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 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED BY THE REV. J. H. RYLANCE, D.D., 
 
 IN 
 
 ST. MARK’S CHURCH, NEW YORK, 
 
 December 12th, 1886. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 $cur -$torfc: 
 
 JAMES POTT & CO., PUBLISHERS. 
 1887. 
 
(Drtl)obojq) anb tl)c ijcatljcn. 
 
 A SERMON. 
 
 “ The desire of all nations shall come.” — H aggai ii., 7. 
 
 Or — tlie things desired by all nations shall come ; 
 which is a truer rendering of the original, probably. 
 
 Pagan poets and philosophers were ever looking 
 back, it has been said, on a golden age past. The 
 golden age of Hebrew prophets was ever before them. 
 Throughout the Jewish Scriptures we find promises of 
 a better day for the world ; of the coming of a Teacher 
 of truth, of a Deliverer from sin, of a King who should 
 rule in righteousness. Hope of this better day was 
 kept alive among the Jews by a succession of inspired 
 teachers, and by symbolic rites ; expectation growing 
 stronger, and the prospect brighter, as the time for 
 their realization drew near. 
 
 In these thino-s the descendants of Abraham were 
 
 O 
 
 favored above all other peoples. We commonly limit 
 our thoughts of God’s moral dealings with mankind 
 therefore to them, to the Jews; deeming all heathen 
 nations outcasts from the circle of His sympathy. Yet 
 were heathen men the children of the Father in heaven 
 also, though on a lower level of status and privilege than 
 “ the chosen race.” Blind, and debased, and desper- 
 
2 
 
 ORTHODOXY AND TnE HEATHEN. 
 
 ately wicked often, were the peoples that knew not 
 God ; but in all nations above the imbruted condition, 
 the workings of a moral reason and conscience were 
 visible ; traditions of a lost heritage survived ; yearn- 
 ings after deliverance from the disorder and misery of 
 their condition were felt by multitudes of men, who 
 nevertheless knew no sure way of escape ; while ex- 
 amples of a noble, positive virtue were frequent in the 
 Pagan world ; and that spite of terrible disadvantages 
 in moral condition. Having no “ direct ” revelation of 
 the mind and will of the divine Father, heathen men 
 deciphered as best they could the intimations of Na- 
 ture, and the intuitions of the soul ; the wisest among 
 them attaining, however, to faith in God, and to a 
 “ natural piety.” 
 
 That is a more favorable estimate of the heathen, I 
 know, than has been held and taught by a rigid “ or- 
 thodoxy.” Evangelical systems of theology, notably 
 that of John Calvin, have consigned all heathen peo- 
 ples to eternal perdition, without discrimination as to 
 their moral deservings. But some of Calvin’s theolog- 
 ical children have been timidly hinting of late, that 
 this wholesale condemnation of myriads of men, simply 
 because they were born beyond certain geographical 
 lines, is unreasonable and incredible. Hence consider- 
 able stir just now in the ecclesiastical air; a so-called 
 “ New Theology ” holding, that, if not by the “way of 
 salvation” as we know it, then by some other way, 
 will all good men out of the Pagan world, be gathered 
 into the family of God in the life to come. But the 
 doctrine is vehemently condemned by our evangelical 
 Scribes and Pharisees as treasonable to the truth of 
 
ORTHODOXY AND THE HEA THEN. 
 
 3 
 
 Christ’s Gospel. Let us hope that the Scribes are 
 wrong, as they so often have been ; believing that there 
 is more mercy in God than there is in them. 
 
