, a learned and ingenious Frenchman, was born at Hennebon in Bretagne,
, a learned and ingenious Frenchman,
was born at Hennebon in Bretagne, in 1639 and admitted
of the order of Cistercians in 1660. He made the scriptures the principal object of his study: aware of the assistance to be derived from profane history, he read with attention the ancient Greek and Latin historians. His judgment, however, did not improve with his erudition, as appeared by a new system, which he communicated to the
public, in a work printed at Paris in 1687, 4to, and called
“L‘Antiquite’ des temps retablie,
” &c. that is, “The Antiquity of Time restored, and defended, against the Jews
and modem Chronologers.
” His design here is to prove,
upon the authorities of the septuagint and profane history,
that the world is more ancient than modern chronologers
have supposed; and that, instead of 4000 years between
the creation of the world and the birth of Christ, there
were almost 6000. The great principle on which this
supposition is built is, that the Hebrew text has been corrupted, since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Jews,
who otherwise must have been forced to acknowledge,
upon their own principles, that the Messiah was actually
come. Pezron’s book was extremely admired for the ingenuity and learning of it; yet created, as was natural,
no small alarm among the religious. Martianay, a Benedictine, and Le Quien, a Dominican, wrote against tnis
new system, and undertook the defence of the Hebrew
text Martianay with great zeal and heat, Le Quien with
more judgment and knowledge. Pezron published, “Defense de l'Antiquite des temps,
” in