he will call them in again, to answer the same purpose. The time is coming when all nations shall be converted. But this great and desirable event is to be brought about, by the instrumentality of the gospel. This is plainly and repeatedly predicted in the scripture.--Paul, speaking upon this subject, declares, "There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." If all nations are ever converted, it must be by the spread of the gospel, and the diffusion of divine knowl-. edge. Hence the universal spread of the gospel is connected with the universal conversion of the heathen nations, in the revelation of John. "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people?" Thus it appears, that so long as God withholds the gospel from the heathen nations, so long they will remain in a perishing condition, and there can be no hope of their salvation.

IMPROVEMENT.

1. If God will not save the heathens, who are destitute of the gospel, then we have no reason to think he will save the Jews, while they disbelieve the gospel. The gentiles were given up for rejecting the true knowledge of God, and the Jews were broken off

for rejecting the true knowledge of Christ. And so long as they continue to reject Christ, as the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world, there is no reason to think, that God will show mercy to them. Though they have uniformly and tenaciously maintained their belief in the divine inspiration and authority of the Old Testament; though they profess to believe and obey the laws of Moses; though they do externally obey those laws, as the Scribes and Pharisees did ;--yet this affords no good evidence, that God will accept their services and save them from suffering that eternal death, which they deserve, and from which he cannot consistently save them, on any other ground than the atonement of Christ. We are constrained to believe this, by what Christ expressly said to them on this subject; "Except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." The Jews, ever since their dispersion, have been more or less of them mixed with christian, as well as with heathen nations, and have had opportunities of hearing and reading the gospel, and of examining the arguments, by which christian writers maintain the divinity of Christ and the fundamental truths of the gospel; but this is no excuse, but a great aggravation of their unbelief of the gospel. It demonstrates, that they both see and hate both Christ and his Father, which is a tenfold aggravation of their obstinate infidelity. So Christ said of their fathers; "If I had not come, and spoken unto them, they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin." Though the Jews were once addicted to idolatry; yet ever since their captivity in Babylon, they have become more bigoted to their own religion, than any other nation in the world. They have generally

rejected deism, and almost universally rejected heathen ism, Mahometanism, and christianity; and amidst all the national revolutions in which they have been involved for ages, they have rigidly adhered to Judaism. They are more opposed to christianity, than to any other religion; just as the heathens are more opposed to their religion, than to any other, which is not so unsocial. If the Jews were not extremely blind and obstinate, it seems as though they would readily believe the gospel; for they have the law in their hands, which was designed and calculated to be a school master, to bring men to Christ, that they might be justified by faith. Both the moral and ceremonial law show the necessity of an atonement for sin, and the moral impossibility of sinners being saved, without their renouncing their self-righteousness, and relying alone upon the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Paul told the Jews that they must perish, if they rejected Christ. Brethren, my hearts desire, and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." There is no reason to believe, that God will now, any more than in the apostle's day, save the Jews so long as they abide in unbelief of the gospel.

2. If God will not save the heathens, who are destitute of the gospel; then we have no reason to believe, that he will save atheists, deists, and those, who deny the fundamental principles of christianity. There have been some men in the world, who have called them

selves atheists and have been called so by others.--They have openly denied, that there is an eternal, selfexistent Being, who has created, upholds, and governs all things in the natural and moral world. They have not only denied the existence of the only living and true God, but employed their learning and ingenuity to disprove his existence. There have been many men in the christian world, who have acknowledged the be ing of God, but denied the inspiration and authenticity of the bible. These have been called deists. Among these, there have been men of celebrity for learning and talents, which they have of often displayed in their infidel writings. And there is another and more numerous class of men among nominal christians, who profess to believe the existence of the Deity, and the inspiration of the scriptures, but deny many, if not all the peculiar and fundamental doctrines of the gospel. These are called, by the orthordox, heretics. It must be acknowledged, that some atheists, some deists, and some heretics, exhibit a fair, moral character, superior talents, great erudition, and are extensively useful in civil society. But can we suppose, that God will give up the terms of salvation, which he has proposed in the gospel, in favor of such men, any more than we can suppose, that he will give up the terms of salvation, in favor of learned and virtuous heathens. The heathens are undoubtedly as sincere in their idolatrous notions, as atheists, deists, and other erroneous men are in their heretical and unscriptural, and absurd opinions. Atheists, deists, and heretics are far more criminal, than heathens; for they resist greater light, violate stronger obligations, and exercise greater enmity and opposition to God, to Christ, to the Holy

Spirit; and to the highest good of the universe, than heathens do, or can do, in their dark and unenlightened condition. Accordingly, the apostle expressly declares that such as become atheists, deists, and heretics under the full blaze of gospel light, shall be doomed with heathens to endless punishment. He says "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." If the ignorance of the heathens, who know not God, will not save them from future and everlasting punishment, much less will the knowledge of infidels and heretics save them from the same fearful doom. There is no other name given under heaven among men, whereby any can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ. No other foundation can any man lay, than that which God has laid in Christ, for the salvation of sinners; and whoever build on any other foundation will find it will fail and involve them in hopeless ruin. To deny the fundamental principles of the gospel in any way, is inseparably connected with eternal destruction.

3. If God will not save the heathens, who are ignorant of the gospel, then we have no reason to imagine, that he will save any under the gospel, merely on the ground of their external obedience, morality, or virtue. There is reason to fear, that there are a great many under the light of the gospel, who are whited sepulchres, and who appear beautiful unto men, and unto themselves, whose hearts are far from God, and totally unreconciled to his character and opposed to the humiliat