Six Discourses on the Miracles of Our Saviour, and Defences of His Discourses. Thomas Woolston
prophetical and parabolical Narratives of what will be mysteriously and more wonderfully done by him: Which Expressions gave Offence to some of our Clergy, and brought upon me their Indignation and Displeasure. I see no Reason to depart from the said Expressions, or so much as to palliate and soften them, much less to retract them; but in Maintenance of my Opinion, to the Honour of our Messiah, and the Defence of Christianity, I write this Treatise on Jesus's Miracles, and take this Method following.
I. I will show, that the Miracles of healing all manner of bodily Diseases, which Jesus was justly famed for, are none of the proper Miracles of the Messiah, neither are they so much as a good Proof of his Divine Authority to found a Religion.
II. That the literal History of many of the Miracles of Jesus, as recorded by the Evangelists, does imply Absurdities, Improbabilities, and Incredibilities, consequently they, either in whole or in part, were never wrought, as they are commonly believed now-a-days, but are only related as prophetical and parabolical Narratives of what would be mysteriously and more wonderfully done by him.
III. I shall consider what Jesus means, when he appeals to his Miracles as to a Testimony and Witness of his Divine Authority, and show, that he could not properly and ultimately refer to those he then wrought in the Flesh, but to those mystical ones, which he would do in the Spirit; of which those wrought in the Flesh are but mere Types and Shadows.
In treating on these Heads, I shall not confine my self only to Reason, but also to the express Authority of the Fathers, those holy, venerable, and learned Preachers of the Gospel in the first Ages of the Church, who took our Religion from the Hands of the Apostles, and of apostolical Men, who dy'd, some of them, and suffer'd for the Doctrine they taught; who professedly and confessedly were endu'd with divine and extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit; who consequently can't be supposed to be Corrupters of Christianity, or Teachers of false Notions about the Miracles of our Saviour, or so much as mistaken about the apostolical and evangelical Sense and Nature of them. I know not how it comes to pass, but I am a profound Admirer, and an almost implicit Believer of the Authority of the Fathers, whom I look upon as vast Philosophers, very great Scholars, and most orthodox Divines. Whatever they concurrently assert, I firmly believe. And tho' they are, for the most part, mysterious Writers out of the Reach of the Capacities of many, who slight them; yet I, who have had the Honour and Happiness of much of their Acquaintance, fancy my self well apprised of their Meanings. If at any time I read a Passage in them which I don't presently apprehend, I salute it with Veneration for all that, till my Understanding is opened to receive the Sense of it. If I meet with but a single Opinion in any one of them, I pay my Respects to it; but where there is an Harmony and Agreement of Opinion amongst them, it is with me, and ought to be with all Christians, of such Weight, as to bear down all Prejudice, Opposition, and Contradiction before it; or the Authority of no Man, whether ancient or modern, is to have any Regard paid to it; and of what ill Consequence to Religion such an utter Rejection of Authority will be, I need not say.
This I thought fit to premise, concerning the Authority of the Fathers, to abate of the Prejudice beforehand, which some may conceive against the following Discourse about the Miracles of Jesus. I don't question, but some may be startled at the foregoing Heads, as if, what is the farthest of any thing from my Heart, the Service of Infidelity was in View; but craving the Temper and Patience of such Readers for a while, and they shall find, that its no other than just Reasoning, clear Truth, and primitive Doctrine about Jesus's Miracles, that I advance: Or if it should so happen, that none besides my self should discern the Reasoning and Truth of the Argument; yet I hope it will not be thought a Crime to revive primitive Doctrine, which none will be able to deny it to be, whether they like it or not. If I err, I err upon Choice with the Fathers, of whose Faith I am. And if any are offended at what follows about the Miracles of Christ, let them turn their Displeasure and Indignation against the Fathers, for whose express or implicit Opinions I can be deserving of no Blame.
