Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-01-27
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIViNEs Sun
DAY SERMON
S1bject. God Among the Centu.
ries.'


At y o'clock last night, while 50 MANY
good people were watching an old friend
passed out or our homes and stranger en-
tered. The old friend making vsIesfictorv
was 1892; the stranger arriving is 1899. The
old friend was garrulous with the occur
rences or many DAYS IN the stranger put
his finger over his lio auI said nothing and
seemed charged with many secrets and rnys-
teries. L did not see either the departure or
the arrival. hut was souni asleep, thinking
that was for ma the best wnv to be wide
awake now. Goodhv. 1872, Welcome 1898!
AS an army is divided into brigades and
regiments and companies, AMI thew observe
this order in their march and their tread is
majestic, so the time of the worlds exist
ence Is divided into an army divinelv COM
manded; the eras are the briga1es, the CEN
turtles are the regiments and the years are
the companies. Forward into toe oter nitv
past, out Of the eternity to come! Forward
Is the command, and nothing can halt them
even though the world should die. While
obeYlng my text, 'Fonsider the years of
many generations" [ propose to speak of
the Chronology of the Bible, or God Among
the Centuries"
We make distin ction between time and
eternity, but time is only a piece of eternity.
and chronology has been engaged in tn
sublime work Of dividing up this portion of
eternity that we call time into compart-
ments and putting events in their right
compartment. It is as much an Injustice
against the past to wrongly ARRANGE it's
events asst 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 1776, and the Declare.
ton Of Independence was signed in 1892
and Washington born on the 221 of March.
and the Civil War of the United States was
fought in 1910
As God puts all the events Of time in the
right place, let us be careful that we do not
rY11o
ology Of the Bible takes six steps. but thew
are steps SO long it makes us hold our breath
as we watch the movement From Adam
to A 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 de-
structlon or that temple. From the destruc-
t1on OF the temple to the return from Baby
ionish captivity: From Babylonish cap
tivity to the birth of Christ.
Chronology takes pen and pencil and call.
ing astronomy and history to help saws:
Let us fix one event from which to calcu-
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 4OO4 years before Christ; the deluye
came e. 224o years before Christ; the exodus
out OF Egypt occurred 1491 years before
Christ, and SOIOmOn'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 &C.
count or the creation aud the geologists &C.
count of the creation are completely har-
nonious. Chronology enters the book of
Daniei ana says that the words ''time and
hall" 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 800 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 50 long after the
world began their mission that the day was
not very sharply divided in Bible times.
Ahaz mad a sundlal, or flight of stairs with
column at the top, and the shadow which
that column threw on the steps beneath in
Dictated the hour, the shadow lengthening
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 thew had no
! need OF such timepieces as we stand on our
| mantels or carry in our pockets in an age
| when man may have a half dozen 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
|
| its axis and that was day, and once around
| the sun and that was year.
IL was not until the Fourteenth Century
J that the almanac was born, the almanac
! that we toss carelessly about not realizing
| that lt TOOK the accumulated ingenuity of
| more than 5000 years to make one Chrop-
| 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 Nlneveb. and the metals struck at An
! ooh for fhN hr%AI
/ hleroglyphics that could be deciphered, and
| had TO go INTO the. extremely delicate bust
| ness OF asking the ages of Adam and Seth
| and Enoch and Methuselah, who after their
| 30Oth 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
sitter the gods. Sunday, after the sun,
which was of old worshiped as god 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 god of thunder Friday.
after Frea, the goddess of marriage. And
Saturday after Saturn. The old Bible year
began with the 25th of March. Not until
J 1902 did the first of the month of January
get the honor in legal documents in England
Of being cliied 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
| to have reached perfection, aud all the Ma
tions OF Christendom have similarity of time
calculations and have adopted what is
called new STYLE" except Russia, which
keeps what is called the ''old style' and is
twelve days different, so that writing from
| there, II 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 God for that the modes
are so complete for calculating the cycles