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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64059	A disquisition touching the sibylls and the sibylline writings in which their number, antiquity, and by what spirit they were inspired, are succinctly discussed, the objections made by Opsopæus, Isaac Casaubon, David Blondel, and others, are examined, as also the authority of those writings asserted : which may serve as an appendix to the foregoing learned discourse touching the truth and certainty of Christian religion.	Twysden, John, 1607-1688.; Yelverton, Henry, Sir, 1566-1629. Short discourse of the truth & reasonableness of the religion delivered by Jesus Christ.	1662 (1662)	Wing T3546_PART; ESTC R31870_PART	53,956	102

reply to what had been urged by them The first he takes into consideration is Clemens Alenandrinus a person he knew of variety of Learning insomuch that some part of his Books were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the variety of the subjects they handled and of great antiquity in the Church having flourished and written as 't is thought within 160 years Heloic Chronol pa. 91. or thereabout after the death of our blessed Saviour and finding that he had in sundry places mentioned the Sibylls and their Books particularly in his first Book Strom. Clem. Alexand. Strom. lib. 1. p. 323 B. Edit Paris 1629. p. 304. in which he mentions many of them and among others Phemonoe whom he affirms to have lived twenty seven years before Orpheus who was one of the Captains in the expedition of the Argonauts against Jason for the golden Fleece about the year from the Creation according to D. Simpson 2743. according to Helvicus not so much who by the way tells you Simpson in an that what before was read 27 ought to be 107 as the same Author had before noted in the same Book who had also before mentioned another ancienter then this Phemonoe another later namely Sibylla Erythre● with others whereas D. Blundel contends there was but one and the same person Author of all the Sibylline Books now extant much after Christ Nay farther that he was not ignorant that Pausanias mentions the daughter of Jupiter and Lamia long before the building of Delphos in which place Phemonoe was perhaps one of the first that gave out Oracles though long after the first Sibyll And had farther observed that many verses now extant in the Books we have and other passages therein were mentioned in Heathen as well as Christian Authors That Constantine who was not only a Christian and so by his profession bound to speak truth but an Emperour and so in a capacity by his power to examine all Records and other means by which the truth might be discovered had not only asserted their authority but made it evident that both Virgil and Tully had seen and made use of some passages now in those Books we have He had great reason to believe that some of his Readers would lay more weight upon the judgment of so many grave Writers then to be led away by his bare suspition The passage he first lays hold on is in Clemens Alexandrinus in his sixth Book in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 6. Strom. p. 636. Over and above the preaching of S. Peter Paul the Apostle saith Take unto your selves the Graecian Writers read Sibylla how she manifestly declares one God and the things that are to come That which he replies to this place is very fit to be set down in his own words though they are somewhat long They shall give me pardon by their leave if I say they accumulate one ill upon another Mais il me pardonneront s'il leur plaist si je dis que ils accumulent mal sur mal car s'il ya de la faute a souscrire comme S. Justin a une faussete que l'on n'a peu recognoistre combien doit estre odicux le crime de ce faux tesmoign qui pour tromper Clement Alexandrin les autres Chrestiens a voulu soustenir la supposition des escrits Sibyllins par une pire imposture feindre que S Paul luy mesme leur avoit concilié de l'authorité par sa recommendation Si les bonnes ames ont de la pe ne a souffrir que l'on donne en leur presence les eloges de la pudicite a de louues de bordel qui d'entre les vrais Chrestiens pourra supporter que l'on egale aux prophetes de dieu des hypocondriaques a leurs oracles coelestes des resveries embarassées que l'inventeur d'une si indigne fourbe ose pour la maintenir produtre l'Apostre comme complice de son audace sacrilege On veut n●ant moins que de ce vaisseau d'election soient sorties les paroles rapportées par Clement pour ce que rien de tel ne se trouve en ses epistres on se figure qu'il les a prononcees en ses sermons populairs come s'il avoit este possible a celuy qui a sacrific sa vie par un glorieux martyre l'an 65 de nostre Seigaeur de donner son approbation a une piece pleine de fautes forge de puis l'an 137 c. Blond des Sibylles cap. 5. p. 15. 16. for if it were a fault to give consent with S. Justin to an untruth which he could not know how odious ought the fault to be of this false witness who to the end he might deceive Clemens Alexandrinus and the rest of the Christians hath shew'd himself willing to maintain the supposition of the Sibylline Writings by a worse imposture feigns that S. Paul himself had given them authority by his recommendation If those good souls would be unwilling that one in their presence should commend for chastity the persons hired in unclean houses what true Christian could endure to hear equalled to the Prophets of God and their Prophesies the embroiled fancies of Hypochondriacks and that the Inventor of this so unworthy cheat should dare for the maintenance of it to produce the Apostle as a Partner of his sacrilegious boldness Notwithstanding all this there are that would have these words quoted by Clemens to have proceeded out of the mouth of this Vessel of Election and because no