INTRODUCTION. IN preparing this catechism, the single object kept in view has been, to make the pupils who may use it acquainted, as far as may be, with the prominent facts recorded in the Old Testament. There are many questions relating to the authority and authorship, the inspiration and interpretation of its different books, of great importance in themselves, and of great interest to those more advanced in life. A discussion of them, however, would be altogether out of place in a catechism for the young, and they have therefore been avoided. Indeed, the first step towards the understanding of these questions is a knowledge of what the books actually contain. And to gain this knowledge is the first business of a class in the Sunday School. There are several difficulties to be overcome in preparing a satisfactory catechism on the Old Testament. One arises from the extent of the ground over which the scholar is expected to go, in a limited time. Another arises from the different degrees of capacity and intelligence among the scholars. To meet these difficulties, as far as may be, a brief answer to the questions is given in the catechism itself. This may generally be thought to be sufficient; but in case the book should be used by older scholars, references have been made to those passages of Scripture where a fuller answer may be found. When a class is composed of scholars sufficiently advanced to adopt the latter course, many questions will occur to the teacher, besides those which are contained in this manual. The attempt has been made, not to provide a book which should supply the place of a teacher, but one which should furnish a basis for instruction, and be a guide and a help to him, while he is left free to modify the course of lessons according to the special wants of his class. The prefatory remarks which precede some of the lessons are intended for the aid of the teacher, rather than that of the scholar. In giving instruction there are certain general principles which it is important that the teacher should keep in mind, for the double purpose of directing the attention of his pupils to the most important points, and of explaining such difficulties as may be suggested by them. They are principles which, if properly appreciated, will go far towards supplying the place of a commentary. Besides what will be found in these occasional prefaces, there are several general considerations, never to be lost sight of, in reading the Old Testament. 1. The history is a peculiar one, from the circumstance that it presents itself under a double aspect. It contains an account of the varying fortunes of the Hebrew race, and, at the same time, is a record of the Divine manifestations. First, it is a history of men, of free beings; of men always remaining as they were created, moral agents; of men made free and left, as all men are, to choose for themselves between evil and good. It is the history, too, of a people in its progress, through centuries, from a semi-savage state up to a high degree of civilization. Their misdeeds, their vices, and their cruelties were owing to their own abuse of their moral freedom, and not to the religion which forbade their crimes. In this respect the Israelites are to be viewed and judged as we should view and judge any other people. But on another side their history was, in a peculiar sense, a providential one. While the Hebrew people were left morally free, they were also elected, chosen, and set apart, as agents to accomplish certain great purposes of God. They were left personally free, and yet their actions in the result were over. ruled, so as to accomplish predetermined ends of Providence. In accomplishing these purposes the Israelites were taken as they were. The laws given to them by Moses were not intended to be universal laws for mankind, but were adapted to the actual condition of the Hebrews, and to the great object for which they were set apart from the world. In the same way, the Divine communications made to them were adapted to their actual state. Had the people been different, we may suppose that, in accomplishing the same ends, the Divine methods would have been changed. Many of the difficulties which perplex the readers of the Old Testament arise from confounding together what was strictly human, the result of the moral freedom of the Israelites, and what was providential. A large part of these difficulties would disappear if a proper discrimination were made between these two elements, which blend together in the current of Hebrew history. 2. Another point of still greater moment is to keep in view the great object for which the Israelites were set apart, and to which all the special revelations of Providence were directed. Much that is mysterious in the means made use of will be cleared up, when we consider their adaptation to the end proposed. That great end was to imprint on the Jewish heart, in such a way that it should never be lost, and as a preparation for the consummation of God's revelations in Jesus Christ, the truth which lies at the foundation of morals and religion, the supremacy, unity, and moral government of God. In order to understand the providential government to which the Jews were subjected, we must look, not at the Divine interpositions separately, and by themselves, but in their adaptation to establish this great truth in a world which knew not God. Critics tell us that, to understand the Old Testament, we must remember that it is made up of different books, written in different ages. Much more important, however, than this, the first thing to be observed is the unity of design which runs through them all, and makes them a whole. From beginning to end, through History, Proverb, Psalm, Prophecy, connecting all its parts as if by a thread of gold, runs the great idea of God. Every thing is accessory, illustrative, and collateral to this idea. In the Old Testament we find a series of means, extending over fifteen hundred years, - for the Eternal is not in haste, made use of to imprint on the mind of the world the greatest truth it can receive, and the one without which man can never have any just idea of his destiny. This truth is trusted, not to a book, which might be lost, but stamped on the heart of a nation set apart and divided from others, for that purpose, by peculiar institutions; intrusted thus to a volume which should have a living voice, which should reproduce itself, and scatter itself over the world. And, in this connection, we may behold a Providence in the selection of the place where the revelation is made. It is at the meeting point of three continents, where the languages of the world meet, while the caravans of Africa and Asia are made unconscious propagators of truth from this geographical centre. This truth is impressed on the Jewish mind through the most varied methods. Among other methods, it is taught through history Thus Moses in Genesis, we may believe, does not, like Xenophon or Herodotus, write history for itself, but writes of God in his dealings with man, to show how, in the received and most trustworthy traditions of the past, the presence and moral government of the Creator are always manifest. The historical records contained in Joshua and Judges, in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, are made to illustrate this truth. We are perpetually brought back to the idea of God. Man stands not alone on the earth, but lives under the government of a God who loves righteousness and hates iniquity. The Hebrew institutions were arranged, not merely to promote the welfare of the Jewish people, but to preserve in the world this fundamental truth of religion. The Old Testament has thus the unity which belongs to a definite purpose, and that purpose the highest. The wisdom |