Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-01-22
REV. Or. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
suBJrcr: "THE SuxDIAL OF AHEz.n

SUBJECT: "1HE SUNDIAL OF AHEZ.n
TEXT: "And Isaiah The prophe. cried
unto the Lord: and He brought the shdd-
our ten degrees backward bV trhich IL had
gone doten ia the dial Of Ahdz.n-II King
1x, IL.
Here is the first clock or watch or chro-
| rometer or timepiece of which the world
has any knowledge But it was a watch
| that did not tick aud clock that did not
| strike IL was a suniial. Ahaz, the king
| invented it. Between the hours given 10
statecraft and the cares OF office he invented
something by which he could tell the time
of day. This suudial may have been a great /
| column, and when ths shadow OF that col |
umu reached one point it was nine o'clock |
| A. M and when it reached another point it |
was three O'CLOCK z. NJ. aud all the hours and |
half hours were 50 measured. Or 1t may |
have been flight OF stairs such as may now |
| be found in Hinlostan and other old coun- |
tries and when the shadow reached one step |
Il was ten O'Clock A. NJ, or another step 1t
was four o'clock P. NJ, and likewise other |
hours may have been indicated.
The clepsydra or water clock followed the
suudial, AMI tho sandglass followed the
ccpsydra Then came the candle clock OF
| Alfred the Great and the candle was marked
into three parts, and while the first part
YVES burniny he gave himself to religion, and
while the second part was burning he gave
himself to politics, and while the third part
I was burning he gave himself TO rest. After
awhile came the wheel and weight clock,
and Pope Sylvester the Second, was its most
: importaut inventor And the skill of CEN
/ turies of exquisite mechanism tolled at the
timepeces until the world had the Nicks
clock OF the Fourteenth century and Huy-
, ghers, the inventor, swung the hrSt pendu-
t lum and DR.. Hooke contrived the re-
coil escapement. And the "endless
chain" followed and the ratchet and
' pinion lever took its place, and
y the compensation balance and the
: stemwinder followed, and now we have the
4 buzz aud cang Of the great clock and watch
- factories of Switzerland and Germany and
" England and America turning out what
g seems to be the perfection OF timepieces. lt
took the world six thousand years to make
the prerent chronometer. 80 with the
measurement OF longer spaces than minutes
T. and hours. Time was calculated from new
= moon 10 new moon; then from harvest 10
harvest. Then the year was pronounced to
= be three hundred aud fifty-four days and
e then three hundred ana sixty days, and not
!, until long while after three hundred and
Il | sixty.fYe DAYS Then events were calcu-
;" lated from the foundation OF Rome. after
l. ward from tho Olympic games. Then the
p. BabylOnians had I cir measurement OF the
10 year and the Romans theirs and
The Armcniaus theirs and the Hin
:. docs theirs. Chronology was busy
~ for centuries studying monuments,
Df inscriptions, coins, munmies and astron-
no omy, trying TO lay plan by which all
question of dates might be settled and
l' events put In their right place in the pro.
rr cession OF the ages. But the chronological:
,1 only heapCd up a mountain OF confusion and
:, lcwiidernlcnt until in the sixth century
- DionysiuS ENiguus, Roman abbot SAID,
Il "L2t everything date from the birth at
IT. Bethlehem Of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
80 | Saviour of the world" The abbot proposed
to have things dated backward and forward
'7 from that great event. What splendid
to thought for thu worldl What mighty
nm thing for Christianity! 1t woult have been
~, most natural TO date everything from the
WI creation Of the world. But | am glad
Nv the shrorologists could not to- easily guess
ny how old tine world was in order to get the
ON nations in the habit of dating from that
-, occurrence in its documents and his
IL tories Forever fixed is it that all history IS
lNt to be dated with references to the birth OF
- Christ and this matter settled, Hales, the
,ll chief cnrono,ogist, declared that the world
:, was made five thousand four hundred and
f"' eleven years before Christ and the deluge
ne. ,ame three thousand ons hundred and nifty
ON I've wears before Christ, and all the illus
trous events of the nineteen centuries ant
all the great events OF all time to come nave
been or shall be dated from the birth OF
thn CHRIST These things | say that you may
49, know what a watch is, what clock is, what
en- an alrransc l., and learn to appreciate
the through what tolls and hardships and per
olexties the world came to its present con
yenienccs anl comforts, and to help you t
ere more res ecttul consideration OF that sun
DlS dial of Ahez planted in my text
lor We are told that Hezeklah, the king wa
a. diving of a boil 1t must have teen one o
'"r the wort kind OF carbuncles, boil withou
" any central core and sometimes deathful
pom ig was put upon 1t as apoultice. Hezekla
nd not want to die then. His son, who wa
to take the kingdom had not yet been born
lOl- and He2ekiah's death would have been tn
thr Death of the nation SO he prays for II
=. 80 covery and is told he will get well. Buth
, W wants snme miraculous sign to make MI
lth, sure OF it. He has the choice OF having I'll
'Ort shadow on the sun1al OF Ahaz ndvahce Q
,hor retreat He replied it would not be SO wol
derful to have the sun go down, Tor IL a
ways does go down sooner or late
.ayS He asks that it go backward.
md other words let the day instead OF goin
on toward sundown, turn and go towal
ah sunrise. see the invalid king bolsterei !,
and wrapped in blankets looking out OF u
hut window upon the sundial III the courtyar
wv While he watches the shadow on the al
I'D the shadow begins TO retreat. instead
: in going on toward six O'Clock in the cvenl
Il goes back toward six o'clock in the NOR
ing. The big poultice had been drawing
atr- some time, and sure enough the Don pro
II of and Heze,iiah got we'll Now expect y
,,thu VIII come OH WIN NOul h'SHNA
and try 10 explain this away ana say
Il an was an optical deluson OF HezeSiah, ana
4 the shadow only seemed to go baci OF cio
ulov came over ani it was uncertain wnich W
lrac- tt tne to .,iau0" lo bScs be took tho action
i'll to his own mind for the retrogradc mo
well ment. No; the shadow went back
rson- all the dials 0l tnaC lanu uiiN a, aud
that away off in Babylon the mighty men
I the the palace noticed the same phenomen
, for And if you do not like the Bible author
turn over your copy Of Herodotus ana
that away Off in Egypt the people notl
a. that there was something the matter "
the sun. The fact Is that the whole univ'
ms IN waits upon God, and suns and moons
of H.. stars are not very big things to Him, ana
at,lo can with His little finger turn back an
dVll0' tire world as easily as you can set pack
doing hour hand or minute hand of your ciocl
emon watch.
''n"n At the opening Of the new year people
been moraIizing on the fight Of time. You
" the feel that you are moving on toward
down and many OF you are under Il ca
pusi' uuent depression. l propose TINS NOR
,r the 10 set the hands of your watches and c.
~ oro to going the other way. propose 10
y "ie Won how YOU make the shadow OF your
yainst like the shadow on the dial OF ana
royal stop going forward ana mSk9 hS nDdspta ~ lar
n only on hand but it can be done II the same
who reversed the shadow in HezSiahs c.
vard moves upon us. While looking a
wheel. ssundiai of Hezkiah aud we find the sh'
SEQ to retreatng we oNgnsS so,to 20 'eaya We are are
Broth. ,VattV' rendy 70 " acknowledge His ma
on his ment of the sunshine, we S s1ana 40 II
0, the glow sooIins, oil oi f. not wv with SO many
nut ho 'This life Is from God, this warmth IS
Ia,v Ell tah n
len he Cod Or, we We nave I.lso US" an IRON