William J. Deane · 14 of 16

The Sibylline Oracles. · Part 3

The book ends with a curious epilogue, which is found somewhat watered down in the second book. In this the Sibyl accuses herself of various crimes, for which she deserves and shall receive punishment. She is not immortal, but will some day be slain by a shower of stones cast upon her by sailors passing near; and she concludes with the prayer: “Stone me, stone me, all ye wayfarers; thus shall I live and fix my eyes on heaven.” It is impossible to determine the reason of the introduction of this self-accusation in this place. We know nothing of its grounds, and cannot conjecture the object, unless it be a hostile interpolation intended to throw discredit on the Sibyl.

The eighth book has been divided by editors into four parts, of which the first two are of earlier date than the rest and by a different hand. The earlier portion falls into the time of the Antonines, the latter is a little later. The writer speaks of the adopted sons of Adrian, but he knows no details concerning any but M. Aurelius, in whose time he expects the return of Nero, the fall of Rome, the end of the world, and the judgment. But his acquaintance with M. Aurelius is very superficial, as he represents him as avaricious, and flying to Asia in order to save his treasures from Nero. He must have written therefore between A.D. 161 and 180, during which years Aurelius reigned. The author of this portion is a Jew, as we may conclude from his continual references to the Old Testament and the way in which he speaks of the Hebrews, but one who had some acquaintance with Christian doctrine and writings. He is thus to be placed in the same category as the writer of Book v., if he is not to be identified with him.

