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ients are et c uraging to unworthy roe. Fight the good figtit, there is, L have no doubt, a crown of glory laid iip for you, and not for you only, but for all those who look and long for His coming; you ane looking.youi Lord will .come and not tarry, lie will not disappoint.yout hope, lie is faithful. May lie grant w hile you are waiting all your appointed time until your change come, that you may have patience and resignation to the divine will in ail things, lie has been with you iri youth and in tlse s rength is weakness lie will upln Id, when the tye grows .dim lie is your light, when your prime -of life, he will not now foisake when your gfct-ps are Jtotteiing, lean upon Ills Almighty arm. lie will hold \<wu Jip. A woman may forget-her sucking child. He never forgets Ills. No good thing will H>- withhold from you. You speak of the great comfort mine afforded you, the L ‘ld he praised for it, if 1 have given a cup of cohi water to a disciple in the name of a disciple, I have not lost my re waul. I hope that this very haM\ and inconsiderate letter, tor 1 hail no idea when 1 commenced what. 1 should write, and I have written rapidly what came to my mind, may be sane! fL-d to yoUr comfort. I have i.o ob jection to your sending back my other letter, inas tnu -h as you give me the privilege of (Uibjishing yours, as all to whom I have showed yours are <le sirous to see it in print. I send you a stamp, send it to me, and I will have both published together. I shad take the liberty of publishing your poetry i.i the la*’ lener. Sister Davis is a member t f our church, and we had the plt-asuie of her chrrslian company last we* k. I read her your*. Ido not feet Wolthy lior com petent to communicate with you, arid l am sear s and that m\ lot g letteis tax Von too much, but shall at all tunes lake a pleasure to answer yours. May God hlesswii.h all s-pui ual bjessipgs in heavenly places in Uni is* J sus. Husband sends love. YoUr Veiy in wort hi £v.s'e>, E. A. MONTGOMERY. Sister N. Dutton. i—> Polo, Oglb, C>., Ll, Aug 26. 1860. Dear Brethren Beebe & Plkjngt.on :—My’ Messenger ha* c* uae ve*y regular up to the 16 h N all except the 12>h and 13th Numbers. — Tuo-e two liave, some how, tailed to reach me, probably owing to the carelessness of some ot the Post Musters. I see i the 14 h No., you have, at tire request of bn>. Miichell, of Ala., republished a letter from bro. Holloway L. Power, of T* xa, which appear-, cl in tie Signs, No. 12, on the su j dot Feet Washing. Tuat was light. 1 agree fully with bio. Moo,loll in saying, that sulject has been inves’igated wilh much calmness and brotherly love through the Messenger, and lias, I hope been profitable and -eddy ing t. all, w ithout engendeiing u. jdeasant feeing* li any. 1 am always glad to read ilie comiuunicaii*>ns ot my hretlueii when they manifest noihiig but a d*sire to know and understand ihe iru'h to the mutual liaiiimtiy and edification of the body of Christ.” And that we may have aH the hght we ran get on the subject, from tie various breihr n who have written. I Would be pleased to Lave you republish in the^ SOUTHERN BAPTIST MESSENGER. Messenger, the reply of bro. James P. Howe l !, of Mich., to bro. Power, which appears in the 14th No. of the Signs. I fully agree with bro. Howell, and I will say with bro. Mitchell, that “ I hope the brethren generally will give it a careful reading.” V\ it h love to all the saints, and a fervent desire for their mutual upbuilding in the faith and prac tice of the gospel of the Son of God, 1 subscribe myself youii in the valley of Aehor. CLEMENT WEST. Sparta, Mich., July 2, 1860. Dear Brother Beebe: —Having to write you on business, and as tiie Signs of the Times of June loth having come to hand, and having read the first piece written bv bro. Power carefully over and over, and as lie says, “ The above is submit ted to the consideration of the household of faith,” I, having a high regard for him, as a writer and brother, leviewed his aiguments, and examin ed the “ Holy Sciip!ures,” and compared them to gether, and must .say that I cannot see that har mony between his reasons or conclusions which l have discovered in his other letteis in the Stgns. Ali ! how true is that saying. “ Great men aie Hot always wise.” J"b xxxii. 9. With the best of jVelmgs toward bro. Power, I will look over bis piece, and “ will not set down aught in malice?