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
Books as were either not burnt or not retained in the Capitol neither indeed could there be for what the Romans had being now but Transcripts why might not any man have recourse to the Originals as well as the Senate and indeed how could Tully and Virgil make use of things out of their Books which were never lookt into but upon weighty and great occasions except they had received them from some other Copies See the Treatise p. the curiosity of the Romans extending only unto those in the custody of the Quindecemviri to which they only gave credit and punished the divulging not by any new Law but by that of parricide which they inflicted upon Atilius before mentioned This is made more evident Harum omnium Sibyllarum carmina feruntur habentur praeterquam Cumeae Lactan. lib. 1. p. 35. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xiph p. 230. 25. in Tiber. as well by the Testimony of Lactantius who tells you many of their Books were frequently had in his time as by another to wit by Dio Nicaeus as I find it in Xiphilinus In the time of Tiberius there went abroad a Prophesie said to be in the Sibylline Books in these words That after 900 years a civil dissention should embroil the Romans and a Sibaritick madness This Tiberius endeavoured to make appear to be false though he were much troubled at it and Nero after his time finding the peoples troubles not allayed he told them those Verses were not to be found but instead of them they used to recite this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The last that should reign of the Family of Aeneas should be the killer of his Mother But in all this trouble and endeavours to satisfie the people I find no man questioned for reading or divulging this matter which undoubtedly would have been done had there been any general inhibition or that the Quindecemvirs had been found faulty in their trust See the Treatise pag. Neither durst Origen have avowed the reading and owning them against Celsus whence the Christians were called Sibyllists Nor yet Justin Martyr himself had there been a general Law upon pain of death not to read them We cannot must not believe Christians so prodigal of their lives or the Heathens so merciful not to have made use of it against them The words of Justin Martyr are these after he had upbraided them with their prohibition to read the Books of Hidaspes the Sibylls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Apologet. and Prophets he addes We do not only possess them without fear but as you see offer them to your view Which words must necessarily be referred to what is before said for it is notoriously known that till Stilico burnt the Capitol the second time about the Reign of Honorius which was about 395 years after Christ the Sibylline Books were kept with the same care and undoubtedly all breach of the Law would have been severely punished of which in truth there was none but that upon which Atilius was punished which was that of a parricide in betraying his Countrey and therefore could not extend to others in whom no trust was reposed But because I find in this particular variety of opinions Baronius contending the inhibition concerned only the Christians with whom agrees Bishop Montacute in analect p. 154 155. Isaac Casaubon and the Authour of the foregoing Treatise think the prohibition concerned all promiscuously I shall forbear any determination in this thing CHAP. IV. The Objections made by Isaac Casaubon against their Writings are considered and answered HAving gone thus far and laid down these things as preliminary to what I shall farther say I come now to consider the most material Objections that have been hitherto offered against their Writings and in this Chapter insist chiefly upon those urged by Isaac Casaubon as learned certainly as any adversary they have had and not declined by others But I desire first to inform the Reader that I hold it no way incumbent on me to justifie all things in those Books as they are now extant with us to be free from all corruption what perhaps will be hard to maintain of any Book very ancient but will believe it fully sufficient for the matter I have in hand if I shall shew that those places insisted on by the Fathers in their Disputations against the Heathens have no marks of calumny that can be justly laid upon them and therefore very adequate to that end for which they were produced by the Author of the foregoing Treatise Yet shall I farther shew ex abundanti that the most improbable things are so far from being demonstratively false that they may be true notwithstanding those many Objections that D. Blundel and others have heaped together to weaken them and through their sides wound those holy men who for nigh 500 years made use of their Testimony against the Enemies of Christianity I wish I could not guess at the reason of it and why D. Blundel hath been so curious to rake into the ashes of those holy departed Saints that now rest in glory and enumerate their mistakes in which I dare boldly affirm he is oftner deceived then they Nor can I believe any judicious Reader will be led away with that Paralogisme in which he spends his whole second Chapter See Blundel de les Sibylles cap. 2. and much of his Book The Fathers were deceived in other things therefore in this Some things are false in the Sibylline Writings