Channing Memorial Church is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Unitarianism and Universalism were separate forms of liberal Christianity, which merged in 1963 to form the UUA. The Association, which is made up of member congregations through out North America and overseas, is divided up into twenty geographic districts in the United States. This church is a part of the Ballou Channing District, which includes forty-seven Unitarian Universalist congregations: thirty-eight are in southeastern Massachusetts and here in Rhode Island there are nine Unitarian Universalist congregations.

In recent years, members of Channing Church have become increasingly involved in events in our district. Several of us attended the Fall Conference, which was held at First Parish in Brewster, MA. As I discussed registration for the Fall Conference with an active member of Channing, they looked up from the brochure and said, "Ballou Channing District. Now, what is this Ballou?" I then realized that if this active longtime member did not know that our district was named for Universalist minister Hosea Ballou as well as our own Unitarian founder William Ellery Channing, chances are that most folks in this congregation were also missing an important piece of our Universalist heritage.

So, this morning I am going to share with you some of our history as religious liberals. This way you will understand "What is this Ballou?" and why he holds an important place in our development as a faith movement. I will touch on his biography and focus on his theology of Universal Salvation especially addressing how "Ultra-Universalism" continues to be a radical perspective to consider in our own spiritual journeys today.

Hosea Ballou is pictured on your order of service cover this morning. He lived from 1771 through 1852. Like William Ellery Channing, Hosea Ballou was born in Rhode Island and as he was an influential Universalist minister, I believe that is how our district was named. Hosea was the eleventh child of Maturin and Lydia Ballou. The family moved from Rhode Island to New Hampshire where his father made a living as a farmer and also served as a preacher in a Calvinistic Baptist church. Hosea's mother died when he was only two years old. Like many rural children of the time, his education was limited. He studied at a local school established by the Friends and for a few months at Chesterfield Academy but primarily his schooling was offered by his father.

Hosea Ballou was an independent thinker. When Ballou reached his teenage years, the preaching of Caleb Rich and others who offered a message of universal salvation influenced him. Universalism was spreading across America as a new faith that was in direct contrast to the Calvinistic Baptist theology of his father which asserted that only some predestined few would be saved from humankind's essentially depraved and sinful nature. In its place, Universalism viewed God as a loving Father instead of a vengeful Judge and offered a message of hope.

When he reached the age of 20, Ballou began traveling around western Massachusetts and Vermont as an itinerant Universalist preacher. Three years later at the Universalist Convention, he was ordained in a very dramatic way. Elhanan Winchester, one of the elder statesmen of the convention, was serving as the Moderator that year. As Wincester reached the climax of his sermon, he suddenly pressed a Bible to the chest of Hosea Ballou, exclaiming, "Brother Ballou, I press to your heart the written Jehovah!" and then ordered a colleague to charge Ballou as an ordained Universalist minister on the spot.

Ballou was the most influential in the second generation of the Universalist movement. John Murray who is considered the father of Universalism in America was thirty years his senior. Ballou rose into positions of leadership serving as Clerk when Murray was Moderator of the Convention and later became Moderator himself. He served as a settled minister in Portsmouth, NH, Salem, MA, and was called to the Second Universalist Society in Boston where he served for twenty-eight years becoming the spokesman of the growing Universalist movement.

In 1805, Hosea Ballou published a slim volume titled "A Treatise on Atonement". This book articulated a new form of Universalist theology, which was embraced by many and considered too radical by the old guard. When Ballou preached at the First Universalist Society in Boston, John Murray's church, his wife Judith Sargent Murray became so alarmed she had the following statement read from the choir loft, "I wish to give notice that the doctrine which has been preached here this afternoon is not the doctrine that is usually preached in this house".

