Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary: Collated from his Diary by Benjamin FunkKline, John
Religion
Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary: Collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk
Kline, John
Kline, John, 1797-1864
SATURDAY, April 28, they had meeting at Enoch Hyre's in forenoon, and
at Elijah Judy's at night. They anointed Sister Elijah Judy with oil
in the name of the Lord.
SUNDAY, April 29. They had meeting at Sister Chlora Judy's in the
forenoon, and then crossed the Fork mountain to Nimrod Judy's, where
they had night meeting and stayed all night.
MONDAY, April 30. They got home. Quoting from the Diary Brother Kline
says: "I love to go among the mountains. The people there seem to pay
better attention to what is said, and manifest better behavior at our
meetings than they do in the thickly-settled and more fashionable
sections of our State. It is true that ignorance and poverty abound in
some places; but are the souls of the poor less dear to the Lord than
the souls of the rich? On one occasion our Lord referred to the fact
that the Gospel was preached to the poor as a proof of its heavenly
origin. But there are intelligent people living among those mountains.
And in the way of hospitality and genuine kindness, meeting you with a
smile and a hearty welcome, they are probably unsurpassed as a people,
rich and poor alike."
The high regard in which Brother Kline held the people of the western
part of the old State of Virginia, and the reciprocation of that
regard by their high appreciation of him and his mission, accounts for
the many visits he made among them, and his devotion to their
spiritual welfare. Nor was his work evanescent. The seal of his
influence was so deeply impressed upon their affections and memories
that to-day, after the lapse of fifty years, its stamp is almost as
fresh as when first made. Nor is this a matter of wonder or surprise.
The sermons I have set in order were substantially preached by him and
other ministers, mostly led into that section by him; and the power of
such discourses, together with the worship and instructions held and
given in families wherever he stayed, had an influence that will never
be forgotten. The writer's own personal acquaintance with the people
living in sections of his vast district of labor gives him to know
that the name of John Kline is still as a household word with many of
them. Nor is this all. The indoctrination of these people into the
beliefs and practices of Revealed Truth as held by the Brethren was so
profound, so clear, so convincing, that they to-day stand abreast of
others in defense of these doctrines as at first received, in the face
of all the isms and religious innovations of the times.
FRIDAY, May 18. Start to the Annual Meeting. Ride Nell. Stay first
night at Isaac Dasher's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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