rearing cattle and sheep. The lands are well adapted to grazing. But in most localities of this country meetings for preaching and other religious services are rare, and the Gospel is seldom heard. Brother Kline's heart ever leaned toward destitute regions like these. He would say: "I occasionally find one whose sense of sin has so mellowed his heart that, like a ripe apple, he is ready to fall by a gentle touch of gospel truth."

Friday, July 1. Yesterday I had meeting at Josiah Simmon's, and to-day have meeting at the same place. I speak from 1 Peter 1:19. Text.—"Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ."

I tried to set before these dear people the only hope of salvation. I told them about the Son of God; that he was born of a woman, a pure virgin who conceived him not of man, but of the Holy Spirit of God; that his birth was heralded and announced by an angel from heaven who named him Jesus before he was born, for, said the angel, "He shall save his people from their sins."

When he came to be a man about thirty years of age he was publicly baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan, "and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon him: and, lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Jesus lived a life of sinless purity, going about doing good, teaching the people the way of everlasting life; healing the sick; raising the dead to life; giving sight to the blind; hearing to the deaf; cleansing the lepers, and casting devils and evil spirits out of people who were subject to the evil powers by which they were possessed. All these things are related by the four evangelists. Jesus also taught the people many things by parables, in which he set forth his great love for them; what he was able and willing to do to save them from their sins, and what it was necessary for them to do to be saved.

But the Jews would not accept the truth he told them. They were a very proud and self-righteous people, and were not willing to be instructed in things they vainly believed they understood better than Jesus did. He called on them to repent of their sins. They denied their being sinners. He told them he was the Son of God, and that he came down from heaven. They would not believe this: and just because he taught and did things contrary to the way their proud and selfish hearts thought right, they arrested Jesus the Lord of glory, took him before their high priest, gave him a mock trial, and had him crucified. Some may not know just what this means. It means that Jesus was nailed to two pieces of wood one across the other; his hands were nailed to the crosspiece above, and his feet to the high post that was fastened by its lower end in the ground. Thus he hung in agony till he was dead. This was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was done through the envy, malice and hatred of the Jews. It shows how very wicked they were. Some good men who had not consented to the death of Jesus took his body down from the cross and placed it in a sepulchre or vault cut out of solid rock. This vault had been cut out of the rock some time before and belonged to a man of the name of Joseph. This Joseph assisted in placing the body of Jesus in his new vault or tomb, and then they placed a large stone at the mouth of the tomb, and the body of Jesus was buried. As the pall of that night's darkness gently settled on the grave of the crucified Jesus, the Jews felt relieved that they had now, as they thought, put their enemy out of sight. But on the morning of the third day after this some women came to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, and, behold! it was not there; but a bright and shining angel of glory was there, who said to those good women: "He is not here; he is risen from the dead." They could hardly believe for joy. Soon, however, they, with many others, saw the risen Lord for themselves, with their own eyes, and never doubted any more.

All that I have said so far is intended as an introduction to my text. My text says: "We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ." The Lord told his disciples, who were his loving friends, the reason why he suffered the Jews to put him to death. It was, he told them, that all the things written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning him might be fulfilled. He also said to two of them as they journeyed to Emmaus: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" The blood he shed on the cross was necessary to his glorification. Without it he could not have been glorified. The blood of Christ is called the blood of the covenant. Now what is a covenant? A covenant is a union of one mind and heart with another. It is literally a going together, as a man and woman join heart and hand in the covenant of marriage. When God and man enter into a covenant they unite and become as one. In this union God loves man with unspeakable love, and man loves the Lord his God with all his heart. Love is what unites. Love unites a husband and wife. When this union is perfect, what the one loves the other likewise loves; and when we are in covenant union with our glorified Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, what he loves we love, and what he hates we also hate. As man enters into a covenant with the Lord he enters a state of salvation from sin, death and hell. But all covenants between God and men must be sealed or made with blood: and whereas a covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ redeems and saves man from death and hell, therefore the blood of Christ redeems and saves man because it is the blood of the covenant between him and God.

But let us carry this thought a little further. Jesus said to the Jews, "Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, ye have no life in you." By blood here the Lord does not mean natural blood: he means the blood of the covenant by which we are united with him; the redeeming blood which Peter speaks of in the text. But we must drink it: otherwise we have no life in us. Now how is it possible for any one to drink the blood of Christ? I will tell you. Christ's blood is his life, and he says: "My words are spirit, and they are life." His blood, then, is his Word in its spirit and life. Now when we believe what he tells us with our heart, and do what he commands us because we love him, we are truly drinking his blood. When we forsake our sins by turning unto the Lord from a heart-felt faith in his Word and belief of the truth he tells us, we are drinking his blood; his blood, which is his gospel truth, becomes our life. "And because he lives, we shall live also." "I am the way, the truth, and the life. My word is truth." All this and much more is signified by eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus. "Whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." God's truth is called the law of liberty. Why? Because it tells men how they may become free. It redeems them when they obey it.

Peter calls this change from bondage to liberty a new birth. Notice here in the chapter I read: "Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." We are naturally born unto sin, into the love of things that please our natural sight, our natural appetites and inclinations. Through these we love ourselves and the world to a degree that holds us in bondage, a kind of slavery. This is meant by Paul in these words: "To whomsoever ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." Peter means about the same by these words: "Of whom a man is overcome, by the same is he brought into bondage." And in the book of Hebrews we read of such "who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Being born again spiritually, into a new state of heart and life, we are set free from our bondage to sin. In this newborn state we love to do the will of God, and love the company of good people, and desire to be in the church with the people of God. The Lord Jesus says: "If the truth shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." It is by and through the truth that men are redeemed. "Verily, verily, he that committeth sin is the servant of sin." These are the Lord's own words.

But the worst state any one can be in is a state of bondage in sin, with no desire, no wish or feeling of any kind, to get out of it. This spirit of indifference stamps the seal of darkness deeper and deeper, until the soul loses all desire for anything better. I am just now reminded of what I read not long since. A family of the name of Slocum, living in the State of Pennsylvania, if I mistake not, many years ago, was visited by Indians for the purpose of plunder. With other things they carried off one of the children of the family, a girl several years old. The family was sorely distressed, and every possible effort was made to rescue the child. But all in vain. Many years after, when the poor little girl's father and mother were both dead, her surviving brother and sister heard of her. They felt satisfied they had been correctly informed, and resolved to go to see her, and if possible try to get her back to live with them once more. They went on horseback, and found her a long way off in what was then an unsettled part of Ohio. I may be mistaken even here, as to the part of the country they found her in. But they did find their sister living among the Indians, and in fact the wife of one of the chiefs. She still remembered some English words. They got her to understand who they were, and they wished her to go back with them to their home. But she would not go. She gave them to understand that she was satisfied to remain with the Indians, destitute and comfortless as they were. The last trace of home feeling had left her heart, and with it had departed every vestige of religious concern and love for social life. Sad and sorrowing did her brother and sister return to their homes; and to the time of their death they never ceased to mourn for their lost sister. I have told you a true story; and if it causes the eye of some tender-hearted mother to grow dim with a tear I say, It is well. God's children are exhorted to be tender-hearted, compassionate one for another, and to weep with the sorrowing.

But there is something that should touch our sympathies and bring our tears from fountains far deeper than those opened by such stories as the one I just related. And that is the condition which so many are in with respect to the things of salvation. Like the poor woman I told you about, they are deaf to all that is told them about a better life, and dead to all that God and man are willing to do for them. It is sometimes said of the sick that as long as there is life there is hope. So let it be with us in behalf of such. If the lost sister could have been made sensible of the great benefit it might have been to her to go back and live in a civilized and religious way, at last she might have consented to go. So let us hope that many, who are still in the bondage of sin and the darkness of this world, may see the truth that will set them free and give them light to repent and live.

Saturday, July 2. Cross the Cheat mountain to John Riley's in Pocahontas County, Virginia.

Sunday, July 3. In the forenoon I attend a Methodist quarterly meeting, at which they hold what they call a love feast; that is, they take bread and water; and after preaching they take what they call the Lord's Supper. They seem to be very sincere in what they do; but to my mind they are not consistent in calling a morsel of bread and a sip of wine, taken at the middle of the day, the Lord's Supper. I am sure we have no right to depart from God's order in anything appertaining to his church and worship.

In the afternoon I preach a funeral and baptize John Riley. Dine at Jacob Yager's on top of the Alleghany mountain, and stay all night at Adam Hevner's. Brother Kline got home Thursday, July 7.

Sunday, July 10. Baptize Samuel Bowman and wife. Brother and Sister Bowman give proof of being a good tree by the fruit they bear.

Samuel Bowman lived and died on Linville Creek, not far from Brother Kline's place. He raised a highly respectable family, very intelligent, and some of his children became members of the church of the Brethren.

Saturday, July 30. Meeting at Liberty, in Page County, Virginia. I speak on foreordination and election. Much has been said and written on these subjects. It is to be feared, however, that instead of light being thrown upon them in the way they have been treated, darkness, rather, has been added to darkness. No subjects wrongly viewed can look darker; and none rightly viewed can look clearer. The word foreordain means to ordain beforehand: and the word elect means to choose. Some that I have met with, in speaking on these subjects, particularly as they are given in the epistolary writings of the New Testament, remind me of fish in a net; they flounder about in the net, while every effort they make fastens them only the more tightly in its meshes. They read: "Whom God foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, ... and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Rom. 8:29, 30. Likewise the text before us: "Elect ... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit." 1 Peter 1:2.

These passages, with others of a somewhat similar import, do not teach the foreordination and election of individuals independent of character and fitness. A lack of perception of this comprehensive truth accounts for the general misunderstanding of these and like passages in the apostolic writings. The doctrine of election, as it is called, opens out into a very large field for thought and investigation. It takes in the whole way of salvation from beginning to end.

"God is love," and the universe, with all its display of wonders and apparent opposition of forces and their ends, was created and is upheld by the eternal hand, for no other purpose than to make his love be seen and felt by his intelligent creation. Any other view challenges the divine love and reflects discredit upon the divine wisdom. All that we know of God is revealed in the truth he has given to save man from sin and its consequences. His love, wisdom and power are all revealed in his great scheme to build up a heaven of eternal glory and bliss for all who desire or are willing to share in its blessedness. But God does not work out of order. He works in accord with the love and wisdom which are his essence, and both infinite and eternal with him. Before the heavens were made, or ever the foundations of the earth were laid, it was the divine purpose to create intelligent beings to be eternally happy. When God created the heavens and the earth he made man in his own image and likeness. Man was happy. But he fell. And God foresaw that man would fall; and to remedy the loss and restore man to the divine image again, Christ was, as a Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world. In the Divine estimation Christ was slain before the foundation of the world; but to us, visibly, not until four thousand years afterward. In the divine foreknowledge the church was established before the world was made, and God foreordained who should compose it, basing this foreordination, not on one in preference to another on any personal ground, but on the ground of fitness as to quality. Foreordination and election have nothing to do with man other than as pertains to quality and fitness. The penitent, believing, loving and obeying, humble, self-denying soul is foreordained to be one of God's elect, now, henceforth and forever.

I now repeat the text: "Elect ... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit." What I have said harmonizes with this, because the qualified fitness of the elect is through sanctification of the Spirit. Our Lord prays for all in these words: "Father, sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." It is through the truth that men are sanctified, and the sanctified the world over and through all time are God's elect, according to his foreknowledge or foreordination, because no others can be. The all-in-all of this great subject resolves itself into the simple fact that men do not come into covenant union with God unto salvation because God elected and foreordained it to be so in their special behalf as individuals, unconditionally chosen beforehand, whilst others no worse than they are left to go to destruction; but they are elected according to God's foreordination because they have come into covenant union with him unto salvation; and have, therefore, the fitness to be worthy of being so chosen or elected. Their election and foreordination are not the cause but the result of the fitness. It is foreordained that "of such is the kingdom of heaven," because it cannot consist of any other kind.

But let us turn to Ezekiel's prophecy, 33:11, "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye, ... for why will ye die; O house of Israel?" If the house of Israel was of the elect on an unconditional basis of salvation, they surely would return at some time, and why such concern? If not, all the calling after them that could be done would not fetch them back, because they were not of the elect. This is exactly where the doctrine of unconditional election leads.

Again, 2 Peter 3:9, God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." If God is not willing that any should perish, why did he not make provision and save all? If it is possible for him to save some just because he chooses to do so without any conditions, why not save all? I know what the advocates of this doctrine which I am combatting teach: they say God makes his elect willing to repent and turn to him in the day of his power. I ask, If he is not willing that any should perish, why does he not save all? If he wills that all should come to repentance, why does he not give repentance to all and remission of sins? I mention these things merely to show the contradictions and confusion involved in the doctrine of unconditional elections.

I will here relate what I read somewhere not long ago. A very pious African slave was employed in waiting on the guests at a public house of entertainment. One of the guests, who was a man of some prominence in the world, having been informed of the unaffected Christian piety of this poor slave, thought to sport with him. Addressing him by name, he said: "I want you to tell me whether I am one of the Lord's elect or not." "Indeed, sir," said the poor slave, "I have never heard of your being a candidate. If you want a place in the good Lord's service you must go to him and tell him that you are a candidate, that you will accept the lowest place that he is willing to give you, and that you will do whatever he requires at your hands. If," continued he, "you come out publicly in this way, I can then tell you what I think as to whether you are one of the Lord's elect or not."

Friday, August 5. Harvest meeting at our meetinghouse. Much good singing, with thanksgiving and speaking suited to the occasion.

Sunday, August 28. Meeting at Edom, a village about six miles northward from Harrisonburg, Virginia. I spoke from 1 Peter 3:18, 22. The first part of this text should be handled with great caution. Precisely what is meant is not very clear. I am told that a critical examination of the Greek text does favor the doctrine that Christ went from the cross to carry the news of his victorious death to the spirits of those who perished in the flood. If it pleased the good Lord to carry the news of salvation to this throng of prisoners and release them from their prison, who can say aught against it? My heart would rejoice to think that every being in the universe could and would, sometime, in the course of the ages, be made sinless and happy. But we should never concern ourselves about what God has not revealed. It is our right and privilege to rejoice evermore in the free and full salvation clearly set forth and freely offered in his Word. To the unconverted and careless sinner, I here say to-day, as I love your immortal soul, Do not rest your hope of salvation upon anything short of a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. If our Father in heaven has provided another way, as some would say, "by fire," I know not that way.

History says that

"Kings are men to glory known

Who wade through fire to a throne;"

but a seared and blistered body is a great price to pay for an earthly crown. So I think that "by fire," even if such a thing were possible, would be a very undesirable way of getting into heaven, especially if the fire means "hell fire." Martyrs, it is true, have gone to glory through fire; but not the fire that burns and sears the soul. It was only that elementary fire kindled by wicked hands around the stake. It could kill the body, but after that there was no more that it could do; and the purified and ransomed soul of the sainted being who thus had suffered could look down from heights of glory upon the ashes of his martyrdom and sing: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

But to return to the text. We here note this remarkable language, that "baptism doth also now save us." I suppose Peter uses the word "baptism" here in its authorized acceptation, which is the immersion of the body of a believer in water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by a properly authorized administrator of the ordinance. But in what sense can baptism be said to save us? My first answer is, It saves us just as the sevenfold washing in Jordan on the part of Naaman saved that leprous nobleman from being consumed by the leprosy.

I will extend my remarks somewhat concerning Naaman the Syrian. He came to the Prophet Elisha to get cured of his leprosy. He was well supplied with valuable presents for the man of God, to be given to him in the event of his being healed by him. The prophet of God told him to go and wash or bathe seven times in the Jordan. This appeared too insignificant for such a great man as he was to submit to. Besides he regarded the waters of Damascus as superior in virtue to the waters of the Jordan, and he started off in a rage from disappointment. But as he was leaving his servants said to him: "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean." Now, in my view, baptism saves us as this sevenfold dipping in Jordan saved Naaman. Not the water, but the spirit of obedience, is what saves. It saves us as going through the door into the ark saved Noah and his family. It saves us as passing through the Red Sea saved Israel from the host of Egyptians that were in pursuit. This passage of Israel through the sea is called a baptism.

And what shall I say more? For it looks as if this ought to be enough. But I would like to send my voice around the globe laden with the truth that "faith without works is dead," and that baptism is the very first outward work of obedience the believer is required to do. This, with the other ordinances of God's house, in connection with a good life ornamented with the fruits of love and good will toward men, gives life to faith and proves that it is a living reality in the soul.

Saul of Tarsus was a believing convict;

"Borne down beneath a load of sin;

By Satan sorely pressed—"

for three days and nights, in which he did neither eat nor drink. Ananias came to him with instructions direct from the Lord, saying: "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." Can we suppose that Saul would have become the happy convert that he was, had he refused to obey?

Some think that baptism is nothing, or so nearly nothing that it is hardly worth taking into the account of Christian life. May it not as truthfully be said that faith is nothing, and that repentance is nothing, and that obedience is nothing? Where is the difference?

In all love, with my heart moved in good will toward every one in this house, I do here say that for the life of me I cannot see how any one can hope for salvation while living in open disobedience to the only Savior, Jesus Christ. Can any plead ignorance? From this hour forth you shall not bring that in as a plea for neglect of duty, for I now repeat in your ears the words that fell from the lips of Jesus himself: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Have I a right to say that you will be saved without baptism? I claim no such right. You may say the penitent thief on the cross was saved without baptism. So he was; all things are possible with God; and notwithstanding all that God has said in his Word about baptism and its blessed followings, I boldly say to you that if you die knowing as little about it as the thief on the cross did, with no better chance to have it administered upon you and to you than he had, God will never require it at your hands. But from this day on, if not before this day, you are lifted out of the darkness that encompassed his mind, and can nevermore plead ignorance. Besides, your hands and feet are not nailed to a cross as his were. You are not reduced to the extremity of calling for mercy with the last gasp of expiring life. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

Again: Hear what was said to the convicted multitude on the day of Pentecost: "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." Have I a right, has any one a right, to say that these promises would have been fulfilled without baptism? But they were fulfilled, for the same day there were added to the brethren then present, about three thousand souls. Would such addition have been made without a compliance with the terms of admission? But those who speak and think lightly of baptism, whilst they may not see it so, do virtually dishonor the blessed Jesus by their implied belief that he demands something of his people which is of little or no account. They insult him by substantially saying they understand his business better than he does himself. Are any ashamed to be baptized? If there be one such here to-day, I warningly repeat in his or her ear this saying of Jesus: "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in his own glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels."

I have a clear conscience that I am attaching to this subject no more importance than it justly claims in the scale of salvation. When I lay me down to die, above all things I desire to feel assured that "I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God." I submit these remarks to your consideration, with a prayer for the divine blessing upon us all to his glory. Amen!

Tuesday, September 13. Perform the marriage ceremony of Michael Brake, of Hardy County, Virginia, and Julia Ann Hevner, of Rockingham County, at the home of her father, William Hevner.

Thursday, September 22. Attend a love feast at Abraham Huffman's in Page County, and stay all night at Nathan Spitler's. These two brethren give promise of great usefulness in the church.

Sunday, October 9. Brother Kline started to Maryland and Pennsylvania. I here name the families he visited on this journey, in the order the visits were made: Brother Waltman's, Jacob Saylor's, Widow Baer's, Jacob Rees's, Jesse Royer's, Widow Rees's, Moomaw's, David Garber's, Widow Bofamyer's, Joseph Pontz's, Minich's, Harnley's, Hartzler's, on Tulpahocken, Daniel Zug's, John Gipple's, Abraham Gipe's, Isaac Brubaker's. At this place he stayed the night of Monday, October 24. He reports that a snow began to fall about three o'clock Monday morning, which continued till evening, when it was over a foot in depth. A remarkable occurrence for the time of year, October 24. It will be remembered by many for a time to come. He then visited Abraham Balsbach's, Moses Miller's, Allen Mohler's, William Etter's, Sollenberger's, Engel's, Christian Keffer's.

I now name the places where he attended meetings: Jacob Saylor's meetinghouse, October 13; Pipe Creek meetinghouse, October 14; Jacob Rees's meetinghouse, October 15; Meadow Branch meetinghouse, October 16; Brother Moomaw's, October 17; Mount Joy, October 18; Widow Bofamyer's, October 19; Joseph Pontz's morning, Brother Minich's evening, October 20; Brother Harnley's morning, Shafferstown evening, October 21; Brother Hartzler's on Tulpehocken, October 22; Milborough morning, John Gipple's night, October 23; Isaac Brubaker's, October 24; Spring Creek morning, Abraham Balsbach's afternoon, October 25; Mechanicsburg, October 26; Allen Mohler's, October 27; William Etter's, October 28; Sellenberger's, October 29; Welsh Run meetinghouse forenoon, Ridge meetinghouse night, October 30.

Monday, October 31. Start for home. Brother Kline arrived home safe November 4. This report speaks for itself in behalf of his energy and activity in the work of the ministry. Such instances of untiring effort! Twenty-three meetings attended; and as many discourses delivered, in seventeen consecutive days! Besides, he had considerable traveling to do in reaching these appointments; and never stayed more than one night at the same place! We involuntarily ask, When did he sleep? or, Did he never get tired?

Tuesday, November 15. Brother Samuel Bowman died this morning. I rejoice to think he was a sincere follower of the Lord, and that he has left a life record which he will not likely be ashamed to own in a coming day.

Saturday, November 19. Night meeting at Prince's schoolhouse, near Brother Abraham Huffman's, in Page County. Acts 8:12. Text.—"But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women."

The dispersion which followed the fiery persecution of the saints at Jerusalem was productive of good. The scattered apostles, and the overseers of the deacons as well, of whom Philip named in the text was one, preached wherever they went, and many believed. The very steps taken by the enemies of the cross to put an end to its power "turned out unto the furtherance of the gospel." In this we can see the overruling hand of Providence.

There is one point in this line of thought which I desire to make specially prominent. This point is the readiness with which believers in that day submitted to the ordinance of baptism, and the consequences which were almost sure to follow. The duty of being immersed seems to have pressed itself upon their hearts, and nothing short of obedience to this command could give their consciences rest. But how is it now! Error has done so much to rob this impressive ordinance of its beauty and significance that many seem indifferent to its claims, or ignore it entirely.

Thousands professing faith in Christ at the present day go away from the revival singing:

"Nothing, either great or small;

Nothing have I now to do:

Jesus died and paid it all,

Long time ago."

This would surely be getting salvation at a cheap rate. There is in this no "trial of faith, more precious than gold," no "cleansing of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." This means receiving the crown without bearing the cross. But the early Christians were never soothed with such sedatives. On the contrary, they were admonished to count the cost. Some of the items in this cost were "self-denial, no certain dwelling place," the loss of all things, persecutions, fiery trials, bonds, imprisonments, death. They were not taught to regard the church as a cradle in which their spiritual infancy was to be rocked, but as being a camp for soldiers, with stout hearts and strong sinews, ready to do battle for the Lord. They were therefore exhorted to put on the whole armor of God: and their baptismal vow was the act of putting this armor on publicly, and their enrollment in the Lord's host, prepared for the great conflict. They were expected from that hour forth to "fight the good fight of faith," and the battle hymn that flowed out of the heart of every baptized believer of that day was, in spirit if not in form, the same that some of us are still ready to sing:

"Sure I must fight, if I would reign;

Increase my courage, Lord:

I'll bear the cross, endure the pain,

Supported by thy Word."

I would rejoice if I could here, this night, be the means of melting the ice that binds the hearts of some halfway believers, and if the angel would trouble the sluggish pool in others. May God help you, friends, to feel a sense of your duty, and, like these honest Samaritans named in the text, "believe the things spoken concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, and be baptized, both men and women."

Brother Kline was actively engaged in preaching and visiting the sick professionally as a physician to the close of the year. He traveled in the year 1853, 4,411 miles.

I find it impossible to trace all the visits to distant churches and families made by Brother Kline, and keep this book within the limits of a suitable size. I therefore omit much which might be of interest.

Friday, March 3. Council at the old meetinghouse above Harrisonburg.

Saturday, March 4. Council closes. Night meeting in Dayton, Virginia. I speak from Psalm 144:11, 12: "Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace."

This is a wonderful prayer from the heart of one who was both priest and king of his people. As a priest, David had the care of the spiritual welfare of his people; and as a king, the civil prosperity of Judah and Israel. The prayer of my text is offered in behalf of both these interests, the spiritual and the temporal. Probably no man ever felt more deeply the truth expressed in his own words, elsewhere recorded, "Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah," than David did. The lofty consciousness, which is the orderly outgrowth of correct knowledge of God's love, wisdom and power, and man's utter lack of all these attributes, accounts for the dependence and trust he reposed in God. This called forth the prayer of my text. It contains three petitions. The first is for deliverance from strange children; the second, that the sons may be as plants [olive trees] grown up in their youth; the third, that the daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.

David comes into the presence of the Lord-as the representative of his kingdom. His watchful eye has seen the tracks and his listening ear has heard the steps of strange feet. They are the feet of the surrounding idolatrous nations. He calls them strange children, for such they are; because in language, manners and dress they give proof that they are not of Judah and Jerusalem, but of Sodom and Egypt. More than this, these strange children are enemies. They would break up the self-denying worship of the true God and rob the sanctuary of all its sacred garniture. They would corrupt the morals, debase the manners, and deprave the tastes of the young. "Their mouth speaketh vanity." They boast of their liberty. Their sinful indulgences are not restrained by law. They are free to do whatever the lust of the flesh and the eye may incline them to do. "Their right hand is the right hand of falsehood." This figure is very strong. The right hand in this place is figuratively put for knowledge, wisdom, power, and whatever else they may vainly boast of having. But they are destitute of all these. They have no knowledge of that which is good, because they desire it not. They have no wisdom, because they have never lifted their minds and hearts to the high plane of desire to do justice and judgment. They have no power save that which is of the natural man; and that power, unless properly restrained, is always to be feared. No wonder that he says of these idolatrous, licentious people that "their right hand is the right hand of falsehood."

But how is the Lord to rid him of and deliver him from the hand of these strange children? By causing fire to fall from heaven and consume them? By causing a flood of water to drown them? Or by making the earth to open her jaws and devour them? No, no; in none of these ways; for in such destruction of enemies there is no trial of the faith of his people. Brethren, do you know that it is, has been and to the end of time will be the pleasure of our heavenly Father to try the faith of his children? This cannot be done independent of means. Do you know that a tree standing in a stormy place takes deeper root than one that grows up in a calm, sheltered spot? Do you know that a child shielded from every trial, and kept out of the reach of all temptation, will grow up with a very weak moral development? The back that is never made to bear a load will forever stay weak. The hand and arm unused to toil will lack strength and skill. God does not want a kingdom made up of imbeciles. He wants a people strong in faith, who can make a good fight, "the good fight of faith; lay hold of eternal life;" and if needs be "take the kingdom of heaven by violence," the violence that resists the devil and makes him leave tracks which point away from where his people stand. The track always tells which way the fox has gone.

This strength of faith, Brethren, is included in David's prayer for his people, and he puts it in this shape: "That our sons may be as plants [olive trees; see Psalm 128:4] grown up in their youth." We all know that plants, including trees, make their best growth and yield their best results in the open air, where they are exposed to the sun, wind, rain, storm and drouth. And it is there they can receive the tillage they need.

You see how readily this beautiful figure applies to the rearing and education of children. "That our sons may be grown up in their youth." Their manhood as to faith, virtue, obedience, wisdom, intelligence and piety is largely developed while they are yet young. How many mistakes are made by parents right here! They say of their sons: "Ah, they are young. After awhile they will be through with sowing their wild oats, and then I expect better things of them." The better things may come, but David prayed otherwise. He wanted the better things to grow up with their growth, and strengthen with their strength, so as to be perfect men even while yet in their youth, as lambs may be perfect in form and quality before they are fully developed into sheep.

But more. He prays that "our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace." Many of us, no doubt, have seen palaces built of polished stones. David almost breaks me down under the weight of his strong and significant figures. He wants the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to be fruit-bearing trees with strong roots struck deep into the ground. But the sphere in which the daughters are to move, the part they are to act, the place they are to hold in the social and religious life of the church and the world, is different from that of the sons, and so he uses a very different figure. They are to be corner stones, polished and set into a palace. Corner stones, from the ground to the roof, are those upon which the strength and beauty of a building greatly depend. A defect here mars the appearance and detracts largely from the permanence and value of the structure. David wants to see the daughters strong and solid as corner stones, in faith, virtue, wisdom and all else that helps to make a woman strong: and at the same time polished with all the refinements of taste, modesty, beauty, gentleness, tender-heartedness and love.

Since God has specially endowed woman with large capacities for developing these powers and graces, let her look to it that they be not suffered to lie buried in a napkin, or perverted to the idolatrous worship of the goddess of fashion. The plastic and pliable temperament of woman tends towards making her an easy prey for the tempter, when he approaches her with smiles, bearing in his hands jewels of gold, braided hair, and costly apparel. She is lured the same by the giddy revel and the fashionable dance—trusting, thoughtless, happy child; ready for almost any pleasure that makes the cheek to glow and the eye to sparkle with delight!

Mothers, be patient, watchful and wise in training your daughters. Withhold from them no good thing, but teach them to shun the ways that are "the ways of hell." Fathers, be mild, but firm in training your sons into habits of sobriety, temperance and abstemiousness from all bad habits. Pray with them and for them, and if possible teach them to feel that there is something better than the life and purer than the love of this world. May God bless the young people of our land and make them the pillars of his truth, is my prayer.

Thursday, April 13. Council meeting at the Mill Creek meetinghouse. Brother Isaac Long is elected speaker, and Christian Hartman deacon. Brother Isaac Long gives promise of great power in the Word. He has a very good voice for both speaking and singing. I do not wish to attach undue weight to this most wonderful gift of God, but when the head is stored with knowledge and the heart with the love of truth, the human voice is one of the great means by which God makes known the saving virtue of his Word.

Friday, April 14. Council meeting at the old meetinghouse. Brother John Thomas is elected to the deaconship.

Sunday, April 30. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Samuel Wampler and wife baptized.

Thursday, May 11. Perform the marriage ceremony of George Wine, son of Samuel Wine, and Lydia Good, daughter of Jacob Good.

Monday, May 22. This day Brother Kline starts to the Annual Meeting. He gets to Cumberland on the twenty-third, where he meets Brother E.K. Beachley, who takes him to his home. The same evening he attends a love feast at a meetinghouse near by.

Friday, May 26. He attends a union meeting at the Middle Creek meetinghouse, in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Saturday, May 27. He has meeting near Brother David Lichty's. I will clothe the skeleton of this discourse as best I can. Acts 10:34, 35. Text.—"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him."

It required a miracle to convince Peter that any besides Jews were to be favored with the Gospel. But a man of his stamp of character, hard to be convinced, resolute even to drawing the sword in defense of his friend or faith, is not likely to be imposed upon by false appearances, nor deceived by unreliable promises. Just such a man Jesus needed, and just such a man Jesus chose to be foreman in his little band of disciples. But when all doubt was removed from Peter's mind, his faith became to be a part of himself. Its roots branched out into every part of his nature, and permeated his entire self. Well could Jesus say of the truth which Peter so nobly confessed, and to which he so nobly adhered in the later years of his life by a faith that bore the test of fire: "Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Such faith ever has been and ever will be the foundation on which his church stands.

But now Peter clearly sees that the Gentiles are "fellow heirs with the Jews," and equally entitled to the right of becoming members of "the household of faith." "God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him." Neither social, moral nor political caste, nor age, sex, color nor condition impose any barrier to God's acceptance. Peter was taught this by his vision; and this is the meaning of the text. But whilst God is thus impartial, we must not forget that his acceptance of any and every one depends upon their acceptance of him.

"He that feareth God." I will say something on this. A misunderstanding of this may do serious harm. Let me first say that our heavenly Father, God, is not a despot or tyrant. There is no element in his nature or essence that in the slightest degree savors of despotism or tyranny. Jesus says: "He that seeth me seeth the Father: the Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. And from henceforth ye have both seen the Father and know him." Jesus was also called Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, "God with us." Do we, then, desire a correct knowledge of God the Father? Let us acquaint ourselves with his Son Jesus Christ, and we will have it, for he came to do the will of the Father. This was his explicit work; and he accomplished it, for he says in his last great prayer: "And now, O Father, I come to thee, having finished the work thou gavest me to do."

Now I ask, Did Jesus ever show anything else than good will toward men? Is there not manifest love in every act of his recorded life? Did he not go about doing good? Did he not say: "No man hath greater love than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you"? God's love is seen in the life work and words of Jesus.

Now, then, in what sense is Jesus Christ to be feared? In the very sense in which his disciples feared him. But this was not in the sense of being timid or fearful of his presence. On the contrary, they desired to be with him and near him, for they felt secure in his presence. They could take hold of his hands and see the nail prints, and the spear mark in his side. John leaned on his breast at table, and the women took hold of his feet. His word of comfort was: "Fear not," and he often repeated this in their ears. "Be not afraid; it is I." In all this we see the heart of our heavenly Father, for "the Son is the express image of him." In what sense, then, are we to fear God? Only in the sense of fear to go counter to his will. "Perfect love casteth out fear." The redeemed saints and angels who stand before his heavenly throne in perfect love know no fear of God, "for fear hath torment." But we, who still grovel on earth battling with the world, the flesh and the devil, have cause to fear offending his righteous and holy will. But this only when we are tempted to leave some duty undone or to commit some actual sin. As long as we walk in the good way of love, faith and obedience we have nothing to fear. To all such Jesus ever says: "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure [delight, joy] to give you the kingdom."

"And worketh righteousness." It is in order now to speak on this point in the text. We know that God is just, "and there is no unrighteousness in him." The prophet Daniel in his confession said: "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee." To work righteousness, then, is to do the righteous will of the Father. All works of righteousness have their origin in supreme love to God and subordinate love to man. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" covers the ground. It is very much the same as that other saying of Jesus: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them, for this is the law and the prophets." This command comprehends all the possible relations of men with each other. It takes in the social, moral, civil, commercial, national and religious relations of the human family in all time; and when a man's conduct in these varied relations is governed by the Lord's golden rule, he is working righteousness in the eye of God and is accepted of him. "He that worketh righteousness" takes in every human being that lives a good life. But no one can live a good life without help from the Lord. Jesus says: "Without me ye can do nothing." Cornelius had help from God. He feared God. He worshiped God. He was a devout man himself, and all his house had the same reverence for God. He had also heard of Christ, especially of the witness borne by the Holy Spirit, at his baptism, and that of the Father acknowledging his divine sonship.

