Early Adventism and the SDA Rejection of the Trinity Doctrine

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"From about 1846 to 1888, the majority of Adventists rejected the concept of the Trinity-at least as they understood it. All the leading writers were antitrinitarian, although the literature contains occasional references to members who held trinitarian views." https://www.andrews.edu/library/car/cardigital/Periodicals/AUSS/2003-1/2003-1-08.pdf

The following are some examples of this anti-trinitarianism:

The way spiritualizers have disposed of or denied the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ is first using the old unscriptural Trinitarian creed, viz., that Jesus Christ is the eternal God, though they have not one passage to support it, while we have plain scripture testimony in abundance that he is the Son of the eternal God.” (James White, January 24, 1846, The Day Star)

To assert that the sayings of the Son and his apostles are the commandments of the Father, is as wide from the truth as the old trinitarian absurdity that Jesus Christ is the very and Eternal God. (James White, August 5, 1852, Review & Herald, vol. 3, no. 7, page 52, par. 42)

The greatest fault we can find in the Reformation is, the Reformers stopped reforming. Had they gone on, and onward, till they had left the last vestige of Papacy behind, such as natural immortality, sprinkling, the trinity, and Sunday- keeping, the church would now be free from her unscriptural errors.” (James White, February 7, 1856, Review & Herald, vol. 7, no. 19, page 148, par. 26)

Jesus prayed that his disciples might be one as he was one with his Father. This prayer did not contemplate one disciple with twelve heads, but twelve disciples, made one in object and effort in the cause of their master. Neither are the Father and the Son parts of the “three-one God.” They are two distinct beings, yet one in the design and accomplishment of redemption. (James White, 1868, Life Incidents, page 343)

“The inexplicable Trinity that makes the Godhead three in one and one in three, is bad enough; but that ultra Unitarianism that makes Christ inferior to the Father is worse. Did God say to an inferior, “Let us make man in our image?”” (James White, November 29, 1877, Review & Herald)

As fundamental errors, we might class with this counterfeit sabbath other errors which Protestants have brought away from the Catholic church, such as sprinkling for baptism, the trinity, the consciousness of the dead and eternal life in misery. (James White, September 12, 1854, Review & Herald, vol. 6, no. 5, page 36, par. 8)

Here we might mention the Trinity, which does away the personality of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, and of sprinkling or pouring instead of being “buried with Christ in baptism,” “planted in the likeness of his death:” but we pass from these fablesto notice one that is held sacred by nearly all professed Christians, both Catholic and Protestant. It is, The change of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment from the seventh to the first day of the week. (James White, December 11, 1855, Review & Herald, vol. 7, no. 11, page 85, par. 16)

"A selective list of Adventists who either spoke against the Trinity and/or rejected the eternal deity of Christ include J.B.  Frisbie, [J. B. Frisbie, “The Seventh Day Sabbath Not Abolished,” Advent Review and Sab-bath Herald, March 7, 1854, 50.]  J.  N. Loughborough, [J. N. Loughborough, “Questions for Brother Loughborough,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, November 5, 1861, 184] R. F. Cottrell, [R. F. Cottrell,  “The  Trinity,” Advent  Review  and  Sabbath  Herald, July  6,  1869, 10–11] J. N. Andrews, [“Melchisedec,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, September 7, 1869, 84.] D.M. Canright, [D. M. Canright,  “The  Personality  of  God,” Advent  Review  and  Sabbath  Herald, August  29,  1878,  73–74;  September  5,  1878,  81–82;  September  12,  1878,  89–90;  September 19, 1878, 97] and J. H. Waggoner [J. H. Waggoner, The  Atonement:  An  Examination  of  the  Remedial  System  in  the Light of Nature and Revelation (Oakland: Pacific Press, 1884), 164–179.]. W. A. Spicer at one point told A.W. Spalding that his father, after becoming a Seventh-day Adventist (he was formerly a Seventh Day Baptist minister), “grew so offended at the anti-Trinitarian atmosphere in Battle Creek that he ceased preaching.” ~History of Seventh-day Adventist Views on the Trinity by Merlin D. Burt [Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 17/1 (Spring 2006): 125–139]

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Language and Alleged Bible Discrepancies

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By John Wesley Haley 1874

The peculiarities of the Oriental idiom are another prolific source of discrepancies. The people of the East are fervid and impassioned in their modes of thought and expression. They think and speak in poetry.* Bold metaphors and startling hyperboles abound in their writings and conversation. “The shepherd,” says Eichhorn, “only speaks in the soul of the shepherd, and the primitive Oriental only speaks in the soul of another Oriental. [See De Wette, Introd. to Old Test., ii. 31–32] Without an intimate acquaintance with the customs of pastoral life, without an accurate knowledge of the East and its manners, without a close intimacy with the manner of thinking and speaking in the uncivilized world, ..... you easily become a traitor to the book, when you would be its deliverer and interpreter.”

Professor Stuart:” “I do not, and would not, summon them [the books of scripture] before the tribunal of Occidental criticism. Asia is one world; Europe and America, another. Let an Asiatic be tried before his own tribunal. To pass just sentence upon him, we must enter into his feelings, views, methods of reasoning and thinking, and place ourselves in the midst of the circumstances which surrounded him.” History of Old Test. Canon, p. 187. Revised ed. p. 174.

Lowth, on Metaphors: “The Orientals are attached to this style of composition; and many flights which our ears — too fastidious, perhaps, in these respects — will scarcely bear, must be allowed to the general freedom and boldness of these writers.” [Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, pp. 51, 47 (Stowe's edition).]

Again, he speaks of the difficulties which arise in reading authors “where everything is depicted and illustrated with the greatest variety and abundance of imagery; they must be still more numerous in such of the poets as are foreign and ancient —in the Orientals above all foreigners; they being the farthest removed from our customs and manners, and, of all the Orientals, more especially in the Hebrews.”

Dr. Samuel Davidson:” “He who does not remember the wide difference between the Oriental and Occidental mind, must necessarily fall into error. The luxuriant imagination and glowing ardor of the former express themselves in hyperbolical and extravagant diction; whereas the subdued character and coolness of the latter are averse to sensuous luxuriance.” [Introduction to Old Test., ii. 409, 310.]

Again: “The figures are bold and daring. Passion and feeling predominate. In the Psalms pre-eminently, we see the theology of the feelings, rather than of the intellect. Logic is out of place there. Dogmas cannot be established on such a basis, nor was it ever meant to be so.”

Professor Park: “More or less clandestinely, we are wont to interpret an ancient and an Oriental poet, as we would interpret a modern and Occidental essayist. The eastern minstrel employs intense words for saying what the western logician would say in same language. The fervid Oriental would turn from our modifying phrases in sickness of heart. We shudder at the lofty flights which captivate him. But he and we mean to express the same idea. The Occidental philosopher has a definite thought when he affirms that God exercises benevolence toward good men. Isaiah has essentially the same thought when he cries out: “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.’” [Bib. Sacra, xix. 170, 171.]

Such being the genius and idiom of the Orientals, it cannot be deemed strange that their metaphors and hyperboles overlap and collide with one another; that we find David, [Ps 42:9; 91:4] for example, at one time calling God a rock, and elsewhere speaking of his wings and feathers. Such bold and free imagery, when properly interpreted, develops a felicitous meaning; but when expounded according to literalistic, matter-offact methods, it yields discrepancies in abundance. To the interpreter of scripture, no two qualifications are more indispensable than common sense and honesty.



*A learned writer observes of Arabian literature: “A poetic spirit pervades all their works. Even treatises in the abstract sciences, geographical and medical works, have a poetic cast. All their literary productions, from the most impassioned ode to the firman of the Grand Seigneur, belong to the province of poetry.” Michaelis quotes an Arabic poet who expresses the fact, that swords were drawn with which to cut the throats of enemies, thus: “The daughters of the sheath leaped forth from their chambers, thirsting to drink in the jugular vein of their enemies.” — See Bib. Repository, Oct. 1836, pp. 489, 442.

