Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-08-04
BIBLE MATTHEW ATICS.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the Num-
~ eral Seven.
Fnvoritc Number with the Divine
mind-Tnkc Cnre OF the rres-
ent' God WIN Take Care
of the Future,
Copyright. 1899, by Louis Klopsrh. ]
Washington,


Washington,
Many Of the importan, doctrines of
the Bible are by DR.. Talmage presented
IN this sermon in very unusual way.
Genesis ii, 3: God Messed the seventh
day"
The mathematics of tn, Bible is no.
ticeable; the geometry and the arith-
metic, the square in Ezekiel, the cir
Gle spoken of in Isaiah, the curve al
iuded 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 ont 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 ntmeral seven, which
the Arabians got from India and all
Following ages have taken from the
Arabians. II stands between the fig
ure six and the figure eight. In the
Bible all the other numerals bow to it.
Over 400 times it is mentioned in the
Scriptures, either alone or compound
ed with other words. In Genesis the
week is rounded into seven days, and
use my text because there this nu-
neral is for the first time introduced in
a journey which halts not until in the
close of the book of Revelation its mon
ument 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
Pharoah's time, the seven cat 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
Philstines 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, be-
fore they fell down, were comprised
seven days; Zechariah describes n
stone with seven eyes; to cleanse a
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 mountain he
fed muntitude OF people with seven
loaves, the fragments left filling seven
baskets, and the closing passages of
hn
whelming with the imagery made up
of seven churches, seven stars, seven
candlesticks, seven seals, seven angels
and seven heads and seven crowns ard
seven horns and seven spirits and seven
phials and seven plaques and seven
thunders.
Yea, the numeral seven seems a ia
vorite 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
forting thought that the world would
never have another deluge lie wrote
1t on the scroll of the sky in ink of seven
colors. lie grouped into the Pleadcs
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, lie
fashioned il with seven features-the
two ears, the two eyes, the two nos
trils and the mouth. Yea, our body
lasts only seven years, and we grad
ually shed il for another body after an
other seven years, and so on, for we
are as to our bodies septennialanimals.
So the numeral seven ranges through
nature and through revelation. 1t is
the number of perfection, and so use
It 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 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 be-
fore your face. The only use of can
destick, and the only use Of church,
is to hold up the light. You see 1t is
dark world, the night Of sin, the night
of trouble, the night of superstition,
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 and fallen fortunes and
empty -four barrels and dcsolate era
dies and deathbeds. How much we
have use for all the seven candlestcks,
with lights blazing from the top OF
each one OF them Light of pardon
for all sin! Light of comfort for all
trouble! Light of encouragement for
all dependency! Light of eternal
riches for all poverty! Light of res
cue for all persecution Light of re-
union for all the bereft Light of
Heaven for all the dying And that
light is Christ, who is the light that
shall yet rradate the hemspheres.
But mark you, when say churches
are not candles, but candlesticks, cast
no slur on candesticks. believe in
beautiful candlestcks. The candle
sticks 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 a foot OF gold
and had six branches OF gold blooming
all along in six lilies of god 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 win
lowed and the best chandeliered' Log
-. Ia AZ, neirh h0lhnnls Mhe re