San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-11-02
The Number Seven.

mia number seven has always been
lasad as number of special inn
rs .a~ce. or significance, the feeling
pOi 1S;s respect amounting sometimes
N u sr,,mverstition. And it is not to be
70 ''aored at when we consider the
wO "at events of. history and of life
si ga which this number is insepam-
VIZ connected. 1t is used in the Bible
etyouently as n symbol of mysterious
ib;qSs II was also thus used among
thn Srominent ancient nations, name;
u the Persians, Indians, Egyptians,
E,oeks. Romans, etc. 1t is said that
,he reason for this number being pre-
cured above others is that it consists
~ three. the sides of triangle, and
torr the sides of Il square. We can
nnt saw whether this is true. More
nnrobably it has an astronomical be-
rTnning, and if so then it may be es-
tablisbed in the order of things as a
snecial number by the Creator of the
stars. Thus there are seven planets
mot counting the earth), Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and NEPTUNE. The earth was made in
seven days, or seven periods of time,
and the seventh day was hallowed.
Every seventh year was sabbatical,
and the jobel year was ushered in by
fine seven times seventh year. There
we're three festivals which lasted seven
DAVIS each-passah, festivals of weeks
and tabemacles. Between the first
and second of these feasts were count
ed seven weeks. The first day of the
seventh month was q holy convoca-
ton. The days of publication, ac-
cording to the Levitical laws, were
seven. Seven days were allotted to
the celebrations of weddings and to
the mourning for the dead. A great
many articles alluded to in the old and
new testaments add to our interest in
this number. Thus we have seven
churches, seven stars, seven candle
sticks, seven spirits, seven trumpets
and seven horns, and seven eyes of
the lamb, The second time the dove
was sent out of the ark it was seven
DAYS after. the first time. Pharaoh
dreamed that he saw seven lean and
seven full ears of corn, seven lean and
seven fat kline. When Peter asked
the Savior how often he should forgive
one who sinned against him, whether
till seven times, Jesus answered:
81 say not unto thee, until seven
times, but until seventy times seven.
When we come to secular matters,
we find that the number seven was
held sacred by the Greeks to Apollo
and Dionysos, who, according to Or
phic legends, were torn into seven
pieces. Pythagoreans also made much
use of this number, calling it by vari-
GUS proper names, as Athene, Hermes,
Hephaistos, Heracles, the virgin I'M
begotten and unbegetting Il. e. not
obtained by multiplication, Dionysos
Rex, etc. So we have also the seven
sacraments, the seven free arts, the
seven wise men, and the seven dolores
of the blessed Virgin Mary, the latter
festival commemorative of the seven
Incidents in the life of the Virgin, in
stituted by Pope Benedict XIII in
1925. There were the seven sleepers,
the heroes of the celebrated legend.
Also the seven wonders of the world,
namely, the pyramids of Egypt, the
hanging gardens of Babylon, the tenn
pie of Diana at Ephesus, the statue of
Jupiter at Athens, the Mausoleum at
Halicalnasus, the Colossus at Rhodes
and the Pharos at Alexandria. We
also had the bloody seven years wal,
the seven wise men, and the seventh
day Baptists, and everybody knows, OF
course, that the seventh son of the
seventh son possesses certain marvel
Gus gifts and powers with which we
ordinary mortals have never been en-
lowed, and which we can only enjoy
in secondary way by having the
rheumatism or some other ailment
rubbed out of us by the magnetic
hand of one of these fortunate indlv1d-
uals.