Is the Holy Spirit called GOD at Acts 5?

 

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From the book: The Concessions of Trinitarians by John Williams

Acts v. 3, 4: “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled “thy heart to lie to the holy spirit, and to keep back [part] of the price of the land? 4. .... Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” — Ver. 9. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord?” &c. 

To lie to the holy spirit. — Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to us in whom the Holy Spirit is resident? Thou hast not lied unto mere men, but unto God, who dwelleth in us. — MOSHEIM: Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians, vol. i. p. 293. [Similarly, PYLE and others.]

That thou shouldst endeavour to deceive us apostles, who are endowed with the Holy Spirit; that is, who have received extraordinary divine gifts; with whom God is always present, and who are aided by his Spirit, so that they can very easily distinguish truth from falsehood. — SCHLEUSNER: Lex. in Nov. Test. v. IIvevua, 22.

Ananias had not indeed designed to deceive the true God himself (see ver. 4), but the apostles. The holy spirit, therefore, is the same as “us full of the holy spirit” (vi. 3), in which sense the phrase occurs in chap. vii. 51. – KUINOEL.

The term God is never [in Scripture] expressly attributed to the Holy Spirit, though it is usual to infer it from Acts v. 4, where Peter, who in the third verse had asked Ananias, “Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?” says, “Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” But, in our opinion, this deduction is not valid; for by the Holy Spirit are to be understood the gifts of the Holy Spirit, with which the apostles were furnished, and spoke in the name of God. Persons, therefore, who lie to the apostles speaking by the Holy Spirit of God, are rightly said to lie to the Holy Spirit; as those who despise the apostles are said to despise the Lord, and those who despise the Lord Jesus despise Him that sent him. — LIMBORCH: Theol. Christ. lib. ii. cap. 17, $ 23.

I do not say, that the Spirit is anywhere in Scripture directly called God: and although the writers on this subject have repeatedly said that this name is given him by implication, because, Acts v. 3, 4, lying to the Holy Ghost is stated as the same with lying to God; and our bodies are called, 1 Cor. vi. 19, the temple of the Holy Ghost, and 1 Cor. iii. 16, the temple of God; yet I would not rest so important an article of faith upon this kind of verbal criticism. — PRINCIPAL HILL: Lectures in Divinity, vol. i. pp. 440–41.

October 31 is Reformation Day

 

This Day in History: Today is Reformation Day, as it is the day that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517. This is important as this is viewed as a great victory for freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but the Reformation also immersed Europe in warfare for over a century. The Thirty Years' War killed eight million, and the French Wars of Religion claimed yet another three million lives. Keep in mind that Europe's population was dramatically lower back then...the Protestant wars decimated society.

The Reformation may have broken an often cruel strangle-hold that the Catholic Church had on society, but it replaced it with violent Protestant fundamentalists.

"The strongest case for the Reformation is simply that there was no other path to our modern, tolerant world. European civilization had two choices: Either stay mired in the grip of medieval superstition and tyranny forever; or endure a century-long bloodbath. But this story is grossly overconfident. Despite the Protestant challenge, the Catholic Church utterly prevailed in countries like France, Spain, and Italy. In the 20th-century, though, it was defeated not by rival religions, but by French, Spanish, and Italian apathy. And you can't help but notice: this defeat by apathy was almost perfectly bloodless. If you object, 'None of that could have happened without the Reformation,' I say you underestimate the power of apathy." ~Bryan Caplan

See also: 200 Books on DVDrom on the Dark Side of Christianity
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2015/10/200-books-on-dvdrom-on-dark-side-of.html

Unitarian Martyr Michael Servetus on This Day in History

 

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This Day in History: Michael Servetus was burned at the stake just outside Geneva on this day in 1553. Servetus was a Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer, and Renaissance humanist. He was the first European to correctly describe the function of pulmonary circulation, as discussed in Christianismi Restitutio (1553). He was a polymath versed in many sciences: mathematics, astronomy and meteorology, geography, human anatomy, medicine and pharmacology, as well as jurisprudence, translation, poetry and the scholarly study of the Bible in its original languages.

He is renowned in the history of several of these fields, particularly medicine. He participated in the Protestant Reformation, but because he rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, he was condemned as a heretic and had to die. Many men throughout history held similar theological and christological views, such as Milton, John Locke, Isaac Newton and Thomas Jefferson to name but a few, but these men never had to go up against John Calvin. As John Scott Porter wrote in 1853 "the great Reformer [Calvin], who, from a window, beheld him dragged to execution, was so overjoyed at the spectacle that he burst into an irrepressible fit of laughter; and even at the distance of eleven years, in writing to a friend, he avowed and gloried in the deed. “Servetum, canem illum latrantem compescui!”. —“I quelled,” he says, “Servetus, that barking dog!”

Calvin: “Servetus, that barking dog!

See also: The Murder of Michael Servetus by John Calvin, 50 PDF Books on CDrom

The Persecution of Michael Servetus by Charles McRae 1892

The Truth About the Holy Ghost

 

This book, "The Impersonality of the Holy Spirit by John Marsom" is available on Amazon for only 99 cents.

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The Holy Spirit, article in The Universalist Quarterly 1862

The phrase Holy Ghost does not occur in the Old Testament, neither does Holy Spirit but a few times. In the New Testament the term Holy Ghost is found in numerous places, and means the same as Holy Spirit, for it is translated from the same word. It seems to us that Holy Spirit is much preferable to the other form of expression, since ghost has such unpleasant associations, and often awakens apprehensions of evil, and fears of danger or harm. People are sometimes frightened at a ghost, or fear they shall be. Plainly, all epithets which we apply to God, all words which in any way bring him to view, should be fitted to awaken pleasing emotions and cheerful views of him.

