Unscriptural Words and Phrases

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[As posted in the Quarterly Journal of the American Unitarian Association, October 1, 1854]

It may not be so generally known, perhaps, as it ought to be, that there are many terms and expressions current in popular theology which are not to be found in the Bible, but which have acquired an authority and sanction as if they were derived from an inspired source. Among these are the following: “Original sin”; “Experiencing religion”; “New birth”; “Change of heart”; “Holy Trinity”; “Triune God”; “God-man”; “God the Son”; “Three persons in the Godhead”; “Human nature of Christ”; “Divinity of Christ”; “Atoning Lamb”; “Eternal Son”; “Imputed righteousness”; “Self-righteousness”; “Absolute election”; “Decrees of God”; “Being under concern”; “Ark of safety”; “Obtained a hope”; “Interest in Christ”; “Seed of grace”; “Unpardonable sin”; “Merits of Christ”; “Christ died in our stead”; "His death was expiatory," &c.

The above form a kind of technical language, by which it is readily known to what creed those who use it are attached. It exercises a greater influence than is usually supposed in shaping the religious opinions of the mass of Christian believers and worshippers, and causes “their minds to be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” This phraseology, which gives an unvarying tone to almost every sermon, prayer, and religious conversation of a certain class, crept into Christianity very probably by degrees, as the fruit of human invention, and only by degrees can it be extirpated, as the language of the New Testament more and more becomes the medium by which the doctrines and precepts of religion are expressed. The language which Christ and his Apostles used to define the doctrines and duties of religion can require no improvement from fallible hands; and it is not a little surprising that mankind should fabricate terms to define their position in the Christian fold, which in many instances convey a meaning quite different from anything contained in God's revelation to man. This course has had the direct tendency to erect partition-walls, and sow the seeds of discord among brethren.

During the early period of Christianity, when disciples taught and received their views of faith and duty in the uncorrupted language of Scripture, there were no very serious controversies in the Church; but when they began to invent new terms to be used as a key to unlock, as it was mistakenly thought, the divine mysteries, and to talk of “hypostatical union,” “trinity,” “original sin,” “transubstantiation,” &c., then discord entered the family of Christ, and has ever since disturbed its peace. It is only by laying aside language of human authority, and adopting that which the Holy Spirit has dictated and sanctioned, — and let this be our aim and work as Liberal Christians, — that the followers of the same Master can best express their doctrinal views and understand each other, at the same time allowing to every one the liberty to put his own interpretation upon it. Those who are willing, in all meekness, to take this course, will be more likely to attain to a correct faith and to a plainer course of duty, and they will do much to diffuse brotherly love and universal charity. This, and only this, can restore a divided household to “the unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace.”

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The Companion Guide to Death - Grave Thoughts from Great Thinkers

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Publication Date: November 10, 2016
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Table of contents:

