Christian Examiner (Volume 3; V. 8)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1830. Excerpt: ... est hours, for they are more retired hours, and piety must have part with them, --but let these pious reflections come to us, in the next happier hours of society. Let an incense go up from our dwellings, when the kind and the friendly, the cheerful and the favored are gathered there. Let Holiness to the Lord, be written, not on our temples and closets only, but upon all our habitations, upon all the places of our labor and of our recreation. Art. VII.--1. The Ancient History of Universalism: from the Time of the Apostles, to its Condemnation in the Fifth General Council, A. D. 553. With an Appendix, tracing the Doctrine down to the Era of the Reformation. By Hosea Ballou, 2d. Boston. Marsh &i Capen. 1829. 12mo. pp. 326. 2. The Modern History of Universalism, from the Era of the Reformation to the Present Time. By Thomas Whittemore. Boston. 1830. 12mo. pp. 458. These volumes evince considerable research, and are written in a good spirit. They are, we conceive, unnecessarily diffuse, and for this, as well as for other reasons, are not likely to be read very extensively. We shall give, as succinctly as possible, the most important facts and authorities which they contain respecting the history of Universalism. Some of the information, and that especially which relates to the rise of the doctrine which denies a future retribution altogether, will be new to many of our readers. In speaking of the Orthodox writers of the two first centuries, Mr Ballou admits that, -- 'Nearly all allude to, or expressly assert, a future judgment and a future state of punishment: seven call it the everlasting the eternal fire or torment; but out of these there are three who certainly did not think it endless, as two of them believed the damned would be annihilated, and the other asserted their restoration to...