such thing is found in his Epistles they feign to themselves that he spake them in his Sermons to the people as if it were possible for him who sacrificed his life by so glorious a Martyrdome 65 years after our Saviour could give approbation to a piece full of faults and forged 137 years after I ask first who was this false witness whose crime was so odious who was the inventor of that so unworthy a cheat and that durst make St Paul his partner in so sacrilegious a boldnes and that deceived Clemens and the rest of the Christians I am sure there is nothing extant in their Writings that tells you that St Paul made use of them and I think he did not believe any body stood at Clemens his elbow to engage him to father that upon St Paul which he would not own so that it must necessarily follow that Clemens Alexandrinus himself must be the person guilty of this cheat this sacrilegious boldnes to deceive both himself and other Christians Certainly D. Blundel had too much worth to intend any such calumny to this Writer or to affix so ill language of him and I observe it only to let you see how far that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the immoderate drawing of all things to the contrary part to serve their ends may mislead wise men after they have espoused the defence of any cause though

Erithrea and Cumana With him agrees the Scholiast of Aristophanes in his Comedy of Birds There were three Sibylls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schol. Aristoph in avibus of which one as her Verses tell you was the Sister of Apollo the second Erithrea the third Sardiana Aelianus tells you of four Erithrea Samia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aegyptia and Sardiana to whom saith he others have added six so that in all they are ten amongst which Cumaea and Judaea are reckoned Lactantius out of Varro with whom agree Isidore Lact. pag. 33. Isid l 8. cap. 8. Suidas in verbo Antim in Praefat. ad Sibyl Orac. p. 144. Sixt. Sen Bibliot pag. 108. Edit Lugd. Suidas Antimachus and most others count ten in this order 1. The Persian 2. The Lybian 3. The Delphick 4. The Cumaean 5. The Erithrean 6. The Samian 7. Cumana 8. The Hellespontick 9. The Prygian 10. The Tiburtine Onuphrius addes more as you may see in his Book de Sibyllis put out before the Oracles in the Paris Edit 1599. In his account of them I observe this difference he accounts the Sibylla Delphica in the first place and Persica in the eighth I think erroneously for certainly she was much ancienter then Cumana if her name was Amalthea as I shall shew anon The age of the world in which they lived severally is uncertain but undoubtedly the first of them very ancient and sundry of them before the Trojan War Onup de Sibyll pag. 7. Onuphrius tells you that Sibylla Delphica lived long before those times and quotes Bocchus or Boethus for it that she was born at Delphos that Homer took some of his Verses from her which our Learned Doctor Simpson in his Chron. Simp. Chro. Cat. A.M. 28 29. Cathol takes to be those among others by him remembred upon the year of the world 2829. But Pausanias goes much higher and tells you speaking of Delphos that it was the place where Oracles were delivered from the beginning of the earth They say from the beginning of the earth there was a place of Oracles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pausan in Phocicis p. 320. 29 Ed. Frank. 1583. and that Daphne was by the earth her self appointed President there That prophecying was in common between Neptune and the Earth that the Earth gave Oracles with her own mouth That Neptune had for his Minister for that office one Dircon And not many lines after hath these words I have heard that some Shepherds happened upon the place where the Oracle was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 320. 38. Pho. and became inspired by the vapour of the earth it self and prophesied by the power of Apollo Which thing might very well occasion the building of a Temple to Apollo in that place wherein Oracles had formerly been given Nay I find farther that the same Pausanias tells you of one Herophile that used to give Oracles where you find this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pausa Phoc. p. 327. 18. There is a stone rising up above the rest Upon this the Delphians say that one Erophile used to stand and deliver Oracles and that she first obtained the name of a Sibyll But I find her rather in the like manner more ancient whom the Grecians call the daughter of Jupiter and Lamia who was the daughter of Neptune and that she first chanted out Oracles of any women and by those of Libya was called a Sibyll Herophile was not so ancient as she was yet was she also before the Trojan Wars When I consider and compare with these testimonies what the most Learned Bochartus saith in his Geographia Sacra That Noah was Saturn Cham Jupiter Hammon Japhet Neptune Boch p. 1. Noam esse Saturnum tom multa docent ut vixsit dubitandi locus See How Inst Hist p. 4. and Sem Pluto in whom you may farther see the concinness of the Story and his reasons at large as likewise that Tubal Cain was Vulcan Boch pag. 432. by a small change in the pronuntiation their sounds being almost the same It might well stand together that in that time when there was a promiscuous use of all beds that Cham might marry his brother Japhets daughter that is according to Pausanias Jupiter married the daughter of Neptune who as you heatd before was a Diviner and all this before the flood so that the story of one skill'd in that Art being shut up in the Ark with Noah is not only probable but true for we are certain Noahs three Sons with their wives were shut up there Josep li. 1. cap. 5. Lil. Giral de Poet. Hist pa. 79. Josephus a Jewish Writer and certainly no friend to Prophesies not owned by those of