THURSDAY, June 13. Meeting for fasting and prayer at our meetinghouse.

Matthew 5 is read. Fasting has been observed from remote antiquity, in

times of sorrow and mourning from afflictions and national distress.

We have no direct command in the New Testament to fast, but we believe

if it is done in the spirit of deep humility before God, with

confessions of sin and heartfelt desire to draw nearer to him in our

walk and conversation, our fasting to-day will not be a meaningless

service in his sight. Paul was "in fastings oft." These he observed to

keep under his body, lest after having preached to others he himself

should be a castaway. In regard to fasting in my own case, I can say

that it strengthens my heart, and nerves my spirit to resist

temptation. My love and faith and virtue are confirmed. Let us fast,

not in appearance only, but in heart.

SUNDAY, June 16. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I baptize John Walker,

Jane and Frances Sherkey, John Grimm's wife, and Mrs. Clemm.

TUESDAY, June 18. John Wine, Jacob Spitzer, and Christian Wine obtain

license from our County Court to perform marriage ceremonies.

TUESDAY, June 25. Stop at Philip Ritchey's; dine at John Fulk's;

preach at Bethel church, in Pendleton County, and stay all night at

Peter Warnstaff's.

WEDNESDAY, June 26. Dine at Joel Siple's; go to Lough's church, but

find no congregation; come to Martain Wise's (John Bond's) and find a

gathering of people for night meeting. Speak from Second Corinthians

5. Stay all night at Martain Wise's.

THURSDAY, June 27. Meeting at Isaac Judy's; speak from Rev. 3:20.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Stay at Judy's all night. But

little else than war seems to be talked about or thought about. It

seems to be everywhere much the same. The Lord looks compassionately

upon his people. He knows we are but dust. "As a father pitieth his

children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him."

FRIDAY, June 28. Preach at Philip Kesner's; funeral for Michael

Ratchford's child. Stay all night at John Judy's.

SATURDAY, June 29. Meeting at Jacob Collor's. Subject, John 1:11.

Night meeting at Zion on the South Fork. Stay all night at Silas

Henkel's on top of the mountain.

SUNDAY, June 30. Stop at Hughey Ratchford's to see Sister Hannah and

Hughey's wife. They are both mending towards convalescence. From there

I go to William Davis's in Sweedlin Valley; find a gathering, and

speak from Matthew 5, first thirteen verses. Dine at Jesse Mitchell's,

and in evening preach the funeral of Sister Elizabeth Freed, whom I

had baptized just four weeks before. Subject, 1 Peter 1:24, 25.

MONDAY, July 1. Dine at Philip Ritchey's; then home.

THURSDAY, July 4. This evening, about seven o'clock, a wonderful

appearance was witnessed in the sky. A succession of meteoric balls of

fire flew through the air, apparently from west to east; attended by

reports in rapid succession very much resembling those of heavy pieces

of artillery and quite as loud. Some think this may be a providential

mockery of the pageantry and pride displayed on each succeeding

anniversary of this day over our national greatness which has now, for

a time at least, departed.

SUNDAY, July 14. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I baptize John Driver

and wife, Catharine Myers, Christian Zimmers and wife, Brady Ann

Parker, Mrs. Fahrney, Ruthy Light, Bettie Miller, Susie Kline, Saloma

Smith, Martha Jane and Sarah Catharine Swartz, and Martha McMullen.

SUNDAY, July 21. A very singular panic struck our part of the Valley

this afternoon. A report of negroes breaking out and committing

fearful outrages flew as on the wings of the wind. Women were

frightened and men dismayed. It was, however, soon discovered to be

false.

SUNDAY, October 20. Diphtheria is raging. In the past three weeks I

have preached four funeral discourses for children between two and

four years of age. But parents have better promises for the children

that are taken than for those that are left.

SATURDAY, November 9. Brother John Wine and I go to the South Fork.

Preach funeral for William Ratcliff's child. Age, two years, four

months and thirteen days. Stay all night at Christian Dasher's.

SUNDAY, November 10. Meeting at Jesse Mitchell's. Brother John Wine

speaks on Jude, third verse. We stay all night at Samuel Trumbo's.

THURSDAY, November 21. Attend the burial of old Mother Wine, the

mother of Christian, John, Michael, Samuel and George--four preachers,

and one, Michael, deacon. Her age was seventy-one years, eight months

and sixteen days. A woman of great usefulness in her community as a

help in sickness, she will long be remembered. My subject for

discourse was Rev. 14:12, 13.

SUNDAY, November 24. Attend the burial of Hannah Zimmers, wife of

Christian Zimmers. Funeral services at Pine Grove meetinghouse. Her

age was about fifty-seven years. TEXT.--"For here have we no

continuing city, but we seek one to come." Heb. 13:14.

It is a blessed assurance which the Divine Word gives the afflicted

and dying children of God, that they have "a city which hath

foundations; whose builder and maker is God." From the fact that the

city has foundations we are clearly authorized to infer that it rests

upon the immutable love, wisdom and power of God. It is not the

baseless fabric of a dream. There is reality about it. Imagination did

not construct it, for its builder and maker is God. This city is the

New Jerusalem, so beautifully described in the last part of the book

of Revelation. The foundations of the WALL of the city are there

described. There are twelve foundations, each of stone, and some of

them more precious than diamonds. The city itself is built of gold,

and its streets are paved with the same. I often rejoice in the hope

set before us; but not the foundationless hope of good from this

world. Slaughter and blood are the order of the day here now. We have

at no time much to hope for from this world, but there is nothing to

hope for now. We should rather rejoice than be grieved over the

departure of God's children. They are safe. Beyond the reach of

suffering, temptation and sin, they are safe in the city of God, where

no sickness, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor death can ever reach them more.

SUNDAY, December 8. Meeting at Turner's schoolhouse, in the Gap.

Catharine Fulk, daughter of Philip Ritchey, is baptized by me. Dine at

the widow Peggy Turner's, and stay all night at David Hoover's.

FRIDAY, December 13. Council meeting at our meetinghouse. Brother

Michael B.E. Kline is elected speaker, and Brother Noah Rhodes deacon.

FRIDAY, December 20. Write to John Hopkins, to John C. Woodson, and to

Charles Lewis. I can but entreat these men to stand in defense of our

Brethren, and try to devise some plan by which they can be exempted

from the necessity of bearing arms. I feel sure that if we can be

rightly understood as to our faith and life, there will be some way

provided for their exemption. The Brotherhood is a unit, heart and

hand against arms-bearing. These things I make known to these men;

not, however, in any spirit of defiance, but in the spirit of meekness

and obedience to what we in heart believe to be the will of the Lord.

Many have already expressed to me their determination to flee from

their homes rather than disobey God.

SUNDAY, December 29. Meeting in our meetinghouse. The two ministering

brethren, John Huffman and Nathan Spitler, both from Page County, are

with us.

MONDAY, December 30. Write to General Jackson and to Charles Lewis.

TUESDAY, December 31. Traveled this year 3,930 miles. Preached

thirty-eight funerals. Baptized about fifty converts.

WEDNESDAY, January 1, 1862. At this time medicines were scarce and

physicians in the army. As a consequence of this the demands for

Brother Kline's professional services as a physician were largely

increased. The Diary for this year shows an almost incredible amount

of labor performed by him in this line. He was called to go twenty

miles to see patients on Lost River. He also treated patients in

Pendleton and Shenandoah counties, and many in Brock's Gap and in his

own and adjoining neighborhoods. He had no day of rest. In connection

with all this labor and responsibility, the Brotherhood looked to him

for counsel and comfort on every hand. At the same time he wrote many

letters, not only to distant Brethren, but to men in civil and

military place and power.

SATURDAY, February 15. He wrote a letter to John Letcher, at the time

Governor of Virginia; another to Secretary Benjamin, and one to

Charles H. Lewis. His leading object in all his correspondence with

these and other men in high civil and military positions was to

acquaint and as far as possible familiarize the minds of these men

with the true idea as to who the Brethren are, what they have ever

been, and how they have come to regard arms-bearing as they do.

The correspondence we are now considering may be regarded by some as

having been a small thing. Some may say: "It is a small thing to write

a letter to the President of the United States, or to a member of his

Cabinet, or to a member of Congress, or to the Governor of one's

State." A small thing, no doubt; in itself quite as small as to write

to any one else. It may be said that the greatness of all such

correspondence depends upon the magnitude of the subject involved. Let

us look at the subject involved here. We see some thousands of the

most devoted Christian people the world has ever known standing in

jeopardy; not one of all their number seems to know what to do. Their

situation at this time reminds one of Israel camped on the mountain

beside the valley of Elah, in hearing of the guttural defiance of the

giant. At this critical hour, when something must be done, when some

special but heretofore untried effort must be put forth to avert the

impending destruction, a MAN of the Brethren, unassuming in all

respects, about five feet seven inches in height, heavy-set, with a

large but symmetrical face, hair down to the neck beautifully parted

from the forehead across the middle of the head, voluntarily sets to

work in secret through the mails to see what can be done. God only

knows the full measure of Brother John Kline's service and influence

in this way. It is a true saying that "to succeed is the best proof of

success," and subsequent events show that Brother Kline fully realized

this proof. As a humble observer of the movements of that day, and

with a tolerably clear recollection of them, the Editor can only

express his belief that Brother Kline's correspondence, with his other

influence, contributed largely toward the enactment of the Confederate

provision by which all the members of regularly organized Christian

denominations or churches which have from their earliest establishment

uniformly taught and practiced as one tenet of their faith

non-arms-bearing and nonresistant principles, shall be perpetually

exempt from all military duty to the Confederate States of America, or

to any state belonging thereto, upon the payment of five hundred

dollars to the person duly appointed to receive the same, for every

member so exempted, and otherwise subject to military duty under

existing orders.