Tischendorf's List of Spurious Bible Passages

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The following list of interpolations/spurious words & passages is taken from Tischendorf, based on the Sinaitic Manuscript. You will however find these in the King James Bible, which used the later Greek Received Text.

Matthew 5:22-- without a cause
Matthew 6:13-- For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Matthew 6:25-- or what ye shall drink
Matthew 16:2-- When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
Matthew 16:3-- This entire verse.
Matthew 17:21-- and fasting
Matthew 18:12-- into the mountains
Matthew 20:7-- and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive
Matthew 22:13-- and take him away
Matthew 23:35-- son of Barachias
Matthew 24:10-- and shall hate one another
Matthew 24:31-- sound of a
Matthew 24:41-- women shall be
Matthew 25:6 -- cometh
Matthew 27:52-- and the graves were opened
Matthew 27:53-- and went
Mark 4:37-- so that it was now full
Mark 6:51-- beyond measure, and wondered
Mark 7:8-- For . . . as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do
Mark 7:14-- unto me every one of you
Mark 9:24-- with tears
Mark 9:29-- and fasting
Mark 9:44-- This entire verse.
Mark 9:45-- into the fire that never shall be quenched
Mark 9:46-- This entire verse.
Mark 9:47-- fire
Mark 9:49-- and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt
Mark 10:24-- for them that trust in riches
Mark 10:30-- houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions
Mark 14:30-- twice
Mark 14:68-- and the cock crew
Mark 14:72-- the second time, twice
Mark 16:9-20-- All these verses.
Luke 2:40-- in spirit
Luke 8:45-- and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Luke 16:16 -- and every man presseth into it
Luke 17:12 -- which stood afar off
Luke 17:35-- women
Luke 18:11-- with himself
Luke 22:43-- This entire verse
Luke 22:44-- This entire verse.
Luke 22:68-- me, nor let me go
Luke 23:5-- teaching
Luke 23:34-- Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do Luke 24:42-- and of an honeycomb
John 1:25-- asked him, and
John 3:13-- which is in heaven
John 4:9-- for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans
John 5:3-- waiting for the moving of the water
John 5:4-- This entire verse.
John 5:25-- and now is
John 8:1-11-- All these verses.
John 8:59-- going through the midst of them, and so passed by
John 16:16-- because I go to the Father
John 19:23-- and also his coat
John 21:25-- This entire verse.
Acts 6:3-- Holy Ghost and should read:spirit of
Acts 6:8-- faith should read:grace
Acts 8:37-- This entire verse.
Acts 9:31-- churches should read:church
Acts 15:32-- and confirmed them
Acts 18:5-- pressed in the spirit should read:earnestly occupied with the Word
Acts 18:21-- I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but
Romans 3:22-- and upon all
Romans 6:12-- it in
Romans 7:6-- that being dead should read:being dead to that
Romans 8:26 -- for us
Romans 11:6-- But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work
Romans 14:6-- and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it
I Corinthians 2:1-- testimony should read:mystery
I Corinthians 6:20-- and in your spirit, which are God's
I Corinthians 7:5-- fasting and
I Corinthians 10:28-- for the earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof
I Corinthians 15:24-- cometh
Galatians 3:1-- that ye should not obey the truth
Galatians 3:17-- in Christ
Galatians 5:19-- adultery
Galatians 5:21-- murders
Ephesians 5:9-- Spirit should read:light
Ephesians 5:30-- of his flesh, and of his bones
II Thessalonians 2:9-- Even him
I Timothy 3:16-- God should read:who
I Timothy 4:12-- in spirit
I Timothy 6:5-- from such withdraw thyself
II Timothy 3:3-- without natural affection
Hebrews 12:18-- mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire
should read:fire that might be touched and burned
Hebrews 12:20-- or thrust through with a dart
I Peter 2:5-- spiritual (before the word sacrifices)
I Peter 3:8-- courteous should read:humble
II Peter 1:1-- God and should read:our Lord and>
I John 3:16-- of God
I John 5:7-- in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one
I John 5:8-- And there are three that bear witness in earth
I John 5:13-- and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God
Revelation 1:17-- unto me, Fear not
Revelation 2:22-- their should read:her
Revelation 5:3-- neither under the earth
Revelation 6:2-- to conquer should read:he conquered
Revelation 9:4-- neither any green thing
Revelation 9:13-- the four horns of
Revelation 10:6-- and the sea, and the things which are therein
Revelation 11:17-- and art to come
Revelation 12:12-- inhabiters of (before the sea)
Revelation 14:5-- before the throne of God
Revelation 14:12-- here are they
Revelation 16:5-- and shalt be should read:the holy
Revelation 16:7-- another out of
Revelation 16:11-- and their sores of their deeds
Revelation 16:17-- from the throne
Revelation 18:22-- whatsoever craft he be and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee
Revelation 20:5-- But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished
Revelation 21:24-- of them which are saved and honor
Revelation 21:26-- and honor
Revelation 22:3-- more

Henry Alford adds: "The critical authority of the received text is very feeble. The fifth edition of Erasmus was nearly a reprint of his fourth, which was founded on his former editions corrected by the Complutensian, which had just been published at that time. But neither Erasmus nor the Complutensian editors had before them any sufficient critical apparatus whereupon to construct their text; nor did the latter use faithfully even that which they had. Wetstein has shown that their text is singularly corrupted and inaccurate. Erasmus also, besides committing numerous inaccuracies, tampered with the readings of the few Mss. which he collated. Stephens has given but a very vague account of the additional Mss. to which he had access, and the work appears to have been done with levity and carelessness."

"Considering the flagrant inaccuracy of the received text, can it be possible that any one is still disposed to stand up in its defence, and to maintain that it should continue to hold that prominent position which has so long been blindly conceded to it, and that all the facts brought to light by biblical criticism should be treated as things of nought? Even if this important science should not be able to remove every doubt, or to give a text exactly coinciding with the original in every word, and in every letter, it could yet furnish a text much more accurate than that from which the authorized version was prepared. Hence the cause of gospel truth demands that the British public should avail themselves of the extensive labours of those eminent scholars who have lived since the issuing of King James's Bible in 1611, and should turn the attainments of biblical criticism to the best account, by applying them to the purification of the received text, as a preliminary to the issuing of a new English version of the Scriptures." ~Plea for a new English version of the Scriptures, by a licentiate of the Church of Scotland

What the Greatest Catholic Philosopher Had to Say about Private Property

Much of the same misguidedness that turned Church members' attention towards matters too earthly, as we shall see, also applied to Church doctrine and the confused understanding concerning the notion of a “just price” and the banning of interest on a loan.

Like the Greeks and the Romans, Medieval thinkers considered economic problems and questions to be of secondary importance, especially by the Christian Church theologians and philosophers. Man’s pursuit of material ends was to be considered in the wider context of his moral conduct leading to his eternal life, which was considered to be of far greater significance than any “success” in a narrower “earthly” sense.

The questions asked by Church thinkers about economic activities concerned "justice."

The questions asked by Church thinkers about economic activities, therefore, concerned “justice.” That is, had a man acted “justly” towards his Christian “brothers” as Church doctrine proscribed? But what was “just conduct” in men’s “economic” affairs?

The leading Catholic philosopher of the Middle Ages is usually considered to be St. Thomas Aquinas. He is credited with having attempted to reconcile and make compatible the “pagan” philosophy of Aristotle and the Christian doctrines of the Catholic Church. His goal was to integrate “natural reasoning” with religious theology. And in his writings on economic themes, Aquinas followed Aristotle’s views on most issues.

