UNIVERSALIST S. BY THE REV. A. B. GROSH. SUCH is the general and approved name of that denomination of Christians, which is distinguished for believing that God will finally save all mankind from sin and death, and make all intelligences holy and happy by and through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. Anciently, believers in this sentiment were called by its opposers," Merciful Doctors ;" and at a later day, "Hell-redemptionists" and "Restorationers ;" and within a few years past, efforts have been made to create a distinction among them, by classing them as "Restorationists" and "Ultra-Universalists;"-but the denomination itself, though composed of all classes thus attempted to be distinguished and divided off, claims for itself the sole name of UNIVERSALIST, and disclaims any other distinctive title by which to be designated. The great general sentiment of the final, universal salvation of all moral beings from sin and death, in which this denomination is united, and by which it is distinguished, is termed Universalism ; or, sometimes, by way of varying the phraseology, "the Abrahamic faith;" because it is the gospel that was declared to Abraham-or, sometimes, "the Restitution," or, "the Restitution of all things," &c. But that the reader may have as full information of this denomination and its faith, as the limits of this work will permit, I will state-First, the history of the sentiment peculiar to it. Second, the rise, progress, present condition, and prospects of the denomination in its collective capacity. Third, a brief summary of the general views held by Universalists, and the principal scriptures on which they rely for support. I. THE HISTORY OF THE SENTIMENT, OR DOCTRINE, OF The first intimation of God's purpose to destroy the cause of moral evil, and restore man to purity and happiness, is contained in the pro mise, that the serpent, (which represents the origin and cause of sin,) after bruising man's heel, (a curable injury of the most inferior portion of humanity,) should have its head bruised by the woman's Seed. (Genesis iii. 15.) A bruise of the head is death to the serpent, (and to what that reptile represents ;) and the destruction being effected by the Seed of the woman, shows man's final and complete deliverance from, and triumph over, all evil. In accordance with the idea conveyed by representing man's heel only, as being buruised, is the limitation of the punishment divinely pronounced on the first pair of transgressors, to the duration of their earthly lives-(Genesis iii. 17, 19)—and the total absence of every thing like even a hint, that God would punish Cain, or Lamech, or the antediluvians, with an infinite or endless penalty-and the institution of temporal punishment only, in the law given by Moses. And the intimation of the final, total destruction of the very cause of moral evil, and of all its works or effects, (or all sin,) is further explained and confirmed by later and more conclusive testimony, in which it is stated that Jesus would destroy death and the devil, the devil and all his works; and that the grave (Hades, or Hell) and its victory, and death and its sting, (which is sin,) would exist no more after the resurrection of the dead. (See Heb. ii. 14; 1 John iii. 8; and 1 Cor. xv. 54-57.) This brief intimation of the ultimate destruction of evil, and man's salvation therefrom, grew into that divine promise to Abraham and his descendants, which the apostle Paul expressly calls "the gospel," viz., that in Abraham and his seed, (which seed is Jesus Christ,) "shall all the families," "all the nations," and "all kindreds of the earth be blessed"-by being "turned away every one from iniquity," and by being "justified (i. e. made just) by faith." (Compare Genesis xii. 3, xviii. 18, xxii. 18, and xxvi. 4, with Acts iii. 25, 26, and Galatians iii. 8.) Christ being a spiritual Prince, and a spiritual Saviour only, and this gospel being a spiritual promise; of course the blessings promised to all, in Christ, will be spiritual also, and not merely temporal. For all that are blessed in Christ, are to be new creatures. (2 Cor. v. 17.) Accordingly we find this solemn, oath-confirmed promise of God-this "gospel preached before due time to Abraham"-made the basis and subject of almost every prophecy relating to the ultimate prevalence, and universal, endless triumph of God's moral dominion under the mediatorial reign of Jesus Christ. But if we would obtain a more perfect understanding of those prophetic promises, we must examine them in connexion with the expositions given of their meaning, by the Saviour and his apostles, in the New Testament. One or two examples are all that can be given here. The subjugation of all things to the dominion of man, (Ps. viii. 5, 6,) is expressly applied to the spiritual subjugation of all souls to Jesus, by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who declares it a universal subjection; (" for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him ;") and that it is not the present physical or external subjection, but the prospectivly final, spiritual and internal subjection that is meant "for we see not yet all things put under him," &c. (Heb. ii. 8, 9.) And in 1 Cor. xv. 24-28, this subjection is represented as taking place after all opposing powers are put down, and the last enemy is destroyed-and it is connected with the subjection of all alike unto Jesus, and of Jesus unto God, and is declared to be, that God may be all that is in all;-thus most emphatically and conclusively showing that nothing but a thorough, spiritual subjection of the whole soul to God can be intended. And that it is to be strictly universal, is evident, also, from the 27th verse, where God is expressly named as the only being in the universe who will not be subjected to the moral dominion of Jesus-thus agreeing with the testimony of Hebrews ii. 8, before quoted. Again: the promise of universal blessedness in the gospel, under the figure of a feast for all people, made on Mount Zion, and the swallowing up of death in victory, recorded in Isaiah xxv. 6-8, is very positively applied by the Apostle Paul to the resurrection of all men to immortality-thus showing its universality, its spirituality, and its endlessness. (See 1 Cor. xv. 54.) And again: in Isaiah lv. 10, 11, God gives a pledge that his word will more certainly accomplish all it is sent to perform, than will his natural agents perform their mission. In Isa. xlv. 22-24, he informs us that the