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            In a letter to Alexander Campbell about a meeting he was conducting in Nashville in 1860, James Challen speaks of an old man whom Campbell had immersed years before.  He says that in spite of all the troubles the Nashville church had suffered at the hands of J. B. Ferguson, “Bro. John Harding, whom you immersed...on December 28, 1830...is still a constant attendant at the church.  He sits before the pulpit; and, although he cannot hear a word, he watches intently the countenance of the speaker, and catches his spirit as he proceeds.  He is now 83 years old; and a more grave, dignified, venerable or lovely disciple of Christ I have not seen.  On last Lord’s day night, when three confessed the Lord, he was overwhelmed with joy, and tears ran freely down his furrowed cheeks.” (Millennial Harbinger, April, 1860, p. 216).  What a powerful lesson to those withered spirits of today, who use as crutches the minor deformities and infirmities of the flesh – either real or imagined – to absent themselves from the assembly of the saints.  No doubt, it is all a matter of where one’s affections really are. (Col. 3;2) – Johnny Tucker

Gospel Advocate, July 21, 1977, page 456