Introduction by Heinz Schmitz

 1. The Necessity of Death by August Weismann 1889

 2. The Fear of Death by Arthur MacDonald 1921

 3. Writers in Defence of Suicide by Forbes Winslow M.D., D.C.L. Oxon, 1840

 4. The Human Soul is Indestructible by Camille Flammarion 1906

 5. The History of Death by William R Alger 1880

 6. The Sensation of Dying By Edward Mercer D.D. 1919

 7. Warnings Of Peril And Death by William Thomas Stead 1921

 8. Plato's Idea of an Immortal Soul in a Nutshell by Wm A Hammond 1904

 9. Death and his brother Sleep, by Woods Hutchinson 1908

 10. Death is a GOOD not an EVIL by Socrates  

 11. Thanatology - the Study of Death by Roswell Park 1912

 12. Suicide Among the Early Jews, Christians, Romans, etc. by S.A.K. Strahan 1893

 13. Vibrations, Death and Immortality By Henry Fleetwood 1908

 14. How Death Began, by Allen Walton Gould 1893

 15. Facing Death By G. L. Apperson 1898

 16. The Unburied Dead by Thomas Dyer 1898

 17. Genius and Suicide By Charles W. Pilgrim, M.D. 1893

 18. Scottish Death Superstitions by James Napier 1879

 19. Spontaneous Human Combustion in History by J. G. Millingen M.D., M.A. 1839

 20. Plato and Immortality by Edmund Hamilton Sears 1879

 21. The Angel of Death in Jewish Tradition by Joseph H. Marcus 1918

 22. The Emptiness of Existence by Arthur Schopenhauer 1881

 23. The Specter of Death By Bolton Hall, M.A. 1917

 24. ON SUICIDE by Arthur Schopenhauer 1911

 25. The Book of Death by Isaac Disraeli 1893

 26. The Origin of the Belief in Life After Death by W.O.E. Oesterley D.D. 1921

 27. Weird Burials, article in Chamber's Journal 1877

 28. The Mythical Origin of Death By John Reynolds Francis 1900

 29. Immortality, by Professor Nathaniel Schmidt & Professor Evander Bradley McGilvary 1917

 30. Plants that Portent Death by Richard Folkard 1884

 31. The Undisturbed Sleep of the Tranquil Grave by Marshall J. Gauvin 1922

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184 Alternative Translations of John 1:1c

This page is updated at https://newworldtranslation.blogspot.com/2021/06/204-alternative-translations-of-john-11c.html

This book by Grzegorz Kaszynski [NOW 203 translations not rendering theos en ho logos as “the Word was God” (John 1:1)] can be viewed on Google Drive

This page will be updated frequently as new additions are found.

You can also download this book by clicking here and on archive.org

One French sample:

À l’origine, le Logos était,
le Logos était auprès de Dieu
et dieu était le Logos. ~Didier FONTAINE Évangile de Jean

See also See also And the Word was a god: Conversations on the Most Disputed Text in the New Testament - John 1:1 on Amazon

What's Wrong with the Paraphrased Message Bible?

The Message Bible - An Unholy Book

One of my favorite quotes about Paraphrased Bibles comes from Jason Beduhn:

"...a paraphrase should never be mistaken for a Bible. It should not be packaged as a Bible, sold as a Bible, or used in place of a Bible. It should pass under the name of its author, as a commentary or interpretation of the Bible. When, instead, it is handled as if it is a Bible translation, and the author's name is left off of the title page as if he or she had no role in determining the contents of the book, a terrible deception is happening."
Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament 

Paraphrase Bibles seem to clarify alot of texts, and they are fun to read. However, they are also very dogmatic. You have to really ask yourself...."Is that what the original writer really meant. The foreword of this Bible will tell you that it is written in the language of the people, street language, just like it was written back in Bible times. But I think the real reason for these types of translations is to push the theology and bias of the translator. For instance, with this translation we are to believe that the first century Christians believed that Jesus Christ was God and part of a trinity, which was not a belief of the early Christians.

John 1:1, "The Word was first,
   the Word present to God,
   God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
      in readiness for God from day one."

That has to be the most confusing rendering of that scripture that I have ever read. For a paraphrase, it clarifies absolutely nothing. To be sure that we do not think of the Son as subordinate, John 14:28 has been changed from "The Father is greater than I am" to "the Father is the goal and purpose of my life."

To tell us that John 1:1 is not confusing, John 1:18 says in The Message, "No one has ever seen God, not so much of a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day".

Oh good, no more Mystery of the Trinity. This should give us more time for the "Mystery of Sex" which is the heading for 1 Corinthians 5.

And to clarify another vague "trinity proof" text, John 8:58 has been changed to "I am who I am long before Abraham was anything."(Italics theirs)

Also, we are to believe from the foreword that people in Bible times never used God's personal name, Jehovah or Yahweh, which this translation never mentions once. It doesn't even capitalize titles like LORD or GOD where the Divine Name should appear like other Bible translations.

Other interesting scriptures from The Message:

John 10:22, "They were celebrating Hanukkah just then in Jerusalem."
Acts 8:20, "Peter said,'To hell with your money!"
Matthew 9:34, "The Pharisees were left sputtering, 'Hocus Pocus. It's nothing but Hocus Pocus."
Matthew 4:9, "They're yours-lock stock and barrel."
Matthew 4:10, "Beat it, Satan!"
1 Corinthians 6:9,10, "Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don't qualify as citizens of God's kingdom."
Acts 15:28,29, "avoid serving food offensive to Jewish Christians (blood for instance); and guard the morality of sex and marriage."

