THE interest taken in the important subject of God's dispensational dealings with man has been evidenced by the questions that have reached me in response to my invitation. I am very glad to say that, as far as one may judge from the tone of the writers, not a single query has been sent for the sake of controversy. Some friends have written differing from positions I have taken; and that was only to be anticipated. God's truth is too wonderful to be so formulated that it shall be intelligible in its entirety to everyone. Thank God, however, it is our joyful hope that when the Lord doth bring again Zion, we shall see eye to eye.

The same question has come in varied forms from many persons. It has been no easy task to analyze and classify, as a necessary preliminary. No attempt has been made to deal with irrelevant questions bearing upon the wider field of prophecy, in topics not directly related to the exact line of study we have taken.

I have selected fourteen typical questions which call for answers of varying length in accordance with their relative importance.

1. Is it not clear that half Daniel's missing week has already gone in the three-and-a-half years of our Lord's earthly ministry?

Many hold that view; but, personally, I cannot do so, because of the clear and distinct division of the "weeks" in Dan. ix. 26, 27. And after the three-score and two weeks shall the Anointed One be cut off, and shall have nothing." The Authorized Version says Messiah shall be "cut off, but not for Himself "- words which are certainly not justified by the original. The sense is that He shall be without dominion. '&And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary" : that is, the people who are guided by the same principle of government that eventually characterizes the rule of antichrist. This scripture, thus far, was undoubtedly fulfilled in the coming of the Roman legions and the destruction which came upon Jerusalem after the death of Christ. "And his end shall be with a flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined. And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and for the half of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." The whole "week" lies in the future. The prince, or antichrist, is to make a covenant for a week which he will break in the midst of that period, and then will follow the half-week of terrible persecution and tribulation of which we have spoken at length. I have also dealt very fully with the seventy sevens of Daniel; and I therefore only touch upon them to say that they consist -

(i.) Of the forty-nine years which commenced with the permission given to Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem, and ended with the completing of the wall.

(ii.) Of the four hundred and thirty-four years from thence to the cutting off of Messiah, making four hundred and eighty-three years in all. Thus, there is one "week" left; and, according to the teaching which I find in this scripture, that must be the whole week" in which antichrist sets up his rule, keeping the covenant for the first half, and becoming an oppressor in the second.

2. Does 1 John iii. 1, 2, teach that the wisdom of Christ is to be the transforming power?

Let us read the verses.

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not."

The question is concerned with what follows.

"Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is."

Now read verse 2 again, and substitute because as the exact equivalent of for. This will enable us to see that the statement may be taken in two ways. It may mean that we are quite sure we shall be like Christ, from the very fact that we are to see Him; or it may signify that seeing Him will cause us to be like Him. I do not dogmatize about these differing interpretations. While I long held and preached that the vision of Christ would change the believer, it now seems to me that this transformation must first take place; and the fact that I am to see Him is the proof that I shall be like Him. If my vision of Christ on the resurrection morning is to be the cause of my transformation, the pre-supposition is that I shall not be changed until I look at Him; that though the time be immeasurably short, yet my first view of Him will be in my unchanged condition. This is, in some aspects, a beautiful thought, but incorrect, as I think. I believe we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and that, when changed by the power of God, we shall look at Christ. John tells us that we shall be like Christ because only those bearing His likeness can see Him; and we are to have that blessed sight. It is the pure in heart who see God. I offer no hard and fast dictum on the point: but I find that almost all who have any right to deal with the original tongue lean to this exposition rather than to the other.

3. What Scripture authority is there for supposing that some Christians may have to pass through the tribulation? Are not all believers members of the body of Christ?

That is the question which has come from most places-India, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, and the United States, as well as from my own immediate neighborhood-showing that it has been exercising the minds of a large number of God's children. On the other hand, I may say before dealing with it that I have had many letters agreeing with the view I hold, that the Church is an elect body which is to be taken out of the world, while many Christians remain through the tribulation. It is difficult, briefly, to sketch the view which I derive from the New Testament. I must begin at a point which seems to be irrelevant, but I think you will see that it leads up to the answer. I only seek to lay before you the reasons for my conviction in this respect.

