In my travels among the mountains of our Virginia I have often seen
the laurel holding out its evergreen but poisonous leaves in sprays
of most enticing beauty. Miles and miles of road, in one unbroken
stretch, may there be seen densely hedged on either hand by this
beautiful emblem of sin and death. Herds of cattle and flocks of sheep
are every year driven over these roads. Every herdsman and shepherd
knows the danger to be apprehended from the inclination of some of
either kind to "sidle" off from the plain and beaten track and pluck
the green leaves of the laurel to their own destruction.
Many a time have I overtaken flocks of sheep, some of which were lying
along the road "_down with the staggers_." This last is the name of
the disease which is brought on by taking laurel. The old sheep avoid
it. They will not taste it. The young sheep and lambs are the only
ones that incline first to taste and then eat it. It is hardly
necessary for me to point out to you the lesson of instruction to be
gathered from what I have just said. The _staggers_, by veterinary
surgeons, is said to be a kind of drunkenness often fatal in its
effects.
The Prophet Isaiah speaks of some who "are drunken, but not with wine;
who stagger, but not with strong drink." I fancy I hear someone in the
congregation say: "I guess they must have taken laurel." Precisely so,
friend! They took the very laurel that has been the ruin of thousands
of the Lord's sheep and lambs. Let me tell you exactly what I mean.
The love of _worldly pleasure_ is laurel of _one kind_. It blooms
forth in the desire for fine dress, gay company, night gatherings,
social parties, and the like things.
_Worldly treasure_ is laurel of _another kind_. It blooms forth in the
desire for worldly possessions, no matter how obtained, and only to
gratify selfish ends. I have known some old sheep to take this kind.
_Ambition to be great and highly honored_ is still _another kind_.
This is the "deer-tongued" laurel, the very tallest kind that grows,
and has the richest looking flowers. But it is just as poisonous as
any, and it blooms forth in the desire to be admired for beauty, to be
looked up to for superior power and wisdom, and to be held in high
honor for great deeds. I have known some _old sheep_ and even _leaders
of the flock_ to eat of this kind until they staggered considerably.
It was plainly visible in their steps that their heads were not
exactly level. I am glad, however, to be able to say, that in the
flock to which we belong, I have met with very few who ever gave any
signs of being afflicted in the way last described.
In his letter to the Philippian brethren, Paul says: "For many walk,
of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ."
But, brethren, there is a remedy for all these evils. God has provided
the remedy. Nor is it a bitter draught. It is the "milk and wine" of
his Word. Both mean TRUTH. I used to wonder why the Prophet Isaiah
used both terms, when both mean the same thing. Now I will tell you.
He says: "Come unto me, buy WINE and MILK, yea, buy WINE and MILK
without money, and without price." _Milk_ is TRUTH in its simplest and
plainest forms. Gospel truth presented in a way that very young and
uninstructed minds may readily take it in, is what Paul calls "_milk
for babes_." But wine is the very same TRUTH extended and expanded
into forms of instruction adapted to the understandings of "men in
Christ Jesus."
All are invited and even exhorted to come; to come to the "fountain
that was opened in the house of David." It is the same that is meant
by the "river of the water of life which proceedeth from the throne of
God and of the Lamb." I exhort every one, both old and young, to study
God's Word for the truth it contains, represented by the beautiful
symbols set before you therein. Even the unconverted sinner is invited
to come and take of the "water of life freely."
"Here pardon, love, and joy divine
In rich effusion flow,
For guilty sinners lost in sin
And doomed to endless woe."
The interval between the last given date and MONDAY, February 15, has
nothing in it claiming special notice. But here he says: "To-day I
attended the funeral of little Susanna Brower, who died yesterday
morning. As it is our privilege to 'rejoice with those who do
rejoice,' so it is our duty to 'weep with those that weep." I could
but weep to see the remains of this interesting little girl laid in
the cold and silent grave. I think it was the ancient Romans who
personified DEATH in the form of a walking skeleton, scythe in hand,
cutting down whatever the whim of his fancy might suggest. This
representation may accord with the relentless strokes his scythe is
sometimes seen to make; but the light of heaven reveals a Hand that
holds his bony arm within its grasp; and that Hand is the hand of our
God. For,
"'Not a sparrow to the ground may fall
But our Father's in it: Heart of Love that governs all.
Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.'"
"Heaven is largely made up of children; and until every crown shall
have a head, and every white robe have a wearer, God will recall his
own."
WEDNESDAY, March 16. Brother Daniel Trump and Sister Polly Moyers were
both buried to-day. These make six funerals that I have attended in
the space of four weeks.
"One by one, we cross the River;
One by one, we're ferried o'er;
One by one, the crowns are given
On the bright, celestial shore."
_Sermon by Elder John Kline._
_Preached at the Old Brick Meetinghouse, Augusta County, Virginia,
Sunday, April 24._
TEXT.--Lest there be any ... profane person, as Esau, who for one
morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he
found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with
tears.--Heb. 12:16, 17.
Esau and Jacob were twin sons of Isaac. But Esau was born first; and
this, according to the law of primogeniture in that day, gave him
special privileges, among which was the right on his part to a double
portion of the heritage to be received from the father.
This right Jacob treacherously bought of his brother Esau. Rebekah,
their mother, was favorable to the contract, and laid the plan for its
successful completion. Esau had been unsuccessful in his pursuit of
game, and soon found himself in a famishing condition. Jacob took
advantage of this, and proposed to purchase the birthright. He said to
Esau: "Sell me this day thy birthright." And Esau said: "Behold, I am
at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?"
And he sold his birthright to Jacob. "Then Jacob gave Esau bread and a
mess of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up and went his
way: thus Esau despised his birthright."
Esau is here regarded as a profane or wicked person, because he did
not more highly esteem the blessing to which he was born. Paul refers
to this fact, to teach us that it is our duty, as the regenerated or
"firstborn" children of God, to place a very high value upon our
relation to him conferred by this birth.
"Esau found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with
tears." This means that all his sorrow or regret for the foolish
bargain he had made would not and could not place him back where he
was before. The blessing of his father had been given to another past
all possibility of calling it back. I do not, and can not, however, as
some do, apply this to the sin against the Holy Ghost. The blessing of
Jacob was all external. It comprehended only earthly things. I will
read it, so that you may hear it: "God give thee of the dew of heaven,
and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let people
serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren,
and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that
curseth thee; and blessed be he that blesseth thee." There is nothing
in all this giving Jacob any claim to special favor from God, beyond
that of mere earthly good. Neither does the sale of the birthright
exclude Esau from any higher claim. He did not sell his right to serve
the Lord, and thus inherit a heavenly blessing.
The people of God sometimes do things in the way of sin that cause
them deep distress. At the same time they do not shut themselves
irrevocably out of heaven, because repentance and reformation of life
will reinstate them into the divine favor, and place them back into
the good way again. But such may lose much, both in the church and the
world by the misstep. After the sin of adultery, for example, has been
fairly proved against a brother or sister, he can hardly reinstate
himself fully into his former standing either in the church or in
society at large. Thus is he like Esau. He has sold his birthright;
yet still the Lord is ready, with outstretched arms, to receive him
the moment he resolves to return, just as the loving father received
his prodigal son. Thus it is with many other sins. They leave a sting
in the heart which may rankle and fester a long time; and a stigma in
the character which may never, in this world, be entirely wiped out.
In regard to the relation of Esau and Jacob, one more thought presses
upon my mind, and I will give it utterance. In Jehovah's prophecy to
Rebekah before the birth of the children, these words from his own
lips were spoken: "_The elder shall serve the younger_." And in the
prophecy of Malachi, the Lord Jehovah is represented by the prophet as
saying: "I loved Jacob; I hated Esau." Paul to the Romans quotes both
these passages.
The Bible reader justly enquires: "Why this opposition to Esau and
this favor to Jacob, when the children, as yet unborn, had done
neither good nor evil?" Paul says it was: "That the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth." Brethren, I do sincerely believe that right here we find the
key to many obscure passages in Paul's writings on the subject of
election and predestination. God can do nothing without means. Ends as
surely imply means as effects imply causes. Esau and Jacob are the
Lord's chosen, elected, predestinated means of teaching his people
a lesson of instruction that covers the whole ground of every
Christian's state and experience from the alpha to the omega.
