This book, if carefully read, will instruct both young and old. In
this age of progress, when the forces of nature and art are being
applied to practical ends; when "men are running to and fro and
knowledge is wonderfully increased," it becomes us as intelligent
Christians to look around and see whether we are not living in
perilous times.
Far be it from me to discourage any one from seeking that knowledge
which is good, or from availing himself of the benefits to be derived
from the arts and sciences; but if this knowledge and these benefits
are sought and gained only for worldly ends, only to add to worldly
accomplishments or worldly treasure, they are dangerous for time and
ruinous for eternity. What support can the soul have in its deep
conflict with temptation, or in the dark hour of affliction or
bereavement, when stayed on this world only? In all the tenderness of
a father's heart I turn to the youth of our land and say to them in
the words of the best Friend that God himself could give: "Seek FIRST
the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and all earthly blessings
will be added unto you.
In the following pages you may see what one man may do by "patient
continuance in well doing." Brother Kline was a man "subject to like
passions as we are." He was once an infant just as you were, and lay
at his mother's breast. He very well remembered, when an old man, how
he felt when she made for him his first pair of "_pants_." When that
kind mother put them on him, pleased and smiling in the tenderness of
her nature, "the first use that I made of my hands," said he to me
shortly before his death, "was to feel for the pockets." "We incline,"
continued he, "to carry this feature of our boyhood into youth and
age. The pocket never ceases to be a very important appendage to our
dress, and the hand inclines to put into it every valuable thing it
can."
Brother Kline never went to school very much. He learned to read and
write both German and English; and he also studied arithmetic. Further
than this he never went in school. He did not have the advantages of
free schools as young people now have. But you may learn from this
that one may carry on his education after leaving school. In fact,
schools only _open the way_ for acquiring an education.
When a boy I was very fond of reading the lives of great men. I did
not then know very much about poetry, but I surely did feel something
of the fire that Longfellow has made to glow with so much heat and
light in his "Psalm of Life." I am glad to add, by means of this book,
one more name to the list of great men, so that in the lines which
follow he too may be included.
"Lives of GREAT MEN all remind us
We can make our lives sublime;
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of Time:
Footprints, that perhaps another
Sailing o'er life's troubled main--
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother--
Seeing, may take heart again."
Elder John Kline will be set forth in this work as one of the great
PIONEER PREACHERS of the Cross. A brief but clear outline of many of
his sermons, together with the time and place of preaching them, will
be given. Many of the love feasts which he attended, and the substance
of what he said at some of them will also be noted.
He has left a record of the name of every family he ever visited in
all the States, together with the day and year when such visits were
made. Those brethren and sisters of the Lord who still remember him,
will, while reading this work, live over again the years that have
passed away and been almost forgotten. You will again listen to the
voice of his holy, healing words at some love feast long ago gone by.
You will again sit with him by the "old home hearthstone" as it used
to be when father and mother were living, and all the brothers and
sisters together in the room, and hear him talk and sing, and read and
pray. And will not this exercise of the mind and heart be pleasant?
Will it not be profitable? Will it not serve to refresh your love to
Christ and the Brotherhood? May it not rekindle in your heart a flame
of that first and tender love which shone so brightly when first you
saw the Lord? You then could sweetly sing:
"Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow thee."
Since that time many cares and toils and afflictions and bereavements,
perhaps, have caused you to sigh in mournful memory:
"What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!"
and the heart-sobs sadly echo:
"But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill."
In such seasons of sadness and despondency it is helpful to the heart
to hold communion with the great and the good through the medium of
their writings. Men who leave such comforting testimony behind them
are a blessing to all within the circle of their influence while
living, and when dead they continue to speak. Their words are felt and
blessed on both banks of the "River of Time" as it flows down through
the ages.
There were a few points in the life and character of Elder John Kline
which may very appropriately be referred to here. I sincerely hope
that all the youthful members of the Brotherhood, especially, may
become acquainted with these points.
THE FIRST POINT.--_He was truthful._ He never spoke positively about
anything without first examining the matter carefully; and even then
he said about it only what he knew to be true. How different this
habit from that of many who speak positively about things which they
do not well understand, or which they are for the most part ignorant
of!
THE SECOND POINT.--_He never spoke evil of any one._ It is not to be
understood from this that he spoke _good_ of every one. On the contrary,
he spoke freely of the sinner and to the sinner; warning him of his
danger and pointing him to his impenitent doom. But it is to be
understood that he never spoke evil to _injure_ any one. Whatever he
said in that way was to reform and to bless. His heart overflowed with
love to all.
THE THIRD POINT.--_He was temperate._ During a long personal acquaintance
with him, I never knew or heard of his taking a drink of ardent
spirits or intoxicating liquor of any kind. If he ever did use any at
all, it was only as a _medicine_. But as he was very temperate in his
eating, and judiciously careful of himself generally, he was rarely
ever sick.
THE FOURTH POINT.--_He was abstemious._ This, in connection with strict
temperance and pure morality, made him a clean man. His mouth was not
polluted with _chewing tobacco_. His nose was not defiled with _snuffing
tobacco_. His breath was not vitiated with _smoking tobacco_. He
consequently never used tobacco in anyway. My dear young reader, in
all the love of my heart, I urge you to "go and do likewise, that it
may be well with thee."