Universalists

(ū-ne-vür's al-ists.) [See UNIVERSAL.] (Eccl. Hist.) A religious sect who maintain as a fundamental article of their belief that saving grace is given to all men, without reserve, and that its operation is universal-whence their denomination. U., it maybe observed, generally differ from the prevalent bodies of Christians in other important doctrines, though it is not because of such differences that they have received their name, nor is it nece ary to merit the name that one should share these differences. Most of them agree with Unitarians-but there are eminent examples to the contrary-in rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity; they are also Pelagian in the matter of original sin, and reject the notion that the new birth is something supernatural. Universalism, as a mode of belief, is of very ancient origin; but it was in 1770 that the Rev. John Murray became a propagator of Universalist views, and some years later Universalism, as a sect, was founded in the U. States by Hosea Ballou (commonly called Father Ballou), a learned divine and indefatigable preacher. B. in New Hampshire, 1771, D. in Boston, 1852. In 1871 the U. had in the U. States and British America 85 a ociations, 903 parishes, 700 churches, and 615 ministers. [s. 922]