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Text archive

Below is a collection of older essays and books (I’ve left out the contemporary stuff, which is now available under the ‘books’ section or ‘theology’). Some of the texts can be read online, while some can be downloaded as pdf. Some of the books are also available in print (see the ‘books’ section).

Samuel Cox: Salvator Mundi: Or, Is Christ the Saviour of All Men? (1877)
Download as pdf

In this collection of lectures the English Baptist, Samuel Cox (1826–1893), defends the restorationist view that God’s judgments in future ages all have the purpose of correcting and disciplining sinners. Salvator Mundi was amongst Samuel Cox’s most influential works. Note: Unfortunately a few pages are missing from the pdf.

Samuel Cox: The Larger Hope (1883)
Download as pdf

The Larger Hope is the sequel to Samuel Cox’s Salvator Mundi. In the book Cox developed additional arguments for the belief in universal restitution.

Pierre Cuppe: Heaven Open to All Men (1743)
Download as pdf

Pierre Cuppe was a French 18th century pastor. The French title of the book from 1743 was “Le ciel ouvert a tous les hommes”.

J. W. Hanson: Bible Threatenings Explained (1893)
Read online

In this classic John Wesley Hanson explains the prophecies and threatenings in the old and new testament from a preterist standpoint.

J.W. Hanson: The Greek Word Aion-Aionios (1875)
Read online

The words translated “eternal”, “eternity” or “forever” in traditional translations do not, in fact, mean eternity or eternal in the sense of endless duration, but “age” or “age-enduring”. This is important for understanding such ideas as “eternal punishment” in the bible and early christianity.

J.W. Hanson: Universalism The Prevailing Doctrine Of The Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years (1899)
Download as pdf

In this classic study from 1899 J.W. Hanson went in detail with the belief in universal salvation in early Christianity. Though some of his claims may seem overtly tendentious, important points have been affirmed by modern scholars such as Ilaria Ramelli.

Andrew Jukes: The Second Death and the Restitution of All Things (1867)
Read online

In this classic work from 1867, Jukes explained the meaning of “the second death” mentioned in Revelations. Jukes argues that we are not so much saved “from” as “through” death.

Loyal Hurley: The Outcome of Infinite Grace (1947)
Read online

A concise and biblical argument for the universal efficiency of grace by Dr. Loyal F. Hurley (1886-1967), Seventh Day Baptist pastor and professor.

George Klein-Nicolai: The Everlasting Gospel (1705)
Read online | Download as pdf

The Everlasting Gospel was written by the German pastor Georg Klein-Nicolai (1671-1734) of Friessdorf, and published under the pseudonym “Paul Siegvolck” in 1705. The argument in the book is based on a clear conception of God as love.

Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1395)
Download as pdf

Julian of Norwich (1342–1416) was an English anchoress and Christian mystic and theologian. In her widely celebrated Revelations of Divine Love Julian described her visions in which Jesus appeared, frequently assuring her that “all shall be well”.

Gregory of Nyssa: The Great Catechism (c. A.D. 385)
Download as pdf

Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395 AD) was a bishop and one of the most important Christian theologians of his time, known for his defense of trinitarian orthodoxy, as well as his belief in the final restoration of all things.

D.P. Livermore: Proof Texts of Endless Punishment, Examined and Explained (1862)
Read online

In this book Livermore sets out to assist the reader to a correct understanding of those controverted passages which are often wrongly supposed to teach the doctrine of endless punishment.

Judith Sargent Murray: Catechism (1782)
Read online

Judith Sargent Murray published this catechism in 1782. Her question-and-answer format neatly explains James Relly’s Universalist theology. In her preface, Judith includes a clear statement about female equality.

Johann Wilhelm Petersen: Mystērion Apokatastaseōs Pantōn (1700)
Download as pdf

Johann Wilhelm Petersen (1649–1727) was a German theologian, Philadelphian mystic, and millennialist. In his book Mystērion Apokatastaseōs Pantōn from 1700 he presented Origen’s doctrine on the Restoration of all things (apokatastasis panton). In German.

James Relly: Union (1759)
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The central doctrine in James Relly’s theology was the belief that Christ is from eternity united to His Church to such a degree that Christians have already died with him on the cross. The full title of the book is Union: or, a Treatise of the Consanguinity and Affinity between Christ and his Church.

James Relly: Salvation Compleated and Secured in Christ (1753)
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In this treatise James Relly argued that the new covenant must be seen in light of the incarnation of Christ. In Christ the covenant consists in the unity of the divine and human natures. All the conditions of the covenant are fulfilled for both parties by God in Christ.

James Relly: Epistles, or the Great Salvation Contemplated (1776)
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James Relly (1722–1778) was a Welshman and Methodist minister whose theology inspired John Murray and others. In his Epistles, or the Great Salvation Contemplated from 1776 Relly explained his beliefs in 11 short letters.

Samuel Richardson: Justification by Christ Alone (1647)
Read online

In this valuable work the early baptist Samuel Richardson argued that justification is by Christ alone and not faith. The longer title was Justification by Christ Alone – A fountain of life and comfort, Declaring that the whole work of man’s salvation was accomplished by Jesus Christ upon the cross, etc.

Samuel Richardson: A Discourse of the Torments of Hell (1658)
Download as pdf (1833 edition with two other essays)
Download as pdf (1720 edition)

In this work first published in 1658, a Samuel Richardson (sometimes identified with the author of Justification by Christ Alone) argued that ‘hell’ does not mean an endless state of torture after death. Though he sometimes seems to defend the idea that the godless will be finally annihilated, Richardson ends up suggesting that all will finally be saved.

Hannah Whitall Smith: The Unselfishness of God And How I Discovered It (1903)
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Hannah Whitall Smith was a famous lay speaker and author in the Holiness movement. Her books are still being reprinted, though the last three chapters (containing the whole point of the book!) are censored by many publishers.

Thomas Thayer: The Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishment (1855)
Read online

In this classic work Thomas B. Thayer argued that the doctrine of endless punishment does not occur in the Old or the New Testament. The doctrine of endless punishment, Thayer argues, originates in Pagan philosophy and religion.

Jeremiah White: The Restoration of all Things (1712)
Download as pdf

Jeremiah White (1629–1707), was a 17th-century Nonconformist minister and Puritan chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. White defended the doctrines of predestination, election and rebrobation, but these were understood in such a way, that the sanctification and salvation of the elect will be to the benefit of the reprobate, leading to the final happiness of all human beings.

Elhanan Winchester: The Outcasts Comforted – Sermon on Universal Restoration (1782)
Read online

In this important sermon Baptist preacher Elhanan Winchester argued that both Calvinism and Arminianism are partly right, in so far the one affirms the efficiency of grace while the other affirms the universality of grace.

Elhanan Winchester: Dialogues on Universal Restoration (1788)
Read online

In this influential book Winchester explained his views on universal restoration through a series of dialogues between a minister and his friend.

Elhanan Winchester: The Gospel Preached by the Apostles (1788)
Read online | Download as pdf

In this sermon Baptist preacher Elhanan Winchester argued that Paul teaches both particular and general atonement and redemption. The church is elected in order to preach to gospel for the rest.

Wisdom of Solomon (1st century BC)
Read online

The Wisdom of Solomon is a Jewish work composed in Alexandria (Egypt) around the 1st BC. It is one of the seven wisdom books included within the Septuagint.