divine Author of Religion, sent of God for the Instruction,
Reformation and Salvation of Mankind, and what induces you to this
Belief of him, is, (besides some obscure Prophecies, which you can't
agree upon, and which neither your selves, nor any body else
understands the Application of) the History of his Miracles: But I
wonder, you should have a good opinion of him for his Miracles,
which, if he wrought no better than what are recorded of him, by
your _Evangelists_, are, if duly consider'd, enough to alienate your
Hearts from him. I can't spare time now to examine into all of them,
but according to the cursory Observation I have made on them, there
is not one so well circumstanced, as to merit a considerate Man's
belief, that it was the Work of an omnipotent, all-wise, just and
good Agent. Some of them are absurd Tales, others foolish Facts,
others unjust Actions, others ludicrous Pranks, others jugling
Tricks, others magical Enchantments; and if many of them had been
better and greater Operations than they are, and of a more useful
and stupendous Nature than they seem to be; yet the first Miracle
that he wrought, _viz._ that of his _turning Water into Wine_ at an
extravagant and voluptuous Wedding at _Cana_ of _Galilee_, is enough
to turn our Stomachs against all the rest. It is in itself enough to
beget in us an ill opinion of _Jesus_, and to prepossess us with an
aversion to his Religion, without farther Examination into it. It is
enough to make us suspect his other Miracles, of what Name soever,
to be of a base, magical, and diabolical Extraction; or he had never
set up for a divine worker of Miracles with so ill a grace. Would
any sober, grave, serious and divine Person, as you Christians
suppose _Jesus_ to have been, have vouchsafed his Presence at a
Wedding; where such Levities, Diversions and Excesses (in our Nation
of the _Jews_, as well as in all others) were indulg'd on such
Occasions, as were not fit to be seen, much less countenanc'd by the
_Saint_, you would make of him. If your _Jesus_, his Mother, and his
Disciples had not been merry Folks in themselves, they would have
declined the Invitation of the _Bridegroom_; nay, it they had been
at all graver and more serious People than ordinary, no Invitation
had been given to such _Spoil-Sports_: But boon Companions they
were, and of comical Conversation, or there had been at a Wedding no
Room for them. You Christians may fancy, what you please, of _Jesus_
and his Mother's Saintship; but the very Text of the Story implies,
they were Lovers of good Fellowship and Excess too, upon occasion;
or he had never, upon her Intimation, turn'd so large a quantity of
Water into Wine, after all or most of the Company were far gone with
it. You may suppose, if you please, that all were sober, and none
intoxicated, and that the Want of Wine proceeded from the abundance
of Company, rather than excess in drinking; but why then did _John_
the _Evangelist_ use the word [Greek: methysthasi], which implies,
they were more than half Seas over? And if _Jesus_ and his Mother
had not both a mind to _top_ them up; the one would not have
requested, nor the other have granted a Miracle to that purpose.
Whether _Jesus_ and his Mother themselves were at all _cut_, as
were others of the Company, is not so certain. She might be an
abstemious Dame for ought we know; tho' if old Stories are true of
her familiarity with a _Soldier_, of whom came her _chara Deûm
Soboles_, in all probability she would take a _Dram_ and a _Bottle_
too. But it looks as if _Jesus_ himself was a little _in_ for't, or
he had never spoke so waspishly and snappishly to his Mother,
saying, _Woman, what have I to do with thee_? _mine Hour is not yet
come_: which was very unbecoming of a dutiful Son, who, excepting
when he ran away from his Parents, and put them to[236] _Sorrow_ and
_Trouble_ to look him up, was, and is still in Heaven, say the
_Roman Catholicks_ a most obedient Child. You modern Christians may
put what Construction you can upon the words above of _Jesus_ to his
Mother, to salve his Credit; but the Fathers of your Church[237]
confess them to be a sharp and surly Reply to her, which, if it did
not proceed from the natural badness of his Temper, derived, _ex
traduce_, from his supposed Father yet, was certainly the effect of
Drinking, and that's the more likely, because it is a _broken_ and
_witless_ Sentence, such as _Fuddlecaps_ utter by halves, when the
_Wine's in_, and the _Wit's out_. Your modern _Commentators_ are
sadly puzzled to make good Sense of this broken and abrupt Sentence
of _Jesus_, and a pertinent Reply of it, to what his Mother said to
him, _they have no Wine_: If you will bear with me, I'll help you
out at this dead lift, and give you the true meaning of it _thus_.
