At this time we celebrate the birth of the New' Year and erect another miles'one on the road of Time. How few think that. 152 years ago the year at this season was old. How came the change? Not by the revolution of the earth, for that is practically un changeable, but through the interven tion of human enactment. Though time, as measured by the motions of I he earth, may be taken as constant, yet its divisions into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, eras, their beginnings and endings, are 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. tab urbs con dita) refers to that particular epoch. The Mohammedans express their se 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. C22. 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 Abib their first month. It 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 Abib, he 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 1-atin words Anno Dom ini, 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 (little), who fixed our present chronology. It is now generally al lowed that he was four years out in his reckoning, and that B. C. 4 is the correct year. This corresponds with the statement by Ireneus and Tertul lian that Christ was born about the year of Rome 751. Different nations have begun their count of time at different parts of the twenty-four hours. The ancient Ac cadians, Babylonians. Syrians, Per sians, 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 was a chief object of reverence with them, and the sun as the grand symbol of their worship received especial venera tion. Hence they began their day as they began their devotions—with the rising sun. Others, like the Athenians, the Chi nese and the Jews have counted the day 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 in sharp contrast to those of other nations. The aim of Moses was to wean them from the grossness of oriental religions. Hence the contrasts and antitheses. If the worshipers of the elements begin the day with sun rise, then the followers of Jehovah will begin theirs with sunset. Moses can have no concord witn error. The Egyptians and pagan Roman priests began their day at midnight. Most European nations follow the fame rule. Americans have also adopt ed the custom. Astronomers, however, begin the day at noon, when the sun is on the meridian. The day, meaning thereby light, from sunrise to sunset, was in ancient times divided into twelve equal parts, called hours. A similar division was observed with the night. Thus it will be seen the hour was constantly changing in its duration. The hour of the day in winter, when the days were short, was much longer than in sum mer, and vice versa. The same, of course, was the case with the nights, also. So that only at the equinoxes were the two series of hours equal. This was most inconvenient and re sulted in much confusion. To Hipparchus, a Greek philosopher, who flourished about B. C. 150, must be given the credit of dividing tne day from midnight to midnight into twenty-four hours, or two equal por tions of twelve hours each. This sys tem prevails generally at the present day. But astronomers count continu ously for twenty-four hours. The week, as all know, consists of seven days. Christians and Jews hold this division because God created the heaven and the earth (the solar system) and primordial forms of life in six days, and rested” on the seventh. But it would seem that pagan nations selected seven days be cause of the seven planets known to them, after which they called the days. The sun and moon were in cluded in the planets. They were: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. We call three days of the week directly after the planets —Saturday (Saturn), Sunday (Sun), Monday (Moon), and four through the Saxon names for the others: Tuesday (Tuesco—Mars), Wednesday (Woden —Mercury), Thursday (Thor—Jupi ter), and Friday (Friga—Venus). The month, no doubt, originated from the phases of the moon. These, sharp and well-defined, are four in number: the new moon, first quarter, full moon and last quarter. Bach of these phases occupies about seven days, so that from new’ full moon to new full moon, there is something more than twenty-nine days, which is called a synodical month, or lunation. No nation up to the present time has devised a system of absolute ac curacy in the measurement of the colar year. Some ancient nations, such as the Chaldeans, reckoned the year as 360 days. This is the principle of that most ancient astronomical term, the Zodiac. The Zodiac is a belt en circling the heavens on each side of the ecliptic, within which the planets known to the ancients always revolve. It extends eight degrees on each side of the ecliptic. It is divided into twelve equal parts, called signs of the Zodiac. It is a great cycle, and is di vided into 360 degrees, like all cir cles; hence 360 days in the Chaldean year. The Egyptians counted 365 days in their year. As the year contains 365*4 days nearly, such systems could not fail to work great inconvenience, for the seasons would move round in j a cycle from one time of the year to i the other. Let me make this quite I plain. Take the winter solstice, for instance, which happens on Dec. 21. At the end of four years the solstice would be not on Dec. 21. but on Dec. 22. The sun would be behind time. In order, therefore, that the seasons should occur at the same