Chapter VIII: Part 8

FRIDAY, August 2. Love feast at the Brick meetinghouse. Luke 14 was read. One brother spoke impressively on the last three words in the first verse: "THEY WATCHED HIM." Said he, "The enemies of the Lord most likely did this. They were ever eager to find some ground of accusation against him. But the Lord was not alone in this. 'A servant is not greater than his lord.' We, Brethren, are liable to be watched. And I think I may say truthfully that we are watched not only by our enemies, but by our friends too. But there is a great difference between the eye of an enemy and the eye of a friend. The eye of an enemy seeks for faults with which to accuse and persecute; and when no real fault can be found the evil eye seeks to make faults by looking at our actions and motives in a false light, and if possible getting others to regard them in the same false light. But not so the eye of a friend. A wise father watches his children, not to find faults with which to accuse, but in love to correct by pointing out their evil tendencies and the end to which they lead.

"So, dear brethren and sisters, should we watch one another in the house of God. We should never be quick to take offense when some brother or sister out of pure love for us kindly warns us of some fault that we may not be fully conscious of."

In words as nearly like the above as I can give them, and in many others, did the brother exhort the church.

SUNDAY, August 25. Attend meeting at the Flat Rock. First Corinthians 1 is read. Louis Nasselrodt and wife and Henry Strawdeman and wife were baptized. I baptized them.

SUNDAY, September 1. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Colossians 2 was read. Philip Bible and wife, Adam Hevner and wife, William Andes, Samuel Zigler, Christian Krider and old Mother Minick were baptized to-day.

SUNDAY, September 8. Meeting at Stoner's to-day. Romans 6 was read. I baptized Christian Krider's wife to-day.

[With Elder John Kline to plan was to do; to propose in mind was to perform in act; ever though, let it be remembered, by the help of the Lord. "His will, and not mine, be done," was Brother Kline's motto. The following notes are word for word from the fly leaves of his Diary for the present year. They are inserted here for two reasons. First, to show that he formed a purpose and laid down a plan before acting. In the following pages it will be seen how faithfully the plan laid out in the Diary was executed. Second, to show something of the confidence reposed in his genuine honesty, and his business capacity as a man.--EDITOR.]

I have in contemplation to take the following route to Ohio: Start on the seventeenth of September, and on the eighteenth have an afternoon meeting at Parks's, in Hardy County, Virginia [now West Virginia]; on the twenty-first to stop at Jacob Thomas's in Preston County, Virginia; on the twenty-second to be at George's Creek; on the twenty-sixth to be at Bull Creek, Columbiana County, Ohio; on the eighth and ninth of October to be at Bucyrus, Crawford County, Ohio; on the twelfth to be at Sugar Creek, in Allen County, Ohio; on the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth in Henry County, Indiana; on the evening of the twenty-third to be at Bear Creek, Montgomery County, Ohio. Things which I have to attend to on my trip to Ohio and Indiana:

To inquire of George Weaver about a legacy of William Toppin, orphan of Thomas Toppin.

Received of Jacob Hoover $73.42 to be paid over as follows:

To George Hoover, $17.57
To Peter Fesler, 17.57
To Elizabeth Fesler, 38.28
------
$73.42

To get some rents of Joseph Garber for Susanna Garber.

To pay over to Betsy Fesler, $200.00
To pay over to George Hoover, 50.00

This money I received of Aunt Katy Hoover.

To collect some money of Mahoney and of John Kline for Ziglers. I hold papers for the same.

To collect money of Jacob Leedy in Columbiana County, Ohio, for Peter Nead.

To collect money of John Garber, of Montgomery County, Ohio, for Solomon Garber, of Rockingham County, Virginia. I am to let John Garber have the note if he pays $150.00.

TUESDAY, September 17. Brother George R. Hedrick and I start from my home this morning, on horseback, for Ohio. We dine at William Fitzwater's, in Brock's Gap, and arrive in the evening at Isaac Dasher's on the South Fork, Hardy County, Virginia, where we stay over night.

