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Year, which Word was afterwards miftaken for twelve of these, or a Solar Year. And by that means the Lives of the Antediluvian Fathers have been spun out to fuch a prodigious length,

I have fhewn in the foregoing Article, the Abfurdities we muft unavoidably give into, if we fuppofe thofe Years to be Months, and therefore fhall not infist on them here. I fhall only observe, that if we suppose those Years to be Months, we fhall be very much at a Loss how to ac count for the Months fpoken of by Mofes, and which I have fhewn consisted of thirty Days each. How fhall we make an hundred and fifty Days equal to five Months, when they would be then just fo many Years? But I forbear to dwell any longer on fuch grofs Abfurdities, and go on to fhew,

V. In the fifth Place; that the Context will not allow any Signification to be put upon the Word Tears, but that I have mentioned.

For it is faid, Gen. vi. 3. that, Man's Days Shall be an hundred and twenty Tears. That the Word Tears is to be taken here in its proper and litteral Senfe, is too evident to be denied. For if we fhould understand by it any lefs Portion of Time, then we shall reduce Man's Life to

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a fhorter Period than it's prefent one. Now what Reason can be alledged why we muft here take the Word Tears in its proper and litteral Senfe, and in all the foregoing and fubfequent Chapters in a figura tive, and, hitherto, indeterminate one, I cannot imagine.

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Further in chap. xi. ver. 10, 11, it is faid that Shem was an hundred Years old, and begat Arphaxad two Years after the Flood, and lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred Years; and ver. 12, 13. that Arphaxad lived thirty five Years and begat Salah, and lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three Tears; and ver. 14, 15. that Salah lived thirty Tears and begat Eber, and lived after he beget Eber four hundred and three Tears; and ver. 16, 17. that Eber lived thirty four Years and begat Peleg, and lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty Tears. Not to inftance any more. Now will it be faid that we must take the Word Tears in a proper Sense in one Verfe, and in a figurative one in the other? Shall we fay, that in the eleventh Verfe, where Shem is faid to have lived five hundred Tears, we must take it in a figurative Sense; and immediately after, in the very next Verfe, where Arphaxad is faid to have lived thirty five Tears and begat Salah,

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Salah, in a proper one; and again in the next Verfe, where the fame Arphaxad is faid to have lived four hundred and three Tears, in a figurative one, and so alternately from Verfe to Verfe throughout the whole Chapter? That would be fuch a Paradox, as fure no Man, unless he was void of common Senfe, would ever offer to advance. Since therefore it is evident that we must take it in this Chapter in its proper and litteral Senfe, what Reason, what Pretence can there be, why we ought not to do the fame in all the other Chapters?

Having fhewn that the Antediluvian Fathers did really live fuch a Number of Years, as they are faid to have done; I might now, to ftrengthen the Proofs I have brought of it, fhew how highly reafonable it was they fhould do fo. There are many Reasons why it was neceffary they should live to that very great Age; as for, the propagating the Species; the bringing up, and the better governing, and preferving their Families; the fettling, inhabiting and cultivating all Parts of the Earth; the finding out Means to furnish themselves with the neceffary Accommodations of Life, all Arts and Sciences being then in their very Infancy; befides a great many others which I forbear to mention, it not

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being my Defign to enlarge upon the Reafonableness of the thing, thinking it fufficient to have evinced the Certainty of it; and fhall therefore leave it to the Reader to improve and enlarge those Hints I have just given.

And now having made it most plainly and evidently appear, that the Antediluvian Years were compofed of three hundred and fixty Days each, and confequently that the Lives of thofe Patriarchs were in reality of as great a Length and Duration as they are faid to have been; I think I need not add any thing more, that being all I propos'd to fhew by this little Tract. But I cannot pass over in Silence one very confiderable and unanfwerable Argument, that the Affertion I have juft now proved will afford us in favour of the Books of Mofes. For, fince it is demonstrated that the Antediluvian Fathers did really live to that very great Age we read of; we fhall thence be furnish'd with a very ftrong Proof of the Certainty of Mofes's Writings, and their Authority and Credibility will be thereby firmly establish'd, and we fhall be able at once to overthrow that fophiftical Obje&tion made to them, namely, the Distance -of Time between the Facts Mofes relates, and the Time of his writing his History of them. And as Tradition was the only Law

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and History that People had, at leaft that we know of, till Mofes's Time, it will very much conduce to the Credit of thofe Tra ditions, reduced into and delivered to us in Writing by Mofes, when we shall find how few Hands they had pafs'd thro' before they came to his; for a Tradition that has pass'd thro' but five Perfons Hands only, is undoubtedly much more to be credited and rely'd upon, than if it had pafs'd thro' fifty. And we fhall find that the Account of the Creation had pafs'd thro' but two Perfons Hands before it came to Abraham, and thro' but five before it came from Adam to Mofes himself: For Adam liv'd long enough to deliver it to Lamech, Lamech being fifty Years old when Adam dy'd; Lamech liv'd till Shem was ninety five Years old; and Shem liv'd till Ifaac was fifty Years old; and confequently Abraham had the Account of the Creation at the third Hand, and that of the Flood at the first, from Shem, who had been an Eye-witness of it. Ifaac liv'd till Levi, Jacob's Son, was thirty nine Years old; and Levi lived till within forty eight Years of Mofes, who was his Grandfon. So it is plain the Account of the Creation pass'd thro' not above five Hands, and that of the Flood thro' not above three, before it came to Mofes. For Adam liv'd to inftruct Lamech; Lamech,

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Shem,

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