Part 16
A GENTLEMAN: In large cities many churches have lyceums and literary societies. The city of New York was my birthplace, and until a few years I never heard of the C. L. S. C., and, therefore, I think the suggestion to advertise it very wise, especially in all the large cities. Where there are church lyceums the C. L. S. C. could be very well introduced without having to go through the introductory stage. In this way these church organizations could be made very efficient, I believe. Then church organizations so organized have gone through the initiatory steps. I speak from experience, because I know that in these organizations they lack very much the literary portion, and they need some such systematic work as mapped out by the C. L. S. C., to make them more practical and beneficial. In these large cities you have the organization ready at your hand, and all you want is to give the impetus and the necessary instructions, and put before them this work. I speak of such cities as Newark, New York and Buffalo. There is not so much knowledge in them as there is in some of our small inland towns.
MR. GILLET: A very admirable suggestion. One of the ways in which this correspondence committee would be of vast service to the C. L. S. C. would be along this line.
MR. BRIDGE: New York City has only one local circle.
MR. GILLET: Of course there are readers there, but no local circles. There is very little being done in Chicago. That ought not to be so. If persons who are members, who have a little leisure, will assist the correspondence committee in the circulation of advertising matter and in personal letter writing each year, it will be a great help. I think the problem in advertising is this—an advertisement is headed with the letters C. L. S. C., perhaps in a magazine, and people think it may be some secret society, or something else, and turn from the page.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
SIXTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON “PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION.”—CHAPTERS 1 TO 14, INCLUSIVE.
By A. M. MARTIN, GENERAL SECRETARY C. L. S. C.
1. Q. What is the first fact developed in the experience of the human family to be considered as a preparation for the investigation which the author makes? A. There is in the nature of man, or in the circumstances in which he is conditioned, something which leads him to recognize and worship a superior being.
2. Q. To what extent is this characteristic true of man? A. It is true of him in whatever part of the world he may be found, and in whatever condition; and it has been true of him in all ages of which we have any record, either fabulous or authentic.
3. Q. What is the second fact connected with the first one stated? A. Man, by worshiping, becomes assimilated to the moral character of the object which he worships.
4. Q. What history bears testimony to this fact? A. The whole history of the idolatrous world.
5. Q. Leaving the God of the Bible out of view, what has been the character of the objects man has worshiped? A. Those objects have always had a defective and unholy character.
6. Q. What third fact is stated in connection with the other two already given? A. There were no means within the reach of human power or wisdom by which man could extricate himself from the evil of idolatry, either by an immediate, or by a progressive series of efforts.
7. Q. How is this fact maintained? A. From the history of idolatry, the testimony of the heathen philosophers, and the nature of man.
8. Q. What is said of the means and instrumentalities by which his redemption would have to be accomplished if man were ever redeemed from idolatrous worship? A. It would have to be accomplished by means and instrumentalities adapted to his nature and the circumstances in which he existed.
9. Q. What was the first thing necessary to be accomplished for man to relieve himself from the corrupting influence of idolatry? A. That a pure object of worship should be placed before the eye of the soul.
10. Q. What was the second necessary thing in order to man’s redemption? A. That when a holy object of worship was revealed the revelation should be accompanied with sufficient power to influence men to forsake their former worship, and to worship the holy object made known to them.
11. Q. What is mentioned as having a tendency to unite the minds of a whole people into one common mind? A. Any cause which creates a common interest and a common feeling, common biases and common hopes in the individual minds which compose a nation.
12. Q. What are some of these causes that are especially strong? A. A common parentage, a common religion, and a common fellowship in suffering and deliverance.
13. Q. Upon what people did these causes operate with peculiar force? A. The Israelites.
14. Q. What follows as the only rational conclusion in regard to the discipline of the descendants of Abraham? A. First, that the overruling intelligence of God was employed in thus preparing material for a purer religious worship than the world then enjoyed; and, second, that a nation could have been so prepared by no other agent, and in no other way.
