Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-01-07
REV. DR.. 7ALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
sab,.or GOD Among the c.nturi.s.''

TEXT: "Consider the years Of MANY gen.
eratfons. "-Deuteronomy xxi. I.
At II o'clock last night, while so many
good people were watching an old frieni
passed out OF our homes and stranger en-.
tered. The old frienl making valajict,rv
was 1892: the stranger arriving is 1897. The
cd frien was garru'ous with the occ,,r-
rences OF many DAYS. but the strnn yer nut
his finger over his lin an sat notiliny aud
seemed charged with many sacrsts and mys-
terles. did not see either the departur. or
the arrival, hut was souni asieep. Thinking
that was for ma the best wav to he wide
/ awake now Goofhv. 1927 Welcome 1891
! AS an army is divided into briyades AMI
regiments and companies, an | they observe
this or n in their marci and their tread is
majestic, 50 the time of the worlds exist
, ence is divided into an army divinely COM
manded; the eras are the briga les. the cen.
turtles are the regiment, AMI the years are
! the Companies. Forward into the atarnitv
/ past, out OF the eternity to comet Forward
Is the command, and nothing can halt them,
even though the world should die. While
! obeving my text, "Consider the wears Of
MANY generations" l propose To sneak of
the Chronology of the Bible, or God Amonr
/ the Centuries"
! We make Obstruction between time anil
eternity, but time is only piece OF eternity
ana cnronoogy has been engaged in the
sublime work OF dividing UP this portion OF
eternity that we call time into comnart.
: ments and putting events in their rioht
compartment. IL is as much en- Injustice
against the past to wrongly arranye ito
| events es 10 would be an Injustice it, through
neglect OF chronological accuracy, IL should
! in the fer distant future be said that Ameri-
ca was discoverel in l176, and the Declara-
ton ~ Independence was signed in 1892,
and Washington born on the 22i of Marcb'
and the Civil War OF the United States was
fought in 1841.
/ As God puts all the events OF time in the
right place. let us be careful that we do not
put them in the wrong place. The chrou-
! olo2y OF the Bible takes six steps hut they
are steps so long it makes us holi our breath
as we watch the moven snt From Adam
to ABRAHAM. From Abraham to the exodu,
out OF Egypt. From the exodus to tho
foundation OF Solomon's tempe From the
foundation OF Solomon's temple to the de-
struction of that temple. From the destruc-
ton OF the temple to the return from Baty-
lonish captivity. From Babylonish cap.
tivity to the birth of Christ
Chronology takes pen and pencil anil call.
ing astronomy and history to help saws,
Let us Fix one event from which t. eslcu-
late everything. Let it be a star, the Beth.
lehem star, the Christmas STAR And from
that wa go bac4 and see the world was
created 1904 years before Christ; the deluys
came 234S years before Christ. the exodus
out OF Egypt occurred 1891 years before
christ, and Solomon's temple was DESTROYED
$50 years before Christ
Chronology enters the first chapter OF
Genesis and says the day mentioned there is
bot day OF twenty-four hours. but OF ages.
the word there Translated as 'siaY' in other
places meaning ages. and so the Bible &C.
count OF the creation and tbs biologists ac.
count OF the creation are completely har-
moDlous. Chronology enters the book of
Daniel and says that the worls ''time AMI
a half mean year and half
! Chronology enters at another point and
! shows US that the seasons of the year wers
/ then only two-summer AMI winter. We
lind that the Bible year was $50 DAYS instead
/ OF $50; that the day was calculated from
6 O'Clock in the morning to O'Clock It night:
that the night was divided into four watches
namely. the late watch. the midnight, the
cock Growing. the early watch. The clock
and watch were invented 50 long after the
world began their mission that the day was
not very, sharply divided in Bible times
I Ahaz had sundia', or fight of steirs with
! column at the top, and the shadow which
that co'umn threw on the steps beneath in
dicated the hour, the shadow lengthenin,
CT withdrawing from step to step.
But the events of life and the events of
the world moved so slowly for the most
/ par: IN Bible times that they hal no
4 need OF suca timepieces as we stand on our
manteiS OF carry in our pockets in an age
when a man may have half dozen or a
dozen engagements for one day and needs
! TO khow the exact minute for each one of
/ them. The earth Itself 10 Bible times was
the chief timepece and it turned once on
| its axis and that was day, AMI oncs arounl
the sun and that was year
/ 1t was not until the Fourteenth Century
that the almanac was born the almanac
that we toss carelesSly about not realizing
that IL TOOK the accumulated ingenuity OF
more than . 90 years to make one. Chron-
o!ogy had to bring into its service the monu-
menis oi Egypt and the cylin lers of Assvris,
and the bricks OF Babylon an the pottery
/ OF Nlneveb, and the lnetas struck at Ar
tioch for the battle OF Actium and all the
hieroslyphlcs that could he deciphere1 AMI
had 20 go into the extremely delicate bust
ness OF asking the ages of Adam and Seth
and Enoch and Methusclab, who after their
30Oth year wan ell to be thou ght young.
think it must have been in recognition
of the siupeudous work OF making an alma
nae that all the days of the week are name
after the go1s. Sunday. after the sun.
which was of o w0rshipel as a 60. Mon
day, after the moon, which was also wor-
SHIPPED as god. Tuesday, after Tuesco, the
god of war Wednesday, after Wolep, the
CHIEF god of the Scandiravians. Thursday,
after Thor the god of thunder. Friday,
after Frea, the goddess of marriage. And
Saturday after Saturn. The old Bible year
began with the 18th of March Not until
l152 did the first OF the month Of January
get the honor in legal documents in England
OF being called the first day of the year.
improvements all along have been made
In chronology until the calendar and the
almanac and the clock, and the watch seam
TO have reached perfection aud all the Ma
lions of Christsndom have similarity of time
calculations and hava adopted what is
called new style, except Russio, which
keeps what is Gale the ''old style" and is
twelve days different, so that writing from
there. IL you wish to be accurate, you date
your letter January | and January ID or
December 10 and December o. 1t is some
thing to thank Col for that the mo les
are so complete for calculating the cycles,
the centuries, the decades, the years, the
months, the days, the hours, the seconds.
Think of making appointments as in the
Bible days for the time Of the new moon.
Think Of making one os the waite hes of the
night IN Bible times a rooster Growing. The
Bible says: Before the cock crow thou
shalt deny me thrice. IF the Master com
eth at the cockcrowing," and that was the
way the midnight watch was indicated
The Growing of that barnyar1 bird has al
ways been most uncerrain. Tbs rowing is
at the lowest temp nature of the night, ami
the amount Of dew and tn direction OF the
wind may bring the lowest temperature at
IL O'Clock at night or . o'clock in the morn
ing, and at any one of six hours. just be-
fore rain the Growing OF chanticleer in the
night is almost perpetual
Compare these modes of marking time
with our modes of marking time, when l.
O'Clock is y o'clocS, and 6 o'clock is Q
O'Clock, and 10 O'clock is 10 o'clock, and in
dependent OF all weathers, and then thank
God that you live now. But notwithstand.
ing all the imperfect modes of marking
CbrOnnI-
ogy never trips up never falters, never con-
tradlcts itself, and here is one OF the best ar
guments for the authenticity of the Scrip
lures.
II you can prove an abb in the courts,
and you can prove beyoad doubt that you
h., ina.