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 53 
 
 W/S' THE 
 
 BIBLE CATECHIST 
 
 AN INSTRUCTION 
 
 BIBLICAL INTRODUCTION FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. W. H. GILL, D.D. 
 
 Author of “ The Temple Opened ” 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 PEESBYTEErAN BOAED OF PUBLICATION 
 AND SABBATII-SCHOOL WOEK 
 
 No. 1334 Chestnut Street 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
 AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 Westcott & Thomson, 
 Stereotypers and Electrotypers , Philada. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vi 
 
 This little work is on the plan of the author’s guide to 
 the Book, “The Temple Opened.” and is an instruction in 
 Biblical introduction for the young. The favor with which 
 the larger work has been received by the clergy and the laity 
 alike, led the author to believe that a miniature work of the 
 same character might prove useful as an aid in the religious 
 education of the rising generation. In this judgment the 
 Board of Publication has concurred, and hence the issue 
 of the Catechist with its imprimatur. 
 
 The great importance of putting our youth in actual pos¬ 
 session of such instruction as is herein contained, needs no 
 emphasis at the hands of the author. This is conceded by 
 all; and it only remains therefore with parents and relig¬ 
 ious educators in general to see that what is so essential shall 
 be actually accomplished. 
 
 The Catechist has been prepared with reference to its use 
 in the Sunday-school, both by the teacher in the class and 
 by the superintendent in general Bible drills. Put a Cate¬ 
 chist in the hands of each scholar, and, with ordinary dili¬ 
 gence, its contents may be mastered in about a year, and 
 thus be laid a solid foundation for a subsequent and intelli¬ 
 gent study of the Book of books. 
 
 3 
 
4 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Though the Catechist is published by the Presbyterian 
 Board, it can be safely used by any other denomination, as 
 there is nothing sectarian taught in it. It contains only 
 facts about the Bible and its books which every Christian 
 should know. 
 
 The author has in preparation a Bible Primer, or a Cate¬ 
 chism in Scripture history, which, while designed immedi¬ 
 ately for young children and primary classes, will be found, 
 he hopes, to be of service to such adult persons as are 
 not familiar with the truths taught therein. 
 
 W. H. (4. 
 
 Philadelphia, 1893. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST 
 
 THE BIBLE AND OTHER SACRED BOOKS. 
 
 i. What is the Bible ? 
 
 The book sacred to Christians, containing, as it does, the 
 inspired records of the Christian religion. 
 
 2 % Why is this book , sacred to Christians , called the 
 Bible? 
 
 It is so called by way of eminence, because it is the best 
 of books. The word bible means book; any book therefore 
 is a bible, but the book sacred to Christians is called the 
 Bible, because it is the Book of books. 
 
 & What are some of the other names by which this sacred 
 volume is known ? 
 
 It is called u The Word,” “ The Word of God,” “The 
 Scriptures, ” u The Holy Scriptures, ’ ’ and ‘ ‘ Holy Writ ”— 
 titles which indicate its source and nature, and the rever¬ 
 ence due to the book as such. 
 
 4. Is the Christian s Bible the only book in the world 
 regarded as sacred ? 
 
 No; every false religion has its own bible or book, which 
 its devotees regard as sacred, even as Christians do. theirs. 
 
 5. What are the other prominent books of the world 
 which are regarded as sacred? 
 
 The Koran, the bible of the Mohammedans; the Zend- 
 Avesta, the bible of the Persians; the Shasters and the 
 Vedas, the sacred books of India; the writings of Confu¬ 
 cius and the books of Buddha, which are regarded as 
 
 5 
 
6 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 sacred by the Chinese, Japanese and other Asiatics; and 
 the book of Mormon in our own country. 
 
 6. What is the radical difference between other so-called 
 sacred books and our Bible ? 
 
 Our Bible is given by inspiration of God, and is there¬ 
 fore of divine origin and authority; while the so-called 
 sacred books of other religions are uninspired—simply the 
 product of the minds of the men who wrote them—and are 
 therefore in themselves destitute of any divine authority or 
 warrant. Our Bible is the one book which claims God 
 as its author, unmixed truth for its contents and salvation 
 for its end. 
 
 7. How may the superiority of our Bible over the other 
 so-called sacred books of the world be shown ? 
 
 By the men it makes, the character it produces, and the 
 civilization it develops. Witness in these respects the vast 
 difference between those people and countries where our 
 Bible is supreme and those where the other so-called sacred 
 books exercise dominion. Compare Europe with Asia, or 
 North America with South America. By its fruits the 
 Bible is known, as is every tree. 
 
 8. What authority do Protestants ascribe to the Bible ? 
 
 The supreme authority in morals and religion, in Church 
 
 and in State. To them the Bible, and the Bible alone, is 
 the only infallible rule of faith and practice. 
 
 9. Why do Protestants accord to the Bible this supreme 
 authority ? 
 
 Because it is the Word of God. To them, in and through 
 it, God speaks, making known his will; its authority there¬ 
 fore is to them the authority of God, as its voice to them is 
 the voice of God. 
 
 THE BIBLE AS A BOOK. 
 
 10. What is peculiar about the Bible as a book ? 
 
 It is not a single book or volume, but a collection of vol- 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 7 
 
 umes—a library, in fact, composed of sixty-six volumes— 
 embracing almost every variety of literature—biography, 
 history, poetry, law, letters, political economy, military 
 annals, morals and theology. The early Christians spoke 
 of the various parts of the sacred volume as ‘ ‘ The Books, ’ ’ 
 and it was not till the thirteenth century that the whole 
 came to be called, as it now is, ‘ 4 The Bible. ’ ’ 
 
 11. Were the hooks of the Bible written at one time , or at 
 long intervals ; by one person, or by many authors ? 
 
 They were not written at one time nor by one person, like 
 other so-called sacred books, but are the product of at least 
 forty different authors who lived at periods very remote 
 from each other, the length of time embraced in their com¬ 
 position being about sixteen hundred years. 
 
 12. How does the Bible compare with other books as to 
 age ? 
 
 If we except the literature of ancient Egypt and Assyria, 
 portions of which are being uncovered by modern explora¬ 
 tions, the Bible contains in the books of Job and of Moses, 
 if not the oldest, certainly among the most ancient extant 
 literary compositions in the world. 
 
 13. Were the books of the Bible always divided into chap¬ 
 ters and verses as they are now f 
 
 No; such division is of comparatively recent date, and is 
 wholly without inspired authority or warrant; and, while in 
 many respects exceedingly useful, as it not infrequently 
 obscures the sense it should be ignored in the reading and 
 study of the Word. 
 
 H. In what languages were the books of the Bible origi¬ 
 nally written f 
 
 The Old Testament books were originally almost wholly 
 written in Hebrew; while those of the New Testament 
 were entirely in Greek. 
 
 15. When and by whom were the books of the Bible first 
 translated into English ? 
 
8 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 By Wyckliffe, about five hundred years ago—one hundred 
 years before the discovery of America, and before the inven¬ 
 tion of printing. The first printed edition of the Bible in 
 English was published by Tyndale more than one hundred 
 years later, in the early years of the second quarter of the 
 sixteenth century (1526-32). 
 
 16. When and by whom was the version of the Bible in 
 common use translated into English f 
 
 Between the years 1607 and 1611, by men appointed for 
 the purpose by James I. of England; whence it is com¬ 
 monly called King James’ Version. 
 
 17. Has there been any other version of the Bible made 
 since that of King James f 
 
 Yes; there is what is known as the Revised Version, 
 which was made by representative biblical scholars of Eng¬ 
 land and America, and published, the New Testament in 
 1880, and the Old Testament five years later, in 1885. This 
 version, though most excellent in many respects and of 
 great value as an aid to the meaning of the sacred text, has 
 not become a favorite with the common people. 
 
 HISTORIES IN THE BIBLE. 
 
 18. What , in a word , is the great subject of the Bible f 
 
 Redemption, the divine method of the salvation of sinful 
 
 man. As a whole the sacred volume may best be described 
 as a History (containing the inspired records) of Redemption. 
 
 19. What special histories are embraced in this Histoi'y 
 of Redemption f 
 
 The history of the whole race from Adam to Abraham 
 (universal history) during a period of two thousand years; 
 the history of the Jews, the descendants of Abraham, 
 during a period of fifteen hundred years; the history of 
 the Redeemer, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, embra¬ 
 cing His life of thirty-three yjsars; and the history of the 
 apostolic era, or the planting of the Christian Church 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 9 
 
 in the world, covering the last two-thirds of the first 
 Christian century;—the pre-Abrahamic or universal his¬ 
 tory; the history of the Jews; the history of the Re¬ 
 deemer ; and the history of the planting of the Christian 
 Church. 
 
 20. In what portion of the sacred volume are these histo¬ 
 ries respectively to he found ? 
 
 The pre-Abrahamic or universal history is to be found in 
 the first eleven chapters of Genesis; the history of the 
 Jews, Abraham’s descendants, embraces all the remaining 
 parts (nearly the whole) of the Old Testament; the history 
 of the Redeemer is to be found in the Gospels; and that 
 of the planting of the Christian Church in the world, in the 
 Acts and Epistles. 
 
 21. Why is so large a part of the Bible taken up with a 
 history of the Jews , Abraham s descendants ? 
 
 Because, as our Lord said to the woman of Samaria 
 (John 4: 22), “ Salvation is of the Jews.” By them the 
 knowledge of Jehovah, the one living and true God, was 
 preserved in the world, and of them, as concerning His 
 human nature, our Redeemer, Christ, came. For this pur¬ 
 pose they were raised up and chosen of God. 
 
 22. Who was Abraham f 
 
 The father of the chosen people, and the head of the 
 great spiritual household of faith—“ the father of all them 
 that believe ’ ’ of all peoples and races. 
 
 23. What are the three names , in their historical order, by 
 which Abraham and his descendants are knowii ? 
 
 They were known first as Hebrews—that is, immigrants, 
 the people from beyond the river, the river Euphrates, 
 where was Abraham’s native home; second, as Israelites, 
 the covenant name of the chosen people, so called from Jacob, 
 the grandson of Abraham, whose name w T as changed to 
 Israel, “a prince of God,” and who was the father of the 
 “twelve tribes” of which the Israelitish nation was com- 
 
10 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 posed ; and third, as Jews, the name by which all the sur¬ 
 viving descendants of Jacob have been commonly known 
 (irrespective of their tribal relations) since their return from 
 the Babylonian exile—Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews. 
 
 THE BIBLE IN ITS PARTS. 
 
 What do the Scriptures principally teach ? 
 
 What man is to believe concerning God, and what duty 
 God requires of man; that is, faith and works, or doctrine 
 and duty. 
 
 25. What is the honor due respectively to the written and 
 the incarnate Word f 
 
 As the voice of God speaking to man, we bow to the 
 authority of the one ; while as God manifest in the flesh, 
 we worship the other. 
 
 26. What are the two grand divisions of the Bible f 
 
 The Old and the New Testament; that is to say, these two 
 grand divisions contain the inspired records of God’s former 
 method and present plan of dispensing the grace of salva¬ 
 tion to sinful men. 
 
 27. What are the great dispensations under which God 
 has been pleased to convey the grace of salvation to sinful 
 men ? 
 
 There are three: the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the 
 Christian dispensation. 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 28. What is the nature of the Old Testament division of 
 the Bible f 
 
 It contains the literature of the Hebrew people—the 
 inspired records of the Israelitish nation, the channel of 
 salvation to the Gentile world. 
 
 29. Of how many separate boolcs is the Old Testament 
 composed f 
 
 In our English Bibles, thirty-nine ; in the Hebrew, how- 
 
T W P Ir H rA TE 
 
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 Title.Th.e...bl.bl.e......ca.tB.chi.s.t.;. Rn....lns.tr.xi.c.tl.Qn 
 
 in biblical introduction for the 
 
 J u n i i 7942 young, 
 
 
 1942 
 
 Edition.. 
 
 .. Place.. 
 
 .JBhil^i..: -Publisher.. 
 
 
 Date of pub.. 
 
 !? 93 . 
 
 . Vols... 
 
 - Price.. 
 
 REFERENCE 
 
 Univ. of Ill. Lib. 
 
 To be charged to.. 
 
 _fund 
 
 Recommended by_Approved by- 
 
 When this book has been received and cataloged this card, if filled out by 
 the department, will be returned to the person “recommending,’* or, if no one is 
 specified, then the one “approving” the book order for his information. 
 
1915 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 11 
 
 ever, being divided differently, the number is not so great. 
 These thirty-nine books constitute the sacred library of Old 
 Testament literature. 
 
 30. How are these thirty-nine Old Testament looks com¬ 
 monly grouped or classified f 
 
 Under four heads, called respectively the Pentateuch, the 
 Historical, the Poetical and the Prophetical division. 
 
 31. How many of the thirty-nine books are contained in 
 each of these divisions f 
 
 In the Pentateuch, 5; in the Historical division, 12; in 
 the Poetical, 5 ; and in the Prophetical, 17. 
 