 For the thought were intolerable, that the moral 
 nobility and beauty of character which were once vis- 
 ible in the lives of Pagan saints and sages, are fit 
 only for burning. Among them were men whose tem- 
 perance, and purity, and magnanimity, and charity, 
 would put to shame a good deal of our Christian vir- 
 tue. And surely the Spirit of God was at work in the 
 minds and hearts of such men, though they knew not 
 whence the inspiration came. Heathen peoples were 
 intensely religious ; but in a blindly blundering way 
 often. And what surprises us not a little, on becoming 
 acquainted with their sacred books and customs, is the 
 discovery of how much there is in common in them with 
 what we find in our Bible. In all forms of religious 
 worship worthy of regard, among Gentiles as among 
 Jews, we find four great institutions in honor: — sacri- 
 fices; a 'priesthood ; holy places ; and sacred seasons. 
 Glance at the first for a moment. How wonderful 
 that we come upon sacrifices everywhere ; and in all 
 ages : not only among savages, but among peoples 
 highly refined. One would be inclined to say, there- 
 fore, that the custom of offering sacrifices was not the 
 creature of any sort of imposture ; but that it sprang 
 from some universally-felt want in men. Wherever 
 we meet with it, it is the expression of the most sol- 
 emn fears and hopes of human hearts ; bearing every- 
 where the same general features, and having before it 
 the same great aims. To win favor with the Di- 
 vinity, as men thought, the sacrifice had to be a 
 
4 
 
 ORTHODOXY AND THE HEATHEN. 
 
 thing of value’, in desperate emergencies, something 
 of the highest value, even life for life. Seeking relief 
 from their terrors, men and women have given to death 
 “ the fruit of their bodies for the sin of their souls,” 
 as in Moloch worship ; the religious instinct here, as 
 so often, suffering terrible perversion. Or the offering 
 had to be rich and abundant. Hence the prodigality 
 displayed in the “ rivers of oil ” of which we read, 
 and “ cattle from a thousand hills.” But more siamifi- 
 
 O 
 
 cant than these was the requirement that the sacrifice 
 should be pure. The victim must be without blemish, 
 and undefiled by common uses : — “ the bullock that 
 had never worn a yoke, the horse that had never known 
 a rider,”* or the lamb, type of gentleness and innocence. 
 The priesthood too, is everywhere in history ; in all 
 climes, and under all civilizations. Worshippers the 
 world round, have felt their own unworthiness so keenly 
 that they have chosen mediators to represent them 
 with the Deity, or with the deities, they have adored. 
 The wise, the good, men highest in social rank, or 
 those revered for their sanctity, have been called in 
 to act as intercessors through prayers and offerings, 
 in behalf of all the people. Heathenism had its holy 
 places also. The common earth has seemed profaned 
 by the wickedness done on it : piety has therefore 
 sought exceptional places for worship. Deep in the 
 obscurity of woods; or on the topmost heights of hills 
 that reach to heaven ; — in such places devout instinct 
 has built its temples, or its altars, to the Divinity it 
 has acknowledged. Or certain times have been set 
 
 * See “ Hulsean Lecture" for 1845 and De Pressenso’s “ Histoire des 
 Trois Premiers Slides." 
 
ORTHODOXY AND 1'llE HEA THEN. 
 
 ,) 
 
 apart, and consecrated to religious uses. Men have 
 felt that they must separate themselves from the asso- 
 ciations of their daily common life to hold intercourse 
 with the gods : and so they have instituted holy-days, 
 sacred seasons, that their invocations and offerings 
 might find better acceptance ; or that the help they 
 sought might more surely come to them. 
 
 Among all peoples who have left their names in 
 history, these four institutions — sacrifice, a priesthood, 
 sanctuaries, and sacred seasons, have had place. At 
 first, or among the less enlightened tribes of mankind, 
 the forms and forces of nature were deified and adored. 
 In their blindness and confusion, men attributed to 
 base matter the powers of divinity. They could not 
 conceive of an absent, invisible God : they must 
 have images before them which they could see and 
 touch. But up from fetich worship, through higher 
 forms of idolatry, we can trace a law of progress in 
 the religious ideas and customs of mankind ; till at 
 length, the gods are glorified patterns of men. This 
 deification of humanity was an immense advance upon 
 the coarser forms of idolatry which had generally pre- 
 vailed in heathendom ; for thus a moral element began 
 to assert itself in Pagan worship. But this soon 
 proved fatal to the integrity and power of the old 
 superstitions. Contempt for the gods once adored 
 rapidly increased, among men of discernment. Reason 
 and conscience had very generally got beyond the 
 fables and impostures which had once satisfied them. 
 Philosophers scoffed at them ; while even the common 
 people became indifferent to the shrines at which they 
 had long rendered an unreasoning homage. That 
 