There are however some good points about The Message. I do like the references to quoted scriptures, like, "The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: 'He has placed you in the care of angels." Matthew 4

I cannot recommend The Message, even though it is quite readable. It has taken too many liberties with the text, and, if I may quote the translator out of context in his Introduction to Hebrews, he says, "we become impatiently self-important along the way and decide to improve matters with our own 2 cents worth. We add on, we supplement, we embellish. But instead of improving on the purity and simplicity of Jesus, we dilute the purity, clutter the simplicity. We become fussily religious, or anxiously religious. We get in the way."-Eugene H.Peterson

The Lord's Prayer in the Message Bible is really quite strange: "Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best - as above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes." "The Message completely changes the meaning of the scriptures, for instance there is no mention of the holiness of the name of God. Then there is the line “as above, so below”, which is from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus an occult text from the school of Hermeticism, that has influenced every aspect of the new age movement, from Asatru to Satanism to Wicca. Further the Message adds to the text (something forbidden by scripture) there is nothing in there speaking about any of God’s attributes at the end to the prayer, and I have no idea where he got that 'Yes. Yes. Yes.' from." https://www.tblfaithnews.com/faith-religion/3-problems-with-the-message-bible

In conclusion:

"This is great literature and great religious literature, this collection of ancient writings we call the Bible, and any translator has a deep sense of responsibility as he undertakes to transmit it to modern readers.  He desires his transcript to be faithful to the meaning of the original, so far as he can reach that meaning, and also to do some justice to its literary qualities.  But he is well aware that his aim often exceeds his grasp.  Translation may be a fascinating task, yet no discipline is more humbling.  You may be translating oracles, but soon you learn the risk and folly of posing as an oracle yourself.  If your readers are dissatisfied at any point, they may be sure that the translator is still more dissatisfied, if not there, then elsewhere -- all the more so, because, in the nature of the case, he has always to appear dogmatic in print."
 ... James Moffatt (1870-1944)

Author Robert Martin who wrote a book on dynamic equivalence states, "The dynamic equivalence translator tends to be relatively unrestrained in his theologizing. What a formal equivalence [Literal] translator generally does only as a matter of necessity, the dynamic equivalence translator often does as a matter of choice."

See also 250 Rare Bibles & Testaments on Two DVDroms

Thomas Jefferson's Bible by James Rusling 1905

“Jefferson's Bible," or Thomas Jefferson's Life and Morals of Jesus by James F. Rusling 1905

See also 100 Rare American Bible Versions & Translations on DVDrom

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IN the METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW for January, 1859, being then a budding young lawyer, I published a resume of the Life and Writings of Thomas Jefferson. This was written chiefly for the lack of something to do (and to flesh an untried pen), and was based mainly on Jefferson's “Complete Works, being his Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and other Writings, from Original Manuscripts," in nine volumes, published by Taylor & Maury, Washington, D.C. not long before.

In this article, among other aspects of Mr. Jefferson, I discussed his “Religious Views," and described him as being “not an atheist,” indeed, but rather a “sort of deist"-—not accepting the Scriptures literally at all— and then added:

Yet he thought Jesus the most incomparable being that ever appeared on earth, greatly superior to Socrates or any other philosopher before or since; clipped from the New Testament what he believed to be passages containing his very words, pasted them on the leaves of a blank book, and named this singular synopsis the Philosophy of Jesus.

And then I quoted from Vol. VI of his said “Works,” p. 518:

I have made a wee little book which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a  paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book (New Testament) and arranging them in the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.

It was a query with me then, what had ever become of this singular compilation—this curious “Philosophy of Jesus"—and little did I think I should ever lay eyes upon it. I supposed, of course, it was only a great man’s passing fancy or intellectual diversion, and, like so many other theological notions, especially of young men, had long since passed into the limbo of the “crazy and the queer." But, to my surprise and delight, it has recently been unearthed, like a Babylonian brick or Pompeiian marble, and I now give the following further concerning it

This little book, it appears, was compiled by Mr. Jefferson about 1804-07, and consisted at first of an octave volume of forty-six pages, which he afterward enlarged into a book of eighty-two pages. He said he had taken the four gospels, and cut from them every verse recording the moral precepts of Jesus, and arranged them in a certain order of time and subject, and “although they appeared but as fragments, yet fragments of the most sublime edifice of morality which had ever been exhibited to man." Again he wrote, in 1816: “I made (some years before), for my own satisfaction, an extract from the evangelists of the text of His morals, selecting those only whose style and spirit proved them genuine, and his own. . . . I gave it the title of ‘The Philosophy of Jesus Extracted from the Text of the Evangelists.’" He said he had selected only “the matter which is evidently His, and which is as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dunghill." Evidently he regarded the other verses as only monkish tradition or priestly invention—however revered by others.

