"attempt to divide the Isthmus ;" it proceeds, 548. line 1: ἀλλ' ἔσται καὶ ἄϊστος ὁ λοίγιος· εἶτ ̓ ἀνακάμψει ἰσσάζων θεῷ αὑτόν· ἐλέγξει δ ̓ οὔ μιν ἐόντα, or as we should perhaps read, ἐλέγξει δ ̓ οὐδὲν ἐόντα (sc. αὑτόν.) This is a clear description of one who should act the part of Antichrist, by making himself equal to God. Thus again; another description there is of Nero, in the same book, 573, line 2—574, line 9, in which the attributes of the real and the antichristian character are so intermixed, that it is scarcely possible to discriminate them asunder: and in the allusion to Nero in such a capacity, there is this further circumstance of peculiarity, that as scripture, understood in its literal sense, limits the reign of Antichrist to a period of three years and six months; so after depicting the ascendency of the antichristian Nero in question, and his doings in that character, the prophecy proceeds, 575, line 1. ἀλλ ̓ ὅταν ἐκ τετράτου ἔτεος λάμψῃ μέγας ἀστὴρ, &c. where, though the original is much corrupted, and probably interpolated with matter not properly belonging to it here, it may yet be very plainly seen that this phenomenon is supposed to be the prelude to his fall, and to that of Rome, and to the judgments accompanying both these events. Again, there is another, and a still plainer allusion to Nero in the same capacity, further on in the book, 592, line 5. μύρου καὶ σὺ, Κόρινθε, τὸν ἐν σοὶ λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον. ἡνίκα γὰρ στρεπτοῖσι μίτοις μοῖραι τριάδελφαι κλωσάμεναι, φεύγοντα δόλῳ ἡ ἴσθμοιο παρ' ἐμφὴν ἄξουσιν μετέωρον, ἕως (ἐσίδωσί σε κ) πάντες, οἷά τις οὐ πρότερος τῶν συμπάντων βασιλήων, where also, in the sequel, though manifestly very corrupt, and probably with omissions in some parts, and derangement in the order of others, the description passes to what is meant to be his coming to his end, and imperial Rome with him; followed by the passage 598, relating to the establishment of a kingdom in Judæa, quoted above. Again, we have another description of the same character, further on in the book; the attributes of which, over and above the features of the historical Nero, are manifestly taken from those of the wilful king in Daniel, viii. 23-25 : xi. 36, who should "understand dark sentences," and "should prosper "and practise." Among other things, the description ascribes to him the power of raising the fallen, that is, in battle. This description too is followed, as before, by an account of his miraculous destruction, and the deliverance of the people of God; a passage which likewise has been quoted. Lib. v. 618, line 8. sqq. ἔσσεται ὑστατίῳ καιρῷ περὶ τέρμα σελήνης κοσμομανὴς πόλεμος, καὶ ἐπίκλοπος ἐν δολότητι. k Read, ἐσίδωσί τε. 1 Supple, γ'. m Rescribe μένος, vel σθένος. n This line is manifestly out of its place. πάντας τ' ἐμπρήσει°, ὡς δήποτε ἄλλος ἐποίει, τοὺς δ ̓ αὖ πεπτηῶτας ἀνορθώσει (διὰ ζῆλον.) In the eighth book, likewise, there are two allusions, one, page 688, line 8, 9, to "the return of the fugi"tive and matricide ( puyàs nτpokтóvos) from the "ends of the earth," the other, 716, 7, "to the cut 66 ting through of the Isthmus, by some one, and his "then setting forth against all the rest;" both which can be understood of no one but Nero, in their primary, and Antichrist in their secondary sense; in whose person Nero should effect at last, what he had attempted in vain before to effect in his own. This eighth book of the Oracles, however, is in a state of the greatest confusion of all; and were we to endeavour to reduce it to a tolerable degree of method and regularity, it could be done only by transposing its parts, and altering its existing order, on a large scale. It is very probable that each of the allusions to Nero, in the character of Antichrist, found in that book, though separated at present, originally formed part of the same description. In like manner, a description occurs between the two, which might once have belonged to one of them, or both, 677, 1-7: for the first part of it manifestly alludes to the empire and ascendency of the antichristian power, with this significant circumstance, that it "should begin in the east, and spread to the west;" the second to its final destruction, represented figuratively as "the grinding of the fine flour by the "mills of God, and by fire." Supple, y', and read the rest of the passage, τοὺς αὖ πεπτηῶτας ἀνορθώσει διαδήλως. 66 Before we take our leave of this subject, it is necessary that we should specify another instance of coincidence between these Oracles, and the expectations connected with the millenary doctrines. In the first of the passages, relating to the coming of Beriel, quoted above, the prophecy proceeded, page 268, line 1, to predict "an añoкaτάoтaσis," or as the metre requires it to be read, " an άTOкáτOтaσis, of the elect ἀποκάτστασις, "and faithful—a spoiling (λenλaoin) of them and the Hebrews," (which seems to mean the Christians and converted Jews in conjunction,) "the coming of "the twelve tribes from the East, in search of the people of their kindred Hebrews, the persecution " and subjection of both in common, by and to some "power, apparently that of Antichrist;" until the period arrives for their deliverance, by the direct interposition of the supreme God: and lastly, as the event which should usher in this period, (for so it is most natural to understand it,) the "return of Elijah, "under the name of the Tishbite:" 270, line 2. 66 καὶ τόθ' ὁ Θεσβίτης ἀπὸ οὐρανοῦ ἅρμα τιταίνων 66 which three signs appear to me to be described in the sequel, first as "darkness-which should cover "the infinite world"-secondly, " as a river of fire "from heaven, which should devour all things," and thirdly," as the falling of the stars into the sea:" the end of all being the resurrection of the dead, and the general judgment, in which Christ, as we have seen, (vide supra, page 182,) was to preside as judge, and which was to be followed by the millenary kingdom. The above quotations from the Sibylline Oracles will be found to comprehend, on the whole, the substance of the testimony which they are calculated to furnish to the fact of the existence and reception of such and such doctrines and expectations, in the time of the writer. Considering their number and variety, we may justly be surprised, that the amount of objectionable matter contained in them, is so small in comparison of what an orthodox millenarian of primitive times might have been disposed to concur in for though I would not undertake to maintain that any of the advocates of the millennium in early times, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenæus, or Tertullian, would have agreed with the author of these representations in every particular of his apprehension of the course and circumstances of futurity; yet if I know any thing of their opinions on the same subjects, as expressed in their own writings, or by competent testimony transmitted to us-I may safely assert that there is much in these descriptions of the Sibylline Oracles, to which even they would have assented, as entirely in unison with their own belief, and agreeable to their own expectations; viz. all the essentials of the millenary doctrine, in contradistinction to the accidentals-all the general facts connected with it, in opposition to their particular circumstances. Thus, in expecting a return of Elijah, before any second personal advent of Jesus Christ, to act some definite and appropriate part; a general conversion of the Jews to Christianity; an appearance of a real, and not a figurative Antichrist, who should have a prophet or harbinger, and should work signs and wonders of a peculiar kind; a persecution both of converted Jews |