6 
 
 ORTHODOXY AND THE HEATHEN. 
 
 was the condition of things which prevailed through- 
 out the Roman empire, at least, at the ej)och of Christ’s 
 birth. With its great hungry heart emptied of the 
 hopes and fears that had once possessed it, the world 
 was waiting for a purer faith and a nobler truth. 
 And then it was, “ the f ulness of time having come” 
 that “ God sent forth His Son; ” “ a light to lighten the 
 Gentiles; ” “ the desired of all nations.” 
 
 Yes ; vaguely, inarticulately, Christ was the desired 
 of all nations. Not that they had any clear anticipa- 
 tions of the personal Christ whom we know so well, 
 from the fourfold account we have of Him in the 
 Evangelists. But throughout the Pagan world there 
 was a longing felt for the character which was after- 
 wards embodied in Jesus of Nazareth ; or for the re- 
 demption He came to accomplish for men ; for some 
 Teacher of infallible truth ; for a Deliverer from the 
 confusion and misery, of the times ; for a Lawgiver 
 who should bring in the reign of peace and righteous- 
 ness. In the mythologies and sacred mysteries of 
 Paganism, in its systems of philosophy and in its codes 
 of morality, we see the struggles of the human mind 
 after light upon the mysteries that oppressed men, for 
 help in the warfare with evil they endured ; and hear 
 the yearnings of human hearts for a rest which mythol- 
 ogies and philosophies could never give. Through 
 these things men were groping after God, “ if haply 
 they might find Him.” Bathed and disappointed often, 
 aspiration, spite of all, was irrepressible. Till at 
 length, in enlightened nations, a confident hope 
 dawned upon here and there a devout thinker, that 
 some prophet from the great God would soon appear, 
 
ORTHODOXY AND THE HEA THEN. 
 
 7 
 
 bringing light and salvation for the human race. How 
 pathetically that feeling speaks out in words which 
 Plato puts into the mouth of Socrates ! *• It is neces- 
 sary to wait,” says the great sage, “ till some one shall 
 teach us how it behoves us to conduct ourselves, both 
 towards the gods, and towards men.” To which Alci- 
 biades replies: — ‘‘When shall that time arrive, O 
 Socrates ? and who shall that teacher be ? for most 
 eagerly do I wish to see such a man.” 
 
 Yes; “ most eagerly ” did men in all nations above 
 the savage state, long for the appearance of some Di- 
 vine messenger, to make known the mind and will of 
 God more perfectly than the oracles of heathenism had 
 done ; with which feeling Christian men may surely 
 sympathize ; believing that the inspiration was from 
 heaven, and that its aim was heavenward. From the 
 beginning, the Creator has included the whole race of 
 men in His purposes of mercy. Never in His moral 
 dealings with any people, has there been any arbitrary 
 “ respect of persons ” ; but “ in every nation , he that has 
 feared God , and worked righteousness , has been ac- 
 cepted!' ' Where the light of His fuller truth had never 
 come, there “ rain and fruitful seasons ” were a Divine 
 revelation ; as Paul taught the degraded people of 
 Lycaonia. No cry from any truly penitent heart was 
 ever unheard in heaven, at what altar soever tlie dev- 
 otee bowed. One of the most comforting assurances 
 in Holy Scripture to me, is the declaration of a Chris- 
 tian apostle, as he looked round on a city full of idols : 
 “The times of this ignorance God winked at ’ ” even as 
 the Lord Jesus Christ said in behalf of His murderers: 
 “ Father , forgive them : they know not what they doT 
 
8 
 
 ORTHODOXY AND THE HEATHEN. 
 
 “ All souls are Mine ,” said the Almighty through the 
 mouth of a prophet. And therefore, spite of the im- 
 putation of heresy brought against it by our evangelical 
 orthodoxy, we may still take home to our hearts the 
 sublime invocation of the “ Universal Prayer” : 
 
 “ Father of all; in every age; 
 
 In every clime adored: 
 
 By saint, by savage, or by sage ; 
 
 Jehovah, Jove, or Lord.” 
 
