QUES. 25.-2 Cor. 13 :4 speaks of our being "weak in Him." Eph. 6 :10 tells us to "be strong in the Lord." Kindly give why the difference exists.

ANS.-In the first it is said that "though Christ was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God." To surrender Himself thus to death-the expression of utmost weakness-was a necessity, as we all know. And as identified with Him in that death, which is true of every child of God, we too confess our weakness and helplessness. When what we are in ourselves is the thing in view, Christ crucified is God's only answer -a most humbling yet wholesome lesson.

But Christ is not left there, nor we. "He liveth by the power of God." All power is His, and is displayed in the apostle, as he declares throughout the chapter.

In Eph. 6 :10 he but exhorts us to be in such a state of soul as will enable ns to make use of that power, detailing in the verses which follow the means of being strong.

QUES. 26.-Could Acts 21:24, 26 possibly mean that the apostle got back under the law ? And could we call that obedience on his part which is mentioned in verses 4 to 11 of the same chapter?

ANS.-It was not getting back under the law as a principle of approach to God, but it was a violation of what he wrote later on in Eph. 2 :13-22. It was yet maintaining a place in the Jewish system which prevailed yet so long among Jewish believers, with which the Lord bore in patience, but to be totally abandoned as commanded in Heb. 13 :10-13.

As to verses 4 to 11, the apostle evidently did not recognize the entreaties of brethren as the voice of the Spirit, else it would have been disobedience; his passionate love for Israel led him on ; and God never condemns love. It is not a safe guide, however, Paul's failure to recognize the voice of the Spirit was no doubt at the root of the weakness he displays in yielding to the advice of his Jewish brethren. Had he not gone to Jerusalem, as the Spirit warned, he might have gone to Rome as the Lord's free servant, instead of the Lord's bound servant. Let us learn from the mistakes of the Lord's dear servants, and also from the manner of the Lord toward them. As our sins and misery have manifested the depths of God's love, so the apostle's mistake, which puts him a prisoner in the hands of the Gentiles, becomes through grace the means of bringing the gospel before rulers and kings. Let us never despair because of our mistakes and sins. If we but bring them to God in brokenness, and hide nothing, He can, and will, use us the more, even while we suffer their natural consequences.

QUES. 27.-"Saturdarian Delusions." The printed paper under this heading which you send us for review means well, no doubt, but it certainly can be no help to the cause it advocates. Its subject is scarcely within the purpose of our magazine.

QUES. 28.-Why are not all the gifts spoken of in 1 Cor. 12 recognized and exercised among those gathered to the Lord's name as well as those referred to in Eph. 4 :11, 12? We know that " the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."
ANS.-How can they be recognized, or exercised, if they do not exist? If any had the gift of miracles, of healing, or of tongues, as they had in apostolic days, they could no more hide them than evangelists, pastors, or teachers, hide theirs. Indeed, so anxious are some to be found with such gifts-"sign-gifts"-that they pretend to have them while any sober person can see they have not.

The gifts of Eph. 4 are of absolute necessity to the Church during her passage here. They remain to the end therefore, for Christ's love to the Church cannot cease. Some of the gifts in 1 Cor. 12 are not for the Church. They were given as " signs and wonders " for unbelievers (1 Cor. 14 :22), that the origin of the new doctrine might not be .questioned. When God judged that these sign-gifts had abundantly fulfilled their purpose, He withdrew them. They were given and withdrawn "according to His own will" (Heb. 2:4). Nor is it difficult to understand why God should now refuse all sign gifts to His people. How could He call the attention of unbelievers to a Christianity which is fast becoming apostasy, and soon to be spewed out of His mouth as a loathsome thing? Christ Himself stands outside its door, appealing to every heart which still has an ear for Him (Rev. 3 :20).

Your use of the passage, "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance," is not legitimate in this connection. It occurs in Rom. 11, where the promises and purposes of God toward Israel and the Gentiles are unfolded. Nothing can thwart their fulfilment; but God has not decreed that gifts of miracles should abide to the end. On the contrary, you will find in 2 Thess. 2 that "signs and lying wonders" are to characterize the closing days of Christianity. Christ began it "with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will." Antichrist, " whose coming is after the working of Satan," closes it "with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.''

Sad picture indeed ! but who that has his eyes opened by the Spirit of God does not see it fast forming about us on every hand ?

Other questions remain for a future number.