A debate on the doctrines of atonement, universal salvation, and endless punishment

A full transcript of a formal oral debate between John Mather Austin, Universalist minister at Auburn, New York, and David Holmes, a Methodist minister — days of alternating speeches before a public audience, taken down and published for readers to judge. Such staged debates were a central institution of antebellum religious life, and this one preserves the arguments, the rhetorical tactics, and the sheer stamina the genre demanded on both sides.

(Note: this summary was automatically generated and may be inaccurate.)