 The Jove of Pagan poets, and of popular superstition, 
 was not Jehovah ; but when the worshipper knew no 
 better, infinite Mercy had pity on his lack of knowl- 
 edge, we may fain hope. For “ a man is accepted ac- 
 cording to what he hath'’ says St. Paul, “and not accord- 
 ing to what he hath not'' Yes; that is the rule of 
 eternal Justice; — 11 according to what a man hath," of 
 light, of knowledge, of opportunity, of moral power. 
 These are the measure of a man’s responsibility : by 
 these standards will every man be judged at last ; and 
 not by privileges he had never known ; nor ever could 
 have known. To whomsoever little has been given, 
 from him shall little be required. For the God with 
 whom we have to do is not a hard taskmaster, reap- 
 ing where He has not sown, or gathering where lie 
 has not strawed ; but is pitiful and compassionate 
 towards all who are “ ignorant and out of the way.” 
 
 1 call your reason and conscience to witness, my 
 friends, that these doctrines — which are not mine, but 
 1 1 is that sent me — are true and righteous. Yet are 
 they denounced by the rulers of our evangelical syna- 
 gogues as loose and lawless ; or as perilous to the souls 
 of those who receive them. Spite of the progress of 
 
ORTHODOXY AND THE HKATUEN. 
 
 !) 
 
 liberal thought ami feeling in theology, the ohl fanat- 
 ical faith which doomed all heathen peoples indiscrim- 
 inately to eternal agony, is reasserted to-day. Among 
 enlightened Christian men generally, the terribly in- 
 human things which somehow got into the creeds of 
 the churches, are allowed to fall into forgetfulness. 
 Very few men can be found to-day who really believe 
 in the inevitable damnation of unbaptized infants; or 
 who accept the notion of an absolute predestination of 
 a few men to everlasting life, and of the vast majority 
 to the horrors of an everlasting hell. But among our 
 Christian llabbis, there is a strong attachment felt still 
 for the cruel notions once generally taught in the 
 name of a God of mercy. Most vehemently do they 
 condemn the cherishing of pity for the heathen. 
 Teachers of the “ New Theology ” I referred to just 
 now, have timidly suggested the possibility of salva- 
 tion hereafter for the better representatives of the 
 Pagan world ; or that all who have failed from no 
 fault of their own in this life, will have “ a chance” of 
 attaining to favor in the life to come. But these 
 teachers are denounced as traitors to God’s truth. No 
 sympathy must be suffered for the “ sheep having no 
 shepherd ” ; for the millions of God’s children who 
 have lived and died in ignorance of Christ’s Gospel. 
 They have had little or no light to guide them to His 
 feet. Their lot has been bitterly hard, as a rule. They 
 have lived in misery mostly; and died in despair: but 
 we are to feel no compassion for them, say our Pharisees; 
 except in a theologically legitimate way. There is no 
 hope for them in God’s mercy. Nothing awaits them on 
 leaving this world, but the lake that burneth with fire ! 
 
10 
 
 ORTHODOXY AND THE HEATHEN. 
 