Aquinas accepted Aristotle’s defense of private property in society as desirable because it creates incentives for work and industry. He also emphasized that private property, by distinguishing between “mine” and “yours,” reduces the basis of conflict that common ownership of property is likely to produce. Plus, property and prosperity tends to generate an attitude of generosity and charity.
But for Aquinas, the private owner of property is only God’s trustee on earth of that which really belongs to God, with the responsibility to administer it for the “common good.” This is reflected in Aquinas’s view of theft. Theft is permissible, he argued, in the case of extreme material necessity, for both natural and divine law ordained that man assist his bothers to live. He who had abundance could not condemn a man who, to live, took a fraction of that abundance for his survival and that of his family.

Aquinas and the Meaning of a “Just Price”
Aquinas’s main concern was with “justice” in understanding and judging man’s transitory sojourn on Earth. Aquinas followed Aristotle in arguing that “justice” in exchange required a transfer of equal values. Justice is to give to each what “justly” belongs to them. This led Aquinas to ask, what is a “just price”?

Goods should trade on the basis of their intrinsic values. But what is this “intrinsic” quality in a commodity that determines its “real” value? Aquinas presumed that it was “obvious” that things had an inherent or intrinsic – and, therefore, “true” – value, independent of what any particular person may think or believe.

One interpretation was that goods should trade in terms of their costs, as estimated or measured by the quantity of labor that went into their manufacture. Things of equal costs should trade at equal prices. If their costs differed, so should their value in exchange. But this raised another problem: was it “just” that a pearl carried a high exchange value in the market, while one of God’s own living creatures – a mouse, say – had no exchange value at all?

The "just price" was the judgement of what both users and producers thought a good was worth.

Aquinas gave incomplete answers about the value of such things. He quoted St. Augustine, saying, “The principle of salable things was not reckoned in accordance with nature ... But in accordance with the extent to which things are useful to men.” Thus, the concept of the “utility” or usefulness of goods to men was introduced into the theory of value.

As some later Christian theologians were to a argue, such use-value was not an inherent magnitude or quantity, but a personal or “subjective” assignment or imputation. What is seen here is a “hint” of the “subjective value” or “marginal utility” theory of economic value that transformed economic theory beginning in the 1870s.

These Christian philosophers and all other thinkers failed to solve this “paradox of value” for centuries because none of them discovered the concept of “the margin,” which would have explained why goods have different values in exchange. Goods are not valued in terms of “classes” of goods – water vs. diamonds. Rather, goods are valued in increments. While water may be “essential” to human life, a sufficiently abundant supply of water may make one more additional unit of water have a near zero value to someone, while the value of one more unit of the scarce supply of diamonds may be much higher.

However, over time the “just price” came to mean the “customary price” reflecting the general market consensus of a commodity’s worth. It was argued that only God knows the “real” or “intrinsic” value of all things. But no man has God’s perspective and understanding. Thus, the “just price” was the judgment of what both users (demanders) and producers (suppliers) thought a good was worth. The market price incorporated the “usefulness” of the good to the buyers and the “costs” of producing it for the suppliers.

At first, the notion of a “just price” was taken as a defense of the price and wage structure enforced by the trade and professional guilds in the Medieval towns and cities. But slowly the limited competitive elements provided by the “free fairs” and other such growing influences undermined the system of regulated prices. Eventually the case was made that the only “just price” was one set by market competition, and then the justification for the guild-imposed price and wage controls slowly began to lose all legitimacy.

Aquinas and the “Injustice” of Earning Interest
There was one area where the idea of the “justness” of a market-based price was not accepted among these Christian thinkers like Aquinas: the taking of interest on a loan. Aristotle's position became the Church's position. Said Aquinas:

To take usury [interest] for a loan of money is in itself unjust; for it is to sell what does not exist, which is an inequality, and, therefore, an injustice. To understand this it must be known that there are some things whose use consists in the consuming of it, as when we consume wine ...
In articles of this kind [consumables], therefore, the use of the thing must not be reckoned separately from the thing itself; he who has given the use is thereby giving the thing. And accordingly in lending a thing of this kind, all the rights of ownership are handed over.
If therefore a man wanted to sell wine and the use of the wine apart from one another, he would be either selling the same thing twice (meaning that the use is the wine), or it would be selling what did not exist. Wherefore he would be manifestly committing injustice and sinning.
For the same reason, he would commit injustice who lent wine or corn, seeking for himself two rewards, the restitution of an equal amount of the article and also a payment for its use, called usury [interest]. But money, as Aristotle says ... has been devised for the making of exchange. So the first and chief use of money is its consumption or spending. Wherefore it is of itself wrong to receive (besides the return of the money itself) a price for the use of the money.

The heart of Aquinas’s argument is whether or not the use of a thing can be separated from the object itself. It is possible to use a house without consuming it. Likewise, it is possible to use a boat without using it up. There are durable or tangible objects that a person can sell the uses of without at the same time selling the right to the object itself. The use of the object is separate from the object.
This is the origin of rendita – the original Latin for rent.

But Aquinas argues that there are goods that cannot be separated in this way. Using it also at the same time uses it up. The using (consuming) of bread cannot be separated from the bread. The drinking of wine cannot be separated from the wine. In these cases, selling the use of the object is also selling the object.

To charge someone for the use of a loaf of bread and for the bread itself, Aquinas reasons, would be charging twice for the same thing  – and would, thus, be unjust.  Since money is a medium of exchange, and is “used up” in the spending of it on the market for something else, the use of a sum of money cannot be separated from the money itself. Thus to charge interest on the money borrowed is to demand a double price for its use.

In the year A.D. 325, the Catholic Church declared that members of the clergy were forbidden to take interest on a loan. By the end of the twelfth century, it was forbidden to laity as well. In 1311, interest on loans was declared absolutely sinful and illegal.

A few groups were exempt from the taking of interest on loans, the most prominent being Jews. The Church argued that the Jews were already going to hell for not accepting Jesus, so what more harm could they do to themselves by taking interest on loans? This, of course, supplied a useful safety valve when kings, princes, or the Church itself needed to borrow funds. And since at this time Jews lacked many if not most of the “rights” or privileges of others in society, they could more easily be threatened with financial or even physical harm if the monarch or Church official decided to not pay back part or even all that had been lent to them.
Market-Based Exceptions to Earning Interest
However, over time, arguments were made creating exemptions for Christians under certain conditions. Just as the borrower should not be treated unjustly, neither should the lender.
First, if by extending the loan the lender could show that he had suffered or would suffer a loss by not having the lent sum available to use for some other purpose during the period of the loan, he could insist on an interest payment from the borrower. In other words, here was an implicit notion of “opportunity cost,” that is, that the use of a scarce means to achieve one end or goal necessarily excludes its use for some alternative purpose at the same time.

The one essential reason behind the paying of interest is time preference, but this was never considered by Medieval thinkers.

Second, the lender could demand an amount in excess of the principal if the borrower failed to pay back the borrowed sum at the agreed time, resulting in some lost opportunity for the lender since the money had not been returned when agreed.

Third, if the lender had a legitimate concern that the borrower might not pay back the borrowed sum when it came due, the lender could insist upon a sum over the principal; that is, a “default-risk premium.”

These exceptions to the taking of interest on a loan – regardless of the name given to the premium over the principal – meant that eventually the banning on “usury” would collapse.
But the theological principal against interest remained: in a situation without default risk, or without inconvenience and without foregone opportunities (such a situation in the “real world” being logically impossible), then the taking of interest on a loan would still be “unequal” and therefore a “sin.”

Of course, the one essential reason behind the paying of interest is time preference, that is, the existence of differing valuations of the use and consumption of resources and goods in the present versus the future, and that the future is discounted against the present. But this was never considered or taken seriously by these Medieval thinkers, including Aquinas.

If the issue of time as (opportunity) cost was raised in some form, the reply given was that the proponent wished to “sell time,” but time belonged to no one but God.

However, the correct theoretical understanding of the basis and origin of interest on a loan was not fully explained until the late nineteenth century when the Austrian economist Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk formulated the time preference theory of the rate of interest in his master works, Capital and Interest (1884) and The Positive Theory of Capital (1889). In the meantime, the ethical condemnation of “usury” remained the prevailing position for hundreds of years.

