t£jjc snlnnliilitij of tljr MJjru na iBimse fur jflrglrct nf 
 tlmnlrii ftittj lit] tljr (Cljristinn. 
 
 4 SERMON 
 
 1'REACUF.n IN 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST, 
 
 NEW YORK, 
 
 Gccottb Snniian after the Qjpiphann, 
 
 JANUARY 15, 1S60. 
 
 BY THK 
 
 REV. CORNELIUS R. DUFFIE, A.M. 
 
 R E C T O B . 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 M.DCCC.LX. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 DANIEL DANA, JR., 381 BROADWAY. 1 
 
ifljr Mnnlrilitq nf tjjt 23 rntjjnt na (Eirnsr fur IJrglrrt uf 
 ilrurnlrft Dnti| lig tjjp (fljristinn. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 I 
 
 PREACHED IN 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST, 
 
 N E W YORK, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Seconb Snnban after the <0pi^l)aitn, 
 
 JANUARY 15, 1860. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. CORNELIUS R. DUFFIE, A.M. 
 
 RECTOR. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 DANIEL DANA, JR., 3S1 BROADWAY. 
 
 M.DCCC.LX. 
 
NEW TORE : BILLIN * BROTHER, PRINTERS, 20 NORTH WILLIAM STREET. 
 
The Rev. Cornelius R. Duffie, Rector of the Church of St. John 
 Baptist. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Sir: — We, the undersigned, having heard with 
 much pleasure, and, we trust, profit, the able, useful, and seasonable 
 discourse preached by you on the second Sunday after the Epiphany, 
 and believing that its publication and circulation will tend to promote 
 important Christian truths, and the interests of Christ’s Holy 
 Church, respectfully and earnestly request that you will furnish a 
 copy of the above-mentioned discourse for publication. 
 
 T. W. CLERKE, 
 
 ISAAC GIBSON, 
 
 RICHARD STERLING, 
 
 W. D. \V ADDINGTON, 
 
 JOHN LORIMER GRAHAM, 
 WM. EDGAR SACKETT, 
 
 D. EVANS, 
 
 ABRAHAM VOORHIS, 
 
 T. B. BLEECKER, 
 
 D. G. RAY. 
 
 New York, 16<A January , I860. 
 
 115 East Thirty-Second Street, 
 New York, January 16, 1860. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Brother: — Having already privately expressed to 
 you my gratification on hearing the above-named discourse, and my 
 conviction that its publication would serve the cause of Christian 
 truth , Church doctrine , and sound morality , and finding that mem- 
 bers of your congregation were equally impressed with the same 
 sentiments, and that there are some points briefly and ably presented 
 therein, which are greatly misunderstood and perverted , and others 
 ignored and neglected , to the injury of Christianity, you will permit 
 me to urge you to comply with the above request, at your earliest 
 convenience. Yours, very truly, 
 
 SAMUEL C. DAVIS. 
 
 To the Rev. Cornelius R. Duffie. 
 
— 4 — 
 
 To the Rev. Samuel C. Davis, the Hon. T. W. Clerke, and Messrs. 
 
 Isaac Gibson, Richard Sterling, W. D. Waddington, John Lorimer 
 
 Graham, Wm. Edgar Sackett, D. Evans, Abraham Voorhis, T. B. 
 
 Bleecker, and D. G. Ray. 
 
 Gentlemen : — Your request for the publication of the Sermon de- 
 livered by me, -on last Sunday, is before me. 
 
 I need not say, that the discourse alluded to was prepared without 
 the slightest idea of its appearance in print, amid the pressure of 
 usual parochial duties, and the special ones which belong to the New 
 Year. 
 
 Still, I feel that I have no right to withhold any thing that, in the 
 judgment of gentlemen so competent to form an opinion, may be 
 of any service as a plain exposition of Scriptural doctrine and duty, 
 or may serve to meet any of the objections or excuses which are so 
 generally offered, when the claims of the Gospel and the Church are 
 presented to the minds and consciences of men. 
 
 Accordingly, the Sermon is at your disposal, with the regret only 
 that it is not more worthy of your good opinion and intention. 
 
 If it shall serve, in the mind of any one, to give a clearer idea of 
 a much-abused doctrine of both reason and revelation, or lead a sin- 
 gle person to assume or fulfil his Christian responsibilities, it will 
 amply repay 
 
 Your affectionate friend 
 
 and servant in Christ, 
 
 CORNELIUS R. DUFFIE. 
 
