Giordano Bruno, Martyr for the Trinity

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This day in history: Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake on this day in 1600 for the crime of heresy. His crimes were believing in the heliocentric system of the universe, but mostly for his denial of eternal damnation, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. Martyrs for denying the Trinity is something I cover in my anthology book listed below. Shameless plug? Yes.
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"Unitarians do not find in the Bible or in reason any warrant for accepting the doctrine of the Trinity; they believe that Jesus represented himself as being, not God the Son, but the son of God, our brother, the reconciler of man to God, not of God to man. They believe that history makes it clear that the early Christian church was not Trinitarian, but Unitarian, and that the doctrines of the deity of Christ and of the Trinity came into Christianity only by degrees, and as corruptions from outside,- never being accepted by the church in any authoritative way until the council of Nicea in the year 325. They also believe that in this manner the doctrines of vicarious or substitutional atonement, total depravity, the infallibility of the Bible, etc., came in from without as corruptions of the Christian stream, and at points that are easily traced. Hence a leading aim of Unitarianism in all its later history has been to get back to the simplicity and purity of the teachings of Christ.

In the great controversy that culminated at Nicea, Athanasius was the leader of the Trinitarian party, and Arms of the Unitarian. The decision was long doubtful, but was finally turned by the Emperor Constantine in favor of the Trinitarians. Trinitarianism being thus adopted as the state religion, Unitarianism began to decline; and after the rise of the Roman Catholic church was gradually crushed out. However, Ulfilas, the eminent missionary to the Goths in the fourth century, was a Unitarian, and the Gothic nations continued to hold Christianity in its Unitarian form for several centuries.

With the revival of letters, and especially with the appearance of the Protestant Reformation in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Unitarianism reappeared and came somewhat prominently to the front. Many noted scholars, writers, preachers, and martyrs of those times were Unitarians; among them being Servetus, Lelius and Faustas Socinus, Bernardino Ochino, Blandrata, and Francis David. The celebrated Giordano Bruno, though not calling himself a Unitarian, was in the exact line of Unitarian thought. As the Roman Catholics persecuted the Protestants, so both Catholics and Protestants combined to persecute the Unitarians." The Unitarian, 1890

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Unitarians in History by Minot Savage 1898

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Unitarians in History by Minot Savage 1898

THROUGH the lack of having made themselves familiar with the matter, there is a common and, I think, a widespread impression among people generally that Unitarianism is a new-fangled notion, a modern fad, a belief held only by a few, who are one side of the main currents of religious life and advance.

Even if it were new, even if it were confined to the modern world, this would not necessarily be anything against it. The Copernican theory of the universe is new, is modern. So are most of the great discoveries that characterize and glorify the present age.

But in the case of Unitarianism this cannot be said. It is not new: it is very old. And, before I come to discuss and outline a few of its great principles, it seems to me well that we should get in our minds a background of historic thought, that we may see a little what are the sources and origins of this Unitarianism, and may understand why it is that there is a new and modern birth of it in the modern world.

All races start very far away from any Monotheistic or Unitarian belief. The Hebrews are no exception to that rule. The early part of the Bible shows very plain traces of the fact that the Jews were polytheists and nature-worshippers. If I should translate literally the first verse of the Bible, it would read in this way: In the beginning the Strong Ones created the heavens and the earth. "The word that we have translated God is in the plural; and I have already given you its meaning. This is only a survival, a trace, of that primeval belief which the Jews shared with all the rest of the world."

From this polytheistic position the people took a step forward to a state of mind which Professor Max Muller calls henotheism; that is, they believed in the real existence of many gods, but that they were under allegiance to only one, their national Deity, and that him only they must serve.

I suppose this state of thought was maintained throughout the larger part of the history of the Hebrew nation. You will find traces constantly, in the early part of the Old Testament, at any rate, of the belief of the people in the other gods, and their constant tendency to fall away to the worship of these other gods. But by and by all this was outgrown, and left behind; and the Hebrew people came to occupy a position of monotheism, spiritual monotheism, that is, they were passionate Unitarians, so far as the meaning of that word is concerned. Though, of course, I would not have you understand that many, perhaps most, of the principles which are held today under the name of Unitarian were known to them at that time, or would have been accepted, had they been known.

In the sense, however, of believing in the oneness of God, they were
Unitarians.