The belief has been common that the Holy Spirit is the third person in the trinity, of which the Father is the first, and the Son is the second. The trinity of persons constituting one Being, has been called a holy mystery; and certainly it is, and must ever remain a mystery. For is it possible for us to form a conception of a Being who has three persons, three intellects, three wills, and three affectional natures, so united and blended, that he possesses only one person, one intellect, one will, and one heart? How can there be three distinct persons in one, so that there shall always be only one and always three? Though this is a mystery incapable of solution, our reverence for the Scriptures is such that we would accept it without question as true, if it were clearly taught in the Gospels, or in the letters of the Apostles to the Churches. What though Jesus says to his disciples, when taking leave of them, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, even the spirit of truth;" what though Paul says to the Corinthians, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all;" what though the "Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God," does it follow that the Holy Spirit is very God? By no means. Christians may have a comforter sent them which is not a Deity; they may enjoy the communion of the Holy Spirit in their worship and services of God; and the Spirit may search the deep things of God when it does not search its own things. In such and similar passages we find proof that the Holy Spirit is not very God, rather than it is.

Spirit is an intangible, invisible thing or essence. The ancient Jews designated it by a word which seems specially suitable — a word which means wind or breath. Hence the same word must sometimes be translated wind or breath, and sometimes spirit, — the connection alone can determine which. For this reason, there is sometimes a force or a shade of thought in the original which cannot be conveyed in a translation, as when Jesus says to Nicodemus, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Wind or breath does not possess the attributes of a person, and is put in the neuter gender. And when the word of which wind is the synonyme in English, is used to denote a spirit, or the Holy Spirit, it still remains in the neuter gender. It is treated grammatically, not as a person, but as a thing; as an unconscious, inanimate thing. It is treated as if it had no life, and no attributes of a person, more than the wind that blows, or the mysterious forces of nature. In the original, the Holy Spirit is always spoken of as it, not as he; as a thing, not as a person. There is no exception to this statement. If the Apostles meant to designate a person by the phrase, Holy Spirit, it seems probable that they would have contrived some way to express themselves so as not to call it a thing, as they have done by using the neuter gender. The names applied to the Deity, as Lord, God, Father, imply personality, and are in the masculine gender. We should all regard it as an impropriety to put the name of God in the neuter gender, thus making him a thing, or an impersonal essence. So the Holy Spirit being uniformly spoken of as a thing, we infer the Apostles did not think of it as God, or regard it as an object of worship. Indeed, the beginning of the name with capital letters, is a matter of taste, since we cannot claim any apostolic authority for so doing.

It will now be shown what the Holy Spirit is spoken of in the Scriptures as accomplishing, or what effects it produces.

1. It gives wisdom, discretion, prudence. The Apostles were exposed to persecution and various ill treatment from their enemies. Hence Jesus says to them, "When they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not you that speak, but the Holy Spirit." In fulfilment of this promise, we find that the Apostles were possessed of a wisdom which made them equal to any emergency or strait. The Holy Spirit quickened and aroused their intellects so that they spoke with great shrewdness and ability in defending themselves against their enemies.

2. The Holy Spirit gives inspiration. There are many passages of Scripture in which inspiration, or the gift of prophecy, is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. So David was made to say, "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool." Here David is represented as uttering a prophecy under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It was revealed to Simeon, that devout man, that "He should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Here is a positive statement, that the knowledge of a future event was communicated by the Holy Spirit. And Peter affirms that "Prophecy came not in the olden time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

In every age of the world, God favors his servants with that measure of inspiration which they need in the circumstances in which they are placed. If the ancient prophets of Israel were more highly favored in this respect than men of other nations, or in other times, it was undoubtedly because there was special need of it in that age and among that people.

3. Men were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was prophesied by John Baptist that he should be filled with the Holy Spirit. When he was circumcised and named, his father Zacharius was filled with the Holy Spirit, and opened his mouth in prophecy. Jesus and the apostles are spoken of as filled in a similar manner. On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were assembled in one place, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And when the primitive church needed judicious men to act as deacons, seven men were sought out, "of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom," who were appointed over the business.

4. The Holy Spirit was given or communicated by the laying on of the Apostles' hands. When the Apostles which were at Jerusalem "heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for as yet it was fallen upon none of them; only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the Apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit."

5. Christ is said to have been anointed with the Holy Spirit. Peter speaks of Jesus as one whom "God anointed with the Holy Spirit, and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil; for God was with him."

Men also were baptized with it; indeed, all true Christians were baptized in this manner. It was foretold that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Peter recalls these words, when, on his preaching the Gospel to Cornelius, the Holy Spirit fell on the company present. "Then," he says, "remembered I the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

6. The Holy Spirit sometimes descended in a visible form on those whom it filled or inspired. We have such an example at Jesus' baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. This descent might have been literally in the form of a dove, or there might have been a visible motion of the air over him, resembling the motion of a dove hovering over an object. This appearance was designed to convince John that Jesus was the Messiah who should come. We have another instance of a similar kind on the day of Pentecost, when "there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." These small tongue-shaped flames of fire appearing to rest upon, or to stand over the head of each one, would attract the attention of spectators, and cause them to think that the wonderful gift of tongues was from God. Those tongue-shaped flames of fire resting on the heads of the disciples might have been designed to indicate the manner in which the inspiration would manifest itself.

