Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-07-12
SERMONS Of The DAY.
Preached by Rev. DR.. Talmage.

Preached by Rev. DR.. Talmage.
Subject: The Sacred Number-SienIGcanc.
OF Seven-Important Truths of the
Bible illustrated bv the Use of Tha
Numeral-FavOredb by the Divine Mind
Copyright. Louis Kiopsch, 1891
| WASHINGTON, d. C.-Many of the m os,
Important doctrines of the Bible are by DR.
Talmage presented in this sermon in a very
the seventh day."
The mathematics OF the Bible is notice.
able; the geometry and the arithmetic; the
square in Ezekiel; the circle spoken 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 1t would "profit n man IL he gain the
whole world and lose his SOUL" But there
is one mathematical figure that is crowned
above all Others In the Bible; it is the
numeral seven. which the Arabians got
| from India, and all following ages have
taken from the Arabians. 1t stands be-
tween the figure six and the figure eight.
In the Bible all the other numerals bow to
It. Over 800 times it is mentioned In the
Scriptures, either alone or compounded
with other words. In Genesis the week is
rounded into seven days, and use my text
because there this numeral is for the first
time introduced in journey which halts
not until In the close OF the book OF Revela-
| tfOn Its monument Is built into the wall of
heaven in chrysolite, 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 well worth it, and, foretelling the
years OF prosperity and famine in Pharaoh's g
time, the seven fat oxen were eaten up of
the seven lean oxen, and wisdom is said to
be built on seven pillars, and the ark was
left with the Philistines seven years, and
| Naaman, for the cure of his leprosy,
plunged in the Jordan seven times; the
| cead child, when Elisha breathed into its
mouth, sfRnaled its arrival back into con-
| sciousness by sneezing seven times; to the
house that Ezekiel saw in vision there
| were seven steps; the walls Of Jericho, be-
fore they fell down, were compassed seven
days; Zechariah describes a stone with
eyes; to cleanse leprous house the door
must be sprinkled with pigeons blood
| seven times; In Canaan were overthrowr
seven nations; on one occasion Christ cast
out seven devils; on mountain He fed n
multitude OF people with seven loaves the
fragments left filling seven baskets, and
| the closing passages Of the Bible are mag
| nificent and over yhelming with the i'm
| agery made up of seven churches, seven
stars, seven candlesticks, seven seals seven
| angels and seven heads and seven crowns
| seven vials and seven plaques and seven
| thunders.
Yea, the numeral seven seems a favorite
with the divine mind outside as well as in-
side the Bible, for are there not seven pris-
| matte colors2 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 capi-
tai Of the world, sat on seven hills. When
God would make the most Intelligent thing
on earth, the human countenance, He
fashioned 1t 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 1t for another
body after another seven years, and so on,
for We are. as to our bodies, eeptennial an
| nature and though 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 thun-
aers
The seven golden candlesticks were and
| hre the churches. Mark you, the churches
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 500 can
dlesticks, and yet you could not see your
hand before your face. The only use of a
candlestick and the only use OF church is
to hold up the light. You see it is a dark
world, the night of sin, the night of trouble,
the night OF superstition, the night of per-
secution. the night of poverty, the night
Of sickness, the night of death. Aye, about
lfty nights have interlocked their shad-
ows. The whole race goes stumbling over
prostrated hopes, and fallen fortunes, and
empty flour barrels, and desolated cradles
and deathbeds. How much we have use
tor all the seven candlesticks, with lights
blazing from the top of each one of themi
Light Of pardon for all sin! Light of COM
tort for all trouble! Light Of encourage
ment for all despondency! Light of eter-
nal riches for ali poverty! Light OF
rescue for all persecution! Light of re-
uniaA for all the bereft! Light of heaven
for all the dyingl And that light is Christ,
who hthe light that shall yet irradiate the
hemispheres.
But, mark you, when I say churches are
not candles, but candlesticks, 1 cast no
slur on candlesticks. I believe in beauti-
full candlesticks. TIE candlesticks that
God ordered for the ancient tabernacle
were something exquisite. They were a
dream OF beauty carved out of loveliness.
They were made Of hammered gold, stood
10 a foot Of gold and had six branches of
gold blooming 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 ventilated. the
best swept, the best windowed 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 have bet
er place for yourself than for your Lord
and King. Do not live in a parlor and put
your Christ in kitchen. These seven
.andlesticks OF which 1 speak were not
made of pewter or iron; they were gold
On candlesticks, and gold is not only
. valuable but bright metal. Have every
thing about your church bright-your
ushers with smiling faces, your music jubi-
liant, your handshaking cordial, your en-
that in church they must look dull, in or
der to look feverential, and many whose
faces In other kinds Of assemblage show all
the different phases Of emotion have in
church no more expression than the back
wheel Of q hearse. Brighten up and be re-
sponsive. II you feel like weeping. weep.
II you feel like smiling, smile. II you feel
Indignant at some wrong assailed from the
pulpit, frown. Do not leave your natural
ness and resiliency home because it is Sun
day morning. If as officers of a church you
meet people at the church door with a
black look, and have the music black, and
the minister in black preach black ser
mon, and from invocation to benediction
have the impression black, few will come,
and those who do come will wish they had
not come at all.
Golden candlesticks! Scour up the six
lilies on each branch, and know that the
more lovely and bright they are the more
6t they are to hold the light. But n
Christ less light is damage to the world
rather than a good. Cromwell stabbed his
cavalry horses in st. PauPs Cathedral,
and many now use the church in which to
stable vanities and worldliness. A worldly
church Is a candlestick without the candle,
and It had its prototype in st. Sophia's in
Constantinople, built to the glory of God
by Constantine, but transformed to base
uses by Mohammed the Second. Built out
Of colored marble; cupola with twenty
four windows soaring to height of $50
feet; the ceiling one great bewilderment of