The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-05-21
FACTS ABOUT FIGURES.
SOME OF THE REMARKABLE
STORIES THEY TELL.
Holding Important Places in All Relig-
ious History-Number Three Has
the Most Striking Record
..s-- ..- Man is Number One. ..

The whole world is looking out for
number one. It is very important
number, and is employed oftener than
any other. 1t is a component part of
every odd and even number, and is the
root and foundation of ali numbers.
There is one God and one heaven. We
have one heart and one soul, one life
and one death. Two is a number of
great utility and pre-eminence. The
Creator kept it in mind in many of his
works. He created man and all the
beasts in two sexes, and gave the
humans two eyes, two ears two nostrils,
two arms, two hands, two legs, two
feet and many other double members
OF utility to the body. Every one
knows the value of a pair of jacks in a
game OF poker. All the passions are
in pairs such as joy and sadness, hope
and fear, love and hate. Health and
sickness, living and dying, heat and
cold, vice and virtue, knowledge and
ignorance, truth and falsehood, and the
like are represented in duplicity. The
number three is one of great promi-
hence and significance. Shakespeare
says:
They say there is divinity in odd num-
bers, either in nativity, chance or death.
Number three is the first odd num-
Der. and occurs in all religious writ
ings with striking frequency. God is
triune, the Father, the Son and Holy
Ghost. There are some who find a
trinity throughout nature, as St. Pat
rick did in the shamrock. The triune
plan of creation is seen in the earth,
sea and air; the fish. birds and beasts;
in the animal, mineral and vegetable
kingdoms; in the future, past and
present time. There have been three
dispensations of truth-the patri-
archal, the jewish, and the christian.
Adam and Noah each had three sons.
There were three great patriarohs,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The COM
mandments were delivered on the third
day. The length of Solomon's temple
was three times it's. breadth. Elijah
stretched himself three times upon the
widows child before bringing him to
| life. David bowed three times before
Jonathan. Jonah was in the whales
interior three days. Three wise man
came from the East to adore the infant
Savior bringing with them three
offerings. The child was found after
three days in the temple. Three
apostles were with the Savior at the
TRANSPORTATION, and three in the Gar
den OF Olives. Peter was asked three
times Lowest thou me?" and denied
his master three times. Our Lord
found the disciples sleeping three times
in the garden. He was nailed to the
cross with three nails, hung on the
cross three hours, and rose again on
the third day.
The number three runs all through
the story of the Bible. There are
three theological virtues-faith. hope
and charity. The triangle is of the
utmost Importance in mathematics.
! In every syllogism there are three
parts. That three is lucky number
is a common saying. Franklin says
that three removes are as bad as a
fire. In our great national game the
rule is ''three strikes and out.''
Christopher Columbus sailed in fleet
of three ships when he discovered
America. His discovery will be cele-
brated by a worlds exposition, to be
held in city composed of three sides
North, West and South Chicago.
The number four was anciently es-
teemed the most perfect of all, being
the arithmetical mean between one and
seven. Oman, the second caliph, said:
"Four things cometh not back-th e
spoken word, the sped arrow, the
past life, the neglected opportunity. :"
In nature there are four seasons and
the four points of the compass. Forty,
a multiple of four by ten, is one of the
sacred numbers. The probation of
our first parents in the Garden of Eden
is supposed to have been forty years.
The rain fell at the deluge forty days
and nights and the water remained on
the earth forty days. The days of en-
balming the dead were forty. Solomon
temple was forty cnbits long. In it
were ten LAYERS, each four cubits long
and containing forty baths Moses was
forty years old when he fed into the
land of indian, where he dwelt forty
years., He was on Mount Sinai forty
days and forty nights. The Israelites
wandered in the wilderness forty years.
The Savior tasted forty days and nights
before entering upon his public life.
The same time elapsed between the
resurrection and the ascension.
Seven is number of great promin-
ence and singularity. 49, There are seven
planets, seven metals, seven colors and
seven tastes. There are seven princi-
pie virtues, three divine and four car
dinal. There are seven days in the
week and seven ages of man. There
are seven windows through which the
ordinary senses are exercised; the two
eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils and
the mouth. The number seven occurs
hundreds of times throughout the
Bible So frequent in fact is it en-
ployed that to note the instances where
it is used would be to recall the whole
story OF creation. There are seven
liberal arts, seven sciences and seven
notes in music. The seventh son is a
wonder and the seventh son of a sew
enth son is simply marvellous in his
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