Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1901-11-07
TO BLESS OR BLAST
DG TALM ICES SUNDAY SERNON.
Discusses the Inf uenc IS of the GOOD
and Evil Deeds We Do i'm Our Lies
Journey.
fCODyTigh+. IouI !

Isaiah xi, %, at is lie that sitteth upon
the circle of the earth
While yet people thought that the
word was fiat and thousands of years be-
fore they found out that it was round
Isaiah, in my text, intimated the shape
OF lt-Got sitting upon the circle of the
earth. The most beautiful figure in all
geometry Is the circle. God made the uni
verse on plan OF the circle.
There are in the natural world straight
lines, angles, parallelograms, diagonals,
quadrangles, but these evidently are not
Gods favorites. Almost everywhere
where you find Him geometrizing you find
the circle dominant, and if not the circle
then the curve, which is 4 circle that died
young. If it had lived long enough it
would have been a full orb, q periphery.
An ellipse is a circle pressed only a little
too hard at the sides
Giants causeway in ireland shows what
God thinks OF mathematics. There are
over $4,000 columns of rocks-Octagonal
hexagonal, pentagonal. These rocks seem
to have been made by rule and compass
Every artist has his molding room where
he may make fifty shapes, but he chooses
one shape as preferable to all others |
will not say that the Giants causeway
was the worlds mo,ding room, but / do
say out of great many figures God seems
to have selected the circle as the best
1T IS He that sCteth on the circle Of the
earth. The stars II a circle, the moon
IN a circ'e, the sun in a circle, the universe
III circle and the throne Of God the cen
ire of that circle.
Appreciation OF this would correct the
architecture OF churches, whose shape is
often a defiance OF divine suggestion.
When men build churches they ought to
initiate the idea of the Great Architect
and put the audience in circle, knowing
that the tides of emotion roll more easily
that way than in straight lines. SIX thou
sand years ago God flung this world out OF
His right hand. But He did not throw it
out in a straight line, but in curviiinear,
with leash of love holding it so as to
bring It back again. The world started
from His hand pure and Edcnic. It has
been rolling on through regions of moral
ice and dsremper. How long it win roll
God only knows, but it viii IN due time
make complete circuit and come back to
the place where it startcd-the hand of
God-pure and Edenc.
The history of the world goes in a cir
Gle. Why is it that the shipping in our
day Is improving so rapidly? a scientific
shlpbullder says it is because men are
initiating in some respects what the small
wits deride, the old model of Noah's ark,
not as we see it in old time pictures, but
as it really was according to the account
given. Great ships have we now, but
where is the ship on the sea to-day that
could outride deluge in which the heaven
and the earth were wrecked, landing all
the passengers in safety. two of each kind
OF living creatures, hundreds of thousands
of species?
Pomoogy will go on with its achieve
ments until after many countries the
world VII have plums and pears equal to
the paradisaical. The art Of gardening
viii grow for centuries, and after the
Downings and Mitchels Of the world have
done their best in the far future the art Of
gardening will come up to the arborescence
of the year ].
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 be
hind those artists. But the world must
keep on toiling until it shall make the
complete circuit and come up to the skill
of those very men.
If the world continues to improve in
masonry, we shall have after awhile, per-
hdps after the advance of centuries, NOR
tar equal to that which l saw in the wall
of an eXhumed English city built in the
time of the Romans 1860 years ago, that
mortar to-day as good as the day in which
1t was made, having outlasted the brick
and the stone. / say, after hundreds of
years masonry may advance to that point.
If the world stands long enough we may
have city large as they had IN old
times-Babylon, five times the size OF Lon
don. You may 60 into the potteries 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 it is swinging in a circle, 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
1t 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 III the material
universe is true in Gods moral govern
ment and spiritual arrangement. That is
the meaning OF EzellieNs wheel. All COM
mentatOrS agree in saying that the wheel
means Gods providence. But a wheel is
of no use unless it turns, and if 1t turn it
turns around, and if it turns around it
moves in circle. What then? Are we
parts Of a great iron machine whirled
around and around whether we will or
not, the victims of memorable fate? No!
SO far from that | shall show you that we
ourselves start the circle of good or bad ac-
tions, and that it will surely come around
again to unless by divine intervention
it be hindered Those bad or good actions
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.
! Jezebel, the worst woman of the Bible
-'ohakeSpedre copying ms Lacy N.acDeth
from her picture-slew Nahoth because she
wanted his vineyard. While the dogs were
eating the body Of Naboth Elijah, the
prophet, put down his compass and
marked a circle from those dogs clear
around to the dogs that should eat the
body of Jezebel, the murderess. "Impossi-
ble!" the people said. That will never
the palace window? Jezebel. A few hours
after they came around, hoping to bury
her They find only the palms of the
hands and the skull. The dogs that de-
voured Jezebel and the dogs that devoured
Naboth Oh, what a swift, what an awful
circuit!
But it is sometimes the case that this
circle sweeps through a century or through
many centuries. The world started with
a theocracy for government-that is, God
was the president and emperor of The
world People got tired of a theocracy.
They. said: I'VE don't want God directly
interfering with the affairs of the world.
Give us monarchy" The world had a
monarchy. From monarchy it is going
to have limited monarchy. After awhile
the limited monarchy will be given up
and the republican form OF government
nized. Then the world will get tired OF
the republican form of government, and it
will have an anarchy, which is no govern,
ment at ALL
And then all nations, finding out that
man is not capable of riehteous,y govern
ing man, will cry out again for theocracy
and say, Let God come back and condu~4
the affairs of the world"
Every step-monarchy, limited mona
chy, republicanism, anarchy-only differ
ent steps between the first theocracy and
the last theocracy or segments OF the great
circle of the earth on which God sits
But do not become impatient because
yo' cannot see the cu-vN Of events au6
therefore conclude that Gods government
is going to break down. History tells us
that in the making of the pyramids it took
1000 men two years drag one stone from
the quarry and put it into the pyramids.
If men short lived can afford to work SO
slowly as that, cannot God in the building
of eternities afford to wait?
What though God should take 10000
years to draw circle? Shall we take our
little watch which we have to wind up
every night lest it run down and hold it
up beside the clock of eternal ages? If,
according to the Bible, a thousand years
are in Gods sight as one day, then, accord
ing to that calculation the 5000 years OF
the worlds existence has been only to
God as from Monday to Saturday.