Richard M. Ebeling

Richard M. Ebeling is BB&T Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Free Enterprise Leadership at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He was president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) from 2003 to 2008.

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

Does God Exist? - 300 Theological & Philosophical Books to Download

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Contents (created on a Windows computer):

Belief in God: an examination of some fundamental theistic problems, to which is added, The Intellectual Basis of Faith by MJ and WJ Savage 1881

A Plain Argument for God by George Stuart Fullerton 1889

The Solving of the World-Riddle by Henry Clay Mabie 1915

Scientific Theism by Francis E Abbot 1888

Guide to the knowledge of God by A Gratry 1892

The Right to Believe by Eleanor Harris Rowland 1909

A Manual of Christian Evidence by John Relly Beard 1868

Historic aspects of the a priori argument concerning the Being and Attributes of God by John G Casenove 1886

The Existence of God by James Moyce 1906

Belief, Faith, & Proof by JH Beibitz 1922

The Meaning of God in Human Experience by William Ernest Hocking 1912

The Grounds of Theistic and Christian Belief by George Park Fisher 1890

The Evidences of Christianity by John L Dagg 1869

The Evidences of Christianity by Ebenezer Dodge 1869

The Evidences of Christianity by Josiah Tustin 1854

Charles Elwood: Or, the Infidel Converted by Orestes Augustus Brownson

An Essay in Refutation of Atheism by Orestes Augustus Brownson 1882 (searchable)

Heathen, Jewish, and Infidel Testimony to Bible Facts by George Bate 1883

Historic Doubts Respecting Shakespeare; illustrating Infidel objections Against the Bible 1853 (searchable) by Sam Smucker

The Infidel's Confession by Thomas Taylor 1859

Confessions of a Converted Infidel by John Bayley 1856

The Infidel Reclaimed by Frederick Smith 1832

The Infidel's Own Book -  a statement of some of the absurdities resulting from the rejection of Christianity by Richard Treffry 1834

How I got Faith by Willis Brown 1914

The Evidence for Christianity contained in the Hebrew words aleim and berit by James Moody 1752

The Verification of Christianity by Louis Matthews Sweet 1920

The Evidences of Christianity by William Paley Volume 1

Christianity, its essence and evidence by GW Burnap 1855

Is Christianity true? 1904

I believe in God the Father Almighty by John Barrows 1892

I believe in God and in evolution by William Keen 1922

Faith made easy; or, What to believe, and why by James Potts 1888

Reasons why we should believe in God, love God, and obey God by Peter Burnett 1884

Philosophical Arguments: The Cosmological, Teleological, Ontological Arguments for God, plus the Argument from Morality

The Ontological Argument is an a priori attempt to prove that God is a being of which no greater thing exists or can be thought of. Therefore, since we can conceive of God as the greatest of all things that exist, then God must exist:

The Idea of God, an inquiry concerning the practical content of the ontological proof of the existence of God by James Palmer 1904

Meditations of First Philosophy by Rene Descartes (Searchable PDF)
But now, if just because I can draw the idea of something from my thought, it follows that all which I know
clearly and distinctly as pertaining to this object does really belong to it, may I not derive from this an
argument demonstrating the existence of God? It is certain that I no less find the idea of God, that is to say,
the idea of a supremely perfect Being, in me, than that of any figure or number whatever it is; and I do not
know any less clearly and distinctly that an [actual and] eternal existence pertains to this nature than I know
that all that which I am able to demonstrate of some figure or number truly pertains to the nature of this figure
or number, and therefore, although all that I concluded in the preceding Meditations were found to be false,
the existence of God would pass with me as at least as certain as I have ever held the truths of mathematics
(which concern only numbers and figures) to be.

The Devotions of Saint Anselm 1903 (Searchable PDF)
Anselm was one of the first to propose the Ontological Argument

IN BEHALF OF THE FOOL - AN ANSWER TO THE ARGUMENT OF ANSELM IN THE PROSLOGIUM by Guanilo (Searchable PDF)
This is one of the earliest recorded objections to Anselm's argument was raised by one of Anselm's contemporaries, Gaunilo of Marmoutiers, who invited his readers to conceive of the greatest, or most perfect, island. As a matter of fact, it is likely that no such island actually exists. However, his argument would then say that we are not thinking of the greatest conceivable island, because the greatest conceivable island would exist, as well as having all those other desirable properties. Note that this is merely a direct application of Anselm's own premise that existence is a perfection. Since we can conceive of this greatest or most perfect conceivable island, it must exist.

The Critique of Pure Reason Volume 1 by Imanuel Kant (Searchable PDF)
The Critique of Pure Reason Volume 2 by Imanuel Kant (Searchable PDF)
Kant put forward a key refutation of the ontological argument in the Critique of Pure Reason.

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume (Searchable PDF)
Another objection to the argument.

Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas Volume 1 (Searchable PDF)
Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas Volume 2 (Searchable PDF)
Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas Volume 3 (Searchable PDF)
Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas Volume 4 (Searchable PDF)
St. Thomas Aquinas criticises the argument in his Summa.

New Essays Concerning Human Understanding 1896 by Leibniz (Searchable PDF)
Leibniz supported the argument in this huge book.

Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion Volume 1 by Hegel 1895
Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion Volume 2 by Hegel 1895
Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion Volume 3 by Hegel 1895
Hegel touches on and seems to support the argument, specifically volumes 2 and 3.

The Persistent Problems of Philosophy by Mary Calkins 1908 (Searchable PDF)

Cosmological argument - The basic premise of all of these is that something caused the Universe to exist, and this First Cause must be God:

Aristotle - Works (searchable PDF)
Organon I Categories
Organon II - On Interpretation
Organon III - Prior Analytics
Organon IV - Posterior Analytics
Organon V Topics
Organon VI - On Sophistical Refutations
Physics
On the Heavens
On Generation and Corruption
Meteorology
On the Soul
Parva Naturalis
History of Animals
On the Parts of Animals
On the Motion of Animals
On the Gait of Animals
On the Generation of Animals
Metaphysics
Nicomachean Ethics
Politics
Athenian Constitution
Rhetoric
Poetics

The Idea of God in the Light of Recent Philosophy by A. Seth Pattison 1917 (Searchable PDF)
(Deals with the Cosmological argument and others)

Christian Evidence Lectures 1880

Plato Against the Atheists (the Uncaused Cause)

Monadology and Other Philosophical Writings 1898 by Leibniz

Hodge's Systematic Theology Volume 1 1873
P. 207 Principle of Sufficient Cause. — Nature of Causation. — Intuitive Conviction of the Necessity of a Cause for every Effect. — The World is an Effect. — Hume's Objection to the Cosmological Argument

Systematic Theology by John Miley 1892 (Searchable PDF) p.76

Thirty Thousand Thoughts (Christian Evidences) 1885 by HDM Spence (Searchable PDF)

A System of Natural Theism by Leander Sylvester Keyser by 1917 (Searchable PDF)

A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume (Searchable PDF)

The Kantian epistemology and theism by Caspar Wistar Hodge 1894 (Searchable PDF)

Basic Ideas in Religion by Richard Micou 1916

The Teleological Argument:

A teleological argument, or argument from design, is an argument for the existence of God or a creator based on perceived evidence of order, purpose, design, or direction — or some combination of these — in nature.

