« i 6 And we found the account of the creation, and at what time he mode th e heaven and the earth, and
th e first man Adam, and th a t from thence to the flood, were two thousand, two hundred, and
twelve years.
17 And from the flood to Ahraham, nine hundred and twelve. And from Ahraham to Moses, four hundred
and thirty. And from Moses to David the king, five hundred and ten.
18 And from David to the Babylonish captivity, five hundred years. And from the Babylonish captivity
to the incarnation of Christ, four hundred years.
19 The sum of all which amounts to five thousand and a half (a thousand.)
20 And so it appears, th a t Jesus, whom we crucified, is Jesus Christ the Son of God, the tru e and Almighty
God. Amen.” (335)
The conclusive logic of this passage derives support from another ancient Christian
document, wherein is given the reason why the end of the world was expected Borne time
“ Consider, my children, what that signifies, he [God] finished [crating] them in six
days. The meaning of it is th is; that in six thousand years the Lord God will bring all
things to an end.” (336)
Such being the whole story, the reader has now to make ohoice of whichever of the following
dates may suit his views upon the
E fochas o r Creation.
Biblical Texts and Versions.
■ Septuagint computation........................
Septuagint Alexandrians................ •••••
Septuagint V atican................................
Samaritan computation .>........*.......
Samaritan Text................. .....................
Hebrew Text..
B. 0. , 5586
. 5508
. 5270
. 4427
. 4305
. 4161
English Bible......................... - ...... 4004
Jewish Computations.
' Playfair......................... ........
Jackson ....... .
Hales .......... ..............
1 Universal History................
Josephus
5555
5481
5402
Talmudists .......
Seder Olam S u th a .....
Jewish computation..
5344
....... 4339
....... 4220
4184
Chinese Jews............................................................
Some Talmudists....................... ................ .............
Vulgar Jewish computation...................... .
Seder Olam Babba, great Chronicle of the World,
A. D. 130................................................. .
Babbi Lipman.................. .....................
Christian Divines.
Clemens Alexandrinus, A. d. 194...,....................
Hales, Itev. Dr....,.......................
Origen, , a. n. 230 ....¿.aìàì.ììì....... ...............
Kennedy, Bedford, Ferguson ........................
Usher, Lloyd, Calmet..........................................
Helvetius, Marsham............. ¿.........«.«jMv**......
Melahcthon ................... ............. .
Luther ........«.«•.......... ................... ................
Scaliger ........ •••••••.......
3761
3760
3751
3616
5624
5411
4830
4007
4004
4000
3964
These are mere excerpts of 120 different opinions, on the date of Creation, tabulated by
Hales. (387) This list can easily be swelled to above 300 distinct and contradictory hypotheses.
Between the highest epoch, b . o. 6984 (the Alphonsine tables), and the l|west,
b . o. 3616 (Rabbi Lipman), there is the trifling difference of 3268 years!
It is but fair to -set off Catholic against Protestant authorities, so we cull a few more
instances from the learned pages' of De Brotonne (338).-^“ Among authors who deny the
etemity-of the world, not one, from its creation to the advent of Jesus Christ, counts more
than 7000 years, nor less than 3700.” He also supplies a schedule of 70 more disputants,
ranging between b. c. 6984 and 3740, from Riccioli; (339) but the subjoined are some of
his own, extra. . , •
B.C.
Suidas................ | ..... .........................y
Nicephorus, Constantinopolitanus......................... 5500
Eusebius Caesariensis .......... . 5200
St. Jerome, and Beda ............ ...................... 3952
..... . 5475
H H M H I 5205
Hilarion............................
.St. Julian, and tbe LXX..
Hebrew Text........................... .......
St. Isidore ........................
Montanus ......................••••■••
Vossius..........................................
Petavius (Boflianist authority).,
3834
, 3849 . 5590
(335) Gospel o f Nicodemus; chap. xxii. — Apochryphal New Testament, pp. 51, 52.
(336) General Epistle of Barnabas; xiii. 4: op. cit. ; p. 101.
(337) Analysis : i. p. 212.
338) Püiatims el Migrations des Peuples: Paris, 1827 ; 428-430.
/■asQl nhrnnnlnma reformata : pp. 290-292, 293.
