tion, or of the final salvation of all men, as prevailing from the first age of christianity. It was a favourite tenet with the great and learned Origen; and it is frequently mentioned in the writings both of the earlier and later Fathers. Some avow it to be their faith, and others introduce such allusions, as to show, that it was a tenet common to many christians at the time they wrote. Clemens Alexandrinus, who flourished in the latter part of the second century, and who was the preceptor of Origen, says, "The Lord is not a propitiation for our sins only, that is, of the faithful, but also for the whole world. There fore he indeed saves all universally, some being converted by punishments, and others by their spontaneous inclination."* Gregory Nazianzen expresses his doubts of endless punishment, and intimates, while speaking of the supposed scripture sense of the doctrine, that we are to understand it in a milder form, and one more worthy of the Being that punishes. Gregory Nyssen holds, "that it is absolutely necessary that evil should be removed out of the circle of being, and so entirely abolished, that nothing shall remain, which can be a receptacle of it." Sulpitius Severus exhorts the Devil to cease from tempting and persecuting man, and tells him, that he could with perfect confidence in God pro *Non solum autem pro nostris peccatis Dominus propitiator est, hoc est fidelium, sed etiam pro toto mundo. Proinde universos quidem salvat; sed alios per supplicia convertens, alios autem spontanea assequentes voluntate. Adumbrat. in Ep. 1 Johan. ver. 2. + See preface to White's Restoration of All Things, p. ix. Ibid. p. x. mise even him the mercy of Christ if he would repent.* Augustin speaks of persons engaged with him in controversy, who were patrons of this opinion, and who from him have been called merciful doctors. They did not believe in the eternity of punishment, but held, that " after certain periods of time, longer or shorter according to the sins of men, they would be liberated." Jerom was of opinion, that future punishments ought not to be measured by human wisdom, but left to God alone, "who knows whom, how much, and how long, he ought to judge." Facundus professes himself a disciple of Origen. Such were the opinions of some of the Fathers. In Germany this doctrine existed before the Reformation; and since that period it has been received by numerous persons in every sect of Christians. Many divines, and theological writers of note have been its defenders. It was countenanced by Tillotson, of whom Whiston remarks, that "he chose rather to give up the divine veracity of God in these his * Si tu ipse, O Miserabilis, ab hominum insectatione desisteres, et te factorum tuorum vel hoc tempore cum dies judicii in proximo est, poeniteret, ego tibi vere confisus in Domino Christi misericordiam pollicerer. De Vita Mart. p. 488. Ed. Lug. Bat. 1647. + Nolunt credere poenam sempiternam futuram, sed post certi temporis metam pro cujusque peccati quantitate longioris sive brevioris eos inde existimant liberandos. De Civ. Dei. lib. XXI. cap. 17. Quod nos Dei solius debemus scientiae derelinquere cujus non solum misericordiae, sed et tormenta in pondere sunt; et novit quem, quomodo, et quamdiu, debet judicare. Comment. in Esai, ad finem. See further quotations from the Fathers to the same purpose in the Preface to White's Restoration, and also in Burnet's Tractatus De Statu Mortuorum et Resurgentium, cap. X. threatenings, than to defend the eternity of punishment." Tillotson believed eternal punishment to be threatened in the Scriptures, but held, that it might be only a threat, designed to keep men from sinning, but which God is by no means obliged to put in execution. Strange, and absurd, and derogatory as this notion may appear, it was seriously advanced by Tillotson. He insisted, however, that men ought to act on the supposition, that God is sincere, for although it is not necessary, that he should execute his threatenings, yet it is possible, and perhaps probable, and we ought to be prepared for the worst.* Henry More is said to favour this doctrine in his Divine Dialogues. Dr. Bennett and Bishop Burnet in their respective treatises on the Articles of the Church of England, express a belief, that eternal death made no part of the sentence against Adam. Bishop Newton, Dr. Rust Bishop of Dromore, Dr. Thomas Burnet, Dr. Cheyne,† Jeremiah White, William Law, author of the Serious Call, the pious * Tilletson says, " He that threatens, keeps the right of punishing in his own hand, and is not obliged to execute what he hath threatened any farther than the reasons and ends of government do require; and he may, without injury to the party threatened, remit and abate as much as he pleaseth of the pu nishment that he hath threatened; and because in so doing he is not worse, but better than his word, nobody can find fault, or complain of any wrong or injustice thereby done to him." Sermons Vol. III. p. 13. Again, “The higher the threatening runs, so much the more mercy and goodness there is in it; because it is so much the more likely to hinder men from incurring the penalty that is threatened." Ibid. p. 17. + Cheyne held, that "some individuals may be delivered sooner, and some later, according as their expiation and purification is perfected." Cheyne's Discourses, p. 25. "As for the purification of all human nature," says Law, "either in this world, or some after ages, I fully believe it." Letters, p. 175. and intellectual Hartley,* the equally pious Lavater, Chevalier Ramsay, Winchester, Coppin, Worthington, Stonehouse, and many others, believed in the restoration and final happiness of all men, and wrote with much learning and talent in explanation of their views. All the persons mentioned above, it is believed, were Trinitarians, and accounted orthodox. And if you will examine the subject, you will unquestionably find the number of treatises written by Trinitarians in support of this doctrine, to be to those written by Unitarians, in a ratio of at least ten to one. Many Unitarians have touched the subject in connexion with other topics, but if we except Dr. Chauncy, hardly another will remain, who has written a formal work in defence of universal salvation. what is still more remarkable, the sect itself, which has taken its distinctive name from this tenet of its faith, has, till very lately, been composed entirely of Trinitarians. Even now, the number of those of this sect, who have become Unitarians, is undoubtedly small. And Considering these things, it will not readily be seen on what principles of justice this doctrine is laid on the shoulders of Unitarians, and adduced as an evidence of the immoral tendency of their preaching. Let it be understood, that they believe, as the greater portion of them probably do, that God will restore his offending creatures to happiness, when he * Observations on Man. Vol. II. p. 419-437. has punished them according to the full measure of their sins; why should this faith be brought down upon them as a charge against their morality? The excellent men whose names have just been mentioned, were eminent examples of christian piety and character, as far as we know; nor have we ever heard that others among Trinitarians, holding the same faith, have on this account, been noted for defects of morals. Why then drag Unitarians forward, and exhibit them as worthy of reprobation for entertaining a sentiment in common with many other christians of various denominations, whose reputation for morals and piety has never been impeached on account of this tenet? The doctrine of universal salvation is in very close accordance with high calvinistic principles. If you take away the notion of election and reprobation, it becomes a necessary part of the system which remains. If Christ has made an atonement for the sins of the whole world, or in other words, if his sufferings were taken as a substitute for the sins of men, his righteousness being imputed to them and their sins to him, it follows, that all men will attain salvation through him. The benefits of his substitution cannot be restricted, because, according to the calvinistic plan, he was an Almighty Surety. Calvinism, in the first place, makes all men so deplorably wicked, from the very constitution of their nature, as justly to consign them in a mass to everlasting perdition; and then, to rescue them from this state, it resorts to the sufferings and death of an Almighty Being, as |