QUES. 8.-" For be only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God." Explain this passage, especially the words underlined. What good thing was in this child, he being an infant? (1 Kings 14 :13.)

ANS. Your difficulty lies in thinking the child was an infant. A child yet young may, and often does, develop ways which please God. The "young man" in the Gospels had such ways ; and because of them the Lord "loved him." There are no ways, however lovely and good, by which we may merit a place in heaven. It is only those who are linked with Christ by faith that get that place. But God still loves everything in man which He had ordained for him as an earthly being, and those who walk in those ways certainly enjoy earth more than those who violate them. The awful mistake of man lies in thinking that the doing of those good things entitles him to a reward in the life to come. Their reward is here, during this short life. Christ is the door to heaven, and the only righteousness which entitles a man to be there.

QUES. 9.-In 1 Kings 11 we read the end of Solomon's life; how he had fallen into idolatry, transgressed the laws of God, and how, in his passing away, he "slept with his fathers." This expression "slept with his fathers" is often used in the O. T. What does it mean ?

ANS.-We do not believe it defines anything as to their state after death, but simply this, that he has passed out from among the living and is now among his ancestors who had passed away before him.

QUES. 10.–We learn in Scripture of the downfall and very evil ways of Solomon, but nowhere, that I know of, of his repentance, as in the case of his father David. Could it be said of him that he was a child of God, as it can be said of David ? And if so, why is there nothing said of his repentance, as in the case of David ?

ANS.-That Solomon was truly a child of God cannot, we believe, be doubted from 2 Peter 1:21. He is one of those "holy men of God" through whom God has given us His Word; also, from 2 Sam. 7 :14, 15, which declares plainly God's principle of action toward those who are born of Him-not toward others :He chastens those who are His children in this life, but never imputes iniquity to them for the life to come (Psa. 32:2; Heb. 12:5-8 ; 1 Cor. 3 :15 ; 5 :3-5; and much more). Notice in 2 Sam. 7 :15, quoted above, how Saul is contrasted with Solomon. Saul is rejected, Solomon is not, but is to be chastened.

That there is no special statement made of his repentance may be intended to heighten the grace of God, and call attention to it, though his "Song of Songs," which is believed to be his last writing, would show such a restoration of soul as never occurs apart from repentance.