QUES. 35.-What is the force of the expressions of Scripture, '' Dead to Sin," " Dead to Law '' ?

ANS.-Done with Sin; Done with Law-as a dead man has done with the affairs of this life. As a believer in Christ he is not only sheltered from the judgment of God by the blood of Christ under which he has fled, but he is also severed from the relations in which he stood with regard to sin, the law, and the world, when yet an unbeliever. He has passed into a new sphere, being linked with Christ in heaven by faith and the Holy Spirit.

QUES. 36.-It has been a question here whether the Israelites who crossed the Red Sea were saved or not. Some thought that the slain lamb did not shelter their souls ; but only their bodies. If this be so, where is Moses ? Surely he must be with the Lord after appearing with Him on the mount of transfiguration.

And if Moses was saved, why not all who like him were sheltered by the blood ? I would be obliged for an answer in Help and Food.

ANS.-The blood of the Passover lamb shielded the people under it from their first-born being put to death that night. It was but a temporal, physical deliverance, though type of a spiritual one. Nothing was said to them about their souls or eternal things. The blood of animals could not secure eternal blessings (Heb. 10 :4). Only the blood of Christ is of sufficient worth for this.

That Moses went to be with the Lord in heaven, when he died, and is now with Him, no one can rightly question; but it was not the blood of the Passover lamb which brought him there. Faith and new birth are necessary to enter the kingdom of God. Moses, as all of us now, and of all time, had to be born of God to have part in that blessed kingdom ; and all those who are born of God-all in whom faith is found, whether before or since the Cross, are Christ's sheep and are sheltered from eternal judgment by His blood; they are heirs of heavenly things, as seen very fully in Abraham, the man in whom God has illustrated faith and its benefits (Gal. 3:6, 7; Heb. 11:8-16). Abraham's faith pierced beyond Canaan in which he dwelt as a stranger, "for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." That, of course, is the city of Rev. 21, toward which every eye of faith turns intuitively, for there only will faith realize all that God has intended for His people.

QUES. 37.-Kindly explain 1 Cor. 8:11,12, "And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ."

Am I right that the "brother" in verse 11 does not mean a brother in Christ, but only the flesh, while the "brethren" spoken of in the following verse are those in Christ ?

ANS.-Your way of getting out of the difficulty in the passage is ingenious, but ingenious ways belong to nature, and are not safe in divine things. Let us seek the solution by the way of faith.

The word of God declares emphatically that the sheep of Christ can never perish (John 10:28, 29), and when we have a clear, definite passage like this, we can rest assured that no statement of Scripture rightly understood can contradict it. Hold that fast as a principle, that no passage of scripture presenting difficulties ever upsets or contradicts a plain one. The plain one is our anchor, and held by that, we gradually find out, as we "grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ," the true sense of the difficult one.

1 Cor. 8 teaches us the high value God sets on conscience, and the criminality therefore of those who would force it in their brethren. If I cannot deny myself what offends the weaker conscience of another I am working for his destruction as far as I am concerned. The Lord will preserve him ; He will make good His word toward him ; but if it depended on me-as far as my influence goes-my will would even land my brother in the fire of hell. In that sense I "destroy" him. God charges me with this sin, while in His faithfulness He safeguards the weak brother from the effect of my unfaithfulness.

It is the tendency of knowledge to be proud, or as Scripture calls it, to be "puffed up." Once in that condition we disdain the ignorant 'whose conscience is guided by their ignorance ; we look upon them as inferior to ourselves and are ready to drive them with the lash of our knowledge rather than guide them into it by the lowly service of self-denying love. What prosperous fields of Christian activity might we not see now where devastation and ruin mark the footsteps of the pride of knowledge!

QUES. 38.-Does Satan know our thoughts?

ANS.-The article, "Satan:His Thoughts and "Workings" in this No. of our magazine will, we believe, answer your question satisfactorily.

QUES. 39.-What was there in Achan's sin so evil that brought upon him such severe judgment?

ANS.-He appropriated what had been consecrated to the Lord (Josh. 6 :19). He was no ordinary thief therefore. Judas, later on, was of the same kind, and ended miserably too. Josh. 7:11 characterizes Achan's sin quite fully. It is spoken of in that passage as the sin of all Israel, for that sin probably pointed to a general condition in Israel in keeping with it; and beside, God holds responsible the whole corporate unity among whom sin is committed. The "fellowship of saints" is the sweetest thing on earth, but it has corresponding responsibilities.

"We would take occasion to add that whenever an open sin is committed among a Christian community it should produce, first of all, ft general humiliation in keeping with the gravity of the sin, for it may illustrate more or less the moral condition of that community, and this does not come to an end by judgment against the offender, though that be an inevitable part of true repentance. Thus in Achan's case the whole nation is searched, tribe by tribe, and family by family, till the guilty one is found and judged.

The Lord Jesus, who has redeemed us at great cost, has claims upon us. May we not rob Him of the least of them to appear broad-minded and liberal before men, for if we do we shall surely find that He trifles no more in this day of grace than in the day of law.
QUES. 40.-The serious question has come up among us whether divorce would ever be right for a child of God. Is a sister doing the Lord's will if she remains with her husband when he is living in adultery?

ANS.-In Matt. 19 :9 the Lord who had just rebuked the Jews for their practice of divorce, adds, "Except for fornication."

One would honor such as the sister you mention for what patience and long-suffering she has exercised, but to continue in the relation of wife with a husband who lives in adultery (if it is cleanly proved) would be to be a partaker in sin with him.