The truth concerning the Church or Body of Jesus Christ is peculiar, as far as the teaching of the New Testament is concerned, to the writings of the apostle Paul. I t is needful to remember that upon the statement just made is raised the structure which I commend to your notice. Jesus Christ did not preach about the Church at all. He went everywhere preaching the Kingdom, and He mentioned the Church only twice. Once, when He uttered a prophecy which was so magnificent as to embrace within itself all other prophecies concerning the Church, and yet was so simple that we can always remember it, He said to Peter, "Thou art a stone, and upon this Rock I will build my Church." We must never forget the distinct difference between a piece of stone, petros, and the solid rock, petra. The Church's security lies in its being built on the Rock, and its ultimate triumph as an aggressive force is declared in the words, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" ; "The last enemy that shall be abolished is death"-and therefore death is not to prevail against the Church. The other reference is when Christ speaks of discipline among His own disciples. If your offending brother refuses to hear you alone or in company with another, you are to bring the matter before the Church. In those two passages containing all that ever fell from Christ's lips on this point, we have (1) the Church's security;

(2) its victorious conquest; and (8) its authority to excommunicate the man or woman who persists in sin.

New Testament writers others than Paul make no reference to the Catholic Church of the Firstborn, the great mystic Body of Christ; but only mention local churches, under the Greek word Ecclesia, meaning assembly. John writes about the Bride, but never names the Church. The Gospel of the Church was peculiarly and specially committed to Paul. May I ask you to follow me patiently through some of his statements on the subject. The Epistle to the Romans as to its argument ends with xvi. 23. Then follows the benediction, verse 24, in the Authorized, omitted from the Revised. The last three verses are undoubtedly Paul's words, but are an added doxology containing a very important statement, not worked out here, but in subsequent letters:

"Now to Him that is able to stablish you according to MY GOSPEL and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to Whom he the glory forever. Amen."

The apostle there made use of a remarkable phrase, “my gospel," in connection with an allusion to a mystery which he does not immediately unfold. That passage gives us the keyword “mystery." Now turn to 1 Cor. ii. 7-10.

"But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory: which none of the rulers of this world knoweth: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory: but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him."

A common misqnotation which I have heard made even by eminent preachers adds "to conceive" after "heart of man" ; but it is unwarrantable to use the words as a statement by Paul that no one can have any idea of things to come. He has something more to say, and should not be interrupted; therefore read on:

"But unto ns God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

Through the Holy Spirit this hidden mystery is to be understood, and it is to spiritual men only that it can ever be revealed.

A further step is taken in the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, where the mystery is unfolded.

Eph. i. 9; iii. 1-4, 9: "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to his good pleasure which He purposed in Him. . . . For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,-if so be that ye have heard of the dispensation of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward; how that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; . . . end to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery," or, preferably, as the margin gives it, "the stewardship of the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God."

Thus the apostle shows that the mystery hidden in past ages had been revealed to him; that he was commissioned to teach it; and that his was the stewardship of declaring it to the Church. In chapter v., where he has been speaking to husbands and wives, he says, concerning the great prototype of that relationship, "This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the Church" (verse 32). In vi. 19, 20, he asks for prayer, "that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains." Then, in his Epistle to the Colossians, Paul refers to the mystery and to its unfolding in another aspect.

Col. i. 26, 27: "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ell ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to His mints, to whom God wm pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

ii. 2: "That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ."

iv. 3: " Withal praying for us also, that God may open unto us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds.”