_Jesus_'s Mother being apprised of a deficiency of Wine, and
willing, as well as the _Bridegroom_, that the Company should be
thorowly merry before they parted, intimates to her Son, (whom she
knew to be initiated in the Mysterys of _Bacchus_) _that they had no
Wine_: But before she could finish her Request to him, He, mistaking
her meaning, imagines, she was cautioning against drinking more
Wine, and exhorting him to go home; whereupon he takes her up short
and quick, saying, _Woman, what have you to do with me?_ (for that
too is the _English_ of the _Greek_) I'll not be interrupted in my
Cups, nor break Company; _for mine Hour is not yet come_ to depart:
But after he rightly apprehended her, he goes to work, and rather
than the Company should want their fill, by trick of Art, like a
_Punch-maker_, meliorates Water into what they call'd Wine. That
this is the obvious Interpretation, and natural Paraphrase of the
Words before us, shall be try'd by the Absurd Comments now-a-days
put upon them, that are enough to make a considerate Man laugh, if
not hiss at them.
"Some antient Hereticks[238], very gravely inferr'd from this
Expression, _Woman, what have I to do with thee_, that _Mary_ was
neither a Virgin, nor _Jesus_ her Son; or he had never accosted her
with such blunt Language, that implys, they could not be so akin to
each other. This was a perplexity to St. _Augustin_, and gave him
some trouble to explain the Expression, consistently with her
Virginity (for all she cohabited with the old Carpenter) and his
Filiation. But this being a quibble, that has been long since
dropt, I shall not revive, nor insist on it. But that the
Expression above do's suppose a little Inebriation, in _Jesus_, I
may avert, neither is there a better Solution to be made of it.
"The Fathers of your Church, being sensible of the absurdity,
abruptness, impertinence, pertness, and senslesness of the Passage
before us according to the Letter, had recourse to a mystical and
allegorical Interpretation, as the only way to make it consistent
with the Wisdom, Sobriety and Duty of the Holy _Jesus_. But you
_Moderns_, abandoning Allegories and Mysteries on Miracles, have
endeavour'd, I say, to put other Constructions upon it, as may
comport with the Letter and Credit of Jesus: But how insipid and
sensless they are, I appeal to a reasonable Man, who will give
himself the trouble to consult them, upon the Place, and save me
the Pains of a tedious and nauseous Work to recount them for him.
"But to Humour the Christian Priesthood at this Day, I will suppose
that _Jesus_, and his Mother, and Disciples, tho' Fishermen, to
have been all sober, grave and serious at this Wedding, suitably to
the Opinion that their Followers now would have us to entertain of
them. But then it is hard to conceive them, less than Spectators
and even Encouragers of Excess and Intemperance in others; or
_Jesus_, after their more than sufficient drinking for the
satisfaction of Nature, had never turn'd Water into Wine, nor would
his Mother have requested him to do it, if, I say, they had not a
mind, and took Pleasure in it too, to see the Company quite
_stitch'd up_.
"A sober, prudent and wise Philosopher or _Magician_, in the place
of _Jesus_, if he had an Art or Power to turn Water into Wine,
would never have exercised it upon such an occasion; no, not to
please his best Friends, nor in obedience to the most indulgent
Parent. What would he have said in such a Case? That the Company
had drank sufficiently already, and there was no need of more Wine:
The Bridegroom had kindly and plentifully entertain'd his Guests,
and he would not for the Honour of God, who had endow'd him with a
divine Power, be at the Expence of a Miracle to promote the least
Intemperance. Whether such a Speech and Resolution in _Jesus_, upon
this occasion, would not have been more commendable, than what he
did, let any one judge.
"If I was a Christian, I would, for the Honour of _Jesus_, renounce
this Miracle, and not magnify and extol it as a divine and good
Act, as many now-a-days do. I would give into, and contend for the
Truth of _that Gloss_, which the _Gentiles_ of old[239] by way of
Objection put upon it, _viz. That the Company having exhausted the
Bridegroom's Stock of Wine, and being in Expectation of more_;
Jesus, _rather than the Bridegroom should be put to the Blush for
deficiency, palm'd a false Miracle, by the help of the Governour of
the Feast, upon a drunken Crew; that is, having some spirituous
Liquors at hand, mingled them with a quantity of Water, which the
Governour of the Feast vouch'd to be incomparable good Wine,
miraculously made by_ Jesus: _and the Company being, thro' a
vitiated Palate, uncapable of distinguishing better from worse, and
of discovering the Fraud, admired the Wine and the Miracle; and
applauded_ Jesus _for it, and perhaps became his Disciples upon
it_. If I, I say, was a Disciple of _Jesus_, I would give this
Story such an old turn for his Credit. And I appeal to indifferent
Judges, whether such a daubing of the Miracle, to remove the
Offence of _Infidels_ at this Day, would not be politically and
wisely done of me. Whether modern Christians may be brought into
such a Notion of this supposed Miracle, I know not; but really
there is room enough to suspect such a Fraud in it.
