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and perplexing difficulties , from which it ha $ happily delivered u $ . UnjtQ us the word of this salvation hath been seat ; and it becomes us to be truly grateful for this unspeakable gift , which has opened to us the most glorious prospects beyond the grave , and has furnished U 9 with the most effectual consolation amidst the afflictions and bereavements of the present life , Th ^
knowledge of these things , and the power of tracing and admiring the Divine wisdom and goodness displayed in so conducting the Jewish and Christian dispensations as to procure for us this knowledge , are alone privi- * lege enough to distinguish us from the rest of mankind , and to call for all the gratitude we can express or feel for the most excellent of God ' s gifts to his rational offspring , without its being imagined that the heavenly inheritance is to be theirs alone who have been Christians here . The salvation
itself is not sent to us exclusively ; in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth were to be blessed ; and there is nothing in the terms of the gospel message or the Christian covenant which in any degree limits its advantages to those to whom these terms have been formally made known . Nay , I would go further , and contend that it must have not only a universal , but a retrospective reference to those holy men who enjoyed the light of the Mosaic dispensation , and even to multitudes who being without the law were a
law unto themselves , and did by nature the things contained in the law . I make no doubt , therefore , that the true disciple of Christ in that blessed region will meet not only with saints , apostles , and martyrs , but with patriarchs , prophets , and philosophers ; with David and Isaiah 9 with Socratesand Xenophon , and many worthies more , who lived up to the light which was afforded them , and will doubtless be admitted hereafter to a participation of great advantages .
The fair conclusion then seems to be , that this remarkable fact in the history of Christianity of the limitation to a small portion of the human race , not of the benefits of the gospel , but of a knowledge of those benefits and of the means of moral and religious improvement consequent upon that know- ; ledge , is analogous to the general course of Providence in the distribution of moral as well as of physical advantages among mankind . None of these are enjoyed in an equal extent by all , and by far the greater number are
confined in their operation to a comparatively small proportion of the species . That the same thing should be observable in the publication and limited spread of the gospel is therefore no peculiar objection to Christianity . The objector may , if he pleases , attempt to shew that it would have been better if the world had been so ordered as to afford equal opportunities to all mankind ; we deem it enough to reply that no such equality of distribution seems to have entered into the counsels of tile Divine government . But this is an argument with which the Christian advocate as such has no concern .
We may , however , perhaps be allowed to speculate a little on this subject , and to indulge in some conjectures as to the manner in which the apparent ; or real inequalities which at present prevail may hereafter be so balanced , as to vindicate to the most captious sceptic the wisdom and justice of God , and to exhibit him in all the amiable perfections of his character as in an equal degree the common Father of all his offspring . The present state , we are
well assured , is only the commencement of a vast and interminable career , in which the opening powers of minds , as yet but in their infancy , may fin 4 through countless ages of unceasing and accelerated progress , full scope to expatiate and unfold all their mightiest energies . Hence it is impossible for us to affirm with confidence that those who have enjoyed the fewest advantages here for moral and religious improvement , or who have bsen placed ,
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Limited Spread of Christianity no Objection to its Divine Authority . 659
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1830, page 659, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2589/page/3/
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