 Ntw York, January 17th, 1S60. 
 
S E R M 0 X . 
 
 Acts, x. B4, 35. 
 
 “ 0/ a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons ; hut in 
 every nation , he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness , is 
 accepted with Him.'' 
 
 “The mercy of God,” we are told in Holy Scrip- 
 ture, “ is over all His works.” His love, as it is infin- 
 ite, so also is it all-embracing. 
 
 He “ willeth not that any should perish, but would 
 have all men to be saved.” 
 
 These great, and glorious, and comforting truths, as 
 they stand out iu illuminated characters on every page 
 of the Gospel, so also are they written on our hearts. 
 
 And yet, how prone are men, or, rather, have they 
 been, to restrict God’s mercy, as regards the bestowal 
 of eternal salvation, within narrow limits ; to confine 
 it to their own sect or party. 
 
 I said, “how prone have they been ” to do this; for 
 now, such is the laxity of the prevailing religious views, 
 especially iu our own land, that many put all religions, 
 and even the utter want of any religion, on a level ; 
 nay, dispense not only with all fixed belief, but with 
 
— 6 — 
 
 all morality, and imagine that God not only desires to 
 save all men — as indeed He does — but that He actual- 
 ly will save all men, no matter what may be their be- 
 lief or unbelief, their sins, or their impenitence. Thus 
 does modern so-called liberality do away with all con- 
 ditions of salvation whatsoever, and dispense with what 
 is not its own, but God’s, even His truth, commands, 
 and institutions. 
 
 This is the extreme opinion which characterizes 
 modern religionism ’ for I cannot call it religion. 
 
 The other and opposite extreme was the prevailing 
 opinion in earlier times, when each religion confined 
 the possibility of salvation to those within its own pale. 
 This was especially the error, the inveterate prejudice 
 of the Jewish nation. Nor need we be surprised at 
 their mistaken, and, as we think, uncharitable opinion. 
 It was, like most errors, a false conclusion from true 
 premises. 
 
 Thus it is true that God had appointed to them one 
 particular way of salvation, even of covenant member- 
 ship in His visible Church, out of which there was no 
 promise of salvation, and out of which they, the Jews , 
 were not to expect it. But it by no means followed 
 from this great rule for their guidance, that others , even 
 all the Gentile world, to whom that way had not been 
 revealed, and whom, therefore, God had not required 
 to walk in that way, it by no means followed that they 
 could not be saved at all ; for then God, who is the 
 equal and loving Father of all men, would have made 
 it known to them as well as to the Jews. 
 
 But, in their pride of descent from Abraham, and 
 all their spiritual privileges of a state of covenant with 
 God, the Jews could not comprehend, or at least would 
 
not receive the idea of the salvability of the Heathen. 
 Nay, so inveterate were their prejudices, so far did 
 they carry the notion that “salvation is of the Jews,” 
 (as indeed it was, and as our Lord Himself declared it 
 to he, but not as they understood it, of the Jews alone,) 
 so far did this notion prevail, that even those who had 
 become Christians could not receive the idea that the 
 Gentiles should be admitted to the same state of cov- 
 enant with God, and all the blessings of membership 
 in His Church. Even the Apostles themselves partook 
 of this national prejudice ; and it required a miraculous 
 vision to disabuse the mind of St. Peter of this narrow 
 and unworthy view of God, and of Ilis intentions to- 
 wards maukind. And yet, one would think that the 
 glorious predictions of David and Isaiah, the Royal and 
 the Evangelical Prophets, of the enlargement of the 
 Messiah’s Kingdom by the gathering in of the Gentiles, 
 were so plain and explicit that their meaning could not 
 be mistaken. Still, this was not the case. And, there- 
 fore, when the time had come in which God would 
 open the door of faith to the Gentiles, and call them 
 to enter into Ilis visible Church, the kingdom of heaven 
 upon earth, He prepared the mind of St. Peter, who 
 was to be the first of the Apostles to use the keys of 
 that kingdom, and unlock the door for the Gentiles, as 
 well as the Jews, He prepared his mind for the per- 
 formance of this great duty and privilege, by the sym- 
 bolical representation which is described in the first 
 part of the chapter from which our text is taken. 
 
