"I would like for universalism to be right but according to the scriptures and early church writings it’s not.
Do I think that eternal punishment is wrong? No, I accept that God knows what is best, not me. Who am I to question God’s decisions?"
Dear BNR:
The faster you can run from your present dogma of our heavenly Father being the source of on-going torment for His beloved creation the better!
"Just as any teacher in Christianity towered aloft, so in proportion did he the more hold and defend the termination of penalties at some time in the future." - Dcederlin, Inst. Theol
"Indeed, beside ORIGEN, GREGORY of Nyssa also, GREGORY of Nazianzus, BASIL, AMBROSE himself, and JEROME, taught everywhere the universal restitution of things, asserting simultaneously with it, an end of eternal punishment."-C. B. SCHLEUTER, pref. in. Erig, (Migne.)
PFAFF says, "
The ultimate restoration of the lost was an opinion held by very many Jewish teachers, and some of the Fathers." - Frag.anec.
REUSS says, "
The doctrine of a general restoration of all rational creatures has been recommended by very many of the greatest thinkers of the antient church, and of modern times." - Hist. de la theol, Apost.
"From two theological schools there went forth an opposition to the doctrine of everlasting punishment." - NEANDER, Church Hist. iv. p. 444., Lond., 1853.
"The dogma of ORIGEN had many, and these the most celebrated defenders." - PAGE, In. Bar. ann. A.D. 410, p. 103.
"The school of .Antioch had no hesitation in hoping for an end of the pains of the other world." - MUNTER
"Universalism in the fourth century drove its roots down deeply, alike in the East and West, and had very many defenders." - DlETELMAIER.- Comm. fanat.
The learned and candid HUET names several Fathers as in sympathy with the larger hope. - Origen. ii, pp. 159, 205: Co1egn, 1685.
GIESELER says,
"The belief in the inalienable power of amendment in all rational creatures, and the limited duration of future punishment was general, even in the West."- Text Book i. p.212. Phil. . 1836.
I TRUST the candid reader will weigh the above testimonies with all care, coming as they do, so far as I know, in almost every case from those who are not friendly to Universalism. We shall see how they are supported by a vast body of evidence, from all quarters, in the earliest centuries; and confirmed by the express testimony (which I shall quote) of co-temporary witnesses so famous as AUGUSTINE, JEROME, BASIL, (and DOMITIAN of Ancyra,) who attest the very wide diffusion of the larger hope in their age. The following pages will, I hope, show clearly how groundless is the widespread opinion which represents Universalism as the outcome of modern sentimentality, and will establish clearly:
(1.) That it prevailed very widely in the primitive Church, especially in the earliest centuries, often in a form embracing all fallen spirits.
(2.) That those who believed and taught it, more or less openly, or held kindred views, were among the most eminent and the most holy of the Christian Fathers.
(3.) That it not only has never been condemned by the Church, but is, far more than any other view, in harmony with the antient catholic Creeds.
(4.) That in our Prayer Book are some passages, which show a leaning towards Universalism. Such an inquiry seems indispensable, not alone because this branch of the question has been usually neglected, and the argument for Universalism thereby weakened; nor because to many minds the Fathers speak with special weight, as a link connecting us with the Apostolic age, and preserving Apostolic tradition; but on grounds common to every serious student. For all such will surely admit that in dealing with a historic faith like Christianity, its doctrines cannot be adequately treated, their growth and development rightly comprehended, or studied with intelligence, except when viewed from the standpoint of history, as well as of the moral sense, and of Holy Scripture. Further, if this historical inquiry were not entered on, we should have no sufficient answer to a very possible, and very fair objection, viz.: why, if the larger hope be in the Bible, did not those great minds of old find it there? And our faith in the larger hope will gain fresh vigor, as we see it very widely taught by many of the wisest and best men in primitive times, and taught (a) not alone on the direct authority of the Bible, but (b) by those especially to whom Greek was a living tongue, was indeed their native tongue. It is a striking fact that the weight of opposition to Universalism in primitive times is found in the Latin Church, is found most vigorous where, as in AUGUSTINE'S case, the Greek language was never really mastered.
Christ Triumphant by Thomas Allin