 THE PENTATEUCH. 
 
 32. Why is the first division of the Old Testament called 
 the Pentateuch f 
 
 The word itself is composed of two Greek words which 
 mean five books , and the first five books of the Old Testa¬ 
 ment are called the Pentateuch, or the five-volumed book, 
 called by the Jews the Thor ah or the Law, because so 
 large a part of the books is taken up with the laws and 
 institutions to which they owed their existence as a nation. 
 
 33. Who teas the writer of the Pentateuch ? 
 
 It has been the common belief of the Church, Jewish 
 and Christian alike, that Moses was the inspired author of 
 this part of the sacred volume. 
 
 31f. What do we learn from the Pentateuch concerning the 
 Hebrew people f 
 
 It tells us of their origin, growth and organization into a 
 nation, and of their history as a people during the first forty 
 years of their existence as an organized body. 
 
 35. What was the peculiar form of the government of the 
 Hebrew people ? 
 
 It was a theocracy—the form of government in which 
 Jehovah himself was at once Sovereign, Lawgiver and 
 
12 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 divine Administrator, carrying on His operations through 
 persons and agencies chosen by Himself. In these respects 
 the Hebrew people differed from all the other nations of 
 the earth. 
 
 36. Has the theocracy become extinct in the earth ? 
 
 No; though the Hebrew people have no longer an exist¬ 
 ence as a nation, the Christian Church is the successor of 
 ancient Israel, and its members, in so far as they are truly 
 Christian, are the theocratic people of this era. 
 
 37. What are the names by which the Pentateuchal boohs 
 are commonly known f 
 
 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 38. Why is the first book of the Bible and of the Penta¬ 
 teuch called Genesis ? 
 
 Genesis means origin , the beginning of anything; and 
 Genesis is the book of origins, the beginnings of all things. 
 
 89. Is the name Genesis sufficiently broad to cover the con¬ 
 tents of the entire book ? 
 
 No; the title only properly applies to the story of the 
 Creation, while all the rest of the book is the history, out¬ 
 come or development of the things brought into being 
 during the creative week. 
 
 40 . What is the scope of the history in Genesis ? 
 
 While it is universal in its character up to the calling of 
 
 Abraham, embracing a fragmentary account of the entire 
 human family for two thousand years, from this point it 
 narrows down and confines itself to the history of this illus¬ 
 trious patriarch and his immediate descendants during a 
 period of some three hundred and fifty years. The uni¬ 
 versal history is but an introduction to and preparation for 
 the particular or theocratic history which follows. 
 
 41 . How , according to its contents , may the first fifth of 
 the Pentateuch be fitly designated f 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 13 
 
 It may be called Genesis; or, the book of the Patriarchs, 
 the ancestors of the Hebrew people. Hence in Genesis we 
 have the origin of the elect nation. 
 
 4%* What was the distinguishing characteristic of the dis¬ 
 pensation inaugurated in Ahraliam ? 
 
 Separation ; he was to leave his country and kindred, 
 that he might become the father of a mighty race, which 
 was in turn to be a “holy nation,” the “peculiar people” 
 of God. 
 
 4$. How long is the dispensation inaugurated in Abra¬ 
 ham designed to last ? 
 
 To the end of the world, the consummation of all things, 
 when the final and complete separation shall take place 
 between the righteous and the wicked at the judgment of 
 the great day. 
 
 44- Into how many eras may this great Abrahamic age 
 be divided? 
 
 Three : the Patriarchal era. or that of the separate family; 
 the National era, or the period of the separate Hebrew 
 people; and the Christian era, or the times of the Gen¬ 
 tiles, the period of the separate Church. The Family, the 
 Nation, the Church—these are the three great eras of the 
 Abrahamic age. 
 
 4%. Which of these eras falls within the scope of Genesis ? 
 
 The Patriarchal, which begins with the call of Abraham, 
 and ends with the death of Joseph—a period of about three 
 hundred and fifty years. 
 
 46. At what time did the call of Abraham take place ? 
 
 About the year of the world 2000; that is, at a point 
 
 midway between Adam and Christ; about the same length 
 of time before Christ as has now elapsed since His advent. 
 
 47. Where do we find the posterity of Abraham at the close 
 of Genesis? 
 
 In Egypt, where, according to the plan of God, they 
 were to become a great nation. 
 
14 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 48. How many did Abraham's descendants number when 
 they went down to Egypt , and who were they ? 
 
 Seventy souls in all—viz. : Jacob and his twelve sons and 
 their children. Neither their wives nor their servants are 
 reckoned in the number. 
 
 49. What are the names of the twelve sons of Jacob ? 
 
 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun 
 
 (sons of Leah); Dan and Naphtali (sons of Zilpah, Leah’s 
 maid); Grad and Asher (sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid); and 
 Joseph and Benjamin (the sons which Jacob’s beloved wife 
 Rachel bore to him). These twelve sons of Jacob are the 
 twelve patriarchs whepce sprung the twelve-tribed nation, 
 the Israelitish people, the Jews. 
 
 50. Through which of these twelve sons of Jacob was the 
 promised Seed , the Christ , to come? 
 
 Judah, the fourth son. The line of descent was thus: 
 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah. 
 
 51. What period of time is covered by the book of Gen¬ 
 esis ? 
 
 About 2350 years. Thus, at the close of only the first 
 book of the sixty-six of which the sacred volume is com¬ 
 posed we are more than half-way through the Bible in 
 point of time. For from the creation of Adam to the 
 death of Joseph in Egypt there are considerably more than 
 2000 years; and from Moses to John in Patmos, who wrote 
 the last book of the New Testament, there are as many 
 years less than 2000 as there are more than that num¬ 
 ber covered by the book of Genesis; that is, nearly 400 
 years. 
 
 52. Who are the three leading characters in the book of 
 Genesis ? 
 
 Adam, the first head of the human family; Noah, the 
 second head of the race ; and Abraham, the father of the 
 Hebrew people and the head of the great spiritual house¬ 
 hold of faith. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 15 
 
 53. To what class of literature does Genesis as a hook 
 belong ? 
 
 History; that is, the contents of the book are historical; 
 but they are history in the form of biography, by far the 
 larger number of events recorded in the book having indi¬ 
 viduals for their centre. Genesis may therefore be said to 
 be a book of biography. 
 
 5If. What are the great pivotal events in the hook of Gen¬ 
 esis , in their historical order ? 
 
 The Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the Confusion of 
 Tongues, the Calling of Abraham, the Birth of Isaac the 
 child of promise, and the Descent of Jacob and his family, 
 Abraham’s descendants, into Egypt. 
 
 EXODUS. 
 
 55. How does Genesis as a hook compare with Exodus ? 
 
 Because of the fullness and richness of its contents Gene¬ 
 sis may truly be said to be a wonderful book; while Exodus, 
 because of the peculiar nature of its contents, may as truly 
 be said to be a book of wonders. It is full of the super¬ 
 natural—no other book is more so. 
 
 56. How may Exodus itself as a hook he described ? 
 
 As pre-eminently the book of God— Jehovah. From 
 beginning to end His voice is heard, His hand is seen, His 
 person is manifested. It contains more august divine dis¬ 
 closures or visible manifestations of deity than any other of 
 the books which compose the Old Testament. 
 
 57. What great truth concerning Jehovah do the con¬ 
 tents of Exodus demonstrate ? 
 
 His universal sovereignty and supremacy over all that is 
 called God. The sovereignty of Jehovah, and Jehovah 
 as Sovereign—these two points cover the contents of this 
 second fifth of the Pentateuch. 
 
 58. In what peculiar character does God manifest Him¬ 
 self to His own people in Exodus? 
 
16 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 In Genesis God had made Himself known to the patri¬ 
 archs as Father and Friend, Protector and Guide; but in 
 Exodus He reveals Himself to His people as Redeemer and 
 Saviour. In Genesis He appears as the great Promiser; in 
 Exodus He is seen as Jehovah, the great Performer—the 
 covenant-keeping God. 
 
 59. Why is the hook of Exodus so called f 
 
 Exodus means a going out or departure, and the book is 
 so called because it contains an account of the wondrous 
 deliverance of the children of Israel from the land of 
 Egypt. 
 
 60. Is Exodus a title sufficiently comprehensive to cover 
 the whole contents of the hook f 
 
 No; like Genesis, it is too narrow, covering, as it does, 
 only the first half of the contents of the book; and, the 
 second part being so unlike the first, it is difficult, if not 
 impossible, to find any single term to embrace the whole. 
 
 61. What is the nature of the contents of Exodus ? 
 
 The first part is wholly historical, while the second part 
 is about equally divided between that which is historical 
 and that which is apocalyptic; that is, between that which 
 recounts the doings of the people and that which records 
 the sayings or revelations of Jehovah Himself. 
 
 62. What is the central point in the hook of Exodus ? 
 
 Mount Sinai in Arabia, the point to which God led the 
 
 children of Israel after their deliverance from Egypt, and 
 the scene of the giving of the law. Indeed, Sinai may be 
 regarded as the central point of the entire Pentateuch. All 
 that precedes leads up to it and is a preparation for it, while 
 all that follows is but the outcome of what there took place. 
 
 63. What is the difference between the condition in which 
 we leave the Israelites in Genesis and that in which we find 
 them in Exodus f 
 
 In Genesis we leave them in prosperity and honor; in 
 Exodus, 150 years later, we find them in a state of galling 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 17 
 
 servitude. Entering the south country as princes, they be¬ 
 came slaves; the land of Egypt became to them a house 
 of bondage. 
 
 6Jf. How was the deliverance of the children of Israel 
 from the Egyptian bondage effected? 
 
 By the direct interposition of God Jehovah in their be¬ 
 half, Who, through the agency of His servant Moses, whom 
 He raised up and qualified for the purpose, by a series of 
 plagues, ten in number, compelled the unwilling monarch 
 Pharaoh to let His people go. 
 
 65. What were the Ten Plagues of Egypt ? 
 
 Turning the water into blood; frogs; lice; flies; mur¬ 
 rain of cattle; boils; fire and hail; locusts; darkness; and 
 the last and most terrible, the death of all the first-born of 
 man and beast in all the houses of the Egyptians. 
 
 66. What religious ordinance was instituted in connection 
 with the Exodus ? 
 
 The Passover. By direction of God the Hebrew people 
 in their respective families slew a lamb, whose blood was 
 sprinkled on the door-posts and lintels as a sign to the de¬ 
 stroying angel, when going on his errand of death, to pass 
 over those houses whereon was this evidence of faith and 
 obedience. The ordinance which was thus instituted as a 
 means of the salvation of Israel was to be annually observed 
 as a memorial of the event throughout all their future gen¬ 
 erations. 
 
 67. How did Jeho vah conduct His people out of Egypt ? 
 
 He went before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and by 
 
 night in a pillar of fire, to lead them in the way. 
 
 68. What was the final act by which the deliverance of 
 the Hebrew people from the bondage of Egypt was com¬ 
 pleted ? 
 
 The dividing of the Red Sea, through which the Hebrew 
 people passed on dry ground; and the which, when the 
 Egyptians essayed to do, they were drowned. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 69. What did the people of Israel do after they thus saw 
 their deliverance so wonderfully effected ? 
 
 They sang the song of Moses on the other side of the sea, 
 after their passage through the water. In this song is ex¬ 
 tolled the triumph of Jehovah over their former masters 
 and pursuers, the Egyptians. 
 
 70. Whence did Jehovah lead His emancipated people 
 after the triumphant passage of the Red Sea ? 
 
 Through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, which place they 
 reached after a journey or march of about two months. 
 
 71. What were the leading events which took place at 
 Sinai , as recorded in Exodus? 
 
 The giving of the Moral Law—the Ten Commandments; 
 the giving of the code of laws which, together with the 
 Decalogue, composed the National Covenant, the compact 
 between Jehovah and the Hebrew people; the solemn 
 inauguration of the Covenant, and the tabernacle revela¬ 
 tion. The first part of Exodus is historical; its middle 
 part is legislative; and its latter half is institutional—per¬ 
 taining to the tabernacle and its services. 
 
 72. What sad incident marred the proceedings at Sinai? 
 
 The worship of the golden calf, and the breaking of the 
 
 two tables of the law by Moses, which he cast upon the 
 ground in an outburst of indignation at this sign of apos¬ 
 tasy on the part of his people. This lapse on the part of 
 the people, with its sad consequences, and their restoration 
 to the divine favor, and how it was effected, are recorded in 
 chapters 32-34 inclusive. 
 
 73. How often and how long was Moses in the mount with 
 God? 
 
 Twice ; each time extending over a period of forty days 
 and nights, and during which seasons he neither ate nor 
 drank. 
 
 7J. Under what general headings may the contents of Ex¬ 
 odus he grouped ? 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 19 
 
 Three: Israel in Egypt; from Egypt to Sinai; and the 
 transactions at Sinai. 
 
