The gospel delineator and survey

Front matter

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Preface

^TT CTING upon the advice and recommendation of brethren, } *• whose judgment I respect, I have written out a series of Sermons, Addresses, and Essays, on Scriptural and Scientific themes, and their relation to the Science of Christianity, in a volume which, with pleasure and confidence, I introduce to the reading public, under the new and significant title of The Gospel Delineator and Survey.

A few of these, as seen by the references, appeared in my own name in The Microcosm, The Christian Quarterly Review, and in the Text Book Exposed, by the author.

A critical and persistent study of the Scriptures, for more than forty-five years, should, at least enable me to handle the subjects with confidence.

The themes have been thoroughly studied, analyzed with great care, and arranged in brief, Scriptural, Scientific, and Logical order.

While adapted to popular reading, it will furnish special aid to the Student of the Scriptures, in leading him to a clearly defined presentation of the themes discussed, to make him "apt to teach."

But to the young preacher, it will be a valuable companion, and assistant, in the analysis, and logical arrangement of the points, in the themes and theses, and a ready reference to the proofs.

A prominent feature of the book, is the Delineation introducing the discourses, and consisting mainly of my Blackboard Diagrams used when discoursing on the themes they introduce, and, like the plat of a survey, aiding to photograph in the mind the exa.ct features of the Scriptural ground to be surveyed.

May God's blessing accompany it, and make it an efficient auxiliary in promoting the cause of our common Christianity.

G. R. HAND.

Sacramento, Cal, January, 1886.

Contents

Page

I. Introduction — The Divine Creed Sustained. John 20 : 19-31 5

II. The Divine Message. , 13

Introduction

THE DIVINE CREED SUSTAINED.— John 20:

19-31.

DELINI 1 — Qualified Witnesses. 2 — Evidence of Senses. 3 — Belief on Testimony.

ATION :

4_Why Written. 5 — How Believe. 6 — What to Believe.

The Inspired Creed.

The Truths. What' They Affirm.

( 1. The Christ. - - - Office.

Jesus Is < 2. Son of God. - - Divinity.

( 3. Lord. - Sovereignty.

SURVEY.

C TTS a suitable introduction to a series of outline dis- /l courses on the gospel proclamation, and the apostles' doctrine, I introduce the reader to the Savior's interview with his apostles, on the day of his resurrection, preparatory to turning over to them the mission of salvation to a dying world, which he had inaugurated during his three and a half years of public ministry on earth. The thousands of citizens and sojourners in Jerusalem were agitated and wonderfully stirred up over the report that Jesus had risen from the dead; and society was moved to its very depths.

Fearing the vindictiveness of the Jews, the disciples were assembled in a room with closed doors. Jesus,

THE GOSPEL DELINEATOR AND SURVEY.

like an apparition, appears in their midst, and speaks to them, showing them his hands and his side, convincing them of his identity, and causing great joy.

"As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," coming from the risen Savior's lips, looks to the transfer of his earthly mission, to his disciples, who are to be apostles and witnesses.

"Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," supplements the sending, by depositing with them the terms of remission of sins in his name, with the assurance of divine sanction. Or, as Paul expresses it: "And hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." "And hath committed to us the word of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 5:18, 19, 20.) And, " We are ambassadors for Christ."

One vacant seat is unaccounted for, as the absence of Thomas, called Didymus, appears to be without a written excuse. Didymus means a twin, and why the twin was not there, has given rise to many conjectures. But he is reminded of the feast of rejoicing he had been deprived of, by his absence, when the other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." As he is one of the appointed witnesses he demands the same opportunity of assurance, which had been accorded to the others, and no more.

The religious world has done injustice to Brother Thomas. They speak of "doubting Thomas," and sing of "doubting Thomas," until "doubting Thomas" has become a synonym for incredulity. But there is no evidence that Thomas was naturally more incredulous than the others. He only asks for the necessary endowments of an original witness, which the others had received, and of which he had been deprived by his absence from that interview.

Suppose they interview Thomas on the subject. Brother Thomas, why do you hesitate to take the word of those who say they have seen the risen Lord? Because I am to be one of the chosen witnesses of his resurrection, and if I believe upon your testimony, it will not make me a witness. I must see for myself. Well, Thomas, will you be satisfied with seeing him? No. In the midst of the great excitement here, a person resembling Jesus might take advantage of the occasion, and attempt to palm himself off for the risen Savior. I saw the nails driven through his hands, and the soldier's spear pierce his side; and saw the blood and water flow; and I must see the print of those nails in his hands, and that wound in his side, that I may identify the body. But will you be satisfied with seeing the wounds, Thomas? No. An imposter resembling Jesus might paint the representation of wounds in the hands and the side, and attempt to palm himself off as the risen Savior, with the mutilated body. And I must avoid the deception, by being permitted to apply the sense of touch, to ascertain if they are real wounds, and not painted deceptions. The rest of the witnesses have had the same privilege.

