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would be m ram to seek for any quotations of particular passages from the Siby lline oracles / 1 If therefore no such quotations can be found among «« heathen writers , " whence , it is natural to ask , were they derived by Christian authors ? And how can
v ? e be certain that the prophecies adverted to arid explicit , and not vagwe and general ? Let us attend to the opinion of a niore competent judge . " The
SiBYtLiNE oracles , " says Jortin , * •* were composed at different times , by different persons , first by Pagans , and then perhaps by Jews , and certainly by Christians The
Sibvlline oraetesf seem to have been all , from first to last , and without any one exception , mere impostures . We have a collection of them in eight Books * which : abound with phrases ,
words ; facts and passages taken from ike L » XX and the New Testantent , and are a remarkable specimen of astonishing impudence and miserable poetry . " -To the same excellent sfcholar we are indebted for a
sumrtaryt of " the judgment which F < tdriciiis , after a'diligent examination , formed upon this subject , " and which fiilly supports his own . In confirmation of it we could produce numerous and unexceptionable authorities . But
we imagine that few persons of thought and learning will now maintain that the book of the Cumteun Sibyl contained " explicit written prophecies of Christ . " The
wretched effusions which irr an age of pious frauds were cited as prophecies of this description , have been weighed in the balance of criticism , and proved to be " light as air . "
" I see not , " observes Dr . Jortin , " whjr we should' have a more favourable opinion of those" Sibylline oracles " which are lost" than of Abse which are exfant . fy We add that if , according to Bishop IL , any of them were collected in different tuitions of Asia and in Sicily , we may
very reasonably conceive that some of these compositions would be form-< j 4 in part , from the poetry of the Jewish Scripture * already translated into Greek j on which principle we
* Remarks on Eccled . Hist . vOl . i . 283 t rb . 284 ; 1 Ib . 289—295 . 4 lb . 2 S 3 :
can easily account for certain images , &c . in Virgil ' s Potlio . Thus much for the oracles of the Cumsean Sibyl , in respect of which the late prelate of St . Asapli ' s
argument is nearly as conjectural and paradoxical as his speculation concerning the existence of a church of orthodox Jewish Christians at JElia after the time of Adrian !
Dr . Horsley introduces , in the following paragraph ( 5 S , 54 ) , a favour * ite topic : " Paganism in its milder form [ acknowledging the Supreme Providence and retaining- the fear and worship of the true
God , but adding the superstitious worship of fictitious deities ] , was rather to b « called a corrupt than a false relig'ion ; just as at this day the religion of the Church of Rome is more properly corrupt than false . Jt is not a false religion ;
for the professors of it receire , with the fullest submission of the understanding to its mysteries , the whole g-ospeL They fear GodL They trust in Christ as the author of salvation . They worship the three persons in the unity of the Godhead . The Roman church therefore hath not
renounced the truth , but she hath corrupted it ; and she hath corrupted it in the very same manner and nearly in the same degree An which the truth of the patriarchal religion was corrupted by the first idolaters : adding * to the fear and worship of God and hisr Son the inferior fear and
worship of deceased men , whose spirits they suppose la be invested with some deJe <* ated authority over Christ's church on earth .. Now the corruptions being- no similar in kiad and pretty equal in degree , the idolaters of antiquity and the papists of modem times seem much upon a
foot-We know not what " the papist ^ of modern times" will think of thia reasoning and this parallel ' . Nor ars we immediately concerned to weigh the difference between a false and a corrupt religion- ; though we cannot but suppose that a theological system which leaches for divine doc *
trines . the commandments of men and which introduces- false object * of worship must necessarily be falsem And }> ishop Horsley might have been asked , " what agreement hath Uit * temple of God with ijdola ? " ; Or , \ r % other words , " Are mystery , idolatry and bloodshed characteristics © Jf the religion of Jesus ? " ||
|| Garnham ' s Sermon at Trinity College Cambridge , ( 12 ino . ) i > . IS .
Untitled Article
Review . —Bishop Horsley $ If ike Se >* mans . 755
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1815, page 755, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1767/page/27/
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