Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-01-16
SUNDIAL OF AHAZ.
SERMON PREACHED BY REV. T. DE
WITT TALMAeE, D. D.

WITT TALMAGE, D. D.
Tho Flight OF Time-God Rules the Shad-
ows-Dnybrcak on the Heights of tho
Mountain Tors-Full Report of n Re
marknble Discourse.
BROOKLYN. Jan. 1o.-Dr Talmage's
sermon this morning was full of
brightness and good cheer. He might
have called ita receipt for happiness.
The buoyancy and elasticity of tenn
permanent which characterize him
were conspicuous throughout, and
must have been impaired to his hear
ers. His text was Ii Kings xX, H..
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 Ahnz."
Here * TIN r44,-filst clcck olrwatcll or
chronometcr or tiinepiece (which Inch :.
The world has any knowledge. But
it was watch that did not tick and
Il clock that did not strike. TWAS a
sundial. Ahaz, the king. invented
it. Between the hours given to state
craft and the cares Of office he in
vented something by which he could
tell the time Of day This sundial
may have been Il great column, and
when the shadow of that column
reached one point it was nine O'Clock
Il. M. and Wien it reached another
point it was three o'clock p. M. and
all the hours AMI half hours We're SO
measured Or it may have been a
flight of stairs s.lch as may now be
found III Hindostan and other old
countries, and when the shadow
reached one step it was ten O'Clock a.
M, or another step it was four o'clock
p. H.. and likewise other hours may
have been indicated.
TIME MEASURE.
The clepsytlra Or water clock fol
lowed the sundial. 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 be gave himself topoli-
tics. 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 in
ventor. And the skill of centuries
of exquisite mechanism toiled at the
until the world had the
Vick's clock of the Fourteenth cen
fury. and Huyghens, tho inventor,
swung the first pendulum, and Org
Hooke contrived the recoil escape
ment.
And the "endless chain" followed,
and the ratchet ~sad ,pinion lever"
balance ssncsS ne he comp ensation
lowed. and EnuwsSsS have -Dtdzz
and clang of the great clock and
watch factories of Switzerland apd
Germany and England and America
turning ont what seems to he the
perfection of timcpieces. 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 calculated from new
moon to new moon; then from har-
vest to harvest. Then the year was
to be three hundred and
fifty four days and then three hun
dred and sixty days and, not until
a long while after, three hundred and
sixty.five days. Then events were
calculated from the foundation of
Rome, afterwawl from the Olympic
games. Then the Babylonians had
their measurement of the year, and
the Romans theirs, and the Almen-
ians theirs. and the EIindoos theirs.
Chronology was busy for centuries
monuments, inscriptions,
coins. mummies and astronomy. try
ing to lay PLAN by which all qucs-
tions of dates might be settled and
events PIT in their right place in the
procession of the ages. But the
chronologists only heaped upa noun.
tain of confusion and bewilderment
until in the Sixth century Dionysills
Exiguus, a Roman abbot, said, Let
everything date from the birth ct
Bethlehem of the Lord Jesus Christ
the Saviour of the world.
The abbot proposed to have things
dated backward and forward from
that great event. What splendid
thought for the worldl What a
mighty thing for Christianity 1t
would have been most natural to
date everything from the creation OF
world. But | am glad the chronolo-
gists 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 its documents and
histories.
Forever fixed is it that all history
is TO be dated with reference to the
birth of Christ. and this matter set
tied, Hales. the chief chronologist.
declared that the world was made
five thousand four hundred and
eleven years before Christ, and the
deluge came three thousand one
hundred and fifty five years before
Christ, and all the illustlious events
of the last nineteen centuries and all
the great events of all time to
come have been or shall be dated
from the birth of Christ. These
things say that You may know
what a watch is, what clock is,