CHAPTER XVIII.
Discussion in Pontiac—The Apostle’s Faith—His Argument in Romans—Extensive Traveling—In Kansas and Missouri—Price’s Raid—In Ohio and Indiana—Dark Night and Walk in Toledo—Conversation on Destructionism—The Victory—The Death—President Lincoln—Debate in Milford, Ohio—The Restitution an old Doctrine—The Sentiment Wide Spread—At Work in Iowa—Laborers There—Murderers Saved and the Murdered Lost—Intellectual and Moral Growth—What Man Was—What He is to Be—The Victory—Spiritualism—Immoral Preaching—Saved Without Repentance—Preaching a Means of Salvation—A Methodist Minister Believes—The Suicide.
Discussion in Pontiac—The Apostle’s Faith—His Argument in Romans—Extensive Traveling—In Kansas and Missouri—Price’s Raid—In Ohio and Indiana—Dark Night and Walk in Toledo—Conversation on Destructionism—The Victory—The Death—President Lincoln—Debate in Milford, Ohio—The Restitution an old Doctrine—The Sentiment Wide Spread—At Work in Iowa—Laborers There—Murderers Saved and the Murdered Lost—Intellectual and Moral Growth—What Man Was—What He is to Be—The Victory—Spiritualism—Immoral Preaching—Saved Without Repentance—Preaching a Means of Salvation—A Methodist Minister Believes—The Suicide.
In the spring of 1861, I resolved to move to Chicago, and publish theMagazine, in that city. The war was still raging, and I was apprehensive it would linger several years longer. I could do nothing in Missouri, and most of my subscribers were nearer Chicago than St. Louis. Accordingly, in May of said year, we bid adieu to the city which had been our home for many years, and took up our abode in the “Garden City” of the West. I had been there but once since 1840, and what a change had taken place! Its population at the present time, is about two hundred thousand, but in 1840 it did not number more than six thousand inhabitants. And it will doubtless continue to make rapid strides in its onward march. Its lake navigation almost connecting it with the Atlantic ocean; its railroads extending in all directions through the most productive agricultural region of the world, must concentrate immense wealth and business in Chicago.
Our denomination has two church edifices in Chicago, and two large societies. Dr. W. H. Ryder is pastor of the first society, and T. E. St. John of the second. Till recently, J. H. Tuttle had charge of thesecond society. There is also a denominational paper there—The New Covenant—published by D. P. Livermore. It has, I understand, an extensive circulation.
There are far more of the liberal faith in this northern region than as far south as St. Louis. A large portion of the people are from the Eastern States, and they brought with them rational views of the Bible and religion. We have meeting-houses and societies all over this northern section, also ministers at work instructing the people, and uniting and concentrating their efforts.
Soon after moving to Chicago, I had an oral discussion in Pontiac, Ill., with Elder Brooks, on Endless Misery and Universal Salvation. In one of my speeches, I remarked:
The apostle Paul was certainly a believer in the salvation of all men. Some of his statements of this doctrine are remarkably lucid, comprehensive, and weighty. Take, for instance, the fifth chapter to the Romans.
1. In the eighteenth verse he says: “Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by the righteousness of one thefree giftcame uponall menunto justification of life.” What is this “freegift” to all men? Answer: “For the wages of sin is death; but thegift of God is eternal life.” Rom. vi. 23. Eternal life, then, is given, made sure, toall men. Not to one here and there; to this sect or that sect; this nation or that nation; but toALL MEN. Let this be remembered.
2. In the next verse of said chapter, he continues: “For as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” By “many” here he means the same as by “all men,” in the preceding verse, the terms being varied to avoid tautology. Parkhurst, inhis Greek Lexicon says, “The wordmanyin this verse, signifiesthe many; that is, themass, the multitude; thewhole bulkof mankind.” Dr. Macknight, a Presbyterian critic, writes, “For as the wordmanyin the first part of the verse, does not mean some part of mankind only, butall mankind, from first to last, who without exception are constituted sinners; sothe many, in the latter part of the verse, who are said to be constituted righteous through the obedience of Christ, must meanall mankind, from the beginning to the end of the world,without exception.” The statement of the apostle is this—all mankind are sinners, and all mankind shall be righteous. Can universal salvation be expressed in clearer terms?
3. He continues his argument: “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; and as sin hath reigned unto death, even so, might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.” Verses 20, 21. Sin abounds universally, but grace is much more to abound. The grace of God is not only to banish sin from every soul, but to bless every soul forever and ever. But how can grace abound more than sin, if millions of mankind are to be victims of sin eternally? Will the grace of God, resulting in eternal life, abound in such souls? A valuable building is on fire; the fire abounds in every part from base to attic. The engines rush to the spot and pour water all over the building, and extinguish the devouring flames. In this case where fire abounded, water much more abounds. But if the water failed to extinguish the fire in one half of the building, would water have abounded more than fire? So, if the grace of God puts out the fires of sin in only half of the universe, will grace abound more than sin? How is that, Elder Brooks?
