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
When a boy I was very fond of reading the lives of great men. I did
not then know very much about poetry, but I surely did feel something
of the fire that Longfellow has made to glow with so much heat and
light in his "Psalm of Life." I am glad to add, by means of this book,
one more name to the list of great men, so that in the lines which
follow he too may be included.
"Lives of GREAT MEN all remind us
We can make our lives sublime;
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of Time:
Footprints, that perhaps another
Sailing o'er life's troubled main--
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother--
Seeing, may take heart again."
Elder John Kline will be set forth in this work as one of the great
PIONEER PREACHERS of the Cross. A brief but clear outline of many of
his sermons, together with the time and place of preaching them, will
be given. Many of the love feasts which he attended, and the substance
of what he said at some of them will also be noted.
He has left a record of the name of every family he ever visited in
all the States, together with the day and year when such visits were
made. Those brethren and sisters of the Lord who still remember him,
will, while reading this work, live over again the years that have
passed away and been almost forgotten. You will again listen to the
voice of his holy, healing words at some love feast long ago gone by.
You will again sit with him by the "old home hearthstone" as it used
to be when father and mother were living, and all the brothers and
sisters together in the room, and hear him talk and sing, and read and
pray. And will not this exercise of the mind and heart be pleasant?
Will it not be profitable? Will it not serve to refresh your love to
Christ and the Brotherhood? May it not rekindle in your heart a flame
of that first and tender love which shone so brightly when first you
saw the Lord? You then could sweetly sing:
"Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow thee."
Since that time many cares and toils and afflictions and bereavements,
perhaps, have caused you to sigh in mournful memory:
"What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!"
and the heart-sobs sadly echo:
"But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill."
In such seasons of sadness and despondency it is helpful to the heart
to hold communion with the great and the good through the medium of
their writings. Men who leave such comforting testimony behind them
are a blessing to all within the circle of their influence while
living, and when dead they continue to speak. Their words are felt and
blessed on both banks of the "River of Time" as it flows down through
the ages.
There were a few points in the life and character of Elder John Kline
which may very appropriately be referred to here. I sincerely hope
that all the youthful members of the Brotherhood, especially, may
become acquainted with these points.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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