CHAPTER II.

REDUCTION OF THE MUNDANE ERA OF REDEMPTION.

Errors of Eusebius, Jerome, and the Western churches—Consistency of the Eastern and Southern churches to the latest period—Chronology of the Russians and Armenians that of the Septuagint—Testimony of Abulpharajius—Chronological innovations of the Venerable Bede—His denouncement as a heretic on this account—Chronology of the Roman church different from that of the Latin Vulgate—The chronology of the Masoretes an abridgement of the true—The chronology of the Roman Martyrology preserved by Pontifical authority to the present day—Extract from Strauchius—An important testimony in favour of the true chronology.

Having shown by incontestable evidence, that the computation of the Septuagint was universally received as the true chronology of the Church of Christ from the earliest periods of its history, and that it was also received by the Jews themselves, at least _two_ centuries before the Christian era; let us now shortly inquire how it came to be abandoned, and the chronology of the Masorete Hebrew text adopted in its stead. Eusebius of Cesarea, A.D. 325, or some one for him, acting under Jewish influence, reduced the era of Redemption from A.M. 5478 to A.M. 5200, by the exclusion of the _Postdiluvian_ Cainan, the adoption of the forged _period_ for the _Critarchal_ age, and the omission of _fifteen_ years in the _Monarchal_. In these errors, he was followed by Jerome,[31] A.D. 378, and some of the Western churches; but his system was resolutely opposed by all the Eastern and Southern churches, in which the chronological authority of Africanus and Epiphanius prevailed. This opposition has indeed preserved the true chronology in some countries to a very late period; for we find that the Russians, who received it from the Greeks, still reckon that the Christian era commenced in A.M. 5509, as may be seen by reference to their native historians. The remoter Eastern churches, with some slight variations, also adhered to the longer chronology; as testified by Abulfarajius, the celebrated Armenian historian, who flourished in the thirteenth century, and who reckoned the same epoch at A.M. 5586, apparently to adjust it to the birth of Peleg, in A.M. 2793, the former number being just double the latter; for, “in his days was _the world_ divided,” at the command of (θέος των ἀίωνῶν) the God of the ages, or the worlds. The Western Churches indeed, can scarcely be said to have followed the chronology either of Eusebius or of Jerome, till the time of the venerable Bede, A.D. 720; and the innovations of the latter were so ill received by his contemporaries, that he was denounced as a heretic, because he dared to assert, in opposition to all the fathers of the Church, that Christ was _not_ born in the sixth millenary of the world; see Usher’s “Chronologia Sacra,” p. 50. The chronology of the Roman Church appears to have remained in this state during the dark ages till the meeting of the Council of Trent, A.D. 1563, when the Protestants, under the double influence of prejudice against the errors of the Church, and overweening confidence in the Hebrew text, adopted the modern and corrupted chronology of the Jews! The Roman chronologists had, however, abridged the true computation of the ancient Church of Christ only by 278 years; while the Masoretes and their followers had abridged it by no less than 1474 years! The system of the former continues to prevail in the Church of Rome, though contrary to the Latin Vulgate, and the system of the latter in the Reformed Churches, even to this day. In the “Roman Martyrology,” published by the authority of Pope Gregory XIII., in A.D. 1582, and revised by command of Pope Urban VIII., in A.D. 1640, we find the following statement, which according to Strauchius, “Breviarium Chronologicum,” p. 382, is read in the churches every year on the 25th of December:—“In the 5199th year from the creation of the world, when God created heaven and earth; and the 2957th after the deluge; the 2015th from the birth of Abraham; the 1510th from the time of Moses and the Israelites leaving Egypt; and the 1032nd from the time of David being anointed king; in the 65th annual week of Daniel; in the 194th Olympiad; in the 752nd year since the building of Rome; in the 42nd year of the Emperor Octavius Augustus, when the whole world was blessed with peace; in the _sixth_ age of the world; Jesus Christ, Eternal God, and Son of the Eternal Father, conceived from the Holy Ghost, was born of the Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem of Judea.”[32] There are several contradictions among the synchronisms contained in this statement, which are acknowledged by Roman Catholic writers themselves, as may be seen in the works of Baronius and Petavius; but, it is a noble public testimony to the true faith of the Church of Christ, and an important public evidence in favour of its ancient chronology.