A treatise of the sibyls so highly celebrated, as well by the antient heathens, as the holy fathers of the church : giving an accompt of the names, and number of the sibyls, of their qualities, the form and matter of their verses : as also of the books now extant under their names, and the errours crept into Christian religion, from the impostures contained therein, particularly, concerning the state of the just, and unjust after death / written originally by David Blondel ; Englished by J.D.

CHAP. L. A Reflection on certain Followers of the Sentiment of the fore∣said Maximus.

I Am willing to Believe, that Maximus was so desirous to comply with the Custom of his Predecessours, that he took not the Leisure to con∣sider what might be the consequence thereof. Others have Imitated him in that Particular, relying on the Example of their Ancestours, with∣out examining the just weight of its Authority, as Theodimus, a Spanish Sub-Deacon, upon whose Tomb are to be read these Words, addressed to St. Andrew, Tuis adjutus auxiliis, disruptis vinculis Inferni, hinc resurgere caro misera possit, & in die examinationis, calcatis facinorosis peccatis, gaudia divina percipiat, te interprecante, Martyr Andrea, &c. O Martyr Andrew,

assisted by thy help, having broken in pieces the Chains of Hell, may his wretched body be raised hence, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the day of Examination, his deadly sins being trod un∣der foot, may he take possession of divine glory, through the intermediation of thy Prayers. And Kindasvind, King of the West-Goths, in the Epitaph of his Wife Reciverga.

—Ego te (conjux) quia vincere fata nequivi, Funere perfunctam Sanctis commendo tuendam; Ut cùm flamma vorax veniet comburere terras, Coetibus ipsorum merito sociata, resurgas, &c.

Since death on my desires would not thee spare, Of thee departed may the Saints take care; That thou with them mayst rise again that day, When of the fire the earth shall be the prey.

And Paul the Deacon, in the Epitaph of Arichis, Duke of Beneventum,

Profit huic sacro membra dedisse lari, &c.

May't be to's good his body to have laid Within this sacred place.

And Dungalus, who in the year 826. objected to Claudius, Bishop of Turin, the before-mentioned Epitaph of Satyrus, acquiescing in the Sen∣timent, which St. Ambrose seems to have been of, concerning the sancti∣fication of his Brother's body, by its nearness to that of the Martyr Victor, and the affluence of his blood, and clearly justifying, that that Hypothesis (though inconvenient, and unmaintainable in it self, and not∣withstanding that it had been disavowed 36. years after by Paulinus, and refuted by St. Augustine) had not yet lost its credit 540. years after; the name and memory of St. Ambrose acquiring it such Sectatours, as took it from his good meaning without any examination, and by a kind of im∣plicit submission, which ought not at this day be any hinderance, but that the Lovers of Truth should open their eyes to her light, to follow her with their hearts, and confess with their mouths, that it sometimes hap∣pens even to the greatest men, to speak with less caution, then was con∣sistent with their reputation, whether they were transported by heat of dispute, or that their spirits were charmed by their partiality to the mat∣ter they treated, as it should seem St. Ambrose was prepossessed in this particular, and St. Gregory Nazianzene in his first Invective against Julian, when he says, That the Souls of Martyrs, and their bodies considered seve∣rally, and every drop of their blood, and the least Signs of their passion chace away evil spirits, and heal diseased persons; and St. Basil, cited by Pope A∣drian in his Treatise for Images, when upon the 115. Psalm he maintains, that whoever touches the bones of a Martyr derives some participation of sancti∣ty, by the grace residing in the body of the said Martyr; and St. Chrysostome, when in the 26^th Homily on the second Epistle to the Corinthians, he says, that the bones of Saints allay, and torment evil Spirits, and unbind those, that are bound in those unhappy fetters; and St. Hierome, when he maintains to Vi∣gilantius, that, if the Lamb be every where, they therefore (the Saints) who are

with the Lamb, are to be believed to be also every where; and St. Gregory of Rome, chap. 21^st. of the third Book of his Dialogues, that the dead bones of the Saints live in the many miracles wrought by them; and chap. 14^th. of the twelfth of his Morals upon Job, That it is not to be believed, that those, who, within them, see the clearness of Almighty God, should be ignorant of any thing without them; and chap. 33^d. of the fourth of his Dialogues, that there is nothing, which they know not, who know him, that knows all things. For there is not any one of these kinds of speaking but is chargeable with inconve∣nience and falsity, if understood according to its literal sense, and with∣out acknowledging what there may be in them of abuse and hyper∣bole. For,

1. The vertue of Sanctifying and healing Diseases, without any appli∣cation of Remedies operating naturally, as also that of driving away, and tormenting evil Spirits, does not properly, and of it self, belong to any but to God alone, and is not a quality, that any nature, in it self corporeal, can be affected with.

2. It is absolutely impossible, the Spirit of any Saint can be every where, as St. Hierome seems to affirm, whose discourse therefore is to be explicated with the help of the same moderation, as is used by him, when he speaks of evil spirits, who wandering all over the World, and that with an extraordinary swiftness, are present every where, to insinuate, that some as well as others are every where, not in the same moment, but in passing successively from one place to another, and in different moments: which yet (according to the judgment of St. Augustine in his Book, De cur â pro mortuis, chap. 16^th.) cannot be absolutely affirmed; the Miracles attri∣buted to the Saints (it being granted they are true) being haply done either by Angels, or by the immediate operation of God's power, so as that there is no necessity to suppose, that the Spirits, which God hath ta∣ken to himself, actually leaving their heavenly mansions, should walk up and down on earth.

3. What St. Gregory of Rome said, that the bones of Martyrs live, taken litterally, would imply a palpable contradiction, which we should en∣deavour to take away, saying, that (according to the sense of that great Pope) the virtue, which he thought produced its effects in the presence of the Saints bones, and when they are touched by men, though it be not in them, but in God alone, is to them, instead of a kind of life.

4. What he says, that those, who know God, who knows all things, do also know all things, and that having his light within them, they are not ignorant of any thing without, does so much the more stand in need of moderati∣on, that, without it, it is absolutely false, in the judgment even of the a 1.1 Doctours of the Church of Rome, who make it their business, to refute their conceipt, who think the Essence of God a Mirrour, wherein all things are seen.

It must therefore be, that all expressions of this nature are to be born with, upon the accompt of their intention, who have used them, rather then rigorously examined, or taken as the natural signification of the Terms, whereof they consist, might seem to require, and that we should be content to say of any such what St. b 1.2 Augustine conceived ought to

be said of the expression of St. Ambrose, affirming that Zacharias, and Elizabeth, either had been, or might have been without sin; either that was said according to some probable manner, but such as had not passed examination, or if the Authour meant it so, he hath retracted his Sentiment by bringing it to a more rigorous tryal. But however, whether we are, or are not inclined to this candor, we shall be still obliged to confess, how hard it is to war∣rant those imaginations and discourses, which, being destitute of the authority of God speaking in his word, have no other ground, then the probabilities, which by the beauty of their outward appearance have dazled the greatest Wits, of which number, not any one but hath made it appear, how slightly he was informed of the state of the Faithfull de∣parted in the Lord, since they have all of them expressed themselves with so much inconvenience, both in their ratiocinations, and words, that to reconcile them to a sound sense, they must be half-••estroyed.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Vasquez, disp. 50. capp. 4, 5.
• b 1.2

  De Gratia Christi, c. 49.