Surely one needs be no great philosopher to see that all which is wanting to give authority to the argument from prophecy, is, That we have reason to admit the delivery of a prediction—that we have reason to admit the completion of it—and that we have reason to think the agreement between the prediction and the event not fortuitous. And where is the impossibility that these three reasons should concur?—It is plain that the only one of these three reasons that appears in any degree problematical is the last concerning the completion of a prophecy in its event, whether it be fortuitous or not. Have I not reason then to say, as I do below p. 81, 82, that the strength of the infidel cause lies in this last consideration?—But what that strength is, we shall see as we go along.
[42] Socrates foretold that he should dye within three days: and the event followed.—Est apud Platonem Socrates, cùm esset in custodiâ publicâ, dicens Critoni suo familiari, sibi post tertium diem esse moriendum—quod, ut est dictum, sic scribitur contigisse [Cic. de Div. l. i. c. 25.] Jesus foretold that he should suffer death by crucifixion. [John iii. 14. viii. 28. xii. 32.] He, likewise, foretold that he should rise from the dead, within three days after his crucifixion. [John ii. 19. Matth. xii. 39, 40.]—The first of these predictions might be a sagacious conjecture. Can it be said of such, as the two last,—
Augurium, ratio est, et conjectura futuri?
Ovid. Trist. l. I. viii. 51.
[43] Hoc si est in libris, in quem hominem, et in quod tempus est? Callidè enim, qui illa composuit, perfecit, ut, quodcunque accidisset, prædictum videretur, hominum et temporum definitione sublatâ—said, in discredit of the Sibylline oracles [De Div. l. ii. p. 295. fol. Lutet. 1565]: how far applicable to the scriptural prophecies, will be seen in its place.
[44] Διὰ τὸ ὅλως εἶναι ἁμάρτημα ἔλαττον, διὰ τῶν γενῶν τοῦ πράγματος λέγουσιν οἱ μάντεις. And again—οἱ χρησμολόγοι, οὐ προσορίζονται πότε. Aristot. Rhet. l. iii. c. v.
[45] Permultorum exemplorum et nostra plena est respublica, et omnia regna, omnesque populi, cunctæque gentes, augurum prædictis multa incredibiliter vera cecidisse.
Cic. de Leg. l. ii. p. 337.
Certabant, urbem Romam, Remoramne vocarent.
Omnibu’ cura viris, uter esset induperator.
Cedunt de cœlo ter quatuor corpora sancta
Avium, præpetibus sese, pulchrisque locis dant.
Conspicit inde sibi data Romulus esse priora,
Auspicio regni stabilita scamna solumque.
Cic. de Div. l. i. c. 48.
[47] Quot sæcula urbi Romæ debeantur, dicere meum non est: sed, quid apud Varronem legerim, non tacebo. Qui libro Antiquitatum duodevicesimo ait, fuisse Vettium Romæ in augurio non ignobilem, ingenio magno, cuivis docto in disceptando parem; eum se audisse dicentem: Si ita esset, ut traderent historici, de Romuli urbis condendæ auguriis, ac duodecim vulturibus; quoniam CXX annos incolumis præteriisset populus Romanus, ad mille et ducentos perventurum.
Censorinus de die natali, c. xvii. p. 97. Cantab. 1695.