Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-01-11
TINE In IT'S FLIGHT
THOUGHTS OF The PREACHER
Ths Shadows Are Contzsllet BY the
Land Of omnipossns=--Tims's
flights Marked BY sas srnriss.

Q recipe tos hAPplns.sA The b1osaney aaa
elasticity Of tszApesaxHsas which ehAxae-
ssrtzs hxn were eoa<vicaoas throughout.
go anss have been taspeFtsd 10 his hear
GA HE tsxs w2s II King IN, II. And
IaniAh The praokes erred asss the Lord;
And hs hrsagAs the xasAow ten degrees
backwasd ~ shicA u A>d game down In
sks dkAi sf AhAx."
Hero - sAs ars clock ar watch - ckre-
ssusssr - tizaspiees OF which ths world
49, 80 knsw.sdss. lat 10 va . watch
thAs d1A ms task and clock thai did nos
ssrike IL wss sunstial Ahzx. the king.
bvsnssd IL bssweea tss hours given 10
ssnsscssxs 80 sAs esrss 81 ol:ics he invent
- somsshizg ~ which he could tell the
tkns Il day TAls sandal may have been
. great cssuEsa. aad waen the shadow Of
$3.50 eslamA reached one point it WAS nine
s'elsck . m. and W sa il reached another
psias IL wxs TIRES oielsek p. IN. Aad all the
hears and hslf hoarx were SO measured
Or 10 may have hs~a hixht OF stairs such
- nAy now DO fs1ed in HtAdosr2n and
esker old countries. Szd when tbs shadow
psAcAsd oas step IL was ten clock a M. or
aaosasr step u was iear o'clock p. m.. add
hkswiss ether hours may have bean indi-
enscd
the WORDS doEoLoSkA
T>e clsp<J6ra or water clock followed
sh. sandlzi. sad the sand glass followed
the clepzydrA. Thea came the candle clock
q Alfred the Great Aad the candle was
n~<k-d into sarue parts. AID while the first
part was burning hs gave himself To re-
Lgson. aad while the sccosd part was burn
IN be gave himself ~ politics. and while
the third part Was burning be gave him
sel; 70 rst. After awa sie came the wheel
and weight clock. and Pope Sylvester the
Secend Was It's NEST important Inventor.
And the skill II centuries o! exquisite mech
anism toiied ~ she timepieces until tho
weird had the Weeks clock Of the Four
teeasA century and Huyghsns the inven-
tor. swung tie first pendulum and DR..
Hooks coatrived the rocsil escapemens.
And the 'eailsss chain" followed and the
ratchet sai pinion lever" took its place,
and the compensation balance and the
Etemwtader followed. and now we have
tbs buzz and clang OF the great clock and
watch factories OF Switzerland add Ger
many sad England and America turning
out what secrss to be the perfection Of
timspieccs IL took the world six thou
sand years to make Ihe present chronom-
eter. So with the measurement OF longer
spaces than minutes and ho1rs. Time was
calculated from new moon 10 new moon;
then from harvest to harvest. Then the
year Was pronounced to be three hundred
and dfty four days and then three hundred
and sixty days. and not until a long while
after three hundred and sixty-ive days
Then events were calculated from tho
foundssioa Of Rome. aftervvard from the
Olympic games Thea the Babyloniaas
had their measurement Of the year and the
Romans theirs and the Armenians theirs
and the HmAocs thsirx Chrono,ogy was
busy Ter centuries studying monuments.
tns0ipstens. coins. mHmmiss and astron-
smy, srying to lay . plan BY which all
au0kisn OF das1 might be settled and
events PAT n their right place In the pro-
eeszion ef the age& But the chronelogisss
Suiy hesped up = moortain Of confusion
and bewildermcnt until In the Sixth CEN
Jury Dioaydas Exiguus, . Roman abbot,
said. "Lee everything date from the birth
ut BethlcAcn Of the Lord Jesus Christ. the
sayisar Il che world" The abbot pro-
posed 10 have sAings lAssA Backward and
forward from that great event. What
ypIcodid tns0ghs for the weridi What a
mighty thing for CArissiauityi It would
have been most natural to date everything
from the creation Of the world. But am
glad he chronoloxists could not too easily
guess hsw old the world was In order to
get the nations In the habit of dating from
ehat occurrence In tn documents and his
torscS Forever ix.d L. il that all history
= to be dated with reference TO the birth of
Christ, and, this matter settled. Hales, the
chief ehronoioyist. declared that tho world
vas made i've Thousand four hundred and
slsven years before Christ. and the deluge
cana three thousand one hundred and
hfty Eve years before Christ. and all the
liustrious events OF the last nineteen cen
suries ard all tho great events OF all time
10 cons have been or shall be dated from
The birth OF Christ These things I say
that you may know what q watch is. what
clock Is. what an almanac Is. and learn
10 appreciate throu.h what tolls and hard
ships Aad perplexit.es the world came to
It's present. esuvsni-nces and comforts, and
10 help ron to more respectful consider
ation Of thak sandiL CT Ahsx planted In
~ tent
rag AyvLIcr1oss or HEzzxrAH.
We Aseeoid that HezskiAh the king was
tying Of bsiI IL must have been one OF
Abe worst kind OF eaFbuneles. a boil with
cut any central core and sometimes death
ful Dc wss put upon is ~ = pouitice.
Hezekiah did not want TO die tAep His
BON. who was TO take the kingdom. had rot
re hsen born. sns Hezeki~h's death would
have besa the death OF the nation So be
pssJs Tor recovery and 10 told he viii get
veil Bat he wants soms miraeulous siGn
70 make him sure 81 t. Hc hss the choice
II having the shadow on ths sundiai OF
AhAa advance or retrcat He replied IL
would net he 80 wonderful to have the sua
70 down. for it always dsss go down sooner
~ later. He asks that Is go sackwsSd. In
sther words. lee the t&y in-teAd Of going
On toward sanAown. turn and 60 toward
mnrise Sc the isvAiid king bolstsred
mp and wrapped In biankots looking ont 81
he window upon the sandal in she court
gard. While ne watches the shadow en- TIE
siai the shadow s~xiss to retreat instekd
~ goia< On toward ax e'eiork in sbs even
inx II gees haek toward ssx o'elsck In the
morning The big poalssce ssd been draw
fag for Some time. aed swss enough the boil
broks and Hex@kias got we'll Now ex
pct yea viii eswe ca wish yoar higher
criticism aad try - explain this sway aai
say u wxs An optical d<ie~ion Of Hezekiah.
snd he shs<aw enIy scsrs>d 60 90 back or
cloud esre over xsi 10 Wa uncertain
vhsrh war tae sh<asw I'D 80. and - a-ze-
kiNA exp~ctsa q to re back he ssck tbs se-
lion e M evn mad for The rvsrcgrsas
ms~~ns.< No. the shzssew weas back en-
al sbe diess IT Has had and other iassiA
faxn - IL csvuairAs xxxii. 81. ssd dad shas
swsy - IN s.hyIss the naixhsy nea q the
psiars assfc>a the ssse Ph~s,o@>osa AID
n yes - nee aks 3skls snshcrity tarn ever
pear ssvy a n><sassus md asd tkss assy
- 70 n.y. TIE gs~pis sssieed sAss sssFe