MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION
By D. M. Canright
Bro. SMITH: The following I copied from the History of the Church by C. A. Goodrich.
D. M. CANRIGHT. “Origin, a conspicuous person, born A. D. 185 introduced a mode of explaining Scriptures which did much injury to the church. He supposed it was to be explained not in a literal, but in an allegorical manner; that is they had a hidden or figurative meaning. This hidden sense he endeavored to give, and always at the expense of truth. His method of explaining scripture was long after followed by many in the church and schools, and greatly tended to obscure the evangelical doctrines of the gospel. The errors of Origen were great. He was a learned man, but a most unsafe guide. He introduced, it is said the practice of selecting a single text as the subject of discourse. Cobham who was martyred by the Roman church, says, For the breaking of God's laws and commandments they never yet cursed me; but for their own laws and traditions most cruelly do they handle me and other men; and therefore both they and their laws by the promise of God shall be utterly destroyed.