At the outset the Sibyl professes an intention of proclaiming the wrath of God upon the nations and the approaching end of the world; but little mention is made of any country but Rome, and the Sibyl’s mind is wholly occupied with the destiny of this enemy of her people. The vice which she specially and eloquently lashes is avarice; this sin it is which shall occasion Rome’s downfall. After fifteen princes have reigned in succession, “the white-headed” Adrian shall follow, who shall be greatly regretted and mourned, as if the city itself had perished. Then, as it seems, in the time of his successor, Almighty God Himself shall come and judge the souls of the quick and dead; but before the consummation a dragon shall cross the sea, with well-filled maw, and shall afflict the Roman people. This seems to be a remembrance of the dragon or the beast of Revelation xiii., which the Sibyl represents as coming from Asia with a fleet to attack and destroy guilty Rome, which is to be thrust down into hell. A description of Hades ensues, whereon rests eternal night, where all earthly distinctions are abolished, where “there is neither slave, nor lord, nor tyrant, nor king;” no corrupt judge, no libation or sacrifice, no feasting or music, no wrath or strife, but “one common life for all, which keeps them safe for the day of judgment.” Another portent, which shall precede the return of Nero and the end of the world, is the appearance of the Phoenix for the fifth time. The curious myth concerning the Phoenix is given in various authors. Clemens Romanus tells it thus: In Arabia or some other Eastern countries there is a bird called a Phœnix, which lives for five hundred years a solitary life. When it feels death approaching, it constructs for itself a pile of frankincense, myrrh, and other aromatic herbs, and, lying there, dies. From its decaying carcass a worm is engendered, which assumes the appearance of the deceased bird. This young Phoenix carries the remains of its parent to Heliopolis in Egypt, places them on the Altar of the Sun, and returns whence it came. The priests keep an accurate account of this event, and compute the time of its recurrence. The fourth appearance of the bird is said to have taken place in the time of Tiberius, A.D. 34, A.U.C. 787. The Sibyl’s reckoning is quite different, as she expects the fifth resuscitation, which was to coincide with the ruin of Rome, to occur A.U.C. 948. This would be equivalent to A.D. 194, or nearly, and would fall in with the reign of Septimius Severus. The date doubtless depends on the numerical value of rwmh = 100 + 800 + 48; and the prediction, however greatly falsified by the event, was the utterance of an earnest hope, expressed confidently in this form, in order to animate the drooping spirits of the subdued and disconsolate Jews. It is difficult to arrive at any clear view of the sequence of events in these last days, the writer himself having but hazy notions on the subject, and not arranging his details chronologically. There are also many gaps in the MSS., which, if supplied, would doubtless clear up some obscurities. As far as we can understand this mysterious period, the circumstances are these: At the time that Anti-Messias or Nero invades the Roman empire, and before the destruction of Rome itself, Messiah descends from heaven, “the Holy King, who shall reign over Israel, and call the dead from their graves.” He shall inaugurate a new Jerusalem, with a new material temple, peopled partly by Jews collected from all parts of the world, partly by the just who have been raised to life again. Against Him the Antichrist shall conspire in conjunction with certain barbarian kings; but after various portents—stars falling from heaven, and a great comet appearing—he and his allies shall be defeated by an angel, and hurled into the abyss. And another foe, a woman, shall be overthrown. She is here called “the joyous,” and in Book iii. “the widow;” and she shall be a powerful queen, exercising a cruel tyranny, in the tenth age of man. This woman is no historical person,—certainly not Julia, the wife of Septimius Severus, as some have thought,—but the one figured in Revelation xvii., xviii., there certainly, here probably, representing Rome. In these eschatological predictions there are some differences from the details afforded by the previous books. In the fifth the empire of the Jews under Messiah was to be terminated by an irruption of Ethiopians, and the whole world was to perish, owing to some sidereal catastrophe. The earlier part of the present book takes up the story after this result, and expects a renovated earth, which is inhabited by the just of all countries, raised to life after the last judgment. Further particulars concerning the last judgment are afforded by the next portion of this eighth book, which, as it has come down to us, commences with the famous acrostic on the title of Christ already mentioned. St. Augustine gives a Latin version of this, omitting the last word “stauros;” Eusebius preserves the original thirty-four lines in his account of Constantine’s Oratio ad Sanctos, where the emperor quotes the verses, as a testimony to the divinity of Christ, uttered by the Erythraean Sibyl many centuries before the Christian era. The acrostic itself contains a description of the day of judgment and the events that shall succeed, and has many points of resemblance with the Proœmium, at which we have already glanced. The author was a Christian, though he probably worked up Jewish materials in composing his poems; and in the present case, wishing to emulate the ancient Sibyl in the form of his oracle, he prefaced his prophecy with this acrostic, which has become more celebrated than its author could have ever expected. We may suppose that in his desire to give verisimilitude to his utterance he took words which were oftenest on the lips of Christians, adding Σταυρός at the end as the most venerated of memorials, and perhaps (as Alexandre suggests) with the view of making the title into a spondaic hexameter. Whether the author intended to carry the same form through the whole of the book cannot be discovered; at any rate, he soon abandoned it, finishing his labour with the words, “This is our God, written in these acrostics, the Saviour, the King immortal, who suffered for us, whom Moses prefigured when he extended holy hands, by faith overcoming Amalek,” etc. The acrostic ends at “who suffered for us;” from thence the poem proceeds in the ordinary manner. It must be noted that the initials of the title compose the word ΙΧΘΥΣ, “fish,” the emblem of the Christian faith so frequently sculptured on early monuments. In the account of the great consummation, we are told little that is novel. Fire shall destroy earth, sea, and sky, and the gates of hell itself, and shall convict the unrighteous of guilt; sun, moon, and stars shall fail, and the heavens shall be rolled up; hill and valley shall be levelled, rivers shall be dried, and the voice of the trumpet shall summon all to judgment. The Cross shall be seen in the sky. The closing lines of the acrostic concerning the Cross are remarkable. It is called the sign, the notable seal for all men, expressions which recall our Lord’s words in Matt. xxiv. 30: “then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven,” and St. Paul’s in 2 Cor. i. 22 and Eph. 1. 13, where he speaks of believers being “sealed,” though not with the Cross, nor with the sign of the Cross (as some Roman Catholic expositors take it), but with the Holy Spirit. Further, it is named “the much-desired horn,” which seems to be an interpretation of the phrase “horn of David” in Ps. cxxxi. 17 and Luke i. 69; and it is said to be “the life of the pious, but an offence to the, world,” in agreement with the language of St. Paul (Gal. v. 11), where he speaks of “the offence of the Cross.” Then follows a curious verse, “which enlighteneth the elect with water by twelve springs.” This is explained to refer to the mission of the twelve apostles, which, as it were, originated from the Cross; but the writer seems to insinuate that the office of baptizing was committed to the twelve apostles alone, and presumably to their successors,—an opinion which he repeats again below (ver. 271), and which was not common in any section of the Church. He ends by terming the Cross “the rod of iron which tends and rules the flock,” expressions which may come from Ps. ii. 9 or Rev. ii. 27. It is interesting to find this adaptation of scriptural figures to the Cross at this early age; later, of course, nothing is more common.

