Theos 9 & 10

Chapter 9 – The Awakening Part Two

As the Little Horn’s reign was coming to an end, a burst of light flooded the
world from the printing of God’s word. Bibles were treasured and read by
all. The thoughts of learned men were published. The great reformation
shook the foundations of the Christian world and science came of age.

At this time, there were yet a few names even in Sardis who had not yet
defiled their garments with idolatry. These men made great strides in
coming forth from the darkness of the Middle Ages.

Isaac Newton [1667 – 1752 C E] was one such person. He turned his
attention toward the heavens and formulated gravity, celestial mechanics,
the science of optics and refractive light. To describe these concepts, he
invented calculus. But Newton was also deeply religious. His study of the
Bible led him to a view of God, which he placed in the middle between two
extremes. The Atheists, who were guilty of subtracting from God’s truth
and the trinitarians, whom Newton blamed for adding to God’s truth.

For decades Newton searched

through the annuls of church
history and concluded that the
primitive Christian had a faith that
believed in the one true God of the
Bible. He insisted that through
the introduction of an unbiblical
word – “homoousia” – Greek
philosophy and metaphysics
corrupted the original Christian teachings. Newton rejected both the
Nicene and Athanasian creeds; but accepted the Apostle’s Creed because he
believed it most closely conformed to the language of Scripture.
Around 1710 C E, he wrote his own confession of faith entitled: “Twelve
Articles on Religion”, relying strongly on the language of the Bible.

Article One – “There is one God the Father eternal, ever-living, omnipresent,
omniscient, almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, and one Mediator
between God and man, the Man Jesus Messiah” – 1 Timothy 2:5.

Article Two – “The Father is the invisible God whom no eye has seen or can
see …” – 1 Timothy 6:17.

Article Three – “The Father has life in Himself and has given the Son to
have life in Himself” – John 5:26.

Article Ten – “It is a proper epithet of the Father to be called Almighty, for
by God Almighty we always understand to be the Father. Yet this is not to
limit the power of the Son, for He does whatever He sees the Father do” –
John 5:19.

Article Twelve – “But to us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all
things and we of Him, and one Lord Jesus Messiah by whom are all things and
we by Him” – 1 Corinthians 8:6.

Newton observed that only the Father was truly and uniquely God. Yet the
Son is also to be worshiped. “We are to believe in one God the Father … and
in one Lord Jesus Messiah. And if He [Jesus] is our Lord and King, we may
certainly without idolatry give Him worship [Hebrews 1:6] which is due to
Him as our Lord and King. It is our duty to give Him such worship; … as the
Supreme King over all the creation next under God Almighty, the King who
sits at the right hand of God the Father [Ibid 8:1] and is therefore next to
Him in glory. He is the Lamb of God, whose eyes are the seven spirits of
God [Revelation 5:6] sent forth into all the earth and who alone of all beings
in heaven and earth and under the earth was worthy to receive the book of
prophecy [Ibid 5:9] from the right hand of God, of whose testimony is the
spirit of prophecy [Ibid 19:10]. He is the express image [Hebrews 1:3] or
oracle of the invisible God, in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells
bodily [Colossians 2:9]. We must worship the Father as the God, the Son as
Lord and Messiah. The Father as the Father Almighty, the first Author of
all things who have life and all knowledge and all power in Himself originally,
and cannot die. The Son as the Son of God who has received life and
knowledge and power from the will of the Father. He [Jesus] was called ‘the
Firstborn of every creature’ [Colossians 1:15] to denote the ante mundane
generation of His spiritual body.”

Newton discovered that 1 John 5:7 known as the “Comma Johanneum” and
one of the main supports for the trinity was a textual corruption introduced
into Greek manuscripts only two centuries earlier. He wrote a treatise on it,
first in the French language, and had it published in France in order to avoid
from being identified. In it, he noted, “The human race is prone to
mysteries, and holds nothing so holy and perfect as that which cannot be
understood and for that reason to like best what they understand the least.
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and
confusion of things.”

In the 1726 edition of his “Principia” – his famous treatise on gravity and the
laws of thermodynamics – Newton expanded on his view of the one true God
in a section called “The General Scholium”. By analogy, Newton compared the
most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed
from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.

“This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world but as Lord over
all. And on account of His dominion, He is wanted to be called Lord God.
‘God the Father’ was ‘King of kings’, Lord of the dominant, Lord of hosts, God
of gods, and finally God and head of Messiah Himself [1 Corinthians 11:3].
Seeing He is lifted up by God Himself over all things.”

