queft of Perfeus King of Macedon, by Paulus Æmilius, when P. Vatienus, to whom this was discover'd the fame day, was imprifon'd, till the News of the Victory was confirm'd, and then he was rewarded with an Eftate, fettled upon him by the Senate. But they could not foretel things that depended upon the Choice of free Agents, and which were not to be fulfill'd till many hundred years after the Prediction; this is peculiar to God himself, who would never suffer the World to be imposed upon by Oracles of this nature, if it had been poffible for the Devil to give them out. And though their Predictions of future Events did fometimes prove true, yet they very often fail'd; for which no Reafon can be given, but the want of Knowledge or Power in the evil Spirits, and the over-ruling Providence of God to difappoint and discover the Delufions. He fruftrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; he turneth wife men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish, Ifai. xliv. 25. Their Gods would fometimes confefs, that they foretold Events by the Stars; that they were unable to refift the Decrees of Fate; that the Temperature of the Air was the Caufe why they could not always make true Predictions; and therefore they would often forewarn, that what they answer'd was not to be credited, and that what they declar'd, was by Force and Conftraint. Force me to speak no more fays Apollo, for I fhall tell you lyes. All which is prov'd by Eufebius and Theodoret, from Porphyry, who had made a Collection of all the Oracles, and took great pains to frame a Syftem of Philofophy out of them. & Diogenianus appeal'd to daily Experience, and even to thofe, who profefs'd Divination, whether the Anfwers return'd were not commonly false; and from

g

* Eufeb. Præp. I.vi. c.1,2,3,4,5. Theodoret.de Provid. Serm.10.

Tom. 4.

Diogenian. apud Theodoret, de Provid. Serm. io. Tom. 4./

thence

thence argued, that when they prov'd true, it must be by Chance. And their most famous Oracles were glad to conceal their Meaning in fo ambiguous terms, that they wanted another Oracle to explain them; for by this means they endeavour'd to avoid the being difcover'd to be falfe. Yet this Device would not keep up their Reputation, but most of the Sects of Philofophers had little or no Regard for them; and hŒEnomaus, a Cynick Philofopher, finding himself deceiv'd by the Oracle of Apollo, wrote a particular Treatise to difcover the Imposture of Oracles. Demofthenes obferv'd that the Delphian Oracle was bribed by Philip of Macedon; and divers Instances of the Corruption and Subornation of Oracles, are to be found in Herodotus, Plutarch, and other Authors. In Tully's time, nothing grew more contemptible than the Oracles; for, as Men became wifer, they were lefs regarded, and began to cease, till by the Power of the Gospel they were quite filenc'd; which put the Heathens upon great Enquiries, to find out what Reafon could be given why they fhould fail. The Ceffation of Oracles was not all at once, but by degrees, as the Ceffation likewife of true Prophecies and Miracles was, which were to oppofe and abolish them. Their false and ambiguous Answers had brought them into Contempt before, as we learn from Tully, de Divin. l. ii. in many places; and upon the Revelation of the Gofpel, their Power was ftill lefs, and they every day became more defpicable; and then they were upheld chiefly by humane Artifice and Imposture, till they were wholly fubdued and decry'd,

The Devil could not always foretel what was to come to pafs, and therefore his Agents had need of

h Cited by Eufeb. de Præpar. l. v. c. 19, 20, &c. Vid. Van Dale de Oraculis Ethnicorum.

k Cic. de Divin. Plut. de defect. Oraculorum.

1 Τοῖς ἀρχαίοις μᾶλλον ὑὗ ἐν τιμὴ καὶ ἡ Μαντικὴ καθόλο, καὶ τὰ Xensheia, viwi öns[weia nalix! moan. Strabo l. 17.

1

their Vaults and hollow Statues, and other Artifices, to conceal their Ignorance, and help them out, when their Arts of Conjuration fail'd. But we have no reafon to think that the Devil, who is fo industrious to promote his evil Ends, by all poffible means, would omit fuch an Opportunity as was given him by the Opinion which the Heathens had of their Oracles. And the Trials which Crafus and Trajan made, are fufficient to prove, that there was fomething Supernatural and Diabolical in them. Crafus fent to have many Oracles confulted at a set time, and the Question to be put to them was, what Crafus himself at that time was doing; and he refolv'd to be employ'd about the most improbable thing that could be imagin'd; for he was boiling a Tortoise and a Lamb together in a brass Pot: and yet the Oracle of Delphi discover'd to the Messengers what the King was then about ". Trajan, when he was going into Parthia, fent a blank Paper, feal'd up, to an Oracle of Affyria for an Anfwer; the Oracle return'd him another blank Paper, to fhew that it was not so to be impofed upon. Plutarch gives an Account of a Governour of Cilicia, who, for Experiment, fent a feal'd Note to the Oracle of Mopfus, and had so direct an Answer to it, as made him ever after reverence that Oracle. there is no doubt to be made, but that the Emperor and that Governor would contrive their Seals as skilfully as Lucian could do, who fays, That he had fometimes feal'd his Notes, which he fent fo carefully, that all the ways and tricks, which he mentions in his Pfeudomantis, could not open them, without his difcovering it, when they were to be again return'd to him, with the Anfwer to his Questions. But though things of present Concernment were discover'd, both to Crafus and Trajan, beyond all humane Power to

