Hosea Ballou Study Archive

It appears evident from the above, that the Saviour was informing his disciples how it would fare with them and other professors of Christianity, at the time when Jerusalem should be destroyed, and the Jews dispersed.


Hosea Ballou
1771 – 1852

“Father of American Universalism”

Published The Universalist Magazine, The Trumpet, The Universalist Expositor, The Universalist Quarterly Review, and wrote about 10,000 sermons as well as many hymns, essays and polemic theological works.  He is best known for Notes on the Parables (1804), A Treatise on Atonement (1805) and Examination of the Doctrine of a Future Retribution (1834). These works mark him as the principal American expositor of universalism.  By the end of the 19th century, american preterist universalists numbered 600,000.

RELEVANT WORKS

  • 1804: Hosea Ballou, Notes on the Parables (1822 Ed.) “Will the reader now say that all this may be, and that both Daniel and the Saviour were speaking of the resurrection of mankind to a state of immortal happiness and misery in a future world? To this we reply, when Jesus spoke to his disciples of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the calamities which should shortly come on the Jews, he uses the words of Daniel nearly verbatim, when he speaks of the time of trouble. By this circumstance we are instructed that both Daniel and the Saviour spake of the same time and of the same events, and that time was, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.”
  • 1805 PDF: Hosea Ballou, Treatise on the Atonement  “And having satisfied our minds respecting the time of the coming of the Son of man to judge and reward men according to their works, and being assured that that event took place when Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jews dispersed; it remains an easy task to settle the question respecting the meaning and fulfillment of all the passages in the New Testament which speak of that judgment, and the awful calamities which fell on the people. But we must always keep in mind the fact that all those scriptures were fulfilled in that generation in which Jesus and his disciples lived.”
  • 1819: Hosea Ballou, Select Sermons Delivered on Various Occasions (PDF)   “In his account of the destruction of the Jews, and of the vengeance of God upon them, Jesus was particular in his reference to what had been written on the subject ; he says, “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.. the whole is confined to that generation ; and not the least intimation of punishment in a future state of existence.”
  • 1827 PDF: Charles Hudson, Letters Addressed to Ballou
  • 1834 PDF: Hosea Ballou, Examination of the Doctrine of Future Retribution
  • 1840 PDF: Hosea Ballou, Lectures on Universalism, in Boston
  • 1842 PDF: Philemon Russell, A Series of Letters to a Universalist “Well, now, did the Jewish nation experience such a resurrection at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem ? Look at it.  Think it over. Did the Jewish nation, or any considerable portion of them, experience a happy change in their moral characters ? Were they then raised by the Roman army that destroyed their city and temple? or by the gospel, or by any other means, from a life of sin to a life of holiness ? With the history of that bloody siege before you, you dare not answer in the affirmative. So far were the Jews from experiencing any moral resurrection, properly so called, at the destruction of Jerusalem, that, according to Josephus, their moral blindness and infatuation were amazing in the highest degree.— They seemed to have been lost to all moral sensibility, and madly plunged into their graves, instead of coming forth from them to a moral resurrection.”
  • 1843 PDF: Adin Ballou, The True Scriptural Doctrine of the Second Coming  “The “second coming,” “appearing,” or “revelation,” of Christ, in his regal and judicial glory, took place about the time of the final dispersion of the Jews, at the end of the Mosaic age. The general resurrection and day or age of judgment, then commenced in the invisible world, denoted to mortals only by the remarkable signs, terrors, and dreadful events, attendant on the destruction of Jerusalem. Then all departed souls in Hades came forth, clothed with immortality, before the judgment seat of Christ, they that had done good to the resurrection of life, and they that had done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation. The patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints, who had previously finished their course on earth, and were resting in hope, then entered into their glory in the resurrection of the just.” (p.3)
  • 1857 PDF: Lee-Ballou, Discussion on Endless Punishment
  • 1886 PDF: Universalism in America, Volume II : Bibliography “And having satisfied our minds respecting the time of the coming of the Son of man to judge and reward men according to their works, and being assured that that event took place when Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jews dispersed; it remains an easy task to settle the question respecting the meaning and fulfillment of all the passages in the New Testament which speak of that judgment, and the awful calamities which fell on the people. But we must always keep in mind the fact that all those scriptures were fulfilled in that generation in which Jesus and his disciples lived.” (Hosea Ballou, 1805 – Treatise on the Atonement)
  • 1896 PDF: William Heywood, Collected Letters and Autobiography of Adin Ballou
  • 2007: Todd Dennis, The (New) History of Full Preterism (Video)
  • 2007: Kurt Simmons, The Attack on Full Preterism, Death was Destroyed in AD70? “there is, indeed, an historical connection between full Preterism and Universalism.  (But then this is true of every other sect as well.)  The historical connection between Preterism and Universalism has now been documented by Todd Dennis”
  • 2014: Discussion on Preterism, the Second Coming, and Hell 

“The Father of Preterist Universalism”
Earliest Full Preterism Developed Among American Universalists / Doctrinal History Can Be Traced Back to the Start of 19th Century

Full Preterist: Matthew 24 & 25 Fulfilled in Destruction of Jerusalem ; Resurrection passages refer to the Same.  “It appears evident from the above, that the Saviour was informing his disciples how it would fare with them and other professors of Christianity, at the time when Jerusalem should be destroyed, and the Jews dispersed. The 25th chapter contains three parables, which evidently relate to events set forth in the 24th chapter.”

