al arrangement, the taking of Laish, and giving it the name
of Dan, is made to be twenty years after the death of Joshua, who was
the successor of Moses; and by the historical order, as it stands in
the book, it is made to be 306 years after the death of Joshua, and 331
after that of Moses; but they both exclude Moses from being the writer
of Genesis, because, according to either of the statements, no such a
place as Dan existed in the time of Moses; and therefore the writer of
Genesis must have been some person who lived after the town of Laish had
the name of Dan; and who that person was nobody knows, and consequently
the book of Genesis is anonymous, and without authority.

I come now to state another point of historical and chronological
evidence, and to show therefrom, as in the preceding case, that Moses is
not the author of the book of Genesis.

In Genesis xxxvi. there is given a genealogy of the sons and descendants
of Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name of the kings
of Edom; in enumerating of which, it is said, verse 31, "And these are
the kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the
children of Israel."

Now, were any dateless writing to be found, in which, speaking of any
past events, the writer should say, these things happened before there
was any Congress in America, or before there was any Convention in
France, it would be evidence that such writing could not have been
written before, and could only be written after there was a Congress
in America or a Convention in France, as the case might be; and,
consequently, that it could not be written by any person who died before
there was a Congress in the one country, or a Convention in the other.

Nothing is more frequent, as well in history as in conversation, than
to refer to a fact in the room of a date: it is most natural so to do,
because a fact fixes itself in the memory better than a date; secondly,
because the fact includes the date, and serves to give two ideas at
once; and this manner of speaking by circumstances implies as positively
that the fact alluded to is past, as if it was so expressed. When a
person in speaking upon any matter, says, it was before I was married,
or before my son was born, or before I went to America, or before I went
to France, it is absolutely understood, and intended to be understood,
that he has been married, that he has had a son, that he has been in
America, or been in France.