"But supposing _Jesus_'s Change of Water into Wine to have been a
real Miracle; none commission'd of God for the Reformation and
Instruction of Mankind would ever have done it here. Miracles (as
Mr. _Chandler_[240] says excellently well) _must be such things, as
that it is consistent with the Perfections of God, to interest
himself in_; and again, _they must argue not only the Power of God,
but his Love to Mankind, and his Inclination to do them good_;
which this of _Jesus_ is so far from, that it has an evil Aspect
and Tendency, as is above represented; consequently it is to be
rejected, and no longer esteem'd a divine Miracle; neither is
_Jesus_ to be received as a Revealer of God's Will for it, as Mr.
_Chandler_ will bear me witness.
"No doubt on't, but you Christian Priests would have us _Jews_ and
_Infidels_, to believe the whole Company at this Wedding, for all
what is intimated by St. _John_ to the contrary, to consist of
sober and demure Saints. I will suppose so; but then, what occasion
had they at all for Wine? What reason could there be for God's
Power to interpose and make it, especially in so large a quantity,
for them? I can conceive none. If any of the Company had been taken
with fainting Fits; and _Jesus_ for want of a Cordial Bottle, had
created a chearing Drain or two, I could not have found fault with
it; tho' even here, if he had restored the _Patient_ with a word of
his Mouth, it had been a better Miracle, than making of Wine for
him: But that he should make for a Company of Sots, a large
quantity of Wine, of no less than twelve or eighteen Firkins of
_English_ Measure, enough to intoxicate the whole Town of _Cana_ of
_Galilee_, is what can never be accounted for by a Christian, who
should, one would think, wish this Story, for the Reputation of
_Jesus_ expunged out of the New Testament.
"Besides, if _Jesus_ had really and miraculously made Wine, which
no Power or Art of Man could do, he should, to prevent all
suspicion of deceit in the Miracle, have done it without the use of
Water. You Christians say, he is the original Cause of all Things
out of nothing; why then did he not[241] create this Wine out of
nothing? why did he not order the Pots to be emptied of their
Water, if there was any in them, and then with a word of his Mouth
command the filling them with Wine instead of it? Here had been an
unexceptionable Miracle, which no _Infidels_ could have cavil'd at,
for any thing, but the _needlessness_ of it. But this subject
Matter of Water spoils the Credit of the Miracle. The Water-Pots,
it seems, are to be fill'd, before _Jesus_ could do the notable
Feat; is not this enough to make us think, that Jesus was but an
artificial _Punch-maker_? Could not he create Wine without Water
for a Transmutation? Yes, you'll say he could: what was the Reason
then, that he did not? This is a reasonable Question to a learned
Priesthood: and a rational Answer should be given to it. And a
Question too it is that heretofore has been under debate. Some said
that the Water might be used to abate of the[242] immensity of the
Miracle, which otherwise for its greatness might have surpass'd all
Belief. But this Reason will not do. A Miracle can't be too great
in itself, if well attested, to transcend Credit: but it may easily
be too little to conciliate the Faith of a Free-Thinker. The
Fathers of your Church fetch'd a Reason, for the use of Water here,
from the Mystery; but since Mysterys on Miracles are set aside by
the Priesthood of this Age, they are to assign another and good
Reason of their own; or this Miracle is to be rejected, as a Piece
of Art and Craft in the Operator, if for no other Reason than
this, that _Jesus_ used Water to make Wine.
