"O Father! confirm my miferable Heart, "for I look up unto thee, who art unpollu"ted, whom no Hands have made.

Note, That Tyre was deftroy'd by the Turks in in the End of the Holy War. Damafcus in Affyria was the Royal Seat of the Turks who follow'd Melec and Ducas; and Damafcus is the chief City in Calofyria: the River Chryforrhaus flows by Damafcus into the Mediterranean Sea. The Reafons of the Miseries of Affyria are, their not following Chrift.

Here Chrift's being Lord of Heaven and Earth is intimated before he took a Body, and afcended thither. And the Chriftian Religion is here plainly defcrib'd to be without bloody Sacrifices and Incense; their Sacrifices are Prayers, fent up by the Affiftance of the Holy Spirit, exprefs'd by Birds. Baptifm is here defcrib'd by the sprinkling with Water and Fire, which is the Spirit; and Charity is here made part of that Religion.

O Sardo! thou being fad, fhalt be turn'd into Ashes, and thou. fhalt be no more an Island when the tenth Age fhall come; and the Sailors in the Sea fhall feek thee, who art not to be found; and the Halcyons fhall raife their miferable Lamentations for thee.

Orough (and uneven) Mygdonia! [a Region of Macedonia near Thrace] a Maritime Town difficultly approach'd, thou fhalt grow old and perish for ever, and all by a hot Wind, [that is by the Turks Guas,] and thou shalt rage thro' many Miferies.

Thou Gaul, who inhabiteft near the Steepi Alps! thou shalt be cover'd with deep Sand;

The Destruction of Afia by an

it fhall produce no Fruit, nor Corn, nor Herbs; all People fhall forfake thee for ever; thou shalt always be froze with cold Ice; thou fhalt fuffer for the Fault which thou doft not confider, who art impure.

O obftinate Rome! who after the Mace donian Wars fhalt fhine up to the Heavens, but God fhall make thee infamous: When thou feemeft much more glorious to behold, and eftablish'd to be remember'd, then I will fpeak these things to thee: when thou fhalt perish, thou shalt make a famous noise then, altho' thou wert fplendid and built with Marble. I shall speak I fhall fpeak again fome things hereafter to thee, O Rome!

Note, That this Sibyl continues this Book till the laft Deftruction of Rome, and fays, the will fay more hereafter; but because the fays no more in this Book, this is either imperfect, or the fame Sibyl writ the eighth Book.

But now, O Syria ! I miferably lament thy Calamities.

O Thebes without Counfel, an ill found of the fhrill Pipe is near you; the Trumpet fhall give an unlucky found to you, and you fhall fee all your Land deftroy'd. Alas, O Inundation,men- unhappy and perfidious Sea! thou fhalt all tion'd in Book 5, be confum'd by Fire, and the Sea fhall deftroy the People; for there fhall be as much Fire raging on the Earth, as there is Water flowing, and it fhall deftroy all the Earth's it fhall burn the Mountains, and dry the Rivers, and the Springs; and the World

and the Deftru.

tion of the

World by Fire.

3

of

of Men perishing, fhall be defac'd; and they miferably burning, fhall in their Affli &tion behold the Heavens not fhining with Stars, but all disorder'd by Fire, but they fhall not fuddenly perish, but their Flesh perifhing, their Spirits fhall burn for many Years of Ages. Then they fhall know that they ill confider'd the Laws of God, and that they ought not to be rejected, and that the Earth, being opprefs'd, was bold to receive any God and Altars, (being deceiv'd) and their Smoak, which occafion'd those Pains.

But they fhall be tormented by a great Defire who for Gain predict fhameful things, encreafing the Miseries of those Times; the Hebrews fhall divide the hairy Body of the Sheep, and fhall counterfeit thofe kind of things they never were commanded, speaking Words, and making Gain by the Calamities they declare; and they change their ways of living, but they can not perfuade the juft to do fo, and those who fincerely worship God with their Souls.

In the third Lot of Years to come, in the first eight Years, another World fhall be feen; there fhall be an incredible and long Night, and then the smell of Sulphur fhall be every where foretelling the Slaughter, when they fhall be deftroy'd by the Darknefs and Famine; then he fhall produce in Men a pure Soul, and raife Mankind as it was before, and none fhall plow the Land with deep Furrows, nor fhall the 002

Oxen

Oxen be drove in the plowing by the Iron which directs them; nor fhall they prune the Branches, or cut the Corn, but they fhall all eat the Manna, which falls like Dew, with their white Teeth, and God fhall be with them, and inftruct them.

Note, That the Deftruction in Thebes muft be in the Macedonian War, and that in Syria, as it is defcrib'd in the fifth Book; and after that, the fmell of Sulphur, and Darkness, and then shall be a new World: But what the third Lot of Years to come fignifies, and the firft eight, I cannot guefs; it may relate to this Verfe in the eighth Book, Poft hunc regnabunt tres ultima tempora ha bentes. 'Tis plain the Refurrection is defcrib'd of the Bodies, and the eating Manna in Paradise, and Chrift's Prefence alfo.

O me who am wicked! for what Evils did I formerly with a Defign? and I did others unwillingly; I have committed Whoredom many times, and I never marry'd; I was unfaithful to all, but oblig'd others by a brutish Oath; I flut out of my House the Poor, but walking in the Porch, I admitted thofe who were like me, not confidering the Command of God: For this reafon Fire hath eaten me; and after this Confumption I fhall not live again, but an ill time will deftroy me; and Men shall make me a Monument, but they who will come after fhall throw me into the Sea,with the Stones that cover me, becaufe I lay with my Father, and produc'd for him a dear

Son.

Son. Let all of you caft me away, for fo I fhall live, and fix my Eyes on Heaven.

Note the Wickedness the Sibyl here confeffes she had done, and concludes with a Prophefy how she should be abus'd after her Death, for which fhe hopes for Pardon ; but this Wickedness is objected against her by Galleus, as making her unfit for a Prophetess; to which I will give this Anfwer out of the Apoftolic Conftitutions: Neither is every one that prophecies holy; Baalam did prophecy, tho' he was a wicked Man; as did Caiaphas, the fally nam'd High prieft: Saul was amongst the true Prophets, and Abab's falfe Prophets were infpir'd by a lying Spirit, and fometimes the Devil's Oracles foretold Events truly, as well as the Witch at Endor.

Lactantius quotes fome of this Book, and therefore we may fuppofe it genuine, tho' moft obfcure of any; and it feems to want its Proemium concerning God; but it ends with the burning of the World, the Refurrection and Millennium. The Inceft this Sibyl was guilty of, does incline me to think he was a Perfian Sibyl.