Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary Part 16

SUNDAY, August 15. They all attended a meeting and love feast. John 15 was read. Five persons were baptized. The four brethren stayed all night at Brother Umbenhaver's. On the twenty-third they dined at Brother Seacrist's; then crossed the Juniata to Waynesboro and stayed all night at Brother Kensel's. On the twenty-fourth they attended a love feast near Brother Samuel Myers's. Hebrews 2 was read. One person baptized. On the twenty-fifth they went to Brother Dolyman's. On the twenty-sixth they went through Lewistown; then down the ca.n.a.l to Mifflinburg, and on to Michael Baseh.o.r.e's, where they had meeting.

Acts 10 was read. From this place they went to David Myers's, where they had night meeting. Mark 11 was read.

From some unknown cause, here is the first sermon outlined by Brother Kline in all this journey. He may have been too busy, at times, to give the outlines; and at other times may not have felt like doing it.

There is so much originality of thought in the outlines that I here reproduce his discourse as nearly as possible.

_Sermon by Elder John Kline._

_Preached at David Myers's, in Pennsylvania, August 26._

TEXT.--"By what authority doest thou these things?"

It was an exceedingly bold act on the part of our Lord to cleanse the temple at Jerusalem in the way he did it. In justification of his right to do this he appealed to what was written: "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." But reference to this authority involved other questions of grave import in the minds of the scribes and Pharisees. They wished to doubt his right to appeal to this Scripture, because they were unwilling to concede his claim to the divine sonship. To raise as strong a breast of opposition against him as possible, there "come to him in the temple the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and say to him, By what authority doest thou these things?"

Most unexpectedly to them, they were confronted by another question quite as direct, from whose point and power they quailed: "The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?" Whilst many of the scribes and Pharisees and elders had never condescended to show John enough respect even to be present at any time when he was baptizing in the Jordan, still they knew, and felt most keenly, the power of his teachings and work upon the common people; for "all held John to be a prophet;" "but the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of G.o.d against themselves, being not baptized of him," John.

To all human appearance, the influence of the baptism and teachings of John, upon the common people, saved our Lord's life upon this and probably other occasions, for the scribes and chief priests sought opportunity to destroy him; but they feared the _common people_. In this we discover traces of the good accomplished by John's mission, which was "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord;" and this people was the _common people_.

Our Lord, however, had a much higher thought and loftier end in the question he put to these men than that of merely saving his life by the facts involved in the question.

When a minister, either diplomatic or religious, on foreign soil, is asked for his authority, it is absolutely necessary for him to produce satisfactory credentials of his investment with the office and the honor he may claim. Our Lord's credentials must be clear and satisfactory, beyond those of any other minister, because no others ever have been or can be subjected to such a rigid scrutiny and to such scathing tests as those were which he bore. They must present a more imposing front than that of the power to work miracles. Others had wrought miracles before. Moses had made the bottom of the Red Sea dry ground; and with a single stroke of his rod had cleft a mighty rock to the gushing forth of a flood of water from it. Elijah had raised the widow's dead son, and had kept her cruse of oil and her barrel of meal replenished; so that the famine came not nigh her door.

The walls of Jericho had fallen under the sound of Joshua's band of rams'-horn trumpeters; and, in fact, miracles had, in one way or another, been connected with almost all the events recorded in the Jewish Scriptures. On the evidence of these facts the scribes and Pharisees said to him in scorn: "Art thou greater than our fathers, which are dead? and Moses, and the prophets, which are dead?"

You may now perceive how necessary it was for our Lord to have some higher claim to authority, in the eyes of these unbelieving Jews, than they were willing to see in his power to work miracles. This higher testimony to his authority was given by his Father, signed and sealed by the Holy Spirit, in the presence of witnesses, as Jesus came up out of the water when he was baptized. It was on the bank of the Jordan that "the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of G.o.d descending as a dove, and coming upon him; and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

To this fact all four of the evangelists bear testimony, in nearly the same words.