 The Apostle, while at Joppa, (the modern Jaffa, on 
 the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea,) went up 
 on the house-top, a usual place of resort in that time 
 and country, to pray. His devotions ended, he still 
 
— 8 — 
 
 lingered there, while they made ready his noontide re- 
 past. While feeling the cravings of hunger, he fell 
 into a trance, in which spiritualized state he had a re- 
 markable vision. As St. Luke describes it, he “ saw hea- 
 ven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as 
 it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and 
 let down to the earth : wherein were all manner of 
 four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and 
 creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came 
 a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter 
 said, Not so, Lord ; for I have never eaten any thing 
 that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto 
 him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, 
 that call not thou common. This was done thrice : 
 and the vessel was received up again into heaven.'” 
 
 The meaning of this vision was not at first clear, 
 even to the Apostle himself. When, however, while he 
 was still wondering as to its signification, the messen- 
 gers from Cornelius the Centurion, a Heathen by birth, 
 arrived to summon him to Cesarea, to preach the Gospel 
 to him and to his family ; and when the Spirit bade him 
 go to this uncircumcised Gentile, nothing doubting, 
 then he began to understand the purport of the vision. 
 It was this: that the Jewish distinction of clean and 
 unclean animals for food, which served as a badge of 
 separation between Jews and Gentiles, and the distinc- 
 tion of clean and unclean nations, which the former 
 symbolized, were done away in Christ. 
 
 “ By the union of clean and unclean animals, in the 
 mystical sheet which contained all manner of crea- 
 tures, was denoted the purification of the Gentiles by 
 faith, who were once unclean, and their junction with 
 the believing Jews, in the Christian or Universal 
 
— 9 — 
 
 Church while by the receiving up of the sheet, with 
 all that it contained, into Heaven, was shown that all 
 mankind, Gentiles as well as Jews, might equally be 
 saved — had an equal offer and hope of admission there. 
 The threefold repetition of this symbolical action de- 
 noted the truth and certainty of that which it repre- 
 sented ; as Pharaoh’s dream was doubled in token of the 
 certainty of its fulfilment. Thus much for the meaning 
 of the vision. 
 
 The previous error of St. Peter consisted, perhaps, 
 not in the idea that none but Jews by birth could be 
 made members of the Christian Church, or saved at 
 all, and that Gentiles, under no circumstances or con- 
 ditions, could be admitted to their privileges ; but 
 rather that they could not be admitted to baptism, 
 and all the privileges and covenanted promises of 
 Christianity, without having first been circumcised, 
 and without afterwards observing all the ceremonial 
 law of Moses, as well as the sacraments and moral re- 
 quirements of Christianity. He could not understand 
 that they were to be received immediately, and with- 
 out passing through the preparatory system of Judaism, 
 into full communion with the Christian Church. 
 
 But this great and glorious truth, though not imme- 
 diately apparent to St. Peter at the close of the vision, 
 yet broke in upon his mind, in all its fulness, when, 
 on reaching Cesarea, he found the Gentile centurion 
 and his family, to whom the Spirit of God had com- 
 manded him to go with the message of the Gospel, 
 * prepared by that same Blessed Spirit, humbly and 
 eagerly to hear and receive the doctrine of salvation 
 through faith in Jesus Christ. 
 
 O 
 
 * Bishop Horne. 
 
10 
 
 This centurion, an alien from the commonwealth of 
 Israel, a Heathen by birth, had yet been warned by a 
 holy angel to send to Joppa for the Apostle of Christ, 
 that from him he might hear words whereby he and 
 his house might be saved. And when St. Peter found 
 him, in compliance with this vision from Heaven, with 
 his family, and kinsmen and friends gathered around 
 him, ready to hear those precious and saving words, 
 his long-cherished Jewish prejudices at length gave 
 way ; he felt that under the Catholic, Christian dispen- 
 sation, no man was to be esteemed common or unclean, 
 though he could not boast a descent from Abraham ; 
 and he burst forth into the frank confession of this 
 glorious truth, in the words of our text : “ Of a truth I 
 perceive that God is no respecter of persons ; but in 
 every nation, he that feareth Plim, and worketh right- 
 eousness, is accepted with Him.” 
 
 And, brethren, when we call to mind the fact that 
 we ourselves, and the vast majority of mankind, are of 
 Gentile origin, by our birth “ aliens from the common- 
 wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of 
 promise,” and that, if admission to that covenant here, 
 and to Heaven hereafter, were confined to the descend- 
 ants of Abraham according to the flesh, we could claim 
 no share in either, when we remember this, we may 
 well rejoice, and be glad to hear that the Gospel, the 
 good tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ, is for 
 all mankind — for Gentiles as well as for Jews. 
 
