Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-10-27

The mathematics of the Bible is noticeable,
the geometry and the arithmetic; the square
in Ezekiel the circle spoken OF in Isaiah; the
curve alluded to in Job; the rule of fractions
mentioned in Daniel; the rule of loss and
gain in Mark, where Christ asks the people to
cipher out by that rule whatit would 'protlt
a man if he gain the whole world anu lose
his own soul. But there is one mathematical
figure that is crowned above all others IN
the Bible it is the mineral seven, whicn
the Arabians got from india ana an loiiow
ing ages have taken from the AraoianS lt
stands between the figure six and the figure
eight. In the Bible, all the other numerals
bow to it.
Over three hundred times is it mentioned
in the Scriptures, either alone or compounded
with other words. Ia Genesis the week Is
rounded into seven lays, and use my text
because there this numeral is for the first
introduced in q journey which haltS not I'M
til in the close of the Book Of Revelations its
monument is built into the wall OF heaven III
crysolite, which III the strata OF precious
stones is the seventh. In the Bible we lind
that Jacob had to serve seven years to get
Rachael, but she was we'll worth 1t; and
foreteling the years of prosperity and fam
inc i'll Pharaohs time the seven fat oxen
were eaten up of the seven lean oxen; and
wisdom is SAID to be built on seven pillars;
and the ark was left with the Phillistines
seven years; and Naamau for the cure of his
leprosy plunged in the Jordan seven times;
the dead child, when Elisha breathed. into
its mouth, signaled its arrival back into
consciousness by sneezilg seven times; to the
house that EzsSe} saw in vision there we're
seven stepSSsShe walls of Jericho before they
feeaadissdown were comprised seven days;
describes q stone with seven eyes;
Sto ceanse leprous house the door must oe
snrinEled with pigeons blood seven times;
in Canaan were overthrow seven nations;
on one occasion Christ cast out seven devils;
on n mountain he fed a multitude OF people
with seven loaveS the fragments left filling
seven baskets: and the closing passages OF
the Bible are magnificent and overwhelming
with the imagery made up OF seven churcneS'
seven stars, seven cIndleStckS. seven seals,
seven angels, and seven heads, and seven
CROWDS and seven horns. and seven spirits,
and seven vialS, and seven plaques, and seven
thunders.
Yea. this numeral seven seems favor
lite with the Divine mind outside rs well rs
inside the Bible, for are there not seven pris-
matte coors? And when God with the rain
iow wrote the comforting thought that the
world would never have another deuge he
wrote it on the scroll of the sky in ink OF
seven colors. He grouped into the P!elades
seven stars Rome, the capital OF the
world, sat on seven hills. When God
would make the most intelligent thing on
earth, the human countanance. He fash
ions it with seven featureS-the two ears, the
two ewes the two noStrlls and the mouth.
Yea. our body lasts only seven years, and
we gradually shed it for another body alter
another seven years. and so ON, for we are,
as to our bodies. septennial animals 80 the
numeral seven ranges through nature and
through revelation. 1t is the num- er of
perfection, and so l use it while | speak of
the seven caudlestcks. the seven stars, the
seven seals and the seven thunderS.
The seven golden candlest:cks were and are
the churches. Mark you, the churches never
were, and never can be, candles. They are
hut they are to hold the light. a room III
the night might have in it five hundred can
dlesticks, and vet You could not see your
hani before your face. The only use of u
candlestick, and the only use of q church, is
to hold up the light You see it is dark
world, the night of sim the night of trouble,
tie night of superstition, the night OF perSe.
cution, the night of poverty. the night of
sickness. the night of death; aye. about fifty
nights have interlocked their shadows. The
whole race goes stumbling over Frustrated
hopes and fallen fortunes, and empty
flour barrels. and desolated cradles. and death
beds Oh. how much we have use for all the
seven candlesticks, with lights blazing. from
the top of each one OF them. Light OF par
don for all sin. Light OF comfort for all
trouble. Light of encouragement for all
despondency. Light of eternal riches for
all poverty! Light of rescue for all perSecu
tion Light of reunion for all the bereft
Light of heaven for all the dying, And that
light is Christ. who is the the Light that
shall yet irradiate the hemispheres. Rut
mark You. when say churches are not can
dies, but candlesticks, cast no slur on can
dlesticks.
/ believe in beautiful candlesticks The
candlesticks that God ordered for the ancient
tabernacle were something exquisite. They
were q dream of beauty carved out of lowell
ness They were made of hammered gold,
stood in q foot of gold and had six branches
of gold blooming al along in six lilies OF gold
each. and lips of gold from which the candles
lifted their holy fire. And the best houses in
anv city ought to be the churches-the best
built, the lest ventilated, the best swept, the
hist windowed and the best chandeliered.
where most of the people live i'll log
cabins; but let there be palaiial churches
for regions where many OF the PEG
pie live in palaces. Do not have n better
place for yourself than for your Lord and
King. Do not live in parlor and put your
Christ in kitchen. These seven candeSticks
of which speak were not made out of pew
ter or iron; they were golden candlesticks
and gold is not only valuable ';:t bright
metal Have everything about your church
brieht-your ushers with smiling faces, your
music jubiant, your hand shaking cordial,
your entire service attractive. Many people
feel that in church they must look dull in
faces in other kinds of assemblage show al
the different phases OF emotion,
have in church no more expression than
the back wheel Of q hearse Brighten up and
be responsive. If you feel like weeping,
weep. If You feel like smiling. smile. If
YOU feel indignant at some wrong asSailed
from the pulpit frown. Do not leave your
naturalness and reSiliencv home because it is
Sunday morning Ii as officers Of a church
you meet people at the church door with
black look, and have the music black, and
the minister in black preach a black sermon,
and from Invocation to henediction have the
impression black, few will ONE and those
who do come will wish they had not come at
all.
Golden c~ndlesticks. Scour up the six
lilies on each branch and know that the more
lovely and bright they are, the more tit they
are to hold the li.ht But CEristIess church
is a damage to the world rather than good.
Crom well stabbed his cavalry horses i'll st
Paufs Cathedral, and many now Use the
church as q place in which to stable their
vanities and worldliness. A worldly church
is a candestick without the candle, and it
had its prototype in st. Sophia, in Con-
stantinop!e. built to the glory God by Con-
stantine. but transformed to base uses by
Mohammed the Sc, ond Built out of colored
dows soaring to the height OF $50 feet;
the ceiling one great bewiltlerment of
mosaic; galleries supported by eight columns
of porphyry and sixty-seven columns of
green jasper; nine bronze doors with alto
relievo-work fascinating to the eye of any
artist; vases and vestmeEts encrusted with
all manner Of precious stones. -Four walls
on fire with indescribable splendor. Though
labor was cheap the building cost one million
five hundred thousand dollars Eco EST
astical structure almost supernatural in
pomp and majesty. But Mohammedanisn
tore down from the walls Of that
building all the sanity Christian images, and
high up in the dome tho figure of the cross
was rubbed out that the crescent of the bar
barous Turk might be substituted. A great
church but no Christi A gorgeous candle
stick hut no candle, Ten thousand such
churches would not give the world as much
1iehtns one homemade tallow candle by which
list night some grandmother in the eighties
put OF her spectacles and read the Psalms of
David in large TYNE In with the churches