Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

In my former Discourse I gave my _Readers_ some Reason to expect, that in _this_ I would treat on some of _Jesus_'s Miracles, which I there mentioned, _viz._ _On his turning Water into Wine at a Marriage in_ Cana _of_ Galilee; and _On his feeding of Thousands with a few Loaves and Fishes in the Wilderness_; and _On his Cure of the Paralytick, for whom the Roof of the House was broken up to let him down into the Room where_ Jesus _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 [Greek: aimorroousa], that is, _obnoxious to bleeding_; St. _Mark_ and St. _Luke_ say of her, that [Greek: ousa en reumate aimatos], 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 should say as St. _John of Jerusalem_[83] did, _that her own Imagination cured herself_; and should urge the Probability of it, because _Jesus_ could do no Cures and[84] Miracles against Unbelief, Who can help it? In this Case our _Divines_ must prove, that this Woman's _Hæmorrhage_ was of that kind, that no Faith nor Fancy in herself could help her without the Divine Power; but this is impossible for them to do, unless there had been a more certain Description of her Disease, than the _Evangelists_ have given of it.

Our _Divines_ will indeed tell us, what I believe, that it was the Divine Power co-operating with the Faith and Imagination of the Woman that cured her; because Jesus says _that Virtue had gone out of him_ to the healing of her: And I wish _Infidels_ would acquiesce here, and not say, that _Jesus_'s Virtue hung very loose on him, or the Woman's Faith, like a Fascination, could never have extracted it against his Will and Knowledge: But what if they should say, that _Jesus_, being secretly appriz'd of the Woman's Faith, and Touch of him, took the Hint; and to comfort and confirm her in her Conceit, and to help the Cure forward, said, _Virtue was gone out of him?_ This would be an untoward Suggestion, which if Infidels should make, our Divines must look for a Reply to it.

It is said of the _Pope_, when he was last at _Benevento_, that he wrought three Miracles, which our Protestant _Clergy_, I dare say, believe nothing at all of. But, for all that, it is not improbable, but that some diseased People, considering their superstitious Veneration for the _Pope_, and their Opinion of the Sanctity of the _Present_, might be persuaded of his Gift of Miracles, and desirous of his Exercise of it; and if they fancyfully or actually received Benefit by his Touch, I don't wonder, without a Miracle. And what if we had been told of the _Popes_ curing an _Hæmorrhage_ like this before us? What would _Protestants_ have said to it? Why, "that a foolish, credulous, and superstitious Woman had fancy'd herself cured of some slight Indisposition; and the crafty _Pope_ and his Adherents, aspiring after popular Applause, magnified the presumed Cure into a Miracle. If they would have us _Protestants_ to believe the Miracle, they should have given us an exacter Description of her Disease, and then we could better have judg'd of it". The Application of such a supposed Story of a Miracle wrought by the _Pope_, is easy; and if _Infidels_, _Jews_, and _Mahometans_ who have no better Opinion of _Jesus_, than we have of the _Pope_, should make it, there's no Help for it.

And thus have I made my Descants on this supposed Miracle before us and argued, as much as I could, against the Miraculousness of it, both from the _Nature_ of the Disease, and the _Manner_ of the Cure of it. Whether any one shall think I have said any thing to the Purpose or not, is all one to me. My Design in what I have done, is not to do Service to Infidelity, but, upon the Command and Encouragement of the Fathers, to turn Mens Thoughts to the mystical Meaning of the said Miracle, which I come now to give an Account of.

None of the Fathers (excepting St. _Chrysostom_[85], who writes here more like an _Orator_ than a _Physician_) ever trouble themselves, when they speak of this Miracle, about the Nature of the Disease, literally, in this Woman, or the greatness of the Cure of it; but alone bend their Studies to the mystical Interpretation, for the sake of which, this Evangelical Story was written, and originally transacted.

Accordingly, they tell us that this Woman is a Type[86] of the Church of the _Gentiles_ in after Times. And as to her _Hæmorrhage_ or _Issue of Blood_, they understand it of the[87] Impurity and Corruption of the Church by ill Principles and bad Morals, that the would _flow with_. Some of the Fathers, as[88] _Gregory Nazianzen_, and[89] _Eusebius Gallicanus_, will have the _Issue of Blood_ to be a Type of the scarlet Sin of Blood-guiltiness in the Church: If so, we must understand it of the Effusion of Christian Blood by War and Persecution.

