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Page 50
�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 Lord�s 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 Griesbach�s
Greek Testament.) Thus you see, reader, that Paul considered
Christians �as members of his (Christ�s) 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.
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