The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-01-04
THE MARCH OF YEARS
AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON BY DR..
TALMAGE.

Is. but Time Will End.
BROOKLYN, Jan. Rev. DR.. Talmage
this morning appropriately took for the
subject of his New Years day sermon
1.-The Chronology of the Bible, or God
Among the Centuries. Before the dis
course the great audience which fully
crowded the Tabernacle sang the hymn:
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years TO come.
The text chosen was Deuteronomy xxi,
7, Consider the years of many gener-
atious'
At y O'Clock last night. while 50 many
good people were watching, an old friend
passed out of our homes and a stranger en-
tered The old friend making valedictory
was 1892; the stranger arriving Is 1898. The
old friend was garrulous with the occur
rences of many days, but the stranger put
his finger over his lip and said nothing and
seemed charged with many secrets and mys-
teries. ! did not see either the departure or
the arrival. but was sound asleep, thinking
that was for me the best way to be wide
awake now Goodby, 1892! Welcome, 1881
Asa an army is divided into brigades and
regiments and companies, aud they observe
this order In their march, and their tread II
majestic, so sthe time of the worlds exist
ence Is divided into an army divinely com
manded. The eras are the brigades, the
centuries are the regiments, and the years
are the companies Forward into the
eternity past, out of the eternity to come!
Forward is the command, and nothing can
halt them. even though the world should
die While oheying my text, Consider the
years Of many generations" l propose to
speak Of the Chronology of the Bible, or
God Among the Centuries"
THE DIVINE CHRONOLOGY.
We make "A distinction between time and
eternity. but time soniya piece of eternity
and chronology has been engaged in the
sublime work of dividing up this portion
of eternity that we call time into compart-
ments and putting events in their right
compartment. 1t is as much an injustice
against the past TO wrongly arrange its
sveilts a. it would he an injustice if, through
neglect Of chro1 illogical accuracy, il should,
IN the far distant future, be said that
Americ., was discovered in l776. and the
Declaration of Independence was signed IN
1892, and Washington born on the 22d of
March, and the civil war of the United
States was fought in $40.
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 chro-
are steps so long it makes us hold our
breath rs we watch the movement. From
Adam TO Abraham. From Abraham to the
exodus out of Egypt From the exodus to
the foundation of Solomon's temple From
the foundation of SolOmOn's temple TO the
destruction of that temple. From the de-
struction of the temple to the return from
Babylonish captivity. From BabylOnish
captivity to the birth of Christ.
Chronology takes pen and pencil, and
calling astronomy and history TO help
says: Let us fix one event from which to
calculate everything Let it be a star, the
Bethlehem star. the Christmas star" And
from that we go back and see the world
was created 4,O4 years before Christ; the
deluge came 2,34S years before Christ;
the exodus out of Egypt occurred 1,491
years before Christ, and Sol0mon's temple
was destroyed SIS years before Christ
Chronology enters the first chapter OF Gen
esis and says the day mentioned there Is
not day of twenty-four hours but OF ages,
the word there being translated day"
"a other places meaning ages. And so
the Bible account of the creation and the
geOlogists' account Of the creation are com
pletely harmonious.
Chronology enters the book Of Daniel
mean year aud 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 365; that
The day was calculated from o'clock in
the morning 20 o o'clock at night; that the
night was divided into four watches-name-
~ the late watch, the midnight, the cock
growing, the early watch. The clock and
watch were invented SO long after the world
began their mission that the day was not
very sh rply divided in Bible times.
THE DIAL or AHAZ.
Ahaz had "A sundial, or flight of stairs
with a column at the top, and the shadow
which that column threw Oh the steps he
meath indicated the hour, the shadow
lengthening or withdrawing from step 10
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 timepieces we stand on our man
tells or carry IN our pockets in an age when
man may have a half dozen or a dozen en-
eagements for one day and needs to know
the exact minute for eaCn one of them The
earth itself in Bible times was the chief
timepiece, and it turned on its own axis
and that was day and once around the
sun and that was year. II was not until
the Fourteenth century that the almanac
WIS bOrn-the almanac that we toss care
lessly about, not realizing that it took the
accumulated ingenuity Of more than 5000
years to make one.
Chronology had to bring into its service
the monuments Of Egypt. and the cylinders
of Assyria, and the bricks of Babylon, and
the pottery of Nineveh, and the medals
struck 1t Antioch for the battle of Actium,
and all the hierogiyphics that could be de
ciphered, and had to 20 into the extremely
delicate business of asking the ages OF
Adam and Seth and Enoch and Methu
selah who, after their s0Oth year, wanted to
be Thought young / think il must have
been in recognition Of the stupendous work
OF making an almanac that al the days of
the week are named after the gods, Sunday
after the sun. which was of old worshiped
as "A god
Monday, after the moon, which was also
worshiped a. n god Tuesday, after Tues
CO. tie god Of war Wednesday, after
Wooden, the chief god Of the Scandinavians.
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 l552 did the first of the month of Jan
uary 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
seem 10 have reached perfection, and all
the nations Of Christendom have similarity
OF time calculations and have adopted what
l. called new style" except Russia, which