The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-07-04
THE SACRED NUMBER.
DR.. TaLMAGE D~IsCOUHsEs ON THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF SEVEN.

DR. TIA DIsCOUKSEs ON THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF SEVEN.
nt Truths of the Rible Iilustra-
ted by the Use ofThat Numeral-Fav'
ored by the Divine Mind.
copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1899
Many of the most important doctrines
of the Bible are by Dr. Talmage present
ed in this sermon in a very unusual way.
Genesis ii, 8, God blessed the seventh
day"
The mathematics of the Bible is no
t~iceable; the geometry and the arith-
metic; the square in Ezekiel; the circle
spoken OF in Isaiah; the curve alluded
to in Job; the rule of fractions mention
ed in Daniel; the rule of loss and gain
in Mark, where Christ ask the people
to cipher out by that rule what 1t
would profit a man If he gain the
whole world and lose his SOUL" But
there Is one mathematical figure that Is
crowned above all others In h Bible;
1t is h numeral seven, Whlcn the Ara
bans got from India, n all following
ages have taken from the Arabians. 1t
stands between the figure six n he
figure eight. In the Bible all h other
numerals bow to it. Over 300 times it
is mentioned in the Scriptures, either
alone or compounded with other words.
In Genesis the week is rounded into
seven days, and I use my text because
there this numeral is for the first time
introduced in a journey which halts
not until in the close Of the book of
Revelation its monumen is built into
the wall of heaven in c~hrysolite, which,
in the strata of precious stones, is the
seventh.
In the Bible we find that Jacob had
to serve seven years to get Rachel, but
she was we'll worth it, and foretelling
the years of prosperity and famin in
PharaOh's time, the seven fat ken
were eaten up of the seven lean oxen,
and wisdom is said to be built on sew
en- pillars, and the ark was left with
the Philistines seven years, and Naa-
man, for the cure of his leprOsy, plung-
ed in the Jordan seven times; the dead
child, when Elisha breathll into it's
mouth, signaled it's arrival back into
consciousness by sneezing seven times;
to the house that Ezekiel saw in vision
there were seven steps; the walls of
Jericho, before they fell down, were
comprised seven days; Zechariah de-
scribes a stone with eyes; to cleanse a
1eprous house the door must be sprin-
killed. with pigeons blod seven times;
In Canaan were OVerthroWn seven ma
tons; on one occasion Christ cast out
seven devils; on a mountain he fed a
multitude of people with seven lOaves.
the fragments left filling seven bas-
kets, n the closing passages of the
bible are magnificent and ~overwhelm-
ing with the imagery made up of seven
churches, seven stars, seven candle
STICKS, seven seals, seven angels and
seven heads and seven crowns and sew
en- horns and seven spirits and seven
walls and seven plaques and seven
thunders.
FAVORED BY THE DIVINE HAND.
YEA, the numeral seven seems a ia
Vor1te with the divine mind outside as
well as inside the Bible, for are there
not seven priSmatic colOrS? And when
God with the rainbow wrote the COM
PORTING thought that the world would
never have another deluge he wrote it
on the scroll of the sky in ink of seven
colors. He grouped into the Pleiades
seven stars. Rome, the capital of the
world, sat on seven hills. When God
would make the most intelligent thing
on earth, the human c~ountenance, he
Fashioned it with seven features-the
two ears, the two eyes, the two nostrils
and the mouth. Yea, our body lasts
- sRed t fef fer aynothesr & bodv w afte gr snothay
seven years, and SO On, for we are, as
TO our bodies, septennial animals. So
the numeral. seven ranges through ma
ture and through revelation. It is the
number of perfection, and so I use it
while l speak of the seven candle
sticks, the seven stars, the seven seals
and the seven ~tthunders.
The seven golden candlesticks were
and are the churches. Mark you, the
churches never were, and never can
be, candles. They are only candle
sticks. They are not the light. but
they are to hold the light. A room in
the night might have in it 500 candle
sticks, and yet you could not see your
hand before your face. The only use
of a candlestick and tn. only use of a
church is to hold up the light. You see
1T is a dark world, the night of sin, the
night of trouble, the night of supersti-
ton, the night of persecution, the night
OF poverty, the night of sickness, the
night Of death. Aye, about so nights
have interlocked their shadows. The
whole race zoe stumbling over pros
trated hopes, and fallen fortunes, and
empty flour barrels, n desolated era
dies and deathbeds. How much we
nave use for all the seven candlesticks,
with lights blazing from the top of
each one OF them! Light Of pardon for
all sin! Light of comfort for all trou-
BILE! Light of encouragement for all
dependency! Light Of eternal riches
for all poverty! Light of rescue for all
persecution! Light of reunion for all
n dying! And that light is Christ,
who is the light that shall yet irradiate
the hemispheres.
But, mark you, when 1 say churches
are not candles, but candlesticks, /
cast no slur on candlesticks. I believe
in beautiful candlesticks. The candle
sticks that God ordered for the ancient
tabernacle were something exquisite.
They We're a dream Of beauty carved
out of loveliness. They were made of
hammered gold, stood in q foot of gold
and had six branches of gold bloom-
ing all along in six lilies of gold each
and lips Of gold, from which the can
dies lifted their holy fire. And the best
houses in any city ought TO be The
churches-the best built, the best VEN
tilated, the best swept, the best win
Idowned and the best chandeliered. Log
cabins may do in neighborhoods where
most of the people live in log cabins,
but let there be palatial churches for
regions where many of the people live
in palaces. Do not nave a better place
for TyaYH~rN1f l>~ g. $500 - ~-