The brief examination which has now been given to the subject, shows that the Holy Spirit is always used by the Apostles in the neuter gender, or is spoken of as a thing, not as a person; that it gives wisdom or discretion; that it gives inspiration or the prophetic power; that men were filled with it; that the Apostles imparted it to others by the laying on of hands; that Christ was anointed with it; that men were baptized with it, and that it sometimes descended on men in visible form.

Now we submit, if a thing spoken of in this manner by the Apostles could by them have been recognized as Deity? as the one living and true God? God may indeed make one wise, and he may enable one to foretell future events; but can we, with any propriety, speak of men as being filled with God, or can we speak of God as being given or imparted to men by the laying on of hands? Can we with propriety speak of Christ as being anointed with God, or of men as being baptized with God? It seems to us in the highest degree absurd, nay, irreverent, to speak of God in this manner. Yet, if the Holy Spirit is very God, then the Apostles and others were at times full of God, and Gentile converts had God imparted, or given to them, by the Apostles laying their hands on them and praying. How can we accept such a doctrine as the truth? What doctrine can be more absurd and repugnant to reason and common sense?

Without pretending to give every shade of meaning which the Holy Spirit has, as used in the Scriptures, we would represent it as a divine influence — an influence shed upon men from God; so that enjoying it, they can do what otherwise would be impossible for them to do. We would not represent the Holy Spirit as God, but as an influence from Him, enlightening, strengthening, and sanctifying those upon whom it rests. And we would seek for illustrations in the physical world. The sun is placed at an immense distance from the earth, yet his rays have a remarkable effect upon it. Even philosophers have found it difficult to decide what light is, and how it operates; but the simplest person knows its effects upon vegetable growth, — knows that the light and heat of the sun have much to do in perfecting the bloom of summer and the fruitage of autumn. The nature of light, and why its effects should be what they are, may not be fully understood by the man of science, yet we all know that there is light, and know the common effects which it produces.

The fields must lie open to the sun, must be immersed in the light proceeding from him, to be fruitful and productive in a high degree. The atmosphere modifies the effects of the sun's rays, sometimes seeming to co-operate with the sun, and sometimes working against it. It is only when sun and air and rain unite their triple influences to favor vegetable growth, that the harvests are the richest and the most abundant. So there is an influence from heaven resting upon men, and operating in them no less beneficently than the light and heat of the sun upon field and forest.

We may not be able to explain how this influence comes, or to describe the mode of its operation; yet we may be conscious of its presence, conscious of the moral light which it gives, and of the spiritual beauty which it awakens in the soul. We may not be able to tell exactly how much is imparted by it, or whether it produces its effects simply by quickening the powers of intellect, and arousing the emotional nature. Mayhap a spiritual effect is produced upon the heart directly by this influence; or may be it works its effects by quickening the moral and intellectual powers. This much we know, the heart must be in a right condition to receive the influence, else little or no effect will be produced; the heart will remain unfruitful in righteousness, and its emotions undevout in tone. There are deep dells or recesses in lofty mountain ranges in which the snows of winter remain nearly or quite through the year; so there may be hearts in such a moral condition that the Holy Spirit cannot well reach them: whence a wintry desolation of heart is perpetually suffered, a summer of the soul never being enjoyed. There are lands suffering from such an over-abundance of water that they remain cold and unfruitful, though the rays of the sun fall directly upon them. Likewise there are natures so filled with selfishness and worldly loves, that they remain religiously cold and barren, though the Holy Spirit is shedding a select influence upon other hearts, making them fruitful in righteousness, nay, producing a summer of the soul in which the bloom of purity and the fruitage of holiness ever abound.

Men must co-operate with the Holy Spirit to secure the best and happiest results. The vernal rains may descend, the summer showers may fall, and the sun shine with warmth in his beams, yet the neglected field will not rejoice in summer's beauty, nor invite the husbandman to reap the golden harvest in autumn. Sun and rain and dew will all have been in vain, and have united their triple influence to no purpose on such a field. So the human heart may possess all the elements of religious life and moral fruitfulness, and a holy influence may rest upon it with heavenly refreshing, yet that heart continue barren and unblest. Men must cultivate their religious natures; they must open their hearts to receive the heavenly influence, and it will not be withheld. Men are not compelled by the Author of their being to be immoral or irreligious, but they must make a diligent use of the means of grace; they must cultivate religious feeling, emotion, and aspiration; then the Holy Spirit will be breathed upon them, and they shall enjoy the conscious approval of heaven. w. R. F.

Christian Cartoonist Jack Chick on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: American fundamentalist Christian cartoonist Jack Chick died on this day in 2016. You've probably come across a small pocket-sized religious cartoon, as it is claimed that almost 900 million copies of the cartoons have been printed and sold in 102 languages to missionaries, churches, youth groups and others. I remember in Canada these were usually left on bus seats or phone booths. 

Many of Chick's views were controversial, as he accused Roman Catholics, Freemasons, Muslims, gays and many other groups of murder and conspiracies. He despised halloween, Harry Potter, The Walking Dead, anime and Dungeons and Dragons. His comics have been described by Robert Ito, in Los Angeles magazine, as "equal parts hate literature and fire-and-brimstone sermonizing." Catholic Answers has called Chick "savagely anti-Catholic", describes Chick's statements about the Catholic Church as "bizarre" and "often grotesque in their arguments."

Chick's other prime targets were: Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Jews, Hindus Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, teenagers, atheists, witches, Commies, Rock music, Gluons and gravity, Obelisks, Native Americans and their gods and Family Guy.

Chick was an Independent Baptist who followed a premillennial dispensationalist view of the End Times. He was a believer in the King James Only movement, which posits that every English translation of the Bible more recent than 1611 promotes heresy or immorality.