The _twelve Years_ of the Woman's Affliction with her _Hæmorrhage_ is a typical Number of the Church's impure State for above _twelve Hundred Years_. And whether some of the primitive Church did not, by the said _twelve Years_ of the Woman, understand _twelve Ages_, I appeal to[90] _Irenæus_, to whom I refer my Readers, Accordingly this typify'd Woman of the Church, should be the same with the Woman[91] in the Wilderness, that, as St. _John_ says, was twelve Hundred and sixty Days or Years there sustained; and by whom many Protestants, as well as the Fathers, understand the Church universal. When the said twelve Hundred and sixty Days or Years of the Church's being in the Wilderness, did commence or will end, is none of my Business to enquire or ascertain. But as this Woman in the Gospel is said after _twelve Years_ Affliction, to be cured of her Disease by _Jesus_; so it is the Opinion of the Fathers, that the Church universal, after _twelve Hundred Years_ of her Wilderness State, will be purified and sanctified by the Gifts of the Spirit of Christ, and enter upon a more holy, peaceable, and happy Condition, absolutely freed from her _Issue of Blood_, which, through Persecution and War, she has for many Ages labour'd under. It is not my Concern to collect all the Authorities of the Fathers to this Purpose; but only say, that if at the End of twelve Hundred and sixty Days or Years, the Church, like the Woman, be not cur'd of her _Hæmorrhage_ and mystical _Wounds_ and _Sores_; if her present impure and unsound State be not chang'd into an holy, healthy, and peaceable one; many good _Protestants_, as well as the Fathers, are mistaken, and abundance of Prophecies of the Old and New Testament, that have been hereunto urged, will lose their Credit.

But who are meant by the _Physicians_ of the Woman, that have had the mystical _Hæmorrhage_ and Diseases of the Church Under Cure all this while? Who should, but pretended Ministers, of the Gospel? Ministers of the Gospel are not only by the Fathers call'd metaphorically[92] spiritual _Physicians_; but our _Divines_ and Preachers of all Denominations like the Metaphor, and think themselves able _Physicians_ at the Diseases of the Church, which they are forward to prescribe and apply Medicines to, whenever, in their Opinion, she stands in need of them. Whether our _Divines_ like to be accounted the _Physicians_ of the Text before us, I much question; but it is certain that[93] _Eusebius Gallicanus_ expressly says, that our _Divines_ and pretended Philosophers are meant by them; and venerable _Bede_[94] upon the Place is of the same Mind too.

The Woman of the Gospel is said[95] to _suffer many Things of many Physicians, and was nothing better'd, but rather grew worse_; that is, she grew worse not in time only, but through the Use of her _Physicians_, who were her[96] Tormentors. So the Diseases of the Church in time have increased, for all the Use she has made of her spiritual Physicians, _the Clergy_. In every Age has the Church been degenerating in Morals and Principles, as any one knows, that is able to make an Estimate of Religion in times past; and all along have her ecclesiastical _Quack Doctors_ contributed to her ill State of Health. As many Physicians with their different Applications tormented the poor Woman; so our many _Empericks_ in Theology with their different _Schemes_ of Church Government and various _Systems_ of Divinity, like so many Prescriptions for Cure, have increased the Divisions, widen'd the Wounds, and inflamed the Sores of the Church. And if the Woman's _Issue of Blood_ be, according to the Fathers, a particular Type of the Blood of the Church, that is shed in Persecution and War; our Theological Pretenders to Physick, have been so far from providing and prescribing a good _Stiptic_ in this Case that they have been the Occasion of the Effusion of much Christian Blood; there having been many a War and Persecution, that these _Incision_ Doctors, who should be all _Balsam_, have been the Cause of.

The Woman _spent all her Living_, all her yearly Income, upon her Physicians, and as it seems to a bad Purpose; so very great and large Revenues of the Church, are expended on her ecclesiastical Doctors in spiritual Physick: And to what End and Purpose? Why, to open and widen the bleeding Wounds of the Church, which they should heal and salve up. It is now about _twelve Hundred Years_, like the _twelve Years_ of the Woman, that the _Clergy_, our Practitioners in Theological Physick, have received of the Church vast Fees, Stipends and Gratuities (for before that time her _Doctors_ prescrib'd freely) to take care of her Health and Welfare; but unless God provide in due time a Medicine of his own, she is likely to continue in a diseased and sorrowful Condition for all them.

One would think that the Woman of the Gospel might have had more Wit than to lay out all she was worth upon _Physicians_ to no good Purpose; one would think that after some Experience of their Insufficiency to cure her, she might have forborn seeing them, and reserved the Remains of her Estate for better Uses: So the Fees and Revenues of the Church, after due Experience of the Inability of her spiritual Doctors to heal her Sores, might have been in my Opinion better employ'd, and the Church of Christ more out of Danger of Wounds and Sickness, by Sin and Error. Certain it is, that many an _Issue of Blood_, through Persecution and War, had been prevented; if such barbarous and blood thirsty Doctors of Ecclesiastical Physick, had never been so fee'd and hired to take care of the Welfare of the Church, which, for all their Spiritual Medicines, will continue in a languishing Condition, till heal'd by the Virtue and Graces of the Spirit of Christ in his foresaid appointed Time.

