Referring to Ques. 8 in our February No., a correspondent from a foreign country writes:"It seems to me your answer to that question may not be sufficient-to enlighten your enquirer. May I suggest the following? In that passage (Matt. 8:12) the Lord expresses surprise at the faith of a Gentile who shows himself more ready to enter the kingdom of heaven than the Jews in general. These, as Abraham's seed, had the chief right to that kingdom. They had been separated from the nations and formed in view of it. It is because of this the Lord calls them here the sons (υιoι) of the kingdom (sons, not children). By virtue of this calling of God they had right to the kingdom; but now, under grace, the matter becomes purely individual. By faith alone could each individual come into the kingdom, and by being born from above, become the children of the kingdom (John 8:39; Gal. 3:29). These will come from all the ends of the earth when the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations, and they will have their portion in its blessings upon the earth, while the greater part of the so-called children of Abraham will be swept away in judgment." S. C.

We thank our brother, and trust we have translated his letter correctly.-Editor.

QUES. 15.-Does the word Perfect in Philippians 3:15 refer to Christian standing, or is it attainment?

ANS.-"Perfect" refers here to Christian maturity or growth, as in 1 Cor. 2:6 and 14:20. Literally translated, this last passage reads:"Brethren, be not children in understanding:howbeit in malice be children, but in understanding be full grown (τελειoι -perfect). Compare also 1 Cor. 3:1, 2 ; Eph. 4 :13 ; Col. 1:28 ; 4:12; 1 Jno. 2:13, etc.

QUES. 16.-Is it necessary or suitable that the brother who gives thanks for the bread aud wine at the Lord's Table should take the elements in his hand at the table while giving thanks?

ANS.-Read carefully the article in this issue entitled, "Some Thoughts on what is Due to Christ." Note especially the end. Some find it difficult to get rid of formalities.

QUES. 17.-In a former issue you referred to instrumental music. You in no wise allowed its use in Christian worship or service, but only for training voices to produce good congregational singing. I am not sure this is right. Would you kindly say if 1 Cor. 14:15 and Rom. 15:9 do not imply the use of an instrument in singing?

ANS.-We believe not. Nothing is said there but about singing; not a word about playing, nor anywhere else in the New Testament that we know of. The character of the present dispensation is against it:"They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." There is to be nothing mechanical, nothing ritualistic, nothing sensuous now.

We are no foe to instrumental music. We love it if kept free from the immoralities which often attach to it, and if kept where it belongs-in the circle of home social life. But in the Christian circle-the circle of the heavenly people, who know God and approach Him in all the reality of what He is, we believe it inconsistent and irrelevant. It has been a means, we believe, of degrading Christianity to a great degree. Look at the effect of it in Christian congregations:It was to help them sing at first; now, dumb in praise to God, they are, instead, getting a treat for themselves from musical art. Is it any wonder if they can after that associate the theater with the church ? One place gives them pleasure, and so does the other.

Again look at its effects in modern evangelism. It has made it a new sort of entertainment, and instead of converts marked by having wept in repentance over sin, by keen separation even from the garment spotted by it. and by a spirit of prayer and devoted-ness to Christ, it has formed in them a trifling, pleasure-loving mind, destructive of true Christianity. There are doubtless other influences at work productive of these conditions, but believing this is one of them we resist it as we would the others.

QUES. 18.-Does Scripture teach definitely that there will be literal sacrifices before the end of this age according to Dan. 9:27 and 12 :11 ? Are they literal or spiritual sacrifices mentioned in Ezekiel, chaps. 40 to 48 ?

Will sacrifices be resumed in millennial times? If so, where? by whom ? and for what purpose ? In unbelief, or in faith ?

ANS.-Not "before the end of this age" (the age of the Church); but during the age following this and preceding the millennial, yes, most assuredly. The two passages you quote in Daniel show this conclusively. The Church has then been translated and the Jewish age has come back as it was in the days of our Saviour. The temple rebuilt at Jerusalem will have its order of worship restored in some fashion till "the abomination that maketh desolate" is set up in it by the "Beast" of Key. 13 who interrupts that order. The sacrifices offered are of course the literal Jewish sacrifices of lambs, etc., with the appertaining ritual.

Ezekiel, chap. 36, speaks of God's new covenant of grace toward Israel as a nation. The 37th tells of their restoration as such, in their own land and in unity then-no more two kingdoms. Chaps. 38 and 39 are the judgment of their final, great enemy Gog-presumably Russia. Chap. 40 is the rebuilding of their temple under divine instruction and supervision. The one which had been rebuilt by the nation in unbelief and which Antichrist had defiled by setting up the abomination of desolation in it will have been destroyed, and made room for this final glorious millennial temple, built under the plan of the divine Architect.

The remaining chapters are devoted to the divine order established. The glory has returned-the throne of God from which the whole earth is now to be governed is again in that temple, at Jerusalem, and the Jewish order of worship is afresh set up, with its literal sacrifices and services carried on, not in unbelief, but as set up of God, in the obedience of faith; not of course as having any value for salvation, but like the Lord's supper with us, in proclamation of what the Lord is to them and has done for them and for all creation. Oars is a feast in lowliness and reproach during our Lord's rejection; theirs will be a magnificent, royal celebration of His then universally acknowledged glories and virtues as expressed in figure in the Jewish ritual.

QUES. 19.-Matthew 27:32 ; Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26 bear witness to the fact that Simon the man of Cyrene was the one who carried the cross of Jesus.
How is it then that John 19:17 says that Jesus went forth bearing His cross? I have not the shadow of doubt as to the perfect consistency of Scripture, but it is good to have difficulties settled in one's mind.

ANS.-They leave Pilate's judgment hall bearing, each man, his cross. On the way to the place of crucifixion they meet Simon the Cyrenian returning to the city from the country. Possibly out of pity for the Lord they compel this man, probably a strong laboring man, to carry His cross the rest of the way. John does not take notice of this. The others do.