1. State of the World at the Birth of Christ—Tradition concerning his Advent—Its epoch determined from Prophecy page 1 2. Short history of the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament—Discrepancies between the Hebrew and the Septuagint—Their effect on Sacred Chronology 4 SECTION I.—AGES AND EPOCHS OF THE WORLD. CHAPTER I.—EXTENT OF THE FIRST AGE OF THE WORLD. 1. Discrepancies of the Hebrew, Septuagint, and Samaritan Texts—Solution of the difficulty by the chronographers of the middle ages—Consistency of the Septuagint and the New Testament—Numerical errors of the Hebrew text 9 2. Origin and effect of various readings—The immaculate purity and miraculous preservation of the Hebrew text, a figment—Consistency of the word of God 12 3. Tables of the Discrepancies of the three texts with regard to the Antediluvian Patriarchs: Table I., In their Antepaidogonian ages—Table II., In their Postpaidogonian ages—Table III., In their whole lives—Internal evidence afforded by the Tables in favour of the computation of the Septuagint—The Discrepancies of the Hebrew and Samaritan the work of design—Proof of this fact from the Scriptures 14 4. Reasons assigned for the alterations in the Hebrew and Samaritan—Accuracy of the Septuagint demonstrated—An objection to its chronology removed—Utility of the publication of _fac simile_ editions of the codices—Late origin of the _printed_ Hebrew text—Its original agreement with the Septuagint proved 20 CHAPTER II.—EXTENT OF THE SECOND AGE OF THE WORLD. 1. Discrepancies of the three texts—Unfounded hypothesis of Usher—Agreement of Josephus with the Septuagint—Authority of this Version in the Church—Its chronology confirmed by the most authentic Chinese annals—Reasons why the Jews altered the Hebrew text 28 2. Tables of the Discrepancies of the three texts with regard to the Postdiluvian Patriarchs: Table IV. In their Antepaidogonian ages—Table V. In their Postpaidogonian ages—Table VI. In their whole lives 31 3. Authenticity of the _Second Cainan_—Dilemma of the Venerable Bede—Mistake of Mr. Clinton and Mr. Horne—Usher’s Dissertation—Inconsistency of authorized translations of the Bible—Rashness of Beza—The Second Cainan in the most ancient Codices—Mistake of Bede, Hales, and other chronographers 34