Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-01-15
REV. DR.. 9ALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "The sundIal Of Ahaz.'


gone doUn in the dial Of Ahdz III KIM
Xxx II.
Here is thu frst ciocs or watch or chro.
roneter or timepieco % which the worl
has any knowledge. But it was a watch
that did not tick and a CLOCK that did not
STRIFE. IL wGs a sunIial. Ahaz the king.
invented it, Between the hours given 10
statecraft an the cares Of Office he invented
something by which he could tell the tim
of day. This suniial may have been a great
column, and when the shadow OF that col.
umn reached one point it was nine O'clock
A. NJ, and when It rsacl el another point il
was three oc.oci ?. ~, and all the hours an /
half hours were 50 measured. Or it may
have been flight o. stairs such as may now
be found IN Hin1ostan and other old coun-
tries, and when the shadow reached one step
u was ten O'CLOCK 4. NJ, or another step it
was four O'Clock 7. NJ, and likewise other
hours may have been indicated
The ciepsydra or water clock followed the
sundial, AMI the sandglass 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
himself to politics, and while tae third part
was burning he gave himself 10 rest After
awhile came the wheel AMI weight clocl,
and Pope Sylvester the Second, was its most
important inventor. And the skill Of cen
turtles OF exquisite mechanism tolled at the
timepieces until tAe world had the Vick's
clock OF the Fourteenth century and Huy-
ghens, the inventor, swung the first pendu-
lum and DR. Hoose contrived the re-
coil escapement. And the 'endless
chain followed and the ratchet and
pinion lever took its pace. and
the compensation balance AMI the
stemwinder followed, and now we have the
buzz and clang of the great clock ami watch
factories of Switzerland AMI Germany and
England and America turning out what
seems to be the perfection OF timepieces. II
took the world six thousand years to make
the present chroDometer. 50 with the
measurement of longer spaces than minutes
and hours. Time was calculated from new
moon to new moon; then from harvest 10
harvest. Then the year was pronounced to
be three hundred AMI fitty-four days and
then three hundred AMI sixty days, and not
until a long while alter three hundred and
sixty-five days. Then events were calcu-
lated from the foundation OF Rome. after
ward from the Olympic games Then the
Babylonians ha I cir measurement OF the
year and the Romans theirs and
the Armenians theirs AMI the Hin
docs theirs. Chronology was busy
for centuries studying monuments
Inscriptions coins mummes aud astroa-
omy, trying TO lay plan by which AZ
question of dates might be settled an
events put in their right place in the pro-
cession os the ages. But the chronologists
only heaped up a mountain Of confusion and
hewilderment until in the sixth century
Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman abbot, said
LET everything date from the birth at
Bethlehem of the Lord Jesus Christ the
Saviour OF the world" The abbot proposed
10 have things dated backward and forward
from that great event. What a splendid
thought for the world What a mighty
thing for Christianity II woul 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 its documents and his
tories. Forever fixed is it that all history is
to be dated with reference to the birth Of
Christ. and, this matter settled, 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, aud all the illus
trious events Of the 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 watch is, what a clock is, what
an almanac Is, and learn to appreciate
through what tolls aud hardships AMI per-
plexites the world came to its present con-
veniencss aud comforts, AMI to help you to
more res ectful consideration of that SUI
dial If Ata- planfai in my faxf
We are told that Hezekiah, th king, was
dying OF boil. 1t must have been one Of
the wort kind of carbuncles boil without
any central core and sometimes deathful.
A fig was put upon it as pUultice. Hezskiah
did not want 10 die then His son, wno was
to take the kingdom, had nos yet been born,
aud Hezexiah's death wold have been the
death of the nation SO he prays for re.
covery and is told he will get well. But he
wants some miraculous sign TO make him
sure of il. He has the choice OF having the
shadow on the sun1ial OF Ahaz advances or
retreat. He repliei il would not be so Won
derful to have the sun 60 down. for 1t al
ways does go down sooner or later
He asks that it 90 backward In
other words, let the day instead Of going
on towarl shutdown. turn and go toward
sunrise. see the invalid king bolsterei up
window upon the sun lial in the courtyard.
While he watches the shallow on the dial
the shadow besius 10 retreat Instead Of
going on toward six o'clock in the evening
Il goes back toward six o'clock in the morn
ing. The big poultice had been drawing for
some time, and sure enough tae boil broke
and Hezesiah got we'll Now | expect you
will come on with your higher critics n
and try to explain this away AMI say it
ives an optical delusion Of Hezskiah, ana the
shadow only seemed to 60 back or a cloud
came over and it was uncertain which way
the shadow did &c, and as HezsSiah expected
1t to 60 bacS he took the action Of
bis own mind for the retrograde move
ment. No: the shadow went back on
all the dials Of that land AMI other lands.
Turn TO Ii Chronicles xxi. 81, and find
that away of in Babylon the mighty men OF
the palace noticed the same phenomenon.
And il you do not like the Bible authority
turn over your copy of Hero1otus and find
that away Off in Egypt the people noticed
that there was something the matter with
the SUI. The fact is that the whole universe
waits upon God, and suns and moons and
stars are not very big things to Him, and lie
can with His little finger turn back an en-
tire world as easily as You can set back ths
hour hand or minute hand of your Clock or
watch.
At the opening Of the new year people are
moralizing on the fight Of time. You all
feel that you are moving on toward sun
down and many of you are under conse-
quent depression. | propose this morning
TO set the hands Of your watches and clocks
to going the other way. propose to show
You how you make the shadow OF your dial
like the shadow on the dial OF Ahaz to
stop going forward and make it go back
ward. You think have big undertaking
on hand. but it can be done il the same Lori
who reversed the shadow in Hezkiahs court
yard moves upon us While looking at thu
sundiaI OF Hezkiah aud we find the shadow
retreating we ought to learn that Col
contro.s the shadows. We are all
ready TO acknowledge His MANAGE
ment' of the sunshine. We stand in the
glow of a bright morning aud we say In
our feelings If not with so many words,
"Ihis life is from God, this warmth is from
God" Or, we have a rush OF prosperity
and we say, These successes are from 1o'.
What providential thing it was bought
that lot Just before the rise OF real estate
How grateful to God am that l mad,
that investment Why, they have declared
ten per cent. dividend What mercy 1t wa
That sold out my shares before that col
iapsep On, yes; we acknowledge God In
the sunshine o. bright day or the sun
shine Of great prosperity. But suppose
the day is dark You have to light the
gas at noon. The sun does not show him
self al day long There is nothing but
shadow How slow we are to realiza that