From the remaining portions of this poem we obtain some further glimpses of primitive eschatology. First, we meet here with the use of the word “judgment” for Christ’s first advent into the world. The first judgment, in this view, is the Incarnation, which is regarded as the initiation of the final judgment, perhaps with some reference to such passages as John xvi. 11: “The prince of this world hath been judged,” and xii. 31: “Now is the judgment of this world,” though plainly in conflict with the forty-seventh verse of the same chapter: “I came not to judge the world.” In accordance with this theory the Sibyls here and elsewhere speak of Christ judging the world “again,” when they refer to the final award. Concerning the sojourn in the unseen world, we are told that Christ went thither to carry hope to the dead saints, and to announce to them the end of the world. Where the Gospel says that, for the elect’s sake, the last days shall be shortened, our present text affirms that God has given men seven ages for repentance “by the hand of the holy Virgin,” i.e. at her intercession. These words are allowed to be an interpolation, but of how early a date it cannot be determined. Certainly any such doctrine is centuries later than this Oracle; and, as Alexandre remarks, the Sibyllines always represent the final consummation as close at hand, and any postponement of this event for seven ages is quite alien from their view. A similar interpolation (probably the work of the writer of the preface) occurs in Book ii. 312; and with the same view of honouring the Virgin Mary a very clumsy alteration has been made in Book i. 359, where, in the accounts of the miracle of the five loaves and the five thousand, the glosser has changed the words, which he has quoted from Book viii. 275 ff., “the fragments shall fill twelve baskets, a hope for the peoples,” into, “for the holy Virgin,” as if the remains were reserved by Christ for His mother’s use.

Before quitting this portion of the book, we may observe that the writer firmly believes in baptismal regeneration. Christ, he says (vers. 314 ff.), rose from the dead that the elect, “washed in the waters of the immortal fount, and born again (ἀναγεννηθέντες ἄνωθεν), might no longer serve the lawless customs of the world.” He supposes that the saints in glory will wear crowns of thorns like their Master. He sees in the rending of the temple’s veil and the supernatural darkness at the Crucifixion an intimation that the old law was no longer to be observed by men hitherto blinded by the deceits of the world. He considers that in the creation of man the Father says to the Son, “Let us make man,” taking Him as His counsellor (σύμβουλος) not only in the creation, but also in the redemption of the same. “I with my hands will make him, Thou hereafter shalt heal him with the word” (ver. 267). Thus in the ancient document called the “Epistle to Diognetus” (chap. viii.), it is said that the Father communicated His wise counsel concerning man to His Son alone. In Christ’s hands extended on the cross the writer recognises the comprehension of the whole world in the benefits of the Passion; in the wounds in His hands and feet he finds a representation of the four quarters of the globe as being concerned in His death. He puts into the mouth of God some lines which are quoted by Herodotus (i. 47) as a Delphic oracle: “I know the number of the sands, the measure of the sea. I understand the dumb, and hear the silent speak;” and he makes Him, in commanding men to show charity to their fellows, direct that they feed the hungry with vegetable food, “a table pure and of unbloody food,” whence it is argued that the author belonged to the Therapeutæ, one of whose distinguishing peculiarities was abstention from animal diet.

The next portion of this book is a hymn in praise of God the Father and God the Son, and cannot be regarded as an oracle; it is probably of the same authorship as the former parts, and its date is the same, or a little later. Like the writer of the last section, this poet makes the creation of the world and man the joint work of the Father and the Son, or the Logos, and speaks of man being made like to the form (μορφή) of God. He then proceeds to note the message of Gabriel and the Incarnation of Christ: “Receive, O virgin, God in thy immaculate bosom.” The visit of the wise men is mentioned, and there the narrative part of the poem abruptly breaks off, the rest of the section being lost. This doubtless contained an account of the life and actions of Christ, and the foundation of the Church, merging naturally into an argument concerning Christian doctrine and ethics. The fragment with which the book closes contains a portion of the latter subject, and is written in language of no mean order. The author professes himself a Christian, and, in opposition to the heathendom still prevalent, announces that he and his brethren are bound to live a holy life, to serve God, to love their neighbour as themselves. They frequent not temples, offer not prayers or libations to statues, nor deck their altars with flowers, nor adorn them with lights. They hang not the walls with costly gifts, nor offer incense, nor sacrifice animals; but in happy concord, with pure and cheerful hearts, they worship God, delighting in continual feasts of love (agapæ) and generous offerings, praising God with psalm and hymn. This is a beautiful picture of primitive Christian worship, confirmed by other notices, and quite in accordance with the simplicity of early times.