The above is not the "Law of Exemptions" in exact words, but it is

that part of it which was made for the Brethren, in _exact sense_.

SATURDAY, April 5. This forenoon I am about home. In the afternoon I

am taken to Harrisonburg and put in the guard house. My place is in

the large jury room of the court house, up stairs, with others who are

captives with myself. Rain this evening.

SUNDAY, April 6. Rain and snow all last night, and continues on so all

day. Have preaching in our captive hall. My subject is "Righteousness,

Temperance, and a Judgment to Come." I aimed at comforting my brother

captives and myself with the recollection that Paul was once a captive

like ourselves, and that in this state of imprisonment he preached

upon the text which I have selected for this day. I said:

Brethren, if any have cause to tremble, we have none. Those should

tremble who seek to lay obstacles in the way of others who aim to do

good and no evil. As a rule, prisoners are nervous and sometimes

tremble when taken into court: but judges are proverbially calm and

self-composed. Hence the old adage: "As sober as a judge." But this

order is entirely reversed in the case of Paul before Felix. Here we

see that Paul is calm, collected and self-possessed, and that Felix is

first nervous, and soon trembles all over. In this trial it appears

that the judge is convicted of guilt by the prisoner himself, and that

the prisoner shows himself clear. But this is not the only case in

which an innocent criminal has stood before a guilty judge. Felix had

never heard such a sermon before. All that he had ever heard were most

probably eulogistic in character, and spoken in praise of the Roman

emperor and his subordinates. Felix was one of these, and it was

natural for him to appropriate quite a large share of this praise to

himself. But he did not find a eulogist in Paul. Panegyric had no

place in Paul's earnest nature. Life and death, holiness and sin were

subjects of moment too great and too real to be trifled with. If Paul

would have stooped to flattery he might have quickly obtained his

release, because Felix and those following him in office confessed

they found no cause of death in his case. They kept him bound merely

to please the flattering, deceitful Jews.

He reasoned of righteousness first. And this logic was all new to

Felix, who had never thought of righteousness or justice as being the

end and object of government. Herod was a pretty fair specimen of

those Roman rulers or kings as they were sometimes called, and the

unrighteous cause for which he had the head of John the Baptist cut

off manifests the measure of his regard for justice. If history be

correct, Felix was not much in advance of him in this respect. He was

governor of Samaria at this time, and his headquarters and home were

at Cesarea on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was in this same

city that Paul defended himself so heroically before Festus and

Agrippa. Paul is silent as to the course of reasoning employed in

bringing his threefold subject to bear with a weight upon the mind of

Felix. We may reasonably conclude that his first point was the

righteousness of civil government; contrasting the corrupt and

perverted ideas of rulers as they then existed in their minds upon

this feature, with what they ought rightfully to be. In this

connection he did not fail to make occasional home thrusts similar to

the one made by Nathan when he said to David: "Thou art the man."

It is a newly-discovered truth that the Bible reveals the only true

basis of civil government. That basis, from its lowest bottom to its

highest level, is love, or "good will toward men." Government founded

upon any other basis is tyranny or despotism, the exact form being

determined by the depth of bondage and slavery into which the governed

are willing to be pressed down, and by the will of the rulers as to

how low they are inclined to press them. The Constitution of the Roman

government contained no trace of love. It was all force. History

abundantly shows this. Neither justice in the administration of its

laws, nor temperance in the demands and exaction of tributes, nor a

judgment to come when accounts would be settled, was once thought of.

Those in power knew nothing and thought nothing about any day of final

retribution.

It is not very probable that Felix was made to tremble by anything

Paul may have said concerning civil government. The mind of Felix was

too firmly fixed in his own ideas of civil righteousness to be deeply

moved or disturbed by anything a prisoner might say upon that point.

His execution of Roman law according to his views of righteousness in

their administration was satisfactory to his sovereign at Rome; and to

please him, and thereby secure perpetual tenure of office, was the

height of his ambition. The cause of his trembling must then be found

in another quarter, or the adversary may say that Felix, just at that

time, happened to be taken with an ague chill, which Paul mistook for

the nervous agitation which he supposed to have been induced by the

power of his discourse.

Felix was a pagan. His religion, if he had any belief at all in the

supernatural, was idolatry. Paul did not appeal to his affections, to

his emotional nature, but to his rational part. He _reasoned_ upon his

great subject. We may justly conclude that he proceeded in a way

similar to that which he took in addressing the Athenians on Mars'

Hill. "The God whom ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."

And he set him forth in a rational light. He told them about God's

righteousness. He told them that God had appointed a day in which he

would judge the world in RIGHTEOUSNESS by that man whom he hath

ordained, and of whom he hath given assurance or proof unto all men in

that he hath raised him from the dead. This man was Jesus Christ the

Lord. Here, also, he spoke of a JUDGMENT to come. And it becomes a

thing self-evident that a judgment to come is the main fact upon which

all moral and religious truth depends for its power over the hearts

and lives of men. Take away from man all fear of accountability in a

future state, and his bestial appetites assert their sway. "Let us eat

and drink, for to-morrow we die" gives loose rein to every passion,

and lust holds high carnival.

For our instruction here, it may be well to speak upon the subject of

_righteousness_. What is it? Righteousness is obedience to law. This

is its most general meaning. This is its human sense. In its divine

sense it is obedience to the laws of God. Wherein the laws of men

depart from the laws of God obedience to their laws is disobedience to

God's laws. Here arises a conflict in which each individual may decide

for himself which he will do, the will of men or the will of God. The

decision of the apostles was "to obey God rather than men." By this

obedience they stood righteous in the eyes of God. To be sinners in

the sight of men gave them no distress, so long as they felt sure of

being righteous in the sight of God.

Jesus is called Christ the righteous. He is set forth in the Word as

the only example of perfect righteousness the world has ever had, for

"he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." He challenged

the Jews with the question: "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" They

could bring up no charge. Sin is the opposite of righteousness. It is

sin, or the love of sin, which is impersonated by our Lord in Matt.

10:28 as a monster of awful power: "And be not afraid of them which

kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him

which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." The version of

the same matter as given by Luke is terribly sublime: "Fear him, which

after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto

you, Fear him." Brethren and friends, this is the only power we have

real cause to be afraid of, and this is the enemy of all

righteousness. And this enemy is right in ourselves. We need not go

far to find him. Paul calls him by way of eminence as well as age "the

old man of sin," "the first Adam," "the outward man," because he loves

what is outside of us, fleshly enjoyments. Sin, or the love of sin, is

the power that destroys both soul and body in hell. Righteousness is

what saves; or, rather, righteousness in heart and life is salvation.

If we look to the Lord in faith and prayer, by which I mean, if we

love his Word and believe it with our heart, so as to make it the law

and guide of our life, at all times and in all ways, we are sure of

salvation; for it is through righteousness, as well as through much

tribulation, that the saints shall inherit the promises. In the

Revelation we read of a great multitude which no man could number, as

standing before the throne. What a high standing they have! But by way

of preparation for that honor they washed their robes and made them

white in the blood of the Lamb. The robe of each was and is his

wedding garment. The Lamb is the Lord's Word, and the blood of that

Lamb is the spirit and life of that Holy Word infused into our souls

and made effectual unto our salvation, by living a life of heartfelt

obedience to his holy precepts.

MONDAY, April 7. Rain and snow with sleet come down all day. Room very

damp and cold, with insufficient fire. Several brethren come to see me

to-day.

TUESDAY, April 8. Rain and snow continue as on yesterday. Our room

very uncomfortable.

WEDNESDAY, April 9. Still cloudy, with rain and snow. We have some

pleasant conversations in the prison, with books and papers. But all

the public prints are so filled and taken up with war that they give

me but little enjoyment. The minds and spirits of nearly all the

prisoners are so broken down by the state and prospects of the country

that interesting and instructive conversations can hardly be held.

THURSDAY, April 10. The following beloved brethren and dear sister

came in to see us to-day: John Zigler, John Wine and Christian Wine,

Benjamin Miller, Joel Senger, and Catharine Showalter, daughter of

Brother Jacob Miller and wife of Brother Jackson Showalter. The sight

and presence of these brethren refreshed us much; and the dear sister

carries sunshine with her wherever she goes. Last night and this

morning regiment after regiment passed through town on their way down

the valley in the direction of Winchester.

