in the 30th verse we read in the last sentence, "My soul shall abhor you." Now, God is an Infinite Being, what then is the exact meaning of His "soul"? By a kind reply through the medium of your JUVENILE, you will greatly oblige yours truly, R. P. ANSWER:-Scripture often uses words in reference to God which seem to be designed to meet our human and limited views. When God is spoken of as having a hand, an arm, &c., this is a representation of Him, to enable us the better to see what He can do, rather than what He is abstractedly. So here He is spoken of as having a soul, to enable us to think of Him as feeling grieved, &c. Human beings feel anger and other passions in their souls, as we say, and so the Divine Being speaks of Himself as feeling in a similar manner. ON JOB i. 6, &c. REV. SIR,-Will you kindly oblige me, through the medium of your JUVENILE, with an answer to the following query respecting the book of Job, the 6th verse of the 1st chapter, and also the 1st verse of the 2nd chapter? "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." Will you kindly explain who were the sons of God? as it seems to me to be a mystery.-Yours, A. L. B. ANSWER:--We conceive that angels are here meant by the sons of God. See chap. xxxviii. 7. And a kind of council is spoken of as having been held in heaven, as kings hold their councils on earth. The angels are round about the throne, and they are God's sons by creation-He having given them their existence, they are sometimes called His sons. Satan presented himself, as it were, at the meeting of the heavenly council, and Jehovah thus addressed him in the presence of the holy angels. ON JUDGES i. 19. DEAR MR. EDITOR,-Will you please give an explanation of the following verse; here it appears that the Almighty was not a match for the inhabitants of the valley, viz. :— "And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron." ANSWER:-The difficulty here arises from an improper rendering of the original. "The Lord was with Judah," ought to have come at the end of verse 18. The meaning is-while the Lord was with Judah he conquered the Canaanites; but afterwards, when he fell from the Divine favour, and the Lord was not with him, the people were too strong for him. If God had been still on the side of the people no chariots of iron could have withstood them. ON THE LORD'S PRAYER, &c. DEAR SIR,-I wish to know, 1. Whether the Lord's prayer, in St. Matthew ix. 1-13, which was given to His disciples before His death, was to be used by His disciples after His death, as it makes no reference to His mediatorial office; because in St. John xvi. 23 it says, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name He will give it you." 2. And also what the term fire means in St. Mark ix. 44, where it says, "And the fire is not quenched."-J. B. ANSWER:-As the Lord's prayer is given more as a model for our prayers than as a form to be only or always used, we understand that it is proper to be used even now as well as when first given. Like other portions of our Lord's teachings, it does not comprehend everything we should know or practise. The passage in John xvi. gives us another rule, and both what is in the Lord's prayer, and whatever else our Lord taught us we should carefully observe. 2. As to the term fire, and other terms employed to represent either the punishment of the lost or the happiness of the saved, allowance must be made for the figurativeness of the language. The idea is, that as fire tortures the body, so the punishment of the wicked will be severe torture of the soul as well as the body. Intense pain and sorrow we understand to be the principal idea suggested by the term. ON JOB XIX. 26, &c. DEAR SIR,-I read in Job xix. 26, "In my flesh shall I see God." And in Paul's reasoning on the resurrection he says (1 Cor. xv. 50), "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Thinking that the "flesh," in Job, is to be understood in a physical sense, I cannot harmonise the two places, therefore your explanation of the seeming contradiction will greatly oblige yours, &c., D. M. ANSWER.-We understand the expression in Job to mean that the body, and not only the spirit, will see God at the resurrection; and in Paul's account of the resurrection we are told that the body will not be as it is now-material flesh and blood, &c.; but that it will be a spiritual or spiritualised, or a greatly refined body. So that Job teaches that the body will rise again; and Paul, that when it does rise it will be greatly altered, so as to be adapted for an eternal state of happiness or woe. Poetry. A YEAR AGO TO-DAY. A year ago to-day Ah! me, what memories rise! And dim the aching eyes; A year ago to-day The house was fill'd with gloom, For the cherish'd one of many hearts Slept ready for the tomb; Methinks I see her yet, As still and pale she lay, The little one that droop'd and died A year ago to-day. Her lovely little face Is oft before my view; I see again her clear blue eyes With the sunshine peeping through; Her downy, dimpled cheek, Her fingers tapering small, Her long white robe, and dainty hoop, But her little garments now She changed them for a robe of light She was so pure, so fair, And so, alas! she proved; And though we see not now The wise, good Hand that took her hence, But, oh! my heart is sore, For I loved her with a mother's love, I open wide her drawer, And touch those fairy things, For my heart is mournful, as it was Baby, thou'rt happy now, Safe in the tender Shepherd's arms, Safe in His sheltering love; And could I wish thee back? Oh, no, my loved one, no! Stamford Bridge. LUCINDA BOWSER. |