therefore nothing is true Whereas he could not but see that the Argument lies as fair on the other side The Fathers in many other things were not deceived therefore not in this especially in a particular wherein for the space of above 150 years for it is so much or neer it from Justin Martyr to Constantine they made it their business to examine the truth whereas peradventure in some few other things through the fluency of their tongue and exuberancy of Rhetorick they might let fall that which makes us see they still retained the frailties of men and had not the memories of Angels Nay D. Blundel himself when it can any way be drawn to serve his turn is not so hard hearted toward the ancient Writers that he will not allow the most suspected of them Hermas Papias and others a more candid and benigne suffrage as 't is well observed by the Learned D. Hammond in his defence of Ignatius If the Reader will be pleased to pardon this short digression I shall now come to answer the Objections The first insisted upon by Casaubon is the clearness of them His words are having before made use of those Texts that call the Doctrine of Christianity a Mystery These and the like Testimonies of the holy Scriptures and the like Haec sacrae Scripturae testimonia bis similia quî stare possunt si verum est pleraque ea quidem praecipua doctrinae Christianae mysteria etiam ante Mosem gentibus
of Heaven opened and that it rained upon the earth by the space of forty days and forty nights This certainly was the period aimed at by the Sibyll who might well call it 41 days reckoning the day they all or some of them entered into the Ark before the rain fell for one and Moses only reckoning the time whilst the rain was falling during which time they might well be said to be shut up by the Lord as well for their defence against the impetuosity of the weather and waves which shook the ribs of their wooden habitation as the violence might have been offered to it both by men and beasts before the waters had force enough to raise it out of their reach or depth enough to drown them All which time if we believe the Eastern Traditions Noah and his Sons kept a solemn Fast taking meat but once a day as I find it in Gregories Opuscula p. Catena veterum praecipuè Orientalium in Pentateuchum Arabicè M.S. in orchivis Bibliot Bodl. 28. out of the Catena Arabica And Noah was the first who made the 40 days holy or instituted the Quadragesimal Fast in the Ark. The words thus explained are fully consonant with what is recorded in Scripture the many days mentioned by the Sibyll comprehending all that time definitively set down by Moses till their going out the 41 containing only those in which they fasted and were in continual horror and fear of death which they might truly say to have fulfilled in the water being environed with it both above their head and beneath the soles of their feet So that this Argument is so far from standing D. Blundel in any stead that it much serves to confirm not weaken their authority In the ninth place he urges Object 9 that they countenance the fable of the Titans as if it were true the opinion of the Chiliasts as to the re-building of Jerusalem That much concerning the Titans or Giants as their story is related by Poets Answ may be sabulous I shall easily grant but that what is urged by the Sibylls concerning them is also so D. Blundel hath not proved They are mentioned in several places in the Sibylline Writings First in the first Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. p. 184. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 2. p. 204. Again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 3. p. 232. From all which places there is no more imported then that God would at last execut judgment upon those Titans or Giants whom the flood had devoured who were a wicked generation Prov. 21.16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the Congregation of the dead as we render it in the Congregation of the Rephaim in the Original See Mead in Diatrib upon Prov. 21.16 which word by the Septuagint is always rendred Giants Titans or the like So that I see nothing to be excepted against in their Writings or to accuse them as fabulous for calling the Inhabitants of the old world Titans That which he calls the Haeresie of the Chiliasts he could not be ignorant had received learned Supporters both in ancient and modern times Whether what ever hath been hitherto urged in their defence be confuted remains yet sub judice certainly those which believe the Jews shall yet once more be graffed into their own Olive-tree will not think it unreasonable that Jerusalem may be again as famous in the profession of Christianity as it hath formerly been of Judaisme D. Object 10 Blundel farther objects That those Books make Adrian the Roman Emperour that succeeded Trajan by whom he was adopted as some say to have strangled himself which was in no sort true Adrian was not indeed strangled Answ as the words in the Sibylline Oracles import which are as follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sibyl Orac. lib. 8. p. 367. The sence of them is that when fifteen Kings had subjected the world to themselves from the East to the West one should arise wearing a white helmet having a name almost of the Sea overlooking the world with his polluted feet that gathered and spent much money skilful or making use of all the