17. “ W. G.,” New York. Thanks for your kind note, and the accompanying MS. There is a paper on the same subject in one of our earlier volumes.
18. “E. B.,” Brighton. In volume 16 of “Things Now and Old,” page 1.23, you will find a paper on Mark 9:4949For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. (Mark 9:49). We would render hearty thanks to God for the help and blessing you have received through our little serial: and we earnestly request a continued interest in your prayers.
19. “Perplexity.” The matter is illegal; and scripture teaches us as Christians, to “submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” The framing or amendment of laws is no part of a Christian’s business. He is called to obey or to suffer. Would that this were better understood!
20. “E. F. P.,” Halifax, Nova Scotia. Your letters, of the 11Th of January and 8th of February, have duly come to hand. We are thankful that you have had your difficulty removed, and we deem it most thoughtful and kind of you to write your second letter.
21. “K. K.,” Kingstown. Your kind note and accompanying lines have come to hand.
23. “Quartus,” Cheltenham. The idea of the souls of believers being asleep when absent from the body, is at once unscriptural and absurd. “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Was this to be in an unconscious state? Has the soul of the thief been asleep for the last eighteen hundred years? “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Has that spirit been asleep ever since? “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Is this to be asleep? “Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better.” Why not says “Having a desire to be asleep?” Is it far better to asleep, to be unconscious, than to be enjoying Christ, and working for Him here?
Dear friend, we cannot but express our astonishment at any man in his sober senses—to say nothing of a Christian with the Bible in his hands,—putting such a question. We consider the notion a monstrous absurdity. Pray excuse our plainness of speech. It is not easy to measure one’s words when dealing with many of the wild vagaries of the present day.
24. “R M.,” Dublin. “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” Does not this passage answer your question? Do angels form part of the body of Christ? Will they form a part of the bride? Will angels reign with Christ? Does not the entire teaching of the New Testament on the subject of the church answer your inquiry? Are angels ever said to be members of Christ’s body, of His flesh, and of his bones? Eph. 5:3030For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30).
25. “A Learner.” You have solid reason, dear friend, to doubt the soundness of the teaching to which you refer, on 1 Cor. 11:30: “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” These persons had failed to judge themselves—failed to discern the Lord’s body in the broken bread—they had eaten in an unworthy manner, though they were true Christians, and hence God, in His government of His house, had to chasten them by bodily sickness even unto death, in order that they might not be condemned with the world. How could any intelligent person teach that “the discipline here is not connected with those weak and sickly ones?” We should say it was very closely connected with them. No doubt others were called to learn and take warning from the discipline exercised upon those erring members; but surely no father would think of chastising a good child for the misdemeanor of a bad one.
26. “E. J. G.,” Jersey. We have recently had a series of papers on “Gilgal.”