It was a surprising discourse on his personal theology in the closing days of

Newton’s life.
 William Whiston, Sir Isaac
Newton’s associate,
became Newton’s
successor at Cambridge
College. Whiston is best
known, however, for his
translation of the works
of Josephus. Less known,
but no less important, is
the impressive collection
of Scripture and actual source documents in Greek and Latin and his use of
the literal rule of interpretation. His 1711 C E account of the faith of the
first two centuries begins with the first of twenty-two articles modeled
closely after Newton’s twelve.

“There is but one loving, supreme, living, eternal, infinite, omniscient,

omnipotent and invisible God. The Father of our Lord Jesus Messiah. The
Origin of all beings and the Creator of all creatures.”

Whiston, like Newton, observed that “Almighty is an Epithet only belonging

to God the Father” and provided eight Bible texts to support his findings [2
Corinthians 6:18; Revelation 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:14; 19:6; 21:22].
Commenting on 1 John 5:20, he wrote, “I interpret this verse, whether as
commonly read, or whether as here from the Alexandrian and sixteen other
copies [Greek script], not of the Son, but of the Father, that He and none
else is the true God of the Christians, because (1) this is the constant,
original, primitive style of the Church, that the Father alone is [Greek
script] the true God.”

In article six, Whiston addressed the begotten Son of God: “Jesus Messiah
is [Greek script] Logos Theos, the first begotten of all creatures, the
beginning of the creation of God i.e. a Divine Being or Person created, or
begotten by the Father before all ages; or before all subordinate creatures,
visible and invisible.”

Though Whiston’s use of the word, “created” was treated as equivalent or

equal as “begotten”, the language of the Bible, it nonetheless earned him
censure and dismissal from his academic position. Whiston, like Newton,
preferred the words of scripture over philosophical language.

“I shall desire anyone to show me the least syllable in the first ages
concerning this ‘mystery of the trinity’, till philosophy crept into the church,
and men became so foolish as to leave the wholesome words of sound
doctrine, derived from Revelation, for the vain jangling and metaphysical
jargon of weak and bewildered philosophers. Philosophy was sufficient to
make men doubt of everything, and to dispose them to reject the plainness
of the duties on account of the absurdities of the doctrines of Christianity.
God have mercy upon His church, and in His due time restore us our old,
plain, practical Christianity again.” Whiston’s prayer was soon answered.

John Gill, the English Baptist, and

Calvinist minister, wrote in his
commentary on Hebrews chapter one,
verse 5: “Messiah is the Son of God, not
by creation, nor by adoption, nor by
office, but by nature; He is the true,
proper, natural, and eternal Son of God;
and as such is owned and declared by
Jehovah the Father, in these words; the
foundation of which relation lies in the
begetting of Him [Jesus].”
Not an incarnational Son of God since Bethlehem, but the eternal Son of God
by nature, owned by Jehovah in the begetting of Him.

Chemist Joseph Priestly also

identified the one true God of the
Bible. In 1787 C E, he produced a
four-volume “History of Early
Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ”.
This was compiled from original
writers, proving that the Christian
Church was first Unitarian. But
Priestly, famous for discovering the
element oxygen – 02- failed to
discover the Son of God in truth [2
John 1:3]. He saw God as only an
adoptive Father and His Son but a
mere man. Not the Word in the
beginning with God [John 1:1] or
having the glory of the Father before the world was [John 17:5]; nor Jesus
Messiah by whom God created all things [Ephesians 3:9].

Two years later, John William Fletcher,

a retired college superintendent for
the Methodist cause, appealed to
Priestly to consider divine inheritance
as the basis for the Son’s equality with
the Father.

“From this common, equal, and full

participation of the highest titles, and
most distinguishing perfections of the
Supreme Being, it follows that the Son
(with respect to Deity) is as perfectly equal to the Father, though all the
Sons’ deity came from His Divine Father. As Isaac (with respect to
humanity) was equal to Abraham, though all the humanity of Isaac came from
his human parent.” John Fletcher, An Expostulatory Letter to the Rev. Dr.
Priestly, Chapter 3, 1788.

The age of enlightenment and discovery included the inquiring minds of men
like Newton, Whiston, Gill, Priestly, and Fletcher. Fertile soil was being
plowed for a nineteenth century harvest of belief in the begotten Son of
God based on the plain words of the Bible, revealing His divine birth in
eternity and inheriting all things from His Father – the one true God.

Chapter Ten – Thomas Jefferson

A remarkable development occurred in America at the beginning of the

nineteenth century. A convergence of inquiry and liberty spawned from the
American Revolution gave rise to a new sense of independent thought and
individual conscience. Not only in matters of political resolve, but also in
personal religious convictions.

On March 4, C E 1801, Thomas

Jefferson became the third
President of the United States.
Jefferson, author of the
Declaration of Independence,
architect, lawyer, and inventor,
wrote his own version of the
Gospel which he titled: “The
Life and Morals of Jesus of
Nazareth”. This book is better known as “The Jefferson Bible”.