 75. What sub-title , in addition to its present name , would 
 best indicate the contents of Exodus ? 
 
 Owing to the central place the national compact occupies 
 among the events in the bo(}k, it might be called Exodus; 
 or. the Book of the Covenant. The National Covenant: its 
 nature ; the parties to it; the time when, the place where, 
 and the circumstances under which it was entered into, to¬ 
 gether with the obligations and privileges which either accom¬ 
 pany or flow from it. This subject thus distributed would 
 suggest and cover the entire contents of this second fifth 
 of the Pentateuch. 
 
 THE TABERNACLE. 
 
 76. What was the tabernacle? 
 
 It was the tent or place of meeting between God and His 
 people—at once the palace or earthly dwelling-place of 
 Jehovaii and the sanctuary for His worship. 
 
 77. What were the three grand divisions of the tabernacle ? 
 
 The outer court, the holy place, and the innermost sanc¬ 
 tuary or the holy of holies. 
 
 78. What was the furniture of these divisions of the tab¬ 
 ernacle respectively ? 
 
 In the outer court were the brazen altar and the brazen 
 laver, the altar of sacrifice for the people, and the place of 
 purification for the priests; in the holy place were the table 
 of shew-bread, the golden candlestick, and the altar of 
 incense or golden altar; and in the most holy place the 
 ark of the covenant, the mercy-seat, and the cherubim 
 which sat upon it. 
 
 79. What sacred deposit was placed in the arh of the 
 covenant ? 
 
 The two tables of the law, and probably Aaron’s rod that 
 budded, and the pot of manna. 
 
20 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 80. What are the three arks of Scripture f 
 
 Noah’s ark, the ark in which the child Moses was laid, 
 and the ark of the covenant. 
 
 81. Who were the officers in charge of the tabernacle and 
 its services ? 
 
 The priests, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, all of 
 whom were members of the tribe of Levi, Jacob’s third 
 son, who were set apart by direction of God for this ser¬ 
 vice. These were ministers of state as well as officers of 
 religion. 
 
 LEVITICUS. 
 
 82. What is the nature of this third fifth of the Penta¬ 
 teuch ? 
 
 It is the priestly book, containing the ritual of the Hebrew 
 religion. As the book of the covenant in Exodus contained 
 the civil statutes and judgments by which the elect people 
 were to be guided in their internal affairs and external rela¬ 
 tions, so the religious laws and institutions given here in 
 Leviticus supply what was yet wanting for their complete 
 equipment as the people of God. Leviticus, which con¬ 
 tains the ceremonial law, may therefore be described as the 
 book of ceremonies or directory of worship of the Hebrew 
 people. 
 
 83. Who prescribed these rites and ceremonies of the He¬ 
 brew religion f 
 
 Jehovah Himself. Hence, almost the entire book of 
 Leviticus is made up of the very words of the supreme 
 Law-giver Himself, Moses being only the mediator and 
 promulgator thereof. 
 
 8If. Were the laws in Leviticus delivered from the same 
 place as those of Exodus f 
 
 No; the ceremonial enactments in Leviticus were given, 
 as was fit, from the tabernacle, the tent of propitiation itself, 
 at the foot of Mount Sinai, by God, as Saviour; while the 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 21 
 
 civil legislation of Exodus was given from the top of the 
 mount by God J ehovah as sovereign. 
 
 85. What is a brief outline of the contents of Leviticus f 
 
 It contains the laws of sacrifice; the laws to be observed 
 
 by the priests and Levites, both as to their consecration and 
 their official duties; sanitary laws ; the ceremonies to be ob¬ 
 served in connection with the great Day of Atonement; the 
 fixing of the sacred times of Israel; and other minor and 
 miscellaneous matters. 
 
 86. What is the central chapter and subject in Leviticus f 
 
 The sixteenth chapter, which treats of the great Day of 
 
 Atonement. Than this there is no more significant chapter 
 or subject in all the Old Testament, clearly prefiguring, as 
 it does, our Lord’s death and resurrection, and His appear¬ 
 ance meantime in the presence of God for us. The great 
 Day of Atonement was to the Hebrew people what cruci¬ 
 fixion day and its sequel are to the Gentile world. 
 
 87. What were the chief annual festivals of the Hebrew 
 people f 
 
 The Passover, which commemorated the deliverance from 
 Egypt; Pentecost, or the Feast of‘Weeks (occurring seven 
 weeks after the Passover), or the festival of the First- 
 Fruits ; and the Feast of Tabernacles and Ingathering, or 
 the Harvest Home, the closing festival of the Jewish year. 
 At each ot these three annual feasts all male persons over 
 twelve years were required to appear before Jehovah. 
 
 88. Is Leviticus an evangelical book f 
 
 Yes ; it is full of the truth that sanctifies and saves. All 
 its sacrifices point forward to the one great sacrifice. In 
 fact, it may with great propriety be called “The Gospel 
 according to Leviticus.” It has been pronounced “the 
 clearest book of Jewish gospel.” 
 
 89. What book in the New Testament is the key to Levit¬ 
 icus ? 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews. In this book, whose great 
 
22 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 theme is the priesthood of Christ, it is clearly seen how the 
 rites and services of the Levitical economy point to Him as 
 their antetype and fulfillment. 
 
 90. What are the hey-thoughts of Leviticus ? 
 
 Sacrifice and sanctification; or, the way to God and the 
 walk with God. 
 
 NUMBERS. 
 
 91. Why is this fourth fifth of the Pentateuch called 
 Numbers ? 
 
 It is so called frpm the twofold occurrence of the making 
 up the muster-roll of those capable of bearing arms and 
 amenable to military duty—the first when the people were 
 about to start off upon their march to the land of promise, 
 and the second at the end of the forty years in the wilder¬ 
 ness. Like the titles of the previous portions of the Penta¬ 
 teuch, u Numbers ” is by no means a sufficient index to the 
 contents of the entire book. 
 
 92. What is the nature and scope of the contents of this 
 booh of Numbers f 
 
 The history contained in it is of a military character, and 
 it gives an account of the marshaling of the people accord¬ 
 ing to their tribes, of their march from Sinai, to the borders 
 of the promised land, and of the conquest of the territory 
 on the east side of Jordan. 
 
 93. How long did the children of Israel linger about 
 Mount Sinai? 
 
 About one year, during which time the laws of Exodus 
 were given, the tabernacle constructed and erected and the 
 laws of Leviticus dictated to Moses. 
 
 91f. What are the chief incidents in the story of the march 
 from Sinai to Canaan as recorded in Numbers ? 
 
 The celebration of the Passover before starting out; the 
 giving of the people quails for food ; the sedition of Miriam 
 and Aaron and its punishment; the report of the spies and 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 23 
 
 the people’s rebellion in consequence thereof, and its pun¬ 
 ishment ; the stoning of the Sabbath-breaker; the rebellion 
 of Korah and his company, and its punishment; the bring¬ 
 ing of water out of the rock at Meribah ; the death of Miriam 
 and Aaron, and the appointment of Aaron’s successor; the 
 story of the brazen serpent; the victory over Sihon and 
 Og ; the story of Balaam ; the spoiling of the Midianites; 
 and the appointment of Joshua as Moses’ successor. 
 
 95. What is a peculiar feature in the contents of the hook 
 of Numbers ? 
 
 The alternation of laws, enacted as the emergency arose, 
 with the historical narrations. There is a great variety of 
 such legislation scattered through this long book. 
 
 96. For what is Numbers as a book remarkable ? 
 
 The signal display of God’s judgments against sin with 
 which the account abounds; and this not merely in the case 
 of the heathen, as Sihon and Og, but toward His own people, 
 not even Moses and Aaron escaping the consequences of their 
 unfortunate misdemeanors. 
 
 97. What are the chief lessons of the book of Numbers f 
 
 It teaches the sin and evil of unbelief, and that warfare 
 
 is the necessary condition of pilgrimage and possession. 
 
 98. What were the results to the children of Israel of their 
 wilderness experience f 
 
 It gave to them their national unity, their laws and insti¬ 
 tutions, individual liberty, military discipline, and religious 
 education. 
 
 99. What is a brief summary of the book of Numbers f 
 
 Forty years of Moses; or, the Failures and Successes of 
 
 the Church Militant—the Church in the wilderness. 
 
 DEUTERONOMY. 
 
 100. Why is this last fifth of the Pentateuch called Deu - 
 teronomy ? 
 
 The word itself means the second law ” or the repetition 
 
24 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 of the law, and the book doubtless takes its name from the 
 fact that so large a part of it is taken up with the substan¬ 
 tial reproduction of the laws of Exodus. The title, how¬ 
 ever, is inadequate, seeing that it neither correctly expresses 
 the nature, nor covers the whole, of the contents of the 
 book. 
 
 101. What then is the nature of this book of Deuteronomy , 
 and how may it be expressed ? 
 
 The book is sermonic rather than legislative in its char¬ 
 acter, and may be described as the Lawgiver’s Appeal; or, 
 Moses’ Farewell Address to his Countrymen. 
 
 102. What is the object of this farewell address of Moses 
 to his countrymen ? 
 
 To impress upon the people a sense of their obligation 
 to Jehovah their God, Who had so wondrously redeemed 
 them, and to urge upon them the duty of obedience to His 
 law and faithfulness to His covenant. 
 
 103. How does Moses , as preacher, proceed in effecting his 
 object in this farewell address f 
 
 He first recounts their history, then recalls their laws, 
 and finally reminds the people of the solemn compact or 
 covenant into which they had entered with Jehovah at 
 Sinai, soon after their deliverance from the bondage of 
 Egypt. This address, which is divided into these three 
 sections, takes up the first thirty chapters of the book. 
 
 10If. What are the other chief matters contained in the 
 remaining part of this book of Deuteronomy? 
 
 Moses’ charge to Joshua, his dying song, and his blessing 
 the twelve tribes as Jacob had blessed the heads thereof; 
 the account of his death and burial; the whole being con¬ 
 cluded with a brief eulogy of the great lawgiver. 
 
 105. What service did this book of Deuteronomy render to 
 our Lord ? 
 
 He found in it the arrows with which He repelled the 
 assaults of Satan in His temptation in the wilderness. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 25 
 
 106. What is the great lesson Moses endeavored to impress 
 upon his people in the booh of Deuteronomy ? 
 
 It is that obedience is the condition of the divine favor 
 and of the permanent possession of the promised land. 
 
 107. What period of time is embraced in the pentateuchal 
 story ? 
 
 From the creation of Adam to the death of Moses— 
 according to the common chronology, about 2500 years. 
 
 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 
 
 108. How many and what are the boohs of the historical 
 division of the Old Testament ? 
 
 They are twelve in number as they stand in our English 
 Bible : Joshua, Judges, and Ruth; the three doubles—the 
 Samuels, the Kings, and the Chronicles; Ezra, Nehemiah, 
 and Esther. 
 
 109. Are not the pentateuchal boohs historical , as well as 
 those distinctively so called ? 
 
 Yes; in the broadest sense they are so; but because so 
 large a portion of the Pentateuch is taken up with their 
 laws and institutions, the Hebrew people designated that 
 division of their Scriptures as the Thorah; that is, the 
 Lav/. 
 
 110. Of what are these twelve boohs the history ? 
 
 Of the Hebrew people as an organized body. In the 
 Pentateuch we have an account of the origin, growth, and 
 organization of the Hebrew people into a nation ; and in 
 these twelve books we have the history of the nation in 
 outline from the death of Moses, its founder, to Malaehi, 
 the last of the prophets—a period of about 1100 years. 
 
 111. Into how many periods may the history of the Hebrew 
 people as a nation be divided? 
 
 Three: the period of the Theocracy, the period of the 
 Monarchy, and the period of the Restoration. 
 
26 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 The Theocracy. 
 
 112. What period is embraced by the theocracy distinctively 
 so called f 
 
 The interval between Moses and the monarchy; that is. 
 between the death of the nation’s founder and the appoint¬ 
 ment of Saul as king—a period of about 400 years. 
 
 113. What was the distinctive feature of this theocratic 
 period in the history of the Hebrew people f 
 
 The direction of affairs of state was lodged solely in the 
 hands of Jehovah Himself. 
 
 lllf. How many and what are the boohs which treat of 
 the theocracy f 
 
 Three : Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. 
 
 115. What is the nature of the booh of Joshua f 
 
 It is a military history, which gives an account of the con¬ 
 quest and division of the land of promise under Joshua, the 
 hero of the story. The book reads like Grant’s Memoirs or 
 Caesar s Commentaries. 
 
 116. Who succeeded Joshua ? 
 
 He had no successor: by his death the nation was left 
 without any visible head or federal authority, the twelve 
 tribes preserving their independence in the management of 
 their own internal affairs. 
 
 117. What , during this period, was the centre of national 
 unity for the twelve tribes f 
 
 The tabernacle, the place of meeting between the people 
 and God. They were bound together by the double tie of 
 race and religion. 
 
