The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, February 1884, No. 5.

by Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle; Chautauqua Institution

I.

1. Q. What was the difference between the dispensation under the Old Testament and the one under the New? A. The first was a preparatory dispensation, its manifestations, for the most part, being seen and temporal; the second was a perfect system of truth, spiritual in its character and in the methods of its communication.

2. Q. What difference would there be in the methods adapted to move men’s nature under different dispensations? A. The same methods under all dispensations would be necessary, varied only to suit the advancement of the mind in knowledge, the difference existing in the habits and circumstances of men, and the character of the dispensation to be introduced.

3. Q. What would be an essential requisite under any dispensation, after the way for its introduction was prepared? A. Such manifestations of God to men as would produce love in the human heart for the object of worship and obedience.

4. Q. According to the constitution which God has given the soul, what must it feel before it can feel love for the giver of spiritual mercies? A. It must feel the want of spiritual mercies; and just in proportion as the soul feels its lost, guilty and dangerous condition, in the same proportion will it exercise love to the being who grants spiritual favor and salvation.

5. Q. What is the only possible way by which man could be made to hope for and appreciate spiritual mercies, and to love a spiritual deliverer? A. To produce a conviction in the soul itself of its evil condition, its danger as a spiritual being, and its inability, unaided, to satisfy the requirements of the spiritual law, or to escape its just and spiritual penalty.

6. Q. What does the degree of kindness and self-denial in a benefactor, temporal or spiritual, create? A. The degree of affection and gratitude that will be awakened for him.

7. Q. At the advent of Jesus how was the moral law generally applied by him? A. It was applied to the external conduct of men, not to the internal life. If there was conformity to the letter of the law in external manners, there was a fulfillment, in the eyes of the Jew and the Gentile, of the highest claims that God or man held upon the spirit.

8. Q. How did Jesus apply the divine law? A. He taught that all wrong thoughts and feelings were acts of transgression against God, and as such would be visited with the penalty of the divine law. Thus he made the law spiritual and its penalty spiritual.

9. Q. What does Jesus declare to be the consequence of these spiritual acts of transgression against God? A. Exclusion from the kingdom and presence of God, a penalty which involves either endless spiritual suffering, or destruction of the soul itself.

10. Q. What was then necessary in order that man’s affections might be fixed upon the proper object of love and obedience? A. That a spiritual God should, by self-denying kindness, manifest spiritual mercy to those who felt their spiritual wants, and thus draw to himself the love and worship of mankind.

11. Q. In order to the accomplishment of this end, without violating the moral constitution of the universe, what would be essentially necessary? A. That the holiness of God’s law should be maintained.

12. Q. What does Jesus uniformly speak of as being necessary previous to accepting him as a Savior? A. That the soul should feel the need of salvation.

13. Q. What is the testimony of the Scriptures as to God manifesting himself in self-denying kindness for mankind? A. The testimony of the Scriptures is that God did thus manifest himself in Christ as suffering and making self-denials for the spiritual good of men.

14. Q. What would be impossible for a human soul, exercising full faith in the testimony of the Scriptures as to his needs and his ransom by Christ, not to do? A. Not to love the Savior.

15. Q. Previous to the introduction of Christianity, in what efforts had all the resources of human wisdom been exhausted? A. To confer upon man true knowledge and true happiness.

16. Q. What are two insuperable difficulties which would forever hinder the restoration of mankind to truth and happiness from being accomplished by human means? A. First, human instruction, as such, has no power to bind the conscience; and, second, truth, whether sanctified by conscience or not, has no power to produce love in the heart.

17. Q. To what are the laws which govern physical nature analogous? A. To those which the Gospel introduces into the spiritual world.

18. Q. Men can not love God for what he truly is, unless they love him as manifested how? A. As manifested in the suffering and death of Christ Jesus.

19. Q. To deny the divine and meritorious character of the atonement is to shut out what from the soul? A. Both the evidence and the effect of God’s mercy.

20. Q. What is the influence of faith in Christ upon the moral disposition of the soul? A. It assimilates the moral feelings of man to God, and produces an aversion to sin.

21. Q. What is the influence of faith in Christ upon the moral sense, or conscience of believers? A. By faith in Jesus Christ the conscience is not only guided by a perfect rule, but it is likewise quickened and empowered by a perfect sense of obligation.