his Nation tells you of one that spake of the building the Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues also but without any mark of distrust put upon it which probably he would have done had he found any cause not to believe the truth of their Writings Lilius Giraldus tells you That Sibylla Persica called Sambethe the same with Chaldaica and Hebraea lived before the flood and was shut up in the Ark with Noah I find her also called * Lil. Giral de Poet. Hist pa. 79 Dial. 2. Suidas in verb. Collius l. 3. p. 2. p. 192. De animabus Paganctuin Sambethe Noe which might as well be the daughter of Noah as to derive her name from Noe a Town near the Red Sea as Beirlin in Verb. and our industrious Countryman Mr. Howel in his Instit Historical incline pag. 171. Georg. Cedrenus tells you of one in Solomons time it may be the same Pausan pag. 327. calls Saba and to have succeeded Demo said to be the daughter of Berosus and Erimanthe The Queen of Sheba who was also by the Grecians called a Sibyll 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Glycas Annal. p. 256. c. Onuphrius in his Book de Sibyllis will tell you of others that lived in other ages of the world Pausan in Phocic p. 337. Onup de Sibyl and assuredly long before that Amalthea who is said to have offered to sale nine books of Oracles to Tarquinius Priscus others to Superbus which story because I shall make some use of it I shall deliver at large as I have literally rendred it out of Dionysius Harliearnassaeus who lived about twenty six years before the birth of our Saviour as Helvicus hath it Helv. Chron. in annot in cat viror illustrium The story in Dionysius Halicarnassaeus is thus Another very admirable accident in the time of the Reign of Tarquinius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lib. 4. fol 259. whether given by the good will of the Gods or Daemons is related to have fallen out in the City of Rome which not only for a small time but in all ages and often hath saved it from great evils A certain woman not of that Country came to the King desirous to sell nine books

by what spirit they were inspired whether as Arnobius Lactantius Baronius See Sixt. Sen. bib p. 108. Edit Lugd. Mont. excer 4. p. 186. in Anal. alii and others that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filled with Gods Spirit or spake only by his permission as the Oracles did so as the truth of what they foretold is for the generality made good neither can I think it unreasonable to believe with Cardinal Baronius That the Counsel of God was such Confilium Dei fuisse ut longe ante Christi adventum tantae rei sacramentum Judais atque Gentibus innotesceret illis quidem per Prophetas hisce vero per suos Vates Hisdaspem praecipue Sibyllas Mount ia Anal. p. 127. that long before the coming of Christ some sign of so great a blessing should be made known to the Jews and Gentiles to them by the Prophets to these by their Vates chiefly Hidaspes and the Sibylls Secondly Observ 2 That this person that came to Tarquinius could not be of Cumes in Italy for she is said to be a stranger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of that Nation and that any of any other Nation should at that time inhabit in Cumes in Italy and there deliver Oracles and the Roman State not know of it seems very improbable Thirdly Observ 3 It is manifest there were more genuine Books of that nature at that time for we see she burnt six of nine filled with the same matter or two of three as others say but all agree the greatest number was burnt and so probably enough those afterward sought out in the time of the Consulate of Scribonius and Octavius in the 176 Olymp. Onup de Sibyl pag. 47. out of Fenest Helv. Chron. pag. 81. Ed. Oxon. about 15 years after the Capitol was burnt which happened in the time of the War between the Marsi and their Confederates called the Marsick or Sociale War might contain much of what was in the Books burnt by Amalthea and which never were before in the Roman hands and so perished not with the Capitol and consequently that they were not necessarily supposititious or spurious because Dionysius Halicarnassaeus saith so who being a Heathen judged of the truth or falshood of them by their agreement with what he had learned was in the former Books by which according to the best examination the State could make what they received from Erithre and other Towns of Asia and Italy were corrected Fourthly Observ 4 It is evident the original Writings of what the Romans received were still kept in those places from whence they had them for it is expresly said they caused them to be transcribed which might be partly the reason of the multitude of Copies that were after extant of Books of that nature Nor can I believe that in 15 years no man should have the curiosity to seek out such rarities till Scribonius and Octavius motioned it in the Senate though between that time and the Reign of Augustus when the Prophetick Books were burnt many more years near 100 had elapsed Fifthly Observ 5 That it doth no way appear that those Books sold by this strange woman were the product of her own brain but might very well be the Writings of some other nay if there be any truth in that part of her story that she vanished away she must needs be an Angel or Devil and so that opinion no way impugned which shall affirm that what she sold to Tarquinius was the work of some other much ancienter then her self perhaps hers that went by the name of Erithrea and lived at Cumes in Asia and Italy also because the Romans first sent to Erithre undoubtedly from that reason that they believ'd those books they had lost were likeliest to be found there and beside Montac in analect pag. 150. Oaup de Sibyl Lactan. p. 33. I find this Amalthea counted the Sibylla Cumana not Cumaea as Onuphrius Suidas Lactantius