Contemporary with Murray and Winchester was Ca- leb Rich, of Massachusetts, who gathered a Universalist society in the towns of Warwick and Richmond. Mr. Rich may be said to have anticipated many of the views afterwards tiiore fully elaborated by Hosea Bal- lon, and probably had great direct influence in forming the -opinions of the latter.
In New Jersey several Baptist preachers and their congregations became Universalists. In Pennsylvania there was a congregation of Rellyan Universalists, and the •• Universal Baptists" before mentioned, in Phila- delpliia. while societies had been organized in Bucks and Washington counties. Rev. Abel Sarjent, minister in the latter locality, organized Universalist churches on the basis of the doctrine of the divine unity, in op- ])osition to the Trinity, publishing the creed of those churches in the Free Uiiirer.sal Afar/a ziiie, edited by him in 1793-9-t. Of the existence of these cliurches the Universalists in the eastern portion of the country were for a long time ignorant. Kellyanism made but little progress, Mr. Murray complaining in 1787 that he knew of but one public adv(»cate of Universalism in America who fully sympathized with him in his views. This was the Rev. John Tyler before mentioned.
Eev. Hosea Ballou commenced his career as a Uni-
versalist preacher in 1790. Originally a Calvinistic Baptist, he was a Trinitarian Universalist until 179.5, when he avowed his belief in I'nitarian views of (iod and Christ; and in 1805 published his Tredtise on Atone- ment, in which he combated the doctrine of vicarious sacrifice, contending that the life and death of Christ were for the reconciling, not of (Jod, but of man, and avowed his belief that the punisliment of the sins of mortality was confined to this life, and that if punish- ment were experienced in the life beyond the grave, it would be for sins committed there. In 1818 he had satiilrted himself that there is no sin beyond the grave, and consequently no punishment after death. By 1830 Mr. Balloii's views were quite extensively held in the denomination, and some of the believers in future limit- ed punishment seceded from the Universalist Conven- tion and established tiie denomination of Restoration- ists. Although this secession was led by a few emi- nent men, it was not considered expedient nor in any sense called for by quite as many and as eminent be- lievers in future retribution who remained in the old organization. The position of these latter was that Universalism was not, and never had been, the belief in no future punishment, nor the belief in a brief or long- continued retribution liereafter; but the belief that God would, througli Christ, in his own good time, "restore the whole family of maidvind to holiness and hai>piness." As there had never been entire unity of sentiment as to the time when this result would be reached, but had been tolerance of opinion on that as on other differences, they saw no occasion for a division on account of pres- ent differences. The " Restorationist Association" ex- isted about eleven years, its last session being held in 1841, at which time the publication of its organ, T/ie Indeijendent Christian Messenger, ceased, and it became extinct as a sect. Some of its preachers returned to the fellowsliip of the Universalist Convention, some affili- ated with the Unitarians, and others wholly withdrew from the ministry. Mr. Ballou died in 185"2. His work and memory are held in reverent esteem by the entire denomination, and by none more ardentl}' than by the many who do not accept his theory of sin and retribu- tion. See Ballou.
(HI.) Sources of History. — Diiderlein, Institutio Theo- lof). Christiance (1787), ii, 199, 202 ; Berti, Breviarium Hist. Eccl. cent, viii-xii, c. 3 ; Priestley, Hist, of the Christian Church, per. xviii, lect, ix, p. 136, 137; Asse- mani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, HI, i, 323, 324; Du Pin, Eccl. Hist. vol. xii, ch. viii, p. 113, 115; Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. cent, xv, pt. ii, ch. v; cent, xvi, sec. iii, pt. ii, ch. i; cent, xviii, sec. 20; Ballou, Ancient History of Uni- versalism (2d ed. 1872) ; Beecher, Scriptural Doctrine of Retribution ; Dunster, Translation of Drexelvi's Con- siderations on Eternity (1710); Davidson, Translation of Gieseler's Compendium of Ecclesiastical H istoi-y {I8i9) , i, 320, 321; Augustini Enchiridion ad Laurentium, c. cxii; Olshaiisen, Comm. on Matt, xii, 31, 32; Law, Col- lection of Letters (1762), letter xii, p. 172; Account of the Berleburf/er Bible, in The Universalist (Boston, Nov. 8, 1878); Whittemore, J/ofZer« History of Universalism (ibid. 1860) ; Dalcho, Hist, of the Prot. Ep. Ch. in South Carolina (1820) ; Ediiy, Papers on Universalist Conven- tions and Creeds, in Unireisalist Quaiierly, 1874-80; Thomas, A Century of Universalism ; Eddy, AfS. f/is- tory of Universalism in Gloucester, Mass., 1774-1874; Whittemore, Memoir of Rev. Hosea Ballou (4 vols.) ; Life of Rev. A'athuniel Stacy (autobiography) ; Smith, Historical Sketches of Universalism in the State of New York.
II. Organization and Government. — In the early his- tory of Universalism in America, the tirst form of or- ganization was simply into legal societies; afterwards into churches within the societies. The only exception to this was, commencing with 1790, in Peimsylvania,, where the Church became both the legal organization and the religious body of communicants. The Univer- salists in Gloucester, Mass., the first to organize, banded
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ttiomselves together by an agreement of association in 1779, which they changcil to a cliarter of compact in 1785, and were incoqiorated in 1792. Members of tlie society and their property being seized for payment of taxes to the tirst parish in Gloucester, the Uuiversalists eiitereil suits in the courts in 1783 to establish their right to exemiition from taxation fur the su|iport ol'any other tlian tlu'ir own minister. By reason of various delays and appeals tlie case did not reach a dual decis- ion till 1780, when the rights of the Uuiversalists were established. Meanwhile congregations an<i societies gathered in other parts of Massachusetts and in Klfode Island, desiring counsel and advice, luiited with the so- ciety in Gloucester in holding an association at Oxford, Mass., in 1785. The charter of compact, which was tlie basis of organization in Gloucester, was taken to this association, and, on being slightly amended, was recommended to the societies represented, who were also requested to take on themselves the name of "Indepen- dent Christian Society, commonly called Uuiversalists;" to keep up a correspondence with each other; and to meet ammally, by delegates, for conference. The legal rights secured the following year by the decision of the Gloucester suit seem to have accomplished all that the association aimed at, and no session was held alter 1787. In 1790 the congregations organized in Philadelphia by Murray and Winchester became one, and, feeling the necessity of a more perfect organization of the believers at large, issued a call for a convention, which was held in May of that year in I'liiladelphia, at which time a profession of faith and platform of governiuent for the churches was drawn up and recommended to all the churches for their adoption. Five churches were rep- resented in this convention, and seven preachers were in attendance. The animal meetings of this conven- tion were all held in Philadelphia ; but the distance from that city to New England was so great, and the incon- veniences of making the journey were then so numer- ous, that in 1792 the Uuiversalists of Boston asked and obtained permission to organize another convention for the Eastern States. This convention held its first ses- sion at Oxford, Mass., in 1793, and atlopted, the follow- ing year, the Philadelphia profession and platform, and recommended them to all their cluirches. In 1802, churches and associations of churches having increased, and a diversity of speculative opinion iirevailing, the New England conveiilioii deemed it best to unite, if possible, on a profession of faith, and to establish well- iletined rules of government, ordination, fellowship, and discipline for the use of that body. This was accom- plished in 1803, by the adoption at the session held in Winchester, N. H., of such derinite rules, and of the fol- lowing Profession of Belief: