Connecticut western news., 1893-01-05
ANEW YEARS SERMON
pR. TALMAGE's DISCOURSE AT THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.


 BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
 '>Ceasidsr the Tears of Many Genera
 tasos' was the Text. and the Sermon
 Wa Regarding ''rhe Chronology of tn.
 Dibls, or God Among the Ccnturies."
 BRooKLYN, Jan. 1.-Rev. Dr. Talmags this morning appropriately took for tht subject of his New Years day sermon "The Chronology of the Bible, or Goo 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 hops for years to come.
 The text chosen was Deuteronomy xxxi, 2, Consider the years of many generations"
 At 12 o'clock last night, while so many good people were watching. an old frien passed out of our homes and stranger entered. The old friend making valedic tory was 1892; the stranger arriving is 1899. The old friend was garrulous wit. the occurrences of many days, but tn. stranger put his finger over his lip an said nothing and seemed charged wit many secrets and mysteries. I did no 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, 1s92i Welcome, 1898! As an army is divided into brigades and regiments and companies, and they observe this order in their march and their tread is majestic, SO the time of tn, worlds existence is divided into al army divinely commanded; the eras ar. tho. brigades, the centuries are the regi ments, and the years are the companies Forward into the eternity past, out of tho eternity to comet Forward is the command, and nothing can halt them even though the world should die. Whil obsying my text. Consider the years oi many generations" propose to speak of the Chronology of the Bible, or God Among the Centuries"
 ARRANGING EVENTS.
 We make distinction between time and eternity. but time is only piece of eternity. and chronology has been en. gagged in the sublime work of dividing uP this portion of eternity that we cali tilf9 into compartments and putting events in their right compartment. Ii is as much an injustice against the pas, to wrongly arrange it's events as it would be an injustice if. through neglect of chronological accuracy. it should in the far distant future be said that America was discovered in 1776, and the Declara- ton of Independence was signed in 1492, and Washington born on the 22d of March, and the civil war of the United States was fought in 1840.
 Al 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 chronology of the Bible takes six steps. but they are steps 60 long it makes us hold our breath as we watch the move ment. From Adam to Abraham. From Abraham to the exodus out of Egypt. From the exodus to the foundation of 6olomon's temple. From the foundation of Solomon's temple to the destruction of that temple. From the destruction of the temple to the return from Baby loniah captivity. From Babylcniah cap tiyity to the birth of Christ.
 AAAAOAss06J sesA0O pOn "Au PO1SA, nAu calling astronomy and history to help says: "Let us fix one event from which to calculate everything. Let it be star the Bethlehem star. the Christmas star. ' And from that we go back and see the world was created 4,O04 years before Christ; the delug6 came 3, 2,848 years before Christ: the exodus out of Egypt occurred l,401 years before Christ, and Solomon's temple was destroyed 586 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 ''dsy" In other places meaning ages and % the Bible account of the creation and the geolog ists' account of the crea- ton are completely harmonious. Chro- nology enters the book of Daniel and says that the words time and 8 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 860 days instead of 865; that the day was calculated from 6 o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock at night; that the night was divided into four watches--namely, the lats watch, the midnight, the cock crow ing. the early watch. The clock and wstch were invented 90 long after th- world began their mission that the day was not very sharply divided in Bible time& Ahaz had sundial, or flight S~A ~kn nSxr~v v-yrkh <,01v,v,nv, o< <In +ny, ,.l the shadow which that column threw on the steps beneath indicated the hour, the shadow lengthening or withdrawing from step to step.
 But the events of life and the events of tho world moved SO slowly for the most part in Bible times that they had no need of such timepieces as we stand on our mantels or carry in our pockets in m age when man may have 8 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 the chief timepiece, and it turned once on its axis and that was . day, and once around the sun and that was year.
 THE ALMANAC.
 Itw1s not until the Fourteenth century that the almanac was born, the almanac that we toss carelessly about, not realiz- ing that it took the accumula ,d inge- nuity of more than 5000 years 10 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 at An tioch for the battle of Actium, and all the hieroglyphics that could be de- ciphered, and had to go into the ex- tremely delicate business of asking the ages of Adam and Seth and Enoch and Iethuselah, who after their 300th year wanted to be thought young.
 think it must have been in recogni- tton of the stupendous work of making