SUNDAY, April 13. We have meeting to-day. I speak from Matt. 11:28,

29, 30: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I

will give you rest: take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am

meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls: for

my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

MONDAY, April 14. To-day our two brethren, John and Joseph Cline, are

released from imprisonment, and start for home to-night.

TUESDAY, April 15. I am not well. The dampness of our room and the

lack of comforts in the way of bedding and fuel have given me a cold

from which I am very hoarse to-night.

WEDNESDAY, April 16. There is talk that we are to be removed to New

Market. The talk is correct. We leave here at twelve o'clock, and come

to Bethlehem church where we stay all night. This church is between

nine and ten miles northeast of Harrisonburg on the valley pike

leading from Staunton to Winchester.

THURSDAY, April 17. Start for New Market; but after getting on two

miles hear the cannons at Mt. Jackson. We turn and go back to

Harrisonburg. News comes of the retreat of Jackson's army. Front of

the Federal army at New Market. Jackson halts for the night at Lacy

Springs.

FRIDAY, April 18. Great excitement and confusion in town. General

Jackson with his army passes through in his retreat, and the Federal

troops are hourly looked for. Gabriel Heatwohl, Joseph Berry and

myself are released from the guard house. I dine at Samuel

Shacklett's; then walk out to Samuel Niswander's three miles, and ride

from there to Jacob Miller's, where I stay all night.

SATURDAY, April 19. Brother Benjamin Bowman brings me on my way home

nearly to Christian Wine's. I walk the short distance to Brother

Wine's; get a horse of him, and come home.

SUNDAY, April 20. Easter. Cough very bad.

WEDNESDAY, April 23. Federal cavalry through here now. Brother Daniel

Miller was taken last night by Confederate scouts.

FRIDAY, May 9. Preach the funeral of Sister Polly Summers. Age,

seventy-seven years, one month and sixteen days.

TUESDAY, May 20. Preach the funeral of Sister Polly Holsinger. Age,

seventy-seven years. Three sisters in our church buried so close

together in time, and all so nearly the same age!

MONDAY, May 26. Sister Debby Bowman is buried to-day. I attend. Age,

forty-two years, eleven months and twenty days.

TUESDAY, May 27. Preach the funeral of Mrs. Stern. Age, fifty-six

years, three months and twenty days.

THURSDAY, May 29. Start to the Annual Meeting. Dine at James

Fitzwater's in the Gap; sup at Nimrod Judy's on the South Fork, and

stay all night at Jacob Mongold's on the South Fork mountain.

FRIDAY, May 30. Get my pass at Petersburg; dine at James Parks's; and

stay all night at Martain Cosner's, in Hardy County.

SATURDAY, May 31. Get to Thomas Clark's at three o'clock, and stay

there all night.

SUNDAY, June 1. Go to meeting at Brother Rinker's. Speak from Romans

eighth chapter. Meeting again at three o'clock. Speak from John

seventeenth chapter. Stay all night at Brother Rinker's.

MONDAY, June 2. Come to Oakland in the morning to take the train

westward, but cars are behind time. Get to Bellaire after night. Stay

there all night, at Eagle Hotel.

TUESDAY, June 3. Get to Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, at three

o'clock in the afternoon. Stay all night at Brother Henry Yost's.

WEDNESDAY, June 4. Visit Christian Forrer's. Go about through the

city. Then start, and get to place of Annual Meeting in afternoon.

Stay all night at Brother Billheimer's.

THURSDAY, June 5. Visit Solomon Stoner's; then to Farmersville, and

back to Stoner's.

FRIDAY, June 6. Visit Mary Trissel's. From there go to Abraham

Aerbaugh's. From there go to meeting at Brother D. Miller's. Speak

from Heb. 3:9. Fine weather.

SATURDAY, June 7. Come to the place of the Annual Meeting. Preaching

in forenoon and afternoon. Fine weather. Come back to D. Miller's.

SUNDAY, June 8. An immense concourse of people. Meeting in five

places, forenoon and afternoon. Fine weather continues.

MONDAY, June 9. Commence taking in questions. Queries all get in

to-day. In evening I go to Brother George Miller's, and have a night

meeting. Fine weather; clear and pleasant.

TUESDAY, June 10. Discuss questions. Fine weather continues. Much love

and good feeling generally. Go to Salem and have evening meeting. I

stay all night at Brother David Zigler's.

WEDNESDAY, June 11. Meeting continues. Get through with the discussion

of questions by quarter past three o'clock. Close in the usual way;

and many hands and lips are met which may never meet again until they

meet where farewells are no more. Stay all night at the widow Benjamin

Miller's.

THURSDAY, June 12. Go to Dayton. Visit Brother Abraham Young's. After

dinner go to Midway and stay there all night with Brother Henry

Zimmerman's.

FRIDAY, June 13. Get to Pittsburg in the night.

SATURDAY, June 14. Dine at Abraham Myers's, and stay all night at

Martain Myers's.

SUNDAY, June 15. Love feast at the Middle Creek meetinghouse. John 1

is read. Stay all night at Jacob Miller's near by.

MONDAY, June 16. Come to Daniel Miller's at Mechanicstown. Stay all

night.

TUESDAY, June 17. Love feast; part of John 14 is read. Fine day. Stay

at Brother Miller's again.

WEDNESDAY, June 18. Council meeting. The case of Peter Myers and John

Figa was brought up and settled. Come to David Beachley's and stay all

night.

THURSDAY, June 19. Come to Frostburg in time to take the train to

Oakland, where I stay all night.

FRIDAY, June 20. Come back to Brother Clark's in a hack, where I find

Nell, having left her with Brother Clark. The poor brute seems glad to

see me. I will never forget Brother Clark's kindness to me and Nell.

Stay with him all night.

SATURDAY, June 21. Visit old Sister Parks and pray with her. Dine at

Hyre's, and get to Brother John Mongold's on the mountain where I stay

all night.

SUNDAY, June 22. Get to Brother William Fitzwater's in the Gap for

dinner, and get Nell shod. This was a thing of necessity, as one of

her shoes had come off crossing the mountain, and she was getting

lame. Come to Brother Michael Wine's, where I stay all night.

MONDAY, June 23. Get home.

SUNDAY, August 24. At John Mongold's on the South Fork mountain.

Preach Absalom Whetzel's funeral. Age, twenty-three years, eight

months and twenty-one days.

Monday, August 25. Preach funeral of Isaac Rorabaugh at Adam Mallow's.

Age, nineteen years, three months and twenty-one days. Stay all night

at Jacob Hevner's.

TUESDAY, August 26. Forenoon meeting at the widow Henkel's. Afternoon

meeting at George Cowger's on the South Fork. Stay there all night.

WEDNESDAY, August 27. Forenoon and afternoon meeting at Jesse

Mitchell's. Jesse Mitchell is appointed minister of the Word, and

Hughey Ratchford is elected to the deaconship.

THURSDAY, August 28. Stop at John Fulk's on top of the Shenandoah

mountain, and get home in the evening.

SATURDAY, September 6. Attend the burial of Michael Homan. Age,

sixty-five years and eight months. He was a highly respected citizen

of our community.

SUNDAY, September 7. Am called to preach the funeral of Evaline

Aubrey's child at the home of her father, William Hevner. Diphtheria

is raging. It almost rivals the sword in its destruction of life. The

sword cuts down the men in middle life, and diphtheria cuts down the

children.

SUNDAY, September 21. Meeting on the South Fork mountain. Old mother

Kesner, Jane Kesner and Jane Rorabaugh baptized by me. Stay all night

at young Philip Kesner's.

MONDAY, September 22. Have night meeting and stay all night at the

widow Henkel's on top of the mountain.

TUESDAY, September 23. Meeting at George Cowger's on the South Fork.

After dinner I visit Jacob Hevner, who is sick, and stay with him all

night.

WEDNESDAY, September 24. Cross the mountain to Jesse Mitchell's, and

in the evening hold a love feast. We are disturbed by Southern scouts

who are present under the pretext of hunting up deserters from the

army. Stay all night at Samuel Trumbo's.

THURSDAY, September 25. Cross the Shenandoah mountain to Crab Run.

Council meeting. Dine at Brother Isaac Whetzel's, and stay all night

at Brother James Fitzwater's.

SATURDAY, October 4. Attend love feast at Beaver Creek meetinghouse.

Stay at Martain Miller's.

SUNDAY, October 5. Meeting at the Beaver Creek meetinghouse. Speak

from John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled." Peace is the exact

opposite of trouble. And Jesus says: "Peace I leave with you: my peace

I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not

your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid."

To bring this subject to bear with due weight upon your minds I will

spring this question: Did our Lord ever utter a precept with which it

is impossible for man to comply? Wisdom and love answer with one

voice: He never did. "_Let not your heart be troubled_" is a precept.