15. Q. What is essential for man to believe that religion has a divine origin? A. Man can not, in the present constitution of his mind, believe that religion has a divine origin unless it be accompanied with miracles.
16. Q. If, therefore, God ever gave a revelation to man, with what was it necessarily accompanied? A. With miracles, and with miracles of such a nature as would clearly distinguish the divine character and the divine authority of the dispensation.
17. Q. In order to give any divine revelation to the Israelites what two things were necessary? A. First, that God should manifest himself by miracles; and, second, that those miracles should be of such a character as evidently to distinguish them from the jugglery of the magicians, and to convince all observers of the existence and omnipotence of the true God, in contradistinction from the objects of idolatrous worship.
18. Q. In view of the idolatrous state of the world, and especially in view of the character and circumstances of the Israelites, of what is the demonstration conclusive in regard to the miracles of Egypt? A. That the true God could have made a revelation of himself in no other way than by the means and in the manner of the miracles of Egypt; and none but the true God could have revealed himself in this way.
19. Q. In view of the established laws of the mind, how was it necessary that the knowledge of God and human duty should be imparted to the Israelites? A. By successive communications—necessary that there should be a first step, or primary principles, for a starting point, and then a progression onward and upward to perfection.
20. Q. In accordance with these principles God revealed only what in the introduction of the Mosaic dispensation? A. He revealed only his essential existence to the Israelites.
21. Q. In what way does love for another always influence the will to act? A. In such a way as will please the object loved.
22. Q. What are the most favorable circumstances possible to fix an impression deeply upon the heart and memory? A. First, that there should be protracted and earnest attention; and, second, that at the same time that the impression is made the emotions of the soul should be alive with excitement.
23. Q. In view of the nature and circumstances of the Israelites, what may be affirmed without qualification as to the wonderful series of events connected with the exodus from Egypt? A. That no combination of means, not including the self-sacrifice of the benefactor himself, could be so well adapted to elicit and absorb all the affections of the soul.
24. Q. What are the four conclusions reached in regard to the Israelites at this point in the investigation? A. 1. That they were bound to each other by all the ties of which human nature is susceptible. 2. Their minds were shaken off from idols. 3. They had been brought to contemplate God as their Protector and Savior. 4. They were without laws, either civil or moral.
25. Q. What fact, in regard to a rule of human duty, has the whole experience of the world confirmed beyond the possibility of skepticism? A. That man can not discover and establish a perfect rule of human duty.
26. Q. What is that power in the soul which pronounces upon the moral character of human conduct itself dependent upon and regulated by? A. The faith of the individual.
27. Q. What is said of a law adapted to man’s nature? A. It must be addressed to the understanding, sanctioned by suitable authority, and enforced by adequate penalties.
28. Q. In accordance with these legitimate deductions, what did God give the Israelites? A. A rule of life—the moral law—succinctly comprehended in the ten commandments.
29. Q. In order to promote right exercises of heart in religious worship, with what was it necessary that the Israelites should be made acquainted? A. With the holiness of God.
30. Q. In what manner was the idea of God’s moral purity conveyed to the Israelites in accordance with the constitution and condition of the Jewish mind? A. By the machinery of the Levitical dispensation.
31. Q. Of what is the demonstration conclusive, both from philosophy and tact, as to the true and necessary idea of God’s attribute of holiness? A. That it was originated by the patterns of the Levitical economy, and that it could have been, communicated to mankind, at the first, in no other way.
32. Q. What is the only way in which a lawgiver can manifest his views of the demerit of transgression? A. In no other way than by the penalty which he inflicts upon the transgressor.
33. Q. The more holy and just any being is, what follows as to the penalty he would inflict for sin? A. The more he is opposed to sin, the higher penalty will his conscience sanction as the desert of transgressing the Divine law.
