place under the supervision of a God of love. Bishop Watson, in his fourth letter, in reply to Paine's remarks on Joshua, writes as follows:-- 'You make yourself merry with what you call the tale of the sun standing still upon Mount Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon; and you say, that "the story detects itself; because there is not a nation in the world that knows anything about it." How can you expect that there should, when there is not a nation in the world whose annals reach this era by many hundred years? It happens, however, that you are probably mistaken as to the fact: a confused tradition concerning this miracle and a similar one in the time of Ahaz, when the sun went back ten degrees, had been preserved among one of the most ancient nations, as we are informed by one of the most ancient historians. Herodotus, in his Euterpe, speaking of the Egyptian priests, says:--"They told me, that the sun four times deviated from his course; having twice risen where he uniformly goes down, and twice gone down where he uniformly rises."' {107} The Bishop is somewhat incorrect in his criticism. 'There is not (he says) a nation in the world whose annals reach this era by many hundred years.' This is simply untrue. The alleged date of this pretended miracle is variously stated; but it may be taken at the outside at about 3,500 years ago. The Hindus claim to carry their annals back millions of years, and Sir William Jones, after a fair criticism, confesses that he traces back the Indian monarchy to a period upwards of 3,800 years from the present time, and admits an age of 3,000 years for the Vedas, or sacred writings. The age of the xajur Veda, one of the sacred Hindu books, is carried to a period prior to the alleged date of the birth of Moses. The chronicles of Iran (Persia) claim at least an equal antiquity; in fact, the same learned and careful author, speaking on this subject, says:--'If we can rely on evidence, which appears unexceptionable, the Iranian monarchy must have been the oldest in the world.' The Tartar's 'genuine traditional history' commences 4,700 years ago. The Arabian monarchy is traceable back 3,600 years. We have a book of the Chinese, entitled 'Shuking,' containing the annals of that empire, commencing upwards of 4,100 years from this date. Foh, or Foni, is alleged to have given laws to the Chinese 4,300 years ago. We have their poetry admittedly 3,000 years of age, and professedly of a much more ancient date. A very learned member of the Asiatic Society, who investigated the astronomical computations of the Hindus, as given in an ancient treatise (the Surya Siddhanta), allows it to contain astronomical observations extending over 7,200 years, a period of upwards of 4,800 years of which has passed since the birth of one of their most famous astronomers. This will be sufficient to dispose of the Bishop's first assertion. His second, as to the quotation from Herodotus, fares no better.