severity, and at last submitting to an excruciating and ignominious death. Were it possible the heathen could have been saved without the benefit purchased by all this, we can see no reason why the whole world might not have been saved, though ignorant of it; and if the world in general could have been saved without an acquaintance with the more important circumstances in the work of redemption by the cross of Christ, it appears to us there was no necessity whatever for the occurrence of those circumstances; and for the Divine Being to appoint any thing for the accomplishment of certain purposes, which were not necessary, would be inconsistent with his infinite wisdom.

Again, the Supreme Being intended that the gospel of Christ should be promulgated far and wide among the nations of the earth, and intimated to his people, that they were not to shrink from the sacrifice of all their worldly possessions, and even their lives, when such a sacrifice was necessary, in order to the spread of the gospel among the dark places of the earth. And it is only by the special intervention of his providence, that it has acquired so great an ascendancy in different parts of the world. Now, is it at all consistent with the character of Him, who is infinite wisdom, to imagine for a moment, that he should appoint his people to undergo the greatest privations, and submit to the most painful sacrifices; or that he should watch over the interests of Christianity with the utmost vigilance, and should repeatedly pledge himself to defend and prosper it until it has spread through every habitable corner of the world, if there were any other way by which men could be saved than by the knowledge of a crucified Saviour?

That the heathen are in a doubtful state regarding their salvation, appears from the consideration of the Deity's being possessed of infinite love. Had the wisdom of God led him to see the possibility of saving a ruined world, independently of the substitution and death of Christ in our room, his attribute of love would have prevented his own Son from submitting to the smallest degree of degradation or suffering for sinners. God is good to all his creatures, even to the inferior orders of animated existence, and inflicts no measure of suffering on them whatever, save what is necessary for the accomplishment of his secret purposes.— Now, Christ Jesus is his own Son,-his fellow and equal;-consequently, had there been any other possible way by which sinners could be saved, he would never have inflicted on Jesus those excruciating

pains which he was doomed to endure while on earth.

We have no hesitation in affirming, that had the angels of God been able to accomplish the arduous work of redemption, by unitedly experiencing temporary sufferings, he would never have appointed his own Son to suffer and die for apostate man. But neither the sufferings of angels, nor any other method, could effect the salvation of a ruined world; and therefore it was, that Jesus had the important work committed to him. And if sinners could not be saved without the interposition of Emmanuel in their behalf, we may reasonably doubt the salvation of those who live and die in a state of entire ignorance of the efficacy of his atonement; for the scriptures uniformly associate together faith, and an interest in it, with salvation.

We are aware that the advocates of the doctrine of the salvation of the heathen, imagine they have a strong argument in its favour, from this very attribute which we are adducing as rendering their salvation improbable. "Is it consistent," say they, "with the character of Him whose tender mercies are over all his works, to call into existence many millions of human beings, and doom them to eternal misery, without ever having favoured them with the means of salvation?" We answer, it is not for us to explore the mysterious decrees of God: he is sovereign in all the dispensations of his providence and grace; and may have important purposes to answer, from the circumstances in which the heathen are placed, and from their future destiny, whatever it may be, of which we, in the present life, can form no conception. But would it not, we ask, be equally inconsistent with the holiness and justice of the Most High, to make those the subjects of salvation who live and die in a state of the grossest impurity? If, as the scriptures assure us, the love, or mercy, or goodness of God, can never be exercised but in accordancy with his holiness and justice, we can derive no argument whatever for their salvation from his attribute of love.

If those who advocate the doctrine of the salvation of the heathen, can adduce any argument to prove that the heathen commit no sin; we do not mean their acting in opposition to the principles of the gospel ;but if it can be made out that they do not act contrary to the law of nature engraven on their hearts, then we shall admit the force of their reasoning from the love or goodness of God. But knowing as we do, and their consciences bearing them witness, that they have, in innumerable instances,

committed gross iniquities against the righteous requisitions of the law of nature, we do not see any more reason to expect their salvation from the mere goodness or love of God, than to have expected for the same reason the salvation of fallen angels, or the salvation of those who live and die in a state of sin in our own country. The heathen, as has just been observed, have committed sins times and ways without number. And as it respects those who live and die in a state of sin in our own country, might it not be contended, that though their guilt be allowedly greater than that of the heathen, yet, as God certainly foresaw they would commit sin, and reject the offers of salvation, and consequently subject themselves to the punishment due to sin, it was inconsistent with his love or goodness to create and preserve them? The truth is, we have reason to fear, that as thousands eternally ruin themselves by a presumptuous confidence in the mere love or goodness of God, so by trusting to this attribute of his character for the salvation of the heathen, they are labouring under an awful delusion -a delusion which is attended with the worst consequences to the heathen themselves, inasmuch as it has an unavoidable tendency to relax their exertions for spreading the gospel among them.

