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authorities. There is a little discrepancy in the figures 24,000 being men- 
tioned in the Old Testament instead of 23,000 ; but there are two ways of 
accounting for it. Mr. Gosse says that St. Paul takes the minimum number, 
and that probably the exact number lies between the two sets of figures ; 
but another way of accounting for the difference is by assuming that 1,000 
were destroyed by the judges, and if you add that 1,000 to the number 
that fell by the pestilence, there is no discrepancy whatever. I am per- 
suaded that there are errors of defective transcription in the Scriptures ; but 
for such men as Mr. Row, with so much critical acumen, and Dr. Thornton, 
with so much learning, and the rest of us following in the wake of those 
superior men, it is a very beautiful thing to try and correct them, and to get 
hold of the true meaning which the original text bore. But it is a perilous 
thing for us to attack the numbers of the Pentateuch and of the historical 
books of the Old Testament, and pronounce them corrupted. I think it is 
not what we should do, remembering the words of Milton, which contain a 
very important lesson : — 
u What boots it, at one gate to make defence, 
And at another to let in the foe ?” (Cheers.) 
We are letting in the foe while we are professing to defend the divine Book. 
Mr. Row. — I wish to make an explanation with regard to Dr. Thornton’s 
paper. I have counted the number of pages in that paper, and there are 
nine which deal with questions quite distinct from the exodus, and only three 
on the exodus itself. Now that is a very strong point. 
Mr. Graham. But the credibility of the Pentateuch depends on the 
number of men who came out of Egypt under Moses. 
Mr. T. W. Masterman.— I think the matter would be very much simpli- 
fied if we applied a three-fold division to the numerical difficulties in the 
Old Testament. We have a great many numbers concerning which there 
have been difficulties, but which are recorded only once, and therefore, if they 
are not right, we have only to correct one text or part of a chapter. Then 
we have other numbers which are mentioned once, but which are referred to 
afterwards in different terms from the way in which they were given the first 
time. In those cases there is a discrepancy between the quotation and the 
original, and therefore there must be some error, for they cannot both be 
correct. But the numbers principally referred to in Dr. Thornton’s paper 
stand on a very different footing, especially those relating to the exodus of 
the Israelites from Egypt, which form the great point both of Mr. Gosse’s 
and of Mr. Moule’s papers. Those numbers are quoted several times in the 
sacred text. They are analyzed, cut into pieces, their sum total added to- 
gether, and that sum total coincides with the figures as given in detail. 
Therefore they stand in a very different position from such a number as the 
thousand men destroyed by the jawbone of an ass. If the thousand men 
destroyed by Samson is simply a general statement that he destroyed many 
people, we have only to correct that one text, and acknowledge that it 
merely meant a great many, and the matter is done with ; but as to the 
