SECTION II.

IMPROVEMENT OF CHRONOLOGY.

ART. I. RULES OF CHRONOLOGIZING.

WHEN we survey the strange variety and discordancy of the several received systems of Chronology, scarcely two of them agreeing, even in their fundamental dates, and all differing from each other, more or less, in the principles of their construction, and in the application of those principles; sometimes adjusting sacred chronology by profane, and sometimes the reverse, without any settled rule or standard; we may naturally be led to despair of any solid or scientific improvement of the subject; especially at this advanced season, after the failure of so many of the greatest Scholars, Historians, Mathematicians, and Astronomers*; when no fresh documents can be expected; and when many valuable records, to which the earlier Chronologers had access, are now lost and swallowed up in the abyss of time. A modern Chronologer declares: "If it is easy to pull down the system of Chronologists, it is by no means so to build up in their room one that can support itself against all difficulties: I do not even believe it possible." Larcher. Herodote, Tom. I, p. 309, 1st Edit.

It is indeed" easy to pull down," as may appear from the foregoing section: but " to build up," is most difficult;-to cleanse the Augean stable of the mass of errors, accumulated in the course of ages, and still accumulating from the indolent practice of building upon decayed and rotten foundations, at present, is a task most arduous and truly Herculean. Still, however, though difficult the attempt, it is by no means " impossible," in Larcher's desponding style, provided the work be undertaken in a right way, and pursued upon a correct plan; provided certain fixed and established principles, or rules of chronologizing, be laid down and steadily adhered to; and that the original records and documents still subsisting, be more closely inspected, and more critically compared together, than has been hitherto done; and that Sacred Chronology be made

* Scaliger, speaking of the requisites for a Chronologer, says, Nemo, nisi liberalibus disciplinis, et omnigenis artibus initiatus, accedat. And perhaps the failure of so many may be ascribed to their being only partially qualified for the study: few possessing all the requisites,

the invariable basis and standard of profane, by reference to which the whole of ancient Chronology must be adjusted, as by the only certain criterion. For as the venerable Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, the earliest Christian Chronologer, observed:

Ο πας χρόνος και τα ετη δείκνυται τοις βουλομενοις πείθεσθαι τη Αληθεια. "The whole time [from the Creation] and the years [since] are discoverable by those who are willing to obey THE TRUTH.”

Nor is Chronology, at present, in a more wretched state than was Philosophy before the days of Newton; during the reign of the Aristotelian, Ptolomaic, and Cartesian systems; furnishing but too much occasion to the profane remark of the scientific Alphonsus that if "GOD had deigned to consult him at the Creation, he could have given HIM good advice!" Indeed, Ptolomy's epicycles, to account for the regressions of the planets; Descartes's vortices, to account for their annual motions; and the eternity of the world, according to the Peripatetic system, were revolting to reason and science, and repugnant to the laws of mechanics, and of natural history.

The same admirable methods and the same means that were so successfully employed by the illustrious Newton, in raising Experimental Philosophy from her low estate of vassalage, under fanciful and unfounded hypotheses, to her proper rank and dignity as a science, are still open in Chronology. Had he exerted the same "patient thinking," (to which he modestly attributed his success in Philosophy and Mathematics) the same cool and unprejudiced judgment, the same dislike to idle hypotheseshypotheses non fingo"-in his chronological studies, we should not have to regret the waste of his time, and the perversion of his great talents, for the last thirty years of his life; nor would there probably have been occasion for the present rectification of Ancient Chronology. Even before Newton, the sagacious Bacon, in his Improvements of the Sciences, skilfully pointed out the course to be pursued by the Chronologer :

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By persevering industry, and by scrupulous attention to genealogies, monuments, inscriptions, names, titles, traditions and archives, fragments of history, and scattered passages from rare books on very different subjects, may a VENERABLE TABLET be preserved from the shipwreck of time; a work operose and painful to the author, but extremely delightful to his readers."

But "persevering industry" and "scrupulous attention" may

be helped considerably by the following Canons, or Rules of Chronologizing, suggested by Newton's Rules of Philosophizing, in his Principia, lib. iii. And such indeed are still more necessary in Chronology than in Philosophy, on account of the greater obscurity of the subject, the wider range of materials to be collected and compared together, and the various and perplexing degrees of evidence, or counter-evidence, they are capable of affording in all their different bearings and aspects.

RULE I. To adhere to the Scriptural Standard.

