SUNDAY, April 22. Brother Kline and Daniel Miller had meeting in a
place among the mountains in Hardy County, Virginia, called the Cove.
This consists of an area of country so nearly enclosed by mountains
of a somewhat circular form that it has but one outlet both for its
streams and its inhabitants. Viewed from the summit of some
neighboring peak it has the appearance of a vast amphitheatre whose
dome is the sky, whose floor is a variegation of corn and wheat fields
interspersed with beautiful green meadows, and whose walls are the
substantial mountain masonry of nature's own sublime art. Here these
two beloved brethren broke the Bread of Life to a small gathering of
people, mostly residents of the place we have described.
Acts 3 was read. After many instructive remarks by Brother Kline
concerning the great Prophet spoken of in the latter part of the
chapter, Brother Daniel Miller followed with a brief discourse, so
clear, so pointed, so forcible, that I will give his remarks as nearly
as I can in the order and manner in which he presented them.
He first endeavored to draw the attention of the unconverted part of
the audience specifically to these words: "_Every soul, which will not
hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed._" "I know of no
expression in the Bible," said he, "more sharply pointed than this.
The word '_destroyed_,' as here used, does not mean blotted out of
existence. But it does mean _cast out as evil_, unfit for the
companionship of God's people in heaven. In much the same sense of the
word it is said that intemperance _destroys_ men. It unfits them for
the duties of life, and for the society of the pure and the good.
"A ship may be said to be destroyed even though its dismantled hulk
still floats upon the sea, borne by the waves and driven by the winds.
A fruit tree is destroyed when a worm, secretly gnawing at its root,
girdles it with a belt of deadness. It may still stand, but fruitless
and lifeless. An eye is destroyed when it becomes so far injured by
disease or accident as to be forever out of the reach of power to
restore its sight.
"And is this the sense in which every soul will be destroyed who
refuses to hear this Prophet? Most assuredly it is. O, friends, how
shall I tell you the difference between a soul saved and a soul
destroyed? The one is forever happy, the other forever miserable. The
one is an eye that sees and enjoys all the beauties of earth and sky,
the other is an eye forever blind. The one is an ear that will forever
hear the melodies of heaven, the other is an ear forever deaf to all
but the wailings of hell. The one is a ship completely rigged and
fitted to bear herself nobly and safely over the surging surface of a
stormy sea, the other, a floating hulk; mastless, sailorless, only
waiting to be cast upon some desert shore to rot.
"But no one can ever have a just excuse for being thus destroyed; for
it is plain that whosoever hears this Prophet shall be saved. Jesus
Christ is a wonderful Savior. 'He is able to save to the uttermost all
who come unto God through him.' Will not you come? 'God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on
him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.' The text
does not say that GOD will destroy every soul that will not hearken to
that Prophet. I do not believe that this is meant. Our Lord says in
one place: 'Fear him, who, after he hath killed the body, is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him.'
Who is this that is thus to be feared? I tell you that it is SIN,
impersonated in the devil. _Sin_, SIN is what is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell. Sin, disobedience to God, transgression of
God's law, has placed the seal of _death_ upon every living human body
in the world; and sin has stamped the _seal of death_ upon every
unsaved soul in hell.
"O friends, I am _afraid_ of sin. I am afraid to disobey my God and
Savior. I am more afraid of sin than I would be of smallpox in an
infected district. I am more afraid of sin than I would be of leprosy
on the plains of Syria. That or this could only kill my body; but SIN
is able to destroy both my soul and body in hell.
"It is plain that to hear the voice of that Prophet, who is none other
than our Lord Jesus Christ, to hear his voice with an ear to find out
what he says and what he wants us to do, and then in love and faith to
do it, is the only way any soul has by which to escape the threatened
destruction. I wish that I could implant in the heart of every sinner
here to-day such a fear of sin and its awful consequences as would
lead him to flee for refuge, to lay hold of the hope set before us in
the Gospel. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is this house of refuge.
Sinner, come to him. No, no! You need not do that, for he comes to
you, and you only need rise up and open the door and let him in."