St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-09-18
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse ON the Inevitable Sc
ouences ofGood and EvilDeeds.
Circles as the Type of Perfection-Ali
Things Moving in Orbits, e Depa rturs
frenl which Means Rufn--The
Nemesis of Sin.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in a recent
sermon at ''The Hamptons" chose for his
subject t'The Sequences of Good and Evil
Deeds" taking for his text:
tits he that stitch upon the circle of the
earth.-Isaiah XII, q.
While yet people thought that Tx -yorld
was fat, and thousands Of years before
they found out that it was round, Isaiah
In my text iutimated the shape of it, God
sitting upon the circle of the earth. The
most beautiful figure in all geometry is the
circle. God made the universe on the
plan of circle. There are in the natural
world straight lines, angles, parallelo-
grams, diagonals, quadrangles; but these
evidently are not Gods favorites. Almost
everywhere where you find him geometriz-
ing you find the circle dominant, and If
not the circle then the curve, which is
circle that died young. If it had lived
long enough it would have been full orb,
a periphery. An ellipse is circle pressed
only a little too hard at the Sides
Giants Causewav in Ireland shows
what God thinks of mathematics.
There are over thirty-five thousand
col umns of rocks-octagonal, hexagonal,
pentagonai. These rocks seem to have
been made by rule and by compass. Every
artist has his moiding room where he may
make fifty shapes, but he chooses one shape
as preferable to all others. I will not say
that the Giants Causeway was the
worlds molding room, but do say out of
a great many figures God seems to have
selected the circle as the best.
It is He that stitch on the circle of the
earth.
The stars in circle, the moon in cir
Gle, the sun in circle, the universe in a
circle, and the throne of God the center of
that circle.
When men build churches they ought to
initiate the idea of the great Architect and
put the audience in circle, knowing that
the tides of emotion roll more easily that
way than in straight lines. Six thousand
years ago God flung this world out of his
right hand; but He did not throw it out in
q straight line but curvilinear, with lease
of love holding it SO as to bring it back
again. The world started from His hand
pure and Edenic. 1t has been rolling on
through regions of moral ice and distem-
per. How long it viii roll God only
knows; but 1t will in due time make COM
piete circuit and come back to the place
where it started-the hand Of God, pure
and Edenic.
The history Of the world goes on In a
circle. Why is IL the shipping in our day
is improving SO rapidlyr It is because
men are initiating the old model of Noah's
A ~,sv &ho%
opinion. Although SO much derided by
small wits, that ship of Noah's time beat
the Etruria and the Germanic, of which
we boast SO much. Where is the ship on
the sea to-day that could outride defuge
I'm which the heaven and the earth were
wrecked, landing all the passengers in
safety, two of each kind of living crea-
lures, thousands OF species? Pomology
will go on with its achievements until
after many centuries the world will have
plums and pears equal to the Paradisai-
cal. The art of gardening will grow for
centuries, and after the Downings and
Mitchells of the world have done their
best, In the far future the art of garden
ing will come up to the arbsrescene Of the
year /. If the makers of colored glass go
pn improving they may in some centuries
be able to make something equal to the
sast window of Yorkminster, which was
built in 1890. We are six centuries behind
those artists, but the world must keep on
toiling until it shall make the complete
circuit and come up to the skill of those
very men. If the world continues to inn
prove in masonry we shall have after
awhile, perhaps after the advance of CEN
suries, mortar equal to that which
burned English city, built in
the time Of the Romans, 1900 years ago
that mortar to-day as good as the day in
which it was made, having outlasted the
brick and the stone. say, after hun
areds ofyears, masonry may advance to
that point. If the world stands long
enough we may have a city as large as
hey had in old times. Babylon, five
times the size Of London. You go into the |
potteries Of England and you find them
making cups and vases after the style Of |
she cups and vases exhumed from Pom |
oeii. The world is not going back. Oh, |
no! but it Is swinging in circle and will
come back to the styles of pottery known |
70 long ago as che days of Pompeii. The |
world must keep on progressing until it |
makes the complete circuit. The curve is
b the right direction. The curve viii |
Keep on until it becomes circle.
Well, now, my friends, what is true in |
he material universe is true in Gods |
noral government and spiritual arrange
nent. That is the meaning of Ezekiel's |
wheel. All commentators agree in saying |
hat the wheel means Gods providence. |
But wheel is of no use unless it turn, and |
{ it turn around it moves in circle. What |
hen Are we parts of a great iron machine
whirled around whether we will or not.
he victims of memorable fatel So far |
!, ON that I shall show you that |
va ourselves start the circle of good or