This first volume was the work of a few evenings only, when he lived in Washington as President of the United States, overwhelmed with official business, and was done “after getting through the evening task of reading the letters and papers of the day." But in 1819 or 1820, when out of the Presidency and back again at Monticello, having plenty of time for fads and fancies, he expanded this first volume into another volume, of eighty-two pages, and improved it greatly. He took duplicate copies of Greek, Latin, French, and English Testaments and cut out whatever texts suited him, and pasted these in a book of blank pages in parallel columns, so as to have the whole subject readily before him. His original idea was to have the life and teachings of Jesus told in simple form “for use of the Indians,” he said, thinking this best adapted to them. But afterward be abandoned this, and made the above described book for his own “individual use." He used the said four languages, with all of which he was familiar, in order that he might have the verses side by side for collation and comparison. in this little book be pasted a map of the ancient world and the Holy Land for ready reference when studying his Bible. He bound the whole in red morocco, and entitled it on the back in gilt letters, "The Morals of Jesus." It made a book eight and a quarter inches high, about five inches wide, and one inch thick. The covers and edges were tooled in gold, and it was bound by Fred. A. Mayo, Richmond, Virginia. On the title-page he wrote himself:

        The 

   Life and Morals 

          of 

 Jesus of Nazareth, 

Extracted Textually 

 From the Gospels 

         In 

    Greek, Latin, 

French, and English. 

This is the only copy he issued, and it does not seem that he ever contemplated its general publication, but made and kept it for the private edification of himself and friends.

Subsequently, in 1895, this so-called “Jefferson Bible” was found in the possession of a Miss Randolph, then living at Shadwell, Virginia (a relative of Mr. Jefferson, I surmise), and was obtained by purchase and is now the property of the United States National Museum, Washington, D. C. The two copies of the New Testament from which he extracted his selected verses were found in 1886 in the library of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, their title-page bearing date 1804. They were purchased at the sale of Mr. Jefferson’s library, and are the same referred to in Jefferson’s Works, Vol. V1, p. 217. What became of the Greek, Latin, and French copies I do not know.

This unique and historic little "Bible," however, was brought to the attention of the Fifty-seventh Congress (1902), and ordered published by photolithographic process, but was not published really until 1904. The result is a handsome little volume in red morocco which is an exact reproduction of Jefferson’s old and faded book, binding and all, and a real “curiosity of literature." For a copy of this I am indebted to Hon. John F. Dryden, United States Senator, New Jersey, and I desire to acknowledge his courtesy here.

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The contents of this little “Jefferson’s Bible” are noteworthy, but not so radical and iconoclastic as might be expected, all things considered, and on the whole exhibit good sense and excellent judgment from his viewpoint. He commences with Matt. 2, the birth of Jesus, and concludes with Matt. 27, mixed up with Luke 23 and John 19—his crucifixion and death. Of course, he excludes all miracles, and everything he regards as supernatural, but he includes the birth of Christ (without its supernatural features), the disputation with the doctors, the preaching and the beheading of John, the exquisite parables, the inimitable Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, his vindication of the Sabbath, the story of the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the alabaster box woman, his welcome to little children, the laborers in the vineyard, the story of Zacchaeus, of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man, of Mary and Martha (but not Lazarus their brother), his ride into Jerusalem, the driving of the money changers from the temple, the marriage feast (not Cana of Galilee), the rebuke and reproof of the Pharisees, the story of the ten virgins and the several talents, the unfaithful steward, the betrayal by Judas, the trial before Pilate, and his crucifixion and death. Of course, he omits the resurrection in toto, as miraculous and unthinkable. He does not follow the regular narrative in full, but eliminates and excides verses here and there, and sometimes transfers verses from one chapter to another, or even from one gospel to another, in order to secure what he regards as historical continuity, or logical accuracy, or even rhetorical beauty. He makes no note or comment whatever, but gives these wonderful sayings of Jesus pure and simple, naked and unadorned. On the whole, it must be confessed, one is deeply impressed with the reading of this “wee little book"—with the apparent conscientiousness of its author and the singular beauty and sublimity of its verses. It does indeed make "a beautiful and precious morsel of ethics," as Jefferson says; “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man," as he claims. Socrates and Plato, Aristotle and Marcus Aurelius, Confucius and Buddha, have little to equal it, and accepting these sublime precepts, and shaping his life by them, Jefferson may be permitted to say he was “a real Christian—a disciple of Jesus," as he claims, though not in our orthodox and usually accepted sense.

