In the year 1878 the Brethren's Annual Meeting was held with the
Linville's Creek church. Brethren and sisters from many sections of
our Union were present. Many graves in the cemetery by the
meetinghouse were to be seen. Epitaphs were read by the throngs of
people who walked around to view them. Few of these bore anything
beyond the simple inscription of the name and the two facts that fall
to the lot of all: The time of birth and the time of death.
But there was one grave from whose humble mound each visitor seemed
eager to pluck a flower, a leaf, or any other little thing that might
be carried back home and enshrined in a casket for a memento of one
never to be forgotten. That grave was the grave of John Kline.
One sister, with tears in her eyes, said: "He preached my mother's
funeral." Another said: "He used to visit us in Ohio; and we always
loved so much to see him come." A brother said: "I traveled with him
over two thousand miles, and he was always one thing." Others said:
"The meeting is lonesome without him." "He was at our love feast in
Pennsylvania the year he was killed," said another. It would be vain
to attempt to follow up all the affectionate memories that were
expressed by the loving throngs of sanctified hearts that surrounded
his tomb.
In this book ELDER JOHN KLINE is set forth not as dead, but as alive;
as living and moving amongst us again. His life work stands recorded
on earth as well as in heaven. With untiring perseverance Brother
Kline kept a record of his work every day for a period of TWENTY-NINE
YEARS. These records contain two great facts common to the life of
every man, woman and child.
FIRST FACT.--Where he spent the day and night.
SECOND FACT.--How he spent the day and night.
A truthful record of these for many, made public, would blast their
reputation abroad and blight their peace at home. But not so with our
beloved brother. Whilst it is true that he had no expectation of his
Diary ever being published, it is equally true that it does not
contain a single entry of which he has cause to be ashamed before man
or God. That the entries are faithful and true needs no proof other
than the testimony that thousands still living are ready to bear to
his untarnished name as a man honest and honorable in all things.
As a Christian, the beloved ministering brethren who spoke at his
funeral are to-day not ashamed to apply to him the same words they
applied to him then, and which were taken as the subject of discourse
on that occasion. In speaking of his appointment to the ministry they
took these words: "And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of
the Holy Ghost." Acts 6:5. They also added the other words spoken of
Stephen in the eighth verse of the same chapter, a man "full of grace
and power." Can anything loftier be said of a man's qualification for
the work of the ministry?
As Stephen was the first Christian martyr, and Brother Kline the last
then known, they closed their discourses in heartfelt realization of
these words: "_And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made
great lamentation over him._" We all took part in the lamentation--the
writer himself being present and speaking on the occasion--and felt
that the ruthless hand of violence had wickedly torn from our midst a
friend and counsellor whose place could not be filled by any other.
As a kind-hearted, loving mother puts her child's best new dress on it
before taking it to church or in public, so have I endeavored to
clothe the diary of Brother Kline in a suitable attire of Sunday
clothes. I sincerely believe that the work in this form will be highly
acceptable to the Brotherhood at large; and as Brother Daniel Hays
says in a letter to me, "productive of much good."