Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/859

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UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 735 zig, 1902) ; Titchener, Outliitc of I'si/rhology (New York, 1S09) ; James, Principles of Psychol- ogy (ib., IS'.lO) ; Klechsig, Ucliini und Hccle (Leipzig, ISilli). UNI VERS ALISM (from vniversal, from Lat. unirrrsalis, relating to all or the whole, from uniicrfius, OLat. oino-vorsus, oiiifursus, •uiirorsHS, all, whole, eiiliro, turned into one, from unus, one + rcrtcrr. to turn). The name given to the religious faith of those who believe in universal salvation, or the doctrine that the Holy Scriptures declare it to be the purpose of God to make His grace, revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ, as extensive as sin is or can be; to make an end of everything averse to God and His law; to bring in everlasting righteous- ness and reconcile all souls to God that God may be all in all. Universalists claim for this in- terpretation of the Bible great Christian an- tiquity, citing in proof thereof the Sibylline Oracles (c.l50), and the teaching of Clement of Alexandria {c.l95), that man was created to be educated and not for a limited trial, that his op- portunit.v for education is as lasting as his be- ing, and that punishment is remedial. They find it in the teachings of Origen (c.l85-e.254), and in the common belief among Christians of all sects in the second and third centuries that between the death and the resurrection of Jesus he went to the underworld and there taught the souls that had sinned in the days of Noah ; these, argued Clement, included all who there or else- where need salvation. Universalists also believe that their faith was extensively held in the fourth century and that of the si.x theological schools then established in the Christian world, four (the schools of Alexandria, Caesarea, Antioch, and Eastern Sj'ria ) taught it ; that it was also fundamental in the fifth century in the teachings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, the founder of the Nestorian Church, in whose Confession of Faiih and fSacramcntal Liturfjy it is plainly declared that JMaximus the Confessor (580-663) also taught and defended it in the sixth and seventh centuries, that Pope Gregory's instructions to his missionaries show its existence in the eighth century, and that in the ninth it was ably advo- cated by John Scotus Erigena. The subsequent period until the Lutheran Reformation was not favorable to any expression of thought that an- tagonized the Latin theology. The Church si- lenced by force all voices that repudiated its teachings and burned all books contaminated by so-called heresies. But, in s])ite of all this, Uni- versalisni was manifest in the teachings of such thinkers as Raynold, Almaric, Albertus Magnus, Solomon, Bishop of Bosra, Ruysbroek, Tauler, and John of Goch, and in the societies of the Lollards. Brethren of the Common Life, Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit, and the Men of Understanding. With the Reformation Univer- salism revived. The original 42 articles of re- ligion, drawn up by the Reformers in England in 1.5.52, declare: "They also deserve to be con- demned who endeavor to restore that pernicious opinion that all men (though never so ungodly) shall at last be saved; when for a certain time, appointed by the Divine Justice, they have en- dured punishment for their sins committed." When the articles were reduced to 30 in 1571 this condemnatory article was omitted. Many of the Mystics, the German Baptists, the Men- UNIVERSALISM. iionites in lloUanil, the French I'rotestants, the Jloravians, and various smaller sects in the Old World, advocated Universalism, It was not, however, until about 1750 that an organization called Universalist was created. Before that time the believers in universal sal- vation were alliliated with sects bearing various names and were spoken of as 'Urigenists,' 'Merci- ful Doctors,' and by other names indicating their dissent from the dogma of the never-ending misery of the wicked; but at the date first given Rev. James Relly (q.v.) became a Universalist and organized a Universalist church in London, to which he ministered until his death, about thirty years later. At the present time very few cliurches in Euroi>e bear the Universalist name, but the doctrine of Universalism finds favor, and in some instances open advocacy, in churches of various names. The Unitarians abroad are avowed Universalists. The doctrine of Universalism vras preached in America as early as 1636 by Samuel (iorton, the New England Jlystic, and put forth in the speeches and writings of Sir Henry Vane, the younger. Governor of Massachusetts; by Dr. George de Benneville about a century later; by eminent Episcopalians; by prominent Congrega- tionalists, such as Chauncey and JIayhew of Bos- ton, and Huntington of Connecticut; and by many German Baptists. .John Murray (q.v.), 'the father of Universalism in America.' came to New Jersey in September, 1770. On January 1, 1779, 15 persons who had been suspended from the First Parish Church in Gloucester, Mass., for becoming regular attendants on the preaching of Murray, united under "Articles of Association as the Independent Christian Church in Glou- cester" for the defense and promulgation of their Universalist faith. JIurray was not long with- out ministerial heljiers. Elhanan Winchester, who had been an eminent Baptist preacher in Philadelphia, with more than 100 of his church in that city, was excommunicated for having be- come believers in L^niversalism; Adams Streeter and Caleb Rich, in New England, became preach- ers of the common salvation before they saw or knew JIurray. Later, Hosea Ballon, repudiating all the old notions connected with trinitarian dogmas, became the first openly avowed American advocate of Unitarian views of Christ; put the emphasis of Christian theology on God's Father- hood of the human race ; and interpreted the teachings, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus as designed, not to effect any change whatever in God, but to change man and bring him into harmony with his Heavenly Father, These views prevail in the LTniversalist Church to-day. In 1803, at the annual session of the General Convention, in view of 'diversity of opinion' as to how universal salvation was (o be the result of God's government, three 'Articles of Belief were agreed upon as stating the basis of fellow- ship. At the session in ISJW the following action was taken in regard to profession of belief and the conditions of fellowship: "I. The Profession of Belief adopted at the session at Winchester. N. H., a.d. 1803, is as follows: .rticle 1 — We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments con- tain a revelation of the character of God and of the duty, interest, and final destination of man-