The Divine Being is unspotted in the purity of his character; and we cannot, on any moral principle, reconcile the doctrine of the salvation of the heathen, as such, with the doctrine of his infinite holiness. That the heathen are sunk deep in moral degradation, is a fact too well attested by their uniform conduct, to be for a moment disputed. Instead of being chargeable with the occasional breach of a part of God's holy law, they are guilty of continually violating every precept it contains. Entirely unacquainted with the true God, or Jesus Christ whom he has sent, but at the same time feeling the remonstrances of a guilty conscience, they foolishly imagine that by paying worship and homage to certain parts of inanimate matter, which they have invested with the name of deity, they are propitiating an offended power, and averting deserved punishment; and thus are guilty of idolatry, than which no transgression can be more heinous in the sight of God. The crime of stealing, and every species of dishonesty, is practised by them to the greatest extent. There is

scarcely a trace observable of the principles of humanity having an existence in their bosoms. The seeds of unmerited revenge spring up in their breasts; and to the most unfeeling and revolting measures of unjust

aggression they have recourse. The atrocious crime of murder is fearfully prevalent among them; they are addicted to the grossest sensuality, and, in a word, to every species of crime which is opposed to the natural and revealed will of God.

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Now, we ask, is it at all consistent with the character of a Being, whose very nature is holiness itself who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity-to make a people the objects of salvation who live and die in this awfully guilty state? If there be any truth in the solemn affirmation, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord, we do not see upon what principle we can scripturally admit the doctrine of the salvation of the heathen as such. If they can be saved without experiencing any sanctifying operations on their hearts, we cannot perceive the force or propriety of those numerous passages of scripture which require holiness of heart and of external conduct; nor do see how they can be prepared for the enjoyments and exercises of the upper sanctuary, without preparatory holiness of mind in time. The man who dies in a state of heathenism, would, if admitted into heaven, feel himself surprised at being in a place, and among a company, of which he had never any idea before; and instead of enjoying the unmixed felicity reserved for all the inhabitants of that blessed place, it would rather be to him the source of extreme misery. There may be some measure of consistency in the creed of the Papist, who admits the doctrine of the salvation of the heathen; for he believes in a state of purgatory, in which the souls of the departed are purified and prepared for heaven; but the principles of orthodox Protestantism, and the doctrine of the salvation of the heathen as such, appear to us to be at irreconcilable variance.

The Divine Being is further represented as possessed of infinite justice. His throne is said to be established with justice and judgment: "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." The Judge of all the earth is represented in scripture as being, from his very nature, laid under a moral necessity to do right. His decisions, whether of acquittal or of condemnation, must consequently be made according to the most rigid equity. Now, if, as the scriptures aver, Jehovah shall judge every man according to his deeds, and if certain specified sins with which the heathen are chargeable, deserve everlasting punishment, then we maintain it would be wholly inconsistent with the justice of God to save them, without the application of an adequate atonement previously made for their

transgressions. But surely it will never be supposed that the excruciating penances to which the heathen submit, can constitute a satisfactory expiation of their guilt in the sight of God. Sin is an evil of such a nature, as can only be expiated by a sacrifice of infinite value; and as the heathen are quite incapable of offering such an atonement, it is, according to all appearances, most reasonable to conclude, that as heathen they cannot be saved. There never was but one satisfactory atonement made to the injured law and justice of God; and those only can be saved who are interested therein by the influence of the divine Spirit, leading those who hear the gospel to the exercise of an appropriating faith in the merits of him by whom it was made. It is in this way only that God can be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly.

To evade the force of this reasoning, it has been contended by some, that "though the heathen live and die in a state of utter theoretical ignorance of Christ and his atonement, yet they will be saved by some method unknown to us, in virtue of the blood of Emmanuel." This, without all doubt, is the only way in which we can conceive the salvation of any among them to be possible; but taking the sacred scriptures for our guide, this approximates to a gratuitous assumption, but scantily supported by clear and explicit proof. The scriptures, in their general tenor, invariably connect salvation with the knowledge of Christ, and faith in him. There is not the slightest intimation given throughout the whole Bible, of a single individual being saved, without the efficacy of that grace which a knowledge of Christianity, and faith in Christ, impart.

To suppose that a sinner can be saved in a state of heathenism, is the same as to suppose that he can be saved without the aids of the Holy Spirit; or that the Holy Spirit works savingly in the hearts of sinners in some other way than through means of the truth as it is in Jesus: either of which suppositions appears to be quite repugnant to every precept of the Bible, and to be quite derogatory to the character of God, the character of Christ, and the character of the Holy Spirit. To maintain that the heathen, as such, are the objects of salvation, is to maintain that they are led to heaven blindfolded, without so much as knowing there is such a place, or that they were on the way thither a mode of procedure this, which we cannot reasonably believe to be ever employed by God, in his dealings with his rational creatures.

