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nothing of his goodness in creation, is it not enough manifested in our redemption and continual pre servation to cause every heaven-born soul to trust in him and strive with all the powers of mind and body he gives us to glorify him in our soul and body which are his? Oh! that he would give me grace abundantly to do so. Brethren, lam a poor, afflicted and almost at times a helpless mortal, aud can hardly tell what I live for; but yet I know that God has a purpose to fulfill in me that is not yet complete, and whilst in wisdom and justice he afflicts with one hand he upholds with the other for my gocd and his glory, until hk purpose is ac complished according as he has purposed in him self before the world began ; for he performeth the thing he has appointed for me, and many such things are with him. Brethren I believe he is good in all he does for us or any of the children of men, or we should not be allowed in any means to partake of or enjoy his common blessings of this life; but oh ! His great goodness in such a glorious plan of salvation as he wisdom devised in mercy by his almighty jpower, wrought out, and given such vile sinners as we are a glorions hope, that we in our souls have realized in faith to the saving of our souls from guilt or shame. Christians, while we are rejocing ourselves in the goodness of our heavenly Father as good children, should it not be our chief and highest aim to show ourselves to be his children by striving as much as in us to imitate him and render obedience to all his com mands, and thereby show to all around that we do delight ourselves in his goodness? As in the path way of duty alone his promises meet us, and no where else can we expect to meet them, and I fear in many places ID Ou caumry tfjeru Uaa been i-n some churches as well as with many individuals, a fearful departure from the old track pursued by Primitive Baptists. When I was young, lam now sixty years old, nearly, and have been a hobbling sort of a Baptist near thirty-two years of that time, and brethren, I am pained to say, I can now hear many boasting of Primitives in this country who pursue strange ways when compared with Baptists even thirty years ago. Oh, the goodness of the Lord to bear with such ! But thanks to him, I find some even in this present time and country, who as far as I can know or learn are truly Prim tivein faith and practice, or would be if they could, and I believe, and am sure, that he will not leave himself without a witness ; then does not his good ness shine forth brilliantly in that he hath builded bis church on so sure a foundation stone, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and none shall harm it or separate any material of it from his love, which is everlasting and unchangeable, having no end. GEORGE W. LOWRY. ■ ■ Brunswick, Maine, Jan. 31,1860. Dear Brethren Beebe and Purington —l am well satisfied with the Messenger, and the way in which it is conducted. To me, it is like a well ipread board, around which, a part of God’s chil dren at least, assemble semi-monthly to partake of the rich bounties which their Heavenly Father has SOUTHERN BAPTIST MESSENGER. provided for them. And it seems to me that none of the poor, hungry or thirsty need go away with out receiving some of the good things. For on the table may befoud milk, wine, the water ofsal tion, the bread of life, and now and then may be found a few slices of meat. The milk will not hurt any cne, but it is provided for the babes in Christ, for they need or desire it, that they may grow thereby. Wine is for those that be of heavy hearts. , The water of salvation is for the poor and needy ! who seek water, and their tongue faileth for thirst. ■ The Bread of Life is for all of God’s family, for none of them can live without it. And yet, we • should all remember that we are not to live bv > bread alone, but by every word that proceedetb i out of the mouth of God. And last of all, but s not least by any means, comes the strong meat, p which belongeth to them that are of full age, even > those who by reason of use have their senses exer ; cised to discern both good and evil, and I some ; times imagine that I can hear the Master of the i house say, “Eat, O friends, drink, yea drink abund- I antly, 0 beloved !” Although all of God’s children are called by the j same Spirit, yet God has not given to all of his ? servants the same gift, for it is written, “ When he f ascended upon high, he led captivity captive, and t gave gifts unto men.” But this was done for the s perfecting of the saints for the work of the minis > try, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now . it seems to be the special gift of some to feed and ) nourish the babes in Christ with milk, and the . gift of some is to take care of the children after - they are weaned. And then again, some have a r gift to feed those who are of full age with strong j moat. And a few have a gift to give to each their \ portion in due season. And I tSfnK TDat ail or r these gifts write for the Messenger ; and this is - right brethren, for your Master says, “ Bring ye ; all the tithes into the store-house, that there may , meat in my house.” Aud all of these gifts are profitable to the church ; but some like one gift best, and some another, according to their age and growth in grace, and knowledge of the Lord , and Saviour Jesus Christ. , Now my dear Brethren, suppose that I love milk, ( and cannot eat meat unless it is very tender and . easily to be masticated, would it not be selfish in , me to say that there ought not to be any strong > meat put upon the table for those who are of full . age? But Ido not wish to remove any thing from l the table. Let each one improve upon the gift > which God has given him, and let each one eat of > that which his appetite craves for, and I promise you that I will not complain, even if there is a slice , now and then of the strong meat of God’s eternal purposes and predestination placed upon the ta ble. Yours as ever, H. CAMPBELL. Brick Store, Newton Cos., Ga., ) Feb. 7, 1860. j ; Brethren Editors :—As it is raining and I ; cannot be profitably employed at anything out of I doors, I have concluded to drop you a few fines \ that you may dispose of as you think proper.— Although I do feel too unworthy to write anything that would be of any interest to the feeblest child of tiie flock. When I take a view of how wretch ed and miserable I am by sin and wicked works, and how far I am from what a child of grace can be, and think of the many obligations I should be to bless, thank, and adore the great I AM, for his many blessings conferred upon us as a people and nation. When we view what a great privilege we enjoy as a people and nation, should we not feel very grateful to be thus blessed.— W hile on the other hand we read of other cases that appear to be isolated, in such cases we should sympathize with them. We read of many that are very remote from churches that they are mem bers of: if my memory serves me light, I saw an account of an individual that had to go one hun dred miles to his church meeting, others nearly as far, and some that had not heard the gospel preached for years, on account of their scattered condition. We read of those persons being thus situated often say, how proud they would be to see an Old School Baptist Preacher, and hear him expfound the Scriptures; they would certainly have a feast of fat things, wine on the lees well refined. Oh, what a blessing we have over those. But so it is, we hope we can sympathize with them in their lonely condition. But there is one conso lation, they have a sure refuge to go to, in time of need. You can ask God to supply your wants, and he has promised to be with his children through six troubles, and forsake them not in the seventh, to be with them through the dark valley and shadow of death, and they shall fear no evil, be hath promised to be with them “At home and abroad, on the land, and on the sea, As thy days may demand, shall tby strength ever be.” Then hold up your drooping heads, the Captain of your salvation is made perfect through suffering. Ho knows how to temper the winds to the shorn lambs of his fjld. While the admonition may be applicable to you, it is equally so with us, for the preaching of the gospel was not intended to save sinners, but to build up, strengthen, feed, and nour ish the believer in Christ. I hold it good, that the pleaching of the gospel is no food to those that are yet in nature’s night, without hope, and without Christ. It is as a tale that is told ; they see with their natural eyes, and hear with their ears, and hear the sound of his voice, but cannot understand his speech. What! says one, I cannot understand his speech ; and I, a rational man or woman. You make us out almost or quite insane. For the nat ural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit; neither can he know them, because they are spirit ually discerned. And you see at once that there has to be a discernment, and the natural man it not yet able to discern, because it is spiritual. — This is alone the work of God ; but when it is the pleasure of God to manifest himself in the heart of an individual, as the chiefest among ten thousand, the one altogether lovely, and as their Savior, then they can discern, and can see how it is that God 29