THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH who have written concerning the truth of the Sibyls are: Saint Clement, Pope. Theophilus of Antioch. Tertullian. Saint Augustine. Saint John Damascene. Saint Thomas Aquinas. Saint Clement of Alex- Sixtus of Siena. Lactantius. "The end of this world will be the Judgment by fire against those who have abhorred the ine Religion, as is declared to us by the hets and Apostles, and even by the prophecies 36 of the Sibyls," as he writes in his Epistle to the Corinthians. St Justin Martyr says: "It is easy to comprehend in part, by the answers and oracles of the ancient Sibyl, which is the true religion, and the teaching of the Prophets"; and further, he goes on to give a detailed account of this prophetess, her parents, birthplace, and the manner of her coming from Babylon to Cumas, the spot where she dwelt and which he himself had visited. "We have seen," he says, "in the Town a grand and marvellous monument, a vast Edifice built out of one stone, where the natives say she spoke her oracles." He adds that in the centre of this Temple he was shown three cisterns, where she used to have water poured into to wash herself, and afterwards putting on a kind of Simarre or stole, she would retire to the depths of the Sanctuary, and ascending an elevated throne, she spoke her prophecies. He takes for his authority Plato, concerning the grossness noticed in the verses; then addressing himself to the Greeks, says: "Without again referring to the beauty of poetry and the polished language, and without allowing yourselves to be carried away by the spirit of contradiction, take heed in the depths of the discourse, and accept the lights which are 38 "AS DAVID AND THE SIBYLS SAY " cast upon us by the clear and lucid predictions of the coming of Jesus Christ our Saviour of the Word of God, which without being separated neither in virtue or power, has taken the nature of man primitively formed to the image of his Creator, and who has re-established us in the innocence of our first parents." He quotes an oracle concerning the creation of Adam, and concludes in these words: 66 Generous children of Grace! If you do not prefer your deceitful imaginations about the gods which have no existence, to the salvation of your souls, believe, as I have already said, the ancient, the antique Sibyl, whose books are fortunately preserved throughout the universe. In their marvellous and divine inspirations she instructs you by her oracles, on the nature of those that are called gods, but who do not possess anything of divinity, and she predicts, under the clearest evidence, the future coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and all the details of His Life." These words are very strong, but in his second Apologia laid before the Emperor Antonius and the two Cæsars, his adopted children, his language is still more powerful. It is in this writing where he deplores with a holy liberty the prohibition imposed on the Christians, on pain of forfeiting their lives, of reading the Books of the Sibyls, the oracles of the Prophets, and the work of a Pagan writer called Hydaspes, which no longer exists. "Yes," he says, "it is by the powerful efforts of the wicked demons that this interdiction has been carried out, in order that, deterred by the fear of reading these writings which would manifest the knowledge of good, the human race may remain for ever the slaves of the malignant spirit. but these books have nevertheless not come to destruction, for not only do we read these books fearlessly, but we bring them, as you perceive, under your notice, convinced that all will read them with pleasure." (Just. Apol. 2.) Athenagoras, who lived in the same century, far from contradicting Saint Justin, confidently produces the same testimonies. (Athen. Apol.) He is followed by Theophilus of Antioch, who thus refutes the calumniators of the Christian religion: "The Sibyl, the Prophetess of the Gentiles and of the other nations of the world, at the commencement of her predictions, apostrophises thus the human race: Mortal men! bodies of clay, vile nothings, how can ye dare to elevate yourselves, and why do ye not think of the end of the world? 40 "AS DAVID AND THE SIBYLS SAY" "You do not tremble at the presence of a Sovereign God who sustains your being, and you do not fear Him who is the witness of all your actions." (Theoph. Antiochen ad Autolic.) Lactantius amply shows how the Sibyls had predicted the birth of Jesus Christ, His preaching, miracles, passion, death, His resurrection, ascension, and His last coming. And he adds: "Some, convinced by the force of these testimonies are in the habit of taking refuge in the pretension they advance that these verses were not the work of the Sibyls, but that they have been imagined as composed by our co-religionists. But how are we to admit this thought when one has read Cicero, Varro, and the rest of the ancient authors who mention the Sibyl Erythrea and the other Sibyls in works from which we have borrowed these examples? Besides, the authors were dead before the birth of Jesus Christ according to the flesh. Nevertheless I do not doubt that these verses were held in the first ages as extravagancies; because no one could understand them, in view that they announced miracles which were well-nigh incredible, and to which no motive was assigned, nor the time, or author." (Lactant. De Vera sapient.) |