Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary | Page 9

before age and sin have made you hard, give
your hearts to God. This you can do by loving our Lord Jesus Christ,
who laid down his life for you. When you love him with the heart, you
believe on him with the heart; and when you believe on him with the
heart, you have a desire in your heart to obey him by doing his
commandments. You will purify your souls by obeying the truth.
'Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.' 'Seek the Lord
while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near;' for, saith he,
'they that seek me early shall find me.'
"But you may desire to know how you are to seek the Lord, and where
you are to look for him. I hope you are thinking of this now; so I will
tell you. The only place where the Lord can be found is in his Holy
Word. There you find him in the form of the man Christ Jesus. And
whilst he is there set forth as the 'man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief,' he is also set forth as the 'true God and eternal life.' He there says:
'If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.' 'And he that
drinketh of the water that I will give unto him shall never thirst.' This
water is the TRUTH of his Word. It so fills the soul with love and light
and joy and peace, as to become a fountain of delight within us.

Reading God's Word in the right spirit is drinking of the Water of Life.
When this truth finds a place in the memory through the love of it, the
memory keeps our thoughts perpetually supplied with it, and thus it
becomes, as our Lord says, 'a fountain within us unto everlasting life.'"
SATURDAY, March 21, Brother Kline, in company with Brother
Daniel Miller, went to Brock's Gap, and spent the night at Brother
Sunafrank's.
BROCK'S GAP.
This is a small area of country in Rockingham County, Virginia,
containing about one hundred and fifty square miles. It is the head
basin of the north fork of the Shenandoah river. It is almost completely
surrounded by high and rugged mountains; and where the river has
broken a gap for its outlet the scenery is not surpassed by that of
Harper's Ferry.
A considerable number of people live in it, and there are some good
farms and thrifty farmers. In Brother Kline's day Brock's Gap was only
a mission field. At this time the German Baptist Brethren have two
well-built and commodious houses of worship in it. At the time Brother
Kline commenced preaching there they had no house of worship and
the membership was very small. The membership at this time includes
some from nearly all the leading families in the section. The Fulks,
Fawleys, Richies, Hevners, Moyerses, Smiths, Doves, Lambs,
Shoemakers, and many others are represented in the Brotherhood.
SUNDAY, March 21.--The two brethren crossed the Shenandoah
mountain and arrived in
SWEEDLIN VALLEY.
This valley lies in Pendleton County, West Virginia. It extends
northward along the west foot of the Shenandoah mountain for about
eight miles, and is separated from the South Fork valley west of it by
Sweedlin mountain. It is the habitation of a good many families, is
exceedingly picturesque, and is in some respects beautiful.

The two brethren were called here to preach the funeral of old Brother
Nazlerode. His father had been a Hessian, and served under British
colors in the American Revolution. At the close of the war he, with
many others, declined returning to his native home in Hesse-Darmstadt
in Germany, and decided to stay in America. But this class of citizens
was not very welcome among the patriots of American liberty. They
were looked upon with a degree of opprobrium; and hence they sought
homes in the more remote and secluded valleys among the mountains.
Brother Nazlerode had died some time before. The preaching was at the
house where the old brother had lived.
Sermon by Daniel Miller.
Brother Daniel Miller spoke first in the German language. He took for
his subject 1 Pet. 1:24, 25. "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of
man as the flower of grass: ... but the word of the Lord endureth
forever."
He spoke very beautifully and impressively on the short-lived pleasures
of earth. He said that the new birth and the new life, which lift man to
God and fit him for heaven, are not begotten of the corruptible seed of
man, but of God through the Word of his Truth, which liveth and
abideth forever. He pointed them to Jesus as the "Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world."