difficulty lies between the Book of Kings and those books h. And this doubtless was seen by rabbi Isaac; otherwise, we may be sure, he would not have overlooked such an objection as this.

h Nothing more easy than a mistake in transcribing numbers. Many learned men are of opinion, that the number, 1 Kings vi. 1. falls short of what it ought to be. And I am apt to think more would be of that mind, if it were not for the few lives which fill up far the greatest part of that time in the lineage of David, viz. Booz, Obed, and Jesse. This difficulty has occasioned some to feign, that there were three of the name of Booz, who succeeded one another, being grandfather, father, and son. The first the son of Salmon by Rahab, and the third the father of Obed. Vid. Usserii Chron. Sac. p. 200, fin. Even they who judge the number, 1 Kings vi. 1. to be right, are driven by this difficulty to suppose that Rahab was sixty-two when she was brought to bed of Booz, and that Booz was a hundred and two when he begat Obed, and that Obed was a hundred and eleven when he begat Jesse, and that Jesse was a hundred and eleven when he begat David. Vid. Usserii Chron. Sac. p. 200. Why may we not suppose that Booz was a hundred and seventy when he begat Obed, and that Obed was about the same age when he begat Jesse, and that Jesse was a hundred and forty when he begat David? This will fill up the whole time required, according to the computation of the Book of Judges, and the First Book of Samuel. And if we recollect that it was not long before this that the life of man was shortened, can we wonder that there should be many more instances of longevity at that time than are now to be found? The last century affords us two instances even in our own country of persons who lived to be upwards of a hundred and fifty. The one was Thomas Parr, of Shropshire, brought to London, and presented to king Charles the First in the year 1635, when he was a hundred and fifty-two years old, and some months over. Vid. Usserii Chron. Sac. p. 202. The other was Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire, who died in the year 1670, being a hundred and sixty-nine years of age. See Eachard's History of England. It is remarkable, there are no less than eight lives to fill up much about the same space of time, from Eleazar to Zadok, in the genealogy of the high priests, 1 Chron. vi.

I have now answered all the objections that I have met with. If I had read or heard of more, I should willingly have put them down, and represented them in the strongest light I was able. For I am fully persuaded, that the book I am defending stands not in need of partiality, favour, or affection, but must and will approve itself true and genuine to all considerate, upright judges. I will not say that none have escaped my search. I cannot pretend to have read all things, nor is it possible for any man to say what some persons may esteem objections. Of those I have laid before you, several are mean and trifling enough. Others, that upon the first view, from an artful representation, may seem to carry some force with them, upon a very small explication totally vanish. Some few, it must be owned, contain real difficulties, arising from our imperfect knowledge of the history of those times, or it may be from a want of a more thorough skill in the Greek language, or possibly from a mistake made by some early transcriber. But what are these difficulties, when compared with the numerous arguments brought for the truth of the things related in this book? The most that can be said of them is, that there is a difficulty or two not easily to be accounted for at this distance of time, (and may we not well wonder that there are not many more such?) but no argument of weight against it, none that bears any proportion to the force of those many which have been produced for it. And I dare be bold to say, there is not that book extant in the world which has so much evidence of its truth, and so little to be urged against it, as this book has; and that if we deny our assent to the truth of the

things related in this History, we may as reasonably renounce the belief of every thing that is past of which we have not ourselves been eyewitnesses. And were the generality of the world thus incredulous, there must be an immediate stop put to business; there could be no commerce carried on between persons at a distance; there could be little or no justice administered, nor any polity exercised ; and we must bid a final adieu to the comfort and pleasure of society.

INDEX.

ABRAHAM, youngest son of Amphitales, 279.

Terah, 545.
Ace, vide Ptolemais.
Adramyttium, a city and port,
344.

Adria, part of the Mediterra-
nean so called, 349.
Adrian, vide Hadrian.
Adultery, the woman taken
herein, 144, 221.
Ægyptian impostor, 63.
Ælius, one of Cæsar's procu-

rators in Asia, 283.
Æmilius Paulus settled the go-
vernment in Macedonia, 155,
337.
Esculapius, Great is Escula-
pius, 276. Slaves exposed on
the island of Esculapius,
129, note

Agrippa, vide Herod.
Agrippa jun. 46, 197.
Agrippa, the Roman, friend of
the emperor Augustus, kind
to the Jews, 168, 169.
Albinus, procurator of Judæa,
193, &c. dismissed malefac-
tors for money, 203.
Alexander the Great, 295.
Alexander, a person of princi-
pal account among the Jews,

72.

Alexandria, the metropolis of
Egypt, great commerce be-
tween that and Italy, 346.
Alexandria, vide Troas.
Altar to the unknown God, 294.
Alytarch, 279.
Amphipolis, a city of Macedo-
nia, 337.

Ananias the high priest, 64.

was sent to Rome, 66. guilty
of great injustice, 65. mur-
dered, 71.

Ananus sen. high priest, called
also Annas, his character and
influence, 590, &c. his speech,
180.
Ananus jun. high priest, son of
the former, a Sadducee, put
to death James the brother
of our Lord, 193, 212.
Ancile, preserved at Rome, as
what fell down from heaven,
281.

Antigonia, vide Troas.
Antioch, a city in Syria, 334.
was free under the Romans,
147. a city in Pisidia, 333.
Antipas, vide Herod.
Antipatris, a city in Judæa, 356.
Antiphilus receives fair speeches
and money of the governor
of Egypt for being falsely
imprisoned, 323.
Antoninus Caracalla gave the
citizenship of Rome to all
the free-born subjects of the
empire, 122, 209.
Apollonia, a city in Macedonia,