THE

PREFACE.

I

Think 'tis necessary to premise some Obfervations concerning the number of the Sibyls, and the time they liv'd in, and the burning and collection of the Sibylline Oracles I will afterwards confider the ancient Testimonies, to prove that there were many Inspired Women amongst the Gentiles, and that they publish'd their Prophefies in fome Eastern Language; and I will lastly explain the Symbolical Characters us'd in the Oracles, and conclude this Preface with fome Obfervations concerning the Ufefulness of these Pro phefies in explaining the Revelations.

By way of Poft fcript, I will add an Extract out of the Fathers concerning the Return of the Jews, Antichrift, and the Millennium, which they took out of these Oracles, and make a large Parallel betwixt the Oracles and Revelations, and fo conclude with an Answer to the Objections against these Oracles, made by Opfopeus, If. Voffius, and du Pin; adding fome Chronology about the Saracens, and ancient History of the Turks, by which both the Oracles and Revelations will be better understood.

1. Concerning the Number of the Sibyls the Critics difagree: Some will have but

one,

"

one, but fince Sibylla fignifies a Propher tefs, and all the Critics allow that there were many Propheteffes amongst the Gentiles, this Difpute is only nominal; and I think, by the Authority of Lactantius, we may conclude, that their number was ten; for Varro, as he is quoted by Lactantius, names ten Sibyls, 1. the Perfian or Chaldean, mention'd by Nicanor; 2. the Libyan, mention'd by Euripides; 3. the Delphica; 4. the Cimmeria in Italy, 5. the Erythraan, who foretold the Destruction of Troy; 6. the Samian; 7. the Cumana, call'd Herophile, who brought nine Books to Tarquinius Prifcus, of which fhe burnt all but three, and thefe perish'd with the Capitol 83 Years before Chrift; 8. the Hellefpontiaca, born in Marpefus, in the time of Cyrus; 9. Phrygia, who prophefied at Ancyra; 10. Albunea, or Tiburtina. Alian reckons ten Sibyts, and Suidas gives the Names of the ten, but they differ from Varro's; and 'tis probable fome Sibyls had different Names, as, the Babylo nian is call'd Erythraa: Chaldaica, Perfica, Judaica, Sambethe, are probably the fame.

2. As to the time in which the feveral Sibyls liv'd, I find thefe Obfervations collected by Opfopeus: The Sibyl at Delphos was a Phrygian, ancienter than Orpheus; one Sibyl liv'd in the time of the Jewish Judges; the Cumaan, in the time of Imafias; the Samian, in the time of Jofiah; there was a Sibyl in Samos, in the time of Darius Aftyages. The Sibylla Cumana prophefied in the fiftieth Olym

Olympiad, or fifty-fourth. The Delphica is the ancienteft Sibyl, and liv'd before the Trojan War; Homer borrow'd many of her Verfes; the Erythraan after the Trojan War, and fhe prophefied that the Lesbians fhould loose the dominion of the Seas long before it happen'd; the Hellefpontiaca liv'd in the 60 Olympiad, the Libyca before the 80 Olympiad, the Perfica Sibylla in the 120 Olympiad; she writ particularly of Chrift as God. St. Jerome affirms, that the Erythraan Sibyl was in the time of Romulus, and the Samian Herophile in the time of Numa, or HoStilius. St. Auguftin fays, the Cumaan Sibyl Lib. 18, was in Numa's time, when Manaffes flew E- cap. 24. faias; and he fays, the Erythrean was in Romulus's days; and Flaccianus the Roman Proconful, when he difcours'd of Chrift with him, fhew'd him a Greek Copy of the Sibylla Erythraa's Verses; but he fays, fome place the Erythraan in the time of the Trojan Wars.

That the Sibyls were before Homer is probable, because he took fome of their Verfes, as Guil. Canterus teftifies, Homerus multis in locis, ut aperte conftat, Sibyllam fit imitatus, ejufq; hemiftichia multa fue poefi inferuerit. This Authority is fufficient to oppofe Gallaus, who thinks the Sibyls stole fome Hemiftichia from Homer: The plainnefs of the Sibyls Stile is a true fign of their Antiquity, and pureness of Homer's, a proof of later Ages.

3.Concerning the burning and fresh colle&tion of the Sibylline Oracles, Tacitus fays,

After

After the burning of the Capitol, the Sibylline Verfes were brought from Samos, Ilium, Erythris, Africa, Sicily, Italy. Thefe Books, Pliny fays, were burnt in Sylla's time (i. e. 83 Years before Christ); after the new colletion they remain'd at Rome, till the time of Honorius and Theodofius junior, and then Stilico being about to raise a Sedition, burnt, 'em. The Romans brought 1000 of these Verfes to Rome, after rebuilding the Capitol.

Suetonius gives this account, That Auguftus burnt 2000 Prophefies whofe Authority was uncertain, Ac folos retinuit Sibyllinos, bofq; delectu habito.

Lactantius quotes thofe Verfes which relate to one God, and they are the fame as we now read in the Sibylline Books; they were common to all Men; and these were the Verfes of the Erythraan Sibyl; none were conceal'd by the Romans but those of the Cumaan Sibyl: The reafon of keeping these from the Vulgar was, the Cumaan Sybil foretold the Destruction of Rome and its Empire and Idolatrous Religion, in the 8th Book of the Oracles.

But befides these Sibylline Oracles, there were kept in the Capitol fome Heathen Oracles prefcrib'd by the Pythia, and the fuggeftion of the Devil at Delphos, and thefe were promoters of Idolatry, and from thefe the Romans learnt which of the Heathen Gods were to be worship'd, and what Sacrifices. were to be perform'd in Earthquakes,Wars, Seditions, Famines, c. but the Sibylline O

racles

racles condemn'd all Idolatry. That this distinction must be made, is plain by the beginning of the 4th Book,

dictata à numine magno,

Non oracla quidem dantis mendacia Phabi. And 'tis evident by the Roman Hiftories that they confulted the Oracles for Predictions as well as their idolatrous Worship, upon great occafions; and the truc Predictions could be found only in the Sibylline Oracles. Cicero mentions two forts of Priests, one, Cic. lib. 2, de quod prafit ceremoniis & facris; the other, legibus. quod interpretur fatidicorum,& vatum fata incognita. There were many collections of thefe Oracles; the first was of icoo Verfes, by those the Senate fent into the East; a fecond in Auguftus's time, and a third in Tiberius's reign, as Mr. Eachard affirms; a new Volume of the Sibyls Books was receiv'd in the third Year of our Saviour's Ministry, and added to the reft by a Decree of the Senate of Rome, but not well relish'd by the Emperor Tiberius: For this he quotes Tacitus and Dion; therefore this Collection was not perfected till Auguftus and Tiberius's time. The Romans permitted none to fee the Cumaan Sibyl but the fifteen Men appointed, and the Oracles were not confulted without a Decree of the Senate: And fince none of the Sibylline Oracles were conceal'd in the Capitol but the Cumaan, none were loft by the Burning, but that.

4. I will next prove, that there were fome infpir'd Women among the Gentiles.