fore they must be allow'd to have cited the genuine Verfes of the Sibyls. And if the Sibyls had deliver'd nothing relating to thefe Matters, why fhould any one counterfeit Verfes in their Name, rather than under the Title of any o ther Oracle? There must be fome Ground and Foun dation of Truth, to give any Opportunity or Pretence to the Counterfeiting of it: And the Prophecies of the Sibyls concerning Chrift, must be the Occafion of all the additional Prophecies which were falfly afcrib'd to them. 4. Ifaac Voffius thought that great part of thefe Oracles were compos'd by the Jews. And indeed, Pau fanias fays, one of the Sibyls was by the Jews call'd Sabba the fame, I fuppofe, who is mention'd by Elian; and by Suidas, faid to be defcended from Noah, and named Sambethe, call'd the Chaldean, and by fome the Hebrew, and alfo the Perfian Sibyl; whom + Alexander ab Alexandro calls Sibylla Judea; though Jofephus citing a Sibyl concerning the Tower of Babel, gives no fuch Account of her, but rather fuppofes the contrary, Which paffage is likewife cited by * Theophilus Antiochenus, and is still extant in the Sibyl line Books. dt a But if thefe were only Heathen Oracles, yet there is reafon to believe that the Predictions concerning Chrift were very plain, though not fo particular as thofe now fet down in the Sibylline Books; both be caufe the Heathen having but few Oracles of this nar ture, and fo many of a quite contrary nature, it was the more neceffary that these fhould be plain; and becaufe we find, that when God, in his infinite Wisdom, faw it fitting to reveal himself to others, he did it in as plain a manner, and fometimes in a plainer, than he did to his own People in any one Prophecy.la z Paufan. in Phocic. p. 328. *Elian. 1. 12. c. 35. Ad Autolych. lib. 2. Sibyll. lib.£37 Thus Thus Balaam's Prophecy is as plain as any Pro phecy of that time at leaft; and our Saviour difcover'd himself more plainly to the Woman of Samaria, than he had yet done to any of his Difclples, John iv. 26. Not to mention the Dreams of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, or the Meffage of Jonah to the Ninevites. And as Balaam, an Inchanter or Sorcerer, deliver'd a true and famous Prophecy of Chrift, and the Devils were forced to confefs him to be the Son of God; fo it is reasonable to believe, that God might ordain, that these celebrated Propheteffes, whofe Oracles were otherwise the Devil's Inftruments to promote his Ends, fhould foretel our Saviour's Coming: And yet St. Auguftine affures us, b that the Sibylla Erythred, or Cumana, had nothing of Idolatry in her Verfes; but fpoke fo much against it, that he believ'd her to belong to the City of God. A The difference which there is between Virgil's Fourth Eclogue, and the Tranflation of it into Greek, in Conftantine's Oration, is rather an Argument for the Authority of the Sibylline Oracles, than against it. For Conftantine was wont to compofe his Orations and Epiftles in Latin, and they were tranflated into Greek by fome whom he employ'd in that Service: And the Author of the Tranflation tranflated only what was properly Virgil's; but when he came to what was by Virgil borrow'd from the Sibyl, he wrote down the Original Greek, not tranflating the Variations which Virgil had made from it, to apply the Prophecy to his own Subject. It is well known, that the Antients took as great a Liberty as this in their Translations; and it was the more allowable, when there could be no Design or Likelihood of Deceit in the Tranflation of fo famous a Poem as that Eclogue of Virgil. This was but to b Auguft. Civ. Dei, 1. 18. c. 23. Eufeb. Vit. Conft. 1. 3. c. 13. point out the Alterations which Virgil had made, and to fhew how eafily thefe parts of his Poem might be fupply'd from the Original Greek: And perhaps this was a known Translation of that Eclogue which had been made with this Defign. - It were no difficult matter, to Answer all the other Objections which are wont to be brought against the Sibylline Oracles, fo far as the Notion here propofed is concern'd in them. For tho' the Books which we have now, contain manifest Falfifications and Forgeries; yet there must have been fomething real, to give a pretence and countenance to fo many elaborate Forgeries of this nature, and that was the Sibylline Oracles mention'd in Tully, Salluft, Virgil, &c. We may therefore conclude, that the True Religion received a confiderable Promulgation from these Oracles, which ferved to awaken in the Gentiles an Expectation of a King to be born in Judea. d As foon as the Gofpel appeared in the World, like the Rifing Sun, it diffufed its Divine Light and Influence into all Parts of