* Elian.

the fame, I fuppofe, who is mention'd by * Elian; and by Suidas, faid to be defcended 1.12. C.35. from Noah, and named Sambethe, call'd the Chaldæan, and by fome the Hebrew, and also ab Alex. the Perfian Sibyl; whom† Alexander ab A13.c.16. lexandro calls Sibylla Judæa.

+ Alexand.

But if these 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 because the Heathen having but few Oracles of this nature, and fo many of a quite contrary Nature, it was the more neceflary that thefe fhould be plain; and because 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 sometimes in a plainer, than he did to his own People in any one Prophecy.

Thus Balaam's Prophecy is as plain as any Prophecy of that time at leaft; and our Saviour discovered himfelf more plainly to the Woman of Samaria, than he had yet done to any of his Difciples, 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, delivered a true and famous Prophecy of Christ, 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 otherwife the Devils Inftruments to promote his Ends, fhould foretell our Saviour's Coming: And yet St. Auguftine affures us, (g) that the (8) Auguft. Sibylla Erythrea, or Cumana, had nothing of 1.18.c.23. Idolatry in her Verfes; but spoke so much against it, that he believed her to belong to the City of God.

5. 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 em ployed in that fervice: And the Author of the Tranflation, tranflated only what was properly Virgil's; but when he came to what was by Virgil borrowed 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.bi

broli It is well known that the Ancients took as great a liberty as this, in their Tranflations; and it was the more allowable, when there could be no Defign or likelihood of Deceit in the Translation of fo famous a Poem as that Eclogue of Virgil. This was but to point out the Alterations which

Civ. Dei,

Virgil had made, and to fhew how eafily thele parts of his Poem might be supplied from the Original Greek And perhaps this was a known Tranflation 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 concerned in them. For though the Books which we have now, contain manifeft Falfifications and Forgeries; yet there must have been something 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 Judæa.

As foon as the Gofpel appeared in the World, like the Rifing Sun, it defufed its. Divine Light and Influence into all Parts of the Earth; its Propagation was it felf a Miracle, and anfwerable to that miraculous Power of Languages, and other means by which it was accomplished. Tertullian ac(b) Tertul. quaints us, (b) that it was foon propagadaos, c. 7. gated beyond the Bounds of the Roman Em

e

pire; he fpeaks of the Northern Parts of Britain and we know it received as early a Propagation in other Places more remote, being preached by St. Bartholomew (i) tỏ (i) Euseb the Indians, by St. Thomas to the Parthians, Hift.1.3. and to the Scythians by St. Andrew.

c. 1. & 1.5.

C. 10.

c. 7.

In St. Auguftine's time (k) the Chriftians (k)St.Aug. were more numerous in all the known Parts de Utilit. of the World, than the Jews and Heathens Credendi, together: And we have reafon to believe, that the Zeal of the Apostles, and their im mediate 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 Difco very; which Tertullian likewife fufficiently

intimates.

*

The Cross was found to be in ufe among the Chineses, by those who firft went from Europe (1) into China; and a Bell was feen (Trigaut, de Chrift. there, which had Greek Characters engraven Expedit. aon it! And those who honour'd the Cross pud Sinas, were in fo great numbers in the Northern Alvar. SeProvinces, that they gave Jealoufie to the medo Hift. Infidels. The Chriftians there were call'd of China,. Ifai, from the Name Jefus: And from the c. 31. Chaldee Books which were found upon the Coasts of Malabar, it appears that St. Tho mas preach'd the Gospel in China, and founded many Churches there. The Pallages which prove this, may be feen in Trigautius and Semedo, tranflated out of those Books,

K

Nicolas

part 1.

c. 15.

(m)Purch. Nicolas de Conti (m) faith of the Chinese, part 1.1.4. that when they rife in the Morning, they turn their Faces to the East, and with their Hands joined, fay, God in Trinity keep us in

Memoirs,

this Law.

哈

(n) Le The Gofpel was preach'd in China (n) by Compte's fome who came from Judæa, and feem to have P. 348. been Monks, A. D. DCXXXVI, as it appears Semedo, ibe by a Marble Table erected A. D. DCCLXXXII, and found A. D. MDCXXV. This Monument contains the principal Articles of the Chriftian Faith the fubftance of the Infcription may be seen in Le Compte's Memoirs, and the whole is tranflated by Semedo. HorHorn. nius (o) indeed rejects this Infcription; de Orig.4- which was likewife produced by Kircher, 1.4. c.15. as counterfeit; but without any cause, that

merican.

Rebus E

I can perceive: For if it were a fraud, there is no reafon to think that we fhould not find all the Points of Popery inferted in it.

(p) Hieron. Oforius writes, (p) that the Brachmans Ofor. de believed a Trinity in the Divine Nature, man. Luft- and a God Incarnate to procure the Salvatan. Regis, tion of Mankind; and that the Church of

1.2.

(9) Conti

nuat. of the

Hiftory of

St. Thomas was esteemed moft Holy among the Saracens, and other Nations, for the report of Miracles wrought there.

The Gentiles of Indoftan (q) retain fome Notion of the Trinity, and of the Incarna M.Bernier, tion of the Second Perfon, though corrupted Tom. 4. with fabulous Stories.

The