The prevailing doctrine

All quotes are taken from "Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine"
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During the First Century the primitive Christians did not dwell on matters of eschatology, but devoted their attention to apologetics; they were chiefly anxious to establish the fact of Christ's advent, and of its blessings to the world. Possibly the question of destiny was an open one, till Paganism and Judaism introduced erroneous ideas, when the New Testament doctrine of the apokatastasis was asserted, and universal restoration became an accepted belief, as stated later by Clement and Origen, A.D. 180-230.
The Catacombs give us the views of the unlearned, as Clement and Origen state the doctrine of scholars and teachers. Not a syllable is found hinting at the horrors of Augustinianism, but the inscription on every monument harmonizes with the Universalism of the early fathers.
Clement declares that all punishment, however severe, is purificatory; that even the "torments of the damned" are curative. Origen explains even Gehenna as signifying limited and curative punishment, and both, as all the other ancient Universalists, declare that "everlasting" (aionion ) punishment, is consonant with universal salvation. So that it is no proof that other primitive Christians who are less explicit as to the final result, taught endless punishment when they employ the same terms.
Like our Lord and his Apostles, the primitive Christians avoided the words with which the Pagans and Jews defined endless punishment aidios or adialeipton timoria (endless torment), a doctrine the latter believed, and knew how to describe; but they, the early Christians, called punishment, as did our Lord, kolasis aionios , discipline, chastisement, of indefinite, limited duration.
The early Christians taught that Christ preached the Gospel to the dead, and for that purpose descended into Hades. Many held that he released all who were in ward. This shows that repentance beyond the grave, perpetual probation, was then accepted, which precludes the modern error that the soul's destiny is decided at death.
Prayers for the dead were universal in the early church, which would be absurd, if their condition is unalterably fixed at the grave.
The idea that false threats were necessary to keep the common people in check, and that the truth might be held esoterically, prevailed among the earlier Christians, so that there can be no doubt that many who seem to teach endless punishment, really held the broader views, as we know the most did, and preached terrors pedagogically.
The first comparatively complete systematic statement of Christian doctrine ever given to the world was by Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 180, and universal salvation was one of the tenets.
The first complete presentation of Christianity as a system was by Origen (A.D. 220) and universal salvation was explicitly contained in it.
Universal salvation was the prevailing doctrine in Christendom as long as Greek, the language of the New Testament, was the language of Christendom.
Universalism was generally believed in the best centuries, the first three, when Christians were most remarkable for simplicity, goodness and missionary zeal.
Universalism was least known when Greek, the language of the New Testament was least known, and when Latin was the language of the Church in its darkest, most ignorant, and corrupt ages.
Not a writer among those who describe the heresies of the first three hundred years intimates that Universalism was then a heresy, though it was believed by many, if not by a majority, and certainly by the greatest of the fathers.
Not a single creed for five hundred years expresses any idea contrary to universal restoration, or in favor of endless punishment.
With the exception of the arguments of Augustine (A.D. 420), there is not an argument known to have been framed against Universalism for at least four hundred years after Christ, by any of the ancient fathers.
While the councils that assembled in various parts of Christendom, anathematized every kind of doctrine supposed to be heretical, no oecumenical council, for more than five hundred years, condemned Universalism, though it had been advocated in every century by the principal scholars and most revered saints.
