interpretation of the text need be no longer urged.[23] We have reserved a more extended view of this subject, however, for the close of this volume. [17] Rev. Dr. A. A. Miner, Discourse at Gloucester, September, 1870. [18] Comm. on Acts, ii. 23. [19] Heb. ii. 9. [20] Rev. H. W. Beecher. [21] John, xii. 32; 1 Tim. ii. 4. [22] John, iii. 16, 17. [23] Dr. Taylor Lewis. CHAPTER VI. UNIVERSALISM.--UNITARIANISM.--RATIONALISM. "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."--EPH. ii. 20. Since the growth of the Universalist faith during the present century in our country, that phase of Liberal Christianity denominated Unitarianism has had its rise. It was an outcome of the Arminianism in orthodox churches. It advocated the doctrine of the Unity of God, in opposition to that of the Trinity as held by most of the churches in New England.[24] It also rejected the doctrine of total depravity, affirming that man had within him the germs of goodness, and needed the work of Christian culture to insure his true religious growth and perfection. Respecting the destination of man beyond the grave it had no uniform affirmation. Its leading ministers--Drs. Channing, Dewey, Gannett, and others--were undecided as to this great question. Dr. Channing uttered his protest against "the horrible thought" of interminable suffering, as affirmed by the dominant sects, while his statements respecting the wasted and ill-spent life make it an "impassable gulf from our Creator and from pure and happy beings,--a consuming fire and undying worm." Dr. Gannett has similar opinions: "Self-reproach, exclusion from the happiness of heaven, removal from the favor of God; to live but to suffer, to feel one's self at variance with all that is true and good and beautiful in the universe; what more it is, eternity will disclose." Rev. Mr. Alger thinks no fair critic can say that αἰώνιος, eternal or everlasting, when applied to punishment, means absolutely endless, nor, on the other hand, that it does not so mean. The late Rev. E. H. Sears writes that "it is the average opinion of Unitarians that Restoration is not a doctrine of Revelation." The American Unitarian Association said: "While we do generally hold to the doctrine of the final universality of salvation as a consistent speculation of the reason and a strong belief of the heart, yet we deem it to be in each case a matter of contingency, always depending on conditions freely to be accepted or rejected." The editor of the "Monthly Religious Magazine"--the principal of that class published by Unitarians--writes, in 1870: "Unitarians do not believe in Universal Restoration as a doctrine of Revelation fairly yielded by the interpretation of the Scriptures. This, we mean, is the average opinion. They do not think the Bible gives any verdict as to the final salvation of all mankind." Dr. Dewey, in later times (as in his discourse in the volume of "Pitt