Ann Lee Bressler The Universalist Movement in America 1770â1880 (2001)

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asked Ballou, than a belief in God s universal goodness and that all men are objects
of his mercy? Such a belief, he pointed out, raises a supreme affection for God,
and kindles the sacred fire of love and unbounded benevolence to mankind. 14
Dissenting pietists trusted that individual conversion would ensure the social
good. Supporters of established religions, many of whom had gradually turned to a
moralistic view, were loath to give up religious taxation as a way of preserving the
welfare of the community. The Universalist alternative was a faith that demanded
that one think of one s own salvation as no more important to God than the salvation
of any other human being, and that therefore evoked a natural and all-inclusive
social concern.
To be sure, Universalists were vocal proponents of disestablishment; by the 1820s,
they had taken over leadership of the campaign in Massachusetts from the Baptists.15
But their ideal of communal faith differed from the so-called liberal teaching epi-
tomized by the maverick Baptist John Leland, whose views pointed directly to the
nineteenth-century growth of individualism, atomism, and secularism.16 Religious
populists like Leland regarded the pursuit of self-reliance as a godly crusade. Le-
36 The Universalist Movement in America, 1770 1880
land s individualism called for people to throw off the authority of church, state,
college, seminary, even family. Dismissing polemical divinity and opposing creeds
and confessions, Leland delivered a message of complete personal autonomy.17 The
Christian sect of the nineteenth century similarly rejected all doctrine as spiritual
tyranny. Prominent Christians Alexander Campbell and Elias Smith condemned
abstract theology as antithetical to egalitarianism.18
In the case of Universalism, however, religious populism and the search for
gospel liberty did not result in a similar rejection of theology. In opposition to groups
such as the Methodists, Free Will Baptists, and Christians, Universalists held that
the elimination of all creedal forms would only intensify the disturbing emphasis
on the individual in isolation from the greater society.19 They asserted that the
rational application of the traditional doctrine of election the idea of universal
salvation was not only an absolute bulwark of egalitarian values but also the long-
hidden key to social harmony. Universalists believed that a strong eschatological
faith, rooted in the assurance that no soul was eternally condemned, would both
foster social concern and protect an organic view of society that was in danger of
disintegrating along with the established church.
Whenever Universalists reflected on the practical implications of their teaching,
this sense of wholeness and harmony appeared. In a kind of popular guide to the
faith, for example, Universalist editor and controversialist Thomas Whittemore
pointed out what necessarily followed from the realization that God is no less the
Father of others, than himself :
See then, that there is a common bond a tie uniting the vast family of man.
No national boundary can dissolve this tie, no distance no circumstance of birth,
or of color no misfortune, no oppression; neither poverty, nor vice, nor disgrace,
nor death can sunder it. It is as indissoluble as the love of God. . . . Who, believing
and realizing this, can be unkind? Who can be entirely engrossed in his own
welfare? Who can be the oppressor of his brethren? Who can be deaf to the moan
of the sufferer? to the plaintive entreaty of the poor?20
Whittemore reflected the long-standing conviction of Universalists that their belief
was a uniquely powerful stimulus to the betterment of society. More obscure but
no less typical in his views was a writer for the Candid Examiner (Montrose, Pa.),
who explained in 1826 that the faith of the Universalist leads him to love the world
of mankind because he believes that all [persons] are regarded by their heavenly
father, and that they are objects of our love. Universalism taught man to live in
love and harmony with the world of mankind. 21
George Williams finds a parallel between the remarkable energy the Universalists
exhibited in furthering their central belief and the first Protestant generations, heady
with the belief in sola fide salvation.22 The comparison is apt, even though Univer- [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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