India Christiana. A discourse, delivered unto the Commissioners, for the Propagation of the Gospel…

Yea, The Sovereign Grace of Heaven in that for which we are now Labouring, is yet more to be Adored, if the Opinion of a Learned German should be any better than so; which is, That America was not Peopled until after the Preaching of the Gospel in the other Hemisphere, when GOD for their Contempt of it, Ordered their coming hither as into a Banishment, where they that would not be Saints, do now almost cease to be Men: A Sentence of Transportation into America, was by Heaven passed upon them. We may leave it unto a •bius to Dispute it with them.

However, We are not so much at a Loss, How and When the Gospel was first Preached unto the Americans. We cannot be of the Persuasion, that it was done by the Mouth, or near the Age of the Apostles; or that All the World Evangelized by them, was much without the Bounds of the Roman Empire. Tho' Justin Martyr tells us, That [[Greek or Hebrew],] there was no kind of Men tho' never so Barbarous, among whom GOD the Father was not in the Name of a Crucified JESUS then called upon: Tho' Irenaeus tells us, That [sicut Sol, Creatura Del in Universo Mundo] the Gospel had like the Sun, shone upon all Nations. Tho' Tertullian tells us, ⟨p. 26⟩That [Loca abditarum multarum Gentium, and, Adspice universas Nations, and, In Provincijs omnibus quas Sol oriens atque Occidens Lustrat,] the most hidden Nations, all of them, even all that the Rising or Setting Sun shone upon, had the Name of CHRIST then adored among them. Tho' Jerome tells us, That [Pellitorum turba Populorum, and, Scythiae frigora fervent calore Fidel,] The Scythians and People that were clad with nothing but Skins, were then warmed with the Light of the Gospel: And, tho' Chrysostom tells us, That [[Greek or Hebrew]] in whatever Land the Sun looks upon, and even without the Bounds of their World, a Worship was there paid unto our Crucified SAVIOUR. And Theodoret adds, That the Preachers of the Gospel had carried it [[Greek or Hebrew]] unto all the Men in the World. These Flourishes, are to be understood with their proper Limitations. Nor can we think, That because Nicephorus tells us, of Matthew's carrying the Gospel unto the Man-eaters, he must therefore be a Preacher to the Americans. Nor shall we believe the Legends we have had about either the Apostle Thomas, or a Lord-Thomas, Eight hundred Years after him, until we can see Malabar & Brosile holding a nearer Communication with one another. But considering