We have had the statement laid down that to Paul was committed the gospel of the mystery of the Church-of a people to be gathered out of the world and united, by the bonds of the very life of Christ, to Christ Himself, to be forevermore in such close association with Him, that the great apostle can only describe the union by speaking of Jesus as the Head, and of those gathered to Him as forming the Body. Such is the mystery that has come up from the eternities: that kings, rulers, and priests never saw; that apostles, even in the time of Jesus, did not understand; and that God committed to this one man.

After his conversion Paul was, first of all, united with those apostles who were called directly from Judaism; and for a certain period, in common with them, he preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. But there was a point where he ceased to proclaim the Kingdom, and began to preach "my gospel" of the Church. Careful reading of the Acts will show that in early days the first apostles were linked with Judaism; and it was through the revelation which God gave to Paul that there came a break between that system and the Church. It has been said that if Christ takes some Christians away and leaves others, it will rend His Body and break up the Church. Now, I have been very careful to avoid saying that members of the inner sacred Church of the Firstborn, or Christ's Body, will be left behind. Let me say emphatically that I believe the Body will not be rent, and that the Church of the Firstborn cannot be broken; that when the Master comes, the whole Church will go to meet Him. Who, then, will be left? Many Christian people who are not members of that Church of the Firstborn.

The question which naturally arises is, What constitutes membership of that Body? The answer is in a word-Election. Read the words of the man to whom was committed the Gospel of the Church:

Rom. viii. 28-30: "We know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained" predestined, as it is in the Authorized Version-"end whom He foreordained, them He also called: and whom He culled, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified."

There you have the perfect working of God:

His sovereign, supreme election, from the past eternity right up to the glory, from eternity unto eternity: from the past sovereignty of God in foreknowing and foreordaining and selecting and electing-we cannot get away from these words, and must not be afraid of them-right on into the coming eternity, when God crowns His chosen with glory and honor. You read things like that in no writer save Paul: and he is referring to the Church, this company which God is gathering out into closest union with His Son. In the Book of Revelation you have the living creatures round the throne, with circle after circle of inhabitants beyond them. The living creatures mark the inner circle of the Church which God has selected, elected, chosen, and which Jesus is coming to gather unto Himself.

Now we ask, Whom does God foreordain? Read the words which I momentarily omitted from that passage in Romans: Foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son." God's election of certain persons to constitute His Church is not capricious, but has regard to character. He foreordained those whom He foreknew, in order that they might be conformed to the image of His Son. Are there not hundreds of thousands of people in the world-forgive me, I will not say in the world, but in our churches-who are not conformed to the image of His Son? Assuredly there are. Are they not Christians? I think they are, I believe they are God's own children: but they are not conformed to the image of His Son, and will be left behind when the Master comes. He will gather out that inner mysterious unity, His own Catholic Church, made up of such men and wonlei1 as He has predestined, foreordained; and He will gather them because they are conformed to the image of His Son. We must not make Paul's theology broader than it is in fact. Do not imagine that he writes about all Christian people; but remember that his subject is the inner circle of believers who are "blameless and harmless, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world." The whole of Paul's teaching is concerned with the Church; and the revelation of the mystery which he received when he was taken up into the third heaven has never been given to any other man save through his teaching. In that conception of the Church I find, for my own part, a solution of the apparent difficulty of the doctrine of election, and a very clear statement of the character of those who will be caught away to be with the Lord when He comes to gather His own.

Are there other scriptures favoring this view? I believe all the teaching of the Word to be in harmony therewith. Let us take two examples:

Heb. ix. 27, 28: "And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment; so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation."

Christ will appear the second time, apart from sin, to them that WAIT for Him. The force of the teaching here is intensified by the Revised Version, in which "wait" is substituted for "look." Are there not hundreds of Christians who are not waiting for Him, and who would say: "Do not talk to us about these things; we do not believe in them, and do not wish to wait for Him "? There are scores of Christian people to whom the certainty of Christ's coming to-morrow morning would bring consternation. If there is one thing they would wish to post. pone, it is .that coming. As I have already shown, those who are truly waiting for Christ are not star-gazers, but men and women conformed to His likeness, living as He did, doing His work, watching for Him in the midst of active service.

