Again, Many persons there were in those days of longevity, of whose age notwithstanding there is no account in Scripture; as of the race of _Cain_, the wives of the nine Patriarchs, with all the sons and daughters that every one begat: whereof perhaps some persons might out-live _Methuselah_; the Text intending only the masculine line of _Seth_, conduceable unto the Genealogy of our Saviour, and the antediluvian Chronology. And therefore we must not contract the lives of those which are left in silence by _Moses_; for neither is the age of _Abel_ expressed in the Scripture, yet is he conceived far elder then commonly opinioned; and if we allow the conclusion of his Epitaph as made by _Adam_, and so set down by _Salian, Posuit mœrens pater, cui à filio justius positum foret, Anno ab ortu rerum 130. Ab Abele nato 129_, we shall not need to doubt. Which notwithstanding _Cajetan_ and others confirm, nor is it improbable, if we conceive that _Abel_ was born in the second year of _Adam_, and _Seth_ a year after the death of _Abel_: for so it being said, that _Adam_ was an hundred and thirty years old when he begat _Seth_, _Abel_ must perish the year before, which was one hundred twenty nine. And if the account of _Cain_ extend unto the Deluge, it may not be improbable that some thereof exceeded any of _Seth_. Nor is it unlikely in life, riches, power and temporal blessings, they might surpass them in this world, whose lives related unto the next. For so when the seed of _Jacob_ was under affliction and captivity, that of _Ismael_ and _Esau_ flourished and grew mighty, there proceeding from the one twelve Princes, from the other no less then fourteen Dukes and eight Kings. And whereas the age of _Cain_ and his posterity is not delivered in the Text, some do salve it from the secret method of Scripture, which sometimes wholly omits, but seldom or never delivers the entire duration of wicked and faithless persons, as is observable in the history of _Esau_, and the Kings of _Israel_ and _Judah_. And therefore when mention is made that _Ismael_ lived 137 years, some conceive he adhered unto the faith of _Abraham_; for so did others who were not descended from _Jacob_; for _Job_ is thought to be an _Idumean_, and of the seed of _Esau_. [SN: _Job thought by some to be of the race of_ Esau.]