It flows out of that fatherly love which ever warmed the Savior's

heart. "Having loved his own, he loved them to the end." The Lord

needed not that any should testify to him of man, for he knew what was

in man. He knew the uttermost of human power both to understand and

obey his precepts and commands. He therefore knows that we _can keep_

our hearts from being troubled. But man of himself can not do this.

Our Lord's words, "Without me ye can do nothing," apply as truly to

keeping the heart from being troubled as to any other human effort. In

this as in all else pertaining to natural and spiritual life, we must

be coworkers with God.

MONDAY, October 6. Stop at Daniel Thomas's; dine at Jacob Thomas's;

visit Solomon Garber's; and have night meeting in Dayton. Stay all

night at Dr. Abraham Sager's.

TUESDAY, October 7. Attend a love feast at the Old meetinghouse. Stay

all night at John Bowman's above Harrisonburg.

WEDNESDAY, October 8. Go to see my old friend, Joseph Funk, and

succeed in bringing about a better state of feeling on his part toward

me. He became reconciled. He had been somewhat ruffled in his feelings

by my "Strictures and Reply" to his published writings on baptism and

feet-washing. Dine with him; then home.

SATURDAY, October 11. Meeting and love feast at the Lost River

meetinghouse. Stay all night at Celestine Whitmore's.

SUNDAY, October 12. Meet at the Lost River meetinghouse. In council

Moses Myers is elected speaker. Stay all night at John Basehore's.

MONDAY, October 20. Dine at John Fulk's. Have night meeting at Jesse

Mitchell's. Stay there all night.

TUESDAY, October 21. Have night meeting at George Cowger's. Stay there

all night.

WEDNESDAY, October 22. Morning meeting at the widow Henkel's. Night

meeting at George Kesner's. Stay there all night.

THURSDAY, October 23. Forenoon meeting at Isaac Judy's. Stay all night

at Manasseh Judy's.

FRIDAY, October 24. Go to John Judy's; then to D. Henkel's and to

Solomon Hours's, and back to John Judy's, where we have meeting. After

preaching we repair to the clear water of Mill Creek, and I baptize

seven persons. Stay all night at Jacob May's.

SUNDAY, November 2. Meeting at our meetinghouse. I this day baptize

ten converts, whose names follow: David Rhodes, Daniel Zigler, George

Moyers, William Fifer and wife, J. Crist and wife, Mary Whisler,

Rebecca Trissel, and Katy Showalter.

SATURDAY, November 15. Council at Green Mount. Benjamin Funk and W.C.

Thurman regularly elected and put in as ministers of the Word.

SUNDAY, November 16. Meeting at the Plains meetinghouse. Harrison

Daugherty and Anna Prophet are baptized by Samuel Wampler, while I go

and baptize Harvey Elger.

WEDNESDAY, November 19. Go to Katy Mullen's. Her sister Diana and her

mother are both buried in one grave at Rader's church. Jacob Stirewalt

and I speak on the occasion from Rev. 14:13. Age of Diana, fifty-three

years; mother, seventy-one years.

FRIDAY, November 21. Preach the funeral of Mrs. William Hevner in the

Gap. Age, seventy-first year. A kind and good mother in her family,

and a friend to me has she been.

THURSDAY, December 4. Go to Henry Neff's; draw money for the brethren;

go to Harrisonburg and to Solomon Garber's.

FRIDAY, December 5. Council meeting at Beaver Creek meetinghouse.

Daniel Thomas is ordained. Stay with him all night.

SATURDAY, December 6. Come to Harrisonburg; fix matters of business

with the Confederate government agent; pay over money for the

exemption of brethren. Come home; cold day.

TUESDAY, December 16. Go to Harrisonburg; attend to seeing that the

brethren get certificates of exemption as provided by the Confederate

Congress.

WEDNESDAY, December 31. I have traveled in this year 4,791 miles;

preached fifty-six funerals; nineteen for children under five years of

age; thirteen for children over five and under ten. Diphtheria has

done a fatal work. Five for persons over ten and under twenty; three

over twenty and under thirty; one over thirty and under forty; fifteen

over forty years of age.

THURSDAY, January 1, 1863. Meeting of thanksgiving to the Lord for his

kind affection toward us in our meetinghouse. I have somewhere read

that in the reign of one of the sovereigns of Great Britain, when the

outlook of the kingdom was very dark and threatening, one of the

king's advisors proposed appointing a day for public thanksgiving in

all the churches throughout the realm. The king answered the

proposition by saying that he could see nothing for which either he or

the nation had cause for special thanksgiving to God. The minister

responded by saying that the king and the nation both had great cause

to thank God _that things were no worse_. The king yielded and the day

was set. The Christian people assembled; the preachers recounted the

blessings still left in the nation's store, with the rich promises of

God to provide for the future as things should be needed, and there

was a day of thanksgiving in England the like of which is not often

seen.

It has been my experience, Brethren, and I think I have heard some of

you say the same, that prosperity does not always make people most

truly thankful. Great success in business is apt to foster a feeling

of independence. Men may forget God. It was in the days of Israel's

prosperity in the goodly land of Goshen in Egypt that they forgot the

name of the God of their fathers. When God appeared to Moses in Horeb,

he had to tell him from out the burning bush what his name was, and

also by what name he should make him to be known to his brethren in

Egypt. Some of the deepest heartfelt expressions of gratitude break

forth in times of misfortune. A brother once told me that he was away

from home when his barn was struck with lightning and burned to the

ground. At his return he beheld nothing but the smoking destruction of

his gathered harvest. But when his children came running to meet him,

and he saw them all safe, and their mother standing in the door

unharmed, he burst into an expression of thanksgiving, which, he

confessed to me, surpassed every other emotion of joy he had ever

felt. Our best experiences come to us when we are made to realize

properly the good that is still left us.

We must look upon our exemption from army service as one proof of

those interpositions in behalf of his children which our heavenly

Father has promised, and which he is constantly fulfilling. "The

effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." God has

not called us to prayer in vain. He invites us to come boldly to a

throne of grace. Does he do this otherwise than with a will to hear?

And the apostle's exhortation is: "In every thing give thanks," for

"all things work together for good to them that love God."

Let our offerings this day be from the heart; and probably the best

proof we can have that they come from the heart is a willingness and

cheerful readiness to give of our substance to the needy poor. We must

divide out, Brethren, to those who have, on account of the war

pressure, been unable to provide for themselves. Think of the

barefooted, half-clad and half-fed children in our land! I do not

undervalue what you have already done. I know you have done much; but

we should not feel that the burden of duty has all rolled from our

shoulders so long as there is one needy brother or sister or child in

our land. Brethren, I speak from my heart when I say that the church

has never before enjoyed such an opportunity to grow rich, as the

present offers. I mean rich in good works; rich in treasures laid up

in heaven; rich in her title to an eternal inheritance in heaven,

which our Lord calls "_the true riches_."

SATURDAY, January 17. Buy of Samuel Shacklett (a merchant in

Harrisonburg) one bolt of cotton cloth or muslin for Mary Hoover, for

which I pay seventeen dollars; and four bunches cotton yarn for which

I pay thirty dollars. This shows the measure of confidence reposed in

the Confederate Government.

WEDNESDAY, February 4. Visit General Jones's camp at New Market in

behalf of some of the soldiers.

FRIDAY, February 13. Attend the burial of our dear sister, Mary

Frances, wife of my nephew, John Kline. We did all we could for her;

but that dreadful destroyer, diphtheria, would have its way, and in

much anguish of heart we submit. She was a lovely and tender plant;

too tender for this world. Her age was twenty years, ten months and

eight days.

SUNDAY, February 22. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Matthew 22 is read.

Brother Benjamin Funk speaks. He and Brother Benjamin Driver were with

me last night. Snow fell last night and to-day about ten inches deep.

SUNDAY, March 8. Jacob Silvins's little son Jacob is buried to-day.

This is the third one of his children I have helped to bury within the

last two weeks.

TUESDAY, March 17. I am at Nimrod Judy's. I this day had a chance to

send a letter through the lines to Brother George Hoover, of Indiana.

SUNDAY, March 29. Preach funeral for three of Brother See's children.

Youngest, two years, five months and five days old; next, six years,

ten months and five days; oldest, nine years, five months and sixteen

days. They died of diphtheria.

THURSDAY, April 2. Attend the Beaver Creek council meeting. Joseph

Miller is elected to the ministry of the Word, and Daniel Miller to

the deaconship.

FRIDAY, April 3. Council meeting at the old meetinghouse. Joseph

Bowman and Joseph Harshberger are elected to the deaconship.

SATURDAY, April 4. Council meeting at the Mill Creek meetinghouse.

Isaac Long is ordained, and Noah Flory is elected to the deaconship.

Stay all night at old Daniel Wine's.

SATURDAY, April 18. About one o'clock this morning Abraham Funk came

for me. A man by the name of George Sellers met with the very sad

accident of having his leg broken. He had been in the Southern army,

and with a company of others who, like himself, were trying to make

their way to places within the Northern lines, and thus be out of the

reach of further molestation, he met with this misfortune. It happened

in this way: he was one of a company that was just leaving Abraham

Funk's by previous arrangement, about eleven o'clock in the night.

