SWINGS IN A CIRCLE
CJood or Evil We Do Shall Return
to Bless or Blast Us.
Dr. TnlmaKr lae* tile llrnutiful Goo
metrirul Figure in ills Discourse
—Circle of Centuries and
of Good Deeds.
[Copyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch, N. V.]
Washington, Nov. 3.
In this discourse Dr. -Talmage
chows that the good or evil we do re
turns to bless or blast us; text, Isaiah
11:22: “It is lie that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth.”
While yet people thought that the
world was flat 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 beau
tiful figure in all geometry is the
circle. God made the universe on the
plan of a circle.
I here are in the natural world
straight lines, angles, parallelo
grams, diagonals, quadrangles, but
these evidently are not God's favor
ites. Almost everywhere you find him
geometrizing you find the circle dom
inant, and if not the circle then the
curve, which is a circle that died
young. If it had lived long enough,
it would have been a full orb, a peri
phery. An ellipse is a circle pressed
only a little too hard at the sides.
Giant’s Causeway, in Ireland, shows
what God thinks of mathematics.
There are over 35,000 columns of
rocks—octagonal, hexagonal, pentag
onal. 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. I will not say that the
Giant's Causeway was the world’s
molding-room, but I do say out of a
great many figures God seems to have
selected the circle as the best. “It is
He that sitteth on the circle of the
earth.” The stars in a circle, the
moon in a circle, the sun in a circle,
the universe in a circle and the throne
of God the center of that circle.
Appreciation of this would correct
the architecture of churches whose
shape is often a defiance of divine
suggestion. When men build church
es, they ought to imitate the idea of
the Great Architect and put the audi
ence in a 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
curvilinear, with a leash of love hold
ing it so as to bring it back again.
The world started front His hand
pure and Edenic. It has been rolling
, on through regions of moral ice and
distemper. How long it will roll God
only knows, but it will in due time
make complete circuit and come back
to the place where it started, the
hand of God, pure and Edenic.
The history of the world goes in a
circle. Why is it that the shipping in
our day is improving so rapidly? A
scientific builder says it is because
men are imitating 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 a deluge in which the
heaven and, earth were wrecked, land
ing all passengers in safety—two of
each kind of creatures, hundreds of
thousands of species.
Pomology will go on with its I
achievements until after many cen
turies the world will have plums and
pears equal to the paradisaical. The
art of gardening will grow for cen
turies, 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 ar
borescenee of the year 1. If the mak
ers of colored glass go on improving,
they may in some centuries be able
to make something equal to the east
window of York minster, which was
built in the year 1290. We are six
centuries behind 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, perhaps after the advance of
. centuries, mortar equal to that which
I saw in tlie wall of an exhumed Eng
i lish city built in the time of the Rom
ans, 1,000 years ago, that mortar to
day as good as the day in which it
' was made, having outlasted the brick
and stone. I say after hundreds of
; years masonry may advance to that
point.
If the world stands long enough, we
. may have a city as large as they had
in old times—Babylon, 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 go
ing 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 un
til 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 ma
terial universe is true in God’s moral
government and spiritual arrange
ment. That is the meaning of Eze
kiel’s wheel. All commentators agree
in saying that the wheel means God’s
providence. But a wheel is of no use
unless it turns, and if it turns it
turns around, and if it 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 inexorable fate?
No! So far from that I shall show
yon that we ourselves start the cor
cle of good or bad actions and that
it will surely come around again to
us 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 cer
tainly as that God sits on the circle
of the earth.
Jezebel, the worst, woman of the
Bible, Shakespeare copying his Lady
Macbeth from her picture, slew
Naboth because she wanted his vine
yard. 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.
“Impossible!” the people said. “That
will never happen.” Who is that be
ing flung out of the palace window?
Jezebel. A few hours after they came
around, hoping to bury her. . They
i find only the palms of the hands and
| the skull. The dogs that devoured
! Jezebel and the dogs that devoured
j Naboth—oh, what a swift, what an
awful circuit!
But do not become impatient be
cause you cannot see the curve of
| events and therefore conclude that
God’s government is going to break
down. History tells us that in the
making of the pyramids it took 2,000
men two years' to drag one great
stone from the quarry and put it into
the pyramids1. If men short lived can
afford to work so slowly as that, can
not God in the building of eternities
afford to wait?
What though God should take 10,000
years to draw a 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 eter
nal ages? If, according to the Bible,
a thousand years are in God’s sight
as one day, 'then, according' to that
calculation, the 6,000 years of the
world’s existence lias been only to
God as from Monday to Saturday.
