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

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СКАЧАТЬ Herd of Swine in that Country. If any Historians but the Evangelists had said so, none would have believed it. The Jews are forbidden to eat Swine's Flesh; what then should they do with Swine (which are good for nothing till they are dead) who eat neither Pig, Pork, nor Bacon? Some may say that they were kept there for the Use of Strangers: but this could not be; because that after the Time of Antiochus, who polluted the Temple with the Sacrifice of an Hog, the Jews[44] forbad, under the Pain of an Anathema, the keeping of any Swine in their Country. Perhaps it may be said, that the Gadarens, so call'd from the Place of their Abode, were not Jews, but neighbouring Gentiles, with whom it was lawful to eat, and keep Swine. We will suppose so, tho' it is improbable; but then its unlikely (without better Reason than at present we are apprised of) that our Saviour would permit the Devils to enter into a Herd of them to their Destruction. Where was the Goodness and Justice of his so doing? Let our Divines account for it if they can. It is commonly said of our Saviour, and I believe it, that his Life was entirely innocent, that his Miracles were all useful and beneficial to Mankind, and that he did no Wrong to any one. But how can this be rightly said of him, if this Story be literally true? The Proprietors of the Swine were great Losers and Sufferers; and we don't read that Jesus made them amends, or that they deserv'd such Usage from him. The Proprietors of the Swine, it seems upon this Damage done them by Jesus, desire him to depart out of their Coasts, to prevent farther Mischief; which was gentler Resentment, then we can imagine any others would have made of the like Injury. I know not what our Divines think of this Part of the Story, nor wherefore Jesus escaped so well; but if any Exorcist in this our Age and Nation, had pretended to expel the Devil out of one possess'd, and permitted him to enter into a Flock of Sheep, the People would have said that he had bewitch'd both; and our Laws and Judges too of the last Age, would have made him to swing for it.

      Without Offence, I hope, I have argued against the Letter of this strange Story of the holy Jesus; I should not have dared to have said so much against it, but upon the Encouragement of Origen and other Fathers, who say, we ought to expose the Absurdities of the Letter, as much as may be, to turn Men's Heads to the mystical and true Meaning.

      Let's hear then what the Fathers say to this Miracle. Origen's Commentaries on this Part of St. Matthew, and St. Luke's Gospel, are lost; otherwise unquestionably he would not only have told us, that he believed no more of the Letter of this Story, than he did of the Devil's[45]taking our Saviour to the Top of a Mountain, and shewing him all the Kingdoms of the World; but, as he is an admirable Mystist, would have given us curious Light into the Allegory and Mystery of it. But without Origen, we have enough in the other Fathers against the Letter of this Story.

      St. Hilary reckoning up all the Parts of this Miracle together, says of it, that it is[46] typical and parabolical, and written for our Meditation of what would be done hereafter by the holy Jesus. According to him, and other Fathers, the Madman is Mankind; or if they were two, they were Jew and Gentile at Christ's coming, who may be said to[47] be possess'd with Devils, in as much as they were under the Rule of diabolical Sins, and subject to the Worship of Δαιμονιων, false Deities, which we translate Devils. They were so fierce[48] as no Chains could hold them, because of their most furious Rage and Enmity to the Church, whom no Bonds of Reason could restrain from doing Violence to the Christians. They are said to be[49] naked, because they were destitute of the Clothing of the Spirit, and of Grace. And may be said to be among the[50] Tombs; because they were dead in Traspasses and Sins. After that Jesus had exorcis'd these diabolical Spirits out of the Gentiles, and brought them to their right Senses, which was upon their Conversion to the Faith; then a good Way off, some Ages after, did the like Devils, by divine Permission, enter into a[51] Herd of Swine, i. e. into Hereticks of impure Lives and furious Natures. What sort of Hereticks are meant, or whether they are not to be understood of Christians In general, let our Divines consider. But one would be apt to think that Ministers of the Letter are included, because the Letter of the Scripture is mystically call'd[52] Swines Food. I am not obliged to pursue the mystical Interpretation of this Parable (for so I will call it) thro' all its Parts, nor to say what is meant by the Sea, that the Swine are to be absorp't in; but leave our Divines to chew upon this mystical Construction given them in part, and to consider, whether there's not a Necessity for such an Interpretation to make the Story credible.

      And thus have I given you the Opinion and Exposition of the Fathers upon this Miracle, which they turn all into Mystery. If our Divines are still far adhering to the Letter of this Story, let them account for the Difficulties it is involv'd with. To cure Men violently distracted, and possess'd with Devils, is, whether it be miraculous or not, a good and great Work; but to send the Devils, who without Jesus's Permission could not go into the Herd of Swine, was an Injury done to the Proprietors, and unbecoming of the Goodness of the holy Jesus. Neither is there any other Way to solve the Difficulty, than by looking upon the whole, with the Fathers, as Type and Figure.

      If this miraculous Story had been recorded of Mahomet, and not of Jesus, our Divines, I dare say, would have work'd it up to a Confutation of Mahometanism. Mahomet should have been, with them, nothing less than a Wizard, an Enchanter, a Dealer with familiar Spirits, a sworn Slave to the Devil; and his Mussulmen would have been hard put to it to write a good Defence of him.

      When our Saviour was brought before Pilate to be arraign'd, try'd, and condemned, Pilate put this Question to the Jews, saying, What Evil hath Jesus done? If both, or either of the Stories above, had been literally true of Jesus, there had been no need of false Witnesses against him. The Merchants of the Temple were at hand, who could have sworn "that he was the Author of an Uproar and Riot, the like was never seen on their Market-Day; that they were great Sufferers, and Losers in their Trades; and, whether he or his Party had stolen any of their Goods or not, yet some were embezzled, and others damaged; and all thro' the outragious Violence of this unruly Fellow, against Law and Authority." If such Evidence as this was not enough to convict him of a capital Crime, then the Swine-Herds of the Gadarenes might have deposed, "how they believed him to be a Wizard, and had lost two thousand Swine through his Fascinations: That he bid the Devils to go into our Cattle, is not to be deny'd. And if he cured one or two of our Countrymen of a violent Possession, yet in as much as he did us this Injury in our Swine, we justly suspect him of diabolical Practices upon both."

      Upon such Evidence as this, Pilate asks the Opinion of the Jews, saying, What think you? If they all had condemn'd him to be guilty of Death, it is no wonder, since there is not a Jury in England would have acquitted any one arraign'd and accused in the like Case.

      It is well for our literal Doctors, that such Accusations were not brought against Jesus; or their Heads would have been sadly puzzled to vindicate his Innocence, and to prove the Injustice and Undeservedness of his Death and Sufferings. But for this Reason, if no other, that no such Crimes were laid to his Charge, I believe little or nothing of either of the seemingly miraculous Stories before us, but look upon them both as prophetical and parabolical Narratives of what would mysteriously and more wonderfully, and consistently with the Wisdom and Goodness of Jesus, be done by him. And so I pass to a

      3. Third Miracle of Jesus, and that is his Transfiguration[53] on the Mount. And this is the darkest and blindest Story of the whole Gospel, which a Man can make neither Head nor Foot of; and I question whether the Conceptions of any two thinking Doctors do agree about it. To say there is nothing in the Letter of this Story, we Believers must not, because St. Peter[54] says he was an Eye-witness of Jesus's Majesty, saw his Glory on the Mount, and heard the Voice out of the Cloud. But as Infidels will be prying into the Conduct of Jesus's Life, and forming their Exceptions to the Credibility or Probability of this or that part of it, so we Christians should be ready at СКАЧАТЬ