The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-01-13
THE CLOCK OF LIFE.
Dr. Talmage Compares 1t W'th,t the
Sun-Dial Of Ahaz.
How God Caused the Shadow Of the Lat
ter to Retreat-A Lesson that the
Majority OF tho Human Race
~ Need to Learn-A Happy
fi.r Sermon.

Rev. DIR. Talmage preached the fol-
lowing sermon last Sunday from the
text IL Kings, Xxx, IL: "And Isaiah,
the prophet, cried unto the Lord; and
He brought the shadow ten degrees
backward by which it had gone down
n, the dial of Ahaz-"
Here is the first clock, or watch, or
chronometer or timepiece Of which the
world has any knowledge. But 1t was
q watch that did not tick and clock
that did not strike. 1t was sun-dial.
Ahaz the king, invented 1t Between
the hours given to statecraft and the
cares of Office he invented something
by which he could tell the time Of day.
This sun-dial may have been great
column, and when the shadow OF that
column reached one point 1t was o
o'clock a. M, and when II reached an
other point it was o'clock p. m, and
all the hours and half hours were so
measured. Or it may have been a flight
of stairs, such as may now be found In
Hindustan and other old countries, and
when the shadow reached one step 1t
was 10 o'clock a. M, or another step 1t
was 4 o'clock p. m, and likewise other
hours may have been indicated.
The clepsydra or waterclock fol-
lowed the sun-dial, and the sand-glass
followed the clepsydra. Then came the
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 burning he gave him
self to politics, and while the third part
was burning he gave himself to rest.
After awhile 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 timepiece until
the world had the Vick's clock Of the
fourteenth century, and Huyghens the
inventor, swung the first pendulum,
and DR.. Hooke contrived the recoil
escapement And the ''endless chain
followed, and the ratchet and pinion
lever took its place; and the compen'
sation balance and the stem winder for
lowed, and now we have the buzz and
clang Of the great clock and watch fac
tories Of Switzerland and Germany
and England and America turning out
what seems to be the perfection Of
timepieces. II took the world six thou
sand years to make the present chro
nometer. So with the measurement O
longer spaces than minutes and hours
Time was calculated from new moon u
new moon, them from harvest TO har
vest Then the year was pronounce'
TO be three hundred and fifty-four days
and then three hundred and sixty days
and not until long while after, thre
hundred. and sixty-fve days The
events were calculated from the fouu
dation of Rome, afterward from tn
Olympic games. Then the Babylonian
had their measurement Of the year an
the Romans theirs and the Armenian
theirs and the Hindoos theirs Chrome
ogy was busy for centuries studyin
monuments, inscriptions, coins, 'mun
mics and astronomy, trying TO lay
plan by which all question Of date
might be settled and events put In the
right place in the procession OF th
ages But the chronologists onl
heaped up q mountain Of confusion an
bewilderment until in the sixth Gel
tury Dionysius Exigus, Roman abbo
said: LET everything date from u
birth at Bethlehem Of the Lord jest
Christ, the Saviour Of the world" III
abbot proposed TO have things date
backward and forward from that gre
event What q splendid thought &
the world. What mighty thing Il
Christianity II would have been mo
natural TO date everything from u
creation Of the world But / am gli
the chronologists could not too easi
guess how old the world was
order TO get the nations in the habit
dating from that occurrence In It's doc
ments and histories Forever fixed
Il that all history Ii 10 be dated wi
reference TO the birth OF Christ, an
this matter settled, Hales, the chi
chronologist, declared that the woI
was made SAIL years before Christ, q
the deluge came 8,155 years befc
Christ, and all the illustrious events
the Last nineteen centuries, and all I
great events OF all time 10 come, ha
been, or shall be, dated from the bil
of Christ. These things say that y
may know what a watch Is, wha'
clock Is. what an almanac Is, and lea
10 appreciate through what tolls a
hardships and pcrplexities the wo
came 70 It's present conveniences a
comforts, and TO help you 10 more
spectful consideration Of that sun-d
Of Ahaz planted In my text
We are told that Hezelxiah, the HI
was dying Of boil. II must have b
one of the worst kinds OF carbuncles
boil without any central core and soi
times deathful A fg was put upol
as a poultice. Hezckiah did not vi
10 die then. His son, who was to b
the kingdom, had not yet been bo
and Hezelkiah's death would have b
the death of the nation. So he pr
for recovery aud is told he will get W
But he wants some miraculous sign
make him sure Of It He has the che
Of having the shadow on the sundia
Ahaz advance or retreat. He reptile
would not be so wonderful TO have
sun 90 down, for It always does
down sooner or later. He asks tina
10 backward In other words, let
day, instead Of going on toward :
down, turn and go toward sunrise. i
the invalid king bolstcred up
wrapped in blankets looking out OF