Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-30
THE SACRED NUMBER.
Or. TALMAeE OIscoURsEs ON THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF SEVEN.
trated by the Use of That NumeraI.
Favored by the Divine Mind.

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.
ticeable; 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 asks the people
to cipher out by that rule what 1t
would profit n man if he gain the
whole world and lose his soul" But
there is onx mathematical figure that is
crowned above all others in the Bible;
Il is the numeral seven, which the Ara
bians got from India, and all following
ages have taken from the Arabians. 1t
stands between the figure six and the
figure eight. In the Bible all the 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 | 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 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 1t, and, foretelling
the years of prosperity and famine in
Pharaoh'S time, the seven fat oxen
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, plune.
ed In the Jordan seven times; the dead
child, when Elisha breathed into its
mouth, signaled its 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
compassed seven days; Zechariah de-
scribes a stone with eyes; to cleanse a
leprous house the door must be sprin-
kled with pigeons blood seven times;
in Canaan were overthrown seven ma.
dons; on one occasion Christ cast out
seven devils; on a mountain he fed
multitude Of people with seven loaves,
the fragments left filling seven bas.
kets. and 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
vials and seven plaques and seven
tbunders.
Favored by the Divine Mind.
Yea. the numeral seven seems a ia.
vorite with the divine mind outside as
we'll as inside the Bible, for are there
not seven prismatic colors? And when
God with the rainbow wrote the COM
forting thought that the world would
never have another deluge he wrote ii
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 countenance, he
fashioned it with seven featureS-the
two ears, the two eyes. the two nostrils
lnd the mouth. Yea, our body lasts
only seven years, and we gradually
shed il for another body after another
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. 1t is the
number of perfection, and SO | use 1t
while speak of the seven candle
sticks, the seven stars, the seven seals
and the seven thunders.
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 the only use Of a
church is to hold up the light. You see
II is dark world, the night of sin, the
night of trouble. tie 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 goes stumbling over pros
trated hopes, AMI fallen fortunes, and
empty -four barrels, and desolated era
dies 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-
bic! Light of encouragement for all |
despondency! Light of eternal riches |
for all poverty! Light Of rescue for all |
persecution. 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 irradiate
the hemispheres
But, mark you, when | say churches |
are not candles, but candlesticks, ] |
cast no slur on candlesticks. believe
in beautiful candlesticks. The candle
sticks that God ordered for the ancient
tabernacle were something exquisite.
They were a dream of beauty carved
out of loyeliness. They were made of
hammered gold, stood in a 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
clurches-the best built, the best ven-
tilated. the best swept, the best win.