July the third on the 27. day of October the fourth and the last on the 25. day of January by which I meane that there the fourth or last Quarter of the yeare began and was not ended till the 23. day of April next after was finished And why they be not still on those dayes is because the Equinoctiall and Solstitiall points have anticipated and not kept their places on those dayes and Moneths they were at the first which anticipation is not in regard of any errour or irregularity that is in the motion of the Sun but because the Julian year agreeth not thereunto but is a little longer then of right it should be For the true Solar year in the meane measure thereof doth not consist of 365. dayes and full six hours but rather of 365. dayes five hours 48 minutes 39 seconds and 41 thirds By which length of the Tropicall year we finde in one year an anticipation of eleven minutes twenty seconds and nineteen thirds which though it be at the first but a little will neverthelesse in many years amount to the number of no few dayes as we see it doth For by the end of 127 years will be twenty four hours gained with thirteen thirds thereby declaring that the day of the Vernall Equinox in the beginning of the World even till 95 years were ended was in the common years on the 23 day of Aprill though it be now on the tenth day of March and the Autumnall Equinox on the 27 day of October though it be now on the 13 day of September Thus I say it was in the common years though in the Bissextile one day sooner And why I allow but ninty five years at the first for the alteration of a day is not because twenty four houres are gained in that time but because the time of the first Equinox was at the * At wch time the first day of the World began reaching the very evening of the 2 c. day evening of the 23 day And therefore though at the first ninty five years will bring the Equinox to a new day according to the Julian account which begins the day from Midnight yet afterwards we must not reckon that these Tekupha's change their places so as to be on a new day after the same account till the end of the 127 years after I conclude therefore this rule observed that the Tekupha's change their places one day by the end of 127 years and must be therefore set either backward or forward according to the time propounded wherein we seek them which the late Jews not observing have them now not in their right places although by them they still divide the year into four Quarters But of this enough onely let me adde a Table therein to shew how much the anticipation commeth to in any year desired from one to six thousand And after that another Table for the more ready finding the particular day of either Equinox A Table by which may be found how much the Equinoctiall anticipateth in any year desired from one to six thousand Years Dayes Houres Minutes Seconds Thirds 1 0 0 11 20 19 2 0 0 22 40 38 3 0 0 34 0 57 4 0 0 45 21 16 5 0 0 56 41 35 6 0 1 8 1 54 7 0 1 19 22 13 8 0 1 30 42 32 9 0 1 42 2 51 10 0 1 53 23 10 20 0 3 46 46 20 30 0 5 40 9 30 40 0 7 33 32 40 50 0 9 26 55 50 60 0 11 20 19 0 70 0 13 13 42 10 80 0 15 7 5 20 90 0 17 0 28 30 100 0 18 53 51 40 120 0 22 40 38 0 127 1 0 0 0 13 200 1 13 47 43 20 300 2 8 41 35 0 400 3 3 35 26 40 500 3 22 29 18 20 600 4 17 23 10 0 700 5 12 17 1 40 800 6 7 10 53 20 900 7 2 4 45 0 1000 7 20 58 36 40 2000 15 17 57 13 20 3000 23 14 55 50 0 4000 31 11 53 26 40 5000 39 8 52 3 20 6000 47 5 50 40 0 Another TABLE more readily to finde the day of either Equinox by knowing either the year of the WORLD year of the Julian Period or common year of CHRIST Year of the World Year of the Julian Period Vernall Equinox Autumnall Equinox Yeare of Christ 1 710 Aprill 23 October 27 0 96 805 Aprill 22 October 26 0 223 932 Aprill 21 October 25 0 350 1059 Aprill 20 October 24 0 477 1186 Aprill 19 October 23 0 604 1313 Aprill 18 October 22 0 731 1440 Aprill 17 October 21 0 858 1567 Aprill 16 October 20 0 985 1694 Aprill 15 October 19 0 1112 1821 Aprill 14 October 18 0 1239 1948 Aprill 13 October 17 0 1366 2075 Aprill 12 October 16 0 1493 2202 Aprill 11 October 15 0 1620 2329 Aprill 10 October 14 0 1747 2456 Aprill 9 October 13 0 1874 2583 Aprill 8 October 12 0 2001 2710 Aprill 7 October 11 0 2128 2837 Aprill 6 October 10 0 2255 2964 Aprill 5 October 9 0 2382 3091 Aprill 4 October 8 0 2509 3218 Aprill 3 October 7 0 2636 3345 Aprill 2 October 6 0 2763 3472 Aprill 1 October 5 0 2890 3599 March 31 October 4 0 3017 3726 March 30 October 3 0 3144 3853 March 29 October 2 0 3271 3980 March 28 October 1 0 3398 4107 March 27 Septemb. 31 0 3525 4234 March 26 Septem 29 0 3652 4361 March 25 Septem 28 0 3779 4488 March 24 Septem 27 0 3906 4615 March 23 Septem 26 0 4033 4742 March 22 Septem 25 29 4160 4869 March 21 Septem 24 156 4287 4996 March 20 Septem 23 283 4414 5123 March 19 Septem 22 410 4541 5250 March 18 Septem 21 537 4668 5377 March 17 Septem 20 664 4795 5504 March 16 Septem 19 791 4922 5631 March 15 Septem 18 918 5049 5758 March 14 Septem 17 1045 5176 5885 March 13 Septem 16 1172 5303 6012 March 12 Septem 15 1299 5430 6139 March 11 Septem 14 1426 5557 6266 March 10 Septem 13 1553 5684 6393 March 9 Septem 12 1680 CHAP. V. Of the Periods of Time by which the Yeares of the World may be truly reckoned As also of the Jubilees how to account them where also to begin and end them THe first Period is from the beginning of the Creation in the latter end of October to the end of Noah's Flood and containeth the number of 1657. yeares compleat the full end not being till the yeare 1658. was begun The second is from the end of the said Flood when Noah came out of the Arke to the promise made to Abraham at the time of his departure from Charran into Canaan and is a Period of * Which in adding the Periods together must be added to 1658 and not to 1657. 427. yeares almost ended The third is from the promise at Abrahams departure from Charran to the comming of the Israelites out of Egypt and doth containe
fortunate in the enlarging of it they said of him that he was a second Ninus the time of whose reigne is gathered out of Castor aforesaid in the Greeke Chronicle of Eusebius to be nine yeares His Successor I take to be the same who in the Scripture is called Phul and came in the dayes of Menahem and invaded the land of Israel 2 Kin. 15.19 and 1 Chr. 5.26 How long he reigned is not expressed any where that I know except it be in the Writings of Annius where we find 48. yeares mentioned for the time of his reigne Tiglath pilezer succeeded him and according to the said Author reigned 25. years Salmanasar 17. Senacharib 7. How I should contradict this Author for the reigns of these four Kings I cannot see except it be in the reigne of Phul who if the rest be right must have but 43. because after Senacharibs army was slain by the Angel and that he thereupon went streight way home with shame to his owne Country he lived not fully fifty five dayes For before 55. dayes were ended he was slain by his own Sons Adramelech and Sharezer as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god Tob. 1.21 and Esa 37.38 If any further helpe could be had from other Authors I would not be beholding to Annius for thus much but because it cannot it wil I hope be no harm to take aime from him so farre as he thwarts no other To the next King namely Esarhaddon or as he is otherwise written Asarhaddon he giveth ten years but there I leave him For it is extreamely probable that he had a longer time then so thirty yeares in Niniveh and after that twelve yeares more in Babilon In all 42. with some odde moneths over above For at the end of the eight years of Interregnum that were in Babilon the King that began to reigne there was Assaradinus as Ptolomy calleth him in his Mathematical Canon of the Kings of Babilon who in all probability was this Assarhaddon the Sonne of Senacharib formerly mentioned And now see the List Yeares of the Julian whē they began to reigne A List or Catalogue of the Kings of Assyria after Sardanapalus 3893. Ninus junior 19. 3912. Phul 43. 3955. Tiglath pileser 25. 3980. Salmanassar 17. 3997. Senacharib 7. 4004. Esarhaddon 30. 4034. Here as is probable this King Esarhaddon beto reign in Babilon after he had been King of Assyria 30. years But the first of them in Babilon whose years of reign stand upon record since the Death of Sardanapalus was Nabonassar and with him Ptolomy begins his Mathematicall Canon before mentioned Howbeit by what we find elswhere it may be gathered that there were Kings of Babilon after Sardanapalus before the Aera of this King Nabonassar took beginning as in Eusebius his Chronicle may be seen in the beginning of the reigne of Arbaces For first having shewed how the Empire of the Assyrians was shattered in pieces by the fall of this Epicurious King he saith that the Medes brought it home to themselves that is they purchased hereby their ancient Liberty which with reference to the opinion of Herodotus before mentioned he sheweth to be so great that it was as if they had no Princes to reigne over them untill the time of Dioces and yet he setteth down four that reigned before him But they by slacking too much the reins of Soveraignty did more hurt to the generall estate of Media then the pleasure of freedome which it enjoyed could recompence For hereupon it came to passe that the Assyrians encroached upon their Dominions and got away some towns from them which they held still in the dayes of Salmanassar when the ten Tribes were carried away captive as the holy Scriptures beare us witnesse in 2 Kin. 18.11 and elsewhere Then secondly the Chaldeans also prevailed and had saith Eusebius successions of Kings And so had other Nations too who were now governed by their own proper Kings as wel as they By which it appeareth that there were Kings of Babylon before Nabonassar for the time from the death of Sardanapalus to the beginning of his reigne was 74 years But who they were that reigned in that space excepting Belesis or Belochus who was contemporary with Arbaces is altogether unknowne Probable it is that a new race of Kings began in Nabonassar or that he was some excellent restorer of Astronomie and thereupon had the honour of an account of times to be instituted and observed in memory of him ever after which began on the six and twentieth day of February in the year of the Julian Period 3967 when the year of the World was 3258. And as for the Kings you have them before in the first Part even in the latter end of the seventh Chapter page 50. The reignes also of the Kings of Persia The Kings of Persia from the beginning of Cyrus to the end of the last Darius be likewise there in the seventh Section of the eighth Chapter I shall not need therefore to set them downe againe here in this place but come next to the Kings of Mecedon These reigned 485 years from the beginning of Cranaus The Kings of Mecedon to the death of Alexander Magnus as Saint Austin rightly reckoneth in his twelfth booke and tenth Chapte Decivitate Dei This Cranaus began in the year of the Julian Period 3905. and reigned twenty eight years of whom and his Successours in the following List Yeares of the Julian Period when they beg A List or Catalogue of the Kings of Macedon fixed in their right times 3905. Cranaus 28. 3933. Coenus 12. 3945. Tyrimas 38. 3983. Perdiccas the first 51. 4034. Archeus 38. Yeares of the Iulian Period whē they beg The continuation of the former List or Catalogue of the Kings of Macedon 4072. Philippus 38. 4110. Aeropus 26. 4136. Alcetas 29. 4165. Amyntas the first 50. 4215. Alexander dives 43. 4258. Perdiccas the second 41. 4299. Archelaus 16. 4315. Orestes 00. 4315. Aeropas tutour to Orestes 6. 4321. Pausanias 1. 4322. Amyntas primo 1. 4323. Argeus 2. 4325. Amyntas again 21. 4346. Alexander 1. 4347. Alorites 3. 4350. Prediccas 4. 4354. Philip the Father of Alexander 24. 4378. Alexander magnus 12. 4390. Here Alexander dyed even in the first year of the hundreth and fourteenth Olympiad And note that Perdiccas the second had a longer reign then is commonly given him for he was alive in the sixtenth yeare of the Peloponnesian Warre and could not therefore have lesse then forty one yeares which number is given him by Nicomedes Acanthius as he is cited by Master Selden in his Marmora Arundelliana When he had reigned about twenty seven yeares viz. about the third or fourth yeare of the Peloponnesian War Sitalces King of Thrace came against him with a purpose to have made Philip the sonne of Amyntas King but by the care of Perdicccas a Peace was made and so Perdiccas kept his Kingdome still Note also that at the death of Alexander
the Moon p. 11 CHAP. IV. Of the antient and Naturall year that it was measured by the course of the Sunne though the Moneths were reckoned by the course of the Moon p. 19 CHAP. V. Of the Periods of time by which the years of the World may be truely reckoned As also of the Jubilees how to account them where also to begin and end them p. 25 CHAP. VI. Of the Julian Period and how to joyne the years of the World thereunto p. 33 CHAP. VII Other Observations concerning the Times in their Periods untill the Destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar p. 35 CHAP. VIII The Periods againe considered and all such doubts and scruples cleared as may arise concerning the just length of any of them together with answers to certaine other questions not impertinent p. 51. In the former Chapter be eight Sections CHAP. VIII Sect. 1. Of the time from the Creation to the end of the Flood p. 51 CHAP. VIII Sect. 2. Of the second Period from the end of the Flood when the face of the ground was dry to the Promise at the time of Abrahams departure from Charran into Canaan that it was a Period of 427. yeares current but not compleat p. 68 CHAP. VIII Sect. 3. Of the third Period from the promise at Abrahams departing out of Haran to the comming of the Israelites out of Egypt that it was a Period of 430 years p. 75 CHAP. VIII Sect. 4. Of the fourth Perod from the comming out of Egypt to the beginning of the building of Solomons Temple that it was a Period of 479 years compleat or of 480 current p. 78 CHAP. VIII Sect. 5. Of the fifth Period from the foundation of the Temple in the fourth year of King Solomon to the Desolation thereof by Nebuchadnezzar In which is also shewed the true and right account of the 390 and 40 years in Ezekiel p. 87 CHAP. VIII Sect. 6. Of the sixth Period from the Destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar to the beginning of the building thereof by Zorobabel in the second year of Darius King of Persia In handling whereof many things of note are discussed and Scaliger refused upon good and warrantable grounds both out of Scripture and other good Authours p. 106 CHAP. VIII Sect. 7. Of the seventh Period from the second year of Darius Hystaspis to the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus p. 115 CHAP. VIII Sect. 8. Of Daniels 70 Weekes in the ninth Chapter of his Prophecy at the 24.25 26 and 27. verses An exposition of them together with a Confutation of Master Broughton and others concerning Olympiads and length of the Persian Monarchy p. 124 CHAP. IX Of the LXX years in the Prophecy of the Prophet Jeremy commonly called the 70 years of Judahs Captivity p. 155 CHAP. X. Of the time when Tyrus and Egypt were subdued and taken by Nebuchadnessar according to the Prophecies of Esay Jeremy and Ezekiel p. 159 CHAP. XI Of the number of Kings that reigned in Babylon during the time of the Captivity In the handling whereof the fragments of Berosus and Megasthenes are examined divers errores of Scaliger discovered and the truth laid plainly open p. 164 CHAP. XII Of the first year of Cyrus and of Darius Medus mentioned in holy Scripture p. 174 CHAP. XIII Of Alexander the great signified by the Horne between the eyes of the Goat Dan. 8.5 p. 176 CHAP. XIIII Of the four hornes which came up in stead of the great horne broken off as was prophesied in Dan. 8.8 21 22. As also of the beginning of that Date of the Kingdome of the Greeks so often mentioned in the Books of the Maccabes and in Josephus p. 178 CHAP. XV. Of the little Horne in the eighth Chapter of Daniel at the ninth verse And at the 2300 dayes that were givin it verse 14. p. 180 CHAP. XVI Of the fourth Kingdome in Daniel that it signifieth the Monarchy of the Romans p. 182 CHAP. XVII Of the Times and Distances of the taking of Jerusalem by Pompey Herod and Titus p. 188 CHAP. XVIII Of the time of Herods reigne and of his Posterity p. 192 CHAP. XIX Of a true and right year of our Saviours Birth and Baptisme p. 202 CHAP. XX. Of the day of Christs birth that it was kept and on what Day both among the Ancients and in the succeeding Ages p. 212 CHAP. XXI Of the reigne of Tiberius and of the beginning and end of Pontius Pilat's government As also of the Year and Day of our Saviours Passion p. 228 CHAP. XXII Of Killing the Paschal Lambs and whether at Christ's death the Jews and our Saviour kept the Passeover upon one and the same day p. 237 CHAP. XXIII Wherein is shewed the times of Vespasian and Titus together with the Destruction of Hierusalem To which Chapter is added a Chronologicall Table and a Kalender for that very year wherein Hierusalem was destroyed by the Romans p. 241 CALAMVS MENSVRANS OR The measuring Reed CHAP. I. Gentle Reader I Have undertaken a Subject which in it selfe cannot be enough commended in the handling whereof I have opposed no man out of any Singularity or Spirit of contradiction but onely for the love of truth which I doubt not but I may do and yet arrogate to my self nothing more then is meet History is a Subject commended I know by the most as being the Herald of Antiquity the Light of Truth the Life of Memory and the Eye of the World but Chronology is little esteemed few prize it according to the true value and yet 't is indeed the very Eye of History Alter Historiae oculus as one speaketh And so another saying Nulla historia lucem habet sine temporum serie No history hath Light without a right order of the Times Nor can it be thought the Holy Spirit of God would be so exact in noting the Times even to Moneths Weeks and Dayes in the sacred story if the carefull account of them were not to be regarded Sure I am it can be no small confirmation of a mans faith concerning the threatnings and promises of God and consequently of the whole Scripture when he seeth how the Prophecies at their determined times came to be accomplished and how the linking of one period with another makes up such a chaine as cannot but minde us of the Providence of God in his Government of the World eternally foreknowing and wisely disposing of what should be acted in future times Math. 24.15 Our Saviour Christ mentioning the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet saith Let him that readeth understand Revel 13.18 And in the Revelation He that hath understanding let him count the number of the Beast Deut. 4.32 And in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy even the conferring the Histories of holy Scriptures with the Narrations of other credible bookes is commanded that thereby Gods doings may be compared Besides which the exact handling of these things makes it manifest that the Being of the