So much then to the mystical Interpretation of the Story of the Cure of the _Issue of Blood_ in this Woman. Every minute Circumstance of it is thus to be allegorized, if need was. Whether the _Clergy_ will like this parabolical Explication of it, I neither know nor care. They have their Liberty with _Atheists_ and _Infidels_ to believe as little of it as they think fit; and I hope they'll give me leave with the Fathers of the Church to believe as much of it as I please. But whether they approve of this allegorical Interpretation of this supposed Miracle or not; they must own, that if the Church, after the foresaid _twelve Ages_, should be purified and sanctified; if her Errors and Corruptions, of which the Woman's _Uncleanness_ is a Type, should be heal'd; if War and Persecution, typified by her _Issue of Blood_, should then entirely cease; if all Christians should then be united in Principle, Heart and Affection, and made to walk in a peaceable and quiet State, as the Woman was[97] _bid to go in Peace_; if the Church should then _come behind_ Jesus (which[98] is a Figure of future Time) and rightly touch by Faith, and apprehend his[99] Garments or Words of Prophecy, about which Christians have hitherto been _pressing_ and urgent; and if the Gifts of the Spirit, like _Virtue on the Woman_, should then be poured forth upon the Church to the absolute Cure of her present Diseases, we must, I say, allow the Story of this Woman to be an admirable Emblem and typical Representation; and the Accomplishment of it most miraculous and stupendous; and not only an indisputable Proof of the Power and Presence of Christ with his Church, but a Demonstration of his _Messiahship_, in as much as an almost infinite Number of Prophecies of the Old Testament, will thereupon receive that Accomplishment, which hitherto, by no shadow of Reason, can be pretended to.

After such a mystical Healing of the _Hæmorrhage_ of the Church, there's no doubt on't, but the Story of this Woman in the Gospel will be allow'd to be typical and emblematical. In the mean time, without making a Parable of the Story of her, I assert, there is little or nothing of a Miracle to be made of her Cure, unless we were at a greater Certainty about the Nature of her Disease, and the Manner, rationally speaking, of _Jesus_'s healing of it. And so I pass to the Consideration of

2. Another Story of a miraculous Cure perform'd by _Jesus_ on another Woman, and that is on her, who[100] _had a Spirit of Infirmity, eighteen Years, and was bow'd together, and could in no wise lift up herself----being bound of Satan_, &c. This too, as I suppose, is with our _Divines_ a great Miracle, and one of the greatest that _Jesus_ wrought, or it had not been specify'd, but cast indiscriminately into the Number of all manner of Diseases, which he heal'd. And for the sake of the Letter, and to please our _Divines_, whom I would not offend wilfully, I will allow, that _Jesus_ might lay his Hands on, and speak comfortably to such a drooping, stooping, and vaporous Woman, full of Fancies of the _Devil_'s Temptation and Power over her; and she might thereupon recover, and be afterwards of a more cheerful Heart, and erect Countenance, freed from the whimsical Imagination of being _Satan-ridden_: And what of all that? Where's the Miracle? If the Story of such a Miracle had been related of any _Impostor_ in Religion, of an _Arch-Heretick_, or _Popish Exorcist_, our _Divines_ would have flouted at it; they would have told us, there was nothing supernatural and uncommon in the Event, nor any thing at all to be wonder'd at in it. Taking the _Devil_ out of this Story, and there's no more in it, than what's common for a simple, melancholy, and drooping Woman, to be chear'd and elated upon the comfortable Advice and Admonition of a reputedly wise and good Man. And the putting the _Devil_ into the Story, in another Case, our _Divines_ would have said was only the Fancy of the Woman, or the Device of the _Miracle-Monger_, to magnify his own Art and Power. And if _Infidels_, _Jews_, and _Mahometans_, should say so of this Story of _Jesus_, they would be no more unreasonable in their Conjectures and Solutions of this Miracle, than we should have been in another and parallel Case.

The _Pope_, when last at _Benevento_, is said to have exorciz'd a _Dæmon_ out of a young Maid, which our _Divines_ no more believe than _Infidels_ do. But it is not at all impossible or improbable, that a young Woman might be troubled with Vapours, and go droopingly upon it, whom the holy Father, of whose Prayers and Sanctity she had a good Opinion, might relieve with his Talk, and give another Turn to her Thoughts and Temper: And if she fancy'd herself before possess'd with a _Dæmon_, or rather, if the _Pope_'s Partizans persuaded her so, it's not unlikely to make a Miracle on't. Just so may _Infidels_, with their Descants on this Miracle before us, reduce and lessen it: And what must we Believers do then? Why, we must find out a Way to ascertain the Truth and Greatness of the Miracle, or give it up. We must determine certainly what was the Woman's Distemper, and how the Cure of it by ordinary Means was impossible, or make no more Words about it.

