QUES. 1.-A brother, recently come among us, does not, as we now find, acknowledge water baptism. He says that those baptized by the Holy Ghost need no water baptism. It is making a division here, and we should be glad of what instruction you can give us as to it.

ANS.-It is sad and strange that any who profess to believe God's word should deny that baptism is enjoined upon every disciple of Christ. Scripture is perfectly plain as to it. Let us trace it there.

In Matt. 28 :19, the risen Lord commands the apostles to go to all nations, to teach and to baptize in the name of the Trinity.

In Mark 16:15,16, the same command is given, to go and preach the gospel, and the responsibility to be baptized is there put upon those who believe (ver. 36).

After our Lord's ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit, we see the Lord's command carried into practice (Acts 2:29). The preaching is, " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in (unto) the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;" and verse 41 says, "They, that gladly received the word were baptized." Would they have been accounted disciples if they had refused to be baptized? Verse 40 answers the question.

So far, it was among the Jews. Now, in chapter 10, we come to the Gentiles. A godly company were assembled with Cornelius, the Roman captain, and as Peter spoke to them of the salvation by Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came upon this Gentile company before they were baptized unto the name of Jesus Christ -which was not the usual order. As the Jews had great prejudice against keeping company with Gentiles, they might otherwise have refused fellowship with Gentile Christians. Peter himself had to be shown that those whom God has cleansed are not to be called "unclean;" therefore God marked them out as cleansed and sanctified, by the Holy Spirit coming upon them. Peter then said, "Can any one forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized."

If we yet needed anything more, we have it in the epistles. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, expounds to us the meaning of baptism, in Romans, ch. 6, as he does the Lord's Supper in 1 Cor. 10:15-21. Baptism, he says in Romans 6:4, is a figure of our burial with Christ, and he goes on to develop the truth which baptism typifies. Col. 2:12 speaks in the same way, and Eph. 4:5 speaks of the circle of Christian profession as the confession of "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." He who says, "Those baptized by the Holy Spirit need no water baptism," is opposing Acts 10:48; he also opposes the apostle Paul's teaching ; and contradicts the Lord's own command!-a very serious thing indeed.

No intelligent Christian thinks or says that baptism with water has any part in the eternal forgiveness of sins or final salvation. But it has to do with our discipleship here, and with governmental forgiveness in the sense of being owned as disciples of Christ-as in Acts 2:38. Every loyal soldier is required to put on the army uniform, though we know that some who wear the uniform may not be loyal in heart. Let us not think lightly of our responsibility to confess Christ. See Rom. 10:8, 9.

QUES. 2.-Those who grieved the Lord "in the provocation in the wilderness" forty years (Heb. 3:8, 9), who did not enter the land but died in the wilderness-are they lost?

ANS.-To go from Egypt to Canaan was an earthly journey; failing to reach Canaan was an earthly loss. The eternal issues of life were not in question ; that remains with God; but these things typify spiritual and eternal things and destinies, and are used by the Holy Spirit for our admonition.

QUES. 3.-In the 5th chapter of John's Gospel, five porches at Bethesda's pool are spoken of. Have they a typical meaning ? If so, what?

ANS.-Bethesda (house of mercy) seems to speak of the law mitigated by mercy; and the five porches would point to human responsibility. Multitudes of sick and infirm were there, hoping for some mercy while abiding under law. Israel as a nation was in that condition all the period of the law. It is still the case with multitudes at the present time. For full examination of the passage, see Numerical Bible, Gospel of John, pp 507-509.

QUES. 4.-Who is the speaker in Isaiah 25:1-5?

ANS.-It is the prophet himself. He personifies and speaks for the remnant of Israel when, through deepest affliction, they shall turn to, and own the Lord Jesus Christ as Jehovah their Saviour.

QUES. 5.-Are "the two anointed ones" spoken of in Zech. 4:14, the faithful remnant in Israel? If not, who are they?

ANS.-The whole chapter speaks of the ministry of divine light and grace to Israel's remnant when they returned from Babylon to the land. It should have been through Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest, as representatives of kingly power and priesthood, but we know this was not then accomplished, for this same remnant is seen in a deplorable state in Malachi-the last prophet. The prophecy therefore must look to a time yet to come, and the "two witnesses" of Rev. 11:3 seem to answer to the "two anointed ones" of Zech. 4:14. They prophesy in sackcloth, because of the nation's condition-they maintain the claims of God's character in the face of apostasy. Whether they are two prophets, or a faithful remnant bearing the double testimony as to God's authority, as manifested in Moses, and of God's judgments, as exemplified in Elijah, we are unable to say positively, but think it is the latter.

QUES. 6.-What, and who, are the "four carpenters" in Zech. 1:20, 21?

ANS.-They are the agents in God's hand for there-establishment of the Jewish nation in their own land, as the four "horns" (the four world empires) had been their destroyers.

QUES. 7.-What does "by the disposition of angels" mean in Acts 7:53?

ANS-See Ps. 68:17. Stephen presses upon his accusers that they had in every way resisted the Holy Spirit. They had persecuted the prophets who foretold the coming of the Just One ; they had betrayed and murdered Him when He came. The law, which they pretended to honor, and which had been handed to Israel through angelic ministry, they had not kept. What remained now-but judgment?

QUES. 8.-Will you explain in H. & F. Isaiah 30:33,"Tophet is ordained of old "-what is the meaning?

ANS.-Tophet was in the ravine south-west of Jerusalem, called "valley of Hinnom ;" it was the place where they sacrificed children to Moloch-see 2 Kings 23 :10. The godly Josiah denied the place to abolish this abomination. It was made a dumping ground for refuse from the city. Fire was kept burning there ; carcases of animals were brought there also. The fire and the worm amid corruption became a symbol of Gehenna-hell, and so used by the Jews.

This judgment was appointed of old for the apostate king mentioned in this 33rd verse, which seems to be the same as the Antichrist of Rev. 19:20-cast alive into the lake of fire.