Further, to contend for the salvation of

the heathen in their heathenish state, is to maintain there is some other way of salvation than that pointed out to us in the oracles of God." The scriptures, on this point, mention the knowledge of Christ, and faith in him, as indispensably necessary to it; nor can we discover from one end of revelation to the other, the darkest hint of a bare possibility of salvation, without that grace which the gospel brings to guilty man. As there is but one Saviour, so, we are convinced, there is but one way of salvation by him. To adopt, therefore, the doctrine of the salvation of the heathen, would be inconsistent with the reverence which is due to revealed truth: it would be to subject ourselves to the fearful charge of bringing in another gospel, which is no gospel, and thus subverting the gospel of Christ.

That repentance is a duty of the utmost importance, and absolutely necessary to salvation, cannot for a moment be doubted by those who have ever opened their Bibles. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish," is a doctrine which we find inculcated throughout the whole word of God. Under the Old Testament dispensation, the faithful prophets of the Lord preached the doctrine of repentance as the first duty, to the performance of which sinners should betake themselves in order to their salvation. The same order is uniformly observed by Christ and his apostles in their ministrations among the children of men.

Now, it appears that the heathen, as such, are incapable of experiencing_that repentance enjoined in the gospel. There is, indeed, a certain species of repentance of which they are capable, denominated by divines a legal repentance; or a certain remorse of conscience arising from a conviction of moral delinquency, and an apprehension of its direful consequences; but it is unaccompanied with any hatred of sin on its own account, or in reference to the dishonour it does to the Almighty. The repentance which the gospel enjoins as necessary to salvation, is designated by the apostle Paul a godly sorrow for sin, and is produced in the soul by the special operations of the Holy Spirit. Now, the heathen appear to be wholly incapable, in their present state, of experiencing this evangelical or godly sorrow for sin; and, consequently, we have reason to fear the worst respecting their future destiny. How can they be grieved and humbled on account of the dishonour their sins have done to the character of God, since, if uninfluenced by his Spirit, they live and die utterly ignorant of him? Or how can they cherish the expectation of favour and forgiveness through

the merits of Christ, when they have never heard either of his obedience, sufferings, or death, or even of his name?

The next condition in the order of time, the fulfilment of which is necessary to salvation, is faith in Christ. In the same sentence in which sinners are commanded to repent, they are enjoined to believe the gospel, which expression is synonymous with faith in Christ. If there be one doctrine in the whole compass of revelation which occupies a greater prominency than another, it is the doctrine of the absolute necessity of faith in Christ in order to salvation. We are again and again assured by Jesus himself, that he that believeth shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. And when, a short time previous to his ascension, he commissioned his disciples to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, he instructed them to announce to all who should hear their messages of mercy, that "he that believeth shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." In the subsequent history of the apostles' labours, we are presented with frequent proofs of the fidelity with which they discharged this part of the sacred injunction of their risen Lord. Indeed, the doctrine of the absolute necessity of faith in Christ constituted the chief theme of their ministrations.

Now, if, agreeably to the divine record, whosoever believeth not on Christ is already in a state of condemnation, and shall finally perish, unless we suppose the above conditions, injunctions, and denunciations inapplicable to them, we see every reason to doubt the salvation of the heathen. It is morally impossible they can believe in Jesus, for they have never heard of the volume of revelation; and there is no other way by which an historical knowledge of him can be obtained. The apostle Paul seems to argue, on this very ground, the improbability of their salvation. After stating, that he that believeth in his heart in Christ Jesus, and his resurrection, shall be saved, he proceeds to infer the utter impossibility of their believing in him of whom they had never heard; and, consequently, according to the generally accredited rules of sound reasoning, their salvation, to say the least of it, must be exceedingly improbable.

But we proceed to remark, that in order to salvation, it is absolutely necessary that sinners be regenerated, or born again. The doctrine of the indispensable necessity of the new-birth in order to eternal life, is every where insisted on throughout the oracles of truth. David repeatedly and

most urgently prays, that God would "create a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within him." The prophets inculcate the same doctrine; and the language of our Lord, and of his apostles, is too unequivocal to be misunderstood.

Now, it appears that the salvation of the heathen must be very improbable; for, without supernatural aid, they are quite incapable of being made the subjects of regeneration. It is a change of a spiritual and extensive nature; it affects the whole man, heart and life; it is a radical renovation of the will, the affections, the sentiments, the desires, the pursuits; and where the gospel is preached, this can only be effected by the agency of the Spirit, through the instrumentality of the knowledge of the truth. But as the heathen are in a state of total ignorance of the truth as it is in Jesus, we conclude them to be ineligible to regeneration through the instrumentality of the written word, as required in the gospel. Of the truth of this latter observation, the past history of heathen nations furnish us with indubitable evidence.