And how can we come at the Knowledge of this Woman's Disease, but by the original Words of the _Evangelist_. St. _Luke_ says, she was one [Greek: pneuma echousa astheneias], _that had a Spirit of Weakness_, that is, was poor-Spirited and pusilanimous; and if she was [Greek: synkyptousa], _bow'd down_ upon't, its no more than might be expected of a disconsolate, melancholy and dejected Person. Here then is the Disease of the Woman: If it had been worse, St. _Luke_, the Physician, if he was of Sufficiency in his Art, should better have express'd himself; so as to give us another Conception of it. And if _Satan_ had not been brought into the Tale, whom it is easy, by reasoning as above, to exorcise out of it, here is a no more grievous Distemper, than what upon the comfortable Exhortations of a wise Man may be cured. And do what our Divines can, they can make literally no more of this Story.

It is said, that for _eighteen Years_ the Woman labour'd under this Disease. And she might be _hippish_ and _drooping_ for a longer time, and be no less easily at last cured. It's pity the _Evangelist_ had not told us how old this Woman was, when the Distemper first seiz'd her; then we could have made better Conjectures about the Nature and Cure of it. If there was any room to suppose, either from the Words of Scripture or extra-scriptural History, that she was about _fifty_ or _sixty_, when she first began to droop and the _Devil_ got upon her Back; here had been Scope for a most stupendous Miracle; and our _Divines_ might have asserted, what no Body could have contradicted, that _Jesus_ had made an old Woman, who was _bow'd down_, not only under the Weight of _Satan_, but under the Burthen of seventy or eighty Years, young again; and had restored her to the Health, Vigor, and Beauty of one of fifteen. Here would have been a mighty Miracle indeed. And I don't doubt, but our _Divines_ would willingly get into such a Notion of this Miracle, and would heartily espouse it, but for the Offence they must needs give to decrepid old Women, who may be out of Conceit with themselves upon it, as if they carried the _Devil_ on their Shoulders, as the Cause of their Decripedness and Incurvity. And such an Offence would be of ill Consequence.

Reasonably then speaking, there was not much in the Disease and Cure of this Woman. Excepting that Part, which _Satan_ bears, in the Story, there is nothing wonderful in it. And supposing _Jesus_ might exorcise the _Devil_ out of this Woman, or dismount him from off her Shoulders; yet even this makes nothing for his Divine Power and Authority, in as much as many _Exorcists_ among the _Jews_ and even among _Papists_, if Protestants had not more Wit than to believe it, could do as much. And after all, I don't believe the _Evangelist_ intended, that our Saviour should be had in Admiration for the Letter of this Miracle, or St. _Luke_ would accurately have described the Disease, so as to put it out of the Power of Nature and Art to heal it, and of the Wit of _Infidels_ to cavil at the miraculous Cure of it. Neither do I find that the Fathers of the Church ever trouble themselves about the Letter of this Story, which is some Argument, that no great Heed is to be given to it; but are only curious about the Mystery, for which this Miracle was related, and which I come now to give an Account of.

As the Fathers said of the Woman with her _Issue of Blood_, that she was a Type of the Church; so they say of this Woman with her _Spirit of Infirmity_, that she is a[101] Figure of the Church too.

As the Woman was _bow'd together_; so the Church, as the Fathers do interpret, may be said to be[102] _bow'd down_ to the Earth, when she is _prone_ and _bent_ to, and _intent on_ the literal or earthly Interpretations of the Scriptures; and _can in no wise lift up her self_, like the Woman, _that is_, can't raise her Thoughts to the Contemplation of the cælestial, spiritual, and sublime Sense of them. Hence we see the Propriety of the Name of the Woman's Disease, call'd [Greek: pneuma astheneias], a _Spirit of Weakness_, which is not properly significative of any bodily Distemper, but succinctly is very expressive of the Church's _Weakness_ at the _Spirit_ of Prophecy, which at this Day she labours under.

As it was _eighteen Years_ that the Woman was griev'd with her _Spirit of Infirmity_, for so long had her Distemper been growing on her; so it is almost eighteen (hundred) Years, or the eighteenth Century of Years, that this _Infirmity_ of the Church at the _Spirit_ of Prophecy has been coming on her: And she is now so _bent_ to the Earth of the Letter, that nothing less than the Hand and Power of Jesus, that erected the Woman, can raise her to mystical, divine, and sublime Contemplations on the Law and Prophets. St. _Augustin_[103] will have these _eighteen Years_ of the Woman's _Infirmity_, as she is a Type of the Church, to be synchronical with the[104] _three Years_ of the Fig-Tree's Unfruitfulness. I don't rightly apprehend his mystical Arithmetic. But this is certain, upon the Authority of the Fathers, that those two Numbers, with the _twelve Years_ of the Woman's _Issue of Blood_, are all conterminous and will end together: Consequently at the same time, that the Woman of the Church will be cured of her _Issue of Blood_, she will be heal'd of her _Infirmity_ at the _Spirit_ of Prophecy; _that is_, at the Conclusion of certain grand Periods of Time she will enter upon a blessed State of _Peace_ and _Vision_; which is the concurrent Doctrine of the Fathers, as any one may discern, that has dip'd into them, and is a good Confirmation of our present Exposition, and mystical Application of the miraculous Story before us.