But Cornelius needed instruction in matters pertaining to the ordinances of God's house. His knowledge and faith were sufficient for the purposes of living a good, righteous life. He was a man of prayer. He also possessed that element of goodness which Paul says is greater even than faith, and that element is charity. Notice, the angel said to him: "Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up as a memorial before God." The angel included nothing else. In our acknowledgments of regard and favor in the behalf of any one we refer to one's character and standing in the eyes of men. But the angel made no such reference. From this we may learn what God loves most in his people, and that is love. The love of Cornelius for God was manifested by his prayers. Loving, faithful, trustful prayers are the proof that we love God: and kindness, gentleness and goodness toward others, the proof that we love our neighbor. This was manifest in his alms.

But the Lord wanted Cornelius to arise and mount a higher plane in the life of righteousness: a high plane of holy intelligence and knowledge respecting himself and his people. The Holy Ghost falling upon him and the rest brought with it the illuminating power, in verification of the Lord's words: "The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things." This inflowing power, teaching, quickening, regenerating the soul, is what Jesus means by a man's being born of the Spirit: and in its order and connection "the washing of regeneration," the water baptism, the water birth into the church, follows. Cornelius was baptized, and all the devout members of his family with him. This is the last mention that is made of him. Very soon after this time that fearful persecution of the saints arose in Jerusalem and Judea, which resulted in their dispersion to foreign countries and places, so that Cornelius may never have enjoyed the privilege of having the remaining ordinances of feet-washing, the gospel salutation of the kiss, the love feast, and the holy Communion of the bread and wine administered to him and his house. As no church could be organized at the house of Cornelius at that time, these ordinances had to be postponed. In truth, their introduction and observance must always be guarded with care, lest they be abused and perverted, as they were at Corinth some years later. But of this we are sure: "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted of a man according to that which he hath, and not according to that which he hath not."

I cannot close without a few reflections on what has been said. When Cornelius was told what to do, he did not hesitate a moment. Forthwith he sent for Peter. When Peter came he received him with joy, and would have worshiped him in devout solemnity, had Peter not instantaneously rejected his approach. When the inflowing baptism of the Holy Spirit gave him and those with him the new birth of the Spirit, they were ready to receive the water birth by baptism in water. The water was not forbidden, because no opposition to the Gospel had as yet arisen in Cesarea.

Now, friends, here is an example worthy of imitation. Let me prevail in my appeal to you in behalf of your immortal souls. "To whom much is given, of him they will require the more." Much is given you, my dear friends who have so attentively listened to me to-day. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." To hear is to obey. "He that knoweth to do his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" These "words are spirit and they are life." "Learn of me," says the best friend on earth, "and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Sunday, May 28. Love feast at Forney's. Christian Schmucker is ordained to the full work of the ministry.

Tuesday, May 30. Love feast at David Summers's. An election is held. Brother David Royer is elected speaker; and Daniel Newcomer and David Summers deacons.

Thursday, June 1. Love feast at Brother Joseph Royer's, nine miles north of Canton.

Saturday, June 3. Stay all night at Brother Nathan Stern's.

Sunday, June 4. Come to place of Annual Meeting. Breakfast in the shed. Six persons baptized.

Monday, June 5. Form committees, and begin to take in queries. Stay all night on the ground.

Tuesday, June 6. Begin the discussion of questions. Get through with the slave question by noon. All night on the ground.

Wednesday, June 7. Get through with business by eleven o'clock, and the meeting breaks up.

Sunday, July 23. This day Joseph Miller and I start to the counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Randolph, Pocahontas, and Highland. I ride Nell.

These two brethren were absent on this journey precisely three weeks to the day. I fear it would be tedious to the reader to trace them day by day and step by step through all the ways they went. Not a day passed in which they did not fill one appointment for preaching, and often two. Brother Kline felt at home among the mountains. He had a lively appreciation of the sublime in nature; and more than once does he note the grandeur of some mountain's lofty summit over which he passed; the majestic power of some falling stream; or the awful solitude of some deep forest. It was mainly a timbered country through which they passed. The regions traversed by the Alleghany mountain proper were in that day still in a state of nature; and the scattered inhabitants very nearly in the same state. Many of them live very remote from any railroad or other public highway.

At a private house, in Randolph County, he says: "Extensive forests of very tall and straight timber which would be exceedingly valuable for building and other purposes, could it be gotten to market, cover large sections of Randolph, Pocahontas, Tucker and other counties further west. But as time goes on population will increase; and after awhile the urgent demands for the timber and other productions of these regions will cause roads to be constructed for their transportation to markets. We should not be backward in our efforts to secure permanent foothold for the truth as we hold and practice it. Many here cannot read for themselves; and it pains my heart to find how poorly they have been instructed in the things pertaining to the way of salvation. The small amount of preaching they hear is not often of an instructive character. It appeals to the feelings, but does not inform the mind. This I learn by conversing with them. They are told to believe, it is true; but what their faith is to lay hold of, and what the Lord requires them to do that they may serve him acceptably, is not made clear to their minds. It is not to be inferred that all are on the low plane of intelligence I have described. There is here and there an exception. But the exceptions are rare. And in our preaching we aim to speak, as did Paul, 'as to babes.' As to natural capacity, and their capability of attaining to high intelligence in the things of men and God, things human and divine, under the hand of adequate instruction, I regard them as being equal to any people in our State."

The two brethren continued in the company of each other throughout this journey. They got home Sunday, August 13.

Friday, September 29. This day Brother Kline starts to the counties of Hardy and Hampshire. He visits Isaac Dasher's, James Parks's, William Michael's, Adam Cosner's, Henry Cosner's, Joseph Arnold's, John Leatherman's, Samuel Arnold's, Adam Michael's, Michael Lyon's, Solomon Michael's, Jacob Cosner's, Martain Lantz's, Enoch Hyre's, Isaac Shobe's, Chlora Judy's, Peggy Dasher's, and James Fitzwater's. He got home Thursday, Oct. 12, after an absence of two weeks. He rode Nell. I beg the kind reader to pardon the entry of the foregoing list of names.

The Editor will here tell a short story of what really took place very recently. He happened to be at the house of one of his friends, and in looking through his library he discovered a very old copy of the life of Isaac N. Walter, who had been dead over forty years. He remarked to the lady of the house: "I see you still have on hand a copy of the life of Isaac N. Walter." "O, yes, and that is the most precious volume to me in all the library. You see from its appearance that it has been handled very freely. Mr. Walter used to come to our house, and whilst papa was not a member of his church he and papa thought a great deal of each other; and whilst I have but a childhood recollection of him, reading that book carries me back in thought to the old home place where I was raised, and calls up the thousand and one pleasant memories of my early days." Thus she went on; and very soon opened to the place where the date of one of Mr. Walter's visits to her father's house was given. She could no longer restrain her tears, but excused them by saying: "You know a woman never forgets her first love, and that is the love of her childhood home."

On this trip Brother Kline baptized Josiah Simons and James Hilkey, October 7.

Sunday, October 15. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I baptize eleven persons to-day. They are Noah Rhodes and wife; Frederic Kline and wife; George Wine and wife; Susanna Showalter; Jacob Sanger; John McKee; Catharine Fink, and Polly Wampler.

Sunday, October 22. Meeting at the Lost River meetinghouse. Matthew 28 is read. Philip Fitzwater and Catharine Sowder are baptized.

Sunday, October 29. Meeting at John Glick's, in Shenandoah County. After meeting I baptize John Glick and wife. Stay all night at John Neff's.

Sunday, November 12. Meeting at our meetinghouse. This day I baptize John A. Showalter; Mary Kline; Mary Kesler; Anna Hoover, wife of Emanuel Hoover, and Mrs. Fogel.

Sunday, November 26. This day John Bowman and I take a steamer at Alexandria and attend a Methodist church in Washington City. After looking around at the gorgeous displays of artistic ornamentation in the structure and finish of the building itself, and being comfortably seated in a pew cushioned with silk velvet, with my feet resting on a Brussels carpet, I was ready to hear. The first thing I heard was a sort of chant, with organ accompaniment. But I could only now and then distinguish a word chanted; so I could not say amen to their giving of thanks. Next came the reading of the twenty-fourth Psalm. Being a good way back, I could not hear distinctly, but knowing the Psalm by heart, memory served where hearing failed. This was more satisfactory. Next came the musical interlude, and the opening prayer followed. I hardly ever criticise a prayer; but when that prayer was through with it did occur to my mind that if it were to be suddenly answered none would probably be so much surprised as the preacher who offered it. A familiar hymn was now sung, and many in the congregation joined their voices in the song. This was very enjoyable. Next the sermon. The preacher used fine language, and ornamented his discourse with flowery similitudes and opposite figures. Such eloquence as flowed from his lips to-day, other things being equal, does not fail to attract large audiences. But when I took a view of the congregation, and beheld the display of fashion everywhere visible, I could not suppress the inquisitive reflection as to what John Wesley would think of that being a congregation of Methodists, could he suddenly appear among them. Would he own them? And would they own him in his plain dress and old-fashioned ways? And then the thought—what if the next hundred years bring on as great a change in our Brotherhood as the past seventy-five years have unfolded in the Methodist society! But here I let the curtain fall upon my thoughts, to hide them from my sight, for I cannot endure the prospect of such a change.

I aim to cultivate a spirit of forbearance toward all denominations of professing Christians; but I am forced to conclude that in this place the sons of God have fallen in love with the daughters of men; that the church and the world have shaken hands in a mutual agreement to live together in peace.

Monday, November 27. At 5 o'clock we take the train for Baltimore, where we arrive at 6:40 p.m. Stop at Globe hotel.

Tuesday, November 28. Attend to business in the city, and in the evening go to Michael B. Kline's.

Wednesday, November 29. At 8 a.m. meet Brother D.P. Saylor at the depot, and take cars for Philadelphia, where we arrive at 12:30 p.m. Dine at Brother John Kagey's; then come to Morristown, and from there to Brother John Umstead's, where we stay all night.

Thursday, November 30. Come to Brother Isaac Price's, and then to Brother David Fricke's, where we stay all night.

Friday, December 1. Come to Price's meetinghouse. Make arrangements; take the voice of the church touching the grievance; close our meeting; come to Brother Peter Hollowbush's; stay all night and prepare our papers.

Saturday, December 2. Come to the meetinghouse again. Brother D.P. Saylor speaks in the forenoon, and in the afternoon we present our papers and try to settle, but great commotion follows, and we close the meeting. Come to Brother John Price's; stay all night. Night meeting. Speak on John 10:9.

Sunday, December 3. Meeting at the meetinghouse again. I speak on 1 Peter 1:22. Text.—"See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."

Scientific moralists teach that man's love is his life. They support this statement by what they regard a self-evident truth, that such as a man's love is, such is his life. The wide field for investigation to which this line of thought leads, presents many plausible arguments in favor of the doctrine they hold. For one, I can and must confess that I have never been able to look deep enough into the human soul to find out just what the principle of life is. Neither is it important that I should know. But there is One that does know. That One needs not that any should testify to him concerning man, for he knows what is in man.

Brethren, you all know to whom my thought now turns. I mean our Lord Jesus Christ. And let the life principle, the heart principle, the love principle be one and the same or not, it is he who says of men: "By their fruits shall ye know them;" not doubtfully, but surely. The life record of every man, written not with pen and ink on paper, but with the finger of God on the tablet of his memory, will be the basis of his adjudgment to hell or his acquittal to heaven. For "a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things; likewise an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things." "And they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

Man is created for society. He cannot be happy without it. If it would be possible for us to conceive of a world inhabited by but one human being, with all hope of society forever banished, if that human being could ever think at all, it would only be to wish himself dead. All our affections and thoughts are so intimately connected with the affections and thoughts of others as to derive all the zest of their enjoyment from this source alone. We enjoy the pleasures of the table most when those we love enjoy them with us. This feeling is so inwrought in the character that when any we specially love are absent, who we may fear are not faring as well as we, the reflection mars the relish of our food. This is what should be. But the length and breadth of social enjoyment is exactly commensurate with the length and breadth of social love. The man whose heart is so small as to be able to take none but the members of his own family in the grasp of his contracted regard can have a meager enjoyment of life. He is somewhat above a brute, but very far beneath the dignity of a man; and, worst of all, destitute of the spirit of Christ. "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" And this thought brings up my text: "See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."

Brethren, if I could impress these words upon your hearts in a way and to a degree that would be adequate to their importance, I would return home in the happy reflection that I had been instrumental in doing a work by which God is glorified and my Brethren saved. These words encompass the whole ground of salvation. Inside this compass of brotherly love is salvation, and nowhere else. Say what you please, love is what saves man after all. Some say faith saves, and so it does when it is quickened and filled with the warmth of brotherly love. Otherwise, though it be strong enough to remove mountains, as Paul says, it is nothing. Faith without love is a dead faith. Devils have this kind, and tremble. This dead faith may be compared to ice which is water as to substance, but worthless as to form. Frozen water may bridge rivers; and a frozen faith may bridge some of the streams of earthly life; but it will never bridge the stream of death and land us safe in heaven.

But what is to be understood by brethren loving one another with a pure heart fervently? I am afraid that if I attempt to tell what brotherly love is, and how it is to be shown, I will only darken counsel by words without wisdom. There is not a brother or sister in this house who does not know what it is to love another with a pure heart fervently. I will, however, venture to say a little under this head, by way of drawing our minds to think more closely upon it. I will say, first, that when one brother loves another with a pure heart fervently, he tries in all ways and at all times to do his brother good, and no harm. This love fills the mouth with good things and the hands with blessings.

But the text implies that this love can be increased, that it may grow ardent, burning, by the use of right means, or suffered to grow cold by neglect. There can be no doubt of the truth of this. In all man's relations to this life, experience shows that love may be fostered by kindness, or frozen by unkindness. This last remark reminds me of a conversation I had with a United Brethren preacher whom I chanced to fall in with in one of the western counties of Virginia. Speaking of his work, and the number of converts he reported at different meetings he had held, led me to ask how they were doing since then. He replied that a goodly number appeared to continue faithful; but he added that some had burnt out by unholy fire, and that others had frozen out by unholy frost. I afterward thought this to myself, that here was the commingled fire and hail which John, in his apocalyptic vision, saw falling from the same cloud. Ah, Brethren, let us beware of the unholy fire of evil passion, anger, malice, wrath, strife, that would burn and consume our love for one another; and on the other hand avoid all feelings and expressions or other manifestations of contempt, or neglect, or unkindness that would freeze it to death.

This brings me now to speak of forgiveness. You have read the story, told by our Lord, of the debtor who owed the ten thousand talents, and was forgiven the debt; and how he afterward treated a fellow-debtor who owed him a hundred pence; and how the first debtor was delivered to the tormentors because he would not forgive his fellow-servant. "So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you,"—says our Lord—"if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts." Brethren, you and the Lord for it. I this day wash my hands clean of your blood as I repeat in your ears these words of love and warning: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

When I was yet a boy in Pennsylvania, before we moved to Virginia, my father very strictly forbade me playing marbles on Sunday. I obeyed his orders for some time; but one Sunday, when father was at church, a neighbor's boy came to our house and persuaded me to play with him. I did it reluctantly. The play did not amuse me as usual. But I transgressed all the same; and in the very act my father saw me on his return home. He called me to come to him. Expecting chastisement, I went with trembling steps. I never had felt so unhappy in my life. "What were you doing?" he asked. I burst into tears. "Are you very sorry for what you have done?" I nodded and wept assent. "Come a little nearer to me." I went; and he then drew a handkerchief from his coat pocket and gently wiped away my tears, saying at the same time, "I feel sure, Johnny, that you are very sorry for what you have done, and I forgive you with a kiss." Ah, Brethren, if I had never known sorrow before, I had never known joy till after that kiss. In itself it was but the contact of lips; but its power went to my heart; and I can say here solemnly that I had never loved my father before as I loved him after that. Love is what conquers after all. Love is the root and the offspring of happiness. There can be no happiness without love. Therefore, Brethren, "see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."

After meeting I go with Brother David B. Kline in his carriage, and have night meeting in a schoolhouse near his place. Snows all this day.

Monday, December 4. Travel thirty-five miles to-day in Brother George Gipel's wagon to his house. Snowing and blowing all day. Snow wonderfully drifted. Stay all night at Brother Gipel's.

Tuesday, December 5. Get into Brother Gipel's sleigh and go to meeting at Brother Brachtbil's. From there come to Brother Jacob Wanger's, near Jonestown, to night meeting. Speak on Rev. 3:21. [This sublime discourse is withheld for want of room.] Stay all night at Brother Brachtbil's. Wonderful blowing of snow continues. Roads blockaded very much.

Wednesday, December 6. Brother John Kline near Millerstown takes me in his sleigh to meeting near his house. Speak on John 14:6. Night meeting at his house. Speak on Revelation 22. Stay with him all night. Still cold and stormy.

Thursday, December 7. Write a letter home, and one to Michael B. Kline, of Baltimore. Stop at Jacob Frantz's, and get to Samuel Royer's, near Myerstown, for dinner. Afternoon meeting at the meetinghouse. Stay at David Zug's all night. Snowing and blowing continues. Very cold.

Friday, December 8. Meeting at Brother George Bolinger's. John 10 is read. In afternoon come to Brother Samuel Hilsman's. Visit and help to anoint a sick sister. Come to Brother John Gipel's. Night meeting. Speak of John 14:6.

Saturday, December 9. Come to David Zug's. Meeting. Speak from Hebrews 2.

Sunday, December 10. Meeting at Christian Longenacre's. Speak on Luke 1:77. Night meeting at the widow Eby's.

Monday, December 11. Visit Aunt Anna Hershey. She is very weak. Dine at Abraham Hershey's. He takes me to Mount Joy, to Henry Kurtz's, where we have night meeting. Sup at David Sharlocher's, and stay all night with Brother Kurtz.

Tuesday, December 12. Dine at Brother Jacob Rinehold's, and take the eleven o'clock train in Lancaster for home, where I arrive Friday, December 15.

In the year 1854 Brother Kline traveled 6,463 miles. I feel sure that it is safe to say that every mile he traveled was in the direction of some good object. Here is something for every one to think on: Do all the steps of my life tend in the direction of some good object? Are all my motives pure, sincere, honest, fit for the eyes of the world, and, above all, fit for the eye of God?

Saturday, March 31, 1855. Attend council meeting at the Brick meetinghouse in Augusta County. John Brower and Abraham Garber are elected to the ministry, and Enoch Brower and Levi Garber to the deaconship.

Thursday, April 5. Attend council meeting at the Beaver Creek meetinghouse. Martain Miller is ordained; Daniel Thomas forwarded; and Joseph Miller, of Thorny Branch, elected to the deaconship.

Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7. On these two days I vaccinate sixty-three persons.

Thursday, April 19. Attend council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. Jacob Spitzer is elected to the ministry, and Felix Senger to the deaconship.

Friday, April 20. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Abraham Knupp is ordained; Christian Wine forwarded, and Martain Wampler elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, April 21. Attend council meeting at the Flat Rock. Jonas Early and Abraham Neff are elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, May 12. This day Brother Kline and Daniel Thomas, in company of each other, start to the Annual Meeting on horseback. The meeting opened Monday, May 28. They consequently had two weeks before them to spend on the road, and this time they took up in traveling and preaching by the way. They went first to Hardy County, where they filled appointments at different places on the South Fork, South Branch of the Potomac, and North Fork. They then crossed the Alleghany mountains over into Randolph County, where they held a number of meetings. The Diary reports Brother Daniel Thomas as taking the lead in preaching at nearly all the appointments. And well was he worthy of the honor. Few men are ever endowed with better natural abilities for public speaking than was Brother Daniel Thomas. His voice had the rare power of making every word he uttered to be distinctly heard all over a large audience, without any apparent effort on his part. Besides, it was musical. The hearer went away with its expressive inflections and cadences still sounding in his ears. But his voice was not his only forte. He had a mind as full of sanctified wit and quick perception as an egg is full of food. A clear thinker, a cogent reasoner, and I may add, full of love and the Holy Ghost, it is not a matter of wonder that he excelled. What he might have achieved had he lived to an advanced age, God only knows. His death was caused by an attack of pneumonia. He left a comparatively young family. In the view of the writer, who was intimately acquainted with him, the church of the Brethren has never been called to give up a brighter or better man. He is not lost. He has only moved away to the better land.

The following discourse was substantially preached by Brother Daniel Thomas at the dwelling house of Elijah Judy in Hardy County, Virginia, now West Virginia, on the evening of

Monday, May 14. The parable of the sower is his subject. He said: This parable, viewed in its natural or most obvious sense, is so easily understood that it would be a suitable lesson for a primary school reader. At the same time it holds within its grasp a fund of spiritual instruction which, being received into the mind and heart, fills both with light so clear as to illuminate many an otherwise dark portion of Revealed Truth. To my mind this parable is the link connecting the two ends of the great chain of God's work and man's work in both the natural and spiritual life of man.

The Holy Land, as it is called, where our Lord was born, and where he lived and died, comprised three small districts of country called Judea, Samaria and Galilee. These districts, each about the size of some of our Virginia counties, lay along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Their gusts of rain, with their lightning and thunder, came from the west as ours do. The south winds came loaded with warmth to them as ours do to us. On the eastern border of this land was the river Jordan, a stream just about as large and swift as your South Branch of the Potomac. Near the northeastern corner of this land lay the beautiful Sea of Galilee, about three miles in breadth, and from four to six miles in length. It was on this sea that our Lord stilled the tempest. It was on the surface of this sea, that he was seen walking as on a smooth pavement.

In our Savior's day the Holy Land was an agricultural country. The farmers raised wheat and barley. These grains are often mentioned in the Scriptures. But they had few fences in that country. The roads ran through farms and fields with no sign of fence on either side. If sheep or cattle were turned out to graze, they had to be watched by men or boys called shepherds. I have been thus particular in my description of this land to enable you the better to understand the parable itself, and its higher or spiritual meaning. But farming has ever been but poorly done in that country, and patches of briars and other filth were suffered to grow. These were sown with the rest of the field, and instead of being dug out were plowed and harrowed over. No concern was felt about the seed likely to be wasted. The sower opened his hand as freely in crossing the highway or the patch of briery ground as anywhere else. Even those sections of the field which showed no depth of soil on account of underlying rock were treated like the rest. What a site for a parable! But what is a parable?

A parable is a statement of some fact literally or possibly true in the natural world, and used to represent some spiritual truth. It is the correspondence of the external or natural meaning with some internal or spiritual meaning that makes any parable to be what it is. The parable before us in its external or natural sense teaches nothing beyond what we may learn by the sight of our eyes every year. If it possessed no hidden meaning, no secret of life, it would be no holier than a similar statement in an agricultural paper. This is just what our Lord meant by these words: "It is the Spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life."

I think you are now prepared to derive some benefit from the internal sense of the parable before us. It has ever been a great question as to what man is required to do to be saved. If we were to go by what is generally preached at what are called revivals of religion, we would only need to say we believe in Jesus Christ, then manifest some joy in the new experience, get up, perhaps, and tell how we feel, and we are ready to be counted in the list of new converts in full possession of eternal life. This experience corresponds with the explanation given of the rocky places: "This is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway he stumbleth."

But here the query very naturally arises: "Are such to be lost? Is there no hope for these rocky-ground, thorny-ground and wayside hearers?" I say such need not be lost. There is salvation for such as truly as for any, if they avail themselves of the proffered gifts. It is wrong teaching, together with the influence of bad examples and bad habits, that has made them to be the kind of ground they are. Here is a lesson for all. Parents, if you desire your children to become good ground, train them up in the way they should go: and when they are old they will not depart from it.

There is another all-important truth bearing upon this connection of my subject; and that truth is that "our Father, God, is the husbandman." He is the great Farmer of souls, and "with God all things are possible." It is a thing of very common occurrence, inside the different denominations, for their members to backslide, as they call it. This is not because they could not continue faithful, but it is from a lack of the true knowledge of God, and a want of reliance upon him, and looking in prayer to him. The divine teachings are very clear on this point in the Christian's life. If an individual will repent, believe the Gospel, and be baptized for the remission of sins, leave off, that is, shun and forsake all evil ways and deeds as sins against God, he has the blessed assurance that he will be led into all necessary truth. Notice this: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Again: David says: "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." And Solomon says: "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." And our Lord applies the prophecy of Isaiah: "The people which sat in darkness saw a great light." He was the great Light which they saw, but they saw him and heard him by going to him.

There can, I think, be no doubt that some have stronger temptations to evil than others. Bad habits, encouraged by long indulgence and fostered by strong natural appetences, are hard to get rid of. But the faith that worketh by love, and purifieth the heart, gets strong enough to remove these mountains of sin; yea, strong enough to enable a man even to hate his own sinful life.

I have known men to reason and conclude from this parable that God is partial. They speak on this wise: "If the different kinds of ground symbolize or represent the different natures and dispositions of men with respect to believing and obeying the Word, then all have not an equal chance for salvation. If a man (say they) has no better show for bringing forth the fruits of righteousness in a good life than the rocky or thorny ground has for bringing forth a crop of wheat or barley, he can have no show for salvation at all." This argument appears plausible at a first view. And in the estimation of those who look only upon the surface of things it is convincing. The first point of error with those who reason in this way is to be found in their belief that God has made this difference among men. But the entire history of man, as given in the Bible, shows that men bring upon themselves these varied degrees of opposition to what is pure and good. "God made men upright, but they have sought out many inventions," says the prophet. Of course he means inventions of evil things. An apostle says: "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." The natural tendency of man with everything of earth is downward. The loveliest garden, by being neglected, will get full of weeds. The most highly improved breeds of domestic animals tend toward degeneracy and deterioration as to quality, unless carefully guarded. Man is no exception to the rule. It is only by watchful care that one generation of people becomes wiser and better than the generation that preceded it. Our Lord would oft repeat such expressions as these: "What I say unto one, I say unto all, Watch." "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning." "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."

There is no heart so stubborn hard but that the softening power of Divine love can mellow it; and there is no soul so full of the thorns and briers of evil passions and bad habits, but that the sanctifying power of the truth can cleanse it. Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. They that be whole need not the physician, but they that are sick. God is able to do for all who look to him for help, exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think; and in Christ he is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. No case of leprosy was ever beyond the power of the Lord to cleanse. No blindness was ever too dark for him to remove. No palsy was ever too dead for him to quicken into healthy life. No fever was ever too burning for him to cool. No demoniac was ever so insane or epileptic, under the power and in the possession of even a legion of devils, but that he could have them all cast out and the possessed one sit calmly, be clothed and in his right mind. Nothing is impossible with God. The good-ground hearer brings forth fruit unto perfection because he looks to the Lord, through his blessed Word, for help. This help comes through his obedience to its holy precepts and commands. God cannot help any one who continues to live regardless of and indifferent to the precepts of his Holy Word.

In a modified sense the same laws govern in the spiritual world that govern in the natural. As it is impossible for God, according to his established order, to give you a rich and remunerative crop of corn or wheat from a field covered with briers, thorns and weeds; just in the same measure in a spiritual sense is he unable to give you happiness, peace of mind and joy in the Holy Ghost while you continue in a life of sin. "He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."

Brethren and sisters, it may be that some of you fear, at times, that your heart is no better than a bed of rock; or that it is full of thorns; or that it is hard and poor as the beaten road. But such self-examinations give evidence that the Holy Spirit is in your hearts and that he is carrying on a glorious work of grace there. "Blessed are the meek." "Blessed are the poor in spirit." "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." "God resisteth the proud; but giveth grace to the humble." Be not discouraged. Our Father is the great husbandman, and he knows just how to treat every kind of ground, just what to do in every heart. Then let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

The foregoing sermon was preached by Brother Daniel Thomas May 14. Between this and the following Sunday he preached every day once or twice. Brother Kline jotted down one other discourse which he delivered on Saturday following, which I am compelled to omit for want of room. On

Sunday, May 20, they had forenoon meeting at Josiah Simon's. This day Brother Kline baptized Joseph Summerfield and wife, Mrs. Workman, and Jane Hilkey. In his quaint way he adds: "God calls, and some still answer. All glory to him."

Sunday, May 27, finds the two brethren at the place of Annual Meeting. They attended meeting in Wine's barn; and also report meeting being held at the same hour in the meetinghouse. He does not give the name of the meetinghouse where the Annual Meeting was held this year, but says that he and Brother Daniel had lodging at Brother Umbenhaver's the first night.

Monday, May 28. Annual meeting begins. Take in questions, form committees, and set them to work. We stay all night at Brother Spanogle's.

Tuesday, May 29. Go to place of meeting. Discuss and dispose of nearly all the queries to-day. We stay at Brother Umbenhaver's.

Wednesday, May 30. Go back to place of meeting and get through; preach awhile; and after dinner we start from Brother Andrew Spanogle's towards home. We get to Matthew Wineman's, where we stay all night.

Thursday, May 31. Stop awhile with brethren Michael and Jacob Sollenberger; then by Mercersburg and Clear Spring to Sister Nipe's, where we stay all night.

Friday, June 1. Through Martinsburg and Winchester, Virginia, to Brother James Tabler's where we stay all night.

Saturday, June 2. Get to Brother John Neff's, in Shenandoah County, and on

Sunday, June 3, get home. On this journey Brother Daniel Thomas and I traveled together on horseback 466 miles. Our horses became so attached to each other that they could not bear separation. At any time, when out of sight of each other, they showed almost uncontrolable restlessness and dissatisfaction. I may add here that one of their riders at least was very similarly affected toward his companion by the way. The attachment of our horses was that of mere instinct. It was generated through the sense of hearing, seeing and smelling. But our attachment sprang from higher and more interior causes, such as none but the people of God can understand and appreciate. It has its place in "the hidden man of the heart," and springs from the unity of our faith and the spirituality of our love. Death ends the attachments of poor brutes; but the love of Christians for each other rests on a foundation that death cannot destroy. Even here, in our imperfect state, love fills life's cup with joy. How ineffable, then, must be the joy of the redeemed in glory where love is perfect and life is eternal!

From the last date given to the thirteenth day of September Brother Kline was called to engage with considerable activity in the practice of the medical profession. There was much sickness in his own and adjoining neighborhoods. His death record was very small in proportion to the number of his patients. This fact alone establishes his success as a medical practitioner. The writer has been a careful and candid observer of the different methods and medicines employed in the treatment of the sick for a period of fifty years, and he ventures to give it as his impartial verdict that the course of treatment of the sick, medically, pursued by Brother Kline and the other physicians of his school, was attended by as small a death rate as that of any school in the profession in his day or since. In addition to this, convalescing and recovered patients were rarely heard to complain of any after effects of the disease or medicine. Brother Kline was often heard to speak of this. He would say: "Our patients do not complain of rheumatism, weak joints, broken down nerves, rapidly-decaying teeth, impaired hearing or generally enfeebled constitutions. We give no medicines which can leave any injurious after effects." But, after all, his heart was set on the ministry of the Word. He regarded the life and health of the body as incalculably subordinate to the life and health of the soul. This consideration incited him to untiring activity in preaching, praying, exhorting, singing, and to whatever else might instruct, comfort and encourage the child of God, or warn the sinner of his danger and bring him to Christ.

Thursday, September 13. This day Brother Kline, in company of Martain Miller, starts on another journey to some of the western counties of Virginia. He of late years begins to take company with him on these trips. In the earlier part of his ministry he would often go alone, I guess because no one volunteered to go with him. You remember Brother Daniel Thomas was with him on his last trip before this. Now Brother Martain Miller goes. Martain Miller was a brother of Daniel Miller, near Greenmount, Virginia. He lived near the Beaver Creek meetinghouse, in Rockingham County. His election to the ministry of the Word, his subsequent advancement, and his ordination are given in the Diary. Whilst he was not regarded as a minister of great power in the stand, his influence in the councils of the church at home and abroad was felt and acknowledged. A man like Elder Martain Miller, of ready and deep perception, can quickly arrive at just and wise decisions, which the man of ordinary mind might never be able to reach. Hence the worth of such men as leaders in the realm of thought.

In the year 1862 W.C. Thurman began to preach the second advent of the Lord as near. He subsequently became so bold in the expression of his belief as to name the day on which that greatest of all events might confidently be looked for to take place. As Thurman at that time was a unit in the Brotherhood, and allowed to vent his soul breathings in the church buildings of the Brethren, some, even among the thoughtful, were deeply impressed with the probability of his conjectures being well founded. The writer was present when the following little incident took place, and remembers it with distinctness. It was at Greenmount meetinghouse. Brother Martain Miller had led in preaching that day, but had made no allusion to Thurman. After meeting broke up some of the Brethren privately asked Brother Miller what he thought of Thurman's doctrines. He shut his eyes, gave a very significant but negative shake of the head, and after a brief pause said: "Do not regard them. They will in due time prove their own fallacy. You cannot convince Thurman that he is wild by any argument; but in a short while he will be convinced without argument."

On the evening of the last given date, Brother Martain Miller spoke from Matt. 7:13, at Zion church in Hardy County. From the outlines in the Diary I give the substance of what he said, as nearly as I can. The reader should know that none of the sermons herein given cover the entire ground of the discourse. They only aim at the main points. It is the purpose of the Editor to present these in spirit and word as nearly like the same in which they were originally delivered, as can possibly be done. His familiarity with the sermonic style, manner, general lines of thought, doctrinal views, education and general preaching power of nearly every minister represented in this work enables him, as he thinks, to do this with at least some approach to justice. Without such knowledge, this work would never have been undertaken by him.

Text.—"Enter ye in by the narrow gate."

Our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world with but one end in view. That end is the raising of man to himself. This end is the burden of his mediatorial work, the center of his mediatorial prayer. From his heart on the eternal throne, wafted down to his people on the divine breath, hourly comes and is felt the power of his prayer: "Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me." This brief prayer comprehends the divine end of all things—man's salvation and God's glory. The miracles wrought by our Lord, the parables spoken, the truths uttered, the victories gained in temptation, the rich tokens of his love given, all, all had as their great end man's salvation and God's glory—"that they might be with him where he is."

