Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-01-15
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
rRLMACE ON THE SUN-DiAL OF
AHAZ.
Sermon Full OF brightness and Good
Cheer-Moralizing ON the Flight 81
Time at the Close OF Each Year.

Talmage's sermon this morning was
full of brightness and good cheer. He
might have called il a recipe for happi-
ness. Tho 5uoyancy and elasticity OF
temperament which characterize him
were conspicuous throughout and must
have been impaired To his hearers. His
text was: ii, Kings COIL, And Isaiah,
the prophet cried unto tho Lord; and
he brought the shadow ten degrees
backward by which it had gone down
in the dial of Ahaz."
Here is tho first clock or watch or chroname-
ter or timc-picce OF which the world has any
knowledge. Brt it was watch that did not
tick and clock that did not strike. 1t was a
sun-dial Aha2, the King, invented IT, Between
the hours given 10 stalccraft and the cares OF
Office lie invented something by which he could
tell the time OF day This sun-dial may have
been great column, and when the shadow OF
the column reached one point IL was o'clock
| am, and when IL reached another point II was
8 o'clocl; D. IN. and all the hours and halfhours
were SO measured Or il may have been u
/ flight OF stairs such as may now be found in
Hindustan and other old countries, and when
the SHADOW reached one step IL was 10 O'Clock
q m, or another step il was o'clock pm, and
likewise other hours may have been indi-
Gated.
The clcpsydra or water-clocli followed the
sun-dial, aud the sand-glass followed the ciep-
sydra. Then came the candlc-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 ths second
part was burning he gave himself To politics
and while the third part was burning he gave
himself To rest. After awhile came the wheel
and weight clock ard Pope sylvester the sec
ond was its most important inycAtor And tho
skill OF centuries Of exquisite mechanism
toiled at the time-pieces until the world
had the Vick's clock OF the Fourteenth century,
ana Huyghens the inventor swung the first
pendulum and DR.. Hooke cCntrlved the recoil
escapcment And the endless chain" followed,
and the ratchet and piniJn lever took its
place; and the compensation balance and the
stem winder followed, and now We have tho
buzz and clang Of the great clock and watch
factories OF Switzerland and Germany and Eng
land and America turning out what seems to be
the perfection Of time-picces. IL took the world
GOO years TO make the present chonCmctcr
So with the measurement of longer spaces
than minutes and hours Time was
calculated from new moon 10 new moon; then
from harvest 10 harvest. Then the year was
pronounced 10 be 35i days and then go days
and, not until long while after, 365 days.
Then events we-c calculated from the fOunda-
ton OF Rome, aftcrward from the Olympic
games, Then the BabYlonians had their meas
OFflil' NJ o. the wear ana the AOtlHlS theirs ana
the Armcnians theirs Gnd the HindOOs theirs.
Chronology was busy for centuries studying
monuments, inscriptions coins, mummiCs ana
astronomy, trying 10 lay plan by which
AL question OF dates might be settled
and events put in Their right place in tho
procession OF the ages. But the cEronologists
only heaped Up q mountain of confusion and
bewildcrment until in the sixth century Do
nyslus Exiguus, n Roman abbot. said Let
everything date from the birth OF 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 n splendid thought For the world
What a mighty thing for Christianity ItwouI
have been most natural 10 cate everything from
the creation Of the world. But l am glad the
chronolCglsts could not too easily guess how old
the world was in order TO get the nations il the
habit Of dating from that occurrence
in its documents and histories For
ever fixed is il that all history is 10
be dated with reference 20 the birth OF Christ,
nnd, this matter settled, Hales the chief ohro-
nologist, declared that the world was made
b,4il years before Christ, and the deluge came
Sl55 years before Christ, and all the Illus trious
events Of the last 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 l say that you may know what a
watch is, whata clock Is, what an almanac is
and learn to appreciate through what tolls and
hardships and perpleXiucs the world came TO
its present conyencnccs and comforts and 10
help you TO more respectful consideration Of
that sun-dial Of Ahaz planted in my text.
We are told that Hczeltiah the King, was
dying Of a boil II must have been one OF the
worst kind OF carbunclCs, boil without any
central core and sometimes deatbful fig
was put upon IL as q poulticc. He2eiiah did
not want to die then His son who was TO take
the kingdom had not yet been born and Hezc-
kahs death would have been the death Of the
nation. So he prays for recovery and IS told
he will get well. But lie wants some mlracu.
lous sign TO make him sure Of it. He has the
choice OF having the shadow On the Sun-dial 81
AhaZ advance or retreat lie replied IL would
not be SO wonderful TO have the sun 60 down,
for IL always docs go down sooner or later. lie
asks that II go backward, in ether words let
the day instead OF going on toward shutdown,
turn and so toward sunrise. / see the invalid
King bolstered up and wrapped in blankets
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. In
stead Of going on toward six O'Clock IN the
evening IL goes back toward six O'Clock in the
morning. The flg pouluce had been drawing
for some time and, sure enough, the boil broke
and ieZckiah got well. Now / expect you will
come on with your higher criticism and try to
explain this away and say IL was an optical de-
fusion OF He2eldah, and the shadow only
. ]
was uncertain which way the shadow did go
and as Hezckah expected IL to go back he took
the action OF his own mind for the retrograde
movement No: the shadow went back on all
the ais Of that land and other lands. Turn 10
IT, Chron. -: 81. and find that away of in Baby
Ion the mighty men OF the palace noticed the
same phenomenon. And ifyou do not like bible
authority, turn over your copy OF Herodotus
and find that away OF in Egypt the people no.
iced that there was something the mattef with
the sun. The fact IS that the whole universe
waits upon G. cd and suns and moons and stars
are not very big things TO him, and he can with
his little finger turn back an entire world as
easily as you could set back the hour-hand or
minute-haud OF your clock or watch.
At the opening OF new year people are NOR
nlizing on tho fight OF time. You all feel that
you are moving on toward shutdown and many
Of you are under a consequent depression. l
propose This morning to set the hands on your
watchc5 and clocks 10 going the other way.
propose 20 show you how you may make the
shadow Of your dial like the shadow on the dial
Of Ahaz 20 stop going forward and mako It go
backward You think l have big un.
aertaking on hand, but 81 can be
done II the same Lord who reversed the
shadow in Hezeluah's courtyard moves uponus.
While looking at the sundial OF Hezekiah and