St. _Luke_ says, that the Woman could not lift up herself [Greek: eis to panteles], _v._ 11. which, without animadverting on our _English_ Translation, should be rendered, _until all was perfected_, or until the _Perfection of Time_, which, the Apostle[105] and the Fathers agree, is the Time for the Church to be cured of her _Weakness_, and to be endu'd with _Power_ at the Spirit of Prophecy.

As the Woman was heal'd by _Jesus_ on the Sabbath-Day; so the Church, upon the ample Authorities of the Fathers, which Men of Reading will excuse me the Production of, is certainly to be heal'd of her _spiritual Infirmity_, at the Understanding of Prophecy against the mystical and[106] grand Sabbath, which, according to the Fathers, commences at the Expiration of her eighteen (hundred) Years _Weakness_.

But the _Ruler of the Synagogue is said to be moved with Indignation, v._ 14. at this charitable Work of _Jesus_, in healing of the Woman, because it was done on the Sabbath-Day; which in my Opinion can't be literally true: Though I am willing enough, to please our _Divines_, to allow as much as may be of the Letter of this Story, yet I except against this Part of it. _Origen_ says, there are some things of the Gospel related as Facts, which were not done; and I believe this of the Ruler of the Synagogue to be one of them. Human Nature, I think, is not capable of such base and unnatural Resentment. Works of Necessity, and requisite Offices of Kindness and Charity to Man and Beast, were allow'd by the Law, and practised by the _Jews_ on the Sabbath: And the Cure of this Woman, though on the Sabbath-Day, was such an Act of Beneficence and Compassion in the Holy _Jesus_, that I can't but think _bad_, as well as _good_ Men, would rather glorify God, that had given such Power unto Man, than find fault with it. But in the Mystery of this Part of the Story, there is clear Sense and Truth. Who then is this _Archisynagogus_, or Ruler of the Synagogue, that will be full of Indignation at the healing of the Church of her foresaid _Infirmity_ at the _Spirit_ of Prophecy? _Origen_ says that the[107] right Interpretation of the Names of Persons and Places in Scripture is of good Use to the mystical Application. Accordingly _Archisynagogus_ does signify the _Chiefs of our Congregations_: And who should they be then but the Clergy? And if this ben't enough to fix this Name and Character upon them, then let _Theophanes Cerameus_ speak here, who says, that the _Archisynagogus_, is a[108] _Type of all Priests_, who will be against the foresaid miraculous healing of the Church. And why will the _Clergy_ be mov'd 'with Indignation at the curing the Church of her _Infirm_, and restoring her to a _sound_ Spirit of Prophecy? Because as St. _Augustin_ says,[109] they are not only _bow'd down_ to the Letter themselves; but because this _Infirmity_ of the Church will be a Reproach to them, in as much as it is a Proof of their Apostacy and Insufficiency at Prophecy; and the Cure of it will be attended with such Consequences, as affect their Reputation and Interests. Who can question but the _Clergy_, who are the _Archisynagogus_ of the Text, and who are for the Church's _bending_ and _stooping_ to the low Sense of the Letter of the Scripture, will be averse to her being rais'd, _lifted up_, and erected to the Contemplation of the sublime, anagogical, and heavenly Sense of it? Such an Healing and Erection of the Church will vex them at the Heart, as it will bring _Shame_ and loss of Interest along with it; and they will undoubtedly be _Adversaries_ to this good Work of _Christ_, which, upon the Testimony of all Antiquity, is to be done on or against the Evangelical and great Sabbath.

Our Saviour is supposed to reprove the _Ruler_ of the _Synagogue_, for his _Indignation_ at the Cure of the Woman on the Sabbath-Day, saying, _v._ 15. _Thou Hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his Ox or his Ass from the Stall, and lead him away to Watering? And ought not this Woman to be loos'd from this Bond on the Sabbath-Day?_ There is Force in this Argument according to the Letter: And the _Ruler_ of the _Synagogue_, and other _Jesus_'s Adversaries hereupon, might well be _asham'd_ for finding Fault with such a merciful and beneficent Work done on the _Sabbath_; when they themselves did Works on the _Sabbath_ of much less Consequence. But to[110] the Mystery. What may be said to our Ministers of the Letter, of whom the _Archisynagogus_ is a Type, for their Averseness to the healing of the Church in like manner? Why, that they are _Hypocrites_, that is, superficial Criticks on the Scriptures, and don't consider that _the Law is spiritual_, and how against the Evangelical Sabbath every Man is to be released from his Bondage and Servility to irrational Principles (for which he has been like an _Ox_ and an _Ass_) and to be conducted to drink of the Waters of Divine Wisdom: For this grand Sabbath will be a Day of absolute Liberty, perfect _Rest_, immense Knowledge, real Vision and Contemplation on God and his Providence, as the antient _Jews_ and Fathers so copiously declare, that they who are ignorant herein, may be _ashamed_; consequently they might know, that the Church is to be cured of her _Spirit of Weakness_ at Prophecy on that Day.