On the next first day of the week, when the disciples are together and Thomas with them, Jesus again stands in their midst, and speaks to them. Then, addressing Thomas, he shows his wounds, and invites him to ascertain their reality by the application of his finger to the print of the nails, and his hand to the open wound in his side.

Now he has had the privilege he claimed, and which had been granted to the others a week before, and they

O THE GOSPEL DELINEATOR AND SURVEY.

are all qualified witnesses of the resurrection. " And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God*" He is now thoroughly convinced.

"But some one may say that after all, they believed upon seeing, and did not handle him. How do you know they did not handle him? It is not said in this lesson, whether they did, or did not. So we will hear the testimony of John in another place. (1 John 1:1.) " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life." Here, from the testimony of this same writer, it appears that they did " handle" him, and that the evidence of three out of five of their senses concurred in constituting them witnesses.

I call special attention to the reply of Jesus at this point. He says: " Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." He does not chide him for demanding the evidence of his senses. That was necessary to make him a witness. But thot^ands then living, and thousands yet unborn, would be called upon to believe, upon the testimony of these witnesses, without the concurrent testimony of their own physical senses. The blessings of the gospel are here promised to those who believe upon testimony, and not through their senses.

In full accord with this, the Savior had prayed for the unity of all those who believe on him throngh the word of his apostles. (John 17:20.)

That the testimony of these witnesses, the word of the apostles, may be forthcoming and ample, the apostle concludes our lesson thus: "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son

THE GOSPEL DELINEATOR AND SURVEY. V

of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."

The analysis of this sentence is outlined in the Delineation. We have seen that the knowledge of the witnesses was based upon the evidence of the majority of the senses, but the faith of the. Christian, with the promised blessing, was made dependent upon the testimony.

Why is the testimony written ? The apostle answers: "That ye might believe." And Paul sounds the same note in the culmination of a climax, with: "So then faith cometh by hearing." (Rom. 10:17.)

The testimony is written, and therefore in the historical form, and may be called historical testimony, the belief of which may be called historical faith. Still it is evangelical testimony or history, and therefore its belief is evangelical faith. It is also the faith by which we "might have life through his name," and is therefore saving faith.

Having taught us how we believe, the inspired apostle proceeds to tell us what we must believe in order to "have life through his name." The essential creed is brief but comprehensive. Take it seriatim.

Jesus is the central magnet around which the truths and facts of the gospel cluster, as steel filings cluster around a magnet. Jesus means Savior, and they were divinelv instructed to "call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." ^Mat. 1:21.) Then it is important for us to learn what to believe, and what to do, to become "his people," in order to be saved from our sins.

The essential truths affirmed of Jesus, to be believed, are the following :

1. That he is the Christ. The word " Christ" means anointed. God gave his ancient people prophets, and they were anointed, or christed, and each anointed prophet was a christed person, or a christ. Yet not one of them was the Christ. God also gave them priests, and they were anointed, and therefore christed persons, and called the Lord's anointed. Yet, though a christ, not one of them was ever the Christ. God also gave them kings, and these were anointed, or christed persons. Yet no one of them was ever the Christ.

But the prophets foretold of a coming One, who would embody in himself all these offices, and be anointed for all time, and to the exclusion of all others. This personage would be the Christ. And the anointing being official, our first truth: Jesus is the Christ, affirms office.

2. That he is the Son of God. John, here speaking in the third person, says he is the Son of God. But Peter, addressing Jesus in person, speaks in the second person: "Thou art the Son of the living God." He also uses the word "living," which John omits, but which I shall retain in the analysis.

It is not a son of God, in common with the children of God. Nor is it a son of a god, as one of the heathen gods, nor the son of a god; but u the Son of the God." The definite article is in the Greek, in our lesson, but not translated in the common version. Then, to cut off" all possible reference to any of the gods of mythology, Peter says the living God. And our second truth, that Jesus is the Son of God, affirms his divinity.

3. That he is Lord. This term is not used in the sentence I am analyzing, but is implied in the phrase, the Christ, which includes the office of king, and therefore ruler, or Lord.

