Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary Part 33

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 c.o.xe'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.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 G.o.d." This means a great deal. Oh, how many, many at the present day fear to declare the whole counsel of G.o.d! 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d in the fellows.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sembled.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 s.h.i.+veley'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 G.o.d for the undeserving of his love. He defined FAITH as being a loving acceptance of G.o.d's revealed truth: that faith is the gift of G.o.d 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 G.o.d's workmans.h.i.+p, 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.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 pa.s.sages. 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 G.o.d." "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 G.o.d 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 t.i.ttle, 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 pa.s.sions, 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 h.e.l.l, 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 relations.h.i.+ps 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 G.o.d 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 gra.s.s from among his corn or the weeds from his garden.

G.o.d gives him the strength and the will to do both, but man has his work to do. He must be a coworker with G.o.d. 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 G.o.d?

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 G.o.d'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. G.o.d 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 was.h.i.+ng of regeneration."

Almost unwittingly we now find a threefold significance in the ordinance. It symbolized first, in the ministry of John, repentance toward G.o.d 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 t.i.tus he calls it "the was.h.i.+ng 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 G.o.d; my feet set into the way of holiness, and a 'new song put into my mouth, even praises unto our G.o.d.'"

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 Sat.u.r.day, 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 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 Sat.u.r.day, 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."