The only answer to the great question why the Lord did all this for man's salvation is found in his own words: "God so loved the world." And he loves it no less to-day than when the Son was born and the angels of glory were chanting their love song of "good will toward men" in the ears of the shepherds and above the manger in Bethlehem. But with all of God's good will to seek and save that which was lost he is able to save only such, and no others, as desire to be saved by him. If it were possible for him to save man and elevate him to heaven independently of any coöperation on man's part, then all would alike be saved, for God is no respecter of persons. But it would be quite as possible to compel or force any one to understand and love what he naturally hates, or to follow with enjoyment and delight a way of life he does not love, as it would be to save a human being without the consent and coöperation of his mind and heart.

The scribes and Pharisees gave evident proof of the truth of the old maxim: "Convince a man against his will, he is of the same opinion still." The Lord proved before their eyes his heavenly mission and divine character; their minds must have been convinced. But their wills did not favor the convictions of their minds; that is, they did not love the truth that was forced upon their minds, and so they rejected him. It is from this element in the constitution of man's soul or spirit that he must become as a little child, or he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Becoming as a little child is what is meant by being born again, without which no man shall see the kingdom of heaven. We all know a little child is innocent, teachable; because it is not lifted up in the pride of its own intelligence, nor confirmed in a belief of what is not true from a love of what is not good. Every one who enters through the narrow gate, and pursues the narrow way that leads to life, is willing to be led by the Lord. It may not be clear to the mind of every one what is symbolized by the narrow gate and the narrow way. I will try to tell you.

The divine truth of God's Word is the narrow gate. It admits of no increase, and it allows no diminution. He that addeth to or taketh from the words of the prophecy of this book (the Bible), God shall take away his part out of the book of life. This is a fearful warning to all who would seek to make the gate and the way of eternal life any broader than it is laid and settled by the Word of Life; and a similar warning to any who would desire to make the gate and the way appear so narrow as to discourage and dissuade others from entering. I said the narrow gate is the truth of God's Word. But what is the narrow way? The narrow way is the daily life of every one who lives according to that truth. This leads to life eternal, because it leads to God. But the gate and the way will do no one any good unless it be entered and the way followed. And God compels no one to enter in opposition to one's own will. Entrance is not of compulsion, but of choice. Life and death are set before the sinner's eyes. The Bread of Life and the Water of Life are placed within his reach. The Lord calls, saying: "Why do ye spend your money for that which is not bread; and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Come ye to the waters: and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."

But some may ask: "What is it to enter in at the narrow gate, and how is the sinner to know when he is entering?" I answer that when the sinner obeys God's holy truth from the heart he is then entering in by the narrow gate. His obedience must be to God's Word, not to man's word. Obedience to man's word takes man through the wide gate into the broad road that leads to destruction. Repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are the two steps that take us in spirit through the narrow gate. But these two acts and exercises of the mind and heart mean immensely more than is generally imagined. Many seem to think that repentance means no more than simply to confess that one is a sinner in a sort of general way, and that faith is simply a confessed belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. But God's Word teaches far otherwise. I will here quote some of our Lord's sayings which apply to repentance: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." This points to repentance. Again: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Self-denial is repentance; and every true penitent goes through the narrow gate with the cross on his shoulder, because the cross symbolizes the divine truth upon which the love of self and the love of the world is crucified. I am not afraid to repeat in your ears the words of Jesus. He has left them on record, that all who will heed them in the meek and teachable spirit of a little child may be lifted out of the mire and filth and darkness of a sinful life into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

If salvation is anything it is everything. This world, with all its fleeting show and short-lived pleasures, is nothing in the comparison. Salvation, or the life to which the narrow way conducts us, is so glorious, so ineffably exalted above the loftiest conceptions of the human mind, that the prophet Isaiah could justly say: "Since the beginning of the world none have heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him." Brethren, friends, we know not fully what is prepared for all who wait upon the Lord, that is, who do his will. But Jesus tells us that he is gone to prepare a place for us, and that he will come again and receive us to himself, that where he is there we may be also. We shall enter into his joy, the joy of the Lord. He will come to every one of us at death. He will then raise our redeemed souls into the life of heavenly bliss; for he is the resurrection and the life of every one that loves him. It is the privilege of every one to enter into life through the narrow gate. But I cannot enter for you, nor tread the narrow way, nor obtain a crown of glory for you. This is your own individual choice, your own individual work—nay, it is the Lord's merciful, loving, gracious work in you, for without him you can do nothing. But when you believe in him and love him with all your heart, he finds a resting place in your soul, and he then comes to be to you individually "the way, the truth, and the life."

The next eight days were almost entirely occupied in filling appointments previously made through letters from Brother Kline. We have to wonder a little when he found time to write them. But he was his own secretary on gratuitous service, and he never even so much as presented a bill for stationery or postal expenditures.

Friday, September 21. This day finds the two brethren at Union meetinghouse, in the Barker settlement, in Barbour County, Virginia. Brother Miller spoke at this meeting from John 3:7. Space alone forbids the insertion of his plain, practical sermon to-day. They found, as usual, a hearty welcome here; and in truth the same may be said of every place they visited. And why not? Even these primitive people were quick to perceive and appreciate the good will with which they had come. Besides, they made themselves sociable and entertaining in the families under whose roofs they found shelter. Brother Kline had an inexhaustible fund of information gained by reading and traveling, and he was not reserved in the way of keeping it all to himself. Brother Kline was what may be called a good conversationalist. He did not flood your attention with words, nor bore you with tiresome narratives of great exploits in which he was the hero. He would tell you of sights he had seen, and experiences he had had in traveling and otherwise, in a way that would so absorb you in the narrative that you lost sight of the man. He always aimed to exalt his subject and not the speaker. This was true in his preaching as well as in his conversations.

Saturday, September 22. They came to Brother Elias Ovel's for dinner. In the afternoon preaching in the meetinghouse and love feast at night. Brother Miller served.

Tuesday, September 25. They had meeting at Brother Peter Feiga's. An election was held in which Samuel Feiga was elected speaker, and Tobias Moser deacon. They staid all night at Thomas Clark's.

Brother Kline got home from this journey Sunday evening, October 7. Brother Miller got home the next day. They were gone three weeks and four days.

Monday, December 31. At home. I have this year traveled, mostly on horseback, 4,286 miles, and preached forty-two funeral sermons.

Saturday, January 5, 1856. At home. Cold; snows very fast all day.

Saturday, January 12. Snows all this day again, very fast. Sleighing is likely to be fine for a while; a rare occurrence in our State.

Sunday, January 20. Snows all this day, again. The snow is now very deep, and as it is not drifted sleighing will be surpassingly fine.

Monday, January 21. Brother John Zigler of Timberville dies very suddenly this morning, at the age of sixty-nine years, two months and twenty-seven days. This is county court day in Harrisonburg. I am told this evening by some who were present, that there were hundreds of sleighs of all shapes and sizes to be seen in the streets. So far as my knowledge extends, a scene like that has never before been witnessed in Harrisonburg. The roads in all directions are in a surpassingly fine condition for sleighing. The roads are all paved with crystals more valuable than all the diamonds that have ever shone in the crowns of kings.

Friday, February 29. Council meeting at the Brick church, in Augusta County. To-day we discuss the question of the propriety of making a move to more generally propagate the Gospel. Most of the brethren and sisters present seemed to be heartily in favor of the move. One brother, John Harshberger, said: "If the Gospel is not true, let us eat and drink like other beasts, for to-morrow we die; but if the Gospel be true—and thanks be unto God, for we know it is true—it is worthy of all acceptation; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. But how can any one believe in him of whom he has not heard? And how can any one hear without a preacher? And how can any preach except he be sent? I am in favor of trying to do more in every way than we have ever yet attempted, to spread the good news of salvation.

"'Salvation! let the echo fly

The spacious earth around,

Till all the nations 'neath the sky

Conspire to raise the sound.'"

Brother Benjamin Moomaw, Brother Nininger, Brother John Harshberger and myself were appointed a committee to draw up a memorial on the subject, to place before the next Annual Meeting.

Saturday, March 1. Council continues. The subject of divorce and adultery is considered to-day. It is decided to send it to the Annual Meeting, as also a query on proposition to district the churches, and have general council meetings in those Districts. It is also unanimously passed to have lamps in our meetinghouses. Pass some other minor questions, and council breaks up.

Sunday, March 2. Meeting at the same place. Brother Benjamin Moomaw speaks on Heb. 5:8, 9. He is a man of great power in the Word. I regret that I cannot recall to memory all that he said, but I will here give a condensed outline of what I remember. These are the words of his text: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him."

This is a remarkable passage of Scripture. It deals primarily with the human nature of Christ. It is in this nature, the Divine humanity, that God manifests himself to man. This humanity brought with it the infirmities to which flesh is heir. This same apostle tells us that Jesus Christ was "tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin." Innocence, freedom from all sin, is the orderly following of obedience. In this happy consciousness he challenges the whole Sanhedrim to convict him of sin. They could not do it; and Pilate acknowledges before the infuriated mob: "I find no fault in this man." From the part of the text, "yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered," we are rather to understand that he learned or realized the blessedness of obedience. In his own words: "He came not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him." In his last great prayer with his disciples he says: "And now, Father, I come to thee, having finished the work thou didst give me to do." These words portray his immaculate righteousness.

But let us look at some of the glorious testifications borne by the Father to the honor of the Son. Let us turn to the first public act of his manhood. I guess your minds all turn at once to the scene of his baptism. Here are the pellucid waters of the Jordan coursing their way to the Dead Sea. "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus said, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." This righteousness is the righteousness of obedience. And notice, a few moments later, the glory and honor with which it is crowned. The opened heavens, the dove-like descent of the Spirit, the Father's recognition, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," must have thrilled his heart with joy unspeakable. In this instance he realized the blessedness of obedience; and the hearts of many since that time have been made to thrill as they have gone up out of the waters of other Jordans, with kindred joy.

We now turn to his temptation in the wilderness. Here, our Lord, during forty days and nights, suffered all the privations and all the temptations arising therefrom, which man is capable of suffering. But never for one moment did his heart or hand swerve a hair from the line of perfect obedience to his Father's will, even in the darkest hour. And how did it turn out? Why, he resisted the devil, and the devil left him; and, behold! angels came and ministered unto him. Brethren, have you ever thought of the precious food these angels brought to the exhausted human nature of our Lord? He ate and drank with angels from the skies. They poured the spiritual oil of joy and comfort into his burdened soul. They brought fresh tokens of his Father's approval; and we read of no more sore conflict with the powers of darkness until the "last hour."

Some of us have, possibly, passed through trials, in a small way, somewhat akin to those endured by the Lord. We all know our own individual experiences best. For one, I can say right here that I am no stranger to temptation. The adversary of God's people has never yet counted me out of the number he seeks to seduce. I confess he does not try me at all times alike; but he does seem to come every time when I am the least prepared effectually and instantly to repel his assaults. If in preaching I happen to get off a fine thought or good sentiment dressed out in a becoming attire of words, he tries to flatter my vanity by making me believe that I am a great somebody. Brethren in the ministry, how is it with you? I see from the nods you give, that you have had similar experiences. At such times Herod's awful doom flashes over me—how that in the midst of a beautiful oration he fell dead, and right away was alive with worms consuming his body, and all because he gave not God the glory. This generally gets me rid of him on such occasions. At other times he comes with promises of worldly honors, saying to me that if I will enter the arena of politics I may count it as sure that I will be lifted to offices of honor and rich emoluments, for, says he, "the whole scheme with all its workings is in my hands, and to whomsoever I will, I give it." At such times I baffle him with this Scripture: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God; and him only shalt thou serve."

Jesus is now glorified. He is exalted higher than the heavens, far above all principality and power. He is invested with all power in heaven and earth; so that in him all things hold together, and the integrity of the universe is preserved. He is the head over all things to the church and has become the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. All things are now in his name and unto his glory, so that now he that honoreth the Son, honoreth the Father.

Can it be that this is the same Jesus who but a few years ago humbled himself to be baptized in the Jordan, suffered the temptation in the wilderness, wept at the grave of Lazarus, went about doing good, being homeless, with no place where to lay his head, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? Only a little while ago, and the midnight stillness of Gethsemane is gently broken by the words: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." The spirit of obedience abides with him in full measure even in this trying hour; and if not uttered in words, it is declared in act: "Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."

One more trial awaits him. It is his last and great conflict with the "king of terrors" and the powers of darkness. Will his spirit of obedience and his resistance of sin bear the strain of this final test? Glory to his blessed name, it does. He says: "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." Ah, there is our salvation. The prince of this world found no place in his sanctified heart. Throughout his trial before the Jewish, as well as civil authorities, he was the same. No change from that meekness and lowliness of heart that characterized his whole life was visible now. He even bore his own cross; and I sometimes think that he voluntarily laid himself down upon it, placed his hands and adjusted his feet for the nails; for he had said before: "I lay down my life of myself: no man taketh it from me. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." The nails are driven. The foot of the cross, with Jesus upon it, is firmly fixed in the ground. The sun has veiled his face; and darkness broods over the land. With a loud voice he cries: "It is finished," and he gave up his spirit. This is the consummation of the suffering by which the Captain of our salvation was perfected, and by which he obtained all power in heaven and earth.

I can imagine there was now a shout of joy and a high jubilee in heaven, and a growl of disappointment and defeat in hell. His body is taken from the cross. Not a bone of him is broken. Joseph's new tomb becomes its receptacle. Not long does it remain there. The bands of death are loosed, and the glorified Lord forsakes the tomb. "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?"

Notice, further, the glory and honor with which his obedience is rewarded. In addition to the declarations bearing upon this subject already quoted, I here add what Paul says to the Philippians: "Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

We have now before us in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ an example of perfect obedience. We have also noticed some of its rewards. But when we attempt to speak of the rewards of obedience, thought and language both fail; for heavenly bliss is ineffable, and celestial glory eternal. Christ's glorification is past comprehension. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. But let us rejoice greatly this day in the excellency of this knowledge of Christ. "He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him." "He has become the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him."

My brother, my sister, do you ever question your spiritual state, doubting as to whether you are a child of God or not, wondering in the obscurity of your mind as to how you stand in the sight of God? I do not think any one need be in doubt as to this matter. Are you living a life of obedience to Christ? Let us see. You surely have been baptized. As baptism was his first public act, for you to follow his example and walk in his steps it became you to submit to the same ordinance expanded and illuminated as to its significance and use by his subsequent teachings. This you did, and you did it in the true spirit of obedience and love. You are no hypocrite, I am sure; for the hypocrite never examines himself. He totally lacks the goodness and sincerity and honesty that lead to self-examinations. The hypocrite does not love the house of God. He does not breathe freely in an atmosphere of prayer. His highest ambition is to make a fair show in the flesh, to secure some personal aggrandizement through his formal professions.

You do not belong to this class. You feel in your heart that you love Jesus, and often weep that you do not love him more. This very love should assure your heart that you are a child of God, for "love is of God, and God is love." You cheerfully, and in love for the Brethren, stoop to follow his example and obey his command by taking part in the ordinance of feet-washing. You eat the Lord's Supper as nearly after his example as can be known, in honor of him, and partake of the Communion of the bread and wine in remembrance of his broken body and shed blood. In addition to all this you hate the inborn corruptions of your fleshly mind. You sometimes sing from your heart's pure depth:

"I hate my own vain thoughts that rise,

But love thy law, my God."

And to you one of the most pleasing contemplations of heaven is founded upon the assurance that there will be no sin or sorrow for sin there, nor sinful thoughts. You even here rejoice many times, in the sweet foretastes of that happy state. When you meet the loving eyes and friendly hands of brethren and sisters here assembled for worship, you feel a delicious calm and a holy peace in your soul. It is at such times and on such occasions that you realize just what the apostle means by what he says of the experience of some heavenly-minded Christian brethren and sisters who lived and felt eighteen hundred years ago very much as you feel now. Identifying himself with them, he says: "We have all been made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." "Be thou faithful unto death, and God shall give thee the crown of life."

At the close of this edifying discourse we sang the old hymn beginning:

"How happy are they who their Savior obey—."

Prayer was offered, meeting broke up, and Brother Moomaw and I went to Michael Whitmore's for dinner; then to Valley meetinghouse in afternoon, where he spoke from Acts 26; and stayed all night at Daniel Glick's.

Monday, March 3. We anoint Brother Daniel Glick this morning. He is very low in sickness. Come to Dayton to afternoon appointment, where I speak from John 1:29. Stay all night at Samuel Koontz's.

Wednesday, March 19. Council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. Benjamin Miller, son of Daniel Miller, near the head of Linville Creek, is elected to the deaconship. I feel that the right brother was chosen, and entertain large hopes for his future.

Friday, April 4. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Brother Samuel Zigler is elected to the deaconship. We might have selected a man of more words; but I am persuaded that one of purer mind and heart could not have been found. Brother Benjamin Bowman stays all night with me. This evening he related to me a remarkable dream he had had not very long before. To use his own words, as nearly as I can give them, he said: "I dreamed that I had died, but found myself consciously awake in the land of departed spirits. My own father met me. I knew him. The joy with which he received and welcomed me I cannot describe. My next experience was along a stream of very clear water. It did not appear to be a very large stream, but its remarkable character impressed me as singular. It flowed gently. It was not swift, but glided smoothly along, uphill and downhill the same. Its speed never varied, and this unaccountable characteristic struck me with surprise that waked me. This is my interpretation of my dream," said he: "The clear stream of water represents what the Christian should be. Its transparency symbolizes the clear thought and intelligent understanding that he should have respecting himself and his life. Self-knowledge should enable him to see himself in clear light. This knowledge leads to a clear understanding of his relation to God and man, and reveals whether that relation is what it should be, or otherwise. The uniform flow of the stream uphill and down, which so surprised me, symbolizes that inward peace of mind and gentle flow of heavenly affections which constitute the Christian's happiness in life. Though he have his ups and downs in life, his inward peace gently glides along. 'In the world ye shall have tribulation; but in me ye shall have peace.' One more thought. It is not natural for water to run uphill. Nothing short of divine power can make water run uphill in an open channel such as this had. This symbolizes the love and mercy of the Lord in our being kept by his hand in these inwardly calm and heavenly frames of feeling. Brother John, I never felt better from a dream in all my life."

Saturday, April 12. Council meeting at Shaver's meetinghouse, in Shenandoah County. Brother John Brindle is advanced.

Sunday, May 4. Meeting at Nathan Spitler's schoolhouse, in Page County. Hamilton Varner and wife, and John Huffman's wife are baptized to-day.

Monday, May 5. This day I start to the Annual Meeting, which is appointed to meet about fourteen miles from Freeport, in Stephenson County, on the extreme north border of Illinois, and about three miles from Brother Young's. After being exposed to many dangers and detentions, and one wreck on the way, I arrived safe at the place of meeting on

Saturday, May 10. Stay at Brother Young's first night. A great concourse of people on the ground.

Sunday, May 11. We have a very fine day. Preaching at several points. An immense assembly to-day.

Monday, May 12. Meeting is organized. Committees formed. Go to rooms and take in queries. Stay all night on the meeting grounds. Rain all day and cold.

Tuesday, May 13. Begin to discuss questions. Rain all day and night, and unpleasant. Stay all night on the meeting grounds.

Wednesday, May 14. Continue the discussion of questions. Close at half past five o'clock. Stay again on meeting grounds. Although we have some differences of opinion among us on minor points of order and usages, I am happy to know that in all great matters of doctrine and practice we are one. Whilst the meeting was in progress I was made to think of what Solomon says in the book of Proverbs about the locusts. "The locusts," says he, "have no king, yet go they forth, all of them, together in bands." We have no human king over us as pope, cardinal or bishop, with self-assumed authority and dignity; yet we hold together. We acknowledge allegiance to but one king, and he is out of human sight. He is the King of glory. But of him we can say with an apostle: "Whom having not seen we love; in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

On my way home from the meeting I visited Peter Fesler's, Jacob Miller's, Samuel Freys's, Allen White's, Absalom Painter's, William Mason's, John Strough's, John Miller's, Joseph Funk's, George Hoover's, and John Snideman's, all in Indiana. I also preached at a number of points in Indiana and Ohio.

Saturday, May 24. This evening David Bowman and I get to Abraham Aerbach's in Ohio.

Sunday, May 25. Go to Bowman's meetinghouse, where I speak from Hebrews 12. Dine at David Miller's, and stay all night at Isaac Miller's.

Tuesday, May 27. Night meeting at the meetinghouse near Peter Nead's. Stay with Brother Nead.

Wednesday, May 28. Meeting at the same place. Sup with John Varner. Stay with Isaac Miller.

Thursday, May 29. Meeting at Reipsam's meetinghouse. Love feast this evening. Stay with Philip Grabil till one o'clock in the night, when we start for Springfield to take cars for home. Stop over a few days in Hampshire County, Virginia, and arrive home safe on Thursday, June 5.

Tuesday, June 17. This day I am fifty-nine years of age. When I was young my ambition led me to hope that I might some day attain to distinction in the world, and leave an imperishable name. I own with shame before my God, that my heart was full of vanity. I now thank him that he has led me to know and feel myself but a poor sinner redeemed. I am wholly dependent upon him for all that I am or ever shall be. Lord Jesus, may I live to glorify thee, and thee only. I believe thy truth. I trust thy love. May thy glory be the end of all my efforts in life, and thy love the propelling power in all I do. Hallowed be thy name, not my name. Thy will be done, not my will. Give me grace thus ever to pray and to walk humbly before thee.

Friday, August 22. This day Brother Kline left home for another journey to the counties of Hardy and Randolph. He spent several days in Hardy County, preaching among the Brethren and friends on the South Fork, South Branch and beyond.

Sunday, August 24. Meeting at Bethel in forenoon; in afternoon at Jacob Cosner's. Text.—3 John seventh verse. He has given us but a touch of what he said here. I imagine his heart somewhat overflowed with gratitude to these kind-hearted people in return for the love they showed him. He read this third epistle of John to them; and I here append the substance of part of his comment on it:

"There are great blessings in store for those who through love to the Lord lodge and feed his ministers. The love of Gaius in this regard, was spoken of in the church. This letter was written to him. In the apostle's days as now, many went forth bearing the precious seed of God's Word, almost wholly dependent upon the charity of brethren and friends to the cause, for food and shelter. They were encouraged to go in this humble and trustful way by the recorded words of the Lord, that 'the laborer is worthy of his hire.' We learn from the context, sustained also by the other evangelists, that food and lodging is the hire the Lord had in view. To encourage all to the duty as well as privilege of kindly receiving his ministers and even his righteous brethren who might not be ministers, he left on record these words: 'He that receiveth a prophet (minister) in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.' And he sublimely crowns all those who tender their love in this way with the words: 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' How faithfully these tokens of love for the Lord and the Brethren were kept by the early Christians, Paul with others abundantly testifies. However, to avoid slanderous accusations which might be hurled at him by the adversaries of the cross, he did not always avail himself of the proffered good. Blessed are they who watch for and lay hold of opportunities to do good in this way."

Monday, August 25. Meeting at Greenland. Thomas Lion baptizes one person to-day. Stay all night at Thomas Clark's.

Tuesday, August 26. This day, after meeting, I baptize James Abernathy and wife.

Wednesday, August 27. Meeting at David Feige's on the pike. Afternoon meeting at West Union. Stay at Benjamin Beachley's.

Thursday, August 28. Ride twenty-nine miles to-day. Dine at Peter Bolyard's and stay all night at Henry Wilson's.

Friday, August 29. Meeting at meetinghouse. I baptize W. Oval and wife. Water is two miles distant. Afternoon meeting at same place. Speak from last chapter of Revelation.

Saturday, August 30. Come into Randolph County. Dine at Samuel Perkeypine's, and stay at Brother John Skidmore's.

Sunday, August 31. Meeting at Josiah Simon's. After preaching have a church council. Brother Charles Burke is forwarded to baptize; and Brother Josiah Simon is elected to the Word. Brother John Skidmore is elected to the deaconship, Stay all night at Brother Burke's.

Monday, September 1. Meeting at Levi Wilmot's. Speak from Matt. 7:21. As I have time this afternoon will outline my discourse for future reference.

The Editor gives these outlines in the best shape he can put them as follows:

Text.—"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

This passage of Scripture means a great deal. It draws a sharp line between the false and the true in religious professions; between empty formality on the one hand, and loving obedience on the other. It is a very easy thing, and requires no previous preparation of heart by self-examination, for very wicked and thoughtless people to call upon the Lord in times of great danger, or in seasons of distress. Some years ago a very thoughtless and irreligious family near my home lived on the bank of a certain stream. Suddenly, after a great rain, their house was surrounded by a flood of water that threatened its destruction. They knew not what to do; and in their fright and consternation they began to call on the Lord for help. He may have heard them, for the house did not go. When the flood had passed away, and they felt that they were again secure, they had no further need of the Lord, and continued to live just as they had lived before.

Often have I heard of wicked people, when thrown prostrate upon beds of affliction, calling upon the Lord, and even promising that if he would raise them up again they would do better. But how often does it turn out that such promises are either wantonly disregarded or thoughtlessly broken! But why is this so? What is the cause? I will tell you. Such prayers and promises do not proceed from a right motive, and they do not aim at a right end. Self is the beginning and the end of all such prayers and promises. And when self is again made to feel easy by escape from danger, or recovery from sickness, there is an end of prayer, and promises are forgotten. But such as I have named are not the only class included in our Lord's meaning. If we read carefully we may see that some who desire to make a fair show in the flesh love to stand on the corners of the streets that they may be heard calling on the Lord, making long prayers, that they may be seen of men. Of such our Lord says: "Verily, they have their reward." Here again the love of self and the world is the beginning and the end.

There is one more class justly belonging to the number of those already described. This is a sad class indeed, although probably no worse off than some others. I hope no one here will ever be found in their number. You may read about them in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel. They are called the "foolish virgins." We all know that a virgin is an unmarried woman who has kept the integrity of her virtue unbroken. The ten spoken of in the chapter are virgins in a figurative sense. They are so called because in appearance and profession they were not defiled with the world. They all had lamps. David says: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Each one had this lamp according to their understanding and use of the Word. All denominations of Christians claim the Word as their lamp or guide through the darkness of this world. But lamps differ greatly in almost every imaginable way,—in form, size, material and illuminating capacity. Much also depends upon the sight. If the sight be diseased, not good, the same lamp that shines brightly to one may be darkness to another. "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!"

The foolish virgins had lamps, that is, they professed faith in God's Word, but their faith lacked the oil of love; it was not made perfect by works in life proceeding from love to God and their neighbor. Oil in the Scriptures stands for love. Priests and kings had to be anointed with oil as a sign or emblem that they were to perform their official duties from love. Hence the light that is fed by pure oil beautifully symbolizes the truth that shines in the Christian's life, warm with the love of God; but the light that comes from a wick in a lamp destitute of oil symbolizes the life of the hypocrite, the vain professor. It may burn for a little; but it will soon go out and leave him in eternal darkness. The wise virgins represent those who make a profession of faith in the light of truth and in the love of it. These go in with the Lord to the marriage feast. But the foolish virgins find the door shut. They call, "Lord, Lord, open to us." But he answers by saying: "I know you not." "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

I recently heard of a preacher who had attended one of our meetings. If I remember rightly, a good deal had that day been said on the importance and value of good works. I think that one who had spoken that day went so far as to quote these words of the Lord: "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit." Good works are good fruit, he had also said. He had quoted this passage too: "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." Evil works are evil fruit, he had also said. And I feel sure he had quoted these words of the Lord: "They that have done good shall come unto the resurrection of life: but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." The friend who told me had ridden a part of the way home with the preacher before referred to, and in speaking to this friend he said: "These Dunkards are odd people. I occasionally go to their meetings, and every time I do go I am sure to hear of works! works! as if works were necessary to salvation." In answer to the friend who communicated this to me, I said: "I hope the Dunkards, as he called us, will always be odd people in this regard, so long as it is written: 'He that doeth good is of God; but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.' 'A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit: neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. By their fruits ye shall know them.'"

Brethren, let us think closely upon the closing words of my text: "He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." An apostle says: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." Sanctification means holiness, and holiness means conformity of heart and life to God's Revealed Truth. The heart cannot be conformed to God's Revealed Truth when the life is conformed to the world and sin. "No man can serve two masters.... Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Jesus prays for all that believe on him through the Word: "Sanctify them in thy truth. Thy word is truth." We occasionally hear of some "professing sanctification." From what I have been told, those making this profession mean by it that they have attained to a state of sinless perfection. This is a state to be devoutly wished, for it is the state of the spirits of just men made perfect. Nothing shall enter that holy city where they dwell "that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." In this city of light and love no sin is found.

"Those holy gates forever bar

Pollution, sin and shame:

For none shall have admittance there

But followers of the Lamb."

All the descriptions and references to heaven found in the divine Word imply that it is a place and a state where the will of God is the supreme law of life. "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet." "Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne." As heaven is God's throne, his will is the universal law for all, and that law is love. I can think of no state so blessed and happy as that where every one of the "multitude which no man can number" "loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and his neighbor"—every one of the assembly—"as he loves himself." And from the Lord's Prayer it is to be inferred that his people on earth should aim at the same state of perfection.

Let us examine this for a moment. Notice the very first petition after the address: "Thy kingdom come." Is the significance of this petition to be limited merely to the introduction of the kingdom of heaven into places of this world where it has not yet been established? It includes this, of course; but is this all? I think not. Now the next petition: "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so upon earth." Whilst these two petitions have a general significance, they have a most personal application to the heart and life of every one offering them. We sometimes wonder why the Lord's Prayer is so short. It is so because the all of heaven, and the church on earth, is comprehended in doing the will of our Father who is in heaven as subjects of his kingdom. And the aim and end of Revealed Truth from Genesis to Revelation is to teach man how to acquire the power to do this, and how to do it, together with the promises of eternal rewards for doing it. And until our understandings are so filled with the knowledge of the glorious truths of God's kingdom, and our hearts with the love of doing his will that we can make no further progress in knowledge and wisdom, and no additions to the warmth and measure of our love by reason of our sinless perfection, we have daily need to offer this prayer.

Gospel and church ordinances are all important. In my view they hold a relation to every true Christian in the lines of example, power and use somewhat like that which the harness has to a draught horse. The horse has to be first trained to the draught by means of the harness; and when trained he draws by the same means. Entering the church in the Lord's appointed way—inwardly, through repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; outwardly, by a threefold immersion of the body in pure water, the beautiful emblem of truth, in token of our belief in the blessed trinity of God—is simply putting on the harness for work in the Lord's vineyard. It is also the act of putting on the Christian soldier's armor and entering the service. But of what use is a helmet, sword and shield to an idler in the camp? Of what account is harness, unless the horse that carries it is trained and made willing to use it?

The apostles all speak much of charity, which is love to others filled with a desire to do them good. This love is of God; for our Lord was filled with it as "he went about doing good." It is this same love or charity in God that has brought salvation to man. Paul and Peter often call it grace, but it means the same thing. Moses and the prophets mostly use the word mercy; but it also means the same. These three words, love, grace, mercy, in their true sense, are comprehended in the word charity, which, as an attribute of God or a conscious feeling in man, is the love of doing good in the desire to make others good and happy. If charity were made the life and spring of man's love universally, peace and happiness would be the universal order of man's life on earth. Millennial glory would crown humanity, and the knowledge of the Lord would be its princely attire. Then the wolf of worldly rapacity, having lost its power, would dwell with the lamb. The leopard of crouching deceit, having been deprived of its teeth and claws, would lie down with the kid. The young lion, tamed, but his courage and strength reserved by being regenerated, would feed with the calf; and the little child of innocent will and teachable understanding would lead them.

But "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." We can not know fully all the blessedness to be realized by doing the will of our Father in heaven. But this we may be assured of; it will prepare us for that higher life whose brightest glory and most exalted happiness is comprehended in the welcome that all such as do his will are sure to receive: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

After dinner Brother Joseph Arnold and Michael Lion come with me, over a very rough track, to Abraham Summerfield's, where we stay all night.

Tuesday, September 2. In the forenoon preach the funeral of old Mrs. Summerfield; and in connection with it that of the child of Washington Summerfield. In the afternoon we have meeting at old man Summerfield's on the Dry Fork of Cheat river. Washington Summerfield and his wife and soldier White's wife are baptized to-day. Stay all night at John Pennington's.

Wednesday, September 3. Dine at Widow Cooper's on the Alleghany mountain, and stay all night at Isaac Carr's on the North Fork.

Thursday, September 4. Meeting at Carr's. Come to Enoch Hyre's and stay all night.

Friday, September 5. Meeting at Hyre's. German W. Deadenborn is baptized to-day. Come to Sister Mary Judy's; stay all night.

Saturday, September 6. Meeting at Sister Judy's. Brother Thomas Lion is with me. Come to Peggy Dasher's; night meeting at Zion.

Sunday, September 7. Meeting at Henry Moyers's, in the Gap. In evening get home.

Thursday, September 11. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Decide the question as to what the churches here in the slaveholding States should require of any slaveowner desiring to come into the church. A very delicate matter to act upon in the present sensitive condition of public feeling on slavery. But it is the aim of the Brethren here not to offend popular feeling, so long as that feeling does not attempt any interference with what they regard and hold sacred as their line of Christian duty. Should such opposition arise, which I greatly fear will be the case at no distant day, it will then be seen that it is the fixed purpose and resolve of the Brotherhood to "obey God rather than men." It was decided in council that every slaveholder coming into the church must give up his or her slaves as property; and yet not turn them off houseless and homeless, but allow them to remain, and labor, and be fed and clothed as usual, until suitable and lawful provisions can be made for their complete emancipation.

Thursday, September 18. This day Brother Kline started on a journey up the Valley of Virginia, to the counties of Augusta, Rockbridge, Botetourt, Roanoke and Franklin. As usual, he was mounted on faithful Nell's back. The reader need not be surprised to be told what the writer heard Brother Kline tell about the somewhat remarkable sagacity of Nell. She not only had her favorite places to stop at, but she had her favorite roads to travel on. And it was not uncommon for her rider to be forced into a mild but resolute contention with her, when he wished to leave a road she had repeatedly traveled before.