Near Abraham Funk's house, about two miles west of Broadway, the road

runs along the North Fork of the Shenandoah river, where the bank is

probably one hundred feet high, and very steep. This part of the road

lay directly in the line of the company's route, and, unfortunately,

just as they got into the road, right at this very steep place on the

bank of the river, an alarm of "Rebel scouts" seized the whole

company, and all together they went down to the river's edge, none

seriously hurt except Mr. Sellers, who had his leg broken. I made a

frame this morning to hold the fractured parts in place, and hope he

may do well. We are keeping the whole matter a profound secret to save

the life of a good man. He was taken back to Abraham Funk's, where he

is at this time receiving treatment in secret from me.

SUNDAY, April 19. Meeting at our meetinghouse. Epistle of Jude is

read. Abraham Glick is with us, and likewise Solomon Sherfey, of

Tennessee. Go to Abraham Funk's. George Sellers is doing well.

SUNDAY, April 26. Meeting at the Elk meetinghouse, in Page County,

Virginia. I speak from Heb. 2:3. TEXT.--_"How shall we escape if we

neglect so great salvation?"_

I always feel embarrassed when I attempt to speak from this text. The

subject is so vast, and the matter so important, that my best efforts

fall far below the just demands of my theme. Nothing can properly be

said to be saved which has never been lost or in danger of being lost.

And in every case where anything is saved, the greatness of the

salvation depends upon the value of the thing saved, together with the

measure of effort and sacrifice required to effect it. Some years ago

a very destructive fire was raging in the city of Pittsburg. A

gentleman, who claimed to have been an eyewitness of the fire, related

the following incident to me. He said the firemen had just rescued a

family from a burning building, and thought they had all out, when one

of the rescued ladies looking around screamed out, "O, save my

Bessie!" "Where is she?" was cried out. "In the north room up stairs!"

A noble-hearted fireman, almost exhausted, risked his life to rescue

what he of course supposed to be a child; but what was his indignant

surprise on reaching the room, to find that the missing "Bessie" was

only a pet cat! The enraged fireman kicked the cat and cursed its

mistress. But his feelings would have been different had Bessie been a

little child softly sleeping in its cradle. This incident may help us

to realize the truth contained in the statement already made, that the

_greatness_ of any salvation depends upon the _value_ of the thing

saved as well as upon the effort and sacrifice made to save it.

It is plain that man's salvation is the subject of the text. But is

man lost? And if lost, in what sense is he lost? We read in Matt.

18:11, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost." It is

man's _life_ that is lost--natural or bodily life, and supernatural or

spiritual life. But is man's bodily life lost? It is, "for death hath

passed upon all men." The sentence of bodily death: "It is appointed

unto man once to die." "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou

return." If any supposes the death of the body to be a small thing,

let such a one go to a well-filled graveyard and pass one hour in

serious meditation in this silent city of the dead. Let him think of

the tears that have fallen there, of the sighs of anguish that have

reluctantly escaped from broken hearts. Let him think of the innocent

beauty and loveliness that lie buried there, of the hopes and the joys

that have been driven from the heart by the hand of the destroyer; and

then let him ask himself if "the wages of sin" is a thing of small

account. Let his mind run a little further, and he can but see that

the graveyard's solemn tale to the end of the world must be yearly

told. Death here writes his name anew every passing season in the

fresh mounds raised above the dead. And not only so, but the voice of

reason whispers into the ear of every passer-by the solemn word, "This

place is waiting for you."

Now, an apostle says: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we

know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see

him as he is." And another apostle, as if commenting on this passage

says: "He shall change our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like

unto his glorious body." I now ask, Does not this show that the

salvation in the text is truly _a great salvation_? But I have as yet

but touched the hem of the garment. And, indeed, in our low and

contracted state of mental power here we are barely able with our

highest and broadest reaches of thought to lay hold of more than the

hem of salvation's garment. "Heaven is his throne, and the earth is

the footstool of his feet." What the footstool is to the throne, nay

to him that sits upon it, such are our highest and purest conceptions

to the salvation which the Lord has provided. "Eye hath not seen, nor

ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to know what

God hath provided for them that love him."

I stated that man's life is lost. I have said something about the

bodily life that is lost by sin. I now turn to say something about the

spiritual life that is lost by sin. Paul says, and I am sure he means

what he says: "To be carnally minded is death." Now, what is it to be

carnally minded? Or, in other words, what is the carnal mind? Paul

answers in a general way, that it is ENMITY against God. Such a degree

of enmity that all who are carnally minded cannot and do not love God,

nor take pleasure in his service. Life is love; and love is life. The

spiritual _life_ that is lost by sin is what Jesus came to redeem and

save, and this life is man's love. Man's LOVE is perverted. It is

turned away from the Lord God and the neighbor, and directed to self

and the world. And when a man loves himself more than God, and the

world with its sinful lusts and pleasures more than he does his

neighbor, he is carnally minded.

Now let us turn to the Lord's words. In the Gospel recorded by Luke a

certain lawyer is represented as asking the Lord this question:

"Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said unto

him: "What is written in the law? how readest thou?" He answering

said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with

all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and

thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus said unto him, "Thou hast answered

right: this do, and thou shalt live."

Brethren, does not this look like the key to salvation? Does it not

open the door to a view of eternal life and blessedness? Our Lord

says: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

When any one gives his heart to God in love like this, I think he is

in a saved state. And is it not a great salvation? Perfect love of

that which is good is perfect peace, because it drives evil from the

heart, which is the cause of all human misery. But the Lord, and the

Lord only, can change man from darkness to light and from death unto

life. He is the only Savior. He saves man by his Word and Holy Spirit.

He stands at every man's door and knocks. If any man will open the

door, he will enter that man's heart and dwell with him forever; and

Christ in the heart is salvation and eternal life.

THURSDAY, May 14. Go to Abraham Funk's. George Sellers is nearly well,

and in fine spirits. At half past five o'clock I start to the Annual

Meeting. Stay all night at Jacob Wine's.

FRIDAY, May 15. Dine and feed at Newman's furnace. Then go up through

the Trout Run valley, cross the Church mountains and get into the Lost

River valley near the place where the river disappears at the base of

the mountain. Stay all night at Landes's. I have seen no scouts or

pickets to-day.

SATURDAY, May 16. Get dinner at Jonathan Flory's, and stay all night

at Abraham Miller's.

SUNDAY, May 17. Stay at Brother Abraham Miller's all day. Have

preaching in the afternoon. Stay all night again.

MONDAY, May 18. Cross the Potomac river at Old Town; go up the

towpath; pass through Gibbontown near Flint Stone, and get to Abraham

Ritchey's, where I stay all night. Traveled thirty-three miles to-day.

TUESDAY, May 19. Get to Henry Hershberger's in Snake Spring valley,

where I stay all night. Twenty-eight miles to-day.

WEDNESDAY, May 20. Get to Brother Adam Snoberger's before dinner; but

spend balance of day there and in making a few calls. Have evening

meeting at the meetinghouse one mile away. Speak from John 10:9. Stay

all night at Brother Snoberger's.

THURSDAY, May 21. Come to Samuel Snider's; then to council meeting at

meetinghouse; and after dinner come to Brother Daniel Snoberger's at

Yellow Creek, where I stay all night. Fine day. It is ten miles from

Brother Snider's to Brother Snoberger's.

FRIDAY, May 22. Meeting at the meetinghouse. Subject, Hebrews 1. After

dinner go to Brother Leonard Furry's. Night meeting at the

meetinghouse. I speak from Rom. 1:16. Stay at Brother L. Furry's all

night. Fine day.

SATURDAY, May 23. Come fourteen miles to Clover Creek Meeting there in

forenoon and afternoon. Stay all night at Brother Dellinger's.

SUNDAY, May 24. Meeting at three places to-day. A delightful day as to

weather; and should be enjoyable to all in the way of good speaking.

MONDAY, May 25. Commence taking in questions in afternoon. Cloudy all

day. Stay all night at Brother Dellinger's.

TUESDAY, May 26. Discuss questions all day. Cloudy all forenoon, but

clears up in afternoon. Stay all night at Brother John Brumbach's.

WEDNESDAY, May 27. Discuss questions, but get through with business by

two o'clock; and the Annual Meeting breaks up. I come to Brother

Daniel Snoberger's, where I stay all night.

THURSDAY, May 28. Go to a store at Enterprise and buy a few articles.

After dinner come through Snake Spring valley and across Bloody Run to

Jesse O'Neil's, where I stay all night. Fine day.

FRIDAY, May 29. Come six miles to Chanyville; then eleven miles to

Gibbon; then two miles to John Deacon's where I get dinner and have

Nell fed; then twenty miles to Brother Abraham Miller's in Hampshire

County, Virginia, where I stay all night. Fine day.

