National Republican., 1886-08-30

7. Dewitt Talmage's text to-day was:
Isaiah xl, 22. "It is He that sitteth upon
the circle Of the earth" Following is the
sermon:
While yet people thought that the world
was fat, and thousands OF years before they
found out that IL was round, Isaiah In my
text intimated the shape Of 1t, 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, parallelograms,
diagonals, quadrangles; but these evidently
are not Gods favorltes. Almost every
where where you find Him geometrlzing
you find the circle dominant, and II not the
circle then the curve, which Is o circle that
died young. II 1t had lived long enough It
would have been full orb, a periphery,
An ellipse is a circle pressed only little
ireland shows what God thinks OF mathe-
matics. There are over thlrty-0ve thousand
columns OF rocks--octagonal, heXagonal,
pentagonal. These rocks seem to have
been made by rule and by compass. Every
artist has his molding room, where he may
make fifty shapes, but he chooses one
shape as preferable to all the others. l
will not say that the Giants Causeway was
the worlds moldlng room, but do say,
out Of great many figures God seems to
have selected the circle as the best at is
He that sitteth on the circle OF the earth"
The stars in circle, the moon In a circle,
the sun In circle. the universe In q 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 aud
put the audience In circle, knowing that
the tides Of emotion roll more easily that
way than in straight lines. Six thousand
n,,1 a., a,tN ,,f Ia
right hand; but he did not throw Ii out In
straight line, but curvilinear, with leash
OF love, holding 1t so as to bring 1t 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 II will roll God only knows;
hut 1t Will In due time make complete cir
cult, and come back to the place where 1t
started-the hand Of God, pure and Edenic.
The history Of the world goes In o circle.
Why is 1t that the shipping In our day is
improving so rapldly9 1t is because men
are initiating the old model Of Noah's ark.
A ship carpenter gives that as his opinion.
Although so much derided by small wits,
that ship Of Noah's time beat the Etrurla
and the Germanic, OF which we boast so
much. Where is the ship on the sea to-day
that could outrlde deluge In which
the heaven and earth were wrecked,
landing all the passengers in safety, two
Of each kind of living, creatures,
thousands Of species. Pomology will go
on with its achievements until, after
many centuries, the world will have plums
and pears equal TO the Paradisiacal. The
art Of gardening will grow for centu-
rles, and after the Downings and Mitchells
Of the world have done their best, In the
far future the art Of gardening will come up
to the arborescence OF the year one. If the
makers Of colored glass go on improving
they may in some centuries be able to make
something equal to the east window of York
Minister, which was built In 1900. We are
six centuries behind those artists but the
world must keep on toiling until 1t shall
make the complete circuit and come up to
the skill OF those very men. II the world
continues to improve In masonry we shall
have after while, perhaps after the ad-
vance Of centuries, mortar equal to that
which saw in the wall Of an exhumed En-
gllsh city, built in the time Of the Romans,
1000 years ago--that mortar to-day as good
as the day In which 1t was made, having
outlnsted the brick and the stone. / say,
after hundreds OF years masonrymayadvance
to that point. II the world stands long
enough we may have city as large as they
had in old times. Babylon, five times the
size Of London. You go into the potteries
Of England and you find them making cups
vases exhumed from Pompei. The world
is not going back. oh, no, but 1t is swing
ing in circle and will come back to the
styles Of pottery known so long ago as the
days Of Pompeii. The world must keep on
progressing until 1t makes the complete
circuit. The curve is In the right direction.
The curve will keep on until 1t becomes
circle. -
Well, now, my friends, what is true in the
material universe is true In Gods moral
government and spiritual arrangement.
That is the meaning OF Ezekiel's wheel. All
commentators agree in saying that the
wheel means Gods providence. But o
wheel is Of no use unless 1t turn, and II II
turn 1t turns around, and II II turn around
IL moves In circle What then? Are we
parts of great iron machine whirled around
whether we will or not, the victims of In
exorable fatep No. SO far from that
shall show you that we ourselves start the
circle of good or bad actions, and that 1t
will surely come around again to us unless
by divine interyentlonit It be hindered. Those
bad or good actions may make the circuit
OF many years, but come back to us they
will as certainly as that God sits on the
circle Of the earth. Jezebel, the worst
woman of the Bible, slew Naboth because
she wanted his vineyard. While the dogs
the prophet, put down his compass and
marked circle from those dogs clear
around to the dogs that should eat the body
Of Jezebel, the murderess. "Impossible %
the people said; "that will never happen.n
Who is that being flung out Of the palace
Window Jezebel. Afew hours after they
came around hoping to bury her. They
find only the palms Of her hands and the
skull. The dogs that devoured Jezebel and
the dogs that devoured Naboth Oh, what
swift, what an awful circuit
But 1t is sometimes the case that this
circle sweeps through the century, or
through many centuries. The world started
MI for ernu ants hat Ia
God was the president and emperor Of the
world. People got tired Of a theocracy. They
said: "We don't want God directly interfer-
ing with the affairs Of the world; give us a
monarchy" The world had a monarchy.
From monarchy 1t is going to have lin
tied monarchy. After while the limited
monarchy will be given up, and the repub-
lican form Of government will be every
where dominant and recognized. Then the
world will get tired OF the republican form
Of government, and 1t will have an anarchy,
which is no government at all. And then,
all nations finding out that man is not capa-
BILE of righteously governing man, will cry
out again for theocracy, and say: "Let
God come back and conduct the affairs of
the world" Every step-monarchy, lin
tied monarchy, republicanism, anarchy
only different steps between the first the
ocracy and the last theocracy, or segments
Of the great circle OF the earth on which
God sits.
But do not become impatient because you
cannot see the curve OF events, and there
fore conclude that Gods government is
going to break down. History tells us that
In the making of the Pyramids 1t took two
thousand men two years to drag one great
stone from the quarry and put 1t into the
Pyramids. Well, now, II men, short lived,
can afford to work SO slowly as that cannot
God In the building OF the eternitles afford
to waltz What though God should take
ten thousand years TO draw a circleY Shall
We take our little watch which we have to
wind up every night lest 1t run down and
hold 1t up beside the clock OF eternal agesY
II, according to the Bible, a thousand years