On the Nature of the Gods by Cicero (one of the earliest known teleological arguments) 1878 (Searchable PDF)

The City of God by Augustine Volume 1 (Searchable PDF) 1913

The City of God by Augustine Volume 2 (Searchable PDF) 1913

Natural Theology by William Paley 1881 (Searchable PDF)

Selections from the literature of Theism by A. Caldecott 1904 (Searchable PDF)
I. The Ontological Argument: Anselm .
11. Some Points in Scholastic Theology From Thomas Aquinas .
III. The Existence of God : Descartes
IV. God as Infinite Substance : Spinoza
V. Mysticism : The Cambridge Platonists
VI. God as Eternal Mind : Berkeley .
VII. Religion in the Critical Philosophy Kant
VIII. Romanticism : Schleiermacher
IX. God seen in the Beautiful: Cousin
X. Religion as Sociology: Comte
XI. Agnosticism : Mansel
XII. The Personality of God : Lotze .
XIII. Ethical Theism : Martineau .
XIV. The Teleological Argument : Janet

Theism by Robert Flint 1876 (Searchable PDF)
THE THEISTIC EVIDENCE COMPLEX AND COMPREHENSIVE,INTUITION, FEELING, BELIEF, AND KNOWLEDGE IN RELIGION,
THE THEOLOGICAL INFERENCE FROM THE THEORY OF ENERGY,
THE HISTORY OF THE AETIOLOGICAL ARGUMENT,
MATHEMATICS AND THE DESIGN ARGUMENT, .
ASTRONOMY AND THE DESIGN ARGUMENT,
CHEMISTRY AND THE DESIGN ARGUMENT,
GEOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, ETC., AND THE DESIGN ARGUMENT

Problems of Philosophy or, Principles of Epistemology and Metaphysics by James Hyslop 1905 (Searchable PDF)
"The Teleological Argument. — Kant, as we know, estimated this more highly than any other argument. With his conception of the problem as discussed in the cosmological and "ontological" methods this judgment was correct enough. But I cannot help thinking that it is less important and cogent than the aetiological and ontological arguments as I have defined them."

Theologia or The doctrine of God by Revere Weidner 1902 (Searchable PDF)
THE SO-CALLED PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
1. BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
2. THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
3. THE TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
4. THE HISTORICAL ARGUMENT
5. THE ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
6. THE MORAL ARGUMENT
7. THE RELIGIOUS ARGUMENT

Philosophy and Theology by James Stirling 1890 (Searchable PDF)

A critique of design-arguments by Lewis Hick 1883 (Searchable PDF)

The Challenge of the Universe, a Popular Restatement of the Argument from Design 1918 by Charles Shebbeare 1918 (Searchable PDF)

Argument from Morality
This argument comes in different forms, all aiming to demonstrate God’s existence from some observations about morality in the world:

God, the Soul, and a Future State by Thomas Cooper 1873

The Christian view of God and the World by James Orr 1893

The Moral Argument of Theism in the Harvard Theological Review 1911 (Searchable PDF)

Moral Values and the Idea of God 1919

Christian ethics; or, Moral philosophy on the principles of divine revelation by Ralph Wardlaw - 1834

Systematic Theology by A.H. Strong 1907

Methodist Quarterly Review, 1860 - The Moral Argument for Immortality

Plus you get:

The God of Philosophy by Francis Aveling 1906

Belief in God by Alfred Momerie 1886

The Philosophy of the Bible 1918 by David Neumark

Christianity and Greek Philosophy by B.F. Cocker D.D.
1872

The Philosophy of Atheism by Emma Goldman 1916

Hegel's Concept of God, article in the The Philosophical Review 1896

Pfleiderer on Morality and Religion, article in the The Philosophical Review 1896

Studies in Christian Philosophy by WR Matthews 1921

The Ethnic Trinities and their relations to the Christian Trinity By Levi Leonard Paine 1903

The Sentiments of Philo Concerning the LOGOS or Word of God by Jacob Bryant 1797

The Platonism of Philo by Thomas Billings 1920

The Philosophy of the Fourth Gospel, a Study of the LOGOS doctrine by JS Johnston 1909

The Philosophy of the Christian Religion by AM Fairbairn 1902

The LOGOS of Philo and that of ST. John, article in The Methodist Quarterly Review 1858

The influence of Plato on Saint BasiL by Theodore Leslie Shear 1906

Query on the Application of the Term "WORD" to Christ, article in The Methodist new connexion magazine and evangelical repository 1855

Religion - A Dialogue by Arthur Schopenhauer 1915

The Christian philosopher, or, The connection of science and Philosophy with Religion by Thomas Dick 1828

Voltaire and Rousseau against the Atheists by J Akerly 1845

The Will to Believe, and other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James 1908

The God of Philosophy by Francis Aveling 1906

David Hume And His Influence On Philosophy And Theology by James Orr 1903

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume in pdf and Kindle format.

The Kantian and Lutheran Elements in Ritschl's Conception of God by Gregory Walcott 1904

The Conception of God - a Philosophical Discussion concerning the nature of the divine idea as a demonstrable reality by Josiah Royce 1897

Faith and Philosophy: Discourses and Essays by Henry Smith 1877

Messianic Philosophy - An Historical and Critical Examination of the evidence for the existence, death, resurrection, ascension, and divinity of Jesus Christ by Gideon Marsh 1908

What is Life? A Study of Vitalism and Neo-vitalism by Bertram Windle 1908

Religion within the Boundary of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant 1838

The Philosophy of the Bible, article in The Biblical repository and classical review 1848

Plato Against the Atheists by Taylor Lewis 1845

Plato and Paul, or Philosophy and Christianity by JW Mendenhall 1886

The Christian Platonists of Alexandria by Charles Bigg 1886

The Philosophy of Religion on the Basis of its History by Otto Pfleiderer Volume 1 1886

The Philosophy of Religion on the Basis of its History by Otto Pfleiderer Volume 2 1886

The Philosophy of Religion on the Basis of its History by Otto Pfleiderer Volume 3 1886

Foundations of Christian Belief - Studies in the Philosophy of Religion by F Strickland 1915

Christian Theism (Intellectual Pantheism/Spinoza) by Robert Thompson 1855

Essay on Religious Philosophy, Volume 1 by Emile Saisset 1863 (The Theism of Descartes, Pantheism of Spinoza, Skepticism of Kant etc)

Essay on Religious Philosophy, Volume 2 by Emile Saisset 1863

Seekers after soul by John Knott 1911 (Plato, Kant, Hegel)

Selections from the Literature of Theism 1904

Atheism and Pantheism by Charles Nairne 1848

Christian Science versus Pantheism by Mary Baker Eddy 1909

Pantheism - Its Story and Significance by J Allison Picton 1905

The Principles of Modern Atheistic and Pantheistic Philosophy by Rev. CA Row 1874

A Preacher's Interest in Nietzsche, article in The American journal of theology 1915

A Christian Reply to Nietzsche, article in Current Opinion 1908

Article About Nietsche in The Freethinker 1895 ("Nietzsche is, frankly anti-Christian. He says, in effect: Blessed are the arrogant, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the strong, for theirs is the kingdom of man. Be strong, for to be weak is to be miserable.")