SATURDAY, May 30. Come ten miles to Souer's, where I dine and feed;

then five miles out to the pike, and eight miles to North River; then

three miles to Brother Wilson's, but to get there have to ride two

miles out of the way to pass unmolested. Stay all night at Brother

Wilson's. Rain to-day.

SUNDAY, May 31. Come twenty-two miles to Nimrod Stradaman's, where I

dine and feed; then sixteen miles to James Fitzwater's, where I stay

all night. Fine day.

MONDAY, June 1. Come ten miles to Michael Wine's; get dinner, and in

afternoon cross the mountain and get home.

It may not be out of place to call the reader's attention to several

points of special interest connected with this journey of Brother

Kline to this the next to last Annual Meeting it was his privilege to

attend. Let the reader think of the distance to be traveled over in

going and coming--three hundred and thirty-four miles--all on the back

of his favorite Nell. Over a good road, in a time of peace, with

plenty of familiar friends by the way, such a distance with a good

horse would be but a delightful recreation to one accustomed, as was

Brother Kline, to horse-back riding. But a great part of his way lay

through a mountainous and thinly-peopled country, with only a path in

some places to direct his course; and, worst of all, he did not know

where he was safe from arrest, as army lines at this stage of the war

were almost constantly changing. How great, then, must have been his

love for the Brethren! Where can another man be found to compare with

him in fearless resolution to do what he believed would be pleasing to

the Lord and the Brethren, whom he loved more than he did his own

life! Neither was he encouraged by the Brethren at home to go. They

advised him not to go. But his heart was fixed; and his loving soul

would have been filled with melancholy sadness to have stayed at home

and thought of the warm hearts and kind hands he might have met by

going. He would rather see his Brethren and die, if necessary, than

_live_ without the sight.

From the time of his return from this journey to the close of the year

he did not venture far from home in a northern direction. On the

twelfth day of August he and Jacob Wine went on the yearly visit prior

to the visit council. They had to go to the counties of Pendleton and

Hardy, as the members in those counties were included in the district

over which Brother Kline was one of the overseers. They held visit

councils over there, and on their return home the two brethren were

arrested and taken before the military authorities on the eighteenth

day of August, 1863. Brother Jacob Wine came home with Brother Kline

to Brother Kline's house. They had been there but a short while when

they were both arrested. They gave a satisfactory account of their

business in those two counties, and were accordingly released. On the

twenty-fourth, just six days after the previous arrest, he was picked

up again and required to give account of himself. This he did in a

humble, truthful way, and was again let go. The following is on the

last page of the Diary for this year.

In this year, 1863, I have traveled 4,260 miles, all on horseback. I

have preached thirty-eight funerals: _fourteen_ for children under

five years of age; _eight_ for children between the ages of five and

ten years; _six_ for persons between the ages of ten and twenty years;

_three_ for persons between twenty and thirty years; _two_ for persons

between thirty and forty years; _two_ for persons between forty and

fifty years; _three_ for persons over eighty years of age.

In the last five and one-half months of our beloved brother's life, or

that portion of it which he lived between the first day of January,

1864, and the fifteenth of June, the memorable day of his death, are

not very full of interest. By this it is meant that the state of war

in Virginia, together with the hopeless condition of the Confederacy

and the demoralizing tendency of that condition upon the soldiery of

the land, raised insurmountable barriers in the way of activity on his

part. We find him mostly at home, save that he was much called to see

the sick and preach funerals in his immediate vicinity.

SUNDAY, May 1, he attended meeting at Green Mount for the last time.

He preached from Luke 19:7. The Editor was present, and still retains

some recollections of his line of thought; so that by means of these,

together with the Diary notes of this discourse, a tolerably just

reproduction of it may here be given. He seemed to be more than

usually pathetic in his delivery. In one of his tender appeals he

caught the writer's eye, and he can never forget the irresistible but

refreshing flow of tears that followed.

TEXT.--"_And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he

was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner._"

The Bible is a unit. The sum of its love and truth culminates in the

declaration that "the Son of man came to seek and to save that which

was lost." The portion of the chapter read in your hearing, which

immediately precedes my text, is a sufficient introduction to it. The

history of Zaccheus therein given is, or should be, familiar to all.

But my text may comprise some instructive and comforting truth to us,

which we, like those who attended the steps and heard the words of the

Lord in the flesh, may not so readily apprehend.

The disciples were deeply impressed with the sinless purity of their

great Teacher. But they did not as yet understand the character of his

mission. They could not rid their minds of the thought that his coming

was for the purpose of establishing, in some way, they knew not how,

an earthly reign of power and glory which would eclipse all that earth

had ever beheld. Hence we read that at one time they wanted to take

him by force, and make him a king. At another time the mother of two

of his disciples interceded in behalf of her two sons that the one

might sit on his right and the other on his left in his kingdom. What

sublime visions of worldly glory she had; and how deeply were her vain

imaginations rebuked! "Ye know not what ye ask."

These considerations aid us in our efforts to apprehend the character

of the impediments and obstacles in the way of our Savior's glorious

work of love. And here springs up a thought which I will dwell upon

for a little. I can not avoid the belief, forced upon me as it is by

what I see daily and have seen, that men do not widely differ now from

what men were in our Lord's time in the flesh. They do not love his

unqualified declaration--"My kingdom is not of this world"--any better

now than men did then. National greatness, in which the rich and

powerful may bear oppressive rule over the poor and weak, is the

height of their ambition. Such are not willing to eat and drink with

publicans and sinners. Things unseen and eternal are out of sight to

mortal eyes. Men doubt the declaration of the Bible that:

"Beyond this vale of tears,

There is a life above

Unmeasured by the flight of years:

And all that life is love."

It is this unbelief that fosters their love for the world and for

themselves. And the pride of heart that naturally goes with the love

of self is not willing to stoop to what is not highly esteemed among

men. It is not hard to see from the words of my text that there was a

very large measure of self-pride still clinging to the hearts of those

who composed the crowd now in attendance upon our Lord on this his

last journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. They thought it a stoop in

him, and out of place that he should condescend to go to be guest with

a man that is a sinner. It is plain from this that they did not know

themselves. Like the Pharisee, they justified themselves, and were

ready even to thank God that they were not like other men. But our

Lord came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. And

we should notice that by sinners he means such as _feel_ and _know_

themselves to be sinners. Jesus adapted himself to the _felt_ wants of

those he came to save. He had no sin-forgiving words for the

self-righteous. He had no blessing for the proud in spirit. He had no

promise for those who exalted themselves.

I love to contemplate this glorious feature of our blessed religion.

The docile, teachable disposition of the little child, coupled with

the honest confession of Peter: "I am a sinful man, O Lord," is the

low plane of feeling upon which the Savior enters the soul. It was

declared by a prophet respecting his first advent into the world:

"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be

made low." Mountains and hills in this passage signify the proud and

self-exalted desires and lusts of the wicked man, which are to be laid

low because such states of heart and life forever oppose themselves to

the meekness and gentleness of Christ. But the principle of humility,

signified by a valley, is to be exalted: not that humility exalteth or

can exalt itself; but this truly humble state of mind prepares man to

receive the Lord's saving truth, and this exalts a man. "He that

humbleth himself shall be exalted."

For myself, Brethren, I can say with the Apostle Paul, that "in me,

that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present

with me, but to do that which is good is not. For the good which I

would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.... I

delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I perceive a

different law in my members, warring against the will of my spirit,

and bringing me into captivity to the sway of sin in my members." Paul

here speaks of the inward man, and of the members or outward man. This

takes my thought to the tabernacle in the wilderness. It had an outer

court and an inner sanctuary. The tables of God's holy law were placed

in this most holy place. It was right in this most holy place, over

the mercy seat, which was the golden cover to the ark that contained

the tables of the law, that Jehovah had his dwelling place. It was

there he talked with Moses. The outer court was for offerings, and

served as a place for the confession of sin and its forgiveness.

Brethren, I am glad to think we are like this tabernacle, that we have

a most holy place, an inner sanctuary, in the inmost of our heart,

where Jesus has his dwelling place with us, and where his voice alone

is heard. In this holy of holies we feel his love, and it is there we

see his face. It is there that he appears to us the fairest among ten

thousand, and the one altogether lovely. It is here that we sing:

"Jesus, I love thy charming name;

'Tis music in mine ear;

Fain would I sound it out so loud

That earth and heaven might hear.

"Yes, thou art precious to my soul;

My transport and my trust:

Jewels to thee are gaudy toys,

And gold is sordid dust.

"I'll speak the honors of thy name

With my last fleeting breath:

And, dying, clasp thee in my arms,

The antidote of death."

Brethren, this is what I have gained, it is what you have gained, it

is what we all have gained by placing ourselves in sight of the Lord

as he was passing by. In itself, it was a small thing that Zaccheus

did. The tree which he ascended was not hard to climb; he was nimble,

for he _ran_ on before; and it did not take him long to climb, for he

had not much time. But in motive the act was great, because it was

done to get a sight of Jesus the Lord. The Lord knew this, and knew

also that his motive was not one of idle curiosity, but honest desire

to see him and to learn something more concerning him. And see how he

was blessed. Although he was looked down upon as being a sinner, and

felt in his heart that he was a sinner, still the blessed Savior

regarded it not out of place for him to go and be guest with him, and

crown the occasion with the joyful annunciation: "This day is

salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of

Abraham." All who believe in the Lord from the heart are sons of

Abraham, and heirs of God according to the promise.