Every true child of God possesses two distinct natures. A knowledge of
this wonderful truth lies within the range of every one's experience.
But it is equally confirmed by divine revelation. Paul calls the one
nature or consciousness the OUTWARD MAN, and the other the INWARD MAN.
The one bears the image of the first Adam, and is of "_the earth
earthy_;" the other bears the image of the last Adam who is the Lord,
"_and is heavenly_." Esau represents the first; and, as such, he can
not inherit the heavenly birthright, because he is carnal, and "flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven."
As the antitype of this great truth which underlies the scheme of
redemption, God could not but "hate Esau," because "the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the
Father, but are of the world." "But Jacob he loved," because Jacob is
the child "_born of God_" in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, "_the
inner man_," which after God, is "created in righteousness and true
holiness." "The elder shall serve the younger." This means that "the
natural body" must be brought under subjection and serve "the
spiritual body." For "there is a natural body" first born, and "there
is a spiritual body" last born.
In another place Paul uses lofty terms to designate these two. He there
calls the one "the earthly house of this tabernacle," which must perish;
the other "a building of God, a house not made with hands"--God's
hands--"eternal in the heavens." The reason why he says "in the
heavens" is because it is in the light of heaven; just as he says in
another place, "We have been made to sit together in heavenly places,"
by which he correlatively means just the same that we mean when we say
we sit in the sun, meaning that we sit where the light of the sun
shines upon us.
Now, Brethren beloved, I have been very brief on a subject that might
be profitably expanded into a volume. I hope that I have given you
points by which you may take the subject and think upon it for
yourselves; and thus add faith to faith, and knowledge to knowledge.
May God add his blessing to what I have said, that it may prove to be
strength in much weakness.
During the interval between the twenty-fourth and the twenty-eighth,
Brother Kline visited many Brethren in Augusta County, Virginia.
THURSDAY, April 28, he attended a love feast at the brick meetinghouse.
Of this he says: "The afternoon meeting was well attended. The second
chapter of Peter's first letter was read. Much good instruction for
self-examination was given, both in German and English, from the
general scope of the chapter. I made a few remarks on the middle
clause in the seventeenth verse: '_Love the brotherhood_.'
"I fear we do not speak and exhort one another as plainly and warmly
as we should on this most essential part of every true believer's
experience and life. What keeps us a united and happy people? _Love of
the Brotherhood._ What keeps us from quarreling with one another, from
slandering and defrauding one another? _Love of the Brotherhood._ What
keeps alive our sympathies for each other in times of distress and in
seasons of sorrow? _Love of the Brotherhood._
"This is the golden chain that binds us together on earth, and will
forever bind us together in heaven. As the rain first comes from the
sea, and after refreshing and beautifying the land goes back to the
sea again, so it is through us, Brethren, that the love we receive
from Christ here will be made perfect and return to him there. Oh,
Brethren, 'let us not love in word only, but in deed and in truth.'"
WEDNESDAY, May 4. Peter Nead and Daniel Garber started to the Annual
Meeting.
SUNDAY, May 22. Meeting at the Linville's Creek meetinghouse. Brother
Kline spoke briefly on Acts 2. He said: "As this is the traditional
day on which the Holy Spirit was poured out in a miraculous way, so
that the whole house wherein the apostles and brethren were sitting
was filled with his presence, so that they were all baptized in the
Holy Spirit and in the heavenly fire, we think it good to meditate and
speak upon these things.
"It may be that we err by believing that each apostle was endowed with
the gift of all the tongues here enumerated. It would be natural, I
think, for those who spoke the same tongue to sit or stand together in
companies. We may, even at the present day, see examples and instances
of this in large cities and public places. Here we see a group of
Germans. There, a company of Swedes, or Dutch, or Italians. People of
the same nationality as naturally seek for each other as birds seek
for their own kind.
