Now we certainly admit that if any history relate as a fact that which is _absolutely impossible_, or if it relate two facts which are _manifestly inconsistent_ with each other, it is so far untrue. And if these impossibilities and contradictions are of frequent occurrence, it must forfeit the character of a truthful narrative. But it would be a great mistake to reject as impossibilities those facts which we are simply unable to explain. It often happens that we cannot tell _how_ an event took place, though we are quite sure that it _did_ take place. No one, for example, has ventured to explain _how_ Franz Müller made his escape from the railway carriage on the evening that he murdered Mr. Briggs; and yet all must admit that he _did_ escape. When a fact is established by indisputable proof, we must accept that fact, even though we may not be able to point out the means by which it was accomplished. This is a principle so simple and plain that our readers may, perhaps, wonder why we stop to enforce it so strongly. We can only say in reply, that, plain and simple though it is, this principle is often overlooked by Dr. Colenso, as the sequel of our paper will show. Again, while we reject as false what is _absolutely impossible_, we must not regard as _impossible_ what is only _improbable_. Every one is familiar with the common axiom, that it is _very probable_ a great many _improbable_ things will come to pass. History abounds with examples to confirm the truth of this saying. Take, for instance, the exploits of the first Napoleon, or the career of his nephew, the present Emperor of the French, or the vicissitudes of the ill-fated Louis Philippe. Here the history of a single country, and for a very short period, presents to us a tissue of startling improbabilities. And yet, we all accept the leading facts of that history, because the evidence by which they are established is convincing and overwhelming. Now, the evidence in support of the Pentateuch is of the same character, and of equal weight. Hence, nothing less than an "absolute impossibility", "a manifest contradiction", can at all shake our belief in the truth of the story. If Dr. Colenso prove that such impossibilities and contradictions are to be found in the Pentateuch, he has established his point; if he fail in this, he has done nothing. The first charge against the historical accuracy of the Bible which we propose to examine, is found in chap. ix. part. i. of Dr. Colenso's work. We shall let the author speak for himself:-- "'_The children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt_'--(_Ex._, xiii. 18).