Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-09-05
SERMON BY REV. T. DEWITT TAlMAGE

DR.. Talmage, having returned from
his summer vacation, services at the
Brooklyn Tabernacle were resumed this
morning. an immense audience being
present. The services were opened with
song, the hymn being:
"The morning light is breaking.
The darkness disappears"
After singing, DR.. Talmage read ap-
propriate portions of the Scripture from
the Old Testament.
Subject Of the Sermon-"Recovsry"
| KText-u. Kings.:xx:7, "And aiah said, Take
a lump of figs aud they took, laid 1t on the
| boil and he recovered.
From this chapter which l read in
full at the opening of last Sabbath's ser.
vice now take my text. In one week
it seems coming true in regard to our
afflicted United States President. Good
King Hezekiah was by the surgeons and
by the clergy given up to die. His re.
covery was pronounced an impossible.
ty. Then God comes in and prescribes,
and marked change takes place. A
lump OF figs is applied as cooling and
strong poultice and Hezekiah gets up for
fifteen more years OF earthly existence.
For two months the sufferings Of our
President have been the anxiety Of all
| Christendom. Recently the atten-
ton was diverted from the
wound by the assassin to a
yirulent swelling in the face which had
resisted the poultice, and was declared
by the doctors to be the chief source of
danger. Convalescence after GONZALES.
cence, relapse after relapse, until last
Saturday week all hope was surrendered,
The six surgeons unanimously declared
that death was only few hours of.
Medical men all the land over declared
the same thing. All the newspapers
despaired OF restoration. Then in an
swer to the prayers going up day and
| night from church and storehouse, rail-
| train and steamer, and from the civilized
earth,
A Change Took Place.
and in some respects the patients case
| is more promising than at any time
since the murderer's revolver attempted
its work. President Garfield, verify
believe, is going to get well.
There has never been time within my
memory when God has in such con-
spicuous and indisputable manner hon.
ored prayer. People who have not bent
the knee in twenty years have bowed in
supplication. Others who did not suspect
they were praying said with great heart
mess at the time Of the attempted assas
sination: "God help u.s." and week
ago after the bulletins Of relief came,
said: Thank God" You may call that
what you will, call it prayer. God
waited till everybody had given up and
then he appeared. The impossible has
taken place. An unbeliever might say
the change took place through natural
causes; namely, the decrease OF the paro-
It'd glands. Wise sir, who made the parotid
gland 90 down? 1t is because the Divine
Physician came to the bedside that the
obsequies OF our President are not al
ready concluded. God gave the same
lesson of prayer to England. The
Prince OF Wales was down with typhoid
fever; the physicians bulletins announc-
ed that he could not live for more than
three hours. But his queenly mother
was in prayer and all England was in
PRAYER, cathedrals, coal shafts, Lords
and factory operatives,
The Mighty and the Low In Prayer,
and the tides of health that had been
going out began to rise and the Prince
OF Wales got well. In this way God is
teaching the nations had it not been for
the PRAYER OF the nation the leaden bul.
| let would have completed its work sew
| en- weeks ago. AS sure as there ls q
! God in heaven He heard the supplica.
tions of the first Sabbath after the ca.
lamity and the second Sabbath and the
third Sabbath and the fourth Sabbath
and the fifth Sabbath and the sixth and
the seventh and the eighth. On Satur-
days the case has dipped to the lowest
points as il God on each Sabbath morn
ing was demanding prayer and saying:
"Call upon me in the day OF trouble and
| will deliver" And the Monday bul.
letlns, think, without one exception,
have been encouraging.
Idems nd that prayer, be acknowledged
as the most important factor in national
prosperity. We have had four great
consecutive harvests in this county, and
We have been expecting that the natur-
al causes would keep on producing the
natural results; that this year we would
have larger crops than ever before. be.
| cause there was more corn planted, and
more wheat sown, and more fruit graft
| ed. | have not heard from anybody 9
lips this year prayer for a great har-
vest. What is the consequence? Corn
and wheat and fruit crop failure in
Michigan, failure in Ohio, failure in
Pennsylvania, failure in Canada. We
want few Elijah's to 90 up on Mount
Carmel and reach up their hands oil
faith and
Squeeze Out the Sponge Of the Clouds
on the thirsty, parched regions. You
say, 1--WE have no such men now" Yes,
the Bible takes pains to say Elijah was
a poor, sinful creature, like ourselves.
"Elijah was man subjec CT to like passion
as We are, and he prayed earnestly that
it might not rain, and it rained not on
the earth for the space OF three years
and six months; and he prayed again,
and the heavens gave rain, and the earth
brought forth her fruit"
The first great practical use OF this
calamity has been that it has driven the
nation TO prayer. What shall the coun-
try do next? Go right on in this mat
ter, doing as now. Queen Elizabeth said
to Walter Raleigh: Raleigh, when will
you leave off begging?" He answered:
"When your Majesty leaves of giving.
The time for this nation to cease suppli-
cation for merciful deliverance is when
| Gods ear has become deaf and his heart
hard and his open hand of mercy is
clenched in eternal denial. Just as
sceptics had, as they thought, succeeded
in persuading the masses of America
that prayer is an sbsurdity by the sud
den improving OF our Chief Magistrate
millions of people
Begin TO Cry Unto God for Help.
What scene it was when the Roman
army was surrounded and no water was
and no water was accessible and the
twelfth legion made up OF Christians fell
upon their knees and cried for rescue.
Soon the rain descended in torrents and
the soldiers caught it in their helmets
with one hand and drank while they
fought with the other. So let this na-
| t;on look nm for rain of the divine sup.