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OBJECTION FROM THE NUMBERS THAT HAVE NEVER HEARD

OF CHRIST, ANSWERED.

Again it has been objected, that ever since the coming of Christ a large portion of the world has known nothing of him; and that at the present moment, upwards of eighteen hundred years since his birth, there are multitudes in various parts of the globe who have never so much as heard of his name, or having heard of it, have never been instructed in the knowledge of his laws, or in the nature and principles of his faith. These things considered, are there, it is asked, in a counsel thus partial and restricted any proofs or indications of Divine wisdom?

To this objection we reply; we consider that God's covenant embraces the whole world-that Christ" is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe-"* that the grace dispensed by the second Adam extends as far as the mischief occasioned by the first Adam-and that as faith in Christ cannot be expected from those who have never heard of him, or to whom he has not been sufficiently evidenced, there is something which God for his sake will accept in the room of such faith, namely, a virtuous and

* 1 Timothy, iv. 10.

conscientious obedience to the law written in their hearts. "When the Gentiles," says St. Paul, "which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.” * And his argument is, that both Jews and Gentiles would be tried by the law which they knew," in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ."* "Without the death of Christ," observes Bishop Horne, no flesh could have been saved. But who can say to how many or 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.”

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REFLECTIONS.

It has now been shewn that the one only God has existed from all eternity-that at some

* Romans, ii. 14–16.

period of that eternity he created the angelsthat some of these angels rebelled against him, and were cast down to hell, and delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment-that, although it is impossible for our finite intellects to comprehend the nature and depth of his foreknowledge, it is, no doubt, perfectly reconcileable with the fall of angels and of man-that the redemption of mankind, and the mode of it, were appointed in the Divine councils before the foundation of the world- that the grace, thus foreordained, began to operate as soon as the transgression was committed that, although Christ did not come till a late period, an early promise of his appearing was vouchsafed, subsequent preparations made for it, and prophetic notices given of it, (as will be more fully shewn hereafter) and that, although the offering of his righteousness and the shedding of his blood were delayed till the fulness of time, their efficacy, as it reaches forward unto the end, also reaches back unto the beginning, embracing all ages and nations, and extending as far, according to the dispensation under which men live, as the mischiefs of Adam's transgression.

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The main object of this chapter has been to

shew that the redemption of mankind was designed by the Almighty before the foundation of the world.

In the following pages it will, it is hoped, be made appear that there was a regular succession of arrangements through a period of four thousand years for the coming of the promised Redeemer; and that those arrangements were so extraordinary in their nature, and so connected together in the promotion of one great design, a design embracing the salvation of the world, and consequently the discomfiture of the wicked angels and the triumphs of a holy God, that they could have been made only by him who alone, seeing through all ages and foreknowing all events, could form, carry on, and mature so vast and complicated a plan, preserving its unity and consistency through numerous generations, and exhibiting it at last, after a growth of so many thousand years, as a work gradually raised to perfection, and displaying the various and distinct marks that were added to it at different times by the Divine hand.

Wonderful indeed and gracious is the Divine counsel for the redemption of the world, as laid open to us in the sacred Scriptures !—and truly wise is he who applies the powers of his mind and the desires of his heart to make himself

acquainted with it; for he will thereby, the more he knows and the further he sees, learn to lift up his soul unto God with increasing thankfulness and gratitude for the mercies he has received, and the blessings which he perceives are in store for him, if he continue steadfast in the faith of Christ and in obedience to his laws. A diligent study of the operations and mercies of God in Christ Jesus, and a frequent meditation upon them in all humility of spirit and teachableness of disposition, and with fervent prayer to be led into all truth, have a direct tendency to enrich the soul, to enlighten the mind, to purify the heart, to elevate the thoughts, to delight the imagination, to clothe the moral man with heavenly attire while he is upon earth, and to prepare him for being invested with the glorious robes of honour in the courts of heaven.

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