"The order appears beautiful to our minds in the light of this
interpretation. Each apostle was gifted by the Spirit to speak in
_one_ tongue at least. If we go to the pains to count, we will find
there were nearly as many apostles as nationalities represented. In
this way all could speak at the same time; each one to his own group
or class of hearers, in gentle tones of voice; and all in the house
hear at least _one_ speak in the tongue in which he was born. This
interpretation relieves the mind of the apparent confusion which seems
to have pervaded that assembly, from a mere cursory reading of the
account given of it in the second chapter of the Acts.
"I pray God, that our dear Brethren in Yearly Meeting to-day and to
its close may all, like the apostles, be of one mind and speak the
same thing."
SUNDAY, June 5. Meeting at the Dry Fork. Brother Kline made a few
remarks upon Eph. 5:14, "_Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light_."
"We called upon the drowsy, sleeping sinner to arise from his deadness
and indifference, pointing him to the promise that Christ would shine
upon him and give him the light of life. Whilst speaking on this
subject to-day, I related what was said to be a well authenticated
fact which I lately read.
"An Indian, one evening, tied his canoe fast to a tree not far above
the falls of Niagara. Feeling that all was secure, he lay down in his
canoe and went to sleep. Just about the break of day the fastening
from some cause got loose. Very probably the cord was untied by some
mischievous person. The Indian continued to sleep. Noiselessly the
canoe glided down the stream, nearer and yet nearer the awful brink,
softly rocking its sleeping victim to destruction. Just before the
frightful leap, roused by the thunder of the cataract, the poor Indian
awoke, only in time to see himself hurled into eternity.
"O, how many unconverted men and women are borne down upon the stream
of time, unconcerned, thoughtless, careless of the doom that so surely
awaits them!"
_Sermon by Elder Daniel Miller (German)._
_At Lost River Meetinghouse, West Virginia,
Sunday, July 3._
TEXT.--But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God.--John 1:12, 13.
This Scripture has a very deep meaning; and it should be well
understood, since the power in us to become children or sons of God
depends on the nature of our birth. If this be in any other nature
than that of God, it is like counterfeit money; it may look to be all
right, and pass current for a while, but it will not bear the test of
a rigid scrutiny.
Some are born of _blood_. Such may be those who adhere to a certain
church, and hold certain articles of faith without examining the Word,
because their father and mother and other _blood_ relatives held the
same, lived and died in that faith, and lie buried in the churchyard
where they worshiped.
Some are born of _the will of the flesh_. Such may be those who make a
profession of religion; but because they cannot have their own way in
everything, and take the _lusts of the flesh_ with them under the
cloak of a Christian profession, they either forsake the people of God
entirely or else never come into their number.
Some are born of the _will of man_. Such may be those who suffer
themselves to be influenced by others; coaxed, persuaded, nor even
induced by the promise of reward, to join a certain church and worship
in a certain way, because it is fashionable and in good style.
Some _are born of God_. Such are those who out of an honest heart
bring forth the fruit of the Spirit unto perfection.
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, shows the striking contrast
between the fruit of man's fleshly, sensual or animal nature and that
of his spiritual or renewed nature. The first he calls THE FLESH; the
last, THE SPIRIT. Man's spirit is what is born again. In one place he
designates the new birth as "being renewed in the _spirit_ of the
mind." In another place as "dead to the world, but alive unto God."
The prayer of such is: "Lord, what wouldst THOU have me to do?"
Finding a clear answer to this prayer in the Word of Truth, they are
willing to follow its leadings. They descend into the baptismal wave
"for the remission of sins." They go into the house of God and are not
above stooping to wash one another's feet. They eat the Lord's Supper.
They commune with him in the emblems of his broken body and shed
blood. They continue to walk as nearly as they can in all the commands
and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
The difference between the present and future state of the man who
lives after the flesh and that of the man who lives after the spirit
is very sharply marked in many places in Paul's writings, in words
that cannot be easily misunderstood. He uses such language as this:
"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds [lusts] of the body, ye shall live." "To
be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace." "He that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap
corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap
life everlasting." "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of
God,"--which is the new birth,--"is eternal life, through Jesus Christ
our Lord."
