The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1904-12-30
NEW YEAR And CHRISTIAN ERA
u II ACCDE8T THAT CHRTsTIAH IA
TOES AK rs YAK OF PEOGREssI
The One who Declared ne Was Light OF
the World sits triumphant, aLumi-
nary In the s5Idst OF Ancient
and Modern Tines

the Twentieth century of the Christian
era, which Is now almost universally
observed as the epoch for measuring
the fight of time, and the recording Of
events personal, social, national and
world-wide,-even from the birth Of the
humblest babe to the birth of nations,
and from the conflict Of embattled hosts
with confused noise and garments
rolled in blood" to treaties of peace
and jubilees Of emancipation
When God set great lights IN the
armament of heaven, to divide the day
from the night, He said: Let them
be for signs, and for seasons, and for
days, and for years; and It was 50. !"
Thus we have the king of Day. and
the Queen Of Night The sun, the
great, glorious, central luminary of our
system, the earth upon which we live,
bowling ceaselessly ssvith inconceivable
velocity through the ecIiPtic, and our
moon, Earth's satellite N the celestial
waltz with sister planets among the con-
stellations-all these, the chronOmeter
marking the days, weeks, months, years
and centuries Of darationl
How wonderful, also, that in modern
times, midway in the historic eras, that
an era heightened now into nearly 20
centuries, should be fixed from the birth
of Him who died upon the cross, under
a Roman executiOner as a felon, but
who in one of his Mysterious and in
spired moods said: Ct am the Light Of
the Worldl'' Thus we have both the
solar and siderial universe for the great
chronometer of the ages, and the natal
day of the One who bowed the hea-
vens and came down, - to mark the era,
the most distinct and most glorious, an
era the most illustrious in is past, the
most marvellous in the present, and now
even promising things inconceivable
and impossible in the future. This IS
the Christ agel
In other ages men fixed other eras.
The Greeks. counted time from the in
stitution of the olympic games, 776years
before Christ, each OlynaPiad being
four years. The Romans reckOned
from the building of Rome, z53 years
before Christ. The era of Nabonnassar,
was a Babylonian reckoning, i747 before
Christ, from an astronomical observa-
ton. The Seleucid era was a later
Greek computation, 81 before Christ,
/ u wears after the death Of Alexander
the Great, when Seleucus NicatOr &C
cupied Babylon The Julian era was
later Roman calculation, January /, IS
years before Christ, and established by
/ Julius Caesar the first Roman emperor
| The Hegira is the MOhammedan era,
622 after Christ, 50 called from ''the
| fight of the false prophet from Mecca to
Medina, when he began his propaganda
! bv the sword, ard entered upon ca
reer of conquest
In our era, every chronological reck-
oning goes forward OF backward, even
| to the foundation of the world, from
| the cradle of the Babe of Bethlehem
and by Il errors are corrected and mis-
| ia kes made right. When the Sun of
Righteousness arose," with healing IN
his beams, he cast an after-glOw and
backard-glov into the gloom, wretched-
ness and error of remOtest ages. Time
had been reckoned from the deluge,
| from careers Of conquest, from brutal
games, from the rearing of the walls Of
I
of constituencies despOts.
How different the Christian eTal In
| lifetime ''set at naught, - and condemn
ed to a shameful death under the RO-
man empirel But, IN spite Of the cross,
the rack, the sword, the gladiators and
lions of the Roman ampitheatre, his
disciples were found ''in Caesars house
hold'', in the first century, and tens of
thousands, drafted into the Roman le-
gions IN the second century, were MS
devout followers, and IN the close OF
the third and beginning of the fourth
century, his posthumus kingdom was
practically IN possession OF the palace
and the throne Of the Caesars.
When Christianity became predOmi
naut in the civilized world, writers be-
gan to date their events from various
/ epochs IN the life of Christ. About the
I middle Of the Sixth century, DiOnYsius
| Exigiutss. a Roman Abbott, introduced
I the method Of reckoning from the
birth Of Christ, which was generally
/ adopted, the year beginning with Jan
uary !, and in this respect cOincIdlng
with he beginning Of the Julian year.
Subsequent chr geological calculations
demonstrated that there was an error of
/ four years IN the date Of the birth OF
Christ. the Saviour really having been
born four years earlier. This error IS
not ma erial when the fact Is under
stood.
Few people fully appreciate and
/ thoroughly understand the significant
of the Christian era and the recordir e
I Of events, from the least unto the greal-
/ est, from the birth OF Christ It speaks
of both the emi1euce and preem .ne1ce
/ OF Jesus Christ Il is IN fact con
fession Of faith, OF his kingship Of men,
and his essential Divinity; that wisdom
and might are his: that He changeth
times and the seasons that He renew
I eth kings and setteth up kings that He
! aiveth wisdom 70 the wise and knoHl-
edge 20 them thzt know understand
ing" Daniel II, 20, n
is Il an accident, a mere coincidence
that the merely nominal Christian na-
tons, with al lhcir faults, are il the
van Of the worlds progress IN science
art. discovery and invention, or IS i
czuse and efect7 They annshilate dis
tance- and say 70 time be brief thcy
search both the depths Of the OCEAN and
the deep abyssss Of space to them the
oceans are whispering galleries and the
Vauir Ct the heaveDs q Sounding board
The energies Of the universe 90 their
5 bidding and light stored e reuoiest
ages Hume Their palaces What z
piece % crt-n1anstip IS man. And
ws1at wc-croCs age. The -lrls-rll