and others have before taken notice of though the similitude of their names made their persons sometimes confounded Sixthly Observ 6 That the Acrosticks in the Sibylline Books were a means by which the true Writings were distinguished or discovered CHAP. III. What Writings of the Sibylls were kept in the Capitol The reading of others promiscuously not forbidden Justin Martyr so to be understood YOu have heard before what care the Romans took to repair their loss by getting in again what they could of the Sibylline Books Amongst those they obtained Lactantius will tell you they strictly laid up only those of Cumaea His words are these Harum omnium Sibyllarum carmina feruntur habentur praeterquam Cumaeae cujus libri à Romanis occuluntur nec cos ab ullo nifi à quindecem viris inspici fas est Lact. de fals Relig. lib. 1. pag. 35 36. The Verses of all the Sibylls are abroad and possessed except those of Cumaea whose Books are secretly laid up by the Romans nor is it lawful for any except the Quindecem viri to look into them The curiosity of men continually increasing from the time of the burning of the Capitol unto the review made by Augustus which was 60 years or upward there were got into private hands above 2000 Copies of Books of that nature which produced that Decree made by Caesar for the bringing them in to the Praetors hands as Suetonius tells you Quicquid fatidicorum librorum Graci Latinique generis nullis vel parum idoneis auctoribus vulgò ferebantur supra duo millia contracta undique cremavit ac solos retinuit Sybillinos hos quoque delectu habito condiditque duobus forulis auratis sub Palatini Apollinis basi Suet. in vita Aug. pag. 152. Edit Hackii 1651. Whatsoever presaging or fate-telling Books either in Greek or Latine were commonly vented abroad either under none or Authors names of little account having gathered together of them above two thousand he caused to be burnt retaining only the Sibylline Books of these also he took what he liked to make choice of and hid them in two gilded hutches under the foot of a pillar in the Temple of Apollo Palatinus In which relation 't is observable that the Sibylline Books were exempted from this Martyrdom nay indeed none suffered but such as had no warrantable Author to secure them What he liked in the Sibylline Books he laid up in the Temple so we find here a new accession to those Books gathered together before by the Roman Embassadours sent abroad to that purpose And I find farther that after this when Caninius Gallus a Quindecemvir would have done the like he was reproved by Tiberius Caesar for deviating from the custome observed by the Romans and put in mind what Augustus Caesar had before done Tacit. Ann. lib. 6. p. 149. Edit Antw. But I confess upon the best search I have been able to make I cannot find any Law or publick Inhibition against the reading of such

Midas might as well receive his name from the River as that from him except you like better to believe this verse foisted in by some late Writer who remembring that Celaene was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the tradition of the Arks resting there thought by this means to explain the Oracle but indeed corrupted it A misfortune like to it I have before shewed you happened to the text of Justin Martyr For if that verse be left out the sense of the Oracle is no more then that in the Continent of black Phrygia there is a long and arduous Mountain called Ararat upon whose high top the Ark rested But D. Blond cap. 3. p. 9 Blundel will not thus give us over but tells us that this very person discovers her self to be a Christian and that she compiled this her Rapsodie between the years after Christ 138 and 151. that is between the time of the death of Adrian and that part of the Reign of Antoninus when Justin Martyr presented his Apology The words referred to are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lib. 8. p. 403. We therefore that are sprung from the holy and heavenly generation of Christ c. By which words saith he she evidently manifests her self to have lived after Christ Though I might accommodate many answers to this place and tell you that all persons whatsoever that have been saved were regenerated by Christ whether exhibited or to be exhibited and that future things are often declared as past Yet since it is not my task to justifie all things in those eight Books to be as ancient as the flood but only to shew 't is possible some things therein might I shall not contend with him about it so as on his part it might be as equally conceded that there were more Sibylls then one which I find him very hard to be induced to as you may see in his seventeenth Chapter at the end Blond cap. 17. p. 78. where he saith all the eight Books which we have were written by one and the same hand I confess very pertinently to his purpose had he proved it but contrary to the sence of all the world before him except by writing he understand composing and setting in order the works of many persons which probably might be the labour of one and the same person according to the custome of the Eastern Countries at this day as I am informed by a Learned Divine that hath travelled in those parts where their manner is to gather together the wise sayings of their Progenitors who ever they were without any order or consideration of time or other circumstance and so transmit them to posterity indeed as a Rapsody or disjointed things that have no necessary connexion or dependance one upon another and yet all or much of them very true That these Writings of the Sibylls may have had their share in this fate as to some particulars therein I think probable enough but that will not serve to impugne the authority of them all Object 8 Another Objection urged by D. Blundel against these Books is taken from their direct