The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-11-01
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Toe Mystic Number, Seven, as It
Appears in the Bible.
The Mathematics of the sacred Volume =
All the Numerals How to the Figure
Seven The Sewn Mighty
Gifts of God to Man.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, In recent
sermon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, toUk
for his subject ''S1vsr ih the Bible" His
] text was,
| God h,essc1 the seventh day.
TIE matheinatics % the Biblc is notice.
ablei the geometry and the arithmetic,
! tne square in Ezekiel; the circle spoken
! of in Isaiah; the curve allua ii 10 in Job;
the rule of fractions me ltion6d in Haniel,
the rule Of loss and gain N Marx, where
| Christ asked the people TO cipher out by
that rule what 1t would profit q man il
| ho gain the whole world aud lose his
soul" But there is one mathem aticel
figure that is crowned above all others in
the Bible; it is the mineral sever. phSeN,
| the Arabians got from india and all fol-
| lowing AGES have 'aken from the Ara.
bian. 1t stands between the figure six
| and the fghTe 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. In Genesis the week
is rounded into seven days, and use my
| text because there this mineral S fcs the
| first introduced Ia tourney whlch halts
| not until in the close OF the Book of Rev
elations its monument is built into the
wall OF Heaven in crysoliter @kiGh
| in the strata of precious stones is the
| seventh In the bible we find that Jacob
| had to serve seven years to get
Rachel, but she WAS well worth il, aud
| toretelling the years of prosperity arH
| famine in Pharaoi's time the seven fat
oxen were eaten mp nt tie seven lean
oxen; and wisdom Is said to be o1ilt on
seven pillars: ana the ark vas LETT with
the PhIllStines seven years; aud Naaman
for the cure of his leprosy plunged In the
Jordan seven times; the dead child when
Elisha breathed into Its moHth,
siSnalcd its arrival back into
consciousness by sneezing sefer
times; to The house that vi 3aIiel saw in
| vision there were seven steps; the walls of
Jericho aesofe they fell down were CON-
passed seven days; ZAchariah describes
stone with seven eyes; to cleanse lep-
rous house the door must be sprinkled
with pigeons blood seven tlmes: in Ca.
uaan were overthrown seven nations; on
one occasion Christ cast out seven devils;
ON mountain He fed a multitude of peo.
pie with seven loaves, tho fragments left
filling seven baskets: and the closing
passages of the Bible are magnificent and
overwhelming with the imagery made up
candlesticks. seven seals, seven Angels,
and seven he ads, and seven crowns, and
seven horns, and seven walls, and seven
plaques, and sevon thunders.
Yea, this numorai seven seems a favor
ite with the Divine mina outside as we'll
as inside the Bible for are there not
seven prismatic oolors? And when God
"ith the rainbow wrote the comforting
thought that the world would never have
smother deiuge, He wrote 1t on the scroll
of the sky in i4k Of seven colors. He
grouped into tho Plciade3 seven stars.
Rome, the capital of the world, sat on
seven hills. When GOl would make the
most intelligent thing on earth, the hui
man COuutenalce, ii fashions ii with
seven featuCes-the two ears, the two eyes,
the two nostrils and tho mouth. Yea,
our body lasts only seven years, and we
gradually she'd it for another body after
another seven years, and so on, for we
are. q; to our bodies, septennial animals.
So the numeral seven ranges through
nature and through revelation. 1t is the
number of perfection, and SO | use it
while | speak OF the seven candlesticks,
the seven stars, the seven seals and the
seven thunders.
The seven golden candlesticks were and
are the Churches. Mark you, the churches
never were and never can be candles.
They ara only candlcsticks. They are
not the light, but they are to hold the
light. room in the night might have in
it five hundred candlesticks, and yet you
could not see your hand before your face.
The only use of candlestick and the
only use of a church. Is to hold up the
light. You sea it is a dark world, the
nil np Sir ha i,yhE nP tPnI "a
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 interlockel their
shadows. The whole race goes stumbling
over Frustrated hopes and fallen fort
unes, and emrty -four barrels, and DESC
lated cradles, aud death beds. Oh, how
much we have use for all the seven can
dlesticks, with ii yAts blazing from the
top of each one Of them. Light of pardon
for all sin. Light oe comfort for all
trouble. Light Of encouragem ent for all
dependency. Light of eternal riches for
all poverty. Light of rescue for all per-
secution. Light of reunion for all the be-
reft Light of Heaven for all the dying
And that light is Christ, who is the
light that shall yet irradiate the hemi-
spheres. But mark YOU when l say
churches are not candles, but CANDLE
sticks, cast no slur on candlesticks. l
believe in beautiful candlesticks. The
candlesticks which God ordered for the
ancient tabernacle were something ex-
quisite. They were dream of beauty,
carved out of loveliness. They were made
out of hammered gold, stood in foot of
gold aud had six branches OF gold bloom
ing all along in six lilies OF gold each and
Inns nf cold from which the candles lifted
their holy fire. And the best houses in any
city ought to be the churches-the best
t. 1t, the best ventilated, the best swept,
the best windowed and the best chande-
liered. Log cabins may do in neighbor-
hoods where most of the people live in
log ablns; but let their he palatial
churches for regions where many of the
people live in palaces. Do not have a
better place for yourself than for your
Lord and King Do not live in
parlor and put your Christ
in a kitchen. These seven can
dlesticks of which speak were not made
out Of pewter or iron; they were golden
candlesticks, and gold is not only valu-
able, but bright metal. Have every
thing about your church bright-your
ushers with smiling faces, your music
iubilant, your handshaking cordial, your
entire services attractive. Many people
feel that in church they must look dull in
order to be reverential, and many, whose
faces in other kinds of asse emblage, show
all the different phases OF emotion, have
in church no more expression than the
back wheel of a hearse. Brighten up and
be responsive. II you feel like weeping.
weep. If you feel like smiling smile.
II YOU feel Indignant at some wrong