Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1893-01-19
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject, "The Circle OF the Earth
Preached At Atlanta, Ga.

found out that it was round, Isaiab. in my
text, lntlmated the shape of it--God sitting
upon the circle Of the earth. The most
beautiful figure in all geometry is the circle.
Got made the universe on the plan Of a
circle. There are in the natural world
straight lines, angles parallelograms. dag
onals, quadrangles, but these evidently are
not Gods fayorites. Almost every where
where you will find Him geomotrizing YOU
lind the circle dominant, and il not the
circle, then the curve. which is circle that
died younr. If it had lived long enough it
would have bsen a full orb-a periphery
An ellipse is circle pressed only'a little too
hard at the sides.
Giants Causeway, in Ireland, shows what
God thinks of mathematics. There are over
$4,000 columns of rocks-octagonal, hexa-
gonal, pentagonal. 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 he 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 SCI,
ectsd the circle as the best. sit is He that
stitch on the circle of the earth The stars
IN acircle, the moon in circle the sun in a
circle, the universe in 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 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 hand, but He did not throw il ont in
a straight line, but curyilinear. with leas !,
OF love holding it SO as to bring it back
again. The world started from His hand
pure and Z lenic. 1t has been rolling on
through regions OF moral ice and distemper.
How long it will roll God only knows, but
it will in due time make complete circuit
and come back to the place whence it started
the hand of God-pure and Eaenic.
The history OF the world goes in circle.
Why is it that the shipping in our day is
improving SO rapidly? It is because men
are Initiating the old model of Noah's ark.
ship carpenter gives that as his opinion,
Although SO much deridei 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 to-day 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 creatures,
thousands Of speciese
Pomology will go on with its achieve.
ments until after many centuries the world
will have plums and pears equal to the para.
disaca1. The art Of gardening will grow
for centuries, and after the Downings and
Mitchelis OF the world have done their best
In the far future the art of gardening will
come up to the arborescence Of the Year 1.
Ii the makers OF coored glass go on improy-
Ing they may IN some centuries be able to
make something equal to the east window OF
ork minister. which was built in 1890. We
are six centuries behind those artists. but
the world must keep on toiling until it shall
make the complete circuit and come up t.
the skill of those very men.
II the world continues to improve in ma
sonry we shall have after awhile. perhaps
after the advance OF centuries, mortar eo,ial
to that which saw last summer in the wal
OF an exhumed English city, built in tn,
time OF the Romans, 1900 years ago-tha
mortar to-day as good as the day in which /,
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 q
city as large as they had in old times Baby
Ion five times the size OF London.
You 80 into the potteries in England and
you find them making cups and vases after
the style OF the cups and vases exhumed
from Ponpsi. The world is not going
back. Oh, no; but it is swinging in circle
and will come back to the styles of pottery
known SO long ago as the days of Pompeii.
lhe 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
Well, now, my friends what is true in the
natsrial universe is true in Gods moral
government and spiritual arrangement.
That is the meaning OF Ezekie.s wheel. All
commentators agree in saying that the
wheel means Goa's providence. But vince
is Of no use unless it turn, and il it turn
it turns around, and ii it turns around il
moves III circle. What then? Are W,
parts of great iron machine whirlec
around whether we will or not, the victim.
Of inexoracle fateg MOI So far from that
shah show you that we ourselves start tht
circle OF good or bad actions and that it viii
surely come around again to US unless by
divine Intervention it be hindered. Thos
bad or good actions may make the circuit O.
many years, but come back to us they will
as certainly as that God sits on the circle o
the earth.
Jezebel, the worst woman of the Bible
slew Naboth because she wanted his vine
yaru. While the dogs were eating the bod,
OF Naboth, Elisha the prophet put down hi
compass AMI marcel a circle from the 90
clear around to the dogs that should eat til
body OF Jezsbal the murierass. 'lmpo
siblep the people said; ''that will nsve
happen" Who Is that bsing flung out OF Cd
palace window? JeZsbsl. A few hours afte
they came around hoping to busy her Tns
find only the palms OF her hands ana til
skull. The dogs tlat devourei Jszaoel an
the dogs that devoursi Nabothl Ga, waa
swift. what an awful circuit
But it is sometimes the case that this circl
sweeps through a century or throa sh man,
centuries. The world startede with theog
racy for government-that is God was tn
president and emperor OF the world. Peopl
got tired of a theocracy. Tney said: "W
don't want Go idirectly intarferiny With t.
affairs OF the world. give us a monsrcay. :
The. world had monarchy. From a mon
archyit is going tohRve Unite monarchy
After awhile tho limited monarchy will b
given up, and the republican form o. gov
eminent will be everywhere dominant an
recognized Then the world Will. get tire
OF the republican form Of governm sat, an
it will have an anarchy, which is no gevern
ment at all. Audit all nations, fin lin
out that a man is not capable OF fighteousl
governing man.lw cry out for athsocrac,
and say: 'sLet God come back and conduc
the affairso the world"
Every ep--monarcay, limited mon
arcy, republicanism, anarchy differ
emit steps between the first theocracy and tn
last theocracy, Or segments Of the great cir
Gle Of the earth on which God sits. But d
. see the curve of events aud therefore con
clude that Gods goyernm ant Is going t
. break down. History tsls us that in th
making Of the pyramids it took 5000 mer
two years to drag one great stone, fro n tn
quarry and put it into the pyramids.
Well, now, ii men short lived can aiTor,
- x.,s,,sIr ~, sosxylv f1ata,.af (sf,1 IL