QUES. 5.-Would you kindly give help on the following which offers difficulties to me?

In Rom. 3 :26, justification is assured to the believer in Jesus ; but in Rom. 4 :24, righteousness is imputed only to those who believe in God as the One who raised Jesus from the dead. How are the two reconciled ?

ANS.-In Rom. 3 :26, it is the basis of justification which is the subject, that is, how God can he just and yet justify a sinner. It is by faith in Christ Jesus, who has borne the winner's sins on the cross. No doings of grace can be questioned on such a righteous basis.

In chap. 4 :24 the subject is very different. It is this :Is salvation of works or of faith ? Is it of law or of grace ? It is of grace -the grace of God. It is of faith-faith in God who can do all things, even raise the dead. This was displayed in Abraham. He believed God's promise concerning Isaac spite all natural obstacles. He saw those promises fulfilled, even though asked to sacrifice that son of promise. He believed God, no matter how impossible the fulfilment of promise seemed to be. That is faith-faith in us who believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead, as in Abraham, who believed God could and would give Isaac back to him.

It is not at all another act of faith, as if believing in God were different from believing in Jesus. Faith in the One is inevitably faith in the Other:"Who by Him do believe in God " (1 Pet. 1 :21) proves this. As already mentioned, the subject here is not, as in the previous chapter, How can we be righteously justified ? but, Are we justified by works or by faith? By faith, is the answer. Well, if we are justified by faith, what is faith ? See it in Abraham, is the answer; and see it too in them who believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead.

QUES. 6.-Should a Christian rebuke the profanity he meets on his way ? When our Lord was here His rebukes seemed addressed altogether to the scribes and Pharisees, and never to the publicans and sinners. Does Prov. 9:7, 8, refer to this?

ANS.-It depends altogether from what standpoint we rebuke. A Christian workman in a machine shop was daily grieved with the profanity of a fellow-workman near him. Finally he said:"O Jim, if you knew how it hurts to hear yon constantly use the name of my best Friend in vain, you would never do it again." And he never did it again. He saw the secret of true Christianity, and it effectually reproved him. On the other hand, let the Christian rebuke as one who is set up to regulate the world, and he is at once the Pharisee-the man who is better than his fellow. Our Lord's course among men was regulated by His object in coming here. He had not come to govern the world, but to save sinners. His rebukes therefore were not directed to the evil conditions of the world, but to the scribes and Pharisees, who were ever standing in (he way of His purpose of grace. When He conies again He will govern. We are His followers, suffering with Him in grace to-day in a scene of evil; waiting for His return, when we shall reign with Him to the putting down of all evil.

No doubt Prov. 9:7, 8, bears on this subject. Let us never forget, however, that if our character and ways are not a constant, though silent, rebuke to sin in every form, they are not Christian. "Ye were once darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord ; walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8-13). Evil of every kind is manifested and reproved by the light thus shed.

QUES. 7.-Does Col. 3 :16 teach that we should memorize the Word, or can it dwell richly in us without memorizing it?

ANS.-We know not a few who could repeat verbatim chapter after chapter of the Scriptures without ever having attempted to memorize them. The heart-interest they found in the Word made them so love it that it imbedded itself in their soul, and became as it were a part of themselves. It dwells richly in such. It meets their every need. It links their soul with Christ. It makes them intelligent in all the mind aud wisdom of God.

On the other hand, it might be memorized without its dwelling richly or even at all in us. It would simply be the memory, not the heart, stored.

If we love it, however, we shall seek to memorize it, and to have our children memorize it. It will thus be in them as the wood all set for the fire, needing but the spark of the Spirit to kindle it. " In all labor there is profit."

QUES. 8.-In 1 Cor. 15:29, what does baptizing for the dead refer to ?

ANS.-It means in the Lord's army just what recruiting means in the nation's army. A recruit is made, he puts on the required uniform and goes to fill the place of one who died in battle. So Saul of Tarsus was converted, thus made a recruit:then, according to the Lord's order, baptized for the place in the ranks which had been made empty by the stoning 01 Stephen. Thus is the army of the Lord kept up.