Choose the Narrow Gate - 1839
John Kline’s home.
Introduction
John Kline moved with his parents to Virginia at the age of eleven and farmed there until his violent death. He became a beloved leader and evangelist in the Brethren Church, riding over 100,000 miles through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee—mostly on horseback—to preach the gospel and doctor the sick (he had taught himself medicine and herbal lore). He incurred the hatred of Confederates during the Civil War because he chaired Brethren conferences that met in the North, defended the right of conscientious objectors to refuse military service, and spoke against slavery. Although threatened, he would not turn from his duties. On June 15, 1864, someone shot him dead from an ambush near his home. He was found with a smile on his lips.
Today’s excerpt is from a sermon he preached on this day March 3, 1839, at Lost River, West Virginia. He took as his text Matthew 7:13,14 “Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction….” His conviction that people have a choice of destiny and a measure of free will to make that choice was woven throughout his message.
Quote
“I believe the Lord knows just what man can do and what man cannot do. And it is a thing self-evident to my mind that Goodness and Wisdom has never yet commanded man to do anything that is out of man's power to do.
“Let us grant that man is dead in trespasses and sins, as Paul represents him. But does not Jesus say: ‘My words are spirit and they are life’? The Lord’s words have LIFE in them; and if man will but hear them with his natural ear, as you now hear me speak, and then be not a forgetful hearer, but be a doer of the Word; this man shall be blessed in his deed; and soon be filled with the new life of God.
“The text opens in these words: ‘Enter ye in at the narrow gate.’ This is impossible for any one to do without his knowing what the narrow gate is, and where it is. . . . The narrow gate opens into the narrow way, and this leads to LIFE. The narrow gate and the narrow way are one. I mean by this that entering the narrow gate means making a start in the direction of a good life, and walking in the narrow way is progress in a good life. But where is the gate, and where is the way? I answer. . . . this gate is our Lord Jesus Christ as set forth in his Word. . . .
“Jesus says: ‘I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.’ This door is just as narrow as the gate. He also says: ‘I am the way.’ As such, he is so narrow that, as the prophet represents, it is as if a fire of destruction were on the one hand and a flood of wrath on the other. Ah, Brethren, the truth can never be made to bend. . . .
“To such as walk in the narrow way our Lord says: ‘I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.’ Is not this encouraging? It is to be in the Lord, and the Lord in us. It is to be a live and fruitful branch of the true Vine. It is to be a son of God, an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ…
“What is it to be saved? Let the Lord answer: ‘He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed out of death unto life.’ This is salvation.”
Kline, John. Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary, collated from his Diary by Benjamin Funk.