Now, when Christianity comes into the world, what shall we say? It is the assumption on the part of most of the old- time churches that Jesus made it perfectly plain to his disciples that he was a divine being, that he claimed to be one himself, and that the claim was recognized.

So far, however, as any authentic record with which we are familiar goes, Jesus himself was a Unitarian. All the disciples were Unitarians. Paul was a Unitarian. The New Testament is a Unitarian book from beginning to end. The finest critics of the world will tell you that there is no trace of any other teaching there. And so, for the first three hundred years of the history of the Church, Unitarianism was its prevailing doctrine.

I have no very good memory for names. So I have brought here a little leaflet which contains some that I wish to speak of. Among the Church Fathers, Clement, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and Lactantius, all of them in their writings make it perfectly clear and unquestioned that the belief of the Church, the majority belief for the first three centuries, was Unitarian. Of course, the process of thought here and there was going on which finally culminated in the doctrine of the Trinity. That is, people were beginning more and more to exalt, as they supposed, the character, the office, the mission of Jesus; coming more and more to believe that he was something other than a man, that he was above and beyond humanity.

But one other among the Fathers, Justin Martyr, one of the best known of all, takes care to point out explicitly his belief. I will read you just two or three words from it. He says: "There is a Lord of the Lord Jesus, being his Father and God, and the Cause of his existence."

This belief, then, was universal, practically universal, throughout the first three centuries. But the process of growth was going on which finally culminated in the controversy which was settled by the Council of Nicaea, held in the early part of the fourth century; that is, the year 325. The leaders of this controversy, as you know, were Arius, on the Unitarian side, and Athanasius, fighting hard for the doctrine then new in the Church, of the Trinity.

The majority of the bishops and leading men of the Church at that time were on the side of Arius; but at last the Emperor Constantine settled the dispute. Now you know that the sceptre of a despotic emperor may not reason, may not think; but it is weightier than either reason or thought in the settlement of a controversy like this at such a period in the history of the world. So Constantine settled the controversy in favor of the Trinitarians; and henceforth you need not wonder that Unitarianism did not grow, for it was mercilessly repressed and crushed out for the next thousand years.

Unitarianism, however, is not alone in this. Let me call your attention to a fact of immense significance in this matter. All this time the study of science and philosophy, that dared to think beyond the limits of the Church's doctrine, were crushed out. There was no free philosophy, there was no free study of science, there was no free anything for a thousand years. The secular armed forces of Europe, with penalties of imprisonment, of the rack, of the fagot, of torture of every kind, were enlisted against anything like liberty of thinking.

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So you need not wonder, then, that there was neither any science nor any Unitarianism to be heard of until the Renaissance. What was the Renaissance? It was the rising again of human liberty, the possibility once more of man's freedom to think and study. Though the armed forces of Europe were for a long time against it, the rising tide could not be entirely rolled back, and so it gained on human thought and human life more and more. And out of this the Renaissance came, the new birth of science, on the one hand, and on the other, issuing in the Reformation's assertion of the right of thought and of private judgment in matters of religion; and along with this latter the rebirth of Unitarianism, its reappearance again as a force in the history of the world.

During this Reformation period there are many names of light and power, among them being Servetus, whom Calvin burned because he was a Unitarian; Laelius and Faustus Socinus, Bernardino Ochino, Blandrata, and Francis David; and, more noted in some ways than any of them, Giordano Bruno, the man who represents the dawn of the modern world more significantly than any other man of his age, not entirely a Unitarian, but fighting a battle out of which Unitarianism sprung, freedom of thought, the right of private judgment, the scientific study of the universe, the attempt, unhampered by the Church's dogma or power, to understand the world in which we live.

As a result of this Renaissance, what happened? Let me run over very rapidly the condition of things in Europe at the present time, with some glances back, that you may see that Unitarianism has played just as large a part as you could expect it to play, larger and grander than you could expect it, considering the conditions.

In Hungary, one of the few countries where freedom of thought in religion has been permitted, there has been a grand organization of the Unitarian Church for more than three hundred years, not only churches, but a Unitarianism that has controlled colleges and universities and directed the growth of learning.