mission of his word is, to make every knee bow, and every tongue swear allegiance, and surely say that in the Lord each one has righteousness and strength. The apostle to the Gentiles, in speaking of the flesh-embodied Word of God, Jesus of Nazareth, in a very emphatic manner confirmed the absolute universality of this promise, by declaring that it included all in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth, in its promise of final salvation, by gathering them into Christ. (See Phil. ii. 9-11.) This acknowledgment of Jesus, as universal Lord or owner, is to be made by the influence of the Holy Spirit-(1 Cor. xii. 3; and Rom. xiv. 8, 9, compared with John vi. 37-39, and Phil. iii. 21)-and is called reconciliation, without which, indeed, it could not be a true spiritual subjection and allegiance. (Col. i. 19, 20; and Eph. i. 8-10.) * The word "one" being in italics, was supplied by the translators, and is no part of the original scripture. Thus have we very briefly traced the rise and gradual developement of the doctrine of universal salvation, from its first intimation down to its full and clear exposition;-thus proving that it is, indeed, "the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouths of all his holy prophets, since the world began"-(Acts iii. 21)—and the gospel which God" hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things." This gospel of the great salvation, so abundantly testified to by the apostles of the Saviour, was undoubtedly the faith of the primitive churches. True, other matters more directly engaged the preaching and controversies of the early teachers; for both Jews and Gentiles denied that Jesus was a divinely commissioned teacher, and that he rose from the dead after his crucifixion and burial-and many also denied the resurrection of the dead in general. But it is a fact clearly stated on the page of ecclesiastical history, and proved by the writings of the early Fathers themselves, that the doctrine of universal salvation was held, without any directly counter sentiment being taught, until the days of Tertullian, in A. D. 204; and that Tertullian himself was the first Christian writer now known, who asserted the doctrine of the absolute eternity of hell-torments, or, that the punishment of the wicked and the happiness of the saints were equal in duration. Nor was there any opposition to the doctrine of universal salvation, until long after the days of Origen, (about A. D. 394,)-nor was it ever declared a heresy by the Church in general, until as late as the year 553, when the fifth General Council thus declared it false. But that the reader may have names and dates, we will here name a few of the most eminent Fathers, with the date of their greatest fame, who openly avowed and publicly taught the doctrine of Universalism. A. D. 140, the authors of the Sibylline Oracles; 190, Clement, President of the Catechetical School at Alexandria, the most learned and illustrious man before Origen; 185, Origen, the light of the Church in his day, whose reputation for learning and sanctity gave rise to many followers, and finally a great party, in the Christian Church, the most of whom (if not all) were decided believers and advocates of Universalism. Among these we will merely name, (for we have no room for remarks,) Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, and Titus, Bishop of Bostra; A. D. 360, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople; 380, Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and Fabius Manus Victorinus; A. D. 390, the Origenists, the Gnostics, and the Manicheans generally held it about this time, and many eminent fathers whom we have not room to particularize. Those we have named quoted the same texts, and used many of the arguments in proof of the doctrine, that are now urged by Universalists. And it is a remark-worthy fact, that the Greek Fathers who wrote against endless misery, and in favour of Universalism, nevertheless used the Greek word aion and its derivatives, (rendered ever, for ever, everlasting, and eternal, in our common English version of the Bible,) to express the duration of punishment, which they stated to be limited-thus proving that the ancient meaning of these words was not endless duration when applied to sin and suffering. For instances, with reference to author and page, see the "Ancient History of Universalism, by the Rev. H. Ballou 2d" from which the foregoing very condensed statement is extracted. After existing unmolested, in fact, after being the prevailing sentiment of the Christian Church, for nearly 500 years-especially of that portion of the Church nearest Judea, and therefore most under the influence imparted by the personal disciples of the Lord Jesus,— Universalism was at last put down, as its Great Teacher had been before it, by human force and authority. From the fifth General Council, in A. D. 553, we may trace the rapid decline of pure Christianity. During all the dark ages of rapine, blood and cruelty, Universalism was unknown in theory as it was in practice; and the doctrine of ceaseless sin and suffering prevailed without a rival. But no sooner was the Reformation commenced, and arts and learning began to revive, and the scriptures to be read and obeyed, than Universalism again found advocates, and began to spread in Christendom. The Anabaptists of Germany and of England openly embraced it-many eminent men of worth, talents and learning, embraced and defended it—and it formed the hope and solace of hundreds of pious men and women of various denominations. Among many others who embraced and taught Universalism, we have room only to name Winstanley, Earbury, Coppin; Samuel Richardson, author of " Eternal Hell Torments Overthrown;" Jeremy White, Chaplain to Cromwell, and author of "The Restoration of all Things;" Dr. Henry More, Archbishop Tillotson, Dr. Thomas Burnet, Wm. Whiston, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. George Cheyne, Chevalier Ramsay, John Wm. Petersen, Neil Douglass, James Purves, Dr. Hartley, author of "Observations on Man;" Bishop Newton, Sir George Stonehouse, Rev. R. Barbauld, and his wife, Anna Letitia Barbauld, the authoress ; many of the General Baptists, in England; the English Unitarians, almost universally-especially Drs. Priestley, Lindsey, Belsham, and others and many eminent men in Holland, France, and Germany. In the latter named country, the sentiment has spread most generally, and is now held by a vast majority of both the evangelical and the |