Chapter XX: Part 20

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.