The next piece of the Oracles is composed of Books i. and ii., and as Ewald thinks, the first portion of Book iii. vers. 1–96, though Alexandre sets this fragment as the production of the author of the anonymous preface, and written by a monk in Justinian’s time; but it is more probably of a composite character, and derived from more than one source. It may be divided into two sections, vers. 1–35, and vers. 36–96. The whole piece is of Christian origin, and for the most part of orthodox character, though containing some trace of Origen’s opinions, and it is to be referred to the third century. It has been compiled and arranged in its present form by some later hand, which has also contributed some prose interpolations to connect the various fragments of which the work is composed. Indications of its date are afforded in various passages. Thus in ii. 45 ff., ii. 63 ff., there is mention of the persecutions which were being carried on, and the constancy of the martyrs, and this could refer to nothing subsequent to Diocletian (A.D. 302), and from the expressions used is considered to allude to something of earlier date. The doctrine of Universalism, which is found in Origen’s works, in the middle of the third century, is brought forward in more than one passage of this piece.

The first book sketches the history of the world from the Creation to the Flood, and subsequently up to the second generation after Noah, and passes on to the advent of Christ, His life, death, and resurrection, the foundation of the Church, and the dispersion of the Jews. The second book takes, up the story, and prophesies of events to the end of the world. The writer for the most part keeps close to the Mosaic account, but occasionally differs from it either in details or by additions. Thus he makes Noah send from the ark on the third occasion a bird of black plumage, which remained on the earth and returned no more; he considers Noah’s sojourn in the ark to have lasted only forty-one days; and he introduces God as commanding Noah to preach repentance unto the Antediluvians, and gives the discourse of the patriarch in full. Friedlieb notes that Theophilus derives the name, if not the legend, of Deucalion from the first words of Noah’s warning on this occasion, which he gives in these words: δεῦτε, καλεῖ ὑμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εἰς μετάνοιαν. That Noah is called by St. Peter (2 Pet. ii. 5) “a preacher of righteousness” is an intimation of the same tradition which the Sibyl follows. Here, too, occurs the famous enigma on the name of God, which has exercised the minds of scholars for some centuries, and still awaits satisfactory solution (vers. 141 ff.). It is not worth while to waste time upon it, as the numbers given are uncertain, and differ in some manuscripts, and their interpretation is only conjectural. The griphus is supposed, with some appearance of probability, to mean θεὸς Σωτήρ. We give it here in the original, as it would be spoiled by translation:—

Ἐννέα γράμματ᾽ ἔχω· τετρασύλλαβός εἰμι· νόει με· αἱ τρεῖς αί πρῶται δύο γράμματ᾽ ἔχουσιν ἑκάστη, ἡ λοιπὴ δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ, καὶ εἰσὶν ἄφωνα δὲ πέντε· τοῦ παντὸς δ᾽ ἀριθμοῦ ἐκατοντάδες εἰσὶ δὶς ὀκτὼ, καὶ τρεῖς τρὶς (al. δὶς) δεκάδες, σὺν γ᾽ ἑπτά.