 And, at this Epiphany season, this is the very truth, 
 the grand and glorious truth, to which the Church 
 calls our grateful attention ; even the opening wide 
 the door of God’s Church, the inviting all to enter in, 
 the proclaiming the offers of salvation to all the world. 
 
— 11 — 
 
 The Manifestation of Christ, by the leading of a star, 
 to the Heathen or Gentile sages, their admission to the 
 presence of the Divine Child, to offer to Him their 
 adoration and their gifts, symbolized and foreshadowed 
 the admission of the Gentiles to the Christian Church 
 on terms of perfect equality with the Jews. There is 
 now neither Jew nor Gentile, circumcision nor uncir- 
 cumcision, but all are one in Christ Jesus ; one in the 
 offers of TIis grace ; one in the enjoyment of a covenant 
 state, and in membership in Ilis Church ; one, in com- 
 munion and fellowship on earth ; one, in the title to 
 the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 While, then, we joyfully celebrate the Epiphany, 
 the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, let us see 
 to it that we are improving the Christian privileges to 
 which we have been admitted, that so He may mani- 
 fest Himself to our souls in all his love and power, and 
 pardoning, sanctifying grace. 
 
 But from the words of the text, and the all-em- 
 bracing love of God for all mankind, which they 
 declare, while yon learn a lesson of duty , in return to 
 Him, as respects yom-selves, I would have you also 
 learn a lesson of comfort , and hope, and charity , as re- 
 spects mankind at large, even the whole Heathen world. 
 
 When we look abroad over the face of the earth, 
 and see on how large a portion of it — rather, how on 
 the far larger portion of its inhabitants — the light of 
 Christianity has not yet shined, we may perhaps be 
 filled with grief, amazement, and horror, and we may 
 ask how so many hundreds of millions — aye, or a 
 single sinner of them all, a single human being — can 
 have been suffered to live and die in ignorance of the 
 way of eternal life and salvation. 
 
— 12 — 
 
 But when we remember the words of the text, and 
 that he to whom they were addressed by the Apostle, 
 was himself a Heathen, who knew not Christ, but 
 whose “prayers and alms” had yet “gone up for a 
 memorial before God,” we may take comfort in the 
 reflection of St. Peter, “ that God is no respecter of per- 
 sons ’ but in every nation he that feareth Him, and 
 worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him” We 
 may rejoice in the cheering belief that multitudes, even 
 of the Heathen, may be saved through the mercy of 
 God, and the merits and atonement of a Saviour of 
 whom they never heard, if they live up to the light of 
 Nature and of conscience ; that light within the bosom 
 of every man, which shows him the Law of God (His 
 Moral Law) written there on his heart. 
 
 While it is the fact, as to Christians, as to ourselves, 
 to whom the way of life has been revealed, that there 
 is but one appointed way , one Gospel , one Church, out 
 of which there is no covenanted title to salvation, and 
 out of which we, therefore, are not to expect it ; yet 
 we must not thence infer that there is no possibility of 
 salvation out of it for any. Itds a delightful thought 
 that the efficacy of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and media- 
 tion extends far beyond the limits of Ilis Church, far 
 beyond His covenanted promise; even to those who 
 never heard of Him, Ilis Church, and Ilis Gospel. 
 
 We, indeed, are bound to God’s declared rule, we to 
 whom that rule is known ; we cannot dispense with a 
 single one of the conditions which lie imposes, as the 
 terms of our admission to Heaven ; but lie Himself is 
 not bound to adhere strictly, in all cases and circum- 
 stances, (however diverse,) to Ilis general rule. He 
 may dispense, when and where He pleases, with Ilis 
 
— 13 — 
 
 own requirements. While justice forbids that lie 
 should demand more conditions than lie has revealed 
 to men, yet mercy, and even that same justice itself, 
 ask, not in vain, that He accept less, in the case of those 
 who know them not. 
 
 Rather, the Heathen form an exception, to God’s 
 general rule as to the terms of salvation, and since to 
 them He has never made it known, therefore it is not 
 required of them to have faith in Christ. 
 
