But if we go further into those books the evidence is still
more positive that Samuel is not the writer of them ; for
they relate things that did not happen till several years
after the death of Samuel. Samuel died before Saul; for
I Samuel, xxviii. tells, that Saul and the witch of Endor
conjured Samuel up after he was dead ; yet the history of
matters contained in those books is extended through the
remaining part of Saul's life, and to the latter end of the
life of David, who succeeded Saul. The account of the death
and burial of Samuel (a thing which he could not write
himself) is related in i Samuel xxv. ; and the chronology



112 THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE.
affixed to this chapter makes this to be B.C. 1060 ; yet the
history of this first book is brought down to B.C. 1056, that
is, to the death of Saul, which was not till four years after
the death of Samuel.
The second book of Samuel begins with an account of
things that did not happen till four years after Samuel was
dead ; for it begins with the reign of David, who succeeded
Saul, and it goes on to the end of David's reign, which was
forty-three years after the death of Samuel ; and, therefore,
the books are in themselves positive evidence that they were
not written by Samuel.
