fame with Obadiah, a grandson of Zorobabel there. "It is obfervable, that both he and his fons might have different names; one in their own family, and another among the people to whom they were captives. It was scarce safe for Zorobabel to be called in Babylon by that name, which fignifies the winnowing of Babel; and therefore he was among the Babylonians called Shezhbazzar. So his fons were called Meshullam and Hananiah; because the one could scarce properly, as well as scarce fafely, be called Abiud, my father's glory; the other Rhefa, a prince *.”

THE remaining names in this Evangelist's register, denote perfonages pofterior to the close of the Old Teltament canon, and are, without doubt, copied from authentic vouchers. They are, 6. Abiud, 7. Eliakim, 8. Azor, 9. Sadoc, 10. Achim, 11. Eliud, 12. Eleazar, 13. Matthan, 14. Jacob. Thus is the line of pedigree continued to Joseph and Mary, the one not the natural father of our Lord's humanity, the other excluded, by her fex, from the Hebrew genealogy.

JOSIAS has been placed at the head of the third feries. From what point in phyfical time the date of the next generation should be reckoned, is doubtful. Whether from the birth of Jeconias II. in the 42d of Jofiah's life, or from that more remarkable term, his removal from the throne, feems to be an indifferent matter, the difference is but 18 years. Certain it is

Dr. Jofeph Trapp's note on Matt. i. 13.

that

that his fon, Salathiel, was not born before the transportation to Babylon.

CHRIST was born A. M. 4004, and Jeconiah was made a captive in 3411. But, as Salathiel was not born before the conflagration of the temple and city, the reckoning by the fourth generation from Jofiah inclufively may be deferred to the 29th of Jehoichin's life, coincident with the,, 11th of Zedekiah, and the prefumed date of Salathiel's birth, A. M. 3421. This fum deduct from the hiftorical year of Chrift's nativity 4004, the furplus is 583. From the unavoidable deficiency of genealogical notations, no expedient, for finding a mean proportion, is acceffible otherwife than by an equation. By 11, the number of generations from Jeconias to Joseph, excluding both, divide 583, the quotient, 53 years precisely, is the common interval of defcents. Evident it is, that this quantity exceeds the space between generations in the line of royalty, by almost a half. But here is no mystery; for reasons have been affigned for princes marrying fooner than other men; and alfo for the various accidents, which often prevent their longevity.

IT has likewife been noted, that, from the time of Arphaxad's birth, the mean length of generations has uniformly been fomewhat more than 30 years;—that no fooner was the promise intimated to Abraham, that in his feed all the families of the earth fhould be bleffed, than procreation in that line made flower advances ;that from David to Jehoiachin, the interval fell below

the

the common standard;—and thenceforward, it is now evinced, that, during the space of almost fix centuries, the ufual term of procreation in that line was lengthened by about 20 years. It was evidently the intent of over-ruling Providence, that the number of Chrift's ancestors, according to the flefh, fhould, comparatively, be few; and it feems not inconfiftent with the great designs of essential Wisdom, that his progenitors fhould, like Abraham, have their faith and patience long tried, by the difcipline of a ftédfaft expectation. "They ftaggered not through unbelief, but against hope believed in hope."

MR. Yardley fees no occafion for inferting Joseph's name in this regifter, because he does not fupply the place of one generation. Genealogies, p. 220. By this regulation is Jehoiakim reftored to his rank as one of our Lord's progenitors: and thus is the threefold divifion completed without the defect or excels of a fingle name.

CHAP.

CHAP. VII.

New Scheme of the Generations from ABRAHAM to JESUS CHRIST.

IN

N computation by TIME, whether abfolute, or with reference to GENERATIONS, fpecial regard is due to two terms, a first commencement, and a final period.

MOSES, in defcribing the formation of the universe, characterises a natural day by its parts, EVENING and MORNING, and counts three fuch days prior to the exiftence of the luminaries. The fource of computation is that moment, when the Creator faid, "LET LIGHT BE." As foon as this glorious production of Omnipotence was collected into that great orb the SUN, to the planets were affigned their circuits, " to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness." Hence the true origin of meafured time by the motion of the spheres around the centre of light.

Of natural days are compofed weeks, the moft ancient combination of times into an integral part, by repetition, and, of all fubfequent weeks, the primeval is, in its form and dimenfions, the model. In reckon

ing, however, it is itself excluded; that memorable day, on which the Almighty refted from all his works, being here confidered purely as the firft fource of computation, by feptenary fyftems of natural days.

IN like manner the reckoning by generations must proceed. When a firft ancestor is found in hiftory, the genealogift confiders him only as the father of his race, a term of commencement, the point whence generations begin. Suppofe a long roll, in the lineal, or fometimes perhaps, the collateral feries progreffively, continued to the paffing age, the living representative of that first ancestor is left out, and the intermediate defcents are alone counted.

FOR example: "This is the book of the generations of Adam; in the day that God created man." Adam, not having a human father and mother, was not generated; neither can it properly be faid, that he was one of his own offspring. The roll is brought down to Shem, the 10th from Adam exclufively. Shem was born in a fpecified year of Noah's life. That year is the date of the 10th generation, and its final period is the year of Arphaxad's nativity. On this principle, the intermediate defcents from Adam to Shem, excluding both, are nine generations, and no more.

WHY fhould it be presumed, that the Evangelist, in conftructing his Catalogue, adopted a different mode in computation?" The book of the generation of JESUS CHRIST, the fon of DAVID, the fon of ABRAHAM." Abraham could not be one of his own progeny; and Jefus Chrift certainly was not one of his own human progenitors.

U