But _Satan_ is said to have _v._ 16. _bound_, and, as is supposed, _bow'd down_ this Woman; the literal Truth of which I much question: But how then has _Satan bound and bow'd down_ the Church? This, seemingly, is the great Difficulty in the mystical Application of this Story, and must be the great Curiosity of my Readers to know how I will account for it. If the Fathers don't help me out at this dead Lift, and that clearly and intelligibly too, I shall abate of my Veneration for them. If they don't tell me, and make me to apprehend, what this _Satan_ is, that for many Ages has _bound_ and oppress'd the Church after the supposed Manner of the typical Woman, I had better have held my Peace, and said nothing to this parabolical Miracle.

The Writings of the _Evangelists_ so abound with Stories of _Satan_, _Belzebub_, the _Devil_, and of greater and less Number of _Devils_, and of _Dæmons_ and of _unclean Spirits_, more than any Histories before, as one would think, if these Stories were literally to be understood, that was the Age in which Christ came, that _Hell_ first broke loose, and then primarily infested Mankind; and that upon the Destruction of _Judæa_ and Propagation of the Gospel, the _Devils_ accompanied the _Jews_ in their Dispersion, or the _Apostles_ in their Travels, and have been the Tempters, Seducers, and Tormentors of other Nations ever since.

_Arnobius_[111] says, _That before Christ, Devils were things unknown to the World_; by which _Arnobius_ must mean, either that they were hardly talk'd of before, or that their Nature was not understood, till Christ inform'd us of it. In both these Senses, I believe, _Arnobius_ may be taken, _viz._ that there was not only little Talk of _Satan_ and the _Devil_, but less of his Nature apprehended, before _Christ_ by his Parables and parabolical Miracles, rightly interpreted, instructed us in it. And if after Ages have departed from the true and original Doctrine of _Devils_, making a literal Story of that, which is only mystical and cabalistical; and have formed to themselves _Ideas_ of hideous and horrible Fiends, _Mormos_ and _Hobgoblins_, it shall not disturb me.

As to the Place and State of _Hell_, many are the Notions of _Divines_ of several Ages past, as well as of the present. I shall not recount them all here, much less refute any of them. But there is an antient, rational, and cabalistical Notion of Hell, which I have learned of the Fathers, who signify, that the babylonish and bewilder'd State of Christ's Church may be call'd _Hell_, because, as the Word [Greek: adês] does import, it is a State _without Vision_. Hence _Origen_ says,[112] that whoever can form to himself an _Idea_ of the Church in time to come, when she will be dignified with the Title of the _New Jerusalem_, for her Peace and Vision may understand what is meant by _Hell_, and all that is written of it.

As then the Fathers had a cabalistical Notion of _Hell_, which modern _Divines_ are Strangers to; so they had of _Satan_, and the _Devil_ and his Angels. I own myself at a Loss for an express Testimony out of the Fathers about _Satan_ in the Text before us; but according to their Explications of _Satan_ in other Places, nothing more is meant by him here than, "That furious Principle and Temper in Man that is not only averse to Liberty in Religion, but for binding, restraining, and tying down the Church and Christian People to certain Opinions and Ways of Worship." In such a State of Bondage has the Woman of the Church been kept, by such a _Satan_, in one Order of Men or other, for all Ages past. And that this is a right and primitive Notion of _Satan_, I could prove by Authorities enough. _Origen_ tells us[113] of the Names of Kings in prophetical Scripture, which would be Enemies to Christ's Church; but such Kings never did, nor would personally exist; their Names, according to Interpretation, standing only for so many Sins and Vices, reigning in Mankind. To the same Purpose he says[114] _human Vices are Devils_: And _Satan_ himself, (as the Word signifies _Adversary_) is with him[115] and the antient _Jews_ too, no other than an _Aversness_ in Man to the Will of God. I could quote other Fathers to this Purpose; but being sparing of my Pains at present, I refer my Readers to my former[116] _Discourse_, in which they will see the Opinion of the Fathers about the _Devils_ in the Madman, and afterwards in the Herd of Swine; from which let them judge, whether the Fathers could have any other Notion of _Satan_ here, than what I have represented. It is certain, and may be easily prov'd, that by _Satan_, the _Dragon_ and the _Devil_, mentioned in the _Revelations_, nothing more is to be understood, than a furious, persecuting, satanical, and diabolical Temper in Man; and if what St. _John_ writes of _Satan_ be cabalistical and allegorical; the other Assertions of the Evangelists and Apostles about _him_ will of Course come under that Denomination; or the primitive Rule of Interpretation of Scripture according to the natural Signification of the Names of Persons and Places is not good.