The oldest records of time now extant are unquestionably the Mosaical. They are much earlier than the fragments of Sanchoniatho, Berosus, and Manetho, and indeed exhibit internal evidence of a purer and remoter antiquity, free from those monstrous fictions and absurdities, under which these heathen records caricature the venerable features of primæval history. The only sure and certain pole-star, to guide our wandering steps through the mazes, the deserts, and the quicksands of ancient and primæval Chronology, in which so many adventurers have been lost or swallowed up, by following the ignis fatuus of their own imaginations, or the treacherous glare of hypotheses, are the SACRED SCRIPTURES, well understood, and carefully and critically compared together; for otherwise, they also may be perverted into sources of error and confusion. "If we take THE BIBLE along with us, it is a teacher that will direct us through all the obscurity and maze of things, solve every difficulty, and lead up truth to the fountain-head." Ellis. "The purest and most fruitful source of ancient history is, doubtless, to be found in the HOLY BIBLE." Bielfield.

"The history recorded by Moses appears like a bright but remote object, seen through the glass of an excellent optician, clear, distinct, and well defined; but when we look back upon the accounts transmitted concerning the Assyrians, Egyptians, Medes, and Scythians, or those of the early ages of Italy and Greece, we find nothing but a series of incredible and inconsistent events, and groups of strange beings,

Abortive, monstrous, and unkindly mixed,

Gorgons, and Harpies, and Chimeras dire."

Such is the just and beautiful imagery of the learned and ingenious, but sometimes over-fanciful Bryant.

This was the primary canon prescribed by the earliest Christian Chronologer Theophilus, in the foregoing passage, when by “THE TRUTH” he evidently meant HOLY WRIT, as appears from the following restriction:-"We are ignorant, perhaps, of the accurate amount of all the years, because current months and days are not set down in the SACRED WRITINGS.”

And to the neglect of this canon we may trace up much of that heterogeneous mixture of sacred and profane chronology, which disgraces and embarrasses the systems of Scaliger, Usher, Petavius, &c. Had these great men, for instance, attended more closely to the sacred Scriptures, they would not have adopted that gross error of the double capture of Nineveh, nor would Newton have identified Sesostris with Sesac. If, on the other hand, the present work shall be found to have improved, in any respect, upon its predecessors, the improvement may be principally ascribed to the careful study of, and rigid adherence to, THE ORIGINAL SCRIPTURES OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT.

RULE II. To begin with the Analytical Method, and end with the Synthetical.

The former part of this rule is well expressed by Dodwell: A certioribus temporibus ad incertiora progrediendum, “ To proceed from the [nearer] times which are more certain, to the [remoter] which are more uncertain," or from "known to unknown dates."

The nature and application of the Analytical and Synthetical methods, is thus admirably taught by Newton, in his Optics, p. 380.

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As in Mathematics, so in Natural Philosophy, the investigation of difficult things by the method of Analysis, ought ever to precede the method of Composition [or Synthesis.]

"This Analysis consists in making experiments and observations, and in drawing general conclusions from them by Induction, and admitting of no objections against the conclusions, but such as are taken from experiments, or other certain truths : for hypotheses are not to be regarded in Experimental Philosophy. By this way of Analysis, we may proceed from compounds to ingredients, &c. and in general from effects to their causes, and from particular causes to more general ones, till the argument end in the most general. This is the method of Analysis.

"And the Synthesis consists in assuming the causes discovered and established as principles, and by them explaining the phanomena proceeding from them, and proving the explanations."

And Newton himself has finely illustrated the application of these methods in his Optics and Principia, and also in his Chronology. In the last of these works, he investigated, by the Analytical method, his four cardinal epochs of Grecian Chronology, beginning with the lowest, the return of the Heraclidæ, as best known, and ending with the highest, the return of Sesostris, as least known, and connecting the intermediate epochs with each other, and with the extremes. And again, from these cardinal epochs assumed as principles, he has deduced several subordinate dates, as Deucalion's flood, the arrival of Cadmus in Greece, the flight of Danaus, &c.

The great Basil recommended the Analytical method for the discovery of the duration of the world.

"It is possible for you to learn from what time the creation of this world began, if going backwards from the present to the past, you shall endeavour to find out the first day of the creation; for by this method, you will find out from whence time acquired its first motion," as measured by the motions of the sun and

moon.

And as a key to the right understanding of the plan upon which the following work was constructed, the leading elementary date, by reference to which the whole range of sacred and profane Chronology has been adjusted, is the birth of Cyrus, B.C. 599, which led to his accession to the throne of Persia, B.C. 559; of Media, B.C. 551; and of Babylonia, B.C. 536: for, from these several dates, carefully and critically ascertained and verified, the several respective chronologies of these kingdoms branched off; and from the last especially, the destruction of Solomon's temple by Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 586, its correcter date; which led to its foundation, B.C. 1027; thence to the Exode, B.C. 1648; thence to Abraham's birth, B.C. 2153; thence to the reign of Nimrod, B.C. 2554; thence to the Deluge, B.C. 3155; and thence to the Creation, B.C. 5411. And this date of the Creation is verified by the rectification of the systems of Josephus and Theophilus, as will be shewn in the sequel.