CHAPTER III.

TRADITIONARY AND POETICAL AGES OF THE WORLD.

1. Tradition concerning the Seventh Age—Prophecy of the Universal Saviour—Traditions of the Jews—Opinion of Irenæus and the Christian Church in his time—Dr. Russell’s opinion confuted—Testimony of the Heathen to the Tradition of the _Seven Ages_—Digression on the Corruptions of the Septuagint and the Hebrew text—Arguments against the numerical accuracy of the latter—Remarkable prophecy contained in the names of the _Antediluvian_ Patriarchs—Opinions of Augustine and Abulfarajius—Notion of Dr. Isaac Barrow—Important admission of Eusebius—Opinion of Ephrem Syrus.

The idea that the improvement and the happiness of the human race is progressive, and that the succeeding age is always to be superior to the present, appears to have prevailed in every clime and in every age of the world. Such a sentiment seems indeed to be interwoven with our very nature and constitution; and the words of the Poet are true, not only of each individual of the species, but also of every successive generation:—

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man _never is_, but _always to be_ blest.”

When we take an extensive review of the past, we also find that there have been ages of the world previous to our own, in which mankind enjoyed a length of days, and a degree of innocence and happiness, now altogether unknown. All have, in fact, heard of the blessedness of the Paradisaical state, and all sigh for its return. The restoration of man to this state, has been the subject of promise, and the theme of prophecy and song; the sentiment has been found in all countries, and under every Dispensation; and many of the Divine appointments, both of nature and of Providence, seem to have had an express reference to the accomplishment of this glorious and benignant purpose. The Septenary division of time was impressed on the human mind from the era of creation; it was perpetuated in the Mosaic institutions; and a constant succession of Septennial changes in the frame of man himself from his birth to his death, has tended to keep alive the idea that the Great period of the Restoration of all things is measured by the number _Seven_. Hence, arose the universal opinion, corroborated by tradition, that the World was to continue for _Six_ successive ages, appointed ages of trial and probation, and that the _Seventh_ age would be a state of never-ending felicity and joy. Poets and philosophers, always the most sanguine of our race, have in every nation seized upon this idea, and by the splendid efforts of their genius, engrafted it upon the early history of their respective countries. Thus, compositions which were at first admired only as the production of superior intellect, became early incorporated with the popular creed, and were at last admitted by all as the true records of antiquity.[53]

The Jews, with whose forefathers no doubt the true ideas concerning the various ages of the world originated, had, as we have seen, divided the Grand Interval from Creation to the time assigned by prophecy for the coming of the Messiah, into _six_ subordinate periods, the true extent of which we have already determined. More than a _thousand_ years, however, before the latter event took place, the great Hebrew Warrior and King prophesied in Sacred Song, concerning the only begotten Son of God, who was to receive the Heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his possession; concerning Him who was to be fairer than the children of men, and whose throne, like that of the Eternal, was to be for ever and ever; whose dominion should be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth; and before whom all kings should fall down and worship, and whom all nations should serve and call the _Blessed and only Potentate_; Psalms ii., xlv., lxxii. About _three centuries_ later than the time of David, Isaiah received his Divine Commission to deliver the prophecy concerning Him of whom Moses and the Prophets did write, in which He was described as “the Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, and the _Father of the Future or Everlasting Age_.”[54] During the _Fifth_ or Monarchal Age, therefore, the idea had spread abroad, not only among the Jews, but among all nations, that the Renovation of the World would be accomplished in the _Sixth_ or succeeding age, and that the Great King, called in Scripture, Σωτηρ or Saviour, would then set up his kingdom in eternal justice, and establish his dominion with everlasting peace; and nation should no longer lift up the sword against nation, neither should they learn the Art of War any more.