must lie on his right side 40. dayes more to beare the iniquity of Judah and yet in the next year on the fifth day of the sixth moneth he is said to sit againe among the Elders of Israel chap. 8.1 Which could not be unlesse there were a moneth intercalar For 40. dayes added to 390. doe make 430. which was a greater space then could be any way from the twelfth day of the fourth moneth in the fifth year to the fifth day of the sixth moneth in the following year unlesse there were I say a moneth intercalar Nor is this a strange collection for though these things perhaps were done in a vision yet that the Prophet might not tell the people a vaine vision nor deliver unto them an unwarrantable Prophecy he must upon necessity lie hid and be absent from them so long as was the number of those dayes And indeed by putting this upon tryall by calculation I find all fully cleared For in the year of the Julian Period 4119. which was as shall be afterwards proved the fifth yeare of Jechoniah's Captivity the first day of Nisan was on the twentieth day of March that year therefore must be annus Embolimaeus and have thirteen moneths or 384. dayes For if it had been twelve moneths or 354. dayes then must the first of Nisan in the following year be on the eleventh of March which could not be because the fourteenth day thereof must not be before the Vernall Equinox which then was on the twenty seventh day of March. And therefore the first of Nisan in the first of these two years was on the two and twentieth day of March and in the next on the tenth of Aprill so will there be space enough by the fifth day of the sixth moneth for all the dayes that the Prophet mentioneth to be accomplished otherwise not And thus I am glad of this objection seeing it hath occasioned a further confirmation of the moneths mentioned in Scripture to be Lunar The next thing objected Object is the History of the Flood in which the moneths are found to be Solar because from the seventeenth day of the second moneth to the seventeenth day of the seventh moneth were an hundred and fifty dayes that is five moneths of thirty dayes a peece Whereto I answer Answ that this hinders nothing as afterward when I come to speake of the Flood shall be plainly shewed In the meane time this I adde that twelve moneths of but thirty dayes a peece amount in the whole to no more then 360. dayes whereas in a full Solar year are more by five dayes and about six hours But to help this they say that the old Patriarchs had either an epact of five dayes to be added to every year or else that in every six years they made of those five dayes an intercalar moneth to which also the six houres would reach in one hundred and twenty years at which time they had also one moneth more then in their ordinary and common years Now this time Scaliger saith was called by the name of Cheled but doth very unaptly apply it to his purpose as Petavius proves against him For Cheled is no more applyable to an age of an hundred and twenty years then to any other time or age be it either more or lesse and is onely belonging to the time or age of mans life of what length soever it be as may be seen in Psal 39.5 where that very word is used Nor again is that space of an hundred and twenty years in the sixth chapter of Genesis spoken for any other purpose then to shew the patience and long suffering of the Lord to the old World which the Apostle Peter calleth the waiting of God on them in the dayes of Noah while the Ark was preparing 1 Pet. 3.20 Beside which this is also certaine that if the sixth year forementioned were to have an intercalation in respect of the six hours there would be two intercalar moneths together I meane in every one hundred and twentieth year as is apparant by dividing the said year by six For 120. divided by six hath twenty times six in it and nothing remaining whereupon will further follow that in every one hundred and twentieth year must be 420. dayes which were very absurd to grant Nay further were it so that the ancient Patriarchs to avoid this absurdity should be thought to reckon the five dayes at the end of every year and defer the six houres till the one hundreth and twentieth year by the which time those houres amount to the space of one moneth yet still is all built but upon conjecture and that so weakly as there is little or no shew of probability in it for if there were then would there be from the Creation to the Flood no odd years but equall divisions of 120. years apiece which we know is otherwise in regard that when we divide the year of the Flood by 120. we have 95. remaining They therefore reckon far better who doe not onely account an Epact of five dayes at the end of every common year but doe also intercalate a day in every fourth year making the Epact then to be six which in the common year was but five Howbeit this still is no better then meer conjecture and cannot clearely be affirmed to be so indeed till after ages and then not so among the Jews but among some other Nations for the moneth among the Jews was Lunar as by the words used in Scripture for a moneth beside our other proofes already mentioned doth well appeare But thirdly Object it is objected out of the seven and twentieth Chapter of the first book of the Chronicles that David appointed twelve Captaines of ordinary Legions to be over the Provinces into which the whole body of the Kingdome was divided and these to serve in their courses severally throughout the twelve moneths of the year Or rather thus King David appointed twelve Captains of ordinary Legions to be the life-guard of his person and these to serve severally in their courses throughout the twelve moneths of the yeare no more moneths being mentioned for according to the number of the moneths so was the number of the Captains Salomon likewise appointed as many Stewards to provide provision for the royal Family and these as the former to serve severally throughout the twelve moneths of the year as in the fourth Chapter of the first book of the Kings may be seen The year therefore in those times had no more then twelve moneths for if there were thirteen then for one moneths space both the Kings person must be unprovided of a Guard and the royall Family destitute likewise of Provisions for their sustenance Scaliger I remember Answ once made this Objection but afterwards upon his better thoughts he cryed out against it saying Ridicula est objectio Scal. in Isag can It is a ridiculous objection and an objection qua pertinaces contendunt mensem veterem Hebraeorum lunarem
speak therefore of the divine institution of naturall dayes we are to say that the evening as well as the morning is pertinent to one and the same day but make not up the whole day for the whole day naturally is that which we call in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is a day of day and night together And therefore in that phrase of Moses the Evening and the Morning were the first Day is a Synecdoche by which the beginning of the night and of the day is put for the whole night and day a◠by that before pointed at in Leviticus may be seen for there the day is reckoned from even to even as being that which if we respect the progresse of the Worlds Creation naturally and indeed is a true day although the artificiall day be but from the Sun-rising to the setting thereof This being premised I take the beginning of the Creation to be according to the Julian account on the twenty three day of Aprill at evening so that the first day of the World was not ended till the evening of the twenty fourth day The second day was after the same manner Aprill the twenty five The third Aprill the twenty six The fourth Aprill the twenty seventh On which day the Sun Moon and Stars were made and set in the firmament of Heaven The Sun probably in that part thereof which we now call the fourth degree of Aries The fifth day was Aprill the twenty eight The sixth Aprill the twenty nine that being the very day when the Sun and Moon were first of all in Conjunction which was therefore the first day of the moneth and might well by Adam be accounted so because it was also the very first day that ever he saw Of Adam and his fall Now that on this Day Adam sell divers of the Learned both Jews and Christians think but it is a Tenet scarcely probable not onely in regard of the multitude and variety of things don on the day that he was made both before and after his Creation but also because this sixth day concluded by Moses with these words And God beheld all that he had made and loe it was exceeding good So the Evening and the Morning were the sixth day Gen. 1.31 More like it is that Adam fell on the twelf day of May toward * Gen. 3.8 Evening when the fourteenth day of the first moneth was ending and the fifteenth which was on the sixth day of the week ready to begin which time and day agree very well to the institution of the first Passeover Exod. 12. as also to the eating of the last Passeover and crucifying of Christ on the sixth day of the Week and fifteenth day of the moneth For on that day Christ dyed even as on that day 4037. years before Christ was promised to Adam who had fallen as it were the day before towards evening as already hath been said In this year the Cycle of the Sun was ten the Dominicall letter B. the Cycle of the Moon seven the Equinox at evening on the twenty three day of Aprill when the creation began and the New Moon or first day of the first moneth on the nine and twenty day of Aprill feria sexta which was the sixth day of the Week as hath been said and is exactly true according to Calculation Also to the year of the Julian Period 2366. The Flood when the Flood came the Cycle of the Sun was 14. the Dominicall letter D. and the Cycle of the Moon ten The Vernall Equinox was on the tenth of Aprill and the Autumnall on the fourteenth of October By which is gathered that the first day of the first moneth in this year of the Flood was on the twenty one day of Aprill feria tertia the beginning of every moneth ordinarily being according to the Phasis or first vision of the Moon which in the Land of Israel and the parts thereabout might for the most part be by eleven hours and thirty minutes after the time of the mean Conjunction And at no time could she be hid longer then 28. hours and 30. minu as the learned Jews have told us Now the first day on the first Moneth being on the 21 day of Aprill sheweth that the 17. day of the second Moneth when the Flood began was on the fifth of June feria sexta even on the same day of the weeke on which the Beasts and Man was made So that as on the sixth day of the week both Man and Beast were created in like manner on the very same day of week the Flood began by which they were destroyed Know also that this first Moneth or the first Moneth of this yeere had but 29. dayes The Second third fourth fifth and sixth had 30 dayes a peice The seventh 28. the last of which was on the 13 day of October The eighth had 30. The ninth 29. The tenth 30. The eleventh 29. And the twelfth 30. the last of which was on the tenth day of Aprill in the yeare of the Julian Period 2367. So that the 27 day of the second Moneth in the said yeare was on the same day that the Flood began in the yeare before even on the fifth of June which now was Sabbath day on the which Noah came out of the Arke and offered Sacrifice at the very time of a full year of dayes after the Flood began Gen. 8.14 The reason of which reckoning thus is this namely Note this it is no meane Character of a right time That though the Ancients even in the times of Noah and Abraham used to begin their Moneth à prima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from the 1. sight of the Moon yet if the Moon could not be seen by reason of clouds they then accounted 30 dayes for every such Moneth though to some of them there would have been but 29 if the first sight of the Moon had been hindred Now in such a wet cloudie time as we may certainly conceive it to be when the Flood came the Moon must needs be obscured and hid for many dayes not only the 40 dayes and nights when it rained continually but even to the end of the CL. on which if some raine had not fallen but that the skie had been clear without clouds there would in all probability have been an abatement of the waters before those 150. dayes were ended but no abatement was till then if the words be taken as they Originally signifie in Gen. 8.3 And now why the seventh Moneth here mentioned had but 28 dayes is because after the 150. dayes were ended the Aire began to be cleare insomuch that Noah knew when to begin the next Moneth by sight of the Moon upon which I believe it was that Berosus said Noah ordered the yeare to the course of the Sun and the Moneth to the course of the Moon For as Wolphius truly gathereth out of Gen. Wolph De Temp. lib. 1. pag. 21. 8.22 Noah
of the Julian Period 4126. in which the Temple was destroyed noting these 192. yeares to end on the seventeeenth day of October likewise And in 192. yeares we find 417. courses with 72. dayes over and above which 72 dayes being taken out of the number of dayes which were from the beginning of that year of the Julian Period to the said seventeenth day of October do direct us to the sixth day of August which then was Sabbath day and the course of Joarib even that course of his in which the Temple was destroyed For when the Temple was destroyed it was the watch and course of Joarib as the Jews have told us in their Seder Olam rabba the course I say of Joarib and IX of Ab which day is noted by them to be the next after the Sabbath and the next after the Weekes end as Master Livelie expoundeth the Hebrew text of that testimony And thus having done with this The Temple destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar I go on to the year of the Julian Period 4126 which was the nineteenth yeare of Nebuchadnezzar when the Temple and City were destroyed The Cycle of the Sun was 10. the Dominicall letter B. the Cycle of the Moon 3. and the Vernall Equinox on the 27 day of March. Calvisius I am sure and Scaliger as I remember reckon this Destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to be in the year of the Julian Period 4124. But they faile of the true time For in that yeare the first day of the first Moneth could not be any day later then the 27. day of March and that was feria quinta whereas if it be the true time it should be rather feria prima Petavius is for the next yeare viz. 4125. But in that year take either the Conjunction in March or in Aprill and neither will serve For the one conjunction casts the first of Nisan into the fifteenth of March feria secunda and the other into the thirteenth of Aprill feria tertia This therefore could not be the yeare neither as appeareth by the day of the weeke before mentioned on which the IX day of Aâ— must be Langius in his booke De annis Christi pitcheth upon the yeare of the Julian Peried 4117 but therein hath also failed of the true time not only because he is thereupon inforced to alter the reigne of Nabopollassar but also because the 40. yeares that Ezekiel saith Egypt was under Babel will thereby be ended before their right time For Egypt had not shaken off that yoke till after Cyrus had conquered Babylon as is more then once recorded by Xenophon and approved therein by men of no meane learning and particularly by Jacobus Armachanus in his Annals of holy Scripture I do undoubtingly therefore conciude the right yeare to be the year of the Julian Period 4126. in which year the first of Nisan was on the third day of Aprill feria prima and the IX of Ab. on the seventh day of August which was also feria prima at which time Joarib was in his course having entred on it August the 6. feria Septima for that the IX of Ab was on the Eve of the Sabbath I do not understand it otherwise then of the Eve ending the Sabbath at which time the Enemie entred into the Temple to destroy it even in the Course of Joarib And thereupon it is that the Jewes in mournfull manner according to the institution of their great Synedrion use to sing thus Die nona mensis Ab bora Vespertini temporis Quum essem in Vigilia mea Vigilia Joarib Introiit hostis Sacrificia sua obtulit Ingressus est in Sanctuarium injussu Dei Thus they as their words sound in the Latine But in this we are to note that albeit the enemy entred into the Temple to destroy it on the ninth of Ab and course of Joarib yet the said Temple was not burnt untill the next day for it was on the tenth day of the fifth moneth as the Prophet sheweth in Jerem. 52.12 And note also that on some part of Jerusalem the fire was kindled sooner even three dayes before 2 Kings 25.8 burning from the seventh day untill the tenth For so those two texts in Jeremiah and the second book of the Kings may well enough be reconciled And note last of all that the City was broken up and Zedechia taken a full moneth before viz. on the ninth day of the fourth moneth 2 Kings 25.3 which according to our Julian Kalender was this year on the eighth day of Iuly feria sexta So then the City was broken up on the eigthh of Iuly and the Temple burnt on the eighth of August And as for that which Scaliger alledgeth out of that book of the Jews which they call Liber Angariarum wherein is written that they fast on the fifth day of the week as if on that day of the week the Temple was burnt by the Chaldeans To that I answer that as in speaking of the ninth of Ab they doe one day antedate the account of the Prophet Ieremiah for the day of the moneth so in like manner they doe here antedate one day of the week and make that to be on the fifth day of the week which by comparing their testimony with another Scriptures appeareth to be on the 6th day of the Weeke For if according to the Seder Olam the ninth of Ab were on the first day of the week then must the seventh of Ab be on the sixth day of the week and to be that day on which the Chaldeans began to set fire on some part of Ierusalem as already hath been shewed out of 2 Kin. 25.8 Moreover Sealiger and some others have supposed that this year of the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar must be Sabbathicall from the Autumne before and this they say the Prophet Jeremy confirmeth in the 28. chapter of his prophecy at the first verse where he sheweth that when Zedechia began to reign it was the fourth year which they take to be the fourth year of a week from the Autumne before And if so then will the fourth year of his reigne be Sabbathicall till the Autumne thereof and if his fourth year then his eleventh or last year in like manner Nor was this say they but that year of Rest which the same Prophet mentions in the 34 chapter of his prophecy where we read that when Nebuchadnezzar had raised his seige from Jerusalem to goe against the King of Egypt the Jewes took againe their Man-servants and Maide-servants which they had a little before set at liberty because it was a Sabbathicall year and would not let them goe free as the Law required in Deut. 15.12 To which I answer that the clearing of this dependeth upon the resolution of that doubt which concerneth that year in which the false Prophet Hananiah resisted Jeremiah and dyed because he taught rebellion against the Lord and perswaded the people contrary to the prophecy of
