HEATHEX
122
HEAVElSr
aU possible hope of pardon, ami are not in a salvable po- sition in their present circumstances, is to offend the moral sense of tlie thou!,'htful men as well as that of the common multitude. It is worse than denying that an atonement has been made for all mankind, and restrict- in-,' it to the elect alone; for that doctrine, however theo- retically untrue, is saved from much of its practical evil by our" inability to point out the elect in advance, so that our liopes"are not cut off for any particular man. But tliis tlieory points to actual masses of men, to the entire popidation of whole countries, and dooms them to a necessary perdition with no present hope of pardon; and it extends this judgment backwards to generations in the past who are represented as having had no share in that mercy which we have such reason to believe to be universal" in its offers. Such a theory practically denies the di\-ine grace by suspending its exercise, so far as the heathen (the majority of the human race) are concerned, upon the action of those already enlightened. It ilcclares that there is no possible mercy for the hea- tlien unless Christians choose to carry the Gospel to tlicm. Does it seem rational, or in harmony with the universahty and freedom of God's grace, that the only possibility of salvation for the mass of mankind should be suspended, not on anything within their control, but on the conduct of men on the opposite side of the globe? By such representations the minds of men are shocked, and a reaction takes place, which is unfavorable not only to the cause of missions, but to evangelical religion as well. They are led to think of evangelical reUgion as a severe, gloomy, remorseless system, which represents God as without mercy, or which confines that mercy within an exceedingly narrow compass. By describing the salvation of pagans as absolutely impossible, an in- fluence is exerted in favor of universj.lism and infideli- ty." The writer further asserts that no passage in the Biljle asserts this theor\', nor does any doctrine of the Bible imply it. John Wesley's views on this subject are givea in his sermon on Liviiif/ without God, from wliich we extract the following : " I have no authoritv from the AVord of God to 'judge those that are without.' nf>r do I conceive that any man has a right to sentei.eo all the heathen and Jlohammedan world to damnation" ( ]V(n-ti, N. Y. ed. ii, 485). Again, the Minutes of Aug. 8. ]77(», declare that "lie that foareth (lod and worketh righteousness, according to the liglit he has, is accepted of (Jod." For this Wesley was attacked by Shirley and others, and defended 1)y Fletcher, in his First Check to A ntinomidnism (New York edit.), i, 41. See, besides the works above cited, Watson, Thcolofi. Instilntat, ii, 445 ; Whatcly, F;/i'?/?-e67o/<', p. 207; ('(.nsianl. I ><■ I,i UiVxiUm (I!riixeijcs, 1824); Kongemonf. /.r /',//;,/, I'rhniiif (Vax- is, l.s.-,5-57,3 vols.8vo) ; Presscns.;, ///x/. r/,.s- Tril^ Pre- miers Siec/es de Fer/lise, vol. i ; translated under the title The Relifiiom before Christ (Edinb. 1802. 8vo) ; Scpp, Das //eirlenth ii m '( Kegensl ). 1 85:i. .'! vol s.^ : :\I n uri ce. /?<7/y- ions of the U'orlil ( liostoii. is,",!, is, no); Trciicli. //i/hr'an J.erti'ires for 18.|(i ( I'bil.'Klcl. Is.'.n. li'moi: Wull kc f/r xr/^ f/ft9.'/MV/,„//„/„w,etc.(]!ic.-l. l,s:,;j,,Svo); U MAwi^k, Christ ami o/hrr Masters (1855, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Schaff, Apostol. Church. |). 1 ;;0 s(|. ; Scholten, Cesch. d. lielif/ion v. Philoso- phic (l^ll.erf. 180X. Svo); I'fleiderer, Die lielifjion, ihr We- sen vndihre Ceschichic (Leijisic, 18(59,2 vols. 8vo); Diil- linger. The deuli/c ami the Jew in the Courts of the Tem- yr o/7 7; r/.v7, trans, liy Darnell (Lond. 18(;2, 2 'vols. 8 vo) ; A\ Unti^h lierieu; December, 18(;7, art. i ; Baring-(;ould. Orirjin ami Development ofReliyious Belief (Lond. I8G9I 70, 2 vols. 8vo).
Heathenism. See Paganism,
Heaven. There is, says Daubuz, a threefold world, and therefore a threefold lieaven— the iurisiMc, the ris- iUe, and the political among men, which last may be e-.ther ciril or ecclesiastical. \\'e sliall consider these in the inverse order.
A. Terrestrially and Figuratireli/ rer/arded. — Wherever the sciiie of a prophetic vision is laid, heaven signifies symboliciilly the ruling power or government ; that is,
tl e v.hole assembly of the riding powers, which, in re- spect to the subjects on earth, are a political heaven, be- ing over and ruling the subjects, as the natural heaven stands over and rules the earth. Thus, according to the subject, is the term to be limited; and therefore Artem- idorus, writing in the times of the Eoman emperors, makes Italy to be the heaven : " As heaven," says he, " is the abode of gods, so is Italy of kings." The Chi- nese call tlieir monarch Tiencu, the son of heaven, mean- ing thereby the most powerful monarch. And thus, in Matt, xxiv, 30, heaven is synonjTnous to poivers and (jlo- ry ; and when Jesus says, '■ The powers of the heaven shall be shaken," it is easy to conceive that he meant that the kingdoms of the world should be overthrown to submit to his kingdom. Any government is a world ; and therefore, in Isa. Ii, 15, IG, heaven and earth signify a p)olitical universe, a kingdom or polity. In Isa. Ixv, 17, a new lieaven and a new earth signify a new government, new kingdom, new people. — Wemyss, s. v. See Heav- en AND Eakth.