Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1901-11-08
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE LAW OF COMPENSATION, SUM-
DAYS SUBJECT.
Good Evil Deeds Return to Bless
or Blast Our Lives-Achievements of
PomoIogy-"It Is He That Stitch Upon
the Circle of the Earth"-Is. 40: 22.

course DG- dlmaSe SHOWS tnat the
good or evil we do returns to bless or
blast us; text, Isaiah xl. %, 1T is
he that stitch upon the circle of the
earth"
While yet people thought that the
world was fiat and thousands of years
before they found out that it was round
Isaiah, in my text, intimated the shape
OF it, God sitting upon the circle of the
earth The most beautiful figure in all
geometry is the circle. God made the
universe On the plan of circle.
There are in the natural world
straight lines. angles. parallelograms,
diagonals. quadrangles, but these evil
IDENTIFY are not Gods favorites. Almost
everywhere where you find him geo.
metrizing you find the circle dominant;
and if not the circle then the curve,
which is circle that died young. If
II had lived long enough, it would have
been full orb, periphery. An ellipse
Is circle pressed only little too hard
ct the sides.
Giants Causeway. in Ireland. shows
what God thinks of mathematics. There
are over $4,000 columns OF rocks-oc-
tagonal, hexagonal, pentagonal. These
rocks seem to have been made by rule
and compass Every artist has his
holding room, where he may make so
shapes, but he chooses one shape as
preferable to all others. / will not say
that the Giants Causeway was the
worlds holding room, but do say out
OF great many figures God seems to
have selected the circle as the best. ut
Is he that stitch on the circle of the
earth" The stars in a circle, the moon
in circle. the sun in a circle, the uni
verse in circle and the throne of God
the center of that circle.
The Achievements of PomOlogy.
Pomology will go on with its achieve
ments until after many centuries the
world will have plums and pears equal
to the paradisaical. The art of garden
ing will grow for centuries, and after
the Downings and Mitchells of the
world have done their best in the far
future the art of gardening will come
up to the arbOrescence of the year 1. If
the makers of colored glass go on i'm
proving they may in some centuries be
able to make something equal to the
east window of York minister, which
was built in the year 1890. We are six
centuries behind these artists, but the
world must keep on toiling until it
shall make the complete circuit and
come Up to the skill of these very
men.
II the world continues to improve in
masonry, We shall have after awhile,
perhaps after the advance of centuries.
mortar equal to that which / saw in
the wall Of an exhumed English city
built in the time of the Romans. 1900
years ago. that mortar today as good
as the day in which it was made hav-
fng outlasted the brick and stone
say after hundreds of years masonry
may advance to that point
Ii the world stands long enough, We
may have city as large as they made
in old times-Babylon.S five times the
size OF London. You go into the pot
teries of England, and you find them
making cups and vases after the style
OF the cups and vases exhumed from
Pompeii. The world is not going back.
Oh. no. But il is swinging in a cir
Gle and Will come around TO the STYLES
Of pottery known SO long ago as the
days OF Pompeii. The world must
keep on progressing until it makes
the complete circuit The curve is in
the right direction; the curve will keep
on until It becomes the circle.
Well. now. what is true in the mate
rial universe is true in Gods moral
government and spiritual arrangement.
That is the meaning of Ezekiel's wheel.
All commentators agree in saying that
the wheel means Gods providence. But
wheel is of no use unless 1t turns.
and if 1t turn it turns around and il
10 turns around it moves in a circle.
What then? Are we parts of a great
iron machine whirled around whether
we will or not, the victims of inexor-
able fate? No, So far from that I
shall show you that We ourselves start
the circle of good or bad actions. and
that it will surely come around again
10 - unless by divine Intervention it
be hindered. Those bad or good ac-
tions may make the circuit of many
years, but come back to us they will
as certainly as that God sits on the
circle of the earth.
The Circle of Centuries
But il is sometimes the case that
this circle sweeps through a century
or through many centuries. The world
started with a theocracy for govern.
ment-that is. God was the president
end emperor of the world. People got
tired Of theocracy. They said: 1--WE
don't want God directly interfering
with the affairs of the world. Give us
monarchy" The world lad a mon
arehy. From a monarchy it is going
TO have limited monarchy. After
awhile the limited monarchy will be
given up. and the republican form of
government will be everywhere domi-
nant and recognized. Then the world
will get tired of the republican form of
government, and it will have an an
archy, which is no government at all.
And then all nations, finding out that
man is not capable of righteously gov
erning man, will cry out again for the
ocracy and say, Let God come back
and conduct the affairs of the world
every step-monarchy, limited mon
archy. republicanism, anarchy-only
different steps between the first theoc-
racv and the last theocracy or seq
of oil of l.