the Earth its Propagation was it felf a Miracle, and anfwerable to that iniraculous Power of Languages, and other Means by which it was accomplished. Tertullian acquaints us, that it was foon propagated beyond the Bounds of the Roman Empire, he fpeaks of the Northern Parts of Britain. One, who was moft capable of knowing, St. Clement, his Fellow-labourer, acquaints us, that St. Paul went as far as the Weft, according to the Geography of thofe Times, extended. Which fhews, that he accomplish'd his Intention (Rom. xv. 24, 28.) of going to Spain. And it is probably fuppos'd, that he landed in Britain, and made fome ftay here in his Paf d Tertul. adv. Judæos, c. 7. ̓Αναβολῇ, καὶ ἐν τῇ δύση, Clem. Kom. Ep. 1. c. 5. • Κήρυξ γενόμενα εν τε τῇ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ τέρμα – δύσεως ἐλθών. I fage. fage. And we know it receiv'd as early a Propagation in other Places more remote, being preached by St. Bartholomew f to the Indians, by St. Thomas to the Parthians, and to the Scythians by St. Andrew. 8 St. Thomas preached likewife to the Indians, and St. Matthew to the Perfians. In h general we are told, that the Apostles preached to the Perfians, Armenians, Parthians, Scythians, Indians, and Brittans, to the ·Indians, Ægyptians, and Ethiopians, that they preached knot only to all under the Roman Empire, but to the Scythians, the Samaritans, the Indians, the Æthiopians, the Perfians, the Seres (Chineses,) the Hyrcanians, the Bactrians, the Brittans, the Cimbri, the Germans, and in fhort to all Nations. The Eunuch, Treasurer to Candace Queen of Ehiopia, being Converted and Baptized by St. Philip, returned and preached the Gospel there whereby St. Cyril of Jerufalem obferves, that Prophecy of the Pfalmift was fulfilled, Ethiopia fhall foon ftretch out her hands unto God, Pfal. lxviii. 31. In St. Augustine's time, the Chriftians were more numerous in all the known Parts of the World, than the Jews and Heathens together. Theodoret fays, that but very few Gentiles, Three or Four, in comparison, continued in their Infidelity, and that they valued themselves upon being fingular, and not led away with the Multitude: And we have reason to believe, that the Zeal of the Apoftles, and their immediate Difciples and Followers, had carried the glad Tidings of the Gospel farther than either Ambition or Avarice it felf, 'till of late Years, had made any Difcovery; which Tertullian likewife fufficiently intimates. Le Compte thinks, that St. Thomas in Perfon, or by m n g Ambrof. in i Theodoret. 1 Catech. 17. Theodoret. in Pfal. f Eufeb. Hift. 1. 3. c. 1. & 1. 5. c. 10. Pfal. xlv. h Eufeb. Dem. Evang. 1. 3. c. 7. Tom. 1. in Pfal. cxvi. k Id. Tom. 4. Serm. 9. m St. Aug. de Utilit. Credendi, c. 7. 1xv. 7. o Le Compte's Memoirs, p. 346. n his his Followers, propagated the Gospel in China, because the Indians had then great Dealings with the Chineses, to whom, he says, almost all India was Tributary. And the Christian Religion, which had anciently been preached throughout the Eaft, received an additional Propagation under Tamerlane, in the beginning of the Fifteenth Century. For that mighty Prince, who conquered the Muscovites, brought China under his Power, and by his Victories over the Turks, established the Greek Emperor in his Dominions, and fubdued Ægypt, had with him many Chriftians skilful in feveral Arts and Sciences, whom he brought from all Places where he had been with his Armies, or who had been recommended to him. Axalla a Genoefe, who had been bred up with him, was a Chriftian, and in great Favour and Authority under him. The Chriftians were his beft and chiefeft Soldiers, upon whom he most relyed; he repofed as much Truft and Confidence in them, as in his Natural Subjects, and more than in the most zealous Mahometans. He gave out Orders all over his vaft Empire, that Chriftians fhould have the free Exercise of their Religion, and that Christ fhould be honoured and reverenced by all Men; and the Chriftian Worfhip was daily performed in his Army. This Emperor had in his Dominions many Countries, where the Inhabitants were all Chriftians, and he commanded that the Chriftians fhould be every where used with as much refpect and esteem, as thofe of the Mahometan Religion. All which is P related in the most authentick Account that has been published of the Life of this great Emperor. The Cross was found to be in ufe among the ChineJes, by those who firft went from Europe 9 into China; and a Bell was feen there, which had Greek Characters P Hift. of Tamerl. by Sanctyon. c. 2, 7. 9 Trigaut. de Chrift. Expedit. apud Sinas, 1. 1. c. 11. Alvar. Semedo Hift. of China, Part 1. c. 31. I 2 engraven |