Let us look to the North. In Sweden and Norway it is still a crime to organize a church that teaches that Jesus is not God. So we may expect to find no Unitarian churches there; though there are many and noble Unitarian men, thinkers and teachers. Come to Germany. There are no organized Unitarian churches under that name here; but there is a condition of things that is encouraging for us to note. There is a union of the Protestant organizations, in which the liberals, or Unitarians, are free, and have their part without any question as to their doctrine.

There are hundreds and thousands of Unitarians in South Germany. In the city of Bremen I called on a clergyman who had translated one of my books, and found out from him the condition of things there. The cathedral of Bremen has half a dozen different preachers attached to it. Some of them are orthodox, and some are Unitarian, all perfectly free; living happily together in this way, and the people at liberty to come and listen to which one of them they choose. This is not an uncommon thing in Germany. That is the condition of things, then, there.

In Holland there are no Unitarian churches, no churches going by that name; but there are thousands of Unitarians particularly among the educated and leading men, and one university, that of Leyden, entirely in control of the liberal religious leaders of the country.

When you come to France, which you know is dominantly Catholic, you still find a large body of Protestants; but one wing of their great organization is virtually if not out and out Unitarian. And a few of the most noted preachers of the modern time in France have been Unitarians. I have had correspondence with men there which showed that they were perfectly in sympathy with our aims, our purposes, our work.

In Transylvania and Poland there were large numbers of Unitarian churches which were afterwards crushed out.

You find, then, all over Europe, all over civilization, just as much Unitarianism as you would expect to find, when you consider the questions as to whether the law permits it and as to whether the people are educated and free.

I should like, not for the sake of boasting, but simply that you may see that you are in good company, to mention the names of some of those who are foremost in our thought. Take Mazzini, the great leader of Italy; take Castelar, one of the greatest men in modern Spain; take Kossuth, the flaming patriot of Hungary, all Unitarian men.

Now let us come a step nearer home: let us consider England, and note that just the moment free thought was allowed, you find Unitarianism springing into existence. Milton was a Unitarian; Locke, one of the greatest of English philosophers, a Unitarian; Dr. Lardner, one of its most famous theological scholars, a Unitarian; Sir Isaac Newton, one of the few names that belong to the highest order of those which have made the earth glorious, a Unitarian.

And, then, when we come to later England, we find another great scientist, comparatively modern, Dr. Priestley, who, coming to this country after he had made the discovery of oxygen which made him famous for all time, established the first Unitarian church in our neighbor city of Philadelphia.

The first Unitarian church which took that name in the modern world was organized in London by Dr. Theophilus Lindsey in 1774; and its establishment coincides with the great outburst of freedom that distinguished the close of the eighteenth century.

You must not look for Unitarians where there is no liberty; for it is a cardinal principle of their thought and their life.

Soon after the London movement, the first Unitarian church in this country was organized, or rather the first Unitarian church came into existence. It was the old King's Chapel of Boston, an Anglican church, which came out and took the name Unitarian.

There is a very bright saying in connection with this old church, which I will pause long enough to repeat, because there is a principle in it as well as a great deal of wit. They kept there the old English church service, except that it was purged, according to their point of view, from all Trinitarian belief. It is said that Dr. Bellows, who was attending a service there some years ago, had with him an English gentleman as a visitor. This man picked up the service, looked it over, and, turning to Dr. Bellows, with a sarcastic look on his face, said, "Ah I see that you have here the Church of England service watered." Whereupon Dr. Bellows, with his power of ready wit, replied, No, my dear sir, not watered, washed. King's Chapel, then, was the first Unitarian church in this country. But the number grew rapidly, and in a few years perhaps half, or more than half, of the old historic Puritan and Pilgrim churches in New England had become Unitarian, including in that number the old First Church of Plymouth.

Now, before I go on to discuss the principles underlying our movement, I wish to call your attention to a few more names; and I trust you will pardon me for this. There is no desire for vain-glory in the enumeration. I simply wish that people should know, what only a few do know, who have been Unitarians in the past, and what great names, leading authoritative names in the world's literature and science and art, find here their place.

Among the Fathers of the Revolution, all the Adamses, Dr. Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and many another were avowed Unitarians. And, when we come to modern times, it is worth your noting that all our great poets in this country, Bryant, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, and in this city Stedman, are Unitarian names.

