Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-06-29
The MINERAL SEVEN.
DR.. TALMAGE DlsCoURsEs ON BIBLE
MATHEMATICS.
a Favoritc Number with the Divine
Mind-Takc Care of the Present,
Says the Great Divine, God VIII
Take Cnre of the Future.
Copyright, Louis Klopsch, 1899

lCOpyrlSht, Louis l\lOpScn, 1891
WASHINGTON, June 25.-Many of the
important doctrines of the Bible are by
DR.. Talmage presented in this sermon in
very unusual way. Genesis ii, 3, God
blessed the seventh day
The mathematics of the Bible is no.
tceable; the geometry and the arithme
tic, the square in Ezekiel, the circle spo-
ken of in Isaiah, the curve alluded to in
job the rule Of fractions mentioned in
Daniel, the rule of loss and gain in Mark.
where Christ asks the people to cipher
out by that rule what it would profit
man if he gain the whole world and lose
his soul" But there is one mathematical
figure that is crowned above all others in
the Bible 1t is the numeral seven, which
the Arabans got from India and all fol-
lowing ages have taken from the Ara
binns 1t stand, between the figure six
and the figure eight. In the Bible all the
other numerals bow to it. over 800 times
il is mentioned in the Scriptures, either
alone or compounded with other words.
In Genesis the week is rounded into sew
en- days, aud use my text because there
this numeral is for the first time intro
duced In journey which halts not until
in the close of the book of Revelation
its monument Is built into the wall OF
heaven in chrysoite, which in the strata
of precious stones is the seventh.
In the Bible we find that Jacob had to
serve seven years 10 get Rachel. but she
was well worth it, and, forcteling the
years Of prosperity and famine in pha-
raoh's time, the seven fat oxen were cat
en- mp of the seven lean oxen, and wis
dom is said to he built on seven pillars,
and the ark was left with the Phistines
seven years, and Naaman, for the cure
of his leprosy, plunged in the Jordan
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; Xech-
ariah describes Il stone with seven eyes;
to cleanse leprous house the door must
be sprinkled with pigeons blood seven
times; in Canaan were ovcrthroWn seven
nations. on one occasion Christ cast out
seven devils; on a mountain he fed a
multitude of people with seven loaves,
the fragments left filing seven baskets.
and the closing passages of the Bible are
magnificent and overwhelming with the
imagery made up of seven churches,
seven stars, seven candlcstiCks, seven
seals. seven angels and seven heads and
seven crowns and seven horns and seven
spirits and seven phials and seven
plaques and seven thunders
Fnvoritc with the Divine Mind.
Yea. the mineral seven seems n favor
lite with the divine mind outside as we'll
as inside the Bible, for are there not
seven prsmatic colors? And when God
with the rainbow wrote the comforting
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 hui
man countenance he fashioned it with
seven features-the two ears, the two
eyes, the two nostrils and the mouth. Yea,
our body lasts only seven years, and we
gradually shed it for another body after
another seven years, and so on. for we
are as to our bodies septennial animals.
So the mineral seven ranges through ma
ture and through revelation. 1t is the
number OF perfection, and so | use it
while | speak of the seven candlesticks,
the seven stars, the seven seals and the
seven thunders.
The seven golden candesticks were and
are the churches. Mark you, the church
es never were and never can be candles.
They are only candlesticks. They are not
the light but they are to hold the light.
A room in the night might have in it 800
candlesticks and yet you could not see
your hand before your face. The only
use Of Il candestick, and the only use Of
a church, is to hold up the light. You see
it is a dark world, the nigkt of sin, the
night Of trouble, the night Of superstition
the night Of persecution, the night of pov.
erty. the night of sickness, the night Of
death; aye, about 80 nights have inter
locked their shadows. The whole race
goes stumbling over Frustrated hopes and
fallen fortunes and empty -four barrels
and dcsolated cradles and deathbeds
How much we have 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 de-
spondency! Light of eternal riches for all
poverty Light Of rescue for all persecu
toni Light of reunion for all the bereft
Light of heaven for all the dying, AND
that light is Christ, who is the light that
shall yet irradate the hemispheres
Gods CandIcsticks.
But mark you, when say churches are
not candles but candlesticks, | cast NJ
sur on candlesticks. | believe in beauti
full candesticlls. The candlesticks that
God ordered for the ancient tabernacle
were something exquisite. They were
dream of beauty carved out of lovcliness
They We're made of hammered gold, stoot
in foot of gold and had six branches o
gold blooming all along in six lilies o
gold each, and lips of gold, from which
the candles lifted their holy fire. And tn,
best houses in any city ought to be thu
churchcs-the best built, the best ven
tilated, the best swept, the best window
ed, and the best chandeliered. Log cabin
may do in neighborhoods where most O
the people live in log cabins. but let ther
be palatial churches for regions wher
many of the people live in palaces. d.
not have a better place for yourself thai
for your Lord and King. DO not live il
paror and put your Christ in kitchen
These seven candlestcks OF which
speak were not made of pewter or iron
They were golden candlesticks. and gol,
Is not only a valua BILE, but a bright metal
Have everything about your churcl
bright--your ushcrs with smiling faces
your music jubllnt, your handshakini
cordial, your entire service attractive
Many people feel that in church the.
must look dull in order to be reverential
and many whose faces in other kinds o
assemblage show all the different phase
Of emotion have in church no more ex
preston than the back wheel of a hcarse
Brighten up and be responsive. If yo
feel like weeping, weep. If you feel lik