After his second term in office, he penned many letters expressing his
religious views. To his predecessor John Adams, in 1813 C E, he wrote: “It is
 too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend
they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three
are one and one is three, and yet that the one is
not three and the three are not one; to divide
humanity by a single letter into homo ‘ouoysians’ and
homo ‘ouoiysians’. But this consists the craft, the
power, and the profit of the priests.

In 1822 C E, Jefferson confided to Dr. Benjamin

Waterhouse: “The doctrines of Jesus are simple,
and tend all to the happiness of man. # 1 – that
there is one only God, and He
all perfect. # 2 – That
John Adams there is a future state of
rewards and punishments. # 3 – That to love God with
all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, is the sum of religion.”

Jefferson then made a bold prediction. “I rejoice

that in this blessed country of free inquiry and
belief, which has surrendered its creed and
conscience to neither kings nor priests, the
genuine doctrine of one only God is reviving. And
I trust that there is not a young man now living in
the United States who will not die a Unitarian.”
Dr. Benjamin It is clear that Jefferson favored the primitive
Waterhouse belief of one God the Father. His letter to
James Smith in 1822 C E was
sent. I wish “to express my
gratification with your efforts for the revival of primitive
Christianity in your quarter. No historical fact is better
established, then that the doctrine of one God, pure and
uncompounded, was that of the early ages of Christianity. … Cerberus
The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God like another Cerberus, with one body
and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands upon
thousands of martyrs. And a strong proof of the solidarity of the primitive
faith, is its restoration, as soon as a nation arises which vindicates to itself
the freedom of religious opinion, and its external divorce from the civil
authority. The pure and simple unity of the Creator of the universe, is now
all but ascendant in the Eastern States. It is dawning in the West and
advancing toward the South, and I confidently expect that this present
generation will see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United
States.”

What evidence did Jefferson have that gave him such confidence that the
genuine doctrine of the one only God was reviving? What was happening in
the East, West and South? The rise of a group called the “Christian
Connection”.

In the 1846 C E book, “Rise, Progress, and Principles of Christian Anti-

trinitarianism”, this group is described as “a very considerable body of
religionists.” Who, rejecting all names, appellations, and badges of distinctive
party among the followers of Messiah, simply called themselves ‘Christians.’”

They were composed of three groups which arose simultaneously in the East,
the West and the South, just as Jefferson described. They had no prior
contact with each other, but upon learning of the other’s existence, and
through correspondence, they realized each group held the same doctrinal
convictions.

The first group separated from the North Carolina Episcopal Methodists in
C E 1793. At first, they called themselves “Republican Methodists”, but
soon resolved to be known only as “Christians”, and to acknowledge no head
over the Church but Messiah and no creed or discipline but the Bible.
Only a few months later, Abner Jones, a
Baptist in Hartford, Vermont, was also
convinced that sectarian names and human
creeds should be abandoned. He determined
to make the Bible the only source from which
he drew the doctrines he taught. In
September C E 1800, he and twenty-five
others formed a church upholding these
principles. Within a few years other like-
minded churches sprung up around New
England.

In the same year a revival which began at

Cane Ridge was sweeping the Presbyterians of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Barton Stone and several other members withdrew from the Kentucky synod
and agreed to take the Holy Scriptures as their only written rule of faith
and practice. At first, they took the name “Springfield Presbytery”. But by
1803 C E, they, too, decided to be known only as Christians. Barton Stone
had much to say about the Son of God.

“The Son of God! The first-begotten of the

Father born of Him in the ages of eternity,
before time was born or measured by revolving
spheres – before creation lived. The Son of God
in the bosom of the Father, in immeasurable
bliss. The Son of God! By whom were made the
innumerable worlds that bespangle the
firmament. By whom were made all the happy
orders of angels, principalities and powers, that
blaze around the throne of God. They bow and
worship at the feet of their Maker, and their
ceaseless praises roll from their tongues … The
Son of God! At whose smile His holy creation is transported, at whose frown
His enemies do tremble. The Son of God! Enthroned at the right hand of
the Father … Behold the Son of God! A helpless, weeping Babe in Bethlehem,
wading through seas of distress through His life, hated, insulted, persecuted
by the poor creatures of His power, and objects of His love. View the Son
of God, suffering, bleeding, dying on the cross. All nature shuddered at the
sight. It is not a mere man that suffers and dies. It is the Son of God!
Under the power of death, He lies in Joseph’s tomb. Here is humiliation! A
theme of astonishment and praise.”

Barton Stone and his fellow Christians soon spread with remarkable rapidity
through all the Western States. Within the space of eight years, the three
branches had arisen on their own.