Then the leading historians, Bancroft, Motley, Prescott, Sparks, Palfrey, Parkman, and John Fiske, are Unitarians. Educators, like Horace Mann, like the last seven presidents of Harvard University, Unitarians. Great scientists, like Agassiz, Peirce, Bowditch, Professor Draper, Unitarians. Statesmen and public men, like Webster, Calhoun, the Adamses, the Hoars, Curtis. Two of our great chief justices, Marshall and Parsons. Supreme Court Judges, Story and Miller. Literary men, like Whipple, Hawthorne, Ripley, and Bayard Taylor; and eminent women, such as Margaret Fuller, Lydia Maria Child, Lucretia Mott, Helen Hunt Jackson, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe.

I mention these, that you may know the kind of men, ethical, scientific, judicial, political, literary, who have been distinguished, as we think from our point of view, by being followers of this grand faith of ours.

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Albert Schweitzer on Matthew 28:19, 20 and Baptism

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From: The Quest of the Historical Jesus by Albert Schweitzer

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are no evidence that Jesus intended to found a new religion. In the first place the genuineness of the command to baptize in Matt. xxviii. 19 is questionable, not only as a saying ascribed to the risen Jesus, but also because it is universalistic in outlook, and because it implies the doctrine of the Trinity and, consequently, the metaphysical Divine Sonship of Jesus. In this it is inconsistent with the earliest traditions regarding the practice of baptism in the Christian community, for in the earliest times, as we learn from the Acts and from Paul, it was the custom to baptize, not in the name of the Trinity, but in the name of Jesus, the Messiah.

But, furthermore, it is questionable whether Baptism really goes back to Jesus at all. He Himself baptized no one in His own lifetime, and never commanded any of His converts to be baptized. So we cannot be sure about the origin of Baptism, though we can be sure of its meaning. Baptism in the name of Jesus signified only that Jesus was the Messiah. "For the only change which the teaching of Jesus made in their religion was that whereas they had formerly believed in a Deliverer of Israel who was to come in the future, they now believed in a Deliverer who was already present."

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The Mysteries of the Great Pyramid - 100 PDF Books to Download

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Contents:

The Great Pyramid had fascinated men in the 19th century, especially where it concerned bible prophecy, especially with statements like:

"So, then, if we measure backward down the 'First Ascending Passage' to its junction with the 'Entrance Passage,' we shall have a fixed date to mark upon the downward passage. This measure is 1542 inches, and indicates the year B.C. 1542, as the date at that point. Then measuring down the 'Entrance Passage' from that point, to find the distance to the entrance of the 'Pit,' representing the great trouble and destruction with which this age is to close, when evil will be overthrown from power, we find it to be 3416 inches, symbolizing 3416 years from the above date, B.C. 1542. This calculation shows AD. 1874 as marking the beginning of the period of trouble; for 1542 years B.C. plus 1874 years AD. equals 3416 years. Thus the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1874 was the chronological beginning of the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation -- no, nor ever shall be afterward. And thus it will be noted that this 'Witness' fully corroborates the Bible testimony on this subject..."Thy Kingdom Come
Millennial Dawn, vol. III
(1891-1904 editions), page 342

The Contents of the Disk are:

The Pyramid and the Bible; the rectitude of the one in accordance with the other
by William Mackenzie - 1868

The Divine Plan of the Ages and the Great Pyramid by Charles Taze Russell 1913

The Millennial Dawn by Charles Taze Russell - 1898
WHY OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS. — THE GREAT PYRAMID A STOREHOUSE op TRUTH —
SCIENTIFIC, HISTORIC AND PROPHETIC. — BIBLE ALLUSIONS TO IT. ..

Tabernacle Shadows of the "better Sacrifices"
by Charles Taze Russell- 1899 - 134 pages

Studies in the Scriptures by Charles Taze Russell
"The Great Pyramid in Egypt is a Witness to all these events"

The Solution of the Pyramid Problem: Or, Pyramid Discoveries.
by Robert Ballard - 1882 - 100 pages

Great Pyramid Passages Vol 2 1913 edition
Great Pyramid Passages and Chambers, Volume 2 (1913 edition). By John and Morton Edgar. The Edgars were associates of Charles Taze Russell and wrote this treatise in defense of Russell's views on the prophetic symbolism of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh in Egypt.