Jeremiah that Nebuchadnezzars yoke must not be endured 70 years but that within two full years it must be broken Which story is at large set downe in the 27 and 28 Chapters of Ieremiah and by Scaliger referred to the first year of Zedechia who indeed supposeth it to be the fourth year after a year of Rest of which I see no reason because the whole scope of the four and thirtieth Chapter doth demonstrate that year to be a year of Rest when Nebuchadnezzar laid his seige against Ierusalem which we know to be the ninth year of Zedechia and tenth day of the tenth moneth Ier. 52.4 Now this was in the year of the Julian Period 4124. on the seventh of Ianuary feria tertia at which time the ninth of Zedechia was still running on and was not ended till about the beginning of the fourth moneth next after Nebuchadnezzar therefore began to beseige Ierusalem on the seventh day of Ianuary in the year of the Julian Period 4124. which year was Sabbathicall from the Autumne before till the Autumne thereof and was that Sabbathicall year in which the Jews let their servants goe free in the beginning thereof thereby encouraging them to fight against the Chaldeans who then were come into the confines of Iudea ser 34.1 and fought againg the Cities thereof Ierusalem not excepted but had not yet laid their seige against it for that was not untill the time before mentioned How long this continued before the Egyptians came with an Army to succour Zedechia by raising this first seige is not expressed Jer. 37.5 but that they came and that the seige thereupon was raised is certaine This when the Jews perceived and saw that the Chaldeans were gone from them to fight against the Egyptians Jer. 37.10 they took their freed servants againe into bondage vainely perswading themselves that the Chaldeans would come back no more which proved farre otherwise For Nebuchadnezzar having put to flight the Army of Pharaoh returns againe to Ierusalem and on the fourth day of May in the year of the Julian Period 4125. renewes his seige against it * viz. by reckoning first 390. and then forty dayes Ezek. 4.5.6 for these put together doe make 430. end on the eighth day of July they must therfore begin on the fourth of May in the year next before that year in which they ended 430. dayes before the City was broken up as may be gathered out of the fourth Chapter of Ezekiel This fourth day of May was on the two and twenty day of the second moneth feria tertia from whence the seige continued without any further interruption untill the City was taken which was as I said before on the eighth day of July When therefore we read in Ier. 32.1.2 that Nebuchadnezzars Army lay before Ierusalem in the tenth year of Zedechia and eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar it is to be understood of his lying against it after this renewing of his seige and before the beginning of the fourth moneth for about the end of the third moneth or beginning of the fourth was the beginning of Zedechia's eleventh year and likewise of all the other years of his reigne insomuch that his ninth year began at the same time in the year of the Julian Period 4123 and was Sabbathicall from the Autumne thereof untill the Autumne next after From whence I conclude that if any part of Zedchia's ninth year was Sabbathicall then could to his first year be the fourth after a Rest but the sixth Hananiah therefore dyed in no other then the fourth year of Zedechia having resisted the Prophet Ieremiah from the beginning of Zedechia's reigne till then as Iearned Iunius in his Annotations upon the place well observeth And as for the burning of the Temple take this note further viz. that the Temple was burnt before the full end of Nebuchadnezzars ninteenth year 2 Kin. 25.8 For though at that time Zedechia had reigned eleven years compleat yet was not Nebuchadnezzars ninteenth year fully finished in regard that Nebuchadnezzar began his reigne something later in the year then Zedechia did for Zedechia began about the beginning of the fourth moneth and Nebuchadnezzar began not till after the seventh day of the fifth moneth at the soonest whose first year was in the end of Jehoiakims third year and beginning of his fourth in the year of the Julian Period 4107. at the Summer time of that year For in the Spring time of the year of the Julian Period 4104. towards the end of the second moneth Iosiah was slain Dan. 1.1 Jer. 25.1 Towards the end of the third the seige began but not till the fourth was entred did God give Jehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar 2 Chro 36.6 after whom Iehoahaz reigned three moneths Then in the Summer time of the same year Iehoaikim began in the end of whose third year and beginning of his fourth was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar as comparing the Prophet Daniel to the Prophet Ieremy may be seen at which time his Father was alive as Berosus sheweth Moreover in this year in the ninth moneth and that 's the reason why the Jews fast then God gave Iehoiakim into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar he was thereupon his prisoner and bound in chaines to be carryed to Babylon but went not for afterwards by an argreement of servitude he was released and sent home viz. in the * But not till near the entring of the Spring quarter beginning of the year of the Julian Period 4108. and so became his servant 2 Kings 26.1 from whence the 70 years in Ieremy do undoubtedly take their beginning Ier. cap. 25.2 and cap. 29.10 After this Nebuchadnezzar prosecuting his victories takes all that belonged to the King of Egypt between the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates and in the mean while his Father dyed after he had reigned one and twenty years as Berosus and Ptolomy in his Mathematical Canon have declared And now upon this Nebuchadnezzar is sent for home into Babylon where he takes the whole Empire upon him and reigneth from hence 43 years as is testified by the Authours aforesaid of which more shall be spoken * viz In cha 11. An Eclipse in the fifth year of Nabopollassar afterward And note that in the Julian Period 4093. was an Eclipse of the Moon noted by Ptolomy to be in the year of Nabonassar 127. and fifth year of Nabopollassar and so indeed there was For though in this year of the Julian Period the sixth year of Nabopollassar began yet the Eclipse was whilst the fifth year was still running on for the Eclipse was on the 23 day of Aprill 29 minutes past five in the morning the sixth yeare not beginning untill some time after Shall I add any thing more A list of the Kings of Babylon from the beginning of Nabonassar then take a list of the Kings of Babylon and their years from the beginning of Nabonassar till the death
7 23  B  8 24  C  9 25  D The first day of the Week 10 26  E  11 27  F  12 28  G  13 29  A  14 30  B  15 31  C  16 1 November D The last of the hundred and fifty dayes Gen. 7.24 17 2 E ¶ On this day the Ark rested on Mount Ararat from whence the Waters decreased day by day untill they were quite dried up and gone Gen. 8.4 5. 18 3 F 19 4 G 20 5 A 21 6 B  22 7 C  23 8 D The first day of the Week 24 9 E  25 10 F  26 11 G  27 12 A  28 13 B  An Hebrew and Julian Calender for the Year of the Vniversall Deluge or Flood The eighth Month. NOVEMBER The eighth Moneth Anno Mundi 1657. 1 14  C  2 15  D The first day of the Week 3 16  E  4 17  F  5 18  G  6 19  A  7 20  B  8 21  C  9 22  D The first day of the Week 10 23  E  11 24  F  12 25  G  13 26  A  14 27  B  15 28  C  16 29  D The first day of the Week 17 30  E  18 1 December F The first day of DECEMBER 19 2 G  20 3 A  21 4 B  22 5 C  23 6 D The first day of the Week 24 7 E  25 8 F  26 9 G  27 10 A  28 11 B  29 12 C  30 13 D The first day of the Week An Hebrew and Julian Calender for the Yeer of the Vniversall Deluge or Flood The ninth Moneth DECEMBER The ninth Moneth Anno Mundi 1657. 1 14  E  2 15  F  3 16  G  4 17  A  5 18  B  6 19  C  7 20  D The first day of the Week 8 21  E  9 22  F  10 23  G  11 24  A  12 25  B  13 26  C  14 27  D The first day of the Week 15 28  E  16 29  F  17 30  G  18 31  A  19 1 January A On this day the Yeer of the Julian Period 2367. began and now the Cycle of the ☉ was 15. the Dominicall Letter C and the Cycle of the ☽ 11. 20 2 B 21 3 C 22 4 D  23 5 E  24 6 F  25 7 G  26 8 A  27 9 B  28 10 C the first day of the Week 29 11 D  An Hebrew and Julian Calender for the Year of the Vniversall Deluge or Flood The tenth Moneth JANUARY The tenth Moneth Anno Mundi 1657. 1 12  E On this day being the first day of the tenth Moneth the Mountain tops appeared which must be meant of the lower sort of Hils how else could the Ark rest upon Mount Ararat above two moneths before see Gen. 8.4 5. 2 13  F  3 14  G  4 15  A  5 16  B  6 17  C The first day of the Week 7 18  D  8 19  E  9 20  F  10 21  G  11 22  A  12 23  B  13 24  C The first day of the Week  14 25  D  15 26  E  16 27  F  17 28  G  18 29  A  19 30  B  20 31  C The first day of the Week  21 1 February D The first day of FEBRUARY  22 2 E  23 3 F  24 4 G  25 5 A  26 6 B  27 7 C The first day of the Week 28 8 D  29 9 E  30 10 F  An Hebrew and Julian Calender for the Yeer of the Vniversall Deluge or Flood The 11th Moneth FEBRUARY The eleventh Moneth Anno Mundi 1657. 1 11  G  2 12  A  3 13  B  4 14  C The first day of the Week 5 15  D  6 16  E  7 17  F  8 18  G  9 19  A  10 20  B ¶ On this day being Sabbath day and forth dayes after the appearing of the Mountain tops Noah sendeth forth a Raven out of the Ark which flyeth up and down till the Waters were abated and returneth into the Ark no more Gen. 8.6 7. 11 21  C  12 22  D  13 23  E  14 24  F  15 25  G  16 26  A  17 27  B On this day Noah sendeth forth a Dove and she finding no rest returneth again Gen. 8.9 18 28  C  19 1 March D  20 2 E  21 3  F  22 4  G  23 5  A  24 6  B On this day he again sendeth forth a Dove and she reutrned to him with an Olive branch or stalk in her mouth which shewed the falling of the Waters Gen. 8.10 11. 25 7  C  26 8  D  27 9  E  28 10  F  29 11  G  An Hebrew and Iulian Calendar for the Yeer of the Vniversall Deluge or Flood The second Month MAY. The second Moneth Anno Mundi 1658. 1 10  D  2 11  E  3 12  F  4 13  G  5 14  A  6 15  B  7 16  C The first day of the Week 8 17  D  9 18  E  10 19  F  11 20  G  12 21  A  13 22  B  14 23  C The first day of the Week 15 24  D  16 25  E  17 26  F  18 27  G  19 28  A  20 29  B  21 30  C The first day of the Week 22 31  D  23 1 June E The first day of JUNE 24 2 F  25 3  G  26 4  A  27 5  B ¶ On this day being Sabbath day NOah came forth from the Ark and offered Sacrifice Gen. 8.14 15. This was a full yeer of dayes after the Flood began 28 6  C  29 7  D  30 8  E  SECT II. Of the Second Period from the end of the Flood when the face of the ground was drie to the Promise at the time of Abraham's departure from Charran into Canaan that it was a Period of 427. yeares almost ended THis Period is proved by the age of the Patriarchs after the Flood as that before it was proved by the age of the Patriarchs
before the Flood The Flood as we have already seen began in the yeare of the world 1657. and continued a yeare so that it was not ended untill after the yeare of the World 1658. was begun for on the 27 day of the second Moneth was the full end thereof Two yeares after which Arphaxad was borne that is in the yeare of the world 1660. Gen. 11.10 To which yeare of the World add 35 the age of Arphaxad when Salah was borne so shall the birth of Salah be in the yeare of the world 1695 Gen. 11.12 To which add 30 the age of Salah when Heber was born so shall the birth of Heber be in the year of the world 1725. Gen. 11.14 To which add 34 the age of Heber when Peleg was born so shal the birth of Peleg be in the year of the world 1759. Gen. 11 16. To which add 30 the age of Peleg when Reu was borne so shall the birth of Reu be in the yeare of the world 1789 Gen. 11.18 To which add 32 the age of Reu when Serug was borne so shall the birth of Serug be in the year of the world 1821. Gen. 11.20 To which add 30 the age of Serug when Nahor was borne so shall the birth of Nahor be in the yeare of the world 1851. Gen. 11.22 To which add 29 the age of Nahor when Terah was borne so shall the birth of Terah be in the yeare of the world 1880. Gen. 11.24 To which add 130. the age of Terah when Abraham was borne so shall the birth of Abraham be in the yeare of world 2010. To which add 75 the age of Abraham soon after the death of Terah so shall we come to the yeare of the world 2085. and year of the Julian Period 2794 in which yeare about the beginning of May Abraham having received the promise departed out of Haran and was a Son of seventie five years old Gen. 12.4 that is he was going on in his Seventie and fifth yeare which not long after was accomplished ☟ the reckoning being here as before in the 600. yeare of Noah when the Flood began Quest The true time of Abrahams birth But why is it that Abraham is reckoned to be borne when his Father was 130. yeares old and not rather when he was seventie as the text seems to intimate Gen. 11.27 Answ Because Abraham who was a Sonne of * Gen. 12.4 75 yeares at his departure from Haran departed not thence untill his Father was dead as Saint Stephen witnesseth Act. 7.4 Now we know that his Father lived * Gen. 11.32 205. yeares from whence if we take 75 it will appeare that Abraham was not borne when Terah was Seventie as the text seemeth to intimate but when he was 130. because 75. taken out of 205 leaveth for the remainder 130. Secondly it is witnessed by the ancient testimony of the true not forged Philo who being a Jew was Ambassadour from his owne Nation to Caius Caligula witnessed I say by him that Abraham went not from Haran otherwise called Charran untill his Father was dead For it is not like saith he that any who have read the Law can be ignorant how Abraham removing from the Chaldean Land stayed in Charran and when his Father dyed there he removed also from that Land And againe He leaveth it being seventie five years old which Moses also saith in Gen. 12.4 This of Philo is a cleare testimony and well worthy of our serious acceptation for he was as ancient as the Protomartyr Stephen and understands Moses no other way then he had done Thirdly Rabbi Menasseh in his Conciliator declareth the same shewing there that their best learned Interpreters understand it so Fourthly The age of Abraham bring expressed when he came from Charran and not when he removed from Vr was for no reason but to guid us to the time his of birth by being joyned to the time of Terah's death who dyed in Charran and not in Vr Gen. 11.32 And further note that in Chaldea God appeares to Abraham and bids him Get thee out of thy Country and from thy kindred but maketh no mention of leaving his Fathers house for that he took along with him Gens 11.31 But when God cals him from Haran or Charran he then bids him depart from his Father house as well as he had done from his Country and kindred before for now he left his brother Nahor and all his Fathers house behinde him In the first Call Terah was alive to him is ascribed the conduct of that Journey from Vr to the Chaldees as if he had received the Call and had been the chiefe mover in the businesse but it is onely to shew his * Ioshua 24.2 Conversion and readinesse to goe with Abraham to whom God appeared whilst he was in Vr of the Chaldees Gen. 15.7 saying Get thee out of thy Country and from thy kindred Acts 7.2.3 See also Josh 24.2 But in the second Call Terah was dead and Abraham was 57 years old Gen. 12.1.4 Acts 7.4 And as he was 57 so his Father was 205. which sheweth still that Abraham was borne when Terah was 130. For the story in Genesis runs current and in a continuation this being the order of the words And the dayes of Terah were 205 years and he dyed in Charran and God said unto Ahraham Get thee from thy Fathers house and in thee all the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed and Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Charran To illustrate then the whole by way of paraphrase God in Vr of the Chaldees appeared to Abraham and said unto him Get thee out from thy kindred but take thy Fathers house with thee and goe to to a Land which I shall shew thee And when Abraham told Terah of his command Terah condescended and consented And Terah took Abraham and Lot and Sarai and they went away together from Vr to Haran and dwelt there And Terah dyed in Haran And then God saith to Abraham Get thee out of thy Country and from thy kindered and from thy Fathers house also now and goe into the Land that I shall shew thee that is into Canaan whether Abraham went so soon as he departed from Charran which was in the Land of Chaldea also and not far from Vr wherefore God againe called Abraham thence to goe into Canaan Gen. 12.1 And although there was a nearer way from Vr to Canaan than to goe By Charran as in the Maps of those Countries may be seen yet because the nearest way was most dangerous and troublesome God led them about by an inhabited and safe way providing so for their infirmities as he did the like afterwards for Abrahams children Exodus 13.11.18 Beside when Joshua saith Ioshua 24.2 Our fathers beyond the River worshipped strange Gods even Terah the Father of Abraham he maketh Moses more clear and manifest viz. that to Abraham in Vr God appeared by