New Book: The Impersonality of the Holy Spirit by John Marsom 1822

 

Who or what is the Holy Ghost? Is the spirit the 3rd person of the Trinity, or is it merely a divine influence, a power of God? 200 years ago John Marsom explored the topic and produced this little-known, but effective book. His findings will change the way you view the Holy Spirit.

This book is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LKPBJ7S

The Holy Spirit is the one member of the Trinity that gets no respect. Even in the Nicene Creed in 325 A.D. the creed simply ended with a tiny statement of belief "in the Holy Ghost." The Bible is silent on the deity of the Holy Ghost. When pressed, many point to Acts 5 as proof of the deity of the spirit: "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? thou has not lied unto men, but unto God." ASV

Do you notice that the last part is directed towards Peter when it says, "thou has not lied unto men?" They lied to Peter, who was "filled with holy spirit" Acts 4:8. And when they lied to Peter, they lied to God. Later on, in the same chapter, we have a similar situation in vss 38 and 39 where these words were directed towards Peter and the disciples, "Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown: but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them; lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against God." Peter and his men were not God, but they represented God, and when something is done against them, it is done against God. That is why the Scofield Study Bible cross-references Acts 5:4 to Scriptures like Numbers 16:11, 1Samuel 8:7 and 1 Thess 4:8 which says, " Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you." ASV

As you can see, the strongest proof-text for the deity of the holy ghost evaporates on closer inspection.

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The Complicated Martin Luther on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Martin Luther became a doctor of theology on this day in 1512. Martin Luther was an important figure in world history as he ushered in the Protestant Reformation by railing against the sale of indulgences and other practices of the Catholic Church in his famous Ninety-Five Theses. At the same time, Luther was a foul-mouthed tyrannical racist drunk, and more so as he got older.

“If we wish to find a scapegoat on whose shoulders we may lay the miseries which Germany has brought upon the world—not, perhaps a very scientific way of writing history—I am more and more convinced that the worst evil genius of that country is not Hitler or Bismarck or Frederick the Great, but Martin Luther.” ~Dean Inge

The English Catholic, Thomas More (1478-1535) called Luther a “buffoon . . . [who will] carry nothing in his mouth other than cesspools, sewers, latrines, poop and dung . . . .” except he didn't use the word POOP.

According to Luther, some of the Pope's teachings were "farts out of his stinking belly.” He could describe certain Roman Catholic institutions and practices with which he heartily disagreed as "an illusion and an evil odour, stinking worse than the devil’s excrement.” 

"I resist the devil, and often it is with a fart that I chase him away.”

Just before he died, Luther told his wife, “I’m like a ripe stool, and the world’s like a gigantic anus, and so we’re about to let go of each other.” 

See also: Martin Luther - Hitler's Spiritual Ancestor by Peter F. Wiener

William Channing: The Trinity Gives Christ "an Air of Fiction"

 

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The great work...of the Sunday-school teacher, is to teach Christ, and to teach him not as set forth in creeds and human systems, but as living and moving in the simple histories of the Evangelists. Christ is to be taught; and by this I mean, not any mystical doctrine about his nature, not the doctrine of the Trinity, but the spirit of Christ, breathing forth in all that he said and all that he did. We should seek, that the child should know his heavenly friend and Saviour with the distinctness with which he knows an earthly friend; and this knowledge is not to be given by teaching him dark notions about Christ, which have perplexed and convulsed the church for ages. The doctrine of the Trinity seems to me only fitted to throw a mistiness over Christ, to place him beyond the reach of our understanding and hearts. When I am told that Jesus Christ is the second person in the Trinity, one of three persons, who constitute one God, one Infinite mind, I am plunged into an abyss of darkness. Jesus becomes to me the most unintelligible being in the universe. God I can know. Man I can understand. But Christ, as described in human creeds, a compound being, at once man and God, at once infinite in wisdom and ignorant of innumerable truths, and who is so united with two other persons as to make with them one mind, Christ so represented baffles all my faculties. I cannot lay hold on him. My weak intellect is wholly at fault; and I cannot believe that the child's intellect can better apprehend him. This is a grave objection to the doctrine of the Trinity. It destroys the reality, the distinctness, the touching nearness of Jesus Christ. It gives him an air of fiction, and has done more than all things to prevent a true, deep acquaintance with him, with his spirit, with the workings of his mind, with the sublimity of his virtue. It has thrown a glare over him, under which the bright and beautiful features of his character have been very much concealed.~William Ellery Channing

See also: The Doctrine of the Trinity Irrational and Unscriptural by William Ellery Channing

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Contents:

The Holie Bible - Faithfully Translated into English, out of the authentical Latin. Diligently conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke, and other editions in Divers Languages by the Enblish College of Doway 1609 Old Testament

The Holie Bible - Faithfully Translated into English, out of the authentical Latin. Diligently conferred with the Hebrew, Greeke, and other editions in Divers Languages by the Enblish College of Doway 1609 Volume 2 Old Testament

The New Testament Translated from the Latin Vulgate, and diligently compared with the original Greek text with notes, critical and explanatory 1862 by Francis Patrick Kenrick

The New Testament translated from the Latin Vulgate and Diligently Compared with the Original Greek New Revised and Corrected with Annotations Explanatory of the Most Difficult Passages by W.H. Hewett 1850

The Gutenberg Bible - Color Scan (in 4 volumes)

An Exposition of the Epistles of Saint Paul and of the Catholic Epistles - consisting of an introduction to each epistle, an analysis of each chapter, a Paraphrase of the Sacred Text and a Commentary by Archbishop John  MacEvilly 1875 Volume 1

