different from the time given in I. Kings, vi. 1, 480 years being there mentioned; and in page 201, of the "Fulness of the Times," thou sayest: "The only notes of Old Testament Chronology which are to be found in the historical books of the New Testament, namely, those in Acts, xiii. 18, 21, do equally negative the integrity of the present Hebrew text, by fixing the period from the division of the lands to the end of the Judges at 450 years, which proves that the number in I. Kings, chap. vi. 1, is a forgery. It is accordingly given up as such by Mr. Clinton. It is then admitted that the Hebrew Scribes did meddle with the Hebrew text, and did it fraudulently. If so, where is the consistency of Mr. Clinton's assertion, that it is difficult to imagine what adequate motive they had for shortening the genealogies."

I shall now endeavour to prove that thyself and the author referred to, have both erred in your calculations as to this part of Scriptural chronology. The proof that thou bringest forward to show that the time given in I. Kings vi. 1, is corrupted, is by quoting what Paul says in Acts xiii. 18, 21: "He gave them Judges about the space of 450 years, until Samuel the Prophet." By considering this period of time slightly there seems an apparent contradiction; but when carefully examined into, the accounts will be found to coincide with each other. In order to prove this, the two following periods must first be examined into, viz., the 300 years given in the Judges, and the 450 years given by Paul, and these two periods of time again compared with the 480 years given in I. Kings. The time mentioned in Judges, xi. 26, ought to be

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carefully compared with the 21st chapter of Numbers, and when this is done, there can be no doubt that the commencement of the 300 years mentioned by Jepthah will be found to be coeval with the arrival of Israel on the borders of Moab at that time, when the children of Israel defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, and possessed his land from Arnon to the border of the children of Ammon, a circumstance which there is reason to believe took place about seven years prior to the death of Moses; then add to the 300 years the 33 years Moses was Judge, from the Exodus till about seven years before his death, we shall then have the exact period that elapsed from the Exodus till the time Jepthah became Judge, amounting to 333 years.

Now let there be added to these 333 years the time the different Judges ruled after this period, viz.Jepthah... 6

Which makes the period of time that did elapse from the Exodus till the death of Samuel. It is not said in the Bible how long Samuel judged Israel, but Josephus supplies this historical blank by stating that Samuel judged Israel 12 years, and that Saul reigned 18 years during the life time of Samuel, and 22 years alone.

Now such a statement by Josephus does agree with the reading of this historical portion of time in the Bible; and taking both the reading of the Bible and the time given by Josephus into consideration, it shows that Samuel must have been sent when very young to Eli, some time probably from 8 to 12 years before the death of Sampson. Eli must have been Priest before the death of Sampson, seeing he succeeded him as Judge, which office he held for 40 years; and at his death Samuel became Judge, which office he had held for 12 years at the end of these 12 years Samuel's age would be about 74 years; and this age agrees with the language of the Elders, who came to him requesting a King, because he was old, and his sons did not walk in his ways, and the two periods, 18 and 22 years, given by Josephus, of Saul's reign, agree with what Paul says, "That Saul reigned by the space of 40 years." Now although Saul reigned as King, it is clear from the conduct and actions of Samuel-during the time he lived after Saul was made King, as recorded in Scripture-that he was considered in the capacity of a Judge till his death. Now the time that the children of Israel were under Judges, was about 454 years; now this time squares with the time Paul mentions. Notice, I grant, is not taken by Paul of the unit 4 years above the 450; but Paul was sufficiently exact, seeing he mentioned "about 450 years;" and finding that there is a departure in our common translation from what is warranted by the original Greek in this passage, referred to in Acts, xiii. 20, I subjoin the passage, with a faithful rendering of the sentence:

Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὡς ἔτεσι τετρακοσίοις καὶ πεντήκονία And after these things about years four hundred and fifty ἔδωκε κριτὰς ἕως Σαμοὴλ τε προφήτε.

He gave Judges until Samuel the prophet.

The difference in the foregoing literal translation from the common English translation, consists in thisthe latter says, "And after that ;" the former, "And after these things." The wrong reading in the English translation I have no doubt may have led many to think that the 450 years mentioned by Paul were to be calculated as having been after the 40 years he spoke of previous to giving the total years that Israel were under Judges. Now the previous things that Paul spoke of before he gave the total years of the Judges were these: "That the God of the people of Israel chose our Fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought He them out of it, and about the time of 40 years suffered He their manners in the wilderness; and when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot; and after these things he gave Judges about 450 years, until Samuel the prophet." It is clear that Moses was accounted a Judge by the Jews in a preeminent degree, and Joshua was Judge when the nations were destroyed, and the land divided by lot. Then, without any undue straining of the meaning of St. Paul, he is to be understood in a more definite sense, as if he had said, and after these things, and during the time of some of these things, including the 40 years they were in the wilderness, the children of Israel were under Judges about 450 years,

including both the time of Moses and Samuel-being according to the previous calculation from the book of Judges, 454 years to the death of Samuel, and that Samuel was considered a Judge till his death is evident by the reading of the Bible. Although Saul was King, yet he was a rejected one both by God and Samuel; and as the time mentioned by Paul and the time given by the Judges nearly square, I think I may safely maintain that the time that did elapse from the Exodus to the death of Samuel was a period of about 454 years. I shall now examine how far this period of 454 years squares with the time given in I. Kings, vi. 1: "And it came to pass in the four hundred and fourscore years after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, &c."

The above, I believe, is a correct translation; but it is clear that the passage is elliptical, for it does not distinctly say when these 480 years commenced; and it is in this respect similar to another part of Scripture in Exodus, xii. 40: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

Although there is a want of distinctness in not pointing out the time of the sojourning at which the 430 years commenced, yet, after careful examination, I agree with the various chronologers, who fix the beginning of the 430 years at the 75th year of Abraham. And although there is a similar indistinctness as to when the period of 480 years commenced, yet it is clear, from the observation of St. Paul-when he mentions the time of the Judges to be about 450 years,