Although the Title Page of every Work is designed to shew, in few
words, its nature and tendency, yet the limits do not afford room to
explain the circumstances under which the attention of mankind is
invited or solicited to every new publication.
Soon after the final destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem
by the Romans, it would appear that the most valuable records of
antiquity were diligently sought for and destroyed, and that new
and false records were substituted for them, both by Jews and
Christians,--certainly of a degenerate cast. The former wished it to
be believed that the promised Messiah was not yet come; the latter,
that the end of the world was near at hand, and the _millennium_ about
to commence. The former contracted the age of the world, to suit their
worldly pride and expectations; the latter extended it, to serve their
vast desire of wealth, which flowed in largely upon them, through the
boundless benefactions of devotees, who were persuaded that the day of
judgment was just approaching. And as our Saviour was crucified between
two Thieves, so the true Chronology of the Bible has been lost between
the rival pretensions of opposite and contending factions. But since
the æra of the Reformation of Religion, a more enlightened and liberal
spirit of enquiry has prevailed, and much has been done towards the
recovery of those Chronological Truths which had long been buried in
darkness. The names of Scaliger and Petavius in France, of Strauchius
in Germany, and of Marsham, Usher, Prideaux and Blair in England,
have been deservedly celebrated for the progress they have made,
steering, according to the Scripture Chart, a middle course between
the errors of the Apostate Jews and those of degenerate and rapacious
Ecclesiastics of the Primitive Christian Church; and the success of
their undertakings to explore and bring regularly to view occurrences
of ancient date, ought to stimulate our zeal, to perfect what they have
begun and nearly finished.
Whether we receive the Holy Scriptures as the Oracles of God, as all
true Believers do; or whether we receive them traditionally as simple
records of past transactions, according to the opinions of Sceptics and
other Unbelievers; in either case, their testimony is in the highest
degree interesting and valuable. No written monument of equal antiquity
has come down to us: no view, real or fabulous, of original society
and manners is to be found so complete and satisfactory; no ancient
or modern system of laws and religion devised by man can be compared
in purity, perfection, sublimity, or beneficence, with the genuine
doctrine of Moses and the Prophets, of Christ and his holy Apostles.
Scripture Chronology must be deemed, by all Christians, essential
to the illustration of Scripture History, and of the fulfilment
of Prophecy: and Historians of all classes and denominations must
prefer truth to error, an exact to an incorrect view of Chronology,
according to the real intent and meaning of the several Authors
they refer to. Every becoming effort to clear up, and firmly settle
Scripture Chronology, is not only lawful but commendable. The Dates
in the present larger Editions of the English Bible are of no value
or importance, except in so far as they are conformable to the tenour
and language of Scripture. Attempts to rectify Chronological blunders
are not to be considered as imprudent, nor denounced as an attack on
settled doctrines; because every endeavour to rectify error and to
explain truth is ornamental to human nature and agreeable to the word
of God. True religion loves and challenges light and enquiry.
The Holy Scriptures supply the world with an extensive Chain, in many
pieces, of Chronological Dates from the Creation of the World to the
Overthrow of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Great; and thence,
to the death of Christ. The links are of unequal lengths, and of
various matter or substance. Some are supplied by Scripture History,
some by Prophecy, and some both ways. It is left for human ingenuity
and experience to put the pieces of the chain and the links rightly
together, and to try whether the length measures the just extent to
any and every assigned period. And here it may be remarked that there
does not appear the least ground or reason to believe that the account
of dates or years given in the Hebrew Bible has been at all altered or
corrupted, from first to last; on the contrary they appear to have been
providentially kept inviolable through so many ages by the wonderful
imbecility of the human mind for many years, and by the supineness or
indifference to Chronological Enquiries which prevailed from the age of
Constantine until the Reformation.
It is so far satisfactory to find that the common Chronology inserted
in our English Bibles agrees well with the perfect reckonings of the
Scriptures for 2108 years, from the Creation of the World to the birth
of Isaac, or the Institution of Circumcision; and again for 809 years,
from the commencement of the reign of Azariah, or Uzziah, king of Judah
until the birth of Christ. But the accumulated errors of computation in
the long intervening period of 1298 years, amount to 211 years short
of the truth. Now, it is the object of this short Essay to explain the
whole Chronology of the Bible, and to rectify what has been computed
amiss.