An Exposition of the Epistles of Saint Paul and of the Catholic Epistles - consisting of an introduction to each epistle, an analysis of each chapter, a Paraphrase of the Sacred Text and a Commentary by Archbishop John  MacEvilly 1875 Volume 2

The Latin Vulgate (searchable pdf)

Lingard's Gospels with Notes Critical and explanatory 1836

Prospectus of a New Translation of the Holy Bible - from corrected texts of the originals, compared with ancient versions, with various readings, explanatory notes, and critical observations by Alexander Geddes 1786

A Letter to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London containing Queries, Doubts and Difficulties, Relative to a Vernacular Version of the Holy Scriptures. Being an appendix to A prospectus of a new translation of the Bible from a corrected text of the originals by Alexander Geddes 1787

A Critical History of the Old Testament by Richard Simon 1682

THE COMPLETE NOTES of the DOWAY BIBLE & KHEMISH TESTAMENT EXTRACTED FROM THE QUARTO EDITIONS OF 1816 AND 1816, PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS AND PRIESTS OF IRELAND, AS THE AUTHORISED INTERPRETATION OF THE CHURCH,
AND THE INFALLIBLE GUIDE TO EVERLASTING LIFE WITH A PREFACE, EMBODYING THE FACTS AND DOCUMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE PUBLICATION OF BOTH EDITIONS -  DR. TROY'S AND DR. MURRAY'S DENIAL OF THEM; THE LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS THROUGHOUT IRELAND;
THE LIST OF CERTAIN NOTES SUPPRESSED IN SOME COPIES OF THE SECOND EDITION. WITH A COPIOUS INDEX REFERRING TO ALL THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME WORTHY OF REMARK IN THE NOTES WHICH APPEAR UTTERLY SUBVERSIVE OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, AND
OF ALL CHRISTIAN CHARITY AMONG MEN By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GHEE, A.B. 1837

The Holy Gospel: A Comparison of the Gospel Text as it is Given in the Protestant and Roman Versions by Franklin Jones Firth 1911

Erasmus' 1516 Greek Text with Latin Text on opposing page, 554 page PDF (Acrobat) file

Erasmus' 1522 Greek Text, 316 page pdf file (this may be a celebrated Protestant Greek text of the New Testament, but Erasmus was a Catholic Priest

Practical handbook for the study of the Bible and of Bible literature by Michael Seisenberger 1911 (has Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur)

The Bible and the Blessed Virgin Mary by Michael Francis Fallon 1920

Some things which Catholics do not believe - Protestant fictions and Catholic facts by John Walsh 1897

Codex Vaticanus Greek Manuscript in a 285 page PDF (Acrobat) file

The Four Gospels from the Codex Corbeiensis (Old Latin Text) 1907

Origen's Hexapla in 2 Volumes

The Catholic Epistle of St. James - A Revised Text with Translation, Introduction and Notes, Critical and Exegetical by Francis Tilney Bassett M.A. 1876

The Book of the Prophet Hosea Literally Translated with Notes by Francis Tilney Bassett M.A. 1869

The Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Revelation of St. John the Divine -A Comparison of the Text as it is given in the Protestant and Roman Catholic Bible versions in the English language in use in America by F.J. Firth 1912
The Complutensian Polyglot Bible

The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible, planned and financed by Cardinal Cisneros (1436-1517). It includes the first printed editions of the Greek New Testament, the complete Septuagint, and the Targum Onkelos. This is a 500MB pdf (Acrobat). About 1500 pages

The English version of the Polyglot Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments - With Copious & Original Selections of References to Parallel and Illustrative Passages 1872

The Douay Rheims Bible 1914 Edition with Challoner's Notes

The Latin Heptateuch Published Piece-meal by the French printer William Morel 1560 and the French Benedictines 1889

Roman Catholic and Protestant Bibles compared by Melancthon Williams Jacobus, William Thomas Whitley

The Wycliffe Bible (searchable PDF)
"The history of the English Bible as a whole does not go back nearly so far; it dates from the so-called Wyclif Version, believed to have been completed about the year 1380. The translation was made from the Vulgate as it then existed, that is before the Sixtine and Clementine revisions, and was well and accurately done. Abbot Gasquet contends confidently (The Old English Bible, 102 sqq.) that it was in reality of Catholic origin, and not due to Wyclif at all; at any rate it seems fairly certain that he had no share in any part of it except the Gospels, even if he had in these; and there is evidence that copies of the whole were in the hands of good Catholics, and were read by them". - Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Student's Aids to the Bible by Hugh Pope 1918 Volume 1

The Catholic Student's Aids to the Bible by Hugh Pope 1918 Volume 2

English Bible Versions with Special Reference to the Vulgate, the Douay Bible and the Authorized and Revised Versions by Rev. Henry Barker 1907

The Church of the Bible - Scripture Testimonies to Catholic Doctrines by Frederick Oakeley M.A. 1857

The Bible against Protestantism and for Catholicity - evinced in a Conference between a Catholic, a Protestant (Episcopalian), and a Presbyteraian 1859 by Bishop Lawrence Sheil

The Catholic Doctrine of the Use of the Bible by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman 1853

Catholic Thoughts on the Bible and Theology by Frederic Myers 1874

Catalogue of All Catholic Books in English by Benziger Brothers - 1912

A Protestant Converted to Catholicity by her Bible and prayer-book by Fanny Pittar 1904

Answer to Difficulties of the Bible by John Thein 1897

A Brief History of the Versions of the Bible of the English and Roman Churches 1930