The news that God had made him "both Lord and Christ," was brought from heaven by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and, by the inspired apostle, announced to the world. (Acts 2:36.)

Again, at the house of Cornelius, the same apostle says: "He is Lord of all." Thus to Jew first and then to Gentile, he is proclaimed as Lord. (See Acts 10:36.)

Paul adds his testimony thus: "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." (Rom. 14:9.) Then it is clear that our third truth that Jesus is Lord affirms His sovereignty.

Practical application. As a race, we are ignorant and need a prophet to teach us. When we believe in 'our heart, and confess Jesus as the Christ, we accept him as our only teacher, and take his inspired word as our guide.

We are sinful beings, and need a priest to make atonement for us. When we confess Jesus as the Christ, we accept him as our priest, and need no other. Hence we find no official priests in his Church.

We are frail and fallible beings, and need a king whom we can trust, to rule over us and lead us on to victory. When we confess Jesus as the Christ, we accept him as our king, and disclaim all right to make the laws for the kingdom of heaven, of which we have acknowledged him to be the king.

When we confess Jesus as the Son of God, we recognize in him a divine person, and therefore infallible as a teacher, all prevailing as a priest, and all conquering as a king, and we can trust him as a safe guide, an efficient Savior, and triumphant leader.

The prophets were fallible men; our prophet is infallible. The priests were mortal and " could not continue by reason of death;" our priest is immortal, and has "an unchanging priesthood." The kings grew old and died; our king never dies, and is able to confer immortality upon his finally triumphant host. When we confess him as Lord, we acknowledge him as the one who was to come who had the right to rule.

Surely the platform of our Divine Creed is long enough, and broad enough, and deep enough, and high enough, and strong enough for all to stand upon, and work together. And the Divine Creed is sustained.

THE GOSPEL DELINEATOR AND SURVEY.

II. THE DIVINE, MESSAGE.— Heb. 1:1

DELINEATION.

First Message.

1— To the Fathers. 2— By Prophets. 3 — Divers Manners. 4 — Sundry Times. 5— Time Past.

Second Message.

1— To Us.

2— By His Son.

3 — Through Apostles.

4 — Once for All.

5 — Last Days.

True or False. 1 — Believer. 2— Skeptic. 3— Infidel. 4 — Atheist. 5 — Deist.

EVIDENCES.

I. Fulfilled Prophecy. II. Miracles.

1. On Him. 2. By Him. 3. By Apostles.

4. By other Inspired Men.

SURVEY.

OD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." (Heb. 1:1.)

Messages of authority, from the king to his subjects, are usually deemed of primary importance. Here we have two messages from the Supreme Euler of the universe. The one addressed to the fathers, the other to us. This epistle is addressed to Judaizing Christians, mainly to place in antithetical counterpoise, the two messages, showing the superiority of Christianity over Judaism; of the new covenant over the old, being based upon "better promises;" the messenger of the new, over the messengers of the old; the priesthood of the new, over that of the old; the temple, the service, the blood of the new, over those of the old; the salvation of the new, over the old; the Divine Mediator of the new, being infinitely superior to the human mediator of the old. The antithetical points in the messages, are indicated in the blackboard delineation above.

The second is our message, and is contained in the New Testament. Does it make any difference which message we follow? May we go indiscriminately to the old, or new, to learn what we must do in order to enjoy the "great salvation?" Confusion must follow every such indiscrimination.

Suppose a merchant finds upon his desk a letter ordering a bill of goods shipped to a certain point. Without noticing the date or address, he ships the goods, and draws on the ordering house for the amount. His draft is returned, not honored. They say: "We never ordered you to ship those goods." He compares the items in the letter, with the invoice, and finds that every article ordered has been shipped, and wonders why his draft was not honored. He is in trouble.

To his mortificatiou he finds that the letter ordering the goods was of old date, and not addressed to him, but to some one else, who had filled the order long ago, and received his money. Now he has come to grief by following the wrong message, and you say he deserves it. Just so.

Now every one who goes to the old message, in the Old Testament, to find what sinners " in these last days," must do to be saved, is in company with that merchant, making a similar mistake, and with like inexcusable oversight. "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard."

The two messages are antithetical as to recipients, agents, mode, frequency, and period. Or, to whom, by whom, through whom, how often, and when.

Our proposition reads: God hath spoken to us by his Son. This is either true or false.

Men may be arranged into some five classes, the status of each class being measured by their relation to our proposition. These classes are, as in the delineation, believers, skeptics, infidels, atheists, deists.

