The question of the salvation of the heathen has been a subject of much discussion. "The great body of the Jews, from the earliest ages, denied salvation to the heathen on the principle extra ecclesiam noii dari salu- tim. But this is entirely opposed both to the Old Tes- tament and to the spirit of Christianity. Even Mo- hammed did not go to this degree of exclusiveness. Nor did the more ancient Grecian fathers deny salvation to the heathen, although they philosophized about it after their manner. E. g. J ustin Jlartyr and Clement of ,\lexandria held that the Aoyoc exerted an agency upon the heathen by means of reason, and that the heathen philosophers were called, justified, and saved by philosophy. But afterwards, especially after the 3d century, when the false Jewish notions respecting the Church were introduced mto the West, and the maxim was adopted. Extra ecclesiam non dari salutem (which was the case after the age of Augustine), they then be- gan to deny the salvation of the heathen, though there were always some who judged more favorably. Thus
Zwingle, Curio, and others believed that God would pardon the heathen on account of Christ, although in this life they had no knowledge of his merits. See the historical account in Beykert's Diss. I)e salute gentium (Strasburg, 1777), and a short statement of the opinions of others in Morus, p. 128, 129, where he justly recom- mends to our imitation the exemplary modesty of the apostles when speaking on this point. The whole sub- ject was investigated anew on occasion of the violent attack which Hof'stede, a preacher in Holland, made upon the Belisaire of JMarmontel. This gave rise to Eberhard's Aj)<i/i>f/i(^ dc Socrdti-s. Compare also Tollner, Beweis das^ Gott die Metmeltcii auch durch seine Offeii- baruiif) ill der Naturzur Seli()keit fiihre" (Knapp, Chris- tian fheoloyy, § 121). " The truth seems to be this, that none of the heathens will be condemned for not believing the Gospel, but they are liable to condemna- tion for the breach of God's natiu-al law ; nevertheless, if there be any of them in whom there is a prevailing love to the Divine Being, there seems reason to believe that, for the sake of Christ, though to them imknown, they may be accepted by God; and so much the rather, as the ancient Jews, and even the apostles, during the time of our Saviour's abode on earth, seem to have had but little notion of those doctrines which those who deny the salvability of the heathen are most apt to im- agine to be fundamental. Comp. Rom. ii, 10, 26 ; Acts x, 34, 35; Matt, viii, 11, 12; 1 John ii, 2" (Doddridge, Lectures on Divinity, lect. 172). The question is very ably treated in an article on " The true Theory of Mis- sions" in the Bihliotheca Sacra, July, 1858. The writer states that the extreme evangelical theory, which as- sumes the certain damnation of all who have not learned the name and faith of Christ, is " the accepted theory of the Komish Church, and of a part of the Protestant Church, perhaps of the majority of the latter." He adds in a note the following : " The Presbyterian Con- fession of Faith (chap, x, § 4) uses language of remark- able boldness on this point, saying, ' Others not elect- ed, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved; much less can men not professing the Christian religion be saved in any other way whatever, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light ofiiature and the law of that religion they do profiess; and to assert and maintain that they may is very pernicious and to be detested.' This is sufficiently positive, especially as it contradicts both our Saviour"^ and the apostle Paul. It represents heathen who live according to their light as ' much less' able to be saved than men Avho hear the Gospel and re- ject it, thus directly contradicting our Saviour, who de- clared that those who rejected his words would receive a heavier condemnation than even the depraved, unre- pentant inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, or Tyre and Sidon (Matt, xi, 20-24). The ' Confession of Faith' declares the salvation of conscientious heathen to be ' much less' possible than that of unbelieving hearers of the Gospel; while Christ asserts that even the most flagrant sinners of the heathen shall find it ' more toler- able' in the day of judgment than such unbelievers. Equally at variance with the ' Confession of Faith' is the declaration of Paul in Rom. ii, 14, 26, 27, in which he shows how those ' having not the law may be a law unto themselves,' and how their ' uncircumcision shall be counted for circumcision. " . . . " The facts of human history and the declarations of the Bible alike declare that mercy is a prominent attribute of the divine char- acter, and that this world is for some reason, known or unknown, under its care. We cannot, therefore, resist the conviction— it is an affirmation of the moral sense of all men— that, guilty though the hiunan race may be, and deserving of destruction, yet every man lives under a dispensation of mercy, and has an opportunity for salvation. To assert gravely, then, that the hea- then who have never heard of Christ are shut out from