Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His Discourses. Thomas Woolston

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СКАЧАТЬ was, &c. And I then really did design to speak to these Miracles, but upon Consideration, finding them most ludicrous Subjects according to the Letter, I forbear it at present, having no Inclination to put the Clergy quite out of all Temper. If any should say, this is Fear and Cowardice in me, I can't help it: But, for all that, now I have the Clergy in a tolerable good Humour for Liberty, I'll endeavour to keep them in it, and not disturb them by an hasty and unnecessary Provocation of them. Who knows not, that the Clergy, like an untamed Colt, that I have a mind to ride, may be apt to winch and kick, and may give me a Fall before I come at the end of my Journey, to the Disappointment of my Readers? They shall therefore be gently handled and stroak'd, till they are a little more inur'd to the Bit and Saddle: And for their Sakes will I postpone such Miracles as are most obnoxious to Ridicule, and at present chuse the aforesaid three, that of almost any in the Gospel may be most inoffensively treated on. I begin then,

      1. To speak to that Miracle of Jesus's[79] healing a Woman diseased with an Issue of Blood, twelve Years. To please our Divines, I will allow as much of the Truth of the Letter of this Story, as they can desire. The Fathers themselves, who are for turning the whole History of Jesus's Life into Allegory and Mystery, don't deny that a Woman was cured of an Hæmorrhage, after the Manner that is here described by the Evangelists. St. Augustin says[80] of this Miracle, that it was done, as it is related; and I have a greater Veneration for his Authority, than to gainsay it. But for all that, Infidels may and will take into Examination the nature of this Miracle, and if possible make little or nothing of it. And if I do this for them, it is not to do Service to Infidelity, but to turn Mens Heads to the mystical Use of it, for which it is recorded.

      As there is a particular Narration of this Miracle, among the few others, that are specified; so Reason should tell us, that if the Letter of the Story of Christ's Miracles, as our Divines hold, is only to be regarded, this is one of the greatest that Jesus wrought, or it would not be related by itself, but thrown into the Lump of all manner of Diseases, which He heal'd. And how then shall we come to the Knowledge of the greatness of this Miracle? Why, there are but two Ways to it, and they are,

      First, By considering the nature of the Disease, or the lamentable Condition of the Patient before Cure. And

      Secondly, By considering the Manner or Means by which the Cure was performed.

      If one or both of these Considerations don't manifest the Certainty of a Miracle, Infidels may conclude there was none in it.

      First, As to the nature of the Disease of this Woman, we are much in the Dark about it, and very uncertain of what Kind and Degree it was. St. Matthew writing of it, says the Woman was αιμορροουσα, that is, obnoxious to bleeding; St. Mark and St. Luke say of her, that ουσα εν ρευματε αιματος, she was in an efflux or running of Blood. But neither one nor the other of the Evangelists signify of what Degree her Hæmorrhage was, nor from what part of her Body it proceeded, nor how often or seldom she was addicted to it. It might be, for ought we know, only a little bleeding at the Nose, that now and then she was subject to: Or it might be an obnoxiousness to an Evacuation of Blood by Siege or Urine: Or it was, not improbably, of the menstruous Kind. Any of these might be the Case of this Woman for what's written; and I don't find that any of our Divines have determined of what sort it was. But a great Miracle is wrought, they think, in her Cure, without knowing the Disease; which Infidels will say is asserted at Random and without Reason, in as much as it is necessary to know the nature of the Distemper, or none truly and properly can say, there was a great, much less a miraculous Cure wrought.

      But supposing this Hæmorrhage proceeded from what Part of the Body our Divines think fit; How will they make a grievous Distemper of it in order to a Miracle? The Woman subsisted too long under her Issue of Blood, and bore it too well, for any to make her Case very grievous. Beza[81] will have it, that is was a constant and incessant Effusion of Blood that the Woman labour'd with. But this could not be, nor was it possible, as I suppose Physicians will agree, for Nature to endure it so long, or the Woman to live twelve Days, much less twelve Years under it.

      No more then, than some slight Indisposition can reasonably and naturally be made of this Woman's Distemper. And it would be well, if Infidels would rest here with their Objections against it. But what if they should say, that this Hæmorrhage was rather of Advantage to the Health of the Patient, than of Danger to her, and that the Woman was more nice than wise, or she would never have sought so much for Help and Cure of it? Some Hæmorrhages are better kept open than stop'd and dry'd up; and if Infidels should say, that this was a Preservative of the Life of the Woman, like an Issue, at which Nature discharges itself of bad Humours, Who can contradict them? Nay, if they should say that Jesus's Cure of this Woman's Hæmorrhage was a Precipitation of her Death, for she died some time after it, rather than a Prolongation of her Life, for she lived twelve Years under it, and was of good Strength, when she applied to our Saviour for Cure, or she could never have born the press of the People to come at him; Who can gainsay them? It is true she was very sollicitous for a Cure, and uneasy under her Distemper, or she would never have spent all she had on Physicians; which is a Sign, some may say, that her Disease was grievous, irksome, and dangerous, as well as incurable by Art. But Infidels will say, not so; for there are some slight cutaneous Distempers, sometimes issuing with a little purulent and bloody Matter, that nice Women will be at a great Expence for Relief, and are always tampering, and often advising about them, though to no Purpose: And if they should say that this was the worth of the Case of this Woman, Who can disprove it?

      In short then here is an uncertain Distemper both in Nature and Degree; how then can there be any Certainty of a Miracle in the Cure of it? Mr. Moore, the Apothecary, accurately describes the Diseases he pretends to have cured; and he is in the right on't so to do, or he could not recommend his Art, and aggrandize his own Fame. So the Bodily Disease of this Woman should have been clearly and fully represented to our Understanding, or we can form no Conception of Christ's Power in the Cure of it. And I can't but think that the Evangelists, especially St. Luke the Physician, had made a better Story of this Woman's Case, if Christ's Authority and Power had been to be urg'd from the Letter of it. It's enough to make us think, Christ cured no extraordinary and grievous Maladies, or the Evangelists would never have instanced in this, that so much Exception is to be made to. As then, reasonably speaking, there was no extraordinary Disease in this Woman cured, and consequently no great Miracle wrought; so let us now,

      Secondly, Consider the Manner of the Cure, and whether any Miracle is to be thence proved. The Woman said within her self,[82] that if she could but touch the Hem of Jesus's Garment, she should be made whole. And I can't but commend her, at this distance of Time, for the Power of her Faith, Persuasion, or Imagination in the Case, which was a good Preparative for Relief, and without which, it's certain, she had continued under her Disease. The Power of Imagination, it's well known, will work Wonders, see Visions, produce Monsters, and heal Diseases, as Experience and History doth testify. There being many Instances to be given of Cures performed by frivolous Applications, Charms, and Spells, which are unaccountable any other Way, than by the Imagination of the Patient. Against the Reason and Judgment of a Physician, sometimes the diseased will take his own Medicines and Benefit. And I don't doubt, but Stories may be told of Cures wrought, the Imagination of the Patient helping, by as mean a Trifle, as the Touch of Christ's Garments, and no Miracle talk'd on for it. Even in the ordinary, natural, and rational Use of Physick, it is requisite, that the Patient have a good Opinion of his Physician and of his Medicines. A good Heart in the Sick, tends not only to his Support, but helps the Operation of Prescriptions. As despair and dejection of Mind sometimes kills, where otherwise reasonably speaking, proper Medicines would cure; so a good Conceit in the Patient at other times, whether the Medicines be pertinent or not, is almost all in all. And if Infidels should say that this was the Case of this Woman in the Gospel; if they СКАЧАТЬ