Peter, in an address recorded in the first chapter of the Acts, indirectly affirms that many witnessed our Lord's baptism and the attendant manifestations from heaven. To his mind it was an essential part of the qualifications of a candidate for the apostleship, that he had been a witness of our Lord's baptism, as well as of his resurrection. And why not? The proofs of his Sonship, of his Messiahship, of his union or oneness with the Father, of the Father's love for him, and of the acceptableness of the Son's work and obedience, were as clear and undeniable in the first as in the last.

After a brief consultation among themselves over the question propounded unto them by our Lord, these deceitful Jews decided that the most expedient answer they could frame would be to confess that they "could not tell." No wonder, now, that he told them that "the publicans and harlots would enter the kingdom of heaven before they would." We may here see a verification of the fact that LOVE must precede FAITH. The truth may be _forced_ upon one, and he be _compelled_ to acknowledge it; yet, unless he falls in love with that truth, he will not believe it as a thing of FAITH, and will not think and act correspondingly thereto.

"Convince a man against his will-- He's of the same opinion still."

We may here, very properly, inquire why the heavenly testimony was given at our Lord's baptism. Why were the Father's acknowledgment and approval of his beloved Son not given in the temple of Jerusalem, in the presence of his enemies, that they might be _convinced_; or in one of its populous streets on a public day, that the world, in a representative sense, might know of him? It is impossible for men or angels to know the mind of the Lord where he has not revealed it. He has withheld from us any direct information on this point; but we may draw some inferential conclusions, which may serve to satisfy the mind and rest the heart.

It is a matter of fact that the Father never put his Son on exhibition; neither did the Son ever seek any place of honor or distinction before men. "He was meek and lowly in heart." The Word made flesh, the Way and the Truth and the Life did not appear on earth to be gazed at as a thing of mere curiosity, nor examined and handled as an article of merchandise.

Men have their opinions; and especially at this day is there a decided tendency with many to make a show of their denominational strength and numerical importance; but, really, it appears to me that the Son of G.o.d shunned observation, and apparently shrank from the echo of his fame. More than once did he kindly request those with him to say nothing about some sublime manifestation of divine power and love which he had just given.

Whatever else baptism may signify, to my mind it is plain that it is the visible door to the visible kingdom of heaven on earth. Christ the Lord is King of that kingdom; and as such it behooved him to enter it by the same door through which he has commanded that all his future subjects shall enter; and that door is water baptism. "He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice." The fold is the kingdom; the shepherd is the Lord; and the porter is John the Baptist.

How fitting that the divine recognition be given at the _door_ of the kingdom in which the Lord is to be crowned "King of kings." A few honest-hearted witnesses were all the Father wished, before whom to make known this glorious disclosure of love for his Son.

Baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. This is not its legitimate result. Its effect is the answer of a good conscience toward G.o.d. When one submits to this ordinance in the right spirit, and it is properly administered, it never fails of being followed by this happy experience. It gives the heart peace and rest in Christ.

"The eunuch went on his way rejoicing." "The jailer rejoiced, believing in G.o.d with all his house." These rejoicings followed baptism in each case. The Psalmist says: "The testimony of the Lord is sure, enlightening the eyes: the statutes of the Lord are pure, rejoicing the heart. More are they to be desired than gold; yea, than much fine gold; for in the keeping of them there is great reward."

Baptism is both a testimony and a statute. It is a testimony because it bears witness to the truth by the joy it imparts; and it is a statute because it is a written command of G.o.d which it is the duty of every believer to obey; and in the keeping of it there is great reward.

FRIDAY, August 27. They had meeting at Henry Hart's. Acts 3 was read.

Two brethren were advanced from the deaconship to the ministry of the Word, and two were elected to the deaconship. The twenty-eighth they spent mostly with Brother John Royer. The twenty-ninth they attended two meetings: one at Brother Joel Royer's, and the other near the same place. At Joel Royer's, Brother Isaac Long took the lead in speaking; and from the outlines of his discourse, given in the Diary, I am a.s.sured it is worthy of being expanded into a sermon, and of holding a prominent place in this work.

