2793, the former number being just double the latter; for, “in his days was _the world_ divided,” at the command of (θέος των ἀίωνῶν) the God of the ages, or the worlds. The Western Churches indeed, can scarcely be said to have followed the chronology either of Eusebius or of Jerome, till the time of the venerable Bede, A.D. 720; and the innovations of the latter were so ill received by his contemporaries, that he was denounced as a heretic, because he dared to assert, in opposition to all the fathers of the Church, that Christ was _not_ born in the sixth millenary of the world; see Usher’s “Chronologia Sacra,” p. 50. The chronology of the Roman Church appears to have remained in this state during the dark ages till the meeting of the Council of Trent, A.D. 1563, when the Protestants, under the double influence of prejudice against the errors of the Church, and overweening confidence in the Hebrew text, adopted the modern and corrupted chronology of the Jews! The Roman chronologists had, however, abridged the true computation of the ancient Church of Christ only by 278 years; while the Masoretes and their followers had abridged it by no less than 1474 years! The system of the former continues to prevail in the Church of Rome, though contrary to the Latin Vulgate, and the system of the latter in the Reformed Churches, even to this day. In the “Roman Martyrology,” published by the authority of Pope Gregory XIII., in A.D. 1582, and revised by command of Pope Urban VIII., in A.D. 1640, we find the following statement, which according to Strauchius, “Breviarium Chronologicum,” p. 382, is read in the churches every year on the 25th of December:—“In the 5199th year from the creation of the world, when God created heaven and earth; and the 2957th after the deluge; the 2015th from the birth of Abraham; the 1510th from the time of Moses and the Israelites leaving Egypt; and the 1032nd from the time of David being anointed king; in the 65th annual week of Daniel; in the 194th Olympiad; in the 752nd year since the building of Rome; in the 42nd year of the Emperor Octavius Augustus, when the whole world was blessed with peace; in the _sixth_ age of the world; Jesus Christ, Eternal God, and Son of the Eternal Father, conceived from the Holy Ghost, was born of the Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem of Judea.”[32] There are several contradictions among the synchronisms contained in this statement, which are acknowledged by Roman Catholic writers themselves, as may be seen in the works of Baronius and Petavius; but, it is a noble public testimony to the true faith of the Church of Christ, and an important public evidence in favour of its ancient chronology. CHAPTER III. CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH SYSTEMS OF CHRONOLOGY ERRONEOUS.