Historian Clinton Lee Scott describes the effect of "A Treatise on Atonement" as follows: "Ballou logically and clearly exposed the contradictions inherent in the doctrines of the trinity and the vicarious atonement of Jesus. Atonement, as the Universalist preachers were more and more coming to see, was not a way of reconciling God to man; it was man who needed to be reconciled to God."¹

I would like to offer you a brief story that illustrates further this idea of universal salvation: "A story is told of Hosea Ballou, riding over the hills of New Hampshire as a circuit rider. One day he was accompanied by another itinerant preacher, a Baptist, and they argued theology as they traveled. At one point the Baptist minister said, 'Brother Ballou, if I were a Universalist, and feared not the fires of Hell, I'd hit you over the head and steal your horse and saddle.' Ballou looked over at him and replied, 'My brother, if you were a Universalist the idea would never occur to you!'"²

Ballou believed in an all-powerful and all-loving God. He asserted that human beings are motivated by a desire for happiness and that sin is often a misguided attempt at happiness. It is the moral obligation of people to discern whether the object of fulfillment is one of true happiness or sinfulness. True happiness comes in acting in accord with the system of universal benevolence and the rewards ripple outward to other people. Ballou describes sin this way "Sin is a false mirror, by which the sinner is deceived in everything the mind contemplates".³ He goes on to describe how living a life of selfishness and dishonesty, cuts a person off from true fulfillment. Atonement comes when we are reconciled with our fellow human beings and therefore aligned with God's love. There is no future punishment, ultimately all souls are brought into harmony with the Divine.

As I mentioned, many felt that Ballou had gone too far by declaring that there was no future punishment for any human beings. Other Universalists would assert that all people would be ultimately judged by their actions. If someone had been a murderer or a thief or done some other immoral act, they would have to spend some time in Hell or in Purgatory before reaching the harmony of Paradise. Even William Ellery Channing critiqued "Ultra-Universalism" as an irrational doctrine emphasizing instead the Unitarian concept of "Salvation by character". It is interesting to note that although Ballou and Channing both served churches in Boston, they never had a personal relationship.

There are a variety of theological perspectives among us here today. Not only our guests who follow different faiths, but our very own members who have a wide range of beliefs from Christian, Theist, Humanist, Buddhist, Scientist, Pagan, Jew and others who find inspiration in literature and the arts. Whatever you name the Source of Ultimate Meaning, I invite you to consider the full implications of Hosea Ballou's theology of Universal Salvation. UU minister Christopher Raible writes: "Think about that for a moment. If all persons are saved, you are saved. No matter what, God still loves you. You know yourself. You know your weaknesses, you know your failures, your errors. You know the evil-dare I call it sin-you have done, the hurt you have caused, the wrongs you have committed. Nevertheless, our Universalist forebears declared, God still cares for you. There is no way you can separate yourself from the love of God."⁴

In Unitarian Universalist churches today, our focus is no longer on the afterlife or the idea of salvation but on how to live lives of integrity and make a difference in this world. The English word "Salvation" is derived from the Latin word "salus" meaning health. In this way, our faith as Unitarian Universalist promotes a sense of spiritual health and wholeness. A core value is our first Principle, "We affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person." That core value means that even though the world is not obviously good or safe, we believe that each person is born blessed (not sinful) and through the embrace of Love is able to experience and impart holiness and goodness.

What is most powerful about Hosea Ballou's denial of future punishment is that he empowered people to create Heaven here on earth. In recognizing that all people have equal claim to happiness and holiness, he promoted a spirit of openness and tolerance, foremost in recognition of our own worth and then rippling outwards to all people. Listen to his words, which are as apt today as almost two hundred years ago: "Be cautious of any system of divinity. The moment we consider ourselves infallible, every one must come to our peculiarities or we cast them away. Even the truth may be held in unrighteousness. . . The cause of truth wants nothing in its service but the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and temperance. . . Attend to the exhortation, 'Let brotherly love continue.' If we agree in brotherly love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good. . . Let us endeavor to 'keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.'"

There are some basic life questions⁵ that all human beings grapple with from childhood to death. All religions address them in some way, providing answers to the meaning of our existence and guiding our actions. All people struggle to have faith in ourselves, in our world, and in relation to God or the Sacred.

In what or whom do you trust?
Do you believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, including yourself?
What motivates you to do what you do?
What would/does empower you to do what you think you ought to do?

This morning we dedicated ourselves to Charles Duggan and blessed the unfolding of his promise. In the same spirit, may we commit ourselves to the nurture of all children. May they serve as reminders of the infinite wonder and beauty inherent in life itself. May our Universalist heritage inspire us to listen with openness and respect to the perspectives of other people recognizing that the cathedral of the world has many different windows through which the light shines. May we feel the embrace of Love even in the midst of despair that we may move boldly forward to create Heaven on earth.