World lib. 2. cap. 13. sect 8. But I take the first answer to be the best leaving the Reader neverthelesse to make choyc of which he pleaseth Qust Quest But what shall we think of Saint Pauls number mentioned in Acts 13.20 where we read that after the Land was divided God gave his people Judges by the space of 450. years till Samuel the Prophet Verily if that time were a space of 450 years then what with the forty years in the Wildernesse the whole time of Ioshua the forty years of Samuel and Saul the forty of David and the four of Solomon the whole time from the comming out of Egypt to the Temple will be almost 600 years Answ No it will not For it is answered either that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth 400 was mistaken by the scribe and put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is but three hundred or else that Saint Paul reckoned as they did who reckoned the years of the Oppressours so as they added them to the years of the Judges and not included them As for the first Beroald lib. 3. Chronol c. 4. it might be granted were it not that all Copies have 450. For we doe not know saith Beroaldus of any Copy either Greek or Latine which hath 350 but as the ordinary reading is 450. And therefore we cannot think either that there was a fault in the scribe or that after the Apostles time some one or other * Master Perkins thinketh so in his Harmony of Scripture took in hand to correct the text according to their understanding of the Book of Judges as Master Perkins supposeth For as another speaketh Non est cur dicamus omnes Codices Graecos Latinos esse corruptos cum suppeditat expedita conciliationis ratio And therefore according to the second solution we may rather think that Saint Paul reckoned as they did who took the years of the Oppressours and added them to the years of the Judges accounting those times apart which are of right to be included As for Example When Jabin oppressed Israel Deborah was one who Judged at the same time Judges 4.4 And when the Philistines oppressed then was Sampson a Judge For saith the text He judged Israel in the dayes of the Philistines twenty years Iudges 15.20 By which two places I doubt not but we are taught how to account the rest The maine objection is how the Land can be said to have rest 40 years after the overthrow of Chusan by whom they were afflicted eight years or eighty after the overthrow of Eglon if part of those years it were vexed with war and the people held by their oppressours under a miserable bondage But to this I finde a late writer in his Annotations upon the place give a fair answer viz. That it is not unusuall in the Scripture to denominate a full number of years from that which is properly true onely of the greater part of that number as we see Gen. 35.26 Where after the naming of the twelve sons of Iacob this clause is added These are the sons of Iacob that were born to him in Padan-Aram and yet Benjamin is mentioned amongst them who was not born in Padan-Aram but in the Land of Canaan and so likewise Acts 7.14 where it is said that Ioseph sent and called his Father and all his kindred threescore and fifteen souls and yet indeed there went but threescore and ten of them at that time into Egypt Gen. 46.27 And so againe Exod. 12.40 where it is said that the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years and yet they were not in Egypt after Iacobs going thither above two hundred and fifteen years And therefore in that it is said And the Land had rest forty years the meaning may well be that the Land had rest to the end of forty years to wit counting the forty years from the death of Ioshua to the death of Othniel and so of the rest where the like phrase is found And so indeed Tremelius translates these words usque ad quadragesimum annum unto the expiration of forty years Which is further confirmed by the like expression in the fourteenth Chap. at the seventeenth verse where it is said of Sampsons wife that she wept before him the seven dayes while the feast lasted and yet the meaning is onely that she wept to the ending of those seven dayes to wit from the time he refused to tell her the meaning of his Riddle Furthermore Saint Matthews Genealogies from Rahab to David doe make it yet more manifest For Rahab hid the spies She was the mother of Boaz He the father of Obed and Obed of Iesse and Iesse of David Now though Rahab should bring forth Boaz at 80 and Boaz beget Obed at 120 and Obed Iesse at 120 and Iesse David at 120 yet all these far stretched ages would fall short of 450. How Saint Paul therefore reckoned is apparent and his true meaning is explained without wrong to any text For in mentioning 450 it is with a clause of Proviso saying not absolutely God gave them Judges 450 years but as it were or after a sort 450 years Which is as if it should be said they were 450 years by adding the Judges and Opressours years together Joseph Antiq. lib. 9. c. 11. after which manner the Jews as we see by Josephus used to reckon these times For Josephus setteth the building of the Temple five hundred ninty years and one after the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt which in an expresse text of Scripture is but 480 as at the first I shewed out of the 1 Kings 6.1 and have hitherto cleared it to be so against all objections made to the contrary Howbeit some perhaps may not as yet be fully satisfyed untill I further speak my minde concerning the opinions of Codoman and Petavius who have declined the common path and pitched upon an Interpretation serving rather to enlarge this Period then to open the truth of the reckoning And as for Codoman Codom Chro. lib. 1. c. 17. and lib 2. quest 27 20. he reckoneth from the death of Joshua to the death of Eli 430 years not accounting Sampsons 20 years but under the 40 years of the Philistines And whereas Saint Paul nameth 450 he findes 20 years to make up Saint Pauls number to have been spent after the death of Joshua by the Seniours before the Oppression under Chusan After which to make all this reconcilable with the account of the 480 years in the 1 Kings 6.1 he saith we must begin to reckon them not in the beginning but in the ending of the journying of the Israelites from Egypt which he makes to be 25 years after the beginning of Othniels government from whence if we cast the years of the Judges with the years of Servitude and so to these years add the 40 of Samuel and Saul the 40 of David and the
same Period 4126. which space is thus gathered namely by the time after the fourth yeare of King Salomon to the first yeare of Jeroboam the sonne of Nebat who made Israel to sinne Ezek. 4.5 after which were 390. yeares taught us by Ezekiel in the fourth Chapter of Ezekiel his Prophecie at the end whereof the Land is left desolate of all her Inhabitants in the three and twentieth yeare of Nebuchadnezzar almost 427. yeares after the Temple began to be built For the first yeare of Jeroboam was * Because K. Salomon reigned 40. years and but 3 before he began to build the Temple 37 yeares after King Salomon began to lay the foundation to which if we add 390. we have 427. Now out of this number we must deduct 4 because the Temple was burnt in the nineteenth yeare of Nebuchadnezzar as appeares 2 King 25.8.9 and then there will remain 423. the whole time of the years that the Temple stood And as for the Moneths and dayes that were more they were I say three Iulian Moneths and about eight dayes for King Salomon laid the foundation on the last day of Aprill and on the eighth of August it was destroyed And then againe that there were 37 years from the fourth of King Salomon to the beginning of the 390. yeares of Ezekiel in the first yeare of Ieroboam when he concluded for the setting up of his Idolatry is true for indeed there were 37 yeares threesore dayes and one For as I said before King Salomon laid the foundation of the Temple on the last day of Aprill in the yeare of the Iulian Period 3703. and Ieroboam concluded with his Councill for the the setting up of his Idolatry on the last day of Iune which was the three and twentieth day of the third month in the year of the Period Iulion 3740 from whence to the last of June in the year of the Iulian Period 4130 were 390 years In that year therefore 4130 about the later end of Iune before the full end of the 23 year of Nebuchadnezzar the 390 years of the sin of Israel and the 40 years of the sin of Iudah ended For we may not think that these 390 began precisely on the fifteenth day of the eighth moneth when Ieroboam instituted a Feast for the worship of his golden Calves but rather before in the same year viz. when he and his Councill had concluded for the making of them or being made when he first set them in open view and said Behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt 1 Kin. 12.28 which without scruple I take to be on the 23 day of the third moneth as is aforesaid on which day the Jews fast because of this which Ieroboam did And note further that the reason why I say these 390 years end not untill near four years after the Temple was destroyed is because Nebuchadnezzar had not done all that he was to do against Ierusalem untill the 23 year of his reign at which time that small remnant which was left in the Land with Gedaliah Joseph Antiq. lib. 10. c. 11. was carryed away the number then carryed being 745 as is recorded Jer. 25.15 For now at this time being about four years after the Temple was burnt Nebuzaradan a Captain of the guard was sent by Nebuchadnezzar to carry all away which he did and so there was none of the posterity of Israel left remaining in the Land to provoke the Lord either by their sins which they learned of Manasses or by their sins of that Idolatry which they learned of Ieroboam 390 years before For albeit the Kingdome of Israel ceased to be in the ninth year of Hoshea yet there this reckoning of 390 may not end but is still accounted till a full end be made and that the Lord * 2 Kin. 23.27 remove Iudah out of his sight as well as Israel some reliques of Israel remaining among those of Iudah till the whole number of 390 was accomplished beyound which time God in that holy Land of Promise would not endure the sin of Israel any more which comming from Ieroboam had infected even them of Iudah too 2 Kings 17.16.19 and therefore could not be throughly rooted out untill all as well of Iudah as of Israel were carryed out of that good Land given to their Fathers many hundred yeares before This againe is proved by another number Ezek. 4.6 a number of 40 years taught us also by Ezekiel For albeit the number of 390 as it is whole hath relation to both houses yet 40 years of that reckoning are in more particular pertinent onely to the house of Iudah the thirtieth year whereof agreeth with the fifth year of Zedechia Ezekiel 1.1 and therefore the last must needs reach to the 23 of Nebuchadnezzar and the first begin in the eighteenth of Iosiah from which year the whole number of these 40 years are undoubtedly to be accounted For in that year Huldah the Prophetesse did foretell the inevitable destruction of Iudah 2 Kin. 22 3 15 16 c. Then did Iosiah celebrate a solemne Passeover then was it that the book of the Law which had been lost was found and read at the hearing whereof the good King wept the people for their Sins being threatned with Captivity But from that evill to come Josiah had a promise to be taken away before it came whose Godly courses should have moved his godlesse Subjects But they though bad before growing then to be worse and worse are fitly said to begin this burden of their 40 years sin declining so far from a wished Conversion that finally they fell into a dismall destruction Yea then was it that the Altar in Bethel was destroyed and so as the 390 years began in that year when Jeroboham caused the said Altar to be built in like manner these 40 years began in that year wherein Josiah caused it to be beaten down For though it were a time of Reformation in respect of what Josiah did yet not being followed on by the people and Kings after him though threatned by Huldah with destruction it is of all things herein the most probable that Ezekiel was moved to have respect thereunto when he was commanded to set apart 40 years from his 390 and appropriate them to Judah in more particular then when he joyned the sins of Israel and Judah both together All which is likewise seen in the fifth Chapter of Ezekiel for the Prophet there by shaving his head and parting the haire sheweth Judah's case One part he burnt with fire another part he cut with a sword a third part he scattered into the winde One part he bound up and soone after he burnt even that part also So Jerusalem with her Inhabitants should perish by fire sword with other miserable destructions And albeit a small remnant was left for a while with Gedaliah yet soone after they also shall be brought to nothing
every man would lay a side all rash and inconsiderate zeale that so weighing things with an equall Ballance he may no longer be a carelesse disturber of the true and right Computation of these times But they have objections out of Scripture ☜ And first they produce the age of Mordecai Mordeca's age objected affirming that he was carried captive with Iechoniah Esth 2.5 and therefore could not live till the dayes of Xerxes to which time he must live if Xerxes were that Assuerus who married Esther To which is answered Answ That Mordecai was not carried captive but rather Kish the great Grand-father of Mordecai For thus stand the words in the place objected There was a certaine Jew at Shushan the Kings seate sth 2.5 whose name was Mordecai the son of Iair the son of Shimei the son of Kish a man of Iemini who had been carried away from Ierusalem with the Captivity c. Where the Relative who is to be referred not to the furthest Antecedent Mordecai but to the nearest Kish as may be seen in an Example much like it in 1 Chron. 2.7 where the words are And the sons of Carmi Achar the troubler of Israel who transgressed in the thing accursed And indeed to what other end should mention be made of Kish or why is the Genealogie produced no higher then to him but that thereby we may be taught that he and not Mordecai went into Captivity it was to shew by his carrying away captive how Mordecai a Jew born of him became Citizen of Shushan And so also the Apocryphall fragment in Esth 11.4 brought forth by some to prove the contrary fully sheweth saying Erat autem viz. Mordecai ex Captiva turba quam captam Nebuchadnezzar abduxerat that is Mordecai arose of that company or came of that company which Nebuchaanezzar carried Catptive Which well observed doth excellently confirme the truth of Gods Promise made to his people Ier. 24.6 namely That they should returne be built up planted and not rooted out Whereupon they were commanded tomarry wives beget children that they might increase there and not be minished Ier. 29.6 From which places itwell appeareth that the promise was made to them and their posterity the accomplishment whereof is excellently declared by this of Mordecai and Esther both of them born in the time of Captivity The truth of which is yet further manifest in regard That that Mordecai which nourished Esther was not the same who returned in the first year of Cyrus For he who nourished Esther staid still at Shushan The other returned with them who went first into the Land of Judea Neh. 7.7 It is not enough to say he gave his name to goe up but went not for what were this but to deny a plaine and expresse testimony as may be seen also Ezra 2.2 And therefore these two not being both one their opinion is still more and more weakned who strive to prove Mordecai and not Kish to be the man that was carried captive for it was common and ordinary to call divers men by one and the same name as afterwards shall be shewed Secondly they object the age of Ezra the son of Seraiah Ezra's age objected who was slaine by Nebuchadnezzar in the nineteenth year of his reigne 2 Kin. 25.18 Arguing from thence that the time of the Persian Monarchy could not be so long as is usually accounted For Ezra saw well near the whole time thereof being alive in the dayes of Johanan the father of Jaduah Ezra 10.6 Which Jaduah was high priest in the reigne of the last Darius when Alexander conquered the Monarchy and won it wholly from the Persians Neh. 12.22 See also Joseph in the eleventh book of his Antiquities at the seventh and eighth Chapters Which being so it will follow that had Ezra been begot but a day before his fathers death his age must be 250 years or thereabouts though we account not to the end of this Monarchy by almost ten years To which I answer There is ambiguity in the word Son Answ which men take properly as if Ezra had been the immediate son of Seraiah whereas he was so Seraiahs son as the Jews used to call their posterity by the name of Son even to the fifth or sixt descent As for example Josiah is said to be the father of Iechoniah Matth. 1.11 whereas the father of Ieconiah was Iehoiakim 2 Chron. 36.8 So also Zedekiah is called in * 2 Chron 36.10 one place the brother of Ieconiah and in * 1 Chro. 3.16 in another place the son of Ieconiah because he reigned next after him and yet we know that by propriety of speech he was his uncle as may be seen in 2 Kin. 24.17 So also Salathiel is called the son of Iechoniah Mat. 1.12 and yet not only did Ieconiah dye childlesse Ier. 22.30 but also Salathiel was indeed the son of Assir 1 Chron. 3.17 So also Zorobabel is said to be the * Ezra 5.2 Mat. 1.12 son of Salathiel Matth. 1.12 whereas he was not his immediate son for Zorobabel was indeed the son of Pedaiah 1 Chron. 3.19 So also the Prophet Zachariah is called the son of Iddo Ezra 5.1 whereas indeed he was the Grandchilde of Iddo and son of Barachiah Zachar. 1.1 And more nearly concerning the party objected it is not manifest that neither was he the proper and immediate son of Seraiah For though Ezra in the * viz. Ezra 7.1.2 c. place objected made good his purpose in shewing for his greater honour and renown that he came from Aaron yet he hath not precisely set downe all his Ancestours which were in that line between Seraiah and Aaron but hath omitted * viz. Amariah Ahitub Zadok Ahimaaz Azariah and Jonathan as may be seen by comparing Ezra 7.3 with 1 Chron. ca. 6 ver 7.8.9.10 six in one place and might also omit some in that other place between himselfe and Seraiah for this we finde herein to be true and certaine that Iehozadak was the immediate son of Seraiah as is expresly mentioned in 1 Chron 6.14 And therefore though Ezra were so near kindred to that stock yet it might be in a collaterall line by some that proceeded from Seraiah and yet neverthelesse be reckoned in Genealogy as if he were his son according to that before mentioned of Salathiel called the son of Ieconiah or that of Zedechia in 1 Chron. 3.16 Where though Zedechia were the Uncle yet he stands upon record as if he were the very son of Ieconiah For thus we see some brought in as sons which were indeed but near kinsmen But for all this some perhaps will say Object the difficulty of too long an age is not yet quite taken away For from the twentieth of Artaxerxes Longimanus to the end of the Persian Monarchy were 122 years or thereabouts and therefore Ezra living till towards the end thereof will be still older then can be well allowed though he were
born after the Captivity and were not the immediate son of Seraiah To which I answer Answ that he was alive indeed in the dayes of Iohanan and wrote the Books of the Chronicles to his time as appeareth Ezra 10.6 and Neh. 12.23 yet neverthelesse he reached not to the end of the Monarchy by farre not further then the dayes of Darius Nothus Neh. 12.22 which could not be much more then 50 years after the time that he came away from Babylon to Ierusalem at which time suppose he were 40 years old then should his whole time want ten of an hundred which age no man of judgement would conclude to be improbable but likely and probable enough And herein Cluverus is to be applauded who speaking of the high priests that were in the times of this Monarchy saith thus Iehoshua was in that office * Ezra cap. 2. and cap. 5. under Cyrus Cambyses and Darius Hystaspis Ioiakim under Xerxes and in the forepart of Artaxerxes his reigne Ezra 8.33 Neh. 12.10 Eliashib after him till the twentieth of the same King and something lower Neh. 3.1 Ioiada after him in the residue of Artaxerxes his reigne and in the forepart of Darius Nothus Ionathan after him in the * Neh 12.10.23 residue of Darius Nothus and under * Joseph lib. 11. cap. 7. Artaxerxes Mnemon And last of all Iaduah under Ochus Arses and Darius Codoman Joseph lib. 11. cap. 8. All which proportions are so congruous and well agreeing to the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah that no man I think who is serious will ever goe about to alter them except it be to make Jaduah's time fall also into a part of Mnemon's But they have still to urge Nehemiah's age objected and in the next place they object the age of Nehemiah which must be longer then the length of this Monarchy because say they at the beginning of it he was of fit age to be the Jews Captaine and one of their Conductours home from Babylon and living in the end of it he wrote of their last Darius and of Jaduah the High Priest who met and appeased mighty Alexander For the proofe of which we are directed to Ezra 2.2 Neh. 7.7 Neh. 12.22 and to Josephus lib. 11. cap. 8. To which I answer Answ That that Nehemiah who was in the beginning of this Monarchy was not the same who lived something towards the end of it nor ever was sent to build the Wals of Jerusalem by Artaxerxes For first that Nehemiah who was in the first of Cyrus returned home at the end of the Captivity Ezra 2.2 Neh. 7.7 Whereas this who was servant to Artaxerxes went not home till the Wals of Jerusalem were to be built Neh. 2.5.8 Secondly it was a common thing among the Jews to call more then one by the same name as is evident almost in every Catalogue where Catalogues are recorded As for example In Neh. 12.1 there is an Ezra who returned with Zorobabel and in Ezra 7.1 another who came not up untill the dayes of Artaxerxes Also in Ezra 2.2 and Neh. 7.7 there is a Mordecai who returned in the first of Cyrus and in Esther 2.5 another who lived at Shushan and nourished Esther For if Esthers Mordecai had returned with Zorobabel he would not have dwelt at Shushan and trained up Esther among