 118. How is the period immediately succeeding the admin¬ 
 istration of Joshua known f 
 
 As the period of the Judges—a class of men whom God 
 raised up from time to time to deliver the people from the 
 enemies He allowed to oppress them because of their apos¬ 
 tasy from, and disloyalty to, Himself. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 27 
 
 119. Row many judges were there , and what are the names 
 of the chief ones among them ? 
 
 There were fifteen in all, the chief of whom were Deb¬ 
 orah and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Eli, and Samuel. 
 
 120. Where do we find an account of the period of the 
 judges f 
 
 In the books of Judges, Ruth, and the early part of first 
 Samuel. 
 
 121. What is the nature of the booh of Ruth f 
 
 It is a simple and beautiful love-story of rural domestic 
 life, being an incident which took place in the days when 
 the judges ruled, and in which Ruth and Naomi are the 
 leading characters. A story of filial love and moral purity, 
 it flashes like a star in the midnight of its dark surroundings. 
 
 122. How is this period of the theocracy commonly char¬ 
 acterized ? 
 
 As the Iron Age of Israel; as the period of David and 
 Solomon is called its Golden Age. 
 
 The Monarchy. 
 
 123. What boohs treat of the monarchical period of He¬ 
 brew history ? 
 
 The three doubles—the Samuels, the Kings, and the 
 Chronicles. Herein we have the history of the rise, cul¬ 
 mination, division, decline, and fall of the Hebrew mon¬ 
 archy. 
 
 12f How long did the Hebrew monarchy last ? 
 
 From its foundation in Saul till the captivity of Judah— 
 about 500 years. 
 
 125. How long did the united hingdom last ? 
 
 During the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon (each of 
 whom reigned 40 years)—120 years. 
 
 126. What became of Solomon's empire ? 
 
 Under Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and successor, the Ten 
 Tribes revolted from his rule and founded the kingdom of 
 
28 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 Israel; while the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin adhered 
 to the house of David, constituting the kingdom of Judah. 
 Thus Solomon’s empire was divided, forming two inde¬ 
 pendent realms and rival kingdoms—Israel and Judah. 
 
 127. How long did these two rival kingdoms stand f 
 
 Israel, the northern kingdom, stood a little over two cen¬ 
 turies and a half (254 years), and had nineteen kings; while 
 Judah survived its northern rival 134 years, lasting nearly 
 400 (exactly 388) years, and had twenty kings. Unlike those 
 of Israel, these were all of the house of David. 
 
 128. What became of these two kingdoms , Israel and 
 Judah ? 
 
 They were both destroyed by peoples of the East; Israel or 
 the Ten Tribes being first carried away captive into Assyria, 
 and subsequently the people of Judah into Babylon. The 
 latter, however, after their seventy years’ captivity in Baby¬ 
 lon, returned in large numbers to their own land and re-es¬ 
 tablished the religion of their fathers, while the Ten Tribes 
 never recovered their national existence, and are commonly 
 regarded as lost. 
 
 129. What are the contents of the tivo books of Samuel ? 
 
 The first, after detailing the events in the history of the 
 
 last two judges, Eli and Samuel, gives an account of the 
 rise and inauguration of the monarchy in Saul, and of his 
 reign of forty years; while the second is wholly taken up 
 with the splendid reign of David, the hero-king of Israel. 
 The names of these two books are misleading, being not at 
 all an index to the nature of their contents. 
 
 130. What are the contents of the two books of Kings? 
 
 Taking up the story of the monarchy with the last days 
 
 of David, these two books carry the history down to the 
 Babylonian captivity—from Solomon to Zedekiah king of 
 Judah—a period of about 400 years. 
 
 131. How do the two books of Chronicles differ from the 
 two books of Kings ? 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 29 
 
 Besides giving the genealogy of the Hebrew people from 
 Adam down to David, the “Chronicles” are mainly con¬ 
 cerned with the history of Judah; while in the Kings the 
 history of both kingdoms is given. Chronicles, as far as 
 the southern kingdom is concerned, is parallel with the his¬ 
 tory in Kings. 
 
 132. What great event brought the Hebrew monarchy to a 
 close f 
 
 The destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the 
 people of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. 
 
 133. How long did the Babylonian exile last f 
 
 The prophetic seventy years, after which, in the provi¬ 
 dence of God, the people of the captivity, as many as 
 chose, were permitted to return to their own land. Only a 
 small fraction, however, of the number who were carried 
 away captive, or their children, availed themselves of this 
 permission to return. 
 
 13If. Where do we learn of the condition of the Hebrew 
 people during their Babylonian exile f 
 
 There are no historical books specially devoted to this 
 period, and such information as is available must be gath¬ 
 ered from the prophets of the period, the books of the 
 restoration, and the Psalms of the exile. 
 
 The Restoration Era. 
 
 135. What is meant by the era of the Restoration ? 
 
 It designates that period in the history of the Hebrew 
 people immediately succeeding the Babylonian exile, when 
 the Jewish captives returned to their own land and rebuilt 
 the temple and re-established on its old foundations the 
 religion of their fathers. From this time onward the peo¬ 
 ple first known as Hebrews, and then as Israelites, become 
 known as Jews. 
 
 136. What books treat of this restoration era ? 
 
 The last historical triplet—Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. 
 
30 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 137. Who were the leading characters of the restoration 
 era f 
 
 Joshua and Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Haggai 
 and Zechariah; the first pair being the ecclesiastical and 
 civil leaders of the first band of returning captives; the 
 second pair, the leaders of the second and third bands; and 
 the last two being the prophets who co-operated with Joshua 
 and Zerubbabel in the rebuilding of the second, commonly 
 called Zerubbabel’s, temple. 
 
 138. W ho were the prophets of the restoration era f 
 
 Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, the last named being 
 
 contemporary with, and the coadjutor of, the last historical 
 character of Old Testament story—Nehemiah. 
 
 139. Of what do the hooks of Ezra and Nehemiah respect¬ 
 ively treat f 
 
 Each has a story to tell of return, rebuilding, and refor¬ 
 mation. The first tells of the return of the first band of cap¬ 
 tives and the rebuilding of the temple, and of the return 
 of Ezra with his company and the reforms which he wrought; 
 while the second tells of the return of Nehemiah, the re¬ 
 building of the walls of Jerusalem, and the reformations 
 which he succeeded in effecting. 
 
 11+0. What is noteworthy about Nehemiah as a hook ? 
 
 It is the last historical book in the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 With it closes the Old Testament Canon; the book of Es¬ 
 ther, which follows, being but an episode which took place 
 in the time of Ezra; just as the book of Ruth contains the 
 account of an incident which took place in the days when 
 the judges ruled in Israel. 
 
 11+1. What is the nature of the hook of Esther f 
 
 It is a story of providence and patriotism, in which Es¬ 
 ther, a Jewess and the beautiful queen of the Persian mon¬ 
 arch, risks her own life for the salvation of her people, a 
 plot for whose utter extermination was foiled through her 
 efforts. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 31 
 
 11$. What is remarkable about this book of Esther f 
 
 Though a romance of providence, the name of God is not 
 in it. The same is true of Canticles, or the Song of Solo¬ 
 mon. 
 
 11$. Who are the leading characters in this book of Es¬ 
 ther ? 
 
 The king Ahasuerus (who was Xerxes), Esther the 
 queen, Mordecai the Jew, and Hainan the Agagite, the 
 Jews’ enemy. 
 
 144- What are the four u sevens ” mentioned in this book 
 of Esther ? 
 
 The seven days of the royal feast to the people ; the seven 
 chamberlains of the king; the seven princes of Persia ; and 
 the seven maidens of Esther. 
 
 14b. Who are the five persons whose names begin with If 
 mentioned in this book of Esther ? 
 
 Hadassah (who is Esther); Hege, the king’s chamber- 
 lain and keeper of the harem; Hatach, also one of the 
 king’s chamberlains and minister-in-waiting upon the queen ; 
 Hainan the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy ; and Harbonah, the 
 king’s chamberlain, who counseled the hanging of Haman. 
 
 lfG. What are the names of the two leading characters in 
 the story of Esther which begin with M? 
 
 Memucan, one of the seven princes of Persia and coun¬ 
 selor to the king; and Mordecai the Jew. 
 
 141. What are the three pairs in Esther ? 
 
 Two queens, Vashti and Esther; two rivals, Mordecai and 
 Haman ; and two would-be regicides or assassins of the king, 
 Bigthana and Teresh, the king’s chamberlains. 
 
 11$. What became of the rivals , Mordecai and Haman ? 
 
 Haman was hanged on the gallows which he himself had 
 erected, and on which he expected to hang Mordecai, whom 
 through envy he hated; while Mordecai was promoted to 
 the high place in the king’s service to which Haman had 
 been exalted. 
 
32 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 lift. What period of time is included in the restoration 
 era ? 
 
 From the proclamation of Cyrus, giving permission for 
 the exiles to return, to the close of the Old Testament 
 Canon (Nehemiah-Malachi)—nearly, but not quite, 150 
 years. 
 
 THE POETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 150. How many and what are the poetical hooks of the 
 Old Testament ? 
 
 There are five books commonly reckoned in this division, 
 namely: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, 
 or the “Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.” “Lamenta¬ 
 tions,” one of the most poetical of compositions, now 
 classed among the prophetical books, might very properly 
 have found a place in this division. 
 
 151. Why is the hook of Job so called? 
 
 It is so called from Job, the patriarch of Uz, who is the 
 hero of the poem. 
 
 152. Who are the dramatis personal—the leading char¬ 
 acters—in the hook of Joh ? 
 
 The Lord Jehovah, the moral governor of the universe; 
 Job himself, a rich man, perfect and upright; the patri¬ 
 arch’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the 
 Shuhite, and Zopliar the Naamatliite; then there is also 
 the young orator Elihu the Buzite; and Job’s wife, who 
 has obtained an unenviable notoriety as the bad adviser of 
 her husband by the utterance of a single sentence. 
 
 153. What is the great problem to he solved in the hook of 
 Joh? 
 
 Whether there is such a thing as disinterested rectitude 
 among men, or whether they are selfish and mercenary in 
 their loyalty to God, serving Him only so long as, and be¬ 
 cause, it pays to do so. Satan charged that the latter was 
 the fact, alleging that the piety of good men is only as¬ 
 sumed. 
 
5 * 
 
uhrmw 
 
 UNIVERSITY Of IU.W0I3 
 
 UB8AS4 
 
 THE 
 
 BIBLE CATECHIST 
 
 AN INSTRUCTION 
 
 IN 
 
 BIBLICAL INTRODUCTION FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BT THE 
 
 Rev. W. H. GILL, D.D. 
 
 Author of “ The Temple Opened ” 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
 AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK 
 
 No. 1334 Chestnut Street 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 33 
 
 151/.. How alone, could such a problem as this be solved f 
 
 By actual experiment, putting some one to the test. Job 
 in this case was the subject of the experiment, Satan being 
 allowed of God to put him to the severest tests that even 
 his malignant ingenuity could devise. This poem might 
 therefore be very appropriately entitled ‘ 4 The Temptation 
 of Job,” even as the ordeal to which our Lord was sub¬ 
 jected by the same adversary in the wilderness is called 
 “ The Temptation of Christ;” and, indeed, the former 
 is typical of the latter. 
 
 155. What erroneous theory of God's government obtained 
 in Job's day ? 
 
 That prosperity was the reward bestowed upon goodness, 
 and that adversity was a sure sign of wickedness, either 
 concealed or manifest. Hence men concluded that because 
 Job was a great sufferer he was therefore a great sinner. 
 This, indeed, was Job’s own theory, and it added greatly to 
 his perplexity and to the intensity of his suffering that he 
 was unable, the while, to reconcile his afflictions with his 
 conscious integrity. 
 
 156. How did Job stand his trial f 
 
 Though not without occasional and violent outbursts of 
 impatience, yet he maintained his integrity to the end, so 
 that when he was tried he came forth as gold. Thus Sa¬ 
 tan’s allegation was proved false. The patriarch of Uz was 
 not mercenary in his motives in serving God. 
 
 157. With what other Old Testament worthies does God 
 link the name of Job ? 
 
 With those of Noah and Daniel. The order in which 
 they are mentioned is Noah, Daniel, and Job (Ez. 14:14, 20). 
 
 158. What are the triplets in the booh of Job itself f 
 
 There are the three friends of Job—Eliphaz, Bildad, and 
 
 Zophar; the three animals of Job—the Arabian war-horse, 
 the behemoth, and the leviathan; the three daughters of 
 Job—Jemima, Kezia, and Karen-happuch. 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 159. To what may the hook of Job he likened ? 
 
 To a gymnasium, the exercising ground for the develop¬ 
 ment of spiritual athletes, or to a furnace in which metals 
 are assayed or tested. 
 
 160, What is the nature of the hook of Psalms ? 
 