*-’ He says, “and that it (feet washing) followed immediately after the Lord’s Supper, is to say the least, b’gl ly probable if not absolutely certain.” All liis reasoning is based upon this pa>!d:g ; if it should be wrong, then all his con elusions are wrong. If it is right, then he upsets Matt xxvt. 30, aud Mark xiv. 26. who represent that atVer” “ supper” they sung a “ hymn and went out into the Mount of Olives;” hut he would make him s’ay there long enough after he had endvd his slipper to do and say all that is men tioned in John xiii. 4, to lhe end of the chapter, all that is tecoided in the xtv.. xv., xvi. and xvti. chap ters. Ac cording to John xxi. 25. a reading-man, as I take him to be, knows that but a small pait of what Jesus ‘‘‘-said and did” is recorded ; and, therefore, must Lave taken a long time to have washed ills disciples* feet, talked to them, and prayed to his Father, as recorded in those five chapters ot John. If we take the ground that John never mentions i lie “ Lord’s Slipper,” nor even hints at it, nor the Passovei Slipper, but p esses over the time between being in the house of S moti the leper, to what is sdd hi chap, xviii. 1, then all will harmonize.— Again, he makes John contradict Matt. xxvi. 14— 16, and Mark xiv. 10, 11. Ilow ? If we make the supper m John xiii. 2, to he the “ Lords Sup per,” Judas never thought of betraying his Mas ter, until after his last supper, and did not go to the II gh Priest to do it until some time after the supper- ( ee John iii. 26—30;) whereas, Matt, xxvi. 2, aud M tik xvi. 1, represent that Judas went ** twi days before the Passover and made a bar gain with the Hgh Priests to betray Christ.— Again. John xiii. 1. says, “Now, before the feast of the Passover,” and could not mean at or af.er, wlien lie says ** before therefore, those who prac tice feel washing “as a church ordinance,” should do as the Savior did, and not “immediately af ter,” test they should be wise above what is written. Pduf’ref&ns to the Passover feast in 1 Cor. v. 8, when be says, “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and. truth.” Is (his command to be obeyed literally or figuratively ? If figura tively, why did the Aposlle of the Gentiles say, “Let us keep the feast?” The feast of the Pass over could not ba kept only by families, and in an assembled capacity. See Deut. xvi. 5, 6. What lie says about the “eighth or last day of the Passover, was equally a holy convocation with the first day of the feast,” &c,; although according to Josephus, it is contrary to the Bible.* See Deut. xvi. 7,8; Exodus xii. 15, 16, 19. What he says on Page 90, 1. Col. “that John, in the very close,” <fcc., “on reviewing their wit ting and finding no recorded testimony,” to the close of the sentence, to me destroys the idea of the inspiration of the Scriptures. See J -hn xvi. 13 —ls. In quoting the last clause of John xiii. 8, he has twice used the preposition “iii,” when it is “ with rr.e.” There is certainly a a fterence be* tween having a part in a man, and having a part, will) a man. My idea an*l wish is that all writers in the Signs would, in quoting Seiipture, always q mte it pre cisely as it stands in our version; yet after they have cited the passage, they may make any te maiks about how it should he. I can fully j >in with brothel P.wer and say, “ 1 think my heart’s desiie and prayer to God is, for the peace, union and prosperity of Z on. May her watchmen see eye to eye, and ail her imitates be of one heart and one mind.” Ys, let inv voice cease-—let mv tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth—let my pen he broken to smash, and my right arm polish, before I will know ii glv, do or say anything to bring division among biethien. Yet faithfulness becomes the house oi Gud. Yuurs to seive, Ji ;. JAMES P. HOWELL. — in Revival. Randolph Cos. Ala., S j pt. 5, 1860. Dear Bkeiiiken Editors: —For the first time l take up my pen to write )ou a few hues to let v* u know that l receive the Messenger regular, ! and am much pleased with the UocliUie it advo cates. 1 have lived out my three score years and lien, and do not feel adequate ur woithy to wiite ‘for the instiuction, or tveu for the comfort of the ! saints. Yet it may be c nufoiTMig to tnein to hear I that the Lord is manifesting his mighty power and i goodness in bringing sinueis to the know ledge of • the truth. At our July meeting when the door of I the chuich whs opened, it appeared like the Lird | was hi our midst ; there ca ne nine forwa-d, and J gave a ielation of the work of gr iceiu their souls, . 1 3 and were r*ce vedjnio the fellowship of Lire church. I- At our August meeting, w*e received tLveii by ex p lienee, aud one on confession id filth. So the Lord has d.ne, and is still doing great thiigs for us, whereof we aie glad, Lne chinches hi this sec ion ate generally in a prosperous state. Now as 1 have wrote more than 1 expected, 1 will close by subscribing m)s*-lf, YolU’S iu the bonds of Christian i.fDct on. JOHN WHITAKER. 139