You can always tell what a man’s love is by the company he keeps.  If his love is of worldly things only, you will see him in worldly company, and hear him talk only of worldly things.  Notice the books and papers he reads.  They are of the same character.  He enjoys no other readings.  He delights in no other company and conversations.  This man is sowing to the flesh, and he will be sure to reap corruption.  His treasure is all on the earth; his harvest is here; and he is sowing no seed for a harvest of glory and bliss in the world to come.

The good ground hearer is a very different man, and he sows far different seed.  HIS SEED IS DIVINE TRUTH, AND HIS FIELD IS HIS OWN SPIRIT.  He digs up the thorns and the thistles by the roots; destroys the serpents, and drives out the wolves and the foxes.  In this way he mortifies the body of sin and crucifies the flesh with its affections and lusts.  In a well prepared soil he plants the fig and the olive, the vine and the pomegranate.  In the place where the lion lay, the calf shall lie down in peace; and instead of the wolf and the fox, the sheep and her lamb shall feed in safety.  Where the serpent hissed and the basilisk was waiting to sting, the myrtle and the rose shall bloom.  Thus is the desert made to rejoice and the wilderness to bloom.  The man who thus subdues and cultivates his own spirit that is within him, all by the help of God, is sure to be everlastingly blessed in his deed.  He will reap a rich harvest of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, here and eternally in the heavens.

FRIDAY, September 17.  The two brethren reached home.  Of this Brother Kline says:  “Brother Isaac Long and I have been together nearly all the time on this journey, which has occupied just five weeks.  It makes me feel somewhat lonely to part hands with such an agreeable companion in labor; so cheerful; so full of the Spirit; so wise in counsel; so clear in judgment.  I feel that we have been together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  Ah, well! not long till we shall no more take the parting hand!  The Brethren everywhere showed us much love.  May the Lord continue to bless them, both temporally and spiritually.”

Between the twenty-ninth of August and the above date they attended quite a number of love feasts and other meetings.  The Diary reports many families visited in Huntingdon and Bedford Counties.  Probably many of the older brethren and sisters, then belonging to the families named, may still remember this visit.  Among the names reported are to be found the Spanogles, Altebergers, Becks or Bocks, Allebaughs, Browns, Bicheys, Sniders, and others.

Want of space absolutely forbids any further notice of the Diary for this year.

SUNDAY, January 23.  Peter Nead is with us to-day at our meetinghouse.  He spoke at some length from Acts 13.  To those who could follow him his discourse was very instructive.  He traced Paul in his journeys with Barnabas and John, from the first place named in the chapter to the last.