That Prince of Philosophers, Sir Isaac Newton, attempted in his
declining years to render the Chronology of Prophane History more
conformable to Sir John Marsham’s view of the Chronology of the Bible,
by cutting down the antiquities of the Greeks, and other Eastern
Nations, about 500 years. This gave rise to a learned controversy, in
which it has been proved that our illustrious Philosopher had erred
300 years. There still remained, however, and do remain, about 200
years concerning which nothing has been said or done. If, instead of
contracting the age of the world 211 years, according to the erroneous
reckoning which is now followed, we extend it to its just length
according to the true Scripture reckoning which ought to be followed,
we immediately bring Prophane History to agree much better of its
own accord with Sacred History than has hitherto been the case. By
this means we reduce the ancient affairs of Babylon, of Egypt, and of
Greece, to a more convenient distance in time from the general Deluge
than before, and surmount other difficulties that occurred in the
Patriarchal, Judicial, and Regal Periods of the History of the Jews.
The generally grave and judicious Prideaux has inadvertently done a
great disservice to Hebrew Chronology by the negligent, contemptuous,
and sneering manner in which he has spoken of the order of the
Sabbatical years and Jubilees amongst the Jews, at the commencement
of his learned _Connexions of the Old and New Testament_, as if it
were a subject that no wise man ever did or would trouble his head
about. The contempt is heightened by the context; for he immediately
proceeds to give at full length the light and rather nauseous story of
Darius’s Groom and Horse, originally told by Herodotus, with all the
circumstances, that served to place Darius on the throne of Persia:
as if it were better to lose sight of the Jubilees altogether than of
one particle of a Stable-keeper’s tale of jockeyship. It can scarcely
be doubted that this bad taste and unseasonable mirth, much to be
regretted in so great a man, and in a work of such high and deserved
repute, has prevented many from enquiring fully and fairly into all the
particulars relative to the Institution of Sabbatical years amongst the
Jews, appointed by God himself, and on the due observance of which both
the Law and the Prophets laid continually so much stress. An attentive
consideration of this subject has enabled the Author of this brief
Essay to find his way clearly through the chronological labyrinths
of the Jewish Regal Period, which are otherwise inexplicable: and to
read the Old Testament Prophets with fresh advantage and delight. The
course or tenour of Scripture Prophecy bears directly and strongly on
the Epoch of our Lord’s Death and Resurrection; less so on that of his
Nativity; and the years of Jubilee, amongst other uses, served to mark
the fulness of time, when our Lord should be betrayed and delivered
into the hands of Sinners, which was at the commencement of a Jubilee.
Our Saviour’s Genealogy, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke,
which has been thought difficult to explain, as it really is, on the
loose and incoherent Systems of Chronology hitherto propounded, admits
of an easy solution on being referred to the correct reckoning of the
years of the Old Testament, now proposed. And the number 666, given to
the mystical _beast_ and _false prophet_ in the Apocalypse, is found to
be applicable to chronological periods of idolatry and corruption in
the Jewish and Christian Church, already passed as to power, but not,
perhaps, as to influence.
It may also be satisfactory to notice that the chronological year of
the Hebrews, that is, of the Holy Scriptures, from beginning to end, is
the true solar year of all ages and nations, comprehending that time
which elapses between two successive returns of the vernal equinox: and
that its commencement is always at the vernal equinox.
To the Chronology is annexed a very brief Account of the Weights and
Measures of antiquity; from which it may safely be inferred that even
the Antideluvians had made themselves acquainted with the Figure and
Dimensions of the Earth, and that they used the Earth’s Circumference
as the Original Standard of Measure.
To conclude. This short Essay contains a great many well established
facts, regularly digested, in the shortest and cheapest form, and
fitted for the use and instruction of Christians of all denominations.
The Tables of Scripture Chronology here exhibited were originally sent
forth as an Appendix to a short and comprehensive Treatise on English
Grammar by the same Author, published in London, 1817; and they are
now given as an Appendix to a new Hebrew and English Dictionary and
Grammar, by the Same, with such Explanations and Illustrations as are
proper to evince their correctness. This separate publication of the
Chronology is designed more especially for the use of such enquiring
and attentive Christians as do not read Hebrew, and who may not have an
opportunity to consult the Appendix to the Author’s English Grammar, or
Hebrew Dictionary. If the modern Jews would study the Chronology of the
Hebrew Bible, instead of the Traditions of Men, they would soon come to
know the cause of their long continued distress, and the signs of its
termination.
_On the 1st of_ JUNE _will be published_, _Price_ 6_s._