1. Believers. — You approach a believer with our proposition, and he says: " Yes, I believe that with all my heart."

2. Skeptics. — The word is from skepticos, which means to look around. He is looking for the evidence. You ask his assent to our proposition, and he asks for the evidence. When you show him the testimany, and he accepts it, he is no longer skeptical.

3. Infidels. — Approach the infidel with our proposition, and he says: "I don't believe it." He does not say he believes it is false. He has no belief on the subject, usually from not having examined the testimony. It does not take study to make an infidel. He may be infidel from not knowing anything about it. Infidelity, from in, not fidelity, faith, or believing, means not believing, and is simply negative.

4. Atheists. — The word is from, a, without, theos, God, ist, a person, meaning a person without a God. Technically, the atheist is one who affirms that there is no God. He is in the affirmative, but he affirms a negative, not based upon testimony, but upon the supposed absence of all testimony or proof. He affirms that God has not spoken in the Bible, and that there is no God. In this he assumes the absence of all evidence of a designer in nature, for no man has ever yet so far stultified himself as to undertake to prove by positive testimony that there is no God.

But in assuming that there is no evidence in the Bible that " God has spoken/' he necessarily implies that he has studied every sentence in the Bible, from the first of Genesis to the last of Revelation, else the evidence might be in some verse that he had not studied.

In affirming no God in nature, he ignores all teleology in creation, and assumes that in all the sciences there is not one scrap of evidence of an intelligent designer. This of course implies that he has studied in minutia every department of every science, and every relation and potency in all nature, else the evidence might be just where he had not examined.

He must have gone through all philosophy before he can intelligently affirm the entire absence of evidence there.

He must be familiar with the analysis of every compound in mineral, vegetable, or animal chemistry, with the laws of all their potencies and activities, including those of elective affinity, before he can consistently affirm no evidence there.

Physiology must have opened her portals to him widely before he can affirm no evidence of design in the anatomy and physiology of our physical organisms, so "fearfully and wonderfully made," with the wonderful adaptation of bones, and joints, and ligaments, to their varied functions, in beautiful harmony, where blind chance might exchange the location of ball and socket, and hinge joints, respectively, and work disastrous confusion.

He must have read, and studied with close scrutiny, the story book of the geologist, and probed the igneous, and stratified, and fossiliferous rocks, the cabinet where paleontology has stored her myriads of fossil types of prehistoric life, before he is competent to affirm the universal absence of design in that book.

He must have accompanied the astronomer in his wondrous flight through flaming space, where worlds, and suns, and solar and stellar systems are but way marks in the cycles of time, as he probes the depths of the siderial heavens, and weighs planets in the balances of creation, before he can be sure that Sir Isaac Newton, the great astronomer, was mistaken when he uttered that sublime sentence of world wide fame: "The undevout astronomer is mad," or can successfully command teleology to "down at his bidding."

Assuming all this, would be virtually proclaiming himself the highest intelligence in the universe.

The insuperable difficulty in the way of the atheist may be illustrated thus: Suppose three men, representing skeptic, infidel, and atheist, are together. A stranger, who may represent the believer, tells them that a vessel containing ten thousand dollars in gold was buried, in war time, in a certain field, within three feet of the surface, and ^at the owners who buried it were killed in the war. He then disappears. Skeptic, looking around for the evidence, would like to know if it is true, and proposes that they all go and dig for the money and divide it among them if successful. Infidel says: I don't believe there is any money there, and do not care to spend the time and labor. Atheist says: There is no money there; that man just wanted to hoax you. Skeptic then replies: You have affirmed that it is not there ; I challenge you to prove it. Now, to prove that the money is not buried there, he must dig every foot of ground within the field, to the depth of three feet. But the stranger who knew where it was, could go right to the place and find it without trouble.

5. The Deists. — From deus, God, and ist, a person. Deus is the Latin, and Theos the Greek for God. The deist believes in the God of Nature, but not in the God of the Bible. He does not believe that " God has spoken" in the Bible. The deist and Christian go hand in hand in nature, with the question: Is there a God? And nature answers in the affirmative, uniformly, to both. To the proposition in Heb. 11:6, "He that cometh to God must believe that he is; and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." The deist responds : I believe the first part but not the second.

As " faith comes by hearing," or belief is based upon testimony, it follows that most unbelievers are such for want of attention to the testimony. The character of the evidence may be summed up thus :

1st. Fulfilled prophecy concerning Christ.