WEDNESDAY, September 18. Come to Isaac Shobe's for breakfast, and on to Parks's for dinner. Meeting in the afternoon at Parks's. John 3 is read. On the way to-day Brother Hedrick and I talked over the interpretation we are to give the Lord's words in the thirteenth verse of the chapter read this afternoon. These are the words: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven." I asked Brother Hedrick if Elijah had not ascended to heaven? I quoted to him the very words recorded in the eleventh verse of the second chapter of Second Kings: "And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." Brother Hedrick confessed that a first thought on our Lord's words might lead the mind to conclude that there is a want of harmony between what he says to Nicodemus and what is plainly said of Elijah. But he removed the difficulty from my mind at once by explaining the Lord's words to mean that no one in his own strength or by virtue of his own power had ascended to heaven. "Elijah went up to heaven, it is true," said he, "but the horses of fire and the chariot of fire by which he went up, beautifully and impressively symbolize the Lord's hand by which he was taken up. And besides this, we read in 2 Kings 2:1, 'And it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.' Here it is plainly implied that the Lord took up Elijah into heaven. And this falls in as a part of the great lesson the Lord was seeking to impress upon the mind of Nicodemus, the great truth that the Lord alone has power to lift men, through the regeneration, up to heaven." Stay all night at Parks's.

THURSDAY, September 19. We go to Stingley's for breakfast; to Eliza Hays's for dinner (still in Hardy County, Virginia), and stay all night at Gilpin's. We are now within sixteen miles of the Maryland line.

FRIDAY, September 20. To-day we passed through what is called the Glades and Wilderness, to the Briery mountain. A very lonely road; but the companionship of a man and a brother like George Hedrick makes solitude enjoyable. Only those who have experienced the agreeableness of a bright, serene, calm and contented mind and heart, such as I find in Brother Hedrick, can ever realize the pleasure of such company. It does seem to me that we can almost adopt toward each other the beautiful sentiment of love which Ruth expressed for Naomi: "Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people. Where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried." We fed our horses and took breakfast at Smith's tavern, in Preston County, Virginia; took dinner at Bransonville, and find ourselves here at Brother Jacob Thomas's, where we are spending the night.

SATURDAY, September 21. Meeting in the schoolhouse near Brother Thomas's. Deuteronomy, eighteenth chapter is read. I spoke on the latter portion of the chapter read, from the fifteenth verse to the end. I spoke particularly on the following words: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." This was spoken to the children of Israel. What follows was spoken directly to Moses: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." I tried to show these people the great danger there is in a life of sin. The great Prophet spoken of and promised in the words of my text is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In the fullness of time he appeared. The prophecy just read was recorded by Moses very nearly fifteen hundred years before it was fulfilled by the appearing of our Savior. This single consideration may serve to remind us of the faithfulness of God in fulfilling his Word. And our blessed Lord while in the flesh more than once turned the eyes of his disciples to the prophecies that foretold his coming. In one place he said to the people: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." After his resurrection, on his way to Emmaus, in company with two of his sorrowing disciples who had not yet fully learned the truth of his having risen, he said in reference to his sufferings and death: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me."

I am now prepared to tell you, and I trust you are prepared to hear some of the particulars in which Christ Jesus was like unto Moses. You know the text says: "A Prophet like unto me." This is the language of Moses. The Lord God had just before told him this. We will now turn to some of the points in the comparison of Moses with Christ. Moses told the people to believe what he told them and obey the commands he gave them. He taught them that if they would obey the commands and ordinances which God gave and established through him they would receive the favor of the Lord, and that as a reward for their obedience he would bless them exceedingly. But if they would turn away from him, he would turn away from them, and multiply their troubles greatly. Christ Jesus does the same. Just at the close of the most wonderful sermon the world has ever heard preached, a sermon in which all the moral and spiritual relations of men to each other and to God, together with the duties growing out of these relations, are set forth the Lord says: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

Friends, let me say to you that each and every one of you is building a house for himself on one or the other of these foundations. Your life, your every-day life, from beginning to end, is the house you are building. If your life, from love to the Lord, is based upon the solid rock of his Revealed Truth, it will stand the temptations and trials symbolized by the floods and winds; but if not, it will never be able to stand, and great will be its fall. Some may think that because God is long-suffering, and does not punish sin in this world so manifestly as he sometimes did in former times, he is becoming more merciful and takes less account of sin than formerly. But this is a very great mistake. God has always been quite as merciful as he could be consistently with his justice and holiness; and the warning given in Hebrews 2:2 should be heeded. This is the warning: "If every transgression and disobedience" under Moses, "received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" Notice this also from the same book: "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

Again: The children of Israel were baptized unto Moses, that is, into a visible covenant with him, in the cloud and in the Red Sea, as they passed through. In this act of baptism, by which they declared their willingness to follow him as their leader, but the one action was required, and that action was their passing between the walls of water on the right hand and on the left hand, with the cloud overhead completely shutting them in from the world. But the Christian, to be a true follower of the great Prophet of whom we are particularly speaking, is required to submit to a threefold baptism, which is an immersion of the body in water in the name of the Father who loved us and gave his Son; another immersion in the name of the Son who redeems and saves us; and lastly an immersion in the name of the Holy Ghost who convinces of sin, who comforts us, enlightens us as to our duties, sanctifies and makes us meet for heaven.