34. Q. In what way only would the mind of man receive an idea of the amount of God’s opposition to sin? A. By the amount of penalty which he inflicted upon the sinner.
35. Q. By means of burnt offerings what idea was distinctly and deeply impressed upon the minds of the Israelites? A. That God’s justice was a consuming fire to sinners, and that their souls escaped only through a vicarious atonement.
36. Q. When would the Mosaic machinery, which formed the abstract ideas, conveying the knowledge of God’s true character, be no longer useful? A. After those ideas were originated, defined, and connected with the words which expressed their abstract or spiritual import.
37. Q. In order to the diffusion of the knowledge of God throughout the world by the method adopted by the Almighty, what three things would be necessary as pre-requisites, and which are facts as matters of authentic history? A. 1. That the Jews who possessed those ideas should be scattered throughout the world. 2. That their propensity to idolatry should be entirely subdued. 3. That the new and spiritual system should first be propagated among those who understood both the spiritual import of the Hebrew language, and likewise the language of the other nations to whom the Gospel was to be preached.
38. Q. What followed as soon as the new dispensation had been introduced, and its foundations firmly laid? A. Jerusalem, the center of the old economy, with the temple and all things pertaining to the ritual service, was at once and completely destroyed, and the old system vanished away forever.
39. Q. What is necessary in order to a perfect system of instruction? A. There must be both precept and example.
40. Q. In what way only could human nature be perfected? A. Only by following a perfect model of human nature.
41. Q. Who is that model character? A. Jesus Christ.
42. Q. Of what is the demonstration manifest that man has received through the medium of Jesus Christ? A. A perfect system of instruction; and a final and perfect revelation of duty to God and man could be given in no other way.
43. Q. What are two facts history furnishes that are peculiar proofs of the Messiahship of Christ? A. First, the Jewish prophets lived and wrote centuries before the period in which Jesus appeared in Judea; second, on account of intimations, or supposed intimations in their prophecies, the Jews were expecting the Messiah about the time that Jesus appeared in Judea.
44. Q. If a person had appeared and conformed to the views which the Jews entertained of a temporal Messiah, of what would it have been direct evidence? A. That he was an imposter.
45. Q. Give three reasons for this conclusion? A. 1. Because their views were partial, prejudiced and wicked. 2. He could not have conformed to their views and sustained at the same time the character of a perfect instructor. 3. He would not have fulfilled the predictions of the prophets concerning him.
46. Q. What follows, therefore, legitimately and conclusively? A. That Jesus Christ was the Messiah of God.
47. Q. In what other way was it necessary that Jesus should establish his claim as the Messiah? A. By miraculous agency.
48. Q. What condition in life would it be necessary that the Messiah should assume in order to benefit the human family in the highest degree by the influence of that condition? A. In that condition which would have the most direct influence to destroy selfishness and pride in the human heart, and to foster, in their stead, humility, contentment and benevolence.
49. Q. As it is an acknowledged and experimental fact that the soul finds rest only in meekness, and never in selfishness and pride of mind, of what is the demonstration therefore perfect in regard to the condition Christ assumed? A. That Christ assumed the only condition which it was possible for him to assume and thereby destroy pride and misery, and produce humility and peace in human bosoms.
50. Q. In constituting the human soul, upon what has God, in accordance with his own character, caused its happiness to depend? A. Upon righteousness and goodness.
51. Q. What was the whole force of the Savior’s teaching and example designed and adapted to produce? A. Righteousness and benevolence.
52. Q. What conclusion follows from these two statements? A. That Jesus was the Christ of God; because the Christ of God could found his instructions upon no other principles.
53. Q. What are the only two means by which truth can be brought into contact with the soul? A. By perception and faith.
54. Q. What are their effects upon man’s conduct and feelings? A. They are nearly the same, with the following remarkable exception: Facts, which are the subjects of personal observation, every time they are experienced, the effect upon the soul grows less; while, on the contrary, those facts which are received by faith, produce, every time they are realized, a greater effect upon the soul.