Mysteries of Magick c. After the interposition of two or three verses she saith then shall be a lamentable time because he perished by a halter This person though no body is particularly named is commonly taken to be Adrian both because he is the fifteenth from Julius Caesar his name seems to resemble the Adriatick Sea and that he made use of Magick spells for the curing his disease of which Xiphilinus tells you he was once by the help of Magick recovered Xiphil Epit. Dion p. 360. lin 29. but after fell again into the same whereof he miserably dyed after he had in vain implored death from the hands of his servants but could find none to afford it him The difficulty of this place is easily reconciled by admitting an easie mistake in the Transcriber by putting an n in the place of a b for if we read the Verse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is then true according to the story that a dropsie should destroy him for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a drop of water or a tear and in poesie may especially in aenignatical or prophetical speeches denote a dropsie Some other Objections D. Blundel hath gathered together touching some Geographical mistakes some doubts concerning Gog and Magog concerning Antichrist and such like to which satisfaction might be eafily given but I rather forbear being perswaded that no man that is in some measure satisfied with the answers given already to the most material Objections of which I have pretermitted none but will easily satisfie himself as to the rest in that Chapter But having gone thus far and seen the strength of D. Blundel as an opposer we shall in the next Chapter consider him as an answerer and see if in that he succeeds any better CHAP. VI. The Opposition made by D. Blundel to the Authorities and Quotations of the Ancient Writers in favour of the Sibylline books and his answers to them weighed THis Learned Divine and great Reader of Authors both Christian and Heathen having left no stone unmoved which could any way serve his turn to the overthrow of these Writings yet at last could not but see the Authorities of so many Writers of great Antiquity and for many hundred years together which had decurrently made use of the Testimonies of the Sibylls for the confutation of their Adversaries would still remain like so many thorns in his feet he thought it very necessary to say something in
70. inter 19. pag. the opinion of St Jerome disproved neither see I any reason to believe nor doth Justin Martyr affirm it any thing of that miraculous agreement without alteration of any word as some have feigned in their translation Notwithstanding it should be allowed that there were little Closets in which they made their Translations apart which were afterward compared and shew'd the King Yet will Mr. Gregory tell you Greg. Opus of the 70 Inter. pag. 7. that the other miraculous way of the story may be taken upon the greatest trust of Antiquity But these hitherto have been but light velitations or rather handsome insinuations by D. Blundel to gain the favourable attention of his Readers that after he had thus weakened the authority of the Fathers in these light things he might with more ease perswade his Readers they were to blame in preater We shall now in the next place come to consider his more weighty Arguments who hath brought together what I have ever found in any other Author to have been alledged against those Writings of the Sibylls with much improvement of his own In the examination of them I shall not strictly tye my self to his order but consider them after my own method that I may as much as I can avoid the repetition of the same things His first and main Objection is drawn from the inconsistency and contradiction of the Oracles themselves Object 1 Blondel p. 5. c. Opsopae in praefat For one of them vaunts her self to be the daughter in Law of Noah to have been shut up in the Ark to have been of his blood guilty of fornication adultery nay if Opsopaeus conjecture rightly of incest with her Father when as these Oracles not extant but in Greek which was not spoken till after the flood manifestly discover the imposture Nay she that pretends to have liv'd before the flood by her own confession lived 1500 years after The places referred to are these that follow Speaking before of the flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ora. lib. 1. p. 183. she expresses the great joy she had to have escaped so eminent danger of death The next place referred to is in the third Book where after she had told you she had come out of Babylon in Assyria lib. 3. p. 283. lib. 7. p. 360. in fine that she ws to prophesie against Greece and that they should account her of another Countrey to wit of Erithre others the daughter of Circe and Gnostus c. She after the interposition of a few lines saith she was of the bloud and daughter in Law of Noah and in the seventh Book where the words are faulty and very obscure gives colour to Opsopaeus his conjecture of incest with her Father lib. 3. p. 260. The third and last place is in the third Book where she tells you 't was 1500 years since the beginning of the Graecian Monarchy therefore that Author must live after that time Before I come to give a particular answer to each member of this Objection Answ I desire it may be first remembred what I have touch'd before in the fourth Chapter that it is no way