TO the Firft of thefe Objections it may be anfwer'd, that Jefus, who knew what was in Man, might know this Infirm Man to be the Fittest Object on account of his Good Difpofition to receive and be thankful for fuch a Gracious Favour; or Jefus might confider him as more Helpless than the Reft, because (as the Man himself faid) he had no one, when the Water was troubled, to put him into the Pool; or if neither of these two Reafons will fatisfy Mr. W. that which St. John affigns fhould (one would think) be fufficient not only to answer his Queftion, but to have prevented it: for St. John ufhers in the Account of this Man's Cure with faying, Jesus knew that he had been now a long time in that Cafe, ver. 6. His Diftemper had continued on him for thirty-eight Years; and was not that a Circumftance to move Compaffion? Might not that juftify the fingling of him out of the Number, as the propereft Object

for Relief?

AND how does it appear from hence, that there was any want of Power in Jefus? for furely by the fame Power with which he healed One, if it was Miraculous, he might heal Many all Cures are alike to a Divine Hand: Admit that Jefus wrought one, and you must admit that he could have wrought more, if he had pleas'd: When it is faid that he could do no mighty works at Nazareth, Mark vi. 4. it is not meant that he had not Power to do them, as This Commentator on the New Teftament understands it (Difc. 2. p. 15.) but that Jefus did not or would not, because they, with whom he was, were not qualify'd with any Good Difpofitions to make a right ufe of them. If Mr. W. thould think this a Comment of my Own upon the Words, I could fhew it to be St. Matthew's, chap. xiii. 58. and support it better than He ever did any Comment of his Own; for I could give him Proofs (and those as many as he shall call for) that x dwazo muft in many paffages neceffarily have this fignification.

BUT Mr. W. is not fo foon fatisfy'd; for he goes on to fay, that St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke tell us fuch Stories of Jefus's bealing Power, as would incline us to think, that he cur'd all wherever he came, because he healed all manner of Difeafes, p. 50. They may incline a heedlefs Reader of their Gofpels to think fo, or a Captious one may fay this whether he thinks fo or not: For if the Evangelifts have faid that he healed all manner of Difeafes, does it follow from thence that they fay be beal'd all wherever he came ? if he cur'd fome who were Blind at one time, the Lame at another, and fo at different times cured the Difeas'd of every kind, or if he cur'd all forts at any one time, this is enough to make good the Affertion; all that can be concluded from it is, that there was no fort of Disease which Jefus did not fhew himself able to cure: and the Evangelifts exprefly

tell

Part IV, tell us the very contrary to what this Author concludes; for Inftance, St. Mark, chap. vi. 4. fays, that at Nazareth he could (i. e. would) do no mighty works, fave that he laid his Hands upon a few fick Folk and healed them; there were others therefore in the fame condition whom he did not heal. The Evangelifts (I grant) do often fpeak of Jefus's healing all manner of Difeafes as St. Matt. chap. xii. 15. fays, that, when the Multitude follow'd Jefus, he healed them all, and chap. xiv. 14. that when they followed him on foot out of the Cities into a Defert place, he was mov'd with Compaffion toward them and healed them. But fhould it not be confider'd, that in both thefe Cafes thofe, who were healed, were fuch as followed Jefus, and there. by manifefted their Belief that he was come from God, and was therefore able to heal them? In this firm perfuafion they left their habitations and came to him, as the Learned Bishop Chandler had exprefs'd himself, and thereby guarded his Affertion from that very Exception which Mr. W. has made to it: And was This the Cafe here, at the Pool? The great Multitude, that was prefent at it, Jefus found there when he paffed by; they came not to him, fo far from it that they lay there in hopes of being cur'd by other means than Jefus's Power. What then? if fome Evangelifts fay that Jefus healed all the fick that followed him, does St. John give a Contrary Account, when he tells us that at this Pool Jefus did not heal above one of those who did not follow him?

