Previous Examination. March, 1856. Examiners: GEORGE SUFFIELD, M.A. Clare College. REV. SIMEON HILEY, M.A. St John's College. REV. THOMAS WETHER HERD SHARPE, M.A. Christ's College. PALEY'S EVIDENCES.-(A.) 1. WHAT abuse of words lies in defining a miracle to be a violation of the laws of nature and contrary to experience? Shew that it is unfair to argue from hence that all testimony in favour of miracles is inadmissible. 2. What considerations render it highly probable that the first preachers of Christianity would meet with opposition from the Jews? 3. Quote some of the exhortations to patience under persecution which are contained in the New Testament, and shew the fallacy of the pretence that these were inserted in later ages. 4. From what considerations does it appear that the story which the Apostles propagated was probably a miraculous one? 5. Why is it improbable that the story delivered by the first preachers of Christianity should have died and another have been substituted? 6. Describe the "natural progress" of the composition of the Christian writings, and shew that the records in our possession and the evidences concerning them correspond with this. 7. Shew that the miraculous nature of the accounts contained in the New Testament, is no argument against the genuineness of the books. 8. How is the credibility of Christianity strengthened by the unexampled number and variety of the miracles ascribed to Christ? 9. How is the character of Christ a part of the morality of the Gospel? 10. Why are we justified in considering the successful and rapid propagation of Christianity as an auxiliary evidence of its truth? 11. Draw a contrast between the Mosaic and the Christian Dispensation. PALEY.-(B.) 1. UPON what presumption is the force of experience as an objection to miracles founded? 2. Shew the improbability that the teachers of Christianity would find protection in that general infidelity which is supposed to have prevailed amongst the intelligent part of the Heathen public. 3. Give some of our Lord's prophecies concerning the persecution of His followers. Into what difficulty does Paley shew that we must fall unless we believe that Christ actually did foretell them, and that they accordingly did come to pass. 4. Shew that Christ and his Apostles were in external appearance very ill-suited to produce such a system as the Christian Religion. 5. By what general considerations does Paley endeavour to prove that we have now the same story as that possessed by the early Christians? 6. Explain Paley's remark, that "the Books of the New Testament, when we consider their aggregate authority, afford accumulation of evidence which is frequently overlooked from our habitual manner of reading them." 7. How does Paley disprove the idea, that the ascription of the Gospels to their respective authors was arbitrary or conjectural ? 8. Shew that our Saviour's miracles were not tentative miracles. 9. Point out the examples of "extreme naturalness" which occur in the Gospels. 10. Mention some of the instances in which Paley recognizes an identity between the characters of Christ as given in the first three Gospels, and in the last. 11. State fully the peculiar value of the history of the Resurrection as a head of evidence. PALEY.-(A.) 1. SHEW that to one who admits the existence of a God miracles are not incredible. 2. How does the "nature of the case" afford a strong proof that the original teachers of Christianity, in consequence of their new profession, entered upon a new and singular course of life? 3. Mention some of the coincidences which exist between the account of St Paul's sufferings as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and the allusions to the same in his own letters. What is the value of this evidence? 4. In what manner is the general truth of the Apostolic history confirmed by the fact of its assigning adequate causes for effects which were certainly produced, and describing consequences naturally resulting from situations which certainly existed? 5. Illustrate the remark, "The religious rites and usages that prevailed among the early disciples of Christianity were such as belonged to, and sprang out of, the account now in our hands." 6. What was the situation of the authors to whom the four Gospels are ascribed? What evidence does this afford of the truth of their histories? 7. What testimony have we that our Scriptures were received by ancient Christians of different sects? 8. Shew that the conduct of our Lord's Apostles cannot be accounted for, supposing their story to be false. 9. Point out the peculiar excellence of the morality of the Gospel. 10. Explain and answer the objection which is brought against the truth of Christianity from the want of greater clearness in its evidence. 11. Give some instances of the beneficial influence of Christianity on the public usages and institutions of society. PALEY.-(B.) 1. How does Paley answer the objection, that no human testimony can in any case render miracles credible? Upon what principle does that principle profess to be founded? 