Again: Moses gave the people water from the Rock. Christ Jesus gives his people the water of life. He says: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."

Again: Moses fed the people with manna, which they gathered every morning from the ground. Christ feeds his people with the heavenly manna, which I take to be the great and eternal love of the Father contained in the blessed words of truth which his Son has declared to the world.

In such and many other words did I speak unto these people, seeking to instruct them in the things of salvation, and induce some of them, at least, to turn to the Lord. After meeting we dined at Brother Thomas's, and started for George's Creek; crossed Laurel mountain to Hagtonsville, then to Brother Joseph Leatherman's, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where we stay all night.

SUNDAY, September 22. Go to George's Creek meetinghouse. We have forenoon and afternoon meeting. Second Corinthians 6 is read in the forenoon meeting. In the 3 o'clock meeting Luke 14 is read. I speak on the great supper, from the sixteenth to the twenty-fourth verse.

Whilst I am a stranger to most of you, I nevertheless feel assured by the signs I witness that I can confidingly and affectionately address some of you, and I trust a goodly number too, as beloved brethren and sisters. This is, so far, as it should be. But what would be the joy of my heart, and what would be the joy of heart with each one of you, could it be said that this entire congregation is of one mind and all speak the same thing! But the words of my text, harmonizing with the closing words of another parable, recorded by Matthew, which declare that "many are called, but few chosen," may continue to be true, for a long time yet to come. Whilst the advocates of election and predestination claim this as one of their proof texts, to my mind it proves the exact reverse. "Many are called." Here, if I mistake not, the German has it: "The many are called." I take this to mean that all are called. Now compare this with what is said here in my text: "Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." This surely proves that all are called or invited to the great supper. First, the Jews were invited. When Jesus sent forth the twelve he commanded them saying; "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Here it is plain that the Jews were the first to be invited. "But they all with one mind began to make excuse." Next then the poor of the city were invited. Still there was room. Next the off-casts and beggars were invited. These included the very lowest of the Gentile nations, and comprehend all that live, every creature.

Now I ask, in the name of all that is reasonable, can we, dare we, accuse the Lord of dealing deceitfully? Perish the thought forever. No! He invites all because it is his blessed will to see all come and sit at his table spread with the great love feast which he has prepared for all who are willing and desire to come. This very thought is the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue. And it is a joy which no man taketh from me, because it rests on the rock of Divine Truth. But a preparation is necessary. We can hardly separate the parable under consideration from the one recorded in Matthew twenty-second chapter. There we read of a wedding dinner made by a king, to celebrate the marriage of his son. And when the king came in he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And the king said: "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless." And why was he speechless? If he would have had any reasonable excuse to offer for the unprepared appearance which he made, would he have been speechless? Reason says at once. He would have urged his inability to procure a suitable dress for the occasion, as the cause for his appearing in the way he did, if any such cause had existed. And the king knew this full well; otherwise he would not have required all to have on the wedding garment.

I now call your attention to the closing words of the parable: "I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." The reason for this is found in the fact that they would not come. They were the first to be invited. Had they come, they would have received the right hand of welcome. But notice the unreasonable excuses they made. One had bought a piece of ground, and he must go and see it, as if night were the time to look at land. Another must try the five yoke of oxen he had that day bought, as if night were the best time to do this. Another had married a wife and could not come, as if night were not a suitable time to enjoy a rich supper with his bride. We wonder at these vain and almost unnatural excuses; but do we find the excuses of men any more reasonable to-day? Men hazard their souls in a life of sin, not for want of invitations, entreaties and warnings from the Lord to come unto him, but because they will not. The Lord pleads with men to-day, just as he pleaded with Israel centuries ago. Hear what he says to Israel by the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel: "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, ... and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves and live ye."

