Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1892-01-14
THE FLIGHT OF TIME.
Or. TALMAGE breaches ON TIE
SUNDlAL OF AHAz.

Marked by the Suuriscs-Daybreak on
.,. uo,,,.,, rou
'"0 'P''
BRooKLYN, Jan l0.-Dr. Talmagc's SER
mon this morning was full of brightness
apd good cheer. He MIGHT have called it
a recina for h,nninass Tho buovancv and
elasticity of temnernn,ent which charac.
terize him were ronspicuous throughout,
ord ,puet bova hear Unmarried TO his hear.
.,s His teyt was II king Xxx. II. and
Isaiah tho nronbet Grind INTO the Lord;
and he brought tho shadow ten degrees
bocl.,vsrd hv which it. had zone down in
o., d,l of ib,,u
uere is the first clock or watch or cbro-
,o,,ator or ti,nen;era of which the world
hosnnv tnoylodue. Rut il was A watch
49, Ala no, tict and a clocl, thoi did not
s+riI.o n wac sundisl hbaz. the kinu.
iryontod it Retxeen the hours otiyep to
.t,.ocr,ft md the c,res of office he invent
od eo,,,athine, he which he could tell the
,in,a ~ dar mis- snn6ial NAV have been
y 1rreot coin,,n and when the shadow of
int column reached one pojnt it was nine
o,cIocl, . m md when if reached another
point II was three O'Clock n. NJ. and all the
hours and half hours were so measured.
Or il nav have been FIGHT of stairs such
.s,oav rn,v bn found in ITiudostan and
other Old countries and whom the shadow
u = u q IL.
another stem if vas four o'clock u. m. and
i;i,.,,,i.a othsr hours may have hean indi.
c.+ad
THE WORLDS HoROI OGEs
The clep,ydra or water clock followed
tl1e s,ludial. and the sand glass followed
the clepsv,lra Then came the candle clock
of Alfred the Great and the candle was
marked into three purts. and while the first
part WAS burning he gave himself to re
iicion, and while the second part was burn.
ing he gave himself to politics, and while
the third part WAS burning he pnve him.
self to rest. After awhile came the wheel
and WEIGHT clock. and poDe Sylvester the
Second WAS it's most important inventor.
And the skill Of centuries of exquisite mech
episr, tciled AZ the tiuepieces until the
wo.ld b9a the Vick's clock of the Four.
teepth century and Huvuhens. the iuvcn.
tor. swung the first pendulum and DIR.
Hookp contlivcd the recou escapemeut.
And the "rndlsss chain" followed and the
"r,tchet and pipiCn lever took its place.
and the condensation balance and the
s,en,vinder followed. and now we have
the buzz and clan, of the GREAT clock and
watch factories of switzerland and Ger.
many and England and America turning
o,it what seems to be the perfection of
tinoniecrs # took the world six tho,l-
sand vanrs To make the nresnnt chronou.
etrr So with the measurement of lonocr
spaces than minutes and hours Time was
calculated from new moon to new moon:
then from harvest to harvest Then the
wear WAS nrouo1Iuccd 10 he three hundred
and FIJI, four DAYS and thent Irpc hundred
and sixty DAYS. and not until "A long while
after three hundred and sixty-fye DAYS.
Then events were cnIculated from the
foundation of Rome aftervard from ti,a
had their measurement of the wear and tba
Ro,nars theirs and the Armrninps tbeirs
and the Hindoos theirs Chronology WIS
busy for centuries st1ldvin, Monuments
in.criutiors. coins. mu,nmies nnd astron
omy. tryint to Law a plnn by which all
question Of dates might be settled and
events put in their right place in the pro
cession of the ages. But the chronologists
only heupod up mountain of confusion
and brwilermcnt until in the Sixth cen
trv >onysius Lxiguus, a Roman abbot
said let everything date from the birth
at Bethlehem of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of the world" The abbot pro.
posed to have things dated backward and
forward from that great event. What a
splendid THOUGHT for the vorldl What a
mighty thing for Christianity! 1t would
have been most uatu1a! to date everything
from the creation of the world But | am
Glad the chronoloyists could not too easily
guess now old the world WAS in order to
get the nation, in the habit of dating from
that occurrence in its documents and his.
tories. Forever fixed is it that all history
is to he dated with reference to the birth of
Christ and, this matter settled Halcs. the
chief chronolouist. derIareI that the world
was made five thousand four hundred and
eleven Years before Christ. and the deluxe
cn,pn rhraa Thousand o,o burJ,od ,.,.i