"All that I have to say more to this Miracle, is, that it is to be
wish'd, if Jesus could turn Water into Wine, that he had imparted
the Secret and Power to his Disciples of the _Priesthood_ of all
Ages since, which would have been of greatest Advantage to them in
this World. He has empower'd them, they say, to remit Sins, which
few old Sinners think themselves the less in danger for: And he has
enabled them, some say, to transubstantiate Bread into Flesh, and
Wine into Blood, which none but foolish and superstitious Folks
believe they ever did: And he promised to invest them with a Power
to do greater Miracles than himself, even to remove Mountains, and
to curse Trees; but I thank God, they never were of so strong a
Faith, as to put it in Practice, or we might have heard of the
_natural_ state, as well as we do now of the _civil_ state of some
Countrys, ruin'd and overturn'd by them. But this Power to
transmute _Water into Wine_, without Labour and Expence, would have
been of better worth to them, than all their other Priestly
Offices. Not, that our Conduits would thereupon run with Wine,
instead of Water; or that Wine would be cheaper and more plentiful
than it is now, excepting among themselves, if they could withal
curse Vineyards. They would make the best Penny they a could of
their divine Power. And as surely as they can now fell the
Waterdrops of their Fingers at a Christening, at a good Rate, they
would set a better Price on their miraculously made Wine, and give
a notable Reason for its dearness, _viz._ that Miracles should not
be _cheap_, which would bring them into Contempt, and lessen the
Wonder and Admiration of them."
So ends the Invective of a suppos'd Jewish _Rabbi_ against this
Miracle; which our _Divines_, as well as myself, are to consider of an
Answer to. Whether they shall think themselves able to answer the
rational Parts of it, consistently with the Letter, I know not; but I
own myself unable, and believe it impossible for them, to do it: And
therefore they must of necessity go along with me to the mystical
Interpretation of the Fathers; or this Miracle will turn to the
dishonour of _Jesus_, and disadvantage of his Religion.
_Justin Martyr_[243] says, it is absurd to take the Stories of the
Marriages and Concubinages of the _Patriarchs_ of the Old Testament in
a literal Sense. And indeed, literally consider'd, they are some of
them too luscious Tales to be related by divine and inspired Penmen:
whereupon he, as well as St. _Paul_ and _Philo-Judæus_[244], turn
these Stories for the Honour of God and Edification of his Church,
into an Allegory. Consequently, if _Justin_ had had an occasion to
speak of this Marriage before us, there's no doubt on't, but he would
have made Mystery of all and every Part of it.
To the same purpose _Origen_[245] says, "That since the Law is a shadow
of good Things to come, and writes sometimes of Marriages and of
Husbands and Wives; we are not to understand it of Marriages according
to the Flesh, but of the spiritual Marriage between Christ and his
Church. As for Instance, _Abraham_ had two Sons, _&c._ here we ought not
to confine our Thoughts to carnal Marriages, and their Offsprings; but
to extend them to the Mysteries here signified. And there are almost a
thousand other places in Scripture about Marriages; but in every place
(_unusquisque Locus castum & divinum de Nuptiis continet Intellectum
secundum Expositionem moralem_) is to have a divine, moral, and mystical
Construction put on't. Whoever therefore reads the Scriptures about
Marriages, and understands no more by them, than carnal Marriages; he
errs, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the Power of God." From hence may
be easily concluded, what was _Origen_'s opinion about this Marriage in
_Cana_ of _Galilee_, if there were no other Passages in him for a
Confirmation of it. But to come closer to the Purpose.
St. _Augustin_[246] says, there is Mystery signified in the Story of
this Marriage, as in all _Jesus_'s Miracles, which it becomes us to
open and search for; till, if possible, we are _inebriated_ with the
spiritual and invisible Wine, that _Jesus_ made at this Feast. And
again[247] says, Let us then consider the several Particulars of the
Story, and what is meant by the six Waterpots; and the Water that is
turn'd into Wine; and the Governor of the Feast; and who are the
Bridegroom and the Bride; and who is the Mother of _Jesus_ in a
Mystery; and what is to be understood by the Marriage.
And again, says St. _Augustin_[248], there is Mystery in this Marriage,
or _Jesus_ upon no invitation had gone to it. The Bridegroom is our Lord
himself, to whom it is said thou hast reserv'd the good Wine of the
Gospel _until now_, that is, until the typified Time of the Celebration
of this mystical Marriage, which according to St. _Augustin_[249] is to
be on the sixth Age of the World, signified by the six Water-Pots,
holding two or three Firkins apiece, that is, all Mankind, as they are
divided into the _two_ sorts of _Jews_ and _Gentiles_, or into _three_,
as they are descended of the _three_ Sons of _Noah_.