 Even as to those in Christian lands, who, by the 
 misfortune of birth or early training, the erroneous, 
 superstitious, or even heretical tenets of the sect in 
 which they have been reared, those who with the 
 Bible in their hands, yet from these unhappy circum- 
 stances receive not its full teaching, God will make all 
 due allowance for their ignorance, prejudices, and the 
 obstacles by which they are surrounded, which hinder 
 them from seeing “ the truth as it is in Jesus.” 
 
 And if this be so, much more may we be very sure 
 in regard to those who never heard of Jesus Christ, 
 even all the Heathen world, that God is no “ hard 
 master, reaping where He hath not sowed, and gathering 
 where he hath not strewed.” Although faith in Christ, 
 and the reception of the Sacraments are essential condi- 
 tions of salvation in the case of those to whom the Gos- 
 pel has been fully proclaimed, and by whom it is clearly 
 understood, yet He does not require faith in Christ, or 
 the reception of the Sacraments from those who never 
 heard of Christ or His Church. But, as respects these 
 helpless victims of involuntary ignorance, caused by 
 circumstances beyond their control, and for which, 
 therefore, they are not responsible, “ in every nation, 
 he that feareth God,” (the Supreme Power above, how- 
 
— 14 — 
 
 ever ignorant of His true nature,) “ he that fearetli 
 Him, and worketh righteousness,” (so far as he is en- 
 lightened, to know what is right,) “is accepted with 
 Him” 
 
 This, I say, is a comforting reflection, as we look 
 abroad over the face of the earth, and think of the 
 myriads of Heathen and Mahomedans outnumbering in 
 the proportion of more than two to one, the whole, 
 even nominally, Christian population of the globe. 
 
 Still we must guard against mistakes on this subject. 
 Even the Heathen, who shall be saved if they live 
 up to the light of nature, reason and conscience, are 
 saved not by their religion, but in it, and in spite of it ; 
 they, as well as Christians, are saved only by Christ’s 
 death ; they owe it, just as much as we do, to His 
 Atonement, of which they never heard ; they are 
 saved without actual faith in Him, yet only through 
 His merits; just as infants are, who cannot believe in 
 Him. In the case of both, faith in Christ is obviously 
 impossible, and therefore God asks it not of either, but 
 saves them for Christ’s sake, though they know Him 
 not as their Saviour. 
 
 The Church has thought this a truth of such great 
 importance to be observed and carefully distinguished, 
 that she has made it the subject of one of her Thirty- 
 nine Articles of Religion. 
 
 Article eighteenth is entitled, “ Of obtaining salva- 
 tion only by the name of Christ.” In it she uses the 
 following strong language : “ They are also to be had 
 accursed, that presume to say, that every man shall be 
 saved by the law or sect which he professeth, so that 
 he be diligent to frame his life according to that law, 
 and the light of nature. For holy Scripture doth set 
 
— 15 — 
 
 out. unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby 
 men must be saved.” 
 
 But observe, my brethren, while the Church guards 
 so carefully the honor of her Lord, and while the 
 Article utters such stern denunciation against any who 
 would derogate from the universal necessity and 
 efficacy of the merits of Christ, as the only Saviour 
 of the world, it does not say that no one can be 
 saved in a false religion, but only that no one can be 
 saved by it ; that is, by virtue of its intrinsic ability 
 and efficacy of itself to save him. 
 
 The professors of a false faith may indeed be saved 
 in their erroneous religion, where they know no bet- 
 ter: this, the Church is far from denying; but, if 
 saved, it will be not by their false religion, or the rule 
 of life which they have proposed to themselves, but 
 only through and by the merits, death, and intercession 
 of Jesus Christ, the one only Saviour and Redeemer of 
 mankind ; that Saviour who, as He hung upon the 
 Cross, prayed for His blinded murderers, “ Father , 
 forgive them, for they know not what they do .” 
 
 While, as St. Peter in the text declares, “ God is no 
 respecter of persons ; but in every nation, he that 
 feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
 with Him yet is it also equally true, as the same 
 Apostle elsewhere, explicitly asserts, speaking of Christ, 
 “ neither is there salvation in any other ; for there is 
 none other name, under heaven, given among men, 
 whereby we must be saved.” 
 
 If, then, Jews, or Mahomedans, or Pagans, worship- 
 pel's of false gods, are saved, it will be, though in their 
 religion, yet not by it, but solely by the name, that is, 
 the 'power , the love , and the death of Christ. To Him 
 
— 16 — 
 
 all the glory and the praise belong ; as they, who 
 never heard of Him on earth, shall hereafter own in 
 Heaven, if admitted there. And if I have dwelt, with 
 some repetition, upon this truth, and the important 
 distinction to be observed between the being saved in 
 a false religion, and the being saved by it, it is lest 
 Christ should be robbed of His peculiar glory which 
 He will not give to another, as the only Saviour of 
 men. 
 
 But let us, in the last place, guard against certain 
 other false inferences which may be deduced from the 
 teaching of the text, or from the whole subject involved 
 in that teaching. 
 
 1. It may be said, then, that if the Heathen can be 
 saved in their present condition of ignorance of Chris- 
 tianity, in their superstition and idolatry, we need not 
 concern ourselves for their conversion, nor support 
 missions having this object in view. 
 
 This is, in effect, to say, that because they may be 
 saved in an exceptional way , saved so as by fire, there- 
 fore, we will not make known to them God’s appointed 
 way / we will not furnish them with the clearer light, 
 and fuller privileges and means of grace, which we 
 enjoy. 
 
 To argue thus, is to manifest a real apathy and 
 indifference, not only to the well-being of our less- 
 favored fellow-men, but to the glory of God, and the 
 extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom. 
 
 And while we acknowledge that there is a possibili- 
 ty of salvation for the Heathen, in their ignorance of 
 Christ, yet, when we consider their general degradation 
 and viciousness, how few rise above the most besotted 
 idolatry and the most disgusting immorality, and how 
 
17 — 
 
 “the dark places of the earth are full of the habita- 
 tions of cruelty,” our duty is clear to do what we can, 
 to bring them to the knowledge of “the truth as it is 
 in Jesus,” to raise them from the depth of degradation 
 into which they are sunk, and, by imparting to them 
 the superior privileges which we ourselves enjoy, to 
 promote their moral, social, spiritual and eternal hap- 
 piness, by teaching them to believe in, love and obey 
 “ the true God, and Jesus Christ whom lie hath sent.” 
 
 To refuse, for the reason, or rather on the pretext 
 named, to extend to them our more sure aids to salva- 
 tion, would be like the refusal to receive into our 
 staunch and well-provided ship, a shipwrecked fellow- 
 being, floating at random, without chart, compass or 
 provisions, on the stormy sea; because he might be 
 saved on his frail raft, or the portion of the wreck to 
 which he was clinging. 
 
 2. But, while maintaining, as we must, that our 
 opportunities and advantages for obtaining salvation 
 are far superior to those of the Heathen, and while on 
 this fact we ground our duty to extend the same to 
 them, yet we must obviate the objection that God is a 
 respecter of persons, from the fact, that some, like 
 ourselves, are born in Christian lands, while others , by 
 being born in heathen countries, are deprived, by His 
 providence, of the appointed means of grace. 
 
 The answer is plain ; that, therefore, since this is so, 
 they will not he held to the same responsibility as our- 
 selves. We may safely leave their case in the hands 
 of the great Judge of all the earth, assured that He 
 will do precisely what is right. If the heathen have 
 less knowledge and fewer means of salvation, they 
 have less responsibility, and will hereafter not be 
 2 
 
— 18 — 
 
 called to so strict an account. “ He which knew his 
 lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did 
 according to his will, shall be beaten with many 
 stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit 
 things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few 
 stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of 
 him shall be much required ; and to whom men 
 have committed much, of him they will ask the 
 more.” 
 
 This great and equitable rule by which all are to 
 be judged hereafter, is abundantly sufficient to “ vin- 
 dicate the ways of God to man,” in giving to some, 
 while He withholds from others, the knowledge of 
 the appointed way of salvation, and the ordinary 
 means for attaining it. 
 
 3. And finally, brethren, while our hearts rejoice, 
 at this Epiphany season, not only in the fact that we, 
 who are of Heathen origin, have been called into God’s 
 glorious light, and that Christ hath been manifested 
 unto us Gentiles, but also in the cheering hope and 
 belief that multitudes of others, Heathen still, will be 
 saved, though not in covenant with God, let us guard 
 this reasonable and comfortable truth from abuse , and 
 perversion to our own neglect of knoiun duty. Be- 
 cause they may be saved, though out of His Church, 
 it by no means follows that it is not necessary for us, 
 in a Christian land, to be in the communion of that 
 Church. As well might we argue that because faith 
 in Christ is not required of them, therefore, we, to 
 whom He has been revealed, can be saved, though we 
 do not believe in Him. But so far from this, we may 
 be very sure, that where the knowledge of our duty 
 has been given , the performance of it wdl be required. 
 
