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in this country, were not so exact about the place of it as they might have been; but readily took the capital city to have been inhabited by him. Damascenus relates further, that when Abraham went to Egypt, he went thither partly upon account of the famine in Cannan, and partly to confer with the Egyptian priests about the nature of the gods; designing to go over to them, if their notions were better than his own, or to bring them over to him, if his own sentiments should be found to be the best grounded; and that he hereupon conversed with the most learned men amongst them. Moses relates nothing of this matter; but what we meet with about Syphis, a king of Egypt, who reigned a little after Abraham's time, and was very famous for religious speculations, makes it exceeding probable, that Abraham might be very much celebrated in Egypt for his religion; and that his conversation there might occasion the kings of Egypt to study these subjects, with a more than ordinary care. One thing I would remark before I leave these writers, namely, the life of Abraham was such, that even the profane writers found sufficient reason to think him not only famous for his piety, and adherence to the true religion, but very conspicuous also for his learning and good sense, far above and beyond his contemporaries. He was accounted not a man of low and puerile conceptions, nor a bigotted enthusiast; but one of temper proper to converse with those who differed from him, and

See vol. i. p. 284. Euseb. in loc. sup. citat.

able to confute the most learned opposers. He had a reason for his faith, and was able to give an answer to all objections, which the most learned could make to it. And not only Damascenus, but all the other writers I have mentioned lay a foundation for this character. They all suppose him a great master of the learning which then prevailed in the world; abundantly able to teach and instruct the wisest men of the several nations with whom he conversed. This is the substance of what these writers offer about Abraham; in all which they so agree with Moses, as to confirm the truth of his history; and the more so, because in small matters they so differ from him, as to evidence, that they did not blindly copy after him, but searched for themselves; and at last could find no reason in matters of moment to vary from him. Abraham lived to be a hundred threescore and fifteen years old, and died A. M. 2183.

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If we look back, it will be easy to see, who were Abraham's contemporaries in all the several parts of his life. He was born, according to Eusebius, in the forty-third year of Ninus' reign; and Ninus reigning fifty-two years died when Abraham was nine years old. The five next succeeding heads of the Assyrian empire were Semiramis, who governed forty-two years; Ninyas, who reigned thirty-eight; Arius, who reigned thirty; Aralius, who reigned forty; and

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See Damascenus' Account of him, in Euseb. loc. sup.

In Chronic.

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Xerxes, who reigned thirty years. Abraham was contemporary with all these; for the years of all their reigns put together amount only to one hundred and eighty, and Abraham lived one hundred and seventy-five; therefore having spent but nine of them at the death of Ninus, his life will extend to the sixteenth year of the reign of Xerxes. And if we go into Egypt, and allow, as I have before computed, that Menes or Mizraim began to reign there A. M. 1772, and that he reigned there until A. M. 1943; it will follow that Abraham was born in the reigns of Athothes, Cencenes and Mesochris, kings of Egypt, that kingdom being at this time parted into several sovereignties; and he lived long enough to see three or four successions in each of their kingdoms, as will appear to any one who consults Sir John Marsham's Tables of these kings, making due allowance for the difference between my account and his of the reign of Menes. Abraham was born, according to Castor in Eusebius, in the thirty-sixth year of Europs the second king of Sicyon; for according to that writer, Ægialeus the first king of Sicyon began his reign in the fifteenth year of Belus king of Assyria, i. e. A. M. 1920. Ægialeus reigned fifty-two years; so that Europs succeeded him A. M. 1972, and the thirty-sixth year of Europs will be A. M. 2008, in which year Abraham was born. Europs reigned forty-five years, and Abraham lived to see five of his successors, and died ten years before Thurimachus the seventh king of

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Sicyon. Cres is said to have been king of Crete about the fifty-sixth year of Abraham, and about twenty-nine years before Abraham's death. Inachus. reigned first king of Argos about A. M. 2154.

I am sensible, that some writers think the kings of Greece, whom I have mentioned, were not thus early. As to the first king of Crete, there can be but little offered; for we have nothing of the Cretan history, which can be depended upon before Minos. Eusebius," indeed places Cres in the fourth or fifth year of Ninyas; but afterwards he seems in some doubt, whether there really was such a person; and remarks,' that some writers affirmed Cres to be the first king of Crete, others that one of the Curetes governed there about the time at which he imagined Cres to begin his reign; so that he found more reason to think that there was a king in Crete at this time, than to determine what particular person governed it. We meet the names of three other kings of Crete in Eusebius; Cydon, Apteras, and Lapes; but we have little proof of the times of their reigns. There is a large account of the first inhabitants of Crete in Diodorus; the history is indeed in many things fabulous, and too confused to be reduced into such order as might ennable us to draw any consistent conclusions from it; but there seem to be hints of generations enough before Minos to induce us to think, that they might have a king as early as Eusebius supposes; but whe

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ther their first king was called Cres, or who he was, we cannot conjecture. Inachus is said to be the first king of Argos. He scarcely indeed deserves the name of king; for in his days the Argives lived up and down the country in companies. Phoroneus the son of Inachus gathered the people together, and formed them into a community. Very probably Inachus might be a very wise and judicious man, who instructed his countrymen in many useful arts of living, and he might go frequently amongst them, and head their companies in several parts of the country, teaching them to kill or take, and tame the wild beasts for their service, and instructing them in the best manner of gathering and preserving the fruits of the earth for their occasions. In this manner he might take the first steps towards forming them into society; and having been a leader and director of many companies, as he happened to fall in amongst them, he might be afterwards commemorated as their king, though strictly speaking it was his son who compleated his designs, and brought the people to unite in forming a regular society, under the direction of one to govern them for the public good. Some writers, think, that there was no such person as Inachus. Inachus is the name not of a king, but of a river, says Sir John Marsham;m but here I think that learned gentleman is mistaken. Inachus being the name of a river, may be offered as an argument, that there

'Pausanias in Corinthiacis.
Canon. Chronic. p. 15,

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