The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-01-10
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Continued From Page Three
measure. But all these attempts
save one have failed The trouble
is to find an adequate starting point.
1t must be an event, or a person, or
an institution universally known,
some one or something which has LETT
an enduring mark on the thought CT
mankind And the scale Of the
event from which mankind consents
or is compelled, to count its years,
may be measured by the geographic
al area over which that date is 22-
cepted as starting point Of tine and
the number OF centuries through
which it keeps that great office. \
world sha king victory the FONDA
ton OF some many cenJuried ctj|,
the birth Of a dynasty or a creed,
the beginning Of reNoluNo2, socA
an event il might TeasCIablE De eA-
pected wCuld give Tine new start
ing point. And It has a curious f
feet TO look back and see how many
startine points have been set Gp,
were visible for q season and are now
forgotten.
History is strewn thick with these
FORGOTTEN waymarks of time--Grcek
Olymniads. Roman COnsulates, Baby
lonian Eponymns. Fer centuries
he mystic letters A. [. c" ab urbe
0ndfta, were a witness thai the
worlds time was dated from the lay
ne of the foundation OF the great
ciTy on the TibeT One calendar
dates from Alexander the great aid
another from Julius Caesar, Ph2r-
saI ia and Actium were battles that
changed the course of history, and
Zach in turn was taken for a season
for The starting point for the world 5
almanac.
But no conquerors sword has ever
cut deeply enough on Time to leave
an enduring mark. The Julian Era,
The Alexandria Era, The Era OF the
Selucidae-all have had their little
days and vanished. The martyrdoms
Of Diocletian could not burn deeply
enough into the calendar to leave
lasting mark. The Area Marty rum
is forgotten. The Indictions Of all
names imperial and ponti1ica!-haTe
led like shadows. There IS for
civilized men but one enduring uni
versally recognized starting point Of
civilized time. 1t is that which
dates from the Cradle of Bethlehem.
How is this strange fact to be ev-
planned? Did conspiracy OF
Christ's followers capture all the
calendars of the race and baptize
them by fraud into the Name of their
Master? No one ventures to su8-
gest that explanation. The change
was neither achieved by fraud nor
imposed by show of authority. 1t
does not represent the will of COLI
queror, or the arts of priest, or the
enactment of a despot. Most peo~'
pie would say on general grounds
that we owe the Characterization OF
the calendar to the Emperor Con-
stantine. 1t was he who saw the
5ross in 4 vision, surrounded by the
shining characters, I'm hoe Vinces;"
and he stamped that cross on the i'll
stitutions and literature of his time.
He first of all the worlds rulers gave
to Christianity official recognition.
But as a matter of fact Copstan-
tine did not write the name Of Jesus
on the calendar. The famous III
dictions or tax periods were his
work and in some of the provinces OF
the empire they outlasted the empire
itself But these tax periods had no
religious aspect whatever; they
simply marked the tax periods in
cycles of fifteen years. The most
significant and impressive feature in
the strange change wrought in the
calendar is indeed, the silence and
the slowness with which it was af-
fected. The process was seemingly
as independent of human will as they
coming of spring or as the rise of q /
sea tide and as resistless.
The name of Jesus did not emerge !
in the calendar till five centuries /
after His death, space of til2e long !
enough for him to have been forgot |
ten had He been an iMDoster. 1t
took another five hundred years 20 |
become universally accepted ats a
starting point for historic time. And
the process is linked to no human i
name. Who knows or cares any
thing about Dionysius EXfst'is. an
obscure Roman Abbott, who from A.
D. 525 had begun to date the Easter
tables CAB incarnatione domini AS /
a matter of fact only twelve years
later 537, Justinian issued a decree
directing that all public documents
should be dated by the of the EN-.