Thomas Jefferson certainly lived an upright and manly life. In many respects he was the sanest man of his age and time. He was the representative Democrat of his day and generation (in the best sense of that word), and far in advance of his time, though in 1904 I think he would have voted for President Roosevelt. He wrote the greatest state paper of his own or any other age—our immortal Declaration of Independence —that made George III tremble on his throne, and will yet bring in “The parliament of man, the federation of the world," and put all kings and emperors out of business.

He was opposed to slavery, even down in old slavery-ridden Virginia, and at his death he freed his deserving slaves and made due provision for them—all honor to his humanity! And, on the whole, I incline to think he acted “up to his lights" the best he knew how, for the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Had he lived in our day, with the full blaze of the twentieth century around him, it is to be hoped he would not have mutilated and spoiled eight good Testaments, in four different languages, in order to make an inferior one to order, but, rather, after weighing the matter further and duly counting the cost, he would have wisely concluded, with Whittier:

“We search the world for truth: we cull
 The good, the pure, the beautiful
 From graven stone and written scroll,
 From the old flower fields of the soul;
 And, weary seekers of the best,
 We come back laden from our quest,
 To find that all the sages said
 Is in the Book our mother read!”

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Contents:

The Serpent Symbol by EG Squire 1851

Symbolic Mythology by JM Woolsey 1917

Primitive Symbolism as illustrated in Phallic Worship by Hodder Michael Westropp - 1885

Mystic Masonry - The Symbols of Freemasonry by JD Buck 1911

Scarabs - The History, Manufacture and Religious Symbolism of the Scarabs in Ancient Egypt by Isaac Myer 1894

The Lamp in the Wilderness - an examination of Symbols as applicable to Early British History by WJD Waddilove 1840

The Swastika, the earliest known Symbol, and its Migrations by Thomas Wilson 1896

On the Meaning and Origin of the Swastika by Robert P Greg 1884

The Swastika by Edward Butts 1908

The Origin and Significance of the Egyptian Ankh, article in the Journal of Religious Psychology 1908

A Glossary of Important Symbols in their Hebrew, Pagan and Christian Forms by Adelaide Susan Hall 1912

Symbol-Psychology by Adolph Roeder 1903

The Sacred Beetle - a Popular Treatise on Egyptian Scarabs in Art and History by John Ward 1902

The Antithesis Between Symbolism and Revelation by Abraham Kuyper 1857

The Symbol of Glory, the object and end of Free Masonry by George Oliver 1870

A Key to the Symbolical Language of Scripture by Thomas Wemyss 1840

A Symbolic Figure of the Queen of Heaven 1901

Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art by John Vinycomb 1906

The Heathen Religion in its Popular and Symbolical Development by Joseph B Gross 1856

The Symbolical Numbers of Scripture by Malcolm White 1868

The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races by Sanger Brown 1916

The Symbolism of Freemasonry by Albert Mackey 1869

Wishfulfillment and Symbolism in Fairy Tales by Franz Ricklin 1915

Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism by Thomas Inman 1875

The Symbolisms of Heraldry by W Cecil Wade 1898

A Symbolical Dictionary by Charles Daubuz 1842

The Masonic Ladder - The Nine Steps to Ancient Freemasonry by John Sherer 1876

History of the Cross - the Pagan Origin and Idolatrous Adoption and Worship of the image by Henry Dana Ward 1871

Facing the Sphinx by Marie L Farrington 1889

Life Symbols as Related to Sex Symbolism - a brief study into the origin and significance of certain symbols which have been found in all civilisations, such as the cross, the circle, the serpent, the triangle, the tree of life, the swastika, and other solar emblems by Elisabeth Goldsmith 1922

Sacred Symbols in Art by Elisabeth Goldsmith 1911

Rosicrucian Symbology by George W Plummer 1916

Symbolism of the East and West by Mrs Murray-Aynsley 1900

The Compass and Square by Harriet Henderson 1916

The Ancient Science of Numbers by Luo Clement 1908

The Premium Essay on the Characteristics and laws of Prophetic Symbols by Edward Winthrop 1854

