QUES. 26. – Is it proper and in keeping with Scripture to introduce the singing of a hymn at the Lord's Supper between the passing of the bread and that of the cup?

ANS. – We do not believe it is. It grates against Christian feeling ; for at that moment we are before the sorrow and reproach of our Lord ; we are meditating upon what our sins brought Him to, and weeping becomes us then more than singing. Nor are we aware that Scripture teaches otherwise anywhere. The bread and the cup are ever immediately together, keeping us in the presence of our Lord on the cross. In Mark 14 :26 it is said, " And when they had sung a hymn," etc. ; but this is after the Supper, and when the Lord had already spoken of drinking it "new in the kingdom of God"; that is, the fruit of His cross was before the mind – not the cross itself.

QUES. 27. – What is the difference between " through faith" in Rom. 3 :30?

ANS.- The apostle has just been laying bare the condition of both Jews and Gentiles – all alike guilty sinners before God, and unable therefore to stand before Him by their works. Then He has shown that it is by the work of Christ on the cross they can stand before God. By that, all that believe are justified. The Jew, though he may be superior in his morals, can be justified only "by faith"; that is, on the principle of faith, not of law ; and the Gentile, more deeply degraded morally, is justified "through faith " as well as the Jew. In a word, it means that the Jew has no other way of salvation than faith in Christ, and the Gentile is equally saved in the same way. (See also J. N. D's. translation.)

QUES. 28. – I am sending you a booklet, 'Baptism:Is it for the remission of sins?1' Will you kindly say if you consider it a true exposition of Scripture along the lines it takes up?

ANS. – The booklet in the main teaches the truth, bat it fails in the application of it. For instance, it recognizes the difference between the "Gospel of the Kingdom" and the "Gospel of the grace of God," which is quite right; but it makes the gospel preached to the Jews in the first chapters of Acts the same as that preached further on, chiefly by the apostle Paul. The only difference it makes is that the remission of sins to the Jew s was through baptism, while to the Gentiles it was through faith alone.

But remission of sins through baptism is the "Gospel of the Kingdom "; is administrative, that is, in the hands of man acting for the King (Matt. 16:19); it is not remission for heaven, for eternity, but for admission into that kingdom set up on the earth, not in heaven, though from heaven.

Peter was given its keys-baptism and teaching-"Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you " (Matt. 28 :19, 20). This is not the eternal salvation, but subjection and allegiance to the King, though wherever there is faith it goes on to eternity.

The "Gospel of the grace of God," as especially committed to Paul, is altogether in view of eternity, and is not connected with baptism, but with faith alone. It does not annul the kingdom ; it recognizes it; but its sphere is beyond the kingdom, in heaven, not the earth. Remission here is final and eternal; is not administered by man, but by God only, though He uses man to preach it.

Every human being baptized of water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is in the kingdom ; is a disciple of Christ; and disciples may be true or false ; they may go on for a time, then draw back and be lost forever. Only those who are of faith abide forever. Such never go back, though they may stumble here and there on the way.

In a word, baptism of water marks disciples; new birth marks the family of God; the baptism of the Spirit (peculiar to the present dispensation) marks the Church, which is the body of Christ. Many Christians are not aware of this, that the Old Testament is full of promises especially to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, of a kingdom set up on earth under a King from heaven-a King who, after the earth has long suffered from misrule, will rule it in equity. This King is Jesus. John announced His coming, and sought to prepare the Jews for it, but the Jews refused Him, and the Gentiles crucified Him. He is coming again, and will then take the kingdom, spite of His enemies. He will then judge His enemies, and establish in His kingdom on the earth all who are subject to Him. It will then be a kingdom of glory:now it is a kingdom of truth, waiting in patience for that coming kingdom.