are in Expectation of that Immortality which is brought to Light by his Gospel.

LIV. But least any fhou'd collect from what has been faid, that we are Affertors of fatal Neceffity, and conclude that * Prophecy muft needs infer Predeftination, we fhall clear our felves as to this Point alfo; for we learn from thefe' very Prophets, that Rewards and Punishments are to be diftributed in Proportion to the Merits of Mankind; and it is a Truth we our felves profefs: For if it be not fo, but all things are determin'd by Fate, then farewel Freedom of Will; and if this Man is destin'd to be good, and that evil, then neither the one nor the other can be justly approv'd or condemn'd; fo that unless we fuppofe that Mankind has it in his Power to choose the Good and refufe the Evil, no one can be accountable for any Action whatever. But to prove that Men are Good or Evil by Choice, I argue in this manner,-We see in the fame Perfon a Transition to quite contrary Actions; but now was he neceffitated either to be good

That the Pagans were very much inclin'd to infer with the Stoicks a fatal Neceffity from the Prediction of things to come, is evident from what Origen replies to Celfus upon this Subject. Orig. contra Celf. lib. 2. p. 72. I know that our Martyr is thought hardly of, for magnifying the Power of Man's Will, but this is notoriously evident to have been the current Doctrine of the Fathers, thro' all the firft Ages, till the Rife of the Pelagian Controverfie, tho' they all acknowledgid χάριν ἐξαίρετον a mighty Affiftance of Divine Grace, to raise up the Soul for divine and spiritual things. And Justin tells his Adverfary, that 'tis vain for Man to think of rightly understanding the Prophets, unless he be affifted uefáns xáеi10 i ang des by a mighty Grace deriv'd from God. Dialog. cum Tryph. p. 319.

of

or bad, he would not be capable of this Contrariety, nor fo often vary from one to the other; befides there wou'd not be this Diversity of Virtuous and Vicious in the World; for either we must say with you, that Destiny is the Cause of Evil, and then Destiny wou'd act contradictorily to her self, in being the Cause of Good; or else I muft fay, what I have faid already, that you conclude Virtue and Vice to be in themselves nothing, but to receive their Estimate of Good or Bad from the Opinions of Men only, which according to right Reafon is a confummate piece of Impiety and Injustice.

LV. But this I will tell you is Destiny, inevitable Destiny, that those who choose to walk in the Paths of Virtue, fhall meet with proportionate Returns of Honour, and those who prefer the contrary Course, shall be punish'd accordingly; for God has not made Man like Trees or Beafts, without the Power of Election; for he that has no hand in making himself Good or Bad, but is born so ready made, is no proper Subject for the Distributions of Juftice; for neither the Good nor the Evil are fuch by themselves, but only as they are framed by the Hand of Destiny.

LVI. Moreover, the holy prophetick Spirit has inftructed us in the Doctrine of Free Will by Mofes, who introduces God, speaking to the new made Man, in this manner, Behold Good and Evil is before you, choose the Good. And again, by another Prophet, Isaiah, he fpeaks to the fame Effect, in the Perfon of God this.

the

Deut. 30.

15, 19. See

Dr. Grabe's Notes upon

I.1.16,20 the Father, and Lord of the Universe: Wah ye, make you clean, put away the Evil of your Doings, learn to do well, judge the Fatherless, and plead for the Widow. Come now, and let us reafon together, faith the Lord, though your Sins be as Scarlet, they fhall be as white as Snow; tho they be red like Crimson, they shall be as Wool, if ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the Good of the Land, but if you refuse and rebel, the Sword shall feed upon you, for the Mouth of the Lord hath Spoken it. And whereas it is faid that the Sword fhall feed upon you, and not that the Difobedient fhall be cut off by Swords, I must tell you by the bye, that the Sword of God is Fire, which fhall prey upon those who have made Wickedness their Choice, and therefore he says, the Sword fhall feed upon you, the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it; whereas had he fpoken of a common Sword which cuts off, and difpatches in a Moment, he wou'd not have us'd the Word feeding upon, which intimates a gradual Destruction.

LVII. When Plato therefore faid, 'That the Blame lyes at his Door who wills the Sin, but God wills no Evil; he borrow'd the Saying. from Mofes, for Mofes is m older than any of your Greek Writers; and as to all their Notions about the Immortality of the Soul, and Punishments after Death, and their divine Theories, and fuch like Doctrines, the Phi

Plat. de Repub. lib. 10. p. 617. Edit. Henr. Stephani.

