The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-01-18
CIRCLE OF THE EARTH.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Addresses a Large
Audience at Atlanta, Ga.
In Gods Geometry tho Circle or the Curve
Predom'natoS--The History OF the
World Goes in n Circle-All the
Good and tho Evil We Do
Is Certain to Como
Back to Us.

The subject chosen was "The Circle o.
the Earth" the text being Isaiah XII, 92
at is He that sitteth. upon the circle oi
the earth" The sermon follows:
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, intimated the shape
'of 1t, God sitting upon the circle Of the
earth. The most beautiful figure in all
geometry is the circle. There are in the
natural world straight lines, angles
parallelograms, diagonals, quadrangles;
but these evidently are not Gods favor
ties. Almost everywhere you will find
Him geometrizing, you will find the
circle dominant, and II not the circle
then the curve, which is a circle that
died young. II it had lived long enough
Il would have been full orb, peri
phery. An ellipse is circle pressed
,lnly little too hard at the sides
GIANTS Causeway in Ireland shows
what God thinks Of mathematics. There
are over thirty-fve thousand columns
Of archaeological. hexagonal, penta.
gonul These rocks seem to have been
made by rule and compass Every art
ist has his molding room, where he may
make fifty shapes, but he chooses one
shape as preferable to all others will
not say that the Giants Causeway was
the worlds molding room, but do say,
ont 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 circle, the
moon in n circle, the sun in circle, the
universe in circle, the throne OF God
the center Of that circle
When men build churches, they ought
10 initiate The idea of the great archi.
tect, and put the audience in n circle,
knowing that the tides Of emotion roll
moro easily that way than in straight
lines. Six thousand years ago God flung
This world out of His right hand; but
lie did not throw it out In straight
line. but curvilinear. with "a leash OF
love holding 1t so as to bring 1t back
again. The world started from His
hand pure and Edenic. 1t has been roll
ing on through regions of moral ice and
dlstemper. How long It will roll God
only knows, but 1t will in due time
make complete circuit and come back
to the place whence It started-the hand
OF God-pure and Edenic.
The history Of the world goes in q
circle. Why is it that the shipping in
our day is improving so rapidlyP It is
be:nuse men are initiating the old
uodcl of Noah's ark A ship carpenter
Civ that as his opinion. Although sc
inreh deridcd by small wits, that ship
Of Soah's time beat the Majestic and
the Etruria, and the City Of Paris, Of
which yo boast so much. Where is the
stlip on the sea to-day that could out
ride eeluge in which the heaven and
the earth were wrecked. landing all
the passengers in safety? Two of each
adnd of living creatures, thousands OF
species Pomology will 60 on with Its
achievements. until after many CEN
turies the world will have plums and
pears equal TO the Paradisaical. The
art Of gardening will grow for cen.
ttlries, and after the Downings and
'Mitchells Of tho world have done their
best In the far future the art Of gar
dening will come up 10 the arbores.
cence OF the year one. II the makers OF
coiored glass go on improving they may
in some centuries be able TO make some.
thing equal TO the east window OF York
Minister, which was built in 1890. We
are six centuries behind those artists
but the world must keep on toiling
until II shall make the complete cir.
cult and come up TO the skill of those
very men. II the world continues to
improve in masonry we shall have, after
4 while, perhaps after the advance OF
centuries, mortar equal 20 that which /
saw last summer In the wall of an ex.
humed English city, built in the time
of the Romans sixteen hundred years
sgo-the mortar to-day ns good as the
day in which II was made, having ont
listed the brick aud the stone. say,
after hundreds Of years, masonry may
advance In that point II the world
nttAhNo iOhb bHOhNhs "o huy HuNc
city rs largo as they had in old times
Babylon, five tim,s tie size OF London.
You go into the pOstnri's o' England,
and yor lind iac'u gai;iu% up, and
veses u1tpr tn tYr cf ih, cups and
vases eShamri from Pmupeii The
world is not going back. On no! but il
is swinging IN . circle. AMI will come
hack TO the styles OF pottery known 80
Iong ago as the days OF Ponpeii. The
world must Keep on progressing until
IL make the complete circuit The
cuE} is In the right direction, the curve
VII keep right on until IL becomes the
circle. \.
Well, now. my friends, what Is true
in the material universe Is true In Gods
moral government and spiritual ar.
rangement That Is the meaning OF
Ezeieiel's wheel All commentators
agree in saying that the wheel means
Gods providence. But wheel Ia Of no
use unless IL turn, and II II turn, Il
.turns around. and II II turn around Il
moves in circle. What thenp Are we
parts Of great iron machine whirled
xf6nnd whether we will or not, the vic.
inns Of inexorable fate2 Nol So far
from that shall show you that we our.
Deives start the circle OF good or bad 40
hons, and that II will surely come
around again 10 Us unless by divine in.
Itefyention II be lindered. Those bad
lorgood actions may make the circuit Of
lmany years; but como back 10 us they
Twill as certainly as that God sits on the
circle OF the earth. Jezebel, the worst
woman of the Bible, slew Naboth be-