contradiction of the Holy Scripture Genes 7.11 Genes 8.14 for whereas Moses tells you that Noah continued in the Ark from the 17th day of the second moneth to the 27th day of the second moneth following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sibyl Orac. lib. 1. p. 183. the Authour of this work plainly saith that Noah went out of the Ark the eighth person after he had fulfilled forty and one days in the waters according to the will of God If this learned man had as much endeavoured to have gathered Arguments for the asserting the truth of the Sibylline Predictictions Answ as he was curious and diligent to heap up all imaginable matter that could be found out any way to impugne their authority he might from this place have found out as well reason to believe them true as by it conclude their falshood for he could not but see that the History of the flood is told almost directly like to that related by Moses in Genesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Sibyl Orac. lib. 1. pag. 179. The opening the flood-gates and cataracts of Heaven of his opening the roof of the Ark of his great fear of the endless extent of the waters of the earths being covered and drowned by them many days and of the terrible face of the Heavens during that time She then tells you the story of the first sending out of the Dove her return then the sending her out the second time her return with an Olive branch in her mouth After this the sending forth the Raven who returned not And before the first sending forth the Dove tells you of some remission in the air after the earth had been watered with the rain many days And after this and the first return of the Dove his remaining in the Ark more days And much more to that purpose all which could not probably be performed in the space of 40 or 41 days in which time 't is scarce imaginable either how or from whence so great a bulk of water could come as was sufficient to cover the whole globe of the earth so high as to be enough above the highest mountain upon the face of it that all the Inhabitants might be drowned had not the immediate hand and power of God intervened to effect it Insomuch that no Impostor whatsoever except he had been more foolish then false would have transcribed a story out of Moses with circumstances comprehending some length of time in their performance and at last contradict his own relation in a matter which lay directly before his eyes and impossible not to be detected We may therefore with more reason believe this relation not to have been taken out of Moses but rather to have proceeded out of the mouth of her that was in the Ark with Noah which being no way prophetical but historical may admit of a greater latitude and lead us to conclude the Writer whoever she was pitched upon some considerable or notable period of 41 days in which they were in the greatest danger Let us therefore see if we can any way discover when this was Moses saith Genes 7. Gen. 7. v. 11. That on the seventeenth day of the second moneth when Noah and all his Family with the creatures were in the Ark and that the Lord had shut up the door upon them that the fountains of the deep were broken up and the cataracts

never so unjust We will now examine what in this Allegation is Argumentative on David Blundels part His design is to shew these eight Books of the Sibylline Writings to be embroyled fancies rapsodies proceeding from hypochondriaques full of faults and written 137. years after Christ To do this he tells you Clemens Alexandrinus urges That St Paul remitts the Gentiles to the Books of one of the Sibylls to prove the unity of the Godhead and other things to come but there is no such thing extant in St Pauls Epistles that we have therefore those Books are spurious false and I know not what else Were he able to prove that St Paul never said or wrote any other thing than what we have in those sew Epistles of his and that little that is related of him in the Acts nothing more would follow than that Clemens misalledged him nothing at all to the overthrow of the Books which we know were in the world both in Tully's and Virgil's time and therefore could not be unknown to St Paul being sometime in the Court of Nero and bred up unto much learning We know he did upon the like occasion remember them of the Poems of Aratus and Epimenides and why not of the Sibylls We have reason enough to believe Clemens might have some pieces of St Paul which are unknown unto us the rather since we see new things are dayly discovered witness the first Epistle of Clemens Romanus the genuineness of which few doubt yet not brought to light till our days and why the like may not be supposed of St Paul I see not This is clear he had a good esteem of those Writings and that in his judgment St Paul might have made use of their authority in that point Oh but here is a great deal of clearness in these Oracles more than in the Scriptures therefore St Paul could not be the Author of this Allegation Touching the clearness of these Writings in general I have spoke at large in the fourth Chapter as to their plainness for the proving the Unity of the Godhead certainly nothing in the world can be more clear than the Scripture in many places so that D. Blundel as to this particular hath not made his reply good against Clemens his Authority in any part I wonder he did not as much find fault with his quotation of the Sermon of St Peter a little before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lib. 6. Stromat p. 635. where he tells you of the Unity Incomprehensibleness Invisibility of his filling all things and standing need of nothing of his making all things by the power of his Word that is his Son and many more undoubted truths but not delivered at least not all of them in those words by St Peter in any thing of his now