found in them by fanciful people; and that such as are fanciful in any one certain way, will make out a thousand coincidences, which seem to favour their peculiar follies. Men, I say, may talk thus: but no one who is serious will [without enquiry] think these things to be nothing, if he considers the importance of collateral things and of even lesser circumstances in the evidence of probability." In the facts which have been described there is nothing more trivial than there is in the way in which Scripture deals with relations of number in general, and with the arithmetic of time in particular. We know for certain, that many great events of the Theocracy befel each in their season, at a conjuncture which was predestined and fixed not merely by the evolution of moral agencies but by astronomical periods: we know, in one instance at least, that the numbers secen, seventy, sixty-and-two, are chosen measures of that Divine Chronometry: we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the numbers seven, twelve, forty, and others, are perpetually recurring in Divine institutions and in the revealed history of God's dealings with Israel'. We cannot therefore be surprised, if it appears, on the result of a serious and faithful investigation, that the Almighty has left in the record of His moral government sundry vestiges of that awful Plan-left them, in like abstruse and recondite manner as He has imprinted on the visible world the traces of the 1 I gladly enrich my pages with the following most apposite passage of Mr. Williams's Thoughts on the Study of the Holy Gospels, (p. 202): "This analogy of time in things natural is connected also with what is spiritual and divine by Holy Scripture. As for instance, in the appointment of the sabbath: the seventh day, the seventh year, the seven times seventh. Nor is it possible to say to what extent this may reach, or how far it may regulate the Divine proceedings: as was the case in the duration of the captivity being regulated by sabbatical periods of time, "till the land had enjoyed her sabbaths.". These things would lead one to apprehend that there may be some law of analogy throughout the spiritual and material world, whereby the development of cer tain events may be according to certain intervals of time. And we may be able to ascertain 'sufficient to intimate the existence of a system although perfectly incapable of tracing out that system...." If my space allowed (for I add this note as these pages pass through the press) I would transcribe what this devout and eloquent writer has written in p. 207, on particular numbers, ending with the remark: "These three numbers, seven, forty and twelve, may serve as some slight indications of a hidden analogy of numbers by which successive periods of time may be regulated." That which in these thoughtful words is thrown out as hint and surmise is, in kind, precisely what I have undertaken to prove as matter of fact. Arithmetic whereby He wrought in the beginning, when “He made the weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure," when He assigned to sun, moon, and stars, their places, courses, and times, and impressed on every atom of matter its indefectible law of definite numerical proportions. Until, then, it shall be proved that the relations which have been described are merely accidental, I maintain on the one hand, that the existence of these sundry lines of design completes the proof of our historical deduction: viz. that Abraham received the Promise, Israel came out of Egypt, Christ was born and suffered, &c., in the years and on the days which have been mentioned. I maintain on the other hand, that the fact of the times of these great events being related among themselves and with other known great conjunctures in the ways which have been described, is a fact of Divine Providence, a fresh and unexpected manifestation of the Divine reality of the Sacred History. And this is not to argue in a vicious circle, from the reality of the dates to the reality of the economies, and yet, again, from the latter to the former. The dates were shown to be in a high degree probable before the economies were even discovered: the economies raise that probability to moral certainty. Take a parallel case. Certain portions of a temple, the work of a thoughtful architect, are inaccessible to direct measurement, so that some of the dimensions are known but approximately, and consequently are disputed, especially as the records left by the architect himself are in some points not precise, in others somewhat ambiguous. There is one estimate, however, which on the whole is better attested than any other. On submitting its dimensions to calculation, it appears that they are related by sundry significant numerical proportions, of a kind respecting which the artist was known to have dropt several hints. It would be no vicious circle of reasoning to infer on the one hand, that the numerical relation put an end to the uncertainty about the dimensions; on the other, that the relation of the dimensions was conceived by the mind of the Master as part of his design. And this latter inference is, as was stated in the Introduction, the principal object with a view to which this enquiry was instituted. It was not for the determination of the merely historical chronology of the Scriptures, (important though that object be), that I set out in this undertaking: but because I saw reason to surmise that there was a higher interest involved in this matter; that the chronology of the Scriptures, as a whole, tended to the same sacred uses as does that one revealed portion of it which is contained in Daniel's prophecy. I have put the reader in