tioned in the proposition,) which universally require faith in Christ. But, to this it is answered, that they can only regard such to whom the Gospel comes, and are capable of understanding the contents of it. The truth seems to be, that none of the Heathen will be condemned for not believing the Gospel, but that they are liable to condemnation for the breach of God's natural law. Nevertheless, if there be any of them in whom there is a prevailing love to the Divine Being, and care in the practice of virtue, there seems reason to believe that for the sake of Christ, though to them unknown, they may be accepted of God; and so much the rather as the ancient Jews, and even the apostles of Christ, during the time of our Saviour's abode upon earth, seem to have had but little notion of those doctrines, which those who deny the salvability of the Heathen, are most apt to imagine fundamental." Doddridge's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 240.

"God will deal with them (the Heathen) in a just, wise, and equitable way, and will make proper allowances for every want of the advantages which others enjoy. The asserters of the Christian revelation are under no obligation to limit God's universal benevolence. They leave those that are destitute of this Revelation to God's infinite mercy, and can think more favourably of their case than they consistently can do, who will not allow they were under any great darkness, and suppose them to have acted in manifest opposition to the most clear and universal light." Leland's Deistical Writers, vol.i. p. 20. I need not take any particular notice of what his lordship (Bolingbroke) hath offered against the Christian revelation, drawn from its not having been

universally published in all nations and ages. The chief force of what he has urged depends upon this supposition, that, according to the Gospel, all those should be damned that do not believe in Christ, whether they ever heard of him or not- damned,' as he expresses it, 'even in their involuntary ignorance ;' -which is expressly contrary to the tenor of St. Paul's reasoning, in the second chapter of the Romans. The declarations, made in the Gospel, of the necessity of believing in Christ, and the punishment of those who do not believe, plainly relate to those who have an opportunity of being acquainted with the Christian revelation," &c. Vol. ii. p. 210. See also the same author against Tindal, vol. ii. p. 575. Also, Bp. Conybeare against Tindal, p. 419.

"Consider the world as divided into two parts, one whereof has had the oracles of God committed to them, and the other has been left to the guidance of mere reason and nature, and from the maxim of the text, (Luke xii. 48.) you may learn these general truths, with respect to each sort and condition of men: first, that no man shall be judged by a law of which he had no knowledge, but every man shall stand or fall by the light that was given him. It being true of every moral action, what St. Paul has affirmed of alms-giving, "It shall be accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not," &c. Bp. Sherlock's Discourses, vol. ii. p. 121.

"The death of our Saviour, when he did die, was just as beneficial as it could possibly have been, ever so much earlier. And as we firmly believe, that it was highly beneficial to many who trusted in God's mercy,

with a very obscure knowledge of him: so we are far from denying, that it may have been beneficial to many others, who trusted in the same mercy, without any present knowledge of him at all." Abp. Secker's Sermons, vol. iv. p. 145.

“Our Saviour laid down his life for the sins of the whole world. He came, that, as in Adam all die, so in Christ should all be made alive.' Clemens Romanus an apostolical father, expressly declares, 'that the blood of Jesus was so precious in God's sight, as to obtain the privilege of repentance for the whole world, in all past ages, and that the Ninevites, repenting upon the preaching of Jonas, were saved by it, though aliens from God.' From hence, we may conclude, that though those, who have performed the condition of the Gospel covenant, faith and penitential obedience, shall shine out with distinguished glory; yet that the benefits of the passion shall be applied, even to those that never heard his name. The sphere of his benificence extended backward to the foundation of the world, and reaches forward to the last conflagration; so that nothing, which is capable of being saved is 6 hid from the heat thereof.' He became the Saviour of all ages, from the first birth of time to its last period: the Father of mankind from the rising up of the sun, to the going down of the same. The blessings of his coming into the world are as extensive as the World, and as lasting as Eternity." Seed's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 412.

"The Patriarchal, the Jewish, and Christian religion all profess to come from the only one God, the creator of all things. Hence, the whole race of

care;

mankind must be the common object of its Creator's all his revelations, even those given only to a part, must needs be thought ultimately directed to the interest of the whole," &c. Bp. Warburton's Div. Legat. vol. iv. p. 184.

"The Christian Dispensation is, in some sense, universal, though the light of the Gospel has not been every where enjoyed. The benefits of it went backward to the creation, and forward to the consummation, comprehending at the same time, all people and nations, and languages. Our Redeemer, far from being partial, has grasped the whole globe, and extended the chief of his blessings over all the ends of the earth." John Balguy's second Letter to a Deist, p. 333.

"What shall be the lot of all those who lived and died strangers to Christianity?-They are in the hands of a gracious God, who may bestow on them the mercies of a redemption of which they have never heard. Without the death of Christ no flesh could have been saved. But who can say, to how many, and in what different ways, the merits of that death may be applied? For his sake, the sins may be pardoned of all those who, in honesty and uprightness, did their best, according to the knowledge vouchsafed them, during the dispensation under which they lived. He who holds up his hand at the bar of eternal judgment, will not there be tried by a law which he never knew, &c. The same limitation must of course take place in the case of infants, idiots, persons insane, and any way so defective in understanding, as to be incapable of learning and believing aright. He who made us

knoweth whereof we are made; he knows what is in man, in every man, and will not exact the tale of bricks, where he hath not thought proper to furnish the straw. We may conclude, in like manner, concerning what is called invincible ignorance, or ignorance, so circumstanced, as to admit of no remedy. How can they hear without a preacher?' Where nothing is taught, nothing can be learned." Bishop Horne's Sermons, p. 473.

"Powerful is the atonement of our blessed Redeemer to procure pardon for the greatest sinner who has been penitent. We have all reason to believe, that amidst numberless infirmities which attend humanity, what the great Judge will chiefly regard, is the prevailing turn of our heart and life, how far we have been actuated by a sincere desire to do our duty. This we know for certain, that all the measures of this judgment shall be conducted with the most perfect equity. God will not exact from any man what he hath never given him. He will judge him according to the degree of light that was afforded him, according to the means of knowledge and improvement that were put into his hands. Hence, many a virtuous Heathen shall be preferred before many mere professors of Christian faith." Blair's Sermons, vol, iv. p. 565.

"When a missionary asked an old Indian chief, 'Why do not you red men, know as much as we white men?' He readily answered, Because you have the great word, and we have not.' but this plea will avail for millions of modern Heathen. Inasmuch, as to them little is given, of them little will

It cannot be doubted,