All these quotations are in perfect accord with our Lord's closing
words to the Sermon on the Mount: "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 it fell: and great
was the fall of it."
I do not think it is very hard for any one to tell the kind of birth
he is of. As an individual can tell by looking in a glass, if in no
other way, whether he is black or white, so the professor of religion,
by turning to the Gospel Mirror, can see what kind of a birth he is
of.
I sometimes feel sorry when I think that a child has no control over
its own natural birth. If it is born black and into slavery, poor
little thing, there it has to remain for life, and bear and suffer all
the evils incident to its color and condition. If one is born with
natural deformities which baffle all surgical skill; or with blindness
or deafness past all remedy; we can but pity and weep. True, our
sympathies are aroused, and but for such objects probably the very
purest and noblest springs in our nature would remain forever sealed
with ice.
But, thanks to our God, no such unalterable conditions ever attend
man's spiritual birth. He himself is a party to the covenant under
which every spiritual birth is effected from conception to
parturition. God is one party; and man, in whom the new spiritual
birth is to be effected, is the other party. This I speak in respect
to the divine, heavenly birth. Men are the parties on both sides in
all the other births spoken of in the text. God has nothing to do with
them.
The Jews were nearly all born after these ways. Most of them seem to
have been "born of blood." "We have Abraham to our father." Some were
born of the "will of the flesh," for when the Lord told them the truth
"they took up stones to stone him." These were included among those to
whom he said: "Ye are of your father the devil." The will of the flesh
and the will of the devil in spiritual things is one and the same.
Some among them seem to have been "born of the will of man." There may
have been a good many of this class. When the Lord was teaching in
Jerusalem many asked the question; "Have any of the rulers believed on
him?" Such were the children of the rulers, born of their will.
One fact is true of all these births; no matter how black, or
deformed, or blind, or deaf, all these were spiritually, they were all
born just as they wished to be; and all chose, with comparatively few
exceptions, to remain in the state in which they were born. On the day
of the crucifixion spirits from all classes of births culminated in
the cry: "His blood be on us and our children."
I hope what I have said may awaken some thought in the mind of each
hearer, as to the state of his own heart. Do I love the Lord my God
with all my heart, and my brother as I love myself? Do I show this
love in my dealings with him, and in my daily conduct towards him? Do
I show my love to the Lord by walking continually in his ways? Enoch
walked with him thus for three hundred years. Am I careful to follow
his example during the _few_ years allotted me here? If I do not love
my brother and find delight in his company here, how can I be happy
with him in heaven? If I do not love the Lord here, in whose love
alone there is bliss, what will heaven be to me?
No wonder the doom of the hypocrite is so fearful! When his cloak is
removed and the wolf appears in the presence of the angels, will they
not shrink from him as one of us would shrink from a viper coiled
about our feet?
Brethren, let us be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord; forasmuch as we know that our labor is not in vain in the
Lord.
Brother Kline bore a hearty testimony to Brother Miller's discourse
throughout.
_A Short Discourse by Elder Daniel Garber._
_Sunday, August 7._
TEXT.--For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ.--John 1:17.
By the law spoken of in the text we are to understand the Decalogue,
or Ten Commandments, as they are usually called. We are not to
understand that this law is not truth. Far from it. It is truth so
sacred and holy in God's sight that he directed Moses to construct an
ark or small chest out of pure gold and place therein the two stone
tablets on which the law was engraved by the finger of God, and keep
them there forever.
Jesus the Lord honored it. He fulfilled it, not only in the letter,
but in the spirit. His outward life was so righteous that none could
convict him of sin. "He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners:" not _separate_ in the sense of not eating and drinking
with them, of not associating and conversing with them; but separate
in the sense that he was not, like them, a transgressor of the law of
God.
The Lord's heart and hand were together in all he did. His thoughts
and his words were one. His looks, and all the expressions of his
face, were but images of the love within. His denunciations against
Pharisaical hypocrisy, cloaked under the guise of outward rectitude,
were like an avalanche of snow and ice, unlocked by the rays of the
Sun of Righteousness.
