The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-26
THE MINERAL SEVEN.
DR.. TAlMAeE D,scouRsES ON BIBLE
MATHEMATICS

MinA-Take Care Of the Present,
| says the Great Divine, God Will
Take Care Of the Fature.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch, 1891
WARRINGTON, June 25.--Many Of the
important doctrines Of the Bible are by
DR.. Talmage presented In this sermon In
q very unusual way. Geneds ii, 3, God
blessed the seventh day"
The mathematics of the Bible Is no.
| ticeable; the geometry and the arithme-
| tic, the square In Ezekiel, the circle spO-
len 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 II he gain the whole world and lose
his soul" But there Is one mathematical
figure that 10 crowned above all others in
the Bible. It Is the numeral seven. which
] the Arabians got from India and all fol-
lowing ages have taken from the Ara
bians. It stands between the figure six
and the figure eight. In the Bible all the
other numerals bow to 1t. Over 800 times
| II Ia mentioned In the Scriptures, either
alone or compounded with other words.
In Genesis the week is rounded into sew
en- days, and 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 chrysolite, which in the strata
Of precious stones il the seventh.
In the Bible we find that Jacob had to
serve seven years to get Rachel, but she
was well worth it, and, foretelhng the
years Of prosperity and famine in Pha-
raoh's time, the seven fat oxen were eat
en- up of the seven lean oxen, and wis
dom Is said to be built on seven pillars,
and the ark was left with the Philistines
seven years, and Naaman, for the cure
of bis leprosy, plunged In the Jordan
&c, 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; Zech-
ariah describes stone with seven eyes;
to cleanse q leprous house the door must
be sprinkled with pigeons blood seven
times; In Canaan were overthrown seven
nations; on one occasion Christ cast out
seven devils; on a mountain he fed
multitude of people with seven loaves,
the fragments left filling seven baskets,
and the closing passages Of the Bible are
magnificent and overwhelming with the
imagery made up Of seven churches,
seven stars, seven candlesticks, 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.
rNR-
Yea, the mineral seven seems favor
tie 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 comforting
thought that the world would never have
another deluge he wrote 1t 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 1t 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 l use it
while speak Of the seven candlesticks,
the seven stars, the seven seals and the
seven thunders.
The seven golden candlesticks were and
are the churches. Mark you, the church
es never we're 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
candlesticks and yet you could not see
your hand before your face. The only
use of candlestick, and the 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 superstition,
the night Of persecution, the night Of pow
erty,. the night Of sickness, the night Of
death: aye, about 30 nights have inter-
locked their shadows. The whole race
goes stumbling over Frustrated hopes and
fallen fortunes and empty -four barrels
and desolated 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-
bic! Light Of encouragement for all de-
spondcncy! Light of eternal riches for all
poverty! Light of rescue for all persecu-
ton! 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.
Gods Candlesticks.
But mark you, when say churches are
not candles, but candlesticks, l cast no
slur on candlesticks. / believe in beauti-
full candlesticks. The candlesticks that
God ordered for the ancient tabernacle
were something exquisite. They were
dream of beauty carved out Of loneliness
They were made of hammered gold, stood
in 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 candles 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 window
ed, and the best chandeliered. Log cabins
may do in neighborhOods where most of
the people live in log cabins, but let there
be palutial churches for regions where
many of the people live in palaces. Do
not have better place for yourself than
for your Lord and King. Do not live in
parlor and put your Christ in kitchen.
These seven candlesticks of which l
speak were not made Of pewter or iron.
They were golden candlesticks, and gold
is not only valuable but 4 bright metal.
Have everything about your church
bright-your ushers with smiling faces,
your music jubilant, your handshaking
cordial, your entire service attractive.
Many people feel that in church they
must look dull, In order to be reyerential,
and many whose faces in other kinds of
assemblage show all the different phases
Of emotion have in church no more ex-
preston than the back wheel of hearse.
Brighten up and be responsive If you
feel like weeping, weep. If you feel like
smiling, smile. If you feel indignant at
some wrong assaled from the pulpit,
frown. Do not leave your naturainess
and resiliency home because it is Sunday
morning. II as officers Of church you
meet people at the church door with
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.
Worldly Churches.
Golden candlesticks! Scour up the six
lilies on each branch and know that the
more lovely and bright they are the more
fit they are TO hold the light, But a