QUES. 7.-Why in 2 Sam. 7:14, 15 is such a difference made between Saul and Solomon? Saul is cut off for iniquity, while Solomon is chastened but not cut off.

ANS.-Because of the difference between the two men-a difference which is made plain in Heb. 12 :7, 8 :" If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons."

Solomon was a sow, and was dealt with as such. Saul was not, and could not therefore be dealt with as such, but was cast off, even as every one will be cast off at the end who has not been born of God, whatever profession he has made here, and whatever position he may have occupied in the house of God.

QUES. 8. Will you please tell me in "Help and Food " what the Scriptures teach about a believer going to law to collect a debt? Is it right for a believer to sue a man of the world to get what is his due ? I desire to know what is the right and proper coarse for me to pursue as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

ANS. Chap. 6 of 1st Cor. makes the matter very plain if the difficulty be between two believers. The matter is not to be carried "before the unjust," as this would be saying that justice can not be done in the house of God, and thus put God and His people to shame. It is to be carried "before the saints" where no lack of righteous and wise men is to be found to judge of such matters. And if things should be so low that such are not to be found there, the sense of shame in publicly exposing the sin of a fellow-believer would lead the sufferer rather to bear the loss. He is himself under grace, and that grace will enable him to endure wrong rather than put the saints to shame before a hostile world.

When it is a man of the world who does the wrong, the matter is very different of course, and Scripture in this case has no definite statement, as it has in the other. Such a man will not listen to a judgment which has no judicial power to enforce its penalty, no matter how righteous it is, and the excommunication of the people of God does not concern him. Nor does he care for the judgment of the Lord Himself at the coming day. If the believer is in circumstances, therefore, where righteousness toward others demands that he should have what is his own, he has no human resource save to sue the offender before the power that can compel him to do the right. If there be faith to appeal to God alone, or grace to suffer the loss, if circumstances permit, the believer will surely be the gainer in the end.