Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary Part 29

FRIDAY, June 23. Dine at Isaac Dasher's in Hardy County, and stay fifty-second night at William Fitzwater's, in Rockingham County, Virginia.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 pa.s.sed 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 quant.i.ty, 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 pa.s.s 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.d. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of G.o.d is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

MONDAY, July 31. Harvest meeting at the Flat Rock. David Kline is elected speaker.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 companions.h.i.+p, 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 sh.o.r.e. 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 inst.i.tuted. 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 inst.i.tuted. 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 G.o.d 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 h.e.l.l. 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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 G.o.d 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.sed 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 was.h.i.+ng one another's feet sets forth our readiness to help one another in the Christian life, for "none of us liveth to himself."

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 pa.s.sage are so original and instructive that I will endeavor to extend and elucidate them as best I can.

This pa.s.sage, 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 pa.s.s 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 G.o.d.

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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d. 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 t.i.ttle 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 s.h.i.+ne 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 G.o.d'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 s.h.i.+ne 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 a.s.surances 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 G.o.d 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, Hamps.h.i.+re, 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 sh.o.r.e, to live in the paradise of G.o.d. 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 wors.h.i.+p erected by a largely increased and increasing members.h.i.+p; by an increase of enlightened piety, as exemplified in its possessors by their nonconformity to the world and their attendance upon the ordinances of G.o.d'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 pa.s.sage 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 circ.u.mspect 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, wis.h.i.+ng 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 Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 G.o.d 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.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 pa.s.sage 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.