1 Antioch! who must cease from being a City (the chief City in Syria), because of thy Folly, thou shalt again be taken by the Italian Armies; and then Scyrus shall be destroy'd by a Plague and a cruel War. Note, By these words, Then came into the West great Contention in a War, we must understand the Invasions in the West by the Goths and other Northern People: And by these words, He that fled from Rome shall raise a great Army, and pass Euphrates, is fignified the Turks, who came from Persia into Syria, A. D. 1075, and settl'd at Damascus, and fome of 'em in Phænicia. These words, Antioch shall fall thro' its foolishness, and there shall be a Famine and a grievous Fight in Syria, relate to the Times of the Holy War. It was taken by the Chriftians, here call'd the Italian Armies, ann. 1098, and was betray'd by one Pyrrhus tο them; and to this the Prophecy refers, and not to the taking of Antioch by Lucullus or Pompey, be cause this Prophecy succeeds that of the Destruction of the Jews. Saladine retook Antioch, an. 1188, which ever declin'd afterwards; and there was a Plague in the Holy War. Alas, alas! O miserable Cyprus! the Waves of the broad Sea shall destroy thee, who art toss'd by Winter Storms: Note, That Richard King of England took Cy prus, after he had been long toss'd in a Storm near it, as he went to the Holy War. But great Riches shall come into Afia, when Rome shall repay twice as much of the H Riches Riches which she had laid up in her large Treasury. [This is the Expence of the Popes of Rome in the Holy War.] The Cities of the Carians shall be destroy'd, which are beautifully built, like Towers on the Banks of Meander, (a River in great Phrygia) by a grievous Plague, when Meander shall hide its black Water. But when Righteousness, Faith, and Justice are destroy'd, by Men who give themselves to wicked Enterprizes, and they shall be guilty of foul Injuries, and many other ill things, and none shall vindicate or esteem the Just, but, delighting in Injustice, they shall destroy all of 'em in Rage and Madness, polluting their Hands with much Slaughter; then they shall know God is not any longer patient, but in time will judge and destroy all the Generations of Mankind by a great Burning. (Thus the Turks must be destroy'd.] Ah foolish Men! repent of these things, and do not provoke the Great God to Anger of all kinds, but lay aside your Weapons, your Torments, your Murders, and Injustice, and wash your Body in perpetually-flowing Rivers; and stretching your Hands towards the Skies, ask Pardon for your Actions past, and make amends for your Impiety, which has been great, by a righteous Life, and then God will repent, and not destroy you, but cease from his Anger again, if you all will follow after an honourable Righteousness in your Souls: But But if you will not be perswaded by me, O Men of an evil Heart! but love Unrighteousness, and receive these Advices with a perverse Mind, Fire shall come into the World, and these Signs shall appear in it, Swords, and the found of a Trumpet when the Sun rises, and all the World shall hear a bellowing and vehement Noise; and the Earth shall burn. And after the Fire hath destroy'd all Mankind, and all Cities, and Rivers, and Seas shall be burnt up, then all things shall become Soot and Ashes; but when all things shall be Ashes, like burnt Minerals, and God shall extinguish this immense Fire, which he had kindl'd out of the Bones and Ashes, God shall again form Men; and when he hath made Men as they were before, then shall the Judgment be, in which God shall act justly, judging the World again; and they who have liv'd wickedly, shall again be cover'd by the Earth, but they who are righteous, shall live again on the Earth, the Spirit of God giving them Life and sufficient Provisions; and then all Men shall know themselves. Happy is the Man who shall live at that Timě. Note, That this Book carries the Hiftory of the Romans as far as the Holy War, and there stops, but concludes with the burning of the World. And the coming of the Turk over Euphrates, is describ'd by Nero; Tiberius had the Cognomen of Nero: And Suetonius observes this of it, that it fig H2 fignifies, fortis et ftrenuus, in lingua Sabina. And upon the fame Account the Turk is call'd Nero. The defect in the Account of the Roman Affairs is supply'd in the fifth and eighth Books. This Book keeps the Order of the History in the four Monarchies, till the time mention'd; and is a general Account of those things that will be more particularly describ'd hereafter. THE
THE This seems to be writ by the fame Sibyl as the fourth Book, and to contain a farther Account of the Roman Empire, beginning with the Cæfars, and ending with Adrian, and the number of each first Letter of the Emperor's Name is express'd after those Emperors; Three must reign, and the third Nile, by its Imundation fhall destroy Ægypt, and Memphis become vile in the last Times, when the worst Generation of Men shall live, (that is, the Saracens.) All the Idolatry in Ægypt shall be destroy'd, and Alexandria also, and then a wicked Man shall destroy all the Earth, (that is Omar,) and the fame Person who conquer'd Per- fia Shall War with Egypt, and kill all Men, a third part remaining, (this is the Turks War with the Saracens.) Then a King shall come from the West, and destroy all the Land (in the Holy War,) but when the terrible Man (the Sara- cen Caliph) shall prevail, and take Jerufalem, then a valiant King fent from Heaven shall de- |