At the eafieft Computation between Mofes and Homer there are above 600 Years; nay, Cadmus, the first Inventor of Letters among the Grecians was fome Ages junior to Moses.

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lofophers

lofophers and Poets plainly took their Hints from the Prophets, which they confulted and built upon, and by this means the Seeds of Truth feem to be scatter'd about the World; but 'tis evident they understood 'em not as they shou'd do, from the manifold Contradictions amongst 'em.

LVIII. By maintaining therefore, that future Events have been foretold by the Prophets, we do not maintain that the things foretold came to pass by any fatal Neceffity, but from that divine Prefcience which forefees all the Actions of Men, without neceffitating them to act. And fince a juft Retribution of Rewards and Punishments, is a current Opinion in the World, God has been pleas'd to fecond this Notion by the prophetick Spirit, the more to awaken Mankind, and to print a future Judgment perpetually upon their Minds, and withal, to fhew that his Providence is concern'd about us, and obferves all our Actions.

LIX. But it was brought about by Devilcraft, to be made a Capital Crime to read the Books of Hyftafpes" Sybilla, and the Prophets,

upon

"The great Objection against the Sybilline Oracles, &c. is, That they fo plainly and exprefly foretel Chrift to the Heathen World, as plainly, if not more, than the Prophets did to the Jews; but was not Chrift as manifeftly foretold by Baalam the Aramitick Sorcerer, as by the Prophet Ifaiah? Did not Job, who was not of Ifrael, fpeak of the great Article of the Refurrection? cap. 19. 25. Did not Daniel in his Captivity communicate his Prophecies to the Gentiles, as well as the Jews? And was not a Prophet fent to Jeroboam, an Ifraelite indeed by Eirth, but a Pagan in Religion? All which plainly prove, that God never deliver'd Himfelf more plainly by his Prophets, than when he tranfacted with Gentiles, and

not

upon a Prefumption that Men 'wou'd not ver ture upon fuch Books for better Information, at the peril of their Lives, but rather fit down contented Slaves to the Powers of Darkness. But the Devils mifs'd their Aim, for we are not only not afraid to read these Scriptures, but,

è

not with Jews. And this likewife proves what Clemens Alexandrinus tells us in 6. Stro. p. 270. that as God rais'd up Prophets among the Jews to bring 'em to Salvation, Sic & fele&tiffimum quemque Paganis fervare voluiffe, Prophetas ipfis proprios, propriâ ipforum dialello excitando; and to thefe Sybils, Juftin, Clemens, Origen, Eu febius, Lactantius, fend the Heathen for the Truth of Christianity, and lay'd fo great a ftrefs upon them, that they were called Sibylifts. But now, had all these Books of the Sybils been Chriftian Forgeries (not to mention the baseness of such pious Frauds abominated by the firft Chriftians) they would never have been fo fillily impudent, as to have appeal'd to them before the Emperors, and to the whole World. And Origen wou'd never have challeng❜d Celfus, or any of the Heathens, to give a confiderable Inftance where thefe Books were interpolated by Chriftians, which, no doubt, they wou'd have triumphantly produc'd, had they any fuch Interpolati ons to produce, Orig. contr. Celf. lib. 1. Moreover 'tis certain, that in Cicero's time, the Sibylline Prophecies were interpreted by fome in favour of Cafar, as predicting a Monarchy. Cic. Div. 1. 2.-Eum, quem revera Regem, &c. That if we wou'd be fafe, we shou'd acknowledge him for a King, who really was fo. Which Interpretation Cicero after Cafar's Death was fo much offended with, that he quarrels with the Oracles and the Interpreters, Quamobrem Sibyllam quidem fepofitam, &c. Wherefore let us shut up the Sibyl, and keep her clofe, that according to the Decree of our Ancestors, her Verfes may not be read without the exprefs Command of the Senate. And then adds, cum Antiftitibus, doc. Let us also deal with the Quindecimviri and the Interpreters of thefe Sibylline Books, that they wou'd rather produce any thing out of 'em than a King. And that in the Eclogue of Virgil-Ultima Cumai venit, &c. written about the beginning of Herod the Great, and flatteringly apply'd to Pollio's Son Saloninus fpeaks of fuch a Golden Age, and Renovation of all things, as cannot be fulfilled in the Reign of any earthly King, and in a Strait Prophetick. The fame Year that Pompey took Jerufalem, one of the Sibyl Oracles made a mighty Noife, viz. That Nature was about to bring forth a King to the Romans. And Suetonius, in his Life of Auguftus, fays, That this fo terrify'd the Senate, that they made a Decree, that none born that Year should be educated, and that those

those

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