As late as A.D. 400, Jerome says "most people" ( plerique ). and Augustine "very many" (quam plurimi ), believed in Universalism, notwithstanding that the tremendous influence of Augustine, and the mighty power of the semi-pagan secular arm were arrayed against it.
The principal ancient Universalists were Christian born and reared, and were among the most scholarly and saintly of all the ancient saints.
The most celebrated of the earlier advocates of endless punishment were heathen born, and led corrupt lives in their youth. Tertullian one of the first, and Augustine, the greatest of them, confess to having been among the vilest.
The first advocates of endless punishment, Minucius Felix, Tertullian and Augustine, were Latins, ignorant of Greek, and less competent to interpret the meaning of Greek Scriptures than were the Greek scholars.
The first advocates of Universalism, after the Apostles, were Greeks, in whose mother-tongue the New Testament was written. They found their Universalism in the Greek Bible. Who should be correct, they or the Latins?
The Greek Fathers announced the great truth of universal restoration in an age of darkness, sin and corruption. There was nothing to suggest it to them in the world's literature or religion. It was wholly contrary to everything around them. Where else could they have found it, but where they say they did, in the Gospel?
All ecclesiastical historians and the best Biblical critics and scholars agree to the prevalence of Universalism in the earlier centuries.
From the days of Clement of Alexandria to those of Gregory of Nyssa and Theodore of Mopsuestia (A.D. 180-428), the great theologians and teachers, almost without exception, were Universalists. No equal number in the same centuries were comparable to them for learning and goodness.
The first theological school in Christendom, that in Alexandria, taught Universalism for more than two hundred years.
In all Christendom, from A.D. 170 to 430, there were six Christian schools. Of these four, the only strictly theological schools, taught Universalism, and but one endless punishment.
The three earliest Gnostic sects, the Basilidians, the Carpocratians and the Valentinians (A.D. 117-132) are condemned by Christian writers, and their heresies pointed out, but though they taught Universalism, that doctrine is never condemned by those who oppose them. Irenaeus condemned the errors of the Carpocratians, but does not reprehend their Universalism, though he ascribes the doctrine to them.
The first defense of Christianity against Infidelity (Origen against Celsus) puts the defense on Universalistic grounds. Celsus charged the Christians' God with cruelty, because he punished with fire. Origen replied that God's fire is curative; that he is a "Consuming Fire," because he consumes sin and not the sinner.
Origen, the chief representative of Universalism in the ancient centuries, was bitterly opposed and condemned for various heresies by ignorant and cruel fanatics. He was accused of opposing Episcopacy, believing in pre-existence, etc., but never was condemned for his Universalism. The very council that anathematized "Origenism" eulogized Gregory of Nyssa, who was explicitly a Universalist as was Origen. Lists of his errors are given by Methodius, Pamphilus and Eusebius, Marcellus, Eustathius and Jerome, but Universalism is not named by one of his opponents. Fancy a list of Ballou's errors and his Universalism omitted; Hippolytus (A.D. 320) names thirty-two known heresies, but Universalism is not mentioned as among them. Epiphanius, "the hammer of heretics," describes eighty heresies, but he does not mention universal salvation, though Gregory of Nyssa, an outspoken Universalist, was, at the time he wrote, the most conspicuous figure in Christendom.
Justinian, a half-pagan emperor, who attempted to have Universalism officially condemned, lived in the most corrupt epoch of the Christian centuries. He closed the theological schools, and demanded the condemnation of Universalism by law; but the doctrine was so prevalent in the church that the council refused to obey his edict to suppress it. Lecky says the age of Justinian was "the worst form civilization has assumed."
The three earliest Gnostic sects, the Basilidians, the Carpocratians and the Valentinians (A.D. 117-132) are condemned by Christian writers, and their heresies pointed out, but though they taught Universalism, that doctrine is never condemned by those who oppose them. Irenaeus condemned the errors of the Carpocratians, but does not reprehend their Universalism, though he ascribes the doctrine to them.

