The Grounds of Christianity Examined by Comparing The New Testament with the Old

by George Bethune English

Thus is the passage perfectly consistent with those in the Old Testament, which affirm, (whether right or wrong is not my concern) the perfection and perpetuity of the Mosaic Law. Remember, are the last words of the last of the prophets, Malachi,—Remember the Law of Moses, my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb, with the Statutes, and Judgments. Also in the Psalms:—The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The Testimony of the Lord is faithful, bringing wisdom to the simple. The Precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart, and enlightening the eyes. The works of his hands are Truth, and Judgment. All his Precepts are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever: being done in Truth and Uprightness.

CHAPTER XIII.

EXAMINATION OF SOME DOCTRINES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT DERIVED FBOM THE CABALLA, THE ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY, AND THE TENETS OF ZOROASTER.

I have said in the preceding chapter, that Paul was well versed in Cabbalistic Learning, and not unacquainted with the principles of the Philosophy styled the Oriental; and to prove and exemplify this assertion, is the subject and intention of this chapter. None but the learned know, how much of Systematic Christianity is derived from the Cabbalism of the Jews; the Religion of the Magi of Persia; and the Philosophy of the Bramins of Indostan. I shall attempt to lay open these Theological Arcana, and make them known to those who ought to know what they have been kept in ignorance of.

Many of my readers have, no doubt, frequently puzzled themselves over these words of Pauls, Eph. v. 30:—For we are members of his (Christs) body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Because of this, a man shall leave his father, and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. This passage exemplifies the connexion between Christ and the Church, by that which subsists between a man and his wife; and this Paul calls a great mystery; and it no doubt must be a very mysterious passage to all those who are unacquainted with the cabbalistic notion to which it alludes, and refers. To illustrate the passage, and to prove that Paul raised his Cabbalism with his religion, I shall set down here the note of Dr. Whitby, the Christian Commentator, upon the text of Paul.

The learned Dr. Allix saith, The first match between Adam and Eve, was a type of that between Christ and his Church; and in this, saith he, the Apostle follows the Jewish notions. The Jews say, the mystery of Adam, is the mystery of the Messiah, who is the Bridegroom of the Church. These two persons, therefore, confirm the observation of Munster, that the creation of the woman from the rib of the man, was made by the Jews to signify the marriage of the celestial man who is blessed, or of the Messiah, with the Church; whence the Apostle applies the very words which Adam said concerning Eve his spouse, to the Church, who is the spouse of Christ; saying, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For the explanation of these words, take what follows:—The profoundest of the Jewish Divines, whom they now call Cabbalists, having such a notion as this among them, that sensible things are but an imitation of things above, conceived from thence, that there was an original pattern of love and union, which is between a man and his wife in this world. This being expressed by the kindness of Tipheret and Malchut, which are the names they give to the invisible Bridegroom and Bride in the upper world. And this Tiphiret, or the celestial Adam, is so called in opposition to the terrestrial Adam; as Malchut also (i. e., the kingdom) they call by the name of Chinnereth Israel the Congregation of Israel, who is, they say, united to the celestial Adam as Eve was to the terrestrial. So that in sum, they seem to say the same that Paul doth, when he tells us, that marriage is a great mystery, but he speaks concerning Christ and his Church. For the marriage of Tipheret and Malchuth, is the marriage of Christ, the Lord from Heaven, (the first man was of the Earth earthly, the second man is the Lord from Heaven, says Paul I Cor. xv.,) with his spouse the Church, which is the conjunction of Adam and Eve, and of all other men and women descended from them. Origen also seems to have had some notion of the relation of this passage to Adam and Eve, when he speaks thus:—If any man deride us for using the example of Adam and Eve in these words, and Adam knew his wife, when we treat of the knowledge of God, let him consider these words—This is a great mystery. Tertullian frequently alludes to the same thing, saying—This is a great sacrament, carnally in Adam, spiritually in Christ, because of the spiritual marriage between Christ and the Church.

Thus far Dr. Whitby, and the intelligent reader, who is acquainted with the dogmas and philosophy of Indostan, will not fail to see through this cloud, of words the origin of this analogy of Paul. The fact is, that in India and in Egypt, the Divine creative power which produced all things and energizes in everything, was symbolized by the Phallus; and to this day, in Hindostan, the operation of Diety upon matter is symbolized by images of the same; and in the darkest recesses of their Temples, which none but the initiated were permitted to enter: the Phallus of stone is the solitary idol, before which the illuminated bowed. This symbol, though shameful and abominable, is yet looked upon in India with the profoundest veneration, and is not with them the occasion of shame or reproach. It is, however, a blasphemous abomination; and the marriage between Christ and the Church ought not to have been thus illustrated by Paul, who reproached the heathen mysteries as works of darkness, which mysteries, in fact, consisted principally in exhibiting these symbols, and similar abominations.

But, it may be asked, what is the meaning of the other clause of the verse—what could Paul mean by the strong language, We are members of his body? of his flesh, and of his bones? Why, my reader, he meant, that Christians were really part of the body of Christ and if you desire to know How he imagined this union to be effected, I request you to see the 10th ch. of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, where at the 16th verse he thus writes to them:—The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation of the blood of Christ? The loaf (according to the Greek original) which we break, is it not a participation of the body of Christ? for, Because the loaf is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of that one loaf. Again, ch. xi. 19, For he that eateth, and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not distinguishing (or discovering) the Lords body; and in ch. xii. 27, he says to them, Ye are the body of Christ, and his members severally. (See the original of these passages in Griesbachs Greek Testament.) Thus you see, reader, that Paul considered Christians as members of his (Christs) body, of his flesh, and of his bones, because they partook of one loaf, which was the body of Christ. The Papists are in the right, and have been much slandered by the Protestants, for the doctrine of Transubstantiation, or at least the Real Presence, is as plainly taught in the New Testament, as the doctrine of the Atonement. You have seen what Paul believed upon this subject, and I shall corroborate the sense I put upon his words, by the words of Jesus, his master, and by quotations from the earliest Fathers.

Jesus says, John vi.—I am the living bread which came down from Heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, and the bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, contended among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus, therefore, said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, unless ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have not life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is verily food, and my blood is verily drink. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, (here is an oath) so he likewise that eateth me shall live by me.

This strange doctrine was the faith of the Primitive Christians, as is well known to the learned Protestants, though they do not like to say so to their weaker brethren.