Democratic messenger., 1893-01-21
A TALK BY TALMAGE.
HE is ON A PREACHING TOUR or
TEN DAYS IN THE SOUTH.

At Atlanta he breaches On the Great Cir
cics of Gods Providence an.i the Mora
Government of the World Recurring
Cycles of History.
ATLA%TA. Jan. lj.-Rev. DR.. Talmagc
who is now making "a ten days tour ol
the southern cities. preached here today
The throngs i'll and around the audience
hall We're beyond estimate. The subject
chosen was The Circle of the Earth.
the text being Isaiah 81. ~. 1t is he that
sitteth upon the circle of the earth"
While vet people thought that the
world WAS fiat. and thousands of years
before they found out that it was round
Isaiah, in my text. intimated the shape
of it-Gol sitting upon the circle of the
earth The most beautiful figure in all
geometry is the circle God made the
univers" y the plan of Il circle. There
are in the natural world straight lines
angles. parallclograms. diaSouals. quad
rangles. but these evidently are not
Gods favoritcs. Almost everywhere
where you will find him geometrizing
You find the circle dominant. and if Hot
the circle. then the curve. which is cir
Gle that died young If it had lived long
enough il would have been a full orb-a
periphery. An cllipSe is Il circle pressed
only little too hard at the sides.
Giants Causeway. i'll Ireland. shows
what God thinks of mathematics. There
are over 5000 columns of rocks-oc-
tagonal. hexagonal. pcntagonal. These
1 L.. L.. n
and by compass. Every artist has his
molding room. where he may make fifty
shapes. but be chooses one shape as pref
cradle to all Others. ] will not say that
the Giants Causeway was the worlds
molding room. bnt | do say out of II
great many figures God seems to have
selected the circle as the best 1t is he
that sitteih on the circle of the earth "
The stars in II circle the moon in cir
Gle. the sun in circle. the universe in a
circle. the throne Of God the center Of
that circle
When men build churches they ought
to initiate the idea of the Great Architect
and put the audience in circle, know
ing that the tides Of emotion roll more
easily that way than in straight lines
Six thousand years ago God flung this
world ont Of his right hand. but he did
not throw il ont in straight line. but
curyilinear. with leash of love holding
it So as To bring II back again. The
world started from his hand pure and
Edenic. II has been rolling on through
regions Of moral ice and listemper. How
long il will roll God only knows. but il
will in due time make complete circuit
and come back TO the place whence it
started-the hand of God-pure and
Edenic
THE DIVINE PLAN RESUMED.
The history of the world goes in cir
Gle. Why IL i, that the shipping in our
day is improving so rapidly: 1t is be-
cause men are initiating the old model
of Noah's ark y ship carpenter gives
that as his opinion. Although SO much
terided by small wits. that ship of Noah's
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 deluge in
which the heaven and the earth We're
wrecked. landing Ill The passengers in
s;lfety-two of each kind of living crea-
tures. thousands of species:
Pomology will go on with its achieve
nents until after many centuries the
world will have plun.s and pears equal
to the paradisaical The art Of garden
ing will grow for centuries. and after the
Downings and Mitchclls of the world
have done their best i'll the far future
the art of gardening will come up to
the arborcscencc of the year |. If the
makers If cu!orcd glass 90 on improving
they may in some centuries be able to
make something equal To the east win
dow of York minister. which was built in
1890 We are six centuries behind those
artists. hut the world must keep on toll
ing until il shall make the complete cir
cult and CONF up To the skill of those
very men.
| Ii the world continues To improve in
masonry we shall have after awhile.
perhaps after the advance of centuries,
mortar equal Ia that which ! SAW last
summer IN The wall of an exhumcd Eng
lish city. built in the time of the Ro-
mans. GEO years aSo-that mortar to-
day as gtod rs the day i'll which it WAS
made. having outlastei the brick and
the stone. ! say. after hundreds of years.
masonry may advance To that point. |:
the world stands long enough we may
have "A city rs large rs they had in old
times Babylon five times the size of
/ London
You gu into the rotteries in England
and You find them making cups and
vases after the style of the cups and
vases e2hu,ned from Pompeii The
world is not going hack Oh. no: but it
Is swinging in circle and will come
back 10 the styles of pottery known so
long ago as the days of Pompeii. 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 II becomes the circle
THE EVER REVOLVING WHEEL
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
Ezekiel's wheel al commentators agree
in saying that the wheel means Gods
iTONItifHtt I)til IL Muttl II oI flO uSt
unless II turn. and if il turn il turns
around and if II turn around it moves
in "a circle. What then: Are we parts
of a great IRON machine whirled around
whether we %i;l ur not. the victims of
inexor;:ble fate: No. So far from that.
| shall show yuu that we ourselves start
the circle Of good ar had actions and that
il will surely come around again TO us
anless by divine intervention it be him
iercd Those bad or good actions may
make the circuit of many years. but
come back t. MS they will as certainly as
that God sits on the circle of the earth.
.Iezebcl. the worst woman of the Bible.
slew Nabotli because She wanted his
VINEYARD While the dogs were eating
the body Oi Naboth. Elisha the prophet
put down his compass and marked n
circle from the dogs clear around to the
dogs that shoulI c1t fhp In lV nf Iezehel