bound to obey them: (a)—but if they are contrary to the commands of God, we must not obey them. (b) (a) Heb. xiii. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves.-Tit. iii. i. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.-Eph. vi. 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. -Col. iii. 22, 23. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. (b) Matt. x. 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.-Acts iv. 19. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye.-Acts v. 29. We ought to obey God, rather than men. Q. 48. Are not the maxims and customs of mankind a proper rule of conduct? A. By no means; as these are generally contrary to the will of God. (a) (a) Ex. xxiii. 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.-1 John ii. 15-17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Q. 49. In what then do good and evil conduct consist? A. Good conduct consists in conforming our souls and bodies to the will of God: and every thought, disposition, word or deed, which is not agreeable to the will of God, is therefore evil. Q. 50. Is it then the duty of all mankind so to conform themselves to the will of God? A. Yes, undoubtedly: it is the dictate of right reason, as well as of revelation, that they should all obey the sovereign will of their Creator; and in so doing consists a good conscience, and man's best happiness. (Ps. iii. 17; cxix. 165.) You have now given me a description of the soul of man, and explained, in some degree, the nature and operation of its faculties. Q. 51. What then appears, upon the whole, to be the essential difference between mankind, and other creatures of this world? A. The essential and most important difference between them, consists in these three things; viz. that mankind are possessed of reason; they are immortal; and they are responsible to God for their conduct; which is not the case with any other creatures of this world.* * "Whoever seriously reflects on the powers and capacities of the human mind, regarding them as the work of him who doeth nothing in vain, and comparing them with those of the inferior creatures, will readily perceive that man alone was created to be religious. Of all the inhabitants of this earth, none else are capable of obtaining any knowledge of their Creator, or of rendering him any worship and praise. Man alone possesses the capacity of distinguishing between truth and falsehood, between moral good and evil; and of receiving instruction in social and relative duties, the obligations under which he lies to perform them, and the advantages of so doing. He alone is capable of being governed by a law, and of being influenced by the proposal of re 18 THE ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. Q. 52. What follows as a necessary consequence of man's accountableness to God? A. It follows necessarily that there will come a day of resurrection, and of judgment, when the righteous shall be made happy, and the wicked punished for ever. (a) (a) John v. 28, 29. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Matt. xxv. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Q. 53. By whom will mankind be judged? A. By the Lord Jesus Christ. (a) (a) Acts x. 42. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God, to be the judge of quick and dead. (Acts xvii. 31; Rom. xiv. 10; Matt. xxv. 31-46; John v. 21-27; wards and punishments; of acting as under the eye of an invisible observer, and with reference to the future season of retribution. From these premises we infer with absolute certainty, that the allwise Creator has thus constituted our minds, and conferred upon us these distinguishing powers, in order to render us capable of religion, for the purposes of his own glory, and of our own felicity, in connexion with that of our fellow-creatures.”—Pref. to Scott's Bible, 3rd ed. 19 PART THE SECOND. OF THE DIVINE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE.* Q. 54. You have said, that the only true standard of moral good and evil is the will of God; and that the will of God may be known completely by the Holy Scriptures: pray tell me now what proofs you have that the Holy Scriptures, commonly called the Bible, contain a revelation of the will of God; or, in other words, Can you tell me what are the proofs or evidences, that the Old and New Testaments were written under the superintendence of divine inspiration. A. The proofs of the divine inspiration of the Bible are very numerous, and of different kinds; but one and all of them infallibly demonstrate the Bible to be in truth the word of God-a revelation of his will to mankind. *The substance of this section has been gathered from the preface to Scott's Bible, though differently arranged. Q. 55. How would you distinguish the different kinds of these proofs? A. I would divide them into two classes, viz. EXTERNAL and INTERNAL. Q. 56. What do you understand by these terms? A. By external proofs, I mean those which may be established independently of what the Bible contains in itself and by internal proofs, I mean those which arise immediately out of its contents, and which the mind. receives from the study of the Bible. Q. 57. Can you mention some of the external proofs of the inspiration of the Bible? A. Yes; there are many external proofs of this, which might be mentioned; but four only shall now be stated:— First;* The Bible has ever been received by all wise and good men through successive generations, as the inspired word of God; and has never been doubted, except by some few wicked men and infidels, who yet could never disprove its divine origin and inspiration. -Secondly; That the writers of the Bible were inspired of God, is evident, from the undisputed miracles *It is not even pretended that these, or any other proofs of the point in question, are not liable to the objections of deistical cavillers, who will be satisfied with nothing short of mathematical demonstration, of which the nature of the question does not admit ; nor is it presumed that they are, in this compendious abridgment of Scott's, in all respects complete. But if they are sufficient to satisfy the minds of youth, their object will be answered; if not, let the doubtful inquirer, with humble prayer, study his Bible, with Scott's Preface, where he will find all the arguments here stated, with many others, more fully and clearly set forth. |