the Heathen but rather in the Holy Land among the people of God Also See the first book of the Chronicles the Catalogues in Ezra and Nehemiah and then amongst the multitude of persons many are known by one name A Jeremiah which even Speed himselfe will say was not Jeremiah the Prophet Neh. 10.2 A Daniel likewise though not the same who was cast into the Den of Lyons Neh. 10.6 A Seraiah also though not the same who was slaine by Nebuchadnezzar Ezra 2.2 And in 1 Chron. chap. 6. two Abitubs two Zadockes and three Azariabs in one line And so also for Nehemiah he who came up in the first of Cyrus was not Nehemiah the famous but another of the same name For I finde three Nehemiahs in the History of these times One mentioned Ezra 2.2 Neh. 7.7 Another who returned in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Nehemiah cap. 1. and cap. 2. And a third differing from all these Nehe. 3.16 For Nehemiah the great was Nehemiah the sone of Hachaliah but this other was Nehemiah the son of Azbuck the Ruler of the halfe part of Beth-zur So then Nehemiah was not in the beginning of this Monarchie And as not in the beginning so neither in the end of it he was indeed in the dayes of Darius but this was not the last Darius as is commonly supposed It was rather that Darius who reigned next after Artaxerxes Longimanus as by the course of the History appeareth and is so understood by Lydiat Cluverus Conradus Pawell and others But this you will say cannot be in regard that Nehemiah was in the dayes of the High priest Jaduah who as Iosephus writeth met and appeased mighty Alexander comming against Jerusalem in the year before he conquered Darius Codoman the last King of this Monarchie To which Petavius answereth Petavil lib. 12. cap 25. that Nehemiah indeed recorded the Priests and Levites so as his times and then some one or other comming after him put in that of Iaduah and the last Darius The like where of is to be found in other Bookes of Scripture as in the end of Deuteronomie where those things that concerne the death of Moses were written by some other So also in the end of the Bookes of Ioshua Tobias and Ieremiah some things are added which were not of the Authours putting in But I like not of this answer so well as I like the answer of Master Lydiat in his Booke De emendat Temporum saying that though Nehemiah maketh mention of Iaduah in his Catalogue of the high Priests yet thereby is only gathered that writing his booke in the dayes of Darius Nothus and recording the High priests to that time Iaduah was borne heir to the Priesthood and is therefore recorded among them who afterwards succeeded his Father and in his venerable old age came and met with Alexander Like to which is also that of Clâ—verus in his Computo Chronologico or Nehemiah saith he non dicit se vixisse usq ad tempus Darii ultimi sed iste Darius cujus meminit cap. 12.22 fuit Darius Nothus Quod vel inde potest intelligi quod eodem capite v. 23. subdit descriptos esse Sacerdotes usque ad tempora Iohannis summi Pontificis Is autem non fuit sub Dario ultimo sed Iaddus ejus filius quem puerum videre potuit Nehemias sed non summum Pontificem neque etiam illud asserit That is Nehemiah doth not say that he lived to the time of the last Darius but that Darius which he mentioneth Chap. 12.22 was Darius Nothus which we are given to understand even from that which he presently subjoyneth in
the same Chap. v. 23. namely That the Priests were written to the times of Iohanan the chiefe Priest But he was not under the last Darius it was his sonne Iaduah whom Nehemiah might see being a child but not a chiefe Priest neither doth he say he did So then though Nehemiah might and did come low in the times of this Monarchie yet not to the end of it by farre For beside all this Iaduah began to be in the Priests office 32 years at the least before the last year of the last Darius although he entred thereon but at the death of Mnemon whereas no man can tell but he might be in the Priesthood some years before and so not only be old when he met Alexander but also be so high in the Persian times as Nehemiah might record him heire of the Priesthood At which time though it were when Nehemiah was old yet is not this granted without warrant For that Nehemiah lived till he was laden with age Josephus affirmeth in his Antiquities at the end of the fifth Chapter of the eleventh booke But I do ill you will say to mention Josephus for by him Nehemiah being of equall time with Sanballat must be as low as the dayes of the last Darius Joseph lib. 11. cap. 8. Whereto Iansw that though it be cōmonly collected from Iosephus that he who resisted Nehemiah at the building of the wals of Jerusalem was the same Sanballat who obtained leave of Alexander to build a Temple on mount Garizim for his son in law Manasses yet by Scripture records compared with his writings it appeareth otherwise For in Josephus Manasses who was then the son in law to Sanballat and cast out by a tumult of the people through the assistance of the high priest Jaduah was the brother of Jaduah But he whom Nehemiah mentioneth was not the brother of Jaduah but the brother of the father of Jaduah and not cast out by the people assisted by the chiefe priest but cast out by Nehemiah himselfe as is manifest in Neh. 13.28 It can therefore be no absurdity to grant there were two Sanballats the one in the dayes of Nehemiah and the other in the dayes of the last Darius and of Alexander magnus which last died after the end of the Persian Monarchie two yeares after the taking of Gaza Joseph antiq lib. 11. c. 8. And thus having removed all such Scruples as may seeme to hinder the beginning of Daniels weekes in the 20th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus I proceed and go on to interpret the words following Vnto Messiah the Prince This is meant of Christ Jesus our Lord as may be seen Esa 55.4 Psal 2.2 Ioh. 1.41 For this is to be noted that the word Messiah is never used for an Adjective being set before the Substantive as here MESSIAH NAGID Messiah the Prince And therefore doth here mean no other then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHRIST THE LORD as the Angel stiles him Luke 2.11 and is for certaine a proper name in this text belonging unto him who is the Saviour of the world who after seven weekes and threescore and two weekes was crucifyed upon the Crosse even in the last weeke of the Seventy And note likewise that when in other texts it is attributed to other persons it is then after another manner having a Pronounce affixed or a Substantive of the Genitive case as Mine annointed Thine annointed The annointed of God his annointed or The Priest which is annointed But here is no such thing and therefore must upon necessity meane CHRIT JESUS our Lord and no other Which even Rabbi Judah confesseth in his Comment upon Daniel alleadging thereupon that saying of the prophet in Esa 55.4 Behold I have given him for a witnesse to the people a Prince and a Commander of the Nations Seven weekes and threescore and two weekes These put together do make 69. weekes or 483. years whose precise end was at the beginning of Christs Ministery for then did Christ Jesus our Saviour Messiah the Prince openly manifest himself being annointed to that office a little before when he was baptized by John in Jordan proclaimed then by a voice from Heaven to be the son of God Both which fell into the yeare of the Iulian Period 4742. the one on the sixth of January when he was baptized the other on the third of October when he began his Ministery 483. yeares from the beginning of the weekes For in 69 weekes are 69 sevens of yeares and they put together do make 483. yeares If it be objected that the Medea distinctio or the Hebrew point Athnah standing in the originall next after Seven weekes are against this interpretation my answer then is that though there be indeed such a distinction or point there yet the sence is not therefore to be suspended at Seven weekes as if they might not together with the 62 make one whole number of 69. For in the first Chapter of Genesis at the first verse thewords and the points stand thus In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth And yet there Athnah hath not so much as the force of a Comma It would therefore be observed that the holy Hebrew as one saith hath 19 Kingly accents and eleven Servants The Kings stay many times on the chiefe word or number in the sentence whilst the servants hasten on And although any King for the most part will make a full sence as words be pointed in other tongues yet sometimes not so much as a Comma But why is seven seperated from sixty two Quest and not rather 69 set downe in whole number Answ I answer the Angel dividing these weekes which were 70 into sixty two and one sheweth what was to fall out in every of those parts This first part thereof is for that which was done first and because seven is farre lesse then sixty two it is called after a Propheticall and obscure phrase Astreight of times In which first intervall most like it is that the City was fully finished and set in order That is both publike and private works and buildings as houses streets and wayes substituting of right Officers with other things of the like kind With which interpretation the interlinearie Glosse agreeth as Petavius noteth Verse 26. And after 62 weekes Messiah shall be slaine That is Sixty and two weekes after the Seven for when the Seven weekes were ended then were the 62. to take beginning and the one weeke next after them for the confirming of the Covenant In which one weeke it was that the Messiiah was slain for as the Angel here sheweth it was after seven and sixty two and therefore in the seventieth or last Week of the seventy And why I say after seven and sixty two is because of the division first seven then sixty two Which is all one with after sixty two accounted from the end of the seven for so without doubt the Angel meaneth To which purpose Lansbergius noteth saying Non
Horne in the eighth Chapter of Daniel at the ninth verse And of the 2300 dayes that were given unto it verse 14. I May fitly make a difference between this little horn and that mentioned in the seventh Chapter because this arose out of the third Monarchy that out of the fourth this out of a Beast which had but four hornes after the first was broken that out of a Beast which had ten hornes and trampled the other Beasts under it's feet this bore rule but 2300 natural dayes that prevailed for a Time Times and halfe a Time And albeit the third Monarchy be one while expressed by a Leopard another while by a Goate yet must the Leopard mean the whole Kingdome of Alexander and his successours as well as the Goate for the four heads on either of these Beasts proclame as much as will be seene more plainly afterwards But in the meane time this I set downe as certaine That the little horne here mentioned is no other then Antiochus Epiphanes who commited many and sundry outrages both against other Nations and also against the people of God proceeding in prophanesse even against God himselfe He is called a little horne not because his Kingdome was little or meane but because he was of a base flattring nature having no true Princely quality or condition in him and also because he had no title to the Kingdom at the first being the younger brother Seleuchus the elder having an issue male alive at the same time when he began to take the Kingdome This was his beginning yet afterwards he came to be famous and was therefore called Antiochus Epiphanes which is famous or noble or as some say Epimanes Jun. ex Polyb. which is furious or mad Daniel was informed concerning the mischiefe that he should commit and thereupon he telleth us what he heard one of the Saints say unto another certaine Saint who was the numberer of Secrets or the wonderfull Numberer namely That the Sanctuary and the host should be troden under foot unto the evening and the morning two thousand and three hundred Dan. 8.13 14. In which number we are not to understand so many years but naturall dayes for albeit a day is to be taken for a year in many reckonings and propheticall predictions in Scripture yet never when the words Evening and Morning are annexed for then they meane but such dayes as are in the first Chapter of Genesis where it is said that the Evening and the Morning were the first day c. For that which is a Naturall day comprehendeth the day and night or as it is here the Evening and the Morning Howbeit in 2300 dayes there will arise a number of certain years which by accounting 365 dayes to a year and thirty dayes to a moneth will amount to six years three moneths and twenty dayes And albeit there be no precise point mentioned from whence to account these six years three months and twenty dayes yet this is certaine that their end must be fixed at the cleansing of the Sanctuary which as Josephus and the Authours of the first book of the Maccabees have recorded Josph Antiq. lib. 12. cap. 11. and Macc. 4.52 was in the hundredth and forty eighth year of the Grecians For whereas the Maccabees doe expresly name the 148 year Josephus saith it was three years after the hundredth and five and fortieth upon the 25 day of the ninth moneth which is called Casleu Now then from this time substract six years three months and twenty dayes and the head of your reckoning will fall into the hundreth two and fortieth year the sixth moneth and fifth or sixth day of the moneth about which time Antiochus * 1 Macc. cap. 1. ver 13.16 and 20. a little before he went into Egypt gave leave to set up the fashions of the Gentiles in Jerusalem returning againe after he had smitten that Country in the 143 year at which time he came in his owne person against Israel with a great multitude and entring proudly into the Sanctuary tooke from thence the Golden Altar and Candlestick of light c. offring many sundry outrages as in the first book of Maccabees at the first Chapter doth well appeare And thus we have seen this little Horne together with those yeares wherein it prevailed after it was grown and waxen great As for that other in the seventh Chapter it cannot be the same with this because it arose in the dayes of the fourth Monarchy of which see more in the following Chapter CHAP. XVI Of the fourth Kingdome in Daniel that it signifieth the Monarchy of the Romans I Was once almost drawne to think that this fourth Monarchy ought to be taken for the divided Kingdome of the Syrians or Seleucians but now upon a more diligent search into the Prophecies concerning the four Monarchies I have reason to conclude against it For first the third Monarchy being the Kingdome of the Grecians prevailed greatly over the face of the Earth Dan. 2.39 Howbeitthe fourth Beast or Monarchy was stronger then the third as appeareth Dan. 2.40 where it is compared to Iron which subdueth all things and in Dan. 7.7 It is said to be exceeding terrible stamping the residue under its feet and verse 23 It shall devour the whole Earth and shall tread it downe and break it in peeces Which if it be understood of the Seleucian or Syrian Kingdoms is very improbable for they put case that we make them no part of the Grecian or third Monarchy were nothing so strong as it neither did they trample the residue under their feet seeing Alexander was not conquered by them neither did they reigne so much over the whole Earth as he had done before them but were a great deale feebler then the Kingdome of Alexander It is therefore said after the breaking off the great Horne that there were foure which stood up for it being four Kingdomes of the same Nation but not in his strength as it is Dan. 8.22 To which some have answered Object that this their stamping and treading under feet is especially meant of the people of God trodden down and persecuted under Antiochus that great tyrant Answ But I may well think this to be nothing else but a meere evasion for it is manifest that there was as much violence offered to Religion before as in the dayes of Antiochus witnesse that which Nebuchadnezzar did when he set up his Golden Image commanding that whosoever would not fall downe and worship it should be cast into the hot fiery furnace nay that it must be made seven times hotter then ordinary for Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Dan. 3.6.19 Befide neither did Antiochus so prevaile against the Jews as if he had stamped them all in pieces for in the end they resisted him restored their Religion and setled the state of their Common-wealth whereas this strength and stamping is rather meant of the Monarchies one eating up and subduing another Secondly the Seleucians or