4. The whole creation to be delivered. “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly butby reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; because the creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Rom. viii. 20, 21. The word, “creature,” here means mankind; the Greek whence it is taken, is rendered “creation” in the twenty-second verse. The words, “every creature,” in the commission of Christ to his apostles, are from the same term. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel toevery creature.” Mark xvi. 15. Dr. Macknight and other good critics tell us, that the word rendered,creature, signifies, “every human creature;ALL MANKIND.” Dr. Thomas White, an English divine of the Episcopal Church, translates the text thus: “ForTHE CREATIONwas made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected it; in hope thatTHE CREATION ITSELFalso shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.” Mankind, then, are to be delivered from corruption—from moral and physical corruption—into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The apostle says, this universal deliveranceSHALLbe effected, and I believe him.
5. God will have mercy on all. “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed,that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out? For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Rom. xi. 25-36. Jews and Gentiles include all mankind. The apostles tell us, that the blindness of the Jews is to continue “Till thefulnessof the Gentiles be come in,” and then “All Israelshall be saved.” “For God hath concluded themall—Israelites and Gentiles—in unbelief that he might have mercy onall.” And then he adds, “For of him, and through him, and to him areall things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” No terms can express more forcibly the proposition I affirm on this occasion.
In the next verse, the apostle adds, “I beseech you therefore by themerciesof God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable duty.” In the previous part of his letter to the Romans, as I have shown, he writes of themerciesof God for mankind. 1. “The free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” 2. “Many,” that is, the mass, all mankind, “shall be made righteous.” 3. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” 4. The whole creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. 5. God will bring all the Gentiles, and all the Jews, into the kingdom; will “HAVE MERCY ON ALL; for of him and through him, and to him areALL THINGS.” His next words are, “I beseech you therefore by theMERCIESof God,” etc. It is sometimes said by the opposers of Universal Grace, that it has an immoralinfluence. But the great apostle beseeches men in consideration of its truth, to live holy, godly lives. He does not say, as some have profanely said, “If God’s mercy will save the world, we have nothing to do; let us then eat, drink and be merry; lie, steal, and murder. It is all right; God will save us any how.” Let every believer in the universal mercy of God aim to live a life “holy and acceptable to God,” which is his reasonable duty.
These are the statements of the apostle to the Gentiles concerning the extent of salvation; and I, and no other one, can employ language expressing more clearly the Universalist faith. That gifted man was certainly a believer in the “Restitution of all things.”
Since I have been in Chicago, I have traveled and lectured on nearly all the railroads running out of the city; have labored not only in Illinois, but in Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. I was at work in Kansas and Missouri when Price made his late raid into the latter state. That was in the fall of 1864. Was in Leavenworth when the state militia were called out to resist the invaders. The people of Kansas expected no mercy at their hands should they enter the state; Leavenworth, especially, would be sure to feel their wrath. The streets of the city were guarded, and orders issued, to arrest every straggler who was without a pass. Cannon were mounted on the surrounding hills, and every man who could shoulder a musket was required to report for duty. I was tempted to go, armed and equipped, to the “front,” but recollecting I had not fired a gun for twenty years, I concluded I could not do much execution, and so set my face homeward. But how to get across the river into Missouri, was the question, as no one was allowed to go over without a pass, and I had no pass, and probably could not get one. I, however, rode boldly to the ferry as if I was on important business, and was passed over without being questioned.But when near Weston, I was stopped by the picket; but the officer of the day soon coming along, took me to head-quarters, where I obtained a pass to St. Joseph. Leaving my horse with a kind friend, I went to St. Joseph by rail, and thence to the Mississippi river, two hundred miles across the state. Considerable portion of the way being infested with bushwackers, there were thirty soldiers on the train to protect us from those bloody scoundrels. The guards fired on two horsemen, who seemed to be fleeing from the rushing train. Both fell, and as I learned afterward, they were killed, and were Union men. The conductor thought they were bushwackers, and that class of fighters were shot down like mad dogs, as they deserved to be. Only a few days before, and a few miles from that spot, Bill Anderson’s bloody crew stopped a train, and murdered in cold blood twenty-one of the passengers. All armed stragglers on the prairies, were suspiciously regarded in that locality, after that terrible crime was perpetrated. Macon City was alive with business, fifteen hundred soldiers being there digging ditches, throwing up breastworks, and making every other necessary preparation to resist an attack, which was daily expected. I went to St. Louis, and found the citizens very indignant at the way General Rosecrans was managing affairs. Half of a general, with the force at Rosecrans’ command, would have driven Price out of the state at the beginning of the invasion, when he was yet in the south-east corner of it. But Rosecrans’ head being full of whisky and popery, he let the rebels do about as they pleased. They overran the best portion of the state, and did an immense amount of harm.