Life and work at the Great pyramid
Charles P. Smyth - 1867

The Great Pyramid: Observatory, Tomb, and Temple
by Richard Anthony Proctor - 1883 - 320 pages
 
Pyramid facts and fancies by James Bonwick - 1877

The origin and significance of the Great pyramid by Charles Staniland Wake - 1882

Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid, Ed
by Charles P. Smyth - 1874

Horus in the Pyramid Texts
by Thomas George Allen - 1916 - 76 pages

A Miracle in Stone: Or, the Great Pyramid of Egypt
by Joseph Augustus Seiss - 1877 - 340 pages

Freemasonry from the great pyramid of ancient times, lectures by Thomas Holland - 1885

The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy
by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 1897
To know the full septenary significance of the " Primordial Circle," the pyramid
and the Kabalistic Bible must be read in the light of the figure on which ...

New Light from the Great Pyramid: The Astronomico-geographical System by Albert Ross Parsons - 1893 - 410 pages

Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences
edited by Cora Linn Morrison Daniels, Charles McClellan Stevens- 1903

The Great Pyramid Jeezeh
by Louis Phillipe McCarty - 1907 - 580 pages

Freemasonry in the Holy Land: Or, Handmarks of Hiram's Builders
by Robert Morris - 1872 - 600 pages

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Occultism Simplified: Or, The Mystic Thesaurus.
by Willis F. Whitehead - 1899 - 90 pages

Three Books of Occult Philosophy Or Magic by Willis F. Whitehead- 1898 - 280 pages

Numbers: Their Occult Power and Mystic Virtue by William Wynn Westcott - 1890 - 50 pages

The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Translation and Commentary
by Peter Le Page Renouf, Edouard Naville - 1904 - 370 pages

Egyptian [mythology]
by Wilhelm Max Müller, James George Scott- 1918 - 440 pages

Great Pyramid Passages Second Edition (Volume 1) by John & Morton Edgar 1923

Pyramid Chart of the Ages by Charles Russell

Great Pyramid: It's Spiritual Symbolism by Edgar Morton 1923

The Riddle of the Sphinx - Fun in Philosophy by Goerge Campion 1914

The Great Pyramid of Gizeh: A Symbol of Universal Truth by J Munsell Chase 1916

The Pillar of Witness - A Scriptural View of the Great Pyramid by Ben Tracey 1876

A Manual for the use of Students in Egyptology by Edward Yorke McCauley 1881

An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary with an index of English words, List of Kings and Geological List with index, List of Hieroglyphic Characters, Coptic and semitic alphabets 1920 Volume 1

THE GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT FROM A MODERN SCIENTIFIC POINT OF VIEW. By C. P. Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland (article in The Quarterly Journal of Science, Volume 8) 1871

Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning by Thomas Troward 1913

For the Great Pyramid is a Bible in stone, and there can be no doubt that it is this marvel of the ages which is referred to in the nineteenth chapter of Isaiah, where it says — "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt."

The Mysteries of Numbers, article in the Bible Review 1908 (

"I find that the first word of the Bible gives the same value...as number, reads: 2, plus 200, plus 1, plus 300, plus 10, plus 400, i.e, 913. Thus, the whole volume has its base line laid in the sign of the mystic pyramid, and of its base—a marvelous thing, indeed, in the deep wisdom and thaumaturgy of God.)

The Great pyramid rises on the earth over 9131 inches. Bible begins in a word (first) =913-1."

Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery in the Source of Measures by J. Ralston Skinner 1875

The Occult Sciences in the Temples of Ancient Egypt - Article in the Masonic Review 1887

The Great Pyramid and Napoleon: A Masonic Study By Harry R. Evans 1895

The Religion of the Great Pyramid, article in the Living Age Magazine 1877

The Book of Abraham - Its Geniuneness Established (Pyramid References to Astronomical Truths) article in The Latter Day Saints Millenial Star 1879

The Great Pyramid and the Book of the Dead, article in the Babylonian & Oriental Record 1894

On the Antiquity of Intellectual Man, from a Practical and Astronomical Point of view (1868) by Charles P. Smyth (a sequel to his work on the Great Pyramid)

Pyramid Prophecies and Egyptian Events, article in the Gentleman's Magazine 1882

Papers on the Great Pyramid by JV Day 1870

The Mystery of the Pyramids, article in The Popular Science Monthly 1877

Remarks on two Pyramid Papers By P. Smyth 1868

The Queen's Chamber in the Great Pyramid, article in American Journal of Science 1871

