Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary / Collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk

by John Kline

Again: Moses gave the people water from the Rock. Christ Jesus gives his people the water of life. He says: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."

Again: Moses fed the people with manna, which they gathered every morning from the ground. Christ feeds his people with the heavenly manna, which I take to be the great and eternal love of the Father contained in the blessed words of truth which his Son has declared to the world.

In such and many other words did I speak unto these people, seeking to instruct them in the things of salvation, and induce some of them, at least, to turn to the Lord. After meeting we dined at Brother Thomas's, and started for George's Creek; crossed Laurel mountain to Hagtonsville, then to Brother Joseph Leatherman's, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where we stay all night.

Sunday, September 22. Go to George's Creek meetinghouse. We have forenoon and afternoon meeting. Second Corinthians 6 is read in the forenoon meeting. In the 3 o'clock meeting Luke 14 is read. I speak on the great supper, from the sixteenth to the twenty-fourth verse.

Whilst I am a stranger to most of you, I nevertheless feel assured by the signs I witness that I can confidingly and affectionately address some of you, and I trust a goodly number too, as beloved brethren and sisters. This is, so far, as it should be. But what would be the joy of my heart, and what would be the joy of heart with each one of you, could it be said that this entire congregation is of one mind and all speak the same thing! But the words of my text, harmonizing with the closing words of another parable, recorded by Matthew, which declare that "many are called, but few chosen," may continue to be true, for a long time yet to come. Whilst the advocates of election and predestination claim this as one of their proof texts, to my mind it proves the exact reverse. "Many are called." Here, if I mistake not, the German has it: "The many are called." I take this to mean that all are called. Now compare this with what is said here in my text: "Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." This surely proves that all are called or invited to the great supper. First, the Jews were invited. When Jesus sent forth the twelve he commanded them saying; "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Here it is plain that the Jews were the first to be invited. "But they all with one mind began to make excuse." Next then the poor of the city were invited. Still there was room. Next the off-casts and beggars were invited. These included the very lowest of the Gentile nations, and comprehend all that live, every creature.

Now I ask, in the name of all that is reasonable, can we, dare we, accuse the Lord of dealing deceitfully? Perish the thought forever. No! He invites all because it is his blessed will to see all come and sit at his table spread with the great love feast which he has prepared for all who are willing and desire to come. This very thought is the joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue. And it is a joy which no man taketh from me, because it rests on the rock of Divine Truth. But a preparation is necessary. We can hardly separate the parable under consideration from the one recorded in Matthew twenty-second chapter. There we read of a wedding dinner made by a king, to celebrate the marriage of his son. And when the king came in he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And the king said: "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless." And why was he speechless? If he would have had any reasonable excuse to offer for the unprepared appearance which he made, would he have been speechless? Reason says at once. He would have urged his inability to procure a suitable dress for the occasion, as the cause for his appearing in the way he did, if any such cause had existed. And the king knew this full well; otherwise he would not have required all to have on the wedding garment.

I now call your attention to the closing words of the parable: "I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." The reason for this is found in the fact that they would not come. They were the first to be invited. Had they come, they would have received the right hand of welcome. But notice the unreasonable excuses they made. One had bought a piece of ground, and he must go and see it, as if night were the time to look at land. Another must try the five yoke of oxen he had that day bought, as if night were the best time to do this. Another had married a wife and could not come, as if night were not a suitable time to enjoy a rich supper with his bride. We wonder at these vain and almost unnatural excuses; but do we find the excuses of men any more reasonable to-day? Men hazard their souls in a life of sin, not for want of invitations, entreaties and warnings from the Lord to come unto him, but because they will not. The Lord pleads with men to-day, just as he pleaded with Israel centuries ago. Hear what he says to Israel by the mouth of the Prophet Ezekiel: "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, ... and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves and live ye."

And now, Brethren and friends, to make a brief application of some of the great principles laid down, I will say that the Lord's Supper is the great love feast which he has prepared for you, for me, for all. This great love feast, of which our own ordinance by his appointment, and bearing the same name, is a beautiful and fitting emblem, is neither more nor less than the bountiful provisions Christ has made for the salvation of all. These provisions are the great truths of his Word, filled with his love. The Lord Jesus says: "I am the bread of life." To the Jews he said: "Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they died." "If any man eat of the bread which I shall give him, he shall live forever." When we are faithfully obeying the Lord from love in our hearts, we are eating this life-giving bread. Every truth which the Lord has revealed, and by which the spiritual man is fed as to his soul, may be regarded as a component part of this great feast.

Jesus said to the tempter: "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The tempter here meant material bread for the body, and the Lord answered him according to that meaning. This is the kind of bread, material bread, with which the devil seeks to satisfy every demand of our being. It embraces everything the natural appetite of man craves. The devil is ever seeking to lead men to feed on the husks which the swine do eat, and to be satisfied with that kind of food. But the blessed Lord Jesus resists the tempter, and continually seeks to lead men into a higher, nobler and heavenly life. He says to every sinner: "Arise, and go to thy Father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned before heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." This is repentance. This is the first move man makes in the way of approach to the feast the Lord has prepared. "Man liveth by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This embraces all of Revealed Truth. Every law, every precept, every prophecy, every parable has some outflowing, healing virtue, some life-imparting power. We touch the hem of its garment when we read or hear in sincerity of heart. O sinner, come and partake of this feast, and thy soul shall live.

We stay all night with David Longenacre.