I spent three weeks, in the business of my life, between Chicago and Toledo, Ohio. Lectured in many places I had not before visited, and much extended my acquaintance. Had an appointment in East Toledo, a suburb of Toledo, and about threemiles from it. It was a dismal night, and the road out there was a dismal road. I started after dark, on foot and alone, to fill the appointment. The weather was cold, the night dark, and the rain pouring down in torrents. There being no sidewalk, and the mud deep, I had an interesting walk. Arriving at the meeting-house, I found it dark, and the door locked; and after shivering in the wet and cold outside one hour, and not a soul joining me, I returned whence I came. I suppose no one expected I would be on hand such a night. The next day on the cars, I had the following conversation with a fellow passenger:
“I do not believe in eternal punishment. I believe God willdestroythe wicked, soul and body, root and branch.”
“When will he do all this?”
“At the resurrection. Then God will raise saint and sinner, take the righteous to himself, and burn the wicked to ashes.”
“I congratulate you on the improvement you have made on old Orthodoxy. It is certainly better to burn sinners up, then burn them eternally.”
“I do not believe any one in this world has a spark of immortality in him. We are born mortal, live mortal, and unless we comply with certain conditions, we never can be immortal. Immortality is conditional, and unless we comply with those conditions, we shall be consumed in the conflagration.”
“What are those conditions?”
“Faith in Christ, is one of them.”
“Will all be destroyed except those who exercise faith in Christ? Is that your theory?”
“Yes.”
“Then nearly all mankind will be burned up. The countless millions who lived before Christ’s advent—the good and the bad—all consumed in one pile. All the Pagans, Mohammedans, and Jews who have lived since his birth will share the same fiery fate.All idiots, all children who have died such, will be consumed with them. Your creed is the gospel of destruction, almost universal destruction.”
“I did not say all them would be destroyed.”
“I admit you did not say so in so many words, but no other inference can be drawn from your position. You said no one would be blessed with immortality and eternal life, who did not have faith in Christ in this world. The child, the idiot, the Pagan, the Mohammedan, all lack such a faith here, and the inference is, they will all be destroyed. You are ashamed to admit in so many words such a horrid idea to me, but that is your faith.”
“You do not understand me, and you cannot convince the people of the White House that all will be saved.”
“I understand you and your fiery faith perfectly well. It is worse than Atheism, for it asserts that death is the end of man, while your creed asserts, that nearly all mankind will be raised from the dead onpurpose to burn them up. Atheism is a hundred fold better than your theory. It is amazing to me, that a man with the Bible in his hands, and God all round him, can entertain such a terrible theory. You have eyes, but you see not; ears, but you hear not; understanding, but understand not. Read the words of truth emblazoned on God’s word and works, accept their teachings, and abandon your fiery creed, your worse than atheistical dogma.”
Spent one month on the Illinois Central railroad, and went south as far as Du Quoin, about three hundred miles, and lectured in most of the important towns, on and near the road. When in Mattoon and Charleston, the glorious news arrived of the evacuation of Richmond, and the surrender of Lee. Up went the banners, and loud were the hosannas. Every body were in the street, shaking hands, and with smiling faces. The terrible war was over, the governmentwas triumphantly sustained, and the soldier boys would soon return. No wonder the people were happy.
I was in Ashley, April 14th. Some one said, “Have you heard the news?” “What news?” “Mr. Lincoln was murdered last night!” “It cannot be so,” I replied; “it is doubtless a false report?” But in a few moments, the passenger train came down with its engine draped in black. That confirmed the heart-rending report. As the train approached the depot no one spoke—no one could speak. The people turned homeward with meditative steps and down cast look. All over the land, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in city and country, where the sad tidings was conveyed, the people were struck dumb. Mr. Lincoln’s character had been tested by the most difficult circumstances, and he had proved himself to be a wise, noble, far-seeing man. Every body had confidence in him—in his judgment, his uprightness, his patriotism. He was deemed the Savior of his country. No wonder the people were “stricken, smitten and afflicted.” And then, the awful news was so different from what the people had just been feasting on. This was victory, victory, victory. The enemy was subdued, and the country saved. That was death, death, death. The great, the good, the beloved President, was murdered, and that, too, in the very hour of his triumph.
I was at Du Quoin the next day; and it was reported of three men in town, that they had said, “Lincoln was served right,” and forthwith some soldiers, who were at home on a furlough, started post-haste, and brought them into town. They would have been hung, if it had been proved they dropped those obnoxious words.
