is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." The question here discust is a totally different matter from what is usually thought in connection with unpardonable sins.

First, it is well to note that the one who commits this sin is converted, for he is called a "brother." The question of being finally lost is out of the question for those who hold that the Father will lose none that are committed to His hand (John 10:27-29). This text is akin to the one already referred to in 1 Cor. 11:30 where many in the church of Corinth were weak and sickly and many had fallen asleep. These last words imply that they had committed a sin unto death. It was of no use to pray for their recovery when they became ill; they must die as truly as the unbelieving Israel died on the way to the Land of Promise. The physical chastisement of death had to be meted out to them. Their spiritual destiny after death is quite another question. In 1 Cor. 5:5, the Apostle Paul, under divine direction, tells the church at Corinth "to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." This deliverance to Satan certainly brought sickness and death, but it was in order to salvation at the coming of the Lord."

In Jer. 14:11 the Lord said, "Pray not for this people for their good." And in Jer. 15:1, He says; "Tho Moses and Samuel stood before Me,

yet My mind could not be toward this people. The same principle as the "sin unto death" (1 John 5:16, 17) obtains here. The Kingdom of Judah in Jeremiah's time had despised all warnings and gone deeper and deeper into sin. They had all sinned, some unto captivity and some unto death. Prayer could not avail. No one could pray in the Spirit and in faith for their deliverance. It would have wrought more harm than good to have such a prayer answered. Their highest good demanded exile and captivity. But this is not final: God still has purposes for Israel. In our day a great stride has been made toward their return to their own land, their repentance and salvation. The same book of Jeremiah contains, in chapter 16:14, 15, these words "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers." A few Israelites in past times have returned, but this great promise has not yet been fulfilled. The rejection of Israel was for a time, even a long time. In the days of the Apostles Paul wrote to the Romans (11:26), "And so all Israel shall be saved.".

It is the failure to notice the distinction between

the time when God's plan was to save a first-fruit, and the time when He will have every knee bow (Phil. 2:10); and also to distinguish what is for time and yet not for eternity, that brings confusion to the understanding of the Scriptures and dishonor to the character of God.

XVI

THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST VERSUS THE HEADSHIP OF ADAM

THERE has been much said in theology of the federal or representative headship of Christ, and by its application many questions have been solved, at least in part. We would not detract from any truth thus ascertained, clarified or established; but a mere federal headship is true only through an existing deeper and more fundamental fact in reference to the headship of our Lord; viz., a real and vital headship.

In 1 Cor. 11:3 we read, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ." In Acts 17:24-28, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as tho He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, . For we are also His offspring." This text is usually taken to mean that all races have sprung from Adam. The word "blood" is not in several of the best manuscripts, but whether it is or not, that fact does not militate against the truth that we have in mind.

There is not the slightest doubt that both the Bible and present-day studies of the races of mankind prove that there were and are races on the earth who have not descended from Adam.1 Hence comes the answer to the questions: "Where did Cain get his wife?" "Of whom was Cain afraid when he departed from his own people?" "Where did he get help to build a city?"

In Gen. 4:14 (literal) Cain said, "Behold, Thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the Adamic domain (not earth); and from Thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” This implies inhabitants beside the Adamites.

In Gen. 4:16, "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod," literally, the land of the Nomads. Evidently there were wandering tribes at that time.

In Gen. 4:17, "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch." It certainly implies a large number of people besides Cain and his wife and son to help him build the city and to occupy it.

We have in the Bible the word Adam used for Adam and also for his descendants, and also the word ish which means "man" in general. The

1 Theodore Roosevelt in The National Geographic Magazine, Feb. 1916; and H. F. Osborn, Men of the Old Stone Age (Charles Scribner's Sons, N. Y.).