 It is a collection of sacred odes, one hundred and fifty in 
 number, and which constitutes the Praise-Book not only 
 of the Jewish Church, but also of some sections of the 
 Christian Church (Presbyterian) as well. It is called the 
 Hebrew Psalter, as modern praise-books are called church 
 hymnals. 
 
 161 • What is the difference between the Psalms and other 
 parts of Holy Scripture ? 
 
 The Psalms are purely devotional in character. In other 
 parts of Scripture God speaks to man, but in the Psalms 
 man speaks to God. The Psalms are the outgrowth of 
 human experience. 
 
 162. When and by whom were these Psalms composed? 
 
 The Psalms were composed by various authors and at dif¬ 
 ferent eras from Moses down to the Restoration, covering a 
 period of more than a thousand years. The Psalter is thus 
 a book of long growth, and is made up of five different 
 volumes, which may be called the Psalter Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 
 and 5, very much as our “Gospel Hymn” books have 
 grown and are so named. 
 
 163. Why are these songs of Zion commonly called the 
 “ Psalms of David ” ? 
 
 Not because David was the author of all, but because 
 he was, in all probability, the largest contributor to, and 
 editor of, the original collection, Psalter No. 1 ; and as each 
 new collection was added to the first volume, the whole came 
 to be called by the name of the “sweet singer of Israel,” 
 and to be commonly known as the Psalms of David. 
 
 16 If. To what may the hook of Psalms he likened? 
 
 To a conservatory of music where dwell all the sons and 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 ' 35 
 
 daughters of song, with cymbal, trumpet, psaltery, and 
 harp. 
 
 165. To ichat may the hook of Proverbs he compared ? 
 
 To a “Chamber of Commerce,” where may be found 
 
 that ancient “wealth of nations” whence every human 
 mind may enrich itself with the wisdom of the ages. If 
 the book is not a rule of faith, it most certainly is a rule of 
 conduct for both sexes and for all ages and conditions. 
 
 166. What are the chief subjects touched upon in this hook 
 of Proverbs ? 
 
 They are such as filial piety, evil company, sensuality and 
 drunkenness, lying and laziness, strife and greed. 
 
 167. Who is the author of the hook of Proverbs f 
 
 The book is of composite authorship, like the Psalms, 
 but it is ascribed to Solomon, the “Grand Monarque” of 
 Israel, for the same reason that the Psalms are to his 
 royal father—he being doubtless the largest contributor to 
 the collection of proverbs therein contained. 
 
 168. To what may the hook of Ecclesiastes he compared ? 
 
 To the penitentiary, where sorrowful bankrupts and other 
 
 moral defaulters may remain for a time with profit in com¬ 
 pany with King Solomon, reflecting over the follies of a 
 misspent life. 
 
 169. To what conclusion does the preacher in Ecclesiastes 
 come ? 
 
 That to fear God and keep His commandments is at once 
 the highest wisdom, as it is the whole duty, of man. 
 
 170. What is the key-word of Ecclesiastes f 
 
 “ Vanity ”—which occurs twenty-five times in the course 
 of the composition. “Vanity of vanities,” saith the preach¬ 
 er—“Vanity of vanities ; all is vanity.” 
 
 171. What learning does the preacher in Ecclesiastes ad¬ 
 minister to the fast young man f 
 
 “Rejoice, 0 young man, in thy youth : and let thy heart 
 cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways 
 
36 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know 
 thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judg¬ 
 ment. ’ ’ 
 
 172. Wliat good advice does the preacher in Ecclesiastes 
 give to all young people ? 
 
 “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 
 while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when 
 thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” 
 
 173. What is the nature of Canticles , or the Song of 
 Solomon ? 
 
 It is a dramatic love-song, consisting of a dialogue be¬ 
 tween two lovers—the exquisite celebration of a pure love 
 in humble life—a love which no earthly splendor can dazzle 
 and no flattery seduce. The piece is a protest against the 
 harem. 
 
 17If. How do Christian interpreters look upon this song? 
 
 Some of them regard it as a marriage-song and an alle¬ 
 gory—a dialogue between the bridegroom and the bride, 
 between Christ and His Church. 
 
 175. To what do the Jews compare these three hooks of 
 Solomon ? 
 
 To the temple—Proverbs to the outer court, Ecclesiastes 
 to the holy place, and Canticles to the holy of holies. 
 
 THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 
 
 176. What is the scriptural idea of a prophet ? 
 
 Not a mere foreteller, as is the common idea, but rather 
 a forthteller , one who speaks for, or is the authorized repre¬ 
 sentative of, another. 
 
 177. What were the Hebrew prophets ? 
 
 They were the representatives of Jehovah, the author¬ 
 ized and inspired expounders or interpreters of His will. 
 The Hebrew prophets were, in fact, the preachers of their 
 time, predictions being only an incidental function of their 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 37 
 
 office; and the prophetical books contain the sermons of 
 these inspired preachers. 
 
 178. Were the Hebrew prophets limited to the male sex ? 
 
 No; Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah were shining lights in 
 this goodly fellowship. 
 
 179. What is the history of the prophetic order f 
 
 Its foundations were laid in Samuel, at the close of the 
 theocracy; it flourished during the monarchy, and remained 
 a power till the work of restoration was complete; after 
 which, for 400 years, until the appearance of John the 
 Baptizer, the forerunner of our Lord, the voice of the 
 prophet was no longer heard in the land. 
 
 180. How many prophets are represented by their sermons 
 in the Old Testament Canon f 
 
 Sixteen: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, 
 Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zeph- 
 aniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. 
 
 181. Are there more prophetical boohs than p rophets in the 
 Old Testament Canon f 
 
 Yes; besides the book which bears his name, Jeremiah 
 wrote Lamentations also, making seventeen sermon-books or 
 books of prophecy, and but sixteen prophets or preachers in 
 this division of the Old Testament Scriptures. 
 
 182. When did these canonical prophets flourish ? 
 
 Beginning with Jeroboam II. of Israel, about 800 B. C., 
 
 they flourished during the last half of the monarchical 
 period, during the time of the Babylonian captivity, and on 
 to the close of the restoration era, covering a period of 
 some 400 years. 
 
 183. Into what three classes may these sixteen canonical 
 prophets be divided? 
 
 Accordingly as they lived before, during, or after the Baby¬ 
 lonian captivity—which is the great epoch in the later He¬ 
 brew history, to which every event is referred—they may 
 be regarded as pre-exile prophets, prophets of the exile 
 
38 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 (captivity), and post-exile prophets, or the prophets of the 
 restoration. 
 
 18Jf. Which were the prophets of the restoration f 
 
 The last three in the list—Haggai, Zechariah, and Mal- 
 achi. 
 
 185. Which were the prophets of the exile f 
 
 These were two, Ezekiel and Daniel, both of whom spoke 
 and wrote in Babylon. 
 
 186. How many and which were the pre-exile prophets ? 
 
 There were eleven: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, 
 
 Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zeph- 
 aniah. 
 
 187. What is an easy way to ascertain the names of the 
 pre-exile prophets f 
 
 Cut off from the list the last three, the prophets of the 
 restoration, strike out Ezekiel and Daniel, the prophets of 
 the captivity, and the remaining eleven are the pre-exile 
 prophets. Some think that Obadiah lived during the exile, 
 though his prophecy is directed against Edom, with only an 
 incidental allusion to the future of his own people. 
 
 188. How are the prophetical hooks divided as regards 
 their length? 
 
 Into two classes— major and minor ; the first five books 
 being reckoned as major, and the remaining twelve as 
 minor. 
 
 189. What are the names of the hooks which compose the 
 Major Prophets ? 
 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. 
 
 190. What are the names of the twelve Minor Prophets ? 
 
 Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, 
 
 Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. 
 
 191. Whence do these prophetical hoolcs derive their names ? 
 
 They are called by the names of their authors respec¬ 
 tively, except “Lamentations,” which takes its name from 
 the nature of the contents of that book, being a wail of 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 39 
 
 Jeremiah the prophet? over the desolation of the holy city 
 Jerusalem after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. The 
 book of Lamentations is, in its truest sense, a jeremiad. 
 
 192. What two famous prophets of Israel are not repre¬ 
 sented in the Old Testament Canon ? 
 
 Elijah and Elisha. These flourished in Israel at an ear¬ 
 lier period than the canonical prophets, and are more famous 
 for their deeds than their words. They were acting rather 
 than writing prophets. 
 
 193. How may the substance of the canonical prophecies 
 be briefly expressed ? 
 
 By the three alliteratives: ruin, repentance, restoration. 
 
 19f What two institutions date their origin from the 
 period of the restoration f 
 
 The synagogue, the local religious meeting-house of the 
 Jews, and the order of Scribes, of both of which Ezra was 
 the founder. 
 
 195. What was the political status of the Jewish people 
 during the 500 years interval between Malachi and Mat¬ 
 thew f 
 
 They were successively tributary to the Persians, Greeks, 
 Syrians, and Romans, save the century or so of independ¬ 
 ence they achieved and maintained under the heroic lead 
 of the Asmoneans or Maccabean princes. They were under 
 the dominion of Rome when Christ came. 
 
 196. What important event affecting the Hebrew Scrip¬ 
 tures took place between Malachi and Matthew ? 
 
 They were translated into Greek, as is commonly sup¬ 
 posed by seventy persons; whence the name of the ver¬ 
 sion, the Septuagint or the LXX. This translation was 
 necessary to meet the want of the Jews of the Dispersion, 
 who had now entirely ceased to speak the Hebrew language. 
 Though the origin of this oldest version of the Hebrew 
 Scriptures is shrouded in the deepest obscurity, it must 
 have been in existence between two and three centuries be- 
 
40 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 fore Christ. It was from this Septuagint version of the 
 Old Testament Scriptures that Christ and his apostles 
 most frequently quoted. 
 
 197. What sects with which ice meet in the New Testament 
 grew up during this J+00 years' interval f 
 
 The Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Her- 
 odians. 
 
 198 • What are the various periods in Old Testament 
 story ? 
 
 The Antediluvian period, from the Creation to the Flood 
 —1656 years; from the Flood to the call of Abraham—400 
 years; from the call of Abraham to Moses and the exodus 
 from Egypt—400 years; from Moses to the monarchy, that 
 is, the period of the theocracy—400 years ; the monarchical 
 period—500 years; the Babylonian captivity—70 years; 
 from the captivity to the close of the restoration era—200 
 years; and from the close of the Old Testament Scriptures 
 to Christ —400 years—all in round numbers. 
 
 199. What is noteworthy about these chronological data t 
 
 The predominance of the 400-year period in which God 
 
 has been pleased to carry on the operations of His provi¬ 
 dence in the history of redemption. Nearly all these 
 periods, if not exactly 400 years, are either a multiple of 
 400 or a fraction thereof. In addition to the other quarto- 
 centenary periods already mentioned, the period during 
 which the canonical prophets flourished was one of 400 
 years. 
 
 200. Who are the epoch-maldng characters of the Old 
 Testament period ? 
 
 Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Ezra. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 201. What is the New Testament? 
 
 The second grand division of the Bible, commonly called 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 41 
 
 the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 202. Of what is the New Testament composed f 
 
 Of twenty-seven distinct literary compositions commonly 
 called books. Like the Old Testament, which is composed 
 of thirty-nine books, it is a library of sacred literature rather 
 than a single volume. 
 
 203. By whom were these twenty-seven hooks written ? 
 
 By at least eight different authors : thirteen by the apos¬ 
 tle Paul; five by the apostle John ; two by the apostle Pe¬ 
 ter ; two by the evangelist Luke ; one each by the evange¬ 
 lists Matthew and Mark ; and one each by the apostles 
 James and Jude. The authorship of the “Hebrews” is 
 in dispute, but it is commonly ascribed to Paul, which 
 makes his contribution to the New Testament fourteen 
 books. 
 
 204 . When were the hooks of the New Testament written f 
 
 Unlike those of the Old Testament, whose writing ex¬ 
 tended over a period of more than 1000 years—from Moses 
 to Malachi—the books of the New Testament were all writ¬ 
 ten during the last half of the first century of the Christian 
 era, and most of them during the third quarter of that cen¬ 
 tury. 
 
 205. What is the common classification of the hooks of the 
 New Testament? 
 
 Like those of the Old Testament, they are commonly 
 grouped under four heads: the Gospels, the Acts, the 
 Epistles, and the book of Revelation. 
 
 206. As to the character of their contents , how may these 
 four divisions he respectively described ? 
 
 The Gospels are biographic; the Acts, historic ; the Epis¬ 
 tles, didactic; and the Revelation, apocalyptic. 
 
 207. What are the names of the hooks of the New Testa¬ 
 ment ? 
 
 The four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ; the 
 
42 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 Acts; the fourteen epistles of Paul the apostle—that to the 
 Romans, the two to the Corinthians, the one each to the 
 Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, the two 
 each to the Thessalonians and to Timothy, and the one each 
 to Titus and Philemon, and that to the “Hebrews;” the 
 seven non-Pauline espistles—the one of James, the two of 
 Peter, the three of John, and the one of Jude; and the 
 book of Revelation. 
 