The Scientific & Religious Discoveries in the Great Pyramid by Edgar Morton

Kings and Gods of Egypt by Alexandre Moret 1912

Ancient Egyptian Legends by M. Murray 1920

The Occult Science in the Temple of Ancient Egypt, article in The Open Court 1888

The Great Pyramid, its Accuracy of Workmanship a Fact of Superlative Significance, article in The Theosophical Path 1921

The Prehistoric World - Vanished Races, by EA Allen 1885

The Gospel in the Stars by Joseph Augustus Seiss 1882

The Problem of the Great Pyramid, article in The Living Age 1879

The Pyramids of Ghizeh, article in The Library Magazine 1880

Recreations in Mathematics, with 60 Illustrations By H. E. Licks 1917

The Imaginary Metrological System of the Great Pyramid by F Barnard 1884

Anglo-Israelism & the Great Pyramid by Bourchier Wrey Savile 1880

On Some Points in Certain Theories Concerning the Purpose and Primal Condition of the Great Pyramid by John Vincent Day 1868

New Theory of the Great Pyramid by Dr Robert Morris 1871

The Great Pyramid of Egypt by C P Smith 1871

New Measures of the Great Pyramid by C P Smith 1884

Pyramid Symbols by John B Schmalz 1911

Complete method of pyramid building by Joseph Paskovsky 1919

The playing cards embody a scientific record of the great pyramid, by John B Schmalz 1905

The Historical Landmarks and Other Evidences of Freemasonry, Volume 1 by George Oliver - 1867

The Historical Landmarks and Other Evidences of Freemasonry, Volume 2 by George Oliver - 1867

Earth's Earliest Ages and their Connection with Modern Spiritualism and Theosophy by GH Pember 1889

The Message from the King's Coffer by Ronald Temple 1920

A Book on Building, Civil and Ecclesiastical by Edmund Beckett 1876

Old and New Astronomy by Richard A Proctor 1892

Application of the Mosaic system of Chronology in the elucidation of mysteries pertaining to the "Bible in stone," known as the Great Pyramid of Egypt by Edward B Latch 1895

Philitis - a condensed account of the recently discovered solution of the use and meaning of the Great Pyramid by Charles Casey 1880

The Egyptian Pyramids - an Analysis of a Great Mystery by Everett W Fish 1880

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

A History of Architecture in all Countries from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Volume 1 by James Fergusson 1874

A History of Architecture in all Countries from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Volume 2 by James Fergusson 1874

The Origin Of Masonic Ritual And Tradition by William Rowbottom 1899

A Short History of the Egyptian Obelisks by WR Cooper 1877

Ophiolatreia: an account of the Rites and Mysteries connected with the origin, rise, and development of Serpent Worship in Various Parts of the world 1889

An Important Question in Metrology based upon recent and Original Discoveries: a challenge to "the Metric System." and an earnest word with the English-speaking peoples on their ancient weights and measures by Charles A.L. Totten 1884

Is the Great Pyramid of Gizeh a Metrological Monument? By James Young Simpson 1868

The Early Weights and Measures of Mankind by Charles Warren 1913

The Great Pyramid and Napoleon by Harry R. Evans 1895

Encyclopaedia of superstitions by Cora Daniels

The Great Pyramid and the Book of the Dead, article in Babylonian & Oriental record 1894

Myths and Marvels of Astronomy by Richard Proctor 1889

Human Origins by Samuel Laing

Veiled mysteries of Egypt by SH Leeder 1913

The Religion of Ancient Egypt by WM Petrie 1906

The Mummy - chapters on Egyptian Funereal Archaeology by EA Budge 1893

Egyptian Excavations and Mummies, article in Nature Magazine 1881

Archeological Superstitions, article in The Architect 1876

The Seal of History - our inheritance in the Great Seal of "Manasseh," the United States of America, its History and Heraldry, Volume 1 by Charles A.L. Totten 1897

The Seal of History - our inheritance in the Great Seal of "Manasseh," the United States of America, its History and Heraldry, Volume 2 by Charles A.L. Totten 1897

Archaeology and the Bible by George A Barton 1916

The Great Pyramid: By Modern Science an Independent Witness, to the Literal Chronology of the Hebrew Bible by Charles Lagrange 1894