But it is often the case that the re
bound is quicker, the return is much
quicker, than that. The circle is soon
er completed. You resolve that you
will do what good you can. In one
week you put a word of counsel in the
heart of a Sabbath school child. Dur
ing that same week you give a letter
of introduction to a young man strug
gling in business. During the same
week you make an exhortation in a
prayer meeting. It is all gone. You
will never hear of it perhaps, you
think. A few years after a man comes
up to you and says: “You don’t know
me, do you?” You say: “No; I don’t
remember ever to have seen you.”
“Why,” he says, “I was in the Sabbath
school class over which you were the
teacher. One Sunday you invited me
to Christ. I accepted the offer. You
see that church with two towers yon
der?” “Yes,” you say. He says:
“That is where I preach,” or: “Do
you see that governor’s house? That
is where I live.”
One day a man comes to you and
says: “Good morning.” You look at
him and say: “Why, you have the ad
vantage of me. I cannot place you.”
He says: “Don’t you remember 30
years ago giving a letter of introduc
tion to a young man—a letter of intro
duction to William E. Dodge?” “Yes,
yes; I do.” He says: “I am the man.
That was my first step toward a for
tune, but I have retired from business
now and am giving my time to philan
thropies and public interests. Come
up to my house and see me.”
Or a man comes to you and says:
“I want to introduce myself to you.
1 went into a prayer meeting some
years ago. I sat back by the door.
You arose to make an exhortation.
That talk changed the course of my
life, and if I ever get to Heaven un
der God I will owe my salvation to
you.” In only ten, twenty or thirty
years the circle swept out and swept
back again to vour own grateful heart.
But what is true of the good is just
as true of the bad. You utter a slan
der against your neighbor. It has
gone forth from your teeth. It will
never come back, you think. You have
done the man all the mischief you can.
You rejoice to see him wince. You
say: “Didn’t I give it to him!” That
word has gone out—that slanderous
word—on its poisonous and blasted
way. You think it will never do you
any harm. But I am watching that
word, and I see it beginning to curve,
and it curves around, and it is aiming
at your heart. You had better dodge
it. You cannot dodge-it. It rolls into
your bosom, and after it rolls in a
word of an old book rolls in after it,
saying: “With what measure ye mete
it shall be measured to you again.”
You maltreat an aged parent. You
begrudge him the room in your house.
You are impatient of his whimsical
: ities and garrulity. It makes you mad
1o hear him tell the same story twice.
; You give him food he cannot ffiasti
j cate. You wish he was away. You
wonder if he is going to live forever,
h lie will be gone very soon, ilis steps
are shorter and shorter. He is going
to stop. But God ^ias an account to
settle with you on that subject. After
awhile your eye will be dim, and your
gait will halt, and the sound of the
grinding will be low, and you will tell
the same story twice, and your chil
dren will wonder if you will never be
taken away. They called you “father”
once; now they call you the “old man.”
If you live a few years longer, they
will call you the “old chap.” What are
those rough words with which your
children are accosting you? They
are the echo of the very words you
used in the ear of your old father 40
years ngo. What is that which you are
trying to chew, but find it unmas
ticable, and your jaws ache, and you
surrender the attempt? Perhaps it
may be the gristle which you gave to
your father for his breakfast 40 years
ago.
1 would like to see the countenance
of Voltaire when his influence comes
to full orb. Whe. '
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glory, ».*» patriarch and
prophet and apostle, circumference of
Scotch covenanters and Thebian legion
and Albigenses, circumference of the
good of all ages, periphery of splen
dor unimagined and iudescrilmbde, a
circle, a circle!
But every circumference must have
a center, and what is the center of this
heavenly circumference? Christ—His
all the glory, 11 is all the praise, His all
the crowns, all Heaven wreathed into
a garland round about Him. Take off
the imperial sandal from 1 Lis foot and
behold the scar of the spike. Lift the
coronet of dominion from His brow
and see where was the laceration of
the briers. Come closer, all Heaven.
Narrow the circle around His great
heart. 0 Christ, the Saviour, O Christ,
the Han, O Christ, the God, keep Thy
throne forever, seated on the circle of
the earth, on the circle of Heaven!
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is shifting sand.
Not Yet.
Neighbor—I saw the doctor call at
your house this morning. Is your fa
ther very ill?
Boy—Not yet. The doctor only
came to-day for the first time.—Tit
liits.
HAS COME TO STAY,
UaiHinK of Angora Goats Is Profit
able, ]Vot a Fail UUe the
ltelgiaii Hare Crnie.
