Milford chronicle., 1893-01-20
SERMON AT ATLANTA.
DR.. TALMAeE ON A PREACHING Cir
CUT OF SOUTHERN CITIES.

most beautiful figure in all geometry is th'
circle. God made the universe on the plar
Of q circle. There are in the natural work.
straight lines, angles, paFallelograms, di
a4onals, auadrnngies, but these evidently
are not Gods favorites. Almost every
where where you will find him geometris
! ing you will find the circle dominant, and
IL not the circle, then the curve which Is q
circle that died young. If it had lived long
lenough 1t would have been full OFb-a
periphery. An ellipse IS a circle pressed
only little too hard at the sides.
Giants Causeway in Ireland shows what
God thinks OF mathematics. There are
over 5000 columns of rocks-ootagOna
hexagonal, pentagonnl. These rocks seem
to have been made by rule and by compass.
Every artist has his molding room, where
he may make fifty shapes; but be chooses
one shape as preferable to all others. will
not say that the Giants Causeway was the
worlds molding room, but do say out OF
a great many figures God seems to have
selected the circle as the best. 1T IS he
that sitteth on the circle Of the earth. ="
The stars in a circle, the moon in a circle,
the sun In a circle, the universe In circle,
the throne Of God the center Of that circle
SUGGESTION FOR CHURCH ARCHITECTURE.
/ w uGu ulE4 UuAAl GntLIlSo AAAll NAAE5Ae ~
| initiate the idea Of the Great Architect and
put the audience in a circle, knowing that the
| tides Of emotion roll more easily that way
than in straight lines. Six thousand years
ago God flung this world out Of his right
hnnd, but he did not throw 1t out in a
straight line, but curvtngly, with leash
| Of love holding it so as to bring it back
again. The world started from his hand
pure and Edenic. It has been rolling on
| through regions of moral ice and distem-
per. How long it will roll God only knows
| but It will in due time make complete cir
cult and come back to the place whence 1t
started-the hand Of God-pure and Edenic-
The history Of the world goes in circle
Why is it that the shipping in our 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 Noahs time beat the Majestic
and the Etruria and the City Of Paris, Of
which we boast so much. Where IS the
ship on the sea today that could outride a
deluge in which the heaven and the earth
were wrecked, landing all the passengers
in safety-two of each kind Of living crea-
lures, thousands of species2
Pomology will go on with its achieve
ments until after many centuries the world
will have plums and pears equal to the par
adisaical. The art Of gardening will grow
for centuries, and after the DOwnings and
Mitchells of the world have done their best
in the far future the art of gardening will
come up to tho arboresceuce of the year /.
II the makers of colored glass so on inn
proving, they may in some centuries be
able to make something equal to the east
window Of York minister, which was built
in 1900. We are six centuries behind those
artists, but the world must keep toiling on
until it shall make the complete circuit and
come up to the skill of those very men.
If the world continues to improve in ma
sonry, we shall have after awhile, per
haps after the advance of centuries, mortar
equal to that which ] saw last summer in
the wall Of an exhumed English city, built
in the time Of the Romans, 1000 years ago
that mortar today as good as the day in
which it was made, having outlasted the
brick and the stone say, after hundreds
Of years, masonry may advance to that
point. If the world stands long enough,
we may have city as large as they had in
old times. Babylon five times the size of
London.
You 20 into the pOtteries in England and !
you find them making cups and vases after |
the style of the cups and vases exhumed |
from Pompeii. The world is not going |
back. Oh, no, but it is swinging in a cir |
Gle and will come back to the styles of pot |
terry known so long ago as the days of Pom |
peii. The world must keep on progressing |
until it makes the complete circuit. The |
curve is in the right direction; the curve
will keep on until it becomes the circle
THE GREAT MORAL CIRCLE.
r 4. =.
the material universe is true in Gods moral |
government and spiritual arrangement. |
That is the meaning of Ezekiels wheel. /
All commentators agree in saying that the
wheel means G DDS providence. But a wheel |
is of no use unless it turn, and il it turn it |
turns around, and IL it turn around it
moves in a circle. What then2 Are we
parts of a great iron machine whirled
around whether we will or not, the victims
Of inexorable fate9 Mol So far from that,
/ shall show you that we ourselves start the
circle of good or bad actions, and that it
will surely come around again to US unless
by divine intervention it be hindered.
Those bad OF good actions may make the
circuit Of many years, outcome back to us
they will as certainly as that God sits on
the circle Of the earth.
Jezebel, the worst woman of the Bible,
slew Naboth because she wanted his vine
yard. While the dogs were eating the body
1f Naboth, Elisha the prophet put down his
compass and marked circle from those
dogs clear around to the dogs that should
Eat the body of Jezebel the murderess.
the people said; that viii
never happen" Who Is that being flung
1ut of the palace Window Jezebel A few
hours after they came around, hoping to
bury her. They find only the palms of her
hands and the skull. The dogs that de
1oured Jezebel and the dogs that devoured
Saboth Oh, what swift, what an awful
;ircuitl
THE POLITICAL CIRCLE.
But it is sometimes the case that this cir
lie sweeps through a century or through
many centuries. The world started with a
.heocracy for government-tha Is, God was
he president and emperor Of the world.
People got tired of q atheocracy. They said,
We don't want God directly interfering
With the affairs Of the world; give us
monarchy" The world had a monarchy
from monarchy it is going to have linn
ted monarchy. After awhile the limited
will be given up, and the repub-
ican form Of government VIII be every
yhere dominant and recognized. Then the ,
world will get tired Of the republican form ,
t government, and it win have an anarchy, I
which is no government ut all. And then /
lInations, finding out that man is not capG- ,
lie of righteously governing man, will cry .
lut again for a theocracy and say, Let |
sod come back and conduct the affairs Of /
he world"
Every step - monarchy, limited mon !
rchy, republicanisln, anarchy-only differ
mt steps between the first theocracy md
he last theocracy, or segIncnts Of the great q
ircle Of the earth on which God sits. But !
10 not become impatient because you ca1zi
lot see the curve Of events, and thersf q
onciude that Gods goye-~rsent iTss-ii-.
o break down. Histe.
Nqlriug Of ~
a -ea~.