And in another Place, the same St. _Augustin_ interpreting this Story,
says[250] thus; "Our Saviour is invited to a Marriage; what can that
mean but that the Holy Spirit is courted and invocated by the Church,
wishing to be espoused to him? _Jesus_ comes with his Disciples, that
is, into a holy Place of a Company of Saints. _Mary_ the Mother of our
Lord signifies to him, _that they have no Wine_; so the Church makes
known to him, the Deficiency of the Spirit, which she waits for the
Power of. And if _Jesus_ calls _Mary_, a Woman; he means the Church,
who by Transfiguration may be a Virgin, the Mother, the Spouse of
Christ, and a Whore too."
And again St. _Augustin_ explaining[251] what is meant by the Water,
and the Wine that it wou'd be turn'd into, at the Time of the
spiritual Celebration of this Marriage of Christ with his Spouse of
the Church, says plainly enough, that by _Water_ is meant the Letter
of the Scriptures; and by the best _Wine_ is to be understood
spiritual Interpretations, which would transport the understandings of
Men with divine knowledge; and warm their Hearts and Affections into a
spiritual _Inebriation_; after the similitude of Wine natural.
St. _Theophilus_ of _Antioch_, a most antient Greek Commentator (who
according to _Bishop Smalbroke_ should strictly adhere to the Letter)
says[252], that by this Marriage is meant the Conjunction of Christ
and his Church, as it is the Tradition of the Old and New Testament.
And that _Jesus_ himself is the Bridegroom; and _Moses_ the Governor
of the Feast.
Other Fathers, such as St. _Cyril_, St. _Theophylact_ and St. _Jerome_
are of the same mind about the mystical Interpretation of this
Marriage, as might be prov'd by Passages out of them, if I had room
here to cite them. But I must observe here, that according to the
Fathers, the Story of this Marriage is but another Emblem of the
Marriage of the Lamb with the Bride of the _New Jerusalem_, spoken of
in the _Revelations_, to which all the Fowls of the Air will be
invited, that is, spiritual and heavenly minded Christians, who[253]
soar and fly aloft in their divine and sublime Contemplations on the
anagogical Sense of the Scriptures, which will exhibit those
intellectual Dainties, they are there to be entertain'd with.
What I have here said out of the Fathers to the Story of this
Marriage, is enough to quicken our _Divines_ to search for the like
mystical Interpretation of the whole. The Part of it that's most
difficult to be spiritually expounded, is that saying of _Jesus_ to
his Mother, _Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine Hour is not yet
come._ For the clear interpretation of which, I own, I meet with
little in the Fathers. But St. _Augustin_[254] assures us, there's
latent Mystery in the words. How then shall we come at it? Why, if we
cast away the _Interrogation_, and look upon the Sentence, as
ellyptical, like an infinite number of prophetical ones, the Sense
paraphrastically, and agreeably to the rest of the Mystery, arises
thus: In answer to the Woman of the Church's Expectation of the Wine
of the Spirit; _Jesus_ will tell her or make her to understand of what
importance it is to her (and himself) to be supply'd with that
mystical Wine to her Edification, which it was not his time to pour
forth upon the Church, till the Celebration of his Nuptials with her.
And thus have I done with the Miracle of _Jesus_'s turning Water into
Wine at a Marriage of _Cana_ of _Galilee_. Whether it be not an absurd
and offensive Story according to the Letter, let any one judge. If
the supposed Jewish _Rabbi_ has forced a worse Sense upon it, than it
will naturally bear, our _Clergy_ may expostulate with him for it,
which they hardly will any otherwise than by Exclamations against him,
without Reason and Authority. But in the mystical Operation of this
Miracle at the Marriage of Christ with his Church, there will be the
Wisdom and Power and Goodness of God visible. And it will be a
demonstration of _Jesus_'s _Messiahship_, in as much as the Water of
the Letter of the Law and the Prophets can't be turn'd into the Wine
of spiritual Interpretations, but we must discern how he is the
Accomplisher and Fulfiller of them. And so I pass to an
11. _Eleventh_ Miracle of Jesus, _viz._[255] That of his healing a
Paralytick, for whom the Roof of the House was broken up to let him
down into the Room where _Jesus_ was.
And this Story (without excepting that of the Pool of _Bethesda_) is
the most monstrously absurd, improbable and incredible of any
according to the Letter. There is not one Miracle of _Jesus_
specifically related, that does not labour under more or less
Absurdities, either in Substance or Circumstance: But this, for number
and greatness of Absurdities, I think surpasses them all: And the
Absurdities of it too are so obvious and stare a Man in the Face, that
I wonder they are hitherto overlook'd; and that considerate and
intelligent Persons have not before now hesitated and boggled at them.