THE ANTICHRIST by Friedrich Nietzsche

Christian belief in God. A German criticism of German materialistic philosophy by Goerge Wobbermin 1918

The War Against the Worlds View of Christianity, article in the Metaphysical Magazine 1907

Protestant thought Before Kant by AC Mgiffert 1911

The Development of Theology in Germany since Kant by Otto Pfleiderer 1890

The Kantian Epistemology and Theism by C Wistar Hodge 1890

Paley's Natural Theology Volume 1, 1845

Paley's Natural Theology Volume 2, 1845

Paley's Natural Theology Volume 3, 1845

Paley's Natural Theology Volume 4, 1845

Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity / by William Paley in Kindle Format

Pascal's Wager by Alfred Benn 1909

The Problem of Faith and Freedom in the Last Two Centuries by John Oman 1906 (has a section on Pascal's Wager)

Thoughts on Religion and Philosophy by Pascal 1901

Thoughts of Blaise Pascal 1846

Studies on Pascal by Alexander Vinet 1859

The Provincial Letters of Blaise Pascal 1860

The Thoughts, Letters, and Opuscules of Blaise Pascal 1887

Pascal, by Viscount St. Cyres 1909

Pensees by Blaise Pascal 1660

Pascal's Pensées or, Thoughts on religion 1900

Outlines of Christian Apologetics: For Use in Lectures
by Hermann Schultz, Alfred Bull Nichols 1905

Christianity and Positivism: A Series of Lectures to the Times on Natural Theology and Apologetics
by James McCosh 1874

The Principles of Christian Apologetics: An Exposition of the Intellectual Basis of the Christian Religion by Thomas Joseph Walshe 1919

The Direct and Fundamental Proofs of the Christian Religion
by George William Knox 1903

A Handbook of Christian Apologetics
by Alfred Ernest Garvie 1913

Revealed Religion
by Franz Hettinger, Henry Sebastian Bowden 1895

The Bible Triumphant - 12 dozen skeptical arguments refuted by H.L. Hastings 1882

The English Bible: History of the Translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue with Specimens of the Old English Versions by Mrs. Conant 1856

The Age of Revelation or the Age of Reason shewn to be An Age of Infidelity by Elias Boudinot, L.L.D. (a response to Thomas Paine's Age of Reason) 1801

A first primer of apologetics
by Robert Mackintosh - 1900

Sermons Delivered Before Mixed Congregations: Embracing Apologetics
by Henry B. Altmeyer 1911

Evidences of Christianity
by William Paley - 1879

Witnesses to Christ: A Contribution to Christian Apologetics
by William Robinson Clark 1888

The Grounds of Theistic and Christian Belief
by George Park Fisher 1911

The Miracles of Unbelief
by Frank Ballard 1900

Nature and the Supernatural: As Together Constituting the One System of God
by Horace Bushnell 1880 (only first 371 pages)

The American Standard Version Bible - Cross Reference Edition (almost 2500 pages) 1910

Christianity in Its Modern Expression
by George Burman Foster - 1921

The Truth of the Christian Religion
by Julius Kaftan 1894

A Christian Apologetic
by Wilford Lash Robbins 1903

The Evidence of Christian Experience
by Lewis French Stearns - 1890

The Apologetic of the New Testament
by Ernest Findlay Scott - 1907

Divine Origin of Christianity (Vol 2) Deduced from Some of Those Evidences which are Not Founded on the Authenticity of Scripture by John Sheppard 1829

Faith and Folly
by John Stephen Vaughan 1905

The Permanence of Christianity: Considered in Eight Lectures Preached Before ...
by John Richard Turner Eaton 1873

Common Objections to Christianity: Proposed and Answered
by James Patriot Wilson 1829

Christianity as an Ideal
by Peter Hately Waddell 1900

Charles Elwood: Or, the Infidel Converted
by Orestes Augustus Brownson 1840

The Evidences of Christianity: Stated in a Popular and Practical Manner (Vol 1)
by Daniel Wilson 1852

Essay on the Divine Authority of the New Testament
by David Bogue 1817

The Evidences of the Christian Religion
by Joseph Addison 1733

Discussion of the Existence of God, and the Authenticity of the Bible
by Origen Bacheler, Robert Dale Owen - 1840 - 350 pages

The Divine Authority of the Bible
by George Frederick Wright - 1884 - 230 pages
 
Elements of Christian Theology: Containing Proofs of the Authenticity and Inspiration of the Scriptures
by George Tomline -- 1818

The Pillar of Divine Truth Immoveably Fixed on the Foundation of the Apostles
by William Greenfield - 1831 - 265 pages

Theopneusty: Or, The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures
by Louis Gaussen - 1844 - 400 pages

The Plenary Inspiration of the Scriptures Asserted
by Samuel Noble - 1828 - 430 pages

The Bible: Its Meaning and Supremacy
by Frederic William Farrar - 1897 - 350 pages

The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures
by Eleazar Lord - 1857 - 301 pages
 
The Evidences of Christianity: Stated in a Popular and Practical Manner
by Daniel Wilson - Apologetics - 1832

Systematic Theology
by Charles Hodge 1873

The Permenance of Christianity by John Eaton 1873

The Inspiration of the Scriptures
by Alexander Carson, John Dick, John Pye Smith, Daniel Wilson - 1853 - 410 pages

Analytical Investigations Concerning the Credibility of the Scriptures
by J. H. McCulloh - 1852

Holy Scripture verified; or, The divine authority of the Bible confirmed by ... - Page 196
by George Redford - Bible - 1837

Conversations on the Bible: Its Statements Harmonized and Mysteries Explained
by Enoch Pond - 1886 - 620 pages

The Bible and Reason Against Atheism: In a Series of Letters to a Friend
by Martin Luther Edwards - 1881 - 230 pages
... The Virgin Mary—Bible Contradictions—How They Are Made Out, and How Little
They Amount to-A Delicate Task

The 'holy Scriptures' analyzed; or, Extracts from the Bible, shewing its Contradictions and Absurdities
edited by Robert Cooper - 1840

Atheism and Arithmetic or Mathematical Law in Nature by H. L. Hastings 1889, 72 pages

The Religion of Evolution by Minot Judson Savage 1876 - 253 pages

Atheism and Pantheism by Charles Murray Nairne MA 1848

Brief Commentaries Upon such parts of Revelation and other Prophecies - A Pill for the Infidel and Atheist by Joseph Galloway 1809, 397 pages

How a Modern Atheist Found God by G. A. Ferguson 1912, 132 pages

The Great Ingersoll Controversy by Peter Eckler 220 pages

Lamartine on Atheism 1850, over 60 pages

Sermons Preached at Boyle's Lecture; Remarks upon a discourse of Freethinking; Proposals for an Edition of the Greek Testament by Rev. Alexander Dyce, 565 pages

The Atheist - An Original Poem by Arthur Lilley, 1883
"Father of all! in every age,
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, and by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!

The Atheist Confuted by Thomas Stiles 1806, 236 pages

The Evidences of the Christian Religion by the Right Hon. Joseph Addison Esq. 1812, 322 pages

The Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism by Richard Bentley D.D. 1699 (283 pages)

The Heavenly Father - Lectures on Modern Atheism by Ernest Naville 1867 (394 pages)

The Limits of Atheism, or, Why Should Skeptics be Outlaws by G. J. Holyoake, 1874

The Modern Atheist by Rev. C.B. Brigstocke M.A. 1881

The Natural History of Atheism by John Stuart Blackie 1878 (266 pages)

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge 1908 (over 530 pages)

The Origine of Atheism in the Popish and Protestant Churches by Dorotheus Sicurus 1684

The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan 1856 (348 pages)

The Problem of Problems and its Various Solutions or Atheism, Darwinism and Theism, 1877 (486 pages)

The Religious World Displayed, or a View of the Four Grand Systems of Relgion, namely Christianity, Judaism, Paganism and Mohammedism...to which is subjoined A view of Materialism, Existentalism, Deism and Atheism, 1823 (over 500 pages)

The True Intellectual System of the Universe Wherein all the Reason and Philosophy of the Atheist is confuted by Ralph Cudworth D.D., 1820 (544 pages)

The Works of Francis Bacon 1858 (780 pages)

Christianity As Mystical Fact and the Mysteries of Antiquity By Rudolf Steiner

The Evolution of Man Scientifically Disproved in 50 Arguments By REV. WILLIAM A. WILLIAMS

Evolution: A Fantasy
by Langdon Smith, Laurens Maynard - 1915 - 60 pages

The Symmetrical Structure of Scripture by John Forbes 1854

The Bible and Nature versus Copernicus - Lectures Defending Truths Discredited by Modern Science by Samuel Miller 1901

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE (Los Cuatro Jinettes del Apocalipsis) by Vicente Blasco Ibanez

A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse by Sylvester Bliss

NOTES ON THE APOCALYPSE; WITH an Appendix CONTAINING DISSERTATIONS ON SOME OF THE APOCALYPTIC SYMBOLS, TOGETHER WITH ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE INTERPRETATIONS OF SEVERAL
AMONG THE MOST LEARNED AND APPROVED EXPOSITORS OF BRITAIN AND AMERICA. BY DAVID STEELE, Sr., 1870