It is further necessary in order to salvation, that sinners be sanctified in heart and life; for we are expressly assured, that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." The holiness necessary to salvation can be produced in the mind by no other agency than that of the Divine Spirit; and this is ordinarily through the means of the word: "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth."

Now it must be obvious, that the heathen are incapable of the holiness required through the word, in order to salvation. They are ignorant of the Divine Being, to whose image they are directed to be conformed-of Him, whose conduct is held forth as their pattern to imitate-and of the word of truth, through means of which it is produced. Their whole lives are spent in the commission of every species of iniquity, which could render them guilty in the sight of God, and expose them to his awful displeasure. Such are some of the conditions, the fulfilment of which, the scriptures assure us, is indispensably necessary in order to salvation; and which, as the heathen, from the circumstances in which they are placed, are incapable of fulfilling, appear to render their salvation extremely improbable.

It is urged by the advocates of the salvation of the heathen, that "though the conditions which have first been mentioned, are the only conditions on which those within the pale of Christianity can be saved, yet the heathen shall be saved by the law of nature; for," continue they, "if the heathen

are to be doomed to everlasting misery in consequence of their non-fulfilment of the conditions required in the gospel, we might on the same principle argue the impossibility of the salvation of infants."

In reply to this, it may be simply remarked, that between the case of infants and that of the heathen there is the greatest difference. If the salvation of the heathen can be made out from the scriptures, to be as probable as the salvation of infants, the writer will at once abandon the grounds which he has taken, and admit that the preceding arguments, and those which may follow, are wholly destitute of force. In the case of infants, we have not merely to proceed on inferential reasonings, but have what appears to be an express declaration that they shall be saved; while in the case of the heathen, we cannot perceive one single inferential argument, or positive precept, in the Bible, to lead us to believe in the doctrine of their salvation merely by the law of nature.

Unconscious infants are not merely incapable, from moral and physical causes, of fulfilling the gospel conditions of salvation; but it does not appear that these conditions, or any other, could be required of them. They, properly speaking, have no sin of which to repent; and, consequently, as they are incapable of faith in Christ to salvation, so it is not necessary on their parts. Being wholly incapable of moral responsibility for their personal actions, and, as we are assured from the character of God, and the express declarations of his word, that the Judge of all the earth must do right, we do not see upon what principle of equity they could be appointed to misery. Besides, is it at all reasonable to suppose, that the gracious Saviour of men, who, while in this world, took up little children in his arms, and pronounced his benediction on them, should, on the day of judgment, doom them to everlasting misery?

Nor is this all, we are moreover assured by the same benevolent Being, that, unless we "become as little children, we can in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven;" an assertion which evidently intimates that they were fit subjects of salvation, and also the necessity of similar dispositions on the part of those of more advanced years, who should be admitted to the paradise above. To this evidence of the salvation of infants, may be added the express declaration of Christ. When his disciples remonstrated with those parents, who in the days of his ministry brought their children to him, the Divine Saviour graciously intimated to them

COMPENDIUM OF GEOLOGY.-NO. III.

(Continued from col. 167.)

A ROCK of prodigious maguitude lies beneath the regular strata of the earth, which is not itself stratified, but crystalline, both in its component parts and in its structure; and wherever it rises above the earth's surface, the other strata lean towards it; and the inclined planes of strata immediately adjoining thereto, are greatly elevated; while the inclined planes of other strata incumbent upon these, are, in succession, gradually less, and less elevated; until at length a stratum succeeds which is perfectly level, or horizontal, being a segment of a circle, the circumference of which would enclose our sphere. The rock first noted is called granite. Probably this rock has its name from its structure, being composed of grains, or small crystals, throughout. Upon what foundation this vast rock rests, it is impossible even to conjecture; but this foundation must be exceedingly firm, because the magnitude of granite rocks at the earth's surface, and their elevation above the surface, seeing they form the highest mountains in Europe, rank them with the hugest masses of this sphere; and as they do not lean, like the strata, against any other rock, much less have incumbency upon any one, they must bear with their whole weight, in a perpendicular direction, upon whatever foundation they

stand.

Granite is a compound of crystals; and the most prevalent are crystals of felspar, quartz, and mica; the less prevalent, crystals of hornblende. These crystals are so firmly united into one mass, that, although every portion of this rock is composed of three or more distinct crystals, it is one of the hardest rocks in creation; and this firmness apparently arises out of a second crystallization of these crystals into masses, which masses form the rock. In some specimens of this rock, the grains or crystals of which it is composed are so minute, that it assumes the appearance of a sandstone; while in others the crystals are so large, that it excites wonder how the firmness of the rock is maintained; and in