Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1893-01-12
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DivINE's sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: The Old and the New.

T
passed cut OF our homes AMI a strsn7ar e,,
tered The Old frieni making v,ledlctorv
ives is9e. the stranger arriving Is 1892. The
old TRENT was garru'o Gus with the occ,,r.
FENCES OF many DAYS. but the stranger mt
MS finger over his lin AMI sal nothing and
seemed charged with many secrets and ,,ove-
tsries. did not see either the departur, o..
.he arrival, hut was souni asleep, fhinkir
that was for m the hest wav ~ ha ,,.;, !,
awake now. Goodhv. 1892, Welcome 1saat
AS an army is divided into hrjoades an
regiment' and companies an thew observe
this order IN their march AMI their trsai ia
ma1estic. so the time OF the worId's erist.
ence is divided into an army divinelv s,,,
manuea; the eras are the briga les, the CEN
.uries are the regiments, and thu years ara
.ne COMPANIES Forward into the aternitv
pas.' CUT OF the eternity to comet Forward
is tne command, and nothing can halt than
even though the world should die. While
opeYing my text "Sonsider the vears ~
many generations" | propose to snaalx of
me chronology of the Bible, or G Oh Among
the Centuries ~'''io'-
we make distir ction between time and
eternity, but time is only a piece of eternity.
anu chrono'o2v has been engaged in the
sunll'ne WORK OF dividing up this portion OF
ments end putting events in their rirbt
compartment. Its as much an jnius,ics
against the past to wrongly ARRANGE It's
events asst would be an Injustice If thronoh
neglect OF chronological accuracy. IL shonld
IN the far distant future be said that Amer
CO was discovered in 1716, and the Dsclara-
tion OF Independence was signed in 1902
ana washington born on the 22i of March.
and the Civil War of the Initial Statas W. vs .
fought in 1S4). %
AS God puts all the events OF time in the
right place let us be careful that We do not
put tnen In the wrong place. The cl,ron
ology OF the Bible takes six stems bnt tbev
are steps so long it makes us hold our breath
as we watch the movement. From Adam
10 a abraham. From Abraham to the cxoiu,
OUT OF Egypt. From the exodus to the
ioundation OF Solomon's temple From the
foundation OF Solomon's temple to the de-
struction OF that temple. From the destruc-
ZION OF the temple to the return from Baby
lonish captivity. From BahvIonish can.
tivity to the birth of Christ.
chronology takes pen aud pencil. and call
ing astronomy and history to helm saws:
Let us nix one event from which to cslcu-
late everything. Let it be a star, the Beth
ienem star, the Christmas star" And from
tnat We go back and see the world was
created 1904 years before Christ; the deluga
came 254S 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
not day OF twenty-four hours, but of ages.
the word there translated as day. in other
places meaning ages, and so the Bible ac.
count Of the creation and the geoloyists' ac-
count of the creation are completely har-
monious Chronology enters the book of
Daniel and says that the words slime and
half' mean year and half.
Chronology enters at another point and
shows US that the seasons Of the year were
then only two--summer and winter. We
find that the Bible year was $50 DAYS instead
OF 800; that the day was calculated from
o'clock in the morning to o'clock at 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 SO long after tbs
world began their mission that the day was
not very sharply divided in Bible times
Ahsz had sundial, or fight OF stairs with
a column at the top, and the shadow which
that column threw on the steps beneath In.
Dictated the hour, the shadow frightening
or withdrawing from step to step.
But the events of life and the events OF
the world moved so slowly for the most
part in Bible times that they had no
need of such tmepieces as we stand on our
mantels or carry in our pockets in an age
when a man may have half dozsn or a
dozen engagements for one day and needs
to know the exact minute for each one of
them. The earth itself In Bible times was
the chief timepiece. and 1t turned once on
its axis and that was a day, ami once aroun1
the sun and that was year.
1t was not until the Fourteenth Century
that the almanac was born, the almanac
that we toss careessly about, not realizing
that it took the accumulated ingsn uity of
more than 5000 years to make one. Chron-
ology had to bring into its service the monu-
ments of Egypt and the cylinders of Assyria,
and the bricks of Babylon and the pottery
| of Nineveb, and the metals struck at An
| tioch for the battle OF Actiun, and all the
hieroglyphics that could be deciphered, and
had to go into the extremely delicate BUSH
! ness Of asking the ages of Adam and Seth
/ and Enoch and Methuselab who after their
500th year wanted to be thought young.
think it must have been in recognition
| Of the stupendous work of making an alma
nae that all the days OF the week are named
after the gods. Sunday, after the sun,
which was of old worshiped as goj. Mon
| day, after the moon. which was also wor.
shipped as god. Tuesday, after Tuesco. the
god of war. Wednesday, after Wooden, the
| chief god of the Scandinavians, Thursday
after Thor, the goi Of thunder, Friday,
| after Frea the goddess Of marriage. Ant
Saturday alter Saturn, Ths old Bible year
began with the 25th of March. Not unit
1852 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 mad.
in chronology until the calendar and the
| almanac, and the CLOCK, and tine watch seem
| to have reached perfection, ani all the Ma
| tions of Christendom have similarity of tim,
| calculations and have adopted what il
| called NEW STYLE" except Russia, which
| keeps what is callei the 'old style" and il
twelve days different, so that writing from
there II you wish to be accurate. you DAFT
your letter January and January 10, OF
| December 10 and December %. It is some
thing to thank God for that the modes
are SO complete for calculating the cycles
the centuries, the decades, the years, ths
months, the days, the hours. the seconds.
Think of making appointments as In tn
Bible days for the time of thu new moon
Think of making one OF the watc hes of tn
night liz Bible times a rooster Growing. Tn
Bible says; Before the cock crow thol
shalt deny me thrice IF the Master com
eth at the cockcrowing," aud that was tn
way the midnight watch was indicated
| The Growing of that barnYard bird has al
ways been most uncertain. The growing
| at the lowest temperature OF the night an
| the amount Of dew and the direction of tn
wind may bring the lowest temperature a
| II 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 tn
| night Is almost perpetual.
! Compare these modes Of marking tim
-. - <tt~xn