time in the civil year, it was necessary to take account of this fraction of a day. Julius Caesar, the great Roman em peror. determined to rectify the error. He called the celebrated Egyptian as tronomer, Sosigines, to his aid. Sosi gines suggested the addition of a day every fourth year. This day was add ed to February, and is known to us as "Leap Year.” but to the Romans as Bissextile (Bis, twice, sextus, sixth). This corrected calendar became known as the Julian. But as It made the year consist of 365 days, 6 hours, it was in excess of the actual time by 1 minute 10.3 seconds. Small as was this fraction, it accumulated to about one day in every 134 years. The calendar needed reform. Time, civil and ecclesiastical, required re adjustment. But to urge the neces sary change was dangerous, as the learned Friar Bacon found to his cost. For pointing out errors in the calendar he received as a reward for the ad vocacy of the truth a prison, where he remained ten years. As often happens, ecclesiastical requirements minister to civil neces sities. The immediate cause of the correction of the calendar was an error in the time of observing the Easter festival. The Council of Nice, in A. D. 325, decreed that Easter is the Sunday following the full moon, next after the Vernal equinox. Owing to disputes arising from this decree Pope Hilarlus, in 463, ordered that the paschal moon should not be the actual full moon, but an ideal one, falling on the 14th day of the moon by the metonic cycle (so-called from Metoni. a Greek philosopher who discovered it. It consists of nineteen years, at the end of which the sun is in about the same position he was at the be ginning). In 1582 it was found that the real equinox fell ten days before the nom inal one. and from the error in the Metonic cycle, Easter had got four days wrong. Then Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar, called after him the Gregorian calendar, by the aid of Clavius, a learned Jesuit. The equinox of 1582, which should have fallen on March 21, fell on March 11. Gregory cut the Gordian knot by decreeing that Oct. 5 of that year should be counted as Oct. 15. To the question, What is time? We may give the answer, duration, as measured by the solar system. For everyday purposes and artificial di visions mechanical contrivances are necessary. The first method of measuring time, as far as we know, was by means of the obelisk. The pyramids of Egypt very probably answered the same pur pose, Josephus states that Moses erected, at Heliopolis, in Egypt, a pil lar for such purposes. “The cloudy pillar” that accompanied the Israel ites in their forty years' wanderings in the wilderness, and which was a “pil lar of fire by night,” most likely an swered the same purpose. Pliny states that an obelisk, now on the Thames embankment in I^ondon. and known as “Cleopatra's Needle,” was erected by Mesophres about B. C. 1700, likely for similar uses. We all know, l hope, the reference in the Bible to the sun dial of Ahaz, about B. C. 740. Accord ing to St. Jerome, who revised the old 1 ^atin Blhle into what is called the Vulgate Version of the Holy Scrip —.— VIP Vw M tures. It was a pillar erected near a flight of steps (translated degrees in the English Bible). Berosus was tho first to construct a sundial proper, In B. C. 540—the first recorded in pro fane history. But sundials are only useful when the sun shines: hence some other measures of time became a necessity. The Egyptians were successful in in venting such a contrivance. They called it the Clepsydra (kleps, to steal, and hudor, water), by which time was measured by a continuous flow of water at a uniform motion. The Clepsydra is first mentioned by Empedocles, who flourished in the fifth century before Christ. It was brought to a high degree of perfec tion by a philosopher of Alexandria, named Ctesebius, and continued down to the invention of clocks, probably in the fourteenth century. Watches fol lowed in due course, till they have become an almost necessary requisite of everyday use. Most people are under the impres sion that the rotation of the earth has never varied from one complete turn in twenty-four hours. But this is an error. The motions of both earth and moon have not been invariable. There Aas a time when the lunar month was twenty-nine days instead of twenty-seven, as it now is (Sir R. Ball: Time and Tide). The synodical month, therefore, was between thirty and thirty-one days. (A synodical month is the interval from one new moon to the next.) So that primitive man. reckoning the month as a synodi cal period, or lunation, may not have been so inaccurate as we in our su perior wisdom imagine. Going back from this epoch to the infancy of the moon, we come to a time when the day and month were of equal duration—about four hours each! Going forward to the old age of the earth, we come to an epoch when the day and month are again equal. But this time, instead of being four hours each, they will be 1,400 hours. Just think of it! One day last ing 1,400 hours! When the day will equal fifty-eight of our present days, what will be the length of the year? But we must not stop at a 1,400-hour day. Going still forward in the far-off future, we come to a time when the face of the earth will be always turned to the sun, as the moon's face is now turned to the earth, and as she will continue to be. Then there will be a