Wonders of Architecture by R Donald 1886

A History of Architecture, Volume 1 by Russell Sturgis 1907

A History of Architecture, Volume 2 by Russell Sturgis 1907

A History of Architecture, Volume 3 by Russell Sturgis 1907

A History of Architecture, Volume 4 by Russell Sturgis 1907

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Jesus a Unitarian

From The Synoptic Gospels by C. G. Montefiore 1909

On Matthew 28:19, 20

19. The date must be somewhat late. The old apostles knew nothing of a command to make all the nations Christian. Jesus devoted himself, and probably desired them to devote themselves, exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But now the Jews have rejected and killed their would-be Saviour. And so, the salvation they spurned is to be given broadcast to the world  at large. Such would be the meaning of Matthew.

Still more surprising is the order to baptize, and the Trinitarian formula. This is the only mention of the Trinity in the authentic text of the New Testament. But it has been shown by Mr Conybeare that the present reading is probably a late interpolation. Originally the verse ran: 'Go and make disciples (MAQHTEUSATE) of all nations in my name, teaching them to observe,' &c. Jesus had never made baptism a condition of discipleship. After his own baptism by John we hear of the rite no more. The history and origin of the conception of the Trinity lie outside the story and the age of Jesus. As Mr Bamford says, Jesus was an ardent and convinced Unitarian.

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Missing Verses in the New World Translation

MasterAcc0 writes:
I am just quite curious as to why the NWT Left Out a few distinct parts in  the scriptures. I am aware that I John 5:7 is controvertial in many  respects, and many do not believe that it was part of the true texts, but  what about   John 5:4 of which the NKJV says "For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the  water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was  made well of whatever disease he had."

Reply: You don't have these scriptures because you don't have the New World Translation Reference Bible where you will find these (albeit in the foototes). This verse is not included in P66[Bodmer2 200 C.E.], P75[Bodmer14,15 200 C.E.], Codex Sinaiticus [4th Cent. C.E.], Vatican Ms 1209, [4th Cent. C.E.], Bazae Codices[5th, 6th Cent. C.E.], Jerome's Latin Vulgate[405 C.E.] and the Curetonian Syriac[5th Cent. C.E.]

Matthew 17:21  "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

Reply: This scripture is not included in the Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Curetonian Syriac and the Sinaitic Syriac Codex.

 Matthew 18:11  "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost."

Reply: Again this is ommited in Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209 and the Sinaitic Syriac Codex.

Matthew 23:14  "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows'  houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the  greater damnation."

Reply: This verse is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Bazae Codices, Jerome's Latin Vulgate, Sinaitic Syriac Codex and the Armenian Version 4th to 15th Cent.

Mark 7:16  "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear."

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus and Vatican Ms 1209.

Mark 9:44  "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."   Mark 9:46  "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

Reply: Both these verses are omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Codex Ephreami rescriptus 5th cent. C.E. and the Freer Gospels 5th Cent. C.E.

Mark 11:26

Reply:This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Freer Gospels and the Sinaitic Syriac Codex.

Mark 15:28

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Codex Alexandrinus and the Bezae Codices.

Mark 16:9-20 (all 12 verses)

Reply:These are omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Sinaitic Syriac Codex and the Armenian Version.

Luke 17:36

Reply:This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Codex Alexandrinus, Freer Gospels and P75.

Luke 23:17

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Alexandrinus, Vatican Ms 1209 and P75.

Acts 8:37

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Ephraimi, P74, P45, Vulgate and the Syriac Peshitta 5th Cent. C.E.

Acts 15:34

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Codex Alexandrinus and P74.

Acts 24:7

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Codex Alexandrinus, Vulgate and P74.

Acts 28:29

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209 and Codex Alexandrinus.

Romans 16:24

Reply: This is omitted by Codex Sinaiticus, Vatican Ms 1209, Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Ephraemi and P46.

  I am quite concerned in finding that many verses are missing from the NWT. I  am in awe. Why??? I am sure that there is just cause, but it troubles me in  wondering. If you have any inside knowledge of what reason the translators had to remove so much, please tell. 

