Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/95

Rh tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known;" and why? but because, "there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now, if it be true, that they have "all sinned and come short of the glory of God;" that "without shedding of blood there is no remission," and that "without faith, it is impossible to please God;" if they cannot "call on him in whom they have not believed, nor believe in him of whom they have not heard, nor hear without a preacher;" then, how wretched must be the condition, and how dismal the prospect of a nation of sinners, and so great a nation, involved in one common ruin with ourselves, and yet ignorant of the only way of salvation. We are not warranted by divine revelation to conclude, that wilful and determined sinners will be forgiven without an interest in the great atonement; and we have no reason to imagine, that such interest can be obtained, by adult transgressors, without a knowledge of, and faith in, the Divine Mediator. How truly affecting and heart-rending is it, therefore, that so large a portion of the human race should be shut up together, under one tyrannical government, whose exclusive policy forbids all intercourse with foreigners, and whose proud self-sufficiency imagines their native institutions fully adequate to all the requirements of the present and the future world. Really, if the apostle Paul, speaking under the influence of inspiration, could express himself so feelingly and so strongly, relative to God's ancient people, as to "wish himself separated from Christ, for his brethren and