THE READER SHOULD ALWAYS TURN TO THE BIBLE AND READ THE PASSAGES REFERRED TO.

QUES. 6.-Will you please explain to us 2 Cor. 5:21, also Gal. 3:13? How could the Son of God be "made sin for us?"

ANS.-There is but one word for "sin" and "sin-offering" in Hebrew or in Greek. Therefore the verse may be equally well translated, "He hath made Him (Jesus), who knew no sin, to be sin (or sin-offering) for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

The thought, when understood, bows our soul in worship. Look at Leviticus, chap. 4. When sin was charged to an Israelite-whether a priest (ver. 3) or the congregation (ver. 13), or a ruler (ver. 22), or any of the common people, the offender was to bring a blameless offering before Jehovah, put his hand upon the head of the victim (his guilt thus typically transferred to the victim who is made "sin" or a "sin-offering") and it was slain in his stead-the victim's life, or blood, being put upon the horns of the altar and accepted by Jehovah. God's righteousness thus is fully maintained while He absolves us from all guilt. Glory be to God!

QUES. 7.-Questions were raised as to some parts of the tract, intended for professing Christians.

ANS.-I have received the booklet "HE that hath an ear, LET HIM hear," and read it over with care. The passages you have marked, if taken apart from what precedes and follows, may present some difficulty. But the whole tenor of the booklet is to exercise as to one's conduct, and to test the profession by the life of the one professing to be saved. Read 1 Cor. 1-12; Phil. 3:18; Col. 1:23; Heb.4:9-11, etc., and you will see the booklet's teaching is in the same line as these scriptures. These passages of Scripture, and the booklet referred to, do not put in question the final perseverance of the saints, but they do test, and are meant to test, the profession by the life or conduct of those who profess to be saved.

It is of God's mercy that such warnings and tests as the above-mentioned scriptures are given, that none should deceive themselves or others in thinking themselves secure while walking in the broad road of the world. In the very epistle which conclusively shows that the sinner's acceptance before God is on the principle of faith in Christ, apart from works, we read, "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die (that is, on the road to death):but if ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. 8:12,13). Of necessity God's children must be holy, for He is holy. And it is fruit that the Father seeks for in those that profess to be His (John 15:1-8); and fruit is not a little outward show, but the life, the ways and mind of Christ produced in us, through the Word fed upon, with faith and prayer.

Ministry on these lines is much more needed amongst us now than fifty years ago. Then, coming among "Brethren" was with reproach from the world. But increase in numbers, and more conformity to the world, alas! make these warnings increasingly needful. Taking shelter in the blood-sprinkled house while in Egypt, it is easy to say, "0 yes, I am saved" (and we hope it is real), but the profession needs to be tested; and if there is a continuing in Egypt-no true separation from the world, from its pleasures, associations, ways and pursuits-it raises questions whether Christ is in the heart, or not. It becomes us, therefore, and it is true love, to warn such, as Scripture does. The issues are of such tremendous import, and the heavenward pathway is strewn with so many and various temptations-from the flesh within, and the world and the devil without-that the true Christian life is a warfare.

It is in such connections that, writing to the Philippians (2:12), the apostle says to them, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only" (he had faithfully watched over and exhorted them when present with them), "but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"- salvation from the pitfalls and snares on their heavenward way-for God Himself was working in them to this end. In like manner Peter (4:18), writing to his brethren concerning God's holy ways and discipline upon His people in view of their deliverance from the evil surrounding them, and of which they are in constant danger, says, "If the righteous be difficultly saved, where shall the ungodly (who has no realization of God's overwhelming judgment) and the sinner (who takes pleasure in sin) appear?"-when God makes inquisition and brings "every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccles. 12:14).