“And now, dear Brethren, whilst my subject has only been touched a little, I will close by briefly directing your minds and hearts to the river that John saw in vision, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.  I believe this river to be a symbol of God’s love and truth.  It proceeded from the throne of God.  Now, ‘heaven is his throne, and the earth is his footstool.’

“You know the Lord said to the Pharisees:  ’The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?’ They would not answer.  But we can answer.  It was from heaven.  It was performed in the beauty and clearness of the truth that the Lord Jesus brought from heaven.  It proceeded from the throne of God.  What a high origin our baptism has!  It is from heaven.  And the immersion of our bodies three times in water symbolizes, in a way more impressive than anything else ever could, that we have implicit faith in the love, wisdom and power of the divine Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  There is a trinity in every good thing we do.  There must be the love to prompt or make the start, the wisdom to direct this love intelligently, and the power to execute what is in the will and understanding to be done.  Our trine immersion of the body in water, the beautiful emblem of truth, shows our acceptance of it internally and externally, in life, in death, in heaven.

“One more thought, and I will close.  Once within the city, we shall thirst no more:  ’For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead us to fountains of living water.’  All darkness will be removed.  What is obscure here will be light there.  For now we know in part.  There we shall know even as we are known.  Amen!”

SATURDAY, May 17.  Brethren Kurtz and Shively go to Lost River.  Dine at James Fitzwater’s, and stay all night at Celestine Whitmore’s.

SUNDAY, May 18.  Meeting at the Lost River meetinghouse.  Matthew 7 is read.  The brethren both take part in the speaking to-day.  Dine at Jacob Motz’s, then take leave of the dear brethren, Kurtz and Shively, and come home.  Those two brethren and I were together three weeks, lacking only two days.  The pleasant conversations we had, the unity of our faith, and the oneness of our aims in life have wrought in us an attachment for each other that made separation painful.  But we parted not without hope of meeting again.

FRIDAY, July 25.  Harvest meeting at our meetinghouse to-day.  Luke 16 was read.  The singing of devotional hymns, the offering of thanksgiving prayers, with instructions as to the way in which the worldly gifts of our heavenly Father to us may be most wisely used, occupied the time we spent together.