Syrians who succeeded Alexander and Alexander also himselfe are said to reigne as Grecians and not as two Kingdomes divers from one Monarchy Whereupon we read in the eighth Chapter of Daniel that the two horned Ram is expresly meant of the Medes and Persians verse 20 and that the Goate fignifieth the whole Kingdome of the Gecians Dan. 8.20.21.22 viz. of Alexonder and his successours For at the one and twentieth verse The Goate is the King of Grecia and the great horne which is betwixt his eyes is the first King Now that being broken whereas four stood up for it four Kingdomes shall stand up of that Nation but not in his strength If then there be a first King there must be no more then one and if more then one the Monarchy could not end in Alexander and if the Monarchy did not end with Alexander then the Seleucian or Syrian Kings must necessarily be part of the third Monarchy and they being part of the third Monarchy the fourth and last is the Monarchy of the Romans And now also lest it should be thought that the third Beast of the seventh Chapter doth not likewise comprehend the whole Kingdome of Grecia both of Alexander and his successours the words of the sixth verse stand thus After this I beheld and loe there was another like a leopard which had upon his back four wings of a fowle the beast had also four heads and Dominion was given him These wings were Emblems of Alexanders speedie conquests together with that suddain division of one body into four parts soone after the great horne was broken off The four heads are his four successours even as is seen in the eighth Chapter and signified there by the four hornes of a Goate By which it appeareth that both Alexander and his successours are comprehended under both Beasts for what the one expresseth by foure heads is in the other also meant by four horns then which there can be nothing plainer Thirdly Antiochus Epiphanes is described by that little horn which came fourth of one of the foure hornes of the Goate Chap. 8.9 Which beast is taken as hath been already seen for Alexander and his successours answering to the third beast of the seventh Chapter But if Antiochus belonging to the Seleucian Kingdome be a part of the third Beast he cannot also signifie the fourth or any part thereof for then one Beast should be both the third and fourth Monarchy Fourthly the Kingdome of this fourth Beast endeth with the destruction of that little horne which came up among the ten horns Chap. 7.11 and then the everlasting Kingdome of Christ succeedeth but the Kingdome of the Seleucians ended not with Antiochus many of that line succeeded afterwards and there was almost as many years from Antiochus Epiphanes death unto the comming of Christ as there were from Alexanders death to Antiochus Fifthly it is said that the life of each Beast was prolonged for a certaine time and season Dan. 7.12 But Alexanders reigne lasted no longer then six years and a few moneths after the destruction of the second Beast or Persian Monarchy And in so short a season what Periods or conversions of times could be observed Sixthly Saint Johns Beast in the Revelation is described according to the pattern of Daniels fourth Beast having ten horns and a mouth speaking great things and reigning also under the regiment of that blasphemous mouth for the space of 42 moneths or for a Time Times and halfe a Time as may be seen in the thirteenth and seventeenth Chapters of the Revelation Wherefore seeing one and the same Beast is described in both Prophecies neither in Daniel nor in the Revelation can be signified by either of them the Kingdomes of the Seleucians and Syrians For look what things concerning this Beast are told to Daniel more succinctly and abstrusely the same are revealed to Saint John more largely and as it were with a kinde of explanation And may not the ten toes in the feet of the Image serve as certaine tokens to shew that although the Beast had always ten horns in respect of the principal Provinces under it yet the ten hornes called by the name of ten Kings are not to be looked for in the first dayes of the Monarchy but in the declining estate and weakned times of the Empire as the toes signifie Seventhly it is said Dan. 2.28 There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and hath shewed to the King what shall be in the latter dayes But the latter dayes are the dayes since the first comming of Christ this time being the last houre and the last age 1 Joh. 2 18. as Saint John hath told us whereas the Syrians or Seleucians both began and ended long before Christ was born The latter dayes therefore were not come till they were gone and the prolonging of their kingdom come to an end for as I said before the life of each Beast was prolonged for a certaine time and season Dan. 7.12 Eighthly in the dayes of these Kings or Kingdomes viz. before they be all destroyed the God of heaven shall raise up the eternall Kingdome of Christ and of his Saints Dan. 2.44 But if the fourth Kingdome be interpreted of the Seleucians then these kingdomes were all extinguished before Christs kingdome began whether we reckon it from his first or second comming whereas on the contrary Christs birth fell into the reigne of the Romans who are not utterly to be destroyed in all and every relique till his comming againe to judgement Which is manifest by that of Daniel also in the seventh Chapter namely that there shall remaine some shew or relicts of the fourth Beast untill the thrones be set verse 9. and the Books be opened verse 10. and till the son of Man come in the cloudes of heaven verse 13. and till he get all dominion and honour and Kingdomes and that all People Nations and tongues may serve him verse 14. and untill the Ancient of dayes cause judgement to be given verse 22. and till his everlasting Kingdome come which never shall have an end verse 27. All which doe properly belong unto the day of judgement and second comming of Christ and therefore the fourth Monarchy must needs be meant of the Roman Empire and not of the Syrian or Seleucian Kingdome which was decayed and gone before Christ was born for it fell first of all to Tigranes King of Armenia and afterwards to the Romans in the dayes of Lucullus and Pompey Yea and at the death of Cleopatra Augustus was sole Monarch the longest surviver of the four heads and hornes being then expired in the losse of Egypt And so the fourth Beast trampled the rest under his feet as was foretold Dan. 7.7 And note that the Iews in not expecting the comming of the Messiah untill the Roman Monarchy be destroyed have put a false glosse upon Daniel For it is as Helvicus well observeth a vaine interpretation which they bring For Daniel in
them may be gathered four severall years for the birth of Christ And as for the Modernes Dekerius and Petavius are for the one and fortieth Julian year Kepler for the fortieth and M. Antonius Capellus Franciscanus for the nine and thirtieth Scaliger goeth along with them who pitch upon that year when Lentulus and Messalinus were Consuls Bucholcerus followeth Epiphanius and Eusebius and so doe many others But that which is the latest taken up is the 48 Julian year three yeares latter then the common account and is mainely defended by Master Thomas Lydyat both in his book De Emendatione Temporum as also in another book written on purpose to confirme it Thus they But I for my part shall absolutely rely upon none of them for no authority without good ground can be sufficient And therefore my course herein shall be this that having already out of * Herodis imperium res ab eâ—gestas primus antiquâ—ssimus omnium qui quidem extant Josephus in historiam retulit reliqui eadem commâ—ntati postea sunt ex ejus fontibus rivulos suos duxerunt Et tamen incredibile est quantum ab authore ipso magistroque suâ— dissentiant ex quo intolerabiles quidam in historiam errores perturbationesque sunt infusae Petav. Doctr. Temp. lib. 11. cap. 1. Josephus found the true time of Herods death I shall next seek for the birth of Christ in some year before it as by Scripture I am directed And if in that I can have any of the Ancients to guide me I shall gladly embrace them otherwise not Or to make my way the more plaine I shall first note the year of Herod in which the Ancients say Christ was borne Secondly the year of Augustus and Thirdly the time of the generall taxing when all the world under the Roman Empire went to be taxed For as in Saint Matthew we read that he was borne in the dayes of Herod the King Mat. 2.1 So in Saint Luke we reade that it was in the dayes of Augustus when the Decree was gone forth that all the World should be taxed Luke 2.1 And for the first we have the testimony of Epiphanius and Severus Sulpitius expresly noting that the three and thirtieth year of Herod to be the time of our Saviours birth Which will be proved true if it be rightly taken For it might very well be his three and thirtieth year not from his first beginning to reigne but from the time that he Sosius took Jerusalem else should Christ be 36 years old when he was baptized which is certainely false Herod therefore could not be alive four years after the birth of Christ although Epiphanius as well as Sulpitius hath written so for they having an eye only to his 37 years mistook themselves in this particular thereupon have cast the years of Christ afterwards into wrong years of Archelaus and Antipas as is plainly manifest As for the second Tertullian and Saint Hierom point us to the 41 year of Augustus But from whence must this 41 year be accounted Saint Hierom joynes it with the 28 year of Augustus and yet seemes to compute both that 28 year and the 41 year from one time which is very absurd Tertullian accounts it from the death of Cleopatra not onely against the truth of the thing it selfe but also against his owne reckoning who writeth that after this Augustus lived fifteen years and yet reigned but 43 after Cleopatra From which confused contradictory accounts of theirs it well appeareth that albeit they found in some ancient Rolls publick Records of the Romans that there was a general taxing of the World by Augustus about such a year as bore the date of an one and 40th year yet from whence to derive the right head of their reckoning they were either carelesse or altogether ignorant I should therefore think that by this 41 year was meant the 41 Iulian year for with that the three and thirtieth year of Herod before mentioned doth exactly accord Jrenaeus more ancient then either of these affirmes it to be about the 41 year of Augustus For Natus est Dominus noster saith he circa primum quadragesimum annum Augusti imperii lib. 3. contra haeres cap. 25. And in this he is none of the worst Authours for Christ being born on the 25 day of December and in the 33 year of Herod was born in the latter end of the 41 Julian year and so near the beginning of the 41 year of Augustus from the death of Julius Cesar that there were but seven dayes wanting to make his birth fall fully into it I conclude therefore from hence that the first year of Christ was for the most part of it in the 41 year of Augustus and that Christ was born but seven dayes before that year took beginning For he was born in the 41 Iulian year on the 25 day of December that day being accknowledged and kept for the day of his Nativity throughout many ages long before our times as in the Chapter next following shall be shewed Come we then now to the third and last thing that I noted to be a directour to us in this particular I meane the time of the generall taxing when all the World under the Romane Empire went to be taxed In the searching after which this I finde viz. that in all the time of Augustus there were only three generall taxings and in one of those three it must neede be that Christ was born witnesse the words of Saint Luke saying There went out a Decree from Augustus that all the World should be taxed Luke 2.1 By which words it appeareth that we must not seek for Christs birth at the time of a particular taxing but at a such time as there was a generall taxing And that there were three such taxings in the dayes of Augustus is testified by Suetonius in the life of the said Emperour about the end of the seven and twentieth Chapter where he telleth us that Augustus made three general taxings Censum populi ter egit primum ac tertium cum Collega medium solus The first of these was too soone for the birth of Christ for it was as Dion sheweth lib. 52. lib. 53. when Cesar Augustus the fifth time and Sextus Apuleius were Consuls viz. in the seventeenth Julian year and year of the City 724 which was but the twelfth year of Herods reigne after his first beginning and 56 years before the fifteenth year of Tiberius And as for the last it was too late for when that began Herod had been sixteen years dead well nigh It followeth therefore that Christ must needs be born in the time of the middle taxing for if the first were too soon and the last too late then must the birth of our Saviour be for certaine in that which was between both Kepler referreth the beginning of it to the 36 Julian year when those incredible Conquests of Drusus Tiberius and L. Piso
begin his account at Ioarib without any proofe at all to warrant it is altogether as uncertain as at the first to begin them in March. For who knoweth but Iudas might restore them so as they began againe at the time when he restored them where they were interrupted and broken off by Anciochus and at whose Course that was is no where recorded by any Author Nor will the Kalender of the Courses set forth by Master Lightfoot in his Harmony of the foure Evangelists serve the turn For first it is but upon conjecture that he beginneth the first Course on the next Sabbath day after the Feast of Tabernacles Secondly by making the Courses keepe their constant round in such order as he accounts them he maketh the Course of Bilgah which was the fifteenth Course to be in that part of the fifth Month where should be the Course of Ioarib For when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first Temple at Ierusalem it was as the Iewes beare witnesse the watch or Course of Ioarib Now the Course of Ioarib was not the fifteenth but the first Course 1 Chron. 24.7 Thirdly he makes the Course of Gamul in the end of the sixth Moneth to have but foure dayes which should have seven as well as the rest And last of all were his Kalender perfect it could be so but for one yeare because that day of the Moneth which is Sabbath day in this year will not be so in the next which together with the three weeks of the there great Feasts in which he telleth us there was no distinct course that served but all the Courses served indifferently together will make a great and manifest alteration every year It is therefore the best and only way to come to the knowledge of these Courses by accounting them backe from the time that the second Temple was destroyed by the Romans at which time was the weeke and Course of Ioarib as is witnessed by the Iews in their ancient Chronicle called Seder Olam rabba For seeing the Courses were interrupted often before the dayes of Iudas Maccabeus but never after till the destructiof the Temple by the Romans there can be no better way then to account back from thence And so doing I finde that Ioaribs Course in the fortieth Iulian yeare the yeare that the Baptist was conceived began on the fourteenth day of August which was the nine and twentieth day of the fifth Month feria septima And Ioaribs Course beginning then Abijah's Course to which Zacharias belonged must needes begin on the second day of October which was the nineteenth day of the 7th Moneth foria septima on the 8th of October was the last day of this Course at the night wherof or on the night after when the Sabbath was ended which we know was but from Even to Even the Baptist was conceved and born 258 dayes after viz. on the 24th day of Iune in the 41 Iulian year And note that this is the soonest time for a Child to be borne in a birth that is ordinary For in ordinary births and such this was Luke 157. carried on according to the course of Nature the continuance of the infant in the Mothers Womb dependeth much upon the place of the Moone at the time of the conception as they know who are any thing at all acquainted with Hermes his Trutina in which may be seen that as the shortest time is 258. dayes so the middle time is 273. dayes and the longest time is 288. dayes Now Christ's time of abode in the Virgins Womb was neither of the longest time nor of the shortest time Luke 1.36 but much about the middle time For in the sixth Moneth after the Baptists conception viz. five Moneths and nineteene dayes our Saviour Jesus Christ was conceived on the 25 day of March in the 41 Iulian year which in that year was the * And was also the Sabbath day seventeenth day of the first Moneth From whence to the * The day of his birth was on the second day of the weeke even as he himselfe was the second Person of the holy Trinity and as the second day of the weeke so the 27 day of the tenth Moneth Beroald in his Chrono lib. 3. cap. 8. day of his birth were 275. dayes compleat as many as are from the 25. of March to the 25 of December Saint Austin nameth 276 dayes which must be understood of so many dayes current for so long Christ remained in the Virgins Wombe as the Church saith he had it by tradition Aug. lib. 4. de Trin. cap. ult And as for that which Beroaldus hath further concerning the Indictions which began on the 24 of September and were instituted to beare account of the payment of tribute it is an argument very absurd For when Christ was born the Indictions were not known but were instituted above 300 years after at which time they were invented even in the seventh year of Constantine the great and in the year of the common Aera of Christ's birth 312. Why should they therefore be alleaged to shew the times of Christ's birth Because saith Beroaldus they concerned the Taxes and Tributes of the Empire and beginning on the 24 day of September they shew that to be the day of Christs birth when the decree went forth from Augustus that all the World should be taxed This is strange and more absurd still then before For if the issuing forth of Cesars Decree and our Savious birth were on one and the same day then must the Decree fly above a thousand miles in one day as far as from Rome to Nazareth And after that in the same day still Mary must travell with Joseph about 95 miles before she be delivered even as far as from Nazareth to Bethlehem By which cluster of absurdities all men may see that Beroaldus might have been better advised then to use this as an argument to prove Christs birth to be on the 24 day of September As weake also is that objection concerning the Shepherds keeping watch over their Flocks by night Luke 2.8 For the temperature of the Land of Canaan in the dead of Winter is nothing like the Winter in our cold Northerne Countries but warme enough for their Cattell to lye abroad and consequently for the Shepheards to keepe watch over their Floks by night For there in that Country they began their Harvest at Easter in the Moneth of Abib or Nisan Levit. 23.5.6.10 compared with Deut. 16.1.9.10 see also Josephus and Chemnit Har. Evang. Prolegom c. 3. as may be proved out of the Scriptures offering a sheafe of the first fruits thereof yearly on the second day after the Passeover This also Josephus sheweth in the third book of his Antiquities at the tenth Chapter and Chemnitius in the Prologomena to his Harmony Chapter the third Their Winter therefore must needs be far warmer then Winter is with us which even the situation of their Country both in respect of the Longitude
 25 E 3 7  25 A 6 9  26 F 4 8  26 B 7 10  Aphses the eighteenth course 27 G 5 9  27 C 1 11  28 A 6 10  28 D 2 12  29 B 7 11  Jeshabeab the four-teenth course 29 E 3 13  30 C 1 12  30 F 4 14  31 D 2 13  An Hebrew and Julian Calender for the fortieth Julian Yeere in which the Baptist was conceived wherein the Courses of the Priests are set down in their places and found to be so by accounting them back from the time of the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans the Cycle of the Sun in this year being foure and the Cycle of the Moon 15. July Da. Of the we Tammuz the IV. Moneth The fortieth Julian Yeer August D. of the week Ab the V. Moneth The fortieth Julian Yeer  1 G 5 15  1 C 1 16  2 A 6 16  2 D 2 17  3 B 7 17  Pethahiab the 19th course 3 E 3 18  4 C 1 18  4 F 4 19  5 D 2 19  5 G 5 20  6 E 3 20  6 A 6 21  7 F 4 21  7 B 7 22  Maaziah the 24th course 8 G 5 22  8 C 1 23  9 A 6 23  Jehezekel the 20th course 9 D 2 24  10 B 7 24  10 E 3 25  11 C 1 25  11 F 4 26  12 D 2 26  12 G 5 27  13 E 3 27  13 A 6 28  14 F 4 28  14 B 7 29  ¶ Ioarib the first course 15 G 5 29  Jachin the 21th course 15 C 1 1 Elul the VI. Moneth  16 A 6 30  16 D 2 2  17 B 7 1 Ab the fifth Moneth  17 E 3 3  18 C 1 2  18 F 4 4  19 D 2 3  19 G 5 5  20 E 3 4  20 A 6 6  21 F 4 5  21 B 7 7  Iedaiah the second course 22 G 5 6  22 C 1 8  23 A 6 7  Gamul the 22th course 23 D 2 9  24 B 7 8  24 E 3 10  25 C 1 9  25 F 4 11  26 D 2 10  26 G 5 12  27 E 3 11  27 A 6 13  28 F 4 12  28 B 7 14  Harim the third course  29 G 5 13  29 C 1 15  30 A 6 14  Delaiah the 23th course 30 D 2 16  31 B 7 15  31 E 3 17  In Hebrew and Julian Kalender for the fortieth Julian Yeer in which the Baptist was conceived wherein the courses of the Priests are set down in their places and found to be so by accounting them back from the time of the destruction of the second Temple by the Romanes Septemb. D. of the week â—â—ul the V Moneth The fortieth Iulian Yeer October D. of the week Tisri the 7th Moneth The fortieth Julian Yeer  1 F 4 18  1 A 6 18  Abijah or Abia the eighth course  2 G 5 19  2 B 7 19   3 A 6 20  3 C 1 20  In this Course Zacharias had the tidings of the Birth of John the Baptist and probobly on the first day thereof Luke 1.1 which was just nine moneths before he was born and seven dayes before Elizabeth conceived him  4 B 7 21  Seorim the foruth course 4 D 2 21   5 C 1 22  5 E 3 22   6 D 2 23  6 F 4 23   7 E 3 24  7 G 5 24   8 F 4 25  8 A 6 25   9 G 5 26  9 B 7 26  Jeshua the 9th course  10 A 6 27  10 C 1 27  In the night foregoing this day the Baptist was conceived and born 258 dayes after viz. on the 2â— Of June which in the 1 Julian yeer was the 20. day of the fourth moneth Jeria septima  11 B 7 28  Malchijah the fifth course 11 D 2 28   12 C 1 29  12 E 3 29   13 D 2 30  13 F 4 1 Mâ—â—â—hâ—sâ—an the eighth Moneth  14 E 3 1 Tisri the seventh Moneth The feast of Trum pets 14 G 5 2  15 F 4 2  15 A 6 3  16 G 5 3  16 B 7 4 Shechaniah the 10. course 17 A 6 4 Mijamin the sixth course 17 C 1 5  18 B 7 5  18 D 2 6  19 C 1 6  19 E 3 7  20 D 2 7  20 F 4 8  21 E 3 8  21 G 5 9  22 F 4 9  22 A 6 10  23 G 5 10  The day of Expiaâ—on 23 B 7 11  Eliashib the 11th course 24 A 6 11  24 C 1 12  25 B 7 12  Hakkoz the seventh course 25 D 2 13  26 C 1 13  26 E 3 14  27 D 2 14  The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles before the end of which Feast was Zacharias his Lot 27 F 4 15  28 E 3 15  28 G 5 16  29 F 4 16  29 A 6 17  30 G 5 17  30 B 7 18  Jakim the twelfth course   31 C 1 19  An Hebrew and Julian Kalender for the fortieth Julian Yeer in which the Baptist was conceived wherein the courses of the Priests are set down in their places and fâ—und to be so by accounting them back from the time of the Destruction of the second Temple by the Romanes Novemb. D. of the week Marchesâ—an the eighth Moneth  The fortieth Julian Yeer Decemb. Week Dayes Chasseu the ix Moneth  The fortieth Iulian Yeer  1 D 2 20  1 F 4 20  2 E 3 21  2 G 5 21  3 F 4 22  3 A 6 22  4 G 5 23  4 B 7 23  Hezir the seventeenth course 5 A 6 24  5 C 1 24  6 B 7 25  Huppah the thirteenth course 6 D 2 25  The Feast of Dedication instituted by Judas Maccabeus 159 yeers before this time and was then in that yeer when it was appointed on the 22 of December  7 C 1 26  7 E 3 26   8 D 2 27  8 F 4 27   9 E 3 28  9 G 5 28   10 F 4 29  10 A 6 29  11 G 5 30  11 B 7 1 Thebeth the tenth Moneth Aphses the eighteenth course 12 A 6 1 C 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ninth Moneth  12 C 1 2  13 B 7 2 Jeshabeab the fourteenth course 13 D 2 3  14 C 1 3  14 E 3 4  15 D 2 4  15 F 4 5  16 E 3 5 Â
