The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-16
CURVE, NOT A%NGULARITY,
POPULAR. SAYS PASTOR.
Rev. Moffat Applies Geometrical Terms
to the Religious Life-Speaks
of Straight Lines.

The symbolical meaning of geometrical
lines was the subject of an interesting
sermon delivered by the Rev. T. Arid Moi
fat, of the First Congregational Church,
last night. The sermon was the first of a
series which the pastor has announced he
will deliver under the general title, THE
Gospel in Geometrical Forms" Hogarth's
line of beauty was described and Ruskin's
comments on the artistic value of the
straight line were quoted. The preacher
illustrated the beauty Of Christian life and
fortitude. He said in part:
Geometry, like theology, has veered from
the practical TO the abstract. The line"
gets its name from the 'linen' thread
which when stretched tightly from peg
to peg gave a basis for accurate con-
structive work and true measurements.
But now 1t is largely n mental discipline,
treating of the ideal, Much the same order
has obtained in the transition from the
real relation of the soul of man to God.
to the merely intellectual exercises of
dogmatic theology. And yet the one may
still be basic to the other.
One should carry the same sweet reason
ableness into his thought of religion that
he so readily carries into the other de-
partments of thought. When one speaks
of the saint" and the good" man, 1t
should be remembered that the terms are
beyond The facts of present conditions of
life. They are ideal. They are, however,
only ideal and impossible of realization as
is the construction of a line without breadth
PCAhA INV AA16iAiubV. anu StN
with due recognition of our limitations
we may get along pretty well In our study
of geometry and of religion.
The pastor spoke of the limitations of the
straight line, and its rise into the beauty
of the curve, saying:
Lines run in different directions. The
cross of Christ is the symbol of the cross
ing of the horizontal line of the human
will with the upward pointing line of the
divine VIII. It's no easy matter awi
the straight line of life. Some can do it
with the free hand, but very few, M
even then only after severe training. So
discipline, can conform to the moral order,
but to most of us there is need of the
straight-edge.
The text book says; "All straight lines
which pass through the same point in the
same direction coincide and form but one
line Such unity should be true of all
point of experience In conversion, and
walk in the same heavenward direction.
Ruskin makes much of the artistic
respectively. The curve is more beautiful;
the horizontal n angular lines express
ing rest and strength, while the undulat-
completeness, while most beautiful of all,
In the possibility of its combination, is the
infinite curve. There seems to be a nat
ural order of progression from angular to
circular, as is seen in the study of the
form of the vibrations of the tuning fork.
The more beautiful the tone, the more
perfect tue curve. AND is IL NOT so In life!
Doesn't man advance from the erudity of
harsh angularity, from the straightness If
rigid morality, to the sweet full round
ness of charity? IN human life, at least,
/ think we, like Ruskin, have a fondness
for the curve rather thar the severely
straight. And In this we follow nature.
She wears off the sharp mountain peaks
to roundness, and she compels us
to the same order. I nay try to shoot
arrow straight, but its flight is an arc
in spite of me. l hang my line from point
to point, and try to ave it straight, but
II says to a curve. So nature loves round
ness, and so do we. 1t Is this that makes
up the wfnsomeness of Raphael's paint
as against Angeles. 1t Is this which
the feminine the symbol of grace
and beauty in the world.
The common symbol of beauty Is the
"Hogarth lire" an ~undulating line of up
and down curves. This, the artists say,
Is more beautiful than either the straight
line or the complete circle. And here
lies a practical suggestion. We often wish
our lives were free from the ups
and downs, which seem so largely to
make up the way of experience. We
sigh and pray for unbroken bliss. But,
for all we know, there, may be some such
value in the unevenness of our experience,
to the eye of the all-wise God, as pertains
to the wavy line in the thought of the
artist. And to most of us the infinite
curve of eternal progression Is preferable
to the completeness of the circles of Mir
vana rest.