(On the Resurrection)
“The arguments now designed will go to show that the scriptures make use of words signifying a resurrection, in a figurative sense, when nothing beyond this mortal state is intended, that the passage under consideration is of this description ; and that it is proved to be so by comparing it with other passages which evidently have their application in time, and also by comparing it with passages which speak of a resurrection into an immortal state, by observing the difference there is between the two classes. (A Series of Lecture Sermons, p. 339)

“Will the hearer now say that all this may be, and that both Daniel and the Saviour were speaking of the resurrection of mankind to a state of immortal happiness and misery in a future world ? To this we reply, when Jesus spoke to his disciples of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the calamities which should shortly come on the Jews, he uses the words of Daniel nearly verbatim when he speaks of the time of trouble. By this circumstance we are instructed that both Daniel and the Saviour spake of the same time, and of the same events, and that that time was when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.

“The true meaning of the words of Jesus and of the passage in Daniel appears to be this : those Jews who listened to the mild voice of the gospel, proclaimed by Christ and his Apostles, came forth from spiritual death to the life of faith in the new covenant; but those Jews, who rejected the doctrine of salvation, crucified the Saviour, and persecuted his apostles, were those who had done evil, and they were roused from the dormant state in which they lay, as in a covenant of death and a refuge of lies, by the voice of judgment, and come forth to the resurrection of that condemnation which is so particularly pointed out in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew ; and which was illustrated in our lecture on that subject.” (ibid., p. 342)

(1804 – Notes on the Parables of the New Testament: Scripturally Illustrated and Argumentatively Defended)

“In Matt 12:3132 (neither in this world nor in that which is to come), “world” means dispensation; “this” world, the legal priestly dispensation; and “that which is to come,” the gospel.”

“Nothing can be more evident than that what Jesus and his disciples meant by the end of the world was the end of the Jewish polity and their destruction by the Romans.” (p. 81)

“The wrath to come,’ of which John spake, when he said ‘who hath warned you..’ is speaking of the destruction of the Jews and their city, he said ‘For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” (p. 17)

(1811 – A Treatise on the Atonement)

“If Christ is to be understood as he said, if his words explain his meaning, it is clear, that his coming in his glory.. was some time in the life-time of those to whom he spake.

“If this be true, which my opponent with his eyes open, will not dispute, then no objection can be stated, from this parable, against the final holiness and happiness of all men.”

“We are informed, that Christ came once in the end of the world, to put away sin. The world, of which Christ came in the end, was undoubtedly the dispensation of the legal priesthood.”

(1820 – A Series of Letters in Defence of Divine Revelation)

“Nor need I speak of Moses who foretold the dealings of God with the house of Israel as if he had lived now and had written their history. But I must insist on your paying some nice attention to the prophesies of Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. This prophesy is recorded very circumstantially in the 24th of Matt. Be so good, sir, as to compare this prophesy with the history written by Josephus and let candor decide whether the author of that prophesy was divinely inspired, or whether he was a poor deceived enthusiast.”

“What you say on the subject of prophecy, does not appear to me, either to reflect any light on it, or to call up any question of importance. Your query whether the books of the New Testament were not written after the destruction of Jerusalem, which would suppose that the prophecy of the destruction of that city was written after the events took place of which the prophecy speaks, is an old suggestion in which I am unable to see any thing very reasonable. And I will remark here, that men who seem to lay an uncommon claim to reason, ought to make use of it when arguing on such momentous subjects. What difference would it make whether St. Matthew wrote his gospel before, or after the destruction of Jerusalem, as it respects the prophecy which Jesus delivered concerning it? You allow St. Matthew to be an honest man. You do not doubt then but Jesus did deliver such a prophecy before his death, which was certainly before the destruction of the city. Then surely it makes no difference whether the prophecy was committed to paper before, or after the fulfilment of it. Besides, you seem to urge the _silence_ of St. John on the subject as unfavourable to the account, because he wrote his gospel after Jerusalem was destroyed. As to interpolations which you think might have found their way into the gospels, it appears to me, sir, that a candid consideration of this subject would issue in this conclusion; if any important interpolations had been admitted, they would have produced such a disagreement as to effectually destroy the validity of the books; for if one heresy could be indulged, it is reasonable to suppose that another would be, and so on, which in room of allowing us the scriptures in their present consistent form, would either have destroyed their existence altogether, or have varied so as to confound their ideas.”

James Strong
“Rev. Hosea Ballou commenced his career as a Universalist preacher in 1790. Originally a Calvinistic Baptist, he was a Trinitarian Universalist until 1795, when he avowed his belief in Unitarian views of God and Christ; and in 1805 published his Treatise on Atonement, in which he combated the doctrine of vicarious sacrifice, contending that the life and death of Christ were for the reconciling, not of God, but of man, and avowed his belief that the punishment of the sins of mortality was confined to this life, and that if punishment were experienced in the life beyond the grave, it would be for sins committed there. In 1818 he had satisfied himself that there is no sin beyond the grave, and consequently no punishment after death.” (Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 10, 1895, pp. 109-33, Rev. John McClintock and James Strong.)

David Thom
“By some, the whole Book is considered to have received its accomplishment in the fact, and at the period of Jerusalem’s destruction. Among the American Universalists of the Ballou school, this view is just now very prevalent.” (The number and names of the apocalyptic beasts)

Wikipedia
“Ballou has been called the “father of American Universalism,” along with John Murray, who founded the first Universalist church in America. Ballou, sometimes called an “Ultra Universalist,” differed from Murray in that he divested Universalism of every trace of Calvinism, and opposed legalism and trinitarian views.”

MINISTRY OF DESCENDENTS

Aidan Ballou, nephew, describing the standard Universalism of his day – “the destruction of Jerusalem was the day in which Christ should appear, and reward every man according to his works.. that then the new heaven and earth superseded the old.” (Epistle General to Restorationists, From the first issue of the Independent Messenger, 1 January 1831) The Second Coming (PDF)

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