I had a discussion in Milford, Ohio, with John Sweeney of Chicago, which continued four days. He was pretty well posted on doctrinal points, anddid some good work for his cause. The discussion was conducted pleasantly, and I trust profitably to the hearers. He said, that the idea of the salvation of all men was new in the world; had been entertained but a few years. In my reply I remarked:
The gentleman greatly errs in asserting that the idea of the final purification and salvation of all souls, is a new thought in this world. The apostle Peter informs us, that the “Restitution of all things was spoken by the mouth of all God’s holy prophets since the world began.” Acts iii. 21. It is as old, then, as inspiration, as revelation. And far back in the depths of the past, hundreds of years before Christ, and outside of the Jewish nation, the “Restitution of all things” was cherished by many of the wise and good. Upper India was doubtless one of the first abodes of mankind after the flood, Noah or some of his children, having settled there. In the sacred books of the early inhabitants of that country, the redemption of all souls is distinctly stated. Budhism, a sort of Protestant Reformation of the old faith of the people, avows the same destiny for mankind. Padmahani, the Son of the Supreme God, made a vow not to return to heaven until all beings should be brought through him to salvation. True, they were to pass through many terrible hells—first, a hell of snakes, then came thirty-two principal hells, and then one hundred and twenty minor hells. The road to heaven, according to that old theology, was certainly hard to travel; but I suppose one had better go to heaven through all those hells than not get there at all. The author of the “Friend of India,” gives the following as the views of many of the present inhabitants of that country. “According to the Brahmos, God is a loving Father, and men are his children; to secure happiness, men must avoid sin and subdue the sins to which they are prone. They must fulfil all human duty, and especially devotethemselves to works of benevolence among the ignorant and poor. For the wrong they do, they will suffer punishment;but their sufferings are remedial, and will purify the soul from all its errors. Meditation and prayer are to be employed for the same end; and to assist their followers in this duty, a little book has been published, which is extensively used.”
In Egypt, the land of ancient wisdom, many of the priests, Dr. Enfield thinks, entertained a belief in the salvation of all men. See his “History of Philosophy,” Book I, chapter 8. In the old Persian mythology, the same idea is contained. It has a God and a Savior; and the latter will finally restore all from the power of satan.
For three or four hundred years after Christ, many of the leading Christian writers were believers in the “Restitution of all things.” Says Clement, President of the theological school in Alexandria, the most noted school of the second and third centuries: “How is he a Savior and Lord, unless he is the Savior and Lord of all? He is certainly the Savior of those who have believed: and of those who have not believed he is the Lord, until by being brought to confess him they shall receive the proper and well-adapted blessing for themselves.” “The Lord is the propitiation not only for our sins, that is, of the faithful, but also for the whole world; therefore he indeedsaves all, but converts some by punishments, and others by gaining their free-will, so that he has the high honor that unto himevery knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; that is, angels, men, and the souls of those who died before his advent.”
Clement’s great pupil, Origen, was a noted advocate of Universal Salvation. He says: “We assert that the Word who is the wisdom of God, shall bring togetherall intelligent creatures, and convert them into his own perfection, through the instrumentalitiesof their free-will and their own exertions. And the consummation of all things will be the extinctionof sin; but whether it shall then be so abolished as never to revive again in the universe does not belong to the present discourse to show. What relates, however, to the entire abolition of sin and thereformation of every soul, may be obscurely traced in many of the prophecies; for there we discover that the name of God is to be invoked by all, so thatallshall serve him with one consent, that the reproach of contumely is to be taken away, and that there is to beno more sin, nor vain words, nor treacherous tongue. This may not indeed take place with mankind in the present life, but be accomplished after they shall have been liberated from the body.”
A century later, Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, advocated the same faith in the plainest terms: “What therefore is the scope of St. Paul’s dissertation in this place? That the nature of evil shall at last bewholly exterminated, and divine, immortal goodness embrace within itselfevery rational creature; so that ofallwho were made by God,not oneshall be excluded from his kingdom.”
Diodorus, Bishop of Tarsus, in Silicia, A.D. 378, was of that faith. “The wicked,” he says, “are to suffer, not eternal torment, but a punishment proportioned in length to the amount of their guilt; after which, they are to be happy without end.” About the same time, lived Fabius Manus Victorinus. He maintained, that “Christ will regenerate all things; through him all things will be purged, and return to eternal life.”