_Sermon by Elder Isaac Long, of Virginia._

_Preached at Joel Royer's, in Pennsylvania, August 29._

TEXT.--"A sower went out to sow his seed."

There is one feature about my text for to-day that is likely to draw at least momentary attention. That feature is its simplicity. I am glad to hope that this may give rise to a query in the mind of each hearer in substance something like this: "What can he have to say on such a simple text as that? I am going to listen and see what he will make of it." I see your eyes have turned to me now; but, beloved brethren and sisters, whilst the eyes of your bodies are turned to me from feelings of curiosity, I beg that the eyes of your understandings and hearts may be turned to the Lord, for grace, on my part to speak, and on your part to hear.

The text, in its simplicity of phraseology and external sense, looks like a nut without a kernel. It comes to the ear like the uncertain sound of a trumpet: "_A sower went out to sow his seed_." No part of the farmer's work, however, is more common in its seasons than this; and I may add with emphasis, that no part of the farmer's work in its seasons is more _important_ than this. The life of the world depends upon two great facts--_seeding_ and _harvesting_; and when the Lord established his covenant with Noah after the flood, two of the essential provisions of that covenant were couched in these words: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest shall not cease." I never read that covenant but with delight, because I love farming, and when at home farming is my business. Here is my covenant with the Lord, and my a.s.surance that my seedings will be blessed.

There is one thing in the provisions of that covenant to which I wish to call special attention. It is all found in one compound word, and that word is

SEED-TIME.

It does not read _seeding_ and harvest. _Seeding_ means the act of sowing seed. The Lord in his covenant does not say that this shall not cease; because the act of sowing seed or _seeding_ depends upon man: he only a.s.sures man that seedtime, or the time for sowing seed, shall not cease. But notice the other part. He does not say harvest-time; but he says that _harvest_ shall not cease, because _he makes the harvest_. He speaks positively here of results, as being able and forever willing to fulfill what he covenants to do. In this covenant, man's work is implied as well as G.o.d's work. Man's part of the work is to sow the seed when the time is given. G.o.d's part is to bless the seed sown, by giving the harvest. In all of man's labor pertaining to providing for the support and comfort of his body, "we are coworkers with G.o.d."

Our heavenly Father deals with us as children. By natural things he instructs us in spiritual things. Paul says; "First that which is natural; afterward that which is spiritual." This is G.o.d's order.

REASON AND FAITH.

Some think that reason must yield to faith. Others think that faith must yield to reason. The opinions on both sides are wrong, because both imply a conflict between reason and faith, when in TRUTH no such conflict ever has existed, nor can it exist. Reason is neither more nor less than the intelligent operations of the mind in seeking to know the truth; and faith is but a willing acceptance and acknowledgment of that truth when it is known. In one way of looking at it, faith and knowledge are one; only faith is a loving acceptance, by the WILL, of what the UNDERSTANDING is a.s.sured of being true. What the understanding doubts can never be received by the will as a thing of faith.

WISDOM is the union of faith and knowledge in man, and becomes more and more his guiding light in all intelligent action. If man's wisdom be merely that of earth, it is not genuine; but if it be heavenly, it is true wisdom, and leads more and more to G.o.d, and eternal life in him. Wisdom says that there must be a sort of reciprocal correspondence between the seed and the ground on which it is sown.

This fact involves several principles based upon experience. The sower must know what kind of seed he is sowing. "_It may be of wheat or some other grain._" He should know what preparation the ground requires to make the hoped-for harvest. He should know what fertilizers and stimulants are likely to do most good. He should also know the right _time_ for sowing his seed.

A mere knowledge of these principles, however, is not sufficient.

