Now I think it is worthy to be observed, that all nations, having had some sense of God and religion, have likewise had a nation of prophets and prophecy, have had a veneration for them, and a desire and expectation of acquaintance and communion with the gods they worshipped in that way. Witness their oracles, their augurs, and the many arts of divination they had in use among them, in all the ages, and all the countries, of the world.
It is commonly urged as an argument against the Atheists, to prove that there is a God, That all nations of the world acknowledged some god or other, some Being above them, to be worshipped and prayed to, to be trusted in and praised; the most ignorant and barbarous nations could not avoid the knowledge of it; the most learned and polite nations could not avoid the belief of it. And this is a sufficient proof of the general and unanimous consent of mankind to this truth; though far the greatest part of men made to themselves gods, which yet were no gods. Now I think it may be urged with equal force against the Deists, for the proof of a divine revelation, that all nations of the world had, and had veneration for, that which they at least took to be a divine revelation, and could not live without; though in this also they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. But if there were not a true Deity, and a true prophecy, there would never have been pretended deities and counterfeit prophecies.
Lycurgus and Numa, those two great lawgivers of the Spartan and Roman commonwealths, brought their people to an observance of the laws by possessing them with a notion that they had them by divine revelation, and so making it a point of religion to observe them. And those that have been ever so little conversant with the Greek and Roman histories, as well as with the more ancient ones of Chaldea and Egypt, cannot but remember what a profound deference their princes and great commanders, and not their unthinking commonalty only, paid to the oracles and prophets, and the prognostications of their soothsayers, which, in all cases of importance, were consulted with abundance of gravity and solemnity; and how often the resolutions of councils, and the motions of mighty armies, turned upon them, though they appeared ever so groundless and far-fetched.
There is a full account given by that learned philosopher and physician, Casper Peucer,* [1]of the many kinds of divination and prediction used among the Gentiles, by which they took on them to tell the fortune both of states and particular persons. They were all, he says, reduced by Plato to two heads; Divinatio, Μαντικὴ, which was a kind of inspiration, or was thought to be so; the prophet or prophetess foretelling things to come by an internal flatus or fury; such was the oracle of Apollo at Delphos, and that of Jupiter Trophonius; which, with others like them, were famous for many ages, during the prevalency of the kingdom of darkness, but (as appears by some of the Pagan writers themselves) they were all silenced and struck dumb, when the gospel (that truly divine oracle) began to be preached to the nations. The other kind of divination was that which he calls Οὶωνιστικὴ, which was a prognostication by signs, according to rules of art, as by the flight of birds, the entrails of beasts, by stars or meteors, and abundance of ominous accidents, with which a foolish world was miserably imposed upon. A large account of this matter we have also in the late learned dissertations of Anton. Van Dale, to which I refer the reader.† [2]
But nothing of this kind made a greater noise in the Gentile world than the oracles of the Sybils, and their prophecies; their name signifies a divine counsel: Sibyllæ, qu. Siobulæ; Sios, in the Æolic dialect, being put for Theos. Peucer says, Almost every nation had its Sibyls, but those of Greece were most celebrated. They lived in several ages; the most ancient is said to be the Sibylla Delphica, who lived before the Trojan war, or about that time. The Sibylla Erythrea was the most noted; she lived about the time of Alexander the Great. But it was the Sibylla Cumana of whom the story goes, that she presented herself, and nine books of oracles, to Tarquinius Superbus, which she offered to sell him at so vast a rate, that he refused to purchase them, upon which she burnt three, and, upon his second refusal, the other three, but made him give the same rate for the remaining three, which were deposited with great care in the Capitol. But those being afterward burnt accidentally with the Capitol, a collection was made of the other Sibylline oracles, and those are they which Virgil refers to in his fourth Eclogue.‡ [3]
All the oracles of the Sibyls that are extant, were put together, and published in Holland not many years ago, by Servatius Gallæus, in Greek and Latin, with large and learned notes; together with all that could be met with of the metrical oracles that go under the names of Jupiter, Apollo, Serapis, and others, by Joannes Osopæus.
The oracles of the Sibyls were appealed to by many of the Fathers, for the confirmation of the Christian religion. Justin Martyr‖ [4] appeals with a great deal of assurance, persuading the Greeks to give credit to that ancient Sibyl, whose works were extant all the world over; and to their testimony, and that of Hydaspis, he appeals concerning the general conflagration, and the torments of hell. Clemens Alexandrinus§ [5] often quotes the Sibyls' verses with great respect; so does Lactantius¶ [6]; St. Austin.** [7] De Civitate Dei, has the famous acrostic at large, said to be one of the oracles of the Sibylla Erythrea, the first letters of the verses making Ἰησȣ̀ς Χριστὸς Θεȣ̃ νἱὸς Σώτηρ—Jesus Christ the Son of God the Saviour. Divers passages they produce out of these oracles which expressly foretell the coming of the Messiah, his being born of a virgin, his miracles, his sufferings, particularly his being buffetted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, having vinegar and gall given him to drink, &c.
Whether these oracles were genuine and authentic or no, has been much controverted among the learned. Baronius and the Popish writers generally admit and applaud them, and build much upon them; so do some Protestant writers; Isaac Vossius has written a great deal to support the reputation of them, and (as I find him quoted by Van Dale) will needs have it that they were formerly a part of the canon of scripture; and a learned prelate of our own nation, Bishop Montague, pleads largely, and with great assurance, for their authority, and is of opinion that some of them were divinely inspired.
But many learned men look upon it to be a pious fraud, as they call it; that those verses of the Sibyls, which speak so very expressly of Christ and the future state, were forged by some Christians, and imposed upon the over-credulous. Huetius,†† [8] though of the Romish church, condemns both the ancient and modern composures of the Sibyls, and refers his reader, for the proof of their vanity, to the learned Blondel. Van Dale and Gallæus look upon them to be a forgery. And the truth is, they speak so much
