Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-01-13

] cumstanceS IN tue blDle ascrlOa 70 certain
/ times must have taken place al some other
, time, II they took place at all. But this
books chronology has never been caught at
fault. II has been proved that when the
| Hebrews went into Egypt there were only
! seventy OF them. and that when they came
out there were 3, 90 0O0 of them.
Now" says infidelity. with a guffaw that
/ it cannot suppress "what an absurdity !
! They went down into Egypt seventy and
/ came out 5000. O00 That is falsehood on
/ the face OF il. Nations do not increase in
! that ratio" But. my skeptlcal friend, hold
! n moment. The Bible says that the Jews
were 430 years in Egypt, and that explains
! the increase from seventy persons to 300, =
| Coz for II is no more, but rather less, than
/ the ordinary increase of nations. The Pill
| grim Fathers caf,.e to America In the May
flower. one small shipload OF passengers, less
/ than 300 years ago, and now we have n
| nation OF ca. 900 400. Where, then. is so
I called impos sibility that the seventy Jews
who went in TO Egypt in 40 years became
| aOO0,00O' lntidelity wrong and Bible chron-
! ology right.
! Now stop and reflect Why is il that
/ this sublime subject OF Bible chronology
! has been so ne elected, and that ths most Of
| you have never given tan minutes to the
consideration OF it, and that this is the first
sermon ever preached on this stupenlouS
and overwhelming theme, We hlva stood
| by the half day or the whole day at grand
reviews and seen armies pass.
Again and again and again on the
! Champs E,ySees French1len by the hun.
dreds OF thousands have stood and watched
the blnnereI srmies go by, and the huzZa
has been three miles long and until the
I populace were so hoarse they could huzzi
no longer. Again and again and again the
Germans by hundreds o! Thousands have
stood ON the palacel and statuei Under den
Linden, Berlin, an1 strewn garlanis uuier
tho feet OF uaiforued hosts led on by Won
Moltke or Butcher or Frederick the Great.
When Wellington and Ponsonby and the
Scots Grays came back from Waterloo, or
Wolseley from Egypt or Marlborough from
Blenheim what military proc essions through
Regent street an / along by the palaces of
London and over the bridges of the Thames
What almost interminabe lines of military
on the streets of our American capitals,
while Mayors and Governors and Presidents,
with uncovered hea is, lOokel ou But put
all those grand reviews together, and they
are tame compare with the review which
on New Years day you from the pew and |
from the puloit witness.
Hear them pass in chronological order
all the years before the flood; all the years
since the flood: decades abreast; .nturieS
abreast; epDcus abrea,t: mllenniums
abreast; Egyptian cvil;Lltion, Baby!yniln
populations, ANSyrian GominIons: armies OF
Persian CIR ciau, Peo?0nu' ian an Romln
! wars; Byzantine empire. 5 SIrasenic hosts
crusaders of the first, the second, tHird AMI
the last avaian"he Of men; Dark Ages in
somb.r epsulets anl brighter ages with
shields of silver and helmets OF gold; Italy,
/ Spain, France, Russia, Germany, Eagsan
and America, past an present; dynasties,
feutal domains des1otsns, monarchies re-
, publ C., ages on ages ages on ages, passing
| to-day in 4 chronological review until one
has no more power 10 loot upon the ad-
vaucinS columns, now brilliant, now
: squalid, now garIandel with pe ice now
| crimson with Slaughter, now horrid with
| ghastlinesS, now radiant with love and joy.
! This chronological study affords, anon:
| other practical trou git- eS.laci 'lly two
| the one encouraging TO the asst degree an
| the other startling. The encouraging
/ thou sht Is that tbs main drift oil the CEN
turies has been towarl betterment, with
only here and ther1 stoa. reversal.
Grecian civilization was vast improve
meat on Egyptian CIVILIZATION, and Roman
| civilization "a vast Improvement on Grecian
/ civilization, and Christian clyiliz ltion Is
! vast Improvement On R)mln civllzit. on.
| What was tine boosted age of Per .cles
compared with the age OF Lonsfell)w and
| rennyson? what wds Queen Esizibet as
| specimen of moral wo.nauhooi compared
! with Queen Victoria, What were the cruel
warriors OF olden times compared with the
! most distingu she'd warriors of the last half
I century, all OF them as much distinguished
for kindness and good morals as for proves
| the two military leaders of our Civil War
! on northern and southern SIDE COMMUNICATE
| members of Christian churches and their
home life as purs as their pubic lie,
! Nothing impreSses me in tnls chronoio1.-
cal review more than the fact that the regi-
- y k,N
| ments as the troops move on. thank God
| that you AMI l wers not born any sooner
/ than we were born. How could we have
| endured the disaster OF being born in the
| Eighteenth or Seventeenth or Sixteenth
| Century? Glad am that wa are in the regi-
ment now passing the reviewing sand and
that our children will pass the stand in q
| still better regiment. Col did not build
this world for slaughter house or den of
intamy.
A good deal OF cleaning house will be
nee sary before this world becomes as
| clean aud sweet as is ought to he but the
| brooms and the scrubbing brushes and the
uphosterers and plumbers are already busy,
AMI when the worll gets fixei up, as it will
| be, IL Adam AMI Eve ever visit 1t, as ex-
pect they will, they will say to each other,
''Well, this beats paradise when we lvel
there, and the pears and plums are better
| than we pluckec from the first trees, and
the wardrobes are more complete and the
! climate is better"
Since settled in my own mind the fact
that God was stronger than the devil have
never lost faith in the empara1isation OF
this planet. With the exception Of a retro
/ gression in the Dark Ages, the movement of
the world has been on AMI on, and up and
up. and have two jubiant hosannas-one
for the closing year aud the other for tht
new year.
But the other thought coming out OF this
| subject is that Biblical chronology, and in
| dee all chronology, is urging the world to
! more punctuality and immeiiateuess. What
| an unsatisfactory aui indeinits thing it
| must have been for two business men in the
! time OF AhaZ to make an appointment say
| ing, "Ws will settle that business matter to-
morrow when the shadow on the dial OF
Ahaz reaches the tenth step from the top
or 81 will meet you in the street calle'
| Straight in Damascus in the time of the
new moon," or when asked in a courtroom
what time an Occurrences took placs $40 uli
answer, ut was during the time OF tue latter
rain,n or at was at the ttm3 OF tue THIRD
growing of the barnyari!'
You and remember when minister's oil
the Gospel in the country, giving out n no.
tcs OF au evening service, instead or saying
at or or . O'Clock, would say: "The SER
| vlc9 VIII DeSln aV early canule ISht
Thank God for chronological achievement:
which have ushered in calendars and al
} nanacs aud clocks and watches, and at Sc
chelp rate all may possess theml Chron
ology, beginning by apprecatin5 the vdlus
OF years aud the value o. days, has kept OF
until il cries out: "Man, Immortal; woman
immortal; look out for that minute; loo& ou
for that secondW
We talk great deal about the value o.
time, but will never fully appreciate it
value until the last fragment Of it has passe
out OF our possession forever. The creates
fraud mau can commit Is to rob another
of his time. Hear it, ys laggards and re
penti All the fingers OF chronology point K
puuctualty as one Of the graces. The min
ister or the lecturer or business man WHIT