Thursday, October 16. Daniel Miller and Daniel Yount, in company with myself, start to Hampshire County, Virginia. We get to Jacob Warnstaff's, in Pendleton County, Virginia, where we stay all night.
Friday, October 17. We have meeting at Bethel church. Matthew 11 is read. Cross the South Fork mountain and stay all night at Chlora Judy's. I am not surprised that these people are fond of hunting. Several deer crossed our path in front of us to-day.
Saturday, October 18. Meeting at Chlora Judy's. Romans 6 is read. Magdalena Rorabaugh is baptized. Brother Daniel Miller spoke in the German on the twelfth verse of the chapter read; and I interpreted to such as could not well understand German, following him. Text: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body."
He said: "Man, as he first came from the hand of his Creator, was not a sinner. He was included in the creation which God had just finished, and upon which he looked down and said that it was 'good, yea, very good.' With this agree the words of Solomon, greatly gifted in wisdom. After going over and investigating the whole human family, as far as his knowledge and wisdom enabled him to go, he returned to his own reflections and expressed the sad conclusion of his mind in these words: 'Lo, this only have I found, that God made man upright: but they have sought out many inventions.' The Word of God from beginning to end shows us that man is no longer upright. The inventions which Solomon speaks of are inventions of evil. They are not good inventions. In the opening chapters of the Bible we learn how man fell from the high and holy state in which he was created. It is there declared that 'God made man in his own image, in the image of God made he him.'
"The Apostle John says that 'God is light.' By this I understand him to mean that God is infinitely wise, knowing all truth. The same apostle says that 'God is love.' By this I understand that the Lord God has a will for good to every creature that he has made. That he has no other feeling than that of love for the human race and for every individual of the human family. Now, it was in the image and likeness of God that man was made at his first creation. Is it not plain from this, then, that he must have been wise in regard to the things of his understanding, and filled with love in his heart for all that is truly good? In this state he could love the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his strength, and love his neighbor as he loved himself. But what does the Bible, and what does the history of the world tell us about man ever since he fell from this heavenly state in which he was first created? The Bible declares that the 'heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' The Lord said to the Pharisees, a class of people who even claimed to be religious: 'Ye are of your father the devil; and the works of your father ye do.' From the Bible we turn to the history of man's career through all the ages down to the present time, and we find its lines all written in characters of blood. Revenge, murder, cruelty, deceit, malice and ill-will of one toward another are manifest on almost every page of history.
"But in the very face of all this evil God still loved the world; and he so loved it that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And I declare him to you to-day as my Savior and your Savior; able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. And what does he save us from? He saves us from hell. And what is hell? I say to you that it is the place where the devil, and all his angels and evil spirits of men live after they leave this world. It is the fire prepared for the devil and his angels. It is the everlasting fire into which the accursed depart. It is the place from which the rich man lifted up his eyes, tormented, as he himself confessed, sorely tormented in this flame. But, dear friends, God does not will that any of us should go to hell; for he says: 'As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but would that all should turn and live.'
"And he tells us how we are to turn and live. He says to all: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Repent, that your sins may be blotted out. And what is it to repent? It is to turn away the heart from the love of sin. It is to die unto sin and live unto God. The meaning of my text is not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to fulfill the lusts thereof. And what does true repentance lead to? It leads to a life of obedience to all the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ. 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name,' that means in obedience to the command 'of Jesus Christ, ... and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.' This takes in all. It may be that some who hear me to-day are very far off. Still, friend, the promise is to you. And more: I am sure you are hearing the Gospel to-day, so God is calling you now, and the promise is to as many as the Lord our God shall call, and this means every one who hears the Gospel sound.
"When I was young I was afraid I had sinned against the Holy Ghost. But I found some precious words from the lips of our blessed Lord himself that took away all my fear and gave me a hope which has never, up to this time, left my heart. You begin to wonder what precious words these were. I will tell you where they are and you can find them yourself. John's Gospel, sixth chapter, and the thirty-seventh verse is where they are, and these are the words: 'And whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' The word whosoever takes in every one, without exception. I tell you joyfully, it took me in, and it has kept me in, and by the grace of God it will keep me in forever.
"As I have told you some things the Bible says about death and hell, I must tell you a few things it says about life and heaven. Jesus says: 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead' (as to his body), 'yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.' O, can this be true? Yes, it is true, because Jesus never said what is not true. He is life and truth, and when we have him in our hearts we have the witness in ourselves that what he says is true. We then 'know of the doctrine that it is of God.' Our bodies will all die, but the real man is more than the natural body. Paul tells us about a spiritual body that will never see death. This is what Jesus says 'shall never die.' This is the body that will rise and live forever.
"Our Lord said to his disciples: 'I go to prepare a place for you.' The place which the Lord prepares is heaven. In his prayer he said: 'Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.' Where is the Lord's glory, and where is he in his glory? We read that he ascended to heaven. He is in heaven, the heaven of glory and bliss to which he ascended. He is there preparing a place for you and for me, if we live faithful to him by our obedience to his commands. Let us be faithful to him, that we may be accounted worthy to enter in through the gates into the city."