But Dr. Colenso objects, "there is no word or indication of any such _cortege_ having accompanied Jacob into Egypt" (p. 114). We reply that our supposition is still possible and probable, even though no mention were made of it in the brief summary of Moses. It has been well remarked that, when it suits his purpose, Dr. Colenso is at no loss to supply the omissions of the sacred text. Thus, in treating of the "march out of Egypt"--(pp. 61, 62), he supplies _aged, infirm, infants, women in childbirth_, of whom there is "no word or indication" in the narrative. It happens, however, in the present instance, that there is a pretty clear "indication" in the text, that Jacob was accompanied by "such a _cortege_". We are informed that "Israel set out _with all that he had_" (_Gen._, xlvi. 1). It has been shown that he had a large retinue of servants, and we know that it is the usage of the Pentateuch to reckon _men-servants and women-servants_ amongst the possessions of the patriarchs. Therefore, we are justified in supposing that this phrase included not only the family, cattle, and goods, but also the servants of Jacob. Again, it is said that "Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and _all his father's house_, with bread" (_Gen._, xlvii. 12). And when Joseph went to bury his father in Canaan, we are told that with him went "all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his _father's house_; only their little ones and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen" (_Gen._, l. 8.) What can be the meaning of the _house of Jacob_ thus distinguished from _his children_ and _their little ones_? Does it not seem obviously to point to his _retinue of servants_? Unless, therefore, we set aside the evidence of the Pentateuch itself; unless we can believe that Jacob, in the decline of his life, suddenly snapped asunder the strongest ties of natural affection and of religious duty, we must admit that he brought down into Egypt a very large number of servants. We have seen that, according to the Divine command, their descendants would all receive the rite of circumcision, and be reckoned among the chosen people of God. They would, therefore, be numbered with those who, at the time of the Exodus, went out with Moses into the desert. It is not true, then, that, in the narrative of the Pentateuch, 2,000,000 of Israelites are represented as having sprung from 70 persons in 215 years. Neither is it true, as we have shown, that only _four generations_, in the sense of Dr. Colenso, intervened between the sons of Jacob and the adult Hebrew population at the time of the Exodus. There yet remain many serious errors, and gross blunders, and palpable misrepresentations, in the argument of Dr. Colenso; but these we must reserve for a future number of the _Record_. FOOTNOTES: [5] See Gesenius, Fuerst, or, indeed, any of the larger Hebrew Lexicons. [6] _Hebrew and English Lexicon_; London: Baxter and Sons.