particularly affirm'd by Numenius the Pythagorean,) that the Brachmans alfo of India were not unacquainted with it, and that the Laws of the wifeft Heathen Nations were taken from the Laws of Mofes. All which would have appear'd in many more and plainer Inftances, if the Greeks had been more ingenuous and fincere; if it had not been their Cuftom to h derive the Names of Places from fome Hero of their own Invention; if they had not i fet up falfe Inscriptions; if * Plagiarism had not been a common thing among them and if in their Hiftories they had not chang'd the Names of Perfons and Places to conceal their Thefts. ; III. The Oracles afcrib'd to the Sibyls are fo plain and fo particular, that if they fhould be admitted for genuine, not only the Revelations made to the Jews, but all the Mysteries of the Chriftian Religion, muft be fully discover'd to the Heathen: But their Plainnefs has been the Caufe why their Authority has been much queftion'd; which yet ought not wholly to be rejected, fince the Sibylline Oracles were preferv'd in the Capitol, till the Reign of Honorius, when they were burnt by Stilico and it is not to be imagined, that Juftin Martyr, and other Chriftians, would cite Oracles which were in the poffeffion of those against whom they cited them, unless they had been able to make good their Authority. This is a Subject which has exercised the Pens of many learned Men. I fhall here fet down what appears to me moft probable upon the Question, as briefly as I can. ↳ Oi P. 322. k Tois Sueakyšv rà závra idéhovles, &c. Paufan. Phocic. i Eidants to exileguux, ib. p. 355γα πράγματι κέχρη) (Θεόπομπος) τοῖς αὐτοῖς, ἕτερον δ ̓ ὄνομα μετενήνοχε οὐ μόνον ἢ τούτῳ τῷ ὀνόματι Σπικρύσης * κλοπίω, λs Town μstar4. Porphyrius apud Eufeb. Præpar. Evang. 1. 10. C. 3. 1 1. It is evident from Virgil, that in the Verses of the Sibyl of Cuma, the Birth of fome Great Perfon was foretold; and from Tully, that this Perfon was to be a King though both in Tully and Virgil the Pro phecy be mifapply'd to a wrong Perfon. The Fourth Eclogue of Virgil contains the Senfe of the Sibyl; and however it were defign'd by him, is in most things much more applicable to our Saviour, than to the Perfon whom he defcribes. In Cataline's Confpiracy, Lentulus flatter'd himself with the hopes of being a King, from the Sibylline Oracles. And from the fame Oracles, as well as from the Scriptures, it is probable the Expectation of a King, who fhould arife out of Judea, which both Suetonius and Tacitus mention, m was fpread through+ out the Eaft. What Tully fays, [lib. 2. de Divin.] in difparagement of this Oracle, is not much confiderable in the cafe; because that whole Book is written with a defign to difparage all Divination in general: For being an Academic, as he profeffes throughout his Books of Philofophy, he acknowledg'd no more of any part of their Religion, than was juft neceflary to comply with the Laws, as he owns himself in divers places. However, from him it appears, that a Sibylline Oracle was alledg'd to the purpose there mention'd; and that being in favour of Cefar, and of Monarchy, if there had been no other, was caufe enough for Tully to reject it, and turn it to ridicule; who, when this Oracle was apply'd to Ptolemy King of Egypt, had another Opinion of it. 2. Though the Verfes of the Sibyl of Cuma were burnt with the Capitol, A. U. C. DCLXXI. yet Virgil Tull. in Catilin. Orat. 3. Salluft. Bell. Catilin. m Tacit. Hift. 1. 5. Sueton. in Vefnaf. c. 4. Quemadmodum homines Religiofi Sibylle placere dixerunt. Cic. Epift, ad Famil. L. 1. Ep. 7.. exprefly exprefly naming Cuma, this Sibyl's Verses must be ftill remaining, or fuppofed to be fo; unless what he writes became fome way or other known before the burning of the Capitol, and was deliver'd afterwards down by Tradition. Tully quotes Sibylla Erythraa, [lib. 1. de Divin.] and if he mean the fame Sibyl in the 2d. Book, Martianus Capella fays, that Sibylla Erythrea and Cumana were the fame. And in the search which was made for the Sibylline Oracles in Italy, and in all other places where there was any probability of finding any Remains of them, after the Burning of the Capitol, it is likely her Verses might be recover'd. For Valerius Maximus fays, that M. Tullius (as he calls him, not Attilius) was put to Death by Tarquinius, for fuffering Petronius Sabinus to tranfcribe the Sibyl's Verses; and whether they were difpers'd in divers Copies before it was discover'd, fo as not to be fupprefs'd, it is not known. 