Other learned, good, and influential men in those early days, believed in and taught this truth. I will name Titus, Bishop of Bostia; Basil the Great, Bishop of Cæsarea; Didymus the Blind, and the learned and powerful Jerome. In fact, most of the Christians, Orthodox and anti-Orthodox, in the first age ofthe Christian Era, entertained this faith. The writers of those times speak of this faith as if it was not questioned; they offer no labored argument in its defence, and when they do refer to it, it is only incidentally. But darkness was rapidly covering the earth, and gross darkness the people. The enlightened and benevolent doctrine of the Restitution was not adapted to the savagism of the dark ages that was then threatening the world, and so in the year of our Lord 553, at Constantinople, by the Fifth Ecumenical Council, it was condemned. From that period till the Reformation of the fourteenth century, the religions of the world corresponded with the ignorance and brutality that prevailed. Our wise, benevolent, and pure faith, not harmonizing with the savagism of the times, had but few adherents. But in the great religious awakening of the fourteenth century, it was again entertained, and has been ever since gradually gaining in favor.
In A.D. 1650, Gerard Winstonley, an Englishman, in a book called, “Mystery of God,” thus writes, “The whole creation of mankind shall be delivered from corruption, bondage, death, and pain.” He was persecuted for his faith, and thrown into prison. At the same time lived and labored William Earbury, an eminent preacher among the Independents. He was a defender of the same faith. He asked, “What gospel, what glad tidings is it to tell the world, that none can be saved but the elect and believers? Christ came to save only thelost, giving the word of life toall men, that they might believe, a shutting all up in unbelief, that he might have mercy onall.” “For the ministry of God shall be finished, fully known, and the angel swears by God, that time shall be no more; forallshall be taken up into eternity, unto God himself, and God shall beall in all.” (Terror of Tythes, pages 175, 244.)
Another noble defender of the Restitution in thosetimes, was Richard Coppin. He was charged with blasphemy for believing in Universal Salvation, and he replied, “Whatever is the will of God is not blasphemy to affirm. The will of God is the salvation of all men, therefore to say thatall men shall be savedis not blasphemy.” (Truth’s Triumph, page 7.) He confounded his opposers in discussion, and that so enraged them, they had him imprisoned. This took place in 1656. At this time a book by an unknown author appeared, with this title: “Of the Torments of Hell; The Foundation; And the Pillars Thereof Discovered, Searched, Shaken and Ruined. With infallible proof that there is not to be punishment for the wicked after this life; for any to endure that shall not end.” The author was certainly a man of ability, and much reading. He gives Orthodoxy some pretty hard hits. This was written over two hundred years ago.
At the same time lived Jeremy White, a chaplain to Protector Cromwell. He published a book called, “The Restitution of All Things: or, a vindication of the goodness and grace of God, to be manifested at last in the recovery of the whole creation out of their fall.” He was truly a christian man; his soul was imbued with the spirit of his faith. Dr. Thomas Burnet of that age, was of like faith, and Lord Macauley, in his “History of England,” says he was a “clergyman of eminent genius, learning and virtue.” In one of his works he writes, “I know not by what means it happens at present, that some divines of a cruel and fiery temper are extremely pleased with eternal and infinite punishment, and can hardly endure to have the point fairly examined and debated on both sides.” There are some of that kind in the world now.
William Whiston, the well known translator of Josephus, was an unbeliever in endless misery. He wrote a book entitled, “The Eternity of Hell TormentsConsidered.” Archbishop Hare says, he was “a fair, unblemished character; all his life he cultivated piety, virtue and good bearing.” He succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as Professor of Mathematics, at Cambridge. In his book he offers some cogent arguments against eternal woe, but I have not time to state them on this occasion. R. Roach, another English clergyman, who flourished over an hundred years ago, say, “Then will the general redemption be accomplished, and the mediating office of the great High Priest be at an end, for he will then deliver up the kingdom thus completed to his Father, that ‘God may beall in all.’” Bishop Warburton, the celebrated author of the “Divine Legation of Moses,” had no faith in ceaseless woe. He justly calls the preachers of that doctrine, “unmerciful doctors,” “merciless doctors.”
But I have not time to cite any more English testimony, that the doctrines of the Restitution have been long entertained by many of the purest, best, and most learned of that nation. I will cross over into Germany, and see if these sentiments have not been entertained in that enlightened land.
As early as 1590, Samuel Huber, Professor of Divinity, in Wittemburg, was a believer in the Restitution, according to Spauheim, Professor of Divinity at Geneva: “We think,” says the latter, “the opinion of Huber on this subject absurd, who about the close of the last century, began to publish and defend a universal election of all men in Christ to salvation.” At the same early day our righteous faith had a talented, learned and pious advocate in John William Petersen. He was Professor of Poetry at Rostock, in 1677. He was also superintendent at Lubic and Lunenburg, and court preacher at Lutin. In 1700, he published a work in three volumes, in defense of the Restitution, which was extensively read, and caused much excitement in Germany.
