Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1903-12-28

at this season was old. How came tn
change? Not by the revolution of tn
earth, for that is practically III
changeable, but through the interyer
ton of human enactment. Thougl
time, as measured by the motions o
the earth, may be taken as constant
yet its divisions into seconds. minutes
hours, days, weeks, months, years
eras, their beginnings and endings, ar
arbitrary products of the human mind
and therefore variable.
All nations and people have a par
ticular epoch from which they date
the era in which they may have lived
The Romans dated their chronological
events from the founding of the city
The expression, THE year of Rome.
or the letters A. U. c. lab urbs con
dita) refers to that particular epoch
The Mohammedans express their Sc
Quence of time by "the year Of the
prophet" The date is from the Hejira,
or the flight of Mohammed from
Mecca (Hejira is pronounced Hej-i-ra.
and is an Arabic word meaning flight,
which occurred A. d. G22. The Jews
reckon their dispensation from the
creation of the world, but in reality
their chronology begins with the
Exodus. Moses Intentionally intro
duced a new calendar. and makes
Abb their first month. 1t has been
supposed that the Jewish Sabbath is
the same as the seventh day on which
God ended His work, but as Moses
changed the first month to Abb. ne
changed the first day also. The first
day of this new year was the first
day of the first month and the first
day of the first week. The Sabbath
being held on the seventh day, it must
of necessity have been changed also.
But being changed. it could not be in
correspondence with the seventh day
of creation on which God rested"
Christians date their epoch from the
birth Of Christ, the expression for
which is the Latin words Ammo Dom
mi, or A. D., the initial letters Of the
words. Five centuries elapsed before
an attempt was made to authoritative
ly fix the date of the Nativity. This
was then undertaken by Dionysius
Exiguus Qittle), who fixed our present
chronology. 1t is now generally al
lowed that he was four years out In
his reckoning, and that 3. c. is the
correct year This corresponds with
the statement by Ireneus and Tertul-
liam that Christ was born about the
year of Rome Isl.
Different nations have begun their
count of time at different parts Of the
twenty-four hours. The ancient Ac-
cadians, Babylonians, Syrians, Per |
SLAMS, the modern Greeks and the in |
habitants of the Balearic isles reckon
their day from sunrise to sunrise Why |
the ancient nations began the day at |
sunrise is evident from their early re-
ligion, which was Magism. Fire vas
o chief object of reverence with them,
and the sun IS the grand symbol of
heir worship received especial venera-
ton. Hence they began their day as
they began their devotions-with the
rising sun.
Others, like the Athenians, the Chi
1ese and the Jews have counted the
lay from sunset to sunset. Why the
Jews begin the day from sunset is
potent from their religion. The char
acteristics of the Jewish religion are
n sharp contrast to those of other
nations. The aim of Moses was to
xean them from the grossness Of
oriental religions. Hence the contrasts
Ind antitheses. II the worshipers of
he elements begin the day with sun
Use, then the followers Of Jehovah
will begin theirs with sunset Moses
an have no concord with error
The Egyptians and pagan Roman
PRIESTS began their day at midnight.
dost European nations follow the
anne rule. Americans have also adopt
d the custom. Astronomers. however,
'egin the day at noon, when the sun
s on the meridian.
The day, meaning thereby light,
rom sunrise to sunset, was in ancient
lines divided into twelve equal parts, {
allied hours. A similar division was
bserved with the night. Thus It will
e seen the hour was constantly
hanging in its duration. The hour of
he day in winter, when the days were !
hort, was much longer than in sum-
ler, and vice versa. The same, of
curse, was the case with the nights,
lso. So that only at the equinoxes {
;ere the two series of hours equal. '
mis- was most inconvenient and re- !
ulted in much confusion.
To Hipparchus, Greek philosopher, 6
Tho fiourished about B. c. $50. must [
e given the credit of dividing the '
ay from midnight to midnight into !
hours, or two equal por- c
ons of twelve hours each. This sys- /
EN- prevails generally at the present I
ay. But astronomers count continu- /
usly for twenty-four hours. {
The week, as all know, consists of /
even days. Christians and Jews S
old this division because God created t
ne heaven and the earth (the solar c
ystem) and primordial forms of life a
/ six days. and rested" on the L
auanfb put q ,,-ot,Id uoar, ,b,t 8