The first clear and definite statement of human destiny by any Christian writer after the days of the Apostles, includes universal restoration, and that doctrine was advocated by most of the greatest and best of the Christian Fathers for the first five hundred years of the Christian Era. In one word, a careful study of the early history of the Christian religion, will show that the doctrine of universal restoration was least prevalent in the darkest, and prevailed most in the most enlightened, of the earliest centuries--that it was the prevailing doctrine in the Primitive Christian Church.

This the general sentiment in the church from 325 A.D. to 381 A.D. demanded that the life beyond the grave must be stated, and as there is no hint of the existence of a world of torment, how can the conclusion be escaped that Christian faith did not then include the thought of endless woe? Would a council, composed even in part of believers in endless torment, permit a Universalist to preside, and another to shape its creed, and not even attempt to give expression to that idea? Is not the Nicene creed a witness, in what it does not say, to the broader faith that must have been the religion of the century that adopted it? It is historical (See Socrates's Ecclesiastical History) that the four great General Councils held in the first four centuries--those at Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon--gave expression to no condemnation of universal restoration, though, as will be shown, the doctrine had been prevalent all along.

The first Christians, it will be seen, said in their creeds, "I believe in the aeonian life;" later, they modified the phrase "aeonian life," to "the life of the coming aeon," showing that the phrases are equivalent. But not a word of endless punishment. "The life of the age to come" was the first Christian creed, and later, Origen himself declares his belief in aeonian punishment, and in æonian life beyond. How, then, could aeonian punishment have been regarded as endless?

An illuminating side-light is cast on the opinions of the early Christians by the inscriptions andemblems on the monuments in the Roman Catacombs.12 It is well known that from the end of the Firstto the end of the Fourth Century the early Christians buried their dead, probably with the knowledgeand consent of the pagan authorities, in subterranean galleries excavated in the soft rock (tufa) thatunderlies Rome. These ancient cemeteries were first uncovered A.D. 1578. Already sixty excavationshave been made extending five hundred and eighty-seven miles. More than six, some estimates sayeight, million bodies are known to have been buried between A.D. 72 and A.D. 410. Eleven thousand epitaphs and inscriptions have been found; few dates are between A.D. 72 and 100; the most are fromA.D. 150 to A.D. 410. The galleries are from three to five feet wide and eight feet high, and the niches for bodies are five tiers deep, one above another, each silent tenant in a separate cell. At the entranceof each cell is a tile or slab of marble, once securely cemented and inscribed with name, epitaph, oremblem. Haweis beautifully says in his "Conquering Cross:" "The public life of the early Christianwas persecution above ground; his private life was prayer underground." The emblems and inscriptions are most suggestive. The principal device, scratched on slabs, carved on utensils and rings, and seen almost everywhere, is the Good Shepherd, surrounded by his flock and carrying a lamb. But most striking of all, he is found with a goat on his shoulder; which teaches us that even the wicked were at the early date regarded as the objects of the Savior's solicitude, after departing from this life.

We find in the Catacombs neither the cross of the fifth and sixth centuries nor the crucifixes of the twelfth, nor the torches and martyrdoms of the seventeenth, nor the skeletons of the fifteenth, not the cypresses and death's heads of the eighteenth. Instead of these the symbols of beauty, hope and peace."

For example, the Pharisees, according to Josephus, regarded the penalty of sin as torment without end, and they stated the doctrine in unambiguous terms. They called it eirgmos aidios (eternal imprisonment) and timorion adialeipton (endless torment), while our Lord called the punishment of sin aionion kolasin (age-long chastisement).

Philo adopts athanaton, ateleuteton or aidion to denote endless, and aionian temporary duration.

The word by which our Lord describes punishment is the word kolasin , which is thus defined: "Chastisement, punishment." "The trimming of the luxuriant branches of a tree or vine to improve it and make it fruitful." "The act of clipping or pruning--restriction, restraint, reproof, check, chastisement." "The kind of punishment which tends to the improvement of the criminal is what the Greek philosopher called kolasis or chastisement." "Pruning, checking, punishment, chastisement, correction."

Now observe: Christ carefully avoided the words in which his auditors expressed endless punishment ( aidios, timoria and adialeiptos ), and used terms they did not use with that meaning (aionios kolasis ), and employed the term which by universal consent among the Jews has no such meaning (Gehenna); and as his immediate followers and the earliest of the Fathers pursued exactly the same course, is it not demonstrated that they intended to be understood as he was understood?