 208. W hat is the grand theme of the New Testament , and 
 how are its various classes of hooks related thereto? 
 
 The grand theme of the New Testament is the Christian 
 Church; and the biographic gospels tell us of its Founder 
 and Head, who is Christ; the historical book of the 
 ‘ 'Acts ’ ’ tells us of its founding by the apostles ; the didactic 
 epistles contribute to its upbuilding or edification ; while the 
 book of Revelation opens up to us its future. The Christian 
 Church : its Founder, its founding, its edification, its future. 
 
 209. In what language were the hooks of the New Testa¬ 
 ment originally written ? 
 
 In Greek, the then universal language of the civilized 
 world—a circumstance which emphasizes, as well as any¬ 
 thing can, the universal or catholic design of the New Dis¬ 
 pensation. 
 
 THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL. 
 
 210. What is the meaning of the word “gospel ” ? 
 
 It means “good news” or “glad tidings; ” and the four 
 gospels are so called because they proclaim the advent of 
 the Son of God for the salvation of sinners. 
 
 211. What is the nature of the contents of these four 
 gospels ? 
 
 They tell us all we know of the birth, life, and death of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They are biographi¬ 
 cal, while not pretending to be full and complete biographies. 
 They are memoirs or memorabilia rather than biographies. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 43 
 
 212. In what character do the four evangelists respectively 
 present Jesus f 
 
 It is the supreme purpose of Matthew to set forth the 
 messiahship of Jesus ; that of Mark, the majesty of Jesus ; 
 that of Luke, the humanity of Jesus; and that of John, 
 the godhood or divinity of Jesus. 
 
 213. How do the first three gospels differ from the fourth ? 
 
 The first three, the “synoptics,” as they are called, being 
 
 an account mainly of what our Lord said and did, His mir¬ 
 acles and teaching as He went about among the masses, are 
 about Christ simply; while the fourth, the gospel accord¬ 
 ing to John, reveals to us the interior life of our Lord, and 
 brings before us Christ Himself. The contents of this 
 gospel were addressed mainly to “the Jews”—that is, to 
 the rulers of the people. It is pre-eminently the spiritual 
 gospel—the heart of Christ. 
 
 2Ilf. What are the characteristics of the four gospels re¬ 
 spectively ? 
 
 The first is the gospel of discourses and of the parables 
 of the kingdom ; the second is anecdotal in its character, 
 and, being composed largely of the miracles of our Lord, is 
 the gospel of the mighty works ; the third is distinguished 
 by the fullness of its narratives of the infancy of Jesus 
 and its wealth of parables; while the fourth is pre-emi¬ 
 nently the gospel of conversations or dialogues. 
 
 215. What are the hey-words of the four gospels respec¬ 
 tively f 
 
 The key-word of Matthew is “fulfilled; ” those of Mark, 
 “straightway,” “immediately,” and “forthwith,” the 
 word in the Greek being the same for all three, and occur¬ 
 ring forty-five times; those of Luke, “And it came to 
 pass;” and those of John, “Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you.” 
 
 210. What are the great fads , common to the four evan¬ 
 gelists , which make the gospel good news to men f 
 
44 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 The incarnation, the life, the death, and the resurrection 
 of our Lord. 
 
 217. How many of our Lord's miracles and parables are 
 recorded in the gospels f 
 
 Thirty-six miracles and about thirty parables. 
 
 218. How often did our Lord speak on the cross , and how 
 many times did He appear after His resurrection ? 
 
 He uttered seven sayings on the cross, and appeared ten 
 times after His resurrection. 
 
 219. How many persons did our Lord raise from the 
 dead f 
 
 Three : Jairus’ daughter; the son of the widow of Nain; 
 and His friend Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary. 
 
 220. How long did our Lord's public ministry last ? 
 
 Three years or about that time. 
 
 221. What event in our Lord's history is common to all 
 the evangelists ? 
 
 His passion. Nearly one-third of the entire gospels is 
 taken up with the history of the last seven days of our 
 Lord’s life. 
 
 222. What places were identified with the principal events 
 in our Lord's life ? 
 
 Bethlehem, where He was born ; Nazareth, where He was 
 brought up; Capernaum, “His own city,” where He dwelt 
 during His public ministry; and Jerusalem, where He was 
 crucified. 
 
 223. How many times was our Lord put upon His trial ? 
 
 Five: before Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate the first time; 
 
 before Herod; and then before Pilate the second time, 
 when He was delivered to be crucified. 
 
 221f. What length of time elapsed between our Lord's 
 resurrection and ascension ? 
 
 Forty days, during which time He showed Himself alive 
 to His apostles by many infallible proofs, and spoke to them 
 of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 45 
 
 225. What are the distinguishing characteristics of our 
 Lord's teaching as exhibited in the gospels ? 
 
 Authority, originality, spirituality, tenderness, benevo¬ 
 lence, and practicalness. 
 
 226. What are the names of the twelve apostles f 
 
 The three pairs of brothers—Peter and Andrew, the sons 
 of Jonas; James and John, the sons of Zebedee; and 
 James and Jude, the sons of Alpheus; Philip and Bar¬ 
 tholomew ; Thomas and Matthew ; Simon the zealot; and 
 Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Jesus. 
 
 227. What were the qualifications and functions of the 
 apostles f 
 
 The apostles were ambassadors extraordinary and minis¬ 
 ters plenipotentiary of the Lord Jesus Christ, chosen and 
 commissioned by Himself. They were inspired and endowed 
 with the “gift of miracles.” As preachers of the gospel 
 the apostles were to be witnesses of Christ as to His doc¬ 
 trine, His manner of life, and especially of His death and 
 resurrection. In their extraordinary functions the apostles 
 had no successors. 
 
 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 
 
 228. What is the nature of the contents of the book called 
 “ The Acts of the Apostles ’ ’ ? 
 
 It is the history of the Apostolic Church—of the founding 
 or planting of the Christian Church in the world. It is the 
 sequel to the third gospel, or volume the second of the evan¬ 
 gelist Luke’s history of the primitive Christian Church. 
 
 229. What is the scope of this history of the Christian 
 Church by Luke , as given in these two volumes ? 
 
 In it he traces the rise and growth of the Christian 
 Church from the birth of its Founder and Head in the 
 bosom of the Jewish Church to its complete emancipation 
 from all Jewish trammels and its establishment among the 
 
46 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 Gentiles, equipped for its work and secure of its mission, 
 the conquest of the world. 
 
 230. What icas the supreme purpose of the evangelist in 
 these two volumes , the gospel and the history f 
 
 In the history it is manifestly the author’s purpose to give 
 a complete and precise view of that mighty religious revolu¬ 
 tion by which God transferred His kingdom from the Jews 
 to the Gentiles ; even as in the gospel it was his chief 
 design to show how our Lord Himself was, by His cruci¬ 
 fixion at the hands of His own people, emancipated from 
 all Jewish restrictions to become the King of men, irre¬ 
 spective of race or nationality. 
 
 231. What is the connecting-link between the two volumes , 
 the gospel and the history ? 
 
 The ascension of our Lord. This event forms at once 
 the climax of the history of the Church’s Founder in the 
 gospel and the starting-point for the history of the found¬ 
 ing of the Church in the Acts. The goal in the one 
 writing, it is the foundation of the other. 
 
 232. Does this book contain the 14 acts ’ ’ of all the apostles 
 of our Lord f 
 
 No; of the original twelve, only three, Peter, John, and 
 Janies, are specially mentioned in the history as taking a 
 prominent part in the “actings” it records; while Paul, 
 the last chosen and commissioned apostle, who was as “one 
 born out of due time,” takes up a large share of the space 
 in the interesting narration. The Acts is not designed to 
 be a history of the apostles, but a record of the establish¬ 
 ment of the Christian Church. 
 
 233. What is the scope of the history in this book of the 
 Acts f 
 
 It recounts the story of the founding and extension of 
 the Christian Church from Jerusalem, the ecclesiastical 
 capital, to Home, the political metropolis of the world. It 
 begins with Pentecost, and ends with Paul a prisoner “in 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 47 
 
 his own hired house ” in the city of the Caesars, “ preaching 
 the kingdom of God . . . with all confidence, no man for¬ 
 bidding him . 1 ’ 
 
 23f How may the history in the Acts he divided ? 
 
 Into two parts : the first part detailing the history of the 
 planting of the Church among the Jews, and the second 
 part the planting of the Church among the Gentiles. The 
 first part has the apostle Peter for its centre; the second, 
 the apostle Paul. Around these two leading characters the 
 entire history in the book is grouped. 
 
 235. What was the point of transition in the passage of 
 the Church from the Jcios to the Gentiles ? 
 
 The vision of the apostle Peter on the house-top in Joppa, 
 an account of which is given in the tenth chapter of this 
 history. 
 
 236. Who are the Gentiles f 
 
 All that part of the entire population of the globe who 
 are not Jews. Between these two peoples the entire human 
 race is divided. All who are not Jews are Gentiles. 
 
 237. What is the first great occurrence related in this his¬ 
 tory in the Acts ? 
 
 The descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, when three 
 thousand souls were converted in one day. 
 
 238. Who are the three persons in the Acts whose names 
 begin with Pf 
 
 Peter and Paul, apostles, and Philip the evangelist. 
 
 239. How may the relation of the apostles Peter and Paul 
 to the Christian Church he expressed? 
 
 Peter was the opener, and Paul was the planter—the first 
 and grandest of Christian missionaries. 
 
 2Jf,0. Who were the first Christian martyrs according to 
 this history in the Acts ? 
 
 Stephen the deacon was the first or proto-martyr, and 
 the apostle James the second in this now glorious com¬ 
 pany. 
 
48 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 21+1. What tragedies are recorded in this history in the 
 Acts f 
 
 The death of Ananias and Sapphira the pretenders; the 
 stoning of Stephen; the killing of James the apostle ; and 
 the death of the cruel and vainglorious Herod, who was 
 eaten of worms and gave up the ghost, 
 
 2Jf2. Are there any miracles recorded in this history in 
 the Acts ? 
 
 Yes; twenty specific miracles of a ph 3 7 sical character, two 
 of which are the raising of the dead—Dorcas by the apostle 
 Peter, and the young man Eutychus by the apostle Paul. 
 By far the greatest miracle in the book, however—the one 
 which has been attended with the most beneficent and far- 
 reaching effects—was a miracle of grace, the conversion of 
 Saul of Tarsus, who became the glorious Christian hero of 
 this history—Paul, the great apostle of the Gentile world. 
 
 24 S. How many capital cities are associated with the 
 planting of the Christian Church , according to the history 
 in the Acts ? 
 
 Four: Jerusalem, “the mother of us all;” Antioch in 
 Syria, the mother church of Gentile Christendom; Ephe¬ 
 sus in Asia Minor, the great religious and literary centre 
 where Paul preached and John dwelt; and Rome in Italy, 
 the city of the Caesars, the political centre and capital of the 
 then civilized world. 
 
 244 . To whose agency was the success of the efforts of the 
 apostles in founding the Christian Church due f 
 
 To that of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the 
 adorable Trinity, upon Whose co-operation we must still de¬ 
 pend for every success in soul-winning and genuine Church 
 extension. 
 
 THE EPISTLES. 
 
 245. What relation do the Epistles sustain to the ‘ 1 Acts ’ ’ f 
 The writing of these several letters was among the “acts 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 49 
 
 of the apostles,” as they are themselves a part of the his¬ 
 tory of the founding and edification of the early Christian 
 Church. The epistles bear the same relation to the history 
 in the 1 'Acts ’ ’ that the books of prophecy in the Old Tes¬ 
 tament do to the historical books therein. They are mutu¬ 
 ally interpretative, each serving to throw light upon the 
 other. This is more especially true of the Pauline epistles 
 and the Acts. 
 
 21+6. How many epistles compose this New Testament col¬ 
 lection ? 
 
 Twenty-one—the fourteen of the apostle Paul, being two- 
 thirds of the whole number; the three of the apostle John; 
 the two of the apostle Peter ; and the one each of the apos¬ 
 tles James and Jude. 
 
 21+7. What is the common classification of these epistles ? 
 
 They are commonly grouped under two heads—Pauline 
 and catholic or general. Since, however, the latter term 
 does not properly designate a number of the letters em¬ 
 braced under it, a more accurate classification is Pauline 
 and non-Pauline. 
 
 THE PAULINE EPISTLES. 
 
 21+8. What are the names of the Pauline epistles ? 
 
 They are those to the Eomans, the Corinthians (2), the 
 Galatians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, 
 and the Thessalonians (2); and those to Timothy (2), Titus, 
 Philemon, and the Hebrews. Nine are addressed to seven 
 different Christian congregations, four to individuals, and 
 one—that to the Hebrews—to the whole body of Jewish 
 Christians wherever found. 
 
