Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-01-16
CIRCLE ON THR EARTH.
REV. DR.. TALMAGES SERMON IN ATLANTA,
GEORGIA.
The Earth and he Universe Go in a Circle.
What is True Of the Material Universe
is True Of Gods Moral Government
ard Spiritual Arrangement

days tour Of the Southern clt'eSi
preached here to-day. The thrOngS IN
and around the audience hall were De-
yond estimate The subject chosen
was ''The Circle of the Earth, the text
being Isaiah 1929: 1T is ne that sittetn
upon the circle Of the earth.
While yet people thought that the
world was fat, and thousands OF years
before they found out that it was round,
Isaiah. in my text, intim6ted the shape
OF II. God sitting upon the circle OF the
earth. The most beautiful figure IN all
geometry is the circle, God made the
universe on the plan OF a circle. There
are in the natural world straight lines,
angles. psrallelograms, di8gOnalS, quad
rangles; but these evidently are not
Gods fayOrites. Almost everywhere
where you will find him geometrizlng,
you find the circle dominant, and II not
the circle then the curve, which is cir
Gle that died young. IL 10 had lived long
enough 10 would have been Iuu
orb, a periphery. An ellipse Is circle
dressed only little too hard at the
sides. Giants Causeway IN Ireland
shows what God thinks OF mathematics.
There are over thirty-hve thousand
cOlumns-OctagOna hexagOnal, pentaS-
oDal. These rocks seem 10 nave Oeeh
made by rule and bY compass. Every
artist has his mOUlding-room, where ne
may make fifty shapes, but he chooses
one shape as preferable 70 all others.
will not say that the Giants CauSewsy
was the worlds moulding room, but
do say, out of a great many hgures,
God seems 10 have selected the circle as
the best. 1T is be that stitch on. the
circle OF the earth" The stars in a cir
Gle, the moon in q circle, the sun IN
circle, the universe in a circle, the
throne OF God in the centre OF That cir
Gle.
WHEN MEN BUILD CHURCHES,
they ought TO initiate the idea Of the
Great Architect, and put the audience
IN q circle, knowing that the tides OF
emotion roll more easily that way than
IN straight lines. Six thousand years
ago God lung this world out OF his
right hand: but he did not throw 10 out
u a straight line, but circulinear, with
q leash OF love holding 10 so as 10 bring
n hack again. The world started from
his hand pure and Edenlc. IL has beer
rolling on through regions OF moral
fee and diStemper. How long IL VIII
roll God only knows; but it will in due
time make complete circuit and come
back TO the place whence IL started
the hand OF GOd-pure and Edenic.
The history OF the world goes in
circle. Why is It that the shipping In
pur day is improving so rapidly? 1t Is
because men are initiating the old model
Of Noah's ark. A ship carpenter gives
that as his opinion. Although so much
derided by small wits, that ship OF
Noah's time beat the Majestic and the
E.zp,ria, and the City OF Paris, of which
"A boast SO much Where is the ship
On the sea to-day that could Outride
deluge I'm which the heaven and the
earth were wrecked, landing all the
passengers in Safety?-twO OF each KIND
Of living creatures, thousands OF
species. Pomology will 90 on with its
achievements until after many centur-
les the world will have plumS and
pears equal 10 the ParadiSaical. The
art Of gardening will grow for centuries
and after the DowningS and Mitchells
of the world have dOue their best, 10
the far future the art of gardening will
come up to the arb0reSence OF the year
one. III the makers of cOlOred glass 20
on improving, them may In some cen
turtles be able TO make something equal
TO the east window of York Minister,
which was built iu 1920. We, are SIX
CENTURIES BEHuND THOSE ARTISTS,
but the world must keep on toilins I'M
til it shall make the complete circuit
and come up to the skill OF teoSe very
-. inn -, mi nj "a
in masonry, we shall have after awhile,
perhaps after the advance OF centuries,
mortar equal 20 that which saw last
summer IN the wall Of al exAumed Eng
lish city, built IN the time OF the Rom
ans, sixteen hundred years agO-that
mortar to-day as good as the day In
which it was made, having outlaSted
the brick aud the stone. l say, after
hundreds of years, masonry may adj
vance 70 that point. IL the world stands
long enough, we may have a city as
large rs they had In old times. Baby
Ion. five times the size Of London. You
&c into the potterleS IN England, and
YOU find them making cups and vases
after the style of the cups and vases eX-
humed from Pompeu. The world is not
going back. On no! but it is swinging
In a circle, and will come back TO the
STYLES OF pottery known so long ago as
the days OF Pom peii. The world must
keep on progressing until 10 makes the
complete circuit The curve is in the
right direction, the curve will keep on
until it becomes the circle.
Well now, my friends, what is true 10
the material universe IS true In Gods
moral government and spiritual arrang-
ment. That is tho meaning OF EzekieIS
wheel, All commentators agree in say
ing that the wheel means Gods DrOvi-
dence. But wheel is of no use unless
n turn, and II IL turn, 10 turns around,
and II II turn around 1t moves In cir
Gle. What then? Are we parts OF
great iron machine whirled around
whether we will or not, the victims OF
memorable fate? No. So far from that
I shall show you that we ourselves start
the circle OF good or bad actions, and
that it will surely come round again
TO US unless by divine Intervention il be
hindered. Those
BAD or GOOD ACTIONS
NAV make the circuit Of many years;
but come back TO US they will as GER
tainly as that God sits on the circle Of
the earth. Jezebel, the worst woman
OF the Bible, slew NabOth because she
wanted his vineyard. While the dogs
were eating the body Of Naboth, Elisha
the prophet put down his compass, and
marked q circle from those dogs clear
around to the dogs that should eat the
body OF Jezebel, the murderess. 'Im-
possible" the people said; "that will