5. At the second passover, an offering had to be made for every family (Exod. xii.), which would require the slaughter of about one hundred and fifty thousand lambs. The three priests had to sprinkle the blood of these lambs; and it had to be done in about two hours (1 Chron. xxx. 35). The lambs had to be sacrificed at the rate of about one thousand two hundred and fifty a minute, and each priest had to sprinkle the blood of more than four hundred lambs per minute with their own hands, which would make the affair rather a bloody business, if it were not wholly impossible, and therefore an incredible story. 6. If we could credit the statements of "the inspired writer" of the book of Numbers (see chap. xxxi.), we should have to believe twelve thousand Israelites, in a war with the Midianites, after selecting out thirty-two thousand young damsels, killed forty-eight thousand men, eight thousand women, and twenty thousand boys; burned all their cities, and captured all their stock, amounting to eight hundred and eight thousand, and all this without the loss of a single man. Each Israelite would have had to conquer seventy-five resisting enemies, including men, women, children, and stock. It is a story too incredible for serious reflection. We are told that the clothing of the Israelites lasted forty years "without waxing old" (see Deut. xxix. 5),--another story too incredible to be entertained for a moment. 7. In Deuteronomy the priests are always called sons of Levi, or "Levites;" but, in the other books of the Pentateuch, they are always called "the sons of Aaron," which is an evidence they were not written by the same hand. Contradictions. According to Exod. xviii. 25, Moses appointed judges over Israel before the giving forth of the law; but (Deut. i. 6) we are told that the appointment took place after the law was issued at Sinai. 8. According to Deuteronomy, chap. x., "the Lord separated the tribe of Levi" after the death of Aaron; but, according to Numbers, chap. iii., the separation took place before his death. 9. According Exodus, God instituted the sabbath because he rested on that day; but, according to Deuteronomy, it was because he brought the Israelites out of Egypt "by a stretched-out arm." In Deuteronomy, chap. xiv., every creeping thing that flieth is declared to be unclean, and is forbidden to be eaten; but in Leviticus, chap. xi., every creeping thing, including four kinds of locust, is allowed, and is prescribed as a part of their food. 10. In Exodus, chap. vi., God is represented as saying, "By my name Jehovah was I not known to them" (the patriarchs). But he was mistaken; for that name occurs frequently in Genesis. In 1 Sam. chap. viii., we are told the name of Samuel's first-born was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: but in Chroniclcs, vi. 28., we are told the name of Samuel's eldest son was Vashni. Which is right?