An Introduction to Early Christian Symbolism by William Palmer 1859

The Floral Symbolism of the Great Master by Elizabeth Haig 1913

The Uses of Symbolism in Greek Art by Janet M MacDonald 1922

Medical Symbolism by Thomas Sozinskey 1891

The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology by Richard P Knight 1892

Symbolism - Mind, Matter, Language as the Elements of Thinking and Reasoning and as the Necessary Factors of Human Knowledge by James Haig 1869

A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud 1920

The Tree of Mythology by Charles Mills 1889

Ideal Metrology in Nature, Art, Religion and History by HG Wood 1908

The Tabernacle - the Gospel According to Moses by George Junkin 1865

Christian Symbolism by Mrs Henry Jenner 1910

The Symbolism of Color by Ellen Conroy McCaffery 1921

Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism by Dr Herbert Silberer 1917

The Lost Language of Symbolism by Harold Bayley 1912

Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World by Cora Linn Daniels 1903

The Great Symbols by WJ Townsend 1901

Signs and Symbols Illustrated and Explained by George Oliver - 1837

Christ Lore - being the Legends, Traditions, Myths, Symbols, Customs & Superstitions of the Christian Church by FW Hackwood 1902

The Obelisk and Freemasonry by John Adam Weisse - 1880

Saints and their Symbols by EA Greene 1909

A Handbook of Legendary and Mythological Art by Clara Waters 1872

Psychology of the Unconscious - a Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido by Carl Jung 1916

Visual Representations of the Trinity by John Brainerd MacHarg - 1917

Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture by EP Evans 1896

The Grotesque in Church Art by Thomas T Wildridge 1899

The Evil Eye - An Account of this Ancient and Wide Spread Superstition by FT Elworthy 1895

The Evil Eye by Roswell Park 1912

The Night of the Gods - an Inquiry into Cosmic and Cosmogonic Mythology and Symbolism, Volume 1 by John O'Neill 1893

The Night of the Gods - an Inquiry into Cosmic and Cosmogonic Mythology and Symbolism, Volume 2 by John O'Neill 1893

A Dissertation on the Oriental Trinities by Thomas Maurice 1801

The Cross and the Serpent by William Haslam 1849

The Book of Symbols by Robert Mushet 1847

Notes on the Swastika By Robert Sewell 1881

The Indian Swastika and Its Western Counterparts By Edward Thomas 1880

History of Amulets, Charms and Talismans by Michael Levi Rodkinson - 1893

Sun Lore of All Ages: A Collection of Myths and Legends Concerning the Sun By William Tyler Olcott 1914

The Buddhist Praying-Wheel - a collection of material bearing upon the symbolism of the wheel and circular movements in custom and religious ritual by William Simpson 1896

The Religion of the Ancient Celts By John Arnott MacCulloch 1911

Vedic Mythology By Arthur Anthony Macdonell 1898

Nature's Harmonic Unity: A Treatise on Its Relation to Proportional Form by Samuel Colman 1912

Occultism Simplified: The Mystic Thesaurus. Hidden Meaning of the Symbol of the Zodiac by Willis F Whitehead 1899

The Riddle of the Sphinx: A Key to the Mysteries, and a Synthesis of Philosophy By J. Munsell Chase 1915

Symbolic Teaching - Masonry and its message by Thomas Milton Stewart 1917

Macedonian Folklore By George Frederick Abbott 1903

Aspects of Death in Art by Frederick Parkes Weber 1910

Ancient Symbol Worship - Influence of the Phallic Idea in the Religions of Antiquity by Hodder Michael Westropp 1875

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by Sir James George Frazer - 1922

The Guide to Astrology by Raphael 1905

The Trinities of the Ancients by Robert Mushet 1837

Plus you get the following on Numbers and Symbolism:

The Ancient Science of Numbers by Luo Clement 1908

On the Prevalence of Certain Numbers in Relation to Events 1849

The Whims of the Ages by John M Woolsey 1916

Numbers: their Occult Power and Mystic Virtue by W Wynn Westcott 1890

Numerals of the Bible by James A Upjohn 1879

The Philosophy of Numbers - their Tone and Colors by Mrs L Dow Barriett 1908

The Pythagorean Triangle - The Science of Numbers by George Oliver 1875

The Cabalistic Bible - showing how the various Numerical Cabalas have been curiously applied to the Holy Scriptures by Walter Begley 1903

