annual Thanksgiving, in 1762, one of the great facts for which he called upon his people to be thankful to God was the final result of the interposition of his grace. He told them that Jesus would reign until he subdued all things unto himself; that where sin aboundeth, grace shall much more abound; that the same creature which God made subject to vanity shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God; that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" and that there shall be a restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Dr. Charles Chauncy, of Boston, a contemporary with Mayhew, and pastor of the First Church, was undoubtedly a believer in the final salvation of all mankind. But he seldom, if ever, preached this doctrine. When he had written his large work on that subject, which he chose not to publish until some years after it was ready for the press, he was asked if Dr. Mayhew had seen it. "No," said Chauncy, "he cannot keep a secret. I am not yet ready or determined to publish it; but, if he sees it, such is his frankness, that all the world will soon know it."*

Dr. Mayhew, however, preached but little on the subject of the final happiness of all men; in fact, it is not known that he ever directly declared that sentiment, except on the occasion of the annual Thanksgiving we have named. He did, however, openly attack several of the fundamental points of Orthodoxy, and this, too, in

*See "Memoir of the Life and Writings of Rev. Jonathan Mayhew, D.D., pastor of the West Church and Society in Boston, from June 1747, to July 1766. By Alden Bradford, LL.D." Boston, 1838, p. 479.

language of great power. Dr. Chauncy kept his manuscript work, on the salvation of all men, in his own house, and the secret of it locked up in his own soul (with the exception that it was committed to a few literary friends), for several years. In 1782, he sent out a pamphlet, without his name, containing extracts from various European writers of note, in favor of the salvation of all men; and it was supposed to be a sort of forerunner to his large work, to feel out the public sentiment, and enable its author to determine whether it would be safe for him to publish that work over his own name. If this was the intent, the doctor did not remain long in doubt. The pamphlet was attacked, with great severity, by Drs. Eckley and Mather, of Boston, and Dr. Gordon, of Roxbury; and the probability is that Dr. Chauncy saw that the public feeling against the doctrine of the salvation of all men was too strong to make it proper for him, the pastor of the First Congregationalist church in Boston, to give publication to his principal work. It was not committed to the flames, but was sent to England, and published, without the author's name, immediately after the close of the war of the Revolution; but it was publicly acknowledged as his own within a year or two after it appeared.

SECTION III. VICINITY OF BOSTON UNIVERSALISTS UNKNOWN.

Of all places in the United States, Calvinism had the least hold upon the people of Boston. There were perhaps some ten or a dozen clergymen in that town and

If

vicinity who were anti-Calvinistic; and these were the root out of which the present sect of Unitarians grew. But the country at large did not feel the influence of these clergymen, to any considerable extent, in respect to the matter of which we speak. Calvinism darkened the land. The clergymen preached it, the people supposed it true, and many went on in their sins. As to the moral conduct of men upon the earth, it was not supposed it could affect their eternal salvation in any manner. they were of the non-elect, they were to be damned for the sins of Adam; and if of the elect, they were to be made happy in eternity, not on account of faith, good works, or any condition performed by themselves. As to loving God because he first loved them, or as to being led to repentance for sin by his goodness, how could any such considerations address themselves to men who believed in Calvinism? Such is a sketch of the theology of our country at the time of the birth of Hosea Ballou.

Universalists, as a distinct body of men, were then unknown in America. There was a small congregation of that faith in London, and, it may be, one or two others in the British empire, but not a single society on this side of the Atlantic. There were, it is true, occasionally individuals who avowed themselves to be believers of the final holiness and happiness of all men. Certain sects of Germans in Pennsylvania, it was said, held that doctrine; and Dr. De Benneville, a German immigrant, exercised the double vocation of a physician and a preacher, and preached it as an important part of God's message to man.

But these distant lights were

not seen in New England. At the time of the birth of Mr. Ballou, John Murray, who was destined to hold so high a rank as a preacher of Universalism, had been in America about six months, and had not then been east of the Hudson river. There was not a man in all New England who called himself a preacher of Universalism; and, if we except an edition of Seigvolk's "Everlasting Gospel," published in Germantown, Pa., in 1753, no book professedly in defence of that doctrine had ever been published in America. Universalism had spread more in Pennsylvania than in any other province, but comparatively little was known of it even there.

CHAPTER III.

SECTION I. HIS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

WE come now to trace the religious education of young Mr. Ballou. His father, as we have shown, was a Baptist clergyman, and was strictly Calvinistic in his opinions. He was a very affectionate parent, and he fervently desired the conversion of his children. We have no evidence that any of the children were vicious, or even mischievous or giddy; but there were other things which weighed heavily upon the mind of the pious parent. He saw them exposed to the wrath and curse of God. He desired some evidence that they were of the elect; he prayed earnestly that they might be converted, and thus furnish the assurance that they were the favored of the Lord, whom he had plucked as brands from the burning. In his devotions at the family altar he would pray fervently for them, and sometimes, on such occasions, would call them by name. It will be recollected that all his sons had received Scripture names, with the exception of that one to whom he had given his own name,- Maturin. These were Benjamin, David, Nathan, Stephen, and Hosea; and at times the parent would pray that these sons might resemble the eminent