19 — 
 
 We cannot rely upon the case of the Centurion in 
 the text, as parallel to our own, and flatter ourselves 
 that because, “ in every nation, he that feareth God 
 and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him,” 
 though not in a covenant state, therefore we will be 
 accepted and saved, though not in that state. 
 
 This is the merest taking for granted the very thing 
 to be proved, and which, so far from being proved, or 
 even susceptible of proof, is demonstrably untrue. 
 
 For, we may well ask, can he be said either to fear 
 God, or to work righteousness, who wilfully or care- 
 lessly neglects His sacraments or ordinances, appointed 
 and required by God as means of obtaining pardon, 
 grace and salvation, when he knows and admits that 
 God has appointed them, and does require their ob- 
 servance by him ? Surely not. 
 
 And what, let us ask, were the facts in regard to 
 this Centurion , to whom the words of the text were 
 addressed ? 
 
 God sent an angel to him ; but for what purpose ? 
 To tell him that it was not necessary for him to believe 
 in Jesus Christ, to obey His laws, or to be baptized 
 into His Church ? No : but to bid him send for the 
 Apostle of Jesus, to hear and receive the teachings of 
 the Gospel at his mouth, and to be made a member of 
 His Church, by holy baptism, that so he might be 
 saved. 
 
 And so, if necessary, God would send an angel to 
 you, now, rather than that you should perish. But, 
 for you, it is not necessary. For if an angel from 
 Heaven were to come to you, at this moment, it would 
 be only to tell you what you know well enough 
 already. 
 
— 20 — 
 
 Repent ; believe ; be baptized ; fear God and keep 
 His commandments, His positive ordinances, as well as 
 His moral law. This would be his message ; the very 
 message that has been sounded in your ears all your 
 lives long. 
 
 This is the rule for all who live in the light of the 
 Gospel, or who have the opportunity of receiving its 
 light. This, I would say to the objector, this is 
 plainly commanded to you , and you know it ‘ and 
 yet you plead the poor Heathen's excuse, who never heard 
 of his duty in this matter, as if you were a Heathen, 
 and not one living in the light of this Christian land, 
 with the Bible, the Church, and the Sacraments, all 
 known to you, and the use of all within your reach, 
 nay, pressed upon your acceptance. 
 
 Suppose, what is analogous to your ease, that the 
 Centurion, after having heard the Gospel, the duties it 
 enjoins, and the terms of salvation it requires, set forth, 
 had refused to believe, or, after professing to believe 
 in it, had refused to be baptized, or to maintain 
 communion with the Church, because a conscientious 
 Heathen could be saved without' belief in the Gospel 
 and without baptism, or for any other cause ; think 
 ye, in that case, he would have been “ accepted ” by 
 God, or could have been saved at all ? Better for 
 him never to have heard of Christ, better to have 
 remained in his Gentile ignorance, than, after the 
 truth had been made known unto him, thus to act. 
 “ For it had been better for them not to have known 
 the way of righteousness, than, after they have known 
 it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto 
 them.” Yet this is the condition of multitudes in this 
 Christian land ! 
 
— 21 
 
 Ah, brethren, many a poor benighted Heathen, who 
 perform* the duties (as lie esteems them) enjoined by 
 his false religion ; many a one upon whom we look 
 down with a pity akin to contempt, will rise up in the 
 Judgment and condemn those living in the full blaze of 
 Gospel light, surrounded by all its precious privileges 
 and means of grace, and called by God to employ and 
 improve them, but who yet habitually turn away from 
 them, perhaps with the cool insult of utter indiffer- 
 ence, more insulting than open disbelief and rejection 
 of them. Let us beware lest, when many of the de- 
 spised Heathen shall come from the East and from the 
 West, and from the North and from the South, and sit 
 down in the kingdom of God, we, the children of 
 that kingdom, for our own ingratitude and unfaith- 
 fulness in the use of the means of grace and salvation 
 with which God has favored us, be thrust out into outer 
 darkness, the victims of an unavailing, because a too 
 late remorse, for evermore ! 
 
 Brethren, if you would not have this for your por- 
 tion, “fear God,” and show that you fear Him by 
 “ walking in all His commandments and ordinances,” 
 as they have been revealed unto you , and then you shall 
 be “accepted with Him,” in and for the sake of “the 
 Beloved.” Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 
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