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
Brethren, the devil does not like the odor of CHARITY and FAITH in the
church. It is worse in his nose than the smoke of burning brimstone.
If you want to keep him out of the church, all you have to do is to
keep brightly burning the fire of love on the altar of every heart;
and from these altars, all together, there will ascend the odor of an
incense that will put the devil to flight and keep him away forever.
FRIDAY, December 7. Brother Kline, in company with brethren Brower and
Rodecap, started to
THE PASTURES.
The Pastures comprise a considerable scope of rich grazing country in
the western part of Augusta County and the eastern part of Highland
County, Virginia. This section is watered by two principal rivers of
small size, respectively called the Calf Pasture and the Cow Pasture.
They are tributaries of the James river in Virginia. Here these
brethren preached day and night for some time.
We rarely find anything amusing in the Diary. Brother Kline's mind and
heart were too deeply imbued with sincerity in religion and the life
flowing out of it, to give place to things of a light or trivial
character. But for once, on this journey, we find one entry that
brings a smile to the face: One evening, when they were all seated
around the fire at Brother Henry Snell's the conversation turned upon
a company of Indians that had, shortly before, passed along that way.
They asked permission to spend the night in one of Brother Snell's
outbuildings, which was cheerfully granted.
These Indians, Brother Snell went on to relate, had killed a wild
turkey on their way that day, and in the evening asked the family for
a suitable vessel in which to cook it. This being furnished, they went
on to prepare the turkey for the pot. This they did in true Indian
style. Two squaws went through the performance. One took hold of one
wing, and the other took hold of the other wing; and thus between the
two most of the feathers were removed. They then opened the bird,
removing such of the internal viscera as were thought not fit for
food, washed it in a vessel of water, and then put it on to cook _in
the very same water they had washed it in_.
Brother Kline could not help applying the last point in the above
incident to some features in the lives of men. He says: "That minister
who gets up and in a beautiful and glowing discourse sets forth the
Christian 'cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit;' and
then comes down to mix with the world, and follow its fashions and
vanities, _is cooking his turkey in the same water he washed it in_.
That professor of religion who, to appearance, makes a very humble
confession of his sins, with seeming repentance and deep contrition of
heart, only to go away and thrust himself again into the filthiness of
his former life, is cooking _his_ turkey in the same water he washed
it in."
REFLECTIONS ON THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.
FROM THE ENTRY OF DECEMBER 31.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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