The Second Advent of Christ Premillenial by William Kelly 1868

Second Coming of Christ - Premillennial Essays by Nathaniel West 1879

A defence of Armageddon, or Our Great Country Foretold in the Holy Scriptures 1859 by E Fountain Pitts

The Apocalypse revealed, wherein are disclosed the Arcana there Foretold, which have Heretofore Remained Concealed (1883)
Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Emanuel Swedenborg

Christ's Warning to the Churches to Beware of False Prophets by Joseph Lathrop 1811

Catholic Churchmen in Science
by James Joseph Walsh - 1910 - 214 pages
 
A Critique of the Theory of Evolution
by Thomas Hunt Morgan, Louis Clark Vanuxem Foundation- 1916 - 190 pages

Some Errors of HG Wells by Richard Downey 1921

At the Deathbed of Darwinism 1904

Natural Theology by William Paley 1888

What is Darwinism by Charles Hodge 1874

The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation: In Two Parts. Viz ...
by John Ray - 1735 - 400 pages

 A View of the Evidences of Christianity: In Three Parts
by William Paley - 1800

 On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation of Animals
by William Kirby - 1835

 The Hand, Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design
by Charles Bell - 1833 - 210 pages

Anti-theistic Theories: Being the Baird Lecture for 1877
by Robert Flint  - 1894 - 550 pages

The Light of Day: Religious Discussions and Criticisms from the Naturalist's Point of View
by John Burroughs - 1904 - 240 pages

Through Science to Faith
by Newman Smyth - 1902 - 272 pages

Physico-theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God
by William Derham - 1720 - 450 pages

Christianity and Positivism: A Series of Lectures to the Times on Natural Theology
by James McCosh  - 1874 - 360 pages

Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever
by Joseph Priestley  - 1787

The Divine Pedigree of Man, Or, The Testimony of Evolution and Psychology
by Thomson Jay Hudson - 1899 - 370 pages

Natural Theology: Or, Rational Theism
by Milton Valentine - 1885 - 270 pages

 The Testimony of Natural Theology to Christianity
by Thomas Gisborne - 1818 - 261 pages

Illustrations of Paley's Natural Theology: With Descriptive Letter Press
by James Paxton, William Paley - 1826 - 80 pages

God in Evolution: A Pragmatic Study of Theology
by Francis Howe Johnson - 1911 - 350 pages

Creation Or Evolution?: A Philosophical Inquiry
by George Ticknor Curtis- 1887 - 560 pages

Creation, Or, The Bible and Geology Consistent
by James Murphey - 1850 - 250 pages

Fragments of The Process of Creation and The Bible Chronology
by W S Prosser  - 1914 - 20 pages

Does science aid faith in regard to Creation?
by Rev. Henry Cotterill - 1883

The Debate Between the Church and Science, Or, The Ancient Hebraic Idea of the Six Days of Creation
by Francis William Upham - 1860 - 430 pages

The errors of evolution  by H.L. Hastings
by Robert Patterson - 1885

Illogical Geology: The Weakest Point in the Evolution Theory
by George McCready Price - 1906 - 90 pages

Evolution and Dogma
by John Augustine Zahm- 1896 - 450 pages

The first Adam and the second
by Samuel John Baird - 1860

The Bards of the Bible by George Gilfillan 1851
 gdixierose

Plato, Erasmus and the Trinity Doctrine

Buy on Amazon for only 99 cents by clicking here - see a local listing for this here

From: The Irish Unitarian Magazine, and Bible Christian, April 1846

On Monday, the morrow of St. Michael, Mistress Bouchier, her sister Emma, Master Brandon, and Sir Francis Farol, conversed together on religious subjects, in Mistress Bouchier's library.

In answer to a question from Sir Francis, Mistress Jane replied, "The Christian ministers of the first four centuries, and especially the fathers, wore nearly all of them Platonists in philosophy, like all the educated people of those times, both heathen and believers, from Egypt to Rome, and Rome to Britain; and they found Athenian Plato's trinity in the Bible, just as now the Papists fondly fancy there traces of purgatorial belief, image-worship, Papal authority, and works of supererogation.

"St. Augustine once held the doctrine, that God was One Person— a faith, at that time, the general belief; and, in his mind, it was by Platonic philosophy that this doctrine of the Scriptures was modified. Augustine says this in a thanksgiving to God, 'Thou didst put into my hands, by means of a certain pompous philosopher, some of Plato's books, translated out of Greek into Latin; and therein I read, not indeed in so many words, but by many and various arguments I was convinced;' and then the saint proceeds with Plato's notion of the divine nature—a modified Trinity: for even St. Augustine was not orthodox."

"It is a common error, that of Austin's," said Master Francis, "to read tho Bible with a heathen lamp, instead of exalting the Scriptures to be themselves the world's light."

"St. Augustine lived in the latter part of the fourth century; his testimony is, therefore, particularly curious, as showing that, oven after Athanasius was dead, the Trinitarians relied on Plato, for their doctrine, more than on the Bible. Other earlier writers make many similar confessions."

"Sister," Mistress Emma asked, "did not St. Athanasius die before the completion of tho Trinity?"

"Assuredly. Athanasius was no Trinitarian—he was scarcely even a dualist; for he held that the Father was God in a higher manner than the Son. Athanasius himself may be accounted an Arian; for, notwithstanding his outrageous persecution of Arius, there was less difference between him and his opponent, than there was a hundred years afterwards between him and his followers. The creed called By his name is a forgery. Highly orthodox as he was for the fourth century, yet, if he were bishop of Alexandria now, his opinion on the Trinity would bar his translation to the see of Canterbury. But the multitude were less Trinitarian than himself, for he complains bitterly, and on the subject of the godhead, that the mass of the believers were infested with blasphemies."

"Oh!" cried Sir Francis. "As it was in the beginning, and is now; how prone priests are to calumny! But the laity are learning now, that what is ecclesiastically blasphemous is often religiously true. All accusations must be accepted—with an allowance for the breath that is in them; and a parson's is seldom the softest. A serious charge of blasphemy against the Church, made by Athanasius, may be interpreted to his own prejudice as an innovator."

"From these and other remarks of his," said Mistress Jane, "it is manifest that the vast majority of Christians, about the year 360, differed very widely in opinion from Athanasius, although even he would not now be reckoned sufficiently orthodox. About the year 250, Origen doth write, 'that, although there were some who participated in his opinion, as to the Logos being God and Christ, yet, that the majority knew nothing but Christ, and him crucified.' Such is the multitude of those who are reputed believers."

Then Master Brandon said, "Cousin, I thank you. They are the chief ecclesiastical writers, are they not, those which we have now been examining?"

"Yes, in the history of the Christian church, they are the highest authorities. The Papists aver, and truly, that there are no traces of the Trinity in the whole Bible, for they hold that it is a doctrine of tradition. Athanasius and other fathers assert, that the Apostles concealed the doctrine of the Trinity for prudential reasons, and that St. John, in his old age, was the only Apostle who preached it. The councils of bishops, which were held from time to time, to debate upon the Trinity, and to settle the limits of the doctrine, were evident proofs of its recency. There were other episcopal councils held on matters, the uncertainty and debating of which are palpable proofs of a general change of doctrine in the Christian church. Councils were held to determine, whether, if Christ were two natures in one person, he had more than one will; whether or not the Godhead descended into hell with the human soul; whether Mary was entitled to be called the Mother of God; whether, besides the second person of the Trinity, Christ must not have had a body also, a soul, and a spirit; and whether or not one of the Trinity was crucified. Then there were endless controversies, as wide, or wider in extent, than the Roman empire, crowded councils of bishops from every country in Christendom, furious persecutions, in which hundreds and thousands of persons perished, interminable intrigues among the clergy, disgraceful alliances with Prefects and Emperors, and all as to what should be the understood meaning of such words as person, substance, essence, hypostasis, generation, nature, proceeding, homoousion, and homoiousion. The Trinitarian innovators not only killed the persons, and calumniated the memories, of the defenders of the primitive truth, but they made it criminal to possess their writings; hence, multitudinous as they were, and pious also, and learned and ingenious, as confessedly they were, yet not a copy of one Arian production has been preserved. Then a historian of the time writes, that, at one of the most important councils held to enact Trinitarian doctrines, out of the many hundred bishops present thereat, not more than about twenty were acquainted with the Hebrew language; and, consequently, were not judges of the idiom even of the Now Testament. During the rise of Trinitarianism in the church, excommunications were commoner than honesty. Among Quintianus' anathemas, I recollected this one, 'If any say God-man, and not God and man, lot him be damned.'"