The last words are intended to represent the numerical value of the enigmatical name. There is another riddle on the name ’Ἰησοῦς in this book (vers. 326 ff.), which is plain enough. The appellation, it is said, is composed of four vowels and one consonant twice repeated, and its numerical value in 888. The number of generations between Adam and Noah in the Sibyl’s history does not correspond with the Mosaic account, the former making only five, the latter ten to intervene. But our author seems to have depended on Hesiod as well as Moses, and to have endeavoured to combine heathen mythology with Biblical history. According to him, the second generation consisted of a race called Gregori, who are named in the Book of Enoch Egregori, equivalent to the Nephilim of Genesis, a race between men and angels; but the Sibyl does not countenance the notion of these having any connection with the daughters of men. She figures the fifth generation as that of giants, and Noah as one of their progeny. That a Christian with the Old Testament before him should deliberately foist into the inspired record legends of no authority, and often contradictory of Holy Writ, is a strange anomaly, but one which can be paralleled by the treatment which the Bible experiences at the hands of theologians in modern times, who place floating myths in the same category with Biblical stories, and find as much truth in a heathen fable as in a scriptural narrative. The remainder of the book is not open to the same objection as the preceding portion, being founded on the New Testament, and keeping pretty accurately to the details therein narrated. The writer quotes St. Matthew v. 17: “He shall fulfil the law of God, and not destroy it” (ver. 332, and refers to St. John iii. 3 in the words, “being born again,” γεννηθέντες ἄνωθεν, though he certainly errs in ascribing this effect to the baptism of John the Baptist (ver. 340). He calls Christ (ver. 345) “the fair stone,” against which the people of Israel shall stumble. This is evidently a remembrance of 1 Pet. ii. 6, 8: “I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious, . . . a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence;” and the statement that Jesus goes to Hades to preach to the dead (ver. 378) is derived from the famous passage in 1 Pet. iii.

The second book takes up the story where the first left it, and foretells the events that shall happen from the time of the overthrow of the Jewish polity to the end of the world. It contains many lines attributed to the gnomic poet Phocylides, and a long fragment of the spurious ποίημα νουθετικόν which passes under his name. Alexandre has shown that Phocylides’ verses had become a text-book in the Alexandrian schools, where his gnomes were committed to memory, and formed the groundwork of ethical teaching from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Many of these lines found their way into the earlier Sibylline books, and were adapted to Jewish doctrine. The “carmen suasorium” here introduced by the Sibylline author may have been founded upon the words of the original poet; but it has suffered so many alterations and additions at the hands of Jewish and Christian manipulators that it is impossible to consider it as in any real sense the composition of Phocylides. The fragment is introduced to explain wherein Christian virtues consist, and what must be the lives of those who shall attain to the reward of Messiah’s kingdom. The contents of the book are briefly these: After the dispersion of the Jews there shall ensue a general corruption in the world, and tumults and wars, in the course of which Rome shall be overthrown and idolatry abolished; then shall good men have opportunity of showing their virtues and triumphing over evil. Great calamities and portents presage the last times, e.g. the appearance of Belial or Antichrist, the return of the twelve tribes, the coming of Elijah from heaven.. The last judgment follows, with the punishment of the wicked and the felicity of the righteous.

In this book, a great part of which is derived from others of the Oracles, there are some points to be remarked. Before the great consummation a star is to be seen for some days in the sky, as a signal for those who earnestly contend for the faith. The contest then begun is well called (ver. 39) a “Iudus iselasticus,” one, that is, where the conqueror is carried in triumph through a breach in the city walls to the temple of the guardian deity. In the fragment from Phocylides there are many passages introduced from the Gospels, one also from Tobit (iv. 16): “Clothe the naked, give of thy bread to the hungry;” and from James (ii. 13): “Mercy saveth from death, when judgment comes,” and from Acts (xxi. 25): “Eat not blood, and abstain from things offered to idols.” Among the portents which shall precede the last day, and which are mostly the same as those named in our Lord’s discourse, occurs one that is strange to Christian ears, and is derived from a heathen source, viz. the birth of children with grey hair. Another prodigy, mentioned also elsewhere, is the interchange of seasons; a third is the cessation of parturition among women. This last omen is cited by Clemens Alex. as contained in the apocryphal “Gospel of the Egyptians.” The appearance of Beliar has been already mentioned. This name of Antichrist is derived from St. Paul’s use of it (2 Cor. vi. 15) as a designation for Satan, and it is found in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The return of the rest of the Hebrews from Assyria is expected also by the writer of the Second (iv.) Book of Esdras, who says (chap. xiii. 40 ff.) that in the latter time they shall cross the Euphrates, coming from a distant land, and settle once more in their own country. The Tishbite shall come from heaven in a chariot, not to “restore all things” (Matt. xvii. 11), but rather as a sign of the destruction of this world. Then the four, archangels — Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel — shall bring from Hades all the souls of men to the tribunal of God, who shall clothe them again with flesh and bones. And all shall pass through the probationary fire, from which the just shall emerge purified and saved, but the wicked shall perish therein. This last opinion is afterwards modified. The “ignis probatorius” is a notion derived from 1 Cor. iii. 13 ff., and is acknowledged by Augustine, Lactantius, and other early writers. The Sibylline writer seems to hold that this fire will destroy the whole world at the same time that it will try every man’s work. From it the just shall be borne on angels’ hands to a land where the blessings promised to Canaan shall be realised to the full, and one unending day of happiness shall reign. And in their own felicity the saints shall think of the misery of the cursed, and God shall hearken to their prayers, and save some from the pains of hell. The author does not, like Origen, believe in universal salvation. His words are these (vers. 335 ff.): “Having chosen out the stedfast” (εὐσταθεῖς, probably, those who have endured the fire)” from the unwearied flame, and removed them in safety, He shall send them among His own people to another and immortal life.” This notion of the salvation of any of the condemned is, as we have seen, opposed to the sentiments elsewhere expressed, especially in vers. 309 ff. of this book, where, in picturing the torments of hell, the writer asserts that there is no place for repentance or mercy or hope. The statement in the text appeared so dangerous and erroneous to the editor of the Oracles in the sixth century that he introduced a refutation of the opinion, composed by himself in some execrable iambics, which Fabricius has thus translated:—

