You say Mark 16: 16 is spurious, to justify yourself in not believing baptism to be essential to salvation, don't you? {142} "Only believe and you shall be saved;" you may just as well say to the farmer, "only believe in planting and your crop will grow." But let us see where your declaration "that this part of the Bible is spurious" leads us. There are other passages of Scripture which say baptism is essential to salvation. Are they also spurious? John 3: 5 reports Jesus saying to Nicodemus, "except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Matthew says, 3: 13-15, that it was necessary for our Savior to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus also says, Matt. 28, in giving the Apostles their commissions to go to teach all nations, baptizing them that believe; and Paul also enumerates in Heb. 6 that baptism is a doctrine of Christ. We are told that it was necessary for Paul to be baptized, likewise the jailor, the people at Ephesus, the people at Samaria, the eunuch, and even a man as just as was Cornelius could not escape, and according to St. Luke, "some rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not being baptized." According to the practice generally in vogue, is it not about time for a revision of the Bible, that the offending parts may be cast out? Ought you not to use your potent influence to accomplish this end, as I contended in my former letter? You charge me falsely with misquoting Mark 16: 16, because I placed within the quotation an interpolation in brackets, and if this is misquoting I surely had no intention of doing so. Any school boy would have known that the words in brackets were mine. You say the passage does not mean what my interpolation indicated, but you failed to point out what it did mean. Look at it again, even if it is spurious and of no consequence. The words "belief" and "baptism" are placed on even terms by our Savior, and there is no other conclusion but that the believer must be baptized (unless it is one of your figures of speech). This being true, the unbeliever very naturally would not be baptized and be damned, as Christ says, in consequence of unbelief and nonconformity to this ordinance. Really, brother, over whose "shop" should the sign "All kinds of turning and twisting done here" be placed? I am perfectly willing to leave that to an intelligent public. You entertained your congregation last Sunday evening by relating to them a pretty fable about a jackass, who was in the woods braying. It was nicely related and caused much laughter and mirth; and no one could become offended by a jackass story; therefore, kindly allow me the same privilege, Brother Brougher, as I also have a jackass story.