Classic scholars know that the heathen hell was early copied by the Catholic church, and that almost its entire details afterwards entered into the creeds of Catholic and Protestant churches up to a century ago. Any reader may see this who will consult Pagan literature and writers on the opinions of the ancients. And not only this, but the heathen writers declare that the doctrine was invented to awe and control the multitude. Polybius writes: "Since the multitude is ever fickle there is no other way to keep them in order but by fear of the invisible world;

The Rev. T. B. Thayer, D. D., thinks that the faith of the early Christian church "of the orthodox party was one-half Christian, one-quarter Jewish, and one-quarter Pagan; while that of the gnostic party was about one-quarter Christian and three-quarters philosophical Paganism." The purpose of many of the fathers seems to have been to bridge the abyss between Paganism and Christianity, and, for the sake of proselytes, to tolerate Pagan doctrine. Says Merivale: In the Fifth Century, Paganism was assimilated, not extirpated, and Christendom has suffered from it more or less even since.

That the Old Testament does not teach even post-mortem punishment is universally conceded by scholars, as has been seen; and that the Egyptians, and Greek and Roman Pagans did, is shown already.

"Come all with me, as many as have died through the tree which he touched, for behold I raise you all up through the tree of the cross.'" This book shows conclusively that the Christians of that date did not regard æonian punishment as interminable, inasmuch as those who had been sentenced to that condition were released.

The first of the apostolic fathers was Clement of Rome, who was bishop A.D. 85. Eusebius and Origin thought he was Paul's fellow laborer. His famous (first) epistle of fifty-nine chapters is about the length of Mark's Gospel. He appeals to the destruction of the cities of the plains to illustrate the divine punishment, but gives no hint of the idea of endless woe, though he devotes three chapters to the resurrection.

Theophilus and Origen use similar language. He says: "Let us reflect how free from wrath he is towards all his creatures." God "does good to all, but most abundantly to us who have fled for refuge to his compassions," etc. God is "the all-merciful and beneficent Father." Neander affirms that he had the Pauline spirit," with love as the motive, and A. St. J. Chambre, D.D., 2 thinks "he probably believed in the salvation of all men," and Allin3 refers to Rufinus and says, "from which we may, I think, infer, that Clement, with other fathers, was a believer in the larger hope."

Irenæus says: "God drove Adam out of Paradise, and removed him far from the tree of life, in compassion for him, that he might not remain a transgressor always, and that the sin in which he was involved might not be immortal, nor be without end and incurable. He prevented further transgression by the interposition of death, and by causing sin to cease by the dissolution of the flesh that man ceasing to live to sin, and dying to it, might begin to live to God."

These three sects were bitterly opposed by the "orthodox" fathers in some of their tenets, but their Universalism was never condemned.

Mere Gnostics were only Pagan philosophers, but Christian Gnostics were those who accepted Christ as the author of a new and divine revelation, and interpreted it by those principles that had long antedated the religion of Jesus.5 "The Gnostics were the first regular commentators on the New Testament. The Gnostics were also the first practitioners of the higher criticism. It (Gnosticism) may be regarded as a half-way house, through which many Pagans,like Ambrosius or St. Augustine, found their way into the church."Differing from the so-called "orthodox" Christians on many points, the three great Gnostic sects of the Second Century were in full agreement with Clement and Origen and the Alexandrine school, and probably with the great majority of Christians, in their views on human destiny. They taught the ultimate holiness and happiness of the human family, and it is noteworthy that though all the Gnostics advocated the final salvation of all souls, and though the orthodox fathers savagely attacked them on many points, they never reckoned their Universalism as a fault. This doctrine was not obnoxious to either orthodox or heterodox in the early centuries.