perpetual day, for the sun shall never set, literally fulfilling the W’ords of the prophet: “Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw Itself.” (Is. lx: 20.) The romance of time! How it fascinates! The new year has been observed with festive rejoicings from remotest antiquity. Its celebration by religious, as well as secular observances, pre vailed generally among the nations of antiquity. And Egyptians, Hindus. Chinese, Persians, Jews, Romans and Mohammedans, although differing widely as to the time from which they reckon the new year, all regard it with especial interest of a joyous kind. In olden Roman times the new year, which began In March, w'as inaugurat ed by a festive procession, with the priests of Mars carrying the sacred shield before the people. The people wished each other good health and prosperity and exchanged presents. The Chinese begin the year at the Vernal equinox, and make it one of the most splendid festivals. Ail classes mingle together, and unite in thanksgiving for mercies received and prayers for a genial season and good crop. With the Hindus the first day of the new year is sacred to Ganesa, the god cf wisdom, to whom kids and wild deer are sacrificed amid illumina tions and rejoicings. Among the mountainous tribes a hufTalo ii sac rificed before vast multitudes of peo nl o In ancient Persia prisoners were liberated and offenders pardoned. The Persian new year much resembled the Sabbothical year of the Jews. The Sabeans held a grand festival on the day the sun entered Arus, one of the signs of the Zodiac. Priests and people marched to the temples and sacrificed to the planetary gods. In the British Isles the Druids be gan the year on March 10th, with tiie solemn ceremony of cutting the mis tletoe from the sacred oak. On that day two white bulls were tied by the horns. When a Druid, clothed in white robes, mounted the tree and cut off the mistletoe, after which the sacri fices were offered. The Mexicans on new year's day adorned their houses and temples and engaged in various religious cere monies. On such occasion human sacrifice was offered to propitiate the gods. In modern times it is also an occa sion of social rejoicing and inter change of courtesies. In England, under old style, the year began on March 25. On the change of date to Jan. 1, great opposition was offered by the people generally. Many really believed they were being deprived of eleven years of their existence. Rev. F. P. Duffy, Secretary Ameri can Church Bible Institute. Itavcnswood, Illinois. AS THE WORLD f REVOLVES | REV. BROOKE HEREFORD DEAD. Was Among the Most Prominent of Unitarian Divines. Announcement was made at Boston last week of the death in London of Rev. Brooke Hereford, D. D., at one time pastor of the Church of the Mes siah in Chicago. Dr. Hereford was pastor of the Rossiyn Hill Chapel, l,on don, and was born in England in 1830. As a Unitarian preacher he attained the highest place and was regarded as a very pillar of strength to that de nomination. His career in Boston, when he was in charge of the Arling ton Street Church, will long be remem bered for the splendid work he did. Rev. Brooke Hereford arose to prominence in the Unitarian church in England, and from Manchester he was called to Chicago in 1876, taking charge of the Church of the Messiah. He remained in that city until 1882, when he went to Boston to fill the pul pit of the Arlington Street Church, where he was regarded as one of the j foremost ministers of the city. For ten years he remained in Boston, and then accepted a call from his native land, taking a pastorate in Hampstead, London. Dr. Hereford was a writer as well as a pulpiteer, and was the author of three books, “The Life Story of Tra vers Madge,” “Sermons of Courage and Cheer” and “The Forward Move ment in Religious Thought as Inter preted by Unitarians.” Some years ago Dr. Hereford returned to this country to attend the national con ference of the Unitarians in Wash ington. At that time he spent nearly two months in Boston and other Mas sachusetts cities. ROMANCE REVEALED BY DEATH. New York Recluse Leaves Money to Unknown Daughter. Alpheus D. Dubois, for fifty-three years principal of a public school in New York city, died the other day after leading the life of a recluse for many years. It was then learned that he was worth about $500,000. The pe tition for probate of will sets forth that a widow, Julia Dubois, survives him, and there Is this strange clause in the will: “I give and bequeath to my daughter, Ivy Blanche, married, name and residence unknown, $10, 000.” No reference whatever is made in the will to the widow. Two sisters living in New York are made residu ary legatees, but they refuse to give any information regarding the old man's romance. BRIDE FOR SPANISH KING. Youthful Bavarian Princess Said to Have Been Selected. According to the Spanish news papers a project Is on foot for the mar riage of King Alfonso to his cousin. Princess Marie del Pilar of Bavaria. The princess, who is 13 years old, is /&M2 PISTOL CARTRIDGES. I I “ It s ,he shots that hit that count‘ ” Winchester l__—J Rifle and Pistol Cartridges in all calibers hit, that is, HII they shoot accurately and strike a good, hard, pene trating blow. This is the kind of cartridges you will get, f ^ if you insist on having the time-tried Winchester make. 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