The times., 1898-01-03
DIR. TALMAGE ON TIME.

"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. said Rev. DR.. Talmage yester-
day morning at the First Presbyterian
church in his sermon on the "Chronolo-
gy of the Bible; or, God amid the Cen
turies.'' the text being Deut. xxi:
Consider the years of many genera
tions,' after few Introductory re-
marks with regard to the season. The
chronology of the Bible takes six steps,
but they are steps so long II makes us
hold our breath as we watch the move
ment.
But the events of life and the events
of the world moved so slowly, for the
most part, in Bible times that they had
no need of such timepieces as We stand
on our mante1s or carry In our pockets
in an age when a man may have half
dozen or a dozen engagements for one
day and needs to know the exact min
ute for each one of them. The earth it
self in Bible times was the Grief time
piece.
Chronological study affords. among
many practical thoughts, especially
lHO- Tie OHc W Ilic last 0C-
gree and the other startling. The en-
eouraging thought is that the main
drift of the centuries has been toward
betterment, with only here and there
stout reversal L thank God that you
-and / were not born any sooner than we
were born. How could we have en-
dured the disaster of being born in the
eighteenth or seventeenth or sixteenth
century?
- n - aTa nil wi hQ
necessary before this world becomes as
clean and sweet as il ought to be. but
the -broomS and the scrubbing brushes
and the upholsterers and plumbers are
already busy, and when the world gets
fixed up as it will be, If Adam and Eve
ever visit it, as L expect they Will, they
win say to each other: Well. this
beats Paradise when we lived there, and
the pears and plurnbs are better than
we pIucked from the first trees, and the
wardrobes are more complete, and the
climate is better Since 1 settled in my
own mind the fact that God was strong
er than the devil, L have never lost
faith in the emparadisation of this
planet. With one exception OF a retro
gression in the Dark Ages, the move
ment Of the world has been on and on.
and up and up, and 1 have two jubiIant
Hosannas-on for the closing year and
But the other thought coming out of
this subject is that biblical chronology.
and indeed all chronology. is urging the
world to more punctuaiity and imme-
diateness- What an unsatisfactory and
indefinite thing il must have been for
two business men in the time OF AhaZ
to make an appointment. Thank God
for chronological achievements which
have ushered in calendars and alma
al f.aFxe. lV4A
cheap rate all may possess them.
Chronology. beginning by appreciating
the value of years and the value OF
days mas kept on until it cries out:
Man, immortal woman, immortal:
look out for that minute; look out for
that second. The greatest fraud d man
can commit is to rob another of his /
time.
''All the fingers Of chronology point to /
as one of the graces. The {
minister or the lecturer or business
man who comes to his place ten min /
utes after the appointed time commits
a crime The thief of dry goods. the /
thief of bank bills is not half so bad as
the thief of time.
But do not let us get an impression
from chronology that because the years
Of time have been so long in procession
they are to so on forever. Matter is not
cessioTi of earthly years win terminate
Just when. have no power to prognos-
ticate. but science confirms the Bible
prophecy that the earth cannot always
last. Indeed there has been Il fatality
of worlds. The moon is merely the
corpse of what it once was, and scien-
lists have again and again gone up in
their obServatories to attend the
death-bed of dying worlds, and have
seen them cremated. So ] am certain,
both from the Word of God and science.
that the worlds chronology viii sooner
1r later come to its last chapter. The
final century will arrive and pass on (
and then Will come the final decade, and
hen the final year and the final month
and the final day
NO incendiaries viii be needed to
-un hither and yon with torches TO set
he world on fire. | speak not now Of
he central fires of the earth ChemiS-
Try teaches us that there is a very in
iammable element in water. While oxy-
gen makes up part of the water. the
,ther part of the water is hydrogen. and
hat is very combustible. The oxygen
irawn out from the water. the infiam
nable hydrogen may put instantly into
the HudsOns and Savan-
lahs and Mississippis and Rhines and
Trails and Danubes, and Atlantic and
Pacific and Indian and Mediterranean
seas. And then the Angel of God de-
;cending from the Throne. might put
me foot in the surf of the sea and the
,ther on the beach. and cry to the four
Winds of heaven: Time was, But
ime shall be no longeri' Yet. found in
Christ. pardoned and sanctifed. we
shall welcome the day with more glad
less than you ever welcomed Christ
mas or New Years morn.