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manner of Difeafes, in an Inftant, and at one fingle Immerfion, as the Waters of Bethesda are reprefented to do. And therefore, waving all fuch Suppofitions, we may be allow'd to fet the Authority of an ancient Father of the Moft pro- Church against thefe modern Names, bably and fay, "That the Angel, which Action of "defcended at a certain Seafon, gave an Angel. "the Water its medicinal Virtue; for

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"the Nature of the Water was not "fanative in itself, (if it had, Cures. "would have always happened) but "the whole depended on the Virtue "communicated to it by the Angel.

That God has frequently employ'd the Ministry of Angels in Affairs of this. kind; and that Angels, thus employ'd, by their natural Powers and Faculties are qualified to execute his Will; that they are strong, quick, and penetrating, as the Wind, as Lightning, as a flame of Fire, and are therefore oft in Scripture exprefs'd by thefe Metaphors; and that, by means imperceptible to us, they can difpofe the Temperature of the Air, and order the Influence of all other Elements fo, as to produce Effects, either hurtful or fanative to human Bodies, is evident from a great variety of Instances, that might be produc'd, both out of

Vid. Theophylag. in C. 5. Foban. Evang..

of the Old and New Teftament.

But

why God, at this Time more especially, vouchfafed the Jews fuch an Angelick Favour and Difpenfation, as this at the Pool of Bethesda, is not so easy a matter to refolve.

at this

Favour to the Jews.

The Jews, we know, had been God's Why God peculiar People, and honoured with ma- time only ny fignal Tokens of his divine Prefence vouchfaamong them; 9 but now thefe were no fed this more. All Prophecy, the Urim and Thummim, and the miraculous Fire from Heaven were entirely ceas'd; and therefore it may be fuppos'd, that in fome measure to supply the want of these, in order to keep up a lively Senfe of God's Providence among them, and to fhew, that he had not abfolutely deferted his People, this miraculous Defcent of an Angel, at certain Seafons, or of fome Power equivalent to it, was vouchfafed them. But there is not the like Reafon for any fuch Miracle now, when God • bath Spoken to us by his Son, and by him given us a compleat and final Revelation of his Will.

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If however the End of this Angelical why it Defcent was to keep up the Senfe of a cur'd but divine Providence among the Jews, then was this End better anfwer'd, by the Cure of one Perfon only, at every ComU 2

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1 Bp. Smallbroke's Vind. f. 504.

Heb. i. 2.

motion of the Water, than by the Cure of Multitudes at once: And the Reason is, because the Cure of one Perfon only, at one time, evinc'd that the Effect was miraculous; whereas, upon Supposition, that many Perfons had been cured at once, thefe Cures might have been imputed to the natural Virtue of the Water, either as it was impregnated with fome fort of Mineral, or as the warm Entrails and Blood of the Jewish Sacrifices might give it a Balsamick and healing Quality. * Had Numbers been cur'd at once, I fay, the Sceptick then might have ask'd, "Where is the Won"der of this? Do not many Medicinal "Baths cure various kinds of Diseases, "and Multitudes of fuch, as labour "under each Disease, provided their "Cafe be curable? Had one only in"deed been cur'd, the firft that could ઠંડ get in, after the troubling of the Wa

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there would have been then a "great and real Miracle? But now the "Numbers make the Fact fufpicious: "It feems to have been a natural Qua"lity in the Waters, because it is fo "univerfal. To make it appear a "Miracle, its Effects fhould have "been confin'd and limited to particu"lar Times, and Perfons, or other" wife

*Dr. Pearce, Part 4. p. 14.

"wife fo circumftantiated, as that the "Power of God, and not of blind Na

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ture, might have been apparent in "it." But all this Language is effectually filenc'd by the Method, which the wife Providence of God took in this Cafe.

ed.

What the stated Times of the Angel's At what Defcent were, in order to confer a Cure Times it happenon fome particular Perfons; or what Care the Magiftrates of Jerufalem took, in order to diftribute the Cures, according to every one's Merit or Exigence, the Evangelift has not thought fit to acquaint us; because these are Circumftances no ways affecting -our Saviour's Cure of the Impotent Man, which was his chief Concern to relate.

He tells us however that there was a Place of Reception for the Sick and Impotent Folk, very convenient for their ftepping down into the Water upon its Commotion; and, 'tis generally conjectur'd, that this Commotion happen'd once every Year, and, probably, about the Time of the Paffover, when Jefus perform'd this Cure upon the Impotent Man.

But even fuppofing the Impotent Man No Folly to know all this, viz. That the Angel in the im defcended but once a Year; that, upon Man

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'Bp. Smallbroke's Vind. p. 513, &c.

fuch

potent

fuch Descent, one only Person was to be healed; and that he himself stood in no fair Competition for that Benefit; yet, fince his Cafe was defperate, and his for wait Malady incurable by Phyfick, he had ing folong nothing indeed elfe to do, but to wait at

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the Pool, in hopes of fome Success at laft. His Profpect, at prefent, was not very promifing; but who could tell, but that, in Time, he might prevail with some kind Friend or other to help and affift him into the Pool, at the proper minute of Commotion? And accordingly, fome have observ'd, that, by his Answer to our Saviour's Question, [Wilt thou be made whole?] Sir, I have no Man, when the Water is troùbled, to put me into the Pool; he means no more, than modeftly to defire him (whom at that time he did not know) to fupply his want of an Affistant, by putting him into the Pool himself at a proper Seafon.

And this, by the way, fuggefts a good Reason, why, out of the Multitude of infirm People, that lay at this Pool, our Saviour made choice of this Man only, namely, because he was peculiarly unqualify'd for a Cure by the Waters, on account, both of his own natural

in Lo

Vid. Theophylact, in Loc. & Erafmi Paraph.

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