In C E 1811, the Vermont Unitarian Baptists united with the Republican

Methodists in the South to form the General Convention of Christian
Churches. Shortly thereafter, the western Christians united as the
Christian Connection. Their motto: “In essentials – unity; in nonessentials –
liberty; and in all things – love.” Probably no other religious body ever has a
similar origin.

They shared an amazing similarity of beliefs. David

Millard of Western New York published his 214-
page treatise in C E 1823, entitled, “The True
Messiah in Scripture Light”. In it he wrote of the
Christian Connection. “With very few exceptions,
they are not trinitarians, averring that they can
neither find the word nor the doctrine in the Bible.
They believe ‘the Lord our Jehovah is one Lord and
purely one. That Jesus Messiah is the only-
begotten Son of God. That the Holy Ghost is that
divine unction with which our Saviour was anointed,
the effusion that was poured out on the day of Pentecost; and that it is a
divine emanation of God, by which He exerts an energy or influence on
rational minds. While they believe that Jesus Messiah is the Son of God, …
“… Their prevailing belief is that Jesus Messiah existed with the Father
before all worlds [were formed].”

In 1806 C E, Matthew Henry published

his Bible Commentary, in which he
recognized the Son’s origin in John
8:42. “He was the Son of God; ‘I
proceeded
forth from
God’ –
exelthon.
This means
His divine excellence, or origin from the Father,
by the communication of divine essence.”

In 1807 C E, Henry Grew became pastor of the

First Baptist of Hartford, Connecticut. From his
study of the Bible, Henry took his place between
the Unitarians and trinitarians by accepting the
literal and divine Son of God, begotten before all
things. In 1824 C E, he published an examination
of the divine testimony concerning the character
of the Son of God in Hartford CT, the epicenter
of the Eastern Christian Connection.

With a gentle yet persuasive manner he appealed

to his readers: “The faithful Witness …
addressing His Father plainly and positively
declares the Father to be the only true God.
Please consider the testimony of the inspired apostle in 1 Corinthians 8:6. It
is not only that ‘there is but one God,’ but that this one God is the Father.”

Noah Worchester, in 1802 C E, was the

first Congregational missionary to New
Hampshire. Eight years later in
Connecticut he published his book “Bible
News or Sacred Truths Relating to the
Living God, His Only Son, and the Holy
Spirit”. In it he disclosed his discovery
that “the doctrine of the three-one-God
has no foundation in the Bible.” He
wrote: “I have believed that the Son of
God is a distinct Being from His Father.”
Like Thomas Jefferson, Noah confidently
believed “… that the time is not too far
distant when the doctrine that Messiah
is really God’s [literal] Son, will not, by Christian ministers, be classified
among damnable heresies.”

“They must believe that He [Jesus] is the Son of God in a lower sense of the
terms. Consequently, if my sentiment be degrading to Messiah, there’s must
still be more degrading. It has not been common to make any distinction
between derived existence and created existence. But in the present case
the distinction appears very important. Adam was a
created being; Seth derived his existence from the
created nature of Adam, and therefore it is said,
‘Adam begat a son in his own likeness’ [Genesis 5:3].
So, it is believed, that the only-begotten of the
Father derived His existence from the self-
existent nature of God.”
Abner Jones, one of the founders of the Christian Connection, echoed the
same thought in C E 1829 to the church of the United Brethren in Christ:
“Messiah proceeded forth from the same substance of the Father, and is of
the same divine nature with His Father and essentially united with Him in
creation, providence and grace.”

The same year, William Kincaid appealed to 1

Corinthians 8:6 and 1 Timothy 2:5. “To us,
there is but one God the Father of whom are
all things, and we in Him. And one Lord Jesus
Messiah by whom are all things, and we by Him.
This is like saying, ‘There is but one President
in this country … from whom all executive
power originates; and one Secretary of State,
by whom the whole department of State is
regulated.’ God the Father is the prime source
of all things. Messiah is the instrumental
cause of creation and redemption. And there
is one God, and one Mediator between God and
men, the man Messiah Jesus [1 Timothy 2:5]. The Father and Son are two
distinct Beings … If Jesus is also supreme God, He cannot be the Mediator
between God and men. … The Mediator is ten-thousand times greater than all
the men on Earth and all the angels in Heaven, and the next greatest Being in
the universe to God the Father. And the Scripture informs me that all
power in Heaven and Earth is given to Him, and that He is able to save to the
uttermost [Hebrews 7:25]. I can feel no hesitation to trusting my soul to
His care.”

The rapid growth of the Christians is seen in the numbers they could count
as of 1844 C E. Fifteen-hundred churches with preachers, and membership
of about three-hundred twenty-five thousand [325,000]. It was estimated
that probably not less than five-hundred thousand [500,000] in America had
adopted their general views – even Thomas Jefferson.