reasonable to believe that we have every thing in that book now extant set down in that order and time in which they were delivered by the true Authors but many times confounded and intermixed one with another so that if it can be evidenced that some one of these Sibylls might have lived before the flood it no way invalidates their authority that some things may be put together by the composer or gatherer of these Oracles as the works of one and the same person which indeed were the predictions of persons very different one from another both in age and time That there were predictions of the flood by many others beside Noab Berosus will tell you if we believe his authority as in that I think we safely may That many preached prophesied Beros de tempor ante diluv lib. 1. p. 48. Edit Antw. 1552. Tum multi praedicabant vaticinabantur lapidibus excidebant de eâ quae ventura erat orbis perditione c. nay graved in stone the destruction that was to come upon the earth though they were derided and not believed Neither seems it to me improbable that many pious and holy men lived about that time though they were by God brought unto their rest before this general deluge of water happened to which Noab and his Family only survived The same Berosus tells you that the Chaldeans kept Records of many things before the flood tells you of Enos a Town of Gyants with him agrees Martinius the Jesuite in his History of China printed at Amsterdam 1659. where he relates many things out of the Records of that Kingdom before the flood and truly that our predecessors were never Masters of some pieces of Antiquity of which we have now no footsteps left is to believe them less careful to enquire after knowledge then we are or less curious to transmit it to posterity for how is it possible that Noah himself and those of his generation that succeeded him should either not tell or their children not enquire what was done in the old world and also leave some memorials of it to succeeding times till the Graecians whose Language quickly grew almost universal having robb'd the Phenicians and Chaldeans of their Learning robb'd us also of a great part of that knowledge we might otherwise have been partakers of by clouding it under Muthological tales and fictions of their own by which means they eclipsed Learning which they made shew to promote out of their pride to make the world beholding to them as the first Inventors of all knowledge in it and not letting us know out of what fountain they drew it From this and another artifice frequent in very ancient times of calling by the names of Saturn Apollo Jupiter and the like persons whom for some desert they had a mind to honour with those appellations came so great confusion in story Where we shall find sometime that attributed to a later person which was true of some Predecessor of his of the same name Something to this purpose you may see in Xenophon and Bochartus Zenop. de aequivocis in princi pio Bochart in praefâ—a ad â—â—b de Sâ—rm Phaentcum Sar Walt. Raw lib. Sect. 6. cap. 4. Bochar cap. 12. pag. 432. Lil Gir. Synt. Deor. p. 39â— 32. pag. 214 39. Onup de Sibyl neither were it hard to give many examples of it were it proper in this place to do it The use I shall make of it is that from hence I may induce you to believe it very possible that a Sibyl might be before the flood and shut up with Noah for if it be true as Bochartus thinks that Vulcan and Tubal Cain were the same Lilius Giraldus among others will tell you that Apollo who as Onuphrius saith taught Sibylla Delphica
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 Erythreâ— 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 nâ—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
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 â—tiae quam iucitationis motus tum vero ea quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur cum deincâ—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
Enthusiasme be natural and to that purpose the authority of Aristotle is produced who discoursing of the several passions arising from drink love and the like or from some melancholy heat tells you the story of one Maracus of Siracuse a Poet who never made so good verses as when he was made and immediately before hath these words Many because that heat is near the seat of the mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arist. Probl. 30. Quest 1. are taken with sundry frantick and Enthusiastick diseases from whence they all become Sibylls Bakides or inspired whereas they become not so by any disease but a natural temperament From which words we may observe two things First That he doth not in this place point at any Sibyll in particular of which many had been before his time but takes Sibylls there for persons any way inspired as the Bakides and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyned with them were supposed to be And in the next place That he must not to contradict himself take disease in a different sence in the same place for in the beginning of the sentence he tells you They are taken with many frantick or Enthusiastick diseases and soon after saith They become so not from any disease but a natural crasis or temperaments in the last place therefore he must take disease in that stricter notion for such an affection as shakes and weakens the whole frame of the body in the first for such a distemper as