Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-01-12
THE MARCH OF YEARS
AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON BY DR..
TAIMAoE.

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,
Z, Consider the years Of many gener
ations."
At u o'clock last night, while so many
good people were watching, an old friend
passed out of our homes and stranger en-
tered The old friend making valedictory
was 1892; the stranger arriving Is 1893. 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, 1891 Welcome, 1881
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 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 comel
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
speak of the Chronology of the Bible, or
God Among the Centuries"
THE DIVINE CHRONOLOGY.
We make distinction between time and
eternity, but time is only 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
events as it would be an injusticeif, through
neglect Of chronological accuracy, it should,
in the far distant future, be said that
America was discovered in 1776, and the
Declaration 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 1910.
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-
nology Of the Bible takes six steps, but they
are steps 30 long 1t makes us hold our
breath as 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 star, the
Bethlehem star, the Christmas star" And
from that we 60 back and see the world
was created 4,0A years before Christ; the
deluge came 2,34S years before Christ;
the exodus out of Egypt occurred 1,491
years before Christ, and Solomon's temple
was destroyed 5S6 years before Christ
Chronology enters the first chapter of Cen
esis and says the day mentioned there is
not day of twenty-four hours, but of ages
the word there being translated as "day"
In other places meaning ages. And so
the Bible account Of the creation and the
biologists account of the creation are com
pletely harmonious.
Chronology enters the book of Daniel
and says that the words ''time and u half'
mean a 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 300 days, instead of S65; that
the day was calculated from o'clock in
the morning to o'clock at night; that the
night was divided into four watches-name-
ly, the late watch, the midnight, the cock
growing, the early watch. The clock and
watch were invented 80 long after the world
began their mission that the day was not
very sharply divided in Bible times.
THE DIAL OF AHAZ.
Ahaz had sundial, or fight of stairs
with column at the top, and the shadow
which that column threw on the steps be-
meath indicated the hour, the shadow
lengthening or Withdrawing from step to
STEP But the events of life and the events
Of the world moved 80 slowly, for the most
part, in Bible times that they had no need
Of such timepieces as we stand on our man
tells or carry in our pockets in an age when
q man may have a half dozen or dozen en-
gagements 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 on its own axis
and that was day, and once around the
sun and that was a year. 1t was not until
the Fourteenth century that the almanac
was born-the almanac that we toss care
lessly about, not realizing that 1t 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 at Antioch for the battle Of Actium,
and all the hieroglyphics that could be de
ciphered, and had to go into the extremely
delicate business Of asking the ages OF
Adam and Seth and Enoch and Methu-
selah who, after their 3O0th year, wanted to
be thought young I think 1t must have
been in recognition of the stupendous work
of making an almanac that all 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 as god. Tuesday, after Tues
co, tle 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 1752 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 to have reached perfection, and all
the nations 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, If you wish to be accurate, you date
your letter Jan. l and Jan. 10, or Dec. IL
and Dec 20.