 21+9. What are the epistles to Timothy and Titus commonly 
 calledt 
 
 The “ pastoral epistles,” for the reason that they are ad¬ 
 dressed to, and abound in practical counsels for, young min¬ 
 isters. 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 250. What is the character of the other Pauline epistles ? 
 
 With the exception of that to Philemon, which is a letter 
 
 of intercession in behalf of his runaway but penitent slave 
 Onesimus, they are nearly all of a doctrinal character, but 
 contain also practical instruction for the edification of the 
 churches in general and their individual members in par¬ 
 ticular. 
 
 251. What are the four dominant ideas of the Pauline 
 epistles f 
 
 Spirituality as opposed to ritualism or the mere ceremo¬ 
 nies of religion; catholicity, or all humanity, as opposed to 
 a particular people or a favored class; a pure life as over 
 against mere orthodoxy ; and personal attachment to Jesus 
 Christ as the supreme motive to a pure life. These four 
 ideas — spirituality, catholicity, a pure life, and Jesus 
 Christ —are distinctively Pauline. 
 
 252. What may he regarded as the golden text of the 
 Pauline epistles f 
 
 u God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto 
 me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6 : 14). 
 
 253. What is the grandest generalization in the Pauline 
 epistles ? 
 
 This: “ In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth 
 anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature; faith, 
 which worketh by love, and the keeping of the command¬ 
 ments of God” (Gal. 6 : 15; 5:6 ; 1 Cor. 7 : 19). 
 
 25f What is the most comprehensive exhortation in the 
 Pauline epistles f 
 
 This: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mer¬ 
 cies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, 
 holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service ” 
 (Rom. 12:1). 
 
 255. When were these Pauline epistles written ? 
 
 In the early part of the second half of the first Christian 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 51 
 
 century; that is, between A. D. 52 and A. D. 68, embracing a 
 period of sixteen years. 
 
 THE NON-PAULINE EPISTLES. 
 
 256. How many and what are the non-Pauline epistles ? 
 
 They are seven in number, and, in the order in which 
 
 they are found in the New Testament Canon, are as follows: 
 the one of the apostle James, the two of the apostle Peter, 
 the three of the apostle John, and that of the apostle Jude. 
 
 257. What is the difference in the manner of naming the 
 Pauline and non-Pauline epistles f 
 
 The Pauline epistles are known by the names of the 
 churches or the particular body of Christians to which they 
 were addressed; while the non-Pauline epistles are known 
 by the names of the persons by whom they were written. 
 
 258. What other group of letters is there in the New Tes¬ 
 tament besides these twenty-one canonical epistles ? 
 
 There are the letters of the apostle John to the seven 
 churches of Asia—the churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Per- 
 gamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev. 
 2 : 3). 
 
 259. How can it be made to appear that there are two 
 letters to the Ephesians and two to the Hebrews in the New 
 Testament ? 
 
 Besides the canonical epistle of the apostle Paul to the 
 Ephesians, there is that of the apostle John in the book of 
 Revelation to the same people; and in addition to the ca¬ 
 nonical epistle of the apostle Paul to the Hebrews, there is 
 also the canonical epistle of the apostle James to the Twelve 
 Tribes, which embraced the whole of the Hebrew people. 
 
 260. How may the Epistle of James be described ? 
 
 As the letter of the apostle Paul to Philemon may be 
 characterized as the looking-glass for the Christian gentle¬ 
 man, so this epistle of James may be described as the look- 
 
 ubrary 
 
 of «u«« 
 
52 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 ing-glass of the believer—the touchstone of Christian char¬ 
 acter. James declaims with great energy on the glory of 
 practical virtue, confining himself almost exclusively to an 
 earnest insistence on Christian practice. 
 
 261. What is the nature of the two epistles of the apostle 
 Peter? 
 
 The first abounds in incentives to Christian perseverance 
 in view of impending trials and persecutions; while the 
 second, which is the apostle’s valedictory, is a warning 
 against apostasy, the antidote for which is progressive piety 
 and implicit trust in the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 262. What are the five precious things of the apostle 
 Peter ? 
 
 Faith itself; the trial of faith; the promises, which are 
 exceeding great as well as precious; the blood of Christ 
 with which we are redeemed; and Christ Himself, who is 
 to the believer above all things precious. 
 
 263. Does the apostle Peter speak or write as if he were 
 pope f 
 
 No ; in no instance does he lay claim to any such primacj^ 
 or ecclesiastical supremacy. On the contrary, in the Acts 
 he appears as only a member of the first great council in 
 Jerusalem, of which James was the moderator or presiding 
 officer; while in his letters he writes to the u elders,” ex¬ 
 horting them as*one of themselves, being himself also “an 
 elder.” The apostle Peter was undoubtedly primus inter 
 pares —the first among equals — but possessed no official 
 superiority above his brethren. 
 
 26 f Of how many hooks of the New Testament was the 
 apostle John the author ? 
 
 Five; besides these three epistles, he wrote also the fourth 
 gospel and the Apocalypse or the Revelation—the last book 
 of the Bible. 
 
 265. What prominence did John have among the brethren 
 of the apostolic college f 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 53 
 
 He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he outlived 
 all his brethren, so that his writings are the latest utterance 
 of any inspired man. John was therefore the “apostle of 
 completion.” Peter was the opener, Paul the planter, and 
 John the finisher. 
 
 266. What is peculiar about these three epistles ascribed to 
 the apostle John t 
 
 Like “the Hebrews,” they are anonymous, the name of 
 the apostle nowhere appearing in any one of them. In 
 other ways, however, it is known that the beloved disciple 
 was their author. 
 
 267. How does the writer describe himself in the second 
 and third epistles f 
 
 As “the elder,” who, from his great age, character, and 
 position, everybody was supposed to know. Thus John and 
 Peter were both “ elders.” 
 
 268. How does the first epistle of John differ from the 
 other two? 
 
 The first epistle of John is of the nature of a treatise or 
 discourse on the doctrines and duties of Christianity; while 
 the second and third epistles are personal letters, the former 
 addressed to “ the elect body and her children,” and the latter 
 to “the well-beloved Gaius,” a benevolent gentleman whose 
 hospitality to some Christian missionaries greatly endeared 
 him to the “beloved disciple,” and whose conduct therein 
 the apostle warmly commends. 
 
 269. What are the three favorite words of the apostle John 
 which begin with L ? 
 
 Life, light, love. 
 
 270. What are the three definitions of God peculiar to the 
 apostle John ? 
 
 God is spirit; God is light; and God is love. 
 
 271. What is the most characteristic word in the writings 
 of the apostle John ? 
 
 Love; which occurs fifty times in his gospel, and forty- 
 
54 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 five times in Lis first epistle. Love God and be like Him— 
 this is the great idea of the beloved disciple. 
 
 272. What two persons whose names begin with D are 
 mentioned in the tim'd Epistle of John ? 
 
 Diotrephes, u who loveth to have the prominence among 
 them,” domineering, dictatorial, obstructive, and Demetrius 
 (not the silversmith of the Acts), the very opposite of Dio¬ 
 trephes the unlovely, a man famous for his generosity and 
 Christian consistency. Diotrephes the apostle condemns; 
 Demetrius he commends. 
 
 273. What is the gist of the epistle of Jude f 
 
 It is a bugle-blast against latitudinarianism, and, like 
 second Peter, a warning against apostasy. 
 
 271}. In what respect does the epistle of Jude resemble the 
 second and third epistles of John f 
 
 In respect of their length. They are all three short, being 
 each composed of but one chapter. They are the briefest 
 independent portions of the entire Bible. 
 
 THE REVELATION. 
 
 275. By what name is the booh which constitutes the fourth 
 division of the New Testament called f 
 
 The Apocalypse; or, the Book of Revelation. 
 
 276. What is the character of this last booh of the New 
 Testament ? 
 
 It is a book of wonders—a wonderful book. It is also a 
 book of seals, even as it is in itself the great seal of the 
 completed volume of divine truth—the splendid dome of 
 the glorious temple of Holy Scripture. 
 
 277. What is the grand theme of the Apocalypse ? 
 
 The second advent of Christ. There is one voice in all its 
 epistles, seals, trumpets, vials, plagues, and visions of glory 
 and joy—The Lord cometh ! 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 55 
 
 278. What is the one grand disclosure the Apocalypse 
 makes ? 
 
 That of the final triumph of Christianity over all its ene¬ 
 mies and opposers, and its termination in an endless period 
 of glory and happiness. 
 
 279. To what are the triumphs of the Christian Church 
 due , according to the Apocalypse ? 
 
 The Blood. The book is bathed in and saturated with the 
 Blood. In the midst of its most heavenly scenes it cele¬ 
 brates the atoning Blood. Saints sing and angels speak of 
 redemption through the Blood, cleansing in the Blood, and 
 victory by the Blood of the Lamb. 
 
 280. What are the seven classes of people in the Apoca¬ 
 lypse who are called blessed ? 
 
 The doers of the word, the dead in the Lord, the vigilant, 
 the marriage guests, those who have part in the first resur¬ 
 rection, the keeper of the sayings of the prophecy of this 
 book, and they that, doing His commandments, wash their 
 robes—these are called blessed. 
 
 281. How many lands of horses are there in the Apoca¬ 
 lypse f 
 
 Four: the white horse of victory, the red horse of war, 
 the black horse of mourning, and the pale horse of devas¬ 
 tation and death. 
 
 282. What is the favorite title by which our Lord is desig¬ 
 nated in the Revelation f 
 
 The same by which He was first pointed out to the mul¬ 
 titude by His forerunner upon His entrance upon His public 
 ministry— u The Lamb of God.” From the beginning to 
 the end, throughout the long conflict and in the midst of 
 the glorious issue, there is still the one title for Him Who 
 conquers and judges and reigns— u The Lamb.” 
 
 288. What are the terms in which the grand final gospel 
 invitation of the Bible is couched ? 
 
 These: “And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And 
 
56 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst 
 come. And whosoever will, let him take the Water 
 of Life FREELY.” 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY. 
 
 281}. Who are the leading human personages in Genesis f 
 
 Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. 
 
 285. Who is the leading human character in the last four 
 hooks of the Pentateuch ? 
 
 Moses, the deliverer, the lawgiver, and the founder of the 
 Hebrew commonwealth. 
 
 286. Which is distinctively the law hook of the Penta¬ 
 teuch f 
 
 Exodus; therein is contained the Moral Law or the Ten 
 Commandments, and the National Covenant, that code of 
 laws designed for the special government of the Hebrew 
 people. 
 
 287. Which are the two hooks of the Bihle called after 
 women f 
 
 Ruth and Esther. 
 
 288. In what two hooks of the Bihle is the name of God 
 not found f 
 
 Canticles (the Song of Solomon) and Esther. 
 
 289. What are the fifteen pairs of Genesis f 
 
 The first pair—Adam and Eve; the two trees of the 
 garden—the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree 
 of life ; the first murderer and his victim—Cain and Abel; 
 the two lines from Adam to Noah—the Cainites and the 
 Sethites ; the two wives of Lamech the Cainite—Adah and 
 Zillah ; the two sons of Adah—Jabal and Jubal; the two 
 children of Zillah—Tubal-cain and Naamah his sister; the 
 two sons of Abraham—Isaac and Ishmael; the two cities 
 of the plain destroyed by fire from heaven—Sodom and 
 Gomorrah ; the names of the two sons of Lot’s two daugh- 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 57 
 
 ters—Moab and Ammon; the twin sons of Isaac and Re- 
 bekah—Jacob and Esau; the twin sons of Tamar the 
 ancestress of our Lord—Pharez and Zarah ; the two wives 
 of Jacob—Rachel and Leah ; and his two concubines—Bil- 
 hah and Zilpah ; the two sons of Rachel—Joseph and Ben¬ 
 jamin ; and the two sons of Joseph—Ephraim and Man- 
 asseh. 
 
 290. What are the seven pairs of Exodus f 
 
 The two treasure cities built for Pharaoh by the children 
 of Israel—Pithon and Raamses ; the two God-fearing mid¬ 
 wives who saved the men children of the Hebrews alive, 
 contrary to the commandment of the king—Shiprah and 
 Puah ; the father and mother of Moses—Amram and Jo- 
 cliebed; the two sons of Moses—Gershom and Eliezer; the 
 brother and sister of Moses—Aaron and Miriam ; the two 
 aids of Moses—Aaron and Hur; the two kinds of food 
 furnished the Israelites in the wilderness—quails and 
 manna. 
 
 291. What are the three pairs of Leviticus f 
 
 The two sons of Aaron who were slain for sacrilege— 
 Nadab and Abihu; the two substitutes for these slain 
 priests—Eleazar and Ithamar; the two pallbearers of Na¬ 
 dab and Abihu—Mishael and Elzaphan. 
 
 292. What are the three pairs of Numbers ? 
 
 The two courageous spies—Caleb and Joshua; the two 
 kings whom Moses slew on his way to Canaan—Sihon, king 
 of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan ; the prince of 
 Israel and the Midianitish woman who were slain for adul¬ 
 tery—Zimri and Cozbi. 
 