Now, when any one goes to church to hear the Gospel preached, and

thereby to learn something about the Lord that he may have knowledge

of Jesus, he is doing in effect just what Zaccheus did. The same may

be said with regard to reading the Divine Word. It matters not how

great a sinner he may have been. No one now is likely to be a greater

sinner than was Mary Magdalene out of whom seven devils were cast; and

yet the Lord could say of her: "Her sins, which are many, are

forgiven, for she hath loved much." A dying saint was once heard to

say: "Hunt up all my sins; pile them mountain high; one breath of

faith sweeps them all away; and the more I'm forgiven the louder I'll

sing."

Ah, brethren and sisters, we can rejoice that the Lord condescended to

be a guest with us poor sinners. He proclaims salvation to every one

of us. And inasmuch as he has come in to sup with us and we with him,

let us hold him by the feet, ever welcome to our hearts, and he will

abide with us forever.

It is in a feeling of unavoidable sadness we now approach the closing

weeks of Brother Kline's life. We will now, with great care, trace his

steps going to and returning from the last Annual Meeting he was ever

permitted to attend.

FRIDAY, May 6. This is the day on which he started. He stayed the

first night with Reuben Regelman, then living in the head of what was

then called Germany, a remote section of Brock's Gap, and so called on

account of the number of original German people who settled there near

the close of the Revolutionary War. Regelman lived in a deep mountain

retreat, just in the line of what appeared to Brother Kline his safest

route.

SATURDAY, May 7. This day he crossed the Shenandoah mountain by a

near-cut pathway, coming down into Sweedlin valley, in Pendleton

County. He next crossed the Sweedlin mountain by a pathway, at the

foot of which flows the beautiful mountain river called the South

Fork. He followed this stream about two miles through a deep gorge

between Sweedlin mountain and the South Fork mountain, and got to the

widow Nelly Henkel's on top of the latter mountain in time for dinner.

From there he went to Sister Mary Bargdoll's on the South Mill creek,

where he stayed all night. He was now fifty miles on his way. He

reports the weather as being very pleasant so far.

SUNDAY, May 8. This day he visited Enoch Hyre's. From there he went to

old Brother Parks's. He then stopped on his way to read and pray with

old Sister Parks, who was entirely blind. From here he went to Brother

Martain Cosner's, where he had afternoon meeting, and preached from

one of his favorite texts, the Lord's invitation to all, given in

Matt. 11:28, 29, 30. He stayed all night at Brother Cosner's. All the

families he visited this day were then living northwest of Petersburg,

in Grant County, West Virginia. He reports another beautiful day. He

is now sixty-nine miles from home.

MONDAY, May 9. This day he had meeting by previous arrangement at

Andrew Cosner's, six miles further on in the direction of his route.

His subject was 1 Cor. 15:1, 2, 3. From here he went to Brother Thomas

Clark's, fifteen miles further on, where he stayed all night.

Beautiful weather continues.

TUESDAY, May 10. From Brother Clark's he went to Oakland, a station on

the B. & O. R.R., thirteen miles from Brother Thomas Clark's. Here he

took the train at 9:30 P.M., and Nell had rest. She had carried him on

her back one hundred and four miles in four and one-half days. Short

stages, but terribly hard roads a large part of the way. He arrived at

Bellaire at half past six the next morning. He started for Dayton,

Ohio, at seven, and got there at five in the evening. He stayed all

night at Brother Henry Flory's.

THURSDAY, May 12. From here he went to a love feast at the Cave Creek

meetinghouse, but is silent as to how he got there. The second chapter

of Hebrews was read. He stayed all night at Jonas Garber's. He says:

"There was frost this morning, but a delightful day."

FRIDAY, May 13. He took the train at Brookville station, seven miles

from Brother Jonas Garber's, and arrived at Hagerstown, near the place

of the Annual Meeting. He stayed all night at Brother Samuel Eiler's.

Another fine day.

SATURDAY, May 14. He reports meeting at the meetinghouse and a great

concourse of people. Also, a little rain to-day.

SUNDAY, May 15. Preaching at six places. A wonderful gathering of

people. Night meeting in Hagerstown. A little rain to-day. I stay all

night in Hagerstown.

MONDAY, May 16. To-day the Annual Meeting organizes for business.

Forms subcommittees; takes in queries; holds its session in

meetinghouse. I stay all night at old Brother Eiler's. A little

sprinkle of rain to-day.

TUESDAY, May 17. Discuss questions all day. Good order prevails. I am

glad to witness the dawning of intelligence in the minds of our

younger brethren in the ministry. We must keep up with the demands of

the age; not in the vain show of worldly fashion and love for things

new; but in our desire and power by the use of all divinely-appointed

means to commend the truth to every man's conscience by making it to

shine in all directions more and more unto the perfect day. I am glad

to see the zeal manifest in our younger brethren, and at the same time

equally glad to find it tempered with moderation.

WEDNESDAY, May 18. Finish business at half past eleven o'clock. After

dinner go to Brother James Wyatt's, where I stay all night. Also visit

the widow Sister Hardman.

THURSDAY, May 19. Come to Hagerstown and dine at Brother Brown's. I

then take cars to Andersontown, and come to Brother Peter Fesler's,

six miles away. After supper have night meeting in Columbus, where I

speak from Acts 4:13. Stay all night with Jeremiah Clemmens.

Having been more than usually impressed at our meeting with the

importance of Christian brethren making their conversations and lives

give testimony to the sincerity and intelligence of their professions

of faith in Christ, I resolved to turn my discourse to that bearing,

as much so as I could. With that view I took these words: TEXT.--_"And

they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."_

A very plain and self-evident truth comes to mind at the opening of my

discourse to-night. It is this truth, that no one can converse

intelligently upon any subject he does not understand, nor accomplish

any work of art without some previously acquired skill to do it. To

comply with the demands imposed upon every human being by these

fundamental and stubborn realities, all the means of education for the

mind and training for the body are provided. Man stands alone and

singular in this regard. Birds can sing and build their nests without

instruction; and bees can form their delicate cells of wax without a

guide.

It is also a well-recognized fact that the pupil gives evidence of the

character and ability of his teacher, in all the lines of science and

art. In the knowledge and practice of the things pertaining to man's

spiritual life on earth it is just the same. All that man does from

conscience, from what he believes to be his duty to God and to man,

this he calls religious. If his faith and life are firmly based and

established upon the Rock of God's eternal Truth, it can be known at

once who has been his teacher, and knowledge can be taken of him that

he has been with Jesus.

I do not wish to reflect particularly here upon the lack of evidences

of this kind among professing Christians generally, nor do I wish to

reflect censure upon the teachers under whose auspices these

professions have been made; but I do say, and am sorry, that from the

conduct and life of many professors of religion it would be hard to

tell certainly that they were not Mohammedans or disciples of

Confucius. But banishing all fancy and superstition, and ignoring all

religious forms and ceremonies, there is a way of making the truth

known that one has been with Jesus. The key that opens to this

knowledge is wrapped up in these words of our Lord: "_By this shall

all men know that ye are my disciples_, IF YE HAVE LOVE ONE FOR

ANOTHER."

Let us notice how this love was shown by Peter and John. I name them

here, because they are connected with my text. There lay a poor

beggar, lame from his mother's womb. He was but little noticed, save

as he was looked down upon with contempt. He asked an alms of Peter

and John as they were about entering the temple. Peter might justly

have said: "I have nothing in the way of silver or gold to give you,"

and have thus excused himself from all further trouble about the man.

But he did not treat the poor and impotent beggar in this way. He said

to him: "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."

But this was not all. "He took him by the right hand, and LIFTED him

up." He was not only ready to instruct, but he was ready to HELP, and

that with his own hands.

But I have not told all. The two disciples took to themselves no touch

of credit for the lame man's being made to walk. Their love for the

Lord, and their desire to do good by publishing the news of his

healing and saving power, had so filled their hearts that there was no

room in them for any of the love of self and the world. Had they been

so disposed they might have taken to themselves great credit for what

they had done. They might have indirectly favored the impression that

if the Lord was at the bottom of the miracle they were at the top, and

very important factors in it. But the conduct and temper of the two

disciples was far from anything like this. When the people ran

together, greatly wondering, Peter said: "Why marvel ye at this? or

why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness

we had made this man to walk?" He then directed the attention of the

people to the crucified, risen and glorified Lord, to whose power and

love they ascribed all the honor.