2d. Miracles, which I would divide into the following classes :

1. Miracles terminating upon the person of the Messiah, as (a) his incarnation, (b) his inauguration at his baptism, (c) his transfiguration, (d) his crucifixion, (e) his resurrection, (/) his ascension, (g) his glorification.

2. Miracles performed by him in person.

3. Miracles performed by his apostles, whom he inspired, and empowered to work miracles in confirmation of their divine mission.

4. Distributed gifts among those on whom apostles had laid hands, which closes miracles for confirmation.

THE GOSPEL DELINEATOR AND SURVEY.

III. The Resurrection"— Truths And Facts

DELINEATION.

I. Saved by the Gospel.

IV. New Facts.

1 The Christ.

II. Truths — Jesus is < The Son of God. Lord.

V. Testimony.

VI. Witness examined.

( Died.

VII. Argument.

Ill Facts — Christ. < Buried.

( Rose.

SURVEY.

" YTjOREOVER, brethren, I declare unto you the L g° s P e l ^which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures." (1 Cor. 15:1-4; read 1-20.)

I. Here we have the gospel of facts as preached by the inspired apostle, and received by the Corinthian brethren, and by which they were saved. But we learn that in preaching this gospel of facts to the Corinthians, he also preached the truths of the gospel, for he "testified" to the great truth "that Jesus was the Christ," (Acts 18:5,) "and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized." (Verse 8.) By this gospel the Corinthians were saved, and by the same gospel we are saved, if saved at all, for Paul denounces a curse upon roan or angel who shall preach any other gospel than that preached by the apostles, (Gal. 1:8, 9,) and says: "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." (Rom. 2:16.)

II. The leading truths of the gospel, as above delineated, are: 1, that Jesus is the Christ; 2, that he is the Son of the living God; 3, that he is Lord. The first of these affirms office. The second affirms his divinity. The third affirms his sovereignty. These truths were preached by the apostles, and heard, believed, and confessed by converts. The development of the truths must be left for another discourse.

III. The facts of the gospel, as in the text and delineation, are: 1, that Christ died; 2, that he was buried; 3, that he rose again. Some may inquire why I place truths and facts in separate classes. I answer, because of their distinctive difference, and the significant forms of acceptance ,and recognition. Truths are things that are true, and not necessarily expressive of action. Facts are actions, things done, or performed, or acted. The truths of the gospel were believed and confessed with the mouth. The facts were believed and acted out, by dying to sin, being buried in baptism, and rising to a new life.

IV. Gospel means good news, or joyful tidings. Then the gospel facts must have been new facts when first proclaimed, in order to be news at all, and fraught with good to man, in order to be good news. Besides, they were not facts till they transpired, and therefore this gospel could not have been truthfully proclaimed antecedent to the facts. Had any of the Old Testament prophets, or even John the Baptist, preached that Christ died, and was buried, and rose again, they would have affirmed falsely, for he had not then died.

And bad the apostles, while Christ was in the tomb, gone and preached that Christ had risen from the dead, they would have proclaimed falsehood. Hence the apostolic gospel could not have been preached until after the resurrection.

Bat were these new facts? First fact. — Christ died. Was it anew fact that one should die? Men had died from the days of Adam down. So death was no new fact. We then look for the limitations in the text. Christ died — the fact — died for our sins, a limited fact. But may not some one have died for the sins of others, before this? Then we need the next limitation. Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. Here we have a limited fact, farther limited, by fulfillment of prophecy, and beyond doubt a new fact.

Second fact. — Was buried. Bat dead men were buried in all ages. Then the limitation, " according to the scriptures," implied, makes this a new fact.

Third fact. — Rose a^ain. Was this a new fact? Persons had risen from the dead in the days of the Savior, and in the days of Old Testament prophets. Then the limitations are needed, and are in the text. Rose again — the fact — rose again the third day, a limited fact. Is it anew fact, thus limited? Is it certain that none of the others rose on the third day? Here the second limitation steps in and sets it right, "according to the scriptures," or in fulfillment of prophecy. Then the limited fact, further limited, reads: "He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." With these limitations, it was a new fact, beyond all peradventure, and the basic fact of the gospel.

V. Testimony is necessary to the belief of facts, and the testimony to sustain this basic and fundamental fact is found in the word of God. Hence, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. 10:17.)

The facts that Jesus died and was buried had no counter testimony. Those facts were patent to the multitude. But the third fact met with a determined effort at rebuttal, by the enemies, which demands attention.