55. Q. This being true, which would be the method the better adapted to bring the sublime truths of the new dispensation to bear upon the souls of men? A. Faith.
56. Q. What moral powers of the soul does faith govern? A. The conscience and the affections.
57. Q. Upon what does man’s interests, temporal and spiritual, depend? A. Upon what he believes.
58. Q. What does the belief of falsehood always destroy, and how does the belief of truth guide man, and what does it secure for him? A. The belief of falsehood always destroys man’s interests, temporal and spiritual, and the belief of truth invariably guides man aright and secures his best and highest good.
59. Q. It having been demonstrated that righteousness and benevolence is the greatest good of the soul, what doctrine is necessarily true? A. That doctrine which rectifies the conscience, purifies the heart, and produces love to God and men.
60. Q. What vital and necessary principle did Christ lay at the foundation of the Christian system? A. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned”—saved in accordance with the moral constitution of the universe, and damned from the absolute necessities existing in the nature of things.
CHAUTAUQUA NORMAL CLASS.
Season of 1884.
LESSON III.—BIBLE SECTION.
_The Bible an English Book._
By REV. J. L. HURLBUT, D.D., AND R. S. HOLMES, A.M.
The Divine Revelation, whether spoken or written, has ever been made to any people in their own language. But as languages change their form and cease to be spoken, that which is plain to one generation becomes an unknown tongue to another. Hence arises the need of versions or translations. In the stages whereby the Bible became an English book, we notice: 1. The ancient versions; 2. The mediæval versions; 3. The modern versions. The student will observe concerning each version: 1. The Scripture included; 2. Language; 3. Date; 4. Place; 5. Authorship; 6. Historical notes.
I. _The Ancient Versions._—Out of many, we select the five most important:
1. _The Septuagint._—The Old Testament; from the Hebrew into the Greek, begun at an uncertain date, but completed about 385 B. C., at Alexandria, the metropolis of the Mediterranean, where a third of the population were Jews; by unknown writers, said to have numbered seventy, hence its name Septuagint, “Greek, seventy.” This translation, though strongly opposed by the Jews of Palestine, became the Bible of all the Jews of the Dispersion throughout the eastern lands.
2. _The Samaritan._—Containing the Pentateuch only, in a dialect, the mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic, spoken by the Samaritans, who worshiped on Mt. Gerizim; perhaps made as early as 100 B. C., perhaps later; traditionally said to have been translated by the Samaritan high-priest, Nathanael. For many centuries the existence of this version was questioned, until a copy was brought to Europe in 1616.
3. _The Peshito._—The whole Bible, in the Aramaic language, the common dialect (Peshito means “simple” or “common”) of the Syrians, perhaps that spoken by Jesus and the Apostles, of unknown authorship and date, perhaps about 175 A. D.; the first translation made under Christian auspices.
4. _The Targums._—A Hebrew word meaning “interpretations;” a series of Jewish translations of various parts of the Old Testament; ten in number, several covering the same books; in the Chaldaic dialect of Hebrew, dating from Onkelos, A. D. 250 to 1000; arising from the oral translations handed down in the synagogues, written after the destruction of Jerusalem.
5. _The Vulgate._—Word meaning “common;” whole Bible, in Latin language; completed about A. D. 400, at Bethlehem in Judea, by Jerome; made by revising older Latin translations; at first opposed, but finally the standard Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
II. _The Mediæval Versions._—Not many translations were made during the Dark Ages. 1. _Cædmon_, a monk (died 680), translated the Bible stories into rude Anglo-Saxon verse. 2. _Aldhelm_ (died 709), a bishop, translated the Psalms into verse. 3. _Bede_ (died 735), “the venerable,” translated the gospel of John into Anglo-Saxon, completing the work on the day of his death. 4. _King Alfred_ (died 901), best of the kings of England, translated certain portions, as the laws of his kingdom, called “Alfred’s Dooms.” 5. _Wiclif_ (died 1384), “Morning Star of the Reformation,” a great scholar and enemy of Rome, translated the New Testament into English in 1380, and, aided by friends, the Old Testament in 1384. This great work was in manuscript only, as printing was not yet invented.
