Page 124 - Gods Plan of the Ages

occasional glimpses of it even in the mutilated records which the papal Church has
permitted to descend to us. In the 7th century, Maximus, the Greek monk and confessor
taught Universalism; in the 8th, Clement of Ireland was deposed from the priesthood for
teaching that when Christ descended into hell he restored all the damned; while in the
9th, John Scotus Erigena, a famous philosopher who stood at the head of the learned of
the court of France, was a bold defender of Universalism. In the 11th century, the
Albigenses were, according to papal authorities, Universalists; In the 12th, Raynold, abbot
of St. Martin's, in France, was charged before a council with holding "that all men will
eventually be saved;". In the 13th, Solomon, bishop of Bassorah, discussed the question
ofuniversal salvation, answering it in the affirmative. The Lollards in the 14th century
taught Universalism in Bohemia and Austria; and at the same period a council convened
by Langman, archbishop of Canterbury, gave judgment against Universalism as one of the
heresies then taught in that province. In the early part ofthe 15th century, a sect called
"Men of Understanding" taught Universalism in Flanders, advocating it on the ground of
the German Mystics, as did Tauler of Strasburg, and John Wessel, who, with others, have
been called "the Reformers before the Reformation," whose writings Luther industriously
studied and greatly admired.
2. In Modern Times. -
With the Reformation, Universalism made a fresh appearance early in the 16th century,
chiefly among some of the Anabaptist sects. The seventeenth article of the Augustine
Confession, 1530, was expressly framed to "condemn the Anabaptists, who maintain that
there shall be an end: to the punishments of the damned and of the devils." Denk, Hetzer,
and Stanislaus Pannonius were the most eminent defenders of Universalism at this
period. Later in the century, Samuel Huber, divinity professor at Wittenberg, taught
Universalism, it is alleged by Spanheim; and because, says Musheim, he would not go
back to the old methods of teaching, "he was compelled to relinquish his office and go into
exile." Early in the 17th century, Ernest Sonner, professor of philosophy at Altorf,
published "a theological and philosophical demonstration that the endless punishment
of the wicked would argue, not the justice, but the injustice, of God." John William
Petersen, at one time court preacher at Lutin, and subsequently superintendent at
Lunenberg, adopted and defended Universalism with such zeal that he was cited before
the consistory, and, as he could not conscientiously renounce his convictions, was
deprived of his office and forced into private life. In his retirement he wrote and published
three folio volumes on Universalism, entitled Musterion Apokatastaseos Paltan, in which
he mentions many who had defended that doctrine. The volumes appeared between the
years 1700 and 1710. They opened a century of spirited controversy, of which Mosheim
says, "The points of theology which had been controverted in the 17th century were
destined to excite keener disputes in the 18th, such 'as the eternity of hell torments, and
the final restoration of all intelligent beings to order, perfection, and happiness."
Dietelmair, an opponent of Universalism, wrote on its history about the middle of this
century. In the preface to his work he speaks of the contests which raged vehemently
enough within the very bounds of the orthodox Church in the end of the last century 'the'
beginning of the present." Among the defenses of Universalism contained in the first
volume of Petersen's work was the Everlasting Gospel, attributed to Paul Siegvolk, which
was but an assumed name of George Klein-Nicolai, deposed for his Universalism as
preacher of Friessdorf. He published other works in defense of Universalism, but the most
rapid and lasting popularity belonged to the Everlasting Gospel, which in forty-five years
passed through five editions in Germany. In 1726 John Henry Haug, professor at
Strasburg, having procured the assistance of Dr. Ernest Christoph Hochman, Christian
Dippel, Count De Marcey, and others, commenced the publication of the Berleburger