Brother John Brower accompanied him from Augusta. Saturday, the twenty-eighth, they crossed the Natural Bridge and got to Sister Sarah Grabil's, where they met Brother Crumbaker. Sunday, the 21st, they attended a love feast at the Valley meetinghouse, and stayed all night at Brother Nininger's. Monday, the 22nd, they attended meeting again, and stayed all night at Brother Benjamin Moomaw's. Next day they dined at Brother Daniel Kiser's, and stayed all night at John Brubaker's in Roanoke County. On this trip they visited or stayed over night with Peter Crumbaker's, James Hayden's, Joseph Howard's, Joseph Weddell's, Christian Bowman's, Daniel Neff's, Abraham Flory's, Abraham Barnhart's, Jacob Miley's, Wendell Sites's, and Jacob Stover's. He got home Friday, October 10.

On this journey Brother Kline attended nine meetings for ordinary services, and six love feasts.

From this time on to the close of the year Brother Kline was actively employed either at home or abroad. He made one trip to Page County. He and Brother Solomon Garber took a journey through the counties of Pendleton, Randolph, Upshur, Highland, and returned through Augusta. They held eleven meetings in the eleven days they spent on this trip. Several were baptized; and they met with kind receptions everywhere they went.

Wednesday, December 31. This year I have traveled six thousand miles. May God forgive all I have said and done amiss, and accept to his own glory all that I have done well. Amen!

Saturday, January 17. A snowstorm sets in this evening.

Sunday, January 18. A terrific and very cold snowstorm has been raging all day and all last night. Thermometer down to zero all day.

Monday, January 19. Terrible snowstorm continues till evening. Snow considerably drifted; but probably enough snow on the ground if evenly distributed over its surface to make a depth of over two feet. Get through reading "The Prince of the House of David."

Monday, February 2. Very cold to-night. Thermometer ten degrees below zero.

Friday, February 5. A general thaw.

Saturday, February 6. Go to Broadway to see the river. Tremendous breaking up of the ice—tearing almost everything before it.

Saturday, April 4. Brother Jacob Wine and I attend a visit council meeting in Page County. Elections are also held. Brother Nathan Spitler is elected to preach the Word; and John Huffman is advanced to baptize and perform the ceremony of marriage. Gideon Toben is elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, April 18. Council meeting at the Flat Rock. Jacob Wine is ordained. John Neff is advanced to the second grade; and Abraham Neff is elected to preach the Word.

Sunday, April 26. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Romans 6 is read. Philip Emswiler and John Toppen and his wife are baptized by myself.

Wednesday, May 13. Go to John Lowry's to converse with him and his wife on the subject of religion.

Tuesday, May 19. Considerable snow to-day; but on low-lying sections of country it melts almost as fast as it falls.

Wednesday, May 20. The Blue Ridge, and the mountains on the west side of the valley are all white with snow.

Thursday, May 21. This morning the tops of the western mountains are still white with snow. The oldest weather records I have heard from contain no account of snow so late in the spring as this anywhere in Virginia.

Friday, May 22. Peter Fesler and wife are with us here at my home. We are all made to feel glad by their company.

Friday, June 5. Go to John Lowry's to discuss some of our doctrines with Jacob Stirewalt and Socrates Henkel, Lutheran preachers from New Market, Virginia. It was no part of my aim in this private talk with those preachers to work any change in their settled opinions regarding the subjects of our controversy. I long ago learned that the conversion of a theological sinner from the error of his ways is hardly to be hoped for in any case. When the truth is loved for its own sake it is not hard to find; and it is readily perceived when found. It is then the pearl of great price for which a man will sell all that he has to obtain it as his own. Luther was no doubt sincere in much that he taught: but men may be sincere in holding very erroneous dogmas, because of their being so deeply rooted in their minds and their minds being so confirmed in them that it would be almost like parting soul and body to give them up. It was said of Luther, by one of the later reformers, that he cut a large piece out of the Pope's pontifical robe as he left the Vatican, and kept it all his life as a sacred relic. This is of course highly figurative, and not to be understood literally; but to mean that he incorporated many papal errors in his subsequent teachings. My object in meeting these preachers at this place was to comply with the request of the family for me to do so. Friend Lowry and his wife did not appear to see the lines of truth and duty very clearly; and as they seemed desirous of learning the way I thought it important for some one to present the truth on one side, to oppose the error that was likely to be poured in from the other side. The whole thing reminded me of what I often do—give medicine to counteract disease.

Saturday, July 25. Visit, medically, George, and Noah Shoemaker's, Joseph Shoemaker's, William Miller's; and am hurriedly called to James Fitzwater's. He has been bitten by a copperhead snake. I succeed in relieving urgent symptoms; and by evening he is almost free from pain.

Saturday, August 1. Go to Orkney Springs.

Sunday, August 2. Have preaching at the hotel. My subject is "Righteousness, Temperance, and a Judgment to Come." My audience was composed of hearers from far and near; and almost all classes, as to intelligence and social standing, were represented. A man like myself, who only occasionally strikes such a crowd, hardly knows how to adapt himself to the situation. If he lets himself down to the comprehension of the illiterate, the highbred city folks may say: "He is beneath his calling." And if he lifts himself up to their standard of appreciation, the unlearned go away without being able to say amen to what they have heard. I decided, however, to follow the example of Paul before Felix and Drusilla. He reasoned of righteousness, etc.

In the forty-fifth Psalm David says: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of thy kingdom is a scepter of righteousness. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness." A scepter is a kind of staff borne by kings as an emblem of their authority. It is a comfort to know that the scepter of Jehovah, as King of the universe, is a scepter of righteousness. We could never know that God is righteous, and that he loves righteousness, except by being told in his Word of Truth. This world does not give unequivocal testimony to the righteousness of God. The wicked bear rule, and the nations tremble. Evil often overcomes good, and wrong triumphs over right. Disease or accident lays the good man low in death; while the wicked near by is left to exult in the strength of his arm. I say it is comforting to know, in the midst of these apparent contradictory evidences of the just government of the world, that God is nevertheless righteous: and although iniquity largely bears rule and carries the day, God still hates wickedness. God does not acquiesce in the injustice and wrong that is being perpetrated in the world. He merely permits it; and he permits it for the reason that he can not arrest and put an end to it without destroying man's freedom. Man is free as to his will and understanding—free to believe what is false and to do what is wrong. But he is just as free to believe what is true and to will what is good. This freedom is what makes him capable of being reformed and saved.

It is self-evident that righteousness, which is right doing from right willing, is the basis of all true order and happiness in earth and heaven. "God is love," and he therefore loves righteousness because it is good, and hates wickedness because it is evil. But man has fallen from his primeval state of righteousness, and therefore he is not in a condition of mind and heart fit for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, nor capable of enjoying the divine presence in the society of the pure and good. Righteousness and holiness are related to each other very much as the fruit is related to the tree that bears it. Holiness corresponds with the sap, fiber, life and whatever else makes the tree good; and righteousness corresponds with the fruit the good tree bears; and "without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

But probably no subject in the line of human thought has given rise to so many different opinions as the subject of how righteousness is to be attained. The Jewish leaders and representatives in our Lord's day upon earth were very exact in their outward lives. They kept clean the outside of the cup and of the platter. Their external conduct was ordered to a rigid conformity to divine law. They endeavored to establish a righteousness of their own; and to all human appearance they succeeded; for the Lord himself said to them: "Ye make clean the outside"—as vessels may appear clean externally. He also compared them to beautiful monuments of marble sculptured after the highest style of art and polished to shining perfection, set up over the dead. But of this very class of men he said: "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven." This proves that the righteousness which they had was not the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven.

Self-respect, or self-love, inclines almost every one, except the very abandoned, to make a show of righteousness; that is, they want others to think they are living right lives. No man who holds himself up to respectability is willing to be called a thief, or a liar, or an adulterer, or any other thing that is vile. He may be any or all of these, yet he is not willing that it should be known, or even suspected. Even he desires to make a fair show in the flesh.

Others, again, who make no profession of religion, but who yet believe in a supreme God and a future state of existence, desire to be righteous before God and man. They are not like the scribes and Pharisees, who attached virtue and merit to their rigid observance of the ceremonial law of ordinances in their religion. These that I now speak of are simply good moral men, who are honest in their dealings and careful of the conduct of their lives generally. These do not really desire to make any display of their righteousness. They wish rather to be esteemed for their real worth; and not for any fancied or spurious excellencies. They desire to live above the just reproaches of men, and the condemnation of God. They persuade themselves to think that their righteousness is all that God can require.

But the most numerous of all the classes that seek after righteousness is composed of those who trust in the righteousness of faith. Righteousness or justification by faith was the password of the Reformation. Martin Luther, misapplying Paul's utterance that "a man is justified or made righteous by faith without the deeds of the law," set a large part of Europe going with the impression that salvation, in the highest sense, is attainable on the easy terms of merely assenting to the statement that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Many passages can be adduced from the epistolary writings in plausible support of this theory of salvation. Although it is incomprehensible how the righteousness of Christ can be applied to each individual sinner on the bare ground of his merely giving assent to the doctrine of the atonement through the merit of Christ's death upon the cross, still it is the leading dogma of what is popularly called orthodoxy. But I must confess before all present this day that I have "not so learned Christ," nor Paul either. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." At the close of his sermon on the Mount, in which is given all necessary instruction and encouragement for living a righteous life from holy love in the heart, the Lord Jesus says: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon a rock." And he said to Peter: "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The rock is the great truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This truth involves every good affection and thought and work of man. It takes in and requires obedience to every divine command, and compliance with every divine precept. When any one complies with these conditions of salvation through the faith that sees and knows that God's Word is true because it is understood and must be so, he is righteous in the sight of the Lord, and necessarily in a state of salvation. He is then to "let his light shine before men, that others seeing his good works may glorify our Father in heaven."

For want of time I must pass over the subject of temperance, to say something about "a judgment to come." And right here there are all sorts of ideas and conjectures. But of all the subjects in the universe, that involving the judgment is the most momentous to man; because it is there that his eternal destiny will be disclosed to him, as to whether he shall be an angel of heaven or a demon in hell. And we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. It is not to be wondered at that Felix trembled under the weight of this great truth. God's Word will be the basis of judgment. Says our Lord: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day." As "man liveth by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," so does every word of his truth point to that great day for which all other days were made. All the parables and miracles of our Lord, full of instruction as to heart and life, point, like so many guideposts, to this great central truth of man's experience and existence.

But, friends, let us imbibe no erroneous views and impressions regarding the judgment to come. Let us not regard it as being an occasion for the display of God's wrath; but let us rather look upon it as the sublimest manifestation of his love. Draw a comparison here. Good human laws are not a terror to the good. A jury is impaneled. A criminal is arraigned before it. Testimony is received and evidence drawn from it respecting the innocence or guilt of the accused. The balance of testimony is altogether in his favor. He is acquitted. That trial is a joy to that criminal, because it sets him right as to character before the world. But suppose he is found guilty. Is it a joy then? It is not. It is a grief. Why? Because his sin has found him out. His real character is laid bare. But in their consignment of him to the punishment prescribed by law, do the jury and the judge act from wrath? They do not, but from a love of good will to all. The law that condemns may have the appearance of wrath to the condemned; but never to the innocent.

Judgment and reward will be according to works, and never according to professions of faith, except where the professions are genuine, and lead to good works from the love of doing good. I have met with some who have manifested dread in contemplating the majesty of that great day, the day of "a judgment to come." I feel warranted in making the assertion that no one whose purpose in life is to do the will of our Father in heaven has any just ground whatever to dread the coming of that day. Justice never condemns the innocent. Just and wise laws are never a terror to the good, and such are all the laws of God. In the book of Revelation we read of those "who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, saying: Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." These all exulted in the prospect of a judgment to come, because they had gotten the victory over the adversary of their souls and were ready for trial before the King of saints whose ways are all just and true. I once read of a criminal who was deeply distressed at the near approach of his trial. A friend endeavored to soothe his agitated feelings by telling him that justice would be done him, and that he consequently had no cause for fear. But the criminal was honest enough to confess to his friend that justice was the very thing he was afraid of. I have no doubt that this very same fear was what made Felix tremble before Paul.

The Son of man, on the judgment seat, will be the very same in every particular that he is now on the mercy seat. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forevermore." "The heavens shall depart as a scroll; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up; but thou art the same." By viewing him now as he is on the mercy seat we may see what he will be on the judgment seat. The trembling waters of Galilee became a pavement under his feet, and his disciples were thrown into consternation by this miraculous approach of the Lord. But he instantly dispelled their fears by the assurance: "It is I; be not afraid." Peter, James and John on the holy mount feared as they entered the cloud and saw his glory; but he most tenderly said to them: "Fear not." John, on the isle of Patmos, beholding the glory of his unveiled face, "fell at his feet as dead." But he laid his right hand upon him and said: "Fear not. I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold! I am alive forevermore."

These thoughts lead to the further consideration that there will be no arbitrary or despotic power exercised in "the judgment to come." "My words shall judge you in the last day" is given by our Lord as the standard of judgment. Is there one here who desires to know how he will bear the searching ordeal of that day? If there is, let me say to such a one, you can decide that question here in this world for yourself. You have the Lord's word for this. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life." To hear is to hearken, and to hearken is to obey, from a right faith in God. If you believe that this book which I hold in my hand, called the Bible, is the revealed truth of God, and from the heart are willing to obey its precepts under a sense of love and duty to do the will of your Father in heaven therein revealed, and continue faithful unto death, you have the assurance therein given that the judgment to come will be a day of triumphant joy to your soul. But if you come short of this you can have no such assurance: and I am compelled to repeat in your ears these terrific words of an apostle: "If we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversary." To sin willfully is to refuse to do what we know to be the will of God our Father in heaven.

I said awhile ago that judgment and reward will be according to works. Let us now turn to some of the proofs in confirmation of this assertion. They drop from the lips of our Lord without the least show of any design in him to establish a great principle. The principle had been established as an element of divine order before the Son of man came into the world. It is a truth so simple that even little children comprehend it. If a little child that has been taught any correct ideas about salvation and heaven be asked a question like this: "Who go to heaven?" it will at once answer with childlike simplicity: "Good people go to heaven." If further interrogated as to who good people are, it will say: "People who love one another and do good." It is a truth intuitively known that good people are saved and happy, and bad people lost and miserable.

"This is the judgment, that light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Every one that doeth evil hateth the light ... lest his deeds should be reproved. But he who doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, because they are wrought in God. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. He that hath my commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth me ... and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him; ... and will come to him, and make my abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my words. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.... I have chosen you, ... that ye should bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." I must drop a word of comment upon this last quotation. By fruit remaining it is to be understood that it goes with the child of God through the judgment into heaven, and remains to eternity. In Revelation we read these words: "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow with them. A book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged according to those things which were written in the book, every one according to their works."

I might continue this multiplication of scripture passages to a much greater number, but time forbids. Every passage I have quoted bears either directly or indirectly upon the judgment to come. It remains a thing of choice with every intelligent human being, whether he will be prepared to face the shining judgment throne with joy, or quail before it in terror. The Lord says to all: "Seek ye my face." What a blessed response it would be for each one to answer as did the young Prophet Samuel: "Thy face, Lord, will I seek."

Tuesday, August 18. Brother Kline and Jacob Wine have night meeting at Nimrod Judy's, in Hardy County. The conversion of Saul is their subject. Acts 9.

Wednesday, August 19. They have meeting at John Judy's on South Mill Creek. Text.—"God is a Spirit." John 4:24. They speak on the spiritual nature of true worship, and prove that ordinances in connection with all the externals of worship, to be acceptable to God, must be but the outward evidences of internal realities. They stay all night at John Judy's.

Thursday, August 20. This day they have two meetings: forenoon at Isaac Judy's; afternoon at Michael Mallow's. Stay at Adam Mallow's.

Friday, August 21. Two meetings to-day. Forenoon at Bethel church—dine at Peter Warnstaff's; afternoon at Warnstaff's tanyard. Stay at John Davis's in Hardy.

Saturday, August 22. Meeting at Zion church on the South Fork. In the afternoon cross the Shenandoah mountain into Brock's Gap.

Sunday, August 23. Meeting at Keplinger's chapel, where they meet Benjamin Bowman and Solomon Garber. A joyful surprise. Brother Benjamin Bowman speaks from Luke 8. He speaks mostly from these words of the eighteenth verse: "Take heed how ye hear." From the outlines I gather that he followed very closely the lines of thought here briefly expressed.

He said: Hearing may be that of mere sound. Brutes hear in this way. A horse, near the stand, may hear a sermon, but it will be that of mere sound to him. I have known of people hearing somewhat after the same manner. They can tell nothing, and seem to remember nothing of what they have heard. Some hear to criticise the preacher's style of expression, including his language, modulation of his voice, and gestures. Others hear as the Pharisees and Herodians tried to hear Christ, "that they might catch him in his talk;" and like the scribes and Pharisees, "laying in wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth" with which to accuse him. But these are not the only profitless hearings which the God-loving and soul-loving minister of the Gospel has to mourn over. The lives of some prove that they hear mainly from a desire to make others think that they have great respect for religion and the Word of God. They go to church and hear, but heed nothing. "By their fruits shall ye know them." If people were rightly to obey the injunction of my text, all such heedless and profitless hearing would be at an end.

But how is the injunction of the text to be obeyed? And how is one to know when he is obeying it? The command means that the hearer shall take heed. This means "watch." What must he watch? "How he hears." The text has relation, not to what ye hear, but how ye hear. It does not point to the subject matter or the manner of the address, but to the end for which and to the spirit in which it is heard. If the heartfelt desire of the hearer is to learn truth, that he may be enlightened and given to see the way of eternal life, he may feel assured that his hearing is acceptable to God. He will then not be a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, and such a one shall be blessed in his deed.

It is enjoined upon all to hear intelligently, for this belongs to the manner of hearing. No one can hear a sermon understandingly without some previous knowledge of the subject matter of the discourse. To acquire this knowledge every one should read and study the Word of Divine Truth. It is able to make all "wise unto salvation." Intelligent knowledge of the Scriptures can be acquired only by patient study of them: but when they are studied to the illumination of the understanding, the truth, like water in a well, rises up into the understanding and meets you. We sometimes hear it said of one who listens attentively and intelligently, "He seemed to drink in every word spoken." This, I think, is what the Lord means by these words to the woman at the well: "He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but he that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." To hear the truth attentively and understandingly is to drink it in, as we drink water when we are thirsty.

What I have said, however important it may be to know, does not cover the entire ground comprehended in the text. I must show you another element which must exist in the manner of all right hearing. That element is discrimination. Without this, how is the hearer to know whether the truth or its opposite is being preached? The comparison may lack adaptability in some of its points, but I have heard it said that some hearers are like young birds in their nest, ready to swallow down anything put into their mouths. Such as hear in this way lack discrimination; that is, they do not discern the difference between what is true and what is false. This is particularly the case with such as have been trained to regard what their own denominational ministers preach as being the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I am aware that some may just now be saying in their minds: "You Dunkard people are the very ones to whom your words most justly apply; for I know of no people who take so great pains to instil this very belief into the minds of the young as you do." I can truthfully say that such charges are not strange to me. But with all due respect for such as differ from us in religious faith and practice, I do say that we, as a denomination of Christian brethren, acknowledging no teacher but Christ, no authority but his Word, have no will, wish or desire to lead the truth and thus pervert, ignore or misapply any part of it; but our will, wish and desire is to be led by the truth. And I do not in my heart believe there is one member of our Brotherhood who would desire to instill into the mind of his or her child any belief or practice not sustained by a plain "thus saith the Lord." In this very way the power of discrimination is developed in the minds of our young people, so that when they hear or read they do not question whether this or that that they hear or read has for its authority the Methodist Discipline, the Episcopal Prayer Book, or Lutheran Catechism; but they at once perceive that it either has or has not the sanction of God's Word. We are taught that in a spiritual sense no one is to be called rabbi. "Be not ye called rabbi; for One is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth; for one is your Father in heaven." How the mind might expatiate here in making historic disclosures of the times and ways in which this plain command of our Lord has been violated! Hearing the Word preached, and the hearer not able to discern truth from falsehood, has given to priestcraft nearly all of its power; because priestcraft, unsupported by the common people, could never have risen into power. If the common people had been wise enough to take heed how they hear, they never would have suffered themselves to be imposed upon as they have been.

I now take up the last but not the least element in the manner of hearing. That element is sincerity; which I define to be a heartfelt love for the truth. Paul puts it "Receiving the truth in the love of it." The person who hears the truth lightly, thoughtlessly, carelessly is not instructed by it. The same is true of one who hears with prejudice against the truth. He refuses to be instructed, because he does not love the truth he hears. Let me use an illustration here. Two men once happened to meet at my house, one a Presbyterian and the other a member of no church. After dinner the subject of feet-washing was broached. After we had all talked awhile about it one of the men asked me whereabouts in the Bible it was to be found. I turned to the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel, and he then asked me to read it aloud. I did so. These two men listened attentively, so, at least, they appeared to me. The Presbyterian friend very modestly gave it as his opinion that the command is fully met by acts of hospitality, and referred to the reception which Abraham gave the three angels who came to his tent as proof of the correctness of his conclusion. Very little more was said about it at that time. The two men, soon after, went away together; and I had little or no conversation with either of them for probably nearly a year afterward. But it so turned out that the one who was not a professor of religion came to my house again, and showed a desire to talk on the subject of feet-washing. I was ready to answer such questions as he proposed; and he very soon expressed a wish to know if I remembered having once read the thirteenth chapter of John's Gospel to him when on a call at my house. I told him I did remember it. "Your reading of that chapter," said he, "struck my mind with so much force that I could not rid myself of the impression it made. I never, until then, knew there was anything so plain in the Scriptures, and so easy to understand. I had always thought the Bible was a book of dark sayings, unintelligible to any but the learned; and even in their hands doubtful as to its true interpretation. Since then I have been reading it, especially the New Testament part of it, and find so much that I can understand that I begin to love it." I have only to add that this man soon applied for membership in our church, was baptized, and manifested enthusiastic delight in obeying the command, "So ought ye also to wash one another's feet," at the first love feast he ever attended.

In connection with the case I have just described, the two men spoken of heard with different ears. The ear of the first was so modified by previous indoctrinations that it could almost shut itself in and become deaf or callous when the plain truth was read: the ear of the last was open to take in the truth; and the mind, being free from prejudice, received the truth from the love of it. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The Lord includes all such hearers as the one I have just described, in the promised blessing.

"Take heed how ye hear." In speaking on this text so much comes before my mind that it is difficult for me to stop. I must say something to the unconverted sinner. The Lord says to you: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This means that you should turn away from your sins and enter the kingdom of heaven. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy upon him; and unto our God, for he will abundantly pardon." And Jesus says: "Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." To come unto the Lord is to hear his Word with full purpose of heart to understand it, see its truth, believe it and obey it. I beg every unconverted person in this house to ask himself just now: "How do I hear what the preacher has just now said? Do I hear it with a thoughtless, careless ear? If I do, what is to become of me? Can I bear to hear the voice from the judgment throne say: 'Depart, ye workers of iniquity, into everlasting fire'? Would I not better 'seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near'?" O, that all might hear aright, repent and live, for with the Lord there is plenteous redemption; and he is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him.

Sunday, September 6. Meeting at Turner's schoolhouse. William Miller and wife, and Andrew Lamb's wife are baptized.

Thursday, September 24. This day finds Brother Kline and Solomon Garber in Randolph County, Virginia, nearly one hundred miles from home, holding a meeting. Both have come on horseback. They hold a council meeting with the Brethren assembled. Joseph Houser is elected to the deaconship. After meeting Brother Solomon Garber baptizes Mrs. Houser and Diana Bainbridge.

Saturday, September 26. They have meeting in meetinghouse near Josiah Simon's. Matt. 5:13 is the text. Brother Solomon Garber spoke first; and the Diary notes are so suggestive of original thought that I give them in a somewhat expanded form. Text.—"Ye are the salt of the earth."

Jesus spoke by parables: and we are told that without a parable spoke he not. My text is a parable. But what is a parable? A parable is a way of teaching in which natural objects are used to represent or symbolize spiritual realities. It is a way of comparing natural things with spiritual things. This way of teaching is based upon the correspondence existing between natural things and spiritual or heavenly things. Thus: a natural birth corresponds to a spiritual birth; natural water, to spiritual water, which is divine or heavenly truth. Wind, which is air in motion, corresponds to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Now notice, Jesus said to Nicodemus: "If I have told you earthly things, and you believe or understand not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" Nicodemus could not understand how earthly things could symbolize or represent spiritual things. Hence he asked: "How can these things be?"

I have tried to find out as nearly as possible what the word salt is used to represent, as found in my text. I have searched many books for this one thing alone. But after all my investigations I am compelled to rely upon my own judgment, and decide the matter for myself. I notice, however, that salt is often spoken of in the Bible. All the priestly offerings had to be salted with salt. There must, then, be a high and holy significance in its use in this way.

Elisha succeeded Elijah in the prophetic office. Elijah had been carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire, and Elisha had just returned from the scene and sight of his master's glorification, and was at the city of Jericho. And the men of the city said unto Elisha: "Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, ... but the water is naught"—worthless, not fit to drink. And Elisha "went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters." To my mind these bitter waters of Jericho symbolize the truths of God's Word, as these truths appear to the mind and affect the taste of the unconverted man. Read the Bible to the man who has no relish, no love for its truth. Is it not to his soul like the waters of Jericho—"naught," or nothing? These men of Jericho are all around us, and you may find opportunities to prove what I have said. I have repeatedly tried it. I have read chapter after chapter of the divine Word to unconverted men, sometimes to my own work hands who I knew cared nothing for religion, and whilst they would not tell me to my face that they cared nothing for it, I could find out by others, and by their own after lives that what they heard was to their souls as the waters of Jericho were to the men of that city. But when the salt of pure love for the Lord, and the desire to leave off and forsake all sinful indulgences and worldly pleasures by leading a new life in doing the Lord's will, enters a man the Word becomes sweet and precious to his soul. The waters are healed, because the man is healed.

The twelve disciples, particularly, were, at the time our Lord spoke the words of my text, the very embodiment of all the virtues of heart and life which make the Word of the Lord sweet to the soul. To such these beautiful words in the Song of Solomon apply: "He brought me to the banqueting house: he stayed me with flagons of wine: he comforted me with apples: his banner over me was love: yea, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."

Now, to bring my text to something like a practical head, I must say to every unconverted soul here: You must put the salt into the water of God's Word for yourself. If you look to the Lord, and ask him to give you eyes that you may see, and ears that you may hear, and a heart that you may understand, you will also receive all the salt you need to heal the Word and make it healing to your soul. But if you neglect and despise or reject the offers of God's love, the very thing that he has prepared for your eternal joy will be everlasting bitterness to your soul. For one to know his duty and not at the same time do it exposes him to the danger of being converted into a pillar of bitter salt as Lot's wife was. She could not give up her love for the world. She knew that she must not look back with longings for the Sodom of the sinful life she had left; but she did look back, and her awful fate is brought to mind by our Lord as a warning to all: "Remember Lot's wife."

By the words of my text, then, the Lord meant that the disciples represented the charity and faith that sweeten and give to every word of Divine Truth a gracious reception into the heart and life. In this happy love the Christian sings of the Word of Life in the beautiful sentiment of an old hymn:

"Yes, thou art precious to my soul;

My transport and my trust:

Jewels to thee are gaudy toys,

And gold is sordid dust."

And when the disembodied soul shall awake to the full realization of the truth which shone so dimly here, the love for that truth will be sevenfold as the light of seven days all in one, which means fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

Sunday, September 27. This day Brother Solomon Garber leaves me after meeting, to attend to some appointments ahead. I stay to debate with a Methodist preacher. In the afternoon I baptize Sister Houser. Stay all night at Brother Pirkey's.

Tuesday, September 29. In the afternoon meet the Methodist preacher at Israel Methodist church. But I am sorry to say that instead of going into a discussion with me on baptism and other ordinances of God's house he suffered himself to run into an absurd abuse of us, as if we might be doing much harm by our close adherence to the teachings and examples of Christ and his apostles. I can pray the Lord to have mercy upon him, and to open his eyes; for I was led to believe, from what he said, that he had never read or thought much outside of the Methodist Discipline.

Wednesday, September 30. Meeting again in meetinghouse near Brother Simon's. Speak on John 3:7. I baptize Brother Samuel Channel.

Thursday, October 1. Get Nell shod. Come to the Barker settlement. Night meeting at Wilson's.

Friday, October 2. Night meeting at Enoch Johnson's.

Saturday, October 3. Meeting and love feast at Brother Henry Wilson's. Stay all night at Brother Elias Oval's.

Sunday, October 4. Meeting at the meetinghouse. Take the voice of the church. Brother Henry Wilson is established. Brother Elias Oval is advanced; and Brother William Oval is elected to the Word.

Monday, October 5. Visit Elijah Skidmore; dine at Brother Burke's; visit Joseph Workman; and come to Brother Simon's in the evening. Brother Michael Lion, Brother Thomas Clark, and Brother Martain Cosner are there when I arrive. I probably will never forget the pleasure of meeting those brethren there and spending the night and next day with them. Our love for each other here is a sweet foretaste of the joy of heaven.

Tuesday, October 6. Come to Brother Levi Wilmot's. Preach the funeral of Brother Powers's wife.

Wednesday, October 7. Dine at Abraham Summerfield's. Then to William Adamson's at the mouth of Seneca Creek, where I stay all night.

Thursday, October 8. Dine at Daniel Judy's. Stay all night at Adam Ketterman's on top of the South Fork mountain.

Friday, October 9. Get home.

Sunday, October 25. Meeting at Hoover's schoolhouse. I baptize John Lamb and wife, and Mary Hoover.

Sunday, November 1. This day Brother Kline and Jacob Miller are together at a meeting in a place called Powell's Fort. This is a very singular conformation of country. It is entirely surrounded by high mountain walls, with the exception of one notch or outlet for drainage and a road. It is about twenty miles south of Winchester, Virginia. Some well-to-do people live in this secluded abode. It is likewise the point to which it is said that Washington had resolved to retreat, with his army, rather than surrender to the British, in one of the dark periods of the Revolutionary War. On this visit to the Fort Brother Jacob Miller baptized three persons.

From this time to the close of the year, Brother Kline was mostly employed in writing his "Apology and Defense of Baptism." He finished the work on the thirty-first day of December. In the year 1857 he traveled 3,967 miles.

Friday, February 5, 1858. Attend council meeting at the Old meetinghouse. Brother John Thomas is forwarded; Joseph Early is elected to preach the Word; and Benjamin Byerly is elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, February 27. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Brother Samuel Zigler is elected to preach the Word.

Monday, March 8. This day a snow falls about one foot in depth.

Wednesday, March 10. This day completes the fortieth year of my married life.

Friday, March 26. Council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. George Wine, son of Samuel Wine, and John B. Kline are each elected to the deaconship.

Monday, May 10. Brother Kline and Martain Miller, in company of each other, start to the Annual Meeting. On the following Friday they arrived at Brother J.P. Ebersole's, Ohio.

Between Saturday, May 15, and Friday, May 21, the two brethren in company of each other attended four meetings, and visited families as follows: Abraham Ebersole's, Daniel Rosenberger's, Jacob Leedy's, Jonathan Dickey's, Michael Baserman's, Jacob Miller's, Samuel Miller's, Daniel Miller's, Abraham Miller's.

Friday, May 21, after dinner, they go to Lima and wait for the train, which does not come in till ten o'clock at night. It had run off the track near a place called Forest. The Diary note says: A man was killed here by the western train while we were waiting. He got between the woodpile and the cars. Death overtook him without a moment's warning. If unprepared to die, how sad the thought of his being launched into the "eternal deeps" of misery and despair! My eyes often turn with sorrow to the hopeless condition of those who live without God in the world. How men and women of common sense can be satisfied to live year in and year out, on the verge of ruin, is a mystery to me. A glow of enthusiasm often enters my soul, in which I feel as if it would be an ineffable joy to me could I send my voice all over the land in tones of thunder repeating:

"Stop, poor sinners, stop and think,

Before ye further go!

How can ye sport upon the brink

Of everlasting woe?

On the verge of ruin, stop!

Now, the friendly warning take:

Stay your footsteps ere ye drop

Into the burning lake."

And to those whose attention might be arrested by such a call, as they would turn their ears to hear, would I love to say, pointing heavenward: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." "Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved." "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "Even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him may have everlasting life."

We arrive at Fort Wayne quarter past one a.m. After breakfast take train to Delphi; then go in hack ten miles to place of Annual Meeting. Preaching in afternoon. Revelation 5 is read. Brother J. Quinter speaks on the chapter. We take supper on the meeting grounds and then go to Brother John Flory's to stay all night.

Sunday, May 23. A very great concourse of people on the grounds. I speak from Revelation 5, the same chapter spoken from yesterday. Some rain to-day. Stay all night at Brother John Flory's again.

Monday, May 24. This morning much rain. Committees are formed. Take in questions. Form subcommittees. Go to Brother Young's.

Tuesday, May 25. Discuss questions. Much rain. Waters high. Stay all night at Brother Flory's again.

Wednesday, May 26. Discuss questions. Get through about two o'clock. Come to Delphi on a wagon. The sky partially clears up to-day. We have night meeting in Delphi. Brethren John Wise, George Hoover and myself speak on Romans, first chapter.

Thursday, May 27. Get back to Jacob Miller's near Lima. Clear to-day.

Friday, May 28. Meeting and love feast at meetinghouse. Ephesians 2 is read. Stay at Daniel Miller's.

Saturday, May 29. Get to Brother John P. Ebersole's.

Sunday, May 30. Meeting in meetinghouse near J.P. Ebersole's. Brother Quinter speaks from Hebrews 6. In afternoon I speak from Hebrews 2. Stay all night at Brother Daniel Rosenberger's.

Monday, May 31. Meeting and love feast at same place. Matthew 19 is read. Rain in morning; clear in evening. Stay at Brother Ebersole's.

