George Hay

“ Paul describes them to us in a very strong light, as follows: "I, therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation in which ye are called with all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity; careful to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. One body, one spirit, as ye are called in one hope of our calling; one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism; one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all." ”

“ What, then, is to be said of those who, being brought up in a false religion, have no opportunity of hearing of the True Church and Faith of Christ, or who hear of it only in a false and odious light? Can such as these be saved if they live and die in their separation from the Communion of the Church of Christ, and in invincible ignorance of the truth? ”

“ And though such a soul were, in the remotest wilds of the world, God could send a Philip, or an Angel from Heaven, to instruct him, or by the superabundance of his internal grace, or by numberless other ways unknown to us, could infuse into his soul the knowledge of the truth. ”

“ What license does it give to the caprice of the human mind! It is therefore of the utmost consequence to examine the ground of this opinion, to see if we can safely trust our salvation to it. It is doubtless the interest of atheists and deists to adopt this opinion, to extol it with the highest praises for liberality of sentiment and charity; but a Christian who believes the Gospel will not receive it so readily: he knows that the Scriptures contain the truth of God, and; that it is unsafe to trust our soul to any maxim, however specious, which is not, grounded on their sacred oracles ”

“ In fact, if a man be thoroughly persuaded of the truth of his holy religion, and of the necessity of being a member of the Church of Christ, how is it possible he should ever expose himself to any occasion of losing so great a treasure, or for any worldly fear or favor to abandon it? ”

“ Besides, if a person once begin to hesitate about the importance of his religion, what esteem or regard can he have for the laws, rules, or practices of it? Self-love, always attentive to its own satisfaction will soon tell him that, if it be not absolutely necessary to be of that religion, much less necessary must it be to submit to all its regulations; hence liberties are taken in practice, the commands of the Church are despised, the exercises of devotion neglected, and a shadow of religion introduced under the show of liberal sentiments, to the destruction of all solid virtue and piety. ”

“ Nothing is of greater efficacy to give others a favorable opinion of our holy religion than a good life. This is a living argument which teaches the most ignorant and convinces the most obstinate. And hence we find this repeatedly commanded in the Scriptures on purpose to give edification to those who are without, and to excite them to glorify God. "So let your light shine," says Jesus Christ Himself, "before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your heavenly Father." ”

“ Here, then, lies the difference: when a member of the Church of Christ considers his religion, he cannot have any reasonable grounds of doubt concerning it, and the more he examines, the more convinced he must be of its truth. But one brought up in a false religion, if he thinks at all, cannot fail to perceive the strongest grounds of doubt; and the more he examines, the more its falsehood must appear, for falsehood can never bear the light of unbiased and impartial examination. ”

“ Can any words express more clearly that to know Jesus Christ, and to hear His voice, and follow Him-----that is, to believe and obey Him-----are the distinguishing marks of His sheep, to whom He gives eternal life? ”

“ The Jews believed that they were acting well when they put our Savior to death; nay, their high priest declared in full council that it was expedient for the good and safety of the nation that they should do so. They were grossly mistaken, indeed, and sadly ignorant of their duty; but their ignorance was culpable, and they were severely condemned for what they did, though it was done in ignorance. And indeed all who act from a false and erroneous conscience are highly blamable for having such a conscience, though they have never entertained any formal doubt. ”

“ But as man, by the voluntary abuse of his free-will, had lost the favor of his God, therefore God decreed that none who come to the full use of their reason should reap the benefit of the redemption of Christ but by voluntary performance of the conditions which He requires from them; for Christ "is become the cause of eternal salvation to all that obey him." ”

“ Let, therefore, a man have ever so many good natural dispositions, and be as charitable, devout, and mortified as the Pharisees were, yet if he have not True Faith in Jesus Christ, he cannot, enter into the kingdom of Heaven. They refused to believe in Him, and therefore all their works were good for nothing as to their salvation; and unless our righteousness exceed theirs in this point, as Christ Himself assures us, we shall never enter into His heavenly kingdom. But even True Faith itself, however necessary, is not sufficient alone to make our good works available to salvation ”

“ But if God, of His great mercy, has given him in his last moments light and grace to see and embrace the True Faith, and he has corresponded with so great a favor as God requires, he will be saved. Now, as no man knows, or can know, what may have passed in the soul of either the one or the other at their last moments, so no man can pronounce of either that he is lost with certainty. ”

“ But how can we reconcile this with the infinite goodness of God, that none shall be saved without the True Faith of Christ, and without being in the Communion of His Church, since according to it by far the greater part of mankind must be lost, seeing that the number of those who have not the Faith, and are not in the Communion of His Church, always greatly exceeds the number of those who are? ”

“ If he make any examination with sincere dispositions of heart, he must be convinced that he is in the wrong; and the more he examines, the more clearly will he see it,-----for this plain reason, that it is simply impossible that false doctrine, lies, and hypocrisy should ever be supported by solid arguments sufficient to satisfy a reasonable person, who sincerely seeks the truth, and begs light from God to direct him in the search. ”