According to the Jews, however, who lived in the time of our Saviour, the grand object of the mission of the promised Messiah was not to be consummated till the _Seventh_ age, when should commence, to use the words of the Apostle, who applied them very differently, the keeping of the eternal “Sabbatism which remaineth for the people of God.” This notion of a _Seventh_ age was not entirely unknown to the Heathen, for we find some traces of it in their writings; but it seems to have originated in the mysticism or glosses of those who at that period, had made “the word of God of none effect through their traditions.” It is of great importance to our argument, to give some instances of this mysticism, as it incidentally proves that the Jews originally held the longer computation. One of the reasons assigned by their Rabbins for the tradition of the _Seven ages_, from time immemorial, is that because the Hebrew letter ‏א‎ _Aleph_, which (pointed) stands with them for a _thousand_, is found to occur _six times_ in the 1st verse of the 1st chapter of Genesis; therefore, the world is to last in its corrupt or fallen state for _six thousand_ years; and that then it is to be restored and purified as at the beginning! Another reason, to which indeed, we have already adverted in our First Part, is that because God employed _six days_ in the work of Creation, and rested on the _Seventh day_; therefore, there are to be _Seven ages_ of the World, each containing a _thousand years_! Such notions as these appear to have been current among both Jews and Christians in the days of the Apostles; and we find them transmitted with even a higher degree of mysticism, to the first age of _Apostolical Succession_! Irenæus, who flourished A. D. 170, in commenting on the number of the Beast, endeavours to connect the _Six_ ages of the world, with the number _Six_, which occurs in the units, tens, and hundreds of that number, and adds, “For in as many days as the world was made, in so many thousand years is it being brought to an end”. And on this account, the Scripture says—and the heavens and the earth were finished and all their garniture; and on the _Sixth day_, God finished the works which he made; and on the _Seventh day_, God ceased from all his works—but this is a narration of the prototypes of things, and a prophecy of things that shall come to pass; for the day of the Lord is as a _thousand years_: but in _Six days_ the creation was finished; it is manifest, therefore, that its consummation is the _six thousandth year_.[55] In this curious passage, it is evident that the disciple of John, the beloved Apostle, has followed the ideas of the Jews rather than those of his inspired Master, and has mingled up the mystical notions of the Rabbins with the sacred truths of Revelation.

While we admit, however, that the followers of Christ and his Apostles had erroneous views respecting the Jewish tradition, which we have thus traced to its real source, we cannot adopt the opinion of Dr. Russell, p. 103, vol. i. of his “Connection,” that the apostles themselves _wrote_ under the influence of such views, or that it formed any part of _their theological system_, although it entered deeply into those “of the age which witnessed the introduction of our holy faith.” They wrote under the influence of that Spirit which Christ promised to send, in order to lead and to guide them into _all the truth_; it is impossible, therefore, to imagine, that the Apostles Paul and John in their writings, “partook of those impressions relative to the speedy arrival of the first resurrection, and the beginning of the Messiah’s reign, which prevailed among their countrymen;” nor, can we agree, as he does, “with Grotius, who hesitates not to state that St. Paul thought it possible that he might be alive at the time of the general judgment,” as we see no evidence for such a statement in any part of the New Testament. The reply of our Saviour, while yet on earth, to the inquiry put by his disciples,—“When shall these things be, and what the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”—sufficiently points out their mistake in supposing, as the unbelieving Jews did, that the first advent of the Messiah and the consummation of all things, were contemporaneous or approximate events: and clearly shows that instead of the “general judgment” after or upon his advent, there would only be a particular one, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and that it would be fulfilled in the experience of that generation, for their rejection of the true Messiah, as the filling up of the measure of the iniquities of their fathers. So much hold, however, had the tradition in question taken on the minds of the Jews as a nation, that we find the words of Paul, in 1 Thess. iv. 15–17, respecting the resurrection of the dead, and the Second Advent of Christ, were either misunderstood or misinterpreted by some of those to whom they were addressed. Hence, he was obliged to address them a second time, in the following words; 2 Thess. ii. 1: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not _soon_ shaken in mind, or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by _letter_ as from us, as that the _day of Christ_ is at hand.” The rest of the Apostle’s warning advice in this chapter, plainly indicates that many ages were to elapse before the epoch of the Second advent, and the arrival of the end of the world. The time, indeed, necessary for the fulfilment of the prophecies, of both the Old and New Testament, especially those contained in the books of Daniel and the Revelation of John, must have clearly evinced to the minds of well-informed Christians, as well as those of the Apostles themselves, that many predicted events had yet to receive their accomplishment; and, that God’s controversy with the nations, and particularly with his ancient people Israel, required a longer interval than that which the Judaizing teachers among them had dared to assign, and which, to give it greater currency, it appears that they were desirous to father upon the great Apostle of the Gentiles.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that a very considerable degree of plausibility might attach to such sentiments among the early Christians, from the occurrence of such expressions as the following in the writings of the Apostles: 2 Peter iii. 8, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” This expression, however, merely exhibits in words suited to our ordinary conceptions, the great truth which should ever be present to our minds, that all time appears but as a single moment to the eternal Jehovah, who sees the end from the beginning, and to whom the ideas both of space and time, as they exist in our finite understandings, are altogether unknown. The same sublime sentiment, similarly expressed, is also to be found in one of the Psalms, the authorship of which is ascribed to Moses, the man of God: thus, “a thousand years in thy sight, are but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” It is evident, therefore, from the extreme generality of the expressions employed, that no specific conclusion can be drawn from these and similar passages of Scripture, respecting the true period of the world’s duration. Their simple intent is to convey to our minds an idea of the eternity of the Almighty, and they are of the same import as the following, which proves the eternal Divinity of our Lord; namely, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” Hence, it is plain that the idea, entertained by many divines, of the duration of the world for a period of only _Seven thousand_ years, (a period, which, in fact, as we have shown in our _First Part_, it has already passed) is a figment of the human imagination, which has no foundation in real tradition or prophecy, and which is contrary to the express revelations of Scripture. In a note to this paragraph, consisting chiefly of references to the authors who have treated of or touched upon the opinion of Irenæus and the whole Christian church after the Apostolic times, the learned reader will find sufficient ground for the belief that the longer or Septuagint chronology was universally held by ancient writers both before and after the Christian era.[56] We proceed to notice the evidence on this point, which may be gathered from the testimony of the Heathen.