And now, Brethren and friends, to make a brief application of some of the great principles laid down, I will say that the Lord's Supper is the great love feast which he has prepared for you, for me, for all. This great love feast, of which our own ordinance by his appointment, and bearing the same name, is a beautiful and fitting emblem, is neither more nor less than the bountiful provisions Christ has made for the salvation of all. These provisions are the great truths of his Word, filled with his love. The Lord Jesus says: "I am the bread of life." To the Jews he said: "Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they died." "If any man eat of the bread which I shall give him, he shall live forever." When we are faithfully obeying the Lord from love in our hearts, we are eating this life-giving bread. Every truth which the Lord has revealed, and by which the spiritual man is fed as to his soul, may be regarded as a component part of this great feast.

Jesus said to the tempter: "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The tempter here meant material bread for the body, and the Lord answered him according to that meaning. This is the kind of bread, material bread, with which the devil seeks to satisfy every demand of our being. It embraces everything the natural appetite of man craves. The devil is ever seeking to lead men to feed on the husks which the swine do eat, and to be satisfied with that kind of food. But the blessed Lord Jesus resists the tempter, and continually seeks to lead men into a higher, nobler and heavenly life. He says to every sinner: "Arise, and go to thy Father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned before heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." This is repentance. This is the first move man makes in the way of approach to the feast the Lord has prepared. "Man liveth by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This embraces all of Revealed Truth. Every law, every precept, every prophecy, every parable has some outflowing, healing virtue, some life-imparting power. We touch the hem of its garment when we read or hear in sincerity of heart. O sinner, come and partake of this feast, and thy soul shall live.

We stay all night with David Longenacre.

MONDAY, September 23. On towards Ohio. Dine and feed our horses at Brother David Wise's. This evening we are at Hays's tavern in Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where we[1] stay all night.

TUESDAY, September 24. Go to Hickorytown where we feed our horses and get breakfast. Then on through Burgitsville and Florencetown to Frankford, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where we feed and dine at Duncan's tavern. Then on to Georgetown, where we cross the Ohio river in a horse-boat, and stay all night at Smith's tavern. A lonesome ride to-day, because we have seen no Brethren.

[1] Brother Kline in the Diary almost invariably puts it "_Stay
all night_." I am not willing to depart from his usage in
this.--ED.

WEDNESDAY, September 25. Breakfast and feed in Darlington at Dunlap's tavern. Then on to New Middletown to Daniel Summers's; and this evening reach Brother Henry Kurtz's in Columbiana County, where we stay all night.

THURSDAY, September 26. Meeting at Brother Haas's. Hebrews 8 is read. Love feast this evening. Come back to Brother Kurtz's and stay all night. Paul has told us more than once of the joy he felt, and how his heart was refreshed on meeting dear brethren and sisters whom he had not seen for a time. In meeting the brethren and sisters here and elsewhere we experience much of the same feeling. They everywhere make us feel at home, and show us more love and give us more attention than we deserve. What a blessed thing it is to be filled with the love of Christ! This implants love in the heart for the Brethren. John says: "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren." This is the first-fruits of the tree of life in our hearts.

FRIDAY, September 27. Go westward through Greene, Salem, Damascus, Westville, and on to Brother Joseph Bollinger's, where we stay all night.

SATURDAY, September 28. Meeting. John 3 is read. Evening meeting at Brother Metse's, where we stay all night. Hebrews 12 is read. Begins to snow this evening, and continues all night.

SUNDAY, September 29. Meeting in the Franklin Lutheran church. Matthew 7 is read. After meeting we come to Brother David Sommers's. Evening meeting. John 10 is read. Stay all night with Brother Sommers. The weather has cleared up.

MONDAY, September 30. Visit Michael Dickey who is very sick. We then attend a meeting at Eli Dickey's, in Starke County. Galatians 3 is read. Stay all night with Brother Dickey.

TUESDAY, October 1. On westward, through Canton, Massilon, Brooklin, Dover, Wayne County, to Brother Jacob Kurtz's, where we have night meeting. Matthew 9 is read. Fine weather.