extant I cannot doubt but could that have been useful he would have heaped it up also amongst Clemens his mistakes with which he fills up his next Chapter and were they all true would be very little to his purpose After this from the beginning of the eleventh Chapter to the end of the fifteenth he spends his whole time and as much paper as I have alloted my self to this whole discourse in shewing you the more important mistakes in the Emperour Constantine in his eleventh Chapter then his mistakes of less importance in the fourteenth the discovery and clearing the opinion of Cicero in the twelfth and of Virgil in the thirteenth Chapter that Virgil did not disguise his opinion is the subject of his fifteenth Chapter Whereas after all this labour and pains he wholy mistakes both the design and drift not only of the Emperor but of all other the Christians that have made use of the Sibylline Writings whose aim was not to concern themselves what was the opinion either of Tully touching them or what Virgil meant in his fourth Eclogue but whether the words of one do not clearly import that there were Sibylls and that in their Writings were Acrostiques and that the words of the other import that which is not applicable to any but our Saviour Now that this is made good in every particular is so clear that the very recitation of the words are of themselves able to confute any man The words of Tully in his second Book of Divination are these Speaking of the Sibylls The Poem it self evidently shews Non esse autem illud carmen furentis cum ipsum Poêma declarat est enim magis artis dilig ●tiae quam iucitationis motus tum vero ea quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur cum deinc●ps exprimis versus literis aliquid connectitur ut in quibusdam Ennianis quae Ennius fecit Cicer. de Divinat lib 2. that the Verses are not a mad bodies for it savours more of Art and diligence than of sudden motion or incitation especially that which is called an Acrostich in which from the first letters of every verse downward something is framed or knit together as it is in some of those which Ennius hath made 'T is clear enough from these words that there were Acrosticks and such as Ennius made but of what sort those were we cannot know since of him we have nothing left that I know of but certain fragments gathered together out of all Authors by Robert Stephen and put out by Henry his brother But if we may guess at them by those in the Arguments of most if not all the Comoedies of Plautus who was near Helvic Chron. act ann mun 3712. if not of his time for between the birth of Ennius and death of Plautus are but 60. years or thereabout and both before Tully we shall find them such as those quoted out of the eighth Book of the Sibylline Oracles and repeated by Constantine so that I look upon that in D. Blundel pag. 55. as a fancy who would have Acrosticks so made that the number of the letters in the first Verse should contain the number of the verses in the whole Poem and that the second of the first should be the first letter of the second verse and so consecutively of which sort he gives one only verse as an example 705 years after Christ and perhaps the only one ever made of that sort Lil. Giral de Poet. Hist Dial. 2. p. 11. Lillius Giraldus tells you of Acrosticks and Parasticks but of none of this sort so that we have little reason to believe those in the Sibylline Oracles were other than what we have Dionysius Halicarnassaeus tells you the true Sibylline Writings were discovered by the Acrosticks enough to prove there were such Those of Virgil are in his fourth Eclogue too long to transcribe and such that Constantine in his Oration Ad Sanctorum Caetum spends his nineteenth and twentieth Chapters to shew they could not be understood of any other but our Saviour and shews there that those as well Acrosticks as other Writings of the Sibylls had been seen both by Cicero

and Virgil and the Acrosticks translated by Cicero and all this made so manifest by those that had accurately computed the time that their testimony is beyond exception Of the same opinion is Lactantius Lact. l. 5. de ver sap p. 400. who tells you None that hath either read Cicero or Varro will believe these Writings counterfeited by the Christians out of which these testimonies had been produced by persons dead long before the birth of our Saviour But I had almost forgotten that he offers some reason against the Acrostick mentioned in the Oration of Constantine because in the Sibylline Books it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consisting of one letter more than the name ought to have according to the true writing thereof whereas D. Blundel who makes this Objection could not be ignorant that the ancient Graecians accounted the name of Christus octosyllabum as Irenaeus tells him Iron li. 1. ca. 10. And Valesius in his Notes upon Eusebius lately put out at Paris 1659. hath these wrods The ancient Graecians accounted the Name of Christ to consist of eight syllables taking sylable there for Sance veteres Graeci nomen Christi octofyllabum faciebant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 cum dipth●r 〈…〉 l. 1. c 10. a letter writing Christ Creist with a dipthong I confess I find not that particular in Irenaeus in the place quoted nor remember it in any other but of this I am sure to have observed in ancient Greek Inscriptions upon Statues and Pillars Vid. Seldini Marmora Arundeliana what we now write with a single I expressed by a dipthong and the like which is evident in the writing of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Latinus CHAP. VII Of Predictions of things to come and of Divination in general what sorts lawfull what uncertain Of Enthusiasme the definition of it Of Enthusiasticks and such of our Time who have pretended to Visions and