Tuesday, June 1. A beautiful morning. Take breakfast at the meetinghouse. Have service. Read a farewell address, which I here copy:

Brethren and sisters in the Lord, dearly beloved: Our greetings for this time have been exchanged, and the atmosphere of love in which we all have so freely breathed and moved since our first meeting together must soon be exchanged for the atmosphere of the world. Our blessed Lord meant a great deal when he said: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved; and shall go in and go out, and find pasture." In meetings like this, and others we have for some while been attending we feel that our spirits and souls and bodies are visibly and experimentally in the fold, with the Great Shepherd in our midst. We are "made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," warmed and cheered by "the Sun of Righteousness."

But the duties of life lay upon us the necessity of breaking up and departing to our business and our homes. We must "go out," out among the elements of the world, and do our part valiantly in the great conflict of life—the conflict that forms our character and decides forever whether we shall reign with saints in glory, or be captives of hell. Let us, brethren and sisters, be cheered with the Lord's promise, that even out of the fold we shall find pasture, something to increase our love for the Lord and for one another, and strengthen our faith. How tenderly the Lord speaks to us, as though he regarded us as his little children! "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." "And lo, I am with you to the end of the world, ... until I receive you unto myself, for where I am, there shall ye be also." "In the world ye shall have tribulations; ... but be of good cheer, ... in me ye shall have peace." In giving to each other the parting hand and the holy kiss tears and good wishes are not out of place. Connected with these a word of comfort to the feeble-minded, a word of encouragement to the brother or sister of weak faith, a word of gentle admonition whispered into the ear of the erring, a word of caution to the rich, lest they be exalted and trust in their uncertain riches, a word of approval and commendation to those who, like Barnabas, are full of good works, may do an amount of good which eternity alone can reveal.

And now, brethren and sisters, farewell. Be steadfast, unmovable; always abounding in the work of the Lord; inasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Come to Carey for two o'clock meeting. Sup at Dr. Joseph Myers's. At one a.m. take train for Columbiana. Sup with Brother Quinter. Stay with Brother Henry Kurtz. Fine weather yesterday and to-day.

Sunday, June 6. Get home.

From this time on to the first of August Brother Kline was mostly around home. He wrote many letters to prominent brethren in nearly all of the States in which the Brethren had, at that time, representative men. He also preached some funerals, for people die even in summer; and death claims all seasons for his own.

Friday, August 6. This day he and Brother John Wine start to the northwestern counties of Virginia, and cross over into Maryland and Pennsylvania. Regularly, they have meetings every day. They visit Nicholas Leatherman's, John Leatherman's, and Samuel Arnold's in Hampshire County, Virginia. They visit David Beachley's, John C. Lichty's, and Elias K. Beachley's; also Jonathan Kelso's, David Livengood's and Franklin O. Livengood's, all in Maryland. We next find them at Brother Flanigan's, on Hughs's river, where they stay all night.

Sunday, August 15. Meeting. Speak on the Great Commission. Roger Davis and wife baptized. Meeting in the afternoon. Continue on the same text. Stay all night with Brother Martain Cochran. Fine weather.

Monday, August 16. Meeting at Slab meetinghouse. Speak on John 4: 29. Dine at Brother Cochran's. Sup at Brother Roger Davis's, and have meeting at early candlelight. Brother John Wine speaks from Rom. 1: 16.

Tuesday, August 17. Get back to Oakland.

Wednesday, August 18. Meeting at Thomas Clark's. Speak from Matthew 12. Meeting in afternoon at Isaac Hays's. Martha and Mary, or the one thing needful, was our subject. Stay at Brother Lee's.

Thursday, August 19. Meeting at Greenland, in Hardy County, Virginia. A woman from Germany, in Europe, is baptized to-day. Dine at Samuel Barbee's, and stay at James Parks's. The two brethren had several other meetings by the way, and on

Monday, August 23, they reached home.

Friday, September 24. Meeting and love feast at our meetinghouse. Andrew Crist and wife, Silas Turner, and Catharine Showalter were baptized to-day.

Sunday, October 17. This day Christian Shoemaker, George Rodecap and his mother, and William Ford and his wife were baptized.

Monday, October 18. Brother Kline started on another trip to Maryland. Among the names of those whom he called on, or passed a night with, we notice Samuel Zimmerman, Jacob Saylor, Sister Jordan, Philip Boyle, John Roop, John Bowman, D.P. Saylor, William Nipe, Peter Grassnicker, Daniel Rickerd, Jacob Wolf, and Mrs. Nipe.

Wednesday, October 20. Love feast at Beaver Dam. Fine weather, and a large gathering of people. Much brotherly love, and general good order.

Thursday, October 21. Meeting at the Pipe Creek meetinghouse, and one at night at New Vinson.

Friday, October 22. Meeting at the Meadow Branch meetinghouse.

Sunday, October 24. Love feast at the meetinghouse, near Brother William Nipe's. Large gathering and fine weather.

Brother Kline attended several other meetings on this trip; and on

Sunday, October 31, he reports himself at the Flat Rock meetinghouse, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, replying to a discourse on feet-washing delivered shortly before by J.P. Cline, a Lutheran preacher of the same county. In his reply Brother Kline proves himself "a master of his bow: his arrows never miss." I here present some points in this reply:

Friend J.P. Cline made feet-washing "a household or hospitable rite." Brother John Kline's main point in reply to this was, that bathing or washing of the whole body in water, as also the setting out of bread and wine before guests, was likewise included among the rites of hospitality in the East and also in southern Europe. If feet-washing is to be discarded from the list of church ordinances on this ground, what becomes of baptism and the Communion? Can they, logically, fare better?

Friend Cline's next point was, "that feet-washing has a spiritual significance, that the example given by the Lord is complied with and obeyed when we, in humility and love, do works of charity." In reply to this, Brother John Kline merely asked the question: "What denominations of professing Christians exhibit the deepest sense of humility, and show the warmest affections of charity, those that observe feet-washing as an ordinance of the church, or those that reject it as such?" "It is not for me," said he, "to answer this question. I leave it to the consideration of all."

"What I do, thou knowest not now." "This declaration of our Lord," said friend Cline, "clearly discards feet-washing from being a church ordinance." In reply to this Brother Kline said: "I would like to ask friend Cline if he claims to understand all the meaning and significance of water baptism and the Communion. If he does lay claim to such attainments in the knowledge of what God has not clearly revealed in his Word, he must have had access to information from which all other honest men have been debarred. Before friend Cline's argument against feet-washing as a church ordinance can have any weight, on the score that we do not clearly see all that is intended to be signified by it, consistency does require him to show the full meaning and significance of baptism and the Communion of the bread and wine. It is self-evident that the argument which rejects feet-washing from the list of church ordinances, on the ground of its not being fully understood as to its entire significance, with equal power rejects and discards baptism and the Communion from being ordinances of the house of God."

In this brief report of Brother John Kline's sermon on this occasion I have but touched some of the points in his argument, gathered from the Diary, and from a personal conversation with him afterwards. He wound up with the Fable of the Clock and the Sundial, as follows:

"The Town Clock claimed that it ought to be highly respected. 'Look,' said the Clock, 'at my beautiful face, and the exquisite delicacy of my hands. My head, too, internally and externally, is a perfect model of scientific exactness and mechanical skill. You should depend upon what I say. I run with regular steps, and strike the hours of the day as I run. You should hear me. Look at that broad-faced, flat-headed sundial away down there. It has not a word to say. I am going to strike now. One—two—three! There—how musical!' But when this bombastic speech was ended, the sun broke forth, and the Dial only smiled to show that the boasting clock had not told the truth by some hours. The thirteenth chapter of John is the Lord's sundial on feet-washing. Probably, after all, the best way to discuss this question with any one would be just to read in his hearing the thirteenth chapter of John."

Sunday, November 21. To-day we have our first meeting in the new meetinghouse at the Plains. Hebrews twelfth chapter is read.

Friday, November 26. Start for Pendleton and Hardy Counties. Stay all night with Brother Jack Ratchford and his son Hugh Ratchford, on top of the Shenandoah mountain, where we have an evening meeting for prayer and exhortation. Cloudy and cold.

Saturday, November 27. Come to Peter Warnstaff's. No meeting appointed. Clean John Pope's clock. Fix Mrs. Warnstaff's clocks, and stay there all night. Snows to-night.

Sunday, November 28. Meeting at Warnstaff's tanyard. Speak on 1 Cor. 1:30. Dine at Peter Warnstaff's. I am always refreshed by visiting this worthy and intelligent family, composed of Peter Warnstaff, his sister Susanna, and their widowed mother. I can never depart from their house without breathing a prayer for blessings upon them. Night meeting at Lough's church. Speak on John 14:6. Stay all night at Joel Siple's near the top of the South Fork mountain. Joel Siple is raising an intelligent and industrious family.

Monday, November 29. Come to John Borer's on the South Mill Creek. Preach his wife's funeral. Meet Brother Michael Lion and Brother Martain Cosner there. We all stay over night at Brother John Judy's.

Tuesday, November 30. Meeting at John Judy's. The two brethren Cosner and Lion speak to good acceptance, on John 3:14. Come to Isaac Judy's, and stay all night.

Wednesday, December 1. Dine at Manasseh Judy's. Manasseh Judy always meets me with a pleasant face, such as makes me feel at home in his house. After dinner, fix his clock, and cross the mountain to John Davis's, in Hardy County. Night meeting at Zion church. Stay at Davis's all night.

Thursday, December 2. Spend most of the day at the widow Peggy Dasher's. In evening go to Nimrod Judy's, where we have night meeting, and spend the night.

Friday, December 3. Get home.

Thursday, December 23. Perform the marriage ceremony of John Driver and Rebecca Kline, at the house of her father, David Kline, at half past three p.m.

Friday, December 31. I have traveled this year 5,674 miles. I am at home, at the home of my life in the body; but I am not at home as to the life of my spirit.

As on the verge of life I stand,

And view the scene on either hand,

My soul would here no longer stay.

I long to wing my flight away.

Where Jesus dwells I long to be:

I long my much loved Lord to see:

Earth, twine no more about my heart:

It is far better to depart.

Saturday, January 15, 1859. Get Howell's "Evils of Infant Baptism." I regard this as a very instructive work on the subject indicated by the title.

Sunday, February 13. Attend the burial of Christian Kratzer. Age, eighty-six years, three months and twelve days.

Saturday, February 26. Attend a meeting which was held to-day, to elect directors for the establishment of an academy, to be known by the name of "Cedar Grove Academy," near my place. John J. Bowman, John Zigler and Daniel Miller are elected.

Sunday, March 6. Attend meeting in Sangersville, Augusta County, Virginia. Brother Daniel Thomas replies to Soule's sermon on "the modes and subjects of baptism." Friend Soule is a Methodist preacher in high standing with his denomination. He argued on the ground that "whilst the New Testament does allow immersion in water, and favor the baptism of adults, it does not cancel the validity of the rite when properly performed by pouring or sprinkling, either in the case of adults or infants."

Brother Daniel Thomas, on this occasion, exalted the truth by appealing "to the law and the testimony." He proved baptism to be a positive term as to its signification; that the word baptism, with its derivatives, has a specific and not a variable sense. He likewise established the great truth that all the good of obedience consists in doing what one is commanded to do. He showed that "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams." Any departure from the command vitiates the obedience, no matter how professedly honest the steps of that departure may be. He here quoted Peter's words: "Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh." It does us no more good physically, said he, than would be derived from bathing or immersing the body in water without any religious motive connected with it. It is one's conscious obedience in submitting to the rite, that gives "the answer of a good conscience toward God." Can little infants realize this? These premises being established, and after clearly stating the duty of all who desire to obey to find out what they are required by the Lord to do, he brushed away the mass of "wood, hay and stubble" which his antagonist had piled together, and erected an impregnable turret of "gold, silver and precious stones" on the solid rampart of Divine Truth. Brother Daniel Thomas carries a heart as pure and kind as I have ever found within the breast of any man, and a head as clear as I have ever seen upon the shoulders of any man.

After meeting Brother Daniel Thomas and I dine at Brother John Sanger's, and have evening meeting at Pudding Springs meetinghouse. I speak from Heb. 12:25. Stay all night at Brother John Driver's. Fine day.

Monday, March 7. Dine at Jacob Zigler's, and have night meeting in Jennings's Gap. Stay all night at David Adams's.

Tuesday, March 8. Morning meeting at same place. Speak on Jude third verse, "the faith that was once delivered to the saints." I have somewhere read that the faith, or rather the doctrines, upon which the faith of the saints reposes, has never but once been delivered to the saints, that since Jude's day it has been so much perverted, and so much mixed up with the opinions and doctrines of men that the saints never more have it declared unto them exactly as Jude understood and believed it. But I do not think exactly with that man. Church history does disclose lamentable departures from the true faith; and we witness the same, with their evil results, in our own times; still God has had, even in the darkest hours of the Christian era, "a people prepared for the Lord." I believe that what he said to Elijah he might have said at any time since: "I have yet left unto me seven thousand in Israel; all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal, nor worshiped his image." We still have "the sure word of prophecy unto which we do well to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place;" and that word of prophecy is the Bible.

Something like this was the introduction to my discourse this morning.

Night meeting in Churchville. Speak on John 1:11, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." His coming was not to their minds, nor according to their expectation. If earthly glory had been the goal of Christ's ambition, and he had promised them a large amount of stock in it, his welcome, on the part of the Jews, would have been sounded and sung from Dan to Beer-sheba. Jerusalem would have been illuminated in honor of him, and banners would have waved in praise of him. But how different from all this were the surroundings of his coming! Born in a stable—and if a certain poet has beautifully and truthfully sung,

"The manger of Bethlehem cradled a King:"

still is his "kingdom not of this world;" and the King, instead of having the "right royal part," is "meek and lowly in heart; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." And no wonder. The cross stands between him and the crown. "His own" could not understand this; and once he was rebuked by one of his disciples for making mention of the fact. They could not comprehend the spiritual character of his kingdom—that love was the throne and righteousness the scepter. The Jewish race, which are meant in the text by "his own," were not prepared for the kingdom of heaven, and on that account they "received him not." May there not be some in this house to-night who feel toward Jesus as these Jews felt? If he would confer upon them a large share of wealth, honor and power, would they not willingly accept him? I imagine he would be the very sort of King they would like to govern them. He would be the man for them. When such are told that worldly wealth, honor and power are not the foundation of the Lord's reign on earth and the glory of the heavens, and that these must be forsaken in heart as the chief good by all who would follow him, they shrug their shoulders, shake their heads with a down look and a half-suppressed smile of unbelief, and say: "Not yet awhile." Self-denial is the exact opposite of self-gratification. But our Lord declares that "except a man deny himself, he cannot be my disciple."

But you want to know something further about self-denial. First, I will say that it does not require any one to give up anything that is for his present or future good. Love is at the bottom of all the Lord says respecting it. He requires man to give up nothing but what is opposed to man's present and eternal good. But I find it very difficult to get people to realize that the only way to be happy is to be good. And the only way to be good is to love the Lord our God with all the heart, and our neighbor as ourself.

In the second place, self-denial is the giving up of all bad habits and the suppression and removal of those evil states of mind and heart out of which bad habits grow. When one is tempted to do evil, that means to take strong drink that causes drunkenness, or to take God's name in vain, or to steal something, or defraud someone, or to kill, or to commit adultery, or to wish evil to some one, or to tell for the truth what one knows is not true, self-denial for Christ's sake, stays the hand from doing the evil and restrains the heart from desiring to do the evil. This is the self-denial taught by our Lord, and this is the cause of the Jews not receiving him.

But self-denial with the enlightened Christian goes still further and suppresses all sense of pride or desire to appear above others. This feeling was often checked by our Lord. He told his disciples always to take the lowest seat when invited to a feast; that to be his disciples in the true sense and become prepared for the kingdom of heaven, they must have the meek and teachable spirit of a little child. With all this and more, the enlightened Christian is not desirous of being conformed to the world. True self-denial forbids all conformity to the vain and useless styles in dress which are ever changing in the circles of fashionable society. I will here relate what I once heard a preacher tell from the stand. He gave it as a fact that really occurred; but it appears plain to my mind that the incident proceeded more from a desire to amuse than to reform; nevertheless it does show that fashions, long ago, were probably subject to as frequent changes as at the present time. This is it: A man who had several grown-up daughters in his family was going home, apparently in a great hurry, with a fashionable headdress or hat for each one, which he had just purchased at a shop in the city. On his way he met a friend who seemed inclined to exchange courtesies and a few words with him. But he apologized for being in a hurry by holding up the hats he had bought for his girls, saying as he went: "I must hurry home, or they will go out of style before my daughters get to try them on."

Friends, the Lord claims you for his own—all of you. "Ye are his people, ye his care; your souls and all your mortal frame." Ye are his by creation and providence. Say, will ye be his by salvation and redemption? He comes to you. Will the next century write the same sad history of your case that stands recorded of the Jews: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not"? Will this be the story? I hope and pray that it may not be. But it remains for you to decide this question. It remains for you to reject or to accept. If you receive him not, what then will your portion be! Think of it. But if you receive him, he will put you on the side of eternal salvation and give you power to become the sons of God, being born of God. God himself can do no greater thing for any one than to make him his son. What he offers you here this night exceeds all the wealth and pleasures of this world, as far as the light of the sun exceeds the light of that lamp; nay, more, for the sun itself shall be darkened, but the soul born of God, washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, shall be eternally safe in the possession and enjoyment of an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Repent, therefore, and believe the Gospel, that your sins may be blotted out in this season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.

Wednesday, March 9. Meeting again at Churchville. "The Great Prophet" is my subject to-day. Dine at Brother Props's, and stay all night at Brother Zeyk's.

Thursday, March 10. Morning meeting at Mt. Pisgah and night meeting at White Hall. Stay at Brother Joseph Harshbarger's.

Friday, March 11. Our District Council begins at the Valley meetinghouse. Business is disposed of very satisfactorily and pleasantly.

Saturday, March 12. Get through. Dine at David Wampler's, and stay all night at Isaac Long's.

Sunday, March 13. Meeting in meetinghouse morning and night. A beautiful day and night. Stay at Samuel Kline's.

Monday, March 14. Stop awhile at Noah Bowman's. Dine at Joseph Wine's. Call at Joseph Good's. Get home in evening.

Sunday, April 3. Meeting at Ritchey's schoolhouse, in the Gap. Dine at Brother Philip Ritchey's. Stay at Adam Baker's.

The writer will here relate a conversation he had with Sister Catharine Frank, who was a daughter of Philip Ritchey, who lived very high up among the mountains of Brock's Gap. Brother Ritchey's was a favorite stopping place with Brother Kline and other ministering brethren traveling that way. Sister Catharine Frank was buried on Wednesday, February 4, 1891. While on her deathbed the above-mentioned conversation took place. In this conversation she expressed herself ready and eager to depart. At the mention of Brother Kline's name her countenance and voice gave evidence of deep interest. "Ah," said she, "I never will forget that man. He was as dear to me as my own father. He first led me to think about my soul and my Savior. Often and often did I hear him preach, and pray, and sing in our old schoolhouse. And I do not think," continued she, "that I ever saw him leave that house without first taking all of the young people in reach by the hand one by one, and saying something in a low voice to each one. I do not know what he said to others; but I know, as if but yesterday, what he whispered to me. It was this: 'Do not neglect the salvation of your soul: it is the one thing needful.'"

Thursday, April 14. Council meeting at the Brush meetinghouse. Brother Jacob Miller is ordained.

Saturday, April 16. Dine at Michael Wine's; call at Noah Lamb's; then have council meeting in Hoover's schoolhouse. Stay all night at Isaac Shoemaker's.

Sunday, April 17. Meeting in Hoover's schoolhouse. Emmanuel Rodecap is baptized.

Sunday, June 5. This morning I am at Manasseh Judy's, in Hardy County, Virginia, on South Mill Creek. My eyes behold what they have never before witnessed, viz, a killing frost in June. The corn which, up to day before yesterday, was vigorous in its growth and generally over a foot high, is this morning frozen to the ground. The heading wheat is frozen stiff. Forward grass is greatly damaged. Vegetable gardens will all have to be reset. What may be the effect of this frost upon the living of the people, or how far it may extend, I know not. It may be that the Lord is pleased to make this an occasion by which his people, in more favored parts of our land, can add greatly to their "crowns of rejoicing" by ministering out of their abundance to the necessities of this blighted region.

From Manasseh Judy's I go fourteen miles down Mill Creek and across to Enoch Hyre's on the South Branch of the Potomac, and all the wheat fields and corn fields in sight of the road look very much as if they might have had a shower of boiling hot rain. So nearly alike are the effects of extreme cold and extreme heat upon vegetation.

Monday, June 6. Meeting at Enoch Hyre's. I speak with a weight upon my mind. If all had strong faith it would be different. But the faith of some is weak, and many have very little or no faith at all. When calamities come, like the one that now broods over the land, it is somewhat difficult to make those of weak faith still feel that God is love, and that he makes all things work together for good to them that love him. I can do no more in the way of comforting these people than to point them to the promises of the divine Word. These are man's only assurance that God is supremely just and good and that he can do no evil. The Psalmist David said: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." He likewise says: "I have been young, and now I am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." But it is only the eye of faith that can see the light behind the cloud. If necessary, God can make the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil as unfailing now as in the days of Elijah the Tishbite. My faith in him is sealed with a seal that I hope will never be broken.

Attend an afternoon meeting at old man Parks's. Stay all night at James Parks's.

Tuesday, June 7. Meeting at Bethel. Speak from Mark 4:24. Afternoon meeting at Jacob Cosner's. Speak from Hebrews 6:4, 5, 6, 7.

These words have a fearful sound, and much thought should be given to their interpretation; and they should be well considered and due self-examination gone through before any one presumes to apply their terrific meaning to himself. After much study and research, I am led to believe that they apply specifically to the apostate Jews. The rejection and crucifixion of Christ was their great sin. "His blood be on us and on our children," they cried. They invoked and accepted the guilt of his cruel death. But God, in that mercy which endureth forever, was willing to forgive even this sin upon their repentance and faith. The veil was removed from the eyes of some. They "were enlightened; they tasted of the heavenly gift," which is the Lord's pardoning mercy. They were made partakers of the Holy Ghost; they tasted of the good Word of God; they felt the powers of the world to come; that is, they were impressed with a belief in a future state: and all these expressions summed up together mean that they became Christians.

But some of these Christians departed from the faith. They stumbled and fell. In this act they rejected the Christ the second time, and put him to an open shame. This, in God's sight, was just the same as crucifying him afresh. They had crucified him once, and were forgiven, because they did it ignorantly in unbelief. But now these that have been enlightened to the extent described in the text cannot be excused on the ground of ignorance, because they were enlightened to know what they were doing. Their rejecting him must therefore be a deliberate, willful act. Can any one ever repent of what he has done deliberately, understandingly, premeditatedly, and with clear knowledge of all the facts in the case? Paul, at least here in the text, says that it is impossible to renew these apostate Jews to repentance.

But let none of us, brethren and sisters, be unnecessarily alarmed at the text; but let us rather repent, if we have sinned, and draw near and yet nearer to our blessed Jesus and only Savior in a loving and faithfully obedient life. We need not fear that he will ever cast us off. "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast off." The Christian's only danger lies in his casting the Lord off: not in that he will reject us, but in that we reject him. But, beloved Brethren, take courage. Ye do not feel, I know ye feel not, to cast off your Lord and say to him: "Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways!" Ye rather say: "Come, Lord Jesus." Come into my soul. Fill me with thyself:

"Take my body, spirit, soul;

Only Thou possess the whole."

This is just the way he wants you to feel. He wants you to give yourself wholly to him. He also says: "Rejoice evermore: pray without ceasing: in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God respecting you."

Wednesday, June 8. Meeting at Greenland. Speak on the "Great Supper." Dine at Solomon Michael's; visit Michael and Thomas Lion's; stay all night at James Hilkey's.

Thursday, June 9. Come to the Pine Swamp. Dine at William Abernathy's, and stay all night at John Abernathy's. Fine day.

Friday, June 10. Meeting at William Abernathy's. In afternoon pass through Bloomington, and on to William Broadwater's, where I stay all night. Cold and cloudy day.

Saturday, June 11. Frost again this morning. Come to David Beachley's for dinner; then walk to meeting and back. Meeting at Miller's barn.

Sunday, June 12. Meeting in three places: in the Elk Creek meetinghouse, and in Miller's two barns. In the house I speak on Exodus 14:13. I here give the text, and some of the leading thoughts in my discourse: Text.—"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more forever."

No father, in seeking to quell the needless fears of his child, could ever use words more tender and pathetic than these. They flow right from the heart, even from the heart of our Father in heaven. I often think how appropriately they might be addressed to a dying saint. These Egyptians, the temptations from our old nature, which, like hounds upon our track, are constantly trying to overtake us, will all be left behind as soon as the eyes are closed in death. "Fear not; stand still; and see the salvation which the Lord will show to you to-day: for the Egyptians whom you see to-day, you shall see them again no more forever." Precious words would these be to one sick at heart of sin and suffering, and longing to be freed from their power. But these words may instruct us who are still healthy and strong, and hold our places in the ranks to perform our part in the battle of life.

This text has been criticised by some as being opposed to progress. The command to "stand still" is the mark at which the criticism has been aimed. But those who talk and think in this way fail to observe that the Lord did not say this to the hosts of Israel until after they had done all they could do, and gone as far as they could go. And when they then became fearful, and in great danger of being seized by a panic, and scattered to the four winds, he gave them the wise counsel and glorious promise found in the text. Its great lesson to us is implied rather than expressed.

First. We are to do what God commands, and go where he leads the way. This should be our aim at this our Annual Meeting. I sometimes fear that we do not think and act with an eye to spreading the Gospel as we should. It is not the way for us to stand still before our part is done. In this and adjoining States, many, in various sections, have never heard a genuinely true gospel sermon. Why could not these be converted to a true faith and life as well as others? To be saved, they need the same Gospel that we have. I am daily encouraged in my travels by finding some in every section who have already received, and others who are ready to receive our doctrines and practices where they have been faithfully preached by us. And how can they help it! The straight line of truth is easily followed. Truth, when rightly presented, is not hard to see, because it lights up everything. It is like the pillar of fire that illuminated the whole camp of Israel throughout the darkest night. But error is never bright like truth. It is like a cloud before the sun. And I am not sure but that the apocalyptic vision of hail and fire mingled with blood was a symbol of the perverted doctrines that are now being showered upon the people from the clouds of error that float over the land. We may be too slack. The Lord expects us to do our part. It is only when we have done this that we have a right to stand still. I sometimes stand still by the bedside of the sick, when I feel that I have done all that I can do. Sometimes, after having exhausted all arguments and inducements at my command to lead a sinner to repent and turn to the Lord, I stand still. But I have no right to stand still so long as there is one afflicted body capable of receiving help, or one unsaved soul within my reach. "There is a sin unto death: I do not say that you shall pray for it."

Second. After having done all we can do, we are quietly and calmly to leave results with God. All our fear, and chafing, and anxiety pass for worse than nothing. When our nearest and dearest ones are at the point of death no amount of agony and tears, with wringing of hands, or convulsions even, can avail anything. The very best we can do in such cases is to stand still.

But one thought more. Let us, dear brethren and sisters, stand on safe ground. We may stand, and "stand still," on very dangerous ground. The only place where it is ever safe to stand is on the Rock of Ages, the Rock which is Christ. Poised on this Rock, we need not fear. No earthquake will ever shake the Rock of our salvation.

Very fine weather to-day. Stay at Daniel Miller's.

Monday, June 13. This morning organize the Standing Committee, and take in queries. Get through forming subcommittees by three o'clock. Stay at Daniel Miller's. Rain to-day.

Tuesday, June 14. Subcommittees get through reporting to-day. Very pleasant weather to-day. Stay at Miller's again.

Wednesday, June 15. Work through by quarter past two o'clock. Go back to David Beachley's; get Nell, and Brother Daniel Thomas and I come to Brother Broadwater's and stay all night. Some rain to-day.

Thursday, June 16. Dine at Brother Samuel Arnold's, and have night meeting at Susanna Arnold's. Brother Daniel Thomas speaks from the first Psalm. As a propagator and defender of our faith he has few equals in the Virginia arms of the church. We stay all night at Benjamin Leatherman's. Fine day.

Friday, June 17. Dine and feed our horses in Moorefield, and get to Nimrod Judy's, where we stay all night.

Saturday, June 18. Get home.

Sunday, July 24. Go to Ritchey's schoolhouse, in the Gap. Isaac Rodecap's wife is baptized. Dine at Philip Ritchey's, and have evening meeting at Addison Harper's. A few references to the life of Brother Addison Harper may not be out of place here. The Editor was intimately acquainted with him. Brother Harper's early life was largely passed on the Atlantic ocean as a sailor. He settled in Rockingham County, Virginia, in the later years of his life, and openly avowed his disbelief of holy revelation. A few years prior to the date above given he was honored by the people of his county with a seat in the Virginia State legislature. When the Rebellion broke out in 1861 he raised a company of Confederate volunteers and served as their captain through the war. Very soon after the surrender, when worldly ambition had succumbed to the direful state of the Southern people, his mind seems to have sought for something more enduring than aught the world could offer. He turned to religion with the honest purpose of seeking to learn if that might have in it such proofs of its genuineness and reliability as would give better hopes to his soul than those which had so sadly disappointed him in life. One day as he and I were riding together to attend a meeting in which we both took part, I asked him to tell me the secret of the power that had made him a minister in the church of the Brethren. Said he, "It is all traceable to two great facts: first, the humble, peaceful, moral and charitable lives of the members; last, the simple and unperverted truths they teach." "Without the first," continued he, "the last would have made no impression on my heart; but the proofs they gave of their honesty in the first led me to believe there must be truth in the last; and the more I learn about it, the more I am convinced that I was right. Johnny Kline repeatedly preached at my house before the war, but I paid very little attention to what he said. I always admired his earnestness, and the simplicity of his manner, but beyond these I paid him but little respect outside of the civilities of common decency. But now it is different. I would willingly part with all I have to enjoy but one hour's conversation with him, to but tell him how I now feel toward him in my new life, and how much I now appreciate what I then could not understand."

Saturday, August 6. Love feast at Michael Wine's, in the Gap. Absalom Rodecap and wife are baptized by Jacob Miller. Fine day and evening. I officiate at love feast. Brother Martain Miller is with us, and his feelings are very deeply moved as he proceeds in his discourse.

The Editor will here add what a very dear sister, now gone to heaven, told him shortly before her death. He read to her the above note in the Diary, and all at once her face beamed with the happy recollection and she exclaimed: "I was there at that love feast, and Brother Martain Miller grew so warm and so happy in his theme that he got from behind the table, came out into the middle of the room, and spoke as if talking to each one personally."

We stay all night at Andrew Turner's.

Sunday, August 7. Meeting at Hoover's schoolhouse. I baptize David Hoover.

Monday, August 29. Last night the sky presented a very wonderful appearance. It was luminous with a scarlet light nearly throughout the entire night. What it may portend I know not. People may brand me superstitious, but I can not resist the impression that this, with other signs, betokens the shedding of blood in our land.

Wednesday, August 31. Daniel Thomas and I start on a journey to the western counties of Virginia. Stay first night at Nimrod Judy's, and have night meeting at Zion. Text.—John 15:3.

Thursday, September 1. Meeting and love feast at John Judy's on South Mill Creek. Speak on John 14:6.

Friday, September 2. Meeting at Martain Wise's, near the Upper Track. Psalm 19:7, 8.

Saturday, September 3. Cross the Branch mountain to William Adamson's at the mouth of Seneca. Seneca is a small stream from the east side of the Alleghany mountain falling into the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac. The scenery at the mouth of Seneca is probably unsurpassed by any in Virginia. The perpendicular walls of solid rock hundreds of feet high present a scene of surpassing grandeur. Night meeting at the meetinghouse on Seneca. Subject, Luke 24:46, 47. Stay all night at the widow Cooper's. Brother Daniel Thomas is very much impressed with the sublime sights we witnessed to-day.

Sunday, September 4. Meeting at 10 o'clock. Subject, 1 Cor. 1:18. Council in the afternoon. Asa Jarman is elected speaker, and Washington Summerfield deacon.

Monday, September 5. Meeting at Abraham Summerfield's. Stay all night at Brother Levi Wilmot's.

Tuesday, September 6. Cross the Alleghany mountain; dine at Brother J. Simon's; call at Samuel Pirkey's; and stay at Charles W. Burk's in Randolph. We passed through extensive forests to-day of beautiful and majestic timber, comprising wild cherry, tamarack, sugar-maple and other kinds of trees which invite the woodman's axe. The means for transportation alone are wanting to make this an immensely profitable lumber region.

Wednesday, September 7. Go back to Brother Simon's for dinner and have night meeting in the meetinghouse. John 15 is read. Heavy fog this morning, but a fair day follows.

Thursday, September 8. Meeting again at the same place. Same subject we spoke on yesterday continued to-day. Brother Daniel Thomas is a host. He possesses the rare ability to adapt his words and thoughts to the mental states of these plain-minded people. "Milk for babes; strong food for men," seems to be his rule. And a wise rule it is. I have to guard against "inordinate affection" for him.

Friday, September 9. Still in Randolph County. Dine at John Simon's, and stay all right at Henry Wilson's. Pleasant weather.

Saturday, September 10. Meeting begins at one o'clock. Love feast at night. Fine day and evening. Jacob Nickolas is elected to the deaconship.

It may interest the reader to be informed that the two brethren are now, and for some days have been, in a sparsely settled region. High mountains separated the habitable valleys. Great progress has been made, and is still going on, in the upbuilding of the social state of these people, as well as the improvement of the country. Those living in the highly cultivated States of our Union can hardly bring their minds to realize the conditions in which these people lived at the time that Brother Kline and Brother Thomas were laboring so faithfully among them. Let me sketch a picture of the average house, its surroundings, and its occupants: It is a log house, built up by notching the ends of the logs so as to fit together at the corners, and rises high enough to make one full story below and a half story above. A huge chimney of stone is built up on the outside, with the wide fireplace inside. The chinks between the logs are filled up with a mortar composed of clay and straw. The chimney is supplied with one extra small flue at the side of the large flue, and at the bottom of this small flue, about four feet above the hearth, is a small opening for light. This light is produced from the burning of small pieces of rich pine knots placed in the small opening, and as one piece burns out another is inserted, the smoke from the pine, the meanwhile, being all carried off through the small flue. Above the door of entrance antlers in pairs may be seen carefully fastened to the side of the house, as evidences of success in deer hunting. And more than once did the two brethren ministers feast on venison in the present journey, for it was the chosen season for deer hunting. When the house is approached by a stranger, the father, if present, stands near the door with a doubtful look, as much as to ask within himself: "Who can that be, and what is fetching him here?" He has, however, a kind heart under a rough exterior. His wife is diffident at first introduction, but gain her confidence by true Christian behavior, and you find the heart of the true woman in her. The children retire upon a stranger's first entering the house: but let him show a love for them; let him learn their names and ages as one by one they make their appearance, ranging in this respect according to the different degrees of backwardness and modesty with them; let him notice them with loving looks and gentle words, and they will soon play with his watch-chain, and ask him what it is for.