Certain expositors tell us that of the virgins (Matt. xxv.) five were good and five bad. Nay, verily. The five foolish virgins were separated from the crowd and had lamps and oil. Their lamps were not gone, but going, out. They had everything necessary, but not a sufficiency. When the five wise virgins had gone into the wedding and the five foolish ones knocked at the door, the Master said, "I know you not ": that is to say, He had shut the door upon them as far as that dispensation was concerned; but they were not lost. Jesus said, "The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto ten virgins," not the Kingdom of heaven, unto five; and the kingdom of earth, unto five. In the following parable of the talents, a number of men are needed for another picture of the Kingdom of heaven. It was one of the Lord's own servants who did not use the one talent, but buried it, and was consequently turned into outer darkness. There is no reason to suppose that the "outer darkness" refers to Gehenna, the place of eternal loss; but to the tribulation, in contrast to the light in the marriage chamber of the Lamb.

We cannot dwell upon the interesting study, but it may well teach us the importance of careful reading. Let us not imagine that we know all contained in this Book of God. For myself, I find that a single verse will often hold me in a way that permits no escape from it. Every time a man gets on his knees before God, with this Rook in his hand, he will make fresh discoveries of his own ignorance. We cannot read it as we would peruse the latest novel, for the Book of God will demand careful search, patient attention, and continued labor with heart and mind if we are to know it. I have dealt at much length with this question of believers passing through the tribulation, because of its great importance in my own view, and having regard to the wide interest indicated by the many quarters from which it has come.

4. What relation do little children bear to the truth of the Lord’s coming?

A beautiful question, to which, however, no definite answer can be given from Scripture, save by deduction and inference. I gather from the work and words of Jesus that all children who have not willfully sinned will be taken away from the tribulation, and that irrespective of parentage. I believe that the children of the most ungodly men and women in the world are Christ's by virtue of what He accomplished upon the Cross. There is a point at which such children will need to be born again from above, and that is, when they reach the place of responsibility. I have a boy in my own home who certainly has not yet reached that point; and my personal conviction of the tenderness of the heart of my God assures me (but I speak without dogmatism even here) that if He should take me, He would not leave my child, who has no knowledge of right and wrong, to pass through the tribulation. I simply rely upon my own view of the great heart of God and the work and words of Jesus Christ.

5. In view of prophecy, how near may the coming of Christ be?

I have said again and again that no man can fix the date of the advent of Christ. According to Mr. Dimbleby, the times of the Gentiles end upon Good Friday in this present Eastertide (1898). He was very careful to guard himself against any assumption that the Parousia would take place then. I neither affirm nor deny his conclusion ; but I do say that we have no single line of teaching which conclusively proves the place or time of Christ's corning. In Daniel's image we have the head of gold, representing the Babylonian empire; the breast and arms of silver, as the Medo-Persian kingdom; the belly and thighs of brass, as the Macedonian monarchy; and the legs of iron, as the Roman rule. There can be no doubt that all these have been fulfilled and have passed away. The feet and toes, a mixture of iron and of clay, are in the times of the fullness of the Gentiles; and all the rest of the image is gone. Now is this image to end? By the Stone cut without bands out of the mountain, striking the feet and breaking the whole thing into pieces. The image is simply symbolical of earthly power, to be ended by the coming of Jesus Christ, not for but with His people. He will come and take His Church away, and then seven years must pass before the Stone will smite the image unto its destruction. That issue, however, does not fix the time of our Lord's coming for his people, which may be before the ten toes (kingdoms) have run their course, or afterward. All we know is, that before the image of worldly power can be demolished, Christ, the Stone cut without hands from the mountain, must smite that image. But no man knoweth the day or the hour of Christ's coming; consequently, the only word which He speaks to His own people is, “Watch: for in such an hour as ye know not the Son of Man cometh!"

