it
is meet that we inquire no further into it." Since the time of St.
Augustine the Scriptures had been made the great and final authority in
all matters of science, and theologians had deduced from them schemes of
chronology and cosmogony which had proved to be stumbling-blocks to the
advance of real knowledge.

It is not necessary for us to do more than to allude to some of the
leading features of these schemes; their peculiarities will be easily
discerned with sufficient clearness. Thus, from the six days of creation
and the Sabbath-day of rest, since we are told that a day is with the
Lord as a thousand years, it was inferred that the duration of the
world will be through six thousand years of suffering, and an additional
thousand, a millennium of rest. It was generally admitted that the
earth was about four thousand years old at the birth of Christ, but, so
careless had Europe been in the study of its annals, that not Until
A.D. 627 had it a proper chronology of its own. A Roman abbot, Dionysius
Exiguus, or Dennis the Less, then fixed the vulgar era, and gave Europe
its present Christian chronology.

The method followed in obtaining the earliest chronological dates was
by computations, mainly founded on the lives of the patriarchs. Much
difficulty was encountered in reconciling numerical discrepancies. Even
if, as was taken for granted in those uncritical ages, Moses was the
author of the books imputed to him, due weight was not given to the fact
that he related events, many of which took place more than two thousand
years before he was born. It scarcely seemed necessary to regard the
Pentateuch as of plenary inspiration, since no means had been provided
to perpetuate its correctness. The different copies which had escaped
the chances of time varied very much; thus the Samaritan made thirteen
hundred and seven years from the Creation to the Deluge, the Hebrew
sixteen hundred and fifty-six, the Septuagint twenty-two hundred and
sixty-three. The Septuagint counted fifteen hundred years more from the
Creation to Abraham than the Hebrew. In general, however, there was
an inclination to the supposition that the Deluge took place about two
thousand years after the Creation, and, after another interval of two
thousand years, Christ was born. Persons who had given much attention
to the subject affirmed that there were not less than one hundred
and thirty-two different opinions as to the year in which the Messiah
appeared