372 
another sense of the given words, which is maintainable : it 
may not be necessarily the true one, but it affords an 
escape from his dilemma, and his argument is absolutely 
liarmloss.^ • 
62. And such, I am bold to aver, is the case with this 
palmary argument of our great opponent. . . 
63. The careful examiner will not fail to perceive that the 
ruling of Gen. xv. 16 (“ fourth generation”), in Dr, Colenso s 
sense is the base on which the great majority of his numerical 
difficulties rest ; and that this being shown to be unnecessary, 
* to use no stronger a phrase, they also vanish. Such is, tor 
example, the deduction of his chap, xvii., that, allowing the 
seed of Jacob to have had on an average 4^ sons each, in tour 
generations they would amount to 4,923, instead of 600, Out). 
Yes ; but carry on the same rate of increase a few generations 
more, I will not say to the tenth, as in Joshua's case, but to the 
seventh or eighth;— and the result will, be 448,596 for the 
seventh, or 2,018,632 for the eighth. 
64. Such, too, the matter of his chap, xvm., the census ot 
the Danites and the Levites. Dor, as Dan was about 42 years 
old, so his own son Hushim may well have been ^4, at the 
Eisode. Allow the above average of 4^ sons to^each genera- 
tion, and we arrive at the vast number of 166,000 (or, in- 
cluding but the fathers and grandfathers as still smwmng, 
considerably upwards of 200,000), instead of 62,700, at the 
Exode, in the ninth stage from the patriarch Dan, which is 
parallel with Nun , the father of Joshua. . 
65. The case of the Levites is, I admit, more difficult; 
because of the minuteness and precision with which the 
lineage of Moses and Aaron is limited to four stages from 
Levi. There may be a mystic reason for this,— considering 
their typical standing ( see Heb. iii. 1-6 ; v. 1-4), analogous to 
that strange delay which seems to have marked the economy 
of God in the production of the Promised Seed of the Woman. 
Whether this be so or not, there is no certainty whatever, 
that the other sons of Levi were _ increased by no more 
than four successive generations in all, to the Exode. 
* I ask careful attention to this point— one of very great importance m 
a discussion such as this ; and the more because, by cursory re: aders and 
loose thinkers, it is generally overlooked. It is considered that the assaultei 
and the defender stand on the same ground with regard to suggested modes. 
In truth, as I say in the text, I am not obliged to prove my modus true 
whereas, he is obliged to prove it false In many and many a matter 
Dr. Colenso contents himself with asking, How could they do this . Where 
could they procure that ? If I reply, I do not know how or where : he ha, 
gained nothing ; but if I can suggest,— Possibly thus, or possibly there, it 
is amply sufficient, unless he can prove it impossible. 
