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Continuance, 'tis no Wonder it came to be forgotten fo foon, when, (in fo fhort a time) its Credibility was hardly well establish'd. Taking the Story however in a lefs advantageous View, and fuppofing (as the Crowd of Commentators do) that this miraculous Virtue of the Pool lafted for fome Term of Years among the Jews; yet, even in this Cafe, I cannot perceive any thing, that may not be fairly accounted for.

Silence

It may feem a little ftrange indeed, Fofephus's that the Jewish Hiftorian, Jofephus, hereof fhould give us no Account of this Pool, accountespecially when the fanative Virtue of ed for. its Waters, occafioned by fo extraordinary a Means, could not but redound to the Honour of his Country. But when it is confidered, that the like Omiffions have been frequently made by other Hiftorians, who have neglected to infert, in their Writings, feveral confiderable Matters of Antiquity, merely because they were fo familiar and well known to them: When it is confidered, that Jofephus is filent on feveral other Occafions, that bear fome Relation to Jefus; that he does not so much as intimate the Slaughter of the Infants at Bethlehem mentioned by f St. Matthew; gives no clear Account of the Roman

Cenfus

Bp. Smallbroke's Vind. f. 498. Matt. ii. 16.

Cenfus or Taxation, that is recorded by 8 St. Luke; and none at all of the Galileans, whofe Blood Pilate had mingled with their Sacrifices, as related by the fame Evangelift: When it is confider'd, that, the miraculous Virtue of the Pool of Bethesda, and the miraculous Cure of the Impotent Man by Jefus, had fo vifible a Connection, that he could not, in decency, give an Account of the one, without making some mention of the other, and therefore chose rather to decline the Hiftory of both: And laftly, when it is confidered (what is told us by Tertullian)" That this Pool of "Bethesda, which cured Diseases till "the Coming of Chrift, and fome time "after, ceas'd to be beneficial to the "Jews, upon their final Perfeverance "in Blafphemy and Infidelity against "Chrift; " there is no wonder at all, that Jofephus, who was fo very defective in other Matters, fhould omit giving us an Account of a Pool, whose fanative Virtue was extinct and gone, when firft he wrote his Antiquities, and which he could not well mention, without giving an implicit Honour to Chrift.

h

& Luke ii. 1, 2. Luke xiii. 1.

It

*It may be observed farther, that, as Jofephus wrote his Hiftory for the Information of the Greeks and learned Romans, who were Heathens; fo he feems very tender of dwelling too much upon Miracles. Nay, he has omitted the mention of fome, and endeavoured by natural Causes to account for others, which he undoubtedly did both believe, and teach too, as he was a Jewish Priest. Thus, in the Ifraelites paffing over the Red-Sea, he makes it a doubt whether the parting of the Waters was occafioned by the Command of God, or by the natural Courfe of Things; and refers his Reader (as a parallel Event) to what befel Alexander and his Army, at the Pamphylian Sea.

mentions

Name.

But, after all, it is no improbable He proConjecture of fome great Criticks, bably that Jofephus did not entirely neglect it under to take Notice of this Pool, though he another did it under a different Name; for he tells us of two Pools at Jerufalem, the one named 50ov and the other duzdaλον, which ἀμύγδαλο (upon a fmall Variation of the Original) fignifies great and eminent, and is therefore thought to be the fame, with that of Bethesda in St. John, as having that Sur-name from its

mira

*Dr. Pearce's Vind. Part 4. p. 19. i Vid. P. Lamy de Tabernac. & Templo. L. 4. C. 5.

Whence

tive Virtae, different Opi

nions.

miraculous Cures. However this be, it is certain, that St. Jerome, who himself had been at Jerufalem, makes mention of two Lakes, the one filled with the Rains, that came down in the Winter, and the other with Water furprizingly Red, as it were Blood, which, by evident Signs, declares and teftifies, fays he, the Work that was anciently done in it: Nor has a modern Traveller omitted to tell us, that, when he was there, he faw, ftill remaining what is reputed the Place of this ancient Pool, and gives us the particular Dimensions of its length, breadth, and depth.

Thus it is plain, that near to Jeruits fana- falem, there was fuch a Place as the Pool of Bethesda; but how its Waters came by their fanative Quality, Opinions, in fome measure, have been divided. Our learned Hammond (who fometimes affects a Singularity of Interpretation) fuppofes, that the Waters became Medicinal, by being im pregnated with an healing warmth from the Blood and Entrails of the facrificed Beafts, that were washed there; and

* St. Hieron. Op. Tom. 2. in Lib. de Situ. & nominibus Locorum Hebræorum, p. 422.

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Maundrel's Travels, p. 107.

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and that the Angel, in the Text, is not to be understood of any of those celeftial Beings, that are ufually distinguished by that Náme, but is a more general Appellation for a Messenger, an Officer, or Servant of the Prieft, fent by him, at a proper Seafon, to ftir the Water of the Pool.

n

The learned Bartholine fuppofes, that these Waters were naturally Medicinal, and that their Commotion was occafioned by an extraordinary Fermentation of fome Mineral in them; and therefore he makes the Angel no more than a divine Power, which originally gave them this Efficacy, though it was exerted in a natural Way. • But befides, that the Word yeλos feldom occurs in the former, and never in this Senfe, in any hiftorical Narrative in Scripture, there are these plain Objections against both Hypothefes, viz. that, be the Waters impregnated with what Ingredient we please, (had their Operation been Mechanical) they must neceffarily have cur'd more than one Perfon, at every Commotion or Fermentation; and yet they never can be suppos'd of Efficacy enough to cure all

U

D

manner

n De

Bp. Smallbroke's Vind.

Vid. Annot. on 5th Ch. of St. John.
Paralyticis N. Teft.
P. 507, &c.

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