Beautiful Pearls of Catholic Truth - containing the teachings of the holy Catholic church, and the sacred books of the Bible as interpreted by the one truth church founded by Our Divine Saviour by Bernard O'Reilly 1897

Il Nuovo Testamento Commentato (Italian) by Martini/Sales 1911

Il Nuovo Testamento Commentato (Italian) by Martini/Sales 1911 Volume 2

La Nouveau Testament (French) 1863 Ostervald

Protestantism and the Bible by TS Preston 1880

The Science of the Bible by Martin S Brennan 1898 (Author of "What Catholics have done for Science and Astronomy")

True Church of the Bible by William Fleming 1895

The Bible and the rule of Faith by Abbe Begin 1875

New Testament Studies by Thomas James Conaty 1898

Maxims of the Kingdom of Heaven by John Henry Newman 1867 ("THE following Collection of passages from the Holy Scriptures has been put into my hands by the  compiler to carry through the press. I could not but gladly avail myself of the opportunity, which a friend thus presented to me, of having a share however small, in a work directed, in so pious a spirit, towards the promotion among Catholics of an habitual reverent meditation upon the sacred words of Him who spoke as " man never did speak.")

An Introduction to the Literary History of the Bible by James Townley 1828

The participle in the Vulgate New Testament by William Milroy 1892

The Vulgate New Testament with the Douay version of 1582 in parallel columns 1872

Early Bibles of America by John Wright 1892

The Truths of the Catholic Religion: Proved from Scripture Alone, Volume 1 by Thomas Butler D.D. 1841

The Truths of the Catholic Religion: Proved from Scripture Alone, Volume 2 by Thomas Butler D.D. 1841

A Bibliographical Account of Catholic Bibles by John Dawson gilmary Shea - 1859

El nuevo testamento (Spanish New Testament from the Latin Vulgate) by Bishop Scio de San Miguel 1823

Homilies on the Book of Tobias by Francis Martyn 1831

The Acts of the Apostles, in four books with copious notes by Charles C Pise 1845

The Gospels, for the Sundays and Festivals of obligation 1840

What is of obligation for a Catholic to believe concerning the inspiration of the canonical Scriptures by John Henry Newman 1884

St. Jerome and Holy Scripture by Pope Benedictus XV 1874


A General Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures by Joseph Dixon 1853

Plus You Get:

The canon of the Bible: its formation, history and fluctuations
by Samuel Davidson - 1880


How Do I Know What is the Bible, article in Scribner's Monthly 1877

A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament by Brooke Foss Westcott

The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament, Collected, Translated and Discussed by MR James 1920

The Book of God in Light of the Higher Criticism by GW Foote (has a chapter on the Canon)

The Canon of the New Testament, article in THE BIBLICAL WORLD

The Apocrypha Problem and other articles in The Biblical Review 1916

Our Bible; its origin, character and value by Herbert Whillett 1917

2nd Maccabees and Purgatory, article in the Southern Presbyterian review (1847)

Errata of the Protestant Bible - The truth of the English translations examined in a treatise showing some of the errors that are to be found in the English translations of the Sacred Scriptures used by Protestants by Thomas Ward 1876

Roman Catholic and Protestant Bibles compared by MW Jacobus 1908

THE BIBLE CATHOLIC OR SCRIPTURE TEXTS FOR CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, article in The Catholic magazine and register 1850

Protestant text book of the Romish controversy (Chapter 2 is on the Apocrypha) by James Todd 1879

A Book about the English Bible by Josiah Penniman 1919

The Apocryphal books of the Old and New Testament by HT Andrews 1908

Chapters include: I. THE OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA, THE APOCRYPHA PROPER, THE HISTORICAL BOOKS, THE DIDACTIC BOOKS, THE RELIGIOUS ROMANCES, PROPHETIC WRITINGS, THE WIDER APOCRYPHA, APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, THE NEW TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA, NON-CANONICAL BOOKS WHICH WERE USED AS SCRIPTURE BY THE EARLY CHURCH, THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS

How the Bible Grew by Frank Lewis 1919

The Protestant Church and the Bible, article in the The Treasury magazine 1891

On the Canon of the Old Testament, article in The Quarterly Christian spectator 1838

Articles on the Canon in the Theological Lectures Magazine

Tobit and the Babylonian Apocryphal writings by Archibald Henry Sayce

The Douay or Catholic Bible, article in the Congregational Review 1867

The Old Testament Apocrypha - Article in the Union Seminary Magazine 1897

The canon of the Old and New Testaments ascertained;
by Archibald Alexander - 1831

The Bible Verified
by Andrew Webster Archibald - 1890 - 245 pages
CHAPTER I. THE CANON; OR, WHAT CONSTITUTES THE BIBLE?

The Origin And Authority Of The Biblical Canon In The Anglican Church
H. W. Howorth
Journal Of Theological Studies, 1906, pp.1-40. (in text format)

The Formation of the Canon of the New Testament
By B.B. Warfield
Pub. 1892, by the American Sunday School Union, Philadelphia, Pa. (in text format)

The Canon and the Text of the New Testament by Caspar Rene Gregory

Canonical & Uncanonical Gospels, with a Translation of the Recently Discovered Fragments, 1893, by W.E. Barnes

The Uncanonical Jewish Books: A Short Introduction to the Apocrypha by William John Ferrar 1918

The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament: Found in the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of St. Lazarus 1901

The Canon and the Text of the New Testament by Alexander Souter

The Text and Canon of the New Testament
by Alexander Souter - 1913 - 250 pages

Canon Muratorianus: The Earliest Catalogue of the Books of the New Testament
by Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Samuel Prideaux Tregelles - 1867 - 105 pages

The Doctrine of Sacred Scripture: A Critical, Historical, and Dogmatic
by George Trumbull Ladd - 1883

The Historic Origin of the Bible: A Handbook of Principal Facts
by Edwin Cone Bissell - 1889 - 430 pages

The Bible: Its Meaning and Supremacy
by Frederic William Farrar - 1897 - 350 pages
... CHAPTER I THE BIBLE IS NOT ONE HOMOGENEOUS BOOK, BUT A GRADUALLY COLLECTED CANON.