possession not only of the results but of the whole process. Let him weigh well the evidence, and judge of its completeness. If I have rightly constructed the system of Scripture Chronology, and if the numerical parallelisms and cycles and measures be such as cannot be deemed fortuitous and unmeaning, it will follow that their meaning is one of an awful interest. For not only do these things constitute a fresh argument for the literal verity and objective reality of that History which our modern sceptics and pantheists would evaporate into national legend, mythus, and symbol: they also minister edification in the faith and fear of God: they help to realize the belief of His all-guiding Providence: they illustrate His truth: they bring Him nearer to us in His marvellous works. "Lo, these are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him! but the thunder of His power who can understand?" The reader may now be requested to consider the following passages in connexion with the preceding facts: i. e. bringing with him the matter of fact that the Times and Seasons were measured and defined by a numerical procedure of astronomical time. Acts i. 7. Οὐχ ὑμῶν ἐστι γνῶναι χρόνους ἢ καιροὺς οὓς ὁ Πατὴρ ἔθετο ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ. Acts xvii. 26. Θεὸς ἐποίησεν ἐξ ἑνὸς αἵματος πᾶν ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων, κατοικεῖν ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς, ὁρίσας προτεταγμένους καιροὺς καὶ τὰς ὁροθεσίας τῆς κατοικίας αὐτῶν, ζητεῖν τὸν Κύριον... Τούς μὲν οὖν χρόνους τῆς ἀγ νοίας υπεριδὼν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ νῦν παραγγέλλει τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πᾶσι πανταχοῦ μετανοεῖν, διότι ἔστησεν ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ μέλλει κρίνειν τὴν οἰκουμένην. (Eph. iii. 9. motto to Part II.) 1 Cor. x. 11. Ταῦτα πάντα τύποι συνέβαινον ἐκείνοις, ἐγράφη δὲ πρὸς νουθεσίαν ἡμῶν, εἰς οὓς τα τέλη τῶν αἰώνων δε κατήντησεν. Heb. ix. 26. Νῦν δὲ ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων . . πεφανέρωται. Gal. iv. 4. Ὅτε δὲ ἦλθε τὸ ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ. μίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν. πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, Eph. i. 9. εἰς οἰκονο Luke ix. 51. έγενετο Mark i. 15. Πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρός. δὲ ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναληψεως αὐτοῦ. John ii. 4. ούπω ἥκει ἡ ὥρα μου. vii. 68. ὁ καιρὸς ὁ ἐμὸς οὔπω πάρεστιν... οὔπω πεπλήρωται. xiii. 1. εἰδὼς ὁ ̓Ιησοῦς ὅτι ἐλήλυθεν αὐτοῦ ἡ ὥρα. xvii. 1. Πάτερ, ἐλήλυθεν ἡ ὥρα. Matt. xxvi. 18. Ο καιρός μου ἐγγὺς ἐστιν. Rom. v. 6, ἔτι γὰρ Χριστὸς ὄντων ἡμῶν ἀσθενῶν κατὰ καιρόν ὑπὲρ ἀσεβῶν ἀπέθανε. Rom. xvi. 25. τὸ κήρυγμα Ι. Χ. κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν μυστη ρίου χρόνοις αἰωνίοις σεσιγημένου φανερωθέντος δὲ νῦν. Heb. i. 1. Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ Θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις ἐπ ̓ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ (“at the close of these days," or, "as these days, this dispensation, came to a close”). 1 Pet. i. 20. φανερωθέντος ἐπ ̓ ἐσχάτων τῶν χρόνων (= ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων : not, in the last times, but " in the end of the times.") = the 1 Tim. vi. 15. “Christ will be manifested καιροῖς ἰδίοις. Comp. ib. ii. 6, “ Antichrist will be revealed ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ καιρῷ. Luke xxi. 24, Jerusalem shall be trodden by the Gentiles, ἄχρι πληρωθῶσι καιροὶ ἐθνῶν. Rev. ix. 15, The four angels hosts of the Gentiles (comp. x. 2.) were prepared, eis tŷv wpav καὶ ἡμέραν καὶ μῆνα καὶ ̓νιαυτὸν (“ for that hour and day and month and year.”) Matt. xxiv. 22, εἰ μὴ ἐκολοβώθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι ἐκεῖναι οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ· διὰ δὲ τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς κολοβωθήσονται αἱ ἡμέραι ἐκεῖναι. αν The Old Testament affords numerous instances of a set time or term of years allotted to nations and individuals. "The Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh yet his days shall be 120 years." Gen. vi. 3, comp. 1 Pet. iii. 20. "They shall afflict them 400 years." Gen. xv. 13. " After the number of days in which ye searched "In the land, even 40 days, each day for a year shall ye bear your iniquities, even 40 years." Numb. xiv. 34. "Within 65 years shall Ephraim be broken in pieces." Isai. vii. 8. three years as the years of an hireling shall the glory of Moab be put to confusion." Isai. xvi. 14. "In that day shall Tyre lie forgotten seventy years, according to the time of one king." Isai. xxiii. 15 ff. "The years of their iniquity according to the number of the days, 390 days of the house of Israel, and 40 days of the house of Judah." Ezek. iv. 5. "These nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." Seventy sevens are ordained upon thy people, &c." Observe also in Daniel, besides the explicit periods, 2300, 1290, 1335 days, "a time, times, and a half," the numerous expressions, "at the time of the end," viii. 17; " in the end of the years,” xi. 6; "the end is yet deferred until the time appointed," xi. 27. The day of vengeance was decreed by Me, Jer. xxv. 11. Dan. ix. 24. The year of my deliverance was come. Isai. Ixiii. 4. Then will I oppress Ariel. Isai. xxix. 1. Write the vision, and grave it on the tables, That he may run who reads therein, For the vision is yet for the (appointed) time. Hab. ii. 3. His days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee: Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. Job xiv. 5. |