I have now given an outline sketch of many a family in these mountainous regions, in whose hearts Brother Kline never failed to find a welcome, and in whose house a home. He loved the people and the people loved him. But all this has passed into history. The church has never had but one Johnny Kline, and it can never have another. Even if born, the conditions for his development, and the sphere for his labors, have both passed away. The Editor is happy to feel that he, by a wonderful providence, has been made the humble instrument by which the life-work of a great and good man has been snatched from the jaws of oblivion.

Sunday, September 11. Meeting at Brother Henry Wilson's. Luke 13 is read. Night meeting at Brother Jacob Nickolas's, in his house. Subject, Rom. 13:11, 12. Stay there all night. Very pleasant weather.

Monday, September 12. Come to Philippa, in Barbour County. Stop at David Kline's. Dine at Peter Reid's. Afternoon meeting at Peck's Run meetinghouse. Acts 3 is read. Stay all night at Philip Dupoy's. Fine day.

Tuesday, September 13. Come to Brother Joseph Houser's, two miles from Buckhannon. Meeting and love feast. Matthew 20 is read. Fine day and evening.

Wednesday, September 14. Meeting. Subject, Acts 2:37, 38. One man baptized. In council Jacob Houser was elected speaker, and Brother Hess deacon.

Thursday, September 15. Come to Wilson Osborn's on Middle Fork river. After dinner, cross the mountain to Valley river; stop and stay all night at William Kern's.

Friday, September 16. Cross Cheat mountain, thirty-five miles, and get to Brother John Riley's, where we stay all night.

Saturday, September 17. Wonderful rain last night. Waters higher than they have been in a long time. Meeting at Liberty meetinghouse. Subject, Luke 24:46, 47. Stay all night at Adam Hevner's. Cloudy and misty, but waters partly run off.

Sunday, September 18. Sky almost clear this morning. Promise of a fair day. Meeting again at Liberty meetinghouse. Subject, "The Great Commission," Matt. 28:18, 19, 20. Come to John Riley's, where we stay all night. Clears up beautifully to-day. Our congregations have not been large, but they have appeared to pay attention to what has been said. A preacher of Brother Daniel Thomas's power cannot fail to impress an audience. He enjoys the rare ability of analyzing and arranging his subject matter in a way that makes its presentation easy to be understood. I have observed a very important truth, and I am learning its lessons more and more every day, that people can be interested only in what they understand. Uneducated people, and children even, will listen with attention to what they understand. Paul perceived this truth. Hence he said: "I would rather speak five words with the understanding, than ten thousand in an unknown tongue." Paul got at the very root of the truth, for his remarks imply that no man can make a thought clear to the mind of another unless it be first clear to his own mind. "If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch together."

Monday, September 19. Dine at Adam Hevner's; come to Greenbank, to Dunmore post office; then to Shenaberger's, but we cannot get across the river. We then go five miles down the river and cross on a bridge over to Knapp's Creek, and stay all night at William Harper's.

Tuesday, September 20. Afternoon meeting near Harper's. Subject, Heb. 12:12. Stay all night at the widow Harper's.

Wednesday, September 21. The widow Harper and Abraham Rankin are married this morning. Meeting at Andrew Harold's in Mt. Vernon. Subject, Matt. 7:21. After dinner we cross the Alleghany mountain to Alexander Gilmore's, on Back Creek. Night meeting at Green Hill. John 1 is read. Stay all night at John Divner's. Much rain this morning.

Thursday, September 22. We return to Gilmore's and get our horses, having walked from there to Green Hill and back to Divner's. From Gilmore's we cross over to Jackson's river, and have meeting at Valley Chapel. Brother Daniel Thomas preached to-day. His subject was 1 Cor. 1:8. Go with James Terry and take dinner with him. Night meeting at Valley Chapel. Subject, "The Conversion of Saul." Stay all night at James Terry's.

Friday, September 23. Come to new meetinghouse on Stony Run. Preach the funeral of Robert Gwynn. Subject, Heb. 9:28. Dine at David Stephenson's. Come to Godlove Hindgartner's; night meeting; subject, Matthew 11, three last verses. Fine day.

Saturday, September 24. Morning meeting at Hindgartner's. Subject, Matthew 7, last paragraph. After dinner preach the funeral of old man Robinson's wife. Subject, 1 Peter 1, last three verses.

Sunday, September 25. Meeting again at Hindgartner's. Subject, Heb. 12:14. I could wish that thousands could have heard Brother Daniel Thomas to-day. As he spoke of the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, setting forth in strong and clear light what it is to live a holy life, tears of penitence fell from many eyes.

Monday, September 26. Come across to Liberty meetinghouse, on the Bull Pasture river in Highland County, Virginia. Subject, Luke 8:18. Dine at Dr. Pullen's; then come to Amos Deahl's on the Cow Pasture river in the same county and stay all night.

Tuesday, September 27. Come by way of the Calf Pasture river, in Augusta County, to the pleasant home of Brother Daniel Thomas, who seems very well pleased to find himself at home again and all well, after an absence with me of four weeks to the day. In Isaiah 52:7 we read these words: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." These words prophetically set forth the Lord in the beauty of his holy life and good will toward men. His feet symbolize his outward life. This was beautiful in the highest degree. No angry word, no impure thought, no covetous feeling, no revengeful motive, no unholy desire ever found a place in his heart; but, instead of these, gentleness, goodness, meekness, kindness, temperance, mercy, forgiveness, and charity, or universal and unvarying good will toward men, characterized the whole of his good life as the outflow of his good heart. In respect to these graces of our Lord, Brother Daniel Thomas sets an example worthy of imitation. In the four weeks we have spent together I have not heard a word from his lips that I thought unwise, or seen an act of his body or hands that I thought not good. This is my testimony of him in secret before God.

Wednesday, September 28. Get home.

Sunday, October 2. Meeting and love feast at the Lost River meetinghouse. Acts 3 is read. Brother John Harshberger officiates at love feast. Stay all night at Jacob Mathias's. Pleasant day and evening. Brother Daniel Thomas and Brother John Harshberger in their relation to the work of the church remind me of the relation which the lead-horse bears to the off-wheel horse in a team of four. Each has his place: the one as much needed as the other; varied in talent and usefulness, yet working together, the load goes on beautifully, and the roughness of the way is forgotten.

Wednesday, October 5. Meeting and love feast at our meetinghouse. Great concourse of people present. Christian Keffer, of Maryland, and David Long are with us. Fine day and night.

Saturday, October 15. Brother Kline and Brother John Harshberger started in company of each other to the Piedmont counties on the east side of the Blue Ridge mountain. How long they contemplated staying there, the Diary does not say. The first appointment they expected to fill was met without a congregation. It had either not been properly given out and circulated, or the people did not wish to come.

Brother Kline preached one sermon on this trip, at a place called Good Hope, in the county of Madison, Virginia. But from the spirit of the Diary more than from its direct letter the inference is clear that the name belied the character of the place, and that instead of Good Hope it should be Bad Despair. His subject was Rev. 14:6, "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."

The selection of this text shows a lofty sense of propriety in Brother Kline. He was here among a people largely opposed to the views and feelings of the Brethren on the slave question which was, at this particular time, fearfully agitating the public mind. But the above text was at once a passport in his hand to go "with the everlasting gospel" in his mouth to preach to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. It showed at once that his mission was love, and the end peace. Many preachers in the South about this time adopted the following motto: "Keep politics out of religion; but put all the religion you can into politics." This means: Pour the pure water of Life into the cesspools of wickedness and deceit to cleanse them. This is worse, if possible, than giving what is holy to dogs, or casting pearls before swine. It is as "the sons of God going in unto the daughters of men, and bringing forth giants—" giants of iniquity. If every man and every woman in our land were filled with godliness, politics, in its popular sense, would vanish. Governments would continue, it is true, but the spirit of their administration would make duty their joy, and love their law.

Finding little encouragement in these parts, the two brethren soon started homeward through Page County, stopping one night at Brother Hamilton Varner's, and one night at Brother Isaac Spitler's, where, at either place, they could again enjoy the breath of love and the heartbeat of peace.

Saturday, December 31. At home. In this year I traveled 3,929 miles, mostly on Nell's back. Good, patient Nell!

Wednesday, February 29, 1860. Up to this date there is nothing of special interest in the Diary. It is mainly a record of visits in the way of medical attendance upon the sick; matters relating to the church; meetings attended, and neighborhood items of business looked after and settled. Brother Kline assisted Brother John J. Bowman in surveying lands. He also wrote wills and deeds, making himself useful in almost every way in which an active man of eminently practical good sense can serve his neighborhood and country. I here give his entry in the Diary for this day exactly as it stands, word for word:

"Wednesday, February 29. Go to Benjamin Miller's. Old Sister Miller is buried; seventy-four years, five months and ten days old; buried at Myers's graveyard. Preach at Green Mount; dine at Jacob Miller's; then come by Strine's home; rain in the afternoon."

The Editor was present at this funeral, and very well remembers some of Brother Kline's words. He said that instead of being distressed or grieved at the departure of one whose measure of life was so full of the good works of faith and love, thereby showing eminent fitness for heaven, we should rather rejoice. He spoke of the wisdom and fortitude with which she had borne her separation from her husband, the dearly remembered Elder Daniel Miller, years before. It is true, said he, her children cared for her with all the tender assiduities that love could suggest; they still could not completely fill the place of the one who she had fondly hoped would be the earthly comforter of her declining years. She lived and died with her youngest son, Benjamin Miller, who, at this time [1899], has the oversight of the Green Mount church. She was the mother of eighteen children. Sixteen of these grew up to manhood and womanhood. Six of her sons, viz, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Benjamin and Frederick, were put into the ministry, and all served the church acceptably. Most of these are now fallen asleep. But their children are filling their places; and how long this remarkable sister may continue to work in the vineyard of the Lord, through her children and children's children, time only can tell.

I well remember that Brother Kline, on this occasion, was the first to rise. After a few brief but appropriate remarks, he lined out that joyful old hymn:

"There is a land of pure delight;

Where saints immortal reign...."

At the close of the singing he led in prayer, and the burden of his prayer was thanksgiving for the glorious hope set before us in the Gospel. He then delivered a brief but feeling address suited to the occasion; and Brother Benjamin Bowman, after giving some interesting facts connected with the Miller family, closed the church services.

Thursday, March 15. This day Brother Kline spends in Washington City. He visits the Representatives' chamber, the Senate chamber, the Patent office, and other places of public interest. His business, however, is at Alexandria, in connection with the Manassas Gap Railroad Company. He is in attendance at a meeting of the officers and stockholders of said company in the city of Alexandria to-night; makes his report of the amount of stock in said company which Rockingham County is willing to take; hears it accepted, and next day returns home. Brother Kline was deeply interested in this company's road. It is the same which now passes close along by his place; but he did not live to see its completion.

Thursday, March 22. Council meeting at the old meetinghouse above Harrisonburg. Brother John Flory is elected to the Word, and Joseph Good to the deaconship. Dine at William Byrd's and at night attend a lecture on feet-washing in Dayton, Virginia. Stay all night at Brother Solomon Garber's.

Friday, March 23. This day Brother Kline, in company of Brother Solomon Garber, starts up the Valley of Virginia, on horseback, to the District Conference appointed to meet at the Valley meetinghouse, in Botetourt County, on Friday, March 30; distant from Brother Kline's home somewhat over one hundred miles.

Saturday, March 24. Dine and feed at Brother Samuel Zink's; then on to Brother James Sprous's, five miles beyond; and from there to meeting at Chestnut Grove, two miles distant. Subject, 1 Thess. 5:9.

Brother Daniel Brower, of Augusta County, joined company with them about this time. On

Sunday, March 25, they have meeting at Carr's Creek meetinghouse, and stay all night at Brother Danner's.

Monday, March 26. They stay at Brother William Runnell's.

Tuesday, March 27. They have meeting in Hampton schoolhouse; dine at Jonas Hill's, and have night meeting at Rapp's church. They stay all night at Mathias Rapp's.

Wednesday, March 28. Stay all night at John Pursley's.

Thursday, March 29. Dine at Sister Sarah Grabeil's, and stay at Brother Peter Nininger's.

Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31. They attend conference at the Valley meetinghouse. On

Sunday, April 1, they attend meeting at the church, and dividing out go to other appointments in reach.

Monday, April 2. They start homeward.

Sunday, April 15. Brother James Turner is very sick. I wait on him to-day.

Sunday, May 13. Meeting at Ritchey's schoolhouse. Hebrews 4 is read. Stay with James Turner all night. He seems a little better.

This is the last night that Brother Kline ever stayed with Brother James Turner. On

Monday, May 14, he took leave of him and started on his way to the Annual Meeting in Tennessee, never to see Brother Turner's face again in this world, for in his absence Brother Turner died.

Tuesday, May 15. Arrive at Brother Benjamin Moomaw's, where I stay all night.

Wednesday, May 16. Call at Brother David Plain's; then to meeting at Bethel. Subject, John 14:24. Dine at Brother Moomaw's. Sup at Jacob Bonsack's: then to night meeting. Brother Jacob Miller speaks. His subject is the General Epistle of Jude, his discourse being made up of remarks upon the spirit and general scope of the epistle. Stay all night at Daniel Kiser's. Fine weather.

Thursday, May 17. Arrive at Brother John Lear's, who meets us at the Union depot. Stay all night with him.

Friday, May 18. Meeting at Knapp's Creek meetinghouse. Matthew 5 is read. Dine at young Benjamin Basehore's. Then to meetinghouse again. Subject, "The Pure River of the Water of Life." Revelation 22. Stay all night at Peter Basehore's.

Saturday, May 19. Come to Joseph Bowman's; then go to Jonesborough, Washington County, Tennessee. Dr. Alpheus Dove is located here, and I spend the day and night with him.

Sunday, May 20. Stop at Conrad Basehore's. Forenoon meeting at the Valley meetinghouse. Matthew 11 is read. Dine at Brother Conrad Basehore's. Meeting in afternoon. John 3:7 is my subject. Sup at Brother Joseph Bowman's and stay there all night.

Monday, May 21. Visit David Bowman's, Daniel Bowman's, Sears's, and get back to Joseph Bowman's for dinner. Toward evening go to Brother Daniel Crouse's, where I stay all night. Fine weather.

Tuesday, May 22. Meeting in Brother Henry Swadley's barn. I give a general talk on the fifteenth chapter of John. Stay all night at Brother David Garst's.

Wednesday, May 23. Come to Henry Linaweaver's; dine at Brother Samuel Miller's, and in afternoon have meeting at the Seceder's meetinghouse. Subject, "The Great Prophet." Stay all night at Brother John Nead's. Fine day.

Thursday, May 24. Afternoon meeting at Brother Benjamin Basehore's. My subject, Matthew 11, last three verses. Stay there all night.

Friday, May 25. Stop at Emmanuel Arnold's. Meeting in the Limestone meetinghouse. After meeting, deliberate in committee on the best ways and means for a more extended and general spread of the Gospel. All the members of the committee seemed to be impressed with the importance of the matter under consideration. All agreed that it is not contrary to gospel order for the church to help such preachers as are not able, from poverty, to do what their ability as ministers would enable them to do, if they could spare the time from their work at home to go more. Many fields are still white unto the harvest. The Lord may be to-day saying: "I have much people in this city," or in this place. By this he means, ready to accept salvation and become his people whenever the door of the church is fairly opened up to them. Stay all night at Brother David Clepper's.

Saturday, May 26. Meeting at the meetinghouse. D.P. Saylor, H. Koontz, and James Quinter all speak. Ephesians 2 was read. In the afternoon Peter Nead spoke to a very large and attentive audience.

Sunday, May 27. A very heavy rain comes up to-day about meeting time. We nevertheless have forenoon and afternoon services in the meetinghouse. Stay all night at Brother Michael Basehore's.

Monday, May 28. Gather at the meetinghouse. Organize. Take in questions: discuss some of them. Fine, delightful day. Stay at Brother Emmanuel Arnold's.

Tuesday, May 29. Get through with the business at three o'clock. Brother Quinter and I come to Jonesborough, where he delivers a sermon in the Presbyterian church. Subject, Rom. 1:17. Text.—"The just shall live by faith."

This text was Luther's sword. With it he slew more of the enemies of the Reformation than Samson slew of the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. The text readily suggests two questions.

 I. Who are the just?
II. What is faith?

These two questions being clearly answered, the grand copula, upon which the meaning and force of the text depends, is readily understood as to the quality of the life which it involves. It evidently means a good life, a holy life, an obedient life, a humble life, a pure life out of a pure heart. It means that the just or righteous shall live a life conformed in all respects to the character of that state of heart in which love to God holds dominant rule, and subordinate love to man prompts to a life of vital charity.

I. Who are the just? The just, in the sense of the text, are those who are righteous, and who desire to grow more and more righteous in God's sight. Men may be righteous in their own sight, and very unrighteous in God's sight. And precisely the reverse of this: they may be great sinners in their own sight, and just or righteous in God's sight. This last state was Paul's experience when he pronounced himself "the chief of sinners." He felt that he was righteous or just in God's eye; but in his own eye, enlightened by the Word and Spirit of the Lord, he was vile. This consciousness gave vent to many exclamations such as these: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Again: "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing." On the other hand, the Pharisee, who stood praying in the temple was righteous in his own view of himself, and "thanked God that he was not as other men"—a sinner like unto them, he meant, of course. This line of thought suggests another question:

How are men to become righteous or just? "For the scripture hath concluded all under sin." This same apostle tells us that "we are justified [made righteous] by faith; ... for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Probably no passage of Scripture has been subject to worse misconstructions than this one. It has been made to teach that a mere declaration of faith in Christ procures the instantaneous forgiveness of all sin, passes the sinner out of death into life, makes him a regenerate child of God, and gives him an inalienable title to citizenship in heaven. But I have not so learned Christ, nor do I understand Paul to teach anything like this. I do not deny that a sincere and heart confession of Christ is a step, the first step, to these heavenly blessings; but I do deny that Christian perfection rests upon a naked confession of him by the mouth. The thoughtless sinner does not know Christ. He has never in heart so much as asked the question: "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?" God has never been in all his thoughts. "The world knew him not," and the world knows him not now. When one, then, is suddenly wrought upon by some influence as was the Philippian jailer, by which, in his distress, he cries out, "What must I do to be saved?" the answer that Paul gave is exactly the right answer. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And this leads to my second and last question:

What is faith? I will here give Paul's definition. We come to God by faith. "And he that cometh unto God"—or to Christ the same—"must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Faith must, then, be the very first step in the direction of receiving good from the Lord. We see striking examples of this in the life of Jesus on earth. What brought the throng from all directions that attended and even pressed him? It was faith, the belief that he could do them good. But it was not spiritual or heavenly good they sought so much as bodily good. Jesus reminded them of this in the words: "Ye seek me, not because of the miracles,—" not because you desire proofs of my divine power to save your souls from eternal death,—"but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled." But true faith, the faith that saves the soul, the faith by which the just shall live, is a loving acceptance of the Word of God; every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; for by this doth man live. And how does man live by it? By obeying it, by making its precepts the rule and guide of his life. By faith the Word becomes "a lamp unto his path." "It is as the light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." All who believe the Lord's words, as contained in our New Testament, because they love their truth, and from the heart desire to live,—this means, order their lives and conduct by them,—believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And these have the promise of eternal life: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

These were the leading thoughts in Brother Quinter's discourse to-day. We stay all night in Jonesborough with Dr. Alpheus Dove.

Wednesday, May 30. Go back to the meetinghouse where the Annual Meeting was held; arrange some matters left back in our hands; then go together to Brother Jacob Nead's, where we stay all night.

Thursday, May 31. Start homeward.

Sunday, July 22. Meeting at Turner's schoolhouse in the Gap. Brother Solomon Garber is with me. Mark 12 is read. Dine at the widow James Turner's, and go to James Fitzwater's, where we stay all night on our way to some of the western counties of Virginia.

The counties to which the two brethren were going are included in West Virginia, which, as is well known, was organized a State during the Rebellion. The people living among the mountains are generally hospitable, and much attached to the scenes of their childhood and that wild freedom of nature found in the mountains that surround them. The motto engraved upon the State Seal of West Virginia is very expressive and appropriate, and in Latin reads thus: "Montani liber semper sunt." Translated, it reads thus: "Mountaineers are ever free." The people are noted for the attention with which they listen to the preaching of the Gospel. Brother Kline often spoke of the pleasure it gave him to preach in these sections, because the Word was received with so much readiness. His success among them proved this. They were devotedly attached to him; and it is questionable if in any part of the Brotherhood deeper grief was felt over his martyrdom than that which filled the hearts of the brethren and sisters and friends in West Virginia.

Monday, July 23. Cross the Shenandoah mountain over to the South Fork, and have meeting at Zion, in Hardy county, 2 Corinthians 5 was read. Dine at Nimrod Judy's, and in afternoon have a small gathering at Leonard Brake's on the Fork four miles below Zion, for social prayer. We then cross the Fork mountain to John Judy's, on South Mill Creek, where we have night meeting, and stay all night. Attended three meetings to-day; and traveled thirty-three miles on Nell's back across two very high mountains.

Tuesday, July 24. Meeting at Isaac Judy's, about four miles higher up on the same creek. Brother Solomon Garber spoke from Luke 24:26, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" He spoke with much clearness and order in his mind. After dinner we traveled by way of the Upper Track, across the South Branch mountain, sixteen miles, to Solomon Harman's, near the North Fork. Stay there all night.

Wednesday, July 25. On this journey Brother Kline has noted the distance traveled over between one point and the next in most cases. Thus: Come to William Adamson's at the mouth of Seneca (five miles); then to Seneca meetinghouse (two miles); find a congregation; speak from John 3:14, 15, 16. Come to Jesse Harper's (two miles); dine; then to widow Cooper's (eight miles); stay all night.

Thursday, July 26. Meeting at widow Cooper's; subject, Luke 14; dine; then have meeting at soldier White's. Subject, 1 John 3:4; then come to Abraham Summerfield's, where we stay all night. Fine day.

Friday, July 27. Come to Levi Wilmot's (sixteen miles), and have a two o'clock meeting. Subject, Matthew 5. Stay there all night.

Saturday, July 28. Cross the mountain to Leading Creek to Charles Burke's (eight miles); and after dinner have meeting at the meetinghouse (two miles). Council meeting continues till evening. Stay all night at Brother Simon's.

Sunday, July 29. John 6 is read. Brother Solomon Garber speaks from verses 44 and 45. Council meeting again; considerable discord; get things partially settled by evening. Stay all night again at Brother Simon's.

Monday, July 30. Come to Burke's again. Stay all night at Brother Wilson's; fine day, but river high from yesterday's rain, and fords in bad condition and dangerous.

Tuesday, July 31. Come to Middle Fork of Cheat river (eight miles), but find the river past fording, and have to go round by the bridge (five miles), and on to Brother George Yager's (five miles), where we dine; then to the meetinghouse, where I speak on John 14:6. We then come to Peck's Run. meetinghouse and speak on Rev. 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Stay all night at Philip Dupoy's. Much rain to-day.

Wednesday, August 1. Afternoon meeting at Houser's (ten miles); speak from John 3:16. Stay all night at Houser's. Fine day.

Thursday, August 2. Meeting at ten o'clock, and love feast in the evening. Luke 14 is read. Brother Solomon Garber baptizes Mrs. Jacob Neff. Fine day and night. The love feast to-night is a healing balm to our hearts.

Friday, August 3. Council meeting at Houser's meetinghouse. Joseph Houser and Joseph Michael are forwarded to baptize, perform marriage ceremonies, and do other work within the defined limits of their degree in the ministry. Come to Brother George Yager's (ten miles), where we stay all night. Fine day. I baptized two persons to-day.

Saturday, August 4. After dinner come round by the bridge (six miles) to Middle Fork (five miles), to Union schoolhouse (six miles), and have meeting. Subject, John 14:16, 17. Stay all night at William Wilson's. Clear and warm day.

Sunday, August 5. Very heavy rain throughout the forenoon. Start at one o'clock to Union meetinghouse (seven miles); have meeting. Subject, Mark 4:24. Go to John Skidmore's (five miles), where we stay all night.

Monday, August 6. Come to Josiah Simon's (four miles). We have meeting at the meetinghouse. Make remarks on the general scope of Hebrews 4, and particular remarks on the thirteenth verse. Counsel after meeting. Josiah Simon is forwarded to baptize. We stay all night at Levi Wilmot's (six miles).

Tuesday, August 7. Dine at John Wiat's; then to Abraham Summerfield's (eighteen miles) to meeting. Subject, Titus 2:11, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men." Stay all night at Thomas S. White's.

Wednesday, August 8. Come to Seneca meetinghouse (twelve miles). Luke 14 is read. Dine at Elburn's; stay all night at Ely Bland's (eight miles). The entire time between Thursday, July 26, and the above date we have spent in Randolph County. We are now in Pendleton County.

Thursday, August 9. Come to Circleville on the North Fork of the South Branch (seven miles). Meeting in Circleville. Subject, Hebrews 12:1, 2, 3. Dine at Samuel Sollenberger's. Afternoon meeting. Brother Solomon Garber speaks from Heb. 2:1, 2, 3. Stay all night at Solomon Pharo's.

Friday, August 10. Come to Brother Noah H. Lamb's. Meeting at Friend Run schoolhouse (eight miles). Subject, John 1:11, 12, 13. Dine at Noah H. Lamb's. Meeting at schoolhouse again. Brother Solomon Garber speaks on conversion and baptism. Nine persons are baptized, viz, Noah H. Lamb and wife, Henry Elyard and wife, Ban Lambert and wife, Elias Wimer and wife, and John Wesley Lambert. Fine day but warm. Brother Solomon Garber's remarks on conversion were very searching. It is difficult to see how any one, after hearing such a discourse with an understanding mind, could be self-deceived. I have great hopes in regard to the genuineness of those who have been baptized to-day. His remarks on baptism were necessarily brief, but pointed and clear. We stay all night at Henry Elyard's.

Saturday, August 11. Come to John Hammer's on the South Branch, a few miles below Franklin. Have meeting at the home of Jacob Hammer. Subject, Acts 10. Dine at Jacob Hammer's. Meeting in the afternoon. Solomon Garber speaks from James 1. Stay all night at John Hammer's. Fine day.

Sunday, August 12. Come to Mountain Grove (four miles). Speak on John 3:4, 5, 6, 7. Dine at John Eye's. Afternoon meeting at Lough's church. Brother Solomon Garber speaks from 2 Cor. 5:17. Come to Joel Siple's where we stay all night.

Monday, August 13. Rain last night and this morning. Come to Peter Warnstaff's (seven miles), take dinner with him and his kind mother and sister; and at three o'clock start to John Fulk's, on top of Shenandoah mountain (eight miles), where we stay all night.

Tuesday, August 14. Stop awhile at Philip Ritchey's; dine at Philip Baker's: and in evening get home.

Monday, December 31. Cloudy this morning. Snow eleven inches deep. I work at my sleigh. Clears up prettily this evening. I have traveled in the year 1860, 5,686 miles; married five couples; preached twenty funerals, ten for children under ten years of age, one between ten and twenty, two between thirty and fifty, two between sixty and seventy, and five above seventy.

Tuesday, January 1, 1861. The year opens with dark and lowering clouds in our national horizon. I feel a deep interest in the peace and prosperity of our country; but in my view both are sorely threatened now. Secession is the cry further south; and I greatly fear its poisonous breath is being wafted northward towards Virginia on the wings of fanatical discontent. A move is clearly on hand for holding a convention at Richmond, Virginia; and while its advocates publicly deny the charge, I, for one, feel sure that it signals the separation of our beloved old State from the family in which she has long lived and been happy. The perishable things of earth distress me not, only in so far as they affect the imperishable. Secession means war; and war means tears and ashes and blood. It means bonds and imprisonments, and perhaps even death to many in our beloved Brotherhood, who, I have the confidence to believe, will die, rather than disobey God by taking up arms.

The Lord, by the mouth of Moses, says: "Be sure your sin will find you out." It may be that the sin of holding three millions of human beings under the galling yoke of involuntary servitude has, like the bondage of Israel in Egypt, sent a cry to heaven for vengeance; a cry that has now reached the ear of God. I bow my head in prayer. All is dark save when I turn my eyes to him. He assures me in his Word that "all things work together for good to them that love him." This is my ground of hope for my beloved brethren and their wives and their children. He alone can provide for their safety and support. I believe he will do it.

Wednesday, January 30. Write a letter to John Letcher, Governor of Virginia, in which I set before him in a brief way the doctrines which we as a body or church, known as Brethren, German Baptists or Dunkards, have always held upon the subject of obedience to the "rightful authority and power of government." We teach and are taught obedience to the "powers that be;" believing as we do that "the powers that be are ordained of God," and under his divine sanction so far as such powers keep within God's bounds. By God's bounds we understand such laws and their administrations and enforcements as do not conflict with, oppose, or violate any precept or command contained in the Divine Word which he has given for the moral and spiritual government of his people. By government, to which we as a body acknowledge and teach our obligations of duty and obedience, we understand rightful human authority. And by this, again, we understand, as the Apostle Paul puts it, "the power that protects and blesses the good, and punishes the evildoer." The general Government of the United States of America, constituted upon an inseparable union of the several States, has proved itself to be of incalculable worth to its citizens and the world, and therefore we, as a church and people, are heart and soul opposed to any move which looks toward its dismemberment.

This is in substance what I wrote to John Letcher, Governor of Virginia.

I likewise attend Abraham Shue's sale: The candidates for seats in the Convention to meet in Richmond were on the ground, actively speaking both publicly and privately. Mr. George Chrisman, one of them, a man of preëminent wisdom in things relating to government, publicly avowed himself opposed to secession on the basis of both principle and policy. "On the ground of principle," said he, "secession violates the pledge of sacred honor made by the several States when they set their hands and seals to the Constitution of the United States. On the ground of policy," continued he, "the secession of Virginia will culminate in the breaking up of her long-cherished institutions, civil, social, and, to some extent, religious."

Friday, February 1. Write to John T. Harris, our representative in Congress. Beseech him to do all he can to avert the calamity that now threatens us, by pouring oil upon the troubled waters until the tempest of passion abates. I esteem him as an incorruptible patriot at heart. May the Lord guide him and all the other lawmakers of our land.

Saturday, February 9. Martha Kline, wife of John B. Kline, dies very suddenly to-day.

Sunday, February 10. Funeral of our dear sister, Martha Kline, at our meetinghouse. Text.—"I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith." Age, twenty-eight years and eight days.

Friday, April 5. Council meeting at our meetinghouse, William Summers and wife, Harvey Fifer and wife, Sophia Fifer, Sally Wampler and Sally Helbert are to-day baptized by Jacob Miller. A terribly malignant type of diphtheria has recently made its appearance in the Shenandoah Valley and is now invading our immediate neighborhood. Four of Andrew Crist's children are now dangerously ill with the disease. Some in other families have died; and others are sick. The outlook, both as to health and peace, is very disheartening. But we are admonished in the Divine Word not to fear. The people of God have a better portion than this world can give—"an enduring substance, which death can never reach."

Sunday, April 7. Attend the funeral of Christian Shoemaker in the Gap. His age was about eighty years.

Sunday, April 21. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Great excitement on account of secession and war movements. The volunteers are being called out to enter the field of war, and God only knows what the end will be. There is great commotion everywhere in the realm of thought and sentiment, men's hearts failing them for fear, the sea and the waves of human passion roaring.

Thursday, May 2. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. I this day baptize Isaac Kline, Lucretia Spitzer, Joseph Wampler and wife, Rebecca Driver, Anna Kline and John McKee's wife.

Friday, May 3. Go to Nimrod Judy's on the South Fork, where I stay all night.

Saturday, May 4. Snow this morning. Have meeting at Jess Mitchell's. Second Corinthians 4 is read. Stay all night at John Davis's.

Sunday, May 5. Meeting at Jacob Collers's on the Shenandoah mountain. Luke 10 is read.

Sunday, May 12. Perform the marriage ceremony of James Fitzwater and Catharine Showalter, at the house of her father, Brother Anthony Showalter. I then attend meeting at the Brush meetinghouse, and after meeting witness the baptism by Brother Jacob Spitzer of Mrs. Beahm, Mrs. Henry Frank, Mrs. Hottinger, and two of Michael Showalter's daughters.

Friday, May 17. At home calmly enjoying the company of Dr. Jacob Driver, of Allen County, Ohio.

The Editor was intimately acquainted with Dr. Driver; and as he and Brother Kline were lifelong friends and in later years of their lives brethren, a brief reminiscence of Dr. Driver will here be given: Jacob Driver was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, about the year 1801. His parents came from Pennsylvania, and their baptism into the church of the Brethren is noted in this biography. About the year 1838, Jacob, their eldest son, became very strongly impressed with the rational and logical arguments given by Dr. Samuel Thompson in a work written and published by him entitled: "Guide to Health." This guide indicated and represented the way from sickness back to health as being very short and easy to find, exempt from dangers and free from doubt. Jacob Driver entered the field of medical practice, and his success in that line added enthusiasm to his faith, by which as time went on, mountains were removed. He soon deservedly acquired the title of "Doctor;" and although not conferred by a medical college, still the title of "Doctor of Medicine" has rarely been conferred by diploma upon a man more worthy to hold it, or borne with the honors of better success. His removal with his family to Allen County, Ohio, in the autumn of 1852, was deplored by many families in Rockingham, who had learned to depend upon him as their most trustworthy medical adviser. He died in Allen County about the year 1867, leaving an excellent lineage of sons and daughters, among whom Jacob, his youngest son, is now an active minister in the church of the Brethren. The ties of affection which bound the hearts of Brother John Kline and Jacob Driver into an inseparable union were those of a double brotherhood: brethren in church, and brethren in medical practice.

