73 



their arguments possess infinitely more of consistency and 

 strength. I shall proceed to give a summary of their reason- 

 ing and hypothesis : 



The great argument common both to this class and the 

 preceding, is the disparity between the interval in the Books 

 of Kings and that reported in the Acts, xiii. 20. where St. 

 Paul says, " After the conquest of Canaan, God gave them 

 Judges for 450 years, until Samuel the Prophet." And 

 Louis Cappellus declares expressly, " Necesse est alterutrum 

 horam numerorum (Scil in lib. Regum & Acts) esse falsum 

 non possunt enim simul consistere." Vossius, the elder, 

 agrees with him, adding, according to his own supputation, 

 " Ant centum annis justum numerum auxit Lucas sive Paulus 

 vel Regum lib. 1. sive IIL (scil. counting the 1 of Samuel the 

 first) centum anni desunt." Perizonius forcibly contends for 

 the error of the copyists, and concludes, " Mihi,' modestius 

 longe & reverentius videtur, mutare istic unam numeri notam, 

 quam hie, coniplura exturbare penitus vocabula." Sulpicius 

 Severus also says, " Non dubito Librariorum, potius negli- 

 geutia veritatem fuisse corruptam, quam ut propheta, erra- 

 verit." (Hist. Eccles. 1-40.) Serrarius likewise coincides' 

 with Vossius and Perizonius, only, that where tliey would 

 hold an error of an hundred years, in 1 Kings, 6-1. reading 

 580, he would wish to read 680, " & pro," says he, " quadrin- 

 gentissimo, legere sexcentissimo, quam cum tricis innumeris, 

 anxie, ne dicam misere conflictari, ac dum imius loci eraen- 

 dationem meluo, sexcentis me diflicultatum laqueis involvere." 



L 2 ■ The 



