Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-11
TURNING BACK TIME.
The Sun Dial of Ahaz Fui nishes Rev.
DR.. Talmage With a Theme.
RETROGRADE SHADOWS IN LIFE.
Turn Back the Clock and Get Rid of the
Growth of Evil Habits.
SUNRISE FAR BETTER THAN SUNSET

text this morning was: II Kings 20:ll, "And
Isaiah, the prophet, cried unto the Lord: and
he brought the shadow ten degrees back
ward by which it had gone down in the dial
Of Ahaz."
Here is the first clock or watch or chrome
meter or time-piece of which the world has
any knowledge. But it was watch that did
not tick and clock that did not strike 1t
was a sun-dial. Ahaz, the king, invented
it. This sun-dial may have been a great
column, and when the shadow of that
column reached one point it was o'clock
a. NJ. and when it reached another point it
was O'Clock P. NJ, and all the hours and
half-hours were so measured. Or it may
have been flight of stairs such as may now
be found in Hindustan and other old
countries, and when the shadow reached
one stepit was il o'clock A. NJ, or another
step it was o clock T. NJ. and likewise other
hours may have been indicted.
The clepsydra or water-clock followed the
sun-dial. and the sand-glass followed the
Clepsydra. Then came the candle-clock of
Alfred the Great and the candle was mark ed
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 the third part
IVES burning he gave himself to rest.
Further Inventions of Timekeepers.
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 timepieces until the world had the Vick's
clock OF the fourteenth century and Huy-
ghens, the inventor, swung the first pendu-
lum, and Dr. Hooke contrived the recoil
escapement. And the endless chain fol-
lowed, and the ratchet and pinion lever
took its place: and the compensation balance
and the stem-winder followed, and now we
have the buzz and clang of the great clock
aud watch factories of Switzerland and Ger
many and England and America turning out
what seems to be the perfection of time
pieces.
1t took the world 5000 years to make the
present chronometer. So with the measure
ment OF longer spaces than minutes and
hours. Time was calcula ted from new moon
- new moon: then from harvest to harvest.
Then the year was pronounced to be S54
days and then $50 days and, not until long
while after. 365 DAYS.
Then events were calculated from the
foundation of Rome, afterward from the
Olympic games. Then the Babylonians had
their measurement of the year and the Ro-
mans theirs and the Armenlans theirs and
the HinGoOs theirs Chronology was busy
Ior centuries studying monuments. inscrip
tions, coins mum1nies and astronomy, try
ing 20 lay plan by which all questions of
dates might be settled and events put
il their right place in the procession of the
ages.
The Christian Era Is Founded.
But the chronologists only heaped up q
mountain Of confusion and bewilderment
until in the sixth century Dionysius Exi-
guus. a Roman abbot, said: LET every
thing date from the birth at 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 world? |
What mighty thing for Christianity! 1t |
would have been most natural to date |
everything from the creation of the world. |
But am glad the chIonoiogists 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 docu-
ments and histories. Forever fixed is it that |
all history is to be dated with reference to
the birth of Christ, and this matter settled. |
These things say that you may know
what a watch 1s, what clock is, what an
almanac is, and learn to appreciate through
what tolls and hardships and perplexities
the world came to its present conveniences
and comforts, and to help YOU to more re-
spectful consideration of that sun dial of
Ahaz planted in my text.
We are told that Hezekiah, the King was
diving of a boil. 1t must have been one of |
the worst kind of carbuncles boil without
any central core and sometimes deathful. |
a flg was put upon it as poultice. Heze-
was to take the kingdom had not yet been
born and Hezekiah's death would have been |
the death of the nation.
Ahaz Longing for Sign.
So he prays for recovery and is told he
VIII get we'll But he wants some miracu-
lOus sign to make him sure of it. He has
the choice of having the shadow on the sun
dial Of Ahaz advance or retreat. He replied
It would not be wonderful to have the
sun go down, Eor it always does go down
sooner or later. He asks that it go back
ward. In other words let the day instead
Of going on toward sundown, turn and go
toward sunrise. The fix poultice had been
drawing TOT some time and. enOuph I
she boil broke and Hezekah got well.
Vow expect you viii come on with your
higher criticism and try to explain this
a way and say it was an optical delusion of
Hezekiah. No; the shadow went back on
all the dials OF that land and other lands.
Turn TO IL Chron. b; 81, and find that |
away of in Babylon the mighty men of the
palace, noticed the same phenomenon. |
And if Tou do not like Bible authority, turn
over your copy of Herodotus and find that
away OF in Egypt the people noticed that
there was something the matter with the |
sun The fact is that the whole universe
waits upon God.
At the opening of a new year people are
lnora.izilg on the flight of time. You all
ieel that you are moving on toward sundown
depression. propose this morning to set
the hands on your watches and clocks to |
going the other way.
Retregrade Shadows in Our Lives
! propose to show you how you may make |
the shadow OF your dial like the SHADOW on |
the dial OF Ahaz to stop gowing forward and
make it 20 backward. You think have a
big undertaking on hand but it can be done
il the same Lord who reversed the shadow
in Hezekiah's courtyard moves upon us.
We have rush of prosperity and we say.
these successes are from God What a
proYidential thing it was L bought that lot
ust before the rise OF real estate, Why, :
lHey have declared 10 per cent dividend,
" nat mercy it was that sold my share
5 loie thnt collapsel' Oh, yes; we aclznowI-
edge God in the sunshine of bright day or
the sunshine of great prosperity. ,
But suppose the day is dark? You have |
10 il& lt the gas at noon. The sun does not
snow itself all day long. There is nothing
5,ul 5ul shadow. How slow We are to realize
sllaI uue storm Is IRON God and the darkness |
rom God and the chilli from God Or we
Duy rue DAY before the markets retreat: or
we make an Investment that never pays
NY II4ehds, l cannot look for one moment
On tlat fetrOgrade shadow on Ahaz's dial |
y lthout learning that God controls the |
and that lesson we need all to
earn. Ihat he controls the sunshine is not
50 necessary lesson, for anbody can be
lappy when things go right
Set-Backs Are Sometimes Rlessipps
The set-backs are sometimes the nest
hings that can happen. The great German
-uthor Schlller could not work unless he
lad in his room the scent of rotten apples.
nd the decay of the fruits of earthly pros
,erity may become an inspiration instead
4 q depression.
But l promised to show Won how tbe
hadows might be turned back First NV
ding much among the young people In
lost family circles there are grandchildren.
~ TINS dlFlne arrangement most OF the peo-
e who have passed the meridian or life oar
0mDasS themselves by iuveniIi+,- T. -