PREFACE.

THE

HE Reader will fee, from the Date of the following Letter, that it was written a confiderable Time ago. From which Circumftance He will probably conclude, that it was not intended for Publication. A Conjecture, which is perfectly juft. The Publication is owing to the right honourable Perfonage, whofe Name, though it would grace and recommend his Papers, the Author is not allowed to mention. Her Ladyfhip's Commands, which would admit of no Excufe, drew the Remarks from his Pen; and her Defire, which with Him will always have the Force of a Command, has brought them to the Prefs.-It will give Him the highest Pleasure, A 2

if,

if, while He is paying the Debt of Obedience and Gratitude to a noble Friend, He may fupport the Dignity of the Divine Word; may raife its Efteem, and promote its Study among Men. Because then, He may reasonably hope, to promote the best Interefts of his Fellow-creatures; and fubferve that grand Defignation of the Almighty Majefty, expreffed by the Pfalmift Thou haft magnified thy Word above all thy Name

*

* Pfalm cxxxviii. 2.

S you was pleafed to afk my Opinion concerning LORD BOLINGBROKE'S Remarks on the Scriptural History, I have procured the Book; have perused what relates to the Subject; and submit to your Judgment, the Thoughts which occurred. Affuring your Ladyfhip, that, though many might difcufs the Point, much more clearly and fatisfactorily, than the Perfon you favoured with your Commands; yet, no one can think it a greater Honour to receive them, or a greater Pleasure to execute them.

"The Old Teftament, it is alledged, is no fufficient Foundation for Chronology from the Begin"ning of Time ."-To enter upon the Niceties of Chronology, would, perhaps, be too difficult a Research; at least, it would require from your Ladyship a more painful Attention, than I should chufe to occafion by any of my Letters. And I very frankly own, that I am by no means Master of the Argument, nor equal to the Talk. Others, I don't doubt, whofe Inclination has difpofed, and whose Genius has fitted them for this particular Study, will undertake to decide the Question; and give the Honour, where the Honour is due. This, however, from a very fcanty Survey of

a See Lord Bolingbroke's Letters, on the Study and Ufe of Hiftory, Vol. I. Pag. 98.

the Cafe, I can eafily difcern; That the Chronologer will no where find fuch memorable Events, for fixing his Æras; nor fuch early and fubftantial Aids, for computing his Time; as from the Mofaic Monuments, and the facred Annals.

2

From the Beginning of the World to the Flood, we have an orderly Gradation of Time, marked out by the Lives of ten eminent Patriarchs.From the Flood, we may proceed to that glorious Promise of a Redeemer, made to Abraham; In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be bleffed.-From this Promife, to the miraculous Deliverance of the Ifraelites from Egyptian Bondage. From thence, to the Building of Solomon's Temple; which was an illuftrious Type of that divine Perfon, in whom dwells all the Fulness of the Godhead bodily. From the Building of this magnificent Structure, to the Demolition of it by the Babylonian Monarch. From thence, to the Conqueft of Babylon by Cyrus the Perfian.And from the Reign of Cyrus, to that grand, that most important of all Tranfactions, the Death of Meffiah the Prince: When He finished the Transgreffion, and made an End of Sins, and made Reconciliation for Iniquity, and brought in everlasting Righteoufness b.

The intermediate Space, between each of these very distinguished Periods, may, I believe, be ascertained, to a confiderable Degree of Exactnefs, from the facred Volumes. If fo, this will conftitute a more comprehenfive and perfect Syftem of Chronology, than can be derived from the Olympiads of the Grecians, or the Hegira of the Mahometans; from the Perfian, the Roman, or any other Epocha.

a Gen. xxii. 18. John ii. 21.

But

b. Dan. ix. 24.