“The belief of this singular notion, concerning the _Seven ages_,” says Dr. Russell, p. 76, vol. i. of his _Connection_, “has been detected in the writings of Heathens, Jews, and Christians. It is traced in the Sybilline oracles, in Hesiod, in the work ascribed to Darius Hystaspes the King of the Medes, and in Hermes Trismegistus, the celebrated founder of Egyptian learning and science. Plato quotes from Orpheus the same mystical doctrine; handing down to more recent times the persuasion of the first generations of the human race, that the earth, which was given to them for a habitation during _Six ages_, was doomed in the _Seventh_ to be consumed by fire.”[57] Dr. Russell discovers in the prevalence of these opinions and expectations, however ill-founded and absurd they may seem, the principal motive which actuated the Jews about the beginning of the Second century, in their attempt to vitiate the most ancient of their chronicles. “Their rejection of Christ,” says he, “rendered necessary an extensive change in their dates and calculations; and if we may trust to the assertions of Justin Martyr and other primitive apologists for our holy faith, we cannot doubt that their fraudulent purpose was realized to a considerable extent. ‘I entreat you to remember,’ says the Father now named, when addressing Trypho the Jew, ‘that your Rabbis have taken away entirely many texts of Scripture from that version which was made by the Elders who were at the court of Ptolemy, in which it was declared, that Jesus who suffered death upon the cross was both God and man: and wherein it was also predicted that he was to be crucified and submit to the power of the grave. These texts, because I know that your nation now rejects them, I will not insist upon in the course of our inquiries, but shall content myself with appealing to those prophecies and descriptions respecting the divine power, which are still allowed to remain in your sacred books.’ After quoting a passage from Jeremiah, which the Christian author applies to the point in discussion, as an argument in favour of the views adopted by the Church, he reminds his antagonist, that the text now in question was still found in certain copies of the Old Testament which continue to be read in the Synagogues; for, says he, this portion of Holy Writ has been but lately expunged by your doctors; and that on account of the unanswerable demonstration founded upon it, in regard to the conduct of the Jews towards Christ, against whom it was predicted that they would take counsel, and afterwards put him to death.” Archbishop Usher, in reference to this passage of Justin Martyr, says, in his “Syntagma,” pp. 44, 45, that this Father produces _four_ testimonies concerning Christ the Saviour which he affirms were abstracted from the version of the Seventy Elders: the _second_ of which is still found entire in all our books, namely, Jeremiah xi. 19. But the _first_, abstracted from the book of Ezra, chap vi., which is testified by Lactantius, lib. 4. Institut. cap. 18, is as follows: _And Ezra said unto the people, This passover is our Saviour and our Refuge; and if ye did consider, and it came up into your heart, that we shall humiliate him in a sign, and if afterwards ye shall believe upon him, this place shall never be left desolate, saith the Lord of Hosts; but if ye will not believe on him, nor hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a laughing-stock to the Heathen_. The _third_ testimony, which is found in Irenæus, lib. 5, cap. 26, is said to have been cut out of Jeremiah: _But the Lord God of Israel remembered his dead who slept in the land of heaps, and descended to them to declare unto them the good news of his salvation_. The _fourth_ and last is taken from Psalm xcv. (or xcvi. according to the Hebrew) v. 10, where the reading should be, _Declare among the Heathen, The Lord reigned from the tree_; the words “_from the tree_” are said to have been erased by the Jews, although they are to be found in the ancient editions of the Latin Psalter, and are cited by several ancient authors whose names and works the Archbishop enumerates.