It is known without telling that such humility of heart and exaltation

of the Lord is not natural with man. People of all grades, even the

enemies of the Lord, take knowledge from such as manifest this spirit

of love and meekness, that they have been and are with Jesus. In his

last conversation with his disciples he lifted his eyes to heaven and

said: "Father, I will, that they whom thou hast given me be with me

where I am, that they may behold my glory." This prayer must have a

present fulfillment in every one of the Lord's people in this world,

in order that they may have a future realization of it in the world to

come. To be with the Lord is to abide in him and he in us. "Abide in

me, and I in you." This is the crown of all blessedness. This is the

golden altar of sweet incense: the brightly burning lamp that lights

the way through the door into the marriage feast.

"Forever with the Lord:

Amen! so let it be:

Life from the dead is in that word;

'Tis immortality."

To be with Jesus is to be with him in affection and thought; to love

what he loves, and to believe what he teaches. One may be with Jesus

in place, and yet be very far from him in spirit. This was exemplified

by Judas. He sat at the same table with the Lord, but his heart, his

mind and feelings were very far away. At that very time he was

plotting his destruction, for Judas was a devil from the beginning.

Even Peter, just a little while after that, caught by the Lord's eye,

went out and wept bitterly. It is not, therefore, a local or personal

nearness which the Lord has in mind when he prays that all whom the

Father hath given him may be with him, but a nearness of heart, in the

affection of love, and the obedience of faith.

Brethren and friends, let me say to you, that it is the _duty_, and

not only the duty, but the highest attainment of Christian liberty, to

be with Jesus and to give knowledge to all around that one has not

only been, but now is every day with Jesus. True godliness, however,

does not desire to make a display of itself; it seeks no prominence in

the world; neither does it aspire to receive the applauses of men. It

does not ride upon the tempest of religious disputes, nor clothe

itself with the whirlwind of fanatical excitement. But, like the

Divine Spirit from which it springs, it speaks in the still, small

voice of tender compassion and love. Like its Lord, it enters a house,

the house of the humble, contrite heart, and would have no man know

it; but it cannot be hid.

Now, Brethren and friends, I have only touched some of the chords in

the beautiful anthem of my theme. I now leave it with you, hoping that

you may learn every note in it; and by the sweet music of a good life

delight the ears and warm the hearts of all who hear its rich

harmonies. Possibly you may never see my face or hear my voice again.

I am now on my way back to Virginia, not knowing the things that shall

befall me there. It may be that bonds and afflictions abide me. But I

feel that I have done nothing worthy of bonds or of death; and none of

these things move me; neither count I my life dear unto myself, so

that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have

received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.

THURSDAY, May 19. Come to Hagerstown and dine at Brother Brown's.

FRIDAY, May 20. Visit Sister Molly Clemmens; dine at Brother Jacob

Fesler's; sup at Brother Peter Fesler's, and by request have meeting

again in Columbus to-night. My subject is Matt. 7:13, 14. Stay at

Peter Fesler's all night. Warm and pleasant day.

SATURDAY, May 21. Visit Andrew Fertig's, where I stay till after

dinner. I then come to Middletown; and from there to Fall Creek

meetinghouse, to Brother David Miller's meeting. John 14 is read. I

speak upon the spirit and general scope of truth comprehended in the

chapter. Jacob Fry and wife are baptized. I then go home with old

Brother Jacob Miller, and after supper go to Brother David Miller's,

where I stay all night. Fine and warm day.

SUNDAY, May 22. Visit Absalom Painter; he is sick, and I think poorly.

Attend meeting at the meetinghouse. John 3 is read. I speak upon the

new birth, the most important matter that can possibly engage the

thought and occupy the heart of man, inasmuch as without it, there is

no salvation. Dine with Jacob Miller, who is a son of George Miller.

In the afternoon visit Joseph Funk's and from there I go to George

Hoover's where I stay all night. A fine but warm day.

MONDAY, May 23. Stay at George Hoover's till after dinner. In the

afternoon call at Joseph's and John's, and visit the Sulphur Springs.

Night meeting. Speak from First John, second chapter, last part of the

twenty-ninth verse: _"Every one that doeth righteousness is born of

him."_ A righteous life is the proof that one is born of God. Charity,

which is the love of doing good, is the child of the new birth. This

leads to righteousness or justice in all our dealings with one

another. I can not love my brother and at the same time seek undue

advantage of him, or try to cheat him in any way. The same is true in

dealing with those outside the Brotherhood. This righteousness shuts

down the gate upon the stream of all evil affections and lusts,

because it springs from that love which forever whispers in the heart:

"All things, whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even

so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."

Stay all night at Brother Yost's. His wife is Brother Hoover's

daughter.

TUESDAY, May 24. Take cars at seven o'clock and get to Richmond at

nine, and to Higgin's Station at eleven. From there I go to Brother

Nead's, five miles away; and after dinner to meeting at the

meetinghouse. Speak from Rom. 1:16, 17. After meeting come to Brother

Joseph Miller's, where I stay all night. Much rain this afternoon.

WEDNESDAY, May 25. Go to Arebaugh's meetinghouse. Love feast. John 1

is read. Stay all night at Brother Kensel's.

This is the last love feast Brother Kline ever attended. Tender memory

will drop a tear as she looks into his loving eye and sees him take

his last farewell and leave his last loving kiss on lips that his will

never touch again. But we should remember that thirty-five years have

passed since then. Many who took the parting hand on earth then, have,

one by one, since then, taken the meeting hand in heaven: "For God is

not the God of the dead, but of the living."

THURSDAY, May 26. Come to Dayton; buy some articles; dine at Brother

Henry Yost's, and also sup there. Take cars at half past six in the

evening and arrive at Columbus soon after nine. Stay there all night.

FRIDAY, May 27. Get to Oakland in the evening, and stay all night at

Rogan White's tavern. Two hundred and eighty-six miles from Columbus

to Oakland.

SATURDAY, May 28. Come to Brother James Abernathy's in a hired hack,

ten miles; and in afternoon come three miles to Brother Thomas

Clark's, where I have night meeting and stay all night. Fine day.

SUNDAY, May 29. Come to Brother Zachariah Hendrick's, where I have

meeting. Speak from John 1:17. In afternoon come through the mountain

top to Sister Eve Idleman's, where I stay all night. Frost this

morning.

MONDAY, May 30. Visit our old and blind Sister Parks; read for her and

pray with her. Come to Enoch Hyre's and stay till after dinner. I then

go to Brother John Judy's, where I stay all night. Leave appointment

to preach his deceased wife's funeral on Sunday, June 26.

TUESDAY, May 31. Call at Philip Kesner's; at Samuel Kesner's; cross

the mountain and call and get dinner at George Cowger's; then stop

awhile at Philip Emswiler's; exchange a few pleasant words with friend

Peter Warnstaff as I pass by his house; and get to Brother John Fulk's

in evening, where I stay all night. Fine, pleasant day.

WEDNESDAY, June 1. Come by Michael Wine's; dine with him; then come

across the mountain home.

From this time to the memorable day of his martyrdom there is nothing

in the Diary demanding special notice. Notice has already been taken

of his calling at George Cowger's on the South Fork in Pendleton

County, West Virginia, on his way home from this his last journey. At

Mr. Cowger's, while at the dinner table, he said: "I am threatened;

they may take my life; but I do not fear them; they can only kill my

body." This they accomplished.

WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1864. He went to a blacksmith's shop a few miles

away from home; had Nell shod; and on his return was killed by, it is

supposed, some concealed person or persons on a ridge of timber land a

few miles away from home. Some account of his funeral has already been

given in the introduction to this work. His body, when discovered,

showed that it had been pierced by several bullets. But a smile rested

on his face. The writer's own eyes witnessed this. It may be that this

smile was the reflection of the joy that thrilled his soul as he

stepped out of his broken tenement of clay into the presence and light

of his Redeemer. Stephen's living face was as the face of an angel.

Brother Kline's dead face was the face of a saint--no, not the face of

a saint, but the face of the earthly casket in which a saint had

lived, and labored, and rejoiced; and out of which he stepped into the

glories of the eternal world. Amen!

_He Died at His Post._

[Said to have been composed by Brother Kline on the death of Joseph

Miller, who died while on a visit to Ohio.]

Away from his home and the friends of his youth

He hasted, the herald of mercy and truth,

For the love of his Lord and to seek for the lost

Soon, alas! was his fall, but he died at his post.

The stranger's eye wept that in life's brightest bloom

One gifted so highly should sink to the tomb;

For in order he led in the van of his host,

And he fell like a soldier, he died at his post.

He wept not himself that his warfare was done,

The battle was fought and the victory won,

But he whispered of those whom his heart clung to most,

"Tell my Brethren for me that I died at my post."

He asked not a stone to be sculptured with verse;

He asked not that fame should his merits rehearse;

But he asked as a boon when he gave up the ghost,

That his Brethren might know that he died at his post.

Victorious his fall, for he rose as he fell,

With Jesus his Master in glory to dwell.

He has passed o'er the stream and has reached the bright court,

For he fell like a martyr; he died at his post.

And can we the words of his exit forget?

O, no, they are fresh in our memory yet.

An example so brilliant shall not be lost;

We will fall in the work, we will die at our post.