If "the trustworthiness of our Lord Jesus Christ" is to stand or
fall with the belief in the sudden transmutation of the chemical
components of a woman's body into sodium chloride, or on the
"admitted reality" of Jonah's ejection, safe and sound, on the
shores of the Levant, after three days' sea-journey in the
stomach of a gigantic marine animal, what possible pretext can
there be for even hinting a doubt as to the precise truth of the
longevity attributed to the Patriarchs? Who that has swallowed
the camel of Jonah's journey will be guilty of the affectation
of straining at such a historical gnat--nay, midge--as the
supposition that the mother of Moses was told the story of the
Flood by Jacob; who had it straight from Shem; who was on
friendly terms with Methuselah; who knew Adam quite well?

Yet, by the strange irony of things, the illustrious brother of
the divine who propounded this remarkable theory, has been the
guide and foremost worker of that band of investigators of the
records of Assyria and of Babylonia, who have opened to our
view, not merely a new chapter, but a new volume of primeval
history, relating to the very people who have the most numerous
points of contact with the life of the ancient Hebrews.
Now, whatever imperfections may yet obscure the full value of
the Mesopotamian records, everything that has been clearly
ascertained tends to the conclusion that the assignment of no
more than 4000 years to the period between the time of the
origin of mankind and that of Augustus Caesar, is wholly
inadmissible. Therefore the Biblical chronology, which Canon
Rawlinson trusted so implicitly in 1859, is relegated by all
serious critics to the domain of fable.