give something like an answer to the question which has been proposed, "where did the Cumæan Sybil get the prophecy which bears her name? That she was not an inspired woman, and therefore that the prophecy was not her own we have already shown. And it might be shown, that it was not possible for her to have got it from the books of Moses, or the other scriptures, in her time. She could therefore have only come to the knowledge of it from some of those patriarchal traditions, which had found their way into some of the heathen temples. And this conjecture will receive additional strength from a new consideration, I mean that of the station, which she is said to have filled during the latter part of her life; for she was indisputably one of the Sybilline priestesses, and it was the office of these to take care of the memorials which were deposited in the temples, over which they respectively presided. But if this were the case all the records in that particular temple, to which she belonged, would be open to her inspection every day; and she could not but know the contents of all of them. She might indeed have taken copies of them if she pleased. In this way it was I presume that she became possessed of the prophecy in question. The particular tem

ple, however, over which she presided is no where mentioned that I know of; but it is probable that it was in some part of Asia; for though historians are divided as to the particular place of her birth, most of them agree in saying that she was born on that continent. And now for two or three historical disclosures, which will throw light upon a very important part of the subject, namely, how this prophecy found its way to Rome at the early period which has been mentioned, The first is, that this same Sybil left her abode in Asia, wherever it was, and went afterwards into Italy. The second is, that when she was in Italy she resided in a sacred cavern near Cumæ in Campania, from which circumstance she was called the Cumaan, to distinguish her from the other Sybils, rather than from Cumæ in Æolia, where it would be against a preponderance of evidence to say that she was born. The third is, that an old woman supposed to be the same woman, offered this very prophecy with other oracles to Tarquin the Second. She went to the king himself, as Dionysius tells the story, with nine books of oracles, for which she demanded three hundred pieces of gold. Tarquin refused to give her that price. She then burnt three of the nine, and offered him the remaining six at

the same rate. This being again rejected by the king, who thought the woman mad, she burnt three more of these books, still however requiring the same sum as at first. Tarquin, moved at this strange procedure, consulted the Augurs, who, when their divinations were performed, acquainted him with the impiety of which he had been guilty by refusing a treasure sent him from heaven, and commanded him to give whatever the Sybil might ask. After this the king purchased them, and lodged them in the temple of the first Capitol, as before stated. This then, is the way, according to Dionysius Halycarnasseus, a most respectable author, in which the Sybilline books were introduced into Rome; nor does the circumstance of the bargain between the king and the woman throw any discredit on the account; for there can be no doubt that both priest and priestesses of these temples frequently made a trade of their office by selling copies of traditions or other sorts of records in their possession, nay even that they went farther by forging others; though, in the present case forgery is out of the question, because the prophecy, which we have now had so long under our consideration, carries with it its own testimony that it was of divine original.

CHAPTER VIII.

Whether Jesus Christ, after having been upon our earth, fully answered the character, which had been given him by the different prophecies before mentioned.

A question, and a very important one, now comes before us for solution, which is, whether Jesus Christ after he came upon our earth, fulfilled the meaning of the different prophecies, which we have shewn to have been in circulation in different parts of the world concerning the great personage, who was to come. We have already shown, that they were not applicable to Augustus Cæsar, nor to any other person of his time. To solve this I shall feel it right to go over these prophecies again in a very concise manner, and to try to reduce the substance of all of them to a few words, and then to make these few words the standard, by which the case may be properly tried and decided.

It has already appeared, that the worldlyminded among the Jews, of whom by far the greater part of that nation consisted, were of opinion that their Messiah was to come in the character of a conqueror, that is, a military conqueror, or of a military deliverer or a restorer

force of arms, of that which had been lost. But certain events, which occurred after his crucifixion and death, prove beyond the power of contradiction, that they had taken an entirely false view of his character; for, in the first place, Jesus Christ never took up arms on any occasion; nor did he deliver his countrymen from the Roman yoke; nor did he restore the throne of David to its ancient splendour. So far was this from being the case, that the Romans under Vespasian destroyed Jerusalem and the temple itself in so complete a manner, that one stone was not left upon another; and when they took the city again, many years afterwards when it had been rebuilt, they not only led away captive all the inhabitants, who had survived the siege, but all the inhabitants of Judæa, men, women and children, and transported them to other countries, so that from this time they were broken as a nation, and they have been fugitives ever since in different parts of the earth. It is