Jesus said: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for
one tittle of the law to fail." A tittle is a very small point in a
letter. Many Hebrew letters have dots or tittles. A change in the
tittles of the letters that compose a word changes the meaning of the
word. But Jesus says not a tittle shall pass from the law. It will to
eternity mean just what it means now, and will continue to be the bond
of union with saints and angels forever in heaven. It is all love.
Love is the alpha and the omega of the law; for the law is of God, and
"God is love."
Some people call MERCY God's _darling_ attribute. They clothe her in a
white robe down to the feet; they fill her eyes with the milk of human
kindness and her mouth with the tender words of forgiveness. But
JUSTICE is a very different personification in their eye. He is not
only masculine as to gender, but all his looks and ways have an air of
_condemnation_ in them. He is a dark-faced, frowning judge, forever
watching with keenest eye not only the outward life of every man, but
his mind and heart within; and is always ready to pass judgment
against every one guilty of the slightest transgression and
disobedience.
Such conceptions may not be sinful; but they are very far from
agreeing with the revelations God has made of himself to men. In these
he discloses himself as "a God merciful and gracious; abundant in
goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands; slow to anger; ready
to pardon; and of great kindness." (Nehemiah 9:17.) He is just, it is
true. But what is justice? I answer that justice, in its highest and
divinest sense, _is equal good and equal right_ to all. And does not
this imply love? I do unhesitatingly declare that there is quite as
much love in the administrations of justice as there is in the
bestowments of mercy.
In _justice_, however, the love appears in one light; and in _mercy_
or _grace_ the love appears in another. God's love for the holy angels
and the spirits of just men made perfect is unmixed love, or the love
of complacency. This manifestation of his love is JUSTICE in its
highest and purest sense. God's love for sinners who have transgressed
his law, and who, on this account, are "miserable and wretched, and
poor, and blind, and naked," is mixed love. It is mixed with pity, and
is what is called the love of compassion. This manifestation of his
love is GRACE in its highest and purest sense. This is just what our
Lord Jesus Christ brought with him. If all the race of mankind had
continued righteous, as man was when first brought into being, the
word GRACE would never have had a place in heaven's vocabulary. But
since man has fallen, fallen into sin, into death both corporeal and
spiritual, into sickness and sorrow, into labor for his bread, into
hunger and thirst, and anxieties and cares, God has ever pitied him.
Instead of our Lord's saying, "God so loved the world," he might have
said, "God so PITIED the world."
In reading the New Testament now you need not wonder why the word
GRACE is so often met with. It means just what Jesus has brought into
the world--_love for sinners_. "He came not to condemn the world, but
to save the world." But notice, he brought not only _love_ but _truth_
with it, and _truth_ is neither more nor less than the forms or
manifestations of true love. Let me illustrate this. You love your
brother. But he does not know it until you manifest your love by the
thousand ways that are open for this in your associations and dealings
with him. Every manifestation of this love is a _truth_ by which you
prove that you do love him.
How does our Lord prove that he loves sinners? By the TRUTH that
manifests or shows it. In the first place he went about doing good, in
the way of healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, cleansing the
lepers, making the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and the dead to
come to life. In the next place he showed his love by the meekness and
patience with which he bore the scoffs and sneers, and persecutions of
the opposing Jews. In the next place, by the promises of eternal life
and salvation which he gave to the very worst of sinners, on the easy
terms that they repent of their sins, by turning to God and living a
life of faithful obedience to his Word. In the next place,--and all
the other proofs culminate in this,--by dying upon the cross, by which
he atoned for the sins of the whole world. In this, his last
temptation, he conquered sin, death and hell; and as a mighty
Conqueror he has become the Captain of our salvation and the Author of
eternal life to all them that obey him.
But light will not enter the eye that is closed; neither will the
words of grace and truth enter the heart unless there be a will to
take them in. Some here present, I feel sure, have taken the words in,
and ye rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Yours is the joy that no
man taketh from you. Yours is an unfailing treasure in the heavens.
Yours to sing:
"Should earth against my soul engage,
And fiery darts be hurled;
Now I can smile at Satan's rage
And face a frowning world.
