Bethesda is said to have five Porches, that is, as the Fathers[193] agree, the five Books of Moses, which are as so many Doors of Entrance into the House of Wisdom, or of the Grace of Christ.
At these five Porches of the five Books of Moses lay a great Multitude of impotent Folk, blind, halt, withered. And who are these mystically? The ignorant, erroneous, and unstable in Faith and Principle, as the Fathers often understand them spiritually. And what is the Reason of these their mystical Diseases? Because, as St. Augustin[194] and other Fathers say, they rest on the Letter of the Law, which throws them into various Errors, like Diseases, of different Kinds, of which they can't be cured without the Descent of the Spirit, like an Angel, to instruct them mystically to interpret.
With these impotent Folk lay a certain Man who had an Infirmity. And who is this infirm Man? Mankind in general, say St. Cyril[195] and[196] St. Augustin, And what is his Infirmity? The Fathers call it the[197] Palsy, because of his Instability, and Unsteadiness in Faith and Principles, which is now the Case of Mankind. St. John calls it ασθενειαν a Weakness, which being a general Name of all Distempers, we can't guess what might be here the specifical one. But reasonably speaking, according to the Rule of Interpretation, this Man's Infirmity is the same with the Woman's Spirit of Infirmity, and that is a Weakness at the Spirit of Prophecy, which Mankind, as well as the Woman of the Church, is to be cured of in the Perfection of Time.
And how long did this Man with his Infirmity lay in these Porches of Bethesda? Thirty eight Years: So has Mankind with his Weakness at the Spirit of Prophecy lay eight and thirty (hundred)[198] Years, reckoning two thousand under the Law, and eighteen hundred since under the Gospel. St. Augustin[199] has an ingenious and more mystical way of Computation of these thirty and eight Years, which pleases me too, but possibly some Readers may not so easily apprehend it, unless they are well acquainted with the Mystery of Prophetical Numbers.
And how is Mankind to be cured of his Infirmity at the Spirit of Prophecy? By being instructed, by the Spirit of Truth, who is to come at the Conclusion of the said thirty and eight mystical Years, to arise and take up his bed and walk, that is, to raise his Thoughts to the Contemplation of the divine Mysteries of the Law, and to lift up his Bed of the Letter, on which he has hitherto rested, into a sublime Sense, and then he will walk uprightly and steadily in the Faith, without wavering like a Paralytick.
And at what Season did Jesus come to this infirm Man? It was at a Feast of the Jews. Irenæus, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Cyril call it the Feast of Penticost. And the grand Feast of Penticost is, as St. Cyril[200] says upon the Place at the Perfection of Time, the Time of the Evangelical Sabbath, and of Jesus's spiritual Advent, which will be a Time of feasting on intellectual and divine Mysteries, of seeing Visions and of dreaming Dreams; consequently at that Time, as the ancient Jews and Fathers assert, Mankind will be cured of this Infirmity at the Spirit of Prophecy. And this too is the certain Season, that the Angel will descend and trouble the Waters. By Angel is here meant[201] the Spirit of Christ. And by Waters the Fathers understand,[202] the People of all Nations. But how will the Descent of the Spirit of Truth, like an Angel, trouble these Waters, that is, give any Molestations and Disturbance to the People? Is there not a Mistake in the Oracle? If the Clergy will be but greater Lovers of Truth than of their Interests; if they, who should be Teachers of Forbearance of one another in Love, will but keep their Temper, there would be found a mistake in it. But alas!
Lastly, The Jews, as is intimated, seem to have been mov'd with Indignation at the Cure of the infirm Man, saying to him, ver. 10. it is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for thee to carry thy Bed; which litterally could not be true. The Jews were not such precise Observers of the Sabbath; nor so stupid and foolish, as St. Cyril,[203] says, as to think the taking up and carrying a Stool to be a Breach of it. But mystically, it is to be fear'd, this will be most true, and that the Clergy, who would be Jews inwardly, and the Circumcision in Spirit, will be bitter Enemies to Man's Exaltation of his Couch of the Letter of the Scriptures on or against the Evangelical Sabbath, and will make it, if possible, an unlawful Work; because it will bring to them Shame, Dishonour and Loss of Interests along with it.
After this Manner is every other Circumstance of this Story to be allegorically apply'd out of the Fathers. The Moral or Mystery of the whole, in short, is this, that at the Perfection of Time, signified by the Sabbath, the Pentecost, the End of thirty eight Years, the Spirit of Truth will descend on Mankind, to their Illumination in Prophecy, and to the healing of their Errors, call'd Diseases; which is admirably represented by the Parable before us, that according to the Letter, has neither Reason nor common Sense in it.
And thus have I spoken to eight of the Miracles of Jesus; and whether I have not shew'd them, in whole or Part, according to the Proposition before us, to consist of Absurdities, Improbabilities, and Incredibilities; and whether they are not prophetical and parabolical Narratives of what will be mysteriously, and more wonderfully done by Jesus, I appeal to my Readers.