resurrection, and ascension; of the descent of the Spirit; of the punishment of the Jews, and the ruin of their deserted house. They betray also an acquaintance with the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel, and of the pure manners of the primitive Christians; they speak of some of the Roman emperors by their initials in order to disguise their reference; and, lastly, they foretel the future reign of Christ on earth. Great part, therefore, of what we now possess is evidently spurious: Lardner and Cave conceive, that some of the Sibylline verses were forged in the time of Hadrian, and others in the reign of Antoninus; or of Commodus, in whose time Prideaux believes the collection to have been completed. Many are cited by Justin Martyr, who did not outlive A. D. 167-some lines might have been afterwards added.

While we reject the verses which bear such evident marks of forgery, we must still admit that those which were extant before the time of our Saviour, must have contained many allusions to the Messiah, which cannot be explained, but on the supposition either that they were drawn directly or indirectly from

the oracles of Hebrew revelation; or that God vouchsafed to impart some rays of prophetic knowledge to gild the distant prospects of the Heathen world.

Other early writers of the church besides those before-mentioned appeal to these verses, as Athenagoras, Tertullian, Jerom, and Clement of Alexandria. Some assert that St. Paul refers to them; and as a proof that part of the collection which has a prophetic cast is genuine, it has been remarked that Cicero mentions an acrostic in them*, and that an acrostic now appears in the collection which expresses "Jesus Christ "the Son of God, the Saviour, and the 66 cross. It is probable, however, that Cicero alludes to a different sort of acrostic, and that the one now cited, was fabricated in later times, and possibly inserted by the compiler.

De Divin. lib. ii. c. 54.

+ Ιησές Χριστός θες υιος, σωτης, σταυρος, Prid. Conn. p. 2. b. 9. The letters put together compose the word Ixus, a fish; and hence the fathers, with indiscreet zeal and insipid allegory, called Jesus, Piscem nostrum, the Christians, Piscinam. Tertul. de Baptism. August. de Civit. Dei, lib. i. c. 23.

It is a point which has been much controverted, whether the Heathen oracles were inspired with any information from beings of a more elevated nature than that of man, who might afford an insight into future times, subservient to the deception of those who consulted them.

The equivocal answers which they delilivered, whether dictated by the caution of human policy, or by the contrivance of superior beings, whose knowledge of futurity may be as limited as our own, but whose foresight may be more extended, can afford no sufficient evidence to decide the question. There are, however, some prophetic intimations of the Heathen oracles, and some of their predictions, which seem to have been directly or indirectly borrowed from a sacred source. There are also some declarations which may be thought to have been dictated by more than human sagacity, and which were of a nature manifestly calculated to do mischief, particularly as directing men to the abominable rites of idolatry. Evil spirits are represented in Scripture, to have forth to suggest falsehood *, and as they

gone

* 1 Kings xxii. 23.

certainly were allowed before and during the time of our Saviour's abode on earth to take possession of the persons of men, it does not appear unreasonable to believe, that they might have been constrained sometimes to utter truth, and at other times permitted to increase the delusion of those who gave themselves up to a lying spirit of divination, and who might thus be confirmed in their infatuation by a judicial subjection to such mischievous delusions.

The Pythian oracle is related to have told the agents of Croesus in what manner the monarch was employed in Lydia at the time in which the oracle delivered its answer; nor does this circumstance imply any powers beyond what may occasionally be ascribed to spiritual beings. The equivocal declaration which was uttered at the same time, and which informed him, that if he attacked the Persians he would overthrow a mighty empire, demonstrates the evil, and limited nature of the agency which was employed; the communication serving but to urge on Croesus to his ruin; while at the same time the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Cyrus was receiving its exact and literal ac

complishment to the most beneficial pur

poses

*

Porphyry speaks of an oracle of Apollo, which is cited also by Justin, in which the Deity is represented to say, that the Egyp tians, the Phoenicians, the Chaldæans, and the Hebrews, were the discoverers of the way, and that the Chaldæans alone had attained wisdom, and the Hebrews who worshipped the self-existing God in purity †.

There are two oracles of Hecate, which Eusebius has transcribed from Porphyry, which seem to allude to Christ, the messenger distinguished above all others for piety, who taught the immortality of the soul after death, and who sustained grief, and ascended into the abode of heavenly beings.

It appears that the oracles ceased, not long after the promulgation of Christianity, and that the early Christians believed that they were constrained to silence, by a divine

* Isaiah xliv. 28. xlv. 1-5.

Justin et Grotius, lib. i. c. 9. Annot.

↑ August. de Civit. lib. xxix. c. 23, et Grot. lib. iv, c. 9. Annot.