At the same time was published a book which has been widely circulated and extensively read. It is entitled, “The Everlasting Gospel,” by Paul Seigvolk. It clearly and forcibly advocates the salvation of mankind. It was very popular in Germany, and has been republished at various times in different parts of Europe. It was also published in this country as early as 1753. That our divine faith was widely diffused in those days, we learn from many other sources. In theAnalytical Review, an English periodical published in 1780, we find the following:
“The doctrine of the final happiness of mankind, which present the prospect of the termination of all evil, and of a period in which the deep shades of misery and guilt, which have so long enveloped the universe, shall be forever dispelled, is so pleasing a speculation to a benevolent mind, that we do not wonder it meets with somanyadvocates. From theearliestperiod, we doubt not the belief of it has been secretly entertained by many, who, in the face of opposition and danger, had not the resolution to avow it. Now, however, it has broken througheveryrestriction, and walks abroad in every form that is adapted to convince the philosophic, to arouse the unthinking, and to melt the tender.”
These books, and others of like character, were extensively circulated in Germany, and called the attention of the public to the benevolent faith advocated with so much learning and piety. An exciting controversy was the result; and learned men on both sides put forth all their strength for and against this controverted doctrine.
But I have not time to say more about the history of Universalism in Germany. Ever since the Reformation, that faith has been gaining adherents, and at the present time, it is almost universally entertained by the Protestants of that country. Says Dr. Dwight, in “Travels in North Germany,” “The doctrine ofendless punishment is almost universally rejected. I have seen but one person who believed it.” Not only in Germany and England, but in Holland, Switzerland, France, Scotland, and in other parts of Europe, the doctrine of Universal Salvation prevailed at an early day, and at the present time is widely diffused. It exists more or less in all the Protestant denominations. There is no sect in Europe called Universalist, but the sentiment is found in all sects, and encounters very little opposition.
I also spent three weeks in the north part of Iowa. Lectured in Lyons, Marshalltown, Newton, Iowa City, Washington, and in many other places. T. C. Eaton, who resides in Des Moines, has labored very successfully in the interior of that state. He has long been in the West—has resided in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, as well as in Iowa—and wherever he has lived, has always been a faithful laborer in the Master’s vineyard. J. P. Sanford, is in Marshalltown, and is an eloquent speaker, and laborious worker. Some fifteen years since, I was introduced to him in Bentonsport, Iowa. He was then a Methodist, and asked many questions concerning the liberal faith. Six months afterward he commenced preaching, and has been in the ministry ever since. He was in the army two years during the late rebellion, and was captain, colonel, chaplain. He has traveled some in Europe, and, it is said, delivers some interesting lectures concerning “the old country.” He is also a noted masonic lecturer. In Newton met A. C. Edmonds, who resides and preaches in the place. He has spent several years in California and Oregon, traveling and preaching; has also published a denominational paper in those states. Our people have a meeting-house, also a society, in Newton. In Iowa City, the Universalists own a church edifice, and J. Kinney is pastor of the society. He is an excellent man, and the good cause prospers under his ministry.
I have labored in Iowa, more or less, most every year, for a long time, and until lately my journeys were made on horseback. In this way I have traveled over about two thirds of the state. Iowa abounds in good soil, and will, in a few years, be a rich and populous country. Now is the time to establish our beautiful faith in that young and vigorous state. It will improve the people spiritually and morally, while they are making themselves pleasant homes, and developing the resources of the land. Said a man to me in Marshalltown:
“Do you think the assassin Booth can be saved?”
“Jesus said, ‘I came to seek and save the lost.’ ‘They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.’ And the apostle Paul teaches, that Christ came to save the chief of sinners. As it was the mission of our Savior to save the lost, the morally sick, the chief of sinners, I dare not say, that even Booth cannot be saved. But if Orthodoxy is true, I had rather have Booth’s chances for heaven than Mr. Lincoln’s. The latter received his death wound without a moment’s warning, and was not conscious an instant after the fatal bullet struck his head. He belonged to no church, was not a professor of religion; and so according to Orthodoxy, died impenitent, unregenerated, a sinner, and must be lost eternally. But Booth lived one or two hours after he was wounded, and was perfectly conscious to the last moment of his life. And who knows but he repented of his great crime before he expired? And if he did, according to Orthodoxy, he went straight to heaven. But if there is any truth in Orthodoxy, Mr. Lincoln had no chance whatever, for he died ‘impenitent.’ If Partialism is true, as a general rule, murderers are saved, while the murdered are lost, for in nine cases of every ten, the latter, being killed suddenly, without any intimation of their doom, and so have not time to say ‘Lord save me,’ are eternally lost; while the former,the murderers, having timely warning of their fate, and special effort being made for their regeneration, almost invariably swing from the gallows soundly converted, and so go from the gibbet to immortal glory. It takes Orthodoxy to translate the bloody criminal into a saint, and fit him for heaven between his monstrous crime and the halter; but Universalism is required to save the murdered, the victim of his iniquity. While I was residing in St. Louis, a wretch by the name of Lamb, held with his own hands, his young and confiding wife in the Mississippi river, till she was dead. He was arrested, confessed his guilt, and was hung; and on the gallows said, ‘I have a hope within me that bears me up—a hope that I shall live with God, and be happy with him, and that I shall sing his praise. I die with a trust in God.’ And Dr. Anderson, a Presbyterian, his spiritual adviser, published in the papers that he was ‘satisfied of the reality of Lamb’s penitence.’ Behold the abominations of Orthodoxy! That woman belonged to no church, had not ‘got religion,’ and so was banished from the murderer’s hands to the devil, to be the victim of his diabolical cruelty eternally. But the incarnate fiend, whom the law called her husband, was transported a few months afterward, from the gallows to the third heaven, according to Orthodoxy.”