As then the _Woman_ of the Gospel was, as is supposed, _v._ 16. _bound by Satan, loe, for eighteen Years_: So the foresaid furious Principle in Man, which is a mystical _Satan_, an _Adversary_ to Liberty, has bound the Church, _loe_, to the _eighteenth_ Century of Years: But she is to be entirely released from this spiritual Bondage, and set at[117] _perfect Liberty_ against the acceptable and Evangelical Sabbath. And here it is to be noted out of St. _Augustin_, and most worthy of Observation it is, that at the[118] same time, in which the Church will be loosed from her Bondage; _Satan_ himself will[119] be _bound_ and _chain'd_ for a[120] _thousand Years_, the time of the evangelical Sabbath, that is, says _Ephræm Syrus_[121] for ever. And how will our mystical _Satan_ or the _Dragon_ be bound and chain'd? Not with Chains or Links of Iron or other Metal; but _Vinculis Rationis_, with the Chains of Reasons and Arguments for Christian Liberty, which will restrain the _Adversary_, _Satan_, from any more Impositions and Persecutions of the Church. And I can't here but applaud the great Mr. _Grounds_ and Mr. _Scheme_, for their Work and Labour of Love to Mankind, in making _Chains_ of Argumentations for Liberty, which I hope will prove of sufficient Strength to bind _Satan_ and restrain him (in Dr. _Rogers_, Bishop _G--bs--n_, and others his Angels) from giving any more Molestation to Christian Philosophers in their Enquiries after, and Lucubrations on Divine Truth. All the Honour that I aim at in that Work is, by the Help of the Fathers, to point out that anti-Christian Principle or Temper in the _Clergy_[122] which, for its _Averseness_ to Liberty, is called _Satan_; for its _Calumnies_, is called the _Devil_; for its _Furiousness_, is called the _Dragon_; and for its _Unreasonableness_, is called the _Beast_, to the intellectual Views of Mankind, and to direct them how to apprehend and lay hold on it.

Our Saviour, according to _Origen_, had never call'd _Peter_,[123] _Satan_, if _Satan_ had been any Thing else than _Man-averse_ to the Will of God.

And thus have I spoken to the Miracle of _Jesus_'s healing the _Woman of her Spirit of Infirmity, whom Satan had bound and bow'd down_, which, according to the Letter, is no Miracle at all; and some Parts of the Story are improbable and incredible; but the mystical Completion of it will be most prodigious, and a Demonstration not only of Christ's Power and Presence in his Church, but of his _Messiahship_, in as much as a vast Number of Prophecies of the _Old Testament_, more than can soon be collated to this Purpose, will thereupon receive their Accomplishment. And so I come to a

3. _Third_ miraculous Story of _Jesus_'s, that is of his telling (_John_ iv.) the Woman of _Samaria_ her Fortune, _of having had five Husbands, and being then an Adulteress_, &c. in which there is a notable Miracle display'd, in the Opinion of our _Divines_, that proves _Jesus_'s Omniscience, or he could not so have search'd into the Heart of this Woman, and told her such Occurrences, that concern'd her Life past. I thought once of transcribing here entirely this Story; and so I would, but that it is a long one, and might have set some Readers, who are by this time awaken'd to pry into the Absurdities of the Letter, a laughing, before I had time my self regularly to animadvert on it.

Whether there was any Truth at all in the Letter of this Story, I should much have questioned, but that some Fathers write of it, as if they believed it literally, tho' they make a mystical and allegorical Explication of the whole and every part of it. And I, having a sincere Veneration for the Fathers, will not contradict them, (and I hope this Concession will please the _Clergy_) but, for all that, can't like any part of this Story literally, but could almost wish, that the Fathers, for the Honour of _Jesus_, had made the whole no other than a Parable.

It's strange that no _Jews_ or _Infidels_ have as yet ludicrously treated this Story to the, almost, Confutation of our Religion. If their Tongues had not been ty'd by the aforesaid _Satan_ or _Adversary_ to Liberty, I can't think but they must have made some pleasant Animadversions upon it before now. If such a broken, elliptical, and absurd Tale had been told of any other Impostor in Religion; the Wits of our _Clergy_ had been at Work to expose it plentifully; and indeed there's no need of much Wit to make this Tale nauseous and ridiculous to vulgar Understandings.