Saturday, May 18. Dine at John Bowman's above Harrisonburg, and stay all night at Daniel Thomas's.

Sunday, May 19. Meeting in the Beaver Creek meetinghouse and at two other places near by. A very great concourse of people on the ground. The spiritual peace and composure of heart, however, usually manifest in the Brotherhood on all former occasions of this kind, is sadly interfered with now by the distracted state of our country. But the weather is pleasant, and we hope to have a good meeting. Preaching in the meetinghouse to-night, and also in Dayton, Virginia.

Monday, May 20. The Annual Meeting opens to-day at Beaver Creek meetinghouse, in Rockingham County, Virginia. First, organize for counsel; take in questions; have public preaching in forenoon. "Much people." In afternoon form subcommittees. Some rain and mist to-day. Stay all night at Martin Miller's.

Tuesday, May 21. Proceed with business to-day; work through four committees. Cool but pleasant day. Stay all night at Isaac Miller's.

Wednesday, May 22. Get through with business by eleven o'clock, and the Annual Meeting breaks up, most of those present from the North as well as from the South carrying away with them heavier hearts than they ever before have borne from a meeting of this kind. Many prayers were offered in the course of its progress in the behalf of our country. The Shekinah of God's care may be gloriously waving over our heads now, and we not able to see it. The Red Sea is before us, but Jehovah will part its waters for us to go through unharmed.

When Egypt's king God's chosen tribes pursued,

In crystal walls the admiring waters stood:

When through the desert wilds he led their way,

The rock relented, and poured forth a sea.

What limits can Almighty Goodness know,

When seas can harden, and when rocks can flow?

Saturday, June 1. Go to Jesse Mitchell's, in Pendleton County, Virginia, where I stay all night.

Sunday, June 2. Meeting at Jesse Mitchell's. Speak from 1 Cor. 1:17.

Thursday, June 6. Attend the burial of Brother Samuel Myers near the head of Linville Creek. His age was forty-six years, eight months and eight days. He leaves a widow and comparatively young family to battle with the ills of life. May God bless and keep them as he only can.

Saturday, June 8. Dine at Philip Baker's on way to Pendleton County. Stay all night at George Cowger's on the South Fork. Delightful weather.

Sunday, June 9. Go to Brother Hughey Ratchford's on the Henkel mountain to see his sister Hannah, who is very sick of typhoid fever. Give medicine, and leave some for her and for Hughey's wife who is also sick. Come back to John Fulk's on the Shenandoah mountain where I stay all night.

Monday, June 10. Call at David Hoover's, Michael Wine's, Widow Turner's, and home.

Thursday, June 13. Meeting for fasting and prayer at our meetinghouse. Matthew 5 is read. Fasting has been observed from remote antiquity, in times of sorrow and mourning from afflictions and national distress. We have no direct command in the New Testament to fast, but we believe if it is done in the spirit of deep humility before God, with confessions of sin and heartfelt desire to draw nearer to him in our walk and conversation, our fasting to-day will not be a meaningless service in his sight. Paul was "in fastings oft." These he observed to keep under his body, lest after having preached to others he himself should be a castaway. In regard to fasting in my own case, I can say that it strengthens my heart, and nerves my spirit to resist temptation. My love and faith and virtue are confirmed. Let us fast, not in appearance only, but in heart.

Sunday, June 16. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I baptize John Walker, Jane and Frances Sherkey, John Grimm's wife, and Mrs. Clemm.

Tuesday, June 18. John Wine, Jacob Spitzer, and Christian Wine obtain license from our County Court to perform marriage ceremonies.

Tuesday, June 25. Stop at Philip Ritchey's; dine at John Fulk's; preach at Bethel church, in Pendleton County, and stay all night at Peter Warnstaff's.

Wednesday, June 26. Dine at Joel Siple's; go to Lough's church, but find no congregation; come to Martain Wise's (John Bond's) and find a gathering of people for night meeting. Speak from Second Corinthians 5. Stay all night at Martain Wise's.

Thursday, June 27. Meeting at Isaac Judy's; speak from Rev. 3:20. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Stay at Judy's all night. But little else than war seems to be talked about or thought about. It seems to be everywhere much the same. The Lord looks compassionately upon his people. He knows we are but dust. "As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."

Friday, June 28. Preach at Philip Kesner's; funeral for Michael Ratchford's child. Stay all night at John Judy's.

Saturday, June 29. Meeting at Jacob Collor's. Subject, John 1:11. Night meeting at Zion on the South Fork. Stay all night at Silas Henkel's on top of the mountain.

Sunday, June 30. Stop at Hughey Ratchford's to see Sister Hannah and Hughey's wife. They are both mending towards convalescence. From there I go to William Davis's in Sweedlin Valley; find a gathering, and speak from Matthew 5, first thirteen verses. Dine at Jesse Mitchell's, and in evening preach the funeral of Sister Elizabeth Freed, whom I had baptized just four weeks before. Subject, 1 Peter 1:24, 25.

Monday, July 1. Dine at Philip Ritchey's; then home.

Thursday, July 4. This evening, about seven o'clock, a wonderful appearance was witnessed in the sky. A succession of meteoric balls of fire flew through the air, apparently from west to east; attended by reports in rapid succession very much resembling those of heavy pieces of artillery and quite as loud. Some think this may be a providential mockery of the pageantry and pride displayed on each succeeding anniversary of this day over our national greatness which has now, for a time at least, departed.

Sunday, July 14. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I baptize John Driver and wife, Catharine Myers, Christian Zimmers and wife, Brady Ann Parker, Mrs. Fahrney, Ruthy Light, Bettie Miller, Susie Kline, Saloma Smith, Martha Jane and Sarah Catharine Swartz, and Martha McMullen.

Sunday, July 21. A very singular panic struck our part of the Valley this afternoon. A report of negroes breaking out and committing fearful outrages flew as on the wings of the wind. Women were frightened and men dismayed. It was, however, soon discovered to be false.

Sunday, October 20. Diphtheria is raging. In the past three weeks I have preached four funeral discourses for children between two and four years of age. But parents have better promises for the children that are taken than for those that are left.

Saturday, November 9. Brother John Wine and I go to the South Fork. Preach funeral for William Ratcliff's child. Age, two years, four months and thirteen days. Stay all night at Christian Dasher's.

Sunday, November 10. Meeting at Jesse Mitchell's. Brother John Wine speaks on Jude, third verse. We stay all night at Samuel Trumbo's.

Thursday, November 21. Attend the burial of old Mother Wine, the mother of Christian, John, Michael, Samuel and George—four preachers, and one, Michael, deacon. Her age was seventy-one years, eight months and sixteen days. A woman of great usefulness in her community as a help in sickness, she will long be remembered. My subject for discourse was Rev. 14:12, 13.

Sunday, November 24. Attend the burial of Hannah Zimmers, wife of Christian Zimmers. Funeral services at Pine Grove meetinghouse. Her age was about fifty-seven years. Text.—"For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Heb. 13:14.

It is a blessed assurance which the Divine Word gives the afflicted and dying children of God, that they have "a city which hath foundations; whose builder and maker is God." From the fact that the city has foundations we are clearly authorized to infer that it rests upon the immutable love, wisdom and power of God. It is not the baseless fabric of a dream. There is reality about it. Imagination did not construct it, for its builder and maker is God. This city is the New Jerusalem, so beautifully described in the last part of the book of Revelation. The foundations of the wall of the city are there described. There are twelve foundations, each of stone, and some of them more precious than diamonds. The city itself is built of gold, and its streets are paved with the same. I often rejoice in the hope set before us; but not the foundationless hope of good from this world. Slaughter and blood are the order of the day here now. We have at no time much to hope for from this world, but there is nothing to hope for now. We should rather rejoice than be grieved over the departure of God's children. They are safe. Beyond the reach of suffering, temptation and sin, they are safe in the city of God, where no sickness, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor death can ever reach them more.

Sunday, December 8. Meeting at Turner's schoolhouse, in the Gap. Catharine Fulk, daughter of Philip Ritchey, is baptized by me. Dine at the widow Peggy Turner's, and stay all night at David Hoover's.

Friday, December 13. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Brother Michael B.E. Kline is elected speaker, and Brother Noah Rhodes deacon.

Friday, December 20. Write to John Hopkins, to John C. Woodson, and to Charles Lewis. I can but entreat these men to stand in defense of our Brethren, and try to devise some plan by which they can be exempted from the necessity of bearing arms. I feel sure that if we can be rightly understood as to our faith and life, there will be some way provided for their exemption. The Brotherhood is a unit, heart and hand against arms-bearing. These things I make known to these men; not, however, in any spirit of defiance, but in the spirit of meekness and obedience to what we in heart believe to be the will of the Lord. Many have already expressed to me their determination to flee from their homes rather than disobey God.

Sunday, December 29. Meeting in our meetinghouse. The two ministering brethren, John Huffman and Nathan Spitler, both from Page County, are with us.

Monday, December 30. Write to General Jackson and to Charles Lewis.

Tuesday, December 31. Traveled this year 3,930 miles. Preached thirty-eight funerals. Baptized about fifty converts.

Wednesday, January 1, 1862. At this time medicines were scarce and physicians in the army. As a consequence of this the demands for Brother Kline's professional services as a physician were largely increased. The Diary for this year shows an almost incredible amount of labor performed by him in this line. He was called to go twenty miles to see patients on Lost River. He also treated patients in Pendleton and Shenandoah counties, and many in Brock's Gap and in his own and adjoining neighborhoods. He had no day of rest. In connection with all this labor and responsibility, the Brotherhood looked to him for counsel and comfort on every hand. At the same time he wrote many letters, not only to distant Brethren, but to men in civil and military place and power.

Saturday, February 15. He wrote a letter to John Letcher, at the time Governor of Virginia; another to Secretary Benjamin, and one to Charles H. Lewis. His leading object in all his correspondence with these and other men in high civil and military positions was to acquaint and as far as possible familiarize the minds of these men with the true idea as to who the Brethren are, what they have ever been, and how they have come to regard arms-bearing as they do.

The correspondence we are now considering may be regarded by some as having been a small thing. Some may say: "It is a small thing to write a letter to the President of the United States, or to a member of his Cabinet, or to a member of Congress, or to the Governor of one's State." A small thing, no doubt; in itself quite as small as to write to any one else. It may be said that the greatness of all such correspondence depends upon the magnitude of the subject involved. Let us look at the subject involved here. We see some thousands of the most devoted Christian people the world has ever known standing in jeopardy; not one of all their number seems to know what to do. Their situation at this time reminds one of Israel camped on the mountain beside the valley of Elah, in hearing of the guttural defiance of the giant. At this critical hour, when something must be done, when some special but heretofore untried effort must be put forth to avert the impending destruction, a man of the Brethren, unassuming in all respects, about five feet seven inches in height, heavy-set, with a large but symmetrical face, hair down to the neck beautifully parted from the forehead across the middle of the head, voluntarily sets to work in secret through the mails to see what can be done. God only knows the full measure of Brother John Kline's service and influence in this way. It is a true saying that "to succeed is the best proof of success," and subsequent events show that Brother Kline fully realized this proof. As a humble observer of the movements of that day, and with a tolerably clear recollection of them, the Editor can only express his belief that Brother Kline's correspondence, with his other influence, contributed largely toward the enactment of the Confederate provision by which all the members of regularly organized Christian denominations or churches which have from their earliest establishment uniformly taught and practiced as one tenet of their faith non-arms-bearing and nonresistant principles, shall be perpetually exempt from all military duty to the Confederate States of America, or to any state belonging thereto, upon the payment of five hundred dollars to the person duly appointed to receive the same, for every member so exempted, and otherwise subject to military duty under existing orders.

The above is not the "Law of Exemptions" in exact words, but it is that part of it which was made for the Brethren, in exact sense.

Saturday, April 5. This forenoon I am about home. In the afternoon I am taken to Harrisonburg and put in the guard house. My place is in the large jury room of the court house, up stairs, with others who are captives with myself. Rain this evening.

Sunday, April 6. Rain and snow all last night, and continues on so all day. Have preaching in our captive hall. My subject is "Righteousness, Temperance, and a Judgment to Come." I aimed at comforting my brother captives and myself with the recollection that Paul was once a captive like ourselves, and that in this state of imprisonment he preached upon the text which I have selected for this day. I said:

Brethren, if any have cause to tremble, we have none. Those should tremble who seek to lay obstacles in the way of others who aim to do good and no evil. As a rule, prisoners are nervous and sometimes tremble when taken into court: but judges are proverbially calm and self-composed. Hence the old adage: "As sober as a judge." But this order is entirely reversed in the case of Paul before Felix. Here we see that Paul is calm, collected and self-possessed, and that Felix is first nervous, and soon trembles all over. In this trial it appears that the judge is convicted of guilt by the prisoner himself, and that the prisoner shows himself clear. But this is not the only case in which an innocent criminal has stood before a guilty judge. Felix had never heard such a sermon before. All that he had ever heard were most probably eulogistic in character, and spoken in praise of the Roman emperor and his subordinates. Felix was one of these, and it was natural for him to appropriate quite a large share of this praise to himself. But he did not find a eulogist in Paul. Panegyric had no place in Paul's earnest nature. Life and death, holiness and sin were subjects of moment too great and too real to be trifled with. If Paul would have stooped to flattery he might have quickly obtained his release, because Felix and those following him in office confessed they found no cause of death in his case. They kept him bound merely to please the flattering, deceitful Jews.

He reasoned of righteousness first. And this logic was all new to Felix, who had never thought of righteousness or justice as being the end and object of government. Herod was a pretty fair specimen of those Roman rulers or kings as they were sometimes called, and the unrighteous cause for which he had the head of John the Baptist cut off manifests the measure of his regard for justice. If history be correct, Felix was not much in advance of him in this respect. He was governor of Samaria at this time, and his headquarters and home were at Cesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was in this same city that Paul defended himself so heroically before Festus and Agrippa. Paul is silent as to the course of reasoning employed in bringing his threefold subject to bear with a weight upon the mind of Felix. We may reasonably conclude that his first point was the righteousness of civil government; contrasting the corrupt and perverted ideas of rulers as they then existed in their minds upon this feature, with what they ought rightfully to be. In this connection he did not fail to make occasional home thrusts similar to the one made by Nathan when he said to David: "Thou art the man."

It is a newly-discovered truth that the Bible reveals the only true basis of civil government. That basis, from its lowest bottom to its highest level, is love, or "good will toward men." Government founded upon any other basis is tyranny or despotism, the exact form being determined by the depth of bondage and slavery into which the governed are willing to be pressed down, and by the will of the rulers as to how low they are inclined to press them. The Constitution of the Roman government contained no trace of love. It was all force. History abundantly shows this. Neither justice in the administration of its laws, nor temperance in the demands and exaction of tributes, nor a judgment to come when accounts would be settled, was once thought of. Those in power knew nothing and thought nothing about any day of final retribution.

It is not very probable that Felix was made to tremble by anything Paul may have said concerning civil government. The mind of Felix was too firmly fixed in his own ideas of civil righteousness to be deeply moved or disturbed by anything a prisoner might say upon that point. His execution of Roman law according to his views of righteousness in their administration was satisfactory to his sovereign at Rome; and to please him, and thereby secure perpetual tenure of office, was the height of his ambition. The cause of his trembling must then be found in another quarter, or the adversary may say that Felix, just at that time, happened to be taken with an ague chill, which Paul mistook for the nervous agitation which he supposed to have been induced by the power of his discourse.

Felix was a pagan. His religion, if he had any belief at all in the supernatural, was idolatry. Paul did not appeal to his affections, to his emotional nature, but to his rational part. He reasoned upon his great subject. We may justly conclude that he proceeded in a way similar to that which he took in addressing the Athenians on Mars' Hill. "The God whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." And he set him forth in a rational light. He told them about God's righteousness. He told them that God had appointed a day in which he would judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, and of whom he hath given assurance or proof unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. This man was Jesus Christ the Lord. Here, also, he spoke of a judgment to come. And it becomes a thing self-evident that a judgment to come is the main fact upon which all moral and religious truth depends for its power over the hearts and lives of men. Take away from man all fear of accountability in a future state, and his bestial appetites assert their sway. "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die" gives loose rein to every passion, and lust holds high carnival.

For our instruction here, it may be well to speak upon the subject of righteousness. What is it? Righteousness is obedience to law. This is its most general meaning. This is its human sense. In its divine sense it is obedience to the laws of God. Wherein the laws of men depart from the laws of God obedience to their laws is disobedience to God's laws. Here arises a conflict in which each individual may decide for himself which he will do, the will of men or the will of God. The decision of the apostles was "to obey God rather than men." By this obedience they stood righteous in the eyes of God. To be sinners in the sight of men gave them no distress, so long as they felt sure of being righteous in the sight of God.

Jesus is called Christ the righteous. He is set forth in the Word as the only example of perfect righteousness the world has ever had, for "he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." He challenged the Jews with the question: "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" They could bring up no charge. Sin is the opposite of righteousness. It is sin, or the love of sin, which is impersonated by our Lord in Matt. 10:28 as a monster of awful power: "And be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The version of the same matter as given by Luke is terribly sublime: "Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him." Brethren and friends, this is the only power we have real cause to be afraid of, and this is the enemy of all righteousness. And this enemy is right in ourselves. We need not go far to find him. Paul calls him by way of eminence as well as age "the old man of sin," "the first Adam," "the outward man," because he loves what is outside of us, fleshly enjoyments. Sin, or the love of sin, is the power that destroys both soul and body in hell. Righteousness is what saves; or, rather, righteousness in heart and life is salvation. If we look to the Lord in faith and prayer, by which I mean, if we love his Word and believe it with our heart, so as to make it the law and guide of our life, at all times and in all ways, we are sure of salvation; for it is through righteousness, as well as through much tribulation, that the saints shall inherit the promises. In the Revelation we read of a great multitude which no man could number, as standing before the throne. What a high standing they have! But by way of preparation for that honor they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The robe of each was and is his wedding garment. The Lamb is the Lord's Word, and the blood of that Lamb is the spirit and life of that Holy Word infused into our souls and made effectual unto our salvation, by living a life of heartfelt obedience to his holy precepts.

Monday, April 7. Rain and snow with sleet come down all day. Room very damp and cold, with insufficient fire. Several brethren come to see me to-day.

Tuesday, April 8. Rain and snow continue as on yesterday. Our room very uncomfortable.

Wednesday, April 9. Still cloudy, with rain and snow. We have some pleasant conversations in the prison, with books and papers. But all the public prints are so filled and taken up with war that they give me but little enjoyment. The minds and spirits of nearly all the prisoners are so broken down by the state and prospects of the country that interesting and instructive conversations can hardly be held.

Thursday, April 10. The following beloved brethren and dear sister came in to see us to-day: John Zigler, John Wine and Christian Wine, Benjamin Miller, Joel Senger, and Catharine Showalter, daughter of Brother Jacob Miller and wife of Brother Jackson Showalter. The sight and presence of these brethren refreshed us much; and the dear sister carries sunshine with her wherever she goes. Last night and this morning regiment after regiment passed through town on their way down the valley in the direction of Winchester.

Sunday, April 13. We have meeting to-day. I speak from Matt. 11:28, 29, 30: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest: take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls: for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Monday, April 14. To-day our two brethren, John and Joseph Cline, are released from imprisonment, and start for home to-night.

Tuesday, April 15. I am not well. The dampness of our room and the lack of comforts in the way of bedding and fuel have given me a cold from which I am very hoarse to-night.

Wednesday, April 16. There is talk that we are to be removed to New Market. The talk is correct. We leave here at twelve o'clock, and come to Bethlehem church where we stay all night. This church is between nine and ten miles northeast of Harrisonburg on the valley pike leading from Staunton to Winchester.

Thursday, April 17. Start for New Market; but after getting on two miles hear the cannons at Mt. Jackson. We turn and go back to Harrisonburg. News comes of the retreat of Jackson's army. Front of the Federal army at New Market. Jackson halts for the night at Lacy Springs.

Friday, April 18. Great excitement and confusion in town. General Jackson with his army passes through in his retreat, and the Federal troops are hourly looked for. Gabriel Heatwohl, Joseph Berry and myself are released from the guard house. I dine at Samuel Shacklett's; then walk out to Samuel Niswander's three miles, and ride from there to Jacob Miller's, where I stay all night.

Saturday, April 19. Brother Benjamin Bowman brings me on my way home nearly to Christian Wine's. I walk the short distance to Brother Wine's; get a horse of him, and come home.

Sunday, April 20. Easter. Cough very bad.

Wednesday, April 23. Federal cavalry through here now. Brother Daniel Miller was taken last night by Confederate scouts.

Friday, May 9. Preach the funeral of Sister Polly Summers. Age, seventy-seven years, one month and sixteen days.

Tuesday, May 20. Preach the funeral of Sister Polly Holsinger. Age, seventy-seven years. Three sisters in our church buried so close together in time, and all so nearly the same age!

Monday, May 26. Sister Debby Bowman is buried to-day. I attend. Age, forty-two years, eleven months and twenty days.

Tuesday, May 27. Preach the funeral of Mrs. Stern. Age, fifty-six years, three months and twenty days.

Thursday, May 29. Start to the Annual Meeting. Dine at James Fitzwater's in the Gap; sup at Nimrod Judy's on the South Fork, and stay all night at Jacob Mongold's on the South Fork mountain.

Friday, May 30. Get my pass at Petersburg; dine at James Parks's; and stay all night at Martain Cosner's, in Hardy County.

Saturday, May 31. Get to Thomas Clark's at three o'clock, and stay there all night.

Sunday, June 1. Go to meeting at Brother Rinker's. Speak from Romans eighth chapter. Meeting again at three o'clock. Speak from John seventeenth chapter. Stay all night at Brother Rinker's.

Monday, June 2. Come to Oakland in the morning to take the train westward, but cars are behind time. Get to Bellaire after night. Stay there all night, at Eagle Hotel.

Tuesday, June 3. Get to Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, at three o'clock in the afternoon. Stay all night at Brother Henry Yost's.

Wednesday, June 4. Visit Christian Forrer's. Go about through the city. Then start, and get to place of Annual Meeting in afternoon. Stay all night at Brother Billheimer's.

Thursday, June 5. Visit Solomon Stoner's; then to Farmersville, and back to Stoner's.

Friday, June 6. Visit Mary Trissel's. From there go to Abraham Aerbaugh's. From there go to meeting at Brother D. Miller's. Speak from Heb. 3:9. Fine weather.

Saturday, June 7. Come to the place of the Annual Meeting. Preaching in forenoon and afternoon. Fine weather. Come back to D. Miller's.

Sunday, June 8. An immense concourse of people. Meeting in five places, forenoon and afternoon. Fine weather continues.

Monday, June 9. Commence taking in questions. Queries all get in to-day. In evening I go to Brother George Miller's, and have a night meeting. Fine weather; clear and pleasant.

Tuesday, June 10. Discuss questions. Fine weather continues. Much love and good feeling generally. Go to Salem and have evening meeting. I stay all night at Brother David Zigler's.

Wednesday, June 11. Meeting continues. Get through with the discussion of questions by quarter past three o'clock. Close in the usual way; and many hands and lips are met which may never meet again until they meet where farewells are no more. Stay all night at the widow Benjamin Miller's.

Thursday, June 12. Go to Dayton. Visit Brother Abraham Young's. After dinner go to Midway and stay there all night with Brother Henry Zimmerman's.

Friday, June 13. Get to Pittsburg in the night.

Saturday, June 14. Dine at Abraham Myers's, and stay all night at Martain Myers's.

Sunday, June 15. Love feast at the Middle Creek meetinghouse. John 1 is read. Stay all night at Jacob Miller's near by.

Monday, June 16. Come to Daniel Miller's at Mechanicstown. Stay all night.

Tuesday, June 17. Love feast; part of John 14 is read. Fine day. Stay at Brother Miller's again.

Wednesday, June 18. Council meeting. The case of Peter Myers and John Figa was brought up and settled. Come to David Beachley's and stay all night.

Thursday, June 19. Come to Frostburg in time to take the train to Oakland, where I stay all night.

Friday, June 20. Come back to Brother Clark's in a hack, where I find Nell, having left her with Brother Clark. The poor brute seems glad to see me. I will never forget Brother Clark's kindness to me and Nell. Stay with him all night.

Saturday, June 21. Visit old Sister Parks and pray with her. Dine at Hyre's, and get to Brother John Mongold's on the mountain where I stay all night.

Sunday, June 22. Get to Brother William Fitzwater's in the Gap for dinner, and get Nell shod. This was a thing of necessity, as one of her shoes had come off crossing the mountain, and she was getting lame. Come to Brother Michael Wine's, where I stay all night.

Monday, June 23. Get home.

Sunday, August 24. At John Mongold's on the South Fork mountain. Preach Absalom Whetzel's funeral. Age, twenty-three years, eight months and twenty-one days.

Monday, August 25. Preach funeral of Isaac Rorabaugh at Adam Mallow's. Age, nineteen years, three months and twenty-one days. Stay all night at Jacob Hevner's.

Tuesday, August 26. Forenoon meeting at the widow Henkel's. Afternoon meeting at George Cowger's on the South Fork. Stay there all night.

Wednesday, August 27. Forenoon and afternoon meeting at Jesse Mitchell's. Jesse Mitchell is appointed minister of the Word, and Hughey Ratchford is elected to the deaconship.

Thursday, August 28. Stop at John Fulk's on top of the Shenandoah mountain, and get home in the evening.

Saturday, September 6. Attend the burial of Michael Homan. Age, sixty-five years and eight months. He was a highly respected citizen of our community.

Sunday, September 7. Am called to preach the funeral of Evaline Aubrey's child at the home of her father, William Hevner. Diphtheria is raging. It almost rivals the sword in its destruction of life. The sword cuts down the men in middle life, and diphtheria cuts down the children.

Sunday, September 21. Meeting on the South Fork mountain. Old mother Kesner, Jane Kesner and Jane Rorabaugh baptized by me. Stay all night at young Philip Kesner's.

Monday, September 22. Have night meeting and stay all night at the widow Henkel's on top of the mountain.

Tuesday, September 23. Meeting at George Cowger's on the South Fork. After dinner I visit Jacob Hevner, who is sick, and stay with him all night.

Wednesday, September 24. Cross the mountain to Jesse Mitchell's, and in the evening hold a love feast. We are disturbed by Southern scouts who are present under the pretext of hunting up deserters from the army. Stay all night at Samuel Trumbo's.

Thursday, September 25. Cross the Shenandoah mountain to Crab Run. Council meeting. Dine at Brother Isaac Whetzel's, and stay all night at Brother James Fitzwater's.

Saturday, October 4. Attend love feast at Beaver Creek meetinghouse. Stay at Martain Miller's.

Sunday, October 5. Meeting at the Beaver Creek meetinghouse. Speak from John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled." Peace is the exact opposite of trouble. And Jesus says: "Peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid."

To bring this subject to bear with due weight upon your minds I will spring this question: Did our Lord ever utter a precept with which it is impossible for man to comply? Wisdom and love answer with one voice: He never did. "Let not your heart be troubled" is a precept. It flows out of that fatherly love which ever warmed the Savior's heart. "Having loved his own, he loved them to the end." The Lord needed not that any should testify to him of man, for he knew what was in man. He knew the uttermost of human power both to understand and obey his precepts and commands. He therefore knows that we can keep our hearts from being troubled. But man of himself can not do this. Our Lord's words, "Without me ye can do nothing," apply as truly to keeping the heart from being troubled as to any other human effort. In this as in all else pertaining to natural and spiritual life, we must be coworkers with God.

Monday, October 6. Stop at Daniel Thomas's; dine at Jacob Thomas's; visit Solomon Garber's; and have night meeting in Dayton. Stay all night at Dr. Abraham Sager's.

Tuesday, October 7. Attend a love feast at the Old meetinghouse. Stay all night at John Bowman's above Harrisonburg.

Wednesday, October 8. Go to see my old friend, Joseph Funk, and succeed in bringing about a better state of feeling on his part toward me. He became reconciled. He had been somewhat ruffled in his feelings by my "Strictures and Reply" to his published writings on baptism and feet-washing. Dine with him; then home.

Saturday, October 11. Meeting and love feast at the Lost River meetinghouse. Stay all night at Celestine Whitmore's.

Sunday, October 12. Meet at the Lost River meetinghouse. In council Moses Myers is elected speaker. Stay all night at John Basehore's.

Monday, October 20. Dine at John Fulk's. Have night meeting at Jesse Mitchell's. Stay there all night.

Tuesday, October 21. Have night meeting at George Cowger's. Stay there all night.

Wednesday, October 22. Morning meeting at the widow Henkel's. Night meeting at George Kesner's. Stay there all night.

Thursday, October 23. Forenoon meeting at Isaac Judy's. Stay all night at Manasseh Judy's.

Friday, October 24. Go to John Judy's; then to D. Henkel's and to Solomon Hours's, and back to John Judy's, where we have meeting. After preaching we repair to the clear water of Mill Creek, and I baptize seven persons. Stay all night at Jacob May's.

Sunday, November 2. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I this day baptize ten converts, whose names follow: David Rhodes, Daniel Zigler, George Moyers, William Fifer and wife, J. Crist and wife, Mary Whisler, Rebecca Trissel, and Katy Showalter.

Saturday, November 15. Council at Green Mount. Benjamin Funk and W.C. Thurman regularly elected and put in as ministers of the Word.

Sunday, November 16. Meeting at the Plains meetinghouse. Harrison Daugherty and Anna Prophet are baptized by Samuel Wampler, while I go and baptize Harvey Elger.

Wednesday, November 19. Go to Katy Mullen's. Her sister Diana and her mother are both buried in one grave at Rader's church. Jacob Stirewalt and I speak on the occasion from Rev. 14:13. Age of Diana, fifty-three years; mother, seventy-one years.

Friday, November 21. Preach the funeral of Mrs. William Hevner in the Gap. Age, seventy-first year. A kind and good mother in her family, and a friend to me has she been.

Thursday, December 4. Go to Henry Neff's; draw money for the brethren; go to Harrisonburg and to Solomon Garber's.

Friday, December 5. Council meeting at Beaver Creek meetinghouse. Daniel Thomas is ordained. Stay with him all night.

Saturday, December 6. Come to Harrisonburg; fix matters of business with the Confederate government agent; pay over money for the exemption of brethren. Come home; cold day.

Tuesday, December 16. Go to Harrisonburg; attend to seeing that the brethren get certificates of exemption as provided by the Confederate Congress.

Wednesday, December 31. I have traveled in this year 4,791 miles; preached fifty-six funerals; nineteen for children under five years of age; thirteen for children over five and under ten. Diphtheria has done a fatal work. Five for persons over ten and under twenty; three over twenty and under thirty; one over thirty and under forty; fifteen over forty years of age.

Thursday, January 1, 1863. Meeting of thanksgiving to the Lord for his kind affection toward us in our meetinghouse. I have somewhere read that in the reign of one of the sovereigns of Great Britain, when the outlook of the kingdom was very dark and threatening, one of the king's advisors proposed appointing a day for public thanksgiving in all the churches throughout the realm. The king answered the proposition by saying that he could see nothing for which either he or the nation had cause for special thanksgiving to God. The minister responded by saying that the king and the nation both had great cause to thank God that things were no worse. The king yielded and the day was set. The Christian people assembled; the preachers recounted the blessings still left in the nation's store, with the rich promises of God to provide for the future as things should be needed, and there was a day of thanksgiving in England the like of which is not often seen.

It has been my experience, Brethren, and I think I have heard some of you say the same, that prosperity does not always make people most truly thankful. Great success in business is apt to foster a feeling of independence. Men may forget God. It was in the days of Israel's prosperity in the goodly land of Goshen in Egypt that they forgot the name of the God of their fathers. When God appeared to Moses in Horeb, he had to tell him from out the burning bush what his name was, and also by what name he should make him to be known to his brethren in Egypt. Some of the deepest heartfelt expressions of gratitude break forth in times of misfortune. A brother once told me that he was away from home when his barn was struck with lightning and burned to the ground. At his return he beheld nothing but the smoking destruction of his gathered harvest. But when his children came running to meet him, and he saw them all safe, and their mother standing in the door unharmed, he burst into an expression of thanksgiving, which, he confessed to me, surpassed every other emotion of joy he had ever felt. Our best experiences come to us when we are made to realize properly the good that is still left us.

We must look upon our exemption from army service as one proof of those interpositions in behalf of his children which our heavenly Father has promised, and which he is constantly fulfilling. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." God has not called us to prayer in vain. He invites us to come boldly to a throne of grace. Does he do this otherwise than with a will to hear? And the apostle's exhortation is: "In every thing give thanks," for "all things work together for good to them that love God."

Let our offerings this day be from the heart; and probably the best proof we can have that they come from the heart is a willingness and cheerful readiness to give of our substance to the needy poor. We must divide out, Brethren, to those who have, on account of the war pressure, been unable to provide for themselves. Think of the barefooted, half-clad and half-fed children in our land! I do not undervalue what you have already done. I know you have done much; but we should not feel that the burden of duty has all rolled from our shoulders so long as there is one needy brother or sister or child in our land. Brethren, I speak from my heart when I say that the church has never before enjoyed such an opportunity to grow rich, as the present offers. I mean rich in good works; rich in treasures laid up in heaven; rich in her title to an eternal inheritance in heaven, which our Lord calls "the true riches."

Saturday, January 17. Buy of Samuel Shacklett (a merchant in Harrisonburg) one bolt of cotton cloth or muslin for Mary Hoover, for which I pay seventeen dollars; and four bunches cotton yarn for which I pay thirty dollars. This shows the measure of confidence reposed in the Confederate Government.

Wednesday, February 4. Visit General Jones's camp at New Market in behalf of some of the soldiers.

Friday, February 13. Attend the burial of our dear sister, Mary Frances, wife of my nephew, John Kline. We did all we could for her; but that dreadful destroyer, diphtheria, would have its way, and in much anguish of heart we submit. She was a lovely and tender plant; too tender for this world. Her age was twenty years, ten months and eight days.