In one of my sermons in Washington, I spoke as follows:
As man is susceptible of physical improvement, is he not also of intellectual and moral? Cannot the soul develop, grow, as well as the body? What a vast difference there is between the infant mind and that mind which has devoted years to intellectual and moral culture? The soul is a germ; and as the germ in the seed, under favorable circumstances, will bud, blossom, and yield a rich harvest, so this spiritual germ, if no obstructions interdict, will develop its heavenly proportions to perfect manhood. The race,like each individual, has its childhood, its youth, and perfect manhood. One individual is a representative of the race. As one progresses the rest may. Suppose every human being who walks the earth for five hundred years, should make intellectual and moral improvement, the great end and aim of his life, all other pursuits subordinate to that one, what would be the consequence? Would not Americans and Europeans, at the expiration of that time, be as far in advance of their present condition as they are now in advance of the New Hollanders, Hottentots, and inhabitants of the South Sea Islands? Undoubtedly they would. The whole race would then be in the kingdom of God. Sin would no longer be nurtured on earth. There would be no soil for it to grow in. The long hoped for, and prayed for, Millenium would be ushered in—all would know the Lord from the least to the greatest—the lion and the lamb would lie down together. This glorious era is predicted by Holy Writ, and God’s elder Scriptures. Revelation and nature unite in testifying that mankind, God’s noblest and best work, and for whom the universe was made, are susceptible of infinite improvement, that they will shine brighter and brighter to the perfect day.
It may require more than five centuries to produce such results; it probably will; but eternity is before us. Our race is in its dawn only. The morning twilight has just appeared. The darkness of barbarism still lingers in the horizon. The chains of intellectual and moral despotism are still clanking in our midst. But the race, as well as the individual, will reach noon-day. The sun of righteousness will mount the zenith, and disperse all darkness and melt all chains. Such characters as Moses, Homer, Plato, Lord Bacon, Shakspeare, Newton, Napoleon, Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Clay, Webster, Beecher, Chapin, and a multitude of others inINTELLECT; andsuch as Socrates, St. John, St. Paul, Melancthon, Howard, Channing, Oberlin, Speer, and others too numerous to mention, inMORAL WORTH, indicate the intellectual and moral heights all may ultimately attain. They stand out in bold relief from the mass of mankind, indicating the capabilities of human nature. They are pioneers in the intellectual and moral field, and the ground they occupy will ere long be occupied by all. They are beacons on the rushing stream of life to pilot humanity into the celestial haven.
The history of the earth and all therein and thereon, as revealed by science and history, illustrates the law of progress. This earth has been a theater of life for innumerable ages—how long it is not for us to know. Many of the remains of the old world are embedded in the crust of the earth; and from them we learn, that from the first appearance of life in the vegetable form, up to man, there has been a regular progressive development. The order seems to have been about thus: 1. Gross matter; 2. Mineral; 3. Marine Plants; 4. Fish; 5. Reptiles; 6. Birds; 7. Marsupial; 8. Mamalia; 9.Man, the flower, the crown, the lord of creation. All these classes are interlinked, one hand reaching up, and the other down, and all are ascending in the line of the spiral, up to man. Every succeeding class is superior to the preceding, from the first to the last, and each class is moving onward. The last type of the vegetable kingdom is infinitely superior to the first, and so of all the other classes. And man of the sixtieth century is far superior to man of the first century. No miracle was wrought in bringing any of these species into existence. No law of nature was violated, or suspended; but all, from the lowest grade up to man, were brought on to the stage of life according to perfect and immutable laws, emenating from the great Fountain of the Universe.
