This article is very inspiring to me. I hope you enjoy it. This paragraph talks about Abraham Lincoln and his beliefs:

“Abraham Lincoln served as U.S. president from 1861 to 1865, preserved the Union during the Civil War, and emancipated the slaves in the South. He was a deeply religious man and was one of the most famous people ever to have believed in Universalism — though most people do not know this about him. Lincoln wrote an essay in 1833 arguing for “predestinated universal salvation in criticism of the orthodox doctrine of endless punishment.” One of his associates, Isaac Cogdal, reported in a book about a religious discussion in Lincoln’s office in 1859: “Lincoln expressed himself in about these words: He did not nor could not believe in the endless punishment of any one of the human race. He understood punishment for sin to be a Bible doctrine; that the punishment was parental in its object, aim, and design, and intended for the good of the offender; hence it must cease when justice is satisfied. He added that all that was lost by the transgression of Adam was made good by the atonement: all that was lost by the fall was made good by the sacrifice.”

Here is another excerpt:

“Many people think of the Reformation as being primarily about Martin Luther and John Calvin, its two most recognizable figures. However, there were a number of other important ministers who developed their own competing expressions of Protestant Christianity and formed churches and denominations that did not come under the umbrella of either Lutheranism or Calvinism. Some of them were Universalists. In fact, there were several major Reformation movements and communities of faith that rejected the doctrine of eternal hell and embraced a more progressive view of God’s plan for human beings.”

Benjamin Rush was a Christian universalist. He is one among many of the people described in this article who were true heroes. I think that their beliefs about God’s goodness and power must have inspired their great deeds.

“Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) was a patriot of the American Revolution who signed the Declaration of Independence and was a close friend of both the second and third U.S. presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. He was also a well-respected practicing physician, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and the founder of Dickinson College. He was a pioneer in the study and treatment of mental illness, who insisted that the insane had a right to be treated humanely and with dignity. Rush is better known for being one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, but not as well known for his strong belief in Universalism, which he hoped would become the dominant religion in America. He attended Elhanan Winchester’s church and they became close friends, continuing to correspond after Winchester left Philadelphia. In one letter to Winchester, Rush wrote optimistically that “The Universal doctrine prevails more and more in our country, particularly among persons eminent for their piety, in whom it is not a mere speculation but a principle of action in the heart prompting to practical goodness.”

Benjamin Rush said that Elhanan Winchester’s Universalist theology “embraced and reconciled my ancient calvinistical, and my newly adopted [Arminian] principles. From that time on I have never doubted upon the subject of the salvation of all men.” Rush was also a social reformer who was generations ahead of his time. Among the causes he championed were prison and judicial reform, abolition of slavery and the death penalty, education of women, conservation of natural resources, a healthy diet and abstinence from tobacco and alcohol, and avoidance of war unless absolutely necessary. His belief in the ultimate potential of all people to be educated, improved, and transformed was inspired in part by his Universalist religious beliefs. He wrote, “No particle of benevolence, no wish for the liberty of a slave or the reformation of a criminal will be lost, for they all flow from the Author of goodness, who implants no principles of action in man in vain.”

One the most interesting things about this Christian Universalist is how people tried to hide her universalistic beliefs by omitting them from a book she wrote! She was so popular, they were afraid that these beliefs might influence people.

“Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) was a Universalist author and evangelist. She was also an active supporter of the women’s suffrage and temperance movements. She came from a Quaker background and was involved in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life Movement in Great Britain. Her book about Christian mysticism and practical Holiness theology, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, was a tremendous bestseller in her time and is still widely read today. Another book she wrote was her personal testimony of coming to believe in a loving God and the salvation of all: The Unselfishness of God and How I Discovered It. Many of today’s reprintings of the book omit the chapters promoting Universalism, because it is contrary to the doctrines of the Evangelical Christian publishers, but the original full text is available on the internet.”