Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-01-13
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "God Among the CenfurIes''

PrdtiOnS. "-Deuteronomy xxxu., Z.
At 10 o'clock last night, while so manv
good PEOPLE were watching, an old friend
passed out of our homes aud a stranger en-
tered. The old friend making vsledictnrv
was 1892: the stranger arriving is 1892. The
Old frieni was garru,ous with the occur
rences of many DAYS, but the stranger put
| his finger over his lin AMI sail nothing and
seemed charged with many secrets and mys-
teres. | did not see either the departure or
the arrival hut was sound asleep, thinking
that was for me the best wav to be wide
awake now Goodbv 1927 Welcome, 1893!
AS an army is divided into brigades anil
regiments and companies, AMI thev observe
this or II in their march and their tread Is
majestic, So the time of the worlds exist.
ence is divided into All armv divinelv COM
manded: the eras are the brigade the CEN
turtles are the regimetts and the years are
the ctmpanies Forward into the ater nitv
past, out of the eternity to comet Forward
is the command, and nothing can halt them,
even though the world should die. While
obeying my text Consider the years of
MANY generations" | propose to sneak of
the Chronology Of the Bible, or God Among
the Centuries"
We make distinction between time aud
eternity, but time is only piece of eternity,
and chronology has been engaged in the
sublime work of dividing up this portion Of
|
ments enl rutting events in their right
compartment. It's as much en- injustice
against the past to wrongly arrange its
events as it would be an injustice if. through
neglect of chronological accuracy, it should
in the far distant future be said that Ameri-
ca was discovered in 1116. and the Declare
tion of Inderendence was signed in 1892,
and WASHINGTON born on thu 221 of March.
and the Civil War of the United States was
fought in 1S40.
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 chron-
olo2y of the Bible takes six steps, but they
are steps SO long it makes us hol1 our breath
rs We watch the movem mt From Adam
to abraham. From Abraham to the exodus
out OF Egypt. From the exodus to the
foundation of S9lomon's temple. From the
foundation Of Soiomon's temple to the de-
struction OF that temple. From the destruc-
ton of the temple to the return from Baby
lonish caoeivity. From BAbylonish cap.
tivity to The birth of Christ.
Chronology takes pen and pencil, an call.
ing astronomy aud history to help says:
Let US fix one evant from which to c,lcu-
late everything. Let it be STAR the Beth
lehem star, the Christmas star" And from
that We go back and see the world was
' created 400i years before Christ: the deluye
, 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
not a day OF twenty-four hours but OF ages,
S the word there translated as ''lay'' in other
h places meaning ages, AMI SO the Bible &C.
;. count of the creation and the biologists &C.
. count Of the creation are completely har-
. monious. Chronology enters the book Of
q Daniel and says that the words time AMI
o half" mean year and a half.
Chronology enters at another point anc
, shows us that the seasons of the year wer,
. then only two-summer and winter. W.
+ find that the Bible year was 800 days instead
:, of 36j; 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, tn,
4 cock Growing, the early watch. The cloc'
4 and watch were invented 50 long after TIL
: world began their mission that the day wa
S not very sharply divided in Bible times
q Ahaz had a sundial, or flight of strirs will
n a column at the top, and the shadow which
!. that column threw on the steps beneath in
4 dictated the hour, the shadow lengthenint
- or withdrawing from step to step.
Il But the events of life and the events o
+ the world moved so slowly for the mos
= part in Bible times that they had n
4 need OF such timepieces as we stand on OH
k mantels or carry in our pockets in an ag
n when a man may have half dozen or
q dozen engagements for one day and need
y =, to know the exact minute for each one
i them. The earth itself in Bible times wa
B the chief timepiece, and it turned once Oh
its axis and that was day, AMI once aroun
the sun and that was year.
1t was rot until the Fourteenth Century
that the almanac was born, the almanac
that we toss carelessly about not realizin;
. that it took the accumulated ingenuity o
J, more than 5000 years to make one. Chron
ology had to bring into it's service the monu
= mems OF Egypt and the cylinders of Assyria
" and the bricks of Babylon aud the potter.
lr of Nineveb and the metals struck at An
(. tioch for the battle of Actium, and all tb
n heroglyphics that could be deciphere1, an
=. had to SO into the extremely delicate busi
d ness of asking the ages of Adam and Set
and Enoch and Methuselah, who after the
" 300th year wanted to be thought young.
think it must have been in recognitio
of the stupendous work of making an alnt
10 nae that all the days of the week are name
n, after the gods. Sunday after the SUI
p which was of d worshipel as CO.. Mol
= alay,-atter the moon, which was also wo
= sbinea IS a god. TuesdsS, after Tuesco. II
god of W. Welnes lay, after Wooden, tt
C, CHEZ god of the scandinavians. Thnrsda.
Ir; after Thor. the god of thunder. Frida.
n after Frea, the goddess Of marriage. An
- Saturday after Saturn. The old Bible yea
" began with the 18th of March. Not INT
er 175. did the first Of the month OF Japuar
To- get the homer in legal documents in Englan
OF being called the first day of the year.
improvements all along have been mao
in chronology until the calendar and Il
almanac, and the clock, and the watch see'
to have reached perfection, and all the M
k, lions OF Christendom have similarity OF tin
in calculations and have adopted what
ko called new STYLE" except Russia, whlc
NO keeps what is called the ''old stylep and
ii, twelve days different, SO that writing FRO
ry there. il YOU wish to be accurate, you da'
on your letter January aud January Ii,
- Decem Der 10 and December q. 1t is SOM
NJ thing to thank God for that the mol
are 50 complete for calculating the cycle
ara the centuries, the decades, the years. I'll
months, the days, the hours the seconds.
90 Think OF making appointments as IN II
= Bible days for the time OF the new moo
VI Think of making one OF the waite hes OF u
A night in Bible times a rooster Growing. II
RiRIe saws. "Before the cock crow thu
~ shalt DENY me thrice IF the Master cor
III eth at the cockcrowing," and that was q
way the midnight watch was lndicaVe
The growing of that barnYard olrd mas
ways been most uncertain. The Growing
at the lowest temp 9rature OF the nighO al
the amount of dew and the direction OF u
, wind NAV bring the lowest temperature
IL ocock at night or o'clock In tne NOR
ing. and at any one of six hours. just
fore rain the Growing OF cnanticieer III
night is almost perpetual. a.,
A. Ccrnpare these modes Of marking I'll
R 1Ioo 0f arb mo- time. when