If Interest had not blinded the Eyes of our learned _Clergy_, they
would easily have descry'd the Incredibilities and Absurdities of this
Story; and in another _Impostor_'s Case presently have pointed them
out to the ridicule of his Admirers and Adorers.
If a Man was to torture his Brains for the Invention of a romantick
Tale of improbable and surprizing Circumstances, that he might,
withal, hope to palm for a Truth, if it was but for a Week or a Day,
upon the Faith and Understanding of the Credulous; he could never have
presumed, I think, so far upon the weakness of their Intellects, as to
imagine any thing so grossly and notoriously contradictory to Sense
and Reason, would have gone down with them, as is _this_ before us,
which has pass'd currently thro' many Ages of the Church, has been
read with attention by the Learned, and revered by the rest of
Christians, without any exception, hesitation, or doubt of the Truth
of it. In short, so palpable is the falsity of the Story of this
Miracle, that it requires no Sagacity to detect it; and was it not for
the sake of the Mystery more than to expose the Folly of the _Clergy_
in believing of it, I had never bestow'd the following Pains on it.
The People, it seems, so press'd and throng'd about the Door of the
House, where _Jesus_ was, that the Paralytick and his Bearers could
not get near it. What did they so throng and press for? Was it to see
_Jesus_, who was _without Form and Comeliness_, according to the
Prophet _Isaiah_; or, who was one of the most graceful of the Sons of
Men, as _Painters_ and _Publius Lentulus_ do describe him? This could
not be the Reason of the Croud. Tho' a Person extraordinary, either
for Beauty or Deformity may attract the Eyes of the People, and
occasion too a Throng about him; yet this could be no Reason for a
_Press_ about _Jesus_, at _Capernaum_, where he dwelt, and was
commonly seen and well known.
Was it then to hear him preach? Nor this neither. Tho' an excellent
Preacher does sometimes, and a very indifferent one does oftener draw
multitudes after him; yet _Jesus_, as a Prophet, was without Honour
at _Capernaum_, his own Country; consequently, it is not to be
supposed that, for his Doctrine, he was so much follow'd here, tho' we
read, that he _preach'd the Word unto them_.
Was it then to behold him working of Miracles and curing of the
diseased? This is the likeliest Reason of the Crouds and Throng about
him. And perhaps it was a Day appointed beforehand for his healing of
the diseased, which might occasion a more than ordinary Concourse of the
People. But then this Reason would have induced the People to make way
for the _Lame_, _Blind_, and _Paralyticks_ to come to _Jesus_; for they
frustrated their own Hopes and Expectations of seeing Miracles wrought;
and acted more unreasonably than ever Mob did, or can be supposed to do.
But whatever was the Reason of this tumultuous Crouding, which is hard
to be accounted for; it's said, the poor _Paralytick_ with his Bearers
could not get to the Door of the House for the _Press_, and therefore
in all haste is he haul'd to the Top of the House, and let down, thro'
a breach of the Roof, into the Room where _Jesus_ was. What need was
there of such Haste and Pains to get to _Jesus_ for a Cure? It was but
waiting a while, not many Hours, and in all probability the Tumult
would be appeas'd, and access easily had to him. But that the Bearers
of the poor Man should enterprise a trouble and difficulty, that could
not require less Time, than the Tumult could be supposed to last, is a
little strange and somewhat incredible.
St. _Chrysostom_ says[256], that the _Paralytick_ saw that the
Market-place or Street was throng'd with People, who had obstructed
all Passage to the House, where _Jesus_ was; and yet he did not so
much as say to his Friends and Bearers, "What's the Reason of this
Tumult? Let's stay till it is appeas'd, and the House clear'd of the
People, who ere long will depart; and then we shall privately and
quietly get admittance to Jesus," But why did he not say so? Any one
beside himself and his Bearers, if they had any Reason and Senses
about them, would have so argued. St. _Chrysostom_ says, it was their
_Faith_ that made them in such haste to get to _Jesus_: But I should
have thought their _Faith_ might have work'd _Patience_, and disposed
them to stay till Jesus could come out to them, or they get in to him:
And it is an Addition to the strangeness and incredibility of this
Story, that it did not.