There must be a practical application of them, in the way of complying with the necessary conditions, or the sowing will prove a failure. The seed that fell by the wayside was picked up by the birds. That which fell on the rock perished. That which fell among the thorns was soon overcome by their superior rankness of growth, and it made nothing.

Only that which fell into good ground made a remunerative return.

MAN'S WILL IS THE FIELD.

I may say to you now that man's _will_ is the field which our Lord meant in the parable here recorded; "and the seed is the Word of G.o.d."

Notwithstanding the practical explanation given of this parable by our Lord, a degree of obscurity still broods over it in the minds of many Bible interpreters. What made the bad ground bad; and what made the good ground good, and how the bad ground is to be made good and productive, are questions that puzzle the minds of many. Some may not agree with me; but I do believe that the diversities in human nature, set forth and described by our Lord in this parable, all relate to the WILL. What makes the difference between a good man, and a bad man?

Brethren, it is the WILL. A good man does good from a good will, and a bad man does bad from a bad will.

Let us take the wayside hearer. There is no defect about his _understanding_. His head is as clear in matters of business as any man's. He understands what the preacher says when he is sowing the seeds of gospel truth as readily as any one in the congregation. Why then does the devil take away the Word out of his heart? I answer, because the devil is very fond of doing that sort of work; and the man does not object. In other words, the wayside hearer has no WILL to keep the Word in his heart. If he had a _will_ to keep the Word in his heart, and live conformably to it, the gates of h.e.l.l could not prevail against it. He would then be _good ground_ according to the measure of his capacity, and the life of love and obedience growing out of it.

Take the rock-hearer next. He has a very thin skin of soil over the surface of the rock that lies underneath. From the way he goes to meeting and talks about religion, you might readily conclude that all he needs to become a bright light in the church is a little encouragement. He says: "That was a splendid sermon we heard to-day.

It did me good to hear that man talk. I could listen to him for a week;" and he tells the truth; for if the man stays a week, and works up something of an _excitement_, this rock-hearer will go every night and praise every sermon. I am sorry to say, however, that the devil does not try very hard to get the Word out of that man's heart, because he knows that if he leaves it alone just a little while it will _die_ out of itself. The real trouble with this man is a want of WILL to reduce to practice the _truth_ received into the _understanding_. The rock, underneath the skin of soil that hides it, is a WILL which is wholly averse to the life of self-denial and G.o.dly obedience set forth in the Word which he hears. He loves the world and himself more than G.o.d; and the delight or joy with which he hears the Word is all in the _understanding_. The words of life and salvation fade from his memory, because there is no desire in his heart or WILL to retain them, as the things that belong to his everlasting peace.

Next in order comes the th.o.r.n.y-ground hearer. He may be a man of talent, perhaps a genius. Naturally thoughtful and ambitious, he covets both wealth and honors. He is not entirely forgetful of the claims of religion upon him. He goes to church with his family; behaves genteelly; invites the ministers to his house, and entertains them very hospitably. He thinks religion a very good thing in society, and one that ought to be encouraged. You often hear people say of him: "What a pity he is not a member of the church: how much good he could do!" In all matters of public interest he takes an active part. During an electoral canva.s.s he is all astir, and wonders how any one can be indifferent at such a time, or even show a moderate degree of coolness. He is a useful man in society, and his loss would be keenly felt by the community. The real trouble with this man is akin to that of all the rest. It has its seat right in the WILL. He loves the world, and the world loves him; and to hold his place in society he must comply with its demands. He must not be scrupulous about small matters. He must take a drink with a friend. If invited to take part in some pastime or popular amus.e.m.e.nt, even if it be of doubtful moral character, he dare not decline the invitation. If memory should even blow the ashes from some live coals of truth, and conscience remonstrate, he must ignore all weakness of that kind. Such and such-like are the thorns that choke the Word, and it brings no fruit to perfection.

Last, but not least, comes the good-ground hearer. I have reason to believe that most of you know him from your own experience; therefore I will not describe him here. But before I conclude I desire to direct your attention to a few points more in the line of my thought.