The best proof, however, that the Jews have tampered with some passages of Scripture, is to be found in the discrepancy which exists between most of the passages which are cited in the New Testament out of the Old, and which agree more nearly with the Septuagint, mutilated as it has been, than with the present Hebrew Text. The most striking case of this kind is to be found in the passage cited by Paul, Hebrews x. 5, from Psalm xl. 6; where instead of the words “mine ears hast thou opened” as in the Hebrew, we have “A body hast thou prepared me,” as in the Septuagint. The straining of commentators to make these totally different readings signify _exactly_ the same thing is perfectly astonishing, when we consider that the simple admission of the corruption of the Hebrew text in this passage at once solves the difficulty! Another remarkable case is the passage cited by the same Apostle, Romans iii. 10–18, from Psalm xiv. 3, where the greater part of the quotation, from v. 13 to v. 18 inclusive, is entirely omitted in the present Hebrew text, but is to be found verbatim in the Septuagint, Vatican edition. The reason assigned by Dr. Wall for its insertion in this edition, and its omission in the Alexandrine MS., is not at all satisfactory; because it does not in the least account for the full quotation of the passage by the Apostle; it does not at all answer the question, where did St. Paul get the verses? A third case is that of the celebrated passage in Psalm xxii. 17, where, instead of the words “they pierced my hands and my feet,” as in the Septuagint, the Hebrew has to this day, the reading “as a lion my hands and my feet;” but as this passage had no sense or meaning, the English translators were fain to avail themselves of the reading of the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. But it is unnecessary to multiply discrepancies of this kind; enough has been adduced to show that implicit reliance is not to be placed on the present Hebrew text. As to the discrepancy in Gen. ii. 2, between the Hebrew and Septuagint, regarding the day on which “God ended his work,” it can only be accounted for on one or other of the following principles: either a mistake has been committed in transcribing the Hebrew text; or, a change has been wilfully introduced into that text. For it is quite inconsistent with the fact, and with the preceding context, to say that God _ended_ his work on the _Seventh_ day! In that context, Gen. i. 31, we are told that “God saw ALL that He had made, and behold it was very good; and the evening and the morning were the _Sixth day_.” It is manifest that to _end work_ on the _Seventh day_, would be to perform a _part_ of it on _that day_; and, consequently, the _whole_ of the Sabbath could not be said to have been _devoted to rest_, nor _wholly_ blessed and sanctified _on this account_. It is easy to see that a loop-hole is thus given, by an error in that text and in our translation, we fear more wilful than accidental on the part of the Jews, to the _partial_ observance of the Sabbath, and to the _notion_ acted on by many in former ages, and by multitudes in the present, that it is only _that part_ of the Sabbath devoted to religious services in public, which is to be accounted _sacred_; the remainder of the day being devotable either to work, to literary pursuits, or to sensual enjoyment. Mankind, both Jews and Christians, has in all ages been too anxious to throw off the strict and unalterable obligation of keeping the Sabbath holy to the Lord; but the true Christian, he who is a “Jew inwardly,” though “not outwardly,” feels his highest enjoyment in the Scriptural employment of that Holy Day, considering it as a foretaste and an earnest of the glorious and eternal Sabbath in Heaven.

A strong argument against the accuracy of the present Hebrew text, is derived, as we have seen, from the different accounts of the census of the Hebrew Patriarchs and their families, at the epoch of their migration into Egypt, to be found in the Old and New Testaments. In Acts