“ For this end she strictly commands her pastors to be assiduous in instructing their people from their earliest years, well knowing that the more they know of their religion, the more they must be attached to it. The True Church of Christ is the work of God, the doctrine she teaches contains the truths of God; now, the more attentively truth is examined, the more illustrious it must appear; and Almighty God has given such splendid testimony to the truth of His religion, that the more it is examined with sincerity, the more it convinces and delights. ”

“ If I yet pleased men, I should not be a servant of Christ." [Gal. 1: 10] Now, ". . . Christ sent me to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of speech lest the Cross of Christ should be made void; for the word of the Cross to them indeed that perish is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God. . . . it pleased God by the foolishness of our preaching to save them that believe. ”

“ And if it be supposed that he loses his Baptismal innocence by committing a mortal sin, but recovers the grace of justification by a sincere repentance, the difficulty still increases. For a repentance without the help of the Sacraments sufficient to obtain the grace of justification includes a perfect contrition, founded on the love of God above all things; a favor so seldom granted to sinners, even in the Church itself, that the Sacrament of Penance is appointed by Jesus Christ as the standing means of supplying our deficiency in that respect. ”

“ To this I reply, that as no man can be guilty of a sin in not doing what is absolutely out of his power, therefore a person who is invincibly ignorant of the true Faith and Church of Christ will not be condemned on account of that ignorance; such ignorance will not be imputed to him as a crime, but will undoubtedly excuse him from the guilt of disbelief: in this all divines agree without doubt or hesitation. A heathen, for example, who never heard of Jesus Christ, will not be condemned as criminal precisely for want of Faith in Him ”

“ For as they must either deny their own Faith, or allow this general proposition, that "without Faith it is impossible to please God," whilst they admit the truth of this, they pretend that, as invincible ignorance will excuse a man before God in all other cases; so it must excuse him in this also and therefore, that though a man have not the True Faith, "invincible ignorance will save him"-----not adverting to the two senses which these words contain, one of which is certainly true, and the other no less certainly false. ”

“ It is no matter of surprise, therefore, to see learned men in a false religion, especially as their learning is commonly of a worldly kind, for Faith is a gift of God; and it is not the knowledge of the head, but humility and sincerity of the heart, which disposes a soul to receive that gift from Him ”

“ Proofs from the Necessity of True Faith 1. Jesus Christ, addressing Himself to His eternal Father, says, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent." [John 17: 3] Hence it necessarily follows that all those who do not know Jesus Christ cannot have eternal life. Now, this knowledge of Jesus Christ is not the mere knowledge that such a person existed, but believing Him to be what He is, the eternal Son of God, made man for the salvation of mankind ”

“ Now, if all who break off from the Church of Christ, and teach false doctrine, contrary to the faith once revealed to her, and which shall never depart out of her mouth, are condemned in such strong and severe terms by the Holy Ghost in His Holy Scriptures, in what condition must those be who follow these false teachers, and hold such pernicious doctrine? ”

“ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men . . . the foolish things of the world God hath chosen, that He may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong, . . . That no flesh should glory in His sight." [1 Cor. 1: 17-18, 21, 25, 27, 29] "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth . ”

“ The Word of God assures us that, antecedently to Faith in Christ, all mankind are under sin, and that it is impossible to be justified from sin but by Faith in Jesus Christ, which is set forth by God as the means of obtaining justification. ”

“ A. That the greater number of mankind will be lost is a truth which Christ Himself declares when He, says that "many are called, but few are chosen," and that "many walk, in the broad road to destruction, but few there are that find the narrow way to life." The difficulty of reconciling this with the goodness of God will disappear if we consider what the Christian revelation teaches; for by it we learn that man, by the voluntary abuse of his free-will, having forfeited that happy state in which God had created him, rendered himself unworthy of any favor or mercy from God ”

“ And how unworthy of our vocation, and dishonorable to our religion, if, being members of the same body, servants of the same master, and children of the same father, united together in so many strong ties of religion, we should live in animosity and enmity with each other? ”

“ On the contrary, she considers it the height of charity to warn men of their danger, in an affair of such immense importance as is that of their eternal salvation; and, with compassion for their situation, she uses every means in her power, particularly fervent prayer to God, for the conversion of all who are out of the true way, that they may be brought to the knowledge of the truth, and be saved. ”

“ Second, the Scripture declares that Jesus Christ died for the redemption of all mankind, without exception. Thus, "Jesus Christ gave Himself a redemption for all." [1 Tim. 2: 6] "If one died for all, then all are dead, and Christ died for all." [2 Cor. 5: 15] "We hope in the living God, Who is the Savior of all men, especially of the faithful." [1 Tim. 4: 10] "If any man, sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." ”