Riccioli shows that computations upon different exemplars of the LXX oscillate, also,
between a maximum of 6904 years b. c., and a minimum of 6054, for the Creation alone !
Nevertheless, “ Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia.” Not satisfied with human inability to
define, through biblical or anysoever methods of reckoning, the age when Creative Power
first whirled our incandescent planet from the sun’s fire-mist, some intelligences, at the
supernatural stage of mental development, have actually fixed the month, day, and hour !
“ And now hee that desireth to know the yeere of the world, which is now passing over
us this yeere 1644, will find it to bee 5572 yeeres just now finished since the Creation; and
the year 5573 of the world’s age, now newly begunne this September at the AEquinox.” (340)
Anno Mundi I ; “ YIth day of Creation, . . . his (Adam’s) wife the weaker vessell: she not
yet knowing that there were any Devils at a ll. . . sinned, and drew her husband into the
same transgression with her; this was about high noone, the time of eating. And in this
lost condition into which Adam and Eve had now brought themselves, did they lie comfort-
lesse till towards the cool of the day, or three o'clock afternoone. . . . (God) expelleth them
out of Eden, and so fell Adam on the day that he was created.” (341)
“ We do not speak of the theory set forth in a work entitled Nouveau Systbme des Temps,
by Gibert father and son. This system, which is not so new as its title seems to announce,
gives to the world only 3600 years of duration down to the 1st July, 1834; and makes
Adam’s birth 1797 years before J. C., on the 1st July.” (342)
“ It is, besides, generally allowed by Chronologists, that the beginning of the patriarchal
year was computed from the autumnal equinox, which fell on October 2Qth, b . c. 4005, the
year of the creation.” (343)
But the Promethean intrepidity of orthodoxy is not content with mathematical demonstrations
of the year, the month, the day, nor the hour of Creation. It ascends, in some
extatic cases, far beyond! Thus, Philomneste heads an especial chapter with
“ AntSgdnSsie—What God was about before the creation of the, world.” (344)
Albeit, none of these profanations of science contain on& solitary element, in regard to
Creation," that is strictly chronological. “ Passons au Deluge ” (345)—let us descend to the
Flood; and see what resting-place a “ dove” could find amid these wastes of waters and
of time. For the
E pochas of th e De lu g e ,
out of sixteen opinions published by Hales—maximum, b . c. 3246; minimum, 2104; difference
1142 years—the following aTe singularly in accordance :—
Septuagint version ...............................................3246
Samaritan Text.............. 2998
English Bible ............. 2348
Hebrew Text...;.,....«.......... 2288
Josephus...?««. ....................................... 3146
So are also the intervals of time assigned, by the subjoined computators, to mundane
existence, between the Creation and the Flood. We borrow them from De Brotonne.
Vulgar Jewish computation................... 2104
Hales............................. ............ 3155
Usher ....... 2-348-
Calmet... ...... 2344
Creation to De lu g e .
YEARS.
Josephus ............................ 2256
Suidas, Nicephorus, Eusebius, St. Julian, St. Isidore
«............................................... 2242
Clemens Alexandrinus................................................2 1 4 8
Hilarion......................... 2257
Vossius, Bicdoli ......... 2256
Cornelius a Lapide.............................. 1657
YEARS.
Later Babbis, St. Jerome, Beda, Montanus, Scaliger,
Origanus, Emmius, Petavius, Gordonus,
Salianus, Torniellus, Hervartus, Philippi, Tirinus,
BicdolLji..;.......,..........'..............................1656
St. Augustine—“ From Adam to the Deluge, according
to our sacred hooks (i. e., the LXX),
there have elapsed 2242 years, as per our exemplars
; and 1656, according to the Hebrews.”
(340) Bev. Dr. Lightfoot: Harmony o f the Foure Evangélistes; London, 1644; 1st part, Proleg., last page.
(341) Ibid.: Harmony, Chronicle, arid Order of the Old Testament; London, 1647; p. 5.
(342) De Brotonne; op. cit. ; ii. p. 160.
(343) Bev. Dr. F. Nolan: The Egyptian Chronology Analysed: London, 1848; p. 392.
(344) Livre des Singularités : Dyme, 1841.
(345) Dandin, in Les Plaideurs: iii. 54.