The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-01-10

The first of the series of meetings
to be held at the Elks' Home SUNDAY
afternoon during January, FEBRUARY
and March was held last Sunday al
ternoons and was attended by large
crowd. The musical program, CON
sisting of solos by Mrs. John. f.
Croft who was accompanied by Mrs.
George \. Jones, and selections by
the Zion Church Orchestra, was
splendid one. each selection being
enthusiastically received. The at
dress was delivered by the nv, W.
f. Gunby, pastor OF Ziol church
who spoke upon the origin of the
present calendar, the measure OF
time The audience was greatly inl-
pressed by the argument. Through
the courtesy of the speaker we 81"
able to publish the address in full:
Christ who is over all, GOD
blessed forever. Romans SIS.
Christ far above all principali-
ty and power and might and domin-
ion, and every name that is named,
and hath put all things under His
feet '-Eph. 1:22.
He is Lord of all" Acts 1886.
No one stops to ask for an eXEla-
nation of one of the strangest facts,
not only in historical literature, but
in the living world. The tact that
all civilized time is dated from the
birth of Jesus Christ. This is the
twentieth century; and from what
event are those twenty centuries
counted? From the birth of a Jew,
who, on the skeptical theory If He
ever existed was peasant in an OBJ
scurc province in a far Off age; who
wrote no book, made no discovery,
invented no philosophy, built no tom
pie; a peasant who died when, as
men count years, He had scarcely
reached his prime. and died the
death of & criminal. Ana even be
fore His death the little band Of dis
ciples He had succeeded in gathering
all fCrsook Him and fled. This is a
story written in all the characters
of defeat. Yet civilized time is dat
ed from the birth of this jew! The
centuries carry His signature, and
the years of the modern world are
labelled by universal consent tho
years of our Lord"
And no one knows how it came to
be done, or when or by whom. Not
one educated man out of thousand
can tell you off-handed, why all civil
liZed calendars are reckoned from |
that far off birth in little Jewish |
village Every morning all the news |
papers OF the civilized world though |
some fill their columns with attacks |
against Jesus Christ readjust their
date to His cradle. Each New Year, !
as it arrives, is baptized in His name !
Calendars and acts of Parliament, |
business and politics and literature.
the very dates of our checks and let |
tiers all are unconsciously adjusted to |
the chronology of Christs life.
To write a human signature on |
Time itself, to put human name On |
the brow of the hurrying centuries, !
this is indeed a marvellous achieve |
ment Caeser has not done it. Nor |
Shakespeare nor Newton. nor Wash |
ington, nor Napoleon. Genius IS !
vain to accomplish such task; the
sword is vain, wealth is vain. But
this Jew has done it, Plato vas a
teacher and Socrates was a martyr,
with elements of artistic interest and
OF human power which might easily
be thought to surpass anything as
ISOLATED with Jesus. Plato taught
on a larger scale, belonged to npre
imperial race, and spoke richer
language than the carpenters Ben
of Nazareth Socrates drank the
cup of fatal hemlock to an accprl-
panient of philosophic discourse
such as was never heard in Chilean
villages. He talked the language Of
Homer and Aeschylus, not the rude
Aramaic of the Jewish Peasantry.
The philosophy of Plato, the dia-
logues of Socrates are studied yet
in all the universities of the world.
But the world does not reckon its
time from Plato or Socrates. From
Alexander, or Caesar or Marcus
Aurelius. From Greek OlympiaGs
or Roman Consulates. 1t dates its
time by common consent from One
who, as unbelief explains Him. was
merely a Jewish peasant, aud who
died the death of a criminal.
Christian men as they dwell on
this strange thing know it is no ac-
cident 1t is sign written large
en- Time itself, of the empire of HIM
who is the Lord of Time. But if
we should accept the theory OF these
who reject Christ, the very &lamanac
Of the modern world is an incredible
absurdity. How does it come to-
pass, we repeat, that not Ivy accident,
not by some conspiracy of fanatics,
not by force of any imperial eCict.
but by conveyance of silent uE-
recognized almost unconscious forces
all civilized time is baptized into the
name of Jesus Christ.
To have some common measure of
time is, of course, a necessity CT Or
ganized society; and in a thousand
ways the attempt has been made TO
establish such universal tine
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