I shall not myself here make all the Remarks I can to the Disadvantage of this Story: I am not as yet so disposed to make Scoffers and _Infidels_ laugh at the _Clergy_ for their Adherence to the Letter of it. All I shall do now, is to make my Observations on the two Uses, that the Clergy very seriously put this Story to, and they are,

_First_, to prove the Expectation that there was amongst the _Samaritans_, of a _Messiah_ to come; And

_Secondly_, to prove _Jesus_'s Omniscience, or he could not have entered into the Heart of the Woman, and told her, that she had had five Husbands, and was then an Adulteress. To these two Purposes, I find this Story urged by our _Divines_, and I must needs say, as to the

_First_ of them; it is rightly from hence asserted by the[124] _Bishop_ of _Lichfield_ and others, that the _Samaritans_ had an Expectation of a _Messiah_: But why then did not the _Bishop_ and others, who are now in Quest after Arguments of _Jesus_'s Messiahship, prove him hence to be the _Messiah_, because he told the _Samaritan_ woman her Fortune? If this was a real and substantial Argument to her of _Jesus_'s _Messiahship_, it ought to be urg'd by the Clergy at this Day. The Controversy about _Jesus_'s Messiahship is now on foot; Why do the Advocates for it overlook this Proof of it? Why, because, as I suppose, they are aware, that _Infidels_ would make sport with it. But if _Jesus_'s telling the Woman her Fortune was no real and conclusive Argument of his being the _Messiah_; St. _John_ has told us an impertinent Tale of a simple Woman, upon whose Credulity and false Notions _Jesus_ palm'd himself as the true _Messiah_; and whether he did not ill thus to banter and deceive the Woman, let any one judge.

But let us here behold the Difference amongst the _Jews_ and _Samaritans_, as to the Expectation of a _Messiah_. Some of the old _Jews_, like the Apostles, expected the _Messiah_ would be a temporal Prince, a great Warriour and Conqueror of the World. Others[125] of them, like the Fathers, expected he would be a Prophet like _Moses_ in all Things, and deliver his People out of another _Egypt_: But here the _Samaritans_ expected he would be a _Conjurer_ and _Fortune-Teller_; or there is no Sense in what the Woman said to the Men of the City, _v._ 29. _Come and see a Man that has told me all that I have done_, particularly my Fortune of having had five Husbands, and being now an Adulteress, _Is not this the Christ?_ What could she mean, but that the _Messiah_ would be a strolling _Fortune-Teller_, to inform People of the Events of their Lives past and to come? And _Jesus_ to humour the Woman in her Conception of himself and of the _Messiah_, says to her, _v._ 26. _I that speak unto thee, am He._ Whether our _Divines_ like _Jesus_ the better for this Story of him literally, I can't tell; but I am sure they dislike the Fortune-telling Trade at this Day in others, and believe it to be all Fraud, and are for punishing strolling _Gypsys_ for Cheats, who practice it; and in the last Age were intent on the[126] Prosecution of judicial Astrologers, who pretended to it: And if antient History had furnish'd us with an Instance of the Punishment of a pretended _Fortune-Teller_ in the Reign of _Tiberius_, they could not have found Fault with it. Whether any Accusations were laid against _Jesus_ for such his Delusions of the People, we know not. Evangelical History is silent, or the _Evangelists_ have prudently suppressed it. But I much wonder, that our _Gypsys_, from this Story, don't account themselves the genuine Disciples of _Jesus_, being endu'd with the like Gifts and exercising no worse Arts, than he himself practised.

If the _Samaritans_ did not expect the _Messiah_ would be a _Fortune-Teller_; how came the Thought into the Woman's Head, that _Jesus_ was the _Messiah_, because he had told her, her Fortune? What can our _Divines_ say to it? Why, they must either say, that his telling the Woman her Fortune was a real Proof of his _Messiahship_; or that the Woman was foolish and credulous, and drew a false Conclusion; and if she had not been an impudent and graceless Whore, would have gone away blushing, and never have divulg'd, as the Text supposes she did, her Shame to the Men of _Sychar_, who too had but little Wit, or they had never stir'd from their Homes, to see such a Fortune-Teller upon the Report of a poor Whore.

But the Men of the City had their Fortunes too told them by _Jesus_, and they concluded him to be the _Messiah_ upon it; or there is no Sense in what they _v._ 42. _said to the Woman, Now we believe not because of thy Saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ_: What could they hear, but their Fortunes, as the Woman had before? And if _Jesus_, whose Ability at all fair Questions in the magic Art I don't question, did tell them their Fortunes; I hope he had more Prudence than to talk to them in common of their Fornications and Adulteries, which might occasion domestick Jarrs, and the Breach of good Neighbourhood amongst them; but if he directed any of them to find their lost Cattle, and help'd them again to their stolen Goods, he did well, and they alone did amiss, to conclude thereupon, _that he was indeed the Christ_. Let our _Divines_ now judge whether I have not made a natural and excellent Comment on this part of the Story, which relates to the Expectation and Opinion, which the _Samaritans_ had of a _Messiah_ to come. But,