NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 149 



their differences on other points, agreed on this : Melanchthon and 

 Tostatus, Lightfoot and Jansen, Salmeron and Scaliger, Petavius 

 and Kepler, inquisitors and reformers,- Jesuits and Jansenists, 

 priests and rabbis, stood together in the belief that the creation 

 of man was proved by Scripture to have taken place between 3900 

 and 4004 years before Christ. 



In spite of the severe pressure of this line of authorities, ex- 

 tending from St. Jerome and Eusebius to Usher and Petavius, all 

 in favor of this scriptural chronology, even devoted Christian 

 scholars, had sometimes felt obliged to revolt. The first great 

 source of difficulty was increased knowledge regarding the Egyp- 

 tian monuments. As far back as the last years of the sixteenth 

 century, Joseph Scaliger had done what he could to lay the 

 foundations of a more scientific treatment of chronology, insist- 

 ing especially that the historical indications in Persia, in Babylon, 

 and, above all, in Egypt, should be brought to bear on the ques- 

 tion. More than that, he had the boldness to urge that the 

 chronological indications of the Hebrew Scriptures should be 

 fully and critically discussed in the light of Egyptian and other 

 records, without any undue bias from theological considerations. 

 His idea may well be called inspired, yet it had little effect as re- 

 gards a true view of the antiquity of man, even upon himself, for 

 the theological bias prevailed above all his reasonings, even in 

 his own mind. Well does a brilliant modern writer declare that, 

 " among the multitude of strong men in modern times abdicating 

 their reason at the command of their prejudices, Joseph Scaliger 

 is perhaps the most striking example." 



Early in the following century Sir Walter Raleigh, in his 

 History of the World (1603-1616), pointed out the danger of ad- 

 hering to the old system. He, too, foresaw one of the results of 

 modern investigation, stating it in these words, which have the 

 ring of prophetic inspiration : " For in Abraham's time all the 

 then known parts of the world were developed. . . . Egypt had 

 many magnificent cities, . . . and these not built with sticks, but 

 of hewn stone, . . . which magnificence needed a parent of more 

 antiquity than these other men have supposed." In view of these 

 considerations, Raleigh followed the chronology of the Septuagint 

 version, which enabled him to give to the human race a few more 

 years than were usually allowed. 



About the middle of the seventeenth century Isaac Vossius, 

 one of the most eminent scholars of Christendom, attempted to 

 bring the prevailing belief into closer accordance with ascertained 

 facts, but save by a chosen few his efforts were rejected. In some 

 parts of Europe a man was by no means safe from bodily harm 

 in holding new views on chronology. As an example of the ex- 

 treme pressure exerted by the old theological system at times 