Sunday, February 22. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Matthew 22 is read. Brother Benjamin Funk speaks. He and Brother Benjamin Driver were with me last night. Snow fell last night and to-day about ten inches deep.

Sunday, March 8. Jacob Silvins's little son Jacob is buried to-day. This is the third one of his children I have helped to bury within the last two weeks.

Tuesday, March 17. I am at Nimrod Judy's. I this day had a chance to send a letter through the lines to Brother George Hoover, of Indiana.

Sunday, March 29. Preach funeral for three of Brother See's children. Youngest, two years, five months and five days old; next, six years, ten months and five days; oldest, nine years, five months and sixteen days. They died of diphtheria.

Thursday, April 2. Attend the Beaver Creek council meeting. Joseph Miller is elected to the ministry of the Word, and Daniel Miller to the deaconship.

Friday, April 3. Council meeting at the old meetinghouse. Joseph Bowman and Joseph Harshberger are elected to the deaconship.

Saturday, April 4. Council meeting at the Mill Creek meetinghouse. Isaac Long is ordained, and Noah Flory is elected to the deaconship. Stay all night at old Daniel Wine's.

Saturday, April 18. About one o'clock this morning Abraham Funk came for me. A man by the name of George Sellers met with the very sad accident of having his leg broken. He had been in the Southern army, and with a company of others who, like himself, were trying to make their way to places within the Northern lines, and thus be out of the reach of further molestation, he met with this misfortune. It happened in this way: he was one of a company that was just leaving Abraham Funk's by previous arrangement, about eleven o'clock in the night. Near Abraham Funk's house, about two miles west of Broadway, the road runs along the North Fork of the Shenandoah river, where the bank is probably one hundred feet high, and very steep. This part of the road lay directly in the line of the company's route, and, unfortunately, just as they got into the road, right at this very steep place on the bank of the river, an alarm of "Rebel scouts" seized the whole company, and all together they went down to the river's edge, none seriously hurt except Mr. Sellers, who had his leg broken. I made a frame this morning to hold the fractured parts in place, and hope he may do well. We are keeping the whole matter a profound secret to save the life of a good man. He was taken back to Abraham Funk's, where he is at this time receiving treatment in secret from me.

Sunday, April 19. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Epistle of Jude is read. Abraham Glick is with us, and likewise Solomon Sherfey, of Tennessee. Go to Abraham Funk's. George Sellers is doing well.

Sunday, April 26. Meeting at the Elk meetinghouse, in Page County, Virginia. I speak from Heb. 2:3. Text.—"How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

I always feel embarrassed when I attempt to speak from this text. The subject is so vast, and the matter so important, that my best efforts fall far below the just demands of my theme. Nothing can properly be said to be saved which has never been lost or in danger of being lost. And in every case where anything is saved, the greatness of the salvation depends upon the value of the thing saved, together with the measure of effort and sacrifice required to effect it. Some years ago a very destructive fire was raging in the city of Pittsburg. A gentleman, who claimed to have been an eyewitness of the fire, related the following incident to me. He said the firemen had just rescued a family from a burning building, and thought they had all out, when one of the rescued ladies looking around screamed out, "O, save my Bessie!" "Where is she?" was cried out. "In the north room up stairs!" A noble-hearted fireman, almost exhausted, risked his life to rescue what he of course supposed to be a child; but what was his indignant surprise on reaching the room, to find that the missing "Bessie" was only a pet cat! The enraged fireman kicked the cat and cursed its mistress. But his feelings would have been different had Bessie been a little child softly sleeping in its cradle. This incident may help us to realize the truth contained in the statement already made, that the greatness of any salvation depends upon the value of the thing saved as well as upon the effort and sacrifice made to save it.

It is plain that man's salvation is the subject of the text. But is man lost? And if lost, in what sense is he lost? We read in Matt. 18:11, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost." It is man's life that is lost—natural or bodily life, and supernatural or spiritual life. But is man's bodily life lost? It is, "for death hath passed upon all men." The sentence of bodily death: "It is appointed unto man once to die." "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." If any supposes the death of the body to be a small thing, let such a one go to a well-filled graveyard and pass one hour in serious meditation in this silent city of the dead. Let him think of the tears that have fallen there, of the sighs of anguish that have reluctantly escaped from broken hearts. Let him think of the innocent beauty and loveliness that lie buried there, of the hopes and the joys that have been driven from the heart by the hand of the destroyer; and then let him ask himself if "the wages of sin" is a thing of small account. Let his mind run a little further, and he can but see that the graveyard's solemn tale to the end of the world must be yearly told. Death here writes his name anew every passing season in the fresh mounds raised above the dead. And not only so, but the voice of reason whispers into the ear of every passer-by the solemn word, "This place is waiting for you."

Now, an apostle says: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." And another apostle, as if commenting on this passage says: "He shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." I now ask, Does not this show that the salvation in the text is truly a great salvation? But I have as yet but touched the hem of the garment. And, indeed, in our low and contracted state of mental power here we are barely able with our highest and broadest reaches of thought to lay hold of more than the hem of salvation's garment. "Heaven is his throne, and the earth is the footstool of his feet." What the footstool is to the throne, nay to him that sits upon it, such are our highest and purest conceptions to the salvation which the Lord has provided. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to know what God hath provided for them that love him."

I stated that man's life is lost. I have said something about the bodily life that is lost by sin. I now turn to say something about the spiritual life that is lost by sin. Paul says, and I am sure he means what he says: "To be carnally minded is death." Now, what is it to be carnally minded? Or, in other words, what is the carnal mind? Paul answers in a general way, that it is enmity against God. Such a degree of enmity that all who are carnally minded cannot and do not love God, nor take pleasure in his service. Life is love; and love is life. The spiritual life that is lost by sin is what Jesus came to redeem and save, and this life is man's love. Man's love is perverted. It is turned away from the Lord God and the neighbor, and directed to self and the world. And when a man loves himself more than God, and the world with its sinful lusts and pleasures more than he does his neighbor, he is carnally minded.

Now let us turn to the Lord's words. In the Gospel recorded by Luke a certain lawyer is represented as asking the Lord this question: "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said unto him: "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" He answering said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus said unto him, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."

Brethren, does not this look like the key to salvation? Does it not open the door to a view of eternal life and blessedness? Our Lord says: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." When any one gives his heart to God in love like this, I think he is in a saved state. And is it not a great salvation? Perfect love of that which is good is perfect peace, because it drives evil from the heart, which is the cause of all human misery. But the Lord, and the Lord only, can change man from darkness to light and from death unto life. He is the only Savior. He saves man by his Word and Holy Spirit. He stands at every man's door and knocks. If any man will open the door, he will enter that man's heart and dwell with him forever; and Christ in the heart is salvation and eternal life.

Thursday, May 14. Go to Abraham Funk's. George Sellers is nearly well, and in fine spirits. At half past five o'clock I start to the Annual Meeting. Stay all night at Jacob Wine's.

Friday, May 15. Dine and feed at Newman's furnace. Then go up through the Trout Run valley, cross the Church mountains and get into the Lost River valley near the place where the river disappears at the base of the mountain. Stay all night at Landes's. I have seen no scouts or pickets to-day.

Saturday, May 16. Get dinner at Jonathan Flory's, and stay all night at Abraham Miller's.

Sunday, May 17. Stay at Brother Abraham Miller's all day. Have preaching in the afternoon. Stay all night again.

Monday, May 18. Cross the Potomac river at Old Town; go up the towpath; pass through Gibbontown near Flint Stone, and get to Abraham Ritchey's, where I stay all night. Traveled thirty-three miles to-day.

Tuesday, May 19. Get to Henry Hershberger's in Snake Spring valley, where I stay all night. Twenty-eight miles to-day.

Wednesday, May 20. Get to Brother Adam Snoberger's before dinner; but spend balance of day there and in making a few calls. Have evening meeting at the meetinghouse one mile away. Speak from John 10:9. Stay all night at Brother Snoberger's.

Thursday, May 21. Come to Samuel Snider's; then to council meeting at meetinghouse; and after dinner come to Brother Daniel Snoberger's at Yellow Creek, where I stay all night. Fine day. It is ten miles from Brother Snider's to Brother Snoberger's.

Friday, May 22. Meeting at the meetinghouse. Subject, Hebrews 1. After dinner go to Brother Leonard Furry's. Night meeting at the meetinghouse. I speak from Rom. 1:16. Stay at Brother L. Furry's all night. Fine day.

Saturday, May 23. Come fourteen miles to Clover Creek Meeting there in forenoon and afternoon. Stay all night at Brother Dellinger's.

Sunday, May 24. Meeting at three places to-day. A delightful day as to weather; and should be enjoyable to all in the way of good speaking.

Monday, May 25. Commence taking in questions in afternoon. Cloudy all day. Stay all night at Brother Dellinger's.

Tuesday, May 26. Discuss questions all day. Cloudy all forenoon, but clears up in afternoon. Stay all night at Brother John Brumbach's.

Wednesday, May 27. Discuss questions, but get through with business by two o'clock; and the Annual Meeting breaks up. I come to Brother Daniel Snoberger's, where I stay all night.

Thursday, May 28. Go to a store at Enterprise and buy a few articles. After dinner come through Snake Spring valley and across Bloody Run to Jesse O'Neil's, where I stay all night. Fine day.

Friday, May 29. Come six miles to Chanyville; then eleven miles to Gibbon; then two miles to John Deacon's where I get dinner and have Nell fed; then twenty miles to Brother Abraham Miller's in Hampshire County, Virginia, where I stay all night. Fine day.

Saturday, May 30. Come ten miles to Souer's, where I dine and feed; then five miles out to the pike, and eight miles to North River; then three miles to Brother Wilson's, but to get there have to ride two miles out of the way to pass unmolested. Stay all night at Brother Wilson's. Rain to-day.

Sunday, May 31. Come twenty-two miles to Nimrod Stradaman's, where I dine and feed; then sixteen miles to James Fitzwater's, where I stay all night. Fine day.

Monday, June 1. Come ten miles to Michael Wine's; get dinner, and in afternoon cross the mountain and get home.

It may not be out of place to call the reader's attention to several points of special interest connected with this journey of Brother Kline to this the next to last Annual Meeting it was his privilege to attend. Let the reader think of the distance to be traveled over in going and coming—three hundred and thirty-four miles—all on the back of his favorite Nell. Over a good road, in a time of peace, with plenty of familiar friends by the way, such a distance with a good horse would be but a delightful recreation to one accustomed, as was Brother Kline, to horse-back riding. But a great part of his way lay through a mountainous and thinly-peopled country, with only a path in some places to direct his course; and, worst of all, he did not know where he was safe from arrest, as army lines at this stage of the war were almost constantly changing. How great, then, must have been his love for the Brethren! Where can another man be found to compare with him in fearless resolution to do what he believed would be pleasing to the Lord and the Brethren, whom he loved more than he did his own life! Neither was he encouraged by the Brethren at home to go. They advised him not to go. But his heart was fixed; and his loving soul would have been filled with melancholy sadness to have stayed at home and thought of the warm hearts and kind hands he might have met by going. He would rather see his Brethren and die, if necessary, than live without the sight.

From the time of his return from this journey to the close of the year he did not venture far from home in a northern direction. On the twelfth day of August he and Jacob Wine went on the yearly visit prior to the visit council. They had to go to the counties of Pendleton and Hardy, as the members in those counties were included in the district over which Brother Kline was one of the overseers. They held visit councils over there, and on their return home the two brethren were arrested and taken before the military authorities on the eighteenth day of August, 1863. Brother Jacob Wine came home with Brother Kline to Brother Kline's house. They had been there but a short while when they were both arrested. They gave a satisfactory account of their business in those two counties, and were accordingly released. On the twenty-fourth, just six days after the previous arrest, he was picked up again and required to give account of himself. This he did in a humble, truthful way, and was again let go. The following is on the last page of the Diary for this year.

In this year, 1863, I have traveled 4,260 miles, all on horseback. I have preached thirty-eight funerals: fourteen for children under five years of age; eight for children between the ages of five and ten years; six for persons between the ages of ten and twenty years; three for persons between twenty and thirty years; two for persons between thirty and forty years; two for persons between forty and fifty years; three for persons over eighty years of age.

In the last five and one-half months of our beloved brother's life, or that portion of it which he lived between the first day of January, 1864, and the fifteenth of June, the memorable day of his death, are not very full of interest. By this it is meant that the state of war in Virginia, together with the hopeless condition of the Confederacy and the demoralizing tendency of that condition upon the soldiery of the land, raised insurmountable barriers in the way of activity on his part. We find him mostly at home, save that he was much called to see the sick and preach funerals in his immediate vicinity.

Sunday, May 1, he attended meeting at Green Mount for the last time. He preached from Luke 19:7. The Editor was present, and still retains some recollections of his line of thought; so that by means of these, together with the Diary notes of this discourse, a tolerably just reproduction of it may here be given. He seemed to be more than usually pathetic in his delivery. In one of his tender appeals he caught the writer's eye, and he can never forget the irresistible but refreshing flow of tears that followed.

Text.—"And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner."

The Bible is a unit. The sum of its love and truth culminates in the declaration that "the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." The portion of the chapter read in your hearing, which immediately precedes my text, is a sufficient introduction to it. The history of Zaccheus therein given is, or should be, familiar to all. But my text may comprise some instructive and comforting truth to us, which we, like those who attended the steps and heard the words of the Lord in the flesh, may not so readily apprehend.

The disciples were deeply impressed with the sinless purity of their great Teacher. But they did not as yet understand the character of his mission. They could not rid their minds of the thought that his coming was for the purpose of establishing, in some way, they knew not how, an earthly reign of power and glory which would eclipse all that earth had ever beheld. Hence we read that at one time they wanted to take him by force, and make him a king. At another time the mother of two of his disciples interceded in behalf of her two sons that the one might sit on his right and the other on his left in his kingdom. What sublime visions of worldly glory she had; and how deeply were her vain imaginations rebuked! "Ye know not what ye ask."

These considerations aid us in our efforts to apprehend the character of the impediments and obstacles in the way of our Savior's glorious work of love. And here springs up a thought which I will dwell upon for a little. I can not avoid the belief, forced upon me as it is by what I see daily and have seen, that men do not widely differ now from what men were in our Lord's time in the flesh. They do not love his unqualified declaration—"My kingdom is not of this world"—any better now than men did then. National greatness, in which the rich and powerful may bear oppressive rule over the poor and weak, is the height of their ambition. Such are not willing to eat and drink with publicans and sinners. Things unseen and eternal are out of sight to mortal eyes. Men doubt the declaration of the Bible that:

"Beyond this vale of tears,

There is a life above

Unmeasured by the flight of years:

And all that life is love."

It is this unbelief that fosters their love for the world and for themselves. And the pride of heart that naturally goes with the love of self is not willing to stoop to what is not highly esteemed among men. It is not hard to see from the words of my text that there was a very large measure of self-pride still clinging to the hearts of those who composed the crowd now in attendance upon our Lord on this his last journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. They thought it a stoop in him, and out of place that he should condescend to go to be guest with a man that is a sinner. It is plain from this that they did not know themselves. Like the Pharisee, they justified themselves, and were ready even to thank God that they were not like other men. But our Lord came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. And we should notice that by sinners he means such as feel and know themselves to be sinners. Jesus adapted himself to the felt wants of those he came to save. He had no sin-forgiving words for the self-righteous. He had no blessing for the proud in spirit. He had no promise for those who exalted themselves.

I love to contemplate this glorious feature of our blessed religion. The docile, teachable disposition of the little child, coupled with the honest confession of Peter: "I am a sinful man, O Lord," is the low plane of feeling upon which the Savior enters the soul. It was declared by a prophet respecting his first advent into the world: "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low." Mountains and hills in this passage signify the proud and self-exalted desires and lusts of the wicked man, which are to be laid low because such states of heart and life forever oppose themselves to the meekness and gentleness of Christ. But the principle of humility, signified by a valley, is to be exalted: not that humility exalteth or can exalt itself; but this truly humble state of mind prepares man to receive the Lord's saving truth, and this exalts a man. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

For myself, Brethren, I can say with the Apostle Paul, that "in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.... I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I perceive a different law in my members, warring against the will of my spirit, and bringing me into captivity to the sway of sin in my members." Paul here speaks of the inward man, and of the members or outward man. This takes my thought to the tabernacle in the wilderness. It had an outer court and an inner sanctuary. The tables of God's holy law were placed in this most holy place. It was right in this most holy place, over the mercy seat, which was the golden cover to the ark that contained the tables of the law, that Jehovah had his dwelling place. It was there he talked with Moses. The outer court was for offerings, and served as a place for the confession of sin and its forgiveness. Brethren, I am glad to think we are like this tabernacle, that we have a most holy place, an inner sanctuary, in the inmost of our heart, where Jesus has his dwelling place with us, and where his voice alone is heard. In this holy of holies we feel his love, and it is there we see his face. It is there that he appears to us the fairest among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely. It is here that we sing:

"Jesus, I love thy charming name;

'Tis music in mine ear;

Fain would I sound it out so loud

That earth and heaven might hear.

"Yes, thou art precious to my soul;

My transport and my trust:

Jewels to thee are gaudy toys,

And gold is sordid dust.

"I'll speak the honors of thy name

With my last fleeting breath:

And, dying, clasp thee in my arms,

The antidote of death."

Brethren, this is what I have gained, it is what you have gained, it is what we all have gained by placing ourselves in sight of the Lord as he was passing by. In itself, it was a small thing that Zaccheus did. The tree which he ascended was not hard to climb; he was nimble, for he ran on before; and it did not take him long to climb, for he had not much time. But in motive the act was great, because it was done to get a sight of Jesus the Lord. The Lord knew this, and knew also that his motive was not one of idle curiosity, but honest desire to see him and to learn something more concerning him. And see how he was blessed. Although he was looked down upon as being a sinner, and felt in his heart that he was a sinner, still the blessed Savior regarded it not out of place for him to go and be guest with him, and crown the occasion with the joyful annunciation: "This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham." All who believe in the Lord from the heart are sons of Abraham, and heirs of God according to the promise.

Now, when any one goes to church to hear the Gospel preached, and thereby to learn something about the Lord that he may have knowledge of Jesus, he is doing in effect just what Zaccheus did. The same may be said with regard to reading the Divine Word. It matters not how great a sinner he may have been. No one now is likely to be a greater sinner than was Mary Magdalene out of whom seven devils were cast; and yet the Lord could say of her: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she hath loved much." A dying saint was once heard to say: "Hunt up all my sins; pile them mountain high; one breath of faith sweeps them all away; and the more I'm forgiven the louder I'll sing."

Ah, brethren and sisters, we can rejoice that the Lord condescended to be a guest with us poor sinners. He proclaims salvation to every one of us. And inasmuch as he has come in to sup with us and we with him, let us hold him by the feet, ever welcome to our hearts, and he will abide with us forever.

It is in a feeling of unavoidable sadness we now approach the closing weeks of Brother Kline's life. We will now, with great care, trace his steps going to and returning from the last Annual Meeting he was ever permitted to attend.

Friday, May 6. This is the day on which he started. He stayed the first night with Reuben Regelman, then living in the head of what was then called Germany, a remote section of Brock's Gap, and so called on account of the number of original German people who settled there near the close of the Revolutionary War. Regelman lived in a deep mountain retreat, just in the line of what appeared to Brother Kline his safest route.

Saturday, May 7. This day he crossed the Shenandoah mountain by a near-cut pathway, coming down into Sweedlin valley, in Pendleton County. He next crossed the Sweedlin mountain by a pathway, at the foot of which flows the beautiful mountain river called the South Fork. He followed this stream about two miles through a deep gorge between Sweedlin mountain and the South Fork mountain, and got to the widow Nelly Henkel's on top of the latter mountain in time for dinner. From there he went to Sister Mary Bargdoll's on the South Mill creek, where he stayed all night. He was now fifty miles on his way. He reports the weather as being very pleasant so far.

Sunday, May 8. This day he visited Enoch Hyre's. From there he went to old Brother Parks's. He then stopped on his way to read and pray with old Sister Parks, who was entirely blind. From here he went to Brother Martain Cosner's, where he had afternoon meeting, and preached from one of his favorite texts, the Lord's invitation to all, given in Matt. 11:28, 29, 30. He stayed all night at Brother Cosner's. All the families he visited this day were then living northwest of Petersburg, in Grant County, West Virginia. He reports another beautiful day. He is now sixty-nine miles from home.

Monday, May 9. This day he had meeting by previous arrangement at Andrew Cosner's, six miles further on in the direction of his route. His subject was 1 Cor. 15:1, 2, 3. From here he went to Brother Thomas Clark's, fifteen miles further on, where he stayed all night. Beautiful weather continues.

Tuesday, May 10. From Brother Clark's he went to Oakland, a station on the B. & O. R.R., thirteen miles from Brother Thomas Clark's. Here he took the train at 9:30 p.m., and Nell had rest. She had carried him on her back one hundred and four miles in four and one-half days. Short stages, but terribly hard roads a large part of the way. He arrived at Bellaire at half past six the next morning. He started for Dayton, Ohio, at seven, and got there at five in the evening. He stayed all night at Brother Henry Flory's.

Thursday, May 12. From here he went to a love feast at the Cave Creek meetinghouse, but is silent as to how he got there. The second chapter of Hebrews was read. He stayed all night at Jonas Garber's. He says: "There was frost this morning, but a delightful day."

Friday, May 13. He took the train at Brookville station, seven miles from Brother Jonas Garber's, and arrived at Hagerstown, near the place of the Annual Meeting. He stayed all night at Brother Samuel Eiler's. Another fine day.

Saturday, May 14. He reports meeting at the meetinghouse and a great concourse of people. Also, a little rain to-day.

Sunday, May 15. Preaching at six places. A wonderful gathering of people. Night meeting in Hagerstown. A little rain to-day. I stay all night in Hagerstown.

Monday, May 16. To-day the Annual Meeting organizes for business. Forms subcommittees; takes in queries; holds its session in meetinghouse. I stay all night at old Brother Eiler's. A little sprinkle of rain to-day.

Tuesday, May 17. Discuss questions all day. Good order prevails. I am glad to witness the dawning of intelligence in the minds of our younger brethren in the ministry. We must keep up with the demands of the age; not in the vain show of worldly fashion and love for things new; but in our desire and power by the use of all divinely-appointed means to commend the truth to every man's conscience by making it to shine in all directions more and more unto the perfect day. I am glad to see the zeal manifest in our younger brethren, and at the same time equally glad to find it tempered with moderation.

Wednesday, May 18. Finish business at half past eleven o'clock. After dinner go to Brother James Wyatt's, where I stay all night. Also visit the widow Sister Hardman.

Thursday, May 19. Come to Hagerstown and dine at Brother Brown's. I then take cars to Andersontown, and come to Brother Peter Fesler's, six miles away. After supper have night meeting in Columbus, where I speak from Acts 4:13. Stay all night with Jeremiah Clemmens.

Having been more than usually impressed at our meeting with the importance of Christian brethren making their conversations and lives give testimony to the sincerity and intelligence of their professions of faith in Christ, I resolved to turn my discourse to that bearing, as much so as I could. With that view I took these words: Text.—"And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."

A very plain and self-evident truth comes to mind at the opening of my discourse to-night. It is this truth, that no one can converse intelligently upon any subject he does not understand, nor accomplish any work of art without some previously acquired skill to do it. To comply with the demands imposed upon every human being by these fundamental and stubborn realities, all the means of education for the mind and training for the body are provided. Man stands alone and singular in this regard. Birds can sing and build their nests without instruction; and bees can form their delicate cells of wax without a guide.

It is also a well-recognized fact that the pupil gives evidence of the character and ability of his teacher, in all the lines of science and art. In the knowledge and practice of the things pertaining to man's spiritual life on earth it is just the same. All that man does from conscience, from what he believes to be his duty to God and to man, this he calls religious. If his faith and life are firmly based and established upon the Rock of God's eternal Truth, it can be known at once who has been his teacher, and knowledge can be taken of him that he has been with Jesus.

I do not wish to reflect particularly here upon the lack of evidences of this kind among professing Christians generally, nor do I wish to reflect censure upon the teachers under whose auspices these professions have been made; but I do say, and am sorry, that from the conduct and life of many professors of religion it would be hard to tell certainly that they were not Mohammedans or disciples of Confucius. But banishing all fancy and superstition, and ignoring all religious forms and ceremonies, there is a way of making the truth known that one has been with Jesus. The key that opens to this knowledge is wrapped up in these words of our Lord: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another."

Let us notice how this love was shown by Peter and John. I name them here, because they are connected with my text. There lay a poor beggar, lame from his mother's womb. He was but little noticed, save as he was looked down upon with contempt. He asked an alms of Peter and John as they were about entering the temple. Peter might justly have said: "I have nothing in the way of silver or gold to give you," and have thus excused himself from all further trouble about the man. But he did not treat the poor and impotent beggar in this way. He said to him: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." But this was not all. "He took him by the right hand, and lifted him up." He was not only ready to instruct, but he was ready to help, and that with his own hands.

But I have not told all. The two disciples took to themselves no touch of credit for the lame man's being made to walk. Their love for the Lord, and their desire to do good by publishing the news of his healing and saving power, had so filled their hearts that there was no room in them for any of the love of self and the world. Had they been so disposed they might have taken to themselves great credit for what they had done. They might have indirectly favored the impression that if the Lord was at the bottom of the miracle they were at the top, and very important factors in it. But the conduct and temper of the two disciples was far from anything like this. When the people ran together, greatly wondering, Peter said: "Why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?" He then directed the attention of the people to the crucified, risen and glorified Lord, to whose power and love they ascribed all the honor.

It is known without telling that such humility of heart and exaltation of the Lord is not natural with man. People of all grades, even the enemies of the Lord, take knowledge from such as manifest this spirit of love and meekness, that they have been and are with Jesus. In his last conversation with his disciples he lifted his eyes to heaven and said: "Father, I will, that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." This prayer must have a present fulfillment in every one of the Lord's people in this world, in order that they may have a future realization of it in the world to come. To be with the Lord is to abide in him and he in us. "Abide in me, and I in you." This is the crown of all blessedness. This is the golden altar of sweet incense: the brightly burning lamp that lights the way through the door into the marriage feast.

"Forever with the Lord:

Amen! so let it be:

Life from the dead is in that word;

'Tis immortality."

To be with Jesus is to be with him in affection and thought; to love what he loves, and to believe what he teaches. One may be with Jesus in place, and yet be very far from him in spirit. This was exemplified by Judas. He sat at the same table with the Lord, but his heart, his mind and feelings were very far away. At that very time he was plotting his destruction, for Judas was a devil from the beginning. Even Peter, just a little while after that, caught by the Lord's eye, went out and wept bitterly. It is not, therefore, a local or personal nearness which the Lord has in mind when he prays that all whom the Father hath given him may be with him, but a nearness of heart, in the affection of love, and the obedience of faith.

Brethren and friends, let me say to you, that it is the duty, and not only the duty, but the highest attainment of Christian liberty, to be with Jesus and to give knowledge to all around that one has not only been, but now is every day with Jesus. True godliness, however, does not desire to make a display of itself; it seeks no prominence in the world; neither does it aspire to receive the applauses of men. It does not ride upon the tempest of religious disputes, nor clothe itself with the whirlwind of fanatical excitement. But, like the Divine Spirit from which it springs, it speaks in the still, small voice of tender compassion and love. Like its Lord, it enters a house, the house of the humble, contrite heart, and would have no man know it; but it cannot be hid.

Now, Brethren and friends, I have only touched some of the chords in the beautiful anthem of my theme. I now leave it with you, hoping that you may learn every note in it; and by the sweet music of a good life delight the ears and warm the hearts of all who hear its rich harmonies. Possibly you may never see my face or hear my voice again. I am now on my way back to Virginia, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. It may be that bonds and afflictions abide me. But I feel that I have done nothing worthy of bonds or of death; and none of these things move me; neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.

Thursday, May 19. Come to Hagerstown and dine at Brother Brown's.

Friday, May 20. Visit Sister Molly Clemmens; dine at Brother Jacob Fesler's; sup at Brother Peter Fesler's, and by request have meeting again in Columbus to-night. My subject is Matt. 7:13, 14. Stay at Peter Fesler's all night. Warm and pleasant day.

Saturday, May 21. Visit Andrew Fertig's, where I stay till after dinner. I then come to Middletown; and from there to Fall Creek meetinghouse, to Brother David Miller's meeting. John 14 is read. I speak upon the spirit and general scope of truth comprehended in the chapter. Jacob Fry and wife are baptized. I then go home with old Brother Jacob Miller, and after supper go to Brother David Miller's, where I stay all night. Fine and warm day.

Sunday, May 22. Visit Absalom Painter; he is sick, and I think poorly. Attend meeting at the meetinghouse. John 3 is read. I speak upon the new birth, the most important matter that can possibly engage the thought and occupy the heart of man, inasmuch as without it, there is no salvation. Dine with Jacob Miller, who is a son of George Miller. In the afternoon visit Joseph Funk's and from there I go to George Hoover's where I stay all night. A fine but warm day.

Monday, May 23. Stay at George Hoover's till after dinner. In the afternoon call at Joseph's and John's, and visit the Sulphur Springs. Night meeting. Speak from First John, second chapter, last part of the twenty-ninth verse: "Every one that doeth righteousness is born of him." A righteous life is the proof that one is born of God. Charity, which is the love of doing good, is the child of the new birth. This leads to righteousness or justice in all our dealings with one another. I can not love my brother and at the same time seek undue advantage of him, or try to cheat him in any way. The same is true in dealing with those outside the Brotherhood. This righteousness shuts down the gate upon the stream of all evil affections and lusts, because it springs from that love which forever whispers in the heart: "All things, whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."

Stay all night at Brother Yost's. His wife is Brother Hoover's daughter.

Tuesday, May 24. Take cars at seven o'clock and get to Richmond at nine, and to Higgin's Station at eleven. From there I go to Brother Nead's, five miles away; and after dinner to meeting at the meetinghouse. Speak from Rom. 1:16, 17. After meeting come to Brother Joseph Miller's, where I stay all night. Much rain this afternoon.

Wednesday, May 25. Go to Arebaugh's meetinghouse. Love feast. John 1 is read. Stay all night at Brother Kensel's.

This is the last love feast Brother Kline ever attended. Tender memory will drop a tear as she looks into his loving eye and sees him take his last farewell and leave his last loving kiss on lips that his will never touch again. But we should remember that thirty-five years have passed since then. Many who took the parting hand on earth then, have, one by one, since then, taken the meeting hand in heaven: "For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

Thursday, May 26. Come to Dayton; buy some articles; dine at Brother Henry Yost's, and also sup there. Take cars at half past six in the evening and arrive at Columbus soon after nine. Stay there all night.

Friday, May 27. Get to Oakland in the evening, and stay all night at Rogan White's tavern. Two hundred and eighty-six miles from Columbus to Oakland.

Saturday, May 28. Come to Brother James Abernathy's in a hired hack, ten miles; and in afternoon come three miles to Brother Thomas Clark's, where I have night meeting and stay all night. Fine day.

Sunday, May 29. Come to Brother Zachariah Hendrick's, where I have meeting. Speak from John 1:17. In afternoon come through the mountain top to Sister Eve Idleman's, where I stay all night. Frost this morning.

Monday, May 30. Visit our old and blind Sister Parks; read for her and pray with her. Come to Enoch Hyre's and stay till after dinner. I then go to Brother John Judy's, where I stay all night. Leave appointment to preach his deceased wife's funeral on Sunday, June 26.

Tuesday, May 31. Call at Philip Kesner's; at Samuel Kesner's; cross the mountain and call and get dinner at George Cowger's; then stop awhile at Philip Emswiler's; exchange a few pleasant words with friend Peter Warnstaff as I pass by his house; and get to Brother John Fulk's in evening, where I stay all night. Fine, pleasant day.

Wednesday, June 1. Come by Michael Wine's; dine with him; then come across the mountain home.

From this time to the memorable day of his martyrdom there is nothing in the Diary demanding special notice. Notice has already been taken of his calling at George Cowger's on the South Fork in Pendleton County, West Virginia, on his way home from this his last journey. At Mr. Cowger's, while at the dinner table, he said: "I am threatened; they may take my life; but I do not fear them; they can only kill my body." This they accomplished.

Wednesday, June 15, 1864. He went to a blacksmith's shop a few miles away from home; had Nell shod; and on his return was killed by, it is supposed, some concealed person or persons on a ridge of timber land a few miles away from home. Some account of his funeral has already been given in the introduction to this work. His body, when discovered, showed that it had been pierced by several bullets. But a smile rested on his face. The writer's own eyes witnessed this. It may be that this smile was the reflection of the joy that thrilled his soul as he stepped out of his broken tenement of clay into the presence and light of his Redeemer. Stephen's living face was as the face of an angel. Brother Kline's dead face was the face of a saint—no, not the face of a saint, but the face of the earthly casket in which a saint had lived, and labored, and rejoiced; and out of which he stepped into the glories of the eternal world. Amen!

He Died at His Post.

[Said to have been composed by Brother Kline on the death of Joseph Miller, who died while on a visit to Ohio.]

Away from his home and the friends of his youth

He hasted, the herald of mercy and truth,

For the love of his Lord and to seek for the lost

Soon, alas! was his fall, but he died at his post.

The stranger's eye wept that in life's brightest bloom

One gifted so highly should sink to the tomb;

For in order he led in the van of his host,

And he fell like a soldier, he died at his post.

He wept not himself that his warfare was done,

The battle was fought and the victory won,

But he whispered of those whom his heart clung to most,

"Tell my Brethren for me that I died at my post."

He asked not a stone to be sculptured with verse;

He asked not that fame should his merits rehearse;

But he asked as a boon when he gave up the ghost,

That his Brethren might know that he died at his post.

Victorious his fall, for he rose as he fell,

With Jesus his Master in glory to dwell.

He has passed o'er the stream and has reached the bright court,

For he fell like a martyr; he died at his post.

And can we the words of his exit forget?

O, no, they are fresh in our memory yet.

An example so brilliant shall not be lost;

We will fall in the work, we will die at our post.

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