HIS fecond Objection to this Miracle is, that, because we don't know what the Man's Infirmity was, there neither is, nor can be prov'd to be any thing fupernatural in it. On the contrary I undertake to fhew, that, let the Infirmity have been of what fort foever he pleafes, provided he allows it to have been a Diftemper, there was a Miracle wrought in the Cure of it. The Original word derea is always in the Gofpels us'd on thefe occafions to fignify a Disease or Diftemper; and the Fathers generally thought this Man's to have been a Pally; but we will take the loweft Senfe of the Word, and fuppofe it was only a Weakness in his Limbs; yet confider that it was a Weakness of thirty-eight Years Continuance; and as it was a Confirm'd one, so it had prevail'd upon him to a Great degree, for he was forc'd to have his Bed or Chair brought along with him to the Pool fide. Such was his deplorable condition, and yet upon Jefus's only faying to him, Rife, take up thy Bed, and walk, we are told that he was immediately made whole, and took up his Bed and walked. The Cure, you fee, was effected in a Moment, and was fo Compleat an one, as that from being oblig'd to reft himself on his Bed, he was immediately able not only to walk, but to carry his Bed: and is there here no evident mark of a Supernatural Power in Jefus? No, fays Mr. W. P. 53. for Inftances may be given of Infirmities of a long Dura

tion,

tion, which in time, and efpecially in Old Age wear of. How Old Age fhould be a Cure, I am not at leifure to enquire; but allowing it, what are fuch Inftances to the purpofe here? for this Man's Infirmity is not reprefented as wearing off by time, but as healed in a Moment: and therefore Mr. W. contradicts the Evangelift, when he adds, Who knows but this was the Cafe of the Impotent Man; whofe Infirmity Jefus obferving to be wearing off, bid him be gone, and take up his Couch, for he would foon be made whole? Mr. W. may know that this was not the Cafe; for St. John tells him, that the Man was immediately made whole.

STILL Mr. W. has one Refuge; for he fuppofes, that fuch Cures as thefe may be perform'd without a Divine Power, by the Help of Imagination only, p. 35. This Topick he infifts upon here, and elsewhere in his Difcourfes, and therefore I fhall confider it diftinctly. That there may in many Cafes have been Cures of Chronical Diseases brought about by the help of a ftrong Imagination, this Author fuppofes; and I will not call his Suppofal in queftion. However this we may be Certain of, that in every Cafe, which we have any credible Account of, there is one Circumftance which plainly diftinguishes them from the miraculous Cures wrought by Jefus, viz. They were never effected at once, and in a Moment: But when Surprise, Joy, and a strong Faith that he should be cur'd, had fo work'd upon the Patient, as to give a new Turn and Motion to his Spirits, and to the Juices of his Body, he has only begun from that Moment to find an Amendment; and the Impreffion of the fame Paffions remaining ftrong upon him afterwards, he has recover'd by Degrees, and in Length of time the Cure has been compleated, Nature helping to finish what the Imagination had imperfectly begun: This may be affirm'd to be the true Account of all thofe Chronical Difeafes, fuch as the King's Evil, &c. which this Author fuppofes to have ever been cur'd by the Help of Imagination.

BUT it is Remarkable, that in this Miracle, which is before us, there is no Room to fuppofe any Help from the Imagination; for the Infirm Man did not fo much as know Jefus, even after he was healed; he wist not who it was, that had bid him take up his Bed and walk, as St. John affures us, Verse 13. and when Jefus faid to him at the Pool, Wilt thou be made whole? it is plain by his Answer (Sir, I have no Man when the Water is troubled, &c.) that he expected nothing less than to be heal'd by a Divine Power in Jefus. In this cafe then how could Imagination contribute to his Cure? It all lay the other way, against Jefus's Power, and if it operated at all, would more naturally have prevented a Cure than forwarded it. Let us never than be told for the future, that this Infirm Man's Cure was owing to Imagination, when it appears, that he knew not

who

Part IV. who Jefus was, and was waiting for Relief from another Quarter, of which too he almoft defpair'd.

FROM what has been faid, it may be concluded that the Cure, wrought by Jefus upon the Infirm Man, was and is prov'd to be a Supernatural one, whatever his Infirmity was ; and for this Conclufion, I have not only the Reasons beforemention'd, but Mr. W's own Confeffion, Difc. 4. p. 9. where, in the Blind Man's Cafe, he allows, that, if Jefus had us'd no Medicines, if with a Word of his Mouth he had cured the Man, and he had Inftantaneously recover'd, as the Word was spoken, here would have been a Real and Great Miracle, let the Blindefs or Imperfection of the Man's Sight before be of what kind or degree Joever. Every Circumftance, which he requires towards making a True Miracle in the Blind man's Cafe, is exactly found in this Infirm Man's; and therefore I hope that Mr. W. will be convinc'd, if not by what I have faid, yet by what he himself has faid, that the Literal Story of this Miracle fhews it to be a Real and Great one.