are written of him in the Gospels are not recorded by one Evangelist And again why I name the fifteenth day of Nisan when the Passover was kept to be on the sixth day of the weeke at Christs Passion is because he arose from the dead on the first day of the week and on the third day after his death That it was on the first day of the Week is manifest by all the four Evagnelists chiefly by St Marke in his 16th Chap. at the ninth verse And that it was likewise on the third day after his Passion is as manifest by a whole multitude of Scriptures As for example in Matthew 16.21 from that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his Disciples how that he must goe into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the Elders and chief Priests and Scribes and be killed and be raised againe the third day And in the next Chapter at the 23. verse they shall kill him and the third day he shall be raised againe And in the 20 Chapter at the nineteenth verse They shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mocke and to scourge and to curcifie him and the third day he shall rise again And in Marke 9.31 he taught his Disciples and said unto them The Sonne of man is delivered into the hands of men and they shall kill him and after that he is killed he shall rise the third day And in the next Chapter at the 34 verse They shall mocke him and shall scourge him and shall spit upon him and shall kill him and the third day he shall rise againe And in Luke 9.22 The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the Elders and chief Priests and Scribes and be slaine and be raised the third day And in the eighteenth Chapter at the 33. verse They shall scourge him and put him to death and the third day he shall rise againe And in the four and twentieth Chapter at the seventeenth verse The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of Sinfull men and be crucified and the third day rise again And in Act. 10.40 Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly And in 1. Cor. 15.4 That he was buried and that he rose againe the third day according to the Scriptures In which last Testimony note I pray you not only what the Apostle maintaineth but how namely That the rising of Christ from the dead on the third day is according to the Scriptures If there be any text of Scripture which at the first fight may seeme to say Christ rose not till after the third day it is to admit of an interpretation that thereby it may be like the other Scriptures As for example in Marke 8.31 the phrase is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post tres dies after three dayes as it is usually translated Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 16.26 Mar. 14.22 Luke 22.20 is not to be taken for post after but for intra within As it should be said They shall put him to death and within three dayes he shall rise again Now this appeareth by Deut. 14.28 compared with Deut 26.12 A like phrase is in Luke 2.46 as the context declareth That also which Matthew and Marke doe say concerning the institution of the holy Supper that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke saith was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we must not translate After Supper but inter coenandum whilst they were at Supper ' The Pharisees also who told Pilat what Christ would doe after his three dayes understood the Phrase but of the third day for no longer did they desire that the Sepulcher should be watched Mat. 27.63 And indeed Christ had said the same before in words plain enough for saith he Destroy this Temple and within three dayes I wil raise it up Iohn 2.19 This is that time to which the Prophet pointed when he said After two dayes he will revive us in the third day he will raise us up we shall live in his sight Hos 6.2 Vpon which words one observeth this vivificat nos post duos dies tertio die eriget ut vivamus coram ipso quia in Christo cum Christo pater caelestis nos nipote membra Christi ex mortuis suscitavit Ephes 2.5.6 By which we see that the Resurrection is certainely bounded within the compasse of three dayes and not to be expected afterward The onely place remaining to be objected against it is in Mat. 12.40 where our Saviour saith As Jonas was three dayes and three nights in the Whales belly so must the Son of Man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth Which words are also to be interpreted they agree not else to the other Scriptures Know therefore that by three dayes and three nights we are to understand three naturall dayes accounted from Evening to Evening as the Jews use to reckon in which respect the day and the night are confounded and both of them made but one By the three dayes then and the three nights we are I say to understand three such days in the last wher of Christ arose for by a Senecdoche we reckon that done after three dayes which is done but after the third day is begun The first of these three dayes was the sixth day of the Weeke and the fifteenth day of Nisan and was from one Sun-setting to another For before the fifteenth day of Nisan was quite out Christ was crucified dead and buried The second day began at the Sunsetting next after during which time was the Sabbath The third and last began at the end of the former and was the first day of the weeke in the morning whereof very early Christ arose And all this according to the Scriptures But I go on and am to search next into the 77 Iulian year at the Easter whereof must be a fourth Passover since Christs Baptisme which if it be found to fall on the Sixth day of the weeke may be the year of his Passion But I finde it otherwise for in the 77 Iulian year the fifteenth of Nisan was on the first or second day of the weeke and not on the Sixth day This therefore could not be the year of Christs Passion no more then the former The year next after this was the 78. Iulian yeare and year of the Iulian Period 4746. which will be found to be the very year we seeke after For in this year the fifteenth of Nisan was for certaine on the Sixth day of the week being the third day of April and day of the fifth Passover which is mentioned by all the four Evangelists not one of them omitting it The yeare that followeth affordeth no such Character no nor the year next after that This therefore must needs be the year of Christs death which being in this year was on the third day of Aprill the Cycle of the Sun was 14 the Dominicall letter D. and the
which must therefore make it to be in the thirtieth yeare of Herod and this not the thirtieth since he first began to reigne but the thirtieth since the death of Antigonus at the taking of Ierusalem And as for the Olympiad that will also appeare to be 193 in the first year whereof was the thirtieth year of Herod as aforesaid And why 193 is in regard Caesarea was not dedicated after it was built untill Drusus was dead as Iosephus also in the place above cited hath declared Now Drusus was Consul and alive in the fourth year of the 192 Olympiad but dyed in the same year as Velleius sheweth lib. 2. cap. 97. All which considered will make it very plain and manifest that I have rightly explained Iosephus in this particular as also that the building of the Temple by King Herod was not begun untill his twentieth year for there must be as much difference between the true and ordinarie account as is between ten and twelve That which concernes the Kalender is nothing else but the joyning of severall Moneths together which without wrong to Iosephus cannot be understood of the Hebrew and Iulian Moneths but of the Hebrew and Macedonian Moneths for their dayes accord in the Kalender but not the other The Kalender is for the yeare of the Iulian Period 4783. when Jerusalem as I have already said was destroyed by the Romans The Cycle of the Sun then was 23 the Dominicall letter G. and the Cycle of the Moon 14. By which is gathered that the first day of the first Moneth namely Nisan was on or near the last day of March for the meane conjunction of the Luminaries at Jerusalem was on the thirtieth day of March 24 minutes past two in the afternoon And therefore the Moneth being according to the Vision of the Moon could not begin untill the next day at the soonest And so also for the fifth Moneth Ab the Conjunction was on the six and twentieth day of July about 24 minutes past five in the afternoon the first day of Ab was not therefore till the twenty seventh day and consequently the ninth of Ab not till the fourth of August which day was Sabbath day But the ninth of Ab faith Scaliger was feria prima agreeing therein to the testimony of Rabbi Iose who writeth that the Temple was destroyed by Titus on the ninth of Ab and evening of the Sabbath day See Master Lively in his Persian Monarchy p. 151. which I understand of the evening ending the Sabbath Which also the Seder Olam Rabba sheweth saying when the first Temple was destroyed that day was the next after the Sabbath and the next after the weeks end and the Course of Iehoiarib and the ninth of Ab and in like manner was it at the destruction of the second Temple We have already found it to be so at the destruction of the first Temple and by these testimonies it should be so at the destruction of the second Temple And indeed the late time of the day when the Luminaries were in Conjuction do rather cast the beginning of the fifth Moneth into the day that the Seder Olam noteth then into the day before Scaliger therefore makes here a two fold calculation and approves best of that which makes the ninth of Ab to be on the first day of the weeke I shall therefore begin the first day of the first Moneth on the first of April and the first of Ab on the 28th day of Iuly as in the Kalender following may be seen And why I give it the title of a Macedonian Kalender is because the Iewes accounted the Macedonian Moneths as they did their owne changing them as other people did who had been * Postquam vero Menses bi Macedonum una oum victoribus in Asiam penetraverunt mutationem quandamsubiâ—re Quamvis enim apud plurimos Graeiorum tales manerent quales pr ncipio suerant ab aliis tamen immutati sunt et ad cujusvis populi annum civilem accommodati Quippe Judaei quibus Neomenia non à jugo sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dependebat etiam Mecedonum Menses inde inchoanent Hanc obcausam menses Judaici Macedonici ita inter se conferuntu ut plane pro iisdem habeantur Quartus decimus namque Nisan apud Josephum cum 14. Xanthici quartus decimus Tisri dum quarto decimo Hyperberetaei plane conveniunt Larg De annis Christi lib. 1. pag. 184. conquered by the Grecians to make them serviceable to their owne account This we may see in the Antiquities of Iosephus lib 3. c. 10. An Hebrew Julian and Macedonian Kalender for the yeer of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in the year of the Julian Period 4783. The Cycle of the Sum then was 23 the Dominicall letter G and the Cycle of the Moon 14. The first Moneth Aprill Nisan or as Josephus calleth it Xanticus This was the first Moneth 1 1 1 G Note that in the Kasender of this year osephus joyneth the Hebrew and Mecedonians Moneth together and makes his account by them And why I every where account but 29. dayes to the first moneth See before Chap. 7. I beleeve it was not otherwise untill the Kalenders of the later Jewes came in use in which we have indeed the sirst 30. the second 29. the third 30 c.  2 2 2 A  3 3 3 B  4 4 4 C  5 5 5 D  6 6 6 E  7 7 7 F Abijah The eighth course 1 Chron. 24.10  8 1 8 G  9 2 9 A  10 3 10 B  11 4 11 C  12 5 12 D  13 6 13 E  14 7 14 F Jeshua The ninth course 1 Chron. 24.11 And now was the Passeover at which time Jerusalem began to be besieged  15 1 15 G  16 2 16 A  17 3 17 B  18 4 18 C  19 5 19 D  20 6 20 E  21 7 21 F Shechaniah The tenth course 1 Chron. 24.11  22 1 22 G  23 2 23 A  24 3 24 B  25 4 25 C  26 5 26 D  27 6 27 E  28 7 28 F Eliashib The eleventh course 1 Chron. 24.12  29 1 29 G  An Hebrew Julian and Macedonian Kalendar for the yeer of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in the yeer of the Julian Period 4783. The Jecod Marleek May. Ijar the second Moneth which with the Macedonians was Artemisius 1 2 30 A  2 3 1 B  3 4 2 C  4 5 3 D  5 6 4 E  6 7 5 F Jakim the twelsth course 1 Chron. 24.12  7 1 6 G  8 2 7 A  9 3 8 B  10 4 9 C  11 5 10 D  12 6 11 E  13 7 12 F Huppah the thirteenth course 1 Chron. 24.13  14 1 13 G  15 2 14 A  16 3 15 B  17 4 16 C  18 5 17
and they were these Giges 38. Ardis 49. Sadiattes 12. Halyattes 57. Croesus 14. Scaliger gathereth out of Sosicrates a Laconian Historiographer that Cyrus tooke Sardes and subdued Croesus 41. years after the death of Periander who thereupon setteth the end of Croesus his Kingdome in the first year of the 59. Olympiad the like doth Helvicus and some others And indeed the account would fit the turne well enough if all things else were correspondent but because they are not I must let it alone to them that like it For though from the fortieth yeare of Periander which was all the time that he reigned according to Laertius there be 41. years to the time that Cyrus subdued Croesus yet not so many from the end of his 44. at which time he dyed even in the fourth yeare of the 48. Olympiad as already hath been shewed I conclude therefore that when Croesus lost his Kingdome it was not the first year of the 59. Olympiad but rather and indeed the first year of the 58. Olympiad fourteenth year of his reign For we are not to account that last of his to be compleat but current when this calamity fell upon him and that it was also towards Winter in the yeare of the Julian Period 4166. Which being considered I would that the reigne of the Lydians be set one year higher then they be in the Table in the first Part next after the one hundred and nineteenth Page For there the conquest that Cyrus made of Croesus his Kingdome standeth against the year of the Julian Period 4167 whereas here I conclude it to be in the yeare of the same Period 4166. when the Soldiers were ready to take up their winter quarters But now see the List Years of the Iulian Period when they beg A List or Catalogue of the Kings of Lydia rightly fixed 3918. Ardysus 36. 3954. Alyattes 14. 3968. Meles 12. 3980. Candaules 17. This is he who lost his Kingdome by shewing his naked Wife to Gyges 3997. Giges 38. 4035. Ardys 49. 4084. Sadiattes 12. 4096. Halyattes 57. 4153. Croesus 14. current Cyrus conquered him and his Kingdome in the first yeare of the 58. Olympiad teste Solino and that was in the yeare of the Julian Period 4166. as before was said He had a Sonne who never spake in all life till now but now seeing a Souldier goe about to kill his Father upon a suddaine passion he brake his Tongue-string cryed out and said Oh man take heed wilt thou kill Croesus And from that day to his death he could speake as well as other men Herodot The next to be mentioned according to their order or course of time be the Kings of the Medes The reigne of the Medes of whom I gave notice in the latter end of the second Chapter They reigned without any strict hand over their subjects untill the dayes of Dioces and that 's the reason why he is accounted by Herodotus as the first King Nor is this my opinion alone Hist World l. 2. c. 27. S. 5. but of Sir Walter Raleigh likewise in his History of the World saying this Dioces was the first that ruled the Medes in a strict forme commanding more absolutely then his Predecessors had done For they following the example of Arbaces had given to the people so much licence as caused every one to desire the wholesome severity of a more Lordly King Herein Dioces answered their desires to the full For he caused them to build for him a stately Palace he tooke unto him a Guard for the defence of his Person he seldome gave presence which also when he did it was with such austerity that no man durst presume to spit or cough in his fight By these and the like Ceremonies he bred in the people an awfull regard and highly upheld the Majestie which his Predecessors had almost letten fall through neglect of due comportments In execution of his royall office he did uprightly and severely administer justice keeping secret spies to informe him of all that was done in the Kingdome He cared not to enlarge the bounds of his Dominion by encroaching upon others but studied how to govern well his owne The difference found between this King and such as were before him seemes to have bred that opinion which Herodotus delivers that Dioces was the first who reigned in Media Thus that Knight Moreover this was he that built the great City of Echatane which now is called Tauris and therefore should in all likelihood be that King Arphaxad mentioned in the booke of Judith which even the course of time approveth But if he be Arphaxad who was it that was that great Nabuchodonosor which fought against him I answer this seemes to be Saosduchinus King of the Assirians about the beginning of whose twelfth year Dioces was slaine For so it is read in the first Chapter of the book of Judith translated into Latin out of the Caldee by St. Hierom as a worthy Author well observeth in his laborious and learned Annals of the old Testament In the Greeke indeeed we are one while directed to the twelfth yeare another while to the seventeenth year of this King but that unconstancie argues a defect in the Copie and so I leave it comming now to shew the course of succession among these Kings of Media who began at the death of Sardanapalus Yeares of the Iulian Period when they beg A Catalogue or List of the Kings of Media partly out of Eusebius and partly out of Herodotus 3893. Arbaces 28. 3921. Sosarmus 30. 3951. Medidus 40. 3991. Cardiceas 13. 4004. Dioces 53. 4057. Phraortes 22. 4079. Cyaxares 40. 4119. Astyages 35. 4154. Here was the end of Astyages and the beginning of the reigne of Cyaxares secundus who according to Xenophon was the son of Astyages and called in the sacred Prophecy of Daniel by the name of Darius Medus He was the Vncle of Cyrus as being Brother to his Mother which Xenophon also sheweth Moreover we are to note that in the booke of Tobit and Daniel Astyages the Father of this Cyaxares is called Ahasuerus or Assuerus as may be seen Dan. 9.1 and Tob. 14.17 Next after these we are to reckon the Kings of Assyria which reigned at Niniveh after the death of Sardanapalus Kings of Assyria after Sardanapalus as those before mentioned reigned in Media The first of them may be granted to be that King whom Castor in his Canon calleth Ninus secundus saying as his words sound in the Latine Initium Chronographiae fecimus a Nino eam deduximus usque ad Ninum qui successionis jure accèpit Regnum a Sardanapalo Thus he Now this name some thinke was given him for the better lucke sake namely as I conceive That as the ancient Ninus did at the first enlarge this Kingdome so as it came to be a great Monarchy in like manner the same was hoped for by them who gave this name to this King Or else because he was