9 Auguftus caus'd a diligent fearch to be made for the Sibylline Verfes, in all places where they were fuppos'd to be preferv'd, and those which were judged to be ine, he order'd to be kept with great care. This was about eleven Years before the birth of Chrift; and from hence Virgil feems to have contriv'd his Poem. But if they were the Verses of some other Sibyl, which. went under the Name of the Sibyl of Cuma, after her's were burnt with the Capitol, it is not much material; however, the Romans certainly thought they had the Oracles of the Cuman Sibyl: for, as Lactantius fays, they allow'd the Verfes of all the other Sibyls to be copy'd out and publifh'd, though they would not fuffer thofe of Cuma to be read, but by Order of the Senate. • Martian. Capel. Nupt. Philolog. 1. 2. C. I. Lactant. du falfà Relig.. c. 6.: genu P Val. Max. l. 1. Notwith f Notwithstanding all this care, they could not keep them conceal'd; for we meet them often quoted by Heathen Authors. Indeed, the Oracles in the Capitol were only Copies taken from Originals which were left in thofe places, from whence the Romans had their own Copies tranfcribed; and the Originals might be read, and other Copies taken, how carefully foever the Romans kept their own. 3. It being known that the Sibylline Oracles contain'd things which concern'd the Kingdom of the Meffias, and the Verfes themselves being in divers hands, this gave occafion to fome to make many more Verfes, under the Name of the Sibyls, relating the whole Hiftory of our Saviour, &c. But if the Sibyls. Verfes had been all burnt or loft, or if they had been kept fo close, that no body could poffibly come to the Knowledge of them, without leave from the Senate, there could have been no pretence for any Impofture, nor would the Chriftians ever have alledg'd them as genuine. Celfus objects only, That many things were added to the were all Counterfes of the Sibyls: Not that they or that the Chriftians had means of coming by the True; which was an Advantage that an Adverfary much lefs fubtle than Celfus would not have omitted, if there had been any ground for it. Origen replies, That it was a malicious Accufation, and that he was able to bring no Proof of it, by producing ancient Copies more genuine than thofe which the Chriftians made ufe of. u Blondel ar gues very well, that it had been the greatest Rafhnefs and Imprudence imaginable, and moft deftructive of the Defign, at which they aim'd, the Eftablishment of Christianity, for the Fathers to cite Books, which the Heathen were fure could never come to their Knowjedge, and which thofe, to whom they cited them f Dionyf. Halicarn. 1. 4. Feneftella apud Lactant. ibid.. knew knew to contain no fuch things as they pretended to produce from them. "When this, fays he, is as impudent and fenflefs, as if fome Jew, from Wri σε tings lately forg'd, full of Criminal Accufations a gainit the Saviour of the World, fhould mamtain "to the very Faces of Chriftians, that he found them "in the New Teftament, that the Apoftles were the "Authors of them, and that the Church having al ways had them in her Cuftody, had conceal'd them. He fays," That this and much more to the fame purpofe, any Man of common Reason might easily "perceive, and that Juftin Martyr would have ob"ferv'd it, if he had confider'd things with more "Calmness. But what is there in all the Writings of Juftin Martyr, that difcovers his Want of Calmnefs, or rather, that does not fhew him to have been confiderate, learned, and prudent? He is effectu ally vindicated from the Miftake, with which he has been charg'd, concerning the Statue erected at Rome, of Simon Magus: and a y probable Account has been given, that not by His, but by fome Transcriber's Miftake, Herod is made contemporary with Ptolemæus Philadelphus. How every candid Reader muft acknowledge, as well that Juftin Martyr could not be fo far ignorant of the Age when Herod liv'd, as that it was impoffible for fo obvious Inconveniencies, as Blondel mentions, to escape the Obfervation of Juftin or any of the Fathers, or almoft of any other Man. If Juftin Martyr were void of all Senfe and Modefty, would the reft have purfued the fame Courfe of Folly, only to make themfelves ridiculous and odious by his Example? They were neither impudent nor ftupid Men, and that which could proceed from nothing, but a mixture of Impudence and Stupidity, can with no Reafon or Juftice be charg'd upon them, and there * Tilleinont Memoir. Eccl. Tom. 2. Part. I. P. 340. fore |