[867] Bossuet, Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle, pp. 10, 11, 16, 17; see also, at p. 90, a curious specimen of his chronological calculations.
[868] He says, that if the ordinarily received dates of the Pentateuch and the Prophets are not true, then the miracles must fall, and the writings themselves are not inspired. Hist. Univ. p. 360. It would be hard to find, even in the works of Bossuet a more rash assertion than this.
[869] Indeed the Jews have no consecutive chronology before Solomon. See Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i. pp. viii. xxv. 170, 178, 185, vol. ii. p. 399.
[870] Doing this, as they did everything else, on account, not of reason, but of dogma; for, as a learned writer says, ‘l'Église a bien distingué certains livres en apocryphes et en orthodoxes; elle s'est prononcée d'une manière formelle sur le choix des ouvrages canoniques; néanmoins sa critique n'a jamais été fondée sur un examen raisonné, mais seulement sur la question de savoir si tel ou tel écrit était d'accord avec les dogmes qu'elle enseignait.’ Maury, Légendes Pieuses, p. 224.
[871] Theologians have always been remarkable for the exactness of their knowledge on subjects respecting which nothing is known; but none of them have surpassed the learned Dr. Stukeley. In 1730, this eminent divine writes: ‘But according to the calculations I have made of this matter, I find God Almighty ordered Noah to get the creatures into the ark on Sunday the 12th of October, the very day of the autumnal equinox that year; and on this present day, on the Sunday se'nnight following (the 19th of October), that terrible catastrophe began, the moon being past her third quarter.’ Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century, vol. ii. p. 792.
[872] ‘Premièrement, ces empires ont pour la plupart une liaison nécessaire avec l'histoire du peuple de Dieu. Dieu s'est servi des Assyriens et des Babyloniens pour châtier ce peuple; des Perses pour le rétablir; d'Alexandre et de ses premiers successeurs pour le protéger; d'Antiochus l'Illustre et de ses successeurs pour l'exercer; des Romains pour soutenir sa liberté contre les rois de Syrie, que ne songeaient qu'à le détruire.’ Bossuet, Hist. Univ. p. 382. Well may M. Lerminier say (Philos. du Droit, vol. ii. p. 87), that Bossuet ‘a sacrifié toutes les nations au peuple juif.’
[873] On the extraordinary and prolonged ignorance of the Jews, even to the time of the Apostles, see Mackay's Progress of the Intellect, vol. i. pp. 13 seq.; a work of profound learning.
[874] The original scheme of Christianity, as stated by its Great Author (Matthew x. 6, and xv. 24), was merely to convert the Jews; and if the doctrines of Christ had never extended beyond that ignorant people, they could not have received those modifications which philosophy imposed upon them. The whole of this subject is admirably discussed in Mackay's Progress of the Intellect in Religious Development, vol. ii. pp. 382 seq.; and on the ‘universalism,’ first clearly announced ‘by the Hellenist Stephen,’ see p. 484. Neander makes a noticeable attempt to evade the difficulty caused by the changes in Christianity from ‘various outward causes:’ see his History of the Church, vol. iii. p. 125.
[875] Neander (Hist. of the Church, vol. ii. p. 42) even thinks that Cerinthus whose views are remarkable as being the point where Gnosticism and Judaism touch each other, borrowed his system from Alexandria. But this, though not unlikely, seems only to rest on the authority of Theodoret. On the influence of the Platonism of Alexandria in developing the idea of the Logos, see Neander, vol. ii. pp. 304, 306–314. Compare Sharpe's Hist. of Egypt, vol. ii. pp. 152 seq.
[876] And having to mention Clemens Alexandrinus, who was more deeply versed in the philosophy of Alexandria than were any of the other fathers, Bossuet merely says, p. 98, ‘à peu près dans le même temps, le saint prêtre Clément Alexandrin déterra les antiquités du paganisme pour le confondre.’