Q. 23.-What is the teaching of Ecclesiastes 11:3–" In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be" ? for what gees before and follows after makes a difficulty as to the way in which it is generally understood.

A. The words seem to me to speak plainly of the irrevocable character of the divine decrees, which cannot be altered, and from which there is no escape. This is in keeping with the preceding verse-the " evil that shall be upon the earth:" it is as irrevocable as unforeseen. Blessing and doom,-the rain-fall and the tree-fall are equally and entirely in the hands of God. This must not provoke a timidity which would stop all labor (5:4), but one must go on trusting in Him who "worketh all" after the counsel of His own will.

Q. 24.-In Rom. 2:7, in what sense is eternal life spoken of?

A. As often, as something we enter into at the end of our course. Chapter 6:22 thus speaks of it:"Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Grace it is that sets and maintains us in the way of holiness to reach this end. The apostle's language in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, which has caused perplexity to many, is simple enough when we remember this. Eternal life being in us, as it is when we are born again, is another thing not to be confounded with this, of which of course it is in no wise contradictory. These are truths of quite a different order:the one belongs to divine grace; the other, to divine government.

Q. 25.-What is the difference between the circumcision being justified by faith and the uncircumcision through faith ?

A. By faith gives the principle upon which God is acting:He is justifying the Jew by faith; but then if a Gentile have faith, is He not the God of the Gentile also ? Surely He is. Then it results that the Gentile also will be justified by the faith he has.