n life became shorter, time consequently became more
valuable and men were more anxious to measure it.

I want to show you how to measure time, and what makes it valuable; for
David asked to be taught properly to number his days; and the purpose
was so that he might apply his heart unto wisdom.

Now, this watch and this clock are instruments with which we measure
time. Once there was a king who desired not to forget that, like other
men, he must die, and he had a man whose duty it was to come before him
each hour and repeat the words: "Remember thou art mortal!" That is,
every hour he had this man remind him that sometime he would have to
die. Each time the man came in before the king, he was reminded that he
had one hour less to live; so, each and every time that you hear the
clock strike, you should be reminded of the fact that another hour has
passed, and that you have one less to live. In this sense every clock
has a tongue, and when it strikes it tells us that we will now have one
hour less to live upon the earth.

[Illustration: Hour-glass.]

The earliest device for measuring time was doubtless the sun-dial.
Perhaps you have never seen one. It is simply a round plate or disc of
metal, with a small piece of metal standing upright in such a position
that when the sun shines, the shadow will be thrown upon the round
cylinder or disc, around which are figures like those on the face of a
watch or clock. Such methods of measuring time we know were used at
least seven hundred and thirteen years before Christ, for in the book of
Isaiah, thirty-eighth chapter and eighth verse, we find a very direct
allusion to it. King Alfred of England used to use candles that were of
uniform length; each candle would burn three hours, and by burning four
candles, one after another, he could measure the hours of the day. In
order to prevent the air from blowing against the candle and thus making
it burn more rapidly or interfering with its accuracy in measuring time,
he placed a horn or shield around it, and in the old cathedrals this was
the way they measured time. Later on they had hour glasses, such as you
sometimes see placed on the piano when girls are practicing their music
lesson. Sometimes you see small ones in the kitchen, which are used for
timing the eggs while they are boiling, and it is to these forms of
glasses that various poetical allusions are made when death is spoken of
as the "sands of life" running out.

[Illustr