drunkenness love poetical rapture and the like such as he calls natural Enthusiasme which will either be its own cure or vanish away with time the constitution being sound though the action be altered but however it will from these words of Aristotle follow that in his sence much of this kind of illumination proceeded from an exaltation of the mind by some ecstatick operation of the soul and not from any possession or inspiration of it by either good or evil spirits And undoubtedly great examples in all ages may be produced out of the Observations of several Physitians to this purpose some where of have been meer cheats to gain credit to such as should cure or exorcise them others true or natural where through some melancholy heat or strong imagination or lastly through custom and use See Montagnes Essays Strange effects from the force of imagination in his Chapter upon that subject Fienus de viribus imaginationis the persons affected have brought upon themselves such a habit of body that their fancy prevailing over their judgment and understanding they have really believed themselves possessed with a spirit of Prophesie and enlightning from God whereas in truth there was no such thing I my self have known two examples in Persons both of this Nation of good Rank and Quality the one a man whom I have often seen and sometimes heard discourse but was then too young my self to converse with him but am well assured he was otherwise a very sober person but in that particular of explaining difficult prophesies did think himself strangely indowed insomuch that his confidence so far misled him that he could no way be driven out of that opinion That the eleventh Chapter of the second Apocryphal Book of Esdras denoted King James who was the Lion of the North who plucked at the feathers of the Eagle which he conceived to be the Emperour Nay his confidence in this fancy was so great that after the death of the King he believed he should rise again out of his grave to make good his conjecture The other was a Lady of Noble Rank who pretended much to this gift of Prophesie and having unhappily foretold the death of a great person which by chance fell out true she was mightily puft up with it and followed by some of the giddy multitude she undertook to denounce the end of the world writ upon the prophecy of Daniel very idly and at last lived to see her self deceived in all her vain extravagancies These two might certainly be reckoned amongst the Enthusiasts of Aristotle who laboured under some light disorder of the brain which disturbed their judgment as to that particular though in other matters they were sober enough and under the same notion must I look upon the false Prophets Dreamers and Quakers whereof this Age hath been very fertile who pretend themselves endued with an extraordinary measure of the Spirit of God first dream dreams then see visions then expound them after their own imaginations and would obtrude these upon the ignorant multitude as Revelations of God which are indeed no other than the effects of a disturbed brain what they foretel rarely coming in any measure to pass and themselves never able to confirm their mission by any miracle whatsoever to induce men to believe them Prophets Some of them are not unlike the Derevises or Torlaces in Turky who by frequent using their bodies to turn round can at their pleasure fall into extasies in which they pretend to receive messages from God and deceive those that give credit to them though to speak truth the sad consequences that have followed from the doctrine of some of these pretenders to new Lights may give us good cause to believe them to have been led away into these extravagancies by the spirit of errour and delusion and not wholly by a natural disturbance of the brain Unless as we have great reason to suspect that many of them have been carried on by interest and design by such pretences to deceive others thereby to compass their wicked designs of which we have seen too sad effects From this and much more which might be materially added to this purpose it will be evinced that Aristotle had much of truth and reason in what he said but because some were either cheats or Hypochondriaque that therefore all were and among them the Sibylls as D. Blundel would infer I can no way be induced to believe nor doth he produce any reason that they were so whereas the very great time between the predictions and the fulfilling of them sufficiently evince that they came from a higher cause then a melancholick heat In which I have ever observed that between the Prophesie and the time allotted for the adimpletion of it seldom interceded more then a score of years sometimes not so many moneths Beside we find that as well the Sibylline Predictions as all other Oracles ceased at or soon after the preaching of our Saviour whereas melancholick distempers continue still which to me seems a strong argument that they were different in their causes Neither ought the authority of Aristotle too much to sway us in this thing I allow him to be one of the greatest Masters of reason that ever was but withal must remember that being contemporary with Plato and sometime his Scholar but resolving to set up a new Philosophy different from that of his Master would not comply with him in that particular in which he deemed him faulty For it
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