"Let cares, like a wild deluge, come,
And storms of sorrow fall,
So I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all.
"There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest;
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast."
But I am sad to think how many there are who have never yet "tasted
that the Lord is gracious." May I not induce some to look to him
to-day? There _is life in a look_ when it springs from love and
is followed by obedience. "Look unto me, saith the Lord, and be ye
saved, all ye ends of the earth." Sinner, thou art one of these ends.
Look and live.
BAPTISMAL SCENE AT BENJAMIN BOWMAN'S,
SUNDAY, AUGUST 29.
Peter Driver and wife, and Benjamin Byerly were baptized to-day.
Whilst it is our delight and joy to see even the vilest and the lowest
come into the church through the divinely appointed way, still it is
an additional pleasure, especially in the view of helpfulness to the
cause, when such excellent and true-hearted people as those above
named cast in their lot with us.
These dear people will draw their children into the church where they
are, and many of the grandchildren will follow their steps. Thus will
they sow the seeds of a good life by the power of example, and others
will reap the harvest. These, in turn, will sow again for others,
until, after awhile, all will realize the truth of our Lord's words:
"He that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together."
LOVE FEAST AT BEAVER CREEK MEETINGHOUSE,
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24.
Preparatory services began at two P.M. Second Corinthians 5 was read.
There was much good speaking. One brother's remarks on the ninth
verse deeply interested me. They were in substance as follows:
TEXT.--"_Wherefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent,
to be well-pleasing unto him._"
No better aim can ever have place in the breast of man or angel. But
how natural it is for us to aim to please ourselves and others! There
is no wrong in trying to please others, when that aim does not
conflict with what pleases God. But for any one, especially a minister
of the Gospel, to make it his chief aim to please others, that he may
become popular and be highly esteemed of men, is an abomination to
God.
Whether we are as humble and self-denying in all things as we should
be, is a subject for self-examination, not only on the part of our lay
brethren, but as well on the part of us who are ministers of the Word.
Self-love is self-worship. "_Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve_," is as true to-day as when it was
hurled against the devil from the lips of Jesus Christ. Worship is
love; and love unites us to the Lord, as the branch is united with the
vine which is its life. Man has no spiritual life in himself other
than what comes from the Lord.
A man's home life is his _real_ life. In the presence of his
family, when no stranger's eye or ear is nigh, he is out and out
himself, and he then and there appears in his real character. But when
absent, either among his brethren or strangers, he aims to put the
best foot foremost and leave a favorable impression. I do not say that
this is true of every one; but I _do_ say, and say it from the
depth of my soul's deepest affection, that the apostle's resolution
should be true in the heart of every brother and sister: "We make it
our aim, whether at home or abroad, _to be well-pleasing unto
God_."
BAPTISMAL SCENE AT THE LINVILLE'S CREEK MEETINGHOUSE,
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9.
John Zigler and wife, Celestine Whitmore and wife, and David Haller
were baptized to-day.
I rejoice that these good people have cast in their lot with us; and
hope that they will prove to be a blessing and an ornament in the
church. Brother David Haller is a very sensible and active man, with a
young family, and he can do much for the good cause. Brother Celestine
Whitmore will exert a good influence on Lost River. And Brother John
Zigler will show to the world how an active business may be carried on
in a godly way. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, did
put on Christ."
History tells us that Xenophon, in his famous retreat from Cunaxa,
wore a wolfskin about his shoulders and breast. This was becoming to
him as the general of an army of Greeks trained to slaughter, and bent
on cutting his way through all opposition with the sword. It might
also have been a suitable covering for each soldier in his army; since
the uniform of an army is thought to signify, in some measure, the
spirit by which the soldiers are incited to action.
The uniform of the soldier in the army of the Lord should, therefore,
signify the spirit and mind that is in him. If the spirit is that of
nonconformity to the world, so should the dress or uniform be. If the
spirit is that of meekness, humility, kindness, goodness, purity,
peace and love, the dress of both sexes, each in its appropriate form,
should correspond to these affections of the heart.