III. _The Modern Versions._—The Reformation brought forth the Bible from neglect and called out numberless versions, of which we notice only a few of the greatest in English history.
1. _William Tyndale._—One of the early reformers made the best translation ever wrought by any one man. This New Testament was issued in 1525; the Old Testament not until after his martyrdom in 1536.
2. _Miles Coverdale_, a friend of Tyndale, made the first English version by the consent of King Henry VIII., issued in 1535; made not from Greek text, but from Luther’s German Bible and the Vulgate; hence, less literal than Tyndale’s.
3. _The Great Bible_ (1539), made by command of Henry VIII., by the influence of Thomas Cromwell; the first edition a revision of Coverdale and Tyndale; second edition 1540, under direction of Archbishop Cranmer, hence known as “Cranmer’s Bible;” a book of great size, chained to the reading desk in the parish churches.
4. _The Geneva Bible_ (1560), made at Geneva, Switzerland, by a number of Puritan exiles from England. Its principal translators were Whittingham, Gilby, Coverdale (above named), and perhaps John Knox; a convenient quarto; the best translation of the time; very popular with the Puritan element in the English Church.
5. _The Bishop’s Bible_ (1568), under direction of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth; mainly a revision of the Great Bible; prepared as a rival to the Geneva version, but never as popular among the people, though used among the clergy.
6. _The Douay Bible_, a Roman Catholic version, made not from the original, but from the Vulgate; the New Testament published at Rheims in 1582, the Old Testament at Douay in 1609; the version in use among Romanists, having many notes setting forth their views.
7. _The Authorized Version_ (1611), the translation now in general use, made by forty-seven scholars under direction of King James I.; begun in 1607, published in 1611.
8. _The Revised Version_ (1881), prepared by a company of English and American scholars; in the main, much more exact than the authorized version, and deserving of general adoption.
SUNDAY-SCHOOL SECTION.
LESSON III.—THE TEACHER’S OFFICE AND WORK.
In this brief outline we propose to consider the teacher’s office and work in five aspects:
I. _The work of the teacher is for the gospel of Christ, hence, first of all, the teacher should be a Christian._—No person can properly instruct others in the Gospel unless he be devoted to the service of Christ.
1. _He should be a Christian in belief._—No one can speak confidently and earnestly in behalf of a cause unless he believes in it. One can teach mythology, but not Christianity, without a firm conviction that the Bible is God’s book, and the Gospel the declaration of the divine plan for saving men.
2. _He should be a Christian in experience_; having passed from death unto life, enjoying the consciousness of sonship, and a communion with Christ; for only in this state can he enter into sympathy with the Gospel, understand its mysteries, and guide others into the way of salvation.
3. _He should be a Christian in Life._—The example will teach more weightily than the words; therefore he must show forth in his conduct the character which he would impart, and live in the realm to which he would lead his class.
II. _The teacher’s work is under the auspices of the church, and therefore the teacher should be a church member._
1. _He should be a church member in profession_, giving to the church the benefit of his influence in the community, in return for all the benefits that the church gives to him.
2. _He should be a church member in loyalty_, holding an attachment, not to the church in general, but to that particular church whose doctrines, forms, methods and spirit are most nearly in accord with his own views, and best adapted to aid his growth in grace; devoted to it, laboring for it, and self-denying in behalf of it.
3. _He should be a church member in work._—There are two classes of people in every church, the idle and the working, those who are carried, and those who carry. The teacher should be one of the working members, bearing the church upon his heart and its work in his hands.
III. _The teacher’s work is with the Bible, and therefore the teacher should be a Bible student._