Revelations The difference between true and fals Prophets In what rank the Sibylls are to be accounted DAvid Blundel having urged all the Arguments he could against the Sibylline Books now at last employs many Chapters touching Enthusiasme the consideration whereof I shal now take in hand but think it not amiss in the first place to speak something of Predictions in general and the several ways by which future events are foretold and frequently come to pass The first is of wise and Learned men who from their Observations out of History and comparing the times past and present when they shall see the same things come again upon the stage of the world that have formerly been and then considering all circumstances of agreement and difference are able to give a probable conjecture which seldome fails of what is like to come to pass which sort of Predictions are not only lawful but worthy of much commendation and are very frequently conducible to the good of Kingdoms by preventing evils otherwise like to come upon them A second sort is Astrological Prediction wherein the Artist undertakes from the position of the Heavens and configurations of the Planets at such a certain moment of time to foretell future accidents This Art I cannot say is unlawful but I take it to be conjectural uncertain and by ignorant people much abused Strange things are I confess often foretold and sometime prove true when a skillful Artist hath the handling of the matter but many times are otherwise sometime from the ignorance of him that undertakes the judgment other while from the influence of some of the fix'd stars which being seldom taken notice of may cross or hinder what would otherwise haply have come to pass or thirdly from the want of a sufficient treasure of Observations by which judgment ought to be given the same posture of the Heavens having never twice happened alike in every circumstance since the Creation and by that means leaving the world destitute of stable means to judge upon since what can be rationally said in that kind must proceed from the comparing of events which have happened under such and such Configurations with what are like to be when the same fall out again or lastly from the care of the party himself who may by his own industry prevent what his destiny from the influence of the Stars would have been which at most do not necessitate but incline and by the providence and over-ruling power of God are sometimes diverted A third sort is a geomantical or terrestrial Divination in which from certain voluntary points made by the hand at adventure certain figures are raised from the four first of them called Fathers are produced other four called daughters those eight bring forth four grand-children from them come out two Witnesses from those a Judge in all twelve answerable to the twelve Houses in Astrology and the judgment upon this sort of Divination not much unlike that of Astrology The ground of this Art and its foundation is laid upon a false supposition that the soul of man knoweth things to come but is hindred by the dulness of the Organs of the body and theresore in the practice of it a great sedateness of mind is required a freedome from all noise that may disturb it and such like circumstances which he that hath a mind to know may find in Cattan Dr. Floud and H. de Pisis who have all written largely upon it This kind of Divination I take to be idle vain and superstitious as not built upon any stable foundation of Reason or supported by any thing but fancy A fourth sort is by framing certain Figures of stone or metal underneath such Constellations and placing them either in some conspicuous place of a Town or sometime under ground by which strange things are wrought these are called Talismans of which as also the language of the Stars with an Alphabetical Table and how from that words are framed which shall declare the event of things to come according to the nature of the Question Gaffarel a Learned Frenchman hath largely written in his Book called Vnheard of Curiosities such they will prove to him that spends much time in the study of them Other frivolous ways of sortiledge there are which I shall purposely pass over The next way of Divination I shall mention is Enthusiasme or Illumination and this is most to our purpose to treat of Hesychius in his Glossary interprets it thus An Enthusiastick is one that is mad or full of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enthusiasme is a stupor or horror Or Enthusiasme is when the whole soul is enlightned by God By which several interpretations of the word it may easily be gathered that Enthusiasm may be of several kinds some natural or at least proceeding from some distemper of the body which arising from a natural cause it may be so called others come by possession or inspiration of some spirit either good or bad which may be well deemed supernatural Much contest there is whether all

is observable that as Plato often speaks of Sibylls Prophesies and Revelations Aristotle mentions none or very ambiguously resolving to go a quite contrary way not medling with any thing of which he was not able to give a probable reason And all others of the Ancients who have denyed the truth of all Oracles or Predictions whatsoever except natural were still of the Sect of Epicurus meer Atheists and consequently bound by their Sect to believe nothing in this kind but what they conceived to be so For which Lucian a profess'd Atheist doth commend Democritus Metrodorus and Epicurus for their constant adhesion to their own opinion though never so much contrary to reason and authority His words are these speaking of one Alexander a cheat as it seems and an Impostor he tells you he did so strange things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian Pseudomantis p. 481. Edit Par. 