6. Can we hasten the coming of the Lord? If SO, how?

In 2 Peter iii. 11,18, we have words bearing on that question.

"Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God."

In the Authorized Version you have it "hastening unto," but the marginal reading of the Revised Version is, I believe, far nearer the original idea than either of the others-" earnestly hastening the coming of the day of God." Yes, I think it is possible to hasten the coming of the Master, by His Bride being ready for Him, as it has been put in that hymn of El Nathan's:

Let all that look for, hasten
The coming joyful day,
By earnest consecretion,
To walk the narrow way.

The moment His Bride-the Body, the Church -is ready, He will come. I believe that is the true force of the word in the Epistle of Peter -not hastening unto, but "hastening" the coming.

7. When the present dispensation ends, and the Spirit is withdrawn, will His office and work, as set forth in John xiv., xv., xvi., be superseded by the personal ministry of Christ? When the Spirit is gone, who will carry on His work?

The Spirit is withdrawn only in a dispensational sense. Every successive age with which we have dealt on the Chart included within itself all that had gone before ; and the Millennium will have in it all the richness, glory, and beauty, of everything that has preceded it. The Spirit will be withdrawn in this one way -as a presence in the world which prevents the full outworking of evil. Immediately the Spirit is withdrawn, antichrist will work mightily through the seven years; but in the Millennium, itself, it is by the same Holy Spirit that men will be brought into living contact with Jesus Christ.

8. To what does Enoch's prophecy refer, as recorded in Jude?

To the coming of the Lord to set up His kingdom upon the earth. "Behold the Lord came with ten thousand of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all."

9. What judgment is referred to in Matt. XXV. in the parable of the sheep and the goats? And at what period in your Chart does that judgment come?

There is nothing more commonly misinterpreted than that parable. It contains no single word about the dead; but is exactly what it professes to be-a picture of the time when Christ shall come and all nations shall be gathered before Him. It is the judgment, not of individuals, nor of the Church, but of the nations of the earth, when Christ comes at the end of Jacob's trouble. The basis of judgment for the nations is to be their treatment of Christ's brethren, the Israelitish nation. Of course, in all Jewish truth there is an undercurrent of application to God's children in general; but we should be careful how we apply the words "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto Me." They do not belong to this dispensation, bat to the next; and there is nothing in them which has any very close bearing upon our present position.

10. Who will be the victims of the final apostasy after the thousand years?

It is distinctly stated in Rev. xx. 7, 8, that when Satan is loosed, he will deceive the nations. During that period of the Millennia1 reign, the nations will be subject to Christ, but not all of them will be loyal in heart to Him; and when Satan is loosed, it will be to deceive such disloyal nations. That the obedience to the government of Christ during the Millennial period will be feigned is clearly taught in such passages as Psalms xviii. 44 and lxvi. 3, where the Hebrew word translated submit is the same translated elsewhere, "deceive," "dissemble," “deal falsely," ''lie." All the nations will be under the government of the "Rod of iron," and will be compelled to submit therefore. In heart, however, the great mass will be rebellious to the end, and will eagerly avail themselves of the opportunity of outwardly throwing off the yoke and entering upon actual conflict, when it presents itself in the unloosing of Satan.

11. Is there any possibility of a raptured saint being deceived and finally lost?

Absolutely no possibility, because the raptured saints will have entered into a state which shall fit them for the New Jerusalem, into which nothing that worketh abomination or maketh a lie can come-that is, there will be for them no further temptation to sin. This, of itself, answers the other part of the question- Would Heb. vi. 4-7 refer to such a time? Certainly not.

12. 1 Cor. xv. 24-97; Rev. xx. 1.4. Do not these Scriptures, taken in conjunction, teach that Christ delivers up the Kingdom at the destruction of death, before the new heavens and the new earth?

I do not think that is a necessary sequence. The “then" of Corinthians does not mean immediate action. There is another "then" which bears out my view, in verse 23. “Each in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; then they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end." That is, as I believe, in the period of which we have no measurement, beyond the great white throne, and beyond the creation of the new heavens and the new earth.