The Numerals of Scripture by Milo Mahan 1863

Names, Dates and Numbers - what they Mean to You by Dr Roy Page Walton 1914

What's in Your Name - The Science of Letters and Numbers by Clifford W Cheasley 1916

The Key to the Universe - A Spiritual Interpretation of Numbers and Symbols by Harriette Augusta Curtiss 1917

Beasts and Sevens of Revelations by LK Robinson 1917

The Great Importance of the Sabbatic Number Seven (Poem) by PE Royse 1890

Geometrical Digest of the Sacred and Prophetic Numbers 1859

The Significance of Numbers as used in the Bible by AA Bramley-Moore 1917

The Basic Outline of Universology by Steven P Andrews 1872

The History, Principles and Practice of Symbolism in Christian Art by F Edward Hulme 1892

The Sign Of The Cross before Christ

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From: The Gospel in the Stars: Or, Prímeval Astronomy By Joseph Augustus Seiss

Ever since Christ Jesus "suffered for our sins" the cross has been a sacred and most significant emblem to all Christian believers. Paul would glory in nothing but "in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." It was a sacred symbol long before Christ was born. We find it in the most sacred connections, edifices, feasts, and signs of the ancient Egyptians, Persians, Assyrians, Hindus, Chinese, Kamtschatkans, Mexicans, Peruvians, Scandinavians, Gauls, and Celts. The mystic Tau, the wonder-working caduceus, the invincible arrows, the holy cakes, all had their fabled virtues in connection with the form of the cross which they bore. But that sign has received a far more definite and certain consecration by the death of Christ upon it. Its original ancient, meaning had reference to the Seed of the woman, the divine Son who was to suffer on it, to conquer by it, and to give eternal life through it. We cannot adequately account for it except as belonging to the original prophecy and revelation concerning Him and the price He was to pay for our redemption, conquering through suffering, and giving life through death. And in all the ideas connected with it by the ancient peoples we can readily trace the application of it, the same as in the arrangement of the constellations.

Aben Ezra gives its Hebrew name, Adorn, which means cutting off, as the angel told Daniel of the cutting off of the Messiah. And Christ was cut off by being condemned and crucified.

In the Zodiac of Dendera this constellation is marked by the figure of a lion, with his head turned backward, and his tongue hanging out of his mouth as if in consuming thirst. It is the same idea. Christ is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," and one of the few expressions made by Him as he died on the cross was that of His consuming thirst. Strong and divine as He was, His life was there parched out of Him. "Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst; and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When, therefore, he had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." The hieroglyphic name attached means pouring water; and David, impersonating the Messiah, exclaims, "I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death" (Ps. 22 :13-18). It is simply wonderful how the facts in the sign correspond with the showings of the Scriptures, and how all the old myths embody the same showings.

In the triad of the three great Egyptian gods each holds the sacred Tau, or the cross, as the symbol of life and immortality; but only the second, the Son, the Conqueror and Deliverer, extends the cross, thus pictorially expressing the offering of life and immortality through the Cross.

In the divine triad of Brahmanic deities the second, the Son, the One who became incarnate in the man-god Krishna, sits upon his throne cross-legged, holding the cross in his right hand; and he is the god of deliverance from dangers and serpents. The same is otherwise represented as the ruler of the elements, the stiller of tempests, the good genius in all earthly affairs. But in all these relations and offices he always wears a cross on his breast. It is the same story of deliverance and salvation through the Cross-bearer, the divine Son of the Virgin. And even so "it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fulness dwell, and, making peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things."

The old Egyptians pictured departed spirits as birds with human heads, indicating the laying off of the earthly form and the putting on of immortality. But all such figures are represented holding the cross, emblematic not only of eternal life, but of that life as in, with, or through the Cross, just as the Gospel teaches.

The old Mexicans, at certain of their holy feasts, made a cross composed of the flour of maize and the blood of a victim offered in sacrifice, which they first worshipped, and finally broke in pieces, distributed the fragments among themselves, and ate them in token of union and brotherhood. The Egyptians and others also had the sacred cake with the form of a cross upon it, which they ate in holy worship. It was but another form of the same idea—life and salvation through the Cross.

See also Symbology & Ancient Symbolism - 100 Books on DVDrom and Is the Cross a Pagan Symbol? 70 PDF Books on DVDROM