Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1892-01-20
TURNED BACK.
.oRsN
Taimage's text on Sunday was:

dlkrru-- erica untO tnt k<Oruss ana lie
on ~ .rs,l,. the shadow ten degrees back
lore ard nv which ~ mad gone down In tho
Ser "A Al ~ Ahaz.
att = u.,, is tho frat clock. or watch or
.,,nomcter. or time piece of which the
crld has any knowledge; but IL was
tins n,,ch chat did NOT tick. and clock
noshtC N, did not strike. IL WINS . sun dial
ws ~ haz the king. invented L. Between
Va !. hours given 20 xtate-crnft aud the
h il u .res Of Office he invented something
,,hs which he could tell the time OF
4 - AZ The sun dial may have been n
0 ~ "a, column. and when the shadow of
,pss,~ hat column reached ono point II was
,elocs n m. and " hen Il reached an
o ~ Sshcr point IL was o'clock p m and
M ,he other hours and half hours were
-irni,. n measured Or, IL may have been n
yrt,S b,rht OF stairs. such N may now be
rsrNI ound in Hindustan and other aid coun-
r;es and when the shadow reached one
put :. ten IA was 10 o'clock n. m. or another
/ ~ ten IL was 4 o'clock p. m. and likewise
IA, ,ther hours may have been indicated.
ma. The clepsydrs or weter-clock follow
s. "A the sun.dial, and the sand-glass fol-
owed the clepsydra. Then came the
/. - Eundle-clock OF Alfred the Great and
The candle was marked into three parts.
nd. md while the first part was burning he
,eu- rave himself To religion, and while the
elf 10 politics and while the third part
!, n. Was burning he gave himself To rest
After awhile came the wheel aud
ma. weight clock and Pope Sylvester the
"a second was its most important inventor
And the skill of centuries
=, OF exquisite mechanism toilcd
m Ut the timc-pieces until the world had
che Vicl<'s clock of tho fourteenth cen
~ ,ury and Huyghcns the inventor
Hrst pH,,1, ~
~ Rookie contrived the rccoil escapement
And the endless chain followed. and
the ratchet and lever" took its place;
Ga. and the compensation balance and the
stcm.winder followed. and now we
49, have the buzz and clang OF the great
clock and watch factories of Switxcr-
,l.. land and Germany and England and
h.,. America turning out what seems to- be
the perfection of time pieces. II took
the world 5000 years to make the pres
ent chronomctcr. So with the me ASSURE
mcnt Of longer spaces than minutes and
'. hours Time was calculated from new
ma. moon to new moon; then from harvest
to harvest Then the year was pro-
no. nounccd TO be 354 days and then 36a
-e,t days and not until long while after,
ele @5 days The events were calculated
in from the foundation OF Rome after
ols ward from the Olympic games Then
lila mcnt of the year and the Ro mans theirs
,a and the Armcnians theirs and the
ed Iindoos theirs. Chronology was
nv busy for centuries studying monu-
rls heutS inscriptions coins and mum
cal mics and astronomy. trying to
A, lay plan by which all question
Ia of dates might be settled and events
IN put in their right place in the process
In sion of the ages. But the chronoloQists
hpnnRd tn n4nf,, ,Nf
No fusion and bewilderment until in the
" sixth century, Dionysius Exignus n
~ Roman abbot, said: Let everything
b, date from the birth Mt Bethlehem of
4 the Lord jesus Christ the Saviour of
the world" The abbot proposed to
d. have things dated backward and for
!. ward from the great event What
splendid thought for the world!
!, What mighty thing for Chris
tianityl II would have been most
natural to date everything from the
b creation OF the world. But l am glad
!. the chronologists, could not too easily
I 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
70 the birth OF Christ. and this matter
settled, Halcs, the chief chro-
was made 5.41i years before
Christ and all the illustrious events
OF the last nineteen centuries and all
the great events of all time 20 come
nave been or shall be dated from the
birth of Christ These things I say
mat you may know what a watch IS
what clock is. what an almanac is
and learn TO appreciate through what
tolls and hardships and perplexities the
world 70 ila NJ
and comforts, and to help you TO more
IA respectful consideration OF the sun-dial
OF Ahaz planted in my text
We are told that Hczcliah, the king
was dying of boil IL must have been
one OF the worst kind OF carbuncles n
Doll without any central core. and
sometimes beautiful. A fig was put up
on ~ as poultice Hczekiah did
not want To- die then. His son, who
a was 20 take the kingdom. had not vet
been born. and Hezelsiah's death would
nave been the death of the nation so
ne prays for recovery and il told ne
will get we'll But he wants some
"A miraculous sign 10 make him sure OF II.
lie has the choice of having the
shadow on the sun-dial OF Ahaz advance
orretreat lie replied IL would not be so
Fl wonderful to have the sun go down
Tor II does go down sooner or later. lie
asks that IL go backward. In other
words. let the day instead Of going to-
ward shutdown. turn and go toward
sunrise. / see the invalid king boil
stored mp and wrapped in blank
cts looking out Of the window upon the
sun-dial in the courtyard while he
watches the shadow on the dial the
shadow begins TO retreat Instead OF
gong on ward o'clock in the even.
ing 70 goes back toward o o'clock In the
morning. The fig poultice had been
drawing for some time. and. sure
enough. the boil broke and Hezel,iah
got well Now expect you will come
on with your higher criticism. and try
20 explain this away. and say IL was an