The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-11-02
SEVEN IN THE BIBLE.
Dr.. Telmage ON the Notable Scrip.
turA Combinations.
Seven In Many Observation-Disclosures the
Candlesticks and Ministers the Stars
Scroll With Seven Seals The
Seventh Precious Stone.

able, 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
what it would profit man if he gain the
whole world and lose his SOUL" But there
Is one mathematical figure that is crowned
above all others in the B. BILE; it is the nu-
neral seven, which the Arabians got from
India and all following ages have taken
from the Arabians. 1t 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 COM
pounded with other words. In Genesis
the week is rounded into seven DAYS. and
use my text because there this numeral
is for the first time introduced in journey
which halts not until in the close OF the
Book of Revelations its monument is built
into the wall of Heaven in crysolite which
in the strata CT precious stones is the
seventh.
In he Bible we find that Jacob had to
serve seven years to get Rachel, but she
was we'll worth it, and foretelling the years
of prosperity and famine in Pharaoh's
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 Philistines seven years !;
and Naaman for the cure of his leprosy
plunged in the Jordan seven times; the
dead child, when Elisha breathed into his
mouth, signaled his arrival back into con-
sciousness by sneezing seven times; to the
house that Ezekiel saw in the vision there
were seven steps; the walls of Jericho be-
fore they fell down were compassed seven
days; Zachariah describes stone with
seven eyes: to cleanse a leprous house the
door must be sprinkled with pigeons blood
seven times; in Canaan were overthrown
seven nations: on one occasion Christ cast
out seven devils; on a 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 churches.
seven stars, seven candlesticks, seven
seals, seven angels. and seven heads, and
seven crowns, and seven horns. and seven
spirits, and seven vials. and seven plaques,
and seven thunders. Yea. this numeral
seven seems a favorite with the Divine
mind outside as well as inside the Bire.
for are there not seven prismatic colors?
And when God with the rainbow wrote
the comforting thought that the world
would never have another deluge, He
wrote it on the scroll of the skv in ink of
seven colors. He grouped INTO the Pleiades
seven stars. Rome, the capital of the
world. sat on seven hills. When God
would make the most intelligent thing on
earth, the human countepance, He fashions
it with seven features-two ears. the two
ewes. the two nostrils and the mouth. Yea,
our body lasts only seven years, and we
gradually shed it for another body after
another seven years, and SO on, for we
are, as to our bodies septennial animals.
So the numeral seven ranges through ma
ture and through revelation. 1t is the
number of perfection. and so use it while
l speak of the seven cand esticks, the
seven stars, the seven seals and the seven
thunders. The seven golden candIesticks
We're and are the churches. Mark you,the
churches never were and never can be
candies. They are only candle-ticks
They are not the light, but they are to
tue light.
And the best houses in any city ought to
be the churches-the best built, the best
ventilated. the best swept. tue best win
lowed and the best chanieliered. Log
cabins may do in neighborhoods where
most OF the people live in log cabins, but
let there be pala ial churches for regions
where many of the people live in palaces.
Do not have a a better place for yourself
than for your Lord and King. Don live
in a parlor and put your Christ in
tchen. These seven candlesticks of
which | speak were not made out OF pew
ter or iron: they were golden candlesticks
and gold is not only valuable but
bright metal. Have every thing about
your church bright-your ushers with
smiling faces, your music jubilant, your
landshaking cordial your entire service
attractive. Many people feel that in church
hey must leok duh in order to be rever-
initial and many whose faces in other |
kinds OF assemblages show all the differ |
snt phases of emotion have in church no |
more expression than the back wheel of a !
aearse. Brighten up and be responsive. If |
: on feel like weeping, weep. Ii you feel !
ike smiling, smile. Ii YOU feel indignant |
n some wrong assailed from the pulpit, !
rown- Do not leave your naturaipess !
md resiliency home because it ia SUNDAY |
morning. II as officers of a church YOU |
meet people at the church door with |
black look, and have the music black and |
he minister IN black preach a black SER
non, and from invocation to benediction |
lave the impression black. few will come,
md those who do come will wish they had |
lot come at all. Golden candlesticks, /
,cour up the six lilies on each branch and |
NOW that the more lovely and bright they
IT, the more fit they are to hold the light. /
But Christless church is a damage to
he world rather than good. Cromwell |
tabled his cavalry horses in ST. PauI's
and many now use the church
Is place in which 20 stable their vanities
nd world,iness. A worldly church is a
andlestick without the candle, and it had
IS prototype in St Sophia in Constanti-
ople, built to the glory of God and Con-
tantire, but transformed to base uses by
aohammed the Second. Built out of coll
red marble, a cupola with twenty four
windows soaring to the height Of IsJ feet
he ceiling one great bewildermens of
nosaic. galleries supported by eight col.
INNS of porphyry and si1ty-seven coll
INNS Of green jasper, nine bronze
oors with alto-relievo-work fascinat-
ng to the eye of any artist, vases and
estments incrusted with all manner OF
recious stones. Four walls on fire with
spiendor. Though labor was
heap the building cost SI.5O0,0OO Ec-
iesiastical structure almost supernatural
D poulp and majesty. But Mohaamedan-
sm tore down from the walls of that
uilding all the sanity and Christiy i'm
geS, and high up IN the dome the figure
( the cross was rubbed out that the cres-
ent of the barbarous Turk might be sub
tituted. A great church but no Chr It.
| gorgeous candIestick but no candleI
en- thousand such churches would not
i've the world as much light as one home
,ade tallow candle by which last night
ome grandmo- her in the eighties put On
er spectacies and read theP .alns of David