the greatest dilemma; and, indeed, what else could be expected? for by adopting such a mode of calculation, they were constrained, either to say that Herod died about four years previous to the birth of Christ, or at once to avow themselves the advocates of a system fraught with the grossest inconsistency, as a last resource. By mixing truth with error, and blending facts with fiction, some of them have attempted to argue themselves and others into the belief, that Tiberius Cæsar must have dated his reign some years prior to the death of Augustus; but had they, for a moment, directed their attention to what Dio., Josephus, Suetonius, and Ptolemy have said, concerning the different periods of Augustus' reign, they would have found at once a solution to all the difficulties connected with this point: and had they been fully aware of the true import of Daniel's week and a half, that it signified 73 years, as well as of the other prophetic streams of time, they would then have been enabled to ascertain the exact time of Christ's birth; and to put an end, also, to the cavils raised by unbelievers in Christ, against the truths of the New Testament, by adducing proofs and calculations that would most satisfactorily point out the exact time of Christ's birth, while, at the same time, these streams of time would have furnished them with a standard, to enable them to detect and expose the errors and frauds with which the first enemies of Christianity have so foully and so glaringly disgraced the pages of their Chronologies. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS, IN THE LETTER. Page. 7, in the first division of the table, 3 lines from the top, for "Enoch," read "Enos." 33, in last two lines, for "Pompey and Herculeum," read "Pompeii and Herculaneum." 40, lines 7, 10, 11, & 14, from the top, for "Tiberias," read "Tiberius." 40, line 11th, from the bottom, for "62 weeks, or 544 years,” read "62 weeks, or 434 years, adding the 110 years, (from the 2nd of Cyrus, to the 38th of Artaxerxes,) equal to 544 years." 56, line 11, from the top, for "Arclhiaus," read "Archelaus." 61, line 8, from the bottom, in the Note, for "Antiphus," read "Antipas." 64, line 13, from the top, for "Antonius," read "Antoninus." 75, line 4, from the bottom, for "Ardeus," read "Arideus." 89, line 5, from the bottom, for "Josephus Antiquitus," read "Josephus' Antiquities." 99, line 15, from the bottom, for "Olmpiads," read "Olympiads." 103, line 3, from the bottom, for "Ochas," read "Ochus." 104, line 2, from the bottom, for " Victellius," read "Vitellius." 123, line 11, from the bottom, for "page," read "pages." IN THE APPENDIX. 34, line 15, from the bottom, for "Conjuction," read "conjunction." EXPLANATION OF THE ARITHMETICAL SIGNS, &c., ON THE OPPOSITE SHEET. A. M. signifies Anno Mundi, or year of the World. - is the sign of Subtraction, and signifies that the numbers between which it is placed, are to be subtracted from each other, as A. M. 7001-B. c. 3969. is the sign of equality, and is placed thus: A. M. 7001-B. C. 3969-3032 signifying that when 3969 is subtracted from 7001, the remainder is equal to 3032. + is the sign of addition, and signifies that the numbers between which it is placed, must be added together, as 3032+15 which is equal to 3047. |