Origin and Development of the Nicene Theology
by Hugh McDonald Scott - 1896 - 380 pages

The Facts about Luther
by Patrick F. O'Hare - 1916 - 360 pages

Catholic Pocket Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Containing a Brief Explanation
by James Joseph McGovern - 1906 - 290 pages

A Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms
by Frederick George Lee - 1877 - 450 pages

English Bible Versions: With Special Reference to the Vulgate, the Douay, the Authorized and Revised Versions
by Henry Barker - 1907 - 370 pages

Origin and History of the Books of the Bible: Both the Canonical and the...
by Calvin Ellis Stowe - 1868 - 580 pages

A New and Full Method of Settling the Canonical Authority of the New Testament
by Jeremiah Jones - 1798

Twenty-five Agrapha: Or Extra-canonical Sayings of Our Lord
by Blomfield Jackson - 1900 - 70 pages

An apology for the Septuagint, in which its claims to biblical and canonical authority are briefly stated and vindicated
by Edward William Grinfield - 1850

The Books of the Old and New Testaments Canonical and Inspired: With Remarks on the Apocrypha
by Robert Haldane 1840 - 185 pages

The Dissonance of the Four Generally Received Evangelists
by Edward Evanson 1805 - 340 page

Canonical & Uncanonical Gospels, with a Translation of the Recently Discovered Gospel of Peter
by William Emery Barnes - 1893 - 110 pages

Introduction to the Canonical books of the Old Testament
by Carl Heinrich Cornill - 1907

The End of Religious Controversy
by John Milner - 1906 - 480 pages

Milner Refuted: Or Pious Frauds Exemplified in Dr. Milner's "End of Religious Controversy" by Charles Hastings Collette - 1856

Apocrypha of King James Version - 1896 - 170 pages

The Apocrypha: Greek and English, in Parallel Columns
1871 - 240 pages

Acta apostolorum apocrypha
by Constantin von Tischendorf - 1851 - 270 pages
Text in Greek; introductory material in Latin.

Apocrypha Sinaitica
by Margaret Dunlop Gibson - 1896 - 147 pages

The Value of the Apocrypha
by Bernard Joseph Snell- 1905 - 127 pages

The Arguments of Romanists from the Infallibility of the Church and the ...
by James Henley Thornwell - 1845 - 410 pages
At head of title: The Apocryphal books of the Old Testament proved to be corrupt additions to the Word of God.

Apocrypha Arabica by Margaret Dunlop Gibson - 1901

Roman Forgeries and Falsifications, Or, An Examination of Counterfeit OR Corrupted Record with Especial Reference to Popery
by Richard Gibbings - 1849 - 135 pages

A list of editions of the holy Scriptures and parts thereof
by Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan - 1861

A Protestant Dictionary: Containing Articles on the History, Doctrines ETC
by Charles Henry Hamilton Wright, Charles Neil - 1904 - 825 pages
The three additions made in the Apocrypha to the Book of Daniel are of no historical
value. ... The above-mentioned books are popularly "the Apocrypha.

The Ancestry of Our English Bible: An Account of ManuscriptS
by Ira Maurice Price - 1920 - 320 pages
... CHAPTER XII THE APOCRYPHA 98. The so-called apocryphal books cannot be overlooked
in any discussion of the antecedents of the English Bible.

The Evidences Against Christianity
by John Shertzer Hittell - 1857
Besides, we find that many books referred to it the Bible, are lost—and apparently
they were books divinely inspired : for we cannot-presume that an ...

An Inquiry Into the Scriptural Import of the Words Sheol, Hades, Tartarus
by Walter Balfour - 1825 - 340 pages
But as the Targums and the Apocrypha are appealed to in proof of this doctrine,
it might be deemed wrong in me altogether to overlook the argument...

Old Bibles: An Account of the Early Versions of the English Bible
by John Read Dore - 1888 - 395 pages
In the place where the Apocrypha ought to be, there is an address from the Synod
of Dort, ordering this portion of Holy Scripture to be omitted, ...

An abridgement of the Apocrypha
by Caroline Maxwell - 1828

The Difficulties of Romanism
by George Stanley Faber  - 1830 - 305 pages

On the canon of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament
by Christopher Wordsworth - 1848

The uncanonical and apocryphal scriptures, with introductions to the several books and fragments
edited by William Ralph Churton - 1884

The Bible of Bibles: Or, Twenty-seven "Divine Revelations
by Kersey Graves, Lydia M. Graves - 1879 - 440 pages

An Historical Account and Defence of the Canon of the New Testament by Sir William Davenant 1700

The Book of Enoch: Translated from the Ethiopic, with Introduction and Notes
by George Henry Schodde - 1882 - 270 pages

The suppressed Gospels and Epistles of the original New Testament of Jesus the Christ by William Wake and other Learned Divines

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The Christian Cross an Upright Pole or Stake

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From: Notes on the Gospels, critical and exegetical. St. Matthew

By Samuel Albert Griffiths 1879

"They crucified Him.”—The cross was an upright beam, intersected by a transverse one at right angles, generally in the shape of a T. In this case from the title being placed over the head, the upright piece probably projected above the horizontal one. To this cross our Saviour, being stripped of His clothes, was fastened by nails, driven through His hand and feet (although the feet were not always nailed). The body was not supported entirely by the nails, but rested on a piece of wood as a seat (sedilia) lest the hands should be torn from the nails. The upright post would only be sufficiently high to raise the body a foot or two from the ground.