WEDNESDAY, October 2. Pass through Jefferson, Pittsburg, and on to Brother Lucas's, where we have meeting. Second Corinthians 2 is read. I spoke awhile on the last verse, particularly on these words: "Corrupting the word of God." In the margin the translation of this part of the verse is somewhat different, and, if I mistake not, is sustained by the German of Luther. It is this: "Making merchandise of the word of God." I regard this as the more literal of the two renderings. But they both mean very nearly the same, with this slight difference, that the one strikes more at the cause, while the other regards particularly the effect of "handling the word of God deceitfully." Men who make merchandise of the Word of God are exactly in line with the Pharisees as the Lord described them: "Verily, they have their reward." Jesus says: "Provide yourselves purses which wax not old; a treasure in the heavens which faileth not." But those who make merchandise of the Word of God provide purses for themselves, for this life, which do wax old; and they lay up their treasures here. Sad to say, such corrupt the Word by handling it deceitfully, that they may make the things of religion pleasing to the natural man, and thereby draw numbers to their side. But, brethren and sisters, I hardly need tell you that this world is no friend to grace--no friend to God--no friend to your souls. "Except a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily, he cannot be my disciple." How different these words of Jesus are from some remarks I heard one of those gospel merchants make from his stand not long since. I give them as nearly as I can. Said he: "Religion is natural to man. And that religion is the best which enables a man or a woman, in the easiest and most respectable way, to lead a good moral and civil life in this world. Christ is your righteousness, and he gives you your necessary fitness for heaven without any effort on your part, any more than to just believe on him; so all you have to do is to sustain a respectable standing in the church, by attending to its ordinances, and you are and forever will be all right."

Now I would ask if such talk as this is not corrupting the Word? How any man, in the face of the sermon on the Mount, in which the deepest humility of heart--in the way of self-denial, forgiveness of enemies, love of the truth, obedience to every commandment, from supreme love to God--and the lowest self-abasement is laid down and set forth in the clearest light and plainest injunctions--how, I say, in the face of all this, can a man speak in this way? And more. Hear the awful, terrific denunciation at the close of this sermon: "He that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Ah! Brethren, something more than a desire to appear respectable in the eyes of the world, and hold an honorable place in the church, so called, is necessary to withstand the floods and storms of temptations that are sure to try us in this world. This is why so many make shipwreck. They do not count the cost; and this is why they desire to make peace, when they see and feel the army of twenty thousand temptations coming against them, and they have only ten thousand, very poorly equipped, to resist their attack.

The temptations to conform to the vain fashions of the world, especially with the young, may be called legion. The temptations to commit adultery are a host. I speak plainly, Brethren, but I must not corrupt the Word. The temptation to acquire property from the avaricious love of wealth, more than we can use ourselves or handle to good ends, comes as the prince of darkness with clouds that shut out the light of heaven from our sight. Brethren and sisters, as I love you all dearly, let me say to you at the close of my remarks that the Lord says: "The scriptures cannot be broken." No man can intentionally break the Scriptures and be saved. We dare not corrupt the Word of God.

After meeting we go to Brother John Shoemaker's, where we have night meeting, and stay all night. Ephesians 6 is read.

THURSDAY, October 3. Take the Ashland road to Brother Joseph Rupp's, near Ashland, Ashland County, where we have meeting. Luke 14 is read. Stay this afternoon and night with Brother Rupp.

FRIDAY, October 4. Go to Brother Jacob Whisler's, six miles north of Mansfield. Meeting at 3 o'clock. John 14 is read. To-day we crossed the Black Fork of the Mohican. Stay all night with Brother Whisler.

SATURDAY, October 5. On westward through Shelby, to Brother Samuel Cover's in Crawford County, where we have night meeting. Last part of Acts 3 is read. Stay all night with Brother Cover.

SUNDAY, October 6. Meeting. Matthew 7 is read. Stay all night with Brother Martain Hestand.

MONDAY, October 7. Visit William Lupton, but not finding him at home, make settlement with his son of business connected with Hoover's estate. Look over Hoover's land, and stay all night at Bender's. Fine day.

TUESDAY, October 9. Meeting at Brother Hestand's in afternoon. Matthew 10 is read. Night meeting at Brother Clark's. Part of John 3 is read. Stay all night at Brother Clark's. Fine day.

WEDNESDAY, October 9. Start for Allen County. Dine and feed at Upper Sandusky; then on to Huston's, in Hardin County. Bad road from the Bellefontaine road for twelve miles. Stay all night at Huston's.

THURSDAY, October 10. By Williamsburg, breakfast and feed at Michael Baserman's, and on to Abraham Miller's in Allen County, where we stay all night. Brother Hedrick and I have slept together in the same bed every night since we left home.

FRIDAY, October 11. Stay at Brother Miller's till after dinner, then go to Brother Samuel Miller's, where we stay all night.

SATURDAY, October 12. Pass through Lima, dine and feed in Wapokaneta, and stay all night at Shannon's tavern.

