With the heathen the same argument holds. He would be a bold man who
would say that no heathen is saved. We know that some of them rose to a
high moral plane; indeed such as would largely, if not entirely, fit
them for the inheritance of the saints. But they had not knowledge of
the Saviour. That was all they needed. You will say, perhaps, that that
was everything. It was; but it could be supplied very quickly once they
crossed the boundary of time. They would meet angel friends there who
would soon give them the required information. We can conceive, from
what we know of them when here, that they would believe at once, and
very soon be fit for at least the beginning of eternal joy.
There have been those who by the light of nature, or by the illumination
of the divine Spirit, attained to marvellous perfection; yet, never
heard the Saviour's name. Just now I notice that an orthodox divine
names Socrates as a case in point. In cases not so marked we can believe
that disclosures of truth that they could not learn here, may transform
them into saints.
Surely this is a sane, as well as a brighter prospect than was
entertained not so very long ago. I recall those lines of the Hymn by
Dr. Watts, which I learned when quite young:
"There is a dreadful hell
Of everlasting pains;
Where sinners must with devils dwell,
In darkness, fire, and chains.
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