Page:Chronologies and calendars (IA chronologiescale00macdrich).pdf/40



HE pages of the Revised Bible show no dates, while many editions of the Authorised Version exhibit a chronological as well as a numerical pagination. In this we see one essential difference between the two versions. It is true that King James' version did not contain any system of yearly dates, but at the beginning of last century, B.C. and A.D. years were printed on the authority of Archbishop Usher's chronology. Their minute precision cannot be regarded as a proof of accuracy; and at the present time the pretended years are not acknowledged, even by many divines. This is specially so regarding the B.C. dates, in which there is an ominous divergence between the figures derived from different textual sources. The Hebrew text reveals one, the Septuagent (or LXX.) another, and the Samartin Codex a third, and often vastly different period for a Scriptural event. Josephus fares no better at the hands of the critics, and the chronological statementstatements [sic] of that author are now looked upon as being to a great extent worthless for the purposes of historic reference.

. The very conservative Professor Sayce remarks that