The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-22
BIBLICAL MATHEMATICS.
THE FIGURE SEVEN CROWNED
ABOVE ALL OTHERS.

tWenbieVH CldpUeC Oh INeVeldUlOns. COnceru-
ing the chaining of the old dragon. The
congregation joined in singing the familiar
hymn of Paul Gerhart, beginning
Give to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed."
DR.. TalmageS sermon was on "Seven in
the Bible" and his text Genesis H., %:
God blessed the seventh day" The preacher
said:
The mathematics of the Bible IS noticea-
BILE; the geometry aud 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 a man IL he gain the whole
world and lose his soul" But there is one
mathematical figure that is crowned above
all others in the Bible; it is the numeial
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 other
numerals bow 10 it. Over three hundred times
is 1t mentioned in the scriptures, either
alone or compounded with other words. In
Genesis the week is rounded into seven
days, ana use my text because there this
nuneral is for the first introduced in
journey which halts not until in the claIe
Of the Book of Revelations its monument
is built into the wall of heaven in
crysolite which 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 it; and fore
telling the years Of prosperity and famine
in Pharaoh's time, the seven tat oxen were
eaten up of the seven lean oxen; and wis
dom 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
its mouth, signalled its arrival back into
consciousness by sneezing seven times; to
the house that Ezekiel saw in
vision there were seven steps;
the walls of Jerico, before they
fell down were compassed seven days; Zach
ariah describes a stone with seven eyes; to
cleanse a leprous house the door must be
sprinkled with pigeons blood seven times;
in Canaan were oyerthrown 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 oyerwhelm-
ing with 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
Yea, this numeral seven seems favorite
with the divine mind, outside as well as
inside the Bible, for are there not seven
pris uatic colorsl 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 sky
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 countenance, he fashions
it with seven features-the two ears, the
two eyes. the two nostrils and the mouth
Yea, our body lasts only seven years, and
we gradually shed ii 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 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 thtnders.
The seven golden candlesticks were and
are the churches. Mark you, the churches
never were, and never can be, candles.
They are only candlesticks. They are not
the light but they are to hold the light. A
room in the night might have in 1t five hun
dred candlesNcks, and yet you could not
see your hand before your face. The only
use of candlestick, and the only use of
church, is to bold up the light. You see 10
is dark world, the night OF sin, the night
of trouble, the night of superstition, the
night of persecution, 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 prostrated hopes and fallen
fortunes, and empty -four barrels, and
desolated cradles, and death beds. oh, how
much we have use for all the seven candle
sticks, with lights blazing from the top of
each one Of themi Light of pardon for all
sini Light OF comfort for all troubled
Light Of encouragement for all despond-
encyl Light of eternal riches for all
povertyl Light Of rescue for ali persecu-
tioni Light of reunion for all the berefti
Light Of heaven for all the dyingl And
iisht inas nfRs that sSal l yst @n0 irradiaes sas
the hemispberes. But mark you, when
say churches are not candles, but candle-
sticks, / cast no slur on candlesticks. be-
lieve in beautiful candlesticks. The candle-
sticks that God ordered for the ancient
tabernacle were something exquisite. They
were a dream of beauty carved out of love-
illness. They were made Of hammered gold,
stood in foot of gold and had six branches
of gold blooming all along in six lilies OF
gold each, and lips OF gold from which the
candles lifted their holy fire. And the best
houses in any city ought TO be the churches
tho best built, the best ventilated, the
DeSt swept, Inc DeSb WlnuOWeu ana Inc DtS6
chandeliered Log cabins may do in neigh
borhoods where most of the people live in
log cabins; but let there be paletial
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 n parlor and put your Christ in q
kitchen. These seven candlesticks OF which
speak were not made out of pewter or
iron; they were golden candlesticks, and
gold was not only valuable but a brighti
metal. Have everything about your church
bright-your ushers with smiling faces.
your music jubilant, your hand-shalking
cordial, your entire service attractive.
Many people feel that in church they must
look dull in order TO be reverential. and
many whose faces in other kinds of assem-
blage show all the different phases Of emo
tion, have in church no more expression
than the back wheel OF hearse brighten
up and be responsive. II you feel like weep-
ing. weep. IL you feel like smiling, smile.
IL you feel indignant at some wrong as.
sailed from the pulpit, frown. Do not leave
your naturalness and resiliency home bo.
cause 1t 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 q
black sermon, and from invocation TO BEN
ediction have the impression black, few
will come, and those who do come will wish
they had not come at ALL
Golden candlosticksl scour up the sfx