2. How does the actual existence of the Christian Religion favour the truth of the proposition "that the original teachers voluntarily passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings?" 3. Illustrate the remark that "there is not the smallest discoverable propensity in the Historian of the Acts of the Apostles to magnify the fortitude, or exaggerate the sufferings of his party." What deduction does Paley draw from this? 4. Shew from the Christian records that the primitive followers of Christ assumed, upon their conversion, a new and peculiar course of private life. 5. State the arguments by which, independently of the Christian histories, Paley endeavours to prove that the story which the first Christians had is the same we have now. 6. How does Paley prove that if any one of the four Gospels be genuine, we have in that one, sufficient reason to believe that we possess the accounts which the first preachers of Christianity delivered? 7. What testimony have we that our Scriptures were publicly read and expounded in the religious assemblies of the early Christians, and what is the value of such testimony? 8. Shew that our Saviour's miracles were not such as required merely an otiose assent. 9. What is the argument in favour of Christianity drawn from the candour of the writers of the New Testament? 10. What was the prevailing expectation among the Jews respecting their promised Messiah? What argument does this afford against our Saviour having been an enthusiast or an impostor? 11. Answer the objection of the unbeliever that, "if God had given a revelation he would have written it in the skies." ARITHMETIC.—(A.) 1. EXPLAIN by what method we are able with only the nine digits and a cypher (by our decimal system) to express any number however large. Multiply 2357 by 5, explaining clearly each step of the process and its Define "Multiplication." reason. 2. (a) The income-tax on £1 is 1s. 4d.; what is it on £100. 17s. 6d. ? (6) A bankrupt pays 17s. 6d. in the pound; how much does he pay on £267. 6s. 8d.? N. B. (a) and (B) are to be done by "Practice." To what class of examples is the rule applicable? 3. Reduce 31-21 ÷ 155 to its most simple form. 4. The distance from Yarmouth to Norwich is 20 miles, and from Cambridge to London 57, and the 3rd class fares are 1s. 3d. and 8s. respectively; how much would have to be deducted from the present 3rd class fare per mile between Cambridge and London, so that it might be just double the 3rd class fare per mile between Yarmouth and Norwich? 5. Multiply £1875. 13s. 83d. by 21. Divide £2. 12s. 3d. by 1s. 44d. Reduce of £1 to the fraction of 19s. 6d. Find a sum of money which shall be the same fraction of £61. 9s. 1d. that 2cwt. 2qrs. 10lbs. is of 36 cwt. 1qr. Prove the rule for the division of two fractions, taking ÷ as an example. 6. When are four quantities said to be in proportion? and shew by means of your definition, that 6 yds. 3 qrs.: 73 yds. 2 qrs. :: 5s. 3d. : £2. 17s. 2dand deduce the method of solving the following question : "If 6 yds. 3 qrs. cost 5s. 3d., what will 73 yds. 2 qrs. cost?" 7. Reduce 12s. 6d. to the decimals of £1; of £1000; and of .000001. Find the value of .790625 of £1. 8. Divide 1255 by 1.004; 12.55 by 1004; .012550 by 1004000. 13 123 4 Reduce 17100, 10, 125, §, 31% to decimals, and then add them together. 9. Shew that the fraction numerator and denominator. Reduce of .375 and .04583 to vulgar fractions in their lowest terms. is not altered in value by multiplying 3 into How is it that in a decimal fraction we do not alter its value by bringing down to the right hand of the last figure any number of cyphers? 10. What sum must A bequeath to B so that B may receive £1000 after a legacy duty of £10 per cent. has been deducted? 11. Find the simple and compound interest of £625 in 2 years at 4 per cent. 12. In what time will £2500 double itself at 4 per cent. simple interest? 13. What must be the rate of interest, in order that the discount on £2573 payable at the end of 1 yr. 73 dys. may be £93? 14. Shew that the interest obtained by investing a sum of money in the 3 per cents. at 82, is to the interest obtained by investing the same sum in the 3 per cents. at 933, as 34 to 35. 15. A gave 25s. for two tickets (a 1st and 2nd class) from Norwich to Colchester; what did they cost him separately, if a 1st class ticket from Norwich to Diss cost 3s. 6d. and a 2nd class cost 2s. 9d.? Of course the fares throughout the line are supposed to be always proportional to the distance. 16. If in extracting the square root of 0.2 you had by mistake "pointed" thus, 0.20000 &c.; and then proceeded with the operation accordingly, and that after marking off the decimal places in your result, you had discovered your mistake; what quantity would you have to multiply the erroneous result by, in order to correct it, without extracting the root of 0.2 over again? Find the first three places of decimals in this multiplier. ARITHMETIC.-(B.) 1. EXPLAIN our decimal system of Arithmetic, and how it is that we are enabled with a few digits and a cypher to express any number however great. |