 D  12 23  E  13 24  F  14 25  G  15 26  A  16 27  B  17 28  C The first day of the Week 18 29  D  19 30  E  20 31  F  21 1 April G The first day of APRIL 22 2 A  23 3  B  24 4  C The first day of the Week 25 5  D  26 6  E  27 7  F  28 8  G  29 9  A  30 10  B On this day was the Vernall Equinox In Part I. the first leaf of K. is fall put this leaf in its place An Hebrew and Julian Calender for the Yeer of the Vniversall Deluge or Flood The first Moneth APRIL The first Moneth Anno Mundi 1658. 1 11  C On the first day of this Moneth Noah removed the Covering of the Ark and looked and behold the face of the ground was dry Gen. 8.13 howbeit he commeth not out till God commanded him which was not untill the 27 th day of the next Moneth For though the Waters were dryed from off the Superficies of the Earth by this first day of the first Moneth yet the ground was still soft unfit for habitation and not dry enough to be trodden on by either Man or Beast untill the twenty seventh day of the second Moneth in this yeer of the World 1658. 2 12  D 3 13  E 4 14  F 5 15  G 6 16  A 7 17  B 8 18  C 9 19  D 10 20  E 11 21  F 12 22  G 13 23  A  14 24  B  15 25  C The first day of the Week 16 26  D  17 27  E  18 28  F  19 29  G  20 30  A  21 1 May B The first day of MAY. 22 2 C The first day of the Week 23 3 D  â—4 4 E  25 5 F  26 6 G  27 7 A  28 8 B  29 9 C The first day of the Week A Postscript to the Reader Gentle Reader I Am now come towards the conclusion or end of what at my first undertaking I intended for the close of which I have got together a few Characters Chronologicall Characters which now in the last place I present unto thee They are pertinent to what is before written in my Measuring Reed and will serve well to confirm the whole Fabricke of my foregoing computation And first I will begin with Adam of whom I have not much to say and yet if I might not be thought too curious I could shew wiâ—h very much ease and probability the very day as well as the yeare of his death He was not borne nor begotten but treated in the yeare of the Julian Period 710 on the 29 day of April Feria sexta when the Sun was in the sixth degree of Aries as I have elsewhere shewed from whence he lived as the Scripture telleth us 930 yeares Gen. 5.5 His Death must therefore be in the yeare of the same period 1640 at such time as the Sun was againe in the same point of Heaven as at the first when God created him which in this yeare of his death is found to be on the 22 day of April This 22 day in the yeare aforesaid was on the sixth day of the week when was also the 14 day of the first month Adam therefore dyed on the same day of the week on which he was made which was also the same day of the month on which I finde it probable that he fell To which the Testimony of Eutychius a learned Patriarch of Constantinople well agreeth for as hath been told us by that famous and illustrious Master Selden Adam died on the sixth day of the week and fourteenth day of that moneth which was nearest to the Vernall Equinox as learned Languius expounds that passage of his taken from Eutychius which is indeed an exposition very true For thus stands the words in Mr. Seldens Booke De Anno Judaico if they be set downe in English And Adam dyed on Friday on the fourteenth day of the Moonth which was the sixth day of the Moneth Nisan c. By which sixth day of Nisan he certainly meaneth the sixth day after the Sun entred into Aries at which time must be the fourteenth day of the Moone and sixth day of the week All which I finde to be exactly on the 22 day of April aforesaid in the yeere of the Julian Period 1640 which was therefore the very day and yeere of Adams death and very beginning of the yeare of the World 931. The further consideration of which is not onely a sure character of the precise time of the creation but also serveth to declare that the Ages of the Patriarches were full and compleat yeeres and that therefore Noah's Flood came not in the yeere of the World 1656 as the most account but in the yeere of the World 1657. for Methuselah must finish the yeeres of his life before it came as the signification of his name in the Hebrew sheweth which is He dyeth and the emission or Dart commeth In this yeere of the World being the yeere of the Julian Period 2366 the seventeenth day of the second moneth on which day the Flood began was also on the sixth day of the weeke which is a character likewise worth the marking For it clearely sheweth that as on the sixth day of the weeke God made both Man and Beast so on the same day of the week he sends a flood of Waters to destroy them And as this was on the sixth day of the week so when Noah came out of the Arke was the seventh day of the week in the yeere of the Julian Period 2367. on the fifth day of June which in that yeare was the 27 day of the second moneth and Sabbath day at which time Noah offered Sacrifice even at the very end of a full year of dayes after the flood began which adds still something for confirmation Another Character next after this confirming me yet more fully in a firm confidence of the truth of my accounts is taken from the time of the comming out of Egypt which I finde to be on the last day of Aprill in the yeare of the Julian Period 3224. which very day in that yeare was on the sixth day of the week even as on the same day of the week Christ purchased a better Redemption by the bloud of his crosse one thousand five hundred and two and twenty yeares after In all which I doe much admire at the wonderfull providence of God in disposing of the Times so exactly and harmoniously for as on the sixth day of the weeke Man was made and Christ suffered so on the sixth day of the weeke Israel was delivered out of the Egyptian bondage on the very next day after
the Passover even as on the next day after the Passeover Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us to free us from the bondage of sinne and Sathan Nor in this yeare would that character which we have in Exodus from the history of the Quailes and Manna be forgotten For as we read in the sixteenth chapter on the fifteenth day of the second moneth the people murmured for lacke of meate whereupon God sent them Quailes at Even and on the morrow morning Manna which they gathered six dayes but on the seventh day they found none Exod. 16.26 By which we see not onely that the 22 day of the moneth must be Sabbath day but also that the first Manna fell on the first day of the weeke now called the Lords Day in memory of our Saviours Resurrection and hath been the Christians Sabbath ever since Which is exactly true in the yeare that I account if but 29 dayes be reckoned for the first moneth awd 30 for the second which as I have shewed before in place convenient is more consentaneous to the motion of the Moon then to have 30 for the first before the odde houres arise to a day for this could not be before the second moneth The first moneth therefore in any yeare hath but 29 dayes the second 30 the third 29 the fourth 30 c. For in one moneth according to the meane motion of the Moon from one conjunction to another we have but 29 dayes 12 houres 44 minutes three seconds and 12 thirds I account therefore that the Israelites came out of Egypt when the 29 day of April was ending and the 30 beginning which was Feria sexta I account likewise that the first Magna fell on the 30 day of May which was the 16 day of the secrnd moneth Feria prima and consequently that the 29 day of of May and fifth of June were Sabbath dayes the one on the 15 day of the second moneth and the other on the 22. And thus is this yeare truly found by the correspondence we see it hath with these characters The like confirmation I find for the yeares in which I account the Temple to be founded and dedicated by King Salomon and aster that burnt by Nebuchadnezzar For first it being true that the Israelites came out of Egypt in the yeare of the Julian Period 3224 it must needes follow that King Salomon laid the foundation of the Temple in the yeare of the same Period 3703 for it must be in the fourth yeare of King Salomon on the second day of the second moneth 480 yeares current after the comming out of Egypt as we are taught in the 1 Kin. 6.1 And that being the yeare when it was dedicated being seven yeares after must needs be in the yeare of the same Period 3710 which was not onely seven yeares after but was also the eleventh yeare of Salomon as we are likewise taught it should be in the 1 Kin. chap. 6. verse 38. and chap. 8.2 Now this I confirme both by the time that the Temple stood and also by the courses of the Priests which served in the said Temple till Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it The first of these is abundantly proved by me to be 423 yeares and some odde moneths which therefore casteth the destruction thereof into the yeare of the Julian Period 4126. Over and above which proofes of mine I have seen that since which I do much admire namely that some of the skilfull Rabbins have said and recorded it that the same number was heretofore read in the Heavens from such letters as the Starres in their position made For as Gaffarell a learned French man hath told us R. Rapoll Chomier and Abjudan have delivered to posterity the deepe secrets of a caelestiall writing and Reading which discovers many strange things to them who are able to understand it and among the rest this is one namely That a little before this Temple we now speake of was destroyed and burnt by Nebuchadnezzar it was observed that eleven of the Starres that were most verticall to it composed for a pretty while together five Hebrew Letters which being joyned together made up this word reading it from the North towards the West Hikschich which signifieth to reject and forsake without any Mercy and the number of three of them added together amounted to 423 the very space of Time that this stately piece of building had stood All this I finde in the unheard-of curiosities of James Gaffarell at the 13 chapter which whil'st I mention I look upon mine own proofes with the more confidence and though I professe no skill in such curiosities yet I will embrace truth wheresoever I finde it This then for the time of the Temple being thus the Character which I have to confirme all else about it is this namely the courses of the Priests which served in the Temple from the first Sabbath of the Dedication till Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it For we may easily believe that in the first Sabbath of the Dedication the first course which was the course of Joarib began which I have elsewhere proved by the Hebrew and Julian Kalender of that yeare which was the yeare of the Iulian Period 3710 to be on the 17 day of October To which time and yeare if we adde 224 Iulian yeares in which space the courses returne to the same day againe we shall come to the yeare of the Julian period 3934. on the 17 day of October After which we have 192 yeares more before we can come to the yeare of the Julian period 4126 in which the Temple was destroyed noting these 192 yeares to end on the 17 of October likewise And in 192 yeares we finde 417 courses with 72 dayes over and above which 72 dayes being taken out of the number of dayes which were from the beginning of that yeare of the Julian period to the said 17 day of October do direct us to the sixth day of August which then was Sabbath day and the course of Joarib even that very course of his in which the Temple was destroyed as before in the seventh Chapter pag. 44.45 c. may be seen But I cannot forget the 423 so strangely found out by Chomier for the time of the Temple Gaffarell out of him hath other periods not impertinent found out also by the foresaid Reading of the Stars as that the Kingdome of the Jewes from the beginning of the 40 yeares given to Samuel and Saul in the Acts of the Apostles to the deplorable condition of Zedechia should be 505 yeares for so indeed it was if we reckon from the beginning of the 40 yeare aforesaid to the time that Nebuchadnezzar laid his last siege against Jerusalem 430 dayes before the City was taken This number of 505 he saith was signified by five stars which composed three mysticall letters out of which was made an Hebrew word whose signification was to breake cast downe and to drive out the Number arising from those letters being 505.
by accounting nine and twenty dayes to the first Moneth fell into the seventh day of the weeke on which the Israelites murmured had Quailes at even and on the morrow morning Manna which they gathered six dayes but on the seventh day they found none Exod. 16.26 By which we see not onely the two and twentieth day of the second moneth was Sabbath day but also that the first Manna fell on the first day of the Week now called the Lords day in memory of our Saviours Resurrection and hath been the Christians Sabbath ever since and for the first moneth to have but 29 dayes Let this be remembred for it is a Rule to me in all the moneths in every year is more consentaneous to the motion of the Moon then to have 30 before the odd houres arise to a day which is not till the second moneth The first moneth therefore hath but 29 dayes though the second hath 30. For in one moneth according to the meane motion of the Moon from one Conjunction to another we have but 29 dayes 12 houres 44 minutes three seconds and 12 thirds I account therefore that the Israelites came out of Egypt when the nine and twentieth day of April was ending and the thirtieth beginning I account likewise that the first Manna fell on the thirtieth day of May feria prima and consequently that the nine and twentieth day of May and fifth of June were Sabbath dayes the one on the fifteenth day of the second moneth and the other on the two and twentieth That which I shall mention next is the year of the Julian Period 3703. The Temple founding and year of the World 2994. in which year King Salomon laid the foundation of the Temple on the second day of the second moneth The Cycle of the Sun was seven the Dominicall letter F. the Vernall Equinox upon the one and thirty day of March and the Cycle of the Moon seventeen By which is gathered that the first day of Nisan was on the last day of March feria prima and consequently that King Salomon began to build the Temple on the last day of Aprill which was the second day of the second moneth feria tertia for on the second day of the second moneth this great work was begun as may be seen in 2 Chronicles 3.2 This was the fourth year of King Salomon and after the comming out of Egypt the 480. not compleate but current For indeed there were but 479. years fully finished which with respect had to the place of the Sun at both times and the anticipation of the Equinoctiall from the comming of Egypt to this time of the Temple doth shew the end of their reckoning to be on the twenty six or twenty seventh day of Aprill three or four dayes and no more before the Temple was founded Thus then from the comming out of Egypt to the beginning of the building of the Temple were 479. years and about four dayes it was founded therefore in the 480. year after the comming out of Egypt as is mentioned in 1 Kings 6.1 The next that I shall mention is the year of the Julian Perion 3710. The Temple dedicated It was the eleventh year of King Salomon and year when the Temple was dedicated 1 Kings c. 6. ver 38. and Chap. 8.2 The Cycle of the Sun was 14. the Dominical letter D. the Cycle of the Moon five the Vernall Equinox March the 31. and the Autumnall Equinox October the fourth By which is gathered that the first day of the seventh moneth called Tisri was on the fifth day of October feria secunda and that the Dedication began Octob. the eleventh feria prima This was 3000. years after the Creation even in the year of the World 3001. The Kalender of which Moneth is as followeth TISRI October Tisri the seventh moneth An. Mundi 3001. anno Per. Jul. 3710. Cyclo ☉ 14. ☽ 5. In which Yeer and Moneth the Temple was dedicated 1 Kin. 8.2 1 5  E  2 6  F  3 7  G  4 8  A  5 9  B  6 10  C Sabbath-day  7 11  D 1. The first day of the Dedication 8 12  E 2. The second day 9 13  F 3. The third day 10 14  G 4. The fourth day This being the 10. day of the moneth was the Expiation day 11 15  A 5. The fifth day 12 16  B 6. The sixth day 13 17  C 7. ☜ The 7th d. of the Dedicat. which was also Sab. Day 14 18  D 8. The 8th d. on which was a solemn Assembly 2 Chr. 7.9 15 19  E 1. ¶ The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles Levit 23.24 16 20  F 2. The second day 17 21  G 3. The third day 18 22  A 4. The fourth day 19 23  B 5. The fift day 20 24  C 6. The sixt day of the Feast which was now Sabbath-day 21 25  D 7. The seventh day 22 26  E 8. The last and great day of the Feast 23 27  F On this day being the 23. of the moneth Salomon sendeth the People away 2 Chron. 7.10 24 28  G  25 29  A  26 30  B  27 31  C  28 1 Novemb. D  29 2 E  This seventh Month being ended there was nothing wanting to the Temple for the quite compleating of it whereupon it is as Codoman noteth that in 1 Kings 6.38 the Temple is said to be finished in the eighth Moneth in the eleventh year of King Salomon That is It was then finished in all the parts thereof and according to all the fashion and Ordinances of it both within and without Or as the marginall reading in our last translation expresseth It was then finished with all the appurtenances and with all the Ordinances therof Which is as Bucholcerus observeth It was dedicated saith he in the Moneth Ethanim and in the following Moneth Bul it was finished with all the Vtensils thereof All which considered we shall not need to drive the dedication into the twelfth yeare of King Salomon as some have done for if it were not dedicated till then it must necessarily follow that it lay void for a whole year together after it was finished which is very unlike Beside that this was the right year of the dedication I can further demonstrate by the courses of the Priests which served in the Temple till Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it for we may easily beleeve that in the first Sabbath of the dedication the course of Joarib began which we here see to be on the seventeenth day of October To which time if we add 224. Julian yeares in which space the courses returne to the same day againe we shall come to the year of the Julian Period 3934. on the seventeenth day of October After which we have 192. years more before we can come to the year