the world, before they were miraculously enlightened at the day of Pentecost. Some instances have been found among the modern heathen in which it appeared that the Holy Spirit had wrought a change before the Gospel was introduced to them.

Even could it be proved, which from the considerations stated, I can by no means allow, that there is no hope for the heathen in the present state of their probation; I would not hesitate to believe with some of the first German divines, that they will enjoy another scene of trial, under the advantages of at least our knowledge, before their final and irrevocable destiny is awarded.

I am free to acknowledge that these considerations to my mind tend greatly to mitigate the wretched condition of the heathen, and to cheer their prospects for eternity. If it were not so, I should certainly feel myself bound by every principle of justice and benevolence to make as many of them as possible acquainted with the life and immortality brought to light in the Gospel.

A clergyman who had spent several years in preparing a commentary on parts of the Scriptures, was requested to offer his views on the destiny of the adult heathen. After some preliminary remarks on the overpowering magnitude of the subject, and the humility with which such short-sighted creatures as ourselves should approach it, he continued:

I am shocked to hear the doom of the heathen pronounced without feeling. I am much more distressed to hear the probability of their salvation proclaimed without proof. To act on the belief, as the brother admits he has done, that the heathen will be saved, where there are so many arguments to subvert this opinion, and when the consequences of its fallacy are so fatal to the eternal happiness of millions, is at least repugnant to the charity which he appropriates to himself.

After weighing all the arguments I could conceive or collect, which bear upon the future condition of those who have no knowledge of Christ, I have been driven to the conclusion, that there is so much in the word of God, to prove their final condemnation, that the only safe and charitable plan is, to assume that they all must perish; and then to exert ourselves to the utmost for their recovery. By this method, we cannot possibly do them injury; by any other, we will probably leave them to irremediable misery.

To disembarrass the subject, and prepare the mind for the mass of scriptural argument which bears upon it, it is useful to revert to some of the first principles of theology. Many are led into error by not considering the true condition of mankind, and the nature of the salvation which has been mercifully provided for them. They forget that the world is filled with creatures in active rebellion against their Sovereign, and suffering under a moral disease, which each is fastening upon himself.

: Had all been left to reap the fruit of their doings in the world of despair, it would have been perfectly just. As man deserved to perish, and God was under no obligation to save him, the Gospel of salvation must be a gratuity. Now, has not the great Dispenser of its blessings the right to give this Gospel to whomsoever he pleases? Has he not exercised his sovereignty in providing it for man in preference to another class of rebels against his government? If it be a gratuity, what liberty has any to object to its mode of administration? The heathen have no more reason to complain than all would have had, if no Saviour had been furnished; or than the rebel angels have because this provision had been limited to man.

Here is the mistake of many. They impugn God's justice, when his justice never prompted salvation for any. They arraign his mercy, when the very idea of mercy implies the absence of all claim on the part of those to whom it is shown.

We have heard the strongest arguments which can be adduced in favour of the final happiness of the heathen; and what do they prove? that there is hope for any considerable number of them? No-that any of them will certainly be saved? Not even that. How uncharitable then-nay, how cruel is it to allow such inconclusive reasons to subvert an opinion which, as all know who have examined it, rests upon no slight grounds, and which in its practical operations is so infinitely important!

The arguments which constrain me to act on the belief that the adult heathen perish, are the following:

I. In the first place, they are condemned by the light of nature. They pervert that knowledge of right and wrong which they possess. The degree of this knowledge differs in different countries; but all have it in some measure, and it is according to that measure, that each is to be judged.

And here I cannot but notice the futility of one of the popular objections against the perdition of those who have never heard of Christ. It is often asked, and with an air of triumph, will the heathen be condemned for infringing a law which has never been promulged to them, or rejecting a Saviour of whom they have never heard? or as it has just been expressed, "for involuntary and hence necessary ignorance?" No; this is not the ground of their condemnation. It is not by a law or a Gospel of which they are ignorant, that they are to be tried. What God has committed to them, through reason, conscience, tradition, their codes of law and systems of morals, he will require of them no more. But on this principle of perfect equity, there is reason to believe that none can be acquitted.

In every country where there are letters, there are judicial or sacred writings, by which they profess to be governed. Now it cannot be denied, that the great body of heathen violate all these rules of conduct ;

while it is almost as evident that none obey them all. I have time to adduce a few instances only bearing upon this point.

In China it is an old and well known maxim, that "heaven cannot have two suns; nor the people two kings; nor the nations two rulers; neither can there be two to receive supreme honour." And yet it is questionable whether there is one exception to universal idolatry in the empire. Rammohun Roy, the Hindoo Brahmin, extensively known in Christian countries, in his translation of the Vedas or Hindoo sacred books, has this remark: "The greater part of the Brahmins, as well as other sects of the Hindoos, are quite incapable of justifying that idolatry which they continue to practise. The Vedas hold out precautions against framing a deity after human imagination-their whole tendency is to lead an unbiassed mind to a notion of a supreme existence." Now, India is a land of the grossest, most debasing idolatry, except where the light of western religion and science has been shed.