 Great God ! how remorselessly cruel our theologies 
 have been ! What a passion for vengeance has 
 possessed men professing to believe in a Gospel of love ! 
 No wonder that men trained in the narrowest of our 
 sects are becoming restive, under demands made upon 
 their faith by creeds which contradict the spirit 
 and teaching of the Lord Jesus. Thanks be to God 
 for the large liberty of the “ Apostles’ Creed ” ; for the 
 blessed immunity secured to us thereby, from the des- 
 potism of ecclesiastics and theologians ! for the larger 
 hope we are permitted to cherish, in forecasting the 
 destiny of vast multitudes of men who have groped 
 their way to the grave through the gloom of heathen- 
 ism. Witnesses for this better hope have been found 
 in all ages among the great teachers of the Christian 
 Church. The so-called “ New Theology ” is not new. 
 Those who know the best and strongest men in the 
 Anglican Church, are familiar with broad and humane 
 views on the questions I am handling. Good learning 
 makes men liberal, in looking back into history, or 
 round on the living world of mankind. Spite of the 
 restraints he acknowledged, Erasmus dared to say, 
 that he felt like exclaiming : — “ O sancte Socrates: ora 
 pro nobis” as he pondered what Plato reports of the 
 great sage. To the unreasoning faith of the darker 
 ages, generally, there was no salvation for men outside 
 of the visible Church. But a more generous feeling 
 had possessed some of the wisest and best of the 
 Church “fathers.” Even the severe Tertullian could 
 speak of minds “naturally Christian ” / acknowledg- 
 ing his indebtedness to the writings of Seneca. But 
 by Justin, the Alexandrian Clement, Origen, and by 
 
ORTHODOXY ANT) THE HEATHEN. 
 
 11 
 
 others, the great ethical teachers of the Pagan world 
 were held to have been forerunners of the Christ ; pre- 
 paring Ilis way, and “making Ilis paths straight.” 
 Speaking of those at whose feet he had sat in the 
 schools of philosophy, or from whose writings he had 
 gathered wisdom, Justin said: — “ These men are not 
 Atheists , but Christians." Nay; older than the 
 “ fathers ” is this “ New Theology.” The Apostle Peter, 
 though not yet fully delivered from bondage to Rab- 
 binic Judaism, learned by the call of the Gentile cen- 
 turion Cornelius, that “ in every nation ” there were 
 souls acceptable to God. While a greater than Peter 
 uses language of the heathen which I marvel how men 
 to-day can reconcile with their cruel creeds. For “ when 
 the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the 
 law,” says St. Paul, “ these having not the law, are a 
 law unto themselves / which show the work of the law 
 written in their hearts ; their consciences also bearing 
 witness ; and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing 
 or else excusing one another ! ” 
 
 But I may be reminded, that “ there is none other 
 name given among men whereby they may be saved , but 
 the name of Jesus.” True, my friend : but how know 
 you how far the virtue of that name extends ? Far 
 beyond the limits of your little Christendom, historic, 
 or actual. For St. John said of the Christ, that He 
 was “ the true light that lighteth every man that someth 
 into the world." We have good ground to hope, there- 
 fore that multitudes of men who never heard the name 
 will be saved by it. Does that seem a strange thing 
 for me to say ? It will no longer seem strange, if you 
 will only consider the sanction which we have from 
 
12 
 
 ORTHODOXY AND THE HEATHEN. 
 
 the Lord Jesus Himself for this larger hope. In the 
 solemn forecasting of the last judgment which we have 
 in St. Matthew, Jesus tells us of those who shall hear 
 the benediction of the Judge upon the good deeds they 
 had done with wonder ; and who shall disclaim that 
 they had ever knowingly done Him the service so ap- 
 proved. In answer to which the Judge shall say — and 
 that Judge will be our Saviour, Christ — “Inasmuch 
 as ye did it unto one of the least of these little onts, ye 
 did it unto Mel" And these shall go away “ into life 
 eternal.” 
 
 Thank God that His mercy is wider and deeper 
 than our theoretical knowledge of Him : wider than 
 any system, ecclesiastical or theological, which has 
 represented Him to the world. “ Other sheep I have,” 
 said Jesus, “which are not of this fold.” “God fulfils 
 Himself in many ways.” Not only “ at sundry times,” 
 but “ in divers manners” has He spoken to men. Not 
 only through Hebrew prophets and Christian apostles ; 
 but through the lips of Pagan philosophers also. These 
 men too, in their own measure, were lights shining in 
 dark places. For human reason is a “ candle of the 
 Lord”', led by which light, and having “done by 
 nature the things contained in the law,” multitudes shall 
 come forth at last “ out of every nation, and people, 
 and tongue; and “ shall sit down with Abraham and 
 Isaac and Jacob,” and with all saints, in the home of 
 the Father in heaven. Amen. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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