As late as the Middle Ages the "Oracles" was well known, and its author was ranked with David.
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The best scholars concede the Universalism of the "Oracles." Says Musardus,3 the "Oracles" teach "that the damned shall be liberated after they shall have endured infernal punishments for many ages, which was an error of Origen." And Opsopo eus adds 4 "that the 'Oracles' teach that the wicked suffering in hell (Gehenna) after a certain period, and through expiations of griefs, would be released from punishments, which was the opinion of Origen," etc. Hades, and all things and persons are cast into unquenchable fire for purification; that is, the fire is unquenchable until it has accomplished its purpose of purification. Gehenna itself, as Origen afterwards insisted, purifies and surrenders its prisoners. The wicked are to suffer "immortal" agonies and then be saved.
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The reader must not fail to observe that the "Sibylline Oracles" explicitly state the deliverance of the damned from the torments of hell. They repeatedly call the suffering everlasting, even "immortal," yet declare that it shall end in the restoration of the lost.

The Universalism of Clement, Origen and their successors must, beyond question, have been taught by their great predecessor, Pantaenus, and there is every reason to believe that the Alexandrine school had never known any contrary teaching, from its foundation.

At this time Alexandria was the second city in the world, with a population of 600,000; its great library contained from 400,000 to 700,000 volumes; at one time 14,000 students are said to have been assembled; and it was the center of the world's learning, culture, thought; the seekers for truth and knowledge from all climes sought inspiration at its shrines, and it was most of all in its interest to us, not only the radiating center of Christian influence, but its teachers and school made universal salvation the theme of Christian teaching.

Clement insists that punishment in Hades is remedial and restorative, and that punished souls are cleansed by fire. The fire is spiritual, purifying 13 the soul. "God's punishments are saving and disciplinary (in Hades) leading to conversion, and choosing rather the repentance than the death of the sinner, (Ezek. xviii, 23, 32; xxxiii: II, etc.,) and especially since souls, although darkened by passions, when released from their bodies, are able to perceive more clearly because of their being no longer obstructed by the paltry flesh." 14

He again defines the important word kolasis our Lord uses in Matt. xxv: 46, and shows how it differs from the wholly different word timoria used by Josephus and the Greek writers who believed in irremediable suffering. He says: "He (God) chastises the disobedient, for chastisement (kolasis ) is for the good and advantage of him who is punished, for it is the amendment of one who resists; I will not grant that he wishes to take vengeance. Vengeance (timoria ) is a requital of evil sent for the interest of the avenger. He (God) would not desire to avenge himself on us who teaches us to pray for those who despitefully use us (Matt. v: 44). 15 Therefore the good God punishes for these three causes: First, that he who is punished (paidenomenos ) may become better than his former self; then that those who are capable of being saved by examples may be drawn back, being admonished; and thirdly, that he who is injured may not readily be despised, and be apt to receive injury. And there are two methods of correction, the instructive and the punitive, 16 which we have called the disciplinary."

Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, wrote to Origen on the death of Clement, says Eusebius, "for we know these blessed fathers who have gone before us and with whom we shall shortly be, I mean Pantænus, truly blessed and my master; and the sacred Clement, who was my master and profitable to me." This passage would indicate the fraternity of feeling between these three, and seems to show that
there was no suspicion of the heresy of the others on the part of Alexander.

Origen was followed as teacher in the Alexandrine school by his pupil Heraclas, who in turn was succeeded by Dionysius, another pupil, so that from Pantænus, to Clemens, Origen, Heraclas and Dionysius, to Didymus, from say A.D. 160 to A.D. 390, more than two centuries, the teaching in Alexandria, the very center of Christian learning, was Universalistic.

Crombie's translation (Ante-Nicene Library, Edinburgh, 1872) thus renders Origen: "But as it is in mockery that Celsus says we speak of 'God coming down like a torturer bearing fire' and thus compels us unseasonably to investigate words of deeper meaning, we shall make a few remarks. The divine Word says that our 'God is a consuming fire' and that 'He draws rivers of fire before him;' nay, that he even entereth in as 'a refiner's fire, and as a fuller's herb' to purify his own people. But when he is said to be a 'consuming fire' we inquire what are the things which are appropriate to be consumed by God. And we assert that they are wickedness and the works which result from it, and which, being figuratively called 'wood, hay, stubble,' God consumes as a fire. The wicked man, accordingly, is said to build up on the previously laid foundation of reason, 'wood, and hay, and stubble.' If, then, any one can show that these words were differently understood by the writer, and can prove that the wicked man literally builds up 'wood, or hay, or stubble,' it is evident that the fire must be understood to be material, and an object of sense. But if, on the contrary, the works of the wicked man are spoken of figuratively, under the names of 'wood, or hay, or stubble,' why does it not at once occur (to inquire) in what sense the word 'fire' is to be taken, so that 'wood' of such a kind should be consumed? For the Scripture says: "The fire shall try each man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work be burned, he shall suffer loss.' But what work can be spoken of in these words as being 'burned,' save all that result from wickedness?" Ag. Cels: IV. xiii; xciv.