Reply: Again, these verses are not missing in Reference Edition, the first edition and the CD-ROM edition of the NWT. But they are missing in a lot of manuscripts and other versions and translations such as the RSV, Smith& Goodspeed, RV etc. Most others have them in brackets or in the footnotes.
My KJV and NKJV study Bibles also have footnotes against these verses.
The 1611 edition of the KJV also has variant readings [i.e. Acts 7:20 etc]  and admissions of manuscript uncertainty in the margins [i.e. Luke 17:36, Luke 10:22], so it should not trouble you or anyone else. Consider yourself "put at ease".

The Intellectual Scandal of the Trinity Doctrine

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By John Mackinnon Robertson 1905 (Letters on Reasoning)

The Christian creed affirms that Deity consists of three "persons" which are perfectly distinct yet perfectly one; not three Gods, but one God; yet not one person but three; one being Father, the second Son, and the third Holy Spirit. Now, it is quite possible so to paraphrase the bare formula "Trinity in Unity" as to make it intelligible: you have only to say that "person" means in the strict Latin sense persona, a character or function, and that one Deity is "three persons" in the sense that he "plays three parts" or has "three character aspects." But such a rationalisation is not orthodox Christian doctrine; every intelligible compromise of the kind has been branded as antitrinitarian heresy; and the Trinitarian creeds continue to insist on the personality of the three "persons" in the normal sense of the term. The creed is in fact avowedly an affirmation of the unintelligible: the Christian is called upon to accept it as an incomprehensible proposition; and the orthodox Christian does so accept it, avowing that he "believes" the doctrine as being given by supernatural revelation. The more thoughtful believers, on challenge, will say that they are satisfied on reasonable grounds (1) of the supreme wisdom of the Scriptures in general, (2) of the spiritual genius of multitudes of the men and women who have accepted the dogma; or, if they be Roman Catholics, they may put it (3) that they are by historical study satisfied of the fulfilment of the Gospel promise of divine-indwelling to "the Church"; and that on that score they believe what the Church officially teaches.

You will readily see, I think, the rational answer to such avowals. In the first place, the assent given to the dogma is merely nominal: it is not belief; it is a make-believe. The proposition that three literal persons are literally one— that three separate Almighties are but one Almighty—is believed by nobody, let him say what he will. The "believing" Christian is either playing the part of a parrot or is spending his life in alternation between the two "heresies" of Tritheism and Sabellianism. And the final solution of this strange dispute is to be found in realising why men came to set up such an astonishing shibboleth, and to maintain it. Broadly speaking, it was in this wise. Long before Christianity, priesthoods found their advantage in grouping as husband and wife and child, or in some other relation, deities who had been separately worshipped; or in distinguishing among a multitude of deities sets who had long been reputed to be so related. The beginnings of the idea probably lie in the remotest ages of human culture, when Gods and Goddesses of Sun and Earth, River and Field, were figured in terms of human personalities and relationships. As a result of all that primeval guesswork, Triads were common in the Babylonian and Egyptian world before our era.

In the earliest Christian documents the Triad idea is not present; it arose, like most of the rites of the cult, by way of assimilation of convenient doctrines from other systems; men trained in Egyptian and Syrian mysticisms turning the formulas of these to the uses of the new system. We need not here ask whether they were "dishonest" or merely "confused." In our strict sense of the term they were both; they could not be "sincere" because their intellectual processes were so undisciplined, so lax, so incompetentOnce set up, however, the trinitarian formula became a stumbling-block for the more intelligent theologians; and many of these sought to rationalise it in some such fashion as I have above indicated. But to do this was to put in jeopardy one or other of the elements of the faith on which its prestige appeared to rest. If "the Son" were defined as a mere "phase" of the Deity, the gospel story in general and the doctrines of the divine sacrifice and the eucharist were resolved into mere avowed metaphors; the hold of the priesthood on the hopes and fears of the multitude would be gone; and with the faith would vanish the revenue. If, on the other hand, the separateness of "the Son" from the Father were alone insisted on, the monotheistic basis, emphasised in the Old Testament, would be upset, and Christianity would be only one school of polytheism competing with others. The insoluble dilemma was met by an unintelligible formula; the Church affirmed both sides of a contradiction; the religious habit sufficed to make the little-reasoning majority acquiesce; and there the dogma stands to-day, a shibboleth fit for savages, the intellectual scandal and demoralisation of the Christian system.

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