Ten Degrees Backward,

to convince Hezekiah that he was not going to die of a boil." Now, how is that for truth? It is simply unadulterated falsehood! There is no place in the Bible where such a record is found. If said anywhere else the Bible must not be held responsible for it. What the Bible says is just this, "And he brought the shadow back ten degrees on the dial, (degrees) of Abaz." There is not one word about the sun. It is only by inference that we suppose that the sun had anything to do with the shadow that was brought backward. And even if it referred to a shadow caused by an interception of the sun's rays, it was a matter of refraction only, and not of retrogression of the sun, for it was only the one shadow which went back, other shadows do not seem to have changed. Nothing was observed elsewhere. It was only the shadow on the steps of Ahaz which receded. It was merely some atmospheric interference. How culpably careless, or grossly untruthful, are the statements of Ingersoll, this man of fettered thought and manacled reason!