In the preceding note I have given the common and traditional interpretation of the kind of cross used at the Crucifixion. But I ought to say that the Greek word STAUROS literally means a “pole” or “stake," and is generally used in this sense by Greek writers. So that it is quite possible, or I may say probable, that Jesus was crucified on a bare, upright stake or pole without any transverse beam, which would also entail less labour and trouble on the Romans, who commonly used this kind of death punishment.

From: Simon, Son of Man: A Cognomen of Undoubted Historicity By John Ira Riegel, John H. Jordan 1917

The word stauros, in classical Greek does not at all mean “cross,” but “stake,” “pole,” or “pale.” The word stauroein usually translated “to crucify,” meant in Attic Greek merely “to drive stakes," “to impalisade.” Only in ecclesiastical Greek has it come to designate one of the Roman methods of execution, “to gibbet,” “impale,” or “crucify.” It is not improbable that a temporary stauroma, a pale or palisaded enclosure, made of stauroi, or stakes, and which embraced a sanis, a scaffold or stage, with a trap door, was erected at the place of execution. Upon the trap door the condemned man was pushed out (anothein), and at the word, “Aphete!” “Let go!” the trap door was sprung and the unhappy victim was hurled down the Tarpeian rock.

The Christian Cross a Pagan Symbol - 70 PDF Books on DVDROM

Doddridge and Mayne on the Absurdity of the Trinity

 

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Doddridge: If any believer in the so-called tripersonal, or triune Deity, can but impart to us in plain, intelligible language, what He conceives the Trinity to be; surely...some among us might be able to apprehend his meaning; but it appears to me, that our Trinitarian friends are in a complete maze; and by their abortive attempts to elucidate, only add to the puzzling confusion of perfectly unintelligible names and expressions. In preparing for this Discussion, I met with a variety of Trinitarian epithets, a few of which I noted down, and shall now read them to the Meeting, as specimens of folly in departing from the language of commonsense. The Trinity is, by trinitarian writers, said to be--

Three substances, three divine hypostases, three essences—a trinity of divine personalities, principles, and perfections—three divine persons in a sense metaphorical-a unity in pluralities, and pluralities in unity-three priorities and co-equalities--God distinguished according to three considerations-a triunal distinction-three distinct relatives or relations-three different modes of subsistence-three divine intelligences, existences, beings-three impersonations existing under finite conditions --three somewhats--

together with a long list of equally unapprehensible, not to say nonsensical and ludicrous epithets and expressions, anything but creditable to those who employ them, since men of sense canuot form any clear conceptions of such idiosyncratic vagaries.

Rev. J. Mayne: As a Unitarian Minister, I would briefly say, many of us are of opinion, that the doctrine of the Trinity is altogether at variance with the Bible, with Reason, and with Commonsense; that it is quite as reasonable, and certainly less mischievous, to believe in Transubstantiation, in Priestly absolution, or, in Satanic ubiquity, than to believe that Three distinct persons can be One, or, that One supreme God can admit of participation in his Godhead. We feel it an insult to our understanding, for anyone to attempt persuading us, that a Son can be as old as his Father; that any Being can be his own Father, Himself, and his own Son; that a Being who was Born into life, Lived, and Died, was, or could have been, Uncreated, Eternal, Immortal—such incongruities and contradictions and impossibilities, we Unitarians tread under our feet, worshiping and acknowledging but One God, as taught in the Jewish scriptures, and but One Father, as revealed to us by our Brother Jesus, according to the Christian scriptures—and we look upon and denounce all other Gods as Idols!

Read the full transcript here

The Myles Coverdale Bible on This Day in History

Old English Bibles to Download (AV1611, Tyndale, Matthews, Coverdale)

This Day in History: The Coverdale Bible was printed on this day in 1535. It was compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete Modern English translation of the Bible (not just the Old Testament or New Testament), and the first complete printed translation into English. Before the King James Bible in 1611 the English speaking world had other Bibles as well, such as the Matthews Bible, the Taverner's Bible (more correctly called "The Most Sacred Bible whiche is the holy scripture, conteyning the old and new testament, translated into English, and newly recognized with great diligence after most faythful exemplars" by Rychard Taverner), the Great Bible (named for its size), the Bishops’ Bible and the Catholic Douay/Rheims Bible. The Bible that was first brought to America on the Mayflower was the Geneva Bible. All English translations of the Bible printed in the sixteenth century included a section or appendix for Apocryphal books (which the Catholics call the Deuterocanonical books) which usually include Baruch, the Prayer of Manasseh, the books of the Maccabees, 1 Esdras & 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the Rest of Esther, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach) the 151st Psalm etc. 

Coverdale Bible Video

These older Bibles were based on late manuscripts of the Greek, and some Bible translators simply translated from the Latin or the German. In the 1800's there were Bible translations that sought to correct that by using older newly found manuscripts, and these included official revisions of the King James (Authorized) Bible, such as the English Revised Version (1881) and the American Standard Version (1901). The public never really embraced these Bibles, still preferring the old King James version.  

See also: The History of the English Bible, 125 PDF Books on DVDrom

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