Page 121 - Gods Plan of the Ages

Some Who Held This View

ue to the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things rarely being taught in the churches
Dtoday, many Christians have mistakenly assumed that it must be a new teaching. Some
have even asked me if I am the only one who believes and teaches these things. I am
very happy to respond by pointing the saints to the great antiquity of this doctrine, and the
many who have embraced it as truth.
Augustine (often referred to as Saint Augustine) lived from 354-430 A.D.. He is widely
hailed as the father of Roman Catholic doctrine. Augustine was a believer in eternal
torment, but acknowledged that this was not the universal view of the day in which he lived.
Augustine made mention of Christians who embraced the doctrine of the reconciliation of
all things to God, and of a limited duration to God's punishments of sinners in hell, or the
lake of fire.

I must now, I see, enter the lists of amicable (friendly) controversy with those
tender-hearted Christians who decline to believe that any, or that all of those whom the
infallibly just Judge may pronounce worthy of the punishment of hell, shall suffer
eternally, and who suppose that they shall be delivered after a fixed term of punishment,
longer or shorter according to the amount of each man's sin. In respect of this matter,
Origen was even more indulgent; for he believed that even the devil himself and his
angels, after suffering those more severe and prolonged pains which their sins deserved,
should be delivered from their torments... Very different, however, is the error we speak
of, which is dictated by the tenderness of these Christians who suppose that the sufferings
of those who are condemned in the judgment will be temporary...
[Augustine, The City of God, Book 21, Ch 17 ]

Augustine referenced Origen, one of the early church fathers, who dwelt in Alexandria,
Egypt. Origen had a wide influence upon the doctrine of the early church. Origen lived
nearly two centuries before Augustine, his life spanning the years of 184-253 A.D.. Origen
was less than two centuries distant from the time of Christ's bodily ministry, and he wrote
and taught in support of the doctrine of the reconciliation of all things to God through
Christ.
Origen was a pupil of an even earlier church father, Clement of Alexandria (Clemens
Alexandrinus), who lived from 150-215 A.D.. Clement also taught the doctrine of the
reconciliation of all things in the catechetical school in Alexandria, which was a type of early
seminary, or Bible college. These men in turn pointed to the teachings of the apostles of
Christ in setting forth their beliefs, even as I have done in this writing. The great antiquity
of this doctrine is well documented. It is not a new teaching as some suppose.
In more recent times there have been a number of notable saints that have believed
in the universal reconciliation of all. Among them are Jane Leade, author of A Revelation
of the Everlasting Gospel Message; William Law, in A Humble Earnest and Affectionate
Address to the Clergy (John and Charles Wesley made William Law required reading for
the Methodists); Hannah Hurnard who wrote Hinds' Feet on High Places (In her book
Unveiled Glory, Hannah Hurnard discusses her belief in this doctrine); Hannah Whitall
Smith, author of The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (It was in her autobiography titled
The Unselfishness of God that she discusses her belief in the reconciliation of all. Several
chapters were devoted to this topic, but have been removed by others from later re-prints
of her book.); and Sadhu Sundar Singh.
I have previously cited Andrew Jukes, a minister in England who wrote The
Restitution of All Things in the year 1876, and J. Preston Eby who penned the worthy