I am sorry for the Occasion of such a Preface against Offence, which the Apostacy of the Age, and its Unacquaintedness with the Fathers, has made necessary. So I enter upon the particular handling of the Heads foregoing. And,
I. I will show that the Miracles of healing all manner of bodily Diseases, which Jesus was justly famed for, are none of the proper Miracles of the Messiah, nor are they so much as a good Proof of Jesus's divine Authority to found and introduce a Religion into the World.
And to do this, let us consider, first, in general, what was the Opinion of the Fathers about the Writings of the Evangelists in which the Life of Christ is recorded. Eucherius says,[3] That the Scriptures of the New as well as Old Testament, are to be interpreted in an allegorical Sense. And this his Opinion, is no other than the common one of the first Ages of the Church, as might be proved by many the like Expressions of other Fathers. As in such Expressions, they do not except the Writings of the Evangelists; so they must include the History of Christ's Miracles, which as well as other Parts of the History of his Life, is to be allegoriz'd for the sake of its true Meaning; consequently the literal Story of Christ's Miracles proves nothing.
But let's hear particularly their Opinion of the Actions and Miracles of our Saviour. Origen says, that[4] Whatsoever Jesus did in the Flesh, was but typical and symbolical of what he would do in the Spirit; and to our Purpose,[5] that the several bodily Diseases which he healed, were no other than Figures of the spiritual Infirmities of the Soul, that are to be cured by him. St. Hilary is of the same Mind with Origen, as any one may see by the[6] Expressions referr'd to, and his Commentary on St. Matthew. St. Augustin,[7] and St. John[8] of Jerusalem, both say, that the Works of Jesus import farther Mysteries; and with them, the rest of the Fathers agree, making the Miracles that Jesus did then, no more than the Shadow of some more powerful and mystical Operations to be done by him, as I could show by more Citations out of them, if it was needful. But from the foregoing Citations out of the Fathers it is plain, in their Opinion, that our modern Divines are in the wrong of it, to lay much Stress on any of the Operations of Jesus, which he did in the Flesh, for the Proof of his divine Authority and Messiahship, which is only to be proved by his more mysterious Works, of which those done in the Flesh are but Type and Figure.
But to come closer to the Purpose, let's see how indifferently, I had almost said contemptibly, the Fathers speak of the Miracles of Jesus, and particularly of his Power of healing all bodily Diseases, which by modern Writers is so much magnified and extoll'd. St. Irenæus says,[9] that if we consider only the then temporal Use of Jesus's Power of Healing, he did nothing grand and wonderful; consequently Irenæus could not hold, that Jesus's Miracles then wrought, were a sufficient Proof of his divine Authority, much less of his Messiahship. Origen says[10] that tho' many were brought to believe in Jesus upon the Fame of the Miracles which he did once among the Jews, yet (what implies the Insufficiency of them for the Conversion of Men) he intimates that his greater and mystical Works do prove his Authority. St. John of Jerusalem says[11] that Jesus's Cures performed upon the Blind, &c. were indeed considerable and great, but unless he do daily as mighty Works in his Church, we ought to forbear our Admiration of him. St. Augustin not only says[12] that if we examine into Jesus's Miracles by human Reason, we shall find he did nothing great, considering his Almighty Power, and considering his Goodness, what he did was but little; but he tells us also, that[13] such Works as Jesus did, might be imputed to, and effected by Magic Art. And accordingly Moses and our Saviour himself confess, that false Prophets, and false Christ's, will do Miracles; and Anti-Christ himself, according to St. Paul, will do them to the Deception of Mankind. Nay, the Fathers[14] say, what I believe, that Anti-Christ will imitate and equal Jesus in all his Miracles which he wrought of old. How then can we distinguish the true Prophet from the false; the true Christ from the Anti-Christ by Miracles? our Divines will find it hard to do it, if what the Fathers say of Anti-christ be found true. Moreover History affords us Instances of Men, such as of Apollonius Tyanæus, Vespasian, and of the Irish Stroaker, Greatrex, who have miraculously cured Diseases