"A self-damnatory condemnation," Sir Francis said; "Oh, how I do wish that Herr Campanus had survived!"

"It was in Wittemberg, was it not, that John Campanus so boldly discarded tho Trinity?"

"Yes, in the same town, and the same year nearly, in which Martin Luther abolished Popery. Had he lived, he would have carried on the Reformation more thoroughly than Dr. Luther. The banishment in which he died was Luther's procuring. But, after the death of Campanus, Luther said himself, 'The word Trinity sounds oddly, and is a human invention; it were better to call Almighty God God than Trinity.' Had Herr Campanus lived, perhaps Dr. Luther would hare permitted his return to Wittemberg; but Dr. Luther was always sedulous to stifle controversy in the Reformed Church, being anxious to prevent Protestantism from appearing a dangerous license. Philip Melancthon is also understood to deprecate very strongly the discussion of the Trinity."

Mistress Jane answered, "Such a scholar's fears on such a subject are strong presumptions against its truth. I have been advised from Geneva, that Dr. John Calvin hath said that he likes not the prayer, 'Oh, holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity!' as savouring of barbarity; also that he doth acknowledge that the word Trinity is barbarous, insipid, profane, a human invention, grounded on no testimony of God's word—the Popish God, unknown to tho prophets and apostles."

"And," said Sir Francis, "Dr. Erasmus, no long while before bis death, wrote to my old friend Pirkheimer that he could himself be of the Arian persuasion, if the Church approved it."

"I have most of Erasmus's works here," Mistress Jane replied, and she reached a volume from the shelf, and said, "In the note of Ephesians, chap. v. ver. 5, Erasmus saith, that the word of God, used absolutely, doth denote the Father always; and concerning Philippians, chap. ii. ver. 6, he observes, that it proves nothing against the Arians, although relied upon by the fathers as the chief opposing text. And in commenting upon St. Jerome, Dr. Erasmus doth emphatically deny that the Arians are heretics."

Sir Francis answered, "For more than a thousand years the church has had no believer so competent as Erasmus to pronounce on church doctrine and history; if, indeed, there ever has been such another as he, since the days of the apostles. Theology is a matter in which, to my mind, Dr. Erasmus's opinion doth infinitely outweigh Papal infallibility, and all other church authority. But, indeed, the history of the Trinity is the confutation of the doctrine. Last week I conversed, concerning the Trinity, with a city merchant, and it was marvelous how he was horrified by my avowal, that God was one person and undivided, the Father. There was something divine in the word Trinity, he said, before which he involuntarily trembled. He was strangely troubled, on my reminding him that the word was unscriptural, and as much a human invention, as the word purgatory or penance. I reminded him, also, that he had not only trembled at the doctrine, but formerly at the image of the Trinity, in the church of St. Olave's; in the same manner as before the statues of the saints, which had yet been abolished, together with the saints themselves. He relied, he said, on the three first general councils for his faith. I would that I had known their history; nevertheless, I did ask him whether himself he knew the worth of those councils, or whether he was relying on Dr. Cranmer's opinion concerning them, which latter, I said, was identical with selecting Dr. Cranmer for his private pope."

Mistress Jane replied, "The detection of doctrinal error is mainly useful, as emancipating the mind from thraldom. Did the Apostles' Creed contain the same damnatory clause as the Athanasian, the one might be truer than the other, but it would not be exempt from a hurtful influence. Truth is itself prejudice, when held in a slavish spirit. It would be no spiritual gain to transfer implicit belief from St. Athanasius to Arius, his opponent. When a golden idol has been broken in our sight, by the help of great courage and strength, the inference should be the abolition of idolatry, and not that some rival statue is preferable, made of silver, or perhaps only painted wood."

"It is strange inconsistency," said Master Brandon, "in the King's Council, and in the Bishops, to repudiate Papal authority in doctrines, and yet themselves to assume it. The Roman Church maintain that God doth inspire with infallibility all General Councils and Papal bulls; so that the Papists are consistent in extorting obedience. But our churchmen deny the existence of such authority, and yet themselves presume upon it"

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The Human Doctrine of a Trinity by Isaac Pierce

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The Human Doctrine of a Trinity by Isaac Pierce (Gospel Advocate, November 17, 1826)

I observe here, once for all, that no proof, not even miracles, can be sufficient to establish the doctrine of the Trinity; that no evidence can be sufficient to prove that he who was born of a woman, nursed, and brought up to manhood, and who died on the Cross at the age of about 33 years, was the one self-existent Jehovah, our Creator and Supreme God. Christians ought not to believe this on any evidence. An impossibility admits not of proof, is not to be credited, and I take this to be one. It is impossible that the eternal self-existent Jehovah, the maker and preserver of all things, should be born of one of his creatures; that he whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, whose presence fills heaven and earth, was deposited in a manger, rocked in a cradle, and would have perished, an helpless puling infant, but for the support of his nurse—was hungry, faint, weary, whipped, spit upon, and put to a cruel death by Roman Soldiers; this is impossible; and, therefore, no evidence can prove it true—we ought to look for none, and shut our ears when men talk so profanely as they must, who would support the Trinity. And may God, our Heavenly Father, adored through all worlds, preserve us from being left to believe in the human doctrine of a Trinity; may his grace keep us from from falling into such an error, and preserve us from the awful darkness of the reigning orthodoxy. We believe in the living God who never was dead, who cannot die.

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The Trinity Doctrine Decided by Trial and Error

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The Trinity Doctrine Decided by Trial and Error

Originally posed at www.ucg.ca

This unusual chain of events is why theology professors Anthony and Richard Hanson would summarize the story in their book Reasonable Belief: A Survey of the Christian Faith by noting that the adoption of the Trinity doctrine came as a result of "a process of theological exploration which lasted at least three hundred years . . . In fact it was a process of trial and error (almost of hit and miss), in which the error was by no means all confined to the unorthodox . . . It would be foolish to represent the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as having been achieved by any other way" (1980, p. 172).

They then conclude: "This was a long, confused, process whereby different schools of thought in the Church worked out for themselves, and then tried to impose on others, their answer to the question, 'How divine is Jesus Christ?' . . . If ever there was a controversy decided by the method of trial and error, it was this one" (p. 175).

Anglican churchman and Oxford University lecturer K.E. Kirk revealingly writes of the adoption of the doctrine of the Trinity: "The theological and philosophical vindication of the divinity of the Spirit begins in the fourth century; we naturally turn to the writers of that period to discover what grounds they have for their belief. To our surprise, we are forced to admit that they have none . . .

"This failure of Christian theology . . . to produce logical justification of the cardinal point in its trinitarian doctrine is of the greatest possible significance. We are forced, even before turning to the question of the vindication of the doctrine by experience, to ask ourselves whether theology or philosophy has ever produced any reasons why its belief should be Trinitarian" ("The Evolution of the Doctrine of the Trinity," published in Essays on the Trinity and the Incarnation, A.E.J. Rawlinson, editor, 1928, pp. 221-222).

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