I have since learned, however, that many people were frightened at the sight, and feared that the last day was at hand.  One sister in particular, not far from here, wrung her hands screaming almost spasmodically, fearing in her soul that the next thing would be the sound of “the last trumpet.”

Some may smile at this; but suppose the trumpet had then sounded!  Would those who now smile, or perhaps laugh, have been able to hear the thunder of its voice with a steadier nerve than she?  Her faith was strong; nay, too strong for the weakness of her feeble body.  She believed every word of Divine Truth.  She believed in a final judgment, than which nothing is more positively declared in the sacred Scriptures.  But because she had never seen such a sight before, and as no one could account for it, the conclusion was quickly reached that it was supernatural and sent as a herald of the coming Lord.

But he will come, and every eye shall see him.  But “who shall abide the day of his coming?” Only they who shelter under the almighty wings of Jesus.  “How often”—­said he to Jerusalem, and now to every one else—­“would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings.”  To those who laugh at sacred things now, it may then be said what follows in the above connection:  “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”

  “Hide me, O my Savior, hide;
  ’Neath the shadow of thy wing.”

The above phenomenon lasted till midnight.

SUNDAY, February 12.  “Peter Nead was with me at the Plains to-day.”  Whether Brother Kline saw or heard something in Peter Nead to-day that especially wrought upon his attention, he does not say; but this follows in the entry:  “Brother Nead gives promise of becoming a very able speaker and a very useful man.  May the Lord prosper him in all he sets his heart and hand to in his service.”  The church now knows the singular correctness of Brother Kline’s estimate of the man, written over sixty years ago.

Brother Nead, like many other good and live men, may have had some apparent eccentricities in the direction of practical conservatism and the like; but, take him through and through, it is questionable if the church has ever been favored with a purer or sounder man.

THURSDAY, May 4.  Preparations are being made to-day for the Annual Meeting.  The brethren and sisters are all alive with desire to make all the visiting brethren and sisters as comfortable as possible during the meeting.

The Diary reports the arrival, during the next week, of brethren from Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Among those named are John and Joseph Bowman, Henry Kurtz, George Hoke and Brother Yant.

THURSDAY, May 11.  Brother Beachley arrived.  Brother Kline reports something like a heavenly feeling permeating the heart at the sight of the arrival of those beloved brethren.  They all stopped with Brother Kline, whose house and heart both were large enough for their reception and entertainment.