natural Incapacity to fep in first him-
felf, and of his Poverty, in having none
to affift him in ftepping into the Pool
" He was,
upon its firft Commotion.
in fhort, an Object moft to be compaf-
fionated of any in the Place, and more
efpecially fo, as he had been now a
very long time in this Condition, and
yet still depended upon the good Pro-
vidence of God for an Opportunity to
be cur'd, at one time or other; for
which Reafon our Saviour might very
juftly fingle out him, and leave the reft
to the fanding Miracle.

Chrift

cur'd but

one out of

To cure whole Multitudes at once Why indeed founds more popular, and carries the Face of more extenfive Goodnefs: But, befides that our Saviour fo many. might very probably, in this Cafe, conform to the Rule of Cure, establish'd providentially at Bethesda, which was to heal but one Perfon at one Time. His great Defign, in every Action of this kind, we know, was to prove his Character and Commiffion from God, to which End, one fingle and unconteftible Miracle was as fufficient an Evidence, as a Thousand. The Truth is, as he was a free Agent, he had certainly a Liberty to beftow his Favours as he pleas'd, and to chufe fuch particular Objects

U 4

" Bp. Smallbroke's Vind. p. 525.

The Nature of his

Objects of Cure, as he, at any time, fhould think fit, confiftently with the great End and Defign of all his miraculous Cures, which was to give a clear Atteftation of his Divine Authority. And that the Cure, now before us, was fuch, an Atteftation, will beft appear by confidering a little the Nature of the Distemper itself,

The Word aveia, which we render Difeafe, Infirmity, or Weakness, is indeed a geand its neral Name for almost all Diftempers; Incurable- but here it is fo limited in its Significaness. tion, by the Circumftances mention'd in the Context, that it can properly denote no other Difeafe, than what we call a confirm'd Pally. w For do the Symptoms of any other Diftemper fo exactly agree with the Description given of this Infirmity, both in point of fo long Continuance, and fuch extreme Weakness at the fame time? Does not the Word Weakness, in its moft obvious Senfe, exactly answer to fuch a Relaxation of the nervous System, or fome part of it, as made the Man uncapable of ftepping quick enough from the Place, where he lay, into the adjacent Pool, upon its Commotion? And (what is no mean Circumftance) does not our Savi

W

Bp. Smallbroke's Vind. p. 533.

our.

our make use of the fame Form and Method of Cure to this very Man, that he applies to other Paralyticks, Rife, take up thy Bed, and walk; a Form very proper to Perfous thus diftemper'd, both to express the Weakness of their paft Condition, and the Compleatness of their prefent Cure?

Thefe Symptoms, and concurring Circumftances, (as I take them) are a fufficient Proof, that the Distemper, here under debate, was the Palfy: And that a confirm'd Palfy of thirty and eight Years Continuance is paft the Power of Art, (much more the Power of Imagination) to remedy, and only curable by a Miracle, no Phyfician, I think, can doubt: And therefore, to look back upon what has been faid.

clafion of

Answer.

The Miracle of the Pool of Bethesda, The Sum, being a diftinct thing from our Saviour's and Con Cure of the impotent Man, that he the found there; tho' we are not strictly whole accountable for every Difficulty occurring in that Story, yet fince, whether we fuppofe that the fanative Virtue of its Waters was of a short or long Connuance among the Jews, very good Reasons may be given for the Silence of Jofephus concerning them; very good Reasons, why their Virtue, at this

Time,

* Matt. ix. 6. Mark ii. 2. Luke v. 24. John v. 2.

Time, rather than any other, proceeded from the Operation of an Angel, and not from any natural Caufe; and (to ascertain the Miracle) why their Virtue was imparted to no more, than one Perfon at once: Since the impotent Perfon, who lay there, was a very fit Object of our Saviour's Compaffion, which, upon proper Confiderations, confin'd itself, at this Time, to the Cure of one Perfon only, who, by the Symptoms that appear in the Story, was afflicted with an inveterate Pally, incurable by all the Rules of Art; there is plainly, neither any Forgery in the Evangelift's Story of the Pool of Bethefda, nor any Fallacy in the wonderful Cure, which our Saviour wrought there: And therefore to conclude this Subject in the Words of a Physician of no fmall Note, having this very Cure under his Confideration; It was prodigious, fays he, that this Paralytick fhould live fo many Years: But, I believe, that God preferv'd him (as it were) in a dying Condition, that, in fo difficult, impoffible, and unheard-of Cure, and upon the Fame of fuch a mighty Miracle, it should be impoffible for all the Infidels in the World, and even for those

among

▾ Ader. de Morb. Evang. apud Critic. Sacr. Tom. 2. p. 3669

among them, that have the most obdurate Hearts, to doubt of the Divinity of Chrift: And fo we go on to his

opening the Eyes of the Man that was born Blind.

蕊蕊蕊

兔兔兔兔兔

SECT. XVIII.

Of his Curing the Man that was

of

born Blind.

BUT, as there are feveral Mala- The Obdies incident to the Eyes, fome jection. "that are, and fome that are not, cu"rable by Art or Nature; it will be "no eafy matter for us to diftinguish, ❝ of what kind or degree this poor "Man's Diftemper was, and confe"quently, whether there was any real "Miracle in the Cure. Had Jefus in"deed, merely by speaking the Word, "enabled the Man to fee perfectly, "much then might have been urg'd "in Vindication of the Miracle; but "his having recourfe to fuch human "Means, as Washings, and Ointments, "not only destroys the Merit of the "Cure, but exposes the whole Story "to Contempt and Ridicule. For what

a ftrange,