The Dickinson press., 1892-01-23
SUN-DIAL OF AHAZ.
Dr. Talmage Advises People Not to
Allow Themselves to Be Scared
Out Of Life.
At the First sneeze Of Grip Do Not
Give Up All as Lost. Don't
Watch for Symptoms.

At the First sneeze Of Grip Do Not
Give Up All as Lost. Don't
Watch for Symptoms.
Brooklyn, N. Y. Especial DIR. Tai
nase's sermon was full of brightness
and good cheer. His text was: II,
Kings, POLL, "And Isaiah, the prophet,
cried unto the Lord: and he brought
the shadow ten degrees backward by
which it had gone down in the dial OF
Ahaz."
Here is the first clock or watch or
ohronometer or any time piece OF which
the world has any knowledge. But it
was q watch that did not tick and a
clock that did not strike. 1t was a
sun-dial. Ahaz the King invented
it. Between the hours given to state
craft and the cares of Office he invent
Cd something by which he could
tell the time of the day. This
sun-dlal may have been a great col
umn, and when the shadow OF that
column reached one point it was 8
o'clock q. M, and when it reached an
other point it was o'clock p. M, and
al the hours and half hours were so
measured. Or it may have been
fight OF stairs such as may now be
found in Hindostan and other old
countries, and when the shadow
reached one step it was 10 o'clock a.
M, OF another step it was o'clock
p. M, and likewise other hours may
have been indicated.
The clepsydra or water-clocE follow
ed the sun-dial, and the sand-glass fol-
candle-clock OF Alfred the Great and
the candle was marked into three
parts, and while the first part was
burning he gave himself to religion
and while the second part was burn
ing he gave himself to politics and
while the third part was burning he
gave himself to rest. After a while
came the wheel and weight clock and
POPE SYLVESTER THE SECOND
was its most important inventor.
And the skill of centuries of exquisite
mechanism toiled at the time pieces
until the world had the Vick's clock
of the Fourteenth century and Huy-
ghens, the inventor swung the first
pendulum, and DR.. Hooke contrived
the recoil escapement. And the "end-
less chain" followed, and the "rachet
and pinion lever" took it's place; and
the compensation balance and the
stem winder followed, and now we
have the buzz and clang of the great
watch and clock factories of Switzer-
land and Germany and England and
America turning out what seems to be
the perfection OF time pieces. 1t took
the world six thousand years to make
the present chronometer. So with the
measurement OF longer spaces than
minutes and hours. Time was calcu-
lated from new moon to new moon;
then from harvest to harvest
Then the year was pronounced
to be 354 days and then $50 days,
and, not until long while after, 365
days. Then events were calculated
from the foundation OF Rome,
afterward from the Olympic
games. Then the Babylonians
had their measurement OF the
year and the Romans theirs and the
Armenians theirs and the Hindoos
theirs. Chronology was busy for cent
uries studying monuments, inscrip-
tions, coins, mummies and astrono-
my, trying to lay plan by which all
question Of dates might be settled and
events put in their right place in the
procession of the ages. But the chro-
nologists only heaped up a mountain
CONFUSION AND BEWILDERNlENT,
until in the sixth century Dionysius
tlT
everything date from the birth at
Bethlehem of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Saviour of the world" The alb
bott proposed to have things dated
backward and forward from that
great event. What splendid thought
for the world! WHAT mighty thing
for Christianity 1t would have been
most natural to date everything from
the creation of the world. But am
glad the chronologists could not too
easily guess how old the world was in
order to get the nations in the habit
of dating from that occurrence in it's
documents and histories. Forever
fixed is it that all history is to be dat
ed with reference to the birth of Christ
and this matter settled Hales, the
chief chronologist, declared that the
world was made 5,411 years before
Christ, and the deluge came 3,155
years before Christ and all theillustri-
GUS events OF the last 10 centuries
and all the great events OF all time to
come have been or shall be dated
FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.
We are told that Hezekiah the king,
was dying of a boil. 1t must have
been one of the worst kind OF carbun-
cles, q boil without any central core
and sometimes deathful. A fig was
put upon it as a poultice. Hezekiah
did not want to die then. His son
who was to take the kingdom had not
yet been born and Hezekiah's death
would have been the death Of the ma
tion. So ne prays for recovery, and
is told he will get we'll. But he wants
some miraculous sign to make him
sure OF it. He has the choice of hav.
ingthe shadow on the sun-dial OF Ahaz
advance or retreat. He replied that
it would not be SO wonderful to have
the sun go down, for it always goes
Gown sooner or later. He asks that
;cgo backward. In other words, let
the day instead OF going on towards
sundown, turn and 90 towards sun,
rise. see the invalid king bolstered
up and wrapped in blankets looking
out OF the window upon the sun-dia
in the courtyard. While he watches
the shadow on the dial theshadow be
gins to retreat. Instead of going OF
toward 6 o'clock in theevening it goel
on toward 6 o'clock in the morning
The fig poultice had been drawing fol
some time and sure enough, the boi
broke and Hezekiah got we'll. Now
expect you will come on with YOU
higher criticism and try to explain thi
away and say it was an optical dc
lusion of Hezekiah, and the shado1
only seemed to go back or clou,
came over and it was uncertain whic]
way the shadow did go and as Heze
kiah expected it to go back he too