13. Does the final triumph of Jesus Christ include the ultimate reconciliation and subjection of every soul of man to Him so that not one shall be utterly and eternally lost?

My correspondent uses two words, "reconciliation" and "subjection." The final triumph of Jesus does include the "subjection" of every soul of man to Him; for, God has exalted Christ be that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." But the final triumph of Jesus Christ does not necessarily include the "reconciliation" of every soul to Him. There will be souls unreconciled who will yet be subject. It is an awful topic to deal with; but the possibility is clearly taught in the New Testament that a soul may, by its own free will, be alienated from Jesus Christ; and that, nevertheless, He may have out of that soul the honor which comes from subjection apart from reconciliation. In passing, and in connection with the great theme which we are only touching upon, let me say to Bible students that we must be very careful how we use the word “eternity." We have fallen into great error in our constant use of that word. There is no word in the whole Book of God corresponding with our "eternal," which, as commonly used among us, means absolutely without end. The strongest Scripture word used with reference to the existence of God, is-" unto the ages of the ages," which does not literally mean eternally. Let us, however, remember that the self-same word, which is thus used in connection with the existence of God, is also applied to the loss of the human soul. Men have divided the Church, separated from each other, and persecuted one another, upon a thought conveyed by an English word which has no equivalent in the Bible. But who shall grasp the ages of the ages," or say that when a limit is reached, if limit there be, it is not that other ages upon ages may be born? God is subject to no limitation, and our finite thought must utterly fail to fathom the ages which He inhabits. We have no right to dogmatize upon anything beyond what is written; nor should we use a human word to express Divine things in the great future, concerning which we know so little. I repeat, it is a solemn possibility that a soul may, by its own deliberate, unchanging choice, pass into the ages of the ages, without God and without hope, and yet be subject to Christ, while unreconciled to Him.

14. According to 1 Cor. xv. 26, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. What about him that hath the power of death?

We are told that Satan has the power of death-and I take the inference of my correspondent to be this: if death is the last thing to be abolished, then the one who has the power of it must first be abolished. I venture to think that what is implied in the question does not follow. In the passage referred to, we have enemies under Christ's feet, and enemies abolished. There may be enemies who will never be abolished, though they be under His feet. Christ must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. Lucifer, the son of the morning, must be put under His feet. And so must the souls of men who deliberately rebel against Him; but it is not said that He shall abolish them. He will abolish death; and, in that case, there can be no dying, even for rebel souls.

I have endeavored to answer the whole of the questions selected according to the light which I have. We now, for the present, take leave of this great subject of prophecy. Maintaining the spirit of readiness for Divine leading in regard to lines of teaching, we may, at a future day, return to the subject in some other aspect. But, in conclusion, let me say that truth should never make us proud. We may be very confident that we hold the truth; but the surest way to deny its power is to be bitter and unloving toward those who differ from us.

Let us remember that Truth is Christ, and Christ is Truth; that Christ is God, and God is Love; therefore Truth is Love, and Love is Truth. In proportion as you may hold the Truth, you will become loving toward those who differ from you. All the wrangling, ostensibly for the sake of Truth, which has split and divided certain sections of the Church, until men therein scarcely know where they stand, is evidence that Truth has never been properly understood by them. Truth should not be stored as a commodity or as something of which to boast. While we feel that the teaching of the Word of God is very clear, let us remember that we are only scholars spelling out the alphabet in the school of Jesus Christ. We may rest assured that, in the day when we have full knowledge granted unto us, we shall discover that the men of whom we were the most afraid, have held Truth which we, perchance, have never known. Our duty toward our brother and his toward us, if we be loyal to Christ, is-that we love each other still, though we may not agree in our views. Should nothing else be accomplished by this series of lectures, we may be profoundly thankful if they lead to searching of the Word of God.