Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	write_n	write_v	writing_n	326	4	8.8356	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

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

filled with Sibylline Oracles but the King not thinking fit to buy them at the price she asked shewent from his presence and burnt three of them and soon after returning asked the same price for those that remained but he thinking her some dotard and to be derided who asked for a fewer in number that price she could not obtain for them all she again went away and burnt half of them that were left and bringing again the three that remained demanded still the same quantity of gold The King then wondring at this deliberate counsel in the woman sent to the Augurs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and discoursing the matter with them inquired what was fit to be done they by certain signs having learnt that he had refused a blessing sent from God and deeming it a great misfortune that he had not bought all the books commanded the gold to be told out to her and to receive the books that remained but she giving the books with a charge to keep them carefully vanished out of their sight Tarquin made choice of two of the Citizens of good rank and joyning to them two other publique Ministers gave unto them the custody of them one of which was called Marcus Atylius who because it seemed he had done something injuriously as to his trust and being accused as a Parricide by one of the publick Ministers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was sewen into a sack of leather and thrown into the Sea But after the expulsion of the Kings the City taking upon themselves the oversight of the Oracles constituted for their keepers the most considerable men of their City discharging them from all other employments both military and civil and appointed others of the people without whom they permitted not these men to take a view of the Oracles In short let me tell you The Romans kept no holy or sacred possession whatsoever with that care they did the Sibylline Oracles They made use of them according to the Vote of the Senate when any sedition fell out in the City or great misfortune in war or that wonders or great and portentous Apparitsons were seen amongst them which things often fell out These books of Oracles remained until the time of the so called Marsike War being laid under ground in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and kept in a Coffer or Box of stone by the Decemvirs But after the 173. Olympiade the Temple being burnt whether on set purpose as some think or by chance they were together with other things consecrated to the Gods destroyed by the fire Those which now are were fetch'd from sundry places some out of the Cities of Italy some out of Erithre in Asia Messengers being sent by the Decree of the Senate to transcribe them some were fetchd from other Cities transcribed by private hands in which there are some things supposititious or inserted among the Sibylline Writings but they are discovered by those verses which are called Acrosticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus far he Others call this strange womans name Amalthea of Cumes But from this story thus told with which Varro Lactantius and others agree give me leave to make these Observations CHAP. II. Observations and by what Spirit they spake is discussed FIrst That in the judgment of Dionysius Halicarnassaeus 't was uncertain by what Spirit they were inspired for he relates as doubtful whether those books were given by God or the Divel St Ambrose speaking of the spirit of Python Amb. Com. in Epist 1. ad Cor. cap. 11. hath these words Hic est qui per Sibyllam locutus est c. St Augustine Cont. Manich. hath these words Moreover touching Sibyll or Sibylls Orpheus Sibylla porro vel Sibyllae Orpheus nescio quis Homerus si qui alii Vates vel Theologi vel Sapientes vel Philosophi Gentium de Filio Dei aut de Patre Deo vera praedixisse seu dixisso perhibentur valet quidem aliquid ad illorum vanitatem revincendam non tamen ad istorum authoritatem amp●cotendam cum illum Deum colere ostendimus quem nec illi tacere potuerunt qui suos congentiles populos Idola Dae●●na colenda partim docere ausi sunt partim prohibere ausi non sunt and I know not who Homer and whatsoever other Presagers Divines Wise men or Philosophers of the Gentiles who are reported to have told or foretold true things of the Son of God or God the Father 't is indeed of some use to overthrow the vanity of the Gentiles not to make us embrace their Authority since we make it appear that we worship that God of whom they could not hold their peace who partly taught their Country-men that Idols and Daemons were to be worshipped partly durst not hinder them in it Perhaps he may mean this rather of the other Soothsayers and Diviners that were common in those times not of the Sibylls at least all of them for if our Learned Prelate Richard Mountacute sometimes L. Bishop of Norwich Mount Analect p. 159. quote him right he speaks more favourably of Sibylla Erithrea saying She had nothing among all her Verses which either belonged to the worshipping of false or feigned gods Nihil habuit in toto carmine quod ad Deorum falsorum seu fictorum cultum pertineat Isaac Casaubon a man of great learning and various reading speaking of the use made of them by the Romans hath these words There was never any thing produced he means by the Romans out of those Books Nihil enim unquam ex illis libris prolatum quo gentium error ille insanus Daemonum cultus non confirmarctur aut etiam nova accessione impietatis non augeretur Cas p. 81. ed Gen. exc in Bar. by which the errour of the Gentiles and that mad worship of Daemons was not confirmed or augmented by some new accession of impiety I believe what he saith to be true for he that is conversant in any measure with the Romane story will find with what superstition and impious facrifices they consulted those books and commonly in such cases wherein the good only of their own Country and the worship of their feigned Gods might be promoted insomuch that whatever else was in these books that concerned the worship of the true God being by them not understood was wholly neglected and therefore in my judgment Gasaubon deserves not the censure which I find he hath received in this particular as if he had contradicted what St Augustine before him had delivered Blundelius in his Book De les Sibylles calls them frequently Rhapsodists stale meat like Nostredamus c. And truly it is justly to be doubted whether those persons were indued with the Spirit of God in whose writings among many truths much that countenanced impiety was mixed We know God sometimes forced the truth out of the mouths of false Prophets Balaam Caiaphas and others neither is it very material to examine

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

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