The treatment experienced by Origen is one of the anomalies of history. The first hostility to him, followed by his deposition and excommunication, A.D. 232, is conceded to have been in consequence of his opposition to the Episcopal tendencies of Bishop Demetrius, and the envy of the bishop. His Universalism was not in question. Lardner says that he was "not expelled from Alexandria for heresy, but for envy."

Some of the alleged errors of Origen were condemned, but his doctrine of universal salvation, never. Methodius, who wrote A.D. 300; Pamphilus and Eusebius, A.D. 310; Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine Eustathius, A.D. 380; Epiphanius, A.D. 376 and 394; Theophilus, A.D. 400-404, and Jerome, A.D. 400; all give lists of Origen's errors, but none name his Universalism among them. Besides, some of those who condemned his errors were Universalists, at the school of Antioch. And many who were opponents of Origenism were mentioned by Origen's enemies with honor notwithstanding they were Universalists, as Clement of Alexandria, and Gregory of Nyssa.

Pamphilus, who was martyred A.D. 294, and Eusebius, in their lost Apology for Origen, which is mentioned by at least two writers who had seen it, gave many testimonies of fathers preceding Origen, favoring Universalism,5 and Domitian, Bishop of Ancyra, complains that those who condemn the restorationism of Origen "anathematize all those saints who preceded and followed him," implying the general prevalence of Universalism before and after the days of Origen.

in the year 544, this doctrine was for the first time condemned and anathematized as heretical. From and after this point (A.D. 553) the doctrine of eternal punishment reigned with undisputed sway during the Middle Ages that preceded the Reformation.

From these facts it is easily seen that the heresies of which Origen was accused did not touch the doctrine of universal restoration. They were for teaching inequality between the persons of the Trinity, the pre-existence of the human soul, denying the resurrection of the body, affirming that wicked angels will not suffer endless punishment, and that all souls will be absorbed into the Infinite Fountain whence they sprang, like drops falling into the sea.

Epiphanius, a narrow-minded, credulous, violent-tempered, but sincere man, A.D. 310-404, was bishop of Constantia in Cyprus, A.D. 367. He bitterly opposed Origen, and denounced him for a multitude of errors, but he does not hint that his views of restoration were objectionable to himself, or to the church, at the time he wrote.

Theodore of Mopsuestia was born in Antioch, A.D. 350, and died 428 or 429.
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He was bishop for thirty-six years, and died full of honors; but after he had been in his grave a hundred and twenty-five years, the church had become so corrupted by heathenism that it condemned him for heresy. He was anathematized for Nestorianism, but his Universalism was not stigmatized.

'The first man was of the earth earthly, the second man is the Lord from heaven,' that is, who is to appear hereafter thence, that he may restore all to the likeness of himself."

"God knew that men would sin in all ways, but permitted this result to come to pass, knowing that it would ultimately be for their advantage.

It may be mentioned that though Origen and Theodore were Universalists, they reached their conclusions by different processes. Origen exalted the freedom of the will,
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Theodore, on the other hand, developed the grammatical and historical meaning of the Word,
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It is interesting to note the emphasis the early Universalists placed upon different points. The Gnostics argued universal salvation from the disciplinary process of transmigration; the Sibylline Oracles from the prayers of the good who could not tolerate the sufferings of the damned; Clemens Alexandrinus proved it from the remedial influence of all God's punishments; Origen urged the foregoing, but added the freedom of the will, which would ultimately embrace the good; Diodorus put it on the ground that God's mercy exceeds all the desert of sin;
Theodore of Mopsuestia, that sin is an incidental part of human education, etc.