Herodot.l.i. c. 47.

• De Orac. defectu.

Macrob. Saturn. lib. i. c. 23.

And

know,

know, yet both were impofed upon by ambiguous Answers, when they confulted about things future, which the Devil could not attain the knowledge of.

P Many of the Heathen Priests themselves, upon examination, publickly confessed several of their Óracles to be Impostures, and discovered the whole contrivance and management of the Deceit, which was entred upon Record. And in the reft, the Power of the Devil was always fo limited and restrained, as to afford fufficient means to undeceive Men, though many of his Predictions might come to pafs. The whole Mystery of Soothfaying was of no effect to those, who profefs'd to difregard it; which was declared by an Author, never fufpected of Superftition, to be a known and a very great inftance of the Divine Goodness.

The prefence of Chriftians at the Heathen Sacrifices, when they figned themselves with the Sign of the Crofs in token of their Christianity, though this were unknown to the Priests that facrificed, would hinder the Dæmons from making those Discoveries of the Events, by the Entrails of the Beafts, which they were wont to do. Apollo declared, that the Juft upon Earth hindred him from returning true Answers. And as the Devil was forced to declare our Saviour to be the Son of God, by the Mouths of those whom he had poffefs'd, fo he was constrained to confess and commend him by his most noted Oracles, as one of the greatest Enemies of the Gospel, Porphyry himfelf has informed us. And when Julian the Apoftate

P Eufeb. Præpar. lib. iv. c. 2.

t

In Augurum certè difciplinâ conftat, neque Diras, neque ulla Aufpicia pertinere ad eos, qui quamque rem ingredientes, obfervare fe ea negaverint: quo munere divinæ indulgentiæ majus nullum eft. Plin. Hift. 1. 28. c. 2.

Lactant. 1. 4. c. 27. de mort. Perfecut. c. 10. s Eufeb. vit. Conftant. 1. 2. c. 50, 51.

Eufeb. Dem. lib. iii. c. 6.

Aug. de civit. Dei, lib. xix. 23.

hoped

u

hoped to bring Oracles into request again, Apollo told him, (as I have mentioned before,) That he could return no Answer to any thing which was asked him, till the Bones of the " Martyr Babylas were removed; and when that was done, God was pleased to suffer the Oracle of Daphne, and others, to give out their Answers, but fo notoriously falfe, that they expofed them as much as their filence had done before; for when all the Oracles were confulted, to know whether Julian, Uncle to the Apoftate, fhould recover of his Sickness, and they all agreed that he would recover, he died while the Answers were reading that foretold his Recovery.

X

St. Auguftine obferves, that none of the falfe Gods ever durft deny by any Oracle, that the God of Ifrael is the True God: And we have the Teftimony of 2 Porphyry, that the Oracle of Apollo confeffed him to be fo. But for the Sins of Men against natural Conscience, and the contempt of the Divine Revelations made to Mankind, and fo often promulged amongst all Nations, God might permit the Devil to delude the World with fuch Signs and Predictions, as either were indeed true, or could not be difcerned to be falfe, but by the Doctrines and Practices which they were brought to countenance and establish. There is no doubt, but that Evil Spirits may be able to delude and impose upon Men, and to do many things by their fagacity and cunning, which may be above the power of Man not only to perform, but to understand or find out but their Miracles were never wrought to confirm any found and useful Doctrine; nor had they been plainly foretold by ancient Prophecies, as the Miracles of our Saviour and his Apoftles had been: And the power by which our Religion was

X

Soz. 1. 5. c. 19. Chryf. de St. Babyl.

Philoftorg. lib. vii. c. 12.

y Aug. de Divin. Dæm. c. 8. De Confenf. Evang. 1. 1. c. 18, 32. z Porphyr. apud Eufeb. Evang. Præpar. 1. 9. c. 10.

attested