22. Q. What is the influence of faith in Christ upon the imagination? A. It controls and purifies the imagination of believers.

23. Q. What would a religion from heaven be designed ultimately to bless? A. The whole world.

24. Q. What does the best good of mankind as a family require? A. That they should be the instruments of disseminating this religion among themselves.

25. Q. What is the great principle by which the operation of spreading this religion would be carried on? A. The principle of self-denial, or denying ourselves the ease and pleasure of selfishness in order to perform acts of benevolence.

26. Q. How does the Gospel of Christ possess all the characteristics of a universal religion? A. It is adapted to human nature; not to any particular country or class of men, but to the nature of the race.

27. Q. In the instructions of Christ to regulate the conduct of men, how were their lives to be spent? A. In efforts to impart those blessings which they possessed to their brethren of the human family who possessed them not.

28. Q. In what did Christ teach the principle of self-denial? A. By his precepts, by his example, and especially by his identifying himself with those in need.

29. Q. What is faith in Jesus Christ therefore directly designed and adapted to do and to produce? A. To strengthen men’s benevolent affections, and to produce in believers that active desire and effort for the good of others which will necessarily produce a dissemination of the light and love of the Gospel throughout the whole habitable world.

30. Q. What are three of the most important means of grace? A. Prayer, praise and preaching.

31. Q. In order that men may receive the greatest benefit from prayer, what is essential? A. That there should be strong desire and importunity in prayer.

32. Q. In order to offer acceptable prayer, what should men possess? A. A spirit of faith and dependence upon Christ.

33. Q. What are two important means to impress the mind with religious truth? A. Music and poetry.

34. Q. Among the means which God appointed to disseminate his truth throughout the world, what holds a first and important place? A. The living preacher.

35. Q. What is the agency of God in carrying on the work of redemption and giving efficiency to its operations? A. The Holy Spirit.

36. Q. What is evidence to the world of the divine efficacy and power of the doctrines of the gospel system? A. Its effects in restoring the soul to moral health.

37. Q. The discussion of religious subjects for the past few years, both in Europe and America, has been mainly between what two classes? A. Between those who believe in the divine authority of the Christian religion as a rule of duty, and those who believe in the authority of conscience and reason as the highest guides of man.

38. Q. How does each class receive the Messiah and his teachings? A. One as of God, and the other as of man.

39. Q. In what light and as what means does one view consider a written revelation? A. In the light of the moral wants of man, and as adapted and necessary means in order to human development.

40. Q. What proposition is attempted to be proven in this connection? A. That a written revelation is a demand of man’s moral constitution, without which his moral culture is impossible.

41. Q. What is a first fact connected with this inquiry? A. Man is a cultivating and a cultivable being, and he is the only being created that possesses the double capability to receive and to impart culture.

42. Q. What are three endowments by which men are particularly distinguished from irrational beings? A. Written language, faith and conscience.

43. Q. What fact is fairly settled in reference to man aiding himself by a written language? A. That without aiding himself by a written language man can not ascend even to the first stages of civilization.

44. Q. In what way only can the character of God be known? A. Only by faith; and it is the character of God that is the element of moral culture.

45. Q. Upon what does the character of conscience in all religious duties depend? A. Upon faith.

46. Q. What is said of reason, faith and conscience without revealed truth? A. Without revealed truth reason has no data, faith is false, and conscience is corrupt.

47. Q. As there can be no moral culture with a false faith and a corrupt or dead conscience, what is a moral necessity in order to the culture of the human soul? A. Revelation of objective truth, rendered efficient by the perceived presence and authority of God.

48. Q. What is the conclusion reached as to how the moral culture of the soul must be accomplished? A. By a system of truth, revealed objectively in written language, by divine authority; and that the Christian Scriptures contain that system of truth.

49. Q. In view of the reasonings and facts presented by the author, to what conclusion is it his opinion unprejudiced readers should come? A. That the religion of the Bible is from God, and divinely adapted to produce the greatest present and eternal spiritual good of the human family.

50. Q. Of what does he consider the demonstration conclusive? A. That the Gospel is the only religion possible for man in order to perfect his nature and restore his lapsed powers to harmony and holiness.