(The reader should always turn to the Bible and read the passages referred to.)

Please answer the following questions in Help and Food:(1) Where does the soul (both of believers and unbelievers) go after death, until the judgment? (2) In 1 John 3:3 it says, "Every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." Does it mean that we should not let sin reign in us, or that we should have no desire for anything but for that which is pure? (3) When we are asked, "What do you call yourselves?" should we answer, " Plymouth Brethren," or what?

ANS.-(1) The soul and spirit (which are inseparable) of God's children are "with the Lord" until their body is raised at the first resurrection. See 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 1 Cor. 15:22, 23; Rev. 20:6.

As to unbelievers, who have died in their sins, they wait the judgment spoken of in Rev. 20:11-15. As to the place where their soul and spirit are, awaiting the judgment, it is not stated in Scripture; and speculations as to it are worthless. The disembodied state is called Hades (wrongly translated "hell" in the Authorized Version), and it applies therefore to believers and unbelievers alike.

ANS.-(2) "Every one that hath this hope" of being like Christ, ver. 2 (wondrous, yet sure hope for God's children), purifieth himself, having our blessed Lord as his pattern. It is a progressive purification or sanctification, therefore, for none of us, not even our devoted apostle Paul, could say that he had become like his Master-see Phil. 3:13.

Ans.- (3) Our name is "Christian," that is, followers of Christ, as the believers were first called at Antioch where was a large assembly of them (Acts 11:26). We might explain, however, that we are designated as "Plymouth Brethren" in the world-a name we do not accept as our own, and for which there is no just reason, except that there was once a large assembly in Plymouth, England.