SUNDAY, October 13. Go to Brother Joseph Risser's, dine and feed, then to Brother Jacob Basehore's, where we leave our horses and walk two and one-half miles to meeting and back to Brother Basehore's. Night meeting at Brother Cabell's. First John 3 is read. Stay all night at Brother Basehore's, in Miami County. Fine day.

MONDAY, October 14. Westward through Greenville to Brother Emanuel Flory's in Darke County, where we dine and feed; then on to Winchester in Indiana, and stay all night at Acker's tavern. We are now in Randolph County, Indiana. If we were among false brethren in this new country, as Paul says he once was in the land in which he traveled, situated as we are in respect to bad roads, a long way from our homes, with no means of conveyance except the backs of our horses to carry us to Virginia, the prospect of our stay here, and our hopes of safe return, might be gloomy indeed. But, thanks to the good Lord, we are not among false brethren. Our Brethren are true Brethren wherever we find them. There may be some hypocrites, God knows; but I know of none. Brother Hedrick and I have repeatedly discoursed on this subject in our travels together, and neither he nor I have in a single instance met with a brother or sister that has not, in our presence at least, shown something of the gentleness and meekness of Christ. We are made to feel at home wherever we go among them, and these considerations strengthen our faith and encourage the assurance that the Gospel which we as a band of Christians preach and practice, and which works mightily in the hearts of the dear Brethren everywhere, is of God. "By their fruits ye shall know them."

FRIDAY, October 11. Still westward through Cameron, to Brother Fullhearts, where we feed our horses and get dinner. We then cross the White river to Muncie in Delaware County, and stay all night with David Bowers. Rough, windy and rainy day.

WEDNESDAY, October 16. Visit the following named families, in nearly all of which we find members of our Brotherhood. We first visit Sowerwine's, then Joseph Coffman's, Sheets's, Jacob Good's, Absalom Painter's and George Hoover's. At the last-named place we have night meeting and stay all night. We are now in Henry County, Indiana.

THURSDAY, October 17. Meeting at Jacob Brunk's. Mark 1 is read. Then to Peter Fesler's, where we have night meeting. Acts 3 is read. Stay all night with Brother Fesler.

FRIDAY, October 18. Come to Middletown and get a letter from home. Glad to hear that all are well, but sorry to learn of some deaths. Leaving Middletown, we go eastward to Brother David Hartman's, in Wayne County, where we stay all night. Raining all day, and in afternoon it falls in torrents.

SATURDAY, October 19. Love feast at Brother Abraham Hoover's. John 1 is read. Stay all night at Brother David Hartman's. Clear and cold.

SUNDAY, October 20. Forenoon meeting. Acts 3 was read. I spoke on verse twenty-second: Subject, "The Great Prophet." Meeting again at one o'clock. I speak on Mark 1:27. Text: "And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this?"

The Jews could well ask the question set forth in the text: "What new doctrine is this?" To them the teachings of Christ were all new. Whilst he came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill, nevertheless his fulfillment of them was so spiritual, so essentially holy, so pure in motive, so beneficent in act, that the Jews were entire strangers to it: or probably better, it was strange and new to them. Even Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews, failed to perceive what Jesus meant when he told him about the nature and necessity of the new birth. Our Lord manifests something of surprise at the ignorance and stupidity of Nicodemus. Such ignorance as Nicodemus exposes in the presence of Christ appears to us as wholly inexcusable, when we look at what had already been taught on the subject of a change of heart, or regeneration, in the law of Moses and the prophets.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, walked with God three hundred years, and never saw death, for God took him. Did he walk with God in a fleshly mind, or in a spiritual mind? Hear what Jesus and Paul say: "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh," and Paul says: "Therein dwelleth no good thing." "But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and therein serve we the Lord acceptably. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Elijah are to-day in the heavens. Are they there in the flesh? Nay, verily, but in the spirit; in the new nature which God had implanted in them. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven."

"And what shall I say more? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephtha; of David also, and Samuel," who prayed: "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." But the Jews had become carnal, fleshly minded, and, like Nicodemus, were unable to see the spirituality of their own Word. How, then, could they apprehend the grace or see the truth which came by Jesus Christ! Let us, Brethren, search the Scriptures and acquaint ourselves much with the Gospel of our salvation, so that when we read or hear, it may not be to us as it was to the Jews, a new doctrine, but the

"Old, old story,
Of Jesus and his love."

This is nearly the substance of what I said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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