QUES. 42.-In 2 John 10:11 it says :"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine [of Christ], receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed ; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.''

A brother from a Presbyterian Church, known by us as of excellent Christian character, but linked up with the current denials of fundamental doctrines of Christianity so prevalent in that body of people, seeks fellowship among us without severing himself from his associations. Does not the passage above quoted forbid our receiving him while he remains linked as he is ?

ANS.-It surely does. We had a similar case in the Assembly where we are. A devoted old man, a member in the Baptist church of a neighboring town, occasionally spent the Lord's day in our town. Having been blessed through our publications he, asked the privilege of partaking with us at the Lord's table. "We joyfully received him-not as a member of the Baptist Church, but of the Body of Christ, of which we were all convinced he was a member as well as ourselves, though the knowledge of that distinction was not in him. He was so happy among us that he came over the more frequently for the Lord's day.

Then the minister of the church he attended, died. This minister had known the grace of God for himself, and preached it boldly; but his successor proved to be a pronounced "Higher Critic," and his ungodly utterances soon came to our ears. At the next visit of our aged brother, we asked him if what we heard of their minister was true. With a sorrowful countenance he said it was. Then we said to him :"Brother, in obedience to the word of God we must now ask you to sever your connection with that minister and his congregation before we can have any further fellowship ; while you countenance it by your presence, you partake in their disloyalty.'' The dear old brother recognized we were right, painful as it made his position. Soon after, the Lord took him home out of the scene of conflict. But it is "the good fight," which we must carry on here, if we would not he swamped in the morass of the endless heresies and Antichrists of our day.

We have two special dangers to avoid. First, the laxity which would allow sin (which caused our Saviour's anguish upon the cross) and thus ruin our Christian testimony. Then sectarianism, another evil condition in the people of God, which makes them unable to receive as members of the body of Christ such as are in a different ecclesiastical position from themselves, even though they know them to be sound in doctrine, holy in practice, and free from ungodly associations. The first seeks an easy way to escape the trills of faithfulness; the other, a rigid course, where everything is governed by a cold ecclesiasticism, avoids the soul-exercise necessary to deal aright with each case as it arises. Self-love is at the root of both, not the love of Christ, nor love of the brethren. Only the love of Christ and of His sheep can save us from self-love.

QUES. 43.-What is the meaning of " He led captivity captive " in Ephesians 4:8?

ANS.-The expression, no doubt, has its origin in Judges 5 :12, a poetic expression in Deborah's song. Because of their fresh sins the Lord had delivered Israel to Jabin, king of Canaan, who "had nine hundred chariots of iron ; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel." So his oppression was the captivity of Israel during those twenty years, and in his complete overthrow by Barak, under the prophesying of Deborah, that captivity was reversed, "and the hand of the children of Israel prospered and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan." Their former captivity (or captor) was now their captive.

So Christ took part in flesh and blood, "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:14, 15). So our captivity to the devil is gone, and so complete is Christ's victory that to our deliverance He adds gifts, that we may use them for Him, to free others ; for a true, living Christian is not a mere negative quantity in this -world, but one who, having suffered in bondage to the devil, and having been set free by the Lord Jesus, is now an aggressive soldier in the ranks of His army.

QUES. 44.-Does the word of God teach that one can be safe and yet not saved ? There is here an N. H. H. brother teaching it. He says Cornelius was safe before Peter was sent to him, but not saved. Please answer in Help and Food, as others are interested.

ANS.-The time has always been, but is especially now, when would-be teachers of the word of God must be required to give "Thus saith the Lord " for their statements. They can talk and reason ad infinitum until, being called upon to give a plain passage of the Scriptures for their authority, the wind drops from their sails.

You should have asked this " N. H. H. brother " what verse in the narrative of Acts 10 said that Cornelius was "safe but not saved." But the statement is not new to us. It was one item in a system of teaching which came from over the sea in the early seventies. It taught that a man may be born of God and yet not have eternal life ; that at new birth some kind of spiritual life was received, but it was not eternal life-that was only after certain experiences which gave larger Christian intelligence. It was similarly taught that a man might have genuine faith in the Lord Jesus and yet not be indwelt by the Holy Spirit; that a child of God might yet be a man "in the flesh;" and the clause " he is none of His " in Rom. 8 :9 was applied to a believer in whom the Spirit did not yet dwell, who was yet "in the flesh"-in Adam, not in Christ.

These are samples of the whole system. It clouded the gospel of the grace of God ; it was attainment and experience-works brought back again for salvation instead of faith ; none could be sure of having eternal life except those who had reached a degree of spiritual elevation. It made two classes of believers ; the high class, the "intelligent" ones, having the seal of the Spirit; the low class, not having " reached " to eternal life yet, nor yet sealed with the Spirit. A new system of Perfectionism was thus set up, together with ecclesiastical pretensions-a little hierarchy to rule the assemblies everywhere and enforce the new teaching. It was the refusing of all this on the one side, and the determined pressing of it on the other, which brought on the crisis of 1884, and caused the excommunication of F. "W. G. at Montreal. As he exposed the new teaching and practice, he incurred the wrath of the hierarchy, and the name heretic, so convenient in the palmy days of popery, was applied to him with treatment in keeping. It is that teaching and ecclesiastical crime which we still refuse today; for, as before said, it insidiously attacks the grace of God; if allowed, it would rob us of the gospel, and bring back in measure the darkness out of which we were delivered.

Dishonor to the grace of God is soon followed by dishonor to the Son of God ; thus the foundations are attacked. How soon and sadly this was proved in this new departure, all who have kept in touch with it know. Scarcely one line of truth was left uncorrupted. Many to this late day do not realize the effort of Satan in this to rob us of the truth and bring us again into bondage. Ask one who is under the power of that teaching if he has eternal life, and we are answered, Ah, this is a great question :"We have the faith of eternal life, but that does not prove that you have the thing itself." Yet before these crooked notions came in, the same persons would not have hesitated to answer:Yes, thank God ; I have eternal life, for the Lord Jesus Himself said, "He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life " (Jno. 6 :47) ; and John's first epistle was written that believers might know they have eternal life (1 Jno. 5:13).

All this shows we still have need to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). How delightful it would be if we could put off the harness in peace without fear, but we are yet in the enemy's land, and still need to have on "the whole armor of God " to acquit ourselves in such a way as to be approved of the Lord at the end. Our rest is coming, but it is not yet. Nor must we forget that in opposing false doctrine we are laboring for the welfare of those who are entangled in it as well as for our own protection. Love ever has, in all its activities, the welfare of all concerned. "We have seen more than one case of deliverance from this system of error, and it was a sweet privilege to share their joy as also to see the new impetus it gave to their faith. But it also shows that there is bondage in the system from which there is need of divine deliverance. The Lord grant it to His beloved people for His great name's sake, and remember their faithfulness in the past-a faithfulness which has carried rich blessing to the ends of the earth, but has already been largely counteracted by the defection referred to.