Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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5. Eschatology. Here again Zwingli departed further from Augustin and the
mediaeval theology than any other Reformer, and anticipated modern
opinions. He believed (with the Anabaptists) in the salvation of infants
dying in infancy, whether baptized or not. He believed also in the salvation
of those heathen who loved truth and righteousness in this life, and were,
so to say, unconscious Christians, or pre-Christian Christians. This is
closely connected with his humanistic liberalism and enthusiasm for the
ancient classics. He admired the wisdom and the virtue of the Greeks and
Romans, and expected to meet in heaven, not only the saints of the Old
Testament from Adam down to John the Baptist, but also such men as
Socrates, Plato, Pindar, Aristides, Numa, Cato, Scipio, Seneca; yea, even
such mythical characters as Hercules and Theseus. There is, he says, no
good and holy man, no faithful soul, from the beginning to the end of the
world, that shall not see God in his glory. f156
Zwingli traced salvation exclusively to the sovereign grace of God, who
can save whom, where, and how he pleases, and who is not bound to any
visible means. But he had no idea of teaching salvation without Christ and
his atonement, as he is often misunderstood and misrepresented. “Christ,”
he says (in the third of his Conclusions) “is the only wisdom, righteousness,
redemption, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Hence it is a
denial of Christ when we confess another ground of salvation and
satisfaction.” He does not say (and did not know) where, when, and how
Christ is revealed to the unbaptized subjects of his saving grace: this is
hidden from mortal eyes; but we have no right to set boundaries to the
infinite wisdom and love of God.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches the necessity of baptism for salvation,
and assigns all heathen to hell and all unbaptized children to the limbus
infantum (a border region of hell, alike removed from burning pain and
heavenly bliss). Lutheran divines, who accept the same baptismal theory,
must consistently exclude the unbaptized from beatitude, or leave them to
the uncovenanted mercy of God. Zwingli and Calvin made salvation
depend on eternal election, which may be indefinitely extended beyond the
visible Church and sacraments. The Scotch Presbyterian Confession
condemns the “horrible dogma” of the papacy concerning the damnation of
unbaptized infants. The Westminster Confession teaches that “elect infants
dying in infancy,” and “all other elect persons, who are incapable of being
outwardly called by the ministry of the word, are saved by Christ through
the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth.” f157