Mankind in their infancy were ignorant creatures;as much below the Indians of the Rocky Mountains, intellectually and morally, as they are below us. They wandered, naked, in clans, like the Indians of the West, subsisting on fish, reptiles, and such animals as they could kill with their simple weapons, and on the spontaneous fruit of the earth, without shelter by night, or protection from the burning sun or pelting storm.
Many centuries after this period, about the time the city of Babylon was founded, although great advancement had been made, yet the mass of the people were as ignorant as are the aborigines of America. There were a few highly developed minds, but the great body of the people were enveloped in mental darkness, of which we can form but faint conception—fit materials for tyrants and leaders to make machines of, and they freely used them for such sacrilegious purposes. They were subject to their leader’s will; were his bone and sinew; his battle axe and shield. He was the head, they the body. At his will they suffered and toiled, lived and died, and when their oppressors’ earthly career closed, they erected pyramids to perpetuate his fame and their degradation. No effort was made to enlighten and moralize the mass of mankind, for their masters well knew that ignorant men made the best tools. No advancement would have been made under such unfavorable circumstances had not growth been natural to man.
If we trace the history of mankind during the rise and progress of the Chaldean, Babylonian, Persian and Roman empires, up to the time Christ was on earth, we find, that although ignorance and degradation are prominent features of the civilization of those times, yet our hearts are made glad with clear evidence of human progress. Every subsequent generation was wiser and better than the previous one. True, the advancing tide was slow, the current sluggish; sometimes obstacles would arrest its progress, and evenforce it back toward its source, but nature would then redouble her efforts, and sweep away all obstacles, and press forward with her immortal freight to sunnier skies and fairer climes.
When the Christian Era opened, it was the golden age of antiquity. The purity of our Savior’s life, his deep and fervent love for mankind, the beauty and life-giving energy of the precepts and truths he uttered, together with the goodness, zeal and extensive labors and sufferings of his apostles and their associates, gave the human mind an impetus it had not before known.
The apostles and their coadjutors traversed the Roman empire, which embraced most of the known world, and denounced Paganism, and every species of immorality, and called on the nations of the earth to worship the one living and true God, who made and governs the universe. They proclaimed, in obedience to their divine Master, that God was theFather of all mankind; that the latter compose one greatBROTHERHOOD, and are destined forIMMORTALITY,PROGRESSIONandHAPPINESS; and from these cardinal truths they drew these inferences, and enforced them with holy life and eloquent speech—that men should exercise brotherly kindness, general benevolence and charity, and aid each other in traveling the heavenly road.
Those holy men did not labor in vain. The human soul was quickened into higher life by the germinating power of truth; and had the gospel been retained in its purity, and had the social and political condition of mankind been in a higher sphere of development, and had those favorable conditions continued to the present time, long ago the Millenium would have been ushered in. But the gospel was corrupted; the social and political condition of mankind, although in advance of any previous period, was in a deplorable state. The Roman heart was rotten, the Romanempire was corrupt, and before Christianity was proclaimed in it to much extent, the empire was tottering on its throne, and shaking from center to circumference; and these precursors of still greater evils filled the world with terror and confusion. The Pope supplanted Christ, and Catholicism, Christianity; and the Roman empire, by political earthquakes, was shaking on its sandy foundation. And to add to the terrors and disasters of the times, floods of barbarians came rushing from the north, and the Saracens from the east, like the lava from Vesuvius, that overwhelmed Herculaneum and Pompeii, and buried the empire and civilization beneath the flood, and almost extinguished the light and life of Christianity. Those were the darkest days the world had seen for many a century.
Human progress then received a check from which it was a long time in recovering; but the innate tendency of human nature to move onward finally overcame the mountains that human folly had thrown in its way, and after the lapse of several centuries it emerged into the light of science and religion.
The morning twilight which succeeded that long night of anarchy, priestly rule and superstition, dawned on the world in the fourteenth century. Intellect, which had slumbered for ages, began to throw off its lethargy. Universities sprang up in Europe. Science, literature and religion began to be studied. Old theories were looked into and questioned; and then the martyr’s fires were rekindled by the conservatives of that age; for every age has a class who love to stand up to their ears in mud at their old landmarks, and threaten all with temporal ruin or eternal damnation, or both, who make an effort to get out of the filth into the pure air and sunshine of heaven. This old hunkerism I abhor, whether in church, state, or literature. It would repress the energies of the world. Our motto should be—go where the stream of truthbears us, regardless of consequences; they should not be feared. Error and ignorance only are real and fearful enemies.
Those early pioneers in the domain of truth, paid dear for their independence and wisdom; many of whom were burned at the stake or incarcerated in dungeons. But the truths they uttered were not so easily forced out of the world. A pious poet of those times, speaking of the disinterment and scattering of Wickliffe’s ashes on the Avon, utters this prophetic language: