Sermons, preached partly before His Majesty at White-Hall and partly before Anne Dutchess of York, at the chappel at St. James / by Henry Killigrew ...

The Touch of his Finger.

But you will say what need was there of this? Do but speak the Word, as the Centurion said, and my Servant shall be whole: so do but speak the Word, and the Deaf and Dumb shall hear and speak: Christ's Ephata had been enough, without his Touch; the Breath of his Mouth could have wrought the Cure, without the help of his Finger. 'Tis true, and in many of his Miracles our Lord used only his Voice, he restored Lazarus to Life, still'd the Tempest, cast out Devils merely by his Word. But yet frequently he did his Cures by his Touch, he took the Damsel that was dead, by the hand, and she arose; and he laid his hands upon the Sick, and healed them. For some reason therefore it must be, that not only at this time, but at many others, he performed by many Circumstances, what he could have perform∣ed, if he had pleased, by fewer, or by none at all.

And the first Reason might be this, That the Be∣holders might see, the Cure came from himself, from no Confederacy with Spirits, or any External Power, and from thence might have a greater Veneration both of his Person and his Doctrine; be perswaded, that what proceeded from his Mouth must be True, when they saw what proceeded from his Body was Divine.

The second Reason might be, That by a greater

Number of Circumstances the Miracle might make a deeper Impression, and be longer remembered both by the Person healed, and by the Standers-by; re∣main a Monument, as well as a Demonstration of his Power and Goodness. God, in the days of Moses, gave not only his Precepts in Writing, but expos'd them to the Touch and Sight of his People; made his Commandments dangle between their Eyes in Phylacteries, and trail at their feet in Fringes, that what they would have forgot in Books, they might remember, wearing as Dresses and Ornaments. And 'twas for a like reason to this, that our Lord in∣stituted Baptism, and his Last Supper: for he could have convey'd to us the Pardon of our Sins, and the Grace of his Holy Spirit, without the Ceremonies of Washing, and breaking of Bread: but he thought fit to adde these Performances, not only to make Spi∣ritual things more plain and conceiveable, but to make Transient things more permanent; that his Benefits being thus rendred operatiora, more full of Business and Toil, they might be also memorabiliora, more full of Remark, and better fixt in our Minds.

The third Reason why our Lord wrought this Mi∣racle by his Touch, and such a Singular Touch, as thrusting his Finger into the Ear, and putting his Spit∣tle upon the Tongue, might be; because these Acti∣ons have a Resemblance and kind of Similitude to the Means, which Art ordinarily uses in like Cases; Obstructions are opened by Perforations, and Leni∣tives cause Lubricity and Volubility; and the more to set off the Greatness of his Power, he would have it seen, that he could cure by the Figures and Ima∣ges only of those things, by which Surgeons and Physicians exercise their Narrow and restrained Skill: he used, as one says, Metaphoram in facto, a Meta∣phor

in Fact, employ'd his Finger as a Probe, and his Spittle as an Ointment. It was a wonderful Perfor∣mance to cure an Original Dumbness and Deafness by any Means; but to do it by such things, as were in∣deed No Means, that was more Wonderful. To proceed, the second Ceremony Christ used, was