and her Cure; and from hence it is no hard Matter to difcern, that her Diftemper was no flight or fudden Indifpofition, but one of fo obftinate and inveterate a Nature, as not to be cur'd by the Art of Phyfick. For her fuffering many Things of many Phyficians fhews, that she had undergone fome harsh and uncommon Courfes of it, and that too at fo great an Expence, that whatever her Circumftances were (and they seem to be confiderable by her confulting fo many Physicians) fhe was reduc'd by them to Poverty. come at Chrift Her Condition indeed is not repre- why she fented fo weak, but that she could get might into the Crowd, and make forward to come at Chrift; but the Crowd, we read of here, could not poffibly be fo great, as what we meet with in other places. In other places k we find our Saviour frequently reprefented, as furrounded with large Multitudes of People, whose Attention was ftrongly engag'd in hearing his excellent Difcourfes, and in feeing his amazing Works. In this Cafe indeed there was no breaking through the Crowd, nor could any new Comer gain Admittance to him, especially 1 when he was in an House. But here "Ray's Vind. part 2. p. 36. 2, 4. & Luke viii. 19, 20. we Vid. Mark ii. That the was not we find him walking along in an open place, accompanied with a Magiftrate, whofe Prefence might reftrain any Tu mult, and neither Preaching to the People, nor working any Miracle, until this Woman came, which made her Access much more eafy. But be the Difficulty fuppos'd never fo great, yet who would not struggle upon fuch an Occafion as this, when Skin for Skin, and all that a Man has, will he give for his Life; when her Condition was become fo defperate, that, without this laft Experiment, fhe was loft and undone? For fuch was the Nature of her Diftemper, (fays m a very great Physician, having her very Cafe before him) that it gains Strength in Progress: It encreafes and grows worse by Remedies, and, at laft, all Benefit of them is defpaired of, infomuch that Æfculapius himself, could not have cured a Patient in thefe Circumfances. How vain and groundless a Notion is it then, to fuppofe, that a Disease of cur'd by this Kind and Continuance, could ever Imagina- be cured by the Strength of the Woman's Imagination? Whether ever Cures of Chronical Diseases were brought about by the help of a ftrong" Fancy, is tion. much Adver. de morbis Evang. apud critic Sacra. Tom. 9. 3685. much to be queftioned; but admitting there were fome Inftances of this kind, yet there is one Circumftance, which plainly diftinguishes them from the miraculous Cures of Chrift, viz. that they were never affected at once, and in a moment, but when a Surprize of Joy, and a strong Perfuafion that he should be cured, had fo far work'd upon the Patient, as to give a new Turn and Motion to his Spirits and Juices of his Body, he has only begun, from that Time, to find an Amendment; and the Impreffion of the fame Paffions remaining ftrong upon him afterwards, he has recovered by degrees, and in length of Time, the Cure has been compleated, and Nature help'd to finish, what the Imaginatio had imperfectly begun. The Truth is, all the Work of Fancy, in this Cafe, is, to entertain a very good Opinion of a Physician, of his Skill, and Fidelity, and poffibly of his Friendship, and thence to be pleased with great Hopes of the Success of his Prescriptions. But it is utterly incredible, that the very best Opinion, or moft Sanguine Hopes could be powerful enough to remove a Chronical Diftemper, fo habitually rooted in Nature for twelve Years together, as to have in vain exhausted the whole Art But by Powerand Art of Phyfick, and baffled the Attempts of all Phyficians. If ever the Power of Fancy could have availed any thing towards the curing of an inveterate Diftemper, this Woman, one would think, muft have received great Benefit from fome one or other of those many Phyficians, fhe had confulted; fince it is not reasonable to think, fhe would have Spent all her Living upon them, nor gone through fo many fevere Courfes, as were prescribed by them, had the not conceived a very good Opinion, at least, of fome of them, and hoped, by their Advice, to recover her Health; and yet we find the rather grew worse, until The came to Jefus, in full Affurance of Faith, and, by the Emanation of a divine Power from him, received the Confummation of her Hope. What this fanative Virtue was, which Chrift's refided in the Body of the holy Jefus ; her Faith how it was exerted, and when exerted, in him. how he preceived it, and was affected by it, are Points that we cannot refolve, because the Spirit of God has not thought proper to reveal them. This, however, every common Reader may observe, that there was a certain previous Qualification, in fome meafure, required in those fick Perfons, whom Chrift vouchfafed to Cure, and without which he did did not ( not because he could not, but because he would not) usually extend his divine Power; and that Qualification was Faith, or believing him to be a true Prophet, and confequently the Meffiah, that was to come into the World. This Woman therefore, hearing of Jefus, as he was accidentally paffing by, and encouraged by the former Miracles, he had wrought, which were undeniable Proofs of his Power and Compaffion, adventured to make her humble Application to him. She, as well as the reft of the People, could not but stand amazed at the marvellous Works he did, and was conftrained to acknowledge, that no Man could do the like, except that God were with him: and therefore, in Obedience to God, in whofe Name he acted, and who fo vifibly owned and approved of his Pretenfions, fhe publick Teftimony (by this outward touching of his Garment) of her fingular Regard and Veneration for fo divine a Perfon. As her Extremity was great, fo it gave her a fit Opportunity to exprefs her high Opinion of his Power to help, and gracious Inclination to commiferate, the diftreffed. Upon this Subject gave a Compare Matt. xiii. 58. with Mark vi. 5, 6. |