II. ANOTHER Miracle of Jefus, which gives great Offence to Mr. W. on Account of the Literal Story, is (m) his Healing the Paralytick, who was let down thro' the Roof of the House where Jefus was at Capernaum.

THIS Story he calls the moft Monftroufly Abfurd, Improbable, and Incredible of any, according to the Letter, p. 51. This is His way of entering upon every Miracle, he defcribes every one as the Worft; but the Reader has already feen fo much of his manner of handling Miracles, as not to be overborne with fuch a General Attack as This: What Mr. W. has to offer in proof of this Affertion, fhall be fully confider'd, after I have laid before the Reader in one view the True Circumstances of the Story.

JESUS came to Capernaum (Mark ii. 1.) and entring into a House where he had been accuftom'd to lodge, the People of the City hearing of it, gather'd together about the House in great Numbers, fo that there was no room to receive them, no, not fo much as about the Door, ver. 2. On this Occafion Jefus being within the House preached the Word to them: If he was in a Ground-Room, by the rares Tu Joan may be meant the Porch or Veftibule of the Houfe; but if he was in an UpperRoom (which is more likely), these Words may be understood of the Area, or Court-Yard, or Space between the Outer-Wall and the House itself: And in this Cafe it may be prefum'd, that he taught the Crowd from fome Window of the Upper-Room, fo as that those who were within the Room where he was, and

(m) Mr. W's Difcourfe 4. p. 51. The Story is recorded by St. Matt. chap. ix. St. Mark, chap. ii, and St. Luke, chap. v.

thofe

those who were Below in the Yard might all at once hear his Doctrine. The Story being filent about the Floor in which Jefus was, we may choose that Suppofition which most favours the Literal Account.

IT is well known both from the Sacred Writers and others, that the Jewish Houfes (as they always are in the Eastern Countries) were built low, having feldom above Two Floors or Stories; and that the Tops of them (called Suara) were not covered with floping Roofs as Ours are, but were flat, and furrounded with Battlements breast-high to prevent falling, as God himfelf had commanded, Deut. xxii. 8. Upon these flat Tops of their Houses the Jews us'd to walk in the Cool of the Day, as David did, 2 Sam. xi. 2. or to fit at any Hour of the Day under a Tent or other Cover to ferve them for a Shade; thus a Tent was pitch'd for Abfalom on the Houfe-Top, 2 Sam. xvi. 22. And it was not unusual with the Jews to perform Religious Worship there, for not only the Jews burnt Incense upon them to all the Hoft of Heaven, as Jerem. tells us, chap. xix. 13. bụt St. Peter is faid in Acts x. 9. to have been praying upon the Houfe-Top about the fixth Hour. And this Custom is farther confrm'd by the Command which our Saviour gave to his Difciples, Matt. x. 27. that, what they heard in the Ear, they Should preach upon the Houfe-Tops: Which Command feems to intimate too, that the Jewish Houfes were not_commonly higher than Two Stories, for otherwife the House-Tops would have been too high for any to have preached from them fo as to be heard.

AND as their Houses were thus Low, and the Roofs of them Flat, fo there was a Way from within the House out upon the Roof by a Pair of Stairs, at the Top of which was (n) a Door which lay even with the Roof, but was lifted up upon occafion for a Paffage out, and had no doubt fome fastening to fecure the Houfe from Thieves.

NOR was This the only way up to the Roof, for on the Outfide too of the Houfe, the Jews had (as well () as other Nations) a fix'd Pair of Stairs or Ladder, by which they could afcend from the Ground to the Roof without entring into the House.

THE former of thefe Affertions appears plainly from our Saviour's Advice to the Jews, when speaking of the Swiftness with which the General Deftruction was to overtake their Nation,

(n) See Lightfoot's Quotations to this purpose out of the Talmud, where it is called the Way of the Roof.

(o) Among the Greeks too the fame Custom feems to have prevail'd; for in the Phaniffe of Euripides, Antigone goes out of the Houfe, and by a xxipag made of Cedar mounts up to the Roof, as may be seen by comparing ver. 99, 100 and 201 together.

he