Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1843-04-04
DIR. Jarvis arsias, Mr.. Miller.

.
At, Dr. Jarvis Of Mddleiown, Conn is much mod
fled 10 parts, 10 render the language less harsh in
The ears Of those who conscicntiously believe Mr..
Miller's doctrine. We have taken The liberty to
mend 1t thus Tor the Gaets rh,oh h eJhitiS, rsih.
er than the iererIfy Of The reproof, is what wish
10 avail ourselves Of
DR. Jarvis is one Of the mos, learned divines in
the Episcopal Church, and has devoted many years
TO the study Of Chronology. His opinions are
therefore entitled TO general attention.
"sR MILLrR's CHRONOLOGY Is NOT CORRECT" |
1t makes grea, display Of figures which do |
not and cannot examine ,he items but it is like a
false balance sheet made up to special pur
pose. To 90 into the dotails, would require as
much labor. as an accurate accountant, would have
10 undergo, to expose the mistakes Of public de-
faulter ] do no, mean TO sccuse Mr. Miller OF
dishonesty. Tie may be very sincere; but he IS
very ignorant and very presumpuous Chronol
ogy is n science; and like all other sciences, TO
excel in H. requires extensive knowledge and ac
cutate research. man may have good deal
Of natural force Of mind, and yet from the disad-
vaniages OF his situation, may waste his energies
An enterprisIng savage, unacqunin,cd with any
other instrument, than a stone Ratchet. may spend
half his life in cutting down a tree and making
canoe, and if we were obliged TO put to sea and
had our choice between this canoe, and one Of
Messrs Brown & Bells noble packe. ships II
would not take us long to decide the question.
The paper which you sent me, "The Midnight
Cry" Of Nov. 22d, 1912, contains answers 10 GER
tain questions from the Aurora which apuy Illus
,rate The ignorance OF these men q BY what
authority does Mr. Miller give Samuel "a years
/ Ans By the authority given in the chronology
I cal table on our last page" That is, in plain
English, by nc authority of my balance-sheet -
90 BY what authority does he give Cyrus 9
/ years Ans Rollin. q. BY what authority
docs he give Cambyses years. Ans Rolin.
ycarsl Ans. Rollin"--And who was Rollin
A rector in the University OF Paris, who, from
1880 to 1898, published popular abridgmen, of
Ancient History, But by what authority was
Rolln governed Here our wise calculator is
entirely at fault He little knows the difficulty of
settling the Chronology ofthc early Persian kings
! Not to mention Eusebius and other Chronologcrs
to whom we are so much indebted, he scarcely
knows the names of the great modern writers, Jo-
scph Scaliccr, Pctavius, Morris Pagi, Usher, Sir
John Mnrsham and many others, who have ex.
hausted their lives IN determining questions OF this
nature. These men knew the difficulties in their
way, and therefore, in giving their judgment on
obscure questions, thought it necessary to quote
reasons ofthcir dc cisons
Docs Mr.. Miller suppose tina, the difficulty Of
reconcling / Kings vi. |. with Acts xiii. 30, has
been left for him to discover Or that the whole
subject had not been maturely weighed, by the
great and learned writers whom have mcn,ioned2
He that the Judges successively ruled the
whole nation OF Israel, for the space Of 44S years
and this leads HIM into several gross absurdities
For example he makes Ehud rule for eighty
years, when the Bible SAYS only that the land had
res, eighty years and he substitutes Barak fol
Deborah, nossbly to avoid what he himself saw
was ridiculous, that the whole nation should bt
placed under Deborahs government for forty
years
After the death of Joshua what evidence j
, there Of a single ruler2 The tribes acted indie
, pendently; and the temporary defenders raised VI
from time to time in various parts of The land wer
ofcn coniomporaneous Without speaking of
, Kings Vi which he so rashly asserts was tn
biundor OF transcrber | will mention one pas
sage which he seems entirely to have overlooked
+ If you examine his figures, you will see tina, h
makes the number of years from the Exodus t.
S the commencement OF the government ofJeph,hah
0 400; whereas JePhthah himself in his message Il
c the king Of the Armorites, Judge. vi 1928
makes the same period only $40 years; for h
speaks of the Israercs on that side OF Jordon, a
f having been in possession of their land 800 year,
and il was conquered in the 40th wear ate
, they left Egypt. Here is at once difference G
n 90 years
When he comes down to the periods of Pre-
n fame History he is sngularly loose and inaccurate
The fourth year of Jchoiakim aud the first
Nebuchadnczzar where he places the commenc,
ment ofthe 20 years captivity, no, as he make
I it, b C. 500, but b. c. COZ. Both Petavius an
USHER place it in tina, year and accordingly, it
/, so noted in the margin of the English Bibles -
!. The 20 years would, in such case, end mthe yea
B. c. 537, or at least b G. $50 and not as he ha
II. b &. 500 Here, therefore, is another inaccr
racy Of 10 or years.
Chronoiogers are by no means agreed in thei
computation Of the reign Of Araxerxes Long
;, manus. The seventh year Of his reign, when Fl
= ra was sent to Jerusalem, is placed by Abp Ushe
: in the year b. c. 467 Petavius places j, yea
:. earlier, B. e. a66i but he suppose double b.
; ginning Of Araxerxes; one conformity with h
father, the Other alone after the death OF Xerxc
/, beginning before Chris, AIS live take this da
. the seventh year would be b c. AS Mr. Mile
has taken b. c. ij7. because he places the dea,
Of Christ iu the year SO Of the common era, an
T. G. So plus A ID 1890 days or the Z
Is weeks of Daniel His whole plan j. founded O
" these two supposi,ions first thai she $40 endt
d with me death Of Christ, and secondly, tina, A
80, was the year of tina, event for as 400 pit
1916 $500 and 4. d. 33 plus lslo=A