 293. What is the one pair of Deuteronomy ? 
 
 Gerizim and Ebal—the mount of blessing and the mount 
 of cursing. 
 
 29If. What are the four pairs of Judges f 
 
 The two heroines—Deborah the prophetess and Jael the 
 slayer of Sisera; the two princes of Midian whom the 
 
58 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 Ephraimites slew—Oreb and Zeeb; the two kings of Mid- 
 ian whom Gideon slew—Zebali and Zalmunna; the two 
 judges famous for their large families—Ibzan, who had 
 thirty sons an«d as many daughters, and Abdon, who had 
 forty sons and thirty nephews. 
 
 295. What are the two pairs of Ruth f 
 
 The two sons of Naomi—Mahlon and Chilion; and her 
 two daughters-in-law—Orpah and Ruth. 
 
 296. What are the seven pairs of the two Samuels f 
 
 The father and mother of Samuel—Elkanah and Hannah ; 
 
 the two wicked sons of Eli the priest—Hophni and Phin- 
 eas; the two degenerate sons of Samuel—Joel and Abijah; 
 the Damon and Pythias of the Bible—David and Jonathan; 
 the two assassins of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son—Rechab and 
 Baanah; the two men in whose houses the ark of God 
 dwelt—Abinadab and Obed-edom ; the two men who drove 
 the cart on which the ark was put to be carried to Jerusalem 
 —Uzzah and Ahio. 
 
 297. What are the six pairs of the two Kings f 
 
 The two men whom Solomon put to death on his acces¬ 
 sion to the throne—Joab and Shimei; the two kingdoms 
 into which the empire of Solomon was divided—Israel and 
 Judah; the two centres of worship which Jeroboam, the 
 first king of Israel, designed to be rivals of Jerusalem— 
 Bethel (in the south) and Dan (in the north); the two tribes 
 which remained loyal to the house of David—Judah and 
 Benjamin ; the two great miracle-working prophets of Is¬ 
 rael—Elijah and Elisha; the two persons who w r ere raised 
 from the dead—the son of the w r idow of Zarephath (by 
 Elijah) and the son of the Shunammite (by Elisha). 
 
 298. What are the two pairs of Ezra, ? 
 
 Zerubbabel, the builder of the second temple, and Ezra, 
 the scribe and religious reformer; and the prophets Haggai 
 and Zechariah, who aided so greatly in the work of the 
 restoration. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 59 
 
 299. What are the three pairs in the prophets f 
 
 The two prophets sent to Nineveh—Jonah and Nahum; 
 the two prophets of the captivity—Ezekiel and Daniel; 
 the two adulterous women in Ezekiel, who are types of the 
 spiritual unfaithfulness of Samaria and Jerusalem—Aholali 
 and Aholiab. 
 
 300. What are the seven leading pairs of the gospels f 
 
 The father and mother of John the Baptizer—Zechariah 
 
 and Elisabeth ; the mother of our Lord and her husband— 
 Mary and Joseph; the two persons mentioned as being 
 present in the temple at the presentation of the child 
 Jesus —Simeon and Anna; the two heavenly visitants at 
 the transfiguration of Jesus —Moses and Elijah; the two 
 friends of the crucified Saviour—Joseph of Arimathea and 
 Nicodemus; the two women who were last at the cross and 
 first at the sepulchre—Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother 
 of James; the two of the twelve who ran to the sepulchre— 
 Peter and John. 
 
 301. Who were the two pairs of brothers among the 
 twelve apostles f 
 
 Peter and Andrew, the sons of Jonas ; James and John, 
 the sons of Zebedee. 
 
 302. What are the nine leading pairs in the Acts f 
 
 The two candidates for the place in the apostolic college 
 made vacant by the defection and death of Judas—Josepli- 
 Justus and Matthias, the latter of whom was chosen; the 
 two leading apostles at Pentecost—Peter and John ; the two 
 leading apostles in the history in the Acts—Peter and Paul; 
 the two persons punished by death for lying and hypocrisy— 
 Ananias and Sapphira ; the first two foreign missionaries— 
 Paul and Barnabas; Paul’s two converts at Athens—Diony¬ 
 sius and Damaris; the two governors before whom Paul was 
 arraigned—Felix and Festus; the first two Christian mar¬ 
 tyrs—Stephen the deacon and James the apostle; the two 
 Koman captains into whose hands Paul fell—Lysias and 
 
60 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 Julius; the two persons raised from the dead—Dorcas (by 
 Peter at Joppa) and Eutyclms (by Paul at Troy). 
 
 303. What are the four pairs of Paul f 
 
 His two warm friends and helpers—Aquila and his wife 
 Priscilla; the two disciples he ordained as ministers—Tim¬ 
 othy and Titus; the two blasphemers he delivered to Satan 
 —Hymeneus and Alexander; the two prominent men who 
 turned away from him in Asia Minor—Phygellus and Her- 
 mogenes. 
 
 30f What are four great trinities in the Bible f 
 
 The three great subjects of the Bible—God, man, redemp¬ 
 tion ; its three great advents—that of Adam upon earth, 
 that of Christ for salvation, and the coming of Christ to 
 judgment; the three chief Christian graces—faith, hope, 
 love; the trinity of trinities—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
 
 305. What are the three great eras of the worlds history f 
 
 The Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian eras. 
 
 306. What are the three great periods in the Jewish national 
 history f 
 
 The theocracy (from Moses to the monarchy), the mon¬ 
 archy, and the restoration. 
 
 307. What is the division of the threefold historical boohs 
 which cover the national history of the Jews f 
 
 The period of the theocracy—Joshua, Judges, and Ruth; 
 the period of the monarchy—the three doubles—the Sam¬ 
 uels, the Kings, and the Chronicles; the period of the res¬ 
 toration—Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. 
 
 308. What is the threefold division of the prophets ? 
 
 The pre-exile prophets, the prophets of the captivity, and 
 the prophets of the restoration. 
 
 309. What are the six leading trinities in Genesis f 
 
 In the creation story—God, nature, and man; the three 
 sons of Adam—Cain, Abel, and Seth ; the three sons of 
 Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth ; the three sons of Zerah 
 —Abraham, Nalior, and Haran; the three great ancestors 
 
THE. BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 61 
 
 of the Hebrew people—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the 
 first three great Oriental empires—Egypt, Chaldea, and 
 Assyria. 
 
 310. What are the trinities in Exodus f 
 
 The three divisions of the book itself—Israel in Egypt, 
 from Egypt to Sinai, and the transactions at Sinai; the 
 three principal events at Sinai—the giving of the law, the 
 lapse and restoration of the people, and the erection of the 
 tabernacle. 
 
 311. What triplet is mentioned in Leviticus f 
 
 The three great annual festivals of the Jews—the Pass- 
 over, Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles—the Harvest 
 Home of the Hebrew people. 
 
 312. What are the three triplets in Numbers f 
 
 The three leading subjects of the book itself—the camp, 
 the march toward Canaan, and the forty years in the wilder¬ 
 ness ; the three rebels—Korah, Hathan, and Abiram, whom 
 the earth swallowed; the three mountains mentioned in con¬ 
 nection with the history—Sinai, whence the people started 
 on their march to Canaan, Hor, where Aaron died, and 
 Nebo (Pisgah), where the decease of Moses took place. 
 
 313. What are the three great pentateuchal prophecies 
 respecting Christ ? 
 
 The protevangelium in Genesis (3: 15); the star and 
 sceptre prophecy of Balaam in Numbers (24 : 17); and the 
 prediction of Moses in Deuteronomy (18 : 15) that a great 
 prophet like unto himself should appear amongst the people. 
 
 3Ilf. What are the two triplets in Joshua f 
 
 The three cities of refuge on the east side of Jordan— 
 Bezer in the wilderness, Bamoth in Gilead, and Golan in 
 Bashan ; and the three on the west side—Hebron in Judah, 
 Shechem in Ephraim, and Kedesh in Galilee. 
 
 315. What are the five trinities in the monarchical books f 
 
 The three doubles themselves—the Samuels, the Kings, 
 and the Chronicles; the three sovereigns of the united 
 
62 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 kingdom—Saul, David, and Solomon; the three sons of 
 Zeruiah who were too much for King David—Joab, Abishai, 
 and Asahel; King David’s threefold choice as a punishment 
 for his sin in numbering the people—famine, defeat, pesti¬ 
 lence; the three captive kings of Judah—Jehoiakim, Jehoi- 
 achin, and Zedekiah. 
 
 316. What are the trinities of the restoration era ? 
 
 The three books which treat of the era itself—Ezra, Nehe¬ 
 miah, and Esther; the three leading men in the restoration 
 —Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah ; the three prophets of 
 the restoration—Haggai, Zechariali, and Malachi; the three 
 obstructionists in Nehemiah—Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah 
 the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian. 
 
 317. What are the trinities in Job ? 
 
 The patriarch’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, 
 Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; the three 
 animals in Job—the Arabian war-horse, the behemoth, and 
 the leviathan ; Job’s three daughters, born to him after his 
 affliction—Jemima, Kezia, and Karen-happuch. 
 
 318. What are the names of the three Hebrew prophetesses ? 
 
 Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah. 
 
 319. What three children of the prophet Hosea had their 
 names given to them by God Himself? 
 
 Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi. 
 
 320. What three persons were raised from the dead in the 
 Old Testament? 
 
 The son of the widow of Zarephath (by Elijah), that of 
 the Shunammite woman (by Elisha), and the man who re¬ 
 vived and stood upon his feet when he was let down into 
 the sepulchre of Elisha and touched the bones of the 
 prophet. 
 
 321. What three persons did our Lord raise from the 
 dead ? 
 
 Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, and His 
 friend Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary. 
 
THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 G3 
 
 322. Who, besides the prophet himself, were the three heroes 
 in Daniel ? 
 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were cast into 
 the burning fiery furnace because they refused to worship 
 the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set 
 up. 
 
 323. Who were the three children besides Jesus whose 
 names were alike foretold ? 
 
 Isaac, Ishmael, and John the Baptizer. 
 
 321}. Which are the three synoptic gospels ? 
 
 Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 
 
 325. What are three important scenes in the early life of 
 Jesus? 
 
 His flight into Egypt, His presentation in the temple, and 
 His appearance among the doctors. 
 
 326. Who were the three favorite disciples of Jesus? 
 
 Peter, James, and John. 
 
 327. W hat were the three most dramatic scenes in the life 
 of Jesus? 
 
 His transfiguration, His crucifixion, and His ascension. 
 
 328. What were the three principal sects among the Jews 
 in the time of Christ? 
 
 The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians. 
 
 329. Who are the three leading characters in the Acts 
 whose names begin with P? 
 
 Peter the preacher, Philip the evangelist, and Paul the 
 missionary—Peter, Philip, and Paul. 
 
 330. What are three marked periods in the life of the 
 apostle Paid ? 
 
 His persecution of Christ, his conversion to Christ, and 
 his labors and sufferings for Christ. 
 
 331. What were the three most exciting episodes in the life 
 of the apostle Paid ? 
 
 His address to the Athenians on Mars’ Hill, his address 
 to the excited Jews from the steps of the castle of Antonia 
 
64 
 
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 058381606 
 
 THE BIBLE CATECHIST. 
 
 at Jerusalem, and his address before Agrippa in his own 
 defence. 
 
 332. What ivere the three capitals associated with the Apos¬ 
 tolic Church? 
 
 Jerusalem, Antioch in Syria, and Ephesus in Asia Minor. 
 
 333. Who are three military men mentioned in the Acts ? 
 
 Cornelius, Lysias, and Julius—Roman centurions. 
 
 33Jf. Who are the three most famous women of the Apos¬ 
 tolic Church ? 
 
 Dorcas, a woman of Joppa, full of good w T ords and alms- 
 deeds which she did, and whom the apostle Peter raised 
 from the dead; Phebe, who was a servant of the church 
 w r hich was at Cenchrea; and Priscilla, who was a helper of 
 the apostle Paul. 
 
 335. What are the five trinities of the apostle Paul ? 
 
 His threefold benediction—grace, mercy, and peace; his 
 three chief graces—faith, hope, and charity ; his three parts 
 of human personality—body, soul, and spirit; this three de¬ 
 serters—Phygellus, Hermogenes, and Demas; his three 
 opposers—Demetrius the silversmith, Alexander the cop¬ 
 persmith, and Satan the great adversary. 
 
 336. What are the trinities in James ? 
 
 The three steps to ruin—lust, sin, death; the three attri¬ 
 butes of worldly wisdom—earthly, sensual, devilish. 
 
 337. What were the three political divisions of the Holy 
 Land in the time of Christ? 
 
 Judea, Samaria, and Galilee—the southern, central, and 
 northern division. 
 
 338. What were the three cities of Jesus ? 
 
 Bethlehem, where He was born ; Nazareth, v r here He was 
 
 brought up ; and Capernaum, where most of His mighty 
 works were done. *