Fads come and go because they lack
that quality which gives a thing per
manence. At first the growing of
Angora goats was designated a fad
comparable, with the Belgian hare
fad, and it was freely predicted that
the producer of mohair would soon
go. But not so. The Angora has
come to stay. We wouldn't run a
farm without a small flock of these
interesting animals. They are fast
becoming very popular and we think
rightly so, inasmuch as they are both
useful and profitable.
If the prejudice against goat meat
were as stubborn as it is against the
consumption of horse meat then we
should despair of overcoming it, but
the aversion to goat meat is not
based upon its alleged inferior quali
ty as compared with mutton, but
upon the slim fact that the goat
“smells bad.” We would ask if sheep
“smell good?” The odor of the goat
does not affect his flesh, but comes
from the oil in his long hair. The
eat of the goat is said to be just
ood as mutton, and while we do
emember of having sampled it
’lbt if one man in 100 can tell
Terence, although the entire
would perhaps object to eat
meat. We think the preju
nst the goat is unfounded
be overcome. It ought to
ate. The consumption of
would not decrease the
tton very materially for
3 to come. And even if
right have sheep owners
) kick?
io dodging the fact that
goat has a fine future
■ltry, and we look for it
o the four sides of the
herever it grows weeds
eir footing. The goat is
farm scavenger and de
lace not for that reason
lecause he furnishes a val
and toothsome meat, and
more than able to pay
vou don't agree with the
ade it would be fairer
ter you have given the
r trial.—Farmers’ Voice.
CCHING RACK.
ive and Serviceable De
•ribed and Illustrated
Its Inventor.
|*s in farming’ commtini
hitching racks, but my
are that good ones are
ed. An inexpensive and
le is shown in the illus
•s may be set at inter
t, but end posts should
v and well braced or
OLE IN WIRE.
a hole through each
top, run one wire
loles from end to end
1 another outside the
Ijould be stretched
, as they must be
oust be done all along
ice, lest some of the
out of place. A num
an twist, them tightly
sticks about six feet
dve sticks being turned
lireetions. The wires
’ted until they are firm
‘sist untwisting when
o be drawn tight if done
.'hen done the holes left
•ss' in twisting will serve
r the hitching straps.—A.
ihull, in Orange Judd
.LONG THE POULTRY,
Ilay generates vermin more readily
than straw.
Especially from this time on if the
hens are crowded, disease is almost
certain to appear.
Eggs in process of incubation in hot,
dry weather should be sprinkled with
tepid water occasionally.
Raw corn meal should not be fed to
small chicks. If it must be given, mix
it with one-third shorts and bake.
By sticking to one breed and select
ing carefully you can build up a strain
that will sell well and give satisfac
tion.
In breeding and raising poultry, es
pecially for market, size must always
be considered, as fowls are sold by
weight.
May apple root pounded tine and put
in the drinking water is recommended
as a good remedy for cholera among
poultry. ,
For hatching duck eggs, hens, in
many cases, are preferable to ducks,
and they make better and more care
ful mothers.
Be sure to keep the feeding coops as
well as those to confine the hen with
her young brood on dry ground; damp
ness is injurious.—Farmers’ Voice
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.
Wire fences were in limited use in
the neighborhood of Philadelphia as
far back as 1816.
The cost of the United States troops
and of the civil administration in Cu
ba is paid out of the revenues of the
islapd.
It has been decided by the Kansas
supreme court that opening a window
screen constitutes a “burglarious
breaking” within the meaning of the
law.
It is a curious fact that the deed to
the present police headquarters of
New York city, 300 Mulberry street,
which passed in 1863 from the metro
politan police district of that city to
the board of supervisors of the cohn
ty of New York, was not recorded un
til a few days ago. No explanation
is given.
A descriptive article on Norway
contains some striking instructions
for the use of fire escapes taken from
a local hotel, of which the following
lines are part: “The plaited snotter
shall be found in every room. To in
crease the hurry, let down the body
one by one until all shall be left.
The cord shall put out the ground
from the shoulder thereunder.”
A man riding a bicycle and driving
a horse at the same time startled
North Broad street. He held the reins
in one hand and guided his machine
with the other. His feet rested upon
the coaster, and the horse did the
rest. In and out among the other
vehicles he guided the animal, and all
along the streets people stopped and
gazed in wonder.—Philadelphia Rec
ord.
Among the interesting things on
view with the collection of books by
negro authors at Buffalo is an auto
graph of Webster, dated March 19,
1847: “I have paid $120 for the free
dom of Paul Jennings. He agrees to
work out the same at eight dollars a
month, to be found with board,
clothes and washing, to begin when
we return south. His freedom papers
I give him. They are recorded in this
district.”
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