1615. That indeed the trick stood in need of some Democritus nay of Epicurus himself or Metrodorus or some other that had an adamantine opinion toward that or things of the like nature as not to believe them and cast about which way it might be which if they could no way find they resolved to conclude it a lye and impossible to be done though the manner of the cheat was hid from them Amongst them Democritus hath endeavoured to give a reason why all Divination may be natural because according to the opinion of the Stoick Philosophers nothing did ever happen in the world but by an eternal concatenation of causes which have such a dependance one upon another that they render an aptitude in every thing to be foreseen in its causes which being natural Divination may be so too And Democritus farther asserts that out of all things that happened by natural causes there proceed certain effluxes or emanations not only in the things themselves when existent but from their causes also so that these causes being in any subject may from the emanations proceeding from them give an aptitude to the subject to be disposed accordingly and consequently that the cause of Divination being in any man the effluxes of it may render him a Diviner This speculation I confess is subtile and high if there be any sence in it fitter for the mouth of an Atheist then a Christian for admitting such emanations or species may come out of material bodies how they can proceed out of causes that are sometimes inexistent till they produce the effect sometimes immaterial I understand not Will any man say that love which is a passion and immaterial now in any man upon the sight of an Object to be beloved was in him causally either before his own existence or the existence of the object if there were such effluxes in that cause why not in the cause of that cause and so in infinitum These subtile inventions to avoid manifest convictions of their own consciences clearly shew there were among them undeniable testimonies of such predictions of which no true reason could be given which put them so to their shifts because they were indeed supernatural Such I take the Predictions of the Sibylls to be but whether any or all of them were indued with the Holy Spirit of God as I have before said remains to me questionable This difference from them I observe to be in the true Prophets that they were never during their Prophesie deprived of their wits or senses if at any time they have been surprised with any consternation or astonishment upon the appearance of an Angel or the like they have been by the power of God soon restored to a temper fit to understand and deliver the message intrusted to them Nay they have been farther able to confirm by Miracle that they were truly sent by God when it stood with his glory to have it so and the distrust of the people required it Whereas these Sibylls are never reputed to have done any other Miracle save that of truly foretelling things to come 'T is made indeed the mark of a Prophet not sent by God Deut. 18. ult if the things foretold come not to pass and this undoubtedly is true but it follows not convertibly that where ever things foretold come to pass that person is sent by God except meant permissively for we know the Oracles of the Heathen Gods gave often true answers suffered so to do indeed by God but inspired by the Devil We know farther that these Sibylls were generally supposed in the delivery of their Oracles to be in a rapture and fury that themselves understood not what they delivered nor were able to make perfect what was imperfectly taken by the Writer This we have upon the authority of Virgil Tully Virg. Aenei 3. Cic. de Divin li. 2. Ovid. Met. li. 14. and others Nay that Sibylla commonly called Erythrea saith she is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surprised by a rapture or fury The consideration of these things makes me prone enough to believe they had in their predictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a powerful inspiration as Justin Martyr twice calls it in his Admonitory to the Gentiles but not true Prophetesses of God sanctified by his holy Spirit at least not all if any of them yet do I very little doubt of their Antiquity or suspect any great corruption to have happened to their Books for the genuineness of which we have as much to say as for most ancient Writings left amongst us all or most of the things quoted out of them by any ancient Writer being now extant in those we have and as they now are from ancient Copies transmitted to us I know some go yet higher than I do and conceive them true prophetesses of God as you may see in the beginning of this Discourse of which opinion St Jerome seems to be Jerom. lib. 1. adversus Jovini longe post medium Collius de Sibyll c. 35. p. 226. Collius in a streight it seems what to determine goes a middle way and saith their Oracles are of two sorts one that concerns Christ his Birth Worship or the like these he thinks proceeded from divine inspiration others which concerned Kingdoms and their Idol worship he believes came from the Devil Such a mixture of God and the Devil in the same person may seem hard to some to believe yet will not this conjecture seem altogether void of probability when the case of Balaam is fully considered who though he were a Magician and wicked person yet for ought appears to the contrary was guided in his prophesie by the Spirit of God and yet not allways so in the counsel he gave to Balak as you may read Numbers 22. and 23. Chapters Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 9. c. 23. St Augustine in his Book of the City of God thinketh that she that goes under the name of Sibylla Erythrea whom some think to be Sibylla Cumea was a Citizen of the City of God because she hath nothing in all her verses tending