By this _Paralitick_, St. _Hilary_[261] says, is to be understood _Mankind_ of all Nations, which opinion too the Fathers held of the _Paralitick_, who was heal'd at the Pool of _Bethesda_. And by his Palsy is not meant any bodily Distemper, but the spiritual Palsy of the Soul, that is, as St. _Augustin_[262] and St. _Jerome_[263] interpret, a dissoluteness of Morals, and an unsteadiness of Faith and Principles, which is the Condition of Mankind at present, who want _Jesus_'s help for the Cure of it. _Eusebius Gallicanus_[264] says, our Saviour's words signify, that it is not a bodily but a spiritual Disease here meant; or he had never said to the Paralytick, _Son, thy Sins are forgiven thee_, which words respect the inward Man, and demonstrate the Palsy here to be a disease Of the Soul. The Man sick of the Palsy had _four Bearers_. And who are they mystically in this Case? Why, the Fathers[265] understand by them the _four Evangelists_, on whose Faith and Doctrine Mankind is to be carry'd unto Christ; for no Soul can be brought unto him, for the Sanation of his Sins and Errors, but by these _four_. But to the top of the House is Mankind, thus paralytically diseased, to be carry'd by the four Evangelists, his Bearers. And what then is this House and its Top? The House of _Jesus_ is the intellectual Edifice of the World, otherwise call'd Wisdom's House; of the beautiful Buildings of which the Scriptures prophetically treat: therefore to the _sublime Sense_ of the Scriptures, call'd the Top[266] of the House, is Man to be taken: He is not to abide in the _low and literal Sense_[267] of them, where People _press_ and strive in vain to come to _Jesus_: But if he is taken to the Sublimity of the Scriptures and there _open_[268] _the House_ of Wisdom, he will presently be admitted to the Presence and Knowledge of _Jesus_. Venerable _Bede_, who is altogether a Transcriber of the Fathers, for which Reason I cite him among the Fathers, says[269], that by the _Tiles_ of the House spoken of in St. _Luke_, is meant the _Letter_ of the Scriptures, which is to be laid open for the manifestation of Christ and of divine Mysteries to the healing of Man's spiritual Palsy, the unsteadiness and dissoluteness of his Morals and Principles. So much, in short, then to the mystical Interpretation of the Story of this Miracle. The literal Sense of it is so encumber'd with romantick Circumstances, as are enough to turn a Man's Heart against Christianity it self: But in the Mystery there will be a most stupendous Miracle, which will be not only an Argument of _Jesus_'s divine Power, but of his _Messiahship_, as certainly as his House of Wisdom, of which the Scriptures write, is open'd to the Manifestation of his Presence, and to the Cure of Mankind of his paralytical Disease, call'd an instability of Faith and Principles.