xviii 0 F T H E D I V I N E A U T H 0 R I T Y tence of burning of Rome, which he fer on Fire himfelf, fays expreOy •, '!'he Author of tbat Name or Sett was CHRIS'l, who, when Tiberius was Emperor, was put to Deat/1 by Ponrius Pi!ate, the then Procurator of Judea. The Star that appeared at our Savior's Birth, is taken Notice of by Pliny, lib. 2. cap. 5· But more particularly by Cal– cidius, an Heathen Philofopher, in his Commmt on Plato's 'lim,eus: Whofe Words, as I find them cited by Cardinal Bttronius, that learned Annalift, are thef~ "j-: '!'here is another more ve11erab/e and lwly Hijlo,y, which tells us of the Rift of a m·tain unwonted Star, uot threatening Diftafes and Death, but the Defcent of the venerable God, to con– verfe with Men, and mortal Affairs: Which Star, when certain wift Men of Chaldea Jaw in their Journey by Night, being fuificiently acquainted with Ajlronomy, and Confide– ration of cc/ejlial 'lhings, they are rcpcrted to have fought out this new Birth of God, and ·rhe Maje)ly of tbi.< Child being found, to have worjbipped him, and offered Gifts fuitable to Jo great a God. Herod's Oaughtering of the Children is notorious, by that Joke palfed upon him on that OccafiQn by the Emperor Aug,jfus, recorded IJy Macrol!ius :j:, when he heard, that amongfl: tbofe Children under two Years old, whom Herod the King of the Jews had commanded to be Os in in S)'ria, hie, the faid Herod's, own Son was Oain alfo, he faid, It is bettn· to be Herod's Hog than bis Son: Alluding to the Jew> 1\bhor– rence of Swines Flefh, which it fccms Herod, though not of that Nation, yec pretend– ing himfelf a kind of Prolelyre, did likewife obferve. Touching the preternatural De– Jet! of the Sun at our Lord's Crucifixion, it was with Amazement feen and recorded by Dionyjius the Areopagitc. And Tertu!lian, in his Apology, cap. 21. appeals to the Roman Records for the certain!)' of it. And Origm affirms, that one Phlegon, Secre– tary to the Emeeror Adrian, did write thereof in his Chronicles. What an illufhious T eftimony is that extorted by Truth from the Mou\h of an Enemy, I mean Jofephus, a . Jew in Religion, as well as .by Narion, tho1Jgh he wrore in Greek, born not above: fiv~ or fix Years after Chrift's Paffion I In his. 18th Book, and 4th Chapter, fpeaking of the Reign of <J'iberias, he bath the le Words : bJ thofe Days there was one J efus, a wife Man, if it be lawful to call him a Man, for be was aV/orker ofgreat Miracles, and a 'leacher ofJuch as readily receive tbe Truth, and had many Folkwers, as well Jews as GentileJ. This is that CHRIS'l, who, though he was accufed by the Chief of our Nation, and by Pi!ate condemned to be crucified; )'Cl did not they who had fir)I loved him, forfake him ; for he appeared unto them the third Day alive again : '!'he holy Prophets foretelling thefe, and many other wonderful 'lhings of him. And even to this Day the Chrijlian Sett, Jo named from him, continues. Nor is it lefs clear of Lentulus, in his Epifl:le to the Emperor 'Fi– berius, recited by Eulropius, in his Annals of the Roman Senators, and now commonly extant in the Bibliotheca Patrum. UHe thus ·oegins, '!'here bath appeared in our Da)'S, and yet is living, a Man ofgreat f/irtue, or Power, named Jefus Chrilt, who is ea/lad of the Nations the Prophet of 'lruth, whom his Difciples call the Son of God, a Raiftr of the D ead, and an Healer of all Manmr of Diftafls. • T o.all which we might add the Prophecies of the Sybils, amongfl: the Heathem, who rnoft plainly foretold the Coming of Chrift, .the Son of God, into the World, anp ex– p relfed his very Name and ~1ality in certain Acro)Nc Verfes, recited by the .great Au– ,guj)ine, in the 23d Chapter of the Ninth Hook of tbe City ofGod. XIV. He that difowns d1e Bible to be of divine Authority, mufl: either think 'he>e ·is fame Revelation from .God to the World, how he will be worfhjpped, and how rhe.y ought to conduct themfelves; or he thinks there is none: If he thinks there is none, he nor only gives the Lie to the Chrifl:ian andJewifil, but generally.to all Religion, that has been, or is in the World: For.they all.have pretended, and do alledge the lame as their .Foundation. .And bdides, he mufl: confefs, that God, (who has macte ·Man the noble(\; • Autho,r nominis cjus Cbriflru; qui, lf'o'berio imperante, per Procura.torem ·Pontium•Pila/ltm f<ipplicio atfeCl.us crat. 'Tarit . A11ntd. {. 1 5. t Eft quoque alia venerabilior & fanllior Riftoria, qux perhibet de ottu Stell::c cujufdam infolitre, non morbos mortd(li denunciante, fed dcf.cenfum Dei venerr~bllis ad humanre converfalionis, rcrumq_; morcalium . gra~iam: ~am S(e\lam cUm notlurno i(inetc fufpexiflene-Cald£orutll pro fear, f<1picntes viri, & confider-4'1.-· ti.one rerum crelcfiium f<1tis exercitad, qurefifl(; dicuotur rec'cnlem Dei ortum, repcrtB.q; ilia Majefiate pu-erili , vcnerati eife, & \'Ota Deo tanto convcnientia 'nuncupaffc. Bm·. 7'om. 1. p. F·· ' ! Cum audifi'et inter cos, quos in Syria Her.odes Rex Judceorum ihter Binatum JUffit intcrfici, filium quoq; ejus occiCllm, ait, melius eft Herod is porcum efl'c quam filium. Macrob. Sarurnal. lib. 4• !I Apparuit temporibus nofhis, & adhue eft, homo magnre virtutis, norninatus .Jr/iu ChrijJ.:u, qui di– citur it gentibus prophcta verit:uis, t_)ucm ejus difcipuli \'OCant Jilium.Dei, fufcitans mortuous, & fanans 6lmnes languores. ·
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