34. Q. In what way only would the mind of man receive an idea of the amount of God’s opposition to sin? A. By the amount of penalty which he inflicted upon the sinner. 35. Q. By means of burnt offerings what idea was distinctly and deeply impressed upon the minds of the Israelites? A. That God’s justice was a consuming fire to sinners, and that their souls escaped only through a vicarious atonement. 36. Q. When would the Mosaic machinery, which formed the abstract ideas, conveying the knowledge of God’s true character, be no longer useful? A. After those ideas were originated, defined, and connected with the words which expressed their abstract or spiritual import. 37. Q. In order to the diffusion of the knowledge of God throughout the world by the method adopted by the Almighty, what three things would be necessary as pre-requisites, and which are facts as matters of authentic history? A. 1. That the Jews who possessed those ideas should be scattered throughout the world. 2. That their propensity to idolatry should be entirely subdued. 3. That the new and spiritual system should first be propagated among those who understood both the spiritual import of the Hebrew language, and likewise the language of the other nations to whom the Gospel was to be preached. 38. Q. What followed as soon as the new dispensation had been introduced, and its foundations firmly laid? A. Jerusalem, the center of the old economy, with the temple and all things pertaining to the ritual service, was at once and completely destroyed, and the old system vanished away forever. 39. Q. What is necessary in order to a perfect system of instruction? A. There must be both precept and example. 40. Q. In what way only could human nature be perfected? A. Only by following a perfect model of human nature. 41. Q. Who is that model character? A. Jesus Christ. 42. Q. Of what is the demonstration manifest that man has received through the medium of Jesus Christ? A. A perfect system of instruction; and a final and perfect revelation of duty to God and man could be given in no other way. 43. Q. What are two facts history furnishes that are peculiar proofs of the Messiahship of Christ? A. First, the Jewish prophets lived and wrote centuries before the period in which Jesus appeared in Judea; second, on account of intimations, or supposed intimations in their prophecies, the Jews were expecting the Messiah about the time that Jesus appeared in Judea. 44. Q. If a person had appeared and conformed to the views which the Jews entertained of a temporal Messiah, of what would it have been direct evidence? A. That he was an imposter. 45. Q. Give three reasons for this conclusion? A. 1. Because their views were partial, prejudiced and wicked. 2. He could not have conformed to their views and sustained at the same time the character of a perfect instructor. 3. He would not have fulfilled the predictions of the prophets concerning him.