Hæc falsa perspicue: nec unquam desinet

Me impiorum tortor ignis fervidus.

Optarem et ipse equidem ista sic contingerent,

Qui maximis maculis inustus criminum

Deformor ipse, queis plus gratia eat opus.

Verum erubesce, nugigerule Origenes,

Qui desituras esse pœnas dictitas.

The remainder of this portion of the Oracles, which is made up of the first section of Book iii., begins with an exhortation to the Gentiles to turn from idols to the worship of the true God, where we may note that the mention of cats and serpents as objects of adoration places the author at once in Egypt. It then proceeds to speak of the fall of Rome and the eternal kingdom of Christ, preceded by the appearance of Beliar. In former books we have seen the expectation of the return of Nero as the great enemy of God’s Church; in these later writings we hear no more of this particular phenomenon, but the Antichrist is announced as the devil personified. He is to come from the people of Sebaste (which was the name given to Samaria when rebuilt by Herod the Great), owing doubtless to the prediction in Gen. xlix. 17: “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backwards.” Rabbinical interpretation saw in this a reference to Antichrist, and the Fathers adopted the view. Samaria, indeed, appertained to Ephraim, not Dan; but national hatred overlooked this slight discrepancy, and satisfied itself by teaching that the hated race was to give birth to this Enemy. If we can identify Dan with Sebaste, we can more easily see why this place is singled out for its bad pre-eminence. This tribe had become a by-word for idolatry, and the serpent, which was its emblem, represented the power of evil. It is thus excluded from the tribes of Israel whose elect are sealed in Rev. vii.; and St. Gregory could write: “Some say that Antichrist is coming out of the tribe of Dan, because Dan is asserted to be a serpent and a biting one. Whence also in the partition of the camp, Dan most rightly pitched his camp to the north, signifying him in truth who had said in his heart, ’I will sit upon the mount of the testament, in the side of the north: I will be like the Most High’” (Isa. xiv. 13 f.). This Beliar will show forth signs and wonders, will level mountains, stop the tides, quench sun and moon, raise the dead, and by these lying wonders deceive even the elect Hebrews, as well as Gentiles who know not the law. Then all the world shall fall under the sway of a widow woman, as we have seen in Book viii., but who or what she is, is a mystery as yet unsolved. Friedlieb takes her to be Cleopatra; Ewald holds that she is Julia Domna, the widow of Septimius Severus, and mother of Caracalla and Geta. But she is evidently intended to be, not a historical character, but a mythical personage, whose existence is imagined, as has been already noticed, from some hazy remembrance of a scene in the Apocalypse of St. John. Her dominion, and that of Beliar, shall be brought to an end by God Himself, who shall rain destructive fire upon His enemies, “and then shall the judgment of the mighty God come to pass in the midst of the mighty age when all these things have fallen out.”