Ques. 4.-In our readings of the Bible we have had questions raised which I would be thankful to have you answer. In Rom. 16 :16 ; 1 Cor. 16 :20 ; 2 Cor. 13 :12 ; 1 Thess. 5:26 ; and 1 Pet. 5:14 we are told to "salute one another with a holy kiss." It is not done now ; why not?

Ans.-It was the custom, and is so now, in the East ; men friends embrace and kiss one another in salutation. (See Gen. 29 :13 ; 1 Sam. 20:41; Acts 20:37, etc.) Judas even saluted the Lord with a deceitful kiss while betraying Him ; Joab also in 2 Sam. 20:9. With all Anglo-Saxon peoples, whose nature is cold and undemonstrative, the hand-shake takes the place of the kiss of warmer natures. But women here do still greet one another with a kiss. The great point is that the salutation between saints should be a holy salutation, not merely formal or unreal.

Ques. 5.-In John 13, the Lord said, after He had washed His disciples' feet, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Though Christians do not so now, is it not a command to be obeyed ?

Ans.-Our Lord's washing of the disciples' feet has a far larger meaning than the mere external fact. Note what He says to Peter, "What I do thou knowest not now; but shalt know hereafter" (ver. 7), and before morning, at the cock-crowing, how Peter must have felt the need of being washed from the conduct which now made him weep bitterly ! This-the restoration of the soul to holiness and to God-is what our Lord's significant act meant, and we are bidden to do as our Master did. See John 21:15-17, and Gal. 6 :12.

Again :in Acts 2 :42 we read that the multitude of believers "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." There is no mention of a formal washing of feet. Why?-There was none. Manifestly they had understood the Lord's meaning.