It is not only idolatry, but many other obvious sins, which the books and consciences of these great pagan empires charge home upon all their inhabitants. Babajee, the converted Brahmin, in speaking of the moral conduct enjoined in the Shasters, concludes by saying, "a saint (one to whom alone heaven is promised) must be free from lust, anger, covetousness, intoxication, envy, and pride; such a man is not to be found on earth."

The missionaries in the different countries to which they have gone, all concur in the declaration that they have found none among the heathen who appeared to live up to the light they enjoy. To show that this is no misapprehension, and as a second step in the argu

ment

II. The infallible word of God confirms this condemnatory sentence of the law of nature. The first division of the Epistle to the Romans is devoted to this very discussion. It enumerates the sources of knowledge open to all classes of heathen. It specifies the grand doctrines of natural theology, which they are capable of deducing from these

sources.

It denounces their conscious and flagrant impiety in "changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image, and the truth of God into a lie." It presents in long and black array the other crimes of which they are guilty, and to which they have been judicially abandoned.

These considerations are employed to establish the truth, that “both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin"-that "there is none righteous, no not one," and consequently that "by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in God's sight." Such is the sweeping conclusion which the word of God deduces from those equitable premises which have been quoted, though misapplied,-that "the Gentiles who have not the law, are a law unto themselves," and "in every nation, he that

feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him." Instead of gathering hope from these revealed principles of the Divine adminis tration, they tend to prove the justice of the declaration : "For as many as have sinned without law, (the revealed law,) shall also perish without law."-Rom. ii. 12.

If then the heathen are guilty without one exception, which the spirit of inspiration has affirmed-if there is no hope for any except through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is equally declared, I remark as the third step in my argument—

III. There is much more reason to believe that those who have come to years of responsible action, and are ignorant of the Gospel, are not saved through Christ, than the contrary. The following considerations suggested by Scripture appear to me to prove this position.

1. To those whose faculties will admit of the exercise of faith-faith is a necessary pre-requisite to salvation. This will not be questioned in reference to those who have heard of Christ. But it is expressly said to be necessary in those who have no such knowledge. In the 10th chapter of Romans, "the Scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher!" If there be any force in the apostle's reasoning, I do not see how it is possible to escape the conclusion, that they who have never heard of Christ, cannot call upon him, cannot believe in him, are not saved through him.

That the heathen have any consistent or available ideas of redemption through the substitution of another, might be conjectured by those who have only heard of their sacrifices and ceremonies, but all who have dwelt among them are soon convinced to the contrary. There is nothing in the word of God, nothing in the history of modern heathenism, which favours such a belief. The apostle in the passage already quoted implies that there are those who have not enough knowledge to avail themselves of the benefit of the Saviour's mediation.

2. That the redemption of Christ is not applied to the adult heathen, seems to be implied in the very nature and tendency of Christianity. In its nature it is perfectly distinct from every other religion-its legitimate tendency is to prepare the sinful soul for heaven. It is not simply through the removal of guilt, but through a radical change of character, that the ungodly are to be admitted to eternal happiness. Now Christianity is the only religion which embodies those grand doctrines through the influence of which the Holy Spirit renews the soul, and thus qualifies it for heaven. The very price at which it has been propagated proves its necessity. What sufferings have been endured

what rivers of blood have been shed, and that by God's most approved servants, in revealing it to the ignorant!

3. The same truth was declared to the great apostle of the Gentiles as one reason for his mission, and it is frequently referred to by him and his fellow-apostles as a practical axiom of their lives. "Delivering thee," saith the Lord to Paul, "from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."-Acts xxvi. 17, 18. "That at that time," saith Paul to the Ephesians, "ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."Eph. ii. 12.

"We are of God," says John, "and the whole world lieth in wickedness."-1 John, v. 19.

Speaking of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Peter says, "neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."-Acts iv. 12.

4. The established plan of the Spirit's operation leads to the same conclusion. It is unnecessary to mention, that the redemption of Christ is rendered available to the sinner only through the agency of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. Though we do not understand the precise mode of his operation, yet the means he employs to unite the soul to Christ, and to carry on the work of sanctification, are revealed. "The entrance of thy word giveth light." "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth, through the Spirit."

When there is but little correct knowledge, as in the case of the disciples of our Lord before the day of Pentecost, and probably of many before the Gospel dispensation, we can understand how the Spirit of God can perform his work. But where gross ignorance or universal error reigns, how is it possible for the soul to be enlightened? If such a work can be accomplished at all, it must be done by counteracting, or, in some way, suspending the very laws of our nature.

The cases which have been adduced, in which the Spirit appeared to operate upon the minds of the heathen, are so exceedingly limited-only three or four having ever been discovered-and these are of so doubtful a character, that it does not appear safe to consider them an exception to the rule mentioned. That the change of feelings they are represented to have experienced, was the work of the Holy Spirit, is by no means certain; and if so, that it was anything more than a preparation for the Gospel, which without the Gospel, had never resulted in the regeneration of the soul, is exceedingly questionable.

It may be God's plan to meet those who are conscientious in the