Gregory Nyssen.
He was born about A.D. 335, and died 390. He was made bishop 372.
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His language demonstrates the fact that the word aionios did not have the meaning of endless duration in his day. He distinctly says: "Whoever considers the divine power will plainly perceive that it is able at length to restore by means of the aionion purgation and expiatory sufferings, those who have gone even to this extremity of wickedness." Thus "everlasting" punishment will end in salvation, according to one of the greatest of the fathers of the Fourth Century.

The Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381, which perfected the Nicene Creed, was participated in by the two Gregorys; Gregory Nazianzen presided and Gregory Nyssen added the clauses to the Nicene creed that are in italics on a previous page in this volume. They were both Universalists. Would any council, in ancient or modern times, composed of believers in endless punishment, select an avowed Universalist to preside over its deliberations, and guide its "doctrinal transactions?" And can anyone consistently think that Gregory's Universalism was unacceptable to the great council over which he presided?"

"From the time of Constantine," says Schaff, "church discipline declines; the whole Roman world having become nominally Christian, and the host of hypocritical professors multiplying beyond all control." It was during Constantine's reign that, among other foreign corruptions, monasticism came into Christianity, from the Hindoo religions and other sources, and gave rise to those ascetic organizations so foreign to the spirit of the author of our religion, and so productive of error and evil.

He says he "hates Greek," and the "grammar learning of the Greeks." it is anomalous in the history of criticism that generations of scholars should take their cue in a matter of Greek definition from one who admits that he had "learned almost nothing of Greek," and was "not competent to read and understand" the language, and reject the position held by those who were born Greeks! That such a man should contradict and subvert the teachings of such men as Clement, Origen, the Gregories and others whose mother-tongue was Greek, is passing strange. But his powerful influence, aided by civil arm, established his doctrine till it came to rule the centuries.

Augustine Less Severe Than Modern Orthodoxy.

Augustine, however, held the penalties of sin in a much milder form than do his degenerate theological descendants in modern times. He teaches that the lost still retain goodness,--too valuable to be destroyed, and on that account the worst are not in absolute evil, but only in a lower degree of good. "Grief for lost good in a state of punishment is a witness of a good nature. For he who grieves for the lost peace for his nature, grieves for it by means of some remains of peace, by which it is caused that nature should be friendly to itself." He taught that while unbaptized children must be damned in a Gehenna of fire, their torments would be light ( levissima ) compared with the torment of other sinners, and that their condition would be far preferable to non-existence, and so on the whole a blessing. In a limbus infantum they would only receive a mitissima damnatio.
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Though he said the church "detested" it, he kindly added: "They who believe this, and yet are Catholics, seem to me to be deceived by a certain human tenderness," and he urged Jerome to continue to translate Origen for the benefit of the African church!

Thus, says Schaff, "the Roman state, with its laws, institutions, and usages, was still deeply rooted in heathenism. The Christianizing of the state amounted therefore to a paganizing and secularizing of the church.

The synod voted fifteen canons, not one of which condemns universal restoration.

Justinian not only commanded the council to suppress Universalism, but he arbitrarily closed the schools in Athens, Alexandria and Antioch, and drove out the great church centers of theological science that had been its glory. He had "brought the whole empire under his sway and he wished in like manner to settle finally the law and the dogmatics of the empire." To accomplish this evil work he found an aid in Rome, in a "characterless Pope (Vigilius) who